Handpainted bird houses.....

Gardening is a fairly new interest to me....I am still learning by my mistakes! Mostly I can keep plants alive now but they don't always grow how I imagined they would. My mother tells me the Latin names and if they like sun or shade etc. Often this doesn't help as my garden is north facing and seems to have a bit of both. She has given me some beautiful books which I love to read but either I can't find the plants in the garden centre or they cost too much. Gradually over time I am getting to know what likes my boggy clay soil which is rock hard in the summer.

 

 I am trying to make my garden into outside rooms decorated with found items...mirrors...painted objects....hanging things and anything else I can make that will withstand the weather...

 

 

I bought this bird house in the pound shop and painted it with acrylic paint....I gave it a coat of varnish and it still looks pretty after two years.....

 

 

The left hand bird house above was in a sale in Sainsburys a year ago....It was already white so I just added a pattern. The right hand one was from our local charity shop which cost £1. It has a nice texture but was painted with a tacky design. Firstly I painted it with left over garden paint which had been used on my bench....then I rubbed a little pale blue acrylic over it to show up the texture. A little bit of pattern on the roof and around the hole added enough extra interest for me. A quick varnish does help protect painted items but they are still affected and weather.  I don't want the pain of putting my things away so they are left to mellow and have been out all winter.

 

Longing to be out in the garden again....x

 

Thrifting ... A little house ...

I do so wish I could pick up my little house and turn it around...

My house faces South...the kitchen is at the front and the sun streams in through the window....Charlie's bedroom is the largest and is at the front...both rooms are lovely and warm. The front garden is in the sun most of the day...and although it is tiny, I can plant mostly what I choose.

Because the back garden faces North, the sun starts and the bottom and creeps up during the day, but never reaches the house itself. My living room is cold all year, only on the hottest days can I open the sliding doors which lead into the sun room.

The other problem with this is watering the garden. There is no outside tap and I hope this year to get some water butts and guttering up on the shed and sun room. The back garden is only about 40ft long but I have squeezed a huge amount in and grow my own veg.... I have tried a hose pipe through the house to the kitchen sink...but all I get is a flooded kitchen as no attachment seems to fit on the mixer tap... 

So the long and short of it all is that I have to use a watering can...the back garden needing 15-20 watering cans full every day.....hard work!

I worked from 8am this morning...chilly with a hoody over my tea shirt...fidgety as I felt cold. I could see the lovely sun up the top of the garden and longed to be outside.

I had my tea out there first thing and a couple of coffees....but I just had to get out...

I popped over to the charity shop....I walked slowly to prolong the experience of the warm sun on me.

And I bought this metal house hook, it was only £1....

Embroidery ...buttons ... thrifting and my cat ...

What a lovely spring day...I must admit I could easily have spent the day in the garden.

However tempting.....I had to work. First things first... my car had to go in for it's mot.

 Whilst waiting with fingers crossed that nothing was wrong with it, I went on a continued search for some pea green material. I make owls....I make pussycats...and have been planning in my mind to make some pea green boats........ I have hunted every shop that sells fabric with no luck at all....I have green material, but not pea green...I wonder do they make such a colour....

I did buy some new embroidery threads....I wanted pink, black and white, but found it was actually cheaper to buy an assorted pack. I wonder how long they will stay all neat and tidy...how long before they join the tangled mess with my other threads....

I also bought these cute wooden heart buttons .....

And....after a quick look around the charity shop....I found this....

Well I never....another cat...very similar to the one I bought Charlie. So I bought him for Charlie as well, even though he is not keen on the first one...I like him. He was only 45p !

After a wash and brush up...here is my new stripy cat. Charlie thinks the new one is worse than the first.....I think they are fab.

And here is Bloopy having a snooze on what was my bed throw. He likes how squishy it is...you know..when cats do that pawing thing before they lie down...he purrs so loudly whist pawing it for ages that Charlie and I end up in hysterics. ....

Oh...and my car passed its mot..it just needed new wiper blades.....so all is well...

Retro fabrics ... and thrifting ...

Well...we have a little sunshine today...I have a north facing garden and the sun is out at the very end...It is fairly warm, so I can hang my washing out and catch up with it. How Charlie (my 14 year old son) and myself can create so much I have no idea. I'm on my second lot now...but...I have to remember that my washing machine is leaking. It has been for some time now and I can't afford to have it fixed. As long as I put newspaper down and slide a couple of ice cream container lids under it I can catch the water. It is leaking just under the front, about a pint a wash...If I don't remember I will have a stream of water across the kitchen which I always manage to walk in and soak my slippers... 

I found this wonderful retro fabric in the charity shop...two curtains...I have washed them but not ironed them yet...I just wanted to show you.....The old woman who lived in the shoe....and look at all the cute little animals.......I'm not quite sure what to make yet...my mind is ticking over....

I live in a small village just outside Eastbourne...not a lot here...a parade of shops...a station..a Tesco...a beautiful park with a lake and within walking distance of Salisbury's..B&Q..Dunelm mill..a bowling alley....Toby carvery and some other things I am not interested in...

 Getting off the subject !...In the village is a charity shop,about five mins away...needless to say, every time I go out I have a little look inside. I know the people who work there very well now...after eight years living here I know all the people in all the shops very well. This is actually very nice, but the problem can be that a quick nip to the post office 5 mins away can sometimes take an hour or so. I post most every day the things I have sold on eBay and to private customers...I chat to the ladies in the post office...the charity shop...the girls on the checkout in tesco, and if I happen to be at Graham's till...he imparts a wealth of knowledge about which tomatoes to grow... etc...

Big retro style flowers...sometimes I can't bring myself to cut up a large piece of fabric and tend to hoard it....I just stapled this bit to a canvas and sewed on a few sequins. It echos the design of the wallpaper in my hall...

This fabric is comes from a double duvet cover...I wanted to use it as a spare but it was faded at the top so I had to cut it...also stapled to a canvas...

The cat is from the charity shop also...I bought it for Charlie but he thinks it too odd...I like it's oddness....

especially its face.....

I have a very small kitchen...

I would just love to have a big farm house kitchen....not that I am a keen cook...or for that matter, a good cook....but because I want a big pine table where I can sit with family to chat over tea and cakes...where I can sit and sew alongside Charlie whilst he does his lessons...However..I have a tiny kitchen...I ripped out cupboards..put the fridge under the stairs... and had to have my table cut in half to fit it in. I took out more cupboards to fit in my kitchen dresser...my most loved possession.

Some years ago I bought the flower fairy lights just because I fell in love with them, one of those impulse buys ...they sat in their box for a couple of years as I had nowhere to put them...Last year I put them around the top of the dresser...a little ketch...but they look so pretty in the evening...

I think my mum gave me the angel...it has been there about six years along with the peace decoration that I put up one Christmas and never took down... 

Somehow this photo has got a bit stretched...I'm not that thin...my bottom not that flat!! As you can see I have to stand on a chair to put my saucepans away...I'm 5' 5"...average height...My eldest son is 6' 4"...he can stand in the kitchen and put his hand flat on the ceiling. That would be handy for decorating you think...no such luck....

This heart plate was free with tea bags !....When we have special sweets or pretty little cakes I display them on the heart plate. The mug was a charity shop find...unused for a pound....I knew Charlie would love it.

Below are my kitchen curtains...not a good photo I'm afraid...photography is not one of my strong points....along with writing and spelling....thank goodness there is a spell check on here....

It took a while to find the right fabric to go with the wall paper...I found it at 'The old loom mill' where I used to rent an area to sell from....

The tie backs I made from a long necklace that was made from a string cord with little charms and beads threaded on it....I undid the necklace and cut it in half. I cut the gold flowers from a leather off cut and sewed them on back to back catching the string between the stitches. Next I put back the charms and beads and tied  little brass curtain rings on the ends...

This cat is a prised possession as it is one of the few things my son Peter has ever given me...It is made from wood and has been hand painted...a holiday souvenir...I think it is brill !!

A fabric heart I made and decorated with some shiny squeezy paints I bought for Charlie, but I just had to have a go with them...it hangs on an old pine wall cupboard from the local secondhand furniture shop...

This mosaic was a gift from my friend Alison when I moved in....eight years ago...goodness I have been here a long time now and still have not got it the way I would like it.....

 

I put this photo on so that you could see my wallpaper more clearly. I just love this paper...it is a gold that sometimes looks silver, and a teal blue....I know at first it seems a strange paper for a kitchen but everyone remarks on how great it is....When I am in this room I feel like I'm inside a big present that has been wrapped inside out.......