Thursday 25 August 2011

An amazing find!


 
Wow! I couldn't believe this!  My big summer project this year has been to give my boys' playhouse a makeover.  It's not finished yet, but they insisted I give it a name and after much discussion we came up with "The Shabby Tea Room".  This came about one sunny afternoon after I'd baked yet another batch of scones and we decided the playhouse would be a great room to sit in and have cream teas!

Anyway, today, after I'd made my loooooong overdue post, I decided to go hunting for a challenge blog to fire me up (I was meant to be doing Christmas!!!) but amazingly I stumbled upon one called "The Shabby Tea Room"  Wow!!  I couldn't believe it!  And as far away from Christmas as you can get, their challenge this week is "The Sweet Days of Summer" and you have to make your own flowers and use Pink, Peach, Green and Neutral colours on your card or project!  So I went away and I made this which I'm submitting to the challenge:


I cut the heart from wood, painted it and distressed it by sanding the edges and across the face.  I then inked the edges using Tea Dye then stamped directly onto it using Versafine.  The flowers were punched using a MS Hydrangea punch and coloured using Promarkers.  It was then finished off with some pearls and bling and a hand-written Welcome!

And here it is hanging on the new den - this is just a sneak peak - I'll post before and after photo's once it's completed!

Well I feel a bit like a bus - nothing for ages then two come along at once! LOL!! 

Have a great day - there definitely won't be any more pics today!!! :o) xx

It's feeling like Autumn already!

Hello blogland!  It's been a long time since I was last here but I have been keeping busy!  Such a lot has happened since the Spring and there hasn't been a lot of time for blogging.  Both hubby and I have new jobs.  I am going to be working in KS1 again from September and really looking forward to it.  Like everyone else in the country money is tight so new stash is a big 'NoNo' these days and I've been turning my talents other crafts.  I've dabbled with e-Bay (yuk!) and cleared out a lot of stuff that I no longer use, and I've even sold some of my home made stuff which cheered me up no end.  Let me show you some of the things I have been playing about with since I last blogged.

A couple of my wooden plaques.  I made loads of these earlier in the year and managed to sell every one of them.  Many of them were made to order and they were going out quicker than I could make them so I didn't manage to photograph every one of them.


This was something that I saw out there in blogland and I just absolutely fell madly in love with and really had to have one.  The tut is here and although is in French, it was really easy to follow.  It was very time-consuming though and although I would love to do another, I can't imagine I'm going to find time between now and Christmas. 


These are some apples I made using the pattern in Tone Finnegar's Sew Easy Christmas Homestyle - I have rediscovered a love of sewing!

Technically not stitched, but using up fabric bits anyway.  We spent last week camping in Devon and I visited a gorgeous giftshop in Brixham called Hob Nobs.  There were just so many beautiful things in there, and I saw some gorgeous padded frames on the wall and was immediately inspired so I came home and made this.


These are my felt version of 'doodling'! LOL!  I sat with my bag of felt and some cotton wool balls and just played, and I came up with these little cupcakes which I then stringed together with some beads

Finally these mini cushions were made using tiny bits of fabric that are really no good for anything but the bin.  They are 4 x 4 in size and were chopped from odd scraps.  I stamped on the white cushion and was really pleased with how clean the image came out.  I used Versafine ink and wasn't sure if it would bleed or not, but as you can see, it stamps beautifully on cotton!  I really don't know what these would be used for but a friend has since advised I should have put lavender in them - duh! Why didn't I think of that!!


It might not look much but I have been doing a lot of decorating - my dining room and en-suite have been given a makeover (which took longer than I wanted it to!!)  I have also been painting furniture - I was very enthusiastic about that...... till I started! Groan..... it takes FOREVER!!!  Definitely a job only to be embarked upon when you have absolutely nothing else to do! Pah! as if!  And my current project is also nearing completion - this was a biggie!  My boys' playhouse has been undergoing major refurbishment over the summer.  Pics of that to follow, as soon as I've done!

Well that's my lot for the moment.  I hope you like!  Today I am going to put my fabrics and sewing machine away and make a start on Christmas!  Term starts again soon and I have a very busy year ahead so I want to make a dent in my cards now if I can. 

Thanks for stopping by! :o) xx

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Ahem..!!!

Can I still get in here???  OMG, when was the last time I used this thing?

Hoping to have some new stuff to show soon - as long as blogger will let me! LOL!!