Summer Outdoor Fun!

Happy hot days, people! It's finally bursting out summer all over the place here in Scotland. Yay and also phew! Myself and my mr have been very busy in the garden clearing stuff away. He even found time to knock down our old, crumbling porch and it has just opened up the front so much. We almost need sunglasses to look at the white cottage walls! As usual, he does the practical stuff and I make it prettier! Ha Ha!

I've been painting old dining chairs and have nearly finished. I also use some - guess what? - chalkboard paint on some metal garden pots. Fun! 

And my summer feeeet! 

Hearty Birthday!

It was my lovely friend's birthday recently so I made her a wee trinket with love. I had a blank wooden heart shape and covered it with two coats of chalkboard paint. I got my paint in Hobbycraft but am sure other retailers will stock it too. (I like to support local craft shops too. Use them or lose them, I say!). Link to the particular stuff I used here: http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/decoart-americana-chalkboard-paint-59-ml/563790-1001 

I then halved a piece of chalk and stuck a small bit of paper round it to pretty it up. I stuck 

on the large flower with a sticky dot as it came on one and the two smaller ones I used 

tacky glue on. It's fairly sturdy so they won't fall off! I never got a photo of the ribbon I used

 but it's beautiful candy-striped chevron stuff I got free with Mollie Makes. gorge!

(The heart behind it I used washi tape on to create the stripes then painted various shades 

of coral and grey and added the wee acrylic flowers.)

Wash Tape Fun!

I had a craft extravaganza this weekend. A craft-travaganza, if you will. :) I had been pinning and liking lots of things on Pinterest and decided to stop pinning and get crafting! I tried my hand at stripe colour-blocking and thought I'd decorate a thick cardboard cd box I got from Hobbycraft a while back. It was on sale and has a cute chalkboard paint bit at the front. CDs?! Pah... Sewing stash, more like! 

I used some washi tape to create areas I didn't want the paint on and quickly covered the lid in coral-coloured acrylic paint like so:

Then came the fun peeling bit... 

It's a bit like a Pinterest post I saw about making wall canvases from old shoebox lids but I resisted the temptation to stick it on the wall!

I added some measuring tape patterned washi tape round the edge of the box like so:

And here's the finished box, complete with handmade-by-me resin chrysanthemum glued on the front. What do you think?!