Tulips from Great Dixter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you all had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK. For once the weather was pretty good!

We ventured out on Sunday for my birthday treat to visit the beautiful gardens designed by Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter.

The tulips were glorious, and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves............

Enjoy!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am having a few computer problems at the moment (gnashing of teeth - is it gnash or just nash?)

Whatever, I like the word regardless of how it's spelt as it  feels the right kind of satisfying word to describe my irritation and frustration at wasting my day today on the pc instead of being outside gardening or working on my latest sewing project - to be revealed soon I hope! )

Hope all well with you, and thanks for all your comments on my last few posts!

 

Country style / shabby chic Pots Tutorial

How To Paint Tin Pots

Here's a quick tutorial on how to transform modern galvanised tin pots /plant holders into something a little more shabby chic and modern country style.

You need:
paint - I used Annie Sloan "Original"
wax - dark or antique
galvanised tin pots /plant pot holders
brush for applying paint
cloth or kitchen roll for applying wax.
scraps of fabric
hessian
fabric glue or pva glue
brush for applying glue

 

What you do
- make sure pots are clean (if already used)
- apply paint sparingly with random, messy strokes and don't worry if you miss areas
- lightly sand in a few places
- dip scrunched up cloth or kitchen roll into dark wax and apply randomly and sparingly in a few places on pot
(optional - I added a bit of loose compost that was in the bottom of one pot to the paint whilst still wet - a happy mistake due to my messiness!)

 

 

- roughly cut a strip of hessian 2 to 3" wide.
- fray the edges roughly, and twist and distort the strip to make it look a bit ragged.

 

- hold strip around the pot, cut to allow few inches overlap, brush some glue where the ends meet and stick down - overlap roughly unless you prefer a neater finish. You can also glue the strip to the pot if you want it to be permanent. ( I didn't as I found the fabric strip held the hessian in place pretty well.)

 

- tear strips of fabric about 1" to 2" wide, longer than the circumference of your pot - you can tie several strips together.

- tie fabric strip on top of  the hessian

job done.

 

Probably best for indoor use due to the use of fabric.

Maybe to keep your herbs in on the kitchen window sill?

 

There are of course lots of other variations you could play around with - I shall probably do a few others now I'm on a roll!

* * *

later the same day.........updated to show another variation.......the pink basil pot

two coats Annie Sloan "Antoinette", no sanding or wax, stencilled letters on hessian, tied on with jute.......

simples!!!!

you're getting the idea now....................

have fun!

 

 

Painted Table

 

Despite the gorgeous weather we've been having these last few days ( and hooray for that!), as well as being outside as much as I can I've also been doing a bit of painting.

This coffee table has been around our house for  a few years, and started life as the usual antiqued pine.
Then after a few years it was painted white with the top left unpainted.

Then I discovered Annie Sloan Chalk Paints and painted the whole thing in "Original". That looked good for a while.

Then a few months ago I bought Annie Sloan "Paloma", a lovely soft lilac/grey colour, with a view to painting my daughter's bedroom furniture - and as I wanted to test  it out first somewhere, the poor old table got painted again (although not the top!).

This week it was the turn of Annie Sloan "Versailles", a lovely muted country green that I was desperate to slap on somewhere - and the Paloma legs had only been a temporary thing anyway!


 

What I did

First I sanded back the Paloma on the legs a to show a little white, mainly round the corners, edges and turned legs where it naturally wears.

 

After wiping away the sanded dust, I then painted the legs and bottom part of the table in Versailles.

 

Once dry,  I sanded a little again where it would naturally wear, and randomly in other areas to allow the Paloma to show through a little in places.

 

Then I waxed the whole table in clear wax, and added a few random areas of antique wax.

Then rubbed on a little more clear wax where I'd been a bit heavy-handed with the antique wax!
( I used a cloth to apply the wax during this project).

Once the wax was dry, a good rub and polish and voila!
Job done.

 

And hopefully this time that's it.
NO more colour changes.

For a while anyway.

 

At the Flea market last week I found a couple of vintage mohair blankets.

Two for £10, and both such a gorgeous mix of colours I had to be greedy and nabbed both.

 

Both are a good size, large enough to use as sofa blankets on chilly evenings.

 

The late Spring sunshine seemed to bring out the wood anemones overnight.

 

They make a lovely show at the moment out in the front garden, so I took a few photos this morning to share with you.

 

 

 

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments and messages of congratulation to Bella in my last post, for both her 18th Birthday and for passing her test. She's a happy girl!

Hope you are able to enjoy some of this lovely Spring weather.

I have some more garden and flower photos to share soon, and I reckon it must be about time for a little giveaway soon as I notice I am lucky now to have just over 300 followers. So I think a  "thank you" is in order to both my new followers, and to my faithful older followers who've joined me along the way and now feel like old friends. Just need to think up something special!

P.S   Do pop over to The Vintage Sheet Blog and say Hi! to Heather, who has just published a guest post by yours truly!!!

Heather is mad about vintage sheets, and has a inspiring blog full of great ideas for using them, as well as regularly showcasing other blogger's vintage sheet makes. So it was pretty exciting to be asked to do a guest post - hope you enjoy it, and sorry to all my regulars who have probably already seen most of the "makes" here over the past couple of years!