The Joy of Buttons

I enjoyed a very pleasant Saturday afternoon recently playing with my buttons.

I know how to live, don't I?

I spent a great deal of  time: running my fingers through my collection of buttons:

gasping with wonderment and awe at the cornucupia of colours and styles

and squealing with excitement when I came across ones I'd forgotten I had.

Mr J and P has just read what I've written and says that he's a little worried that people might think I'm stark raving bonkers.  I told him that he shouldn't worry as my readers know exactly what I'm on about when it comes to buttons.  We love our buttons don't we?

Anyway, before I come across as being completely insane, I didn't just spend all my time idly stroking my buttons.  Not me.  I actually managed to make something with them.

I found some thin stretchy elastic lurking in the sewing box and with the help of a tutorial from youtube (I used this one here ) I made button bracelets.

Bracelet number one:

Bracelet number two is quite possibly my favourite.  Made with these larger and textured buttons, they look a little like flowers to my (delusional) mind:

Bracelet number three, in bright colours, for Little Miss J and P:

If you want a quick crafty fix that even a simpleton can muster, then I can assure you that button bracelets are the way forward.

Happy weekend everyone! xx

Out of Touch

Hola amigos.  We're back from a week away in Spain.  And very nice it was too apart from a little more rain than I would like.  In fact, the week before we arrived, there was so much rain that just outside Benidorm at a beach that we visit regularly, flash floods gushed down from the mountains along a dry river bed and swept away into the sea everything in its wake, including market stalls and, tragically, two British tourists.

Days later, while we were there, items from the market stalls were still being washed up on the beach.

*shudder*.

One thing I did before the flight to Spain was to treat myself to two "home/style" magazines.

Now, I very rarely buy mags.  I find that there's never anything particularly interesting to read in them but I do like a good ogle at decor and beautiful things that I don't need.

Flipping through the mags, I quickly realised that I'm completely out of touch with how much things in the "real" world of retail cost (it's buying from charity shops and jumble sales what does it).

I found myself  gasping with horror at the prices.

Take this rather glorious knitted pouffe (click on the pics to take you to the websites, if you so desire):

I love it.  But not the price - ranges from £470 for the small size to £1395 for the large.  Ouch!

Loving too this hand knitted cushion:

It's yours for £75.

More gorgeous knitted things in the shape of  lightshades:

£120

These granny pendant light shades are to die for are they not?:

£305 for the small & £715 for the large

Boo hoo!  Sadly, they are all out of my price range.

Never fear, dear readers, blogs are at hand with patterns so that  you can knit or crochet your very own.  Yay!  Well, I'm talking about one blog in particular that I like to stalk on a regular basis. You crafty types may already be familiar with Pickles but, if not, check out their rather wonderful patterns, all for free.

Fancy being able to crochet your own pouffe?  Well now you can:

This gorgeous pouffe creation is knitted.  Both versions are stuffed with old duvets.

This crocheted light shade fits round one of those ubiquitous paper shades:

Crocheted lampshade:

While we're at it, you can even crochet your own knobs (get your minds out of the gutter right now).  Look at these cutesy coverings for boring old knobs:

Anyway, I digress.

I can't vouch for how easy any of these projects are but I'm sure some of you clever crafters out there could rustle up a pouffe or two.

I might just be able to muster a knitted cushion cover thanks to my "Wendy Odd Ounce Book" that I picked up from the charity shop recently:

Yummy square cushions and the rather lovely yellow round one:

Back to my magazines.  A stone doorstop anyone?  Yes, I did say stone.

Yes, it's literally a stone with some sort of  loop attachment.  £55.

Luckily, I've got my very own stone doorstop.  And it was totally  free from the beach at Lyme Regis many moons ago.

Complete with fossil too:

Finally, I've got more picture frames than you can shake a stick at but it still doesn't stop me from lusting after even more.

These swept frames can cost a pretty penny:

These frames I found in a nearby skip:

Woohoo, I do love a freebie, don't you?

Pets, pooches and pots

Yet another pet has popped its clogs here at J and P towers this week.  Blimey, folks, the allotment will start resembling a pet graveyard at this rate!  Olly the hamster was laid to rest alongside Sooty the guinea pig by the raspberry bush yesterday *sad face*.

Anyway, enough about our dead pets.  I thought I'd show you two of my purchases from last week's jumble sale (don't worry, I'll be showing you all my purchases in every intimate detail  in a forthcoming post).

Now, the pooch ( a fox terrier, I think) is rather adorable but his leg had been glued together badly as you can see here:

But at 10p, I thought "What the heck..." and he came home with me.

Whereupon, I had a brainwave.  I got a piece of ribbon and glued it round the offending badly glued bit (sorry my vocabulary is not its best today) and look at him now:

Mr J and P thinks he looks "a bit bizarre" but what does he know!   What do you think?  Does it look a bit bonkers?

This casserole dish cost me a quid.

Embellished with a marrow decoration

It's Poole pottery and a range called "Lucullus" launched in 1962.  I was going to give this to a friend of mine but I like it too much and am going to keep it (even though I don't need another casserole dish).  Mind you, I was very good and stuck to my "one-in-one-out policy.  In fact, I bettered it by getting rid of three bowls and one plate.

Or so I thought.  I've just discovered that  Mr J and P has snuck back into the cupboard  his chipped childhood melanine bowl with a very faded piccy of Mickey Mouse!

Darn, thought I'd get away with that one!

Have you ever tried to disappear your beloved's belongings without them noticing?  Of course you have!  Come on, spill the beans....

Ridiculous Obsessions & Possessions

I over-heard Mr J and P complaining to someone recently that we had too many jars and that they were cluttering up the work surface in the kitchen.  Do you know what?  The man is goddamn right.  Take a look at what Mr J and P is referring to:

This is just a small selection!

Dear readers, this is what happens when one has a ridiculous obsession - you literally cannot stop yourself from buying copious amounts of what you have already - albeit on a slightly different theme.  For instance, for a family who doesn't take sugar in teas, coffees, cereals etc, we have three sugar jars - two of which are recent purchases:

From left to right:  Burleigh Ironstone; Arthur Wood; Hornsea "Bronte"

To add to the general mayhem, I bought this set of 3 tins from Bargain Madness when we last visited grandpappy J and P for £2.45 (blimey, you couldn't get cheaper in a charity shop could you?):

Mmmmmm apples and pears - very Orla Kiely dontcha think?

Get a load of the glorious gingham lids:

Gorgeous though they are, I can't keep them.  I haven't got a single thing that I can put in them.  Try as I might (and believe me, I've tried) I cannot think of a thing to put in them.  All my bits and pieces are sadly catered for by my enormous collection of jars and other receptacles.  How annoying.......

Being a collector of anything and a hoarder of everything is a terrible affliction so much so that I may need to operate a "one-in-one-out" policy to curb my collections.   My plates, for example. 

Here is a piccy of our kitchen cupboard packed to the gunnels with crockery:

And here are some of my latest purchases:

Jas Broadhurst "Revel" 

Pyrex - forgotten the name:  4 of these.

Kathie Winkle for Broadhurst.  The design is "Calypso".  4 of these.

Sheets and pillowcases are yet another ridiculous obsession.  Feel free to drool all over these:

Obsessions and possessions....... The constant craving for more errrmmm stuff........ Fripperies and trifles, that's all they are.  Dear readers, I  feel that it's important to remember that the pursuit of happiness does not lie in the mere possession of material things.  (Blimey, what's happening - I've come over all philosophical!).  I only wish that I could tell this to some of the students at the university where I work......

The story is that a particular wing in a halls of residence was found to have bed bugs.  The wing had to be fumigated and the students were given black bin bags to pack all their belongings in.  The cleaners came in and temporarily cleared out all the rooms putting the black bin bags outside the building.  Horror of horrors, the bin men came along and took them all away!  Eeeeeek!

And on that horrific note, I'll love you and leave you. xxxxxxx

Daubings and decoupage

I am a first class idiot.  With Honours.

Last weekend, I ran out of the water-based satinwood white paint that I was going to use to paint our bathroom door.  I managed to find an ancient tin of oil-based satinwood lurking in the cellar.  So I hacked my way through the paint film, gave it a quick stir, ignored the yellow tinge and daubed it on.  I knew the yellow tinge wasn't right but I painted the whole damn door regardless and now the door is yellower than when I started......

Not only that, but remember this letter rack I got from a jumble sale recently:

The plan was to prime it and spray paint it white but I had a sudden rush of blood to the head and stupidly thought that while I had the yellow tinged paint out and the brushes, I'd give it a quick coat. 

What was I thinking?  For those of you of a sensitive disposition, look away now:

Note the attractive yellow streaks...

Not only that but when it was dry, I spray painted it white but it just blistered and looked a right old state. 

No pictures of that, dear readers.  By then I was utterly fed up by this catalogue of DIY disasters.

Fortunately, I remembered my collection of stamps and my desire to do some more decoupage.  So, I got sticking......

Close-up of the front

Here's one of the back

A jaunty angle 

From above

Decoupage overkill

What do you think?  Not bad for an idiot.

BREAKING NEWS:  I've just painted our toilet door, sat back to admire it and sat on my glasses. Brilliant......

Any DIY disasters to share?  Do tell....