Upcycling a stool.

Before

I have been meaning to do something to this tall stool for sometime, albeit I rarely use it.  I have had it for more years than I care to remember, and in fact I think it might even have been my mum's at one time.  (It was the stool I used to sit on when decorating cakes many moons ago).  It has seen better days!

Seat - before

As you can see it also had a material top, which was always getting "grubby".  Anyway I had a vision of how I wanted to revamp it.  First it was cleaned and rubbed down a tad (Don't you hate preparation?  I did cheat slightly and instead of creating a mess with sandpaper, as I was working indoors, I used my hand steamer, a scourer and a microfibre cloth).

Painted with Dove Grey Glitter

I then painted it with Crystal Glitter - Chalk & Glitter - Furniture Paint in Dove Grey.  ( could have used the antique white glitter paint, but opted for the grey.  I gave it a couple of coats and then waxed it with Rustoleum wax.  I love this gliter paint it just has a subtle glitter in it.

Close up of Glitter paint

Then it was time to tackle the top.   I discovered that the seat removed, but didn't want to go remove and remake the pad.

The finished seat  (Better picture below)

I gave the original fabric a coat of gesso mixed with some metallic fabric paints and IndigoBlu Slapiton.  I then applied the plain rice paper, and then a tore images from a flowery sheet of rice paper in my stash, Painted on more Slapiton and sponged on more IndigoBlu fabric paints in pink, purple, blue and green, mixed with more Slapiton.  A final coat of Slapiton was then applied all over.
(For any non-crafter wondering about Rice Paper - this is like tissue paper - and you could actually use a single ply of a napkin.  Rather than cut out the images, you apply water to the paper around the image you want, and gently tear it away from the rest of the paper).

The bonus is that the seat is now easily cleanable with a damp cloth!  (win, win!)

Make-over complete

As I took the early photos indoors, I decided to try and take a better one outside - erm yes we had a little snow today!

The finished seat

The outside pictures are a more realistic colour than the one taken inside at night!   I wanted a vintage feel, and think I have achieved what I aimed for.

If I get fed up with it, I can always apply some more fabric paint, and either stamp on it or do some paint fusion (folk painting) on it.

Birthday Cake

For once a cake I haven't made, but I have to share.   This was made by my daughter and my eldest granddaughter for said granddaughter's birthday disco party.  (So for first time in her 16 years I didn't make the cake!)

The theme was "Panic at the Disco".   My daughter knew she didn't have time to make a number of cakes to turn into a top hat, but inspiration struck and she borrowed my T-shirt pan, and used it upside down.  Worked a treat - just shows you have to think out of the box,

Rather than make a black cake (we all know how awful black icing tastes) she wisely created a purple grey, which also meant she didn't have to airbrush the cake black either in the short time she had to create it.

My granddaughter designed the cake, and even made some of the flowers, in particular the roses, as my daughter could not get on with all in one rose cutter!

The flowers and cogs were all airbrushed, having started off as white.   (This was nearly a panic situation too - more like panic in the kitchen than at the disco, as she couldn't find her airbrush, so had to borrow mine.   Not helped by the fact that I was out all day on a birthday treat with with my son's family for his youngest daughter: which meant a frantic phone call to find out where I kept my airbrush.  It took a while to get through to us as we were in the depths of the Sea Life Centre!  Fortunately I knew exactly where it was!)
I think they did a fantastic job - hope you do to.

McIntosh inspired card 2

I also made this McIntosh card at the same time as the other one I shared yesterday.  Working on the principal - less is more!

McIntosh inspired card 1

I had a couple of birthday cards to make this week.   I couldn't resist using some of my new Clarity Stamps. 

I will confess I got a little smudge on one of the corners, so followed the crafter's rule - use a butterlfy to cover it up.   I also used some peel offs for the sentiment for a change.

Golden Wedding Card

Quite by chance I learned that neighbours would be celebrating their golden wedding later this month.  Needless to say I made them a card.

Created in Craft Artist, with a little glossy accents added to the pearl and a little sparkle from a clear sparkle overlay pen.

A glorious February Day

I normally just blog craft stuff, but couldn't resist sharing these photos from a little jaunt with half of the family last Sunday.   Perfect setting for a sunday lunch.

We walked along the coastal path -it was high tide but fortunately it was passable.   We had booked for lunch, but had never been to the pub before.  Parking was impossible near to the pub, so we parked a little further away and walked along the sea wall to get to it.  Imagine our surprise to be greeted by this view.   A beautiful old disused tide mill.

The tide was going out as we returned.

 

Kinky Boots

original image created in Craft Artist

No2 granddaughter and I made this card for her cousin.   As they weren't seeing her until the day after her birthday, we decided to do a "Kinky Boots" theme, as her cousin had had a surprise visit to the theatre in London on her birthday to see the show.

photo of finished card after granddaughter No 2 had been at it with the sparkle pen!

Glass Fusing

First attempt on right, second on left

It is half term this week so my daughter who is a teach was able to have some "me time" doing some crafting with me.

We had both love doing glass work, and fell in love with some sample work of glass fusing at a recent Craft Exhibition.    Well lo and behold, there was a microwave kiln kit for sale on one of the craft channels ... yes you guessed it ....... we bought one.

When it arrived we discovered that you really shouldn't use it in the same microwave oven as the one you cook food in, so a quick click on the great shop in the sky and a new cheap microwave arrived at her house over the weekend!

Our first attempt was the piece on the right, and the second the piece on the left, which started out looking like the picture below.  It's amazing that you start with a square flat piece and it ends up rounded!

Also in the kit was some jewellery findings, so using my jewellery glue we attached the bails.

We had time to try one more piece, which didn't quite turn out as we had expected.  It was made from three millefiori  pieces which we arranged to hopefully create a heart shape.   We made sure the pieces were touching, but in hindsight possibly we should allowed a small gap for the glass to flow into each other.  Still you learn, and it was only our first session.

Our third piece with millefiori -comparing the size!

It does take patience - but only waiting for the glass to cool down.   It takes about 6 mins for it to melt and 30 mins to cool down before you can touch it!   However, it was great fun.  (We are hoping to go on a course later in the year).

Steampunk Card

Having made the parchment card for my granddaughter for her birthday, I learned that she was an avid "Panic at the Disco" fan, which is sort of a bit steampunk, and that was what she wanted for her birthday cake for the disco she is having later in the month.   (Thankfully her mum is making her cake this year)   🙋

I told her uncle and said would he like me to make a "steampunk" card for her.    Well you can gather his reply by the picture above !  So bearing in mind that she wanted her cake to be based on the top hat, it was obvious what the central image would be.    I also discovered that I had this lovely steampunk font for the wording in one of my kits - result!

Card for a 16 year old

My eldest granddaughter is 16 this week, and I created this card for her, using a bit of parching and one of the trees that I created the other week.   (Painstakingly cutting it out as you can see from the original below!)

A bit of fun

I couldn't resist purchasing this at Sandown the other week.   I caught sight of it just as we were leaving and had to have it.........

....... and this is what I did with it:

 I had a play with various mediums, modelling paste, bead gel, crackle paste etc.

The colours in the picture above are more realistic to what they are than the photo below, but I couldn't decide whether black paper or white paper behind it looked better - so you have the choice!

Nanny to the rescue!

Phone call:  Nanny have you got a box we could decorate to put the presents we bought Mummy in?  

Answer:  Yes I have a shoe box, although I was going to save it to do something with myself, but you can have it!

..... and also can we decorate it at your house when we come over for lunch?

So .... here are the results of their efforts.    Originally they were going to stamp or draw on copy paper - but we realised it would be too short.    So they raided my stash of 12 x 12 card.   It took a while to decide which designs they would like.

 I also have one of their craft boxes still at my house, and there was loads of tissue paper in there - so the inside (containing bath bombs) was sorted.

We also found some paper flowers, a little crochet flower and some ribbon in my stash, and I showed them how to create tag from some of the paper.

We then found some peel-offs to decorate the tag.

Hopefully their mum will like it, and it has made a little inroad into my craft stash.  They also made a birthday card for her in Craft Artist, but I forgot to take a photo!  (My excuse I was helping to get their tea!)