santa’s workshop cupboard.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

Remember this little red cupboard that I snagged out of a free pile at a garage sale this summer?

It was such a fun find!

You can’t really tell from that photo above, but one of the upper cabinet doors was cracked where the hinges were screwed in.  So I decided to simply remove both of the upper doors.  I used Dixie Belle’s Mud to fill in the holes where the hinge screws were.

After then giving it a good cleaning and a bit of sanding to smooth out some flaws, I applied two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  That gave me a blank canvas to start with.

I ultimately decided that it would be fun to give it a Christmas look, so I went through my stash of stencils and transfers but didn’t find anything that would fit on that lower cabinet door.  So then I started looking for a new stencil to purchase.  The Santa’s Workshop stencil from Three Birds Stencils looked like just the ticket.  I was able to choose from a variety of sizes, and there was an option that would fit my door perfectly.

Once my stencil arrived in the mail, I added it to the lower cabinet door using Dixie Belle’s English Ivy.

After sealing all of the painted surfaces with some clear wax, I swapped out the knob on the door for a pretty little glass knob that was in my stash.

I then added some decorative paper to the back of the shelves on top

and the bottom of the shelves in the lower part of the cupboard.

It worked out perfectly that the inside width of the cupboard was exactly 12″, a.k.a. the size of my October Afternoon scrapbook paper.

How frickin’ adorable is that?

I think there are two potential markets for this little cupboard.  First, obviously someone could purchase it as a Christmas present for a child.  How fabulous would it be to have that waiting under the tree on Christmas morning?  But I also think it would be awesome as Christmas decor.  Hang it on the wall, or place it on a sideboard or dresser, and fill it with your non-collection of vintage Santa mugs.

Oh boy, now I’m starting to talk myself into keeping it … and going on the hunt for Santa mugs.

But no, this piece is for sale locally.  Be sure to hit up my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

As for the rest of you, let me know what you think of this little cupboard in a comment, and let me know what you would display in it!

suzette and mimi.

Published on by Quandie23 Comments

An empty corner in the guest room of my dollhouse sent me scrolling through Etsy looking for something to put in that spot.  I started with chairs, and there were a few chairs out there with potential.  But ultimately the idea of adding a dress form to that corner popped into my head.

I started searching on Etsy and came across a miniature dress form that had been given a copper verdigris patina all over and thought “I can do that”.  In fact, I bet I can go one step further and create a miniature version of my full size dress form, Collette.

So I kept searching and ended up finding a pair of miniature dress forms for $10.

They are made of plastic, and require just a little bit of assembly with some superglue.

Once assembled I gave mine a quick coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.  Since they are made out of a rather slick plastic, I wanted to hedge my bets on adhesion.

Once that dried I started on the base and the ‘cage’ at the bottom of the dress form.  Unfortunately my full-sized dress form doesn’t have a cage, I wish it did.  I think they are really cool.  The mini dress form has one, so I decided to give it a patina so that it would look like metal.

I started with a coat of the Dixie Belle Iron patina paint.  Then I added some dabs of the Bronze.  While the paint was still wet, I dabbed on some of the Green Spray.  I just kept playing around with those three products until I got the look that I wanted.

You can find a full tutorial on using the Patina Paint here.

Next I pulled out Dixie Belle paint in a color called Putty.  I’ve had this particular jar in my cupboard for a while, and it had been opened and used before (most recently on this dresser).  This chalk style paint will thicken up a little over time, but it’s easy to just add a little water to thin it back out again.  In this case I really didn’t want any big ol’ brush strokes, so I watered my paint down a little and applied it to the body of the dress form.

Once I had the Putty on I felt like it was a little bit one dimensional, so I went through my cupboard and found Dixie Belle’s Burlap.  Once again I watered it down a little, and then blended it with the Putty to create the perfect color.

Once that dried, I pulled out my re.design with prima knob transfers again (these are coming in so handy for miniature work!).  I found the perfect one to use on the dress form from the French Maison set.

Once the transfer was in place, I used clear wax over the body of the dress form.

I was going to call it good at that point, but I felt like it needed just a bit more dimension.  So I used a small brush to apply some of the Dixie Dirt in a brown color called Earth.

That’s an older photo, and clearly that brush was too big for this project.  I used a very small brush, and I applied the dirt to the crease down the center of the dress form body, and also around some of the edges.  It added the perfect touch of age.

I had so much fun creating these dress forms!

Since I’ve named both of my full-size dress forms, Collette and Lula, I decided I should go ahead and name the mini’s as well.  In honor of my recent trip to Disneyland, and one of my favorite attractions, the Enchanted Tiki Room, I’ve named them Suzette and Mimi (let’s all sing like the birdies sing, if you know, you know).

In case it wasn’t already apparent, I did paint both of the forms exactly the same.

Obviously I don’t need two identical dress forms for myself.  So I’m going to keep Suzette, but stash Mimi away and include her in my blogiversary giveaway next month.  Be sure to stay tuned for that!

But in the meantime, how do you like the dress forms?  And have you tried any of the Dixie Belle patina paints yet?  They continue to be one of my favorite mediums to play around with, on both miniature and full-sized items.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products used on the dress forms.

is it that time already?

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

It was quite the transition to go from 100°+ degree days while visiting my mom a week or so ago, straight into working on Christmas projects.  However, the holiday open house at Reclaiming Beautiful was just a few weeks away.  I had to get crackin’.

Luckily I’d made a good start on quite a few holiday projects before I headed out of town.  Now I just need to add finishing touches to them.

So although it feels really early to me, I’m going to share some of those projects with you today.  I used a couple of the new Dixie Belle holiday transfers and I want you all to have some time to order them if you want to use them on your own holiday decor.

First up is a pair of boxes; a tackle box and a Lane miniature cedar box.  Let’s start with the tackle box.  Here’s how it looked when I brought it home.

I kind of loved that original color and I really debated just cleaning it up and keeping it that way.  But it looks better in that photo than it did in person.  It was really quite gross and it didn’t clean up well.  Plus, I have found that my painted versions sell much more easily than the ones that I leave in their original paint.

So after cleaning it and giving it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out, I then painted the inside in their Fiery Sky.

That is one of the colors from the Dixie Belle Silk paint line, so it has a built in top coat that is extra durable which is great for an interior that is going to be used (for jewelry, craft supplies, etc, probably not for fishing lures).

Next up I painted the outside in DB’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I sanded to distress the edges and then started applying the new Yuletide Hearth transfer from Dixie Belle.

This is such a lovely Christmas floral, however I do wish the transfer had run vertically on the carrier sheet rather than horizontally.  I’m sure there was some logical reason for this placement, but it also means having to line up a seam every 6″ rather than every 12″.

So going around my tackle box meant that I had a lot of seams.

But my bigger problem is that there is no beginning and/or end to the design.  Wherever you stop ends up with a very obvious straight edge.

That would be fine if you plan to run the transfer all the way across the front of something for example, or in this case, all the way around my tackle box (although it wouldn’t meet up perfectly in the back).  It’s also fine if your item is less than 6″ wide, and you’ll see an example of that in the last project I’m sharing today.

I ended up trimming a piece for either end to try and make it look a bit more natural.

As you can see, I also struggled a bit with lining up the seams.  But that is towards the back and isn’t nearly as noticeable on the front, so I decided it would do.

But aside from all that, this is a very pretty transfer.  I just wish it was a little bit more user friendly for use on tool/tackle boxes.

As you can see above, I didn’t stop with the Dixie Belle transfer.  I also pulled out that I.O.D. Étiquettes gilded transfer that I purchased a while back.  You may remember that I didn’t love the results that I got with this one initially.  I think that was partly because I was applying the shiny gold transfer over black paint and the contrast showed every flaw in my application.

I think it works much better layered over something else rather than just on its own.

I also added some of the Étiquettes gilded transfer to the top of the tackle box.

I have to say it’s still not my favorite.  But that being said, I.O.D. did come out with a holiday themed gilded transfer and that might be fun to use on future holiday projects.  So that’s something to consider if you like the look of shiny gold for Christmas.

Next up is the Lane box.  I first painted this box last April.

You may remember that there was a flaw in that I.O.D. transfer (go back to read that post here if you want more details).  I mentioned in that post that I might end up sanding it down and starting over, and sure enough that is what I did.

I sanded the transfer off, then repainted the box in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once the paint was dry, I decided to attempt to use the I.O.D. Ephemeral Type stamp on it.  I still have very mixed results with stamping, but I’m working on it.

I’ll be honest, I had to repaint and restamp twice before getting a result I was happy with.  That’s why I started with the stamping rather than the transfers, I had a feeling I’d have some do-overs.  But it’s easy enough to paint back over the stamp and try again without having transfers to work around.

Once the stamp looked fairly good (I’m still not 100% happy with it, the curse of being a perfectionist), I added some of the Dixie Belle Caroling Cardinals transfers to it.

I found it much easier to play around with placement using this transfer.

I think this one is much more versatile when working with smaller projects like these.  I wrapped the poinsettia and evergreen garland around the sides, and added some individual pine cones and poinsettias to the top.

I love the pretty little red berries.

All in all, if you are trying to choose between Yuletide Hearth and Caroling Cardinals, you may want to consider how you will need to lay out the transfer before making your choice.

But both are lovely Christmas florals!

I also painted up another pair of ice skates this year.

The Yuletide Hearth transfer worked much better for me on these.  I was able to position them so that they didn’t leave a harsh straight edge anywhere.

I also added more of the I.O.D. Étiquettes gilded transfer to the skates.

If you were to scrutinize them closely, you’d see where I once again struggled to get the entire design transferred cleanly.  But I don’t think it really matters so much when it’s layered over the holly, it just looks worn and distressed … in a good way.

The original laces for this pair of skates were pretty worn out, so I removed them and added some gold ribbon instead.

If you want to check on any of my previous year’s painted skates you can find them here.

And as I mentioned in that previous post, I often struggle with the question of whether or not to paint items.  Sometimes it’s an easy decision, like with this particular pair of skates.  They weren’t anything special, and not even particularly vintage.

But then there are these two pairs of skates.

These came my way via one of Mr. Q’s coffee shop friends, and I think they are the most adorable skates I’ve ever seen.  I especially love that the lining of the little white pair is almost the same exact coral/pink of Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door paint.

Just in case you can’t judge the size when photographed on their own, here’s a shot showing the smallest pair next to some full sized (although still not nearly as big as my size 11 feet!) skates.

Clearly they start kids on ice skates pretty young around here.

But these have such an awesome vintage patina, so I decided not to paint them.  Instead I removed the laces and soaked them in some OxyClean to clean them up.  While they were soaking, I gave the skates a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.  That serves to both clean up the leather a bit, and to make it a bit more supple again.  It will also protect them from the elements a bit if they are hung up outside.

All of these items will be making their way into the holiday merch pile that I’m accumulating.  My local readers (Twin Cities, MN area) will have a couple of options for purchasing some of my stuff this year.  I will have some things at Reclaiming Beautiful, the shop where I sell on consignment in Stillwater.

In addition, my friend opK is letting me have a bit of space in her booth at the Stillwater Craft & Vendor Show at the Stillwater Armory on November 9.

However, if you see anything you are interested in prior to November 6, you can always email me at qisforquandie@gmail.com for more details to purchase it in advance.

Although I struggled a bit with several of the products I was using for these projects, I did end up getting lovely results.

Which item is your favorite?  Leave a comment and let me know.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products used in these makeovers!

the secret path armoire.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

Although I got sidetracked with the dining room set …

my original plan for the dollhouse interior makeover was to start with the guest room.  I thought this small room would be a good way to get my feet wet.

In its previous incarnation, this room was the ‘kid’s room’.  It was frilly, pink and baby blue.  It was all a bit much, and definitely not my style anymore.

I ordered a fabulous unfinished armoire from The Modern Dollhouse to get started (FYI:  if you are looking for this exact piece, I purchased it from them via Etsy.  I couldn’t find it on their own website).

I purposely ordered this armoire because I wanted to put one of the re.design with prima Vintage Labels II Middy Transfers on it.

One quick note about this transfer set.  The prima website describes the color as “soft, warm grey”, and you can see in the photo above that the color looks kind of like a pale reddish-brown in their photo.

But as you can see on this pumpkin that I decorated last year …

they are definitely more of a lavender.

But that’s perfect for this armoire.

To get started I painted it inside and out with one of Dixie Belle’s Cottage Collection colors called Secret Path.

This is definitely one of those ‘never say never’ moments for me.  When I first saw this color on the Dixie Belle website I thought nope, that color is not for me.  The website photos kinda make this color look like a sickly mauve (at least to me anyway).

Sorry Dixie Belle, but your photo just isn’t doing this color any favors.  But I think everyone struggles with getting the color right in photos.

I ended up ordering Secret Path anyway (albeit in the smallest size jar) and I’m so glad that I did because it is a much prettier color in real life.  It’s also the perfect match for the Vintage Labels II.

So, after painting the entire armoire in Secret Path, I went back over the exterior with two coats of Drop Cloth.  It’s a bit difficult to see, but I then sanded the edges of the armoire to distress it back to that base color.

Maybe that level of detail is overkill for dollhouse furniture, but I can’t really help myself.

After clearing away the sanding dust, I applied the transfer to the front of the armoire.

It was perfect!  How sweet is that?

Next up, I’m working on a bed to match.

So be sure to stay tuned for that.

But in the meantime, how do you like the armoire?  And what do you think of Secret Path?  I’m not much of a purple girl, but I do love it paired with that transfer!

under construction.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

Tackling my dollhouse renovation is definitely going to require learning some new skills.

One of the first things I’ve learned is to pay attention when ordering from vendors on Etsy, because they might just be in Sweden!

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it was just unexpected.

You see, the thing is, I had this clever idea that I would stage up a miniature room painting scene and then say that my dollhouse was ‘under construction’ while I was off on vacation.

I ordered a mini stepladder first.

That arrived very quickly.

But then I thought what I really needed to go with it was a can of paint, and maybe a paint tray and roller.  And I found just the thing on Etsy.

How adorable is that?

Now, I should have been clued in by the paint brand first.  If any of you have seen the Jeanne d’ Arc Living magazine, you may recognize the logo from their paint line.

So this is a Danish paint brand, and I did recognize it.  But it didn’t occur to me to question where it was coming from.

Next, I should have been clued in by the cost of the shipping, it was almost as much as the item itself.

But I still wasn’t paying attention.

It wasn’t until I started wondering why I hadn’t received it yet that I thought to check where it was coming from.

All of that being said, I did not get it in time for a blog post before I left town.  But even so, I ultimately received it pretty fast considering it came from Sweden.  I ordered it from Dear Josie Miniatures, in case you are wondering.  I would certainly order from her again, but next time I would make sure I wanted a few items and would order them all together to cut down on shipping costs per item.

Once I had everything on hand, I painted up the ladder.  I gave it a base coat of Dixie Belle’s Gravel Road, followed by two coats of Drop Cloth.  After sanding to distress the edges, I added a couple of tiny transfers next, some simple Tim Holtz numbers on the leg and another redesign with prima knob transfer on the top.

I also dressed up the paint can and roller by applying some Gravel Road to them.

The next skill I need to master is painting inside the lines on the dollhouse walls.

Seriously, have you ever seen such a sloppy paint job?  I’m definitely going to have to work on that.  I’m also going to have to figure out how in the world I’m going to get a brush inside that foyer (just beyond that arched opening) to paint the trim in there.  That’s going to be a tricky one.

And yet another skill I’ll be working on is getting good photos of the interior of the dollhouse.  I need to figure out the lighting, and the best f-stop and shutter speed.

I may not have gotten this post up before I left on vacation, but I guess it still applies.

The dollhouse is definitely going to be a work in progress for a while.  But it’s good to learn new things, and I’m quite excited about it.

So if any of you have some tips to share, be sure to leave a comment.  I’m all ears.

it was HOT.

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I’m back from two weeks out west visiting my mom and taking a side trip to Disneyland in California.

I can sum this trip up in one word … HOT.

They were experiencing above normal temps for the entire two weeks we were there.  The high was 99° or higher until our final day at my mom’s.  The hottest day was 106°.  Anaheim (a.k.a. Disneyland) temps were also well above normal in the upper 80’s to mid-90’s while we were there.  We were not expecting this kind of heat in October!

There were three distinct segments to this vacation.  For the first three days my sister, niece and I were at my mom’s.  These were the hottest three days, including that 106° day.  And for some crazy reason, we chose to head to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area for a picnic lunch one of those days.

Normally we would have done some hiking, but obviously it was too hot for that.  So we enjoyed the scenic drive and made a very quick pitstop at a sheltered picnic area to eat our sandwiches.  We certainly had a lovely view while we ate, but we definitely didn’t linger.

The rest of those days were spent in the pool at my mom’s townhouse complex.

Usually when I visit my mom I head over to her local Goodwill which is only a block away from her place.  This trip was no exception, however the only thing I purchased there were the pool noodles you see floating in the photo above.

You know, 106° isn’t so bad when you’re floating in the pool with a Lemon Drop martini.

My niece, sister and I headed off to Disneyland next.  I didn’t take many photos there, but I will share a couple that I took on one of my favorite attractions, the Storybook Land Canal Boats.

This particular attraction is one that they have in Disneyland (California), but not in Disney World (Florida).  So when I’m in Disneyland I make it a priority.

It’s also one of the original Disneyland attractions from 1955.  According to Wikipedia, Walt Disney was inspired to create this ride by a visit to Madurodam in the Netherlands.

Some of you may remember that I visited Madurodam last year, and I loved it!

The Disneyland attraction is a boat ride through Storybook Land with scenes from popular Disney movies like Pinocchio, Snow White and Alice in Wonderland in miniature along the banks of the canal.

You know I love miniatures of any kind, so obviously this is right up my alley.

I try to get a good look at the landscaping to get ideas for my own fairy garden.  It includes lots of miniature bonsai sort of trees that are kept small through pruning.

I definitely need to up my pruning game next year!

We had a great time in Disneyland just goofing off and having fun.

And enjoying a lemon and blue raspberry frozen concoction that turned our tongues green!

My niece had to return home to go back to work after Disneyland, but my sister (far right above) and I (middle) went back to our mom’s house for another week.

Unfortunately, mom’s townhome association doesn’t feel it’s worthwhile to keep the pool open for “the winter”, so the pool was closed at that point despite daytimes highs that were still over 100°.  Go figure.

We had to find other ways to keep ourselves occupied for this third segment of our vacation, so I opted to paint my mom’s headboard.

Now, I have to say, this is a case where the acorn did indeed fall really far from the tree.  My mom and I have very different taste when it comes to decorating.

You know how there those bloggers out there who say things like “I grew up visiting thrift shops with my mom”, or “my mom took me to flea markets as a kid”, well … that’s not me.  My mom prefers matched sets of furniture purchased new.  So I was a little surprised that she wanted me to paint her headboard.

She wanted ‘green’, but not dark green, and not mint green, and not lime green.  So I ended up choosing one of Dixie Belle’s Cottage Collection colors called Weeping Willow.

I didn’t want to get in trouble with the TSA people, so I had ordered a brand new unopened 16 oz. paint and a small 4 oz clear wax to pack in my suitcase.

Now remember, my mom’s taste is quite unlike my own.  Keeping that in mind, here is her headboard.

This is actually one half of the headboard that went with the king-sized bed she had when she lived in a much larger house.  She downsized everything when she turned 80, including her bed.  She still uses the matching dresser and nightstand, but she didn’t want those painted.

After cleaning the headboard, I applied two coats of the Weeping Willow.  As you can imagine, paint dries really quickly when it’s 85° (in the early morning) with about 10% humidity, so it was quick work to paint it.  However, I had to wait until the following morning to apply a coat of clear wax because the day was already heating up by the time I finished painting.  Dixie Belle recommends applying their wax when the temp is no higher than 85°.

Mom was very happy with how it turned out.

In addition to painting the headboard, my sister and I also visited the Clark County Museum, which is less than a mile away from my mom’s place.  I’m going to save that story for another post, so be sure to stay tuned for that one.

It was a bit disorienting to come back home to 50° and blustery!  Although this is typical October weather for us.  The low tonight is supposed to be below freezing, so it’s time to move my painting projects indoors, and start buttoning up the garden for winter.  I’ve got some fun mini projects to share later this week, and it’s also time to get cracking on some holiday items.  So be sure to stay tuned!

french country cottage style.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

I’ve decided on a design style for my dollhouse, French Country Cottage.  With it’s muted color palette of creamy white and warm earthy neutrals, it’s right up my alley.  I may also throw in a few pale French blues, and maybe even a hint of gold here and there.

Of course I’ll be using my favorite warm white, Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, throughout.  But I also plan to throw in some French Linen, Dried Sage, and Gravel Road.  Maybe a little Sawmill Gravy too.

I’d like to use Miss Mustard Seed’s Aviary for the blue, but I don’t have any of that on hand so I may just try to mix something custom.  We’ll see.

With my style choice in mind, I’ve completed my first mini furniture makeover.

I purchased this dining set from Hobby Lobby for a mere $9.99.

After doing just a little bit of gentle hand sanding around the edges of the chair backs to clean them up a bit, I gave the chairs and the base of the table a coat of Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage.

This is one of my favorite neutral shades from Dixie Belle.  It’s a warm greenish gray, and it always dries a little darker than I think it will.

While the base coat of Dried Sage was drying, I created a wash using Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth paint and some water.  I’m not sure of the precise ratios, maybe 75% water to 25% paint or so.  I then painted the upholstered seats that came with the set using that wash.

They were just a tad too white for my taste.

Once the fabric was dry, I taped off some grain sack lines and dried brushed them with the Dried Sage.  I didn’t get all fancy with measuring or anything, I just eye-balled them.  I painted the middle line first, then once dry, I taped off and painted the two outer lines.

Once that was dry I added the re-design with prima knob transfers from the French Maison set.  I followed that up with a light coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Before gluing the cushions onto the chairs, I gave the chairs a quick dry brush with the Drop Cloth paint to lighten them up a bit and add some depth.

I also added a dry brushed coat of Drop Cloth over the Dried Sage on the table base.

As for the table top, I went back to that watered down Drop Cloth and applied it as a wash by brushing it on, and then wiping most of it away with a rag before it dried.

I finished that off with a coat of clear wax as well.

Although I do think the table turned out quite nice, I’m not sure I want an oval table in the dining room of my dollhouse.  I also don’t think this table has the right ‘country’ feel.  So for that reason, I also purchased a 2nd dining room set at Hobby Lobby.

This one was only $7.99.  It came with the perfect farmhouse table,

but I don’t love the chairs.

But for less than $20 I could buy both sets, so I did.

I will likely find somewhere else to use those chairs, maybe in the kitchen.

In the meantime I’m going to paint up the farmhouse table following the same recipe I used on the oval table.  You’ll just have to stay tuned to find out which one I eventually use in the dining room.

As I’ve mentioned previously, this weekend my sister, niece and I are heading off to visit my mom.  We’re also throwing in a side trip to Disneyland in California.  I really thought we’d be safe going to Mom’s in early October, but last I checked, the high on Saturday is supposed to be 104°, I am not looking forward to that.  Fortunately the pool in her townhome complex will be open.

I decided to take a bit of a blog break and not schedule any posts while I’m gone.  But while I’m away, here’s a question for you.  Do you think there is a market for these hand-painted/styled dollhouse pieces?  They would be easier to ship most other items I paint.  What do you think?

Leave a comment and let me know, and then come back in a couple of weeks to see what I’m up to next!

omg, I love it.

Published on by Quandie23 Comments

I hope you all will enjoy seeing mini-furniture makeovers as much as the real thing, because I think there’s going to be a steady stream of them as I work on re-furnishing my dollhouse over the coming months.

Now that I’ve finished repainting the exterior, I’m ready to get cracking on the interior.

As I’m just getting started in the world of miniatures, I’m learning about it as I go.  I’m bound to make more than a few mistakes along the way.

There is one big change that has taken place since my dad and I furnished this dollhouse over 30 years ago.  There aren’t any brick and mortar shops dedicated to dollhouses anymore.  At least not any that I can find near me (if you locals know of any, please leave a comment).  Hobby Lobby has a small selection of dollhouse materials (more on that in a minute), but I didn’t find anything at Michaels.

So it looks like online shopping is going to be my main go-to.

I started out making a few purchases on Etsy, but what I like to do is find a shop on Etsy, and then go check out the shop’s independent website (if they have one).  I’d rather order directly from the shop, saving them the Etsy commission.

That’s how I found Miniature Crush, a vendor that ships out of Savage, MN.  I’ve ordered from her twice now and both times received my order really quickly.  I know I’m going to be ordering from her again.

One thing that I learned while scouring Etsy is that there are some very inspirational creators out there working in miniature.  That’s how I came across Cinderella Moments.

Although she doesn’t have a lot of stuff for sale on Etsy, she has some very interesting looking tutorials on her blog such as how to make that gorgeous day bed in the photo above.

But another thing I noticed while looking through her blog is that she often takes basic unfinished dollhouse furniture and embellishes it.  For example, I’m betting that this table and chairs …

started out looking like this …

I just purchased this set at Hobby Lobby for $9.99.

That was a bit of a eureka moment for me, realizing that I can find great raw materials fairly cheap, and then add my own flavor.  This set even came with some upholstered cushions for the seats.

While I’m probably never going to get quite as frou-frou as Cinderella Moments does, I did whip up a quick prototype for my dining chairs.

And omg!  I love it!

I haven’t yet glued down the cushion in that photo, so ignore how it looks a bit floppy.

But seriously, how fun is that?

Now I just need to finish the other three chairs and paint the table.  Stay tuned because later in the week I’ll share the completed set, and all of the details.

While I was at Hobby Lobby, I also picked up some unfinished patio furniture.

As well as a Welsh cupboard.

I also have a bed and an armoire on the way.

So I have lots of furniture painting lined up to keep me busy over the winter.

I hope you’ll enjoy seeing these makeovers as much as I enjoy doing them!

saving the rex begonias.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

Good morning from the garden.

This year the Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a first frost date of October 10 for us in the Twin Cities.  It seems a bit hard to believe since it has been in the mid-80’s and humid for the last two weeks.  But I’m heading out to California, and then Vegas, next week and I won’t be back until after the 10th.  So, I decided I’d better pot up my rex begonias and bring them in the house just to be on the safe side.

In case you don’t remember, I planted two really gorgeous rex begonias in my front window box this year.

They did amazingly well in there.

In fact, this has been one of my favorite combination of plants (here’s my post about what all I planted out there this year).

Here’s how everything looked when first planted it in May.

Not terribly exciting, I know.

But here’s the look when it filled out.

As expected, the Blackie sweet potato vine grew like mad.

The white caladium took a while to take off, but once we got some hot and humid weather it filled out nicely.

The Charmed Wine oxalis ended up being overtaken a bit, and the white New Guinea impatiens were almost totally crowded out in the end.

But overall I was very happy with the 2024 window box.

That brings me back to saving those begonias.

There are several different options for overwintering a rex begonia.  First, you can let them die back after the first frost, clean the soil off the tuber, and then store it in a warm dry location over the winter.  I have tried this method twice with caladium and failed miserably both times.

Another option would be to propagate new plants from leaf cuttings, and then nurture those over the winter in pots.  They would be a more manageable size if space is limited in your windowsill.

An even simpler method is to cut a stem off the plant, pop it into a jar of water, keep the water topped up and wait for it to grow some healthy roots.  Then pot that up for the windowsill.

My original plan was to just pot them up and try to keep them alive as houseplants over the winter, but as I was re-potting them I did a little pruning and then decided to put some of those stems in water too.

I admit I’m a little nervous about the houseplant thing after reading this advice from Proven Winners:

“Rex Begonias are a bit more of a challenge for indoor growing, but with a high humidity level can be gorgeous with bright filtered light. These plants like constant moderate moisture, high humidity, and regular fertilization. They do not go dormant, so never allow them to dry out. They are very sensitive to dry roots and quickly decline if not cared for.”

My house is definitely not humid in winter, so I’m going to have to work on that.  My plan is to place them in low tray filled with pebbles and water, sometimes called a humidity tray.

But first I had to pull them out of the window box and pot them up.

And let me tell you, I really had a tough time convincing myself to pull them out.  They looked so good, I hated to mess that up.

I was surprised to find that neither of them had established very deep roots, so I googled it and sure enough rex begonias have shallow roots that prefer to spread outward rather than down.  Which means I have provided the wrong kind of pot for them.  I should have put them in large shallow pots, rather than deep pots.

Well, strike one.

But I got them potted up and for now they look pretty good.

The one on the left is a tad droopy so far, but the one on the right is standing up perfectly.

We’ll see how long that lasts.

While I was at it, I also decided to re-pot the succulents that were in my newspaper roller for winter.

I overwintered succulents in this container last year and it was a bit of a hassle because I couldn’t water it without making a mess.  Plus it took up a lot of valuable real estate on my window sill.  I have to fit those rex begonias in that spot this year too.

I have to admit that I don’t usually get great results overwintering plants.  I usually do really well until around January, and then I get tired of taking care of them.  I’ve tried overwintering pelargonium (a.k.a. annual geraniums), scented geraniums, oxalis and those succulents last year, all with very limited (or no) success.

I did do well with the streptocarpus last year …

only to kill off all but two of them this summer when we had so much rain.

To be honest, I’m not really sure it’s worth the effort.  It’s far easier to just buy new plants in the spring.  But I’ll give it a shot with these rex begonias and see what happens.

Now, how about you?  Are you planning to try and overwinter any plants this year?  Or do you have experience with overwintering things in years past?  Leave a comment and let me know.

farm fresh pumpkins?

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not really into Halloween/Fall decorating.  Unless you count a whisk broom wreath.

One other notable exception is the fairy garden.  I do like to dress that up for the season with a few tombstones and a skeleton rising up from the ground.

Those fairies are a bit ghoulish!

I like to add a few fall touches to the rest of the garden as well with a few mums and ornamental kale here and there, and of course there is my Farmers Market sign.

I consider that fall decor as well.  If you’ve followed me for a while you may remember that this sign is two-sided.  The other side is painted in a more springy/summery green (Dixie Belle’s Kudzu) and has a Flower Market stencil.

I also like to come up with some sort of painted pumpkins every now and then too.

Last year I mostly went neutral.

I painted them in Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage and Sawmill Gravy.  I finished some of the stems using DB’s Gilding Wax, and then added various transfers to them.

I did a few smaller pumpkins using re.design with prima’s Middy label transfers in some very non-traditional fall colors too.

I did something similar back in 2020 with neutral colors and transfers.

I tried my hand at some toile pumpkins back in 2018.

But I found it a bit tricky to apply the toile transfers so I ended up only creating one before discarding that idea.

I ended up selling all of my pumpkins last year except this one …

Perhaps that lovely Dixie Belle Sea Glass color just isn’t ‘fall’ enough for most people.

So I decided to schedule that one for a makeover, and I also pulled out a few other faux pumpkins that were in my stash.

This year I’ve decided to add a little patina to the pumpkins using Dixie Belle Patina Paint.

I started by giving all of them a base coat of Dixie Belle’s Caviar.  You can use any chalk paint as your base coat, or you can use the ‘official’ primer from the Patina Paint line.  I like to use black paint because I find it easiest to then cover up with the Iron patina paint, which is the paint I added next.

It’s important to note that I stipple the Iron paint on with a pouncing motion.  If you brush it on you will inevitably get brush marks, which will then collect the activating spray.  And then they look pretty obvious.

So, I stipple on a first coat of Iron paint and let it dry thoroughly.  Then I stipple on a fresh coat.  Before it had a chance to dry, I also stippled a bit of the Bronze patina paint around the pumpkin stems.  Then I sprayed it all with the Green patina spray while the paint was still wet.

Once the spray dried, I very lightly dry brushed a little more of the Bronze paint on the stems and around the pumpkin just a bit.

Seriously, how cool are these pumpkins?  I love the way they turned out!

One note here.  I painted and sprayed these in the morning, and took these photos that same evening.  Usually the rusty patina (Iron paint and green spray) takes several days to fully appear.  It also continues to develop more over time, especially if the item is out in the elements (you can learn more about that here).

Since I was on a bit of a roll with the fall decor, I decided to do a quick suitcase stencil job too.

This vintage suitcase was one that I had in my occasional sale, but no one snatched it up.  Likely because it has a water stain on the front edge.

But I thought it made the perfect canvas for the Farm Fresh stencil from Dixie Belle, and displaying it standing up rather than in a stack makes that water stain less ‘in your face’.

I stenciled it using Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean paint and their Best Dang Brush which is my favorite brush for larger stencils.

Now this is my kind of fall decor.

Although ‘farm fresh’ might not be the best description of my patinaed pumpkins, what do you think?  And how would you display this vintage suitcase?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing all of their products used in these fall makeovers.