Serviette decoupage and Union Jack love

I've been trying out a new craft these past couple of nights, serviette decoupage which someone on the Shabby Chic Cafe had been talking about. I'd bought some serviettes and tissues from Cath Kidston specifically to do this, but the thread on SCC gave me the push to get on with it.

Here's what I started with:


As you can see it was just a basic Ikea storage drawer thing that has been hanging around for years and has held crud for a while!! It was looking really scabby so I would have been pleased with any improvement really. Here's what it ended up like:


I just painted the main bit with a sample of paint I got from Wilkinsons and decoupaged the front of the drawers. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I wasn't so pleased with a picture frame I decorated, it turned out a bit wrinkly. It might look better once it's on the wall!



In other news, my son was busy yesterday morning with making some paper chains. They were from East of India and I had been drooling over them for a bit, and eventually succumbed as they'll look so good in my son's vintage aeroplane room won't they?



And here they are in situ - this is half a pack btw, my daughter has the rest in her room. Even the teddies are saluting it ;o)

Go Granny Go

Been for a walk down to the supermarket today with my granny trolley *grin*. Managed to dodge the showers pretty much and the kids were happy enough too which was a bonus. Trying to time it right is hard when you don't have a car but are used to having one (ours is broken, looking for a newer one soon).

Here's a picture of the tea cosy that I mentioned in my last post and thank you to Lala for telling me that it would have been put on top of a thicker padded cosy and so would be interchangeable. It's so pretty, I wondered at first if it would have been machine done as it is so well embroidered but I don't think so. I think I'll try and make a mini cushion with it :O)


Also been crocheting some more of the granny squares that I started ages ago. I wasn't quite sure about how the colours were turning out but friends said that it looked fine. I kept thinking it needed another colour, maybe a yellow or something. Anyway I'd left it for a while because of that and then decided to have another go last night. I decided I definitely didn't like it, but didn't want to waste what I'd done already so I decided to make it up into a cushion cover. It's not all done yet, I still need to do the back but I am going to do just one big granny on the back and take out the dark pink as I think that is what I'm not liking. We'll see how it goes anyway. So, not the blanket I was hoping for, but I'll get there one day!

Just a quick post

bought not too much in the CS's today - just a little box of vintage dominoes for my kids and a hand embroidered crinoline lady tea cosy. I think it's a tea cosy anyway, it's a little thin, just like a tray cloth so I've no idea how it would keep the said tea warm. Oh well. It is very pretty and I will try and take a picture tomorrow. No plans for any car booting tomorrow and as the weather is supposed to be dire, maybe I'll actually do some decluttering? I think I should and now that I've mentioned it, shall report back tomorrow.

Just a quick mention that Shabby Chick over at Country in the Town is doing a giveaway so please go and have a look. She has a lovely blog :O)

buying and making

seems to be pretty much what I'm doing lately. I really need to be adding decluttering to that list and maybe deep cleaning the house but hey.

Anyway, some pics to brighten the blog!

First the 2 pics that I got last week from Mitty are now hung in the kids rooms - they look fab:


This is my 7yo dd's bed - another high sleeper so a git to take a photo of. She has some Laura Ashley bedding that I got at a CS the other week and forgot to blog. It makes such a lovely difference to her room having some pretty florals in there. Lots of dogs too you'll notice!!


Looking good!

And a complete bargain of a find last weekend at the CB was this, for my son's room. It was 50p!! It does have a tear in it, and if it gets much worse I'll recover it (maybe with a RAF roundel??). Don't point out the heart shape too much to my son ;O)


From the same boot sale I got this oil painting for £1.

and these gingham elephant bookends, also £1 (sorry for rubbish pic)


and some vintage books


I found some new storage for my ribbon stash


And did some making - mostly sewing. Still trying to be a bit better at it.

A fabric hanger - need more practise with this. Made with Cath Kidston's posy which is my favourite at the moment.



My cushion cover made from a CK duster - really love this. I just did a white fabric envelope back so I still have one duster left. Not bad for £4 really.


And a little owl softie I made up as I went along. Been admiring other people's owls and made this for my DS who loves it. Helps that we are all Sheffield Wednesday fans so owls are big in this house!!


And finally a new craft. Been mucking around with some fimo with my DD. She helped me make the rose which I'll hopefully add a brooch back too and she made the daisy all by herself :O)

Cupcake swap

I recieved my cupcake swap this morning from Mitmot and oh my it was like Christmas! Here's what she sent me:
And inside this scrumptious packaging was some lovely handmade goodies:

a pin cushion (much needed in this house, been meaning to make one!) and a lovely brooch


a very clever tape measure!
2 lovely pictures. The aeroplane one was so thoughtfully sent due to my sons love of vintage aeroplanes and us trying to deck his room out with that as a bit of a theme.

yup - the real cupcakes are gone already!!

and a lovely cup, already has my tea in it, cake cases and a cupcake hook.

I feel so very lucky today, and everything has a home already. Thank you so much!

Now I need to get my butt in gear and finish my swap :O)

It's not what you know but who you know.

Been doing a bit of sewing lately. It's coming along but I'm not briliant still. These cushions were for my mums birthday. She hit a big number this year, with a nought (as I did too - sob), so wanted to do something nice.

The fabric was just cheapy stuff from the market, and yes a bit pink, but I quite like them! They go nicer in her house as her couch is dark so it suits it better if you see what I mean.

Fabric stash is coming along nicely as I got a couple of meters of the flowery one, still a bit of gingham left and another pink/white fabric which is utterly gorgeous. No pic at the moment, as it's too dark to take a good one.

I was after a pair of pinking shears the other month and was quite surprised at the cost of them, £20 plus was what I was seeing. I wasn't sure if I'd use them much so wasn't really wanting to pay much for any anyway. I asked my FIL if he maybe had some kicking around from before my husbands mum died. Unfortunately he didn't but what he did have were some dressmaking scissors, 3 pairs and being from Sheffield, he went into great length about scissors and stuff about them... Anyway. I was so pleased to be able to get some decent scissors to cut fabric with as I was just using bog standard household ones before that and obviously not doing a good job. You may remember I won a sewing box with lots of goodies in it from ebay? Well what I didn't put in was that it had a pair of pinking shears in it. But unfortunately they were completely blunt and couldn't cut anything. So off I go to FIL again and ask if he can do anything with them. He gave them back to me tonight all sharpened and apparantly they are a very decent pair of pinking shears and him and his mate had a good time with the challenge of sharpening them. So it really is not what you know but who you know!


here they are, have already tested them and they work fab. I love the box, and they even have a price on the back of 5 shillings. I'm so pleased we've been able to bring them back to life.

Oh and Mitmot has posted about what I sent her in the spots and stripes swap here so go and have a looky if you like. I wasn't organised enough to take a pic before I sent it. It's my first ever swap :O) I'll try and remember before I send my cupcake swap which I'm doing well at and not too much more to go till I can send I don't think :O)

Swap and goodies a plenty!

today is my sons 9th birthday and so we planned a lovely day out in York visiting the National railway Museum. Had a fab time, I oohed and ahhed over lots of old fashioned railway adverts and bits about days gone by. I came away with some fab postcards...


and then my son bought a train set and as we spent over 10 pounds we got another load of postcards free!
As we were in York I fancied visiting the Cath Kidston shop. I try not to be overly enthusiastic about her stuff as I do think most is vastly overpriced but I just wanted to see what a shop was like and so off we toddled. My dd who is 7 was oh so excited to go and was squealing with delight when we arrived. If I didn't look so shabby I'd have probably been mistaken for a yummy mummy who only buys her daughter CK or other designer stuff. But really my appearance probably discounts that thought!

It was a lovely shop, much bigger than I imagined too and had some lovely displays and goodies. I was very good and restrained and got myself the following:


I'm hoping to make a cushion cover out of the dusters as I have seen other people do and I wanted to try a bit of decoupage type stuff with the tissues and napkins.

Came out of the shop and my DH told me there was some other fab looking shops so I had a quick look, trying to remember we were out for my ds's birthday!! Almost directly opposite the CK shop was a fab shop with postcards, coasters, metal signs and other bits and bobs all with old fashioned adverts and stuff like that. So I got...



more postcards (!) and a couple of coasters. One for my DS and one for my dd. Can you guess which one is which? Lol, dd is getting all the dog stuff and ds all the war type stuff!

We were all really flagging by the time we set off for home so after a long journey home you can imagine how excited I was to find a parcel bearing the postcode of a lady who I knew was doing my swap. I desperately wanted my dh and his dad to go so I could open in peace and squeal with delight when I opened it, but that would probably have been rude of me to chuck em out ;) So I retreated quietly into the kitchen to open it and I was so pleased to see what I was sent. Viv was my swap partner and she spoiled me rotten by making me a fantastic bag, similar I think to the one's she's been making for herself and pictured on her blog.

I adore it. I have been so in need of a new bag for a while now and kept putting off buying one thinking I'd keep my old one a little longer. Now I don't need to do that. It's just great, and so well sewed. i'd never have done such a good job. My father in law said it was very me so high praise indeed coming from him.

Also included in the swap was a fab little roll that will go nicely in my bag to keep all my stuff secure and organised (how did Viv know I was a messy pup??)



and the most gorgeous fabric bucket in the most gorgeous bright spots and stripes (goes well with my ironing board :) ). I love bright rainbow type colours so this is just perfect.


Thank you so much Viv, I love it all and feel really lucky to have recieved such a fab swap that obviously had a lot of time and effort involved in making it.

Needle case

A bit more advance sewing tried today - a needle case from a tutorial on the ShabbyChic Cafe by the fab Mitmot. First time quilting and using bias. I'm quite pleased with the results :)

Busy bee

I didn't get enough sleep last night and have been a little under the weather today so I've been a bit grumpy. I decided to get a move on with the housework so I could do some sewing this afternoon.

I wanted to do a cushion cover from a lovely little LA dress my dd wore some time ago now. I just love the print on it and was reluctant to part with it. However when I started playing around with how I wanted it to be it didn't look right so I left it be for a while.


So I set to work on using some of the fabric I got at the weekend to make some drawstring bags. I made the trains and the rose one. My dd made the rainbow one (it was from a sewing kit she got for Xmas - I am v. jealous of the fabric!) and my DS made the car one.



Then I decided to make my grocery bag holder which wasn't too different really. It'll match my curtains nicely!

I know, not hugely exciting or difficult, but I am a beginner sewer so I was pleasantly pleased with the results. One day I'll try some more tricky things!

Stash Building!

(lots of pics!)

Lots of last week was spent finishing up the swap that I signed up to on the SCC so I couldn't really blog it. I of course forgot to take photos of what I made and bought but maybe Mitmot will blog soon :) I really enjoyed doing it :)

I've been trying to do a bit of 'sewing bits' stash building, which makes a change from the stash busting I've been trying to do with my yarn! I've been drooling over some people's finds at car boot sales - old sewing boxes with loads in em. I even tried freecycle, to no avail. Then I managed to win one on ebay, bit more expensive due to postage, but I'll try to remember that my car is so thirsty it would cost that if I even thought about boot sale visiting!!
My daughter needed a box so she's getting this one. It's in really good condition, no idea how old it is though! She's already started filling it :)

Some ribbons (sorry for blurry pic)

Loads of other bits - bias, buttons, thread, needles and fasteners.

A huge amount of the top lace and a smaller amount of the bottom one (plus gratuitous pic of my CK sewing box!!)

I also added some gingham ribbon to my stash from ebay along with some bright buttons (no pics of the buttons, although my dd helped herself to some!)


I visited Felixstowe at the weekend and visited a great fabric shop called the Remnant shop. What a treasure trove! I was very restrained, mostly as it was too hot to be in for too long and I was with a pregnant friend so felt bad about dithering. I upped the fabric stash with

some fabric offcuts for 10p each!Some boyish fabric - hopefully make a drawstring bag with this?

a strip of UJ fabric with 3 full flags on. I'd seen this on ebay and fancied it so for 1.40 a strip I got some :)

and to go with it some UJ buttons - how fab are they?

Also got anothe FQ of some flowery stuff, but forgot to take a pic of that.

And finally I got some CK posy fabric on ebay which I totally adore. I got a small bit a few weeks ago along with some rose paisley and cowboy print. I actually only wanted the paisley but figured I'd buy a few others from the same seller and I fell in love with the posy. It is just gorgeous, it looks so old, but bright at the same time. I just need a project to do it some justice. These are only small pieces too, seems it's discontinued?



Ok so onto some making that's been going on. I promised some pics of the kitchen curtains which I made in LA heath green gingham.

here's a before (we had no curtains, looked very boring!)


And after - what a difference a bit of gingham makes!


I want to make some more crochet flowers as tie backs but haven't managed it yet :)

I attempted my first fabric bucket following a tute on Lace Hearts blog

It doesn't sit quite straight, but not too bad for a first attempt!

A work in progress! An RAF roundel cushion cover (with thanks to father in law who informed me of it's proper name!) Might take me a while to finish this one, but did lots while visiting friends at the weekend as fairly mindless!

And lastly a few more buys, some mugs from Sainsburys that were going very cheap - 49p each

and some vintage ladybird books - 30p each

To add to my growing collection!