Hello Kitty Christmas Cake

I love Hello Kitty and I am passing on my obsession to Little L. She has really taken to her and this year when I asked what should go on the christmas cake the response was Hello Kitty. Slightly lacking on decent red and green dyes but nevermind its still passable! Also our garland lovely decorations which were also chosen by L – elephants, birds, hearts, baubles and yep – Hello Kittys.

Anyway, here is the cake complete with a present trim around the edges (helped by L on that bit) and our garland.

Colourful Cockatoos

We have ( I say we it was mostly B!) been decorating. I went away with Little L whilst B destroyed and rebuilt our dining room which is now a proper play room.  We have choosen a super fun wallpaper of Cockatoos by Quentin Blake from Zagazoo which I adore and I must say I think it looks fab. having first seen it in a friend of a friends house in purple I just loved it.

Also we have our woodburner back and its yummyily warm and with the floorboard gaps filled and sanded it is super toasty now . I am no longer dreaded the cold of winter so much.

View from the loo!

Our bathrooms are lovely, really they are. All done by the last people who owned the house to a high standard but they are cream…which is lovely but I wanted to put some colour in there and our own stamp on it.

So along came my collection of Eastbourne posters, odd bits of Harlequin ‘Brighton’ wallpaper and a few other railway posters and a lot of cutting and wallpaper paste…and TA DA!

The Final Touches

So Larchs’ room has been *almost* finished or over a year. Just missing the final touch – curtains and matching bunting. But as usual (my till current lounge roman blind issue) the material I chose for the room was hideously expensive and I needed lots of it to make the curtains.  Its called Tropical Heaven by Harlequin a fantastic array of blues and turquioses.

So I have patiently waited for some to come up cheap on ebay and finally last week I found 3.5m for £20. It did mean I couldn’t make all the curtains from the material so I have had to compromise on a vertical strip down the side of a white curtain. The good news was I had enough to make bunting to match!

Over the year I have also painted a height chart based on this wall sticker from Ferm Living (from where I got my mushroom wallpaper).

Here are the pics of it all.

PS. If anyone knows where to get hold of some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms Home Dec fabric (specifically – Temple/ Trailing Orchid/English Pine) please do let me know!!

Tipi-tastic!

House, house, house or really I should say “hooss hooss hooss hooss”. Everyday, L is desperate to get to her ‘house’ which is basically a blanket draped from the end of the bed to a shelf where it is held on by the weight of the books on top. It was perfect until she climbed on the bed and then tried to climb on the ‘roof’. Uh Oh! So I set about making her a proper house to play in. A Tipi house.

I did it all wrong; no pattern, limited material as I was recycling a duvet cover, no real idea of how I was actually going to make it. There were a few times I lost my patience, but the thought of seeing her face light up upon seeing it, kept me going. The end result is perfect for her, as long as you don’t look too closely at the way it was thrown together or the fact that at this point in time it’s slightly wonky (I blame the poles).

It even has its own flag with our favourite Hello Kitty and an L. Hooray! I am looking forward to lots of story times inside its snug pink walls.

Mushrooms Ahoy!

Finally it is almost done – our kitchen….it feels like its been a fairly long project but really its only been 3 months.

We had many hiccups along the way which caused a few delays; discovering a damp problem, plasterer got plaster in the eye, didn’t order enough tiles, dishwasher arrived faulty.. to name a few but we got here in the end. Just a few shelves to go up and a new back door to go in and we can move onto the next project (I can hear my husband cheering in the background!).

My favourite bit has been putting the wallpaper up yesterday because it suddenly looks great! The grey scheme is tied together and we finally have the best mushroom wallpaper (Ferm Living) in the world!

Christmas Wreath *with a touch of sewing*

A little project I have had in mind for a while using a sewn gift from a friend in a different way.

Too tired to type so here it is in pictures…

(one thing I must mention is that I asked Ben to bring home a few sprigs of Holly and got a tree!)

 

 

Love Birds Tea Cosy

Wedding presents are always tricky. I like to give presents that are pretty and useful so in this case it’s… a personalised tea cosy!!!

Nikki has a bright pink kitchen and lots of pink themed accessorize so I thought it would be great to make the tea cosy to match. I have already made one before (see previous blog) but thought I would change it a little this time.

The front has the two birds on and the back their names and the date of the wedding.

Fingers crossed they like it!

Restoring an old coat rack

A few years ago I picked up this old coat hook rack (very sneakily) from the tip. It was in a complete mess with paint flaking off everywhere but a zillion layers underneath and rusty hooks. I shoved it in the attic and there it stayed until we moved and I ‘found’ it again! I almost threw it out but at the last minute saved it from the junk pile (shame I didn’t save the print tray!). Anyway I have been feeling crafty and inspired by all my colour choosing for the kitchen and hallway and decided to sort it out. Unfortunately I wasnt planning on blogging about it so don’t have a picture of the orignal state but have taken a few along the way.

Its been a bit a project to say the least. I sanded the wood during one of Larch’s naps and then painted it during another one. This was fairly easy as it came off so easily. the same could not be said of the hooks…a lot of sanding and tired arms later I gave up trying to make them look pretty. BUT I rang a company that does industrial sandblasting and they agreed to take them on a job with them and sand blast them in return for a jar of coffee!! Brilliant! I love a good trade. I got them back last night and they looked fantastic – pewter grey colour – but they were already starting to rust. apparently they were a cheap cast iron that was rusting from the inside out due to their porous nature. So I picked up a can of spray paint and dah daaaa….

Whilst this was all happening I ordered some samples of wallpaper from Eijffinger’s collections: Petits Fours and Amore Di Colore and stuck them on the coast rack careful to leave the edging detail bare so the painted wood colour got a look in.

So I am just awaiting the coat hooks and screws to dry and the rest of the wallpaper samples to arrive and this little beauty will be ready to have some coats hung on it…although it will be a shame as you wont see it as much!

Red Tree Creations & Folksy

I have been meaning to write this post for ages but I am excited to finally sort it out and do it however short it may be!!!

I am now selling my stuff in Red Tree Creations. A wonderful new shop in Eastbourne! It sells all sorts of lovely little gifts, clothes for children, super furniture that they have hand painted. I am so pleased and feel so privileged that have taken my items in. I will post a picture of the shop front soon as it looks so inviting – plus I just love the name.

http://www.red-tree-creations.co.uk/

In other news, I have also got myself onto Folksy (sort of!). I have started a shop and as yet only added one item…more to follow!

http://www.folksy.com/shops/MooMi

Over and out.