Tray "The Glass of Red Wine"

Today this is a proper tray and it is made to order.

I was asked to make a tray as a present to a gentleman, that is why bottles of wine image (no flowers please!). I am sure you know that I am not very keen on orders (wrote about it many times!), but this one was a real pleasure to make! I enjoyed it so much that I even began to make more trays which you will see soon!

Tray "Fresh Green"

It's not just a tray, more like a cutlery tray, but I wanted it looks more decorative than utilitarian. That's why I've choosen these cool and fresh green and greyish colours and made very subtle craquelure. I am pretty happy with the result!

Faux Stone Compost Bin

Don’t get over excited, it is not a 120L compost bin hidden at the bottom of the garden! As most of gardeners I am a strong believer in homemade compost and try to save all my kitchen waste for composting. This is a container for all veg peels, egg shells, used teabags and so on. I decorated it long ago and it becomes rather tatty and was waiting for getting a makeover. I got my inspiration from my kitchen tiles, which look like stone. Last year I made such a vase and decided to try something similar. And here we are! Very posh faux stone compost bin!

I can write a small tutorial on this technique, if anybody is interested.

Tea Caddy

Tea was introduced to England from China sometime in the middle of the 17th century. Together with the fragrant leaf came the respect for this drink and the ceremonial way in which it was to be prepared and drunk. At the time of its introduction, tea was believed to be therapeutic as well as delicious. The health benefits of tea were known in the East for thousands of years. In England people accorded it time and space and this alone must have had the effect of producing a sense of wellbeing. Tea was and remained extremely expensive for over a hundred years and therefore sparingly used.
The 17th century tea containers were bottle shaped tea jars in china, glass, silver, enamel and straw-work covered metal and later tea caddies were mainly wooden boxes often veneered in tortoiseshell or ivory. It is not until the second half of the 18 century that they were introduced in any numbers as a home-style accessory
( From Here).

In some houses children were allowed to reuse spent tea leaves and sell them as a muslin bags to poorer village people to earn some pocket money. Apparently it was a beginning of teabag industry.
Now tea caddies are mostly antique pieces, but a decorative tea box could be used to store the variety of tea bags. Nice addition to your kitchen, too!

Kitchen Stuff

I am more garden person than kitchen person, but still I am doing some kitchen stuff from time to time. Here is a part of my kitchen collection: olive oil jug, memory board, country kitchen tray, peg rail, cutlery tray, utensil holder...






Anyone for a glass of wine - white, red?..