Showing posts with label Ta-dah Tuesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ta-dah Tuesday. Show all posts

4.2.13

Decoupage - comic though not always funny..

My first attempt at decoupage wasn't a great success. I tried to cover a wooden chair in colourful flower themed cutouts gathered from a large stack of old Gardeners' World magazines. It looked brilliant...in my head. And I ploughed on with the project, even when I'd pretty much accepted it was over-ambitious, and possibly not the best way to start my decoupage journey.  The finished piece looked like a badly wrapped comedy parcel - there was definitely a chair in there, somewhere...under the lumps, bumps and wrinkles.
It's long gone now, but inspired by some fantastic crafty blogs, my desire to decoupage seems to have been rekindled. And this time I started with something REALLY simple - so simple I wasn't even sure it counted as decoupage, but having looked up the meaning (decorating a surface with cutouts), it just about qualifies - I did a tiny bit of cutting.
The little table below probably looks familiar? I covered it with vintage domino cards picked up at a french street market. They fitted perfectly and give the top a kind of tile effect. I love the table. No one else is allowed to use it.



So, fired up and feeling a little more confident, I decided to decoupage a bedside table I'd got in a surprise BOGOF win at the auction.  Not the whole thing this time.


I painted it chalk white. Quite honestly it turned out whiter than I'd hoped, but hey, it's for my 8 year old's room and he's really not bothered. There was a little more interest in what went on top, so he did help choose the pages he liked from a pile of old Beanos a friend had given me.

I do have to admit to a few Gardeners' World flashbacks - the paper was so thin and bubbled up as it landed on the layer of PVA glue - but I held my nerve, working quickly and smoothing it down as best I could. It didn't look too bad.


Then I used a water-based clear varnish to seal it and nearly died when it all started bubbling up AGAIN! Deep breath. Deep breath. So I just painted a corner to see what would happen. Thankfully as it dried, the paper contracted and it looked better, but there were some obvious places where the comic had come away from the surface.
An important lesson learnt - I should have spent more time making sure the paper was properly stuck down. Preparation is everything, ain't that the truth? But often in my impatience to see how things turn out, I can be a preparation slacker.
The bedside table is fine, as long as you don't get too close. Perfect for an unobservant 8 year old.



I'm on a roll - the 8 year old loves collecting stuff, and it's usually all over the floor of his room - so my next decoupage job was covering an IKEA drawer box for his birthday. Now I'd advise, if you're in anyway offended by the chopping up of perfectly good books, to look away now...



In my defence I'm not in the habit of doing this, but there were piles and piles of similar encyclopedia-type books being sold off for pennies at a local charity shop. And now bits of them are on permanent show. That's sort of a good thing, right? The paper was also great quality and MUCH easier to stick on the box.





It took a while, but I'm pleased with the result. I made it more personal by using some sheet music, because he's my piano player - as well as maps of home and where he was born. I covered the drawers in loads of layers of varnish, and really hope it's something he'll hang on to.

This is next! My sewing machine trolley. I have a nordic/knittingy idea for it...


Linking up with Ta-dah! Tuesday at Lakota's

16.10.12

Day 339 - A wise idea?


My very lovely, talented sister kindly offered to sell some homemade things for me at a few London craft fairs she was doing in the run up to christmas last year. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to build up a flock of small, knitted birds. They turned out ok, but in my head these tiny birds were going to be simple and quick to make.  They really weren't. They were a bit faffy and took ages. Definitely not a money-spinner.


This time I wanted to try something bigger and less knitty, that wouldn't take so long. Would owls be wise?  Now I know this isn't a novel idea by any stretch - they're everywhere at the moment, but I love that simple retro owl shape, and thought I'd give it a whirl anyway. One of the things that got me thinking along the owl line was this fantastic old flowery sheet I picked up in a charity shop for a few pounds. Must be enough here for a whole colony.


I've made small, medium and large ones and they're all around the kitchen, watching..



They're stuffed with the filling from cushions bought at a car boot, so almost completely created out of recycled bits. And for some owl variety I found these other vintage prints at a fantastic place in Hereford selling secondhand/salvaged material and haberdashery.


The wings on the bigger owls are knitted, and I stuck on bits left over from the good old mouse/mitt cashmere socks for the small ones. A friend suggested these little fellas could be used as pin cushions - maybe this would be fun too?


and there's more owly nonsense.....they are the cashmere socks that keep on giving...



I'm linking up with Lakota's 'Ta-dah!' Tuesday

25.9.12

Day 318 - Bed Socks and Mouse/Mitts

Bed socks aren't necessarily a sign that you're getting on are they? Just wondering, because I've been given six pairs in a relatively short space of time.  Not that I'm complaining. I don't really have a problem slip-sliding down the slope into comfort. And I do get cold feet.

Among my hoard I'm lucky enough to have a few cashmere pairs. They always start off being my favourites, but maddeningly I seem to go through them in a matter of weeks. Is it just me? I know, as the name suggests they're not a heavy duty sock, but come on! A few weeks of night-time pottering and telly watching?

Anyway I've tried mending the massive heel holes - the thing is I'm not very good at it, and usually end up creating an uncomfortable lump. A darn lump would be about right.


So why am I showing you my tatty old cashmere bed socks? Well, inspired by the very lovely Thrift Bee, who cleverly transformed an old cashmere scarf into a gorgeous, hot water bottle cover, I decided to forget darning, and give the socks a new lease of life as a pair of fingerless gloves.

And it was pretty easy. First I cut off the foot part, just where the heel starts - slipped them on, and marked the place I wanted the thumb hole to be.


Then stitched around the raw edges to stop them unravelling and carefully sewed on some ribbon. A little fiddly, but I found a lovely purple/blue two-tone piece.


And in an attempt to use every possible un-holey bit of the sock, I salvaged enough of a toe section to make this softy.

Do you think there might be a market for cashmere cat toys...?


Linking up with Lakota's Ta-dah! Tuesday