Hot Hot Hot

Well, I moan my head off about the weather - how Summer just doesn't seem to have arrived this year. Then all of a sudden......29degrees!! Planned to get a lot done today but I am sooo hot!!

Nearly finished the first order for the shop in Cornwall, just waiting on varnish drying on these hand made paper beads so I can make 2 x butterfly necklaces up. Rest of the order is ready to go.

 
Went "up 'anley duck" this morning to the Hinde St car boot sale. It was very busy and I thought I was bound to get tons of stuff, but ended up only getting a large china teapot. It is a very nice teapot though, in excellent condition and BIG! and I only paid £1 for it. It will look lovely in the garden with a plant in it :-)

 
Cant remember if I said before but I picked up 3 tatty wooden garden chairs a month or so back at a car boot sale. Have painted two in old white and the other in paris grey. This afternoon I have stencilled a nice rose design on the chair backs, and once they have dried (which will be soon in this heat!) Decided not to wax them as I think they will look really good as they weather and distress with use, they can then be freshened up with a coat of paint if needed.

Planning to put them on my new Folksy shop as I only have one thing on there just now. Will also get started on the nice bureau next weekend, dying to see it painted, always such a transformation

While I was waiting for paint drying I also put a first coat of paris grey on an old frame I had sitting about the house, will add another coat then distress and wax (will post pics of finished frame next week)

Watched a Nick Cage film last night (Drive Angry). I was just in the mood for an action film with some cool cars in it!! Also had our Saturday night chinese takeaway, which I enjoyed even more this week as I started Weight Watchers on Tuesday and have been strictly keeping to it all week. Their new diet allows you an extra 49 points to spend on anything you like through the week so takes the guilt out of having some treats at the weekend, which is great! I have just over 10 weeks till the California Road Trip so will be "good" till then. Already thinking forward to next year's holiday too, and thinking either a Florida Road Trip or driving coast to coast across the US. Very exciting!!

Can't believe its after 6 now, where do the weekends go? Going to go and get dinner in the oven - Tandoori chicken (low fat version) ;-)

 

Hope you have a great week!!

So Distressed!!

Well, what a weekend!! I havent even left the house!
Got the inlaws coming to stay next Friday so the big push was on to get Sandy's furniture finished. Will be nice to have our conservatory back. I have had to work in there as it has rained all weekend, and I have made a bit of a mess sanding etc, so will be nice to get it back to normal so we can eat in there again.
So .....  table sanded and has been treated to 2 applications of danish oil and it looks amazing. It will need another couple of coats to finish it off, but it looks great and I cant wait to see it back on the stand. Yesterday I painted the 2 chairs and table base with 1 coat of Versailles with a coat of Old White on top. left them to dry out overnight, then distressed with fine sandpaper and finished off with a coat of clear wax. I will take some pics once I get them all delivered, but here is one of the table top before and after

 

Had a nice Saturday evening. Ordered in chinese and watched a really scary horror film - Exorcismus

Hoping to go to Dagfields Crafts & Antiques Emporium next weekend with the inlaws, and maybe a car boot on Sunday if it's nice. Dagfield may have some nice knobs and handles for my furniture :-). Gardener should be coming this week to do our once a year tidy up so will be nice to be rid of all the weeds and if the weather in nice next Sunday we will have a barbecue for Father's Day. 

 Only 11 weeks till we go off on holiday so starting back at Weight Watchers on Tuesday night. My friend Kerry has lost 3 stone and she looks amazing! Even if I can lose a stone before I go I will feel much better. We are going on a road trip to California, and we are so excited about it. I will write a blog soon and tell you all about it!!

Going for a long soak in the bath now to ease my tired muscles, will be nice to have a weekend off the furniture next weekend, but the inlaws are quite hard work too!  ;-) @ Terry!!!!

 

Our own Cup Cake Wars !

Went for breakfast at Subway and was not impressed :-(  Xmen movie was brill though and cinema was lovely and quiet at 11am. Weather horrible today so no barbecue as planned. Hopefully have one through the week.

Just had to write this quick extra blog to show you what we got up to this afternoon........

They taste as good as they look too!!! 

Diet starts tomorrow!!

Saturday started well.............

Got up just after 8 and had a nice lazy morning. Russell lifted the big table out to the back garden just after lunch and I spent over 2 hours sanding it. I was almost finished when it started to rain. I am so fed up with the stupid weather forecasts, they rarely get it right...grr! Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the table before I started, and I will post some when I finally get it finished.

Treated myself to a new banner for my shop on FOLKSY, just put it on.I bought it on Etsy from a designer in the US. Nice and simple,  I will use this shop for selling my painted furniture

So, waiting for the rain to go off so I can finish the table, although the longer I wait the sorer my neck, shoulders and arms are getting!! Will have to have a long soak in a bubbly bath to ease all my aches and pains later.

Ordering in chinese tonight and will watch the final of Britain's Got Talent. Now that all the talentless ones have been voted off it should be quite a good show. Booked luxury seats for 11am showing of the new X Men movie tomorrrow morning, and will just make it home in time for my shopping being delivered between 2 and 3! Long film, over 2 hours but I have heard it is really good.

 
Watching a really nice dresser on eBay, auction ends Monday evening. Sitting at just over a pound just now so will see if I can get it for a good price, although I have no idea where I am going to store it!!!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230627363425&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123
I think it could look really gorgeous painted and waxed. But I still have 3 garden chairs to finish, 2 more dining chairs for my friend, the stand for the big table to paint, a pine bureau, a hall table with drawer, and a tall plant stand!!! 

Not sure when I am going to get the cup cakes baked??!!

I love Friday evenings!!

Well.....finished work at 5 and drove up to the Cheshire Tavern in Congleton for dinner. We can both have a lovely meal with drinks for around £15 as you only pay for one maincourse! Such a beautiful day, and the weather looks set to stay nice over the weekend so it's going to be a busy one for me (just for a change!!)


Discovered a brilliant new website similar to Etsy. It's called FOLKSY and seems to be UK based. I have opened two shops with them. RedKittenCrafts (Jewellery and gifts shop) and UniqueChic ( Restored furniture shop). Busy setting them up at the moment and excited to start listing some items for  sale to see how it goes. You should have a browse, some really lovely stuff.       http://www.folksy.com/

I was also approached this week by a buyer for a retail outlet in Cornwall. He would like me to supply the shop with hand made jewellery, mainly recycled paper bead bracelets and necklaces. In negotiation at the moment so will let you know what happens.

Also discovered a local craft group http://staffordshirehandmadeandvintage.blogspot.com/
They are holding a Hand Made and Vintage Craft Fair in the Borough Arms Hotel, Newcastle under Lyme, on Sunday 19th June from 10am - 4pm. I will not be attending this one but hope to sell jewellery at a future event :-)

Watched Cup Cake Wars more this week, and on the way home tonight we popped into Morrisons at Festival Park to pick up some Cup Cake making supplies. Russell and I are going to have our own cup cake war, and put pics of our finished cup cakes on facebook to be judged. I know we are nuts!! Maybe it's the heat???  will be good fun though 

So it's a weekend of sanding the giant dining table! Running out of excuses now, although it may be a bit too hot for working outside tomorrow ;-)  First 2 dining chairs finished, distressed and ready to go.

Might manage to squeeze in a car boot sale on Sunday morning, and having a barbecue Sunday afternoon. Have a lovely sunny weekend!!

Extra long weekend!

Took today off work today so have a 4 day weekend! I was going to sand down the top of the giant heavy dining room table today but it looked like it was going to rain, so decided to make a start to the dining chairs instead. Got the first coat on (Annie Sloan "Versaille") then going to put a coat of "old white" on top, then wax and distress back so that some of the green shows through. Really like the versailles and have sent a pic to my friend to see if she wants me to leave that colour?

I did have a nice long lie this morning, and caught up on lots of paperwork, tidying and washing :-)

Planning to settle down to watch a horror film "Fertile Ground" - looks very scary, and might even have a wee glass of wine. Must admit we are both scary movie fans, some of our favourites are subtitled Japanese films. We both have such different tastes in movies but this is something we enjoy watching together, as well as a good thriller or comedy


Busy day tomorrow too, hair cut in the morning, some shopping in Crewe, then going to head up to IKEA at Warrington for a walk round. Don't really need anything but we love going for a browse and always come home with something, will have a look in bargain corner. Might even have dinner there

Started watching a brilliant programme on Food Network channel called "Cup Cake Wars". Starts off with 4 contestants and they narrow it down to 2. The final 2 then have 2 hours to make 1,000 cupcakes and present them on a display. Winner also gets $10,000. Just cant believe how imaginative they are not only with decoration but with ingredients, which have included wine, pomegranate and bacon!! Makes me feel like making some, or at least buying some to eat, they are amazing!!!

Think we will have to look for a good cupcake shop this weekend ;-)

Blackpool !!!

Headed up to Blackpool on Friday after work. M6 was clear so made it up in about 90 mins! Got a great deal in the sale at Travelodge South Shore - £19! Dropped our stuff off then went for a walk down to the front, lovely evening, dry and breezy. Sat in for fish and chips in a really nice restaurant called "C Breeze" then walked along to the tower. Most things were closed but managed to pick up s.ome rock to take back. They are doing a lot of work to improve the shore front and the part that we saw that is complete looks fantastic!! Good chance to try out different settings on my new camera :-)

Sunset

After a long walk along the front to work off some of dinner we headed back to the hotel for a nice cup of tea before bed.
As we were walking back we had such a laugh looking at all the B&B's along the front. Just had to snap a pic of this one - Would you stay in a B&B like this????

 Today (Sunday) had a nice long lie. Weather not great for car boot sales so just tidying and cleaning house and will probably start work on my friend's furniture this afternoon. Also got to pop out to pick up a table I got for £5 on eBay this week.
Really looking forward to a long weekend next weekend with Bank Holiday monday off :-)