Festive Mittens!

Got to grips with a nice soft, old red jumper...

And made three pairs of cheerful, winter mittens-on-elastic for my girls!

done-up dolls house - time to play!

The dolls house that came from a friends loft was cleaned and white-washed, then collaged creatively with all kinds of embossed and coloured papers ... then sealed with my favourite ronseal water based varnish....

Some of the colours are really strong, but these look great with the plain wooden things that I managed to pick up locally for Christmas!

My girls had fun choosing how to set up the house, and I think they did a great job ...

So does this lucky resident! I love making my home nice too, do you?

Crafting-life!

Sometimes, your crafting inspires others, and they join you in your creative space ... here is Mike getting rather sticky with some PVA and some really nice papers ...

While working on my dolls-house, I pulled out a selection that might improve Mike's magnolia Lampshade and it certainly got his creative juices flowing ...

I've crafted with Vicki before, and i enjoyed watching her work with these beautiful fabrics as I added eyes to cats and stuffed them ...

This is going to be a really beautiful cushion soon!

Have you picked up some crafts for those dark winter nights?

Book keeping again!

A Junior Mission Praise from a Weymouth school was greatly in need of some TLC, esp once I had stripped off all the parcel tape to see what I was working with ...

here is the heavy book put back together, and the spine supported externally with some blue fabric, left over from the cover ..

And here is the repaired and covered book, ready for the new term, we hope it lives for a long time now! The commissioner wanted Holy-Spirit Blue, with a bit of sparkle, so I used some silver and blue glitter-print fabric for the spine...

Cute Shelf Makeover...

First, filling any gaps and keying in with some sandpaper ...

painting with layers of Dulux, because I have a large tub of it!

Looking for some collage papers to use ...

applying papers with thinned PVA

Aging the pie with fine sandpaper and finishing with some nice waxy furnature polish, ready for use in this years Artwey Art Trail!

New bin?

My shiny pedal bin was no longer so nice and shiny, my frequent use of a spray cleaner over the loo had left it rather pock-marked. Another opportunity to get collaging!

Materials, old bin, PVA, old bible, gold paint and some acrylic varnish.

Another Good-Book in need of a facelift!

This one had a spine but missed a back cover, so i have 2 new covers and then covered in some chef's trousers!

All finished and perhaps quite hard wearing too! Saved from further wear and restored to the owner ...

Our Sofa ....

I have been using my camera today to take some photographs I can work from, for my children's book ... well maybe not this one!

I think my vintage sofa (left at my request from the previous owner) is a great setting for many of our family adventures, especially those involving books or just talking together ... Come on Mum, sit down!

and I have also been working in something for the sofa - so take a good look at these 'before' pics! And take a peak at the sewing project, below -

Saving Dora! a simple tutorial ...

Mary loves this top, but the neck is too tight, especially for her to get dressed independently!

So I cut off the tight collar part and carefully unpicked it where it was double stiched at the back of the neck

Then I cut a strip of stretchy fabric, a kid of fleece, and sewed that around the neck, right sides facing, as they say!

Roll the strip around and pin, then sew in place with tiny stitches ...

Then i cut off the excess ont he inside and voila - Mary is very happy!

DIY - time for knick-knacks!

It was time to get things up on the wall ... like this lovely printers tray which i bought off ebay, and then cleaned and oiled, and it is now on the dining room wall.



I am really pleased with this make-over, remember is looked like this! I used a little sandpaper to get the gentle ageing effect on the edges! This is in the hall, just below the old door bell ringer.



And from orange pine, to serene aqua, this one will go up in the downstairs cloakroom soon!

Today i got paint on me ....

OOPS!

yesterday I forgot to blog, but today ... today mummy made pancakes!

Pancakes eagerly awaited, pancakes with amazing shapes! How I love a good non-stick pan!

And my excuse? too much on my plate yesterday, but i did manage a bit of whitewash!

and who's in the bedroom? A jumping, yapping puppy in need of repairs! as well as stripped for a re-vamp!

pick-pocket!

The problem - a pocket which shows too clearly where my cards are, and is also developing a hole! (i don't tend to be a handbag sort of person, really)



The solution - a nice new pocket made from pieces of vintage curtain fabric, and padded with a fleece lining to cushion my plastic money for a while!

Chock-a-block...

old toy blocks,washed then painted white to freshen them up ... a nail was removed from one of them ... a pity there are not 6 of these!



5 light, cotton fabrics chosen from my ample stash!



some careful cutting and sticking down with ronseal acrylic varnish ...



and the blocks sealed with further coats of aforementioned varnish ...


I like jigsaws, and played with jigsaws on blocks like this when I was small.

revamping old t-shirts ... into nighties! (Another Owl)

Daisy and matty had only one nightie each in my stash of hand-me-downs...

so I grabbed two of my older t-shirts, and one of the nighties to copy ...



and here we have 2 cute nighties, daisy will have the frilly number with the more open neck (larger head), and matty wanted a baby owl on hers!



Is it me, or does that baby owl look a bit familiar? I'm thinking Chickenpants ...