baked fresh every day.

I think ‘never say never’ should really be my motto.  I often think certain products just aren’t going to work for me, or I dislike certain styles, and then given a little time, they grow on me.

I have to say, I still wouldn’t be likely to purchase the I.O.D. Noel paint inlay again, but I did find another project to use it on.

I purchased this bread box at a garage sale last year …

I’d kind of forgotten about it.  But I came across it recently while digging for some leaf bags out in the carriage house.  I thought it might just be the perfect size for the gingerbread bakery portion of the paint inlay.

So I painted it up in Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.  Then I cut up the paint inlay to arrange it on the front of the breadbox.

I applied it using my normal process, you can find the step by step instructions in this post.

I ended up eliminating the image of the gingerbread house itself, it was a bit too cartoonish for my taste.  So I just used the wording on the door of the breadbox.  Then I added the section of greenery and orange slices to the top and bottom.

The image of the greenery on the bottom of the box is the 2nd use of that image.  It’s hard to see in my photos, but it is slightly more faded than the first use.

But certainly I easily got a 2nd use out of it.

One the inlay was dry, I sprayed those areas with a matte spray sealer before attempting to sand the edges to distress.  I recommend doing that as the paint from the inlay easily wipes away otherwise.

One thing to keep in mind with the paint inlays is that they do add a bit of texture to your piece.  If you look closely at this next picture you can see what I mean.  I’m referring to those creases in the paint.

Since you’re pressing the paper into fresh paint, it’s going to leave an impression.  I used a brayer to get this one as flat as possible.  If you don’t like that look, you may not like using the paint inlays.

In case you’re wondering, this door on this breadbox is hinged at the bottom and opens up like this …

In the end, I think this one turned out pretty fab.

But now I’m hungry and I haven’t had breakfast yet so I’m going to go eat my props!

The breadbox is for sale locally, so be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying the paint used for this project.

grain sack stockings.

I recently did some searching on Etsy for Christmas stockings made out of authentic grain sacks.  There are some fabulous examples out there, that’s for sure.  The authentic ones seem to range in price from $50 to $100 or more each.  I don’t doubt that they are worth every penny.

But if you want a similar look at a more affordable price point, I suggest making your own with drop cloth fabric and paint.

It helps if you can sew, or you have a friend who is willing to sew for you.  By now you all know that I can’t sew.  However, my friend/picker Sue was happy to sew up some stockings for me.  I washed up the drop cloth first so it would be more pliable, and then she took it from there.

They are just basic stocking shapes, but Sue also lined them with some simple cotton fabric.

She made a prototype first out of a linen fabric she had on hand, and then went on to make four of the drop cloth versions.

I decided to use the prototype to help me decide what color of paint to use.  I was thinking it might be more Christmas-y to have a red grain sack stripe, so I pulled out a grain sack stripe stencil and used some of Dixie Belle’s Honky Tonk Red to add it to the prototype.

Here’s a quick bit of advice, if you think you’ll stencil lots of grain sack stripes in your lifetime then a stencil like this is totally worth the money.  It’s so much faster than taping off all of those lines, and you don’t have to fill up the landfill with tape.  Don’t worry if your stencil isn’t as long as your item, it’s easy to just line it up and continuing stenciling the length of your piece.  I can’t remember where I got mine anymore, but you can find them out there.  JRV Stencils has a nice set of three for $22.95.

Next I pulled out my set of 4 German grain sack stencils from Ellen J Goods.

I chose one and added it over the red grain sack stripes using Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

Then I hemmed and hawed and dithered and tried to make up my mind whether or not to use the red on the four drop cloth stockings.

I mean, I like it.  It certainly adds a bit of traditional Christmas color.  But when it came down to it, I just knew that I would prefer a more neutral look.

So instead of red grain sack stripes, I opted for Dixie Belle’s French Linen for the stripes which gave me a much more neutral look.

I used one of each of the four German grain sack stencils on each stocking.

Now I realize that I should have asked Sue to make a bunch more of these for me, so that I could sell some and also keep some for myself.

So I checked with her and she’s willing to make more for me, so I took this set of four into the shop to sell earlier this week.  If any of you locals are interested, you can pop into Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater this weekend to see if they are still there.  Or, leave a comment and let me know.  I will be making more of them.

These stockings might not be made out of authentic antique grain sack, but I think they look pretty fabulous.

What do you think?

Before I let you go today, I just had to share this with you.  Remember the vintage ‘Cooky Book’ that I shared along with the rest of the baking supplies on Monday?

Well, in another Baader-Meinhof moment while out shopping the next day I came across this in a local gift shop (Patina, if any of you locals want to go look for it).

Apparently they re-issued it!  There was a sticker on one of them that said “the original 1963 classic version”.  I didn’t look at the price, but I’m betting it was not the $1.95 on the sticker on my book.

Thank you to Ellen J Goods for providing the German grain sack stencils and to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying the paint used on these stockings.  And a huge thank you to Sue for sewing them up for me!

the christmas curiosities box.

It’s time for another Christmas themed lockbox, and this time I managed to get a ‘before’ shot!

This one wasn’t in terrible shape, with just a few rusty spots here and there.  Nonetheless, I followed my usual prep process of sanding lightly, cleaning, and then priming inside and out with Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S.

Then I painted the inside with Dixie Belle’s Collard Greens.

Next I painted the outside in DB’s Sawmill Gravy.  Both of these colors have a greyish undertone and they make perfect companions.

Once again I applied bits and pieces from various transfers to the outside.

The holly and poinsettias are from Dixie Belle’s Evergreen and Holly.  The cursive wording on the top of the box is from a re.design with prima transfer.

The cherubs are taken from Dixie Belle’s Vintage Post transfer.

This is a great example of how something not meant to be Christmas-y at all can be mingled with the holly and given an instant holiday vibe.

There was a little spot on the handle that must have been originally meant for a label of some kind, so I painted it in and then added a Tim Holtz ‘curiosities’ transfer.

I finished everything off with a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat.

Now this lockbox is perfect for storing your Christmas curiosities.  Or maybe just your Christmas cards as one of my readers suggested for the last Christmas themed lockbox.

What would you keep in it?

The lockbox is for sale locally while it lasts.  Be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for all of the details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle for providing all of their products used on this lockbox.

christmas baking.

I’ve never been a Christmas baker, how about you?  My sister has always done tons of baking at Christmas, although she has started to cut back a little in recent years.

Certainly baking for the holiday season is a tradition that goes way back.  So I’ve managed to accumulate quite a bunch of vintage baking items that I’ll take into the shop this week.  As I was sorting through them and adding price tags, I thought I would take photos and share them with you guys.

I’ve got a couple of rolling pins and two glass jars full of vintage cookie cutters.  I’ll sell each jar with its contents.

My favorite cookie cutters are the ones with painted wooden handles.

So sweet!

I also have a few flour sifters.

I don’t know that anyone actually uses these to sift flour these days, but I thought they’d be fun with little Christmas trees in them.

The vintage Betty Crocker cookie (or should I say ‘cooky’) cookbook is perfect for adding a little Christmas décor to the kitchen too.

I love that it still has its original $1.95 price tag on the front.

I even have some toy sized vintage kitchen gear.

This set came with a little note that said “Lorraine’s toys 1925”.  How adorable is that?

Also in the ‘Christmas baking’ category, I’ve painted up this little stool and added the Milk & Cookies stencil from wallcutz.

Here’s how the stool started out …

It was so filthy dirty!  And it had paint splatters all over it, and one wonky leg.  I cleaned it up, then gave it a fresh coat of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Then I taped off some sections of the Milk & Cookies stencil and added it to the top using Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

It’s a petite little thing, only 1′ tall.  It would be perfect for placing under the tree with a plate of cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

I’ll be taking all of these goodies and more into the shop this week.  The stool is priced at $30, so if any of you locals want to snatch it up before Wednesday be sure to let me know.

Now, how about you?  Do you bake a lot for the holiday season, or are you more of a non-baker like me?  Leave a comment and let me know!

gardens around the world.

Good morning from the garden.  Unfortunately, I came home from Florida last weekend to a garden that was pretty much completely done.  All but the most hardy of perennials have died down to the ground, and most of the leaves are off the trees.  So I’m not sharing my own gardens today, instead I thought those of you who are gardeners would enjoy seeing the gardens of Epcot’s World Showcase.

For anyone not familiar with Disney World, Epcot is one of the four theme parks there.  The back half of Epcot is devoted to the World Showcase which features 11 areas themed to specific countries situated around a large lagoon.

Back in the day, Disney offered a guided tour of the gardens in the World Showcase and Mr. Q and I did that tour.  I loved it.  You got to go into the World Showcase in the morning before it was open to the public.  This was back when the World Showcase didn’t open until 11 a.m.  (this was also before the Norway ride became the Frozen ride, ahhh, the good ol’ days).

Anyway, unfortunately they no longer offer this tour.  But I did get a lot of insight back then into how they use landscaping to enhance the feeling of each country’s pavilion.  The attention to detail at a Disney park is always impressive, and no more so than in the World Showcase.

The garden in Canada is modeled after the famous Butchart Gardens in British Columbia.

It’s filled with big swaths of flowering annuals, as well as colorful coleus.  If you want constant color in your garden, annuals are the way to go.  But you’d better have a Disney sized budget for that since you have to replace them every year.

It inspired me to consider putting a few patches of coleus into the ground in my gardens next year though.  The only problem with that approach here in Minnesota is that it takes most of our short growing season for the coleus to fill in, and by the time it starts looking spectacular our first frost is only weeks away.  So maybe not.

But Florida can definitely pull it off.

By the way, here’s a quick q tip for you.  If you want to explore the World Showcase without hoards of people, these days you’ll want to head there immediately when the park opens.  Everyone else will be getting in line for rides.  You’ll have about an hour to make your way around the lagoon (roughly 1.2 miles) before the crowds catch up with you.

The shops and dining locations may not quite be open yet, but you can explore the details of each ‘country’ while having it practically to yourself.

Next up is the U.K. pavilion, and it’s definitely one of my favorites.

It’s so dang charming.

A formal sort of hedged garden is right up my alley, and they have them in spades in the U.K. pavilion.

Hedges and topiary, I need to add both in my own garden.  I’m putting them on the wish list.

There was a liberal use of annuals for color again, and also big masses of caladium.

The light green on the left and the pink on the right are both caladium.

We cross over the Channel into France next.  The landscaping here feels even more formal than the U.K. with more hedging and topiary.

But aside from the hedge garden above, the France pavilion doesn’t have much else in the way of gardens (it does have a lovely water feature, but I neglected to take a photo of that).

The next country you’ll encounter on the way around the showcase is Morocco.

Once again, there aren’t any large garden beds in this pavilion.  But really, the tilework is so impressive that you wouldn’t want to detract from it with gardens.  Plus, Morocco has a dry Mediterranean climate which isn’t really conducive to lush, green gardens.

Here’s a quick bit of trivia about the Morocco pavilion.  It was sponsored by King Hassan II and is the only Epcot pavilion sponsored directly by a country’s government rather than a corporate sponsor.  The King sent Moroccan artisans over to design and create the tile mosaics.

Next we head into Japan.

You just know that this pavilion is going to have some gorgeous gardens.

And specifically a lovely koi pond.

I love the simplicity and serenity of a Japanese garden.

Just a sidebar, if you’re interested in Japanese gardens be sure to watch Monty Don’s Japanese Gardens series (available on Prime).

The next country on your way around the world is Italy.  Once again, it’s a gorgeous pavilion with architecture borrowed from Venice, Rome and Tuscany.

They don’t have any formal garden beds in this pavilion, instead they seem to rely heavily on terracotta pots.

There certainly are some gorgeous pots though.  That one in the back of that trio above has an annual in it that I used myself this past summer.

I believe it’s Evolvulus Blue Daze and it performed really well for me.  I need to make a note to plant it again next year.

I was a little surprised to find that they had hostas growing in containers as well.

To me they look a bit sad though, don’t you think?

Germany has a very unique garden, it’s a model railroad garden.

There are several trains running around the tracks at all times.  The plants seem to mainly consist of small, pruned evergreens.  But I did notice that they have quite a few of the Berberis thunbergii ‘Concorde’ that I have in my fairy garden.

That’s it in the lower right corner of the photo above.

Next up we have China.

The garden in China is mainly dominated by a beautiful pond filled with water lilies.

Again, very peaceful and lovely like Japan.

Norway doesn’t have a very structured garden area, but they do have a building with a sod roof which is quintessentially Norwegian I think.

As is the lefse that my sister purchased at the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe in the Norway pavilion.  I’m not much of a lefse fan myself, so I went with the Verden’s Beste Kake, which was delicious.  We enjoyed our treats in the seating area under that sod roof.

The royal sommerhus also has a sod roof.

The last country on our journey around the world is Mexico.  I was hoping to find an orchid garden in this pavilion, but apparently they only do that during the Flower & Garden event.  So really the pavilion just features lots of tropical foliage.

It’s certainly pretty, but definitely not my favorite.  I have to say I’m not really all that into tropical foliage.  I have no desire to plant things like hibiscus, or orchids.

Any of you familiar with Epcot have probably noticed something missing in my post.  I completely skipped over the American Adventure pavilion.  Ooops!  Well, aside from flowers in red, white and blue, there wasn’t much to write home about in that one.

Looking back at all of these pavilions, the U.K. gardens are definitely my favorite with Canada as a close second place.  How about you?  Which would be your favorite?  Have you ever toured the gardens of the World Showcase?  Leave a comment and let me know.

noel is a no for me.

Do you guys ever regret a purchase?  I suppose we all do sometimes, right?

Well, I have to admit that I feel a bit like I wasted my money on the I.O.D. Christmas themed paint inlay, Noel, that came out earlier this year.

It was a bit pricey at somewhere around $46 (depending who you purchase it from), but that would be OK if I was going to use it on lots of projects.

There are plenty of designs included in the set …

So I very much thought I could get many different projects completed with it.

But it seems like every time I pull it out to use it on something, the design isn’t quite right for some reason.  It’s too small, or it’s too large, or I just simply don’t like it.  Maybe it’s the grey color of the wording, it feels really bland.  I would prefer black.  It’s unlikely I’ll ever use the “NOEL” portion of the inlay, or those grey snowflakes.

It’s also not quite as easy to layer the paint inlay images as it is with transfers since you have to place them into wet paint.

I was hoping to be able to use some of the inlays on my sleds, but that didn’t really work out.

There weren’t many options for designs that would fit the narrow slats, but Mr. Q helped me come up with the above design.  The tree farm wording ‘on top’ of a set of three trees.  Not a bad layout, but I didn’t think it had enough impact.  Maybe it’s that grey color, or maybe the writing is just too delicate for the sled.  What do you think?

I ended up sanding the paint inlay off and repainting the sled using some stencils.

I then decided to use another section of the paint inlay on a simple wooden crate.

I’d painted and stenciled a couple of crates in a pretty aqua blue a few years ago, the one on the bottom sold but the one stenciled in white did not.

So that crate was slated for a makeover this year.

I repainted it in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth on the outside, and their Juniper on the inside.  Then I cut out and arranged various segments of the Noel paint inlay to fit the side and applied them (you can find full instructions for using a paint inlay here).

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I think the crate turned out pretty adorable.

And I love the paint inlay product from I.O.D. in general.  I’ve gotten lots of use out of the Rose Chintz

and Gregory’s Catalogue.

I just don’t think that I.O.D. hit it out of the park with the designs for Noel.  One adorable project for $46 isn’t good enough.  And frankly, I set the bar pretty high for I.O.D.  I usually absolutely LOVE their style.

In the end, you can get a lot more bang for your buck with a couple of reusable stencils like the one I used on this chair.

I’ve used this stencil over and over and over on so many things and it’s still going strong.

All of this being said, I haven’t completely given up on the Noel inlay.  I may find some more ways to use it between now and Christmas.

I’m curious, have any of you purchased the Noel paint inlay?  And if so, have you found lots of things to use it on?  Feel free to shout it out in a comment if you disagree with my assessment.

In the meantime, the crate is for sale at $38 (SOLD!).  If any of my local readers are interested in it, send me an email at qisforquandie@gmail.com.  Otherwise it will head into the shop next week!

a holiday sneak peek.

I’m gearing up to bring some holiday goodies into Reclaiming Beautiful, the shop where I sell on consignment in Stillwater, MN.  They will be having their annual Christmas open house on November 12, so I plan to have the bulk of my holiday items into the shop by then.

But I always like to give my blog readers a sneak peek at some of my things, and thus give local followers the opportunity to get the first crack at purchasing items before they go into the shop.  So, that’s basically the purpose of today’s post.

First up, I’m planning to sell a few things that I made for myself in previous years.  I enjoyed them in my own home, and now I’m ready to let them go to others.

I’m going to part with the Skate Rental headboard sign.

It is 43″ tall by 42.5″ wide and the price is $58.

The nice thing about this one is that you can leave it up all winter, it’s not Christmas specific.

Next up is the S. Claus & Co sign, perfect for hanging a pair of Christmas stockings.

It is 24″ wide x 11″ deep and the price is $28 (SOLD!).

I’m also selling my sock stretcher stockings.

Only two are pictured, but I have four of them.  They are going for $22 each.

I also have that pair of rusty cherubs going for $30 each.

The mid-mod most wonderful time chair will go to the shop unless a local wants to snatch it up for $40.

I’ve also got a few items that I’ve painted up to sell that I haven’t shared yet here on the blog.  For the most part, these are repeats of similar things I’ve posted about in the past so I’m not sure I’ll do specific blog posts about them.  But I want to give you guys a chance to potentially snatch them up, especially the sleds since I know a few of you are hoping to snag one this year.

I have four sleds for this year.

No. 1 – the tall black sled is 56″ tall and priced at $58 – SOLD!

No. 2 – the tall white sled is 50″ tall and priced at $58.

No. 3 – the short white sled is 42″ tall (or wide if you’re displaying it as shown below) and priced at $55.

No. 4 – the short putty sled is 41″ tall and also priced at $55.

The sleds can be displayed just leaning up against something …

or hanging sideways.

I also have another sweet kid sized chair for $40.

And I love my own Rudolph & Co footboard sign so much that I made another one to sell.

This one is 32″ tall by 41.5″ wide.  Although I show it just leaning in the photo, I will put some d-rings on the back so it can be hung up like I do with mine …

OK, so locals, first come, first served.  Send me an email at qisforquandie@gmail.com if you’re interested in any of these items.  Everything that isn’t sold by next Wednesday will be going into the shop.

I have plenty of fun Christmas projects planned that I will share in upcoming blog posts too, so be sure to continue to stay tuned!

drinks in space.

Hello everyone!  Just wanted to pop up a quick post to say that I’ve returned from Disney World exhausted, yet somehow also feeling renewed.  I gave myself a day of rest yesterday to recover from all of the crazy chaos that is a Disney park (if you can count a day of unpacking and doing laundry as a day of rest).  So rather than having a full on post about some sort of painting project today, I’m just going to share a couple of quick highlights from Disney.

My sister and I stayed at Port Orleans – French Quarter on Disney property.  I’m sorry to say that I didn’t really take any photos of French Quarter.  I wish I had taken a few more because it was really quite picturesque.

Full disclosure, the photo above actually shows Port Orleans – Riverside.  It is the next door neighbor to French Quarter.  There is a lovely walkway along the ‘river’ between the two areas, and we walked this pathway a couple of times during our stay.    I snapped that quick photo at dusk.

We had requested a room with a view of the river, and at night we often heard the horse drawn carriages clip clopping past on the path.

We absolutely loved this resort.  We’ve stayed at a few different Disney properties, and so far this is definitely my favorite.  It’s one of the smaller resorts on property and thus felt very quiet and uncrowded.  Considered how wildly crowded the parks themselves feel, it is nice to come home each night to peace and quiet at your hotel.

If you’ve been following me for long, you know that my sister and I (and sometimes my niece) go to Disney regularly, so I’m not going to bore you with all of the details of this trip.  However, I thought I’d share one of my favorite highlights which was a visit to Space 220.

 Space 220 is the newest restaurant in Epcot that opened in 2021.  When dining at Space 220, you first board the space elevator that ascends 220 miles upwards to the Centauri Space Station.

The illusion is amazingly realistic.  You’re given a ticket to board the ‘space elevator’ and from there you can watch through upper and lower porthole windows as you speed away from earth and towards the space station.

You can watch as Florida, and then the entire planet grows smaller and smaller beneath you.

Once you arrive on the space station, you are met by a host who leads you into the restaurant where you have the most amazing view of planet earth from high above it.

Throughout your stay, different objects appear in view such as space shuttles and astronauts moving equipment around and such.  I didn’t manage to catch any of that in a photo, but it was surprisingly realistic.

As you can imagine, dining at a space station isn’t cheap.  They offer a prix-fixe, 2-course meal at lunch for $55 p.p. or a prix-fixe, 3-course meal at dinner for $79 p.p.

However, if you’re more budget conscious, you also have the option of visiting the lounge for drinks and appetizers.  If you really just want to experience the adventure of traveling to space, you could easily get away with spending less than $20 if you just get a drink.

My sister and I opted for drinks and a couple of shared appetizers.  The drink we both ordered was called the Atmospritz and was made with New Amsterdam vodka, Aperol, Blood Orange, Orange Juice, Prosecco, and a Cotton Candy Cloud.  It also came with a bit of a flourish as our waiter poured them after he brought them to our table.

You guys, for a drink made with cotton candy, these were crazy strong.  My sister is a bit of a light weight, so it wasn’t surprising that she was feeling loopy after just a few sips, but even I couldn’t finish the entire drink.  Not without needing to take a nap under the table anyway.  But they were certainly fun to try.

For appetizers we went with a classic shrimp cocktail and chicken on a waffle.

Both were really delicious.  I’m super picky about my shrimp cocktail.  The shrimp has to be perfectly fresh, not fishy smelling or rubbery.  These were fabulous.  Totally my favorite thing on the table.  My only complaint is that we paid a whopping $24 for just 4 shrimp.  However, they were U 10 shrimp, in other words, quite large.  My sister preferred the chicken on a waffle, and that was quite delicious as well.  It was fried chicken with some smoked bacon on a roasted corn waffle with a spiced coleslaw and a bourbon maple glaze, and it was $18.

Although we weren’t stuffed or anything, the dessert menu didn’t really offer anything that tempted us.  So after finishing our drinks and apps, we took the space elevator back down to earth and headed off to Norway to go on the Frozen boat ride.

As usual, we had a great time at Disney World despite some pretty massive crowds and a bit of heat and humidity.  But it’s great to be back home again.  We came back to sunny skies and temps in the 60’s, so I’m going to have to work a little to get back into the holiday spirit, but I’ll definitely have some Christmas painting projects to share with you later in the week so be sure to stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, have any of you dined at Space 220?  Or maybe you have another favorite Disney restaurant that you want to recommend.  If so, be sure to leave a comment!

classic blue & white.

I’ve got another toolbox to share with you guys today.

Once again I neglected to get a good ‘before’ photo of it, but it’s the one on the very bottom of the photo above.

I followed my usual steps to prep it for paint.  I sanded the peeling paint and rust, I cleaned it with a grease cutting cleaner, and then coated it inside and out with Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S. to block stains and odors.

I decided to go with a classic blue and white theme on this one, even though that doesn’t feel very seasonal right now.  But I wanted to use up some leftover sections of re.design with prima’s French Ceramics transfer.

I’ve always really loved this one.

I painted the tray, and the inside of the toolbox, first using Dixie Belle’s Bunker Hill Blue.

Next I painted the outside in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  After that dried, I applied the French Ceramics transfer to the front and sides.

I also added some wording from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer to the lid of the toolbox.

I gave everything a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat to seal it.

This would be the perfect container for storing all of your stamping supplies, wouldn’t it?

This toolbox is available until someone local snatches it up.   Be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

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

favorite fall furniture photo shoots.

Well, that’s a mouthful!  Try saying that 10 times fast.

I thought it would be fun to compile some of my favorite fall furniture photo shoots for you guys today.  The fall colors are so fleeting, so I usually only manage to get one or maybe two pieces of furniture completed at just the right time to take advantage of the opportunity to stage those pieces outside.

I was hoping to take the photos of the bookcase I shared last week outside, but I took those photos on that Tuesday when the ‘feels like’ temp was 12.  Somehow I didn’t ‘feel like’ staging an outdoor photo shoot that day.

But I have a handful of favorites from previous years, so let’s take a look.

The midnight buffet is at the top of my list.

I painted that back in 2016 in Fusion’s Midnight Blue.

It was fun to stage it up with falling leaves and a little non-collection of whisk brooms.

Another favorite from that same year was a pair of end tables that I painted with the union jack in shades of gray.

I did a few of these union jack pieces back in the day, and I still love that look.

They were rather putzy to do though, and they never sold quickly.  I think there is a limited market for them that only includes anglophiles.

This washstand that I painted in 2018 was perfect for a fall furniture photo shoot.

It’s painted in my favorite Dixie Belle Drop Cloth, and has that old Seeds transfer on it.

This chippy barrel chair was a fun makeover in 2015.

I painted it in Miss Mustard Seed’s Linen.  It looks great sitting in front of my Limelight hydrangea.

And speaking of that hydrangea, here is another fun piece that I staged in front of it.

I paired up an old metal typewriter stand base with a barnwood top to create a unique side table.  I kind of wish I’d kept that one for myself now.  I may have to be on the lookout for another base like that.

Last up is this little chest of drawers that I painted way back in 2014, in Miss Mustard Seed’s Kitchen Scale.

Our yellow maple tree was the perfect contrast to set off that teal blue color.

You never know, maybe I’ll manage to still get a fall furniture photo shoot in this year.  But then again, maybe not.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed looking back at some of my favorites!