Upcycled, painted and sewn together: chairs, bar stools and colourful cushions

A few photos of recent projects by myself and Willow Cottage.

Breakfast bar stools I have upcycled and painted for customers in Annie Sloan mixed white and duck egg blue chalk paint and recovered in fabric by Prestigious

Cushions I made from a pile of vintage embroidery panels. Prices from £18-22

Ercol chair painted in graphite black (£45) and an large old 'Viresa' wine bottle/vase (£55)

What a line-up! Chairs painted by myself and Willow Cottage. £45 each

Piano stool reupholstered for a customer in a 'patchwork' style

Cushions made with designer fabrics. £30 each

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Ercol chair makeover with Annie Sloan paint

Just a quick post to show you a before & after shot of a chair I've been doing up this weekend. It's an original Ercol chair, probably a 1950s one. I have two, so once they're both done they'll make a great pair in someone's kitchen!

I painted them in Annie Sloan white chalk paint with on top a mix of the white with a bit of Farrow and Ball Old White through it. Distressed it with some fine sand paper at the end and put a clear wax coat on it.

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Ways to display inspirational words and text in interiors

http://pinterest.com/pin/135741376239022220/

Using words in home decor has been popular for a while now, with most high street stores selling decor items to go along with this trend.

Personally I find the use of single letters or the words 'Love', 'Home', 'Welcome' and 'Eat' becoming a bit tiresome by now, especially when done in a faux-vintage style, but I do like the use of text in interior design. As usual I have been pinning myself silly on Pinterest lately, so today I will share some text-based styling ideas with you around ways to use words, letters and complete articles in your house without becoming boring.

Here we go!







Write your favourite quotes or inspirational words on found pebble stones and display them around your house or in a bowl.  Love this idea.

http://pinterest.com/pin/259027416038835870/

Reading newspapers in bed gets a whole different meaning with this wall! Using newspaper as wallpaper creates a great graphic effect:

http://pinterest.com/pin/259027416038835999/

The use of blackboard paint has also been popular in home decor for a while and a great way to introduce text in your interior. Good thing is, you can alter it if you get bored with the words ;-). Use it on walls or cupboard like done here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/259027416038835964/

You could be bold and write your house rules on the wall. Bit intimidating perhaps? Or pretty cool?

http://pinterest.com/pin/158611218097275660/

 

 

And why just use paint or chalk? Here's a wall with words made with thumb tacks / push pins. Not sure what it says, but the effect is good.

If you can't decide what words or text to use, just chalk single letters on your wall!

http://pinterest.com/pin/163607398932548132/

This idea takes a bit of time to gather so many wooden printers block letters, let alone putting them all together on the wall, but the effect is great:

http://pinterest.com/pin/7036943138327305/

Who says to use words exclusively indoors? Paint words on or create text out of metal and attach to a wall in your garden:

http://pinterest.com/pin/45247171226773159/

 

 

 

I already mentioned the over-usage of words like 'Home', 'Love' and 'Eat' in homes, so I thought I include this image! You can be as bold as you want and the possibilities with words, text and languages are endless. So why limit yourself...? Have fun!

http://pinterest.com/pin/234679830552744587/

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Back to winter woollies...vintage crochet blankets love.

So we are having some freakish weather up here in Scotland. Barbecues and sun hats one day, 10cm of snow the next. What's going on?! Anyway, nothing we can do about it but go with the flow (or snow for that matter). I had to get an extra blanket out the cupboard the past few days to keep warm and got the idea to actually go and stock up on beautiful hand crocheted 'granny' blankets for my etsy shop too.
Really beautiful ones (in up to date rather colours than seventies ones) are hard to come by though. Maybe I should find a local granny to make me some. Or learn to crochet myself...!

Here are some nice blankets I sold recently and one that I have just added to my shop.

 

This blanket is currently available in my Etsy shop

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Free vintage printables for all your creations this Christmas season

Just something I made Great round labels.

I love graphic design and creating blogs, postcards, posters, flyers, business cards and more. Not that I have any proper Photoshop or Illustrator skills, but by keeping things simple and using good quality images and type fonts I seem to get away with a lot! ;-)

Lately I have come across some absolutely gorgeous free downloadable images and photoshop textures, which I didn't want to keep to myself. I mean, what better finishing touch than a customised, vintage label to go with your hand-made gift?

So. Here we go! Have fun and do share links to your websites if you've created anything with them!

Fuzzimo
A great site with lots of vintage downloadable images including postcards, stamps and envelopes as well as polaroid frames, canvas textures and old sticky tape. Yum!

I-Do-It-Yourself
Wonderful website with lots of ideas and inspiration for weddings - but of course these great labels can be used for your homemade Christmas gifts too. Worth a look.

Demilked
I found a great selection of free downloadable Retro type fonts on this website, ready to be used on all your labels, cards and other creations...

Shadowhouse creations
More yummy type fonts! Which one to choose???

World Label
Heaps of great vintage labels to stick on jars, bottles, boxes, gifts, anything!

Miss Cutiepie goes 80s
Lots of free printable vintage Christmas labels and tags...

DigitalCollageImages (via Flickr)
Some more lovely vintage Christmas tags. Oh my - are those gifts going to look good this year or what.!

Lilybox Designs
Cover some tin cans in these vintage wrappers. You may want to keep some yourself as a home for your pencils, scissors and other bits and bobs too!

Maybemej
Great collection of printable paper scraps, including old maps, flower patterns and labels:

Hope this list has given you some ideas and inspiration! Enjoy!


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Wardrobe makeover by Nina's Apartment in Annie Sloan Aubusson and Duck egg blue chalk paint

I am proud to finally present to you the result of my £20 wardrobe makeover! Got it months ago from Banchory's Box Room (great for finding old furniture) and I eventually painted it and did it up. I love the combination of the blue and the brass hinges. It is now baby's first antique piece - holding all its baby grows, cute little cardigans and mini socks.

I painted the inside of the wardrobe in Annie Sloan's duck egg blue chalk paint and the outside in her Aubusson blue shade (with a layer of duck egg blue underneath which shines through after I lightly sanded through the corners and edges). I also stuck some blue-green retro fabric against the inside back panel of the wardrobe. My sister, who has been helping me finish the nursery over the past few days, put in an extra shelf (which she made out of our old bed slats!) and we got some useful storage boxes for underneath. She also saved me some money by suggesting using an old broom stick as a clothes rail and painting it in the same colour as the wardobe. Neat!

I'm very pleased with the result - hope baby likes it too when I show it its room for the first time next month ;-)

The broom stick clothes rail and bed slat shelf!

My hard working sister 'handy An' - :-)

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DIY craft project tutorials - for a homemade Christmas

Felted garland tutorial from Small Bird Blog

I have been asked by my friend and artist Fenneke of Fenfolio to sell some of my handmade cushions and vintage wares at a Christmas Fair she's organising in November and I am SO excited about this! It will be the first time I am going to officially be 'out there' with my business and goodies, other than just being online. Eeek! In addition to selling my home decor items I have been browsing the internet loads to find inspiration and cool ideas to create handmade Christmas decoration to sell as well. I have already made some lovely fabric rag wreaths, but am also going to have a go at making tree ornaments and anything else that is beautiful but relatively easy to make. After all, my maternity leave is starting next week, so an ideal time to get cracking with those crafts!

As you're probably not all going to be able to rush down to my stall at the Christmas Fair (but wouldn't that be great!), I thought I share some of the DIY projects I found with you so you could have a go yourself at creating a 'homemade Christmas' this year. Enjoy!

• Fabric covered polystyrene/styrofoam ball
  This is one of the things I will be attempting soon; baubles covered in fabric squares. Endless possibilities here with your favourite pieces of fabric! Go to the tutorial

• Using vintage papers
  Clear, glass ornaments decoupaged with vintage papers, sprinkled with glass glitter and tied with "Noel" made on a printer. There's no real tutorial here, but I guess it's using the decoupage technique and glue such as Mod Podge to get the paper to stick to the ornaments.
  
  

• Clay ornaments with doily print These are super simple to make but oh-so-elegant. The one pictured is featured on the beautiful website of Marley and Locker.
  
  1. Use air-dry clay, roll it out so you have a thin even sheet (about 3-5mm thick).
  2. If you want start by pressing a piece of linen or cotton onto the clay to create a textured effect.
  3. Press a doily or piece or lace into the clay and carefully take it away to reveal the imprint.
  4. Take a small round glass or other shape you like and press it into the clay to cut out the shape. Use a nail or similar to pierce through the ornament so you can put a ribbon through it later.
  5. Use rubber stamp letters to create a word or Christmas wish.
  5. Let the ornament dry completely.
  6. Paint the ornament with white acrylic paint or leave it natural.
  7. Fill in the imprint of the word with a darker shade of paint.
  
  
  
  
  

• Clay doily bowls
  If you really getting into this technique, why not try these gorgeous little bowls as well?
  Go to the tutorial

• Fabric rag ornaments
  Couldn't quite find the tutorial to go with these, but aren't they lovely? My guess is cutting out thin equal strips of fabric, then using pins to hold them in place on a polystyrene ball. I'm gonna give this a go...Please let me know if you've discovered a better way of doing this!
  

• Branch candle holder
  No Christmas without candles, so of course I am including a tutorial for a candle holder! This one is made with little twigs and will add a bit of rustic beauty to your home. Go to the full tutorial
  
  

 

What are you going to give a try? 

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Feeling creative: pom poms, t-shirt yarn and a hula hoop rug

It must be that nesting instinct setting in now I'm about seven months pregnant, but I can't help feeling the incredible urge to make things. Sew, paint, recycle, upcycle, revamp, refurbish, you name it. I am still working my day job though, so I am just collecting lots of ideas in the meantime while still doing the 9-to-5!

Here are a few great ideas you may want to try yourself, whether expecting a baby like me, having a day off or looking for stuff to do with the kids in the holidays.

To cheer up any party or kids room, you could make a pom pom garland. Remember those? We used to make them in primary school all the time. Now it's time for the grown-up version! If a garland looks more like a week's work than something you're able to do in an afternoon, why not keep it simple and make a few to dispense from the ceiling? If you're really lazy you can of course just buy them from other creatives down at Etsy.

This tutorial from Craftaholics Anonymous (great name!) shows you how to make fluffy pom poms made from t-shirt yarn (you know, 'wool' made from old tees - see how to make your own yarn here). Very nice.

Another cool looking project is the 'hula hoop rug', woven from t-shirt yarn. I'd love to give this a try. Looks pretty easy, no? I am crazy about those chunky knitted rugs and poufs at the moment, but I have no idea how to knit them. This seems to be an easy way to create something similar. Not sure about the bold colours in the one pictured, but I'm sure you could turn it into something quite sophisticated by using greys, deep purples or reds instead. Here's the How-To

familyfun.go.com

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