I wasn’t planning on buying these vintage trim pieces at the local antiques shop.

I saw a woman looking at them, then she walked away.  Curious, I went over to see what was in the box.

My husband was “Oh those are just some scrap wood from a renovation.”  I have to admit, these show up at the local dump sometimes.  The woman that had been looking at them was HOVERING.  She was worried I was going to purchase the box. She was right to be worried.

There is nothing like someone else taking an interest to make you suddenly decide you can’t live without it.

So the small box of trim pieces came home with me.

Now the problem was WHAT TO DO?  I’m not really a person that does the “Trash to Treasure” kind of crafting.  Still, these are OLD.  The wood is just beautiful, full of holes and bits of paint.  I was tempted to just leave them alone.

I took one of the pieces to Michaels and walked around the store, trying to decide WHAT might make these even more lovely to the eye.  I bought some stencils, paint, and at the last minute a large stamp that was one sale.

The stencils didn’t really work.  The surface is so delightfully ragged, that the stenciling looked too modern.  But what DID work was the large stamp.

What to do with the light color ones? We’ll see!

I really liked how it added just a bit, but not too much.  I then purchased some really nice looking sawtooth hangers.  I think for some of these pieces this IT!

There are others where I’m going to try painting in a moon face, and perhaps adding some feathers or another small feature.  But, it may be each piece will just get a little stamp to make it good enough to rehang back on a wall.

It doesn’t feel like “art” when all you have done is stamp something.  The important thing to remember is it is art.  Art isn’t just the act of creating, it’s the thought behind the project.  When to STOP can be as important as anything else.

UPDATE, so, drew a few moon faces… just to do something different… looking for my old gold stamp for ones with white paint still on them.  AND trimming the sides with vintage ribbon from a mill long closed in the area.  You can still get remnants.  I need to go find some more!.  For the right decor, these will be great.  Including my ranch retirement home that my husband and I are trying to make LESS RANCH and more eclectic.

(That will be a blog post or series one day).  When you have to move into a one floor house, and you want….your own style.  It’s working!  (first step, change the clam shell trim…we copied the new stuff from my eye doctors office which is in a 1930’s house).  Next, tear down a wall…. you get it!