£1.50 Charity Shop Of Very Strange Bits ………

I bought a very odd bag of bits the other day from my very favourite Evesham charity shop, which for £1.50, I thought might be worth a punt ………

……. especially when I spotted a few of these “round, holey things” in amongst the pine cones etc……..

…….. thinking perhaps they might work as another version of my walnut snowman tree decorations?

It really was a bag of the weird and wonderful, some sort of very large, ornamental potpourri?  I just don’t have a clue!

These are what originally I caught my, no idea what they are, but I am sure I can get a couple of snowman scene decorations out of them. Shame there weren’t a few more of the middle sized ones, but hey ho.

I am assuming that these (above) could be gourds (?) which I think will be painted orange and turned into pumpkins, with a Fimo stalk added to the smaller one.

These are obviously some sort of nut, and again I think, if I can drill a hole in the top could become small, hanging pumpkins …….

…… but what on earth are these?  They are sort of creepy and quite large?  I am thinking mysterious underwater caves with mermaids and treasure chests, but to be honest, at the moment, wouldn’t have a clue where to begin.

I’m not sure if I’m going to keep/use absolutely everything in the bag, I have more than enough pine cones and whatever they are (above), they are not really singing to me …….. but all suggestions of what any of them might be, or ideas as to how I might use them will be very gratefully received!

Heads Up ……. Birthday Treats

I don’t know about you, but if I give money or a voucher as a birthday present, I like to add a little something extra so that the recipient has just a small/silly gift to open on the day ………..

……. so finding these in various shops, here and there, has tickled me, as they are perfect for such a purpose and the more I’ve looked, the more I’ve found, from Beanies Coffee, Kit Kat, Ice Cream, Baileys, even Cadburys chocolate bars …….

……. so, it must be a bit of a thing at the moment!  Wouldn’t a hamper with an assortment of these bibs and bobs be a lovely idea?  I think I need to stock up when I see something along the theme to make sure I’m never caught off guard for any surprise/unexpected birthdays.

Autumn Door Wreath

Using the goodies that I purchased a few weeks ago from The Range – (http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.com/2022_08_25_archive.html), plus fir and beech cones collected and saved from last year, I have finally put my autumn door wreath together. 

To be honest, for someone who just doesn’t do flowers, it’s turned out pretty well and I think it manages to say autumn!

The wreath base came from The Range too, a little thicker, fuller and more expensive than wreaths I’ve use before, but hey ho.  Hopefully, Home Bargains will have their cheaper (£1) bare rattan wreaths in again this Christmas, so I can to stock up on them.

I’m a bit of a bodger where this sort of project is concerned, I simply stuck the cut down flower picks first using a hot glue gun, giving me something vaguely symmetrical to work out from …….

…… and then I just threw everything at it, filling the gaps with whatever I thought fitted and worked well together.

I wish, perhaps, I’d bought another pack of the mixed pick (below),  the acorns included were way too big and totally out of proportion, but I loved the gourds/pumpkins and a couple more wouldn’t have gone a miss.

I have to say, I do love it as I can almost smell autumn when I see it.

It will stay up now, hopefully, until 1st December, with a couple of days off over Halloween weekend when I am not sure whether I will make a new wreath or just put up a shop bought thingy, we will see.

As I still have last years autumn wreath I’ll be sending it to Marc who has been doing some heavy hinting in his comments of late.  It would easily do for autumn or Christmas as the paper flowers are originally winter roses. If he uses it for Christmas I would just add a bit of extra white/translucent glitter round the edges of the roses, put lime green glitter on the wooden foliage and white paint for snow on the cones ………. but that’s entirely up to him!

Time To Rest Now ………….

Time to hang up your handbag, put your feet up and rest lovely, lovely lady.

Charles might  not look half as good as you in pearls or diamonds ….. or a crown …… but hey ho! 

End Of School Year Bubbles Favour

Sorry, this is very late in the posting, but this is the cute gift that all Bertie’s class received from their teachers at the end of this school year (2021 – 2022) ……..

…… a mahoooosive tube of bubbles with a lovely gift tag and beautiful sentiment.  From what I gather the teachers became incredibly attached to their children over the year and picking Bertie up on the last day was, how shall I say, A little emotional!

I love the idea. I have a small collection of mini party wand favours squirrelled away (somewhere??) that I was thinking of using with tags on Christmas/birthday presents etc. I might have a look on Pinterest to see if I can find any other similar sentiments/bubble wishes that can be used to go with them that would fit the bill for other occasions.

Guest Crafters – Iris and Bertie, Expert Modellers

The first thing Iris and Bertie ever say to me after they come over is, “We’ve had breakfast Nanny but we could have another one!”, swiftly followed by “Can we make models?” ……. what are they like?

Thank goodness my sister-in-law sent over a huge pile of posh boxes (mostly Kiehl's and Jo Malone) before the start of the summer holiday, as they were pounced upon like two starving lions!

The first thing I noticed was how sophisticated and more demanding both their model making ideas and skills have become Oh boy, did they know what they wanted and exactly where the “best things” in Nanny’s drawers were.

Their little eyes when they alighted on the Tumbling Chairs Game I had found in a charity shop for 99p, which I’d originally bought it with some sort of Christmas tree decorations in mind, was a delight to behold.

Iris was all about making the perfect house, with no detail spared, from the toilet made from a metal tealight container glued onto a wooden block for the cistern, to the pictures and mirrors on the walls ………

……. rugs on the floor, books in the bookcase, cushions on the sofa and bed various potted plants and meals on plates.

Bertie, on the other hand, being Bertie, had to create a place of purpose, to wit a café!

…… with its menu board, ambient lighting (cotton wool buds hanging from a piece of string running along the top of the box), tables made from mini chalk boards with domino pieces for legs ……….

……. and a fully functional kitchen area! My favourite was his use of some London stickers as a backdrop to the kitchen, he has been obsessed since staying there a month or so ago. How they ever got him home I will never know, among other things the underground simply blew his mind, with them often having to go a few stops further than they needed just to prolong the joy of counting down the stations.

It was a morning of pure pleasure, with memories made, time disappeared and didn’t matter and, as sure as eggs is eggs, will be asked to be repeated more or less every time they come over, time, boxes and Nanny willing!

Decopatched Boots

This has got to be one of my weirdest ideas, I’ve Decopatched a lot of things, but never a pair of boots.  I was pretty sure it could be done, but only found shoes on Pinterest and YouTube.

I put the idea on the back burner, until one fateful day I found some hardly, if ever worn, Paver boots for 70p in my very favourite charity shop in Evesham. The style is, ermmmmm ……a bit frumpy (????), but at that price, it would have been rude not to, especially as they were my size and if they didn’t work out, well, what’s 70p and a few papers I already had …… and I could always donate them back!

Covering them didn’t take long and wasn’t as fiddly as I first thought and the finished effect remained surprisingly supple, which I thought might actually stand up to being worn.

The drying however took forever ………. and I mean forever!

I’d used Outdoor Modge Podge, because the bumf said:- ………..

“Mod Podge Outdoor - Finish, seal and protect all your crafting projects.
This water-based sealer, glue and finish lets you decoupage for the outdoors! Seals and protects wood, terracotta, slate, tin and more porous surfaces. Specially made for outdoor projects.”

It was thick and very sticky. Putting them in the sun to dry out didn’t really work after the initial drying process, they just felt a tad tacky to the touch, so in the end I shoved them in the hall cupboard to niggle away at me to finish them.

I knew that the water based Modge Podge might not be completely waterproof and I thought just plain varnish would crack if I actually walked in them, so when I decided I couldn’t delay their finish any longer, I bought some dubbin to help protect them, “Mad dog’s an English woman who goes out on a soaking day!” me thinks. 

I think, in the end, it was all a fools errand, since dubbin is made to feed, restore and waterproof leather and I doubt very much that pleather and outdoor Modge Podge would absorb anything (???)! DOH!  However, despite thinking this, perhaps the waxy finish might offer just a little protection, so I repeated the dubbin and polishing process twice, any way.

At the moment I’m not sure, I still think they’re a bit frumpy, but there again, I do have very wide feet!   I only wanted them to add a fun and colour for when I listen to little ones read at school, do I dare? Will they be my “ When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple” moment?

MDF Shapes - Halloween Pumpkin Badges

Some Halloween pin badges/brooches for you today …… something Iris and Bertie, as well as Nanny will be sporting from the start of October, right up until the end of the month.

There’s not a lot to them, just lots of waiting for paint, enamels and accents to dry.

I started off by painting the MDF pumpkin shapes with orange Wilko emulsion test pot paint.

I then gave them a generous coating of Ranger Glossy Accents, before adding the lines and outline using a fine tipped, black, permanent pen. I used a green Dovecraft, pearl effect,  dimensional paint on the stalk.

My table was then full of bats, skeletons and ghosts while I tried to worked out the best combination. The skeletons were coloured with white Ranger Enamel Accents and the bats with a permanent black pen and then given the Glossy Accents treatment, along with tiny, green gem, nail art eyes.

I then built up the front of the badges, using my ancient Dymo label maker for the “boos”, trimming them down a little, before gluing them down, along with small green and gold stars and a few three dot clusters here and there.

I doodled a bit on the back, as well as colouring the back of the bats to give the badges a proper “finished off” look, before adding the 30mm brooch pins (eBay)

All the MDF shapes were sourced from eBay through trial and error size wise.

Et voila, done and dusted. I am really trying to use up all my Halloween MDF shapes this year, but I swear they are breeding in the dark!!!!