having a catch up

For those of you who didn't follow the pictures on Instagram here are some pics of the daffs I planted in china teacups here now they are in full bloom.  I am classicmini66 on Instagram if you want to see a day by day progression.

Update no 2 - do you remember the rag rug wrote about here that I was going to start?  I did a test patch and was really not enthused by the process so the carefully collected bag of T shirts has been donated to Hubby for use in the garage and I will be listing the kit on e-bay where hopefully it will get some use. This is the first page to be deleted from my little notebook, I have a nagging voice in the back of my head that thinks that the WIP pile could turn into a "too be e-bayed" pile!

Have you made any progress with your WIP projects since the beginning of the year  or are they destined for e-bay too?

... paper play with autumn leaves

The weather here has taken a distinctly autumnal turn, cardigans have been in daily use and the big debate about is it cold enough to put the heating on has begun ( we have resisted so far).  My Pinterest feed has been popping up with images showing that I am not the only one to have noticed the change in the season and my Leaf me alone board has been getting regular pins fed into it.

Autumnal dispaly

I enjoyed my  adventures with recycled paper play and still have plenty of pages of the book left along with some brown paper that had been on a parcel delivered earlier in the week so I decided it was time for a new mobile.

paper leaf mobile

I toyed with creating different textures by screwing the paper up or by folding it in half to give it a sharp line.  The leaf shapes are a combination of free hand cutting and drawing round some small cookie cutters that I had, it has resulted in a variety of shapes and textures that I am very happy with.  I love the shadows that are cast, it gives the whole thing another dimension.

Brown paper leaves

Once the mobile was up I had to carry on and dress the rest of the mantle, my vintage Sylvac pottery is perfect for an Autumnal display.

Sylvac Squirrel

Sylvac mouse

Sylvac deer

I jumped on the idea of using some of my vintage button cards to complete the display, this is in the room where I do my sewing so I can look up and  see these little lovelies while I am working. It seemed to be lacking a little punch of colour and I hit on the idea of using some of my sewing threads which seem to do the trick.

The old mobile has now been consigned to the log burner to have one final useful role in helping to start the fire.  Who says recycling can't be fun.

How are you marking the change in the season or are you hanging on to Summer a little longer?

...recycled paper play

When we returned from holiday I brought back a book from the apartments we were staying at as I hadn't finished reading it, I left behind two that I had brought with me so I felt that it was fair.  This was no extraordinary book it was Wicked by Jilly Cooper, but I do feel committed once I start reading something to make it all the way through to the end.  However, there was something special about this particular edition to me, I knew I was the last person who was going to read it. towards the beginning of the book two pages had become dislodged from the spine and while I was on the beach the wind blew and took them away.

As I approached the end of the book I thought oh I'll just drop it in the recycling bin, but then I thought why not have a bit of fun, so I created a page in my Pinterest account called paper play and put up a few ideas.   My criteria was it had to be quick and simple to make, didn't require me to buy anything else and something  I could accommodate into my home easily and here are the results


WARNING - Jilly Cooper novels are quite saucey, I have viewed the photos and don't think there is anything offensive in there, please let me know if you spot anything and I will remove the  photo.


A floating hearts mobile

Decorated gift tags or confetti

Decorative envelope bunting

They were all fun to do and quick to execute, I have hardly made a dent in the book so I will keep it for a short time and try a few more activities.  I think the envelopes are my favorite and have definitely potential to be made into an advent calendar.  I think I would choose a book who's material was more in keeping with the project, then you could highlight key words or sentences.

 Which is your favorite?  have you re-purposed any old books? can you suggest any other projects for the remaining pages?