Wotcha Wednesday

Don't you think that the weeks are just flying by now? Is it old age that makes these things seem quicker?
I can't believe it was a week ago already that I did the last Wotcha Wednesday, it literally seems like yesterday!
Mind you I have been busy so maybe that's what's done it! I (like many many others) have been dragging out the christmas decorations and trying to decide what's reuseable and what isn't.
As this is our first Christmas in our new house we decided to scrap all the old knackered baubles - this is going to be a year of fresh memories.
However as a crafter I kind of find it difficult to throw stuff out just to make way for new similar stuff, so I've repurposed loads of stuff. I've made wreaths (fake ones mind, I am going to have a go at fresh ones soon), garlands, table centrepieces and the odd vase with baubles inside and all from stuff we were going to throw out - now that makes a happy crafter huh?

Anyway, onto this weeks Wotcha Wednesday which is my chance to feature 2 or 3 blogs that I love or I follow or that follow me.
This weeks features are as follows:

'Shabby Story'
You are going to love this blog, it's so shabbyesque and the site is so fresh and welcoming. I love it and and did feature one of Lynns Christmas decorations a few weeks ago but I'm featuring her blog here again as there is just so much inspiration there. Enjoy!

Birdhouses painted white, add a clock face & Voila! Christmas dec.

White washed cement urn with Burlap rose. cool!

Tins, Sheet music and a fabric rose makes a tree dec.

Gorgeous huh? But take a look at this craft room. I'm soooo jealous!

So organised.

 Next up we have
'4 the love of wood'
I love the Typography on this blog and Kristy has included some tutorials.

My daughter would love this pouffe!

Typography stools.

Wood signs are a fave of mine at the moment.

Take a mosey on over to Kristys blog, I know you'll love what you find.

'Redefining C'

I've followed this blog for a while now and still manage to find new things on there that I had missed last time round - it's full of gorgeous creations.

It's just around the corner so why not get making a sign like this.

Carri gives a great tutorial for this sign.

So adaptable. Love it.

There's so much more over at Carri's blog so take an amble over there and recieve your fill of inspiration.

So there you have it. 3 amazing blogs that you will garner heaps of ideas from.
Thanks for taking a peek, hope you enjoy!

I've been awarded

I'm shouting out a huge Thank you and 'whoop whoop' to Kerrye of  'Impossible Cleanliness' for handing me the 'Versatile Blogger Award'.
I'm always amazed that people stop by and leave such lovely comments on my blog and via email so to think that someone thinks my blog is worth an award..............

So to accept this award - which I most definitely am going to lol - I have 2 assignments. One is to tell y'all 7 things about myself which you may not already know (and probably don't wanna) and the second is to pass this award on to 15 Bloggers who I believe are deserving of it.

So 7 things you may not know............Hmmm.....................This could get boring so feel free to skip to the more exciting part:

1) I love crafting but my real passion is Horses. I worked with them fresh from school, have owned them and have been around them all my life although I am currently Horseless (sad face).

2) I've passed the Horse bug on to my twin daughters. Both are currently at Equestrian college and all set for a career with these beautiful creatures.

3) In school I excelled at Art. I gained an 'o' level before leaving school at 16 but have only dabbled with it since as Horses took over my life!

4) I passed my artistic flair on to both my daughters (I like to share lol). Both have excelled at it gaining Advanced Highers before leaving school at 18 to persue Horses (see the pattern here).

5) My husband is my soul mate - despite him only being fifth on this list. He is literally the other half of me and we are so in tune and connected it's really rather pukey to most people.

6) I used to show Great Dane dogs. My first ever boy took me straight to Crufts where he gained second in his class. Baileywaileywoowoo (seriously) was an amazing boy and my shadow until he died suddenly while playing.
Huntly is my current Dane boy and is such a big mummys boy that carries his teddy everywhere....literally..... even to the loo outside.

7) My favouritist (is that even a word) book and film ever is 'Gone with the wind'. I have read it many many times and it still fascinates me. Because of this book (I assume) I have a love of the Deep South. Plus due to a childhood love of the TV series  'Dallas' I have a fascination with Texas and would luuuuuurve to go on a cattle drive with my daughters.

Now for the best part.
15 Bloggers who I believe deserve this award. This took some time because I wanted to get it right, I don't want this to be something that is handed to the first 15 Blogs I could find, they needed to mean something to me. Problem is, there are more than 15 Blogs that I love so I've had to really whittle it down. Here goes and in no particular order:

1) 'Lambs and Ivy Designs'
2) 'My 1929 Charmer'
3) 'Garden of Decoupage'
4) 'My life under the bus'
5) 'Decorama'
6) 'Home Frosting'
7) 'My Heart's Song'
8) 'The othe me is sane'
9) 'Yards and Yards'
10) 'Krafty Max Originals'
11) 'Design dreams by Anne'
12) 'Holding on to the little things'
13) 'Choosing Love'
14) 'Embellishments by SLR'
15) 'The Whimsical Wife'

Please go check out each and every one of these fantastical bloggers. They each have much to offer and really are 'versatile' bloggers, I know you'll love em.
Thank you again to Kerrye from 'Impossible Cleanliness' and I hope y'all can take the time to head on over to her blog and check out all the goodies.

Bon Appetit!

I've finally managed to finish one of my smaller projects yay!
I'm not sure where the inspiration for this piece came from because originally I wanted to use 'Bon Appetit!' in vinyl letters above a shelf with my cookbooks in the kitchen.
But me being me changed things as I went along and I decided to mount the words on a board. I was a bit concerned that vinyl letters may not adhere very well on silk Kitchen wall paint and had the same concerns about a Sharpie going directly on to the wall. Plus, I figured something moveable would be better because the kitchen is still a work in progress and knowing me I'd put it exactly where I don't want it. I'm clever like that!

So here's the finished product:

Least the towel is new!

Excuse the staging. A ruddy Yellow TeaTowel and a Tin of Biscuits! Most people would probably have staged it with fresh rolls and herbs but not me, I go for a Yellow towel and a tin of Biscuits - hmmmm wonder what Freud would say about that!

Anyway to make this little piece I cut myself a few pieces (4 to be exact) of scrap timber and attached them to a smaller piece of hardboard - glued and nailed on of course!

The back.

The front.

Then it had a good sand to get rid of rough edges and to reduce any varnish.
Then comes the best part - painting!
I used one coat of primer / undercoat mix but only because I have no other white paint left.
Once dried it was followed by a nice Red by Laura Ashley - I bought a tester pot for £3 (rip off I know). The Red was to match the Red accessories in my kitchen as much as possible.
Next I sanded it down to let the White colour through and to age the corners and edges etc - I looooove sanding!
Next came the real exciting part - the lettering. I used my laptop again as I did in 'THIS' post to trace the lettering because my printer is playing up and I keep having to heat the cartridge up before getting ink from it - so annoying!
I traced the letters on as usual by scribbling over the letters onto the board and then used a white 'Pilot' pen to trace over the lettering.
I have to say at this point that the Pilot pen was amazing, so much easier than the Sharpie and didn't fail on me once (unlike the Sharpie). The only downside is that the fluid is slightly thin so you may need to go over it a couple of times if you'rre wanting a solid letter.
I, on the other hand would be sanding it anyway so wasn't too bothered:

Cool Pilot pen

Sanded edges

Then one coat of varnish using a brush as thick as each board to help reduce brush strokes and voila!

The finished look.

It's not even in its final resting place yet because I haven't quite decided where it's going to go.
I know it looks like a Coca Cola advert and the Bon looks like Ben but I like it anyway!
Thanks for taking a look, hope you enjoy.



Linked to:

'The Shabby Nest'
'Craft Junkie Too' 
'Sassy Sites' 
'Chic on a Shoestring Decorating' 
'Joyful Stamper' 
'The Shabby Creek Cottage' 
'Organise and Decorate Everything' 
'Funky Junk Interiors'
'Over the big moon' 
'Ginger snap crafts' 
'Crafts keep me sane' 
'You had me at crafts' 
'Making the world cuter' 
 'My daily photo journey'
'Cherished Bliss'

'Wotcha Wednesday' but posted on Tuesday - Oops!

It's that time of week again where I feature some of the amazing crafty blogs that either I follow or who follow me.
This week I'm featuring some of my followers because let's face it, we all love em and like to give something back to them. I'll also Tweet and FB share the featured blogs throughout the day.
So grab a featured button from the right hand side if you fancy it!

'Lambs and Ivy Designs'

I adore this site. It's one I check out regularly and it's no wonder with goodies as gorgeous as this

Wedding/Christening

Gorgeous huh!

Christmas Misletoe

Choker

Quite a talent isn't it!
Head on over to 'Lambs and Ivy designs' where you will find loads of projects by Dana plus links to Danas Flickr photostream where you can indulge in loads more of those beauties and also a link to Dana's Etsy shop.



'Garden of Decoupage'
In this blog Felicity regales all with her Decoupage technique and wonderful creations.

Christmas tray

Magazine files

Glasses case

Head on over to 'Garden of decoupage' where you will plenty of interesting Decoupage projects and techniques plus a link to Felicity's shop.

'My 1929 Charmer'
You're gonna love this one. It's full, and I mean Fuuuuuuull with loads of projects, revamps and sewing projects.
Check out this lamp. Cathy made that shade - seriously!

Who wouldn't love this right!

If only my patio could look like this (though I doubt it would survive the wind)

Leafy pillow and Cathy shows you how.

I know that little lot has intrigued you so mosey on over to 'My 1929 Charmer' where you'll find all of the above plus much much more.

'West Furniture Revival'

Prepare to get engrossed in this blog.
Laurens blog is full of inspiration for so many different projects.

These are so popular now - no wonder, this is lovely!

We all need one of these in the garden.

I know, they're cool right! Tutorial is on the blog.

You have to take a gander at 'West Furniture Revival', it's a friendly, informative blog that you will go back to time after time.

*Note* This post is now going to show on Tuesday because I wasn't watching what I was doing and I clicked on post instead of preview - duh!

Thanks y'all for looking. Hope you enjoy the blogs featured. Come on back next week for more features.



Linked to:


'Delightful order'
'Seven thirty three' 
'Organise and Decorate everything' 
'Ginger snap crafts'

Such gorgeous weather!

This calm weather is getting a tad eerie now. Is it the calm before the storm?
We rarely seem to get a day here without wind of some description and I'm not talking the smelly kind! We live smack bang next to the coast and as we haven't gotten round to surrounding ourselves with trees yet, the wind can be biting!
However the last couple of weeks have seen some rather calm, wind free conditions and as much as we're enjoying it while it lasts it's hard to not think we're sitting in the eye of a storm and we're gonna get battered by the other side any time now!

Still, today was lovely again and again I found myself sitting and listening to the birds. I made another half hearted attempt at photographing them again but just as I got myself set up the battery died on the camera. Typical!
By the time I'd got another one sorted the birds had done a flit so I decided to photograph a lone Blue flower instead (least it can't fly off)

Cranesbill (Geranium) Johnsons Blue

How gorgeous is that! I was drawn to it because it was smack bang in the middle of the rest of the plant that had died off for the winter. This little gem is still clinging on determined to show off!

Next we have another Cranesbill that is still in full flower and even full leaf. All the others of this species that this would have been grown from have long since died off. Not this one though!

Cranesbill

Pretty huh!

I couldn't resist this one too. A Fuchsia in my polytunnel.

Fuchsia

I have loads of various Fuchsia outside that are still in full flower and full leaf. I'm guessing the cold summer followed by this mild winter has confused them.
Even my Daffodils are a good 7" out the ground and I NEVER see that before about February.

Anyway, as always, thank you for popping in and looking. I promise there'll be more crafts up soon as I have plenty nearing completion and don't forget 'Wotcha Wednesday' when I'll be featuring some of my followers.
PLUS, I'm going to be hosting a linky party in the very near future. Yay! So keep those Eagle eyes open!




Linked to

'Craft-O-Maniac'
'Keeping it Simple'
'Creative me Monday'
'The Girl creative'
'Not Just a Housewife'

I will never make a bird photographer!
Today has been another gorgeous day here in the Highlands of Scotland. The wind that is usually an every day part of life has been non existant, the sky has been a glorious Blue and the temperature has kept a constant cool rather than cold.

While beavering away in my workshop shed this morning I decided that with views like this from my window

My view this morning!

I really shouldn't be stuck inside.
As I had all my cameras to hand for once I decided to pootle about and take some images of the garden.
This Pampas grass really took my eye because of the mist bank surrounding us

Pampas Grass

Then I noticed a lone Rose clinging on to life despite the cruddy summer we've had:

A rose by any other name....only I don't remember the name of this one!

Then I had a super brain wave. yup, yup, yup!
I figured I could plot a seat up near my bird table and snap happy at the pretty birdies as they eat the goodies I put there - least they could let me do after religiously feeding them for years huh!
So that's what I did! I plotted up and sat there patiently with my camera.......
However, it took me a wee while to realise that in my rush to get a piccie of said birds I hadn't really considered my vantage point - I may have been a mere 4 ft away but I was directly below the table which happens to be about 10ft tall so the only view I got was of gwana as they shot away! Luvly!!
So I then decided it would be a better idea to put some seed mix on a post that was only a few feet tall and a few feet away, so that's what I did.
Then I sat there and waited....
All of a sudden there were birds everywhere, score!
Immediately they were interested so I prepared to snap away. At this point I realised a huge mistake. Note to self: Next time I put seed out for piccie advantages PUT THE SEED ON ONE POST ONLY! Yep for some stupid reason I decided to put it on 2 posts WTH!
I can categorically say it is impossible to predict which post the birds will choose. It's also impossible to zone in on the right one, focus and snap the picture before the bird has had its fill and legged it! Try it!
So nasty old me chucked the seed from one stump and waited at the second.
I got the shots, oh yea! Plenty of em too! Just none of em any good, in fact most were of the bird as it flew away.
here's a couple that are at least half focused though:

Blue Tit

Coal Tit

So there you have it! My lovely day spent roaming my garden and snapping what I see - been a long time coming!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!




Linked to:

'Studio Waterstone'
'Funkyjunk Interiors'
'Flamingotoes'
'Mommyheadadventures'
'My1929charmer'
'LambAround'
'Simplicity - my life in pictures'

Love

I'm getting a tad carried away making these blocks now and yet I still have more on the go!
These were actually some of the first I ever made but I made a mess of the paint colour choice and then wasn't so keen on the paper choice I made either. However, they've been just staring at me for weeks now pleading to be finished so I figured I'd fit them in in between other projects (why do I seem to have so many on the go!)

Anyhoo these are the blocks:

The finished item.

The process for making them is really, really simple.
I cut 4 blocks from some rough 2"x2" wood and gave them a really good sand down. The corners and edges were sanded with a mega mother of all sand papers (I do have mechanical sander but I'm too lazy to get it set up    I enjoy hand sanding).
Once the corners and edges were rounded I used 2 other grades of sandpaper to smooth the blocks even more:

Before & After.

Next, and this is where it all goes Pete Tong, I painted all the blocks with Laura Ashleys 'Duck egg'. I figured a blast of colour would be just what was needed after so many recent projects have been Cream but once they'd dried I decided it wasn't really what I wanted, so I painted them cream - of course!
Once dried I sanded the whole thing paying more attention to the edges and corners.
Next I took some Latin font vellum, cut pieces to fit the front of each one and glued them on using watered down PVA glue.
This is a process I've never done before and I didn't realise that the vellum would stretch and crinkle so much which is another reason I abandoned the project after this point.

The edges of the paper were also sanded once dried.

Fast forward a few weeks and I decided to finish the blocks mainly because I'd just bought a Gold permanent marker for xmas projects and wanted to try it on something else first.
The marker is by 'Pilot' and I have to say it was a dream to use, as was the White Pilot pen I used on another project, plus I got them dirt cheap along with a Silver one off EBay!
So I attempted to transfer letters onto the blocks the usual way of tracing and scribbling buut even with a dark soft pencil nothing would trace onto the dried glue. In the end I had to hand draw the letters onto each one.

Love!

Apologies for the lack of staging.

Not too shabby huh!

So there you have it, yet more wooden blocks. Enjoy!
Thanks for popping by.





Linked to:

'My Romantic Home'
'Stuff and Nonsense'
'French Country Cottage'
'The Shabby Nest'
'Craft Scrappy Happy'
'Finding Fabulous'
'Craft Envy'
'Craft Junkie Too'
'Todays creative blog'