ta da!

These are my efforts at stencilling. Trouble is I'm not sure I can stop and I don't want things to get a bit twee.

What do you think?

This is my, formerly, black ash table. It looks a bit dodgy along the edges as I need to sand them smooth but this is a little stencil I did with F & B 'Ballroom blue' paint sample

I like these gold bits-I did them a bit
randomly over the folds and I'm liking this


This is my rusty old knife that I nearly maimed myself on-in fact is that blood or rust?


This is one of the mainly types of paint
used on the formerly black ash table


This is my slashed up finger-
A bit of recycling of Danish Toasts box and a rough
stencil-I will tell you it's all part of the charm that
it's imperfect



Again I am liking the gold very much especially how it goes over the fold



Question is-is it finished or should I add some red as in Cath Kidstone-esque although I nowadays prefer Gisela Graham anyway?-much more mood (much more me)

Gypsy flowers gypsy flowers again... for hiding biscuits



This is the black ash table that was until painted it




And this is the book that holds all the answers to my gypsy dreams

raarrrrrrrrrrhhhhh

Owing to my ridiculously high motivation levels I invariably keep getting asked to assist with creative projects. This was done on an absolute shoestring and included the services of a very kind person from Freecycle as well as a lot of right-brain activity to determine how exactly to make a dragon from precisely nothing
I was not at it's inception-or should that be conception-I don't know. I just added my own version of something from nothing and all in all it added up to this gorgeous beast.

I do think tho that it perfectly represents me -a hot-headed, frequently unamused and generally very underwhelmed with things old dragon

Roamin' roamin' roamin'

I took myself on an outing today to the Romany Life Museum near Goudhurst and spent a couple of really relaxing hours drinking tea and eating cake and generally lapping up the atmosphere.

Daydreaming of my future life as a caravan dweller with my woodburner, my wellies and my gypsy horse (and my laptop I have to add)


There's something really good about living the outdoor life. It's healthy and it compells you to get moving as it's really cold in a caravan in the mornings most of the year!
The interiors of them all,but particularly the modern caravans, are full of shining objects and fancy display cabinets. Not my taste, but it intrigues me how romantic the style is. They are also really into hand-made flowers which are really carefully stitched.
The painted flowers are probably identical to the barge painting ones, a similar life I guess

This one is quite like a Spanish Ladies Knickers inside. Again not my style but..

shame about the plastic chair but I didn't want to cut the wheels off.

Such a tiny space but so much contained in it. Goodness me social services would be breathing down your kneck at the shared sleeping arrangements these days.

I had friends who bought an old Harrod's delivery van which was lovely in it's dark green livery and showed off the hand painted windows and frames beautifully. They made life of travelling from festival to festival and survived solely from the proceeds of their hand-made hats and jewellery business for many years until they grew tired of the dream, split up and went conventional. We lost touch and I wonder where they are now?

The Great British Craft Tour

The Great British Craft Tour

Outside of the box

This is my indoor project. It's an empty surgical gloves box-no-one can accuse me of not recycling...

I don't really understand what it's all about but it feels important.

This is the underneath. It was very important that even the not-so -visible aspects are decorated. The buttons are from Tizz in Lewes. They sell big bags of mixed buttons. gorgeous.

I don't know what's gone on with the date but it was made this week not 2004. Nice date though first of the first. Full of possibilities.



Some of the pictures are from last week's YOU magazine. I think the Mail is crap but hey it's cheap and you can read between the lines for the truth if you really want it.
I also love Liz Jones infernal column. Will she ever learn.? will I? will anybody?

Inside I put a much-faded but, I think, beautifully ethereal last photo of Jacqui. This, I am told, was taken three days before she died (oh...oh... Van Morrison 'someone like you..' has just come on my playlist as I write) ouch.

Jacqui, I miss, miss, miss you. SO much.

I been..doing...some soul searching...

I..been... looking up and down the highway...and all sorts of foreign lands............

Good GRIEF. It's true. I look for you EVERYWHERE, You wonderful, wonderful person xxx

This is the work of my friend Ruth who lives across the road. All summer she has been painting with this lovely seagrass colour and transforming her garden.
she is really talented and is constantly crafting. Ruth is also the genuine vintage item and has the most amazing ideas and very little concept of what an inspiration she is.
When I get my ETSY shop going we'll be an absolute powerhouse of creativity
I was going to pass this off as my garden, since I've done not a lot in the past few days but then I thought about the Karma :-))

This is the second time I've written this post as I put it on my other blog by mistake! doh
I'm going on holiday to my gazebo this week if it ever stops raining. My Mother has been to Poland, My brother is in France visiting my Dad and my sister and her family have been to Lego Land. But no I'm off to Gazebo Land.
The bunting is my Xmas Laura Ashley stuff which has spent a considerable amount of time decorating a friends cherry stall near Tonbridge being polluted by traffic fumes. The other bunting is home-made by my neighbour who is incredibly talented but doesn't believe it. I hung it like this as I saw a picture of some on a beach like this so it all adds to the holiday theme.
See the trellis, I made that (*proud*). The man from the wood yard came and, with his post rammer, banged in the uprights whilst cautioning me from doing the same myself lest I should damage my breasts... :-) All in a days work I guess. Anyway I did the rest myself. Then there are the stones. My friend said something about the Avery Circle? Anyway they are from a Sussex beach and I know it's very naughty BUT dancing mermaid said it's good. My friend Lynne and I have already done several whilst having a very interesting conversation about 'teleportation'. Now there's a great Eco idea.
See the candelabra, my old boyfriend D made them whilst at work in an air-conditioning plant where he whiled away many a day making ornate candle sconces, ashtrays etc. We were both living in coach houses at the time which suited them much better but it looks pretty at dusk.
I just wish it would be sunny now so I could drape tie-dyes over the Gazebo and pretend I am at some Ayvedic haven lounging on kilims and big pillows....sigh..

Hey pesto... :-)!

I found a Pesto recipe, and thinking this was a very clever move for a student, I set about making some.

Ingredients:

Fresh Basil

Fresh Parsley

Pine nuts (kernels?)

Olive oil

Garlic

Parmesan cheese

I'm not going to tell you the amounts-you will decide. Just don't, whatever you do, use the quantities in the recipe. Suffice it to say, the main ingredients, naturally are the green bits, all the rest is arbitrary. If you consider Parmesan to taste like sick (as I do) make sure you substitute more green stuff for it, that's all I can say.

green stuffPesto

Verdict: Disgusting-you could almost leave out the Parmesan. I now have twenty five times too much in my fridge if anyone would like some?

Also the Pine nuts are so expensive you may have to grow your own tree, if you are a student like me.

Once tasted, I whacked in handfuls of rocket and extra large spring onions to cancel out the Parmesan

Verdict: probably acceptable