Shabby rustic, before and after...

orange varnish - I hate it!

it's got to be refinished in a shabby rustic style...

loving the tongue and groove backboard...but still thinking maybe I should have painted it a pale duck egg blue to contrast with the rest of the cupboard in white?

details of the finish...

and again...

ready to go to the next Milton Keynes Handmade and Vintage Fair March 2nd and 3rd!

Recycled candles...

now, call me old fashioned...but I get frustrated at anything wasteful. I had loads of old half-used, burnt out candles and empty jars and I was sure they could be recycled...

I chopped them up...melted them over some hot water...

and used the wicks out of other old candles (you could use cheap white dining candles and chop out the wicks or you can buy wicks but that defeats the object of recycling) and added the extra wax to the mix.. I cut the wicks to length and taped them to a pencil to suspend them in the wax until dry. Put the wick in place before you carefully pour in the wax - it won't move about too much...

let them fully harden, overnight is best, and then I added some labels I made from Graphics Fairy images...

(they haven't quite dried in the photo hence the wrinkles - sorry!)

they are 'Cinnamon Orange' and 'Christmas Home'

I used mixes of left over candles I already had, but maybe you could add essential oils to create your own fragrances - I haven't tried that so can't advise!

This was a good project for a very snowy afternoon here and I restocked my scented candle cupboard!

Health and safety: I don't want to insult your intelligence but...remember you're using very hot wax, water etc so watch out for kids, pets, fingers etc.

Printed lavender and hop pillows...

I found an unopened bag of dried hops the other day and another of dried lavender so I decided to make some sleep-inducing  herb-filled pillows, but what fabric to use?

Well, I had some plain calico and decided to print directly onto it by sticking it to an A4 sheet of card with some double sided tape:

I created some designs from images I found on the Graphic Fairy website (thanks as always Karen!), held my breath and put it through the printer...

et voila! I sewed them up and...

filled them with the dried herbs...

and here's the result:

cute little vintagey, Frenchy pillows to help you sleep!

I experimented with larger (A4) sized printouts...

and love the result, but I haven't decided how to use this fabric yet,

they would make lovely panels sewn into  a linen cushion cover but even I have to admit we already have too many cushions!

by the way...I also used Karen's images to make a cute label to put inside the cellophane bags with the lavender and hop pillows!

you like?

Leaving you today with a quote from Victor Hugo:

'Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age'

comments anyone?

Kilner jar soap dispenser...

...so I had a beautiful new white ceramic sink fitted last week - is it tragic that I'm excited about that?

Anyway, I decided that a plastic Fairy bottle wasn't going to cut it anymore and made this dish soap dispenser from an old Kilner jar and a recycled pump. I made the image from a pharmacy label from the Graphics Fairy's website - thanks again Karen - you're a lifesaver! I printed it onto Safmat film to stick to the jar

In my travels I also found this oval Kilner jar with foreign (Polish?) writing on. It's really pretty so I'll keep it for something nice!

Don't try to teach a pig to sing...

...it wastes your time and annoys the pig. This is my first attempt at digital art and one of my favourite sayings. 

For all those girls who believe that they can change their men and, by doing so, live happily ever after - it ain't never gonna happen ladies...

Am I right? comments please....

Many thanks to Karen at the Graphics Fairy for the images!

On a lighter note (!) ages ago I gave you a little glimpse of a project I was working on:

now, with the festive season, MLH starting a big new job and down right procrastination, it's taken until now to show you the final article - I'm calling it the Fabulous table:

I think it's gorgeous with its curvy lines and Empire style legs (they even have little oval decorative plaques at the top) so I've finished it French style (of course!) to look like it's been standing in a deserted chateau for a hundred years or so...

this is a detail of the lower shelf showing the crackle finish and below is a close up of the leg detail

Do you love it?