A Crafty Recipe

Hello! I'm back with a little crafty recipe, something that is beautiful AND useful. I envisaged a new life for an old stool, and in my mind we will use it all around the house- reaching the spice jars in the top of the kitchen cupboards, assisting the toddler to brush his teeth at the bathroom wash basin, making an extra seat in the living room for guests, and even using it as a bedside table.

 

You will need:

1 IKEA Bekvam Stool

1 small tin of paint of your choice  ( I have used Dulux colour mix BLUE DIAMOND 6)

Scraps of vintage wallpaper

1 paintbrush

PVA glue/ Mod Podge

Clear varnish

 

Step one:

 

Don your favourite crafting dress, clogs and vintage pinny. One must prepare for a crafty day.

 

Step two:

 

Lightly sand the stool to make sure the surface is clean and ready to paint. Wipe with a damp cloth to remove any dust. My stool was a filthy old thing previously in my mother's shed, so it was FREE! However, they're only £11 new. And they're untreated solid beech so won't need any prep really.

 

Step three:

Take your stool outside. You can prime your stool if you like, however this paint didn't need an undercoat. Give your stool a coat of paint. I have used a (large) tester pot from the bargain bin in Homebase. It cost £1! This is a very thrifty stool so far...

 

Step four:

Make yourself a cuppa and wait for the paint to dry. On a warm day it won't take long. Give the stool a second coat if needed, or touch up any streaky bits. You want a nice, matt finish. Wash out your paintbrush and leave it to dry, you'll need it again later. Make another brew.

 

Step five:

 

Cut pieces of old wallpaper up into small patchwork pieces. I used the lid of a tea caddy to make sure I had some even-sized patchy squares, as well as offcuts and straight edges. I ordered a pack of vintage wallpaper scraps from the ever-so-lovely Jane over at the Little Teawagon... so for a bargain price of about £3.50 I am ready to decorate the stool's top!

 

Step six:

 

 

Using your clean paintbrush, paint PVA or mod podge onto your dry, painted surface. Carefully position your patchwork paper pieces in a pleasing-to-the-eye arrangement of sweet granny goodness. Make sure you use a decent amount of adhesive, your don't want the edges of the paper curling up. PVA dries clear so you can go mad, though wipe any splodgy bits away with a damp cloth.

 

Step seven:

 

Leave the glue to dry overnight, then seal with a layer of clear, matt varnish. Once again, leave to dry before using. Then you should have a lovely, solid stool that won't peel or chip.

 

Step eight:

 

Make more tea and stand and admire your handiwork. You just made a thrifty and frankly PEACHY stool!

 

 

 

happy painting, patching and piecing!

 

xxx

 

 

The Call of the Coast...

It happens every so often. A real yearning to be by the sea. When I was a child, we holidayed on the Suffolk coast, staying in a static caravan year after year. We loved it there. We used to spend the day on the beach at Southwold, then filled our bellies with chips from the amazing fish and chip shop in Aldeburgh, then played on the campsite before going to the club house where our Dad would thrash us all at table tennis and buy us Bass shandy and scampi fries. We used to have day trips to Orford Castle and spend evenings crabbing in the tiny coastal village of Walberswick, or bimble around Dunwich, where the town is under the sea and drink tea on a wind-battered part of the eroding coast. Bliss.

This year, we hired a campervan from local hire company Custard Campers, and tried to squeeze all these things into three days. We packed up Ramsey, an early VW T2 Bay Campervan, and made it our little home from home.

Ramsey is the bad boy of the custards, with his loud exhaust and lowered 'rat' body...we certainly attracted some attention! My grandparents had an early bay dub, so I was used to their quirks and noises, but it took some getting used to for hubby to drive!

The boys rode up front whilst I sat in the back and crocheted. Heaven!

We stayed in Southwold, a beautiful coastal town with a lighthouse, pier and a beautiful duney beach at one end, and a row of bright beach huts at the other end. After a magnificent pub lunch at Adnams pub The Red Lion, we set about parking up on the muddy campsite and wandered to the beach. I sat on my crochet blanket whilst the boys played in the sea and built sandcastles...

We had a little BBQ and Albie sat in the van and did colouring...so cute. We even bought him a toy VW bus to play with. Truth be told the campsite was so muddy it was rather a miserable experience. We decided against setting up the awning for the van, and so we all turned in early...mainly because it took over two hours to get Albie to go to sleep and by that point we were knackered! The next day we bimbled into Southwold on foot, and visited our favourite bookshops and delis for holiday supplies, and had a late breakfast/brunch at the delightful 1920s-style tearoom, Tilly's. It then began to rain. MISERABLE. So we traipsed for as long as we could stand it, then took shelter back in the pub. Some reading and a couple of pints was rather blissful whilst Albie napped in the pushchair. Then we headed back and the day began to dry up.

We decided to take the ferry across to Walberswick for a spot of crabbing. Luckily, as it was the last week of term, there was hardly anybody there. The ferry turned out to be a lady with a rowing boat, who charged 90p per crossing! Delightful. Her dog stood watch on the quay by her little shack whilst she rowed back and forth all day. We caught five crabs before the rain started again, and we rushed back to the campsite, buying hot tea and cake at the little kiosk before we waded back to Ramsey, and devoured our deli treats: Pies, posh crisps and some San Pelligrino orange! Posh picnic. Another rain episode, this time a storm crashed over head whilst rain hammered down on Ramsey's tin top!

The next day we headed to Aldeburgh, which is a gorgeous vibrant town full of artists and some lovely gifty shops. We began the day with some chazzing, and visiting our other favourite bookshop. Purchases were made of course. We then stopped at my absolute favourite tea shop, The Cragg Sisters. This place is my imaginary fantasy tea room- exactly what I'd love to do myself! The vintage vibe, beautiful teas, mis-matched vintage china and generous home-made cakes, coupled with a few Cath Kidston touches...well you can imagine I was in heaven!

 We meandered through Aldeburgh, calling in at various shops along the way, before setting up camp on the pebble beach....then the rain came!!! It showered hard for a few minutes, then we walked up the prom to the famous fish shacks, where I bought my amazing dover sole, brown shrimp and samphire for dinner. Then we walked back to the fish and chip shop (which ALWAYS has queues out the door!) and the rain came again...hard...for ages! So we sat in the van, ate our chips and decided to head home, bellies full and clothes damp. Albie slept beautifully in the front seat of the van, we should have put him in there in the first place...

Despite the rain, the mud and the eventual ride home with the AA, our Suffolk adventure is one we'll treasure for a very long time indeed.

A Crafty Day

On Sunday, the ever-so-lovely Caroline from Gran Plumley and I attended 'a crafty day', at the beautiful Hope & Elvis studio in Nottinghamshire. It was a crafty pilgimage of sorts, a chance to rub shoulders with other crafty souls, all under the inspiring granny chic tutelage of the great Rachelle of  ted and agnes and Tif, aka Dottie Angel. We rolled up our sleeves, and pushed our rose-coloured spectacles onto our noses, and prepared ourselves for a day of crafting.

Now I am no sewer (sewist?). I did wonder if I'd panic, but under Rachelle's calming influence and the informal, creative atmosphere, my slighty cavalier approach to sewing was positively encouraged.

(cartwheeling of the doily, as explained by Tif) 

Louise's studio is chock full of treasure...

 (it felt like Christmas day anyway)

I think you'll agree that our pinnies are rather splendid.

 tif, me and rachelle

louise and miss debs

After lunch, we worked on some 'hanging whatnots'. As our teacher Tif explained, the process is very random and I am rather pleased with the final whatnot.

Of course no day out would be complete without cake.

Sunday was a perfect day. We were guided throughout by our fab teachers, looked after by the marvellous miss debs and louise, and were allowed to roam free in a creative way, which is very liberating! I made a wonderful new friend with Caroline, and met some wonderful crafty souls. I'm doing my best to add everyone's blogs to my sidebar, so please do go and show my new crafty friends some blog love.

And above all 'do feel a little crafty' today.

xxx

Off on a journey

Today I am off on a sort of pilgrimage. A journey of the epic kind. A discovery of granny chic awaits, and so I have packed a little brown suitcase, donned my new tea dress and put on my sensible shoes.




In my suitcase is a host of sweet granny goodness. Tomorrow me and my crafty bud Caroline will be having 'a crafty day' with those fine purveyors of granny chic- Dottie Angel and ted & Agnes.



But today is about travel and adventure. Crocheting on a train and catching up with a new friend.









And so off I go with my rose coloured specs pushed firmly onto my nose, and my heart filled with crafty hopes. Hopes that this weekend, of all weekends, I might be 'a good sewer'.

Xxx