Some Bright Spark

How good does this magazine look? Good enough to frame and hang next to your toilet. I agree! Crafty magazine was launched last month and last week issue two came out. As a contributor in the first two issues I am slightly biased, but I honestly think the magazine is a breath of fresh air in the world of craft magazines. It’s full of a variety of projects which are ‘do-able’, some of which can be done with stuff you already have, and also plenty of inspiration from people who are living the crafty dream. You need it in your life. I do.

Before I even had a house to call my own, I dreamt about owning furniture like these Ercol armchairs. Well lucky for me I moved in with someone who inherited not just one, but three of them! For years they sat untouched with the old cushions on; the foam disintegrating, still in the original flowery covers which at some point in their lifetime had been dyed orange probably to cover stains, and so our sins of laziness were always just covered with throws. What a waste! Well, I finally got round to getting new foam measured up for them and created some new covers (for just one of them so far). Each cushion has a different fabric on each side so they can be just turned round in four different combinations if we fancy a bit of a change.

Take an Ikea changing table bought for £10 off ebay (which was actually perfectly nice before I got my hands on it), give it a bit of a paint job and this changing table was well and truly changed. These handles are from Anthropologie who have some really GORGEOUS knobs and handles. I’d be embarrassed to admit how long I looked through them all before I could choose. Yes, I know they may just be handles….but I enjoyed it! I have a bit of a crush on their home-wares.

I don’t know about you but we seem to have endless amounts of lamps in our house. A room gets redecorated and lamps get banished to a cupboard or are put in a corner where you can’t even to reach them to turn them on. Making fabric lampshades is a surprisingly quick and easy way to give new life to old lamps, and you can re-use the rings from an old lampshade or they are available from many good craft shops. Then a bit of fabric and some good old sticky back plastic and you’re away!

This armchair taught me one big lesson; don’t attempt a relatively demanding upholstery project when 8 months pregnant! Actually I am surprised bambino didn’t make an early exit in protest as I heaved and hammered my way through this. The owner of this lovely family heirloom (with child’s sized foot hole in the worn leather seat) was redecorating her living room so knew exactly what she wanted when it came to the colour of the fabric and the upholstery nails, and I was more than happy to oblige. I couldn’t resist making and adding a sunny little bolster cushion before handing it back over though. It’s all about that yellow again.

Well…who would have thought having another tiny person to look after could dominate every spare minute of your time, leave you feeling like you’ll never sleep properly again EVER, and still be the best thing you have ever created? NOT ME. Ok, I had an inkling it would be hard work but I still had grand ideas of maternity leave being spent crafting away for hours on end while a content baby slept soundly to the hum of my sewing machine. Sounds lovely doesn’t it? How foolish I was. Finally i’m back online, feeling relatively compos mentis and ready to create something other than an endless stream of washing!

It’s been a while, as it seems this preparing for baby business takes lots of buying of things, moving of things, fixing of things and more importantly getting rid of things to make way for other things! No amount of space is ever enough space. Anyway, Ian and I have also been busy painting bambino’s room. The room isn’t wide enough to get one full shot but you get the idea; rolling hills, curly trees and a whirly sun. What can I say, we just love a good mural. I’ve got a couple more projects on the go too so I won’t leave it so long next time……

Another finished re-upholstery project and one I almost didn’t want to let go of. Top right is this velour beauty before it’s makeover. Thanks to Liz Haydn for this project and for giving me artistic license on it…it was a scary challenge doing it for a woman who helps people with their style and image for a living!

Yellow is without doubt my favourite colour. Deep, rich, golden shades of yellow. In particular I love the contrast it can create. My most worn (and so replaced) item of clothing is a yellow cardigan I put on when I am unimpressed with the rest of my not-so-cheery wardrobe…it’s like my superhero cape. So anyway, I was particularly pleased when I was asked to create these spring-like cushions for the lovely Sandie at High Peak Life Coaching, the only request being that they were yellow!

This Back to the Future project by photographer Irina Werning has been doing the rounds in blog-land recently and that’s because it’s a great idea. Some are cute, some funny, and some are just a little bit weird! I love stuff that gives me new ideas for adorning my own walls. Hmmmm…now where are those photos of my other my other half and his bespectacled baby-face?