I’m At The Cottage! Marc’s Birthday Tut.

As you read this I will be safely and very happily ensconced with Marc and Rick at their cottage in the depths of the Worcester countryside. I haven’t seen Marc since July 2020, I can’t believe it, though we speak regularly on the phone, it just isn’t the same as being together in the flesh!!!!

It’s tradition (except for last year) that I always spend Eurovision with the dynamic duo, which also ties in very nicely too with Marc’s birthday, so double festivities. With Covid restrictions slowly lifting, we’ve all been double jabbed and we can, from 17th May, mix indoors as a group of six or two households so perfect timing for a wonderful few days.

Now, Marc and I don’t really do birthdays, but there’ll be a special sack of “tut” for this weekend …….. let’s just say that the charity shops of Evesham have been well and truly scoured these past few weeks for some pretty epic treasures!

Finding a Basset Hound to grace Marc’s shelf is always really hard, so can you imagine how I felt when I saw this beauty (above), I pounced like a graceful gazelle to secure it and the price?  Only 80 flipping p!  There are no markings, but it’s heavy, I’m not sure what it’s made of ,but it’s solid, I was so chuffed.

Then there’s this, which is going to be a gift that will be almost impossible to top in the future!  I can’t wait to hear Marc near collapse with laughter. I could see everyone’s jealous faces in the shop  as I clutched it to my ample bosom, hoping against hope that I would change my mind and put it back.  Not a chance.  A large, illuminated hedgehog for indoor or outdoor use (PAT tested) for the grand sum of £2.50, with it’s original price tag still on at £19.99, what a beauty ……..

……. and did it work? You bet it did!  Eat ….. your …… hearts …… out!

To keep us busy in the afternoons I got us both a diamond painting Madonna each from AliExpress £3.59, by the time were are half way through Marc will probably be regretting ever pointing them out to me! 

I think I’ve done myself proud, I even managed to find Marc some packs of Diam Latte bars after he messaged me on the Poundland Appreciation page saying that he thought it would be rude if we didn’t try them.

This final corker, was 40p (same shop), I like to think of it as Marc and I gazing whimsically, in our younger years, captured forever, lost in our thoughts at the bottom of my garden, watched on by …………

…… what looks to be a cross between a bird and a  some sort of rare white whale/dolphin??? What the?

I even got the perfect lounging outfit for the weekend ……. for just £3.00, again for the same shop as all the above.  Before Covid Marc and I were going to go up Shepherds Bush Market to get me a kaftan for my stays,  I know it isn’t as colourful as the one we had planned, but, this also has a long waistcoat to go over the top, for extra swishability and, dare I say glamour, with a capital G!  Can you imagine the laughter as I glide into the lounge, shortly after arrival, when I usually say that I am going to slip into something more comfortable?  Marc will, pardon the expression, wet himself! There was a sort of head band that also went with the ensemble, but I think I must have put it down on the spare seat while sorting out my shopping when I stopped for a coffee and left it there ……….. doh!

xxx HAPPY DAYS xxx

An Most Enjoyable Learning Curve

I have to say, starting to sell on eBay again has been quite a learning curve, mainly because this time round I am need to go out to find pretty inexpensive things in the hoping to flip for a small profit. 

It seems I have a bit of an eye, however some things that I didn’t think had any real value but would be perfect to put a smile on everyone’s face for my famous festive tut sacks, after some research had a bit more about them ……..

…….. like this beaded doll that cost me for £1.50 ……..

……. which apparently is a South African handmade and hand beaded Rasta Ndebele doll who “among the Nguni people is a diviner, who claims to be able to contact ancestral spirits. It is said that she receives the will of the spirits and is a protector of the society. Her opinion and judgments are very important, she is seen as an important figure in their culture" Each doll is unique as the patterns from one doll to anther are different in style, pattern and colour.  She is exquisitely made but who knew?

From another shop on another day, for just £1.60, came this figure.  I just loved her, but she fits nowhere in my flat, otherwise I would have kept her. She turns out to be a hand carved, beaded African tribal stick doll with accented brass (?)jewellery.  I can only find one shop in the US to reference her by, where very similar dolls sell for £125, how she got in Evesham goodness only knows. I think she might be a slow burner, but hopefully one day someone will stumble upon her and know exactly what she is. She is really beautiful.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, there’s these Miller Goodman ShapeMaker Cubes, found in a 3 for 99p box, but for which I paid 50p because there wasn’t anything else in the box that I wanted.  To be honest, I didn’t look inside, I just thought Iris and Bertie could play with them for a while and then I would make Christmas tree decorations with them!  Again I got it totally wrong, these currently retail for £39.99 new from the original company who made them, or bizarrely, for as much as £127 in some other shops?  I don’t think these have ever been played with.

Of course I have to sell the things I list first, I think they have the potential, but who knows?

My set of vintage Cherry B glasses that cost me £2.50 have gone …………

…… as has as the Hannah Turner “Birdy” teapot, that cost me £2.50. I just need to be patient, but it’s making me go out more and with an aim (now that we can) looking at all sorts of things with new eyes, all the research is always very interesting as well as useful for descriptions …….. plus my adventures/discoveries help fill the odd blog post in fallow times when I am not inspired to craft, like today!

Oh My Goodness Me A Whole Plethora Of Wooden Christmas Decorations

What can I say to my wonderful friend Anne or Mrs A ……….

………. who when sorting out some of her “defunct” Christmas decorations thought of me, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

She remembered the vintage wooden toy Christmas wreath I put together last year and thought I might be able to make use of a few more bits and pieces.

http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.com/2020_03_09_archive.html

Said wreath was much admired when I put it on my front door last Christmas, with several people asking if I’d make them one too, however, sourcing the wooden bits took a long, long time and if I’m honest, if I asked what it was worth to me in time and effort, they would quickly change their mind!

But after Anne’s very generous and kind thoughts, well, it would be rude not to think about having another go, it might take a while, but it’ll give me a mission, getting me really rummaging  in all those tucked away boxes in the charity shops of Evesham etc. for more wooden pieces. I already have a little wooden village, so I can use a few of the buildings, trees and soldiers to add to this collection. I also have more than enough small bristle Christmas trees, plus flat wooden shapes like gingerbread men and Christmas puddings that I can add Ranger Enamel Accents to, to fill in the smaller gaps and add layers.

As I said it might take time, but I have already set a time goal in my head, so watch this space……..

You can catch Anne on her blog https://itsanalienlife.blogspot.com/.  I was lucky enough to meet up with Anne in Swindon in 2017. She and her friend Dianne had adopted four of my monkeys and we held a little reunion for them all. Let’s just say we never left the hotel in the two days we were there, we were talking and laughing so much, perhaps with Covid restrictions easing another “convention” really should to be on the cards, monkeys and all!

My Decopatch Writing Desk

Well, it didn’t take half as long as I expected, probably because I was all enthusiastic and gung ho, but my “new” writing table is in situ, in use and I am sooooooo chuffed.

The first thing I decided to do was paint the legs and drawer of my £3 charity shop table a deep turquoise, using left over emulsion paint from my spare room.

I didn’t do any sanding down, which probably isn’t the most professional thing to do, but I have always said I am an impatient crafter, but lesson learned, if I do anything like it again, I will sand it to give the paint something to adhere to.

And, despite now having a craft room, I still ended up performing this transformation in the lounge! Doh.

It took three good coats of paint to cover the dark wood of the table, which lead me to paint the rest of the table with some spare white paint, because I reckoned the dark wood would make the Decopatch papers I had ordered look darker than I wanted.

I thought I had ordered plenty of Decopatch papers, however, some the colours didn’t work.  I started on the sides and it was going pretty OK, but when it came to the top I began to run out of all the small print/patterned designs I had.

Now, my gut feeling was to stop there and order some more papers of the same designs to the ones used on the sides, but the impatient me decided to carry on regardless introducing a few colours that weren't on the sides …… I think I got away with it, and to be honest, no one will notice other than me and on this occasion I really don’t think it’s going to mither me, as sometimes happens on other projects.

However, I knew I had to be patient and let the papers and PVA dry out properly for at least 24 hours to avoid any chance of a disaster before I started to satin varnish the whole thing.

Fortunately the Wilko Quick Dry Satin varnish does exactly what it says on the tin and dries quickly, so the six/seven layers I added didn’t really take that long.  I varnished the Decopatched areas first, followed by the legs and drawer.

I removed the black paint on the knob and sprayed it with gold paint, although I hope to replace it with a small, faceted glass one when I can find one. 

All I needed to do then was tighten the screws holding the legs a bit and voila, a new desk to sit at while enjoying the view while I am blogging.  I love it, the colours really make a rather plain and boring area zing!  Now……. what can I Decopatch next?

A New Project – My New Writing Desk …….

I really love my “new” craft room, but I have to be honest, I much prefer writing my blogs sitting at the window of the kitchen area in my lounge/diner, some people are just never pleased! I can’t tell you how many hours I have wasted poring over the internet looking for a narrow desk, table, dressing table to fit the spot where my trusty old Ikea craft table used to sit ……. aghhhh, I tell you, the measurements are ingrained in my soul ………. at that stage I knew I had to chill and wait for the right thing to find me, even if it took longer than I wanted.

So there I was standing in The Tracey Sollis Charity Shop in Evesham mooching through this and that on a table, when I noticed it too was for sale ……. I wasn’t too keen on the legs ……. so unbelievably I left it there ……….

…….. but, it mithered me for the rest of the morning and by the time got home I had decided to phone the shop and ask them to keep it for me, but as fate is oft to happen, when I mentioned it to my lovely friend Kata across the hall, as she was already going to town, she suggested we go and have another look and bring take a tape measure with us just in case!

Second time round it was perfect, I was already getting ideas. It was big enough to sit at comfortably and deep and wide enough to accommodate my lap top, mouse and that all important cup of coffee, plus there was a drawer for pens, paper and said mouse!

Why on earth did I need to think twice - £3?  That’s less than Costa Coffee and the same as a large box of Maltesers, save 1p for goodness sake!  Soooooooo, I have ordered some pink/purple and turquoise Decopatch papers and while I am waiting for them to arrive I plan to paint and matte varnish the legs in a darkish turquoise.  Then, I will simply Decopatch the top and sides (and again varnish). I’m not sure if I’ll paper in a pattern or be totally random. If the legs don’t look right at this stage then I can easily paper them too, as I have ordered way too many papers!  I need to find, pardon the expression, a small diamond knob for the drawer to match all the other knobbed furniture in the room.  Well. that’s the theory anyway, so watch this space …….. 

Fiddle Fart Guest Crafter – Paula And Her Knitted Egg Cosies

Ta dah …….. may I present, for you delectation today, my Guest Crafter Paula and her wonderful egg cosies ………

They arrived totally out of the blue just before Easter, beautifully wrapped inside a proper mini egg box, complete with  secreted Cadbury Creme, which, dare I say, disappeared very quickly .

Paula said she also made everyone in her daughter’s class one for Easter too, she has so much patience, I would have been climbing the walls after just one, all the little details like the bows and hairbands would have driven me mad, let alone all the sewing up.

Needless to say I LOVE them. They are destined to become much loved and oft refilled Easter treasures in the coming years ………… THANK YOU PAULA.

Barbola Style Mirror Finally Done!

That’s it, I am not fiddle farting with this flipping mirror ever again!!!!!

Last time you saw it, it looked like this (below), it was too much …….

It was too much, too fussy and too many elements, the small metal flowers had to go!

I then just gave it another couple of coats of random stroked paints …….

……….. as I may have said before, I don’t really think the previous materials Marc and I used to change the colour of the original thick embossing powders that I moulded the flowers with “liked” the acrylic paint, and though I thought I daubed quite heavily, it seemed to disappear when I went back to the project.

Anyway, that's it!  If I am truthful, it still isn't quite right, perhaps I'm just being hyper critical.  I think it may be the metal flowers and leaves? Ideally, I think it would have been better if I could have moulded a variety of different sized flowers and then layered them ....... sadly not possible with the other moulds I have.

However, I still have quite a few flowers left ..... I am toying with the idea of a door wreath ...... but I am not sure I can face putting it together for a little while yet, this mirror, after almost a year of twiddling and diddling has really made my head hurt!