Cradle refinish

As we all know...I enjoy putting a personal touch on gifts. I haven't gotten any complaints so far...so hopefully people are enjoying that?  

Anyway, we had a birthday party for one of Briggs' friends who was turning one.  I asked her mom if she had a cradle for her baby dolls...she did not.

I had spotted a really cute one at the flea market that week and decided to go back and get it.  With some minor improvements, it turned out to be a really cute gift.  So cute...that if I had a little girl, I would have wanted to keep it for her :)

So here is what I was working with.  Not too bad, but a little scuffed up and dingy looking.

 A little bit closer look.

And here is what it looked like after I painted it.  Pretty big improvement if I do say so myself.  If you look closely at the edges, you can see they are a little distressed/ sanded.  

This is what I used to do that.  It's a heavy duty sander.  I use it on lots of things to round out the edges and give my projects a little character. 

There was no wrapping this gift, so I just tied a sweet little pink bow on it and left it at that.  The little girl seemed to really like it (and her big sister had it filled up with baby dolls right after I put it down).   

I should probably say how much I paid for it...but I can't give away all my secrets.  Let's just say, at a flea market you can find REALLY GOOD DEALS and then with a few improvements, you have yourself a one-of-a-kind, cute little birthday gift :)