Silk screen printing

A few months ago, i took a short course on silk screen printing at Cockpit Arts in London. It was great fun and i now have my own sillkscreen printing frame, just waiting to finish our extension so i will have my own space to get working on some designs and projects. I thought i would post a few pictures of some of the lovely images my class and I created:

Bed upholstery update

It's been ages since i posted on here and i wanted to give an update on the french antique bed i have been working hard to revamp. One summer school and a full semester later, it has gone from looking like the posting below to this ---->

The first picture shows the back of the headboard and the fabric i am using to recover the bed. Its by Joel Dewberry and i LOVE it. 

I have painted the frame using Farrow and Ball's James White in eggshell. Its a lovely in between matte and gloss paint, and has a lovely vintage feel. 

The second picture shows the front of the headboard. I have kept the original horsehair, but i have made a new hessian cover for it. Once i have finished nailing this in, i need to sew around the edges to give a nice firm edge. This is time consuming, but will be well worth the effort. 

Hopefully, i will have a headboard to stand behind our bed whilst i get cracking on the footboard!

Upholstery = time consuming, but fun and rewarding!

Crafty cuts

Well i have gone into craft over drive recently! My fiancee and I have decided to do a loft conversion in our flat and i am going to decorate. So i have been bidding furiously on eBay trying to snag some bargains, and boy have i found some. 

But whats so crafty about this i hear you ask? 

Well, its what i am going to do with these purchases. Inspired by The Make Lounge, i am going to learn to sew properly and do an upholstery course! And transform the following into fabulous French furnishings.

The first bed you can see is a Vintage French Demi Corbeille upholstered bed. And its gorgeous. I picked it up on eBay for only £175 which i think is a bargain seeing as there are places selling them for close to £2000. Obviously theirs are restored, which is what i am going to do to mine for a fraction of the prices. So how am i going to learn to upholster?

Well a friend of mine told me about this website called Floodlight that searches for courses and learning in your area. Lucky for me i have found what looks like a great course right in my borough, and seeing as i am going to learn how to upholster, i

 thought why not look at another course too 

- and so i have also decided on Interior Design which i think will be really cool and i even get a level 1 qualification afterward. Both courses are available i

n the evenings and only run over approx 10 weeks, so i think it is very do-able. 

Another piece i managed to salvage for only £7 (I was sooooo pleased with this as i had been looking at others that went for £80!) is this lovely old fashioned floor lamp, that i am going to give the Cath Kidston / Laura Ashley treatment and redo in white and some lovely prints on the shade. 

I am also hopping to nab a gorgeous fireplace, but I'm not putting it in here until its definitely mine cause i don't want anyone else nabbing it for themselves!! 

Keep checking in, cause over the next few months I will post pictures showing my progress and the finished products.

p xo

A good offer...

A girlfriend at work just told me about a 20% off voucher for H&M (Thanks Mhairi!). You can find it here. I am going to grab a £20 skirt for £16 - Yippee!
Enjoy.
P xo

Lust item of the week

I am completely in love with Reiss clothes at the moment. Their recent sale nearly sent me in to bankruptcy. Even though, there is a new skirt out that i am absolutely in love with!!! Im hoping it features in my Valentine's day gift!!!

The bright yellow gets me in the mood for summer despite the endless freezing winter we are having in London. I have a lovely black and white striped silk singlet that would go perfectly with this skirt.

The shoes and top are gorgeous too, but everything in moderation, hey? PLEASEEEEEEE!

And the nails have it...

As London is currently in the grips of the dreaded CREDIT CRUNCH, and i have been told to curb my spending; my friend Angela and I have started doing our own little manicures for each other instead of getting them done professionally (not that i ever did much, it was more of a special occasion thing, and anyway, i have a bad habit of biting mine - disgusting i know! - so it often wasn't worth it for me).

So, we get together every week, either on the weekend, or in our lunch break at work and do our nails. Or at least Angela does mine. She is really good at painting them. At the moment we are totally in love with OPI. This week, mine are coloured with 'Dulce et Leche' (borrowed from Ange) and Ange is wearing my 'Cajun Shrimp'. We have effectively doubled our OPI supplies by teaming up!

We highly recommend using the OPI base and topcoats; it really keeps the colour shiney for ages and no chips at all for the week. I think that’s great seeing as I am pretty rough with my nails. Another bonus for me in particular is that I don't bite my nails when they are all painted up nicely.

Some other colours we have tried and love include -
La Paz-Itively Hot
You're Such a Kabuki Queen
O'Hare and Nails Look Great  

Remember - for best results, first file and buff your nails. Then apply the base coat, followed by 2 colour coats. Then finish up with the topcoat. If you don't have a topcoat, you can always substitute with the base coat on top too - we haven't noticed too much difference.

ENJOY!

P xo

Why?

Inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow's blog (you can find it here at www.goop.com), i have decided it's time I started to write one about all the things I am interested in. I am going to share cool and fun things i discover and keep anyone who is interested up to date on my travels, crafts and just life's little adventures.

Hope you enjoy

P xo