Waving My Brush Around ........................... (Part 1)

Greetings dear friends & readers & Welcome to Spring 💚

My absolute favourite season of them all !!

Thank You all So Much for your positive & encouraging comments regarding my Mantle in my last post - you are all such a kind bunch out here in blogland 😊

My neighbor has just delivered this sweet little dried arrangement for more pet feeding duties & it looks just perfect 

on my new/old mantle.

Seeing as it's not actually surrounding a fire like it's original purpose is - I wasn't sure what to actually put in front of my mantle

I found these vintage suitcases in my sleep out - left over from display props in my craft cottage.

I quite liked them stacked up together so an inkling of an idea was born  ..............................

I painted each one by the fire - what a faff of a job this was & Yes -  I had the furry supervision that I usually have 😉

Originally I painted all 3 with cream chalk paint but I didn't like them all the same, especially alongside the 

cream mantle - very bland.

So I used the remnants of the Pastel Rose testpot (picture frame in my last post) & some leftover pale duck egg 

that had gone rather hard but I was able to mix some water into it.

I loved the combination of the 3 pastels together.  💕

I had ordered a new Re-design transfer from Paint Me Vintage & I thought the flowers would look pretty scattered across my 3 suitcases.

The cardboard swing tags are from The Joy Within - purchased on my last trip down to Mum's.

I even found an old original leather luggage tag that I painted & applied a floral transfer to. 

They are just the perfect size for under my mantle and the best bit of all  . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . I was able to fill them with my grandson's toys, books & puzzles thus doing away with 4 random

 baskets & boxes cluttering up scattered around my lounge !!

This narrow wooden shutter was also a purchase from Paint Me Vintage ... I gave each side 2 coats of vintage white chalk paint.

It is just the right width to sit on my mantle.

Yes I found some old fairy lights in a drawer last week & have wound these all across my mantle ... The Mr just 

rolled his eyes 😉

Our small craft group were due to meet up at Maureen's.

The girls had expressed interest in learning to apply transfers at last month's meeting so I told them all to bring an opshopped item that they had painted 

Gail had ordered a couple of tranfers & we cut them up & worked out a price for each one - the girls had so much fun & said it was all totally addictive !

( Click on the pic's to enlarge & see them more clearly )

Gail had painted a small oval coffee table, 2 waste paper bins & a cute little wall cupboard

Maureen had painted a container that her husband had made her for their en-suite, & Sally had painted a rectangular op-shopped tray

I had hauled these 2 heavy ceramic pots out from under my house - I'm not sure who they originally belonged to but I emptied out the weeds & soil, scrubbed them & painted by the fire - a pale grey (leftover) chalk paint.

After applying a transfer to each one, I gave them 2 good coats of wax,  then planted them with some of my spider plant babies that I first started off in this post back in April

Thanks so much for staying with me through this lengthy post dear friends,

I will be back in a few days with "Part 2" as my paint brush has sure been getting a good work out lately !

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

It All Started With a Fireplace Mantle ....................................

Greetings dear friends & readers

I used to have this old wooden fireplace mantle in my Craft Cottage - it was ideal for display purposes.

When I no longer needed it,  I moved it to a corner of my deck area - under cover, but still exposed to the elements.

It was time to do something with it before it got ruined.

I dragged it against a wall in my lounge - I had always had ideas of bringing it in here but wasn't sure where to put it as I seem to have cluttered my lounge up as there was rather limited space in my lounge!!!  😉

You can see from the pics above, the top was in a bad state of repair.

I always Loved the centre detailing,  so I added a couple of scrolls that I had in my stash - removed from an old Singer Sewing Machine Drawer.

I sanded the top & filled any gaps & then gave it 3 generous coats of Voodoo Molly Vintage Chalk Paint in the colour "Vintage White"

I waxed the whole thing with clear wax & then after watching This Video Here I applied a coat of dark wax, rubbed it off & then another coat of clear wax.

I love the slightly aged, antique patina it gave to the detailing.

Then I lightly scuffed the edges of the whole mantle with sandpaper.

I have positioned it against my feature wall as I love the effect of it against the wallpaper & when it was against the cream painted wall - it just looked lost.

I have been working on something to go in front of my mantle - I hope to share this with you in my next post.

When I stood back to admire my new/old fireplace mantle I decided I no longer liked the grey frame 

around this gorgeous Cross Stitch Picture

The frame had originally been gold & I had painted it with Grey Chalk Paint 3 years ago.

I had some leftover Resene Test Pot in the colour Pale Rose so I applied this over the grey & immediately loved it 💗

Incidently in case you may think all these painting projects are so simple & easy .... I took these snaps to show you just how tricky it can get around here at times ... especially when there's a paint pot out & a certain inquisitive 

4 legged ginger critter !!!

Invariably she ends up with the odd patch of colour on her !!!

These two stools were looking shabby  -   they had been painted/upcycled by me well over 4 years ago now.

The paper doilies that I had modpodged on the tops were lifting & discoloured - stained by cups of tea & the odd 

glass of red wine !!!

After a quick google search I found that you can remove old modpodge by soaking well in warm water - I tried this & found it worked fairly well. A good sand afterwards & the remainder of the doiley & glue had gone.

I gave both stools a fresh coat of paint & then decided to stencil onto them with my new bee stencil.

I wanted a dark grey colour but had none so I mixed up small amounts of white & black chalk paints until I was happy with the shade.

Ooohhhh how great they look !!! 💕

Two coats of wax to each stool & now they will be wipeable & much more hard wearing.

There has been quite a bit of painting/upcycling going on here at Threadbear HQ.

I hope to be back soon with another update post.

Wishing you all a wonderful week dear friends - thanks so much for your visits here

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

A Small Road Trip .......... & Another Gnome (!!!)

Greetings dear friends & readers

Last week I had a craft order to go to The Farm Shop at Gordonton 

 Normally I post my potpourri over, but I had 4 Vintage Teacup Bird feeders to go as well & these must be 

hand delivered due to their fragile nature

I wish the computer screen was scratch-n-sniff as the fragrance from this batch of Cottage Garden Potpourri 

was just heavenly 💗

I bagged up a dozen bags each of my Citrus potpourri & my Cottage Garden potpourri

(I sit a bag of Wild Birdseed in each one)

The 4 teacup birdfeeders ready to go - the cups/saucers can be unscrewed from the stakes.

After delivering my goods to the Farm Shop (& making a couple of purchases) I stopped in at Grandmother's Garden - a beautiful Patchwork & Quilting store right in the centre of Gordonton Village.

I had a lovely browse as it has been a good couple of years since I have stopped here, but all that came away with me was some DMC thread, stick on thimbles, a fat quarter of tonal white & an enamel pin.  I am trying to be disciplined & use up what I already have in my stash 😉

Further down the road I took a tiny detour to stop in at Clandon Daffodils

Oh My!! I am so pleased I did!!  What a gorgeous place 💛

Rows & rows of daffodils of every variety imaginable

They have a self service shop with an honesty box system & so many different varieties to choose from. 

 Yes Please ... I'll take one of each 😉

I bought the 5 bunches for $20 & then came home & shared them out with some family members.

Unfortunately they don't last a great length of time indoors with winter fires etc ... but I did notice the pale coloured ones & the double frilled ones lasted several days longer than the more common variety ones. 

After my morning's outing I felt inspired to start on another kitset - yet another gift from my lovely neighbor once again for pet feeding duties.

This gnome is called Lawrence & is slightly larger than Fraser Gnome - shown in my last Post

Instead of being wild & wooly, Lawrence was more dainty with tea dyed lace embellishments & the most gorgeous charms in the kitset 

The only add on I made was again to the beard - I added in the black voile ribbon as I wanted the beard fuller 

(the same as with Fraser)

His hat trimmed with lace & vintage brass charms

Another mossy stick came from my garden - I especially loved the lantern charm tied to the end.

Remember in this Post back in April where I mentioned all the feral cats that The Mr feeds at the farm??

Well meet Fluffy Cat 😉

She was wild also, but has quietened down so much & become so friendly that The Mr decided to get her speyed.  She is currently at the Vets as I type this getting her little surgery done.  We will endeavour to find her a good home as she is such a lovely cat.

And this is what a certain ginger girl thinks about another cat getting any of The Mr's attention - Not Much !!!

Thank You - as always - dear friends for your visits here today,

Wishing you all a lovely weekend - be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

Waffle - ing

Greetings dear friends & readers & Welcome to August !

Image courtesy of Pinterest - Tamsyn Morgan

I must admit I have been procrastinating with my blog posts as it feels like I have achieved little to show for the past two weeks or more.
Plus some issues with the new blogger have not helped - if anyone can offer any advice on how to centre my pictures, it would be much appreciated.
(I have reverted back to Legacy blogger for now as I could not get my photos centred & also my print was showing all different sizes 😐)


A good friend sent these 3 pieces of furniture along when her husband drove here to collect a calf feeder

 She asked me please would I paint them for her & she included the pot of chalk paint

I was able to work on one piece at a time by the fire as our weather has not been conducive to painting outdoors

The small square cane table in the front has a glass top - not shown

They are more greenish than the light blue they are showing up here - but they turned out great & I really loved
 the colour.
They are back with their Owner now who is delighted with them 💙

And all 3 pieces were done with this one small pot of paint !!!

There have been one or two mental health days these past couple of weeks as I had well & truly lost my crafting mojo & just could not get inspired about anything


Yesterday - in an attempt to be more disciplined, I dug out this kitset ... a gift from my neighbor earlier in the year
 for pet feeding duties

Sometimes it's lovely to have a kitset & not have to go looking for materials apart from thread & wadding 😉

Meet Fraser  . . . . . .  I am rather delighted with him myself 😊

All the felt shapes were precut & the charms included ... all I added was the mossy stick & some extra wool for his beard as I wanted it a bit more wild & woolly looking
(I also added the wooden ring he is standing on)

We have had a couple of sunny winters days where I have been able to work in the garden.
After pruning my roses & feeding them with sheep pellets I discovered these pots of bulbs under some shrubbery.
The left hand side are tulips & the right hand side are hyacinths - I will show another pic when they are flowering.

I picked myself a vase of early cheer daffy's & the lounge smells lovely

I also picked white daphne as I really enjoy their fragrance too.


One of the things I started making frequently during our Lockdown was "Fridge Drawer Stews".

In this one I had some pumpkins going brown & also some carrots going soft - perfect for the stew !

Every Monday morning I would pull any old veggies out of my Fridge Chiller Drawer & chop them up with some stewing steak, along with herbs & tomato paste.
I would cook it all day long in my slow cooker & it would usually last us 2 or 3 days.  
Once the veggies had cooked down a bit I would add chopped up silverbeet & spinach from my garden.
It was so delicious & hearty & warming that The Mr asks for it every week now.  I find after I have had Sid on a Tuesday it's great not to have to think "what do I cook for dinner".
Plus I am finding now that I never have to toss out any old veggies & all the peelings go to my worm farm.

Thanks so much dear friends for listening to "my waffle post"
Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead - be kind to yourselves & to each other  💗
With much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0