Zombie Alert!!!!

Zombie H:

Zombie W:

Scary, eh?!!

The boys had a friend each over for trick or treating and I set about turning three of them into zombies - face-paints of course, fake blood made of honey, syrup and red food colouring (it looked soooooo real!!) and scabs made of aforementioned fake blood and oats!!

It was a case of loosening the aprons strings a little too as for the first time they went out without me or Mr G accompanying them - we figured at 13 1/2 H and his friend M were old enough to ensure the younger boys were OK.

I always agonise over these decisions, I remember the first time I let them walk to the corner shop on their own was a big milestone!! I can't begin to imagine what'll be like in a few years when they are off out and I have no idea where they will be. 

With my anxiety I find it all a bit stressful - my sister has let my nephew out with friends during the day for ages now, but I'm still not keen!!

I have been busy today working on a few pieces of furniture I have in to do, including my first commission!! 

We picked up a gorgeous Regency style sideboard, a little dresser top which I have painted Wedgewood blue and a French style demi-lune table. No pics yet but watch this space!!

hugs,

S x

It's All Gone A Bit Quiet....

Hello there - hope you all OK? 


I've noticed it's gone a bit quiet on the comment front but I do hope you are all still reading? I have been really busy of late and have not had much time for leaving comments myself so I hope that is the reason things are quiet here and not because I am becoming boring!!

It's half term here and so I have been enjoying have the boys off school - on Sunday we went to Port Solent and had lunch at a fab new American diner:

We'd had a bit of a hooha before we came out as H didn't want to come - he was playing on the Xbox while talking to his friend and I was all for making him come out and have time as a family but Mr G said we shouldn't force him as he would be a big misery and it would cost more!! 

I reluctantly agreed and H stayed behind but when we got there I realised it was a mistake as I felt sad H was missing out (even if he would have moaned) and so in future I think I will put my foot down and insist he leave the blasted Xbox behind - at 13yrs old it's too young to be left out of family outings I feel, complaints or not!!

W really enjoyed it - he had a Texas BBQ Hot Dog:

And a a Chocolate Brownie Sensation Sundae (which we shared):

He then got a cooks hat and had his photo taken by the jukebox:

On Monday I had my niece and nephew as my sister has started Uni - she is doing a health science degree two days a week as she wants to be a cardiac physiologist (she originally wanted to be a doctor, but met her husband at 16 and it went by the wayside) while we went to local play centre she was prodding at a real human heart complete with torso *shudder* and admiring the medical students (who she says are hot!!)

Yesterday, pumpkin picking with Grandma and Granddad was a washout and so the boys went to see "Johnny English" at the pictures instead while I had a day of peace and spent it sewing - I've started a dress from the book "Sew Serendipity" (love that word!!) and if it looks OK when it's done I'll show you!!

Today, I saw my friend L - she and I have been going ceramics painting, you go and have a natter and a coffee and paint some blank china and then it gets glazed & fired for you to collect the following week - I didn't go this week but she had collected my dog bowl (do bare in mind I got an "F" for art GCSE!!):

I painted it with CK Stanley's!!

I had previously done a teapot:

Excuse the blurredy-ness - W took the pics!!

Even though I am not good at painting and the results are a little primitive, I love doing it so much!! It's very therapeutic and I have plans for Christmas plates for us all and all sorts!!

Anyway, that's about all I have to report for now so I will love you and leave you....

hugs,

S x

Hello all - hope you are having a nice weekend?


I have a cold  - W had one last week and I thought the rest of us had escaped but it appears not :0( - I gave hay to the horses for the first time in ages and thought (hoped) the snotty nose was because of that but alas it was not.


This week I made over a wardrobe for Mr G. He has not had a wardrobe for months - since I took over the spare room as my girl cave and his sorry Ikea flat pack affair fell apart. So when I was offered a solid pine gentlemans wardrobe for £20 I couldn't say no.


I should have taken before pics (I always forget!!), it was a rather garish hot pink and cream complete with Disney knobs but now it's looking a bit more shabby chic!!:

We got rid of a chest of drawers and the TV (which we rarely used anyway) to fit it in and at first I hated the "wall of wardrobes" effect, but it's growing on me:

See all the cuddly's on top of my wardrobe? All bought for me by H & W....

Mr G is chuffed to bits to have a wardrobe for his clothes and not have to make do with drawers crammed full.

I have a book recomendation for you - a few weeks ago we saw Gwyneth Paltrow on Graham Norton promoting her new cookery book. Now this made me snort with derision as I was under the impression that she only ate macrobiotic i.e rabbit food, bleurgh!!

However, she seemed very down to earth and is no longer eating strictly macrobiotically and so I decided to order a copy from the library. 

It's a lovely, lovely book. It has some gorgeous recipes and Gwyneth shares genuine, heartfelt tales about her father (whom she adored) I confess I cried (I know, crying at a recipe book is soppy even by my standards!!)

We're hooked on one of the recipes - "Best Stir Fried Chicken with Rice & Kale":

It has only a few ingredients and tastes completely authentic - yummy!! (If you Google "Gwyneth Paltrow Best Stir Fry Chicken" you'll find the recipe, but the book is definitely worth buying).

As I said my copy came from the library and I intended to buy it, but this is now a must as whilst making the above dish this week I, ahem, set fire to the library book!!!!! 


Setting fire to tea towels is a regular occurrence in our house, but I've never before managed to char the corner of a recipe book, let alone one from the library!! So now I have to get a copy from Amazon to take sheepishly back and I shall keep the crispy library book!!


Whooooops!! 


hugs,


S x

More Furniture and Other Bits....

Hello my lovelies!!


I've been a wee bit absent of late as I have had several bits of furniture I have been working on.


A couple of bathroom cabinets:

A set of nesting tables:

A little dinky table:

And a cupboard that was once an orange pine Hi-Fi cabinet:

I've sold the nest tables and one of the bathroom cabinets already, which is lovely because it means I have enough money for Mr G's 40th birthday present (which is in 3 weeks) - and he doesn't have to buy it himself!!

In the evenings, in front of the telly I have been making some quilted hexagon fabric which I am going to use to upholster the French chair in our room:

It's my first attempt at piecing a quilt but hand and I'm finding it very therapeutic!!

Mr G has a school reunion on Friday - we've decided not to go. We decided it would just be people you don't really want to see and depressing to see how old everyone looks!! 

I said "The only reason a person should go is if they want to try and get off with their school crush" and Mr G replied "Well, I married my school crush" - awwwwww bless!! Maybe I'll forgive him for leaving his pants on the landing after all!!

Tomorrow I am meant to be riding for the first time in months. I have my four horses and get as much pleasure from looking after them as I do from riding so I've never been that fussed - plus I am a nervous rider since losing my confidence when I had a very naughty horse years ago so the less I ride the less I want to. My friend thinks we should try and ease me back into it (and she wants to ride too) and so we are going for a short pootle - wish me luck?!!

hugs,

S x

The Hills Are Alive....(and Giveaway Result!!)....

....last night I went to see:

My friend L treated me as a surprise (how lovely is that?) - I *love* The Sound Of Music and have actually been reading the book of the real story by Maria Von Trapp so I was delighted when L told me we were going (L didn't know I was reading it - she and I are always doing spooky psychic things).

My Mum threatened to put me off a bit though when she said it would be "like a school play" because it was being done by an Am Dram society - so I was wondering what is was going to be like when we took our seats.

It was WONDERFUL!!!!!!! It couldn't have been any better if it was on the West End.

I blubbed. Managed to keep the actual tears until the end but as Maria, the Captain and the children climbed the mountain silhouetted against the moon it was too much!!

I just love, love, love a musical!!

Now without further ado I shall announce the winner of the giveaway........

Loo xx from Jumbles and Pompoms

Congratulations!! Drop me a line with your address and I'll get it in the post for you.

Hope you all have a luvverly weekend....

hugs,

S x

A Very Belated Ta-Dah....

If you cast your minds way back to July you may remember the vintage dressing table?

I decided I wanted a vintage kidney shaped dressing table after seeing a pic of this Cath Kidston one:

After scouring eBay I found and won this one:

It was originally from Harrods in the '60's....

The plan was to reupholster it in a striped fabric similar to the CK, unfortunately at £20 a metre the real fabric was going to be too expensive so I went out and bought some alternative blue floral stripe. I then reupholstered the top in it, did my back in (sciatica) and then decided I hated the fabric (fortunately before making the skirts).

So, the remaining fabric went on eBay and I bought some more expensive, wide duck egg striped. When my back was better I reupholstered the top and made the skirts and it was done.

And I hated it!!

I decided the fabric was too wishy washy and looked like it should be in a little girls room. I bought more fabric (by now I had spent so much I could have bought the real CK fabric!!) - Mr G thought I was mad - and today I finished it!!:

I'm really pleased with it now (at last!!) - third time lucky!!

hugs,

S x

I Couldn't Leave It Alone....

....my wardrobe that is!! In my last post I showed you my newly painted wardrobe and lots of you said I should leave it just painted (I wasn't feeling it) but my friend L gave me a bit of Cath Kidston Rose Sprig wallpaper (which is just want I fancied for it) so I had to fiddle some more:

I'm much happier with it now, it just needs a pair of pink crystal knobs and it'll be perfect!!

I also took the paint to the cupboards in my sewing room:

Complete with Thomas and carriages - we recently sold the boys Brio but as we had two sets of trains I had to keep one for old times sake....

This was really orange pine (but only cost a fiver so was a bargain) and I've given it a coat of Annie Sloan (what else?!!) in Duck Egg and waxed it - no distressing this time as I want it to look clean and simple. I also painted the other cupboard, but that's not waxed yet so will show you another day.

While I was in the sewing room with the camera I took a pic to show you how we upcycled one of the boys DVD rack thingies that was no longer needed after the Big Sort Out:

There it is above my "inspiration board"....

I took the shelves out of it, gave it a coat of paint and then Mr G turned it on it's side and screwed it to the wall to make a fab cubby/shelf affair.

Another thing I have been working on is the skirts for my vintage dressing table (again) - I've never shown it to you as I wasn't happy with the fabric so hopefully when it is done this time (2nd lot of upholstery/3rd lot of fabric!!) I can do a Ta Dah!!

Anyway, not much else to report so will love you and leave you - don't forget to enter my giveaway, it's drawn on Friday....

hugs,

S x

Bedroom Floors Reveal And A Giveaway!!

The bedroom floors are all done and so I can show you how they look!! We're really pleased with them and after having such scruffy flooring for such a long time it has made such a huge difference to how the house looks.


Our room:

We are so pleased with the white washed laminate - it was from UK Flooring Direct and cost just £7.35 per sq m. It doesn't look any cheaper than the oak laminate we have downstairs which was much more expensive.

I went and painted the wardrobe in the end:

I'm not sure about it!! :0/ - it looks a bit......I dunno.....I'm thinking of putting a bit of CK Rose Sprig wallpaper on the eight panels or something....


The boys room is much better:

Am going to paint their wardrobe & bookcase at some point, not sure what colour as I'm not keen on mine in Old White

Still no CK tiles in the bathroom as the floor is still drying, hopefully they are going down tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have a little giveaway for you - I am delighted to have reached 200 followers so I have a copy of "Where Women Create"  - I love to nosey round other people's craft rooms so this book is a treat!!:

Aren't these rooms fab? If you'd like to be entered into the draw to win the book you just need to be a follower and leave a comment below - I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner next Friday 14th October....

hugs,

S x 

H, The Budding Photographer....

On Saturday before we had to start moving everything round and painting for the floors to go down we took a walk to one of our favourite spots. H was in charge of the camera and we discovered he has a bit of an eye for it - he is desperate for me to show you his photos.

Daisy & Milo in the lake:

Look, he even captured the splash of the ball and the dogs in mid-air in this one!!

They are both so desperate to carry the ball they try and mug each other for it.... 

Daisy always tugs on Milo's collar and if he is not wearing one she will tug on the scruff of his neck!!

I love the jaunty angle of this one....

Considering the pics were taken with the same mediocre camera I use I think H has done really well, some of these are very good!! It was the first time we had let have free use of the camera and we'll definitely let him be in charge again....

On the flooring front we have the laminate down in the bedrooms (it looks fabby, photos to follow soon) but have encountered a problem in the bathroom, I went to rip up the lino yesterday evening and the area of floor under the sink (which is just chipboard) was wet through - something was leaking. 

Mr G had a look and luckily the leak was easy enough to sort but of course we are now having to wait for the boards to dry out - thankfully the leak can't have been going for long because the floor isn't spongy or damaged, just wet.

So, there is a delay on my lovely Cath Kidston tiles - hopefully our chap will be able to return at the end of the week to fit them....

Come back tomorrow for giveaway news!!

hugs,

S x

It Always Looks Worse Before It Looks Better....

Morning my lovelies!! How was your weekend?


Today we are having our long awaited floors down upstairs, we are having laminate that looks like white-washed boards to replace a moth eaten carpet, a carpet Mr G put down (inexpertly!!) and badly painted boards (in the boys room).


We spent virtually the whole of yesterday clearing out our room and the sewing room and cramming it in the boys rooms and bathroom. This is what the boys room looks like this morning:

My wedding dress to the right....

You can just see Dolly (my duct tape dress-form) there to the right....

We have had a restless nights sleep, not sure why although the room is cold feeling and echo-y and the bed was very creaky (due to no carpet? Hope it's not going to be like that with the laminate). Our room looks like this:

Although the boards in our room are nice enough to paint the rest aren't hence the laminate....

While we're looking at pics of our room do you think we need a cream/white bed? I have my eye on the lovely chunky metal ones at Feather And Black. 


And should I take the plunge and paint the wardrobe? I bought it BC (Before Children) when I still worked (I worked for Zurich and on some anniversary or other of theirs they gave every employee £1000 bonus!!) and have always resisted painting it because it is nice waxed pine, but it is looking a tad orange these days and I do so love my painted furniture....


The sewing room:

Complete with our flooring man!!

Tomorrow we are having the boys room and the bathroom done so this evening we have to move everything back and then clear out the boys room!!

I'll leave you with a big hint as to what we are having in the bathroom:

Check back soon for a 200 follower (I can hardly believe it!!)  giveaway!!

hugs,

S x