Four Wheels On My Wagon

And I'm still rolling along!

So sorry for my lack of posts lately, my little booth, and workshops are taking up a lot of my time, but it's all good. I found this little cart for outside the shop to put my plants in, I painted it up and am rather pleased with it.

It may be a little early for some of these plants as it is still a little cold here, but I couldn't resist a splash of colour.

A recent view of my booth.

Spring must be in the air as I have been selling furniture at the moment, a little nest building going on.

This is my new area at the front of the shop.

The furniture painting workshops are proving very popular. These were taken at our last class.

My niece had her baby a little girl called Emili Ann, she is just gorgeous, and we are all a little bit in love.

I just wanted to let you know what I've been up to. Now I am off to see what you have all been up to. I hope you all have a wonderful week, love Linda x.

More stuff!

Hello my dear readers, I hope that I am not boring the pants off you, with my latest adventure, but it is so prevalent in my mind. Some of you expressed interest in seeing a some more details of what I am selling in 'The Potting Shed'. These are little felt brooches, for adults or children. The Westie, although named Wesley is based on our dog Sparky, a flower has landed on his nose and he's rather startled!

Some tags I made out of clay that air dries. I thought the teapot might make a good fridge magnet, but I will need to source some magnets.

Excuse this dreadful photo of my middle area,but it was to show you what the above items are. I have called them 'handy holster's', and they are pockets made out of tea-towels that you tie around your waist. I made one for wearing in the shop, as I always misplace my specs, scissors etc., and thought they would be good when cooking, cleaning or gardening.

These are tissue packs for the car or your bag, made from Tilda and Cath Kidston fabric.

I will let you see some more pics next time of my little area which has altered from the last time you saw it. If you remember, there was a table from the tea room in the middle of my space, which although very pleasant for those having tea, was kind of cramping my style, and stopping customers from looking at my stuff. It has now been removed and so I have more space to fill!
There are plans to add extra space on to the tea room by covering in an outside yard, so things are evolving all the time.

A couple of pieces of furniture that |I painted are in the window at Nanabelle's. The pink chest was an ugly brown 1950's dressing table. The top which sadly you cannot see is painted with strawberries. The potting bench was also dark brown and has been painted with the chalk paint, rubbed back and then waxed with a dark wax to age it.

Paper bunting on wire. I have had various types of bunting and it has all sold, so I am busy making more tonight. Those of you who have visited my blog for a while will know that I love to make all kinds of different stuff, so it is lovely to have found somewhere where I can sell it.

Thank you all for your lovely, lovely comments, you are all so very kind. I apologize for not having replied to you yet, but I will get to you soon. I am looking forward to reading your posts and seeing what you have been doing . Have a wonderful week, with love, Linda x.

Greys and blues

I planted an old blue and white dish with some miniature Iris, they were beautiful but fleeting!

I have been painting pine furniture again, this time it was some lovely old pieces that my client has collected over the years.

A lovely pitch pine cupboard, a wardrobe with leaded lights and a charming school desk. The stool I had painted for a different room in a duckegg blue, but it was being moved into  the grey room. I primed the furniture with 2 coats of primer, then painted with 3 coats of Farrow and Ball's Pavilion Grey, followed by a charcoal grey wash and 2 coats of acrylic varnish in a matt finish.

I thought it would be fun to paint the desk and stool with a Paris postmark.

This gorgeous Armoire was painted in Duckegg blue with a brown antique wash. The decoration on the walls was done by me for a previous client a few years ago, but my new client kept it because she loved it. It was a lovely surprise for me to see it again.

I hope you are all enjoying the Spring weather (or Autumn if you are in Aus.) Thank you for calling in, love Linda x

Dusty Violet

I love colours that aren't true, that have been' dirtied' with a little ochre or umber or black. I very often like to mix my own colours when painting furniture as you can arrive at something a little more interesting. Even more than that, I love to add washes and layers to the finished colour to achieve something more complex.Here are some images from Pinterest to show you what I mean.

So soft and easy to live with all these dusky, dusty shades I find.

I hope you enjoyed my selection. Have a merry midweek. Love Linda x

Doing stuff!

My work has gone unusually quiet these last couple of months. I put it down to the economic climate. Although I am slightly worried, I have decided to focus on other things and make the most of the free time I have. Money is tight so it forces me to re-use, recycle and restore, which is good! I have loved this image above which I found in Tumblr, so I have been making some of these little paper hearts to decorate the place for Valentine's day. I made some from tissue paper and they feel like little packets of sugar, which gave me the idea to make larger ones for place settings, and to fill them with an individual love message and sweets. I will let you see the pics in a day or two.

I have also been knitting dishcloths in the shape of houses, they are really cute. I will let you see the pics of those in a day or two! You will think I am spoofing, and haven't done anything at all...honest I have. Remember my biscuit disaster, well I couldn't let a batch of biscuits get the better of me, so I tried again! This time success..................................................................................................................................

I am useless at piping, so I just used some ready made fondant icing and painted on the little bunny features with a fine paintbrush and food colouring. The square ones, you can't see very well, but I stamped them with a rubber stamp that has a little girl and a dog on, and says 'I love my dog'.So these have gone down pretty well.

This is my terribly messy larder cupboard which has been moved to a different spot in the kitchen and is getting a bit of a facelift. (In a couple of days, I hear you mutter.) Yes! So I will love you and leave you, and see you soon. Wishing you all a merry midweek, love Linda x