Christmas Cards for 2014 – Snowflake Design

The hand cut card blank for this card measure 5ins x 5ins and is made using a linen effect cardstock.

I was able to make four cards of this design by making toppers from the red and silver foil snowflake gift tags from the packs below and using papers from the 6” x 6” Christmas paper pack from Wilkinsons Christmas 2013 range.

I There is also a lot of mat and layering going on with a smattering of red flat backed gems and just a touch of faux stitching!

Halogen Bulb Lens Christmas Bauble.

This idea is just a bit of stuff and nonsense!  I hate halogen bulbs, they are a nightmare to put in and a nightmare to take out with that flipping sucker thing and I can guarantee that when I attempt to take a bulb out, the lens comes off on the sucker and the bulb remains firmly in place, aghhhhhh !!!!!

Anyway,  after this happened to me twice in one evening,  I took closer look at the two lens that had come away and wondered if I could make a Christmas bauble using them …. what planet am I on?????

I took some plain blue card, some glitter paper, two penguins from a pack of stickers I bought in Michaels in Las Vegas, some tiny foam pellets and the flipping lenses.

I drew round one lens to make two card circles, cut them out and created two “scenes” using the white glitter paper, two penguins and a bit of doodling.

I put a few of the foam pellets in each of the lenses …..

……. and then put a small amount of glue round the edge of each circle ….. carefully turning the lens over and sticking it on top, praying it wouldn’t get all gunged up ….. it did ……. so I cleaned the lenses up and started again.

Next, I stuck the backs of the two scenes together, putting a loop of ribbon in the middle to act as a hanger. 

Then I glued a small length of pearl bead trim round the edge of the now two sided bauble to cover the join, and a bow on either side, at the top of each bauble over the ribbon …….

……. et voila! A mad experiment that went surprisingly well, and all from the lens of a couple of bulbs, who would have thought it?

My “New” Decopatch Radio

I covered my original “Decopatch radio” a couple of years ago, but sadly, it shuffled off its mortal coil a while ago ….. I have replaced it, but left it as it was…. however since my kitchen has undergone a major overhaul, the radio’s plain wood finish has come under scrutiny …… until, I finally succumbed and gave it the Decopatch treatment!

As the kitchen is predominately black and white with a splash of red … I ordered about ten assorted Decopatch papers in these colours ….

….. but when they arrived I decided that I would only use the red based ones with my very favourite being the red and black lace effect one (code 436).

It probably only took me about 30/45 minutes to cover, I even thought I would have a go at doing the knob, (if you’ll pardon the expression!). The worst part for me is waiting for it to dry, especially as it tends to go a little wrinkly before it dries perfectly flat, and that’s the danger time, when I tend to poke at it!  I finally got to varnish it using Wilkinson's clear, quick drying varnish, which really does dry quickly, perfect for me as I am sooooo impatient. Anyway, four/five coats did it ……

And now it’s sitting resplendent in my kitchen, looking like a very expensive, bespoke model, tuned to Radio 4!

Upcycled Charity Shop Find ….

I am rubbish at going on about my charity shop finds and then not doing anything with them …. this box has been “done” for ages, but as I wasn’t sure about it I have left it unwritten about, until now. It originally started off battered and covered in ducks …..

http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/a-happy-crafty-day-out-in-shrewsbury.html

…… so originally I painted it with a cream coloured emulsion paint, which was a complete disaster and so I hid the box away for another month or so.

Then,  I decided to cover it with my favourite My Mind’s Eye Stella and Rose papers and then it all got a bit complicated …..

…… because I just couldn’t stop messing with it, first, I decided to add faux stitching, then I tried to distress it using Promarkers and that’s when it got a bit too “ginger” for me rather than looking faded, and Promarker over paint (?) it doesn’t work and just goes patchy and then looks amateur and quite frankly tatty….. aghhhhhhh

…… and as a result, after a couple of coats of clear varnish that’s how I have left it.

It’s still on my desk though and it’s contining to haunt me, …..  I think that all I need to do is to keep adding a layer of Promarker, followed by a coat of clear, gloss varnish to build up a finish which might help to make it look a bit more professional.  I might then also try gently sanding the “paintwork/varnish”,  but I need the paper to be sealed under a couple of layers of varnish before I attempt that …….

……but there again, I also fancy stamping on it (with a rubber stamp ….. not my fee!), so chances are you might be seeing it yet again!!!

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?????