pimp up my caravan

We got our caravan a few years ago, we put in a new carpet and did a few upkeeping jobs but last summer we thought about putting our stamp on it. We got excited about what we could do especially watching George Clarks Amazing Spaces.

 We got inspired! How do we want to change it? After looking into paint we discovered Annie Sloan. This was the answer to painting the wood cupboards. No preperation needed, just what I wanted. I was happy to paint but didnt want all the sanding that comes with it. Annie Sloan paint is AMAzing! You can paint it directly onto any surface with no preperation. Use wax to finish it off and thats it and the jobs done. Simple. It leaves it in a chalky matt finish which I really like. We got an off white and duck egg colour to paint our interior.

We also got the curtains remade with blackout lining. An improvement on the crushed velvet peach curtains! The seat cushions were recovered, phew so much better.

So are you ready for some pimped up pictures?

Lets do this!

Go to here To find out how to make your own Sharpie cushion

I also painted the front of the fridge in blackboard paunt - well that

 went down well!

Hanmade canvas art

Ive been thinking for a while how to add to my daughters bedroom walls. 

Wanted some pictures or art work that she would like and something that she wouldnt grow out of quickly. 

Then I remembered I had a few blank canvases. 

I didnt want to kust paint a picture. 

So we did some experimenting. 

On the first smaller canvas we used PVA glue to draw our heart outlines. 

We let that dry over night.

The next day I got out the food colouring, watered it down and we got painting. 

I got my daughter involved which she loved. 

 on the wet bits we put rock salt to see how it would work

Finished the blue background and let it dry.

When its dry take all the salt off. We also tried table salt but that didnt work so well.

 My daughter loved making this together. A great mini project but also she can look at it 

On her bedroom wall. 

All round thumbs up!

But then I decided to make one for her wall, why not?!

I love how this turned out. I used watercolour paints for this canvas. It takes quite abit of woeking the paint in because its meant for oil paints. But I like the washed effect. I think the colours worked well too. 

Using rock salt worked really well, I love the effect. 

Are you inspired by our glue, paint & salt art? 

Give it a try :-) 

Hanmade beach cushion

Every spare bedroom needs lovely cushions on the bed. And our room needed it. I wanted to keep it simple. I also wanted to make one smaller detailed cushion.
So check out what Ive made!

Two square envelope pinstripe cushions

with a small beach denim cushion

Bunting, text and waves, plus reusing some old jeans

I like my little beach cushion. 

shrink plastic goodness

Oh yea! I discovered this through a friend who owns a gallery and makes small magnets and badges mafe from shrink plastic. Well my mind started going and thought what I could make.
So I was given a pack for my birthday and got experimenting.
So you will need permenant pens, watercolour pencils, a hole punch, scissors, plus magnets, keyrings, earrings etc that you might want to add at the end.

I used white plastic. It also comes in different colours and clear. 

Cut the pladtic. **Remember it shrinks, upto 7 times smaller. Do cut your shape and size with this in mind. 

Then use the permenant pen to draw onto the scratchy side. 

Above was my first experiment.

I then wanted to make some earrings. So I cut the shape out, it looked huge for earrings! 

Drew the patterns in. I hole punched to top of each for the earrings to go in. Then put them on foil on a baking sheet. Put that in a preheated oven. Watch it. It will take about a minute. It will curl and bend in the oven. When it stops curlung and shrinking take out immediatly and put something heavy on top. 

Thats it done! 

Dont they look good? I love the effect they make when its shrunk down. 

Hmmm what else can I make? Button earrings? 

My daughter was interested in this too. She spent a long time adding all the detail in. We then added a pin on the back to make her own badge - she loves it! 

I also tried adding some colour sfter adding the black pen. Which worked really well. The pink chalky pencil didnt work well as it smudged. 

There you go - give it a try! 

Hanmade sharpie cushion

I love making cushions, they are quick & easy to make. And once they are complete they look great.
I wanted to make a cushion for our caravan. So I got my daughter to help me.
She drew some pictures, I traced them onto some fabric and made the cushion.
Done. All you need is a sharpie pen.
Suggestion: I washed the fabric before drawing onto it. The more you wash it, the ink will fade. But in the mean time - enjoy your creation!

Initial drawings

onto fabric

Tada!

its been a while

It really has, because we moved house, to a beautiful part of the world!
Here are a few snaps

But that doesnt mean I havent been making! 

Keep reading for updates of new projects * plus * pictures of our pimped up caravan! 

Hanmade cushions

I have made quite a few new cushions recently, you can never have enough in my opinion!
Cushions are a great way of updating a look, whether it your sofa in your lounge or bedroom it can add colour, texture and pattern.

With this in mind and the fact that in my sewing to do pile, I had a really lovely colour scarf that I didnt wear much but liked the pattern.

 So I decided I would cut it up and make some new cushion covers for our bed. This envelope cushion cover is very easy as its just one piece of fabric folded and sewn. 

Here is a step by step guide to show you how to make your own envelope cushion covers.

Turn the fabric right sides together. 

Measure the cushion your covering. And draw lines on the fabric of the same measurement. These lines your going to sew down. 

Pin in place and sew down each side. 

The edge of this fabric was alredy sewn so I didnt have to hem them. If you need to do this, fold over the fanric edge twise and sew over. See the next two pictures.

Then turn it round the right way. 

Simple! 

And then make another! 

Here my cushions are in place. I love them. 

Oh did I mention I made another cushion?! A cute bird cushion that includes the teal colour that I love. A great finishing touch.

So whether you have some old fabric; a pretty tea towel, a scarf like me or a top you dont wearany more, make a cushion! 

Jave fun.