My revamped chocolate box

I revamped my chocolate box that was given to me (full of choc's) as a thank you for my hard work at the play center I work at :).

I got some pretty flower wallpaper from a DIY store (sample lol) the ribbon and lace were 20p in a charity shop and the little fabric roses were in by basket already.

I lined the inside with the fabric like paper that was around the box.

I wanted to keep to the blue and brown look of the box.

Now I have a pretty box to store my ribbons in :)

My chest of drawers are now finished :)

I decided to paint an old photo frame and the little box I got from the charity shop after I finished the chest of drawers. The hearts were from Ebay, I covered it with Cath Kidston tissue (also in the pic frame).

I got some rose transfers from ebay to finish the back off.

The top has (so far had 2 coats of wax)

I lined the draws and replaced the handles with some knobs I brought last year.

I can not belive I have now finished the chest of drawers, it seemed to so long getting it done but Im pleased how they now look and now I will be able to load my fabric in it :)

My day out

Not realy sewing but my family me and daughters friend (both 15) had a fantastic day at Alton Towers yesterday, I felt like a big kid running around with the girls to get on all the mad rides lol.
We did Sonic pinball, 13, Nemesis and Air. My OH and son were too scared to come on with us. It was a hot day so the Flume and Pirate boats were you get a soaking was fun for them lol.
We went through Ashbourne to get there and as Im not that far from there I am going to go back and have a look at all the lovely quaint shops but I think I will have to wait till pay day lol.

Ive been to a charity shop again

I have a love of baskets at the moment and found this big round one for £1.95 in a charity shop but as usual I cann't stop there and had a good look around. I found this little wooden box hidden among other bits on the floor it was £1.25 also some white napkins with a pretty ribbon for 99p.
I will embroider something on the napkins :)

Oh the little tin is a sample of Farrow & Ball white tie paint, I will prob use it for the box :)

Saturday I took my son to my place of work to celebrate being open for 5 years, I work in a childrens play and party centre as a cleaner and was not expecting to be thanked by my boss for keeping the place clean and putting up with Henry for the last 3 years. She gave me a box of Thorntons chocolates and guess what I have a box (choc's now eaten lol), wrapping paper and ribbons to make something else out of them lol. I work in a great place with beautiful views of the river gardens.

I made a bag yesterday but in my haste I didnt measure it correctly so it has turned out too big. Oh well now going to turn it into a laundry bag for my daughters room lol.

bath mat

Yesterday I made my bath mat, Im fed up with not being able to find a mat bigger than a postage stamp or too pricey for something to stand on after a shower.

I had brought some bath towels from a carboot (they were to dry the dog after bathing him lol) they were in good nick so I ''borrowed one and folded it in half then cut a piece of an old duvet cover to go on the top.

Im thinking of finishing it off with some little boats embroidered in a darker blue :)

My £15 charity shop chest of drawers :)

Half way there

Before I stripped the varnish off

I brought these drawers from a charity shop a few weeks ago for £15. I want to store my fabric in it so I can get rid of the plastic storage boxes it is at the mo.

It had a black ink stain on the top but as you can see in the pic's I have managed to get rid of it (and a lot of the nasty varnish) bit more to do on it before Im finished but thats only because the weather has been too wet to get it outside :(

Im hopeing to keep the wood top and paint the drawers cream and I will have to put some new knobs on as one was missing.

My little rose pot find :)

I was so thrilled to find this little china rose trinket pot in the charity shop today for £1.69, not sure where to put it yet but just had to have it :).

Also had some fabric sample arrive today :) very pretty.

I made a mistake of going to the shabby chic thread on MSE and fell in love with all the pic's of everyones work and then looked at the links they provided, Im hooked lol.

And to think it all started with me buying a chest of drawers and wanting to do them up lol.

10th of May

I have been so busy this weekend Ive not done any sewing :(

I have kept up with all my fellow sewers on MSE though and love what has been going on :)I have made a start on my chest of drawers, what I thought would be a straight forward sanding job turned out to be such a pain, so many layers of varnish it get rid of. The top is looking so much better and I even got rid of the ink stain on the top which Im pleased about, now I can wax the top and just paint the rest cream, I have even sorted the draw liners (thanks to wallpaper samples from my local DIY store lol).

I will post pic's when its all finished (weather permiting, this week).

I have now tidied my sewing space and can keep everything tidy in my CS basket

As today is drizzly and grey I went charity shop shopping :)

Im so pleased I did, I brought a basket for £1.25 to keep on my table , it will be ideal for my sewing bits.

Also I had a look on the sale rail and found 2 skirts and a pink curtain with tie-backs all for 50p each.

The skirts will cut up nice for fabric and 2 zips salvaged from them and the curtain is a crisp cotton ideal to make a dress with for my DGD Courtney. I also cut the d shape rings off the tie-backs to be used on bags :)

Then I found 3 Ikea picturs of beach veiws in realy nice frames for 99p each.

The heart YoYo now finished off with a little ribbon rose :)

Just 99 more to do lol

I managed to do the heart YoYo

Well I had a go with the heart shape YoYo maker and it turned out easier than I thought. It took me just 5 mins to do :) the instructions were very easy to follow (which is what I need)

Wednesday 5th May

I just want to thank everyone who has commented on my blog pic's it is nice to know Im starting to get the hang of blogging and you all like to come and have a look :)

It's such a pain not being able to do any sewing in the week, I get withdrawal symptoms and have to rearrange my stuff instead.
Today my Yo Yo makers came in the post (I got them off Ebay) now can not wait to have a play and see what I can use them on. There is a nice little bag on the packaging using the hearts on that I might have a go at, I will put some pic's on when Ive done lol.

These are the before pic's of how I stored and worked on my sewing (above)

Today I tried to sort out my new work area, my wonderful OH took pity on me having to use the dining table to do my sewing on so he went to Focus and brought a big table (executive desk lol) and a shelf unit to keep my work on.

I still have to sand and paint my chest of drawers I brought to keep the fabric in and then hopefully it will all be neat and tidy (well for a little while lol)

He said he will put a full legth self above the desk for me so I can keep my books and bead bits baskets on but I will have to wait until the weekend for that.

Recyled sweet tin

It was supposed to rain today and I was going to do my chest of drawers so I decided to do something with the sweet tins left from christmas (I just cann't bring myself to throw them out) I had sprayed them last week with some plasti-kote paint I had in the house so then had a bright idea in the shower this morning (good for me so early in the morning lol) if I make a little cushion and glue it to the top of the tin and line the bottom and inside the lid I can then use it to store all my cottons and the top will be a pin cushion. The ribbon around the middle is also something I could get rid of so has been lurking in my sewing box :)

I also made some lavender hearts with left over fabric, just need to add a ribbon loop (oh and sew the strip ones sides up lol)

My mum' new bag

This is the fabric my mum sent to me, I am so in love with it :)

This is one side of the bag I made for my mum and this is the other side.

My mum sent me some fabric and asked me to make her a bag she could fold up in her handbag so I made this today. The colours are so vibrant (it doesn't show up as good in the pic's) I just had to dig out a black sheet I had just brought and cut a pansy square and a butterfly square out of the fabric rather than try to make a bag with the lot and lose the design.

I boxed the bottom and left it unlined so my mum can fold it but Im not sure if she will keep it hidden for long lol .