Category: thrifting.

a French printer’s tray.

Published on by Quandie8 Comments

If you’ve been following me for long, you know that my ‘workshop’ is out in the carriage house …

And it’s not heated.  Plus we have to fit our cars in there in the winter.

So I haul all of my supplies inside the house before we get a freeze, and then I do most of my painting in the piano room.

I put a drop cloth over the piano and it becomes a workbench, and I keep the supplies I use most often in the Specimens cupboard.

It’s definitely not glamorous.  And whenever we’re having guests I have to put everything away.

It’s also not very much space to work in.

So as fall approaches each year I start to pile up a bunch of small projects to work on after the Christmas season is over and I’m steadily working my way through that pile.

Today’s small project is a simple wooden tray that I picked up at a garage sale last summer.

It definitely seems to be homemade.  You can see that the wood piece that makes up the bottom originally had hinges on it, and the one shorter side is a bit thinner than the others.  Someone clearly cobbled it together out of bits and pieces they had on hand, you gotta love that.

After first painting the tray in Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage and deciding I didn’t like it (even though I’ve used Dried Sage on numerous projects that I loved), I ended up going with a very simple makeover.  I added two coats of DB’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I added some bits and pieces of French typography from my transfer scrap pile.

I used google translate to make sure I wasn’t putting nonsense on my tray.  That first line, Tous droits réservé, is simple, it means ‘all rights reserved.’  Évreux is a place in France.  And that bottom line is just a name, followed by the word ‘printer’.  So, in other words, it could be considered an advertisement for a printer.

After the wording was in place, I added a small embellishment to the bottom of the tray too.

I’d considered going with something a bit more elaborate, but I figured most people would be putting stuff inside the tray and thus potentially covering that up anyway.

I sanded the edges of the tray to distress them, and then finished everything off with a coat of clear wax.

I added some old books, a pair of crusty old paint brushes in a ball jar, and an antique camera for styling.

How would you style this tray?

Leave a comment and let me know!

the botanist box.

Published on by Quandie26 Comments

Today I’m bringing you another wooden box makeover.

Since there really isn’t any way to tell the scale in that photo, I’ll tell you that this is bigger than your average recipe box.  I suspect it was used by a business of some kind.

And that’s partially based on this stamp inside the lid calling it a ‘merchants box’, and partially based on the size.

I gave this box a quick scuff sanding, followed by wiping it down with a damp cloth.  Then I painted the outside in two coats of Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.

Then I pretty much lost my head.  That’s the best way to describe it.

I decided I really wanted to use just the wording from inside the circle of I.O.D.’s The Botanist transfer.  You may remember when I used this full transfer on a bed last summer.

I had ordered another one recently, and I just couldn’t resist using the typography portion on this box.

It was a perfect fit.

If I was keeping this box for myself I probably wouldn’t bat an eye over the $25 price tag for the transfer, but I’m planning to sell this box.  So I fully admit that it doesn’t make any kind of good business sense to spend this much on a transfer that I used on one measly box makeover.  I hesitated quite a bit before deciding I just had to do it.  I also think I’ve come up with a use for the rest of the transfer, those floral swags that surround the typography, but we’ll have to wait and see if that comes to fruition.

So will I get my money back out of this one?  Probably just barely.  I certainly won’t be making any kind of profit.  That’s OK with me, but I know many of you guys need to turn a profit, in which case this is not the way to do it.

By the way, yes, I did consider filling that big crack down the middle of the lid.

But I decided it added a little character and age to the box.  I’m OK with that.

You may have noticed that in addition to the typography, I also decorated this box with some florals from the I.O.D. Floral Anthology transfer.

I filled the front of the box …

and trailed over to both sides …

with various scraps of Floral Anthology.

I should also mention that prior to adding any of the transfers, I used the wet distress method on this box.  This method involves using a damp rag to rub paint away from edges where the box would have naturally been worn over time.  It can be a good alternative to distressing the edges with sandpaper, often looking more authentic.  This only works with a paint that is reactivated with water, so mainly chalk style paints.

I did add one little Tim Holtz number transfer to the front of the box as well.

I finished the box with some clear wax both inside and out.  I hadn’t painted the inside, but chose to leave it in the natural wood instead.  The wax freshened it up nicely.

I should also point out that this box must have had some sort of slider thingie inside originally that had since been removed, leaving a sort of empty track in the bottom of the box.

To cover that up I simply cut a thick piece of cardboard to fit the bottom of the box, and then covered that with some scrapbook paper.

It’s quite sturdy, but also quite removable.  So down the road if it gets all grungy from use, it can easily be pulled out and replaced with something fresh.

I took this one into the shop this week, so if any of you locals are interested in it you’ll need to pop into Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater.

As for the rest of you, what do you think of this box makeover?

a winter thrift haul.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

I’m starting to suffer from some serious garage sale withdrawal, so I hit the thrift shops last week.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find much, and definitely not anything very exciting.

In addition to a couple of Goodwill stores, I also stopped in at Turn Style, which is a consignment store.  It was a little startling to find one of my creations for sale there …

That was one of my first cupboard door signs, but I really don’t remember when I painted it.  I couldn’t find a blog post about it, so it may even be pre-blog.  Back in 2014 (yikes!  10 years ago!) I put that French Market stencil on A LOT of items including cutting boards …

and buckets …

I likely sold that sign at one of my Carriage House sales.  Whoever purchased it from me must be getting rid of it now.  I debated buying it back, and then redoing it in some other way.  But at $18, it was a little too expensive to be worthwhile for me.  I prefer to get my cupboard doors for free, or for less than $5 or so.

So I left the sign at Turn Style.  But here’s what I did bring home.

Well, most of it anyway.  I did also purchase a pair of ice skates and some red & green plaid dishes for the 2024 holiday season (not pictured).  I’m going to hang onto the little metal lantern for next Christmas season too.  I think it will be adorable with a little bottle brush tree and a reindeer inside.

One of these items is for me to keep and that’s the hygrometer (which is the fancy word for a humidity gauge).

I’m not entirely sure that it works, but for only $3.99 I thought it was worth a shot.  I am often wondering what the humidity is outside so if this works it will be handy to have for my workshop in the carriage house.

I did purchase a couple of things to flip that didn’t require more than a good cleaning.  First up, this 1 qt. pitcher.

I’m always drawn to things with numbers or words on them.

I also grabbed this glass cannister.

You can never have too many glass cannisters.  I use them inside my English pine cupboard to hold painting and/or crafting supplies.  I like being able to see what’s inside them.

I also like to have them on hand to contain a grouping of items to sell, such as vintage cookie cutters or old children’s blocks.

The rest of these items all got a paint and transfer makeover starting with the French flower bucket.

It looked just a bit too new.  So my goal was to add some faux age.

I gave it a base coat of Dixie Belle’s French Linen first, then added a layer of their Sawmill Gravy over it.  I was planning to do some wet distressing back to the French Linen layer, but uh … yeah … I forgot that I was going to do that and after the paint was dry I added a coat of clear wax.  Turns out, the clear wax does protect the paint from water quite a bit.  Enough that wet distressing was no longer a good option.

But then I remembered that I had ordered some of the Dixie Belle dirt to try out.

Dixie Dirt is a powder that you apply over tacky wax.  Basically you apply wax, wait 10 minutes for it to get tacky, brush the Dixie Dirt into cracks and crevices, then wipe away any excess ‘dirt’.

I ordered the ‘dirt’ in two colors; Ash and Earth.

FYI, the French Tip brush from Dixie Belle works really nicely for applying the dirt.

I used the Ash color on my French flower bucket.

I feel like the look I got with the dirt is very comparable to using a dark wax.  The benefit to the dirt is that it’s a bit cheaper than wax at $8.95 (find it here), and I think these little containers will go a long way.  So if you already have a clear wax, but no dark wax, this might be a good option for you if you like this look.

I should have mentioned that I also added a re.design with prima transfer to the flower bucket before I added any wax.

Always add transfers before wax, they will not adhere to a freshly waxed surface.  This transfer is from the Lovely Labels Middy transfer set, and it is a dark blue color rather than the usual black or dark grey.

Here is the final look for the flower bucket.

Next up, I decided to give the box a similar treatment.

Again, it was too new for me.  Too smooth, and only scratched up in a bad way, not a good way.

But this time, I added some of Dixie Belle’s Sea Spray texture additive to my base coat of French Linen first.  I let that dry, and then added a coat of Sawmill Gravy over it.  Once the Sawmill was dry, I sanded over it with 120 grit sandpaper to reveal the textured layer.

Next up I added a leftover scrap from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

I finished it off with a coat of clear wax first.  Then this time I did use a brown wax along the edges just to ‘dirty’ them up a bit.  It was a pretty subtle adjustment, but it helps disguise any freshly sanded wood edges.

Finally we’ve got the two ‘signs’ that I purchased.

I knew the mustard yellow one would be perfect for that adorable row of birds from the I.O.D. Brocante transfer set.  I gave it the same paint treatment as the box.  A base coat of French Linen mixed with some Sea Spray, then a coat of Sawmill Gravy.  Once dry, I sanded it smooth and added the birds.

I also added some random French typography from my transfer scrap pile, and then finished it off with a coat of clear wax.

I skipped the textured base coat on the 2nd sign.  It has a sort of ribbed surface to begin with, so it didn’t need any additional texture.  Instead I simply added a coat of Sawmill Gravy followed by some floral scraps from I.O.D.’s Floral Anthology transfer and some wording from the Classic Vintage Labels transfers from re.design with prima.

I added a little Dixie Dirt in the Earth color to this one.

You can see how it gets caught in the grooves in that close up photo.

I’ll be bringing most of these items into the shop tonight (Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN) if any of you locals want to head over there this weekend and check them out.

In the meantime, are any of you finding goodies at the thrift stores, or are you finding that there are slim pickin’s like I am?  Leave a comment and let me know, or just let me know which of today’s projects is your favorite.

a feast for the eyes.

Published on by Quandie23 Comments

Just a couple of days before Christmas my friend opK and I headed to Minneapolis to check out the 75% off sale at Bachman’s.  I’ve mentioned Bachman’s here before, but for those of you who may not be familiar, it is a local chain of ‘floral, home and garden’ centers.  They have been in business since 1885 when the founder began planting vegetable crops on a plot of land in south Minneapolis.  That plot of land still contains their flagship store and corporate headquarters.

I normally shop at their Maplewood store, which was their 2nd location and opened in 1990, but the flagship store is a bit larger and opK and I were hoping that there would be a bigger selection of Christmas merch remaining.  Spoiler alert, there wasn’t.  But we each purchased a few things.

Then we decided that we should check out a couple of other shops while we were in the big city, starting with Loft Antiques.

I have to admit that I rarely actually ‘shop’ at antique stores.  I mostly just like to scour them for inspiration, sort of making a mental list of items I should be snatching up at garage/estate sales.  Like original oil paintings by unknown artists …

or … LOL … old crusty paint brushes!

See?!  I’m not the only one who likes a crusty old brush.

There was a lot of inspiration to be found at Loft.

And by the way, I did ask for permission to take photos in their shop.  Most shop owners are perfectly fine with someone taking photos, but every once in a while you run into one who is vehemently opposed.  I’m thinking back to a shop Mr. Q and I visited in Summerville, SC.  I’m not naming names though, it was not the shop I blogged about back then.

I actually even purchased something at Loft!  I couldn’t resist this antique “Merry Christmas” shop signage.

My friend and fellow Reclaiming Beautiful vendor, Amy, has similar signage on the wall at her house (although not Christmas themed, but from an old church) and after seeing hers, I just had to have this one.  I’ll probably repaint it, I’m not sure.  But either way, I’m looking forward to finding a way to use it in my Christmas decor next year.

There are two more shops worth a visit right next door to Loft Antiques, Clarabel Vintage and A Rare Bird Antiques.  They are fairly small and I totally neglected to snap any photos to share with you.  But if any of you locals are in the neighborhood, they are worth checking out.

Our ultimate destination though was right across the street from Loft, Hunt & Gather.

opK had never been to Hunt & Gather, and I found it rather difficult to describe it to her before we got there.  But I think seeing the outside is a good hint as to what you’ll find on the inside.

But really, how would you describe it?

Here is how they describe themselves on their website …

“a vintage amusement store.  groovy.  kooky.  fresh.  unusual.  fun oddities & curiosities.”

Yep, that fits.

It’s definitely a feast for the eyes!

It’s your one stop shopping spot for all kinds of things, like silver trays …

souvenir shot glasses…

and creepy dolls!

I have to admit that seeing so much stuff packed into this shop makes my eye twitch just a little.  All I can think about is how much work it would be to clear it all out if they ever needed to.  I tend to think that way about my own house too, especially this time of year.  I always make a New Year’s resolution to start cleaning out drawers and closets, but I rarely follow through.  Maybe this year will be different.

How about you?  Are you a fan of the ‘more is more’ sort of style?  Or are you more of a minimalist?  Leave a comment and let me know.

random garage sale finds.

Published on by Quandie28 Comments

First up, I realized that I hadn’t mentioned that I drew Marguerite’s name as the winner of my Peachy Keen giveaway, so congrats to her!

Next, I also realized that it’s been a while since I posted about any of my garage sale or thrift store finds.

In fact, I checked back and I think the last post about a garage sale item makeover was back in August.  Seriously, how in the world does time go by so quickly?

Well, despite the fact that almost two months have gone by since I last posted some finds, I have been getting out to garage sales nearly every week (not counting two weeks of traveling, and then a week of covid) with my friend opK.  I don’t seem to be bringing home any major hauls, but I have found a couple of things here and there.  It just never seems like quite enough stuff for a complete blog post.

For example, here’s my ‘haul’ from last week.

See?  Not too exciting.

But let me share a bit of what I’ve done with some of these pieces.

Let’s just start with the stack of shaker boxes.

You know me, I have a problem resisting boxes of any kind.

The colors on these were a bit dated though, and I’m not sure anyone needs a complete stack of 7!  So I decided to break them up into two sets, and give them an ombre paint job in shades from white to gray.

I started with the 4 smallest boxes.

They are all painted in Dixie Belle paints, starting from the top of the stack and working down I used Drop Cloth, Sawmill Gravy, French Linen and Hurricane Gray.

I added random bits of various transfers to the front of each.  I had to search a bit to find sections that were small enough for these little boxes, but I used some of re.design with prima’s Classic Vintage Labels, and some of I.O.D.’s Traditional French Pots.

I also added a sweet little bee from re.design with prima’s French Labels to the top box lid.

I painted the larger 3 boxes in a similar fashion using the three lighter colors, and then found transfers to fit on them as well.

These scraps came from the same sets, along with the bits on the bottom two boxes that are from the small version of the Seeds transfer from prima.

I know it’s often difficult to really tell the size of items in photos, especially when there isn’t anything shown to provide scale.  The biggest box is 7″ across, and the smallest is a mere 3″ across.

As I was looking around for items to stage them with, I realized that the smaller boxes would be pretty adorable on top of one of my mini dressers.

How cute is that?  I may just have to keep those now.

Next up, you may have noticed the trio of amber bottles I found.

I knew I could give these a quick update with some faux apothecary labels.

Um, but wait a moment, didn’t I have three of them?  Yeah, I broke one of them while washing them up.  Drat.

After washing them, I used Mod Podge to add some faux labels.  I shared this quick process and a source for a .pdf of the labels in a post back in February (here).

Next up, how about that clock?

It doesn’t have a lot going for it as a clock, but when I opened it up I realized that the clock face and mechanism would come right out leaving a cool little shadow box.

So I pulled that out, then painted the outside in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Then I freshened up the inside with a coat of their Caviar.  Once dry, I added a small stencil to the inside back.

This stencil is from a pack of 6 x 6″ stencils that I ordered on Amazon last year for a few projects.  Unfortunately, when I went to share the link for them I found that they are currently unavailable.  I’m sure you could search out other small Christmas themed stencils though.

Anyway, after adding the stencil, I placed some bottle brush trees and a cute little carved reindeer inside the shadow box, and lit them all up with some fairy lights.

So cute!  Having that stencil in the background really adds some dimension to the piece.

I did feel like the front needed just a little bit of quandification though, so I added some Tim Holtz transfers.

Last up is the lantern.

I liked the raw wood look on the sides, but the metal ‘roof’ looked a bit cheap up close.

So I decided to use some of Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint to give it more depth.

I started by painting the top with a base coat of DB’s Caviar (black chalk paint), then I painted on two coats of their Iron paint followed by the Green Spray to create a rusty finish (for a full tutorial on this product, check out this post).

Ahhh, so much better!  To get that texture I stippled the paint on rather than brushing it.  I advise doing that if you don’t want to see brush strokes in your finished look.

Next up I added some bottle brush trees with fairy lights inside the lantern.

Along with a little carved Santa.

The lights I had on hand ended up being a bit wonky, so I’m going to have to get some more fairy lights for this one.  But you get the idea.

I’m in the midst of getting a lot of my Christmas merch ready for the shop, and most of what I’ve shared in this post will be heading over there soon!  I’m trying not to rush the holiday season, but I have several really cool holiday projects completed already that I’m dying to share with you guys.  So be sure to stay tuned!

a pair of camp-ish buoys.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

Remember the buoys that I found while thrifting way back in March?

I have to admit, they look pretty good in that photo.  And they were pretty good.  Except that up close and personal they looked a little too fake to me.

I had tucked them aside for summer, and when the shop where I sell (Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN) decided to have a Ralph Lauren-ish summer camp sort of theme in their window this weekend, I decided to give them a quick makeover.

When I hear Ralph Lauren, I automatically think red, white and blue.

I don’t know, is that just me?

Well, either way, that’s what I decided to go with on my buoys.

I painted one of them in Dixie Belle’s Honky Tonk Red

and the other in their Deep Sea.

After two coats of paint were dry, I sanded well to distress them.

Today’s q tip:  Always, always, always sand a dark color first before adding a white detail over it.  I’ve learned the hard way that if you sand a dark color (and especially red) and a white at the same time, you’ll end up smearing the dust from your color into the white.  And that never looks good.

So I sanded, wiped the dust away, and then used painters tape to add some stripes in Dixie Belle’s Endless Shore.  I then also stenciled some numbers onto the taller buoy with that same paint.

I have to admit, in hindsight I’m guessing that quite a few of you would have preferred I left them alone.  But they definitely have more of a hand-painted look now.

I’m also wondering if I got Ralph Lauren mixed up with an Americana sort of theme.

But then, Ralph Lauren and the American flag kind of go hand in hand.

And the shop certainly turned out fabulous …

There are my buoys, see them in about the middle of the frame?  I think they fit right in.

And here’s what’s in the window.

Lots of stuff that would be fabulous in your lake cabin, or on your three season porch.  Or maybe even just in your cabin themed guest room.

If any of you locals are looking for something fun to do this weekend, I recommend heading into Stillwater and checking out Reclaiming Beautiful (open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, not open Sunday).

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying the paint used for today’s project.

a little bit rusty.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

Between my most recent trip to my mom’s and then to Florida, I feel like my painting skills have gotten a bit rusty.  Since coming back I’ve been so busy in the garden that I haven’t even picked up a paint brush … well, except to paint the obelisk trellis in my garden.

But more on that later in the week.

In the meantime, speaking of rusty, I did pull out the Dixie Belle patina paint before my trips to turn some small garden statues into rust.

As you probably know, I just love this stuff.  The Iron paint combined with the green spray creates a perfectly authentic looking rust.

Here’s where my two pieces started out.

The pretty girl on the left is from the thrift store, and St. Francis came from my friend Sue.

Both are made from some sort of plastic or other man-made material, and have faux finishes.

After cleaning them up, I gave them a base coat of spray red primer from Rust-Oleum.  Dixie Belle does make a primer to be used with the patina paint called Prime Start, and they recommend you use that on metal pieces to prevent the patina paint created rust from becoming actual rust.  But I prefer to use a spray primer on pieces like these that have lots of nooks and crannies simply because it is easier.  In addition, neither of these are metal, so technically they don’t require the Prime Start.  However, both of them have a surface that may not hold onto paint well.  So rather than attempting to scuff sand, I just spray primed them.

For the full instructions on using the patina paints, check out my how-to post here.

I painted both pieces with the Iron paint, followed by the green spray.  After a day or two, they still weren’t looking as rusty as I wanted so I sprayed them with water.  That’s not an official technique for using this product, but I have noticed on my outdoor garden pieces that more rust comes out after they get rained on.  Sure enough it did the trick.

Here is how St. Francis turned out …

And here is how the peasant girl turned out …

I’m always rather particular about faces when it comes to statues like these.  Some of the cheaper versions have some fairly awful faces.

But her face is quite sweet I think.

At this point you may be wondering how this rusty patina holds up outside, and if it continues to develop more rust over time.

I’ll start by first noting that the durability of any paint treatment really depends upon what you are painting over, and in addition whether or not you applied it correctly.

But here are some examples of my rusty pieces that have been outside for a while.

I painted both of those last summer, and they both sat outside all winter.

Sometimes, in fact, even literally buried in snow.

They get some pine sap drips on them from the tree overhead, but otherwise they look really good.  I didn’t blog about the bench specifically, but I did share the two matching chairs and small table with all of the details here.

But how about items that have been outside for more than one year?

You may remember that I rusted up a pair of planters back in the summer of 2019.

These are made out of that molded plastic composite stuff, I don’t know exactly what that material is made out of.  But they are lightweight, not iron, not metal, not concrete, but some kind of man-made material.

These have been outside since they were painted, including winters.

So they are going on four years and are holding up fairly well, except for the very bottom where they often sit in snow.

When I purchased these pots, they were dark brown.  So actually, it’s the original paint that has failed down to the white material underneath it here, not the patina paint.  I plan to touch these up with some more patina paint, and that will be quite easy to do.

Also, you may notice that the pot looks a bit rustier now than it did when I first finished it (first photo with purple flowers).  So yes, these items will get rustier over time when outside in the elements.

I think my advice would be to take these items in for winter (if you live in a climate like mine in Minnesota) if you want them to last for many years.  However, if you only paid $30 for the pair at a garage sale, and you don’t mind having to touch up the patina paint down the road here and there, I say enjoy them outside in the winter!

Tell me what you think of my garden statues, was the rust an improvement?  Leave a comment and let me know.

goodbye snow, hello flowers.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

You may remember this tote from a recent thrift store haul.

I always feel a little bit bad about painting over someone else’s hand-painted item, but that snow covered pine cone branch had to go.

As I was working on this post last Saturday morning, it was lightly snowing off and on outside, so I thought maybe if I symbolically removed those snowy pine cones it would also bring about a change in our weather.  Wishful thinking?

Either way, I’m about done with snow both on the ground outside, and on this tote.

I sanded the hand-painted bits down so that they wouldn’t show through my new paint job, then I painted the outside of the tote in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth and the interior in their Holy Guacamole.

I love pairing this avocado green with the Floral Anthology transfer from I.O.D. that has a similar shades of green in it.

That’s the backside of the tote, which I left word free.

For the front, I added some wording from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

I wrapped the florals around both sides as well.

Now the tote is pretty from all four sides.

Speaking of being done with snow, I’m heading off to Florida with my sister on Saturday.  We’re spending another week at our favorite Disney resort, Port Orleans – French Quarter.  This time we’ll be at Epcot for the Flower & Garden Festival, so I’m betting I’ll have a Sunday morning garden post for you when I return.

But in the meantime, due to my back to back trips, I’m a little short on projects to share here.  However, I do have a couple of flashback posts scheduled for next week to keep you entertained while I’m gone so I hope you enjoy them!

an altered recipe box.

Published on by Quandie15 Comments

Have you made yourself a recipe box scrapbook yet?

I shared this idea a few years back when I made one for our Adriatic cruise.

That cruise went to some of the most beautiful ports I’ve seen; Venice, Ravenna, Kotor, Split and Valletta.  If you’re considering a European cruise, I highly recommend looking for one that visits those ports of call.

But, I digress.  This isn’t supposed to be a travel post.  This is a post about a makeover for this recipe box.

I found it the last time I went thrifting with my friend Sue.  It’s a nice, big one which would make it perfect for photos.

After sanding the box down, I painted it with one coat of Dixie Belle’s Sea Glass.  Once that first coat was dry, I blended more Sea Glass with some of DB’s Juniper around the edges (FYI, I believe Juniper is no longer available, it was a seasonal color back in 2021).

I’m still practicing my blending skills, I do like the way a little blending adds some depth to a piece.

Once painted I added some I.O.D. transfers from the Brocante and Label Ephemera sets.

The floral and the butterfly are from Brocante, the wording is of course from Label Ephemera.

I didn’t paint the inside of the box, but I did line it with some scrapbook paper.

Unfortunately, the previous owner of this box had defaced most of the alphabet index cards.

I have only A thru J in their original state.

The tabs for the rest of the alphabet have been obscured with white out.

Still, someone creative could work with those cards.  Especially if they happen to have any of the October Afternoon word stickers.  They all have index tabs on them, like the “Family History” one below.

You can still find some of the word stickers on Etsy, but October Afternoon has been out of business for several years.

I decided to go ahead and paint over the white with some of Dixie Belle’s Mint Julep to make it a little less obvious.

I used my cute little Savoy camera to stage these photos.

This is one of the few items I’ve ever purchased at a legit antique shop.  It was $30, but I fell in love with the colors, which happen to work beautifully with the colors in the October Afternoon supplies I’ve used on my index cards.

You might be thinking that I plan to save this one for myself, but actually I am going to sell it (without the photos).  If I do eventually decide to make one for my old family photos, I’ll likely theme the outside to something more ‘family like’.  But it was fun to break out the scrapbook supplies and show you what you could do with this box.

So tell me, have I encouraged you to create your own recipe box scrapbook yet?

a little junkin’ and a little drinkin’.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

Last week I spent some time helping my neighbor, nnK, paint her parent’s kitchen cabinets.  They live out in Amery, Wisconsin on Lake Wapogasset … or as I like to call it, Lake Pop-a-gasket.

We headed out there last Friday afternoon to add a few finishing touches, and we were done so quickly that we had a little extra time to kill before dinner so nnK and I checked out a few of the shops in town including Acme Junk Co.

I’d only been to this shop once before in their previous location, so I’d been wanting to check out this spot for a while now.

We headed down to the basement level first.  They had a very clever license plate treatment on the stairs.

How long do you suppose it takes to accumulate that many vanity license plates?

The lower level seemed to be mainly small booth spaces that I assume were rented by various different vendors.

Each little space had its own personality.  We had to laugh in one of the spaces that was devoted to paintings of naked women and vintage Playboys.  I didn’t take photos of that one to share with you guys, for obvious reasons.

There were some spaces that harkened back to my shabby chic days.

And some spaces that had a little bit more of a vintage industrial sort of style.

Overall the basement felt more like your typical antique mall, not what I would necessarily call a junk shop.

The main level of the store was much ‘junkier’, and I mean that in the most complimentary way.

They definitely had some cool stuff, including several really amazing antique dress forms.

At $475, this was way out of my price range as were the others in the shop unfortunately.

There were also lots of old typewriters, and clearly someone has gotten tired of bored children banging away on the keys while they wait for their parents to be done shopping.

This next one was particularly cool.

They certainly had some unique finds, hammerhead shark anyone?

I really liked this set of three cobalt blue apothecary bottles.

I thought $43 for all three was a decent price, but I don’t really have this color anywhere in my own décor so I couldn’t think where I would put them.

I was also extremely tempted by this large wooden toolbox.

It was a little pricey at $95, but I would have been willing to pay that for it if I’d had just the right spot for it.  Ultimately though, I realized that I’d want to add some wording to it and I wasn’t sure that I should mess with the original patina.  So I left it behind.

At this point you might be wondering, what did I buy?

First up, I purchased this little ironstone covered soap dish.

It’s rare to find ironstone at reasonable prices in our area (at least in my experience), and this one was $18.

I love the mark on the bottom.

I’m really trying to pare down my ironstone non-collection these days, but then I come across an item like this and I decide why not?

I’ve saved find of the day status for this guy though …

You may remember that I once had a planets and stars themed ornament just like this, only it was a pretty shade of blue.

And I broke it!

One of my generous readers had sent me a replacement that is red with glittery gold stars and planets (thanks again for that Melissa!).

But still, when I saw the silver one I had to have it.  As a bonus, it was only $2.  Definitely a bargain.

I’m still keeping an eye out for one in that pretty shade of blue, maybe one day I’ll find it.

That was it for my purchases at Acme Junk Co.  We did stop at a couple of other shops in Amery including Ruby Mae’s Treasures and Bittersweet Homestead Boutique.  Ruby Mae’s had some great vintage furniture pieces and is definitely worth a visit.  Bittersweet Homestead has more of a gift shop vibe with lots of seasonal items, candles, soaps, dip mixes and that sort of thing.  So if any of you locals are looking for a fun afternoon shopping trip, I can recommend heading to Amery.

We capped off our day with the Friday night fish fry at a quintessential Wisconsin supper club.

If you aren’t familiar with the Wisconsin supper club culture, there are a few things that make a genuine supper club.  Here is how Kevin Pang from the Chicago Tribune describes them  …

“A Wisconsin supper club is an independently owned, fine-dining destination restaurant, typically in a picturesque locale on the edge of town. The menu comes from yesteryear, void of pretense and decidedly non-froufrou — prime rib, broiled white fish, shrimp cocktail — with enough complimentary sides and trimmings to satisfy a second meal. A relish tray should begin the meal, and three hours later, is bookended with house-made bread pudding or cheesecake. On Fridays they should serve an all-you-can-eat fish fry. A band might be performing. Mixed cocktails such as Manhattans and brandy old-fashioneds are preferred over wine or beer. If you leave hungry, you have not dined in a supper club.”

This one definitely had the location down.  A picturesque locale on the edge of town.

I’ve only been to a handful of supper clubs, but they have all been lakeside.  By the way, as a sidebar, there were people out ice fishing on that lake while we were there.  In April.  I definitely wouldn’t have chanced it.

Most supper clubs feel like a blast from the past when you walk in.

OK, yes, we were the first people to arrive for dinner.  It was early, but we were hungry from a day of painting and shopping.  Most of those tables were occupied by the time we left.

Naturally, I had to order the iconic supper club drink, a brandy old-fashioned.

Since we were there on a Friday, everyone else at our table had the fish fry.  I’m not a big fish eater though, so I opted for the prime rib.  However, the conversation around the table was entertaining, and that drink was mighty tasty, so I completely forgot to get a photo of my dinner.  Suffice to say, it was delicious and we definitely did not leave hungry.

Speaking of leaving, I’m heading off to spend some time with my mom later this week.  I’d been hoping to get out there 3 or 4 times this winter, but other life stuff has been making it difficult to schedule.  But I finally found a semi-open time frame, and was able to use my Delta Skymiles for a free ticket, so off I go.

I’ve scheduled just a couple of posts in advance, so I’m not abandoning you all together.  So I hope you’ll stay tuned!