Charity Shop Shopping And Things For My Boudoir Bathroom …….

I hope you don’t get sick of my Boudoir Bathroom plans and posts …. however, I am quite excited, as you may have guessed by it all, as this is the room that has needed most doing to it and for which I have been most confident in my ideas, it really is a blank canvas, ……………...

So …..  when I nipped to the charity shop up the road I was looking for glass receptacles for my Boudoir Bathroom shelves, so that Lucy and I can bathe dans candle light ….. and I found this pair of heavy glass candle sticks for £2.95, which fitted my candles perfectly and an old green glass vase that a tealight will just fit into for £2 (in the picture I’ve just rammed in a random tealight to see if it will fit, however, when I “dress” it for “real”, I will have some beads/floristry pebbles in the bottom with a tealight resting on top).  If the candlesticks/vase don’t suit the bathroom when the shelves are up, they will easily fit into my eclectic collection of glass tealight/candle holders in the dining room, so I can mix and match.

And then, I found this mirror skulking round the back of the shop …. for just £6.  It measure 59cms x 49cm and is really heavy and solid.  I had been eyeing up a couple of mirrors in a discount shop in town, but for the same price this is far better quality. It is a perfect base for the bejewelled mirror I have planned for the side of the wash basin, I may just have to paint the sides white to blend with the tiles, but the patterned frame is just perfect to show through any tiny gaps between jewels, in fact I might give it a light coat of translucent glitter before I start embellishing it.

Then later, Lucy and I did some mooching in town and found these over the top knobs in Home Bargains …… can you believe all four were just £3.99.  Believe me, I paid £8 each for the ones in my bedroom!!! I was so thrilled, these are going on the towel cupboard doors. I know my ideas are not to everyone's taste ….. me who used to be just magnolia and no frills …. but it seems that somewhere along the line my inner girlie monster has been unleashed ….. but for all the fuss and fluster I am still aiming for the less is more effect, just with the less being very sparkly!!  I am now on the lookout for a crystal light pull to match.

And then on to a little on-line shopping, I thought I had found my main mirror on Amazon…. needed mainly to add extra light and reflection in the room …..

….. however when it arrived, it was parcelled up and a returns label printed off within five minutes of my opening it …… it was split and the quality appalling ….. so it’s back to the drawing board on this idea!! 

However, I think I have been more successful in finding just the right papers for my patchwork bath panels and picture frame inserts, in the form of this My Mind’s Eye, Stella & Rose 12" x 12" pad (also from Amazon). I was intending to use papers I already, but rather than be too random, I wanted the colours to tie in together and as this is my very favourite paper collection of all time (in fact  I have forgotten how many of the smaller pads I have bought over the years), to find a pad of 180 page 12 x 12 pad is brilliant, with plenty leftover to craft with afterwards I hope.

And finally, nothing to do with my bathroom this time  ….. a glass cake stand, something I have wanted for ages, reduced from £7.99 to £3.99 from Homebase ….. now I can serve my slabs of bread and butter pudding in a most elegant fashion, a la Hyacinth Bucket at my many intimate soirees!!!

Christmas Cards for 2014 – Christmas Bird Design.

Each of these white or red card hand cut card blanks measure 5ins x 5ins and use either a linen effect or plain textured cardstock.

This year I have decided to take a leaf out of Cheryl W’s book after she left this comment a week or so ago ……

“I have vowed to start making my 2014 cards and tags in January - I'm thinking 4 or 5 of each per month would be such a help come next December. I wonder if I can stick to such an audacious resolution!”

This year I ran out of time and never got round to using the gift tags and Christmas papers from Wilkinson’s Christmas 2013 range, in fact I was so behind that I even resorted to sending quite a few “ready made” cards, something that I haven't done in years!

So rather than wait another nine/ten months before I use them, I, like Cheryl, am starting Christmas in January and will continue making and posting throughout the year, instead of a mad rush from October to Christmas.

The centre pieces for each card were made by taking the front off the red foil bird design gift tags (above), and then mat and layered onto silver mirror card and papers from the 6” x 6” Christmas paper packI’ve then added red and clear flat back gems on the scalloped edges of the Spellbinder die cut square, and to the branch in the birds mouth, adding a touch of faux stitching around some of the edges using a black or white gel pen.

I have never used the colour grey in my cards before, but I just love the subtly of it, and from now on I can see an awful lot of grey creeping into my other cards, it goes with almost every colour, and for Christmas is just that little bit more unusual.

These also have to be my “most favourite” Christmas papers I have used to date, there is not one design that I didn’t like.  It was a master stroke of Wilkinson’s to produce a paper pack that matched it’s gift wrap range and I shall be checking regularly to see if they do the same throughout the coming year.

http://www.wilko.com/stationery/paper+card/icat/paperandcard?sort=name&parentCategoryRef=paperandcard&order=descend&q=*&perpage=12&pdxtbrandn=Dovecraft

http://www.wilko.com/seaside-stationery/wilko-beach-hut-bunting-multi-coloured-x-3m/invt/0333396

http://www.wilko.com/seaside-stationery/wilko-seaside-sticky-note-pack-set/invt/0333395

Christmas Bauble

Sorry, the glue was still wet when I took this photo!

I found these (Snofint) bauble coasters in the Ikea sale, they were reduced from 85p for a pack of 10, down to 49p, well I just had to have them! 

They have a design on each side so I can think of lots of ways in which to use them, in a garland, as tree decorations or as a gift tags.

All I have done is punch a hole for a thread or a ribbon and outlined the edges and stripes this small dashes using a fine liner pen.

Next I drew patterns on them using my fine tip glue applicator which contains PVA and then sprinkled the patterns with different ultra fine glitters a section at a time.

I expect you’ll be seeing more of these baubles throughout the year as I get more adventurous and think of new ways to use and decorate them.

I’m not the only one to see the potential in these little beauties as the links below show

http://www.ikeahackers.net/2013/12/snofint-coasters-as-christmas-ornaments.html

http://gucki.it/2013/11/20/super-easy-christmas-garland/

Experimenting …… Making Wax/Faux Wax Seals

I was having a rootle about in my craft room cupboards and found a Wax Seal Gun and a heart seal that the Duke bought me, goodness knows how many Christmas’s ago. I felt so guilty, I had asked for some proper sealing wax and a seal which he bought, plus the gun and wax sticks to go with it, but after a couple of disappointing results with the “real” wax and seal, it was all put away for a rainy day, the gun unopened and unused.  As I laid it all on my desk I said aloud …. “Oh Andy I am so sorry”.  If I could have that Christmas back again, Christmas dinner would have been late and everything would have had a seal stuck on it, to show him how grateful I was.

But I have had it out now, and am feeling pretty chuffed.  The wax sticks which I had in various colours didn’t go very far, perhaps making a maximum of four seals per stick, but the results were very pleasing.  Now, Marc will now be saying they need some gilding …. so I will be taking some down to London on my next visit for us to play with.

Then I got to wondering how the seal would work with Utee and my Ranger Melting Pot …. as I thought that if it worked, it would be an excellent way to use up all the scraps of Utee I had kept.

And as it happened all these scraps when melted together made a glittery, rich plum red which was perfect for seals!

Again, I was very happy with the results…….

….. I was even brave enough to “actually” seal a birthday card envelope for my Niece!

So now …..  my next job is to do something with all these seals …. I am thinking …… Kraft card tags and on parcels wrapped in Kraft tag paper………???

Three More Christmas Presents From Marc

This is how my boudoir bed looked on Christmas morning ….. with my presents from Marc (and Rick) laid out on it …….

I can’t believe how beautifully everything goes together.  Each parcel was beautifully wrapped in Kraft paper with lots of typical Marc-esque flounces and fluster, and tags with cryptic messages written on. The first thing you will notice are the two Big Love paperweights which will have pride of place on my desk when I get back to work …. made, I do believe, with the Poundland photo paperweights I took down on my last visit in October.

Marc says he made the gold background using Lancashire Rose Mega Flakes from Indigoblu http://www.indigoblu.com/flakes-glue-c12/flakes-c19/indigoblu-megaflake-lancashire-rose-p449.

There was also this beautiful box “commissioned” by Marc’s partner Rick to make for me …

It’s absolutely stunning, and now has pride of place on the top of my drawers in my bedroom.

Marc has covered it with millions of seed beads, sequins, micro beads and silver embellishments using a mixture of all the pva/water based glues known to man!  If anyone can out fiddlefart me, it’s Marc, and his patience? Marc is the most patient and diligent man I know when it comes to crafting!

And last but by no means least, this embellished notebook and pen, oh my life I just love them …… they are sooooooooooo Marc, and soooooooooo me!! The pen caused Marc the greatest fiddlefart, in fact he said that it was a “right bugger” as he had to hold it with a wire in order to cover it a tiny bit at a time so that the beads didn’t glob together and make the covering too thick    and then he had to allow it all to dry, before adding the next bit etc.  They are  beautiful and will have a special pocket in my handbag so they are with me all the time.

So Christmas Day was full of discovering wonderful, wonderful treasures made with an awful lot of love ….. I am such a lucky girl!!!

New Year Favours Using Rainbow Twizzlers

When Lucy and I went shopping in Walmart in Las Vegas one of the “most wanted” things on my shopping list was a big bag of Rainbow Twizzlers …….

….. no wonder I had to pay for extra baggage on the way home!!

It’s a miracle that the said Twizzlers weren’t eaten between the time we got back and just after Christmas, when I made these favours, believe me at times I was sorely tempted!

Wearing latex gloves, I put a layer of white mini mallows at the bottom of each cello bag (to look like clouds), added a 6cm length of each flavour Twizzler, and then sealed the bags using my Elitech bag sealer.

I then made thin bag toppers using gold card, fastening them with double sided tape to the cello bags and sentiment tags using my Stampin’ Up plain and scalloped edge punches.

In the centre of each tag I hand wrote my New Year message and added a matching ribbon to the side.

The final touch was a gold chocolate coin, (stuck on the front of the bag with double sided tape)  …… because at the end of every rainbow is a crock of gold! I shall give these to friends on our first day back at work after the Christmas break. Happy Days!

Super Swopsies

You may remember that I and the Equally Lovely Denise (The Lovely Laura’s Mum) had agreed to do a swop …… I had a overwhelming desire for some bright crocheted cushion covers, as I had decided to embrace colour to add a certain je ne sais pas to my largely magnolia rooms……. and Denise rather fancied a FiddleFart work of art!!!!!!……

Well,  just before Christmas we arranged the “grand hand over” …. oh my goodness, WHAT a swop! as I opened Denise’s parcel the whoops of delight just got louder and louder, not only from me but also from My Lucy ….. as each cover was revealed in all it’s glory, 

I just can’t tell you how thrilled I am ……

…… or how jealous Lucy was …..

…. and the backs are just as beautiful, made from a variety of cotton floral prints.

What a brilliant, brilliant swop, and I sigh every time I go into my lounge, because it looks so beautiful and bright!

Denise gets her Planet Penny cotton yarn from

http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PlanetPennyUK?ref=l2-shopheader-name

https://www.facebook.com/PlanetPenny?fref=ts

The Facebook page is always well worth a look for brilliant ideas and crafty links.

How I Spent The First Day of 2014 ….. Fiddle Farting Per Chance?

Lucy and I ended 2013 by going for an Indian meal just up the road with my Father and Brother-In-Law as we have for the past four/five years. I would say it was 9 noms out of 10….. but for me the best bit will ALWAYS be the poppadums and nibbles at the start of the meal …………. I could eat them forever!

We then came home, I fiddle farted a little bit putting together the first page of my 2014 scrapbook/notebook.

When Lu and I were in Vegas I religiously kept a daily scrapbook diary (above)  …. something I haven’t had a chance to share with you yet …. throughout this year I thought I would try and do something similar ….. not every day, I just don’t have the time, and I don’t lead that exciting sort of life ….. but just days when I do something special or where something catches my fancy.But I digress …….. Then we opened a bottle of Asti while we watched the fireworks (we know how to live!!!), and then both slipped off to bed.

I slept in till 10.00 …. pretty unheard of these days …. I am usually always up with the lark, only to be greeted with yet another very blustery day and yet more rain.

The house needed tidying (quite desperately)  ….. but instead, I decided to prepare what will be my bathroom mirror for bejewelling ….

It’s not going to be as easy as I first thought because on closer inspection there’s a lot of bevelling and curved surfaces going on which in my excitement of discovering a  “good” find I had not considered ….. but not to be deterred, I masked over the mirror, took it down to the garage and spray painted it white …. so farewell lovely background pattern that I thought would show through any small gaps.

I needed the sides to be sprayed white as they will be visible when the mirror hung and also the very inside bevel next to the mirror which would have looked odd left with a wood finish …… I might go all round it with flat back gems or pearls (I need thousands of them), or a couple of intact beaded necklaces to save time, perhaps a string of pearls would look good, but they will still need a white background to show through any gaps. I think two coats should do, and while it was all drying I sorted through the “jewels” I have left from previous mirrors!

It’s obvious that I am going to need quite a few more …. but I will use what I have first to build up the foundations and then pay a visit to Primark/e-bay/and the local charity shops to see what they have got.

So that was my first day of 2014 ….. riveting,  but at least  I spared you from the little bit of cleaning I did do!!!