Old stool, new bathroom!

If something is offered to Steve for free, he'll be there so quick, he'll nearly have your hand off! He also likes rummaging in skips and is always on the look-out for other peoples' cast-offs. Sometimes, he'll come home with a real find, other times, he'll turn up with something and he can just tell by my face that it's not even getting through the front door!

The stool above fell into the latter category: I don't think I ever even asked where it came from. I just thought it was vile (apologies to anyone reading who possesses one the same!)
'I thought you could paint it and re-cover it', he said (he's not one to give in easily!)
And eventually I did: we needed a step stool for Herbie to reach the sink - so I rose to the challenge!
First I removed the hideous olive-coloured velvet and the piece of thick foam underneath...
then painted the frame using our bathroom floor paint...

then using a remnant of cheerful oilcloth...

...pulled it taut and fixed it underneath using a staplegun...

Ta-da! What do you think? Definite improvement, I reckon!
I never showed you our bathroom before - I wish I had some 'before' photos, then you could see how bad it was! The walls were yellow, floor and huge cupboards with louvre doors stained black!!! And tiles that had been painted white, so that the horrid pattern underneath showed through!
Now it's much brighter!! See the light pull above?

It's a little pebble with natural hole we found on a holiday in Wales!

No frilly toilet-roll holders in our house!

And the wall-mounted taps stop any arguments about who has the tap-end!

The shower-pull!
Bathroom cabinet, made by Steve himself and decorated with one of my lavender fish!

And here is the stool in situ! Note it is already functioning as a table for his lordship's chosen reading material!!
Hope you're all having a good week!

Grey Sea

There was talk of an old rowing boat having washed up on a local beach: apparently all the kids were having a whale of a time smashing her up, and people were taking remnants home. By the time I got down there several days later, there was no sign of the vessel, save for a few small pieces...
But you know, I looked at that bit shaped a bit like a 'A' and I turned it around in my hands a little.... and then it came to me! It would make a perfect beach hut roof! And the other tiny bit, painted the same colours could be the door! So today I set to work - and this is what I came up with...

A little wooden hut, with it's own mooring!


I couldn't put any other number on it, could I?!

The strip of metal on the boat is actually an old emery board that I picked up someplace..


And the fish? A rusty tin heart that has been gathering dust in my craft box for years...snipped in half down the middle and attached using rusty tacks which make handy eyes!!

Available in my Folksy shop.
Have a great weekend folks!

Thou shalt have a fishy....

Hello folks, hope you've all had a fine weekend! I must welcome any new followers, suddenly I have 200 - I'm touched, really!

We went down to the beach to do a bit of 'treasure-hunting' today - feels like we haven't been for ages! There wasn't alot there to be honest (the winter tides should bring some goodies in), but I did stumble upon these 2 little paintbrush handles, which make nice fish for my latest piece!

If anyone has any old brushes with wooden handles, please let me know: I can always find a use for them!
Available in my Folksy shop now!

*Well now, would you look at that, I've lost a follower since writing this post, now it looks as though I was lying!

Latest collage commission

Hi folks! Any Facebook followers may have glimpsed a sneaky preview of this a couple of days ago: I am relieved that it is finally finished! I have to say I struggled with it a bit - it's not my usual subject matter, and it is the most complicated collage I have ever done!

So much detail!

So many shades of green!

And even whilst I was putting the finishing touches to it, I was still finding flowers that I'd missed somehow!

Here is a real close-up, so you can see how many hundreds of bits of magazine it takes to create the finished product!
Gotta go hoover now, my floor looks like it has been showered with confetti!
Hope you're having a good week my lovelies!

Something fishy going on...

I thought I'd take my hanging lavender fish idea one step further and make....

....curtain tie-backs!

...still stuffed with lavender...

...in a number of different colour tickings...

.... to give your home a nautical feel...

... plus they give off a lovely whiff!

I can't decide which colour I like best, but they look lovely all hanging together!
Available in my Folksy shop soon!

I'm no Nigella...

....but you've got to make a bit of an effort on your man's birthday!
Happy Birthday Steve xx

Some very good news

Hi there! I am writing today's post with a huge grin on my face!
A few of you will know that I have a part-time job in a bakery. I started there 6 years ago, because it was a way of earning a bit of extra money without paying childcare costs: I finish there before Steve leaves for work. It's not a bad job - dead easy, no-stress etc, but it means a 5.30am start, and that is a killer!! And it doesn't get any easier - you don't get used to it, believe me! (Especially when you've been up creating until 10.30 at night and then the children wake up and so on and so on. I am always tired!)
But (and this is the good news) I am now in a position where I have enough regular orders coming in to be able to give the bakery job up - and my last day is tomorrow!! And that feels so good!


And in other news....I've signed up to be in the Not On The High Street Christmas catalogue, so I'm going to be making a lot of these! So I've introduced some in other colourways to ease the monotony!

Here's a sneak preview of a special Christmas one - this is just a prototype, I haven't decided on the fabric yet...

I thought I'd get Herbie to do some free advertising for me...


And look what I bought for my new room!

A gorgeous crochet garland by the very talented Emma Lamb. She has a most inspiring blog too, if you've never visited , why ever not?! Go check it out!