Sports themed bunting

Buntings have a sense of festivity about them... I made this with things I bought from Micheal's.  It is simple to make and can be finished in under an hour. Here is the finished product, rustic as is my style.

Burlap mat stock is a very handy thing to have and is available in just the right size at Micheals. I cut the mat stock to a size which was just a bit wider than the ball and long enough to hold both the ball and brad. Then I just did a running stitch in black thread. Perfection is not really necessary in the stitches since the whole feel is rustic.

and this brad is just the right size for me to spell out my son's name on.

I threaded the individual pieces on a rough jute thread and stuck it on the wall.

Voila! Run a line of fabric adhesive along the stitches when working with burlap or any other easy fray fabric to keep it in shape.

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Trash to treasure - continuing where I left off with my senorita series

So inspired was I by the Mademoiselle chandeliers from Lladro that I thought one up while organizing my pantry!  Had to smile at the completed figure... I guess that is what quirky designs are all about!!

Here is my maiden with Digger the doggie whom I brought back from Stamford, UK

And with Tomasino whom I brought back on a visit to  the local Swarovski store..

Who suits her better you think? I added a battery operated light at the bottom for added effect here.

Here is a look at the material I used to assemble her... The bell shaped glass is from a candle stand that came apart..a bottle and cup from the pantry and some baubles from my craft cupboard.. I didn't want to paint it all evenly - for me it is all about telling a story with the things I had lying around. Unvarnished, Un touched up, she is so full of character!

I just put one thing on top  of the other and added a crocheted coaster to finish this look.. Quirky decor is all about having fun and when you look back at your work  it should bring a smile to your lips. This did for me.. and you?

Go ahead, grab a few things, out them together and make up a story, a collage of sorts. 

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Lladro inspired senorita lights

Sometime back I received the yearly calendar from Lladro and was blown away by all their collectibles. Their chandelier, though had me spellbound. I would love to have this piece in my home by it is out of my budget so I set out to make my own rustic version with IKEA battery operated lights and a few beads and baubles from my craft basket. Here is my Senorita light set, deep in conversation!

all lit up!

Here is one of my senoritas!

 and her parts - I just used my imagination and glue gun...

And I went to town 'designing' their head gear!

 

 Of course it is nowhere near the real thing - jaw droppingly gorgeous but at a fraction of the price my senoritas are worth the time spent on them- don't you agree?

Find this project at DIY like a boss link party where there are a fair few lovely craft ideas.

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Repurposing watches into quirky timepieces

In  today's world of smartphones and tablets, the watch, unless designer, is less and less used. I have a few lying around the house which keep time well but are not used. Here I show you how I have re worked them into my home decor so they still tell time but from a different backdrop. First I had my local watch store guy remove the metal straps to make it more amenable to this transformation.

I have used blue tack to fix the watch face and the backdrop (I will probably go with the funky monkey finally!) I suggest this method because you will need to change the battery sometime and blue tack makes it easy to take the watch out when needed.

Quite simply stick the watch face on the chosen objects to create quirky and fun timepieces. Here it is on a mini watering can...

on my mother of pearl spoon...

with my other tea things ...

and fixed on one of the ubiquitous coasters and blinged up!

and  practically dominating the bedside table.

On my mini watering can in my craft cupboard.

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Love potion gift tags

Hello! Valentine's day is round the corner and I thought I would do something fun so here are a couple of Love Potion gift tags. 

For this you will need:

• Some thick, coloured paper
• Adhesive cork sheet
• glue
• paper or felt hearts and twine

Use the printable at the end of this blog and print out the potion bottles and corks

Cut out each piece as below

Glue the wrong sides together

leaving the top edges free

Using the cork template, cut out two adhesive cork sheets and stick them on either side of the cork template so that both sides are lined with cork.

glue the cork lid in between the bottle sheets like shown below. Now your tag will have two sides with text as shown below.

Cut out  heart in red paper or felt and tie with string..

Here is the other bottle

To get a free printable template for the two bottles shown above click here

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Funky decor with fresh flowers

Like everyone else I love having flowers all over the house so when I was recently introduced to BloomNation, I was inspired to showcase a few fun fresh flower arrangements. If you haven't heard of them before, they are a flower delivery service that supports local florists through their online marketplace.

This first one is my favourite - Framed!

This amphora magnet holds just a spoonful of water, so tiny blooms on my fridge!

The Amphora runneth over!

I keep my limited hardware supplies in this old box and thought this was a good setting - our of the box!

I had fun doing this. Filled a grocery bag with water and put the flowers in. I had to take quick photos since it was all wobbly and I didn't want to put a container in.

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DIY home lighting solution

Simple and effective, this lighting solution is assembled in 10 minutes flat.

 I have used 

-Miniature paintings done on thin marble

- an ordinary square sided bottle and 

- battery operated serial lights (the only ones I had)

You could use

- any set of  images copied on a transparency

- a square sided bottle or vase

- batter operated or even electric lights of the correct length.

Assembling this works the same way and is easier if you have a vase so the neck is large and easy to work with.

Here are the miniatures. The fourth miniature doesn't fit so I have to get a vase with larger squares (in time!)

Here is the bottle I had in my pantry

Put a scrap of cloth inside before you begin so that the pictures don't fall in and break.

Insert the pictures one at a time

Remove the cloth carefully and put in the serial lights (mine look ugly on their own!)

 Put in the serial lights...

and click it on!

Lid it or not, the miniatures come to life through the glass

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My home office / WeWork

When I relocated to a city away from my office, I had to create a home office in a desk unit in my rented home. I sure miss the chatter of co workers and office lunches but I took this as an opportunity to combine work and my blog right here on my desk. The decor on my tiny work space changes now and again and when WeWork invited me to share my work space I was delighted! (it gave me the chance to redo a bit of my tiny desk.)

Here is my tiny work desk. This is where I plan people's travel and where I think up ideas for my blog. When I visited the WeWork website I straightaway got a few decor ideas!  Such amazing shared work spaces! I love humour and I am a great fan of Gerald Durrell, the British author and Mario Miranda, the late Goan cartoonist.  Mario's poster features prominently on my desk. This is a permanent fixture in my otherwise varying decor.

Here is a sugar container I picked up in Mario Gallery, Panjim Goa.I turn it round ever so often and every picture brings a smile to my face.

A little something from my craft cupboard - here is the vintage coaster I made where my late night tea mug sits; my fave mini chest of draws and a lighting option I created with some miniature paintings from Rajasthan, India. That is the subject of my next blog post. Love the block print stamps...

Finally my inspiration - my travel collectibles. Since my work involves hand crafting itineraries I travel a bit and look for things that take me back to the countries I have been to. This is but a small fragment of the entire collection - I am quite the crazy collector! Norfolk Lavender, Zell am See, Prague, Istanbul.. ...

Have to plan my summer holiday now! Ciao!

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