Diy glitter barcart makeover complete....at last!

 

 

Omg I probably have no readers left on my blog! I know it was my very good intention at the start of the year to try and do some sporadic blogging but I really thought I would have posted something by now! I have been so busy the past few months with my very wild 2 year old and all the other stuff that goes along with being a working mum & wife. 

Some of you might remember way back in February I bought a little mahogany bar cart from a local thrift store for the bargain price of £5. Well I had grand plans for that bart cart until I got it home and it ended up sitting in my garage for the last few months.  

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted it as blingtastic as possible (yes it is a word lol) and so I bought a tin of rustoleum gold spray paint and a tin of the glitter spray paint. I then went on eBay and bought 2 large tubs of champagne glitter. After spraying the whole thing gold I covered it in a light coat of watered down PGA glue, then I literally covered the whole thing, myself, the rabbit and half my house in glitter! Once it was dry I wiped off the excess glitter then sprayed the whole thing with the gold glitter spray, this created a seal  to stop the glitter going everywhere.

So tonight after a very lazy bank holiday I decided to finally put the finishing touches on it. I was in the kitchen finishes it off (feeling all chuffed with myself) when my very perceptive 7 year old came into the kitchen and said "wow mummy I love it" (big smile across my face) then in the same breath she said "but you know mummy Jake is just going to trash it" (yes my smile faded of course I knew this was the case) Jake really is so funny and he makes us all laugh everyday but you cannot leave anything out if you don't want him to destroy it-fact! 

So why did I put my bar cart together if only to take it apart the very next day? I really don't know, I think I just wanted to see what it was actually going to look like out my head and in my kitchen. Well it's here today and it will be gone (temporarily) tomorrow until our little monkey is able to leave it be! And I really love it! 

Hope all you guys are well, I am going to make more of an effort with the blog, doing my bar cart tonight made me remember how much I actually enjoy it! Take care

 

Careen x

DIY fun kids craft ideas happy valentines day ♥

 

Happy valentines day everyone! Due to being a sick house the last few days we had to improvise when my daughter said she wanted to give 2 of her friends something special for valentines day. I've been collecting empty jars in particular Nutella jars not only because I have an addiction to Hot crepes and the delicious chocolaty goo but because the   jars are cute and have big white lids perfect for decorating. So first we filled the jars with sweets (we had quality streets but you could anything love hearts would have been a cute idea), we then covered the lids with washi tape (this tape is amazing, love the stuff) then we printed off some free valentines labels from here  and tied them on with some bakers twine. My daughter finished off by drawing some hearts on the jars and putting her friends names on the labels, this is such a cute and simple idea and doesn't need to be just for valentines day. Perfect for making personal little gifts for weddings, birthdays, baby showers. We are planning on saving enough jars so we can decorate them and give them out at my daughters birthday party in the summer rather than the standard party's bags. You can fill them with anything from sweets, bubbles, costume jewellery, even a little recipe and some key ingredients, small toys, the possibilities are endless.  I suppose whatever your theme is you could think of cute things to fill it with. There are also free printables all over the net If you don't want to make your own, I think this is such a lovely idea and can be used for so many occasions. Hope you all have a great day x

 

joined iheartnaptimes sundae scoop link party:) so maybe fab ideas over there my idea is only 429 lol x

DIY bar cart makeover soon to be underway ♥

Going go gold

 Today I joined the bar cart revolution! and I'm a little excited lol. To some of you this may be a very exciting revelation but I'm sure for others you might still think these wheeled beauties belong all the way back in the 60's.  I know I'm a bit behind on this one but I was holding out till I found the right one.

simply swoon worthy

I have been on the hunt for a bargain bar cart or "trolley" for so long now and today I stumbled across one that excited me very much. I’ve had an idea in my head of what it would look like and I have to say that the one I got my hands on today for the bargain price of £5 is actually the opposite of what I wanted lol. I really liked the idea of a metal trolley, either aluminium or a light copper. I planned on spraying it turquoise and filling it with all my favourite drinks and cocktail making supplies. I absolutely love my sailor jerry, disaronno, chambord, hendricks gin (ok please don’t be alarmed I do love all these fabulous drinks but definitely in moderation, well ok unless I’m having a cocktail party ha)

Aqua Please

 Please excuse my little guy in the picture,  as soon as he saw it he shot straight in shouting "go..go..gooo...." yes my older son told him it was a go kart and he was getting wheeled about the living room in it lol. Buying this today has even inspired me to blog again. My blogging addiction is slowly creeping back and thanks to my friend Minnie over at mamawithoutborders I now have a name for my type of blogging. It would appear I’m a sporadic blogger and she even suggests I may start a trend. Well I’m not sure about the trend setting but I’m defiantly loving the title.  I hope I might even inspire Minnie to embark on the sporadic blogging trend too because I do miss her posts.

 

Bold Blue

I’ve got so many ideas running through my head about what it’s going to look like, all I really know at the moment is it will not be staying "as is" sorry to all the wood lovers out there, where I absolutely appreciate the beauty of wood, the colour is not for me. Ideas so far would be a really rich turquoise peacock blue, or gold. I’m open to any suggestions. Can’t wait to start it, only problem is once it’s done and stocked I am going to have to hide it from my little guy because he is one crazy boy and I know he would have a field day firing cocktail glasses and bottles about the house. Will keep you all posted on the progress.







watch me go mummy!

 

 

Kids art wall project ♥

Every child is an artist-Pablo Picasso once said! Since nursery school I have saved my kids school work especially their story books (these always make me and my husband laugh, kids have amazing imaginations) and their art work. I have kept everything sentimental from their ankle bracelets, clippings from every newspaper they were in, their first shoes, even their tiny baby teeth (shh the youngest one doesn't know about these yet) are you seeing a pattern here lol. Well i finally sat down the other night and sorted a lot of their keepsakes out into individual memory boxes for them that I will continue to add to until they are old enough to appreciate them ha! I have been wanting to create an art wall for ages so decided to take some of my favourite pictures and put them together to create one in my utility room. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, think it brightens up the room and the best part is it cost absolutely nothing! I think next time I take a trip to ikea I might buy a few white frames to break the wall up a bit more but for now Im happy with it. Think Picasso may have been right, this is currently my favourite wall in the house and it was created by tiny little hands with huge imaginations.

DIY Annie Sloan chalk paint sideboard makeover ♥

 

After two years i have finally got round to painting my sideboard that i picked up from a local thrift store for the bargain price of £10! I bought the Annie Sloan chalk paint after seeing some diy furniture in a local shop and after the lady explaining that it could be applied directly to furniture, no sanding, priming required i thought i had to give it a try.  I'm really busy pretty much all the time so to be honest the only thing i did to this piece before slapping on the paint (4 coats i gave it) was wipe away dust lol.  I'm sure if i had taken the time to sand it down i could have got a pretty amazing finish but i was in a hurry and wanted it done so on Sunday i gave it a bash.  The paint dries really quickly so you don't have to wait that long before coats, you can make it as thick, thin as you like, you literally just add water, I'm really not kidding when i say you cant go wrong with this stuff.  Don't worry about streaks to much as when it dries they disappear, obviously try and keep it as clean as possible and minimise lumps slodges etc.  So I let it dry overnight then used the Annie Sloan clear soft wax all over and when it was still wet gave the entire dresser a little distressing. I only wanted a little but its pretty easy to rub off so use a fine sandpaper, mostly on the edges, any areas that stick out a little.  I then removed the handles and sprayed them with metallic silver spray paint.  The paint and spray paint was less than £25 so in total this project cost £35. Not bad for a days works. I bought a small tub of turquoise to try and will be attacking some other poor piece of furniture with it soon.  If you love recycling old furniture but don't have the time to sand, prep etc then annie sloan chalk paint really is for you!  

 

DIY Family House Rules Subway Style Print ♥

Really love this idea from Carrissa over at the fabulous design file.  A DIY Family House Rules Print.  Hmm wonder what my own  version would look like.  Think it would definately include,  Stop Hitting your brother, Stop shouting at your sister, please eat your dinner slowely, no xbox for at least 2 hours, can we not all just sit and watch one movie together, dishes go in the sink, wash your hands, oh the list goes on lol

Magical DIY Fairy Door Tutorial ♥

Can u imagine taking your little princess (or prince lol) a walk in your local park to suddenly come across something as magical as this.  A real fairy life door!!!  My little girl would freak lol.  I think this is such a fantastic idea, think of the hours of fun so many little ones will have coming across a magical find like this.  Too good not to share.  You can find the full tutorial along with some other fantastic tutorials such as pixie dust necklaces, fairy tree house and fairy tale wands at Mommys Bleassings.  This blog is fantastic with so many fab projects for you and your little ones to enjoy. 

Diy Baby Hamper ♥

I wanted to do something different for my friend who was having a baby girl so I made her this baby hamper filled with goodies for baby and mum, baby grows, cupcake socks, champagne, slippers, perfume, body cream, baby shoes, bibs and lots more x

 

Celeb bathroom diy accesory idea ♥

I absolutely love this table in Ellen Pompeo's Hollywood Hills bathroom.  It was designed by Martyn Lawrence-Bullard and featured in Elle Decor.  I was thinking that you could perhaps make something similar with a large cut of tree trunk sprayed with a high metallic aluminium spray? Why not it works on old ornaments and looks fab! This little table would look fab in my bathroom!

diy vintage bedroom ♥

Absolutely love this vintage bedroom found at houseohome. The headboard and wall dislay is so cute and is really easy to re-create.  Go check out the full "how to".

diy letter lamp ♥

How fab is this diy letter lamp...full tutorial found here at design sponge

diy flower paper lantern ♥

Found this fab diy project via frou frou maison via crafty nest.  Im going to give this one a go, much cheaper version that the large ikea one. 

Diy Mirror Project ♥

Absolutely love this diy project found here on ecabonline.  I didn't even know this sort of spray paint existed that could give you a mirror effect, love it.  I have a couple of  old vintage cabinet doors in the garage that i have kept for a project one day, think I may just have found one.  Go check out their blog, its pretty cool x

Drawer makeover before & after.....

 I have finally managed to finish my second diy piece of furniture and am really pleased with it.  I picked the set of drawers up at a local thrift store for only £20.   One of the handles was missing so i decided i would replace the top two handles with crystal knobs.  I had seen a couple pieces of furniture revamps "patchwork style" on different blogs and i totally loved them.  I though that if i covered the whole thing it would be too much so i opted for doing just the top drawer. I sanded the drawers  down, gave it 3 coats of undercoat/primer then 2 coats of antique white paint, finished off with some wallpaper patches sealed with clear varnish.  I bought 2 crystal knobs £7 for 2) for the top drawer and spray painted the other original knobs with pink plasti-kote spray paint. Done!!!  I totally love it and my daughter does too.  Total price was Under £40. Little Bargain for me,  Ive been able to share my diy project over at :

Finding Fabulous
a little lovely blog
chic on a shoe string decorating
paisley passions
romantic home
common ground
funky junk interiors.
the diy show off
between naps on the porch
sumos sweet stuff
making the world cuter.
the trendy tree house
some what simple
lbratina

Big thanks to these fab blogs for sharing my before & after!

I really do ♥ to hear from you guys so feel free to leave a comment or even better follow me if you think you might want to come back & visit my blog;)