I've got the bug.

I've definitely got the bug. Shabby chic-ing, furniture painting, upcycling... Whatever you want to call it- I've got the bug!

I thought I'd share about a few projects I've 'done' recently and hopefully inspire you a little. 

I got this nest of tables for £15 from a charity furniture shop in our city. I try to go there quite often to scout out furniture to upcycle! 

I wanted these '3 shades of grey' to go in our new lounge, so I bought some Annie Sloan Paris Grey chalk paint and tester pots of Old White and Charcoal, thinking I would lighten one and darken the other and have Paris Grey in the middle. Whilst painting I realised I wanted them a bit darker so didn't use the old white at all, I just made the greys darker with the Charcoal chalk paint.

I was then faced with the problem of the little table no longer fitting in to the nest! Bummer!! After a few weeks of the tables sitting around and me thinking 'I really need to sort those out' I finally got down to 'distressing' them a bit and sanding down a LOT where the table should slide in! It still wouldn't go in, so I asked my hubby to have a go at it, he had greater succes than I. It now slides in and out, if a little juddery, but it does actually fit! Hooray!

So, with almost a whole tin of Paris Grey paint left, I took to painting our beautiful old chest. 

This chest is VERY special to me, it belonged to my Nanna and was built by my great grandfather, who was a joiner. In it's later years it was used as a blanket box and stank of moth balls, but in it's heyday it travelled the world as a trunk. How cool is that! It has screw holes where it was screwed shut to travel on a boat when my grandparents set off to Gibraltar and Durban. I love the history it holds. 

When my Nanna passed away we inherited the trunk and my husband set to work on it. He used paint stripper to remove the two thick layers of gloss, he then sanded it down and removed 2 layers of black paint and one layer of varnish. Hard work! It looked great and we enjoyed it 'bare' in our lounge for a few years.

Having moved house and changing our colour scheme a bit it no longer 'fitted' in. The wood was too orangey and stood out a bit.

In comes the Paris Grey chalk paint.

Our chest now looks so beautiful in the lounge and will continue to be loved and used (containing our board games), even though it still smells of moth balls when you open it. Yum!

More blogging on upcycling coming soon!

Update from my dad: 

The box went to Canada and the USA (Detroit) in the 1920s when your great grandad took his family there to find work during the depression. It did Durban twice and then Gibraltar in the 50s and 60s

En France!

It's been too long since I posted... And since I saw my blogging friends over the weekend I feel inspired.

So, we decided to take a fairly last minute trip to see our friends who are church planting in Lille, France. We were booked to get the 10am ferry on Saturday from Dover to Dunkirk. We packed up our car and set off from Winchester at 7am on Saturday morning- aware of the extreme weather conditions of late, and expecting a VERY rough crossing.

The ferry provider website said that there were delays but to still arrive on time for your expected check in and departure. We had a great journey almost all the way to Dover, checking the website for updates all the way. At 8am it changed from 'delays' to 'severe delays'- eesh! 

At 9.10am we had got just past Folkestone and hit a queue. Little did we know it would be a further 8 hours before we actually reached the port. 

(I must add that part way through our journey we realised we had not actually got our sat nav for unsung our way to our friends' house in Lille!)

Having a baby in the car made this even more eventful for us! 

As we were at a standstill for about an hour at a time, then move a bit, we would turn off the engine and try to entertain/feed/change the baby. As well as try and get him to go to sleep for his usual naps! 

Changing a stinking, explosive nappy on your lap is always a challenge!!! 

I'm so glad I had packed up lunch for us!

In one of our long standstills my hubby went and found a loo and managed to get us some much needed cans of coke!

And of course while he was doing this and I had the baby on my lap in the front, my boots off, the traffic started moving... Aahhhh! Classic.

We eventually checked in at the port at 5pm, to get a 7pm ferry. Finally I was able to get my pined after morning coffee which I had planned to have when we got on the ferry at 10am. 

We used this time to buy a map and use the free wifi to figure out how make our way to our friends' house. Taking screen shots of the map around their area- knowing we wouldn't have 3G in France! 

What a day! We eventually made it to Lille at 12am after getting only slightly lost!

We have then enjoyed a lovely couple of days with our friends and our goddaughter- who is so much fun! 

We visited their local park (where the pond was overflowing!), we enjoyed some lovely French dinners, a yummy croc Monsieur out in Lille, saw the very odd looking cathedral (from the outside), had a hot date at the French supermarket stocking up on goodies (where I spoke some French and ended up professing to be an English man!), experienced the local boulangerie and had lots of laughs playing 'ticket to ride- Europe'. Such a great few days- wish it was longer!

Our journey home was MUCH more successful and smooth! The part of our journey that had taken 8 hours in 'operation stack' took only 8 minutes coming back. Hooray! We even had a treat pop in to see our friend in Hythe!

Praise God for safety travelling and lots of fun and special memories as a family!

Surprise surprise

I was discussing recently with my in laws that I hadn't written a blog post for a while. I was saying that nothing had really happened recently. My brother in law pipes in "er, hello?". So here's the story of the big surprise!

About a month earlier I had had a message from my brother in law in Singapore, saying he had a secret to tell me! He had booked flights to come back and surprise my husband, his brother! 

So began a month of me, and my in laws, having to keep this big secret and arrange a big surprise! 

The amount if times I nearly said to my husband "when David's here..." I spent the weeks building up to 'the big surprise' with an ever growing fear of letting it slip out. 

Eventually the day finally arrived.

David (my brother in law) had arranged to skype James (my husband), whilst we were having a family lunch at their parents' house (other family members were also invited to be surprised). So this skype event began and David was saying he couldn't hear us, we couldn't see him, problems, problems! 

Whilst James was trying to make skype work, I was secretly filming him to catch his reaction, I felt like my heart couldn't beat any louder or harder!! 

Then in strolls David, saying "the signal's rubbish here!" James looked at him, taking a few seconds to realise his brother was standing in the room. 

A warm embrace (or two) follows!

My heart begins to return to it's normal beating pattern, and all can relax.

Until... David wants to do the surprise each time guests arrive! Aaghr- I don't think I can take it! (I did remind myself if Mrs Bennett in Pride and Predjudice "my poor nerves"!!)

(Here is the very video https://www.facebook.com/ellen.brett.54/posts/10153311288715080)

What's the best surprise you've ever had?

America

Well, it feels like a long time since I have 'blogged'! I have been enjoying the summer holidays and many a cream tea. We had so many that I'm wishing I had done some kind of point system and worked out which was best... Alas, I didn't. But I can say that a National Trust cream tea is head and shoulders above the rest, and we had a LOT of National Trust cream teas! Delicious!

Waking in the night to feed my baby boy is now a very normal part if my life. At first it was awful! But now I cope! The joy of a smartphone is that while I'm feeding I can catch up on Facebook, look at photos on Instagram, read the Bible, and even write a blog! ;)

Usually I will feed, be on my phone a bit to stay awake, but not do anything where I have to use my brain too much at 4am. However, last night I had a sudden intrigue to look at a map of the United States of America. My reasoning was threefold: I have recently watched the friends episode where Ross can't name all 50 states, my own geography is pretty shocking, and we have just had friends move out to California and I wanted to see where they were. 

So, having fed my boy and he had fallen back to sleep, I had caught up on Facebook and Instagram and what I should have done was to go straight back to sleep but I thought I would just have a quick glance at a map of the ol' U S of A (on the maps on my phone!). Big mistake! I now could NOT get back to sleep. I was trying to plan a holiday in my head where we would drive around America. Whether it would be when my boy was one or two, or if we should wait til he's older, and what if I was pregnant again and would we go at Easter or in the summer, where would we stay, we couldn't spend too much time driving with children... You can imagine how my mind was racing! 

Anyway, after being awake for well over an hour I feel I have now learnt my lesson. Don't look at a map of America in the middle of the night! 

Must. Knit.

Feeling a desperate need to start a new knitting project. I love having a project on the go. Something to pick up when I have a spare few minutes. Since finishing my baby boy's blanket, I haven't got round to starting anything new.

I've got a few ideas for handmade and knitted Christmas presents (lucky family!), I'm just waiting for my new 40cm bamboo circular needles to arrive, then I can crack on and get clicking!

Watch this space. 

Do you always have a project on the go?!

Sense and Sensibility

I am a big fan of Jane Austen, I am also a big fan of the National Trust! I love wandering around the houses, finding secret doors, seeing the difference between 'upstairs and downstairs', the servants passageways, the grand four poster beds, chandeliers, curtains and ceilings! 

I decided to watch Sense and Sensibility on Monday night, the film with Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant etc. James my husband was out at football, and little Leo had gone to sleep. 

I utterly enjoyed having the film on and getting on with some card making. It is such a beautiful story and I love all the period costumes, language and houses! Plus some 'me time' to be creative!

On Tuesday my husband and I decided to have a visit to Salisbury, not too far from us in Winchester. We discovered, on our newly found National Trust app, there is a property right by the cathedral in Salisbury. 

We found Mompesson House in the cathedral close, it was beautiful! My favourite part was some doors that were actually bricked up behind! The guide was explaining that people would put these doors in that didn't go anywhere, to give the impression to visitors that their house was bigger than it was, that it went on and on! Brilliant!

We also found the little tea shop in the garden. The garden wasn't massive, but it was very tranquil and a bit of a haven. There were bees buzzing around the many lavender bushes and croquet on the lawn! We enjoyed a delicious and very peaceful cream tea.

All in all, a lovely day!

As we were leaving Mompesson House, I spotted a book by where we had left the buggy... Mompesson House was where they had filmed Mrs Jennings' London house in the 1995 film of Sense and Sensibility! 

So of course when I got home I just had to put it on again to spot the rooms of Mompesson House and figure it all out! Very exciting!

Do you enjoy visiting old houses and grounds? Have you been somewhere and spotted it in a film or on tv?

No bunting allowed!!

When we found out we were having a baby boy, my husband declared that there was to be NO bunting in his room! Now, my husband knows me well and knows I have made a lot of bunting in the past.

Being a crafty (in the creative sense!) person, I thought about how I could bring my creativity to my little boy's room without using bunting.

First, the inspiration. 

I found this baby gro in Tesco for £1.50 (I actually ended up buying it in three different sizes!) the baby gro reminded me of a fabric I had used in the past and knew was still available to buy, boyish and not too babyish. I loved it and decided this was to be the theme and inspiration for a baby boy's room... With NO BUNTING!! 

Firstly, my husband's grandmother made us beautiful curtains in the starry fabric (available in C&H). 

My husband loves VW camper vans, so I thought I would include these in the room! 

Captured here beautifully by my very talented friend, Anto, of Dove Grey Designs Photography. 

I also dug out a camper van hanger I had made a few years ago to sell on my 'handmade by Ellen' stalls.

With the intention of stamping baby boy's initials on the number plate when he arrived... (This is yet to happen!!)

I also found I still had one of the bags I had made in the starry fabric (oil cloth version) quite a few years previously. Although he won't be able to use it yet, I'm sure in the future this little bag will be carted around with toy cars and books in it!

Whilst I was still at work, I didn't have time to make things for the nursery, but I did start getting ideas!

An early purchase was our Cath Kidston change bag.

It was important NOT to have a feminine, floral change bag (like most of my bags), but to have one I knew my husband would carry around too. So it was good finding this one that is boyish! Remember - no bunting - too girly! 

Early on, my friend and I had talked about making a baby quilt, but thinking I wouldn't have time for this I bought some lovely wool to make him a little blanket. I picked out the colours of the stars from the starry curtain fabric.

This was to be a maternity leave project, and something to do in hospital too, as recommended by my friend Grace.

When my maternity leave finally arrived the creative juices started flowing... 

At my baby shower, I had a lovely surprise, my friends had brought fabric squares fitting the theme that could be used to make a quilt! So blessed! So this same friend and I took a day and made the lovely quilt. 

Helen hard at work!! 

We also managed to make a lampshade, clever Helen makes these to sell. 

The camper van fabric is also available in C&H, I saw this when getting the starry curtain fabric, it is in the same colourway and I knew it would be fun and boyish too! (And the hubby would love it!)

I then had time at home on my own- needing to keep my swollen feet up- where I was able to start the projects I had been planning. 

A birdy mobile (which my little one now enjoys looking at above his change mat!)

Pictured bottom right by Dove Grey Designs.

I had scraps of fabric left from the quilt which I used for the birdy mobile and also for a patchwork cushion. 

The quilt was not quite finished when I had to go into hospital for the early inducing of our little baby boy... Very swollen ankles!!! As promised I took my knitting with me and actually managed to get some done during the long hours of being induced!

Well, after lovely Leo arrived it became harder to make time for crafting. I have, however, managed to squeeze bits of sewing in when he is sleeping or he is happy sitting in his bouncy chair listening to the dulcet tones of my singer sewing machine!! 

So, the quilt is finally finished. 

Leo has been lying on it and having a good kick of his little legs and giving some lovely smiles.

The striped blanket, that has a few 'odd' rows with different tension (having come to hospital with me), is now finished too!!

I adapted this pattern for the blanket, I love the moss stitch border.

(http://www.womansday.com/_mobile/home/

craft-ideas/craft-project-striped-baby-blanke

t-119976)

So, there you have it... All the ways I tried to 'decorate' our boy's room, WITHOUT using bunting and without painting (rented accommodation!)

After Leo was born, my mother in law dropped over some dinner for us. As she was leaving she put a paper bag in my hand, explaining that she had seen this at the Alresford festival and just had to get it, seeing as it matched the quilt colours.

After she left I opened the paper bag to find...

Brilliant!