I have a poorly car

My little rover which I've been happily driving for the past 10 years has sprung a leak!  I whisked her off to a garage for a diagnosis and it wasn't good.  Head gasket madam and your radiator is knackered as well.  £500 to fix it, car worth £300 so not going down the repair route then.

So now I am on the hunt for a replacement which I have to say am finding a little stressful.  This is partly due to my indecisive nature, and the fact that I get a bit panicky when faced with a large purchase and no money back returns policy.  Anyway after much internet searching and driving the OH slightly mad with my silly girly questions I'm gonna go for a Ford Focus.  Reliable, economic to run some nice luxury touches like a heated windscreen and one ginormous boot that I can. as he says, fit all my 'crap' in lol!

Now all I have to do is find one that is in my price range.

Lolo xx

Candlestick Makeover

Told you I had the bug, yep more painting and more transformations.  The weather is helping mightily and I hope it lasts.

Gold coloured metal candlestick, nice enough but I don't really do gold in my house

As with the birdhouse first coat was a pale grey.

Sanded lightly to reveal some of the grey underneath then waxed and buffed to a sheen.

The candlestick to the left was originally clear glass.  On this one I painted off white first, then the grey over the top and just sanded lightly, no wax applied to this time.  I may end up waxing it but for now am liking the flat mat contrasting with the other candlesticks.

Off to do some more painting.

Lolo xx

Birdhouse Makeover with paint

Hi all, what glorious weather we've had this week, is it really still March?  Perfect for tackling my long overdue projects involving sanding and paint.  So outside I went armed with a ton of newspaper, some paint and fine grade sanding blocks, oh and plenty of cups of tea.

Crazy patterned bird house purchased from my local charity shop for a pound.  Been stuck in my cupboard for like an age.

First coat of pale grey, already looks better.

Finished with coat of white to the roof and then waxed.

I loved doing this little birdhouse and plan to hang it from my garden shed for the summer.  I've never really used wax before but love it.  So much easier to use than varnish and gives a real lustre to your items. It really didn't take long at all and has spurred me on to tackle more projects around the home.  

Be sure to check back for more makeover reveals.  

Lolo xx

Rain Bonnets

They have been worn by royalty and in particular our lovely Queen Elizabeth, the Diamond Queen.  Some of my fondest memories of my nans and her friends are of them wearing these plastic bonnets over their wash and sets. So you might be forgiven for thinking these rain bonnets are, lets say, not for those under 70.

Great retro packaging

But umbrellas aren't always practical and if my bag is small the umbrella gets ditched.  So on said umbrellaless days if I get caught in a rain shower I end up grumbling to myself and desperately trying to pull my woolly snood over my head or worse still my whole coat.  This never really works and ends up with me looking more like 'kenny' in Southpark and getting strange looks from passers by.  And the scarf just ends up getting wet so pretty pointless.

Now if I had a rain bonnet in my handbag I could avoid said kenny syndrome, be hands free and keep my hair from turning into a frizzy mess.  I've found a few companies that are making slightly more fashionable versions which look pretty stylish I think. 

These come in cute little tins to keep in your bag

Now she doesn't look too bad in hers does she?

Oh dear this is a look everyone should avoid!  She should have had a rain bonnet in her purse.

Hmmm, but can I stop myself from looking like this with one on.

What do you think ladies, would you be brave enough to wear one or do you already strut your stuff in one when it gets wet out there?  Well I've taken a gamble and ordered a couple of non designer white dotty ones to see how I get on, it's only a £1 so what the heck.  They should be here in a few days, if I am feeling brave I might even post a photo or two, with my dark glasses on mind.

Till next time.

Lolo xx

Gotta Love TKmaxx

For having some great things at great prices.  Quick trip the other week resulted in this....

£4.00

and these metal letters for £3.00.

Yes gotta a lot of love for TKmaxx.

Till next time.

Lolo xx

Cake Decorating - Issue 1

It's pink, there's gingham and spots and it's all about decorating cakes, what's not to want, oh and it's only 99p!

So would you like a peek inside.  This is such good value I'm not surprised it has been flying off the shelves, I got the last two at my newsagent, one is a pressie for my sister.  Last of the big spenders lol!

Cutest butterfly cutters that are metal, some glitter and pretty cake stand

Yummy butterfly cookies made with cutters, the instructions are written well too.

Or how about a victoria sponge, one of my personal faves.

Dinky butterfly toppers using the small cutter

Look at all the yumminess to come!

Ordinarily I wouldn't be suckered into taking the subscription route, however I might just bend that rule slightly for this mag.  You actually get some pretty useful gifts with your first 7 issues, am particularly liking the pink cake tool storage box and the cake caddy. Oh and the alphabet embossers, yep decision made, am off to their website www.mycakedecorating.co.uk to subscribe. 

Till next time....

Lolo xx

My Card for Mummy

Hi all, been a while I know, time sure does go by fast these days.  On Sunday I was doing what most of the country were, spending time with my wonderful mum.  We trotted off to a garden centre for lunch which was soo busy, don't know why I thought it wouldn't be.  It was lovely seeing all the flowering plants and with the sunshine that eventually came out it really did start to feel like spring.  Just think next week it will be light till 7.30pm, woohoo!

So would you like to see the card I made for her, it was very much inspired by the lovely blog that is Pink Petticoat and uses her background papers.

The background paper is from the Pink Petticoat brocade range in silver which I overlaid in Photoshop with some text and then printed out on A4 white paper.  This was then cut to size and stitched to a kraft card using my machine.  I used white cotton but looking at it now I think I would go with a slightly darker shade of thread next time so it shows up a bit better.
A border for the envelope cut out using one of my new Anna Griffin punches which I must say really do punch well, much better and cleaner than my Martha Stewart border punches.

I chose these duck egg blue pearl domes to co-ordinate with her lounge.

Inside finished off with a printed insert.

I really liked the way this card turned out and it was so quick and easy to do. List of supplies used:

Kraft Square Card - Papermania

Brocade Paper Silver - Pink Petticoat

Stitching - own machine

Pearl Domes Blue - Create and Craft

Seam Binding Ribbon Cream - Create and Craft

Twine - B&Q 

Be back soon talking about cakes.  Keep well and hope you have plenty of sunshine where you are.

Love Lolo xx