Tiny candle lamps

I so nearly ended up buying 3 candle lamp shades online, as I got carried away with wanting to get our living room sorted quickly! I looked on lots of sites and realised I'd have to spend about £70 inc p&p to get what I wanted....I realised I needed to have a word with myself, and what was I think BUYING lampshades, when that's what I do!! So ordered the fabric I liked- this peacock light cotton for £11, and rummaged around my shade collection to find some tiny shades. 

Then I use the following to make 3 shades- for under £10, a pretty big saving!!

Paper template of the lampshade panels.

Bondaweb

Scissors and and iron. 

Pretty pleased with the outcome, and the saving!! 

Post Christmas spruce up!

Stumbled across some old paintings I'd done of Caribbean scenes from years ago-whilst sorting out our storage- ready for demolition to start in January. They looked a bit tatty, so I've given the frames a lick of paint with some tester pots of emulsion I had.

It's amazing how you can really give something a new life with a coat of paint!

Scrap wreath making

All my art supplies have got a bit mislaid in the move, but I was desperate to make a wreath as we have lots of holly growing. We are still sorting lots of junk and scrap out from the old house, when I came across a silver hubcap...perfect size, shape and colour for my festive wreath.

The final outcome...I was waiting for our front door to be painted before I hung it up. Wrapped with ferns, holly then filled with last years decorations- and cost next to nothing to make. All you need is a circular frame (old bent wire coat hanger, willow, or scrap hub cap!) garden wire and greenery, then finish off with bows,dried fruit, pine cones or old decorations. 

Our little holiday house

We've turned this little place around in a few weeks and have now moved in!

Now for the exciting bit.... Interior design!!

We're going to eventually rest this out as a holiday let so its challenging my colour skills as I want to keep it fairly toned down compared to my usual bright style! I'll leave the flamboyant prints and colours for the main house. 

I've been choosing tonal calming colours such as pinks and blues, but keeping them really light to avoid the cottage feeling even smaller than it is. 

Here's I've gone for 'white mist' Matt emulation, with 'pebble' eggshell for the wood work. It's really subtle but this is a complimentary combination- and put together draws out the blue and orange in each colour. complimentary colour schemes always brings out the best in their partner (opposites on the colour wheel)

In now deciding on the soft furnishings- and looking into subtle oranges to complement the blue even more-

Although I have just seen a funky chicken/duck fabric which is greens and oranges, so I may go with my instinct and go with that rather than follow rules!! 

This is by 'prestigious fabrics' 

This room has got to suit my little boy until it's changed into a twin bed room for the holiday let- I'm thinking this can be the fun more bold room.

There are various wall lights that need replacing, and i stumbled across this character and thought he'd make a good feature task light-

The second double bedroom will be the subtle sleep retreat! For this I'm using oyster pinks and a gorgeous Sanderson fabric, with floral blues and purples, for the curtains which I picked up for only £9- pictures to follow. 

Trash To Treasure

After waiting for a whole year, we've finally bagged what we hope to be our dream home!! It's in the Derbyshire Dales and is the higgledy piggledy cottage we always talked about but didn't know if it existed!! It's been a tough old journey of uncertainly, but we're finally here, and with a bit of elbow grease we're gonna turn it around into somewhere we'll hopefully stay forever.

Parts of the property date back to the1760's, and there are many delightful little original features, inside and out. 

The problem was, the previous owner was a complete hoarder and left it in such a mess, we're only just seeing beneath the rubbish and dust! But its been a comical ride- I've discovered 1980's portraits of a topless Kim Wilde, vintage disco lights and really old slides and prints of Belper and the Peaks.  

To the side of the main property there a tiny sweet cottage, which is separate to the house- we have just spent 2 weeks gutting and transforming it to live in whilst the other cottage is being renovated. 

Toddler trousers

Just made another batch of colourful toddler trousers- I've been using up all sorts of remnants, I particularly like the pair with the African print tops!

They are really light weight, and perfect for potty training as they've got elasticated waists. 

Funky little legs!

Making a range of tiny pantaloons for new born boys or girls! I've been mixing and matching all sorts of bright fabrics to make your little ones really stand out!

They make a really unique baby gift!

Flamingos

A recent wedding present- I've done lots of this style in the past with doves, but thought I'd give some large flamingos a go! The frame's painted with my freebie chalk paint. 

Interior Design Nottingham Trent

Really looking forward to starting a new term teaching the Interior Design Course at Nottingham Trent, I've been busy collecting all sorts of resources from books to Eco paint to high end fabric and wall paper samples....a new house is also on the cards so I've gathered a lot of samples with that in mind! 

London

A Fantastic few days in London- I was well in need of a city fix and realised how much I've missed it! Felt very surreal just walking past The Royal College of Art and realising I graduated from there 8 whole years ago- still feels like yesterday! Me and the little one have done loads of sites, Science museum, Hyde park, shops and South Bank- squeezing in the Hayward gallery sculpture exhibition, which was a little creepy but well worth a visit! 

Back to Derbyshire tonight- will be glad to be back to the tranquility of my little lane and a less hectic way of life, but need to make the most of only being an 1.5 hours away from all of this- does the soul good every now and then! 

Upholstery project

Latest little upholstery project- fabric sourced for a few pounds from my favourite textile outlet, and I've still got lots left to make a couple of big floor cushions.

Before 

After

Eco paint

Very pleased with my latest bargain... For a very small donation I've managed to get all this freebie EarthBorn paint for both my interior design course (starting at Notts Trent in Oct) and also perfect for art projects

- I've just been painting picture frames and it works a treat! The chalk base of the paints give a really high quality finish. Just show what you can get your hands on if you ask around!  

Work in progress

Front and back cut out ready to be sewn.

Freebie summer dresses!

I've had this dress for ages and live in it- so for my holiday I thought I'd use it as a template and make a few more the same. The bonus being that I picked up loads of bright floral jersey fabric for free at my local scrap store- it's  just the job!! 

Blu tack and a drawer of old curtain rings!

Was feeling a tad uninspired this afternoon (and to be honest a bit bored of toddler activities!) so thought I'd have an afternoon of sorting through a few art drawers and boxes (with the help of Rupes of course!) 

To my surprise it kept us entertained for the whole afternoon, dolly pegs strung on strings hung around the bedroom, cut out wall paper shapes stuck on wood with blu tack...

....And managed to have a good old sort at the same time! 

Made me realise- if I'm at a loose end or stuck for ideas of how to entertain a 2 year old, all I have to do is tip one of my many boxes of hoarded stuff out on the floor and take it from there- killing 2 birds with one stone! 

More and more lamps!

Every time I say 'that's it, I might move on from lampshades' I get asked to do more workshops or commissions, they seem to be my trade mark! So I find myself once again routing around carboots, skips and charity shops for more shades to add to my collection!! 

My little boy Rupes, has a great time with them- the things you can do with lampshades! 

They are actually becoming harder to find these days with people charging a premium for even the horrid modern ones- but I'm pleased to say that I still know the haunts to get a bargain- my whole family go hunting when I need to replenish my supply! 

I never stop collecting- I have future ideas for my wedding decor, so I never let one pass me by! 

These were for recent workshops:

http://themakinghouse.org/

http://www.bettys-sewing-box.co.uk/

Two really nice local studios. 

Colourful finds..

There's nothing I LOVE more than having a route around charity shops or carboots- here's some of my latest finds.Ive got about 50 teapots in my collection, but when I went to make a nice pot of earl grey I realised I'd not kept a single one out, we're in limbo moving house at the moment, so I went on a hunt for a new one, and the one I found is probably a new favourite! 

From cushions to funky skirts

Well, not been on here for so long, but I've decided I need to get on the case again, and report my day to day finds, inspirations and creations! 

I won't mention any names but crap towns are particularly good for great charity shops- one of my favourites is in the south of the country and I get extremely excited about doing the rounds when I go for a visit! I've got this old skirt- that I live in-we all have our favourites don't we! And thought rather than search high and low for something similar- why not make some?! Silly really, when I makes soft furnishings, upholster and do all sorts of other crafts, why I've not tried before.

So, I went on a mooch today for all sorts of fabrics, whether it be old clothes, tea towels,table cloths etc and this is what I came up with, all for under a tenner! I particularly love the banana fabric, and very excited to try and re-make this tatty old skirt in an array of bright colours and patterns tonight, watch this space!

Free taster session tonight!

At the free taster session we'll be making colourful pin cushions and fabric bowls.

The sessions running thought Jan and Feb are now fully booked, but please register your interest, new sessions will be starting in March 2014