Paper Obsession

A Kitchen Makeover.. and a Scrapbook Page

I discovered Sarah's Modern Country Style blog when researching 'country style' for a commission I was asked to do for Scrapbook Magazine. I'm glad I did.. her blog is gorgeous... craft projects, home decor, even fashion.. and it's always great fun to read!

I thought I'd share the story of our home-made kitchen makeover as part of Sarah's Paint, Please Link Party. Since we moved into our Eastbourne home just over a year ago. Despite a whiff of neglect and a hastily applied slick of Magnolia paint, we could see the house had the potential to be something far more beautiful!

So here was the kitchen just before we moved in, plastic wood cladding, mould and all..

And just after the damp-proofing works created chaos..

Our initial plan was to rip out everything from this kitchen and start from scratch. My dream? Country farmhouse kitchen - real wood units painted a creamy white - wooden butchers' block workshops - flagstones on the floor... all somewhat beyond our budget! And once all the boring-but-essential repairs were complete, we realised our budget was not much more than zero.

Back to the drawing board.. and I found I was secretly pleased.. and relieved.. that we weren't going to trash those painted wooden cupboards that had been there for decades. Under the tatty lino we found some half-decent floorboards.. and an area of quarry tiles where we imagined there used to be a fireplace.

So instead of tearing everything out and replacing with cheap copies of what we really wanted, we set about making do with what we had.. building new wooden cupboards where they were needed..

sanding and varnishing those floorboards..

begging and borrowing lengths of worktop.. painting those original cupboards (Celadon by Homebase - Santuary range).. retiling the splashbacks..

I say 'we'.. it was of course my dear hubby Gareth who did most of the work..

I merely project-managed and provided artistic input.. ;o)

For a while, we had the walls painted white.. but I knew it wasn't right - the white tiles were disappearing into the background. Not good at all! I had a notion that a slightly dusty shade of pink would be just perfect. So off we went to Homebase with a die-cut butterfly in Stampin' Up!'s Blushing Bride for inspiration.. and we returned with a tin of Mademoiselle by Crown.

Wow, did it look PINK going on those walls!! But once it was dry, I knew it was a good decision.. and even Gareth has admitted (secretly) he likes it.

[Damn that mobile phone charging on the worktop..]

[Love my sink here so I can look out at the garden instead of a blank wall!]

[The fridge is now where the sink used to be.]

[The cupboard that Gareth built, along with a nice bit of worktop to fill in the gap and sit the microwave on. I LOVE my wooden painted cupboards!]

So that's about it.. a mixture of country cottage and 1950s diner? Oh, and finally.. a couple of sneaky peeks of the scrapbook layout I made documenting our kitchen makeover..

 

[It's not published yet.. will be in issue 58 of Scrapbook Magazine..]

Thanks so much for visiting..

[... and if scrapbooking and papercrafts are your thing, you might like to pop over to my sister website Stamping Obsession.. that's where most of my crafty projects end up these days!]

 

Best wishes,

Sarah xx

365 Project: 5 down, 360 to go

Blimey I am hopeless.. my notion of posting a photo a day has already fallen flat on its face. Oh well..

So here's Monday 3rd Jan:

Yep, it's a yucky photo but it had to be taken because it reveals that we're making a start on decorating the lounge! Well.. Gareth has painted the ceiling, to be precise. We start on the walls next weekend - Mellow Mocha all over with Blue Reflection on the chimney breast wall. I have plans for a few sewing/home decor projects this year.. might need to get my sewing machine fixed though.

It's also a reminder that today was the day we took down the Christmas decorations (as evidenced by the empty space to the right of the chimney breast). Hurrah!!! I was just about sick of them to be honest.

Tuesday 4th Jan:

 
It was Charlie and Harry's first day back in school/nursery - Charlie full time - and I needed to drag them to the Post Office afterwards. Charlie threatened to have a meltdown on the way, so I had to resort to bribery by chocolate to get him there without tears. I'm not proud of it.. but it was strictly necessary on this occasion.

Wed 5th Jan:

Yummmmmy East Of India ribbon!! Bought from eBay the other day.. the gingham one is for a little project I have in mind.. I'm going to edge our bedside lamps to make them a bit cosier.. a bit more shabby-chic-looking (shabby chic.. my current obsession.. expect far more on this topic in the near future). I'll keep you posted on how this project turns out. :o)

I've no idea what I'll do with the blue spotty one.. I just have a thing for polka dots at the moment.. and I love that blue, too.It'll go nicely with the blue that's heading for our lounge wall anyway.

All for now!

 

Sarah xxx

Learn Something New - keeping it simple

Wednesday 15th September:

 

Vicky Bees Toddler Group resumed after the summer holidays (well, it actually started last week but we didn't realise and missed it). It was lovely to see the ladies who run the group - they are always so friendly and welcoming - and all the mums and kids again. Every week, the children have a little crafty project to do - and the boys' efforts always adorn our fridge. 

It's good to get back to a happy routine of activity after a particularly rainy August.

Thursday 16th September:

We met up with my friend Helen and her two boys at the Bumper Bookshop in Eastbourne - I'd wanted to go for ages and it didn't disappoint. A lovely children's book shop with a great cafe, vintage books to look at, along with hand-made gifts and knick-knacks.

They do occasional craft workshops for kids in the large basement, which I only noticed as the loo's were down there and I saw a big table and lots of chairs. I asked the lady about it, said I ran card-making classes and we chatted about the possibility of me offering a workshop for children in October half term. An interesting idea!

That's all for now.. bed time!

Sarah x

Here's where I'm at...

As you may know, it's been almost three months since I took the plunge and became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. It's been quite a steep learning curve.. And yet, in these last few months I do feel I've begun to achieve something.

On Friday 11th June I held my first monthly card-making class at Community Wise, Eastbourne, for the benefit of just two ladies. I fretted all week in the run-up to that class - but I got through it.. and my ladies enjoyed some creative me-time while producing two pretty hand-stamped cards. 

The following week I gave a stamping workshop to a group of ladies who attend a monthly scrapbooking club in Hailsham. I was a little petrified at first - but my hostess and the other ladies were so chilled out and friendly, the evening was great fun.. and also a success in terms of orders!

I held my second monthly card-making class on Friday 9th July - this time at home. It was attended by three ladies this time - well that's a 50% increase on June's numbers! It was the right decision to hold the classes at home - I felt so much more relaxed, and I hope my guests did too. The ladies each made two stunning cards and had lots of fun in the process. :o)

Meanwhile, September is shaping up to be a pretty hectic month. I'll be doing another card-making class, giving another stamping workshop and also holding an Open House event.

To add to the general chaos, Charlie starts school in Reception class and Harry will be doing five sessions a week at Nursery. The logistical challenge involved in getting each child into his respective school within a ten-minute window - all before 9am - is going to be taxing to say the least! (And that's assuming they will both go happily into class without tears or fuss.. eeek!)

{Charlie getting to grips with box-making.. a natural talent!}

I'll be back tomorrow with news of a scrapping blog-hop, a fantastic SU! promotion... and maybe even a big stash giveaway?!!

Fancy a quick nose round my other blog..? Pop over to Seaside Stampers to see a few more of my SU! creations.. I'd be delighted to see you over there!

Thanks for reading..

Sarah xx

Birthday bling..

It was my mum-in-law's 60th birthday on Monday and for a while we had been trying to come up with some special gifts for her.

It just so happened that I recently 'met' online an Eastbourne lady who makes the most exquisite jewellery - her blog is called Lady In Pink Creations and is well worth a look. Browsing Jo's blog, I became really excited at the thought of asking her to make a special gift for the birthday lady! We decided on a necklace and earrings set incorporating Maureen's birthstone, rubies, along with freshwater pearls and swarovski crystals. Jo did a fantastic job - Maureen was thrilled with her gift and looked radiant in the stunning necklace and earrings!

My photo doesn't really do it justice but there's a better photo on Jo's blog here.

And here's the birthday card I made for Maureen...

The card was made with Stampin' Up! stamps, designer papers and punches; further details can be found on my Stampin' Up! blog, Seaside Stampers.

New Blog Header alert!!

Excuse me while I test out a new look! :o)

It came about as a result of an email newsletter I got from BasicGrey, in which I noticed they have branched into the world of digital scrapping... and were also offering blog banners, backgrounds etc. After wrangling an upgrade from Typepad to a proper Pro account (so that I could customise my banner), I tried to upload one of BasicGrey's banners.. not so easy. Then I thought perhaps I should try and make my own anyway.. 

I simply resized a photo of the butterfly collage I made last year and added the text (using Rough Typewriter font, downloaded from Dafont.com).

After a fair bit of tinkering, I think it's working ok - at least on my computer. I use Mozilla Firefox.. if you use another browser and it looks all wrong, please let me know!

Banana Frog Guest Designer? Moi?

Well, yes actually!

I've been a fan of Banana Frog for ages.. so when Bev (Head Frog) announced on the FrogBlog last month that she was looking for new Design Team members, I just had to try my luck. And while I didn't make it on to the full-time Design Team, I did manage to be selected as one of their Guest Designers. Wooo-hooo!!!! See this post for the full line-up.

So CONGRATULATIONS to the new Design Team members and all of the other lovely Guest Designers - it's fantastic to get the opportunity to have a little bounce on the lily-pad! :o)

Cute puppy, lots of thanks and some giveaway news

Details below...

I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of my crafty cyber-friends this week. So I would just like to say a big THANK YOU to those who have left me lovely comments about my competition success. At the risk of this turning into an Oscars-style speech, I also want to show my gratitude to four lovely ladies in particular...

ScrappyJacky, for emailing me her brilliantly helpful lesson plans for scrapbooking classes she runs in her local Children's Centre, and giving me lots to think about before I embark on my own scrapping classes in the near future.

Helen from France, for emailing me instructions on how to make a wonderful fabric Christmas Tree collage - I was so impressed with the one she showed on her blog before Christmas I just had to know how to do it... maybe by next Christmas I'll have my own to show off!

Kirsty Neale, for giving me some super-easy instructions on how to make felt from a woollen jumper (and then make me regret my hasty decision to send my boys' old Monsoon woollies to the charity shop). This was prompted by my comment on her blog post about some fabulous things she'd made, including a very cute felt iPod cosy.

Julie Kirk, for sending me a gorgeous bag of Gauche Alchemy colour kit goodies to help me finish off one of my layouts for Scrapbook Magazine... and for giving me a wonderful opportunity to do a layout specially for the Gauche Alchemy blog {more will be revealed soon...}

While on the subject of Gauche Alchemy, they are currently having a contest for readers to pick a suitably gauche name for their black colour kit.. comment on this blog post with your suggestion and be in with a chance of winning a prize!

xoxoxo

Once I've tackled my upcoming project deadline I'm thinking of holding a little giveaway-challenge-blog party type thingie. I've had an idea for this swirling round in my head for a week or two.. when it's all come together I'll make an announcement here.. and hope that at least a few of you would like to play along!

I'll finish with another picture of that very cute pup.. we chanced upon her on a walk on the South Downs near Beachy Head on the 2nd January, sitting in her high chair-cum-bike seat enjoying the fresh air and the sea view. I'm not normally a doggie person but, well, she just melted me!

Happy New Year! Two little projects to share

Well, we survived the Christmas season, happy and virtually unscathed. We had my parents over from South Wales for the big day and then traveled down to Eastbourne for New Year with Gareth's parents. It's been so busy I'm afraid my little blog fell by the wayside for a while.

I have a ton of Journal Your Christmas pages to share but rather than post them all here, I have uploaded all I've done (so far) to Flickr, along with descriptions and details of supplies used. My JYC photo set is here if you fancy a look - or just click the link to the left to go to my photostream!

Meanwhile, I have a couple of small projects to share - first, another of my UFO's (UnFinished Objects) which is now Finished. It is a small canvas, covered in patterned tissue paper from IKEA using Mod Podge, as described by Kirsty Neal in the 12 Days Christmas workshop.

For several weeks, this was how it remained, until I had a sudden flash of inspiration just before Christmas and finished it off in just over an hour. My inspiration was this piece of ribbon, bought at the wonderful Knitting and Stitching Show back in October.

Using my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Birds die, I cut two medium-sized birds from blue felt. I then hand-cut three hearts from red felt and stuck the smaller ones on to the birds with the third one to go in between them. I added a pink and a blue brad to each birds for eyes.

Next I stuck some red and white gingham ribbon around the edges of the canvas as a frame for the birds. Finally I stuck on the birds and the heart in the middle, using Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive (it's brilliant stuff!).

I was going to add the word 'Peace' in letter stickers but NONE of my sets of stickers had more than one letter E so I gave up.. I might come back to it some time but I quite like it as it is, for now at least!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

My second little project to share was an unexpected - and much appreciated - Christmas present from Gareth. It was a 'Make Your Own Heart Decoration' kit from Accessorize, containing everything you need to make a cute stuffed heart - felt, floral fabric, ribbon, buttons, gems and wadding, as well as thread, needles, pins and a plastic thimble.

I sewed it all together while curled up on the sofa on Boxing Day, watching 'Flushed Away' and eating choccies. Bliss! It looked lovely on the Christmas tree and I can imagine making lots more out of scraps of fabric to give as gifts, maybe stuffed with dried lavender or other herbal smelly things.

These kits are now selling at half price (£3) in Accessorize - a nice pressie for someone crafty perhaps?

UFO update.. two finished, yay!!!

I've had quite a burst of productivity this week and managed to complete two of my UnFinished Objects (blogged here)!

The first was a collage on canvas idea I had been harbouring in my head for ages.. I wanted to make a fabric and felt collage of a tree with a felt bird in its branches. Here is how the project came together:

1.    Paint a canvas two-thirds green and one-third blue as the background.

2.    Make the tree from some yellow and white checked cotton and lots of felt leaves in autumn colours to sew on.

3.    Die-cut a bird from pink space-dyed felt, blanket-stitch around the edges, add a button eye and feather wings.

4.    Ruin the canvas by attempting to add detail in the sky and field (big mistake, it looked AWFUL).

5.    Start again on a new canvas and shelve the project for several weeks.

6.    Lightbulb moment: stick bits of green netting and sequin mesh to the canvas with Mod Podge to add texture (now I can call it a mixed media collage!). Add some Wonder-web fluffy clouds in the same way.

7.   Stick on the tree and bird, scattering fallen leaves around the base. Add a quote with foam Thickers and chipboard letters.

8.    Hang work of art and and bask in husband's admiration(?)

{Sorry about the appalling lighting, this is the best picture I could get..}

After all that, I think I'll show you the second Finished Object in a separate post.. coming soon!