Conversation Pieces

A while back we inherited an old drop-leaf table from the OH’s aunt. It wasn’t really our style but it certainly helped us out as kitchen surface when we had no kitchen. However that dull worn table had a lovely surprise for us – inside its drawers there were lots of fab random bits and bobs, including these delightful paper straws.

Now I had a bit of an obsession with straws (currently made worse by having white braces!) but it’s the packaging that I absolutely adore… It’s just so educational! Did you know that straws are good for parties? Or that they’re good for picnics?

(How cool is the little boy’s Indian headdress?!)

But the piece de resistance… the games on the back of the box!

Who knew you could have so much fun with straws?!

(I’m so going to have to try this one at some point!)

And just in case you’re wondering the straws are pretty great too… such lovely, happy sunshiney colours.

However I can’t actually bare to use them for drinking so at the moment there’s a few just sitting in an empty glass on the sideboard… Might need to think of a better way to display them soon!

Happy weekend everyone xx

P.S. If you want to play any of the games here with stripey straws… Lynne from Tea for Joy sells a lovely range of them at her shop Papermash.

How pretty are these bracelets by StayGoldMaryRose? Each one is made from a vintage china cup.

I can’t quite make up my mind about how easy these would be to wear… I would worry about clanking them off my desk and breaking them. (I’m such a delicate girl!) There’s also part of me that feels sort of sad for the cups – which is exactly how I felt when I saw this teacup light pendant – but at the same time I think it’s a great upcycling idea.

What do you think? Would you wear them?

P.S. No Weddingnesday post this week as I can’t think about wedding stuff until we’ve finished the kitchen! (Hopefully this weekend, we’ll get it nearer to being finished… at the moment, we’re still on the plastering the walls stage but once that’s all done we can put the cabinets in properly. Yay!)

So it’s almost the last day of Xmas… the Christmas tree is coming down tomorrow… so what better way to cling to the festive season than by showing you one of the presents my crafty little sis and other half made for me.

I thought I’d show it in picture form, like those old Jackie magazines!

So this is me and my little sis opening our stockings from Santa (along with my other half’s knees!)

Us taking pics of everyone else opening pressies… don’t you just love my sis’s Donna Wilson scarf that Santa brought her?

Me opening my present… you may notice I am already wearing the first bit of the present – a clue!

Have you guessed what it is yet?

Me realising exactly what it is!

Trying my present on…

Just chillin’ in my Wild Things suit…

How awesome is that? Will reveal in another post just how my sis and other half made the suit – just in case you want to make one too.

It’s very cosy… perfect for wild rumpus in the snow!

Some posts back I blogged about the world’s most awesome cat beds – and after a while (as always tends to happen) I came to the conclusion that we could easily make one ourselves.

So I found a vintage suitcase…

Took the legs off an old footstool…

Grabbed the leftover fabric from the reupholstering of our Parker Knoll…

Petted this cat…

And, with the other half’s help, this was the end result:

Yes, we have spoiled cats…

…but at least they’re cool spoiled cats

P.S. The suitcase bed is proving so popular we may have to make two!

P.P.S. Thanks to Daydreams in Lace for the blog award – very sweet of you. Will get round to passing it on soon

Some posts back I blogged about the world’s most awesome cat beds – and after a while (as always tends to happen) I came to the conclusion that we could easily make one ourselves.

So I found a vintage suitcase…

Took the legs off an old footstool…

Grabbed the leftover fabric from the reupholstering of our Parker Knoll…

Petted this cat…

And, with the other half’s help, this was the end result:

Yes, we have spoiled cats…

…but at least they’re cool spoiled cats

P.S. The suitcase bed is proving so popular we may have to make two!

P.P.S. Thanks to Daydreams in Lace for the blog award – very sweet of you. Will get round to passing it on soon

Ages and ages ago I picked up an old Parker Knoll chair from a Freecycler. Its previous owner had used it as the ‘naughty chair’ for their wee girl (who was very happy to see it go) but she’d grown out of it.

We decided that we’d use it to do our first reupholstering project… and as with all our diy decisions, we then decided to start work on something else completely.

So for months it’s been hiding under a fleece and has been much loved by the cats alone… And then we bought some Cath Kidston cowboy fabric (for a completely different project) and came to conclusion that it would suit the Parker Knoll.

So here it is… I think it needs a cushion (something red and bold I feel) but it’s looking pretty good for a chair we got for free!

But the story doesn’t end there… we had quite a bit of the cowboy fabric leftover so we decided to tackle another ‘project-in-waiting’. This time involving an old footstool, a vintage suitcase and a cat. I’ll show you the pics of that in the next post!

Ages and ages ago I picked up an old Parker Knoll chair from a Freecycler. Its previous owner had used it as the ‘naughty chair’ for their wee girl (who was very happy to see it go) but she’d grown out of it.

We decided that we’d use it to do our first reupholstering project… and as with all our diy decisions, we then decided to start work on something else completely.

So for months it’s been hiding under a fleece and has been much loved by the cats alone… And then we bought some Cath Kidston cowboy fabric (for a completely different project) and came to conclusion that it would suit the Parker Knoll.

So here it is… I think it needs a cushion (something red and bold I feel) but it’s looking pretty good for a chair we got for free!

But the story doesn’t end there… we had quite a bit of the cowboy fabric leftover so we decided to tackle another ‘project-in-waiting’. This time involving an old footstool, a vintage suitcase and a cat. I’ll show you the pics of that in the next post!

Before it completely turns into Christmas (I went birthday-money-aspending today and the way the shops were blaring out Xmas songs you would think it was mid-December already), I thought I’d do a rather belated Halloween post.

We had a great one – having a family Halloween party during the day and a 80s Halloween party at night. Strangely enough though we woke up on Sunday and have sworn off partying for a bit!

Anyway, I thought I’d share a few pics from the day…

At the top of this post are some of my lovely cupcakes my other half and my friend who lives in Germany got me from Cupcakes and Ribbons. They were divine – I so recommend them if you ever need cupcakes in Scotland!

And here’s our selection of 80s trash food… also rather yummy but so so wrong!

During the day I looked this…

I was calling this look Count Zuckula! (Yes I am that sad!) And no those are most definitely not my own teeth… a subject of much speculation by my 6 year old cousins!

And then in the evening I transformed into Jem from the 80s cartoon Jem and the Holograms. She looked like this (for those who don’t remember or are too young!)…

And this was me…

If you’re wondering what’s on the walls… one of my best friends sneaked into the flat (more secret stuff organised by the other half!) and put up tons of pics of me! Very funny but very disconcerting to see so many of yourself all at once!

I also have to give a big shout out to D Jenn who made my belt… it truly was outrageous!

I also have to share the ‘chestbusting alien’ the other half made for his costume…

…he made it from scratch using clay, latex and paint. As you can tell he’s much craftier than I am!

Anyway, how was your Halloween? What did you do? Did you dress up? Do know let me know – I’m so not ready for it be to all over so soon

P.S. Thanks for all the birthday greetings – you are all very sweet indeed!

So it’s Friday which means I get to know a wee bit more about the other half’s surprise he has planned.

Here’s the clues I’ve been given so far:

• We’re going on a mystery trip

• We’re not camping

• I’m going to be given a map with addresses on them and I have to google them

• It’s somewhere I’ve never been before

• I need to bring a posh dress

• And we’re leaving tonight

Needless to say I haven’t got a clue where we’re going!! But the other half has said it’s bloggable so I may be able to do an update from my iphone (which I don’t know how I lived without now!)

Anyway in honour of the surprise, I thought I would share one of my favourite decor ‘surprises’… hidden doors. How cool are these?

First door from Hannah Zakari’s blog. Second door from Jangus’s sunny edinburgh flat… via Living Etc

So it’s Friday which means I get to know a wee bit more about the other half’s surprise he has planned.

Here’s the clues I’ve been given so far:

• We’re going on a mystery trip

• We’re not camping

• I’m going to be given a map with addresses on them and I have to google them

• It’s somewhere I’ve never been before

• I need to bring a posh dress

• And we’re leaving tonight

Needless to say I haven’t got a clue where we’re going!! But the other half has said it’s bloggable so I may be able to do an update from my iphone (which I don’t know how I lived without now!)

Anyway in honour of the surprise, I thought I would share one of my favourite decor ‘surprises’… hidden doors. How cool are these?

First door from Hannah Zakari’s blog. Second door from Jangus’s sunny edinburgh flat… via Living Etc

One whole week and no blogging… I had hoped to return with tales of bathroom bliss and renovation harmony but we’re not quite there yet. We’re currently a week, a weekend and a day over schedule (mainly due to an AWOL plaster) but fingers crossed all the tradesmen should be done tomorrow. After that me and the other half just have to paint the walls, the new windows and door, do some wallpapering, hang a mirror and a cabinet and then we’ll be done (can you guess what we have planned for this weekend?)

So in lieu of some bathroom pics, how about a few pretty (and random) things from my current Etsy wishlist…

1. Perfect Match Necklace from Yellow Goat
I’ve had my eye on this for ages… it’s just the perfect combo of quirky, sophisticated and a little bit of romance.

2. Yellow Melmine Cup Set from Post Road Vintage
I may have just bought a vintage yellow tea set at the weekend (will take pics once I’ve cleaned them all up) but it doesn’t stop me wanting this one too. You can never have too many cups right? (I know that’s my reasoning on everything…)

3. Bears in Love Under Glass from kgrandey
Bears hugging under a bell jar… what’s not to love?

4. Coat Hangers from Pamola’s Nest
These are so sweet – I’m bookmarking them for a future crafting project (once the renovation is over!)

5. Kitty and Dude Gun and Wing Cups from Velvet Boutique
When I got my first flat, I really wanted to get these gun cups… there’s now a wings version too and you can have them plain or decorated in the patterns below – whatever you prefer. Which is pretty cool it has to be said!

Aside from all that, I also wanted to say thanks for all your lovely supportive comments and emails – you really are the sweetest lot of people I have never met!

Wish tickets from A Little Much

Something non-bathroom related (yay!)… I stumbled across these customised cake toppers by Goose Grease a wee while back – aren’t they cute? They remind me of peg dolls if anyone else remembers them? My favourites are the ones with glasses – would so have to make the other half have his glasses if we were ever to have cake toppers of us (would need to be getting married first of course!)

Something non-bathroom related (yay!)… I stumbled across these customised cake toppers by Goose Grease a wee while back – aren’t they cute? They remind me of peg dolls if anyone else remembers them? My favourites are the ones with glasses – would so have to make the other half have his glasses if we were ever to have cake toppers of us (would need to be getting married first of course!)

Last week we reorganised the layout in our bedroom and we’re much happier with it (no-one has to sleep against a wall now) but it’s left a curiously blank wall space opposite the bed. For people who own so many prints and pictures, we don’t seem to have one that suits the space. So I’ve been looking for something suitable and affordable… Which rules out the ‘every day I love you’ wooden sign (though I have thought of doing this diy idea version instead).

Then I remembered that one of the first ever things I wanted in my first flat was the big canvas of the Penguin cover of The Big Sleep from Art Meets Matter… it hasn’t got any more budget-friendly in the intervening 6 years but they now do it as a rather more affordable print. I’m sorely tempted it has to be said…

I’m also coveting by this one for the living room – but I think one Penguin book print is quite enough.

They also do these fab ones for foodies too… I’m loving the ‘tinned food’ one so much!

And of course one for the angsty teen girl inside all of us…

There’s loads more on the site – from T.S. Eliot to Seamus Heany to Children’s Books – which one would you choose?

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Ages ago (perhaps in Marie Claire?) I saw a huge recycled lampshade made of polystyrene cups. I’ve had it in the back of my mind ever since then, thinking could we (more the other half probably than me) make one of those if we had the right amount of cups… And I’ve just stumbled across these plastic cup versions from Julianne’s Atelier. I have a feeling they look simpler to make than they really are but it seems worth a go – must remember to buy lots of cups when I next get a chance to go to Costco!

P.S. Thanks so much to the very lovely Pretty Pollys Pretty Things for the lovely blog awards – I will pass them on soon.
P.P.S. Thanks to Dreaming of An Aga for the tag too – I have a post in mind for my answer but need to take a photo first

In our old flat we had a blackboard door. I miss it – it reminded me to take my lunch to work, told me silly messages from the other half and for a while had some very random messages on it left over from a Halloween party. So was thinking about buying the above blackboard from blissinateacup as a replacement for the new flat. It’s so pretty – and certainly a little more delicate than painting a whole door again.

Came across this feathered shuttlecock lightshade on my continuing quest to find a funky light for the kitchen. I think a cluster of them might look pretty cool – but I’m rubbish at badminton (as far as I remember) so the appeal ends there for me. The search continues…

P.S. Trying to be very grown-up here and not snigger over the word ‘shuttlecock’… Not really working!

I’m so sorry. I was trying to fight posting on these cat beds from Vintage Renaissance but here it is I’ve gone and done it. (I’m blaming taking down the wall… I swear even my brain is dusty right now!) That said, I still think these are cool, even if they do technically mean ruining a vintage suitcase – and me revealing my crazy cat lady status (wait, did I do that already?).

As well as the cat beds, Vintage Renaissance also do some other fab upcycled items like this tea pot lamp… surely if you don’t like cats you must at least like tea!

I’ve been looking for a unique light pendant to put over our table in our kitchen… and I came across this from Domestic Construction. Part of me really likes how pretty this is – a cluster of assorted vintage teacups hanging together – but part of me also feels sort of sorry for the teacups… never again to be used to serve tea in.

Gosh I’m a sap sometimes!

Just after Christmas, I bought six old church chairs for a song (or should that be a hymn?). I liked the idea of painting them each a different colour – so we would kind of have a mis-matching set of kitchen chairs. So I bought a selection discontinued bright coloured paint from Cath Kidston with the intention of painting them that weekend… and then we started decorating the whole flat instead.

However last week I decided it was time to dig out the paint and get going. I’ve only done three so far (it also turns out some of the paint is ‘furniture paint’ as opposed to gloss furniture paint so I’ll need to varnish them too) but I think they’re looking pretty good so far. They also look really good with the future map in the background too – so looks like that will make it into the kitchen as well.