I have been playing......

.....with paper and fabric this week, I have made 14 fabric, lavender stuffed hearts for a sale I am doing tonight at brownies and one I am doing in Winchester next weekend with my sister along with dishcloths and jewllery bookmarks.


I hope I can sell them all, mind you they do smell lovely so if they don't sell I am sure I can find a home for them somewhaere in the house.

I have also been playing with paper, lace, ribbon, sparkly bits and glue decorating a couple of bottles that have been lying around waiting for something to be done to them, they had candle sand in them originally and I didn't want to just throw them away and last night I just got loads of bits and bobs out and played.

The printed image is from The graphics fairy she has a new downloadable image every day. I don't think it is quite finished yet, but am not sure what it needs, but i know it needs something. Now I need to decide what to fill the bottle with, if anything.

Thank you for stopping by.

Trish xxx

Painted Shelves

At last these shelves are finished and I love them, they are in my dining room above my computer, with 2 of my tea sets on, the top one is what I got from a car boot a couple of weeks ago for £2 (bargain) and the doily was 25p the other day from a local hospice charity shop.

We are hopefully going to finish the chest of drawers tomorrow, a few bits need gluing back on!!! I am happy with it though and it is the perfect size for putting the towels in, in the bathroom.

Recently on the Shabby Chic forum someone asked if anyone knew how to make stuffed boots, well yesterday I had a play and made one for me and one for Gracie for her bedroom, which she loves, I am really pleased with them and may make a few more for gifts for Christmas (yes I know its only June)

Anyway, thats enough from me for today

Trish xxx

Bargain Shopping Day

yesterday I had to pop to B&Q for some more paint and thought I would have a little look round the shops as well, it has to be done!!! Well I am so glad I did, I went in and out of a few charity shops and nothing to be had, so last, and certainly not least I popped to the local hospice shop and found the bargain of the week (possibly even the year really) A gorgeous embroidered tablecloth, its so pretty all floral and summery, for the grand price of........25p!!!!! what a bargain.

It has a tiny stain on it that doesn't seem to want to go, but its not very noticable, and I am sure once its been on the line in the sun a few more hours it will bleach out. I also got a pretty pink floral pillowcase for 25p and a crochet doily for........ yup.... 25p, the pillowcase will be used when I do gracies patchwork quilt and the doily is for my shelves which have been started, just waiting for coat 2 to dry to see if I need to do another one, pics will follow when finished.

Trish xxx

Show and Tell Sunday

Today I am playing for the first time in 'Show and Tell Sunday' hosted by Analise of Sugar Sugar, today its all about china, crystal and silver, well I don't have any silver or crystal but I do have china. I love tea sets, I have four that I would call complete or semi complete, then I have 1 trio. This is all my tea sets together including the trio.The first one I bought was this gorgeous Blue Roses one by Royal vale, I have had it about 15 years, it cost me much more than I would be prepared to pay today.

This beautiful yellow one I picked up from an Oxfam shop about 6 months ago, its a ridgeway design and so summery.

I also got this autumnal one from the same Oxfam shop about 2 weeks ago, its another Royal vale one, but only came with the plates, cups and saucers, no milk jug, sugar bowl or cake plate.

I think this one is my favourite at the moment though, I bought it yesterday from the Willow Wood Hospice shop, its our local hospice, it only cost £4.99 and came with the milk jug, sugar bowl and cake plate, another Royal Vale and its so pretty, the blue doesn't look as lovely in the pics but is a gorgeous perriwinkle blue.

And finally, my trio, I got this from (yet another) charity shop, I think it was Marie Curie about 2 weeks ago, when I had finished my shelves, I wanted something pretty and pink for them and it was only £1.99 too.

Bathroom Cabinet No2

My second bathroom cabinet, (please ignore the revolting tiles on the wall, we haven't decorated the room yet) its amazing how much brighter the room now looks just painting two orangey, yukky cabinets cream. I like them both, just need to do all the other orangey pins things too, shelf, loo roll holder and towel rail, I will need more paint though :)

I have been frequenting a new forum recently, those norty ladies are the ones giving me ideas about painting my furniture!!! I am involved in a swap there for June titled 'Strawberries and Cream' I have already finished making one thing for it and need to scour some charity shops/boot sales to find some other bits too now :) I am quite excited about it, finding out who my swap partner will be and getting goodies back in the post.

Trish xxx

Bling a Little Birdhouse in your Soul

I have been doing a lot of blog hopping recently and found some lovely blogs and posts, one which really stuck out and inspired me was this one by Beth of Gathering Dust 'Bling your Birdhouse' as I scrolled through the pictures I found the gorgeous beaded one she had done, I thought to myself, oooohhh I like that idea, but with buttons, so, thats what I did, I had the birdhouse already, so painted it with acrylic paint in a deep red, then made a start on the buttons, now, I ran out of my faithful 'Glossy Accents' and because I didn't want to wait (very impatient I am) I used super glue, well I am sure you can imagine the mess I made of myself!!!! I used fabric glue to stick the pom pom braid and ric rac on and also the vintage flowers button on the apex of the roof. The image of the bird is one I have had floating around in my pictures for ages, I got it from a free site, but for the life of me can't remember which one (sorry) I used a faux optical lens over it which covers the hole that is there for the tiny mini birdys to get in!!!

The finished object isn't as 'clean' as it would have been with the glossy accents, but I love it just the same, it will sit on my dressing table now that its finished. I would like to say thanks to Beth for letting me use her idea and the link to her blog (you must have a read while you are there).

Trish xxx

More Painting!!!

I seem to have found a love for painting bits of furniture, I bought these shelves on saturday, they had been sanded, so i just gave them a wash and got started with the paintbrush, now like the muppet I sometimes am, I forgot to take pics before and before I put it on the wall, so this was the best I could do I'm afraid, as I have to get at an angle to take it :)

On the top is the angel I made using the pattern from Tona Finnangers Sew Pretty Homestyle
the middle shelf has an expresso set from AVON on it, on the bottom shelf is a piggybank that I have had for about 20 years and it was quite old when I bought it and my lovely new trio I bought from a charity shop this morning for £1.99.
Trish xxx

Re vamped bathroom cabinet number 1

For the last week I have been revamping one of my bathroom cabinets, rather than buy new ones as there is nothing wrong with them other than the yukky orangey pine colour.

Before AfterThese are the cabinet knobs I used, I bought a big pack of 10 from Wickes and painted them a lovely pale blue, then used a varnish over the top as it wasn't special bathroom paint.

Its up in the bathroom now and looks fab, just need to make a start on the other one now.

Trish xxx

Charity Shop Finds

Yesterday I went shopping in a local largish town just to go shopping in various charity shops, there wasn't a great deal but I did manage to pick up a few bits and a couple of new things too.

The rosey vintage style tea towels are from Wilkinsons, a bit of a bargain at £1.99, much cheaper than some of the designer ones you can get, the glass dish was 50p and will sit on my dressing table with my brooches in, the enamel tin was £1 I was hoping to be able to use it for pies but am not so sure now as it is a little rusty, unless someone lovley knows how I can bring it back to a useable state :) and the crochet doily was also 50p and is to sit under my bowl of pot pourri in the front room. I am happy with what I found, I also bought a really pretty brooch too, but that will be for another day. Take care and have a good day

Trish xxx

Old for New

These are some curtains that we had in our bedroom in our old, old, old, old house, they are far too short for the windows here so I dragged them out of a box and washed them to make them into cushion covers for our bedroom, there is far too much fabric to just make some for me so I am doing a couple for my little sis too, she has just moved into a 200+ year old lodge house (with an AGA!!!!! am so jealous) and wants to shabby chic and olde worlde it all. I have already made her some gingham hearts to hang on doorknobs, no pics of those sorry.

Beans Beans good for your ART

I have been playing, I took inspiration from Jo on IACW and used an old baked bean tin to make this little pot for G's bedroom, to go on her new bedside cabinet actually, I also took some inspiration from some of the gorgeous vintage style blogs around, I love the vintage look and feel and thats what I tried to re create.

I used daisy Ds paper, a vintage image from The Vintage Workshop, some old lace, earing and a brooch, some organza ribbon, bead and wire. Hope you like it.

Trish xxx

A new beginning

Well, after blog hopping rather a lot this last couple of weeks, I have decided that the recycling I do just isn't enough, we already do all our card, bottles, cans, plastics, clothes etc and have a compost heap for our kitchen scraps etc but I now want to do more, so I have joined freecycle (at last) managed to pick up a lovely little bedside cupboard for Gracie yesterday. I also wnat to stop buying new as much as poss, so will be scouring charity shops for bits and bobs for the house and my crafting, we need new wardrobes (well Martin needs one full stop) so will be looking on freecycle and local second hand furniture shops for those.

These are some of the blogs I have found.


Fleamarketsudio
karlascottage
shabbyscraps
thevintagemagpie
gathering_dust
leesiebella

Have a look round, hope you like them as much as I do

Trish xxx

Another day

Morning, I have been such a lazy bint this morning, I have only been up an hour, shocking!!! Luckily I put my project on the IACW blog last night just after midnight, so at least that was done. I have done a craft mini pinny this time, a good way to recycle those old jeans that are pooped!!!

Pop over and have a look at the other pics too.

Well, just having a lazy day today, tomorrow we are off to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester with the kids, so hopefully will get some good pics while we are there.

My Turn on The Blog

Well, today is my turn on the http://www.itsacreativeworld.blogspot.com/ blog, I have done a canvas shopping bag, the main reason behind me doing it was recycling and being environmentally friendly, my Sister started me off a few months ago by buying me a little bag for my shopping, and my collection has now grown, I use them every time I go out now and don't have bags from any shops any more. Also, I don't know about everyone but I used to keep plastic shopping bags!!! WHY????? I don't know, but the plastic bag mountain has now gone and won't be coming back to this house.