When we had to remove The Dukes marine fish tank it was heart breaking, but there was no way that Lucy and I could maintain it and if anything had happened to the fish we would never have been able to forgive ourselves. In the end we managed to contact two lovely gentlemen from a local aquarist society who not only very kindly found new homes for our fish, but also completely dismantled the tank and all its gubbings for which I will never be able say “thank you” enough.
Anyway ….. with the tank gone, the room looked tired and empty and Lucy and I decided that it needed a completely new look ….. so guess what …. I decided to Decopatch (!!!!!) one of our Ikea “Lack” coffee tables …… to create the colour palette for our new “girlie lounge”
….. and because I am incapable of choosing just a couple of Decopatch papers , I ended up using all the designs I had …… and you will no doubt realise that it also matches the table in my utility room that I had already done ….. no imagination me!!!! Once covered I applied about six coats of Ronseal Quick Drying Varnish to withstand the rigours of our coffee mugs etc.
When the table was finished Lucy pointed out that as we had two Ikea “Lack” tables, rather than go for the Decopatch overkill look, we could mix and match them depending on our mood – Decopatch top with plain legs …….
……. or plain top with Decopatch legs …..
The rest of the lounge is a work in progress with much gratitude to my very talented brother Andrew, but when it’s all finished I will post some more pictures so that you can see the finished results!
Can you believe these tags were made back in February?! I found the wooden snowman embellishments marked down to half price at a local garden centre and at 74p for 8 they were too good to resist, but I knew if I didn’t use them almost straight away they would linger for too long in my Christmas box of bits.
So, when I saw this chair outside one of the village shops going free to a good home, it would have looked rude not to avail myself of it and bring it home ….. The Duke use to just tut and sigh when I brought “more rubbish” into the house ….. but I have been wanting to have a go at a Decopatch chair for ages and fortuitously Tom and Laura had bought me a pile of new papers a couple of weeks ago ….. so it was fate!!
I am also having a bit of a reshuffle in the house at the moment and I need a new chair for my bedroom, and this could be it! I have never reupholstered a seat before, but I have a staple gun …. so how hard can it be? So watch this space!!!!
…. and this is what I have come up with for this year …. small jars of assorted chocolate buttons, Milky Bar, Cadbury and Thornton's smiley face ones 
The plastic jars came from a poundshop, but I can’t for the life of me think which one, but I would really like some more now that I have tried using them, and have other ideas …. and at just 12 for £1 they are a real bargain.
I cut the mop tops from some cotton patchwork material I have had for ages with pinking shears….
…. and then punched out and handwrote the tags ….. not much crafting I know …. just very quick and simple, less is more!
We had to make several trips to the beach, a place which Andy had described, while fishing off the jetty last year as, for him, the closest place to heaven on earth because it never quite quiet enough….. !
However, as the light faded we all said our final goodbyes and then skimmed stones ….. before leaving Andy where he was happiest …. a place where he could fish to his hearts content …… and gaze at the beautiful view.
We were able to make a donation of £1,025 in Andy’s memory from friends and family, towards the upkeep of the Brixham Lifeboat, something that would have really choked him. He would never fail to buy something from an RNLI shop/stand/stall whenever he saw one ….. as we can all contest, as we each have at least one RNLI keyring courtesy of Andy.
A wonderful gentleman called Stuart Elliman, the Lifeboat Operations Manager at Brixham gave us a guided tour of the Lifeboat and Lifeboat station, something Andy would also have just loved …. 
…… it was such a privilege … and made our visit even more special and something that will stay with us for a very long while to come…. 
… so I made these tiny heart canvases. which measure 7cms x 7cms, made using the small pebbles I had collected from the beach at Brixham where the Duke and I shared companionable happy silences as we drank in the view and enjoyed large cups of coffee when everyone else had gone home.
