Decopatching

I have seen items done in this style in the past, but never known how to go about doing it. I went to the craft show in Manchester today and there was a stall there selling the papers and glues to do it with and also demonstrating how to do it. Boy, have I been hauled in on this one!

About 4 years ago, I bought the mirror shown above for £3 in a second hand furniture shop. It was a tatty looking circular one to go on a dressing table and I had planned to 'do something' with it. Well 2 babies happened and a house move and it never got done, just remained looking shabby in my bedroom. So I decided to buy the papers I liked to transform it, see below...

Only took a couple of hours and I am pretty pleased with the result and am trying to decide what I can attack next! You can jazz up pretty much anything, furniture, bottles, boxes etc. Once I get hold of some more papers, nothing will be safe :-)

Here are a couple of close-ups so you can see the effect better. Looks a bit dark round the edges, but that's just because I used the flash and it was close to a mirror so obviously a bit of flashback occurred.

You can see in the first one the little bits of frame showing through underneath which are now covered.

Talented Toddler

One of my many 'works in progress' for many months now has been a mural on my toddler son's wall. I am only able to work on it when he is staying the night at his Grandma's house and I can literally only get a little bit done each month, so the paints have been stored in his bedroom up on a high shelf, where I thought he wouldn't be able to reach... and I thought I was right as it took him 3 months to fathom out that if he bust the safety locks on his wardrobe drawers so they would pull out, he could use them as a ladder to climb up onto the radiator cover and pull the shelf down... half a litre of grass green emulsion paint may not sound much but spread over a cream carpet and then danced about in... well you can see the results below...

Note the happy smiley face on the aforementioned toddler who won't even stand still for photographs normally. He appeared as I went to take a photo and said 'SAY CHEEEESE' I think he was quite proud of his handiwork.

Also note the knackered drawers in the background...

Here, you can see the 'paint-job' in a bit more detail. What isn't too clear from the photos is the hand drawn embellishments he added with the black sharpie pen to the radiator cover and the wardrobe...

Note the shelf lying in the upper left hand corner of the photo. It has been turned upside down to obsure the green handprints which he obviously decided didn't go with his overall 'vision' for the room...

And here it is, minus grinning toddler. Took my dear partner approximately 3 hours working with a Vax and a scrubbing brush to get the carpet clean again.

Note the way the carpet is now colour-keyed into the lower half of the wall...

Well, it serves me right for having left the paint in there in the first place I suppose but never in my wildest nightmares did I think he would ever be able to reach the paints!

Just goes to show, craft stuff must be in the blood... Mwahahahahaha!

A little work in progress

I'm quite into doing stitched cards at the moment. Bought a set of papers and a book of patterns in the QVC shop last week and once I had got hold of an awl for making the holes neatly (the drawing pin I had been using was hurting my thumb lol) I set to making the above butterfly. Decided to make it in blue using gutterman metallic thread as I knew I had some tiny blue beads to use for the body which would match nicely. So I did the stitchwork and have spent 3 days searching for the ruddy beads! Finally found them, under the radiator. Have not got a clue how they got there! Anywayyyy stitched the beads on tonight and I am now trying to decide what to turn this card into...

Birthday Cards

I wanted to make a special card for my step-daughter's 15th birthday. She's not like any regular 15 year old girl I know as she loves dinosaurs! I scoured the internet for a colouring page of a dinosaur and found this, a dinosaur stealing a birthday cake. Couldn't really do anything else once I had found that one! Printed the image off to the right size on premium paper and set to work with my watercolour paints. I had forgotten what fun painting can be! Haven't done any for years, not since leaving school anyway so it was quite refreshing to be able to add one of my old pastimes into my new hobby. Shannon was impressed with end result and thought it might be awesome if this did happen in real life. Apart from the fact that dinosaurs are instinct and would probably eat us for dessert after the cake, I had to agree with her XD

This card idea grew out of nowhere from a search for something which I could paint in lilac, the recipients favourite colour. She turned 13 on 1st January and as her mum and nan both like making cards too, I decided to push the boat out. I used the card as a demonstration to my daughter as to how little paint you need when using watercolours (in this case a tiny spot of purple which didn't even get all used up) and a couple of embellishments from stock.

Xmas cards

I decided that I would make all my xmas cards this year as it would give me something to do. Thanks to Vix doing me a couple of printouts of paper from a cd she has which got me started and having a box full of bits and bobs which I had been hoarding since the year before, I raided a set which I had picked up cheaply in QVC and added to them from my stock. The greeny coloured one worked quite well I think and the bits and bobs I added enhanced the main colours.

This card was again embellished with card parts from a kit, but I am never happy just knocking a card out to someone else's ideas so I had to add more to it. Was just grateful when they were all done as I really truly do hate Xmas!

Just trying to fathom out how to add photos here. If you see any strange ones appearing, bear with me...

Well this is my first post. Can't think what to say lol

Well I supposed I can begin by telling you a little about myself. I'm a 35 year old mother of 3 (4 if you include my stepdaughter, ranging in age for 6 months to 10 years (15). Happily living in sin with my fab partner of 2 years, with our 3 cats and umpteen freshwater tropical fish.

Some time in early 2008, not long after I met my partner, I decided I was going to make a scrapbook for his 40th birthday. Good idea you may say, but considering I had never done anything at all in the way of crafty stuff other than stitching, I was beginning to think I had taken on a bit more than I could chew at one point. Fortunately I had a prolific scrapbooker/card maker on hand to offer advice (and lot's of embellishments) and I was very pleased with the result. Reduced my partner to tears when he saw it :)

Since then, the love of making fings has grown and so has the amount of boxes and shelves and drawers that I need to keep it in. I have tried all sorts of different techniques and styles and my inspiration comes from anywhere. Sometimes I don't even need inspiration to make something as my growing collection of cards made 'just-for-the-hell-of-it' will testify!

I will be posting up a few samples of stuff I have done as I go along, but I am very much a beginner so please be kind lol