the most beautiful market of Amsterdam.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

While we were in Amsterdam last month we checked out what is billed as ‘the most beautiful market of Amsterdam‘, the Albert Cuyp Markt.

I can’t really vouch for whether or not it is the most beautiful in Amsterdam because we didn’t go to any other markets.  But I can definitely say that some of the booths were very pretty.

Especially the ones filled with flowers.

I thought their prices were a bit better than ours.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen two bunches of sunflowers for only $5.30 (or 5€) at my local farmer’s market, have you?

Or bunches of zinnias for just over $4.

They had a lot more than just flowers though.

They also had produce …

And cheese.

There were some seafood/fish booths as well, but I had to walk past those quickly wihtout snapping a photo because the smell is a bit much for me!

There were quite a number of food booths too.  We tried a few of the local specialties including the famous stroopwafel, which was delicious.  I’m not a fish eater, but Mr. Q also enjoyed an amazing fish and chips.

My sister and I had to try the poffertjes …

These were little tiny pancakes with powdered sugar on them.  A bit messy, but quite yummy.

There was all kinds of other merchandise for sale as well; clothing, fabric, art, handmade soaps, all the usual suspects at a market like this.

I even found one booth selling vintage items.

And you’ll never guess what they had!

A Dutch toolbox!  Can you believe it?

I seriously considered purchasing it.  It was 45€, or about $48, and I would have splurged for it.  However, it was rather heavy and I knew I was already close to the weight limit on my suitcase.

Plus, we were on foot and we still had a bit more walking to do that day.  I didn’t want to lug a toolbox around with me.

After we left the market, we ended up walking to the Holocaust Memorial.

Each of those bricks has the name of one of the more than 102,000 Dutch victims of the holocaust.  The brick is engraved with the victims name, date of birth and date of death (if known).  We saw everything from victims in their 90’s to small babies.  How terribly sad.

After that somber experience, we headed to a brewery, Brouwerij ‘t IJ.   The tasting room is located in an old windmill.

Unfortunately, I’m not a beer drinker, and the beer here did not change my mind about that.

But it was fun to stop in and check the place out.

Before I let you go today, I just have to share a fun little side story.  The woman who snapped that group photo above for us was there by herself.  Shortly after taking the photo for us, another woman walked around the corner and saw her and her jaw dropped.  That was followed by a bunch of ‘oh my god’s!’ from both of them.  Turned out that they knew each other from the U.S. from years ago, both were on vacation in Amsterdam, and neither knew the other was there too.

What are the chances you would run into someone you know at a brewery in Amsterdam?  The world really is a small place sometimes.

Have you ever run into someone you know while on vacation?  Leave a comment and tell me all about it.

need some holiday inspiration?

Published on by Quandie61 Comments

As I think I may have mentioned, my sister and I are off visiting our mom this week (she lives just outside Las Vegas).  Mom’s birthday is on Halloween!  So we thought it would be nice to fly out and spend her birthday with her.

Initially we were just going to hang out at her house, but then we decided to take a road trip to Zion National Park.

It’s only a little over two hours away by car and we’ve never been.  So why not?

While I’m off enjoying some hiking in Zion, and soaking up some sunshine in Vegas, it is rapidly moving from fall into winter back home.  My biggest complaint about fall is that it’s always too short.  The forecast this week at home calls for highs in the 30’s, and the possibility of snow on Tuesday.  Ahhhh, trick or treating in the snow, how fun.

Since fall is over and winter is here, I thought you all might appreciate a little inspiration to kick off your holiday crafting season.

So, let me direct you to the right hand side of the page (if you’re reading this on a computer screen) just below the search box, but above the thumbnail photos, you’ll find the word ‘sorted.’ with a box below it where you can select a category.  Scroll through to ‘happy holidays.’ and click on it.

This will bring up all of my holiday related posts.

You may have to skip one or two posts about painted pumpkins, or a Valentine’s Day toolbox, but for the most part this category is filled with Christmas decor ideas.

Just start scrolling to find inspiration for stenciling Christmas stockings.

Or making your own Christmas gift wrap, either with paint and stencils …

or with stamps …

You can get inspired to dress up a pair of ice skates …

and you’ll find lots of ideas for stenciling a sled.

Or stenciling a wooden box for your Christmas tree.

You could always choose to add an I.O.D. paint inlay to your crate instead.

I’ve got a few ideas for adding a winter vignette to a lantern.

And loads of ideas for turning cast off cupboard doors (find some at your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore) into pegboard signs.

And of course, you could always turn a headboard or foot board into Christmas decor as well.

And don’t forget those kid sized chairs!

They are perfect for the addition of a stencil, transfer or paint inlay!

As are little stools.

It’s always fun to dress up an old kid sized snow shovel too.

Now, just to help you out a bit and encourage you to get in the mood for Christmas, I thought I’d give away some of my favorite paint.  Almost every painted project I’ve shown here was painted in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, Caviar, Honky Tonk Red and/or Evergreen.

So here’s a chance for one lucky winner to try out all four colors!  I’m also including the Country Living Christmas Spectacular which has 136 ideas for a festive season.  OK, the truth is I purchased this magazine for myself only to find out that all of the articles inside were also included in their Christmas at Home book, which I also have.  So I’m passing the magazine on as part of this giveaway.  It really does have some great ideas inside though!

The rules for today’s giveaway:  Simply leave a comment on this blog post (and please forgive me if I don’t respond while I’m out of town, but know that I read and appreciate all of them).

Your comment must be left on this blog post, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, or follow my Facebook or Instagram accounts, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, November 5, 2023 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $160, if the prize is not claimed by Friday, November 10, 2023 another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

the other half.

Published on by Quandie16 Comments

I’ve been working on refining my non-collection of ironstone lately.

I have a fair number of pieces, and my Welsh cupboard was getting rather full.

I went through my stash and pulled out some pieces that could go.  While I was pricing them up for the shop, I thought maybe it would be nice to have a way for them to easily display them and potentially move them around if needed without too much effort.

So I went out to the carriage house to see what I had that might work and I came across this wooden caddy.

As you can see, it was nothing special ‘as is’.  Just something a handyman whipped up out of plywood, probably to hold tools of some kind.

After giving it a good cleaning, I decided to paint it in Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean.

I’d recently been watching a YouTube video where the creator was using this color and called it a ‘warm black’.  Hmmmm.  I’d never thought of it that way.  To me it’s always been a dark chocolate brown.

As you can see, my jar of Coffee Bean is well used.  But not being a huge fan of brown, I’ve only ever used it as a base coat underneath another color or as the dark shadow color for a stencil.  But after hearing it called a warm black, I’m seeing this color with new eyes.  Maybe it does deserve its moment in the sun.  So I pulled it out and added just one quick coat to the caddy.

I can certainly see where someone might call this color a warm black.

You might just start seeing me use a bit more Coffee Bean now.

Once the paint was dry, I pulled out that 2nd sheet from the Harvest Hues transfer that I used on the tackle box I shared on Monday.  Remember?  It’s the one that I damaged by allowing it to roll up on itself.  But luckily, the undamaged portion was just long enough to fit the side of this caddy.

Plus the transfer was tall enough that I could cut it in half lengthwise and put it on both sides.

I also had a few random pieces that could wrap around the corners.

After adding the transfer, I sanded the edges of the caddy to distress them and then used Dixie Belle’s Easy Peasy spray wax to seal everything in.

All that was left was to fill it up with ironstone.

I thought this pretty covered casserole with its wheat design was especially appropriate for fall.

The caddy itself is for sale, as is all of the ironstone.  I brought it all in to Reclaiming Beautiful on Wednesday.  So if you’re in need of a few more ironstone pieces or a warm black wood caddy, and you’re a local, stop in to the shop this weekend!

a fall hiking trip.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

I thought I’d take a break from posting about our Amsterdam/Norway trip and share some gorgeous fall photos with you guys today instead.

Last weekend my sister, niece and I visited Forestville State Park way down in the southeast part of the state, almost to the Iowa border.

Fall colors were pretty much at their peak, and it was going to be a lovely, sunny day with a high near 60°.  Perfect for a little hiking.

This state park contains the restored 19th century village of Forestville.  The Minnesota Historical Society operates it as a historic site.

During the summer the buildings are open with staff dressed as historic figures, but this summer they had a limited schedule due to some bridge construction taking place.  We were still able to wander around and see things from the outside though, such as this 1897 wagon/carriage barn.

Normally this next building is the visitor center, but it wasn’t open while we were there.

The Foster and Meighen families opened the first general store here in 1853 and the town grew from there to include a blacksmith shop, a cabinet shop, saw mills, farms, stores, grist mills, and multiple hotels.  However, when the railroad decided to bypass Forestville in 1868 the town began its decline.  By 1902 the town’s post office closed and Forestville officially ceased to exist.

The Meighen family’s home was attached to the brick general store.

This next building wasn’t shown on the visitor guide, but it presented such a pretty picture that I had to include it here.

After checking out the historic town, we decided to hike up to the overlook.

There was one downside to hiking in this park.  It contains an equestrian campground, so most of the trails are shared between horses and people.

Unfortunately, that meant that we spent a good deal of time on the trail looking down to avoid things like this …

My niece was driving that day and she threatened to not let us back in her car if we stepped in it.

But that didn’t stop us from enjoying the gorgeous scenery.

The fall colors were spectacular.

And the hike up to the overlook was totally worth it.

It’s hard to make it out, but you can just barely see the bridge that was at the starting point of our hike in this next photo …

It looks pretty daunting, and although the hike was uphill all the way to the overlook, it was otherwise an easy hike on a gravel trail.  We didn’t have to do any rock scrambling, and aside from avoiding those road apples, we didn’t have to watch our footing for any other obstacles.

We took a minute to enjoy the view at the top and snap a quick selfie before heading back to the car.

I totally recommend a visit to Forestville State Park if you’re local.  It is about a two hour drive from the Twin Cities, but certainly worth it.  I think it would be even more fun to go when you can see inside the historic buildings, so maybe we’ll have to plan another trip to Forestville next year!

leaning in to fall.

Published on by Quandie25 Comments

Today I’m switching it up just a little.  OK, OK, not by much.  Instead of a toolbox, today’s project is a tackle box.  I know I’ve done a lot of toolboxes/tackleboxes/lockboxes lately, but for whatever reason, those seem to be coming my way these days.

Not only is this one a tackle box, but it’s a double decker tackle box.

Or to be precise, it was a tackle box.  There was no way I was going to mess around with painting those trays though.  So I had my handyman Ken drill out the hinges and take them out (they are already out in that photo above, I’ve just placed them on top for the photo).

Once that was done I gave this one a good clean, and then I sanded the rusty spots with some 220 grit sandpaper.  Next I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S.  I really wanted to try and prevent that rust from coming back through my paint.

When I initially began to work on this one, I wanted to do something using autumnal colors.  I’m stepping a little bit outside of my comfort zone here.  I don’t typically like browns, oranges, or yellows.  But I wanted to lean in to fall (fall the noun, not the verb, get it?).  You know, fully embrace the season.

That being said, I didn’t have any fall themed transfers on hand.  Conveniently, at that very moment, re.design with prima came out with a new release that includes a transfer called Harvest Hues.

It looked perfect for my needs, so I ordered it.

While waiting for my transfer to arrive in the mail, I painted the inside of the tackle box in Dixie Belle’s Mojave.

Whenever I see this color I automatically think ‘Harvest Gold‘.  If you were around in the 70’s, you know what I’m talking about.

Next I painted the outside of the box in DB’s Drop Cloth and waited for my transfer to arrive.

I was so excited when it came, but when I pulled it out of the tube I was startled to find that it came in two long strips.  I’ve gotten so used to using both I.O.D. and Dixie Belle transfers that come on smaller sheets.  I was a little flustered about how to manipulate the sheets to fit my tackle box.

Then tragedy struck when one of the sheets rolled up on itself without the backing paper while I was handling it.  Argh!  Has that ever happened to you?  That basically ruined about half of one strip as it stuck to itself.  Thank goodness I wasn’t planning to use the complete design on a bigger piece, that would have been a real bummer.  I really appreciate that the I.O.D. transfers now come in flat packaging, thus eliminating the whole rolling problem.

Anyway, that left me with trying to figure out how to make the remaining long strip work for my tackle box.  It also left me somewhat frustrated, so I set the whole thing aside for a couple of days.

I then realized that autumn was getting away from me, and if I didn’t get this one done soon I was going to miss the entire season.

Once I started working with the transfer, I realized it wasn’t much harder to fit it to the box.  I just had to play around with placement a bit, and do a little creative trimming here and there.

Once I had the Harvest Hues in place, I added some bits of wording from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer in the blank spots on the top (sadly, this transfer is retired and getting difficult to find) …

I also added some Label Ephemera to the front …

The Harvest Hues transfer is wrapped around one side quite a bit.

But on the other side I added the color chart from the end of the transfer.

Those dots were transferrable, so I thought, why not?

In the end, I think it turned out nicely.  And I was able to stage my photos outside and capture some of those beautiful fall colors in the garden before they are gone!

How about you?  Are you a fan of harvest hues?  Or do you tend to lean more towards summer pinks or corals?  Then again, how about jewel tones?  Or maybe deep, dark navy?  Leave a comment and let me know.

In the meanwhile, this harvest hues toolbox is for sale.  Be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying their products used for this project.

the fall garden.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

This morning I thought I’d take you around for a little fall tour of my garden.

Even though I know my perennials are on the decline and will soon be dying back to the ground, I still think this is one of the most beautiful times of the year in the garden.

Fall can be pretty fleeting here in Minnesota, so you have to be sure to get out and appreciate it while it lasts.  In the blink of an eye the leaves will fall and then everything will be covered in a blanket of snow.

My Vanilla Strawberry hydrangea and Tiger Eye sumac both provide glorious color in the fall.

If you are looking for a shrub to plant for fall color, the Tiger Eye is a fantastic choice.

Of course, paniculata hydrangeas are also a great choice for providing fall color.

The Vanilla Strawberry turn a deep pink, while the Limelights are a little more subtle, but still pretty.

But don’t forget that it isn’t just trees and shrubs that provide good fall color.  I have some perennials that develop fall color too, including the Oenothera biennis, or the common evening-primrose.

The foliage turns a lovely red for fall.  My friend Jodie gave me a chunk of this plant years ago and it has taken off in my garden.  It can be considered invasive, but I find it easy to pull it out when it pops up where I don’t want it.  In the summer it provides a swath of cheerful yellow blooms that are quite pretty.

Another source of good fall color from a perennial that may surprise you is the hosta.

They don’t all turn color for fall, but I recommend searching out one of the varieties that does and putting a couple in your garden for fall.

Unfortunately, that being said, I can’t find a single source online that lists which hostas provide good fall color.  If you can find a list, or you know of a specific hosta with good fall color, please leave a comment and let us all know.

A general rule of thumb for the hostas in my garden is that the ones that aren’t variegated seem to get the most vibrant color in fall.

I had initially not planned on doing a fall display in my front window box.  I’m heading off to visit my mom in another week and by the time I come home from that, it will nearly be time to do a winter arrangement.

But then I stopped off at Home Depot and I couldn’t resist the mums and some huge ornamental kale.

The summer annuals in the front window box were really looking tired, so I was itching to pull them out.

There was one exception, and that’s the fuchsias that I planted on either end.

They were still looking so good I just couldn’t bear pulling them out yet.

So I based my color scheme on keeping them in place, and I’m rather happy with how that turned out even though these aren’t your typical fall colors.

I used some purple mums, and a gorgeous deep purple ornamental kale called Scarletbor.

That color also plays off the color of the Northern Exposure heuchera that I have in the ground just below the window box.

I filled in the background with flowers cut from my various hydrangea bushes, and I pulled some ivy out of my other summer planters to use in the window box.  The ivy will handle a bit of cold, and I recently read that the fuchsias can also tolerate temps in the 30’s.  So I think these will do OK for the next month or so.

I flipped my Flower Market sign back over to the Farmers Market side for fall too.

The green is a little more muted on this side, and somehow Farmers Market always says fall to me.

We’ve put away the patio dining set for winter, but we opted to keep the Adirondack chairs out until the snow flies.

It’s nice to have a spot to sit and enjoy our morning coffee while we still can.

I have one last spot in the fall garden to share with you this morning …

The fairy garden is decked out for Halloween.

OK, I hope you enjoyed this fall tour of my garden.  Now be sure to get out and enjoy those fall colors in your garden this morning!

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!

windmills and cheesy photo ops.

Published on by Quandie9 Comments

We took a 2nd day trip from Amsterdam while we were there last month, but this one was a little closer than Madurodam was.  Once again, we took the train, but this time to a small town called Zaandam.

Let’s start out by admiring the central train station in Amsterdam.

It’s pretty spectacular, isn’t it?

It was built in 1889 and features a cast iron platform roof.

The train from Amsterdam to Zaandam takes just under 15 minutes.  Once you arrive in Zaandam, it’s just a short walk through town and then across the bridge over the river Zaan to Zaanse Schans.

I was delighted to discover that the typical historic color for houses in the Netherlands was green, and there were plenty of green houses lining the bank of the river.

And on the opposite side of the river were the windmills we’d come to see.

Zaanse Schans is a sort of open air museum filled with classic Dutch wooden houses, windmills, barns and shops.

It’s not strictly a museum though, because people actually live in some of the houses.

It is incredibly charming, but also quite touristy.

Several bus loads of tourists arrived shortly after we did, but that didn’t spoil the ambiance for me.

We still found quiet spots to enjoy.

Maybe because most of the tourists were in the cheese shop scarfing down the free samples.

My sister is always game to pose for a cheesy photo.

We’d picked this trip mainly because we wanted to see the windmills.

You can’t really get any more Dutch than a windmill, can you?

But actually, we really enjoyed visiting the clog factory and learning all about how wooden shoes were made.

And we enjoyed checking out the Albert Heijn Museum.

Albert Heijn is a chain of supermarkets in the Netherlands that began in 1887.  This little museum is set up to look like a small grocers from that time frame.

My sister is also one of those people who loves a good grocery store, and we always have to check out the local grocery shops when we travel.  We also have been known to pop into a grocery store and put together a picnic dinner rather than dining in a restaurant, so we did check out a couple of other Albert Heijn stores during our stay in Amsterdam.  So it was interesting to learn about their beginnings.

However, I don’t think it will surprise you to learn that my favorite spot in Zaanse Schans was a lovely little antique shop.

The Het Jagershuis is located in the oldest house in Zaanse Schans, built in 1623.

It’s easy to see why their courtyard drew me in.

If only I could have thought of some way to get one of those concrete garden ornaments home.

I did manage to find a souvenir there that would fit in my suitcase though.

It’s a hand-painted antique Dutch ice skate!

I’m sure the average Dutch citizen would think it’s a cheesy souvenir, but I love it.

Can you imagine actually strapping skates like that on over your boots and heading out on the ice?  I’d likely break an ankle.

The skate was only 21€, and I thought that was a total bargain.  I’ll definitely use it as Christmas decor, maybe hanging it from a wreath or sled.

We really enjoyed our day at Zaanse Schans, despite how touristy it was.  It may have helped that it was warm and sunny, it was one of the few days on our trip where it didn’t rain at all.  It was definitely worth the short train ride to get there!

the norske toolbox.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

When we were in Norway last month I was determined to find a set of 5 small Norwegian flags to bring home as a souvenir.  Yeah, I know, maybe not your typical souvenir.  But I have this vintage flag holder and although I have U.S. flags for it, I was thinking it might be fun to fly the Norwegian flag for a while.

Especially since nnK (my neighbor across the street) flies the Swedish flag!

I initially thought I might have to really hunt around for those flags in Norway, but no.  They were everywhere.  Nearly every souvenir shop we visited had them, and they had them in various sizes too.

So now I have them hanging on the carriage house and I love them.

Fast forward to a week or so ago when I found this red toolbox at a garage sale.

I was heading out to my workshop with it, and as I passed those flags I thought … hmmmm … the Norwegian flag would be perfect on the toolbox.

After all, I’ve done a few union jack pieces …

So why not the Norwegian flag?

So I cleaned up the toolbox and then gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Honky Tonk Red inside and out.  You’ll note that I skipped the B.O.S.S. step this time around.  This toolbox did not have any rust, and it also didn’t seem to have any greasy residue from anything.  So I thought I’d be O.K. skipping the B.O.S.S.

I let the paint dry overnight, and then I taped off the white stripes and painted those with Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I taped some more and then added the dark blue stripes using In the Navy.

Once I had the flag design in place I decided that it needed just a little something more.

So I decided to add a few roses.

The white roses are from the I.O.D. Brocante transfer, and the red roses are from their Redoute II transfer.

I wrapped them up and over the top …

And also around the side.

You may be wondering what roses have to do with the Norwegian flag.  Well, nothing really.  I just thought they looked nice together.  Plus, judging by the amount of rose hips I saw while visiting Norway, I’d say they grow plenty of roses there.

So it’s not entirely odd to have added roses to their flag.

I staged the toolbox with some old photos of my Norwegian ancestors.

The wedding photo in the front is my great grandfather who emigrated from Norway as a young man.  In the back row is my grandmother’s confirmation photo, then her wedding to my grandfather, and then there is this photo from 1909 …

My grandmother is the 2nd from the left in the front row.  I thought this photo was particularly relevant because several of the kids are holding Norwegian flags.  The back of the photo dates it to May 17, 1909.  May 17th is Norway’s Constitution Day, so they must have been celebrating that.  I have no idea why there are only men and children in the photo.  Where are all the women?  Probably in the kitchen making Kvæfjordkake or something.

By the way, a little sidebar, I did try Norway’s official national cake, Kvæfjordkake, while I was in Kristiansand …

And it was absolutely delicious.  Have you ever had it?

Anyway, I totally love how the Norske toolbox turned out.

I am going to attempt to sell it.  I’m banking on the belief that there are a lot of locals in Minnesota with Norwegian ancestry who just might want a Norwegian flag toolbox.

Maybe?

Well, I guess I’ll find out.  And if it doesn’t sell, well then, maybe it was meant to be mine.

If interested, be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

tulipmania.

Published on by Quandie1 Comment

Good morning from the garden!

While in the Netherlands last month, Mr. Q and I visited the Amsterdam Tulip Museum.

Since it wasn’t tulip season, I figured this was probably about as close as I was going to get to seeing any tulips while we were in Holland.

They did force some tulips to dress up the sidewalk …

but these are way out of season.  They also looked pretty sad.  It was an unseasonably warm day for Amsterdam, and I don’t think these tulips were enjoying the weather.  But I really appreciate that the museum went to the effort of providing blooming tulips for their guests.

The museum is fairly small and is located in a former canal house.  There are six rooms that explain the history of tulips starting with an exhibit on tulips in the wild.  Did you know that the tulip is not native to Holland?  It actually comes from the Himalaya Mountains in central Asia.

Room two explains that it was the sultans of the Ottoman Empire who first started collecting and displaying tulips in their palaces.

In the third room you’ll find out that tulips came to Holland around 1600.  During this period Dutch trade was flourishing and Holland was one of the richest countries in Europe.  Traders brought tulips back from their travels.

I’m rather fascinated by the story of Tulipmania that you can learn about in room 4.  In the mid-1600’s speculation drove the prices for tulips to ridiculous levels.  Supposedly at one point a rare tulip bulb sold for what would today be over 1 million dollars (check out this article at bbc.com to read more about it).

I was also interested to learn about broken tulips.  A broken tulip is one of the ones with a striped or flame-like coloration, like this …

That condition is actually caused by a virus infecting the bulb.  You can read more about broken tulips on the Tulip Museum website here.

Rooms 5 and 6 of the museum focus on commercial production of tulips and tulips today.  Did you know that tulip farmers cut the flowers off their tulips as soon as they are in full bloom?

They want to direct all of the plant’s energy into creating big, healthy bulbs.

I’m not sure I could do that job!

They had a fantastic selection of tulip bulbs on sale in the gift shop and it was fun to see the different varieties available.

They had the Green Mile tulip, which apparently is a fairly new introduction.

I’m not sure this one would be my cup of tea though.

However, the U.S. limits which bulbs can be brought back into the country.  So I couldn’t have purchased these bulbs and brought them home anyway.  They did have a small selection of bulbs that were approved to bring back to the U.S., but there were only 3 or 4 basic varieties.

But that’s OK, I had already placed an order for my fall bulbs from Longfield Gardens earlier this summer.  And in fact, they were delivered while I was in Amsterdam.

I’m just waiting for the first frost before getting them in the ground.

This year I ordered more of the Darwin Hybrid Pink Impression tulips that I planted last year.  Even though I had to battle the deer to keep them from dining on my tulips, these were so pretty last year that I wanted more.

I also purchased some Double Sherborne Narcissus.

The benefit of daffodils is that deer don’t like to eat them.  They also tend to multiply over time, while not all tulips will do so.

Finally, I also ordered a bulb that is totally new to me, Leucojum Gravetye Giant.

I’ve read that they look like a giant lily of the valley, and also that they are deer resistant.

They are also another bulb that naturalizes (or spreads) easily.  They will grow in sun to part shade, and zones 3 to 9, so they should be hardy enough for my zone 4b garden.  I’m really looking forward to seeing how these perform for me.

How about you?  Are you putting in any new bulbs this fall?  Leave a comment and let me know.