Birthdays, Bargains and a Ta-Dah!

No, not my Birthday yet I'm afraid.

My Mum's. I made her some yummy (albeit abit GIANT) butterfly cakes.

Didn't you just used to love these as a kid? I don't have enough butterfly cakes in my life I've decided.

I must change that.

I had a play around with some gift wrapping ideas too, here I've used brown paper, garden twine and ...

wallpaper border!

I used a paper punch to cut circles out of the wallpaper and mounted them on scalloped discs (also cut with a paper punch) to make coordinating gift tags.

Not bad huh?! What do you think?

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Today I have had a (very) rare Charlie free day.

I popped into town and some how ended up in a Charity shop (!?!?) ;-)

Where I found this pretty vintage dress. It was initially RATHER LARGE even for me.

So I did the good old inside outy, pin me uppy trick then whizzed it through the sewing machine.

Hay Presto! It fits!

I Love it.

Finally for my Ta-Dah!

I did finish my hexie cushion that I mentioned last time.

It ended up being half the size of the original plan.

Put plans are made to be broken.

Thanks for being here.

Lots of Love

Katie

xxx

Hedgerow Harvest ... Tastes of Autumn

Hello Ladies.

Lots of pictures today, so I'll keep my waffling brief...

Recent Hedgerow Harvests

(two trips down the lane)

Blackberries (destine for Bramble jelly)

and

Rosehips (soon to be Rosehip Jelly)

Blackberries for "Bramble and Apple Jamming"

Beautiful beginnings, Bramble Jelly.

Smooth and Glossy, Bramble Jelly.

"Chuck it all in", Rosehip Jelly

Plenty of jars, in "jewel like" colours.

... What does one do with 14 jars of jam?!?!

Homemade Bakewell.

Dainty Jam Tarts.

And Gingerbread.

Gingerbread?!?!? I hear you cry!

Yes, Gingerbread was on the cards, but alas no Golden syrup!

That's when that cupboard FULL of Rosehip Jelly comes in handy!

Worked well. Tasted yummy.

And last but not least ...

Did you notice my teaspoons?

Charity shop of course.

Blooming cute.

Thanks for being here.

Lots of Love

Katie

xxx

Craft Room Re-vamp #2 - Ways with Wallpaper ...

Good morning ladies.

Happy Sunday! I hope you all have lovely, lazy things planned for today.

Here is the second installment of "Craft room re-vamp".

... Ways With Wallpaper ...

A while back I picked up three wallpaper books at my local Scrapbox.

They were super cheap and the papers inside were gorgeous.

For months they were propped up against a wall in my craft room and forgotten about ...

 ... until now! 

As we all know, storage for our crafty goodies is essential, and in my opinion, the prettier the better.

I quickly whipped up these A4 sized envelopes using an old, disassembled envelope as a template.

Simple, right?

They now house various templates and patterns.

I never throw away useful boxes.

I have covered an assortment of shoe and toiletry boxes in some of the papers.

I have an easy peasy method of covering boxes, leaving no folds and ugly bits.

Again, simple as can be.

The largest, sturdiest box is now used to organise some of my ribbons.

Somewhere in "Blogland" I saw this idea for ribbon storage and tried it myself.

All you need do is:

Cover your chosen box,

Punch holes all the way around at regular intervals,

Set an eyelet  in each hole, (to allow the ribbon to flow freely and not snag)

Place your ribbons inside and pull the beginning of each length through a hole.

Ta-dah!

I also used some papers to line these drawers...

I brought this little pine chest of drawers on Ebay for £1.99.

Gave it a quick lick of AS paint and cut the papers to fit.

Recently I have also used my wall papers to:

Wrap parcels sent in the post (it's really sturdy after all!)

Make little envelopes for handmade cards

(again, using a disassembled envelope in your chosen size as a template)

and

Cut out shapes to use on Christmas cards!

But, why not try:

Snipping out flowers etc, to use for Decoupage on furniture?

Creating little pouches for handmade goodies?

Covering or creating your own books?

Paper bunting?

Any other ideas, Ladies?!?

I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for reading my waffle today.

Lots of Love

Katie

xxx

It's Curtains ...

Good morning Ladies.

I have been meaning to show you this curtain refashion for a little while.

For one reason or another things here have been a bit hectic and I have so much to tell you about.

All in good time.

For now, It's curtains ...

As you know I'm not a whiz on a sewing machine. In truth they make me a bit nervous!!

But I faced my fear to give these curtains a face lift.

I have two windows in the dining room, before they were hung with some green curtains that had been passed on to us from a family member. They never really suited the room and made it feel quite dark.

I didn't want to get rid of perfectly good curtains, but they weren't suitable.

One morning while tidying in Charlie's room I had a brain wave. Charlie's room also has two windows, the curtains where light which meant he needed blackout lining to avoid very early morning during the summer!

Blooming things!! These liners were so heavy and bulky they just looked awful.

So killing two birds with one stone the dark green curtains retired to Charlie's room and block the light perfectly (no more blackout liners!) and the light curtains from Charlie's room would look much better in the dining room.

But there was a problem ... the light curtains were better, but they had pencil pleated tops.

I don't like them. So thought I would TRY converting them to tab tops.

I used my sewing machine to make the tabs for all four curtains. All 64 of them!

They were turned right side out and pressed (again).

Then I chopped off the pencil pleat from each curtain, turned it under and attached the tabs at regular intervals. Then more pressing and whizzed each one through the sewing machine once more.

Sounds simple right?! Well it was, but it did take me ALL day to finish them all.

I was chuffed with my attempt at converting the curtains and like the contrast between the creamy yellow curtains and the pink gingham tab tops.

But they needed a little more pink to bring them all together.

So I turned my thought to the tiebacks. I knew in the depths of a vacuum storage bag they would be tiebacks for these curtains. I hunted them out and went to work demolishing some crocheted tiebacks I had made for the original green curtains.

For each set of curtains the tiebacks were slightly different.

I simply sewed the flowers to the ready made tiebacks.

The room feels brighter, I spent nothing and I'm getting over my sewing machine fear!!

Can't be bad hey?

Sorry for the waffling Ladies.

Until next time.

Love Katie

xxx

P.s I brought this little embroidered hankie from a vintage fair. I really love it and I was lucky to pick up a teeny embroidery frame on a charity shop trip for 20p! Bargain.

This now hangs from a length of ribbon hung from a tieback hook next to my "new" curtains.

A few thrifty buys ...

Good Afternoon Ladies.

I just wanted to share with you a few of my favourite thrifty finds.

Flowery doves, Liberty oven mitt, Rosey coasters and pomander...

Sweet tapestries - Quiet as a mouse and Busy as a bee,

Birdie pomander, rosey bedspread, some pretty hearts from a craft fair and a few more books for my collection.

I want to tell you more about the books another time and you may have noticed my little pile of hexies propped up again my Bee tapestry. I'll also come back to these soon. 

Short and sweet...

Have a lovely week.

Love Katie

xxx

From Shabby to Chic #5 - The dresser gets it!

Let me introduce my dresser ...

She has been with us for a couple of years, brought from Ebay for a steal of course.

She's big, practical (you can only imagine the junk hid away inside!) but not very pretty.

I have been wanting to give her a makeover for sometime. I kept putting it off knowing it would be a big job.

But now I've finally done it...

Before

and

 After

.... aahhhhh .... that's better!

No more ginger varnish, no more faux metal handles!

Still as big and practical but pretty to boot!

What do you think?

It was a bit of a team effort, I had roped my reluctant Husband in to dismantle her and lay the sheets down for painting.

(I promised him a lie in, in return for his services.)

Using Annie Sloan Old White, I gave her two coats, then my Husband offered to take the top to the workshop and sand off all the gingery varnish! Who am I to refuse such an offer?!?

He returned home a few hours later with not only a beautifully buffed and waxed top but 6 little draw knobs too. (Do you think I owe him another lie in now?)

After spending what seemed like an age waxing the paint work (I wish he offered to do that too!).

She was finished and ready to be reassembled.

Pleased as punch with the results.

Thanks for reading ladies.

Love Katie

xxx

Brightening up wash day ....

Well as the weather hasn't been on our side, I had to find another way to brighten up wash day...

I have been in need of a new peg bag for ages.

My ugly plastic thing made me cringe every time I hung it on the line.

I was making this Cath Kidston bag using the free kit in "Sew" when I unexpectedly acquired two free Cath Kidston handbags! Did I never tell you about that?!? How jammy am I, I couldn't believe my luck!

Any way, that meant this one was sort of surplus to requirement, so I decided it would be my new peg bag.

The entire bag was hand sewn, including buttonholes and every thing.

Because the handle fastens with buttons, I can undo one and fasten it over the washing line or wear the bag so all my pegs are to hand.

And of course, once I had my new peg bag, the ghastly plastic pegs had to go and have since been replaced by nice wooden ones (cheap as chips in the £1 shop!)

Well after I had a pretty home for my pegs that went rather well with my floral laundry basket (perhaps I show you that another time) I turned my attention to the ironing board.

I snapped up this cute cover in Matalan for the bargain price of £3 , well actually I didn't even pay that as I had a voucher code for 30% off!

So the weather can do what it wants, because my florals will brighten up wash day!

I'll leave you with another little drawstring bag I made to go in the bathroom.

They are so easy to make and so useful for storage. I can't get enough.

Also hanging in my bathroom is my "new" vintage summer dressing gown - £3.50 at the charity shop. :-)

How are you brightening up wash day?!?!

Lots of Love

Katie

xxx

Simple Sewing

This week I've been enjoyed spending the evenings with needle and thread, happily stitching away.

Now although I have and know how to work a sewing machine, I don't find it relaxing like I do hand sewing.

So all sewing this week had been by hand, and numerous needle pricks and sore thumbs later this is the outcome.

A little CK purse using the kit from "Stitch", it's now the home for loose embroidery threads in one of my many sewing boxes.

Isn't my little Beatrix Potter pin cushion sweet? She was a Charity shop bargain, there is a flap that opens on the front to reveal the needle holder, with Beatrix storybook pictures on each page! Cute!

I've been meaning to whip up some drawstring bags for some of Charlie's small toys. I made both of these bags from one old pillowslip. I used the Chicken embroidery off a tea towel which I loved, that my dog ripped a hole in and an appliqued panel for the other from old cotton scraps.

Thanks for dropping in, I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Put your feet up and enjoy some Oat and Raisin cookies with me.

Love Katie xxx

From Shabby to Chic #3

A month or two ago I posted about this blanket box I brought.

It just needed a fresh coat of paint to brighten it up.

The base of the box was abit grubby and marked...

... Before

... and After.

I used Rustoleum primer and Heirloom white to spray the base and left the lid as was.

I picked up this pin board for just £1 in a Charity shop. I thought it would be useful in the craft room, but it needed a bit of a face lift first.

... Before

.... and After.

For this I used paint left over from recent bedside cupboard makeover. I hot glued buttons to flat drawing pins and ta-dah! Finished!

It is now the home for all the cards and letters I have been lucky enough to receive from my lovely bloggy friends.

Lots of Love

Katie

xxxx

Makes for Market #2 (the fun of the fair)

Well today was the Craft Market (my first ever!) and I really enjoyed it.

I sold a few bits, but most of it came home with me, which I don't mind at all.

All in all it was good fun.

Here is my modest stall.

I sat quietly behind my stall and done a little crochet to pass the time.

Every one was really nice and friendly. I've met some lovely people today.

Of course I couldn't leave a craft fair with out buying a goody.

So this sweet cake stand came home with me for the bargain price of £6.00. The stall was run my a husband and wife, they make cake stands and the most amazing jewellery from silver spoons and forks etc.

Thank you every one who commented on yesterdays pre-fair post.

All your comments mean so much to me!

Enjoy the sunshine!

Love Katie xxxx

(Oops ... Looks like these got missed off yesterdays post! Thanks four happy bunnies!!!!)

From Shabby to Chic #2

I've been at it again ...

This time my bathroom mirror

and this book unit were the victims of my paint brush.

I've had the mirror for years and never really liked it, my husband brought it when he broke my favourite one! The book unit I brought recently, £5.50 off eBay (surprise surprise!)

Here they are now...

The mirror has been painted with a satin finish cream paint.

I've heard a lot about Annie Sloan's Chalk paint recently, so whilst my husband was enjoying his fishing holiday last week in Suffolk, I discovered there was a stockist nearby so sent him on an errand. (No Stockists in Norfolk!)

I used Old White to paint the book unit, I'm not really sure if I like this paint, I found it a little difficult to apply neatly and I think it's going to chip off easily.

Any body else used this paint?

What do you think?

Have a wonderful weekend,

Love Katie

xxx