Pages

27 Mar 2013

little ikea storage drawers make over- part 2...


My little project from yesterday has been added to today using washi tape from Seventy Tree.

Now it's definitely finished and definitely colourful! 

The beautiful vintage wallpaper was from Vintage Sheet Addict's gorgeous shop of lovely papers and fabrics. 


And again this washi-taping took just minutes to complete. 

Why do we always think things will be harder than they are? 


Imagine what we could achieve if we just got on and DID STUFF

I'm not saying that I've achieved wonders but I am saying that I've been half heartedly planning to revamp these drawers for years and it took me about 40 minutes tops to finish them once I'd started.  

Hooray for craft projects that take less than an hour. They're clearly the way to go with baby number two making his way into the world sometime in the next month...
X





26 Mar 2013

little ikea storage drawers make over

I've been meaning to cover this shabby little set of Ikea craft drawers (like this one) with  wallpaper for years. Literally years. I finally got around to it yesterday and I swear it took me around 20 minutes. 

Here're the drawers in their sad pre-makeover state...


I drew around the drawer fronts onto some vintage wallpaper, cut out the shapes and glued them on using clear acrylic paint matt medium (I use this lots, seems to stick super well).


And it's done! How simple was that? 


Next on my list to be covered with pretty paper is the chest of drawers in Edie's room. No excuse now I know how easy it is to do. 

Right now I'm inspired to pay more attention to colour in our home. I treated myself to this book by Charlotte Hedeman Gueniau and although some of it isn't exactly our style it's still a beautiful book full of ideas and prompts to get you thinking about the space you live in in a different way. Love it! 


So my little chest of drawers should give our book shelves a boost of happy making colour. And with the skies still so grey outside that can only be a good thing. 
X

22 Mar 2013

post


There have been times in my life when I've felt the urge to pick up a pen and a notebook and fill page upon page with rambling words. As a teenager, as a student, as a new mum. 

Then there have been long stretches of time when I've only written with a keyboard and I swear my fingers have almost forgotten the mechanical function necessary for handwriting. You know that feeling? When you pick up a pen to write something other than your signature and the process of writing down words feels so awkward. 

But I am a writer, not in the professional sense at the moment but in the sense that I have a lot of words inside me that need to be written down. After my art degree I studied for a masters degree in Writing- Practice and Issues and worked as a freelance writer in London for several years after. Now my blog and my notebooks hold all my words. That's one reason I love blogging, so I can write stuff down.

When I heard about Miss Beatrix's postcircle I decided to join in. Writing letters is something it's fashionable to say you love, but it's something we hardly ever do. 

It's funny how intimate writing a letter can be, especially to someone you've never met. It's like opening yourself up to someone, becoming a little bit vulnerable. It doesn't feel like that here on this blog. It feels like I'm writing to friends, and to myself. 

But it felt good to write an actual letter to someone. Maybe I should write to some of the lovely people I've met through this blog. People I feel like I 'know' though I've never met. People who I have lots in common with. 

Maybe I will. Would that be weird? 

21 Mar 2013

faking the sunshine



Still in the spirit of yellowness I've produced a Zig Zag print in a gorgeous golden colour. It brightens up our bedroom a treat. 

Even though it's raining outside and the temperature is chilly I still have my golden mantel piece display to bring me sunshine.

Those little daffodils smell so good. I love this time of year for it's cheap and cheerful flowers. No excuses for having no flowers around when they're just pennies a bunch. 
X

19 Mar 2013

yellow cravings


Yellow, oh yellow, right now I crave your sunny hue so much. A little splash here and there to shake away the winter for good. 


Sunshine, sand, vanilla ice-cream, savingnon blanc, daffodils, bumble bees, lemons, buttercups, sun-kissed blonde streaks...

How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun. 
Vincent Van Gogh

Oh yeah.
I'm in a yellow mood.

my yellow at home Pinterest board

Funny how we get drawn to different colours at different times. Like a dirty blue, or a dusky rose or, like right now, a sunny golden yellow. But in small doses I think, too much yellow would be totally over stimulating for me. My brain needs a more calming
backdrop to stop it overloading. 
 
That gorgeous hour of hazy sunlight you get on summer evenings, that's what I really want to capture. And if the closest I can get is with a bunch of tulips on the windowsill then I'm happy with that.

Also, I should mention here that I've become a sponsor over at Little Birdie, so happy to see my little button on Jen's sidebar. She's one of the loveliest ladies I've met online and her blog inspires me every day. 
X

18 Mar 2013

37 weeks


I've been struggling to do anything much this last week. 37 weeks pregnant and I'm slowing down big time. Just as well the community art classes I run are finishing Wednesday, I only run a couple a week but they're really taking it out of me. It's not just being tired that's the problem, it's the sheer weight of my belly, and the pressure 'down below' that can make me swear if I'm on my feet for too long. Didn't have that problem with my first pregnancy, I think I must have had more scaffolding propping my womb in place back then. 

But I did find the energy to play around with some shrink plastic for the first time, it's so easy and fun. I made this little Easter bunny as an experiment, it's about 5cm long. I'm going to get Edie to draw on the plastic sheets for me, so I can bake and shrink her little pictures and keep them as little charms. 

Her drawings are getting so good, I love to see her pictures of me as a spider and her daddy as a deer. And she's crazy about drawing, as soon as she wakes up she wants to get her pencils and crayons out. So glad to have such a happy little artist at home with us!

Hope you all had a good weekend X

14 Mar 2013

on Etsy and on our kitchen wall


OK, so I decided to go ahead with the £6 offer on my new print on Etsy. Just initially to see how it goes. I've hung ours in our kitchen, what do you think?

It's in a wooden frame but I like how you can make a print almost change personality depending on how you style and frame it. I think it'd look lovely in a plain white or a black frame too. Need a trip to Ikea to pick up some supplies I think so I can try out some alternatives.   

The rainbow print in the above image is one of mine too but I've never put it up for sale in my Etsy store for some reason. Perhaps I'll add it this week.

Thanks for looking :)
X


13 Mar 2013

a little cloud


My cloud print has finally been framed up. I love this combination of black, white and yellow at the moment. With a little grey thrown in too. These are the colours I'd like to decorate our little nursery in when we get around to it, mostly white with the other colours thrown into the mix here and there. 

Apologies for the not-so-great picture quality. My camera is still out of action and iPhone pics on grey days are a little lack lustre, I know. 

I'm considering putting this print on my Etsy for a reduced price as I'm using different paper and would like some feedback. I usually sell my prints for £12 but I'm thinking maybe half that. The new paper is cheaper than the usual stuff I use but I think I was paying a stupid amount previously and the new paper is still archival grade blah blah blah. Looks just as good framed up to me anyhow. 

What do you think? 
X

12 Mar 2013

spring mood board


As I'm rather determined to keep the thought that spring is officially here in my confused, slightly wind chilled head (it's bloody FREEZING here in Wales) I decided to turn my fridge into a little spring shrine. 

I have a cork board in the attic which keeps failing to materialise here in the downstairs world no matter how many times I request for it to be bought down with the mountains of baby stuff we're currently sorting through but I thought the fridge door would make an excellent alternative. Especially as I open it at least, ooo, 58 times a day (I drink a lot of tea and I'm very, very greedy).

Yellows, oranges, florals, blue skies, corals, turquoises, happy bright and sunny. Little green shoots and blossoms on trees. Hazy mornings, bird song, bare feet and blankets on the grass. The great outdoors, adventure, wanderings and who knows what where the day will take us weekends. 

I just LOVE the spring. And below freezing temperatures and snow flurries are not gonna stop me getting in the spring mood, no way. 


X

11 Mar 2013

pasta necklaces, cheese and being a mum

hiding- sooo hard to find (not)
Edie had been excited for Mother's Day for a week or so. Every night at bedtime she asked me if it would be Mothers' Day in the morning, she was just itching to give me her card and gift. I'm not sure what she was expecting but as it involved her giving me stuff she'd made and a lot of cake eating she was pretty happy.

love this card! love this girl.
Obviously I loved my card and my pasta tube necklace which I was instructed to 'wear all the time'. We compromised on 'for special occasions' but right now I'm happy to wear it all day every day. Until it rains at least and I have to whip it off in fear of being left with a purple and yellow chest and four soggy pieces of pasta hanging on a string around my neck. 


For lunch we went out for a cheese buffet at Madame Fromage in Cardiff. Heaven. It's made me think of having a mini cheese celebration myself at home sometime after I give birth, and then I can really go to town and not have to avoid some of the gooey, runny or blue types that I had to refuse because of the probably minuscule threat of listeria whilst pregnant. And then I can get jolly on a glass or two of wine! I'm so doing it. Cheese just really does it for me these days. 

After the cheese fest we went to my Mum's for a mountain of cake. How can you beat that? You can't. 

So thank you Edie for making me a mum and giving me the excuse to gorge myself on cheese and cake all day. 

Hope you had a fun weekend too and that it involved spending time with someone you love as much as I love Edie. And cheese.
X

6 Mar 2013

me party


Tomorrow night my husband is out of town for work and so I'm home alone with Edie. Maybe some of you will know what I mean when I say that it can be no bad thing to every once in a blue moon have the house (almost) to yourself?

Of course I'll be over the moon to welcome him home come Friday night but for that one evening I'm intending to focus entirely ON ME (that's after I've fed, washed and gotten Edie off to bed of course). 

A me party.

A party just for one. 

One very pregnant, tired out lady who could probably do with going to bed at 8.30 but hey, you gotta take your me party kicks where you can these days.

But unfortunately, what happens at the me party stays at the me party, so that's all I can say on the matter.

5 Mar 2013

time is slippery



Right now time is slipping away from me at such a rate of knots that the days in a week can disappear before I can even register that the previous week is over. I'm constantly playing catch up. The classes I run are coming to an end very soon and I'm trying to pack in as much work as I can so that things are organised for me to go on maternity leave. I'm also trying to make the most of every available minute to focus on my art work and writing. But life keeps getting in the way of me being able to focus on anything as much as I'd like. I've got appointments coming out of my ears, work to be done on the house and even just a couple of simple but necessary tasks seem to be able to eat up a whole day. 

So I've stolen just this few minutes to sit and write these few words. Because I want to commit to writing on this blog as much as I can, because I find it propels me into getting other stuff done. It makes me focus on my minutes, hours and days and plan them more creatively, so that stuff happens.

Do you know what I mean? 

And now I look ahead to the rest of this week and realise that again I have no spare time. Or at least not enough. 

But that's how it is sometimes and in all honesty that's often how I like it. Stolen moments are where I'll have to find the time to write here. Before work, before bed, here there and in between.

Until I have this baby and then I'll have all the time in the world to write and draw and dream.

Not. 

Ah well, it can be done, as so many of you out there prove to me over and over each and every day. Isn't it amazing what you can achieve even when you have no time to achieve it?

X