29 August 2013

Baby Capes

Our beautiful niece, E, came to visit us last weekend; and it's fair to say I'm totally besotted. I spent the entire weekend commending her parents on just how bloomin' brilliant she is. A Super Baby, in fact. 

Naturally, this got me thinking about how, as she holds the superpower of being utterly freakin' adorable, it seemed almost tragic that E didn't own a cape!

Thankfully, that was one tragedy I knew how to resolve*.



I made the cape fully reversible, so E has the option to be Super E or Cake Girl, depending on her mood. As E is only eight weeks old, I guess Mummy and Daddy get to make that call at the moment.



Here's E, exercising her super powers: 


Image courtesy of E's very talented Dad
(who, it turns out, can photograph stuff WHILST FLYING)

To be honest, I'm quite tempted to overhaul my Etsy shop and start making capes for babies. What do you reckon? 

Katie

* The bit where she wouldn't stop crying every time I, and only I, went near her... not so much. I'll admit it - the cape was totally a bribe to try and make E love me!!

26 August 2013

Top Tips for Marriage - Guest Post

Hello lovelies!

I'm guest-posting today over at Musings from the Pigeon's Nest, offering newly-brided Bex (aka Shiny Pigeon) my top tips for a long and happy marriage full of awesomeness and void of Sock Nests in front of the sofa. 


If Katie and Tom had listened to me, they'd totally still be together...
(Image source)

You can read my list of handy hints here, and if you haven't visited Bex's blog before I would heartily advise having a good ol' snoop around- because that girl makes me giggle A LOT. 

Katie xxx

25 August 2013

House Tour Part 2 : Living Room

Hey lovely-face!

I hope you're having a simply splendid Bank Holiday weekend :)

We've had a lovely time hosting Tom's brother, his girlfriend (the recipient of the non-alcoholic gin) and their beautiful baby girl. Our niece is by far my most favourite baby of all time, but I feel she may not be equally fond of me; as I've spent the majority of my weekend feeling like Monica...


Due to impending company, last week we made an effort to clean our house (because 8 week old babies are notorious for spotting dusty skirting boards...) which has given me the perfect opportunity to continue my House Tour. I know I've told you all that we live in filth 360 days of the year, but I figure as long as I don't share any photographic evidence of the dirt I can pretend that isn't really the case.

Anyway: Welcome to our living room. Don't worry about taking your shoes off - we hate the old carpet in here. I'm afraid I don't have any "before" photos- so you'll just have to picture shiny, patterned, cream wallpaper everywhere. In case you can't guess, our theme was "country pub".


The far wall is where we keep the scratch map Tom bought for my birthday. The scratched-off area percentage is pathetic; we've even debated adding in flight paths so we can take off more of the gold.
You can also spot our magnetic Scrabble board on the far right.

We spend most of our time in this room, when we're not cooking or sleeping, including eating in here whilst watching our favourite TV shows (we like to watch Masterchef whilst having our dinner- it's a double food experience!). As we really do live in here, it was crucial to find seating that was seriously comfortable. We ended up buying a sofa from DFS, because it's big enough to fit us both lying down; rather impressive, as we're both 5ft10. It can seat 7 people for house parties/afternoon tea, and we've upped the comfort factor even more with piles of cushions and blankets made by my own fair giant, manly hands.


The crochet wiggle blanket was a charity shop bargain (£1.99!)
You can see more of my patchwork blanket here.

We've had to reassure several people that Tom didn't blackmail me (as a veggie of 14 years) into buying a sofa made from the skins of an entire family of cows. Which is rather amusing, as it was actually me who persuaded him. I wanted a sofa that would last us for decades and look better with age. Like an upholstered Helen Mirren. I justified my purchase by insisting other people had already eaten the inside bits, so I was just using the wrapping. 


Murderous sofa and my Rob Ryan style cushion.

I always knew I wanted a vintage leather armchair to complement our sofa but, as it turned out, so did everyone else in the entire world. This meant that every chair I saw cost an absolute fortune because, no matter what Kirstie says, people who live round here would never EVER give away old leather chairs for free. Unless "free" means £200-or-less. Even if the chair is well beyond "vintage looking" and into the realms of "broken beyond repair". The seat of this chair is actually broken, but as long as the seat is piled with cushions and woollen picnic blankets, it's kind of almost comfortable.


The canvas shows one Tom's photos of Brighton Pavilion. We had it printed using a brilliant Groupon discount code (which is just as well, as the print quality is pants).
The chair looks out onto our garden, through huge patio doors - but the garden is a state at the moment so I'm not showing you that :p

We found our coffee table in a second-hand furniture shop, with the original glass top missing. We both loved how worn it looked with the burnished metal trimmings and the odd, weathered-copper-green colour in all the cracks and grooves. It actually has thick wire chain-linked across the middle (which you could see through the glass top) but we decided to make a replacement from chipboard sprayed with chalkboard paint.



Our coffee table top houses the TV remote (which Tom has programmed to work with all of the electronics in here), a box of tissues (a necessity for me whether at home or out and about, thanks to my stupidly runny nose), and some coasters. We don't actually care about people putting their drinks directly onto the table; I just think the coasters are pretty.


Our record collections, in vintage-look crates from Crates 4 You.
The astronomy globe was a present from my awesome friend Katy, and I use the wicker hamper to quickly tidy the living room before guests arrive. Said tidying looks a lot like I'm scooping everything up and flinging it in there to be forgotten about forever. It's not. 

A pub mirror of our local brewery I found in my favourite flea market for nine English pounds.

There are miles and miles of wires as far as the eye can see, but I've chalked that eyesore up as a sacrifice I have to make for Living With A Lovely (electronics-obsessed) Boy.

One of my (many) thermos jugs from Tiger, filled with beautiful flowers from Tom's Mum.

Our new Lego letters

Less exciting/dramatic than Part 1 of the House Tour, perhaps - but I love that this room feels so cosy.

Katie xxx

18 August 2013

Wanderlust

Hey lovely faces!

What's occurring? Have you had a nice weekend? 

Today has been the laziest of days. I've been on the sofa ALL DAY (seriously, you should see the size of the bum dent!) re-watching back-to-back episodes of New Girl and eating chocolate buttons. Tom, meanwhile, cooked us the epic-est of roast dinners ever. Because he's a legend. 

Around mid-afternoon I started feeling guilty about having absolutely nothing to show for today (apart from a massive roast dinner belly. I look at least 5 months pregnant right now.), so I decided to do something crafty. Plus, I was out of chocolate buttons. 

This is what I ended up with:


Yes, I know it needs ironing. But it's Sunday people.
Therefore, ironing is basically illegal. 
I bought this bear print fabric from M is for Make, as part of the same
stash I used to make my cloud cushion.
My first attempt at embroidery. I wrote the word first with a pencil.

Mountains.
I also used one of the ceramic pens Tom bought me for my birthday to write on the guest room mirror:



If nothing else, doing this taught me that if/when we have toddlers in the house Tom is going to be an incredibly on-the-ball father. As soon as he spotted me wandering around the house with a marker pen he immediately started following me, saying "Now what are you going to do with that?!". Teehee.

Katie xxx

15 August 2013

Fancy a chat?

Hello lovelies!

The eagle eyed amongst you might've noticed a new tab has appeared in my header thingummybob.



I thought it was about time I added a "Contact Me" section on here, for any burning questions you might have been wanting to ask me for the last six months and couldn't... Or perhaps you just want to email me and tell me your favourite biscuit?

As it says on the tin; feel free to ask me anything :) 

Katie xxx

14 August 2013

Dear Diary...

Hey gorgeous face!

How's tricks? 

I arrived home today to an exciting parcel from Amazon, after deciding to treat myself last week to something from my ever-growing Amazon wishlist (good work, Past Me! It's like a present from the past. Woah.). I can't remember the (made-up) reason I had for "treating" myself now. It was probably because it was Thursday. Or maybe I'd done the washing up. Something like that. 

Anyways, a few months ago I'd added this genius little book to my wishlist after discovering it on Hannah's drool-worthy blog Corner Cottage Bakery. Which you should totally check out by the way because:
1. It is excellent
2. As I met Hannah in real life and whatnot at the DotComGiftShop Bloggers event in July I can confirm she is equally awesome in reality
3. She really does live in a cottage on a corner.  


When the pages are edged in gold you KNOW it's going to be good.

It's not your average diary to fill with teen angst and musings about your not-so-secret crush on Joe Manganiello (erm, hello!?! that's what blogging is for...) but instead has one question for every day of the year and enough space to write a response to each question for five whole years(!) So, in *counts on fingers* August 2018 I'll be able to flick back through five years' worth of answers to a smorgasbord of weird and wonderful questions and see how I've changed (or not. As if I'm ever going to stop loving Lego!). 


1,825 answers(!) Which means, by the time I finish, I'll basically have written a novel!!

I think it's an absolutely genius idea for capturing feelings and innermost thoughts, and monitoring how someone's opinions change over the next half decade. It's basically science. And I'm really looking forward to finding out what each day's question is going to be.


I did say the questions were weird and wonderful...

In a rather happy co-incidence, today's question is "Did you complete your To Do list for today?" and, as I've just finished work to have a nice long weekend at home, I'm very glad to be able to write "Hells yes I did" as the first entry in the diary that's will become my constant bedside companion over the next five years. 


Very much looking forward to reading back this one...
It'll probably say "A bee", "My feet", "Some Toast"...

It's quite weird to think that when I finish this I'm going to be 30. I wonder how different my life is going to be then?!


I have a feeling this answer is going to be the same every year... 
Do you keep a regular diary, or would you try something quirkier like this book?

Katie xxx

P.S. I love your dress! Where's it from?!

11 August 2013

Bird on a Wire

Hello lovelies!

Are you having a nice weekend?

I've been crafting like crazy over the last few days, making the most of feeling inspired and having free time for glueing and sticking. I've sewn (cake) scented clothes bags and painted some giraffes, but today's project is definitely the most colourful and the thriftiest, as it saved me £391!! Although I think we can all agree that a ninjaraffe is priceless.

This project was inspired by these beauties, which I'd seen on sites including Graham and Green. I loved the idea of a birdcage lampshade with fake birds; but there's no way I'd ever spend £395 on a lampshade. Ever. So, I forgot all about it and went on with my life. Deep down I knew there was a faux-budgie shaped hole in my heart, but I just powered through like the trooper I am.

Product image from Graham and Green

Yesterday morning, whilst deliberating which craft project to start next, I remembered how much I hated the lampshade in our guest room. It was left behind by the previous owners and, although I had no issue with the shape, the fabric cover was a neutral blue-grey camouflage print. And, as regular readers may have guessed by now, I don't do neutral. 




I was planning to just re-cover it in some nicer fabric, but then I went into Tiger and found THESE:



For ONE POUND EACH. 

Naturally, I bought four. And then, immediately after purchasing them, realised they were way too delicate to carry home in a bag. Thankfully, I was done shopping for the day, but I still had to walk through Brighton, catch the train to Lewes, and walk home (via Tesco, to buy the ingredients for our dinner) clutching four faux budgies on sticks in front of me like the world's weirdest bouquet. Haha. 

As soon as I got home, I tore the horrible old fabric off the lampshade. That stuff was seriously well stuck on and, despite utilising some of Tom's pliers, there were several sections I just couldn't budge. I was left with a lampshade frame which looked like it was suffering from some sort of mottled, blue skin condition. 



"Never mind", I thought, "that won't even notice when it's painted!". Which is Katie Code for, "Jeez, I've had enough of boring prep bits now and want to get on with the fun stuff - even if it ends up looking a bit naff". So I did. 

I painted the frame turquoise using acrylic paint mixed with plaster of Paris, waited impatiently for it to be dry(ish), and then attached the birds. I decided to removing the stick from each bird's belly and insert a twist of picture wire into the hole to hold the birds in place, which thankfully seems to have worked because the birds are practically weightless; due to being made of nothing but paint, polystyrene and feathers. Oh, and whimsy, but that doesn't weigh much either. 





I'm over the moon with the fact this cost me just over 1% of the equivalent of the "real" lampshade, and I'm hoping visitors will find it charming. Although I am also quite tempted to make all future guests watch The Birds before sleeping in the bed underneath it... Mwhahaha.

What do you think? 

Katie xxx

P.S. I realise this post has absolutely nothing to do with the film in the title, but I was hoping to subliminally persuade you all to watch it anyway because Goldie Hawn is a legend.

10 August 2013

Smelly Drawers

After discovering the wonderful world of loose-leaf, fancy-pants tea whilst on holiday in Norfolk last year, I've been fascinated with finding different brands and flavours to tantalise my tastebuds. 

Most of the teas I've tried have been utterly delicious. I've previously mentioned my love for David's Teas, which are absolute genius and contain ingredients such as popcorn, dried apple, and SPRINKLES; not just unspecified "flavourings". However, I've found that some loose teas smell amazing but either taste like nothing or, as my friend Holly says, like dirty bath water. Mmmm..... 

Sadly, the Wild Cherry tea I bought in Norfolk suffers from exactly that problem. The smell is phenomenal, and just one whiff is like being hit in the face with a bakewell tart (I was about to add "in the best way", but I honestly can't think of any bad way to be hit by a bakewell tart...). Taste wise; nada. 


Like this, with some cherry-frangipane goodness

It seemed a waste to leave the tea sitting around un-drunk, so I decided to get my granny on and make it into an alternative version of lavender bags. If you fancy giving this a go too, all you'll need is tea, fabric and a sewing kit. Simples.


I chose some brilliant Dr Seuss fabric, one of last year's Christmas presents, because I bloomin' love Dr Seuss). I cut out some small-ish rectangles, folded in half, and stitched together on two sides before filling them with the tea.



I then folded and pinned the ends of the open side and stitched the bags closed. 



And there you have it- cute little bags that pack a punch; perfect for popping in your chest of drawers to make your undies/t-shirts/pyjamas smell like the Mr Kipling factory. Living. The. Dream. 






I wish you could send smells over the internet, but as we can't I would recommend re-reading this post whilst eating a bakewell tart. I mean, you do want the full sensory experience, don't you?

Katie xxx

9 August 2013

The best pun of my life

Hello lovelies!

Sorry for the recent silence. This week has been like the end of a jumble sale; a few good things, but mostly a pile of crap. I tell you what, though- I'm very grateful no-one has invented deep-fried cheesecake yet; because if they sold that in Tesco I'd've bought 8 this week, eaten them all, and then passed out face down in a puddle of grease. Small mercies. I'm also grateful that I took today off work, to relax at home and potter about. 

First off, I framed and (Tom) hung my latest piece of artwork. I was SERIOUSLY excited to discover this teatowel in the Debenhams sale for £4 (which is now £5... weird), because I've been hankering after the "Bearded Lady Circus" print by Anki Josefsson and Anneli Sandström for years. The print is much more expensive (it's £35 on this website!), so I had absolutely no problem with framing the teatowel version instead. I'm also no stranger to framing teatowels; we've got this one on our landing, and there's even one in our bathroom.



It fits in perfectly with the other quirky artwork on our gallery wall. We've hung it right by the front door; because it's only fair to warn people as soon as they arrive. 

The rest of today has been spent painting things; this candlestick, a picture frame, two plastic giraffes... Standard. The first giraffe project was inspired by some amazeballs jewellery holders I saw on Brit + Co made of painted plastic dinosaurs. I forgot to take any "before" photos of this guy, but he basically looked like a regular giraffe. Just smaller, and made of plastic. 




He's going to be my new hairband holder. Because I totally needed one of those.

Now all that's out of the way, let's get onto the real reason you're here. I promised you a pun, didn't I?! Let's set the scene a little first... *everything goes all wobbly, like a TV flashback*

A few months ago, I found a box frame in the bargain bin of a local charity shop. I immediately snatched it up with glee, whilst politely lying though my teeth agreeing with the woman behind the counter that, yes, the scene inside the frame was just precious



Delightful, wasn't it? I particularly liked the wonky-faced wolf checking itself out in a dressing table mirror. Ahem. It was good fun pulling it apart, although I accidentally broke the figurine into pieces whilst removing it from the frame. 


Oops! Sorry, squinty wolfling.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to replace Wonky Wolf with, but expected it would probably involve more of the plastic animals I picked up at a recent car boot sale. Then, thiis morning, whilst gazing at my other plastic giraffe, my brain kicked into word overdrive (probably because I've recently started playing online Scrabble with my MIL, which has been one of the highlights of my week- even though she's beating me by miles!) and came up with the best word I've ever invented*. Are you ready?! 


Ninjaraffe


Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it's a giraffe who is also a NINJA.

THAT'S RIGHT PEOPLE. A GIRAFFE NINJA.



Initially, I tried covering the giraffe in black fabric, but I decided she looked more like a really filthy Egyptian giraffe mummy. 


So I unwrapped her and painted her black instead. I painted the inside of the box frame black too, so she could blend in. LIKE A NINJA. Just in case people thought she was a giraffe in a wetsuit, I decided to make a little sign out of some letter beads. 



The best part is that you can't really see her- at first the box looks empty, until you notice her ninja eyes. Just. Like. A. Real. Ninja. 




This may well be my favourite craft project of all time. What do you think?

Katie xxx

*Can't actually think of any other words I've invented. But ninjaraffe would've blown them all out of the water anyway.