Have I Finally Lost The Plot? Another Mirror Project And Set of Decopatch Bedside Drawers?

Aghhhhh and hmmmmmmm,  I had a bit of an accident with a candle and the top of one of the sets of drawers that stand each side of my bed ……

….. and I thought that as both sets were already looking decidedly scruffy and bashed I ought to invest in a new pair …… but, OMG, I couldn’t believe how much drawers are, especially when, in all probability, I would also have to find someone to put them together for me!!!  So I got to thinking ……. for £20 I could buy enough Decopatch papers to revamp them, to match the “boudoir” chair I did a while back http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-decopatch-boudoir-chair.html

It could be seen as overkill, but I think my “boudoir” is sufficiently quirky enough to get away with it, but I appreciate it is not to everyone’s taste!  I am also being mindful of buying new furniture, as I am hoping to downsize in a couple of years time ….. so I would rather put a “fiddle fart twist” on the bits I already have, rather than have to get rid of stuff that I have only had for a little while because I don’t have the room for them ……  I think I can make this idea work …… so this will be my Whit Week project!!!

I have also started work on this old retro shabby chic mirror I found in a charity shop a while back, http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/it-comes-to-him-that-waits.html.  I am not so confident about this idea though, and fear I may have already performed a sacrilegious act,  however, I have gone too far to stop and go back!I have “coloured it in” using Sharpies permanent pens, (what possessed me?????) and then tried distressing it with baby wipes to take away a little of the garish colour …. but then added the colour again!!!  

This is as far as I have got, hmmmmmmm I am not sure!  I have ordered some embellishments to go in the centre of the flowers from e-bay that I have used before on my bejewelled mirrors, which I also plan to “paint up” to match what I have already done and I think I am also going to have a look in Primark to see if I can find any jewellery made up of leaves that I can disassemble and re colour.

The idea is in my head and I am sure there a quite a few of you who now think I have lost the plot completely  …… but hopefully,  when you next see the mirror …. it will look exactly as it does in my head ….. or else be in the bin!!!

Get Well Soon Marc ……..xxxxxxxxxx

Marc will HATE me for doing this, but I don’t care, he’s had a seriously ***p week, last week, ending up by having had a very horrid 3 hour exploratory operation, while still awake, and sometimes life just doesn’t seems fair,  in fact it’s down right ****** and Marc doesn’t need it!!!!!!!

Yet, despite being in the most horrendous, horrendous pain, he has still been able to send me hilarious texts about what the skinhead in the bed next to him has been doing (please don’t ask!), texting during Eurovision, our very favourite annual programme of choice,  and even finding some humour in his own situation and condition, and that takes some balls, believe me!!! ….. And so I just thought it would give him a boost if everyone could spend just a couple of minutes here to leave a “get well” message for him and help make him smile.

I shall be seeing with Marc in a couple of weeks time, if he is up to it.  I have promised him a cheeky bed bath or two with my cold hands,  to hold his vodka glass to his lips for him whenever he needs, to feed him nothing but Maltesers and not complain when he endlessly flicks channels with the tv remote control!!!  Neither of us can wait, I didn’t see him at Easter and we both felt like our throats had been cut ……. and thanks to Virgin sale I got my tickets for just £5.50 each way …. it costs almost that on the Banga bus to town!!!

So, to start off proceedings ……… GET WELL SOON MARC …….. love you miles and miles xxxxxx

A Unique Present From Marc

You may remember, way back when, that when I went down to London to meet Marc for the very first time (can it be almost two years ago?),  we went mooching in all the vintage/second hand shops in Portobello Road and we found this battered old satchel which he bought me after a little haggling, and that I repaired when I got home.

http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/meeting-marc-in-real-life.html

http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/my-satchel-off-marc.html
Originally I wanted to leave it as it was, and then more recently I thought that I would like it to be even more special and absolutely unique and so asked Marc if he would put one of his designs on it ……..

……. so that, with all the satchels, in all the world, I would be the only one with a totally “Marc” original.

Marc has called it Indian Summer and I just ADORE it, it reminds me of when I used to go to London about 30 odd years ago and the smell of patchouli oil and burning incense filled the air and Marc was doing his designer thing for the rich and famous!!!! Naturally, it will now be my bag of choice from now on, especially on my next visit to London at the end of May to celebrate Marc’s birthday.

But Marc, being Marc, as I tidied away the wrappings something else dropped out of it …..

…… this beautiful and very large lizard brooch …… what is he like?????  He knows me soooooooo well and what will make me go oooooooo and ahhhhh with pure delight!

I will wear him often, but for now I thought he would look perfect languishing in the sun on my kitchen window sill under the shadow of my solar powered waving queen, another gift from Marc ……. don’t you just love him xxxxx

My Recycled Paper Covered Drawers

As you know,  I have been doing a bit of a refurbishment to my upstairs rooms ….. and that I am a huge fan of drawers like these ….

…… but they are expensive and I have been working on a budget! I knew that I wanted a bedside table/set of drawers on either side of the double bed I had put in the guest room, but if I am honest, they would have been more for decoration and putting a lamp on, than actually putting things in, so I couldn’t really justify buying new furniture just for that reason. 

Then, while I was planning on what stuff to move from my old craft room to the new I wondered about the two sets of battered old drawers that were hidden in one of the wardrobes, filled with punches and stamps and decided to go for it …… what could I lose?

So armed with my favourite papers from My Minds Eye and a bottle of PVA bond from Poundland I set to work cutting squares that measured 4ins x 4ins and 3ins x 3ins. I have to admit to becoming a bit anal and deciding to make the drawers as near identical as possible, so that I had a matching pair!  And then, when I decided that the edges of each patchwork square needed to have faux stitching all the way around (using a black biro), I thought I had completely lost the plot, but I preserved!!!!!!

In all, I think it took me about ten hours to cover the drawers, including the inside bottoms as they were a bit grim ……

……. followed by five layers of Wilkos quick drying, satin finish, clear varnish, which took another day and a half.

Because I couldn’t find any new handles to replace the old ones, I decided to spray them using a cream enamel paint, also from Wilkos.I am not sure what the total cost of recycling the drawers was as I already had the papers (bought specially for my bath panel), perhaps £5 (?), plus a bottle of Poundland glue, varnish £3.99 (reduced, to half price for some reason) and a can of spray enamel for £3.87, but, it was an awful lot cheaper than buying two new sets of drawers, and I’ve got completely something unique.  Not to everyone’s cup of tea I know, but very me!!!

The rest of the room looks pretty OK too, in a less is more type way, all I need now are some guests …… Marc?????

I’ve Been Busy …… Introducing, In Hello magazine Type Fashion, My New Craft Room!

I may have only been blogging once a week, but believe me my feet haven’t touched the ground since I decided to stand back for a while ….. As it happens it was a very wise decision, as my life seems to have been taking on a lot of new changes and happenings, which are set to continue for the next six months or so at least, the most exciting of which will be the safe arrival of my first grandchild “Jellybean” in June …….

….. which is why my spare bedroom has gone from this to this ….. and my old Craft Room is no more!

It was a job I firmly intended to do during the summer holidays, but then in a mad mood of impetuosity I decided to get it started over Easter while I was in Iceland, aghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a brilliant gentleman called Ade who sorted it all for me (he, who did my “boutique” bathroom too).  I just give him a whole raft of wishy washy, fiddle farty ideas and somehow he knows exactly what I want!!!  So when I came home, all I had to do was fill all the shelves and drawers with all the stuff from my old and nearly double the size craft room ……

…… and I did it !!! Well, almost, I still have my sewing machines, Christmas bits and pieces and picture frames in the old room, but it’s all hidden away (but easily reachable when needed)  but now my guests (including Tom, The Lovely Laura and Jellybean) will have a lovely spacious room to spread out in plus tea making facilities.

Christmas 2014 - Retro Snowman Tags

These tags measure approximately 10cm x 5cms and are made using a base tag of plain red card and scraps from retro style Christmas papers.
The canvas snowman toppers cost me 50p for a pack of 4 from a reduced section in The Range.
There’s not a lot to them, the eyelet has been set using my Crop-a-dile, I am still very heavy handed with it, but a proper eyelet does make a tag look so professional! There’s a bit of mat and layering and faux stitching going on…..
….. all finished off with a a length of red and white bakers twine.  These would look good on a parcel wrapped in plain or bottle green Kraft paper.

Rubber Duckie Card.

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using a hand cut blank using a navy blue gingham card.
I’m not sure if this card is suffering from a mat and layering overload!!!??
The ducks came from my visit to Michael’s in Las Vegas, they are sooooo cute, but I am not sure that this card has done their cuteness justice.

However, as there are nine ducks in the pack at least I can have a couple more tries to see if I can get the balance right! 

Having said that though, I think it’s a card that I could possibly use for the birth of a baby boy, with the addition of a sentiment somewhere ….  possibly on the “water”…..??

Rubber Duckie Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using a hand cut card blank using a white linen effect card.
I found these self adhesive, flock duck embellishments from in Michael’s in Las Vegas……. and just couldn't resist them

Baby cards immediately came to mind, but I am also thinking perhaps a leaving cards .... or just a plain "You're quackers!" ?

Cadbury Miniature Bunny Chocolates

These chocolates are just a daft idea made for fun, perhaps a case of over egging (or bunnyising) a Cadbury miniature!!!!

All I’ve done is cover a few Cadbury miniatures to make them look a bit more Eastery ….

…… using a wrapper as a template,  I have cut new ones using scraps from Boofle  6 x 6 papers.

There’s a bit of an art to unwrapping the chocolates without damaging the foil …. but I got there in the end. I then “rolled” the chocolate in a new wrapper, sealing it with double sided tape at the end.

The final touch is a little doodled grass before adding the Easter bunny, done and dusted!