Still Struggling ........... So I'm Taking A Break

My heartfelt apologies ......... but I have decided to take a break until 4th September, at least, as I still remain without a single iota of inspiration or will to craf, so I have decided not to push it.  

I have my first "Craft Fayre" on 4th August, so I am been busy putting together all my crafty makes leftover from Christmas, Halloween etc. which will take up a small corner of my table, the rest will be filled with all the spare crafty bits and pieces that I know I probably won't use or don't inspire me anymore, along with a cuttlebug, a Tattered Lace Baby Blue, piles of cello bags and envelopes, dies and stamps. There's mountains of it, and I am really being savage in my cull. What doesn't sell this time will be carried on to the September Fayre and then I'll see where I am. I think once I am on the list of regulars I may be able to continue in this vain until I have cleared all I want to clear.

With the exception of the few larger items, I am going to keep prices low to either 50p or £1 (easy to add up and give change) appealing to fellow crafts who like a bargain and children with a bit of pocket money to spend.

I found a white double sheet in a local charity shop (£3.50) to cover my table and have ordered a hundred stripey paper bags, so I am pretty much set.

I have to admit that just seeing the sheer volume of stuff I no longer want has been overwhelming, to be honest at the moment it all feels more of  a burden rather than the wonderful treasure it once was, if that makes sense?  

However, I still have Halloween, Christmas and New Year in mind, hoping that, while giving myself a proper break, I'll begin to start putting a few ideas together for my usual random acts of crafty kindness, plus all my festive fairings for family, friends and school, so if I do put anything together over the next few weeks, I'll schedule them from September, so that I already have a bank of ideas to hopefully re-start my regular posts ...... we shall see. In the meantime have a very, very brilliant summer.  

A Bit Of This and That ……… Time For A Cull

Well, woo hoo, I managed to put together enough posts to cover the week before, during and after my 10 days soaking up the Greek sun, of which, perhaps, I may post a few photos in the next week or so.

However, before I went away, I found 28 of these 6.5cms, metal, pastry tins in the local Salvation Army charity shop for just £1.99.  Now, although I may not be crafting a lot at the moment, these were still a no brainer.  I’m already thinking a Christmas wreath using old, wooden Christmas figures and novelties to create simple scenes inside them and then Marc suggested a Day of the Dead theme, using sugar skulls and skeletons etc.  Hopefully there will be enough to make both, when I can get down to it.

You know I love a good bargain, BUT, I also need to have a very drastic craft stash declutter, having already booked two, local craft fairs in August and September in preparation. I don’t intend on making anything for either fair, as I already have a few bits and pieces left over from last Christmas and Halloween, no, my main aim is to try and sell all the surplus stuff I have accumulated, at a time when others may be thinking about getting their seasonal crafting under way!

My craft room, as it is, is overwhelming me, if you know what I mean. I never intended for the shelves above the bed settee to be full or any available free surface topped with even more boxes and bits! Aghhhh!   I have a few ideas for this coming Christmas and will keep what I think I will need to the side, but in selling the stuff that I have got bored of or am uninspired by, I can hopefully recoup a little money to put towards the trip to the USA that Lu and I are planning for 2024.

I also lost my brother-in-law towards the end of May and seeing the mountains of “stuff” that had to be got rid of before the keys to his bungalow had to be handed back was again overwhelming and I vowed there and then (not that I have any plans to bail ship just yet) not to leave anything like that for my own family to sort out.  So, a real, good chuck is required, in the craft room and beyond, I mean how many mugs does one woman need? If I crafted 24 hours a day for the next 100 years, I would still have enough left over to do another 100 years!    A merciless cull is required.  I’ll let you know how I get on after my first fair,  happy days????

This Girl Is On Fire Birthday Frame

Just a really quick birthday frame for Iris’s 9th birthday, I know, where have those years gone?

There’s not a lot to it.  I took one of the bathroom, shadow type frames I got from Poundland years ago now.  I remember seeing their potential and buying them in bulk, some in one of their sales for just 25p each. I still have a few left, so you’ll probably be seeing them again. sometime in the future.  The wooden letters came from The Works, again a while back now.

I started by taking the back off the frame and covering the front with a scrap of shimmery navy coloured card.

I then centred the letters as best as I could, before gluing them in place using B-7000 glue for a secure fix.

……. followed by various confetti stars and clusters of three white dots using a white paint pen to help fill in the gaps and bring the whole thing together …….

…….. before gluing refitting the back, again using B-7000. 

If I were to repeat the idea, I think I would use lots of different coloured, ultra fine glitter to cover all the letters as the idea could very easily take on some extra bling and sparkle.

Ballerina Frame

Iris was in a dancing show the other week and I wanted to give her something special from Nanny to remember the day by.

There was really nothing to it, but let’s just say it’s keeping Fiddle Fart going while I go through this creatively limbo! 

The ballerina brooch you might recognise from Lu’s and my trip to Malvern Flea and Antique Fair (£1) a week or so ago.

In order for the ballerina to lie flat in the frame I had to take the pin fitting off the brooch, it was soooooooo flipping hard, it just didn’t want to give up its position and I really didn’t want to break off an arm or leg in the process, I finally manged it, although a stone, quickly glued back in, did come out, doh!

The small, white, plastic picture frame cost me 50p from a local charity shop, took on a whole new look after it had been sprayed gold, once the back and glass had been removed.

When the frame was dry, I simply glued a piece of black card onto the back and then closed up the case (I didn’t use the glass again), putting the ballerina slap bang in the centre, fixing securely with E6000 glue.  The final touches were made using the tiny, gold stars.  Sorry, about the glue marks, luckily Iris didn’t notice them, but as you can see my crafting is a bit off!

Iris loved it ….. after the show, she said, with stars in her eyes, that she wanted to dance just like “the big girls” when she was older, she is such a determined young lady, I think she just might!

Malvern Flea – Nanny Tat

As promised last week …… my considered purchases (Nanny Tat) from the May Bank Holiday Malvern Flea and Antiques Fair.  Please excuse some of their less than pristine cleanliness, as they hadn’t been washed at this stage, due to my rush to get them photographed for this scheduled post, because, in real life, as you read this, I am lying on a sunbed on a beach in Greece!  Happy days.

These miniature, possibly bohemian, Czech painted jugs were £2 for the pair. I collect this sort of thing to decorate my shower room shelves.  It’s getting harder to find larger pieces in charity shops and the prices are creeping up, but although these are pretty nibbled around the tops they will be perfect for putting between larger pieces to help bring the displays together.

And ……. this little man was thrown in for free, he’s tiny! He’s going in a frame. I am thinking an enamelled MDF tree, an apple and a snake for a Garden of Eden diorama?

This little ballerina was £2, I got her because she matched something very similar I bought in a flea market in New York, only the American, one, when I got home, is considerably smaller. She was very much an impulse buy, but that’s just part of the excitement of the day.

Now, for three brooches each bought for a pound and all, I think, destined to be put in small shadowbox frames.

The bird is exquisite, there’s fair amount of chipping to the flowers, but in now way does it detract from it’s beauty.

The ballerina brooch will be framed for Iris as a memento to celebrate a dance show she’s taking part in, in a few weeks time.

Now, for the bits that need a little more research and if that proves fruitful, they may end up on eBay to help towards my 2024 USA Fund. These guardian angel figurines are possibly Victorian, no makers mark, just the numbers 1379 embossed on the back.

They’re not glazed and differ everso slightly.  To be honest, I find them rather creepy.  I have found similar ones online, but these seem to be a little cruder. They only cost £4.50 for a pair, but I think, once I know a bit more about them they’ll be separately on eBay.

This German made, 1920’s (?),  lustre ware, sentiment cup was 50p in a mixed basket of tat.  I think it may originally have had a saucer, but others I have found online are generally sold on their own.  I was thinking of putting a cactus in it, but I think at 50p it might be worth a punt …….

…… as perhaps this other tiny cup, again 50p from the same basket.

….. and if they don’t sell, they already look very at home amongst all the other bits of nanny tat already on my shelves …….. we shall see.

It was a brilliant day out for just £5 entrance fee, whether we’ll be able to fit another one in this year I’m not sure, our next six months are pretty much planned, but with the prices of some of the things I look for better than most charity shops, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Malvern Antiques and Flea – May 2023

It’s only been a month, but Lu and I were back at Malvern Antiques and Flea at the Three Counties Showground over the May Bank Holiday. While the Easter one was a pretty small affair due to the weather and boggy fields, this one was mahooooosive, taking Lu and I a good five hours plus to get round ………

…… so, despite our sensible shoes, we still wouldn’t have minded a cheeky sit down in these chairs by the end.

As you know we both always ooooo and ahhhh over a huge dresser and this was no exception, I didn’t see a price on it sorry, but generally they aren't that expensive, probably down to their weight and size.   

No price on this tiny, apprentice piece, desk either, but a perfect size for three little monkeys I know!

This gawd awful, but very me lamp was £10, Lu even offered to buy it for me, but even though I desperately went through each of the rooms in my flat in my mind’s eye to see where it “could” go, in the end, despite giving it several loving strokes, it was left for someone else to love and cherish.

This retro table was over £200, but where would you find another?  I have a spooky feeling I may have photographed it before at the flea last year, but if I did, at least I am consistent with my lust for some objects!

And, if I’d had a spare wall in my bijoux flat, without a flipping radiator in the way, I would have been sorely tempted by this set of drawers.  It was not more than about 16cms deep, if that, perfect and so beautiful for all my crafty bits and pieces, but how I’d ever remember what was in each drawer, goodness only knows.

There was more religious (kitsch) than we have ever seen before, it must be becoming a bit of a thing now, these were far too expensive for me and since I have sooooooo much now, especially after picking up a Lourdes mug in a charity shop in Worcester a couple of weeks ago, I really do have to reign it in!

Lu and I both pointed this dressing table out at the same time, but at £85 it was in such a state when we got closer, to be honest it was only really fit, in our opinion to scrap!

As for this illuminated cocktail mirror/shelf ……… OMG, if we’d both been in the market for one, there’d have been an unseemly fight, with hair pulling!

There were also an awful lot of dolls houses, something I do want, but it has to be small, no bigger that 40cms square and that’s pushing it!  There’s one in the antique/secondhand shop in town that I’ve been “stroking” over the past couple of months, but not actually measured. I’ve all but decided that if it’s still there and will fit next time I go in, then I’ll make a cheeky offer on it, but if its gone …….. I can also live without to start looking again.

Now, the flea is so big, that if you see something you like and then leave it, the chances of ever finding the stall again, if you wander too far away are nil …… this (below) is my “the one that got away” ………

…… not to everyone’s taste, I know, but appealed to my sense of kitsch and when I asked, it was £3 from a box of tat under the table. I picked it up and put it back a couple of times, and then decided to walk up the field and down the row and if it was still there, it would be mine ……. it was filthy and round the top of the candle holder broken, who else would want it?  I returned within 5 minutes to find it only just sold, oh well.

But, did we actually buy anything? Well, Lu bought a very 60’s/70’s tea towel for her kitchen, I bought mostly for 50p and £1, with the most expensive pair of items at £4.50, however what I thought was “complete nanny tat” seems to be worth doing a little research on. I’m saving these bits for next week, so that I can keep the weekly posts going ……..

The £2 witch plaque I got last time sold, almost straight away, for £15 on eBay, if it hadn’t sold I would have been equally happy to keep it …………

…….. however, as Lu and I would really like to visit the US again next year, I am not being too precious about some of my treasure if I can make a little profit towards our trip ……… we shall see.