Monday 31 May 2010

Garden Show with a Shabby Chic Secret

Hello my little lovelies, keeping well I hope.  For a bank holiday treat I thought it would be nice to share some pretty photos of our trip to the Cambridgeshire Garden Show that was held at our local animal rescue shelter.  The weather was gorgeous so the turnout was really good and there were lots beautiful flowers and things to make your garden fabulous.
No idea what plant this is, but the flowers were just like those brush bottle washers you get, amazing!
 Would you look at the size of those gorgeous white blooms aren't they just lush!
 How about this cute wooden garden house.  Could just see myself sitting in there with my sewing and glass of chilled wine couldn't you.
Or how about chilling your wine in the garden table.  Not sure that would be too good with my cats one of them would be bound to end up in it, or even me, LOL.
Now I know what to do with all me old wellies!
What it's all about, the animals.  Towards the end there was this little tent with these amazing birds of prey in.  I couldn't take my eyes off little snowy there in the background, so cute.  They were all extremely well behaved and friendly.  The big fella at the front stretched his wings out which did make me jump as they are surprisingly on the large size!  And would you look at those claws!
 These two daft billie goats were intently watching....... nothing ;O)
Can you see it, all that loveliness over there, I really wasn't expecting this at a garden show.  My sister was laughing and telling everyone "that we've lost her now, look at her run", she think she's so funny!  So what if I was running.
Oh my I think I've gone to shabby chic heaven!
See those seat cushions at the front, 6 for £35.  The stuff was unbelieveably cheap, lined laundry baskets were only a fiver and 5 metres of bunting was a tenner!
Look at all that gorgeous cream wire shabbiness, I had to keep a check on myself as others were starting to look strangely at me as I quite loudly oohed and aaahed over everything. 
I unashamedly spent rather a large amount of time in this section, you see I needed new oven gloves after I managed to cook mine on my gas hob the other week, don't ask!  But what should I go for, separates or joined, florals or spots.  So many choices and not enough money for them all, darn!!
 So here is what I ended up with.  Do you likey
Now for the good bit, tea towels and cupcakes £4.50
2 oven gloves £5.00.

Smile on my face as I left there, priceless!

I shall look at garden shows in a whole new light now :o) x

Sunday 30 May 2010

New Baby and a Teen

Following on from my last post are a couple more cards for my aunt to take back with her.  My cousin and his wife are about to have another addition to their family.  They already know the sex of the baby which made the card easier to do.
Simple design using all KandCompany products.  I find their baby stuff really cute and this lot is from their Brenda Walton Small Wonders range.
 Arent' these little outfits just the sweetest.  
Their other granddaughter becomes a teenager this autumn.  A bit of a cheeky monkey she has always been a tomboy and would actually love a real life monkey.
This little cutie was a clipart image, I added some black gloss to his eyes, a string bow for his tail and punched out some teeny little butterflies to keep him company.  Glittery stickers again from KandCompany.

Thanks for popping by, hope you are all having a lovely bank holiday weekend.

Saturday 29 May 2010

Biker Man and a Princess

My cousin and her husband are both 40 this year and my aunt asked me to make cards for them both.  Those of you who follow me will know that I don't relish making cards for men but she told me he is really into his motorbikes, especially Harleys.
Armed with this info I went for an A5 size card using the only orange sheet that I had, not a colour I normally use so was amazed I had this one to be honest.
Grabbed some free images from the internet and printed them out onto glossy photo paper.  Then simply cut them out and layered them onto the card..  I did overlay the number 40 onto the bike photo befor printing out.  Quite liked how the card turned out in the end which was a relief.
Much easier task for my cousin, the brief was anything with a dress on it, much more up my street.  Again used an A5 ivory card and also lined the envelope for hers, we girlies like and appreciate the extra trimmings don't we.
The dress was cut out by hand and embellished with rhinestones, ribbon and waxed linen thread.  I made a silver coathanger for it and layered up some fine tutu material underneath for the petticoats.
Some more ribbon and waxed thread was tied down the spine of the card and the background paper was from my ever faithful Anna Griffin collection.  The glittery 40 is from a KandCompany sticker set.

My aunt was really pleased with them, won't know if the recipients are for a while though as their birthdays are not until the autumn!

Thanks for popping by. xx

Friday 28 May 2010

Barton le Clay - Olde Watermill Village

A couple of weeks ago us girlies went out on a trip to Barton le Clay.  Sounds like a seaside village doesn't it, but nope it's a small place smack in the middle of Bedfordshire of all places!  But on the web we found they had an Antiques Emporium so we had to go an investigate didn't we.
Twas a rather cloudy day as you can see, it was also a tad chilly too.  The buildings are converted from the old watermill. I bet it looks stunning on a sunnier day.
Once inside it is like stepping back in time to the Dickens era of quaint little cobbled streets.  My aunt and sister have obviously spotted something they liked.
Sadly this was not for sale!

Nor was this.  How wonderful would pots of herbs look displayed on it.

We loved how all the little shops had red and white awnings over them and the little old fashioned street lamps everywhere.
Wouldn't be a girlie trip without a spot of afternoon tea.  You could sit inside or out and they had patio heaters too.  The staff were really lovely and made you feel so welcome.
Break over we then walked up here.
Which led us to this beautiful garden centre which is set around the original Mill Pond.  The sun had come out too.  There is also a restaurant up here with an outside area looking over the pond.
All the plants were displayed on old fashioned wooden market stalls with the red and white canopies. 
At the far end of the garden centre I could see what we had originally come here for, antiques.  I quickened my pace in anticipation of the delights inside.
We were not dissapointed.  It is split over two levels.  This is part of the ground floor.  Just look at all that shabby chicness!
In a room off the back there were oodles of vintage clothing, I was rather taken with this frock, the pink one that is, but would have to lose rather a lot of weight overnight to get into it, bugger!
More clothing and some kids toys at the back.
There is always a beautiful chandelier
Back outside, they've even thought of the kiddies with this amazing playground.
Complete with it's own Pirate Ship!

For those of you who want more info you can go to their website at Olde Watermill.  There is also a good website for the restaurant which is Haydens Restaurant where you can view the latest menus.

Hope you enjoyed our little outing.x


Thursday 27 May 2010

Pretty Petal Garland

Good morning lovely readers!  Up bright and breezy today and wanted to show you my latest little craftiness.  Now it's not a new idea by any means but it's a first for me and it is something I can do whilst watching the telly.
I've had an old cream tablecloth sitting in my sewing bag for ages, it's a really lightweight soft cotton and perfect for making flowers etc.  I started off with a large flower, I really like how it puffs up.
I made a few more in different sizes and attached them to some old fashioned string which is a lovely rustic kraft colour which I adore.  Think they look rather nice draped over my latest charity shop find.  I plan to use this cup for my soup and rolls, it's huge!  Or better still hot chocolate and marshmallows :o)
Here it is draped over my yet to be painted MDF letters.  You can see the dinky flowers better in this one.  It's not very long as it is only a practice one but am definitely going to make a longer one for my bedroom wall.
Another love of mine at the moment is Butchers String or Baker's Twine as it is also known.  This stuff is everywhere in the crafty world at the moment and can be very expensive but if you buy it direct from catering suppliers it is way cheaper.  It goes rather well with the garland don't you think. 
I'm thinking I may make some flower pompoms by backing two of these together.  Not sure what I would do with them though.  The mini ones would be nice on the front of t-shirts, glued to hair clips or even on the front of my cards.  Guess what I'm going to making more of tonight. 

Thanks for popping by and hope you liked them.