Sunday 13 November 2011

Back to Work

Decided not to finish my holiday blog. Seems like ages ago now and I am back into the swing of things with work and hobbies. Have got lots of projects to tell you about. Finally finished decorating my bedroom. The two bedside cabinets in last blog turned out great, and I bought this chest of drawers to paint, as the other dressing table I bought just didn't have enough drawer space for me. Painted this one in Old White, and left the original handles on as they look really nice. I did add the same wallpaper I used on the tops of the bedside cabinets and this tied all the furniture together really nicely.

Chest of drawers before
I was also thinking of putting an oval mirror on the wall above but then remembered I had bought a swing mirror at a car boot sale for £5 months ago. I fished it out of the shed and painted it to match and it looks perfect
Chest of drawers after with added mirror
I left most of my room white but painted feature walls in a nice Homebase colour "Chartreuse". Russell bought me all the furniture  and bedding for my Christmas, and I love it!!  The framed pictures above the bed are photos from our holiday I had enlarged, mounted in £15 IKEA ribba frames. Also sold my old bedside cabinets from IKEA on ebay for £25!

Finished bedroom :-)
I had also been renovating a really nice Waring & Gillow dressing table, but wen I took it apart to paint it one of the clips on the swing mirror snapped. Luckily I have a very clever Father in Law, who repaired the piece for me. Listed it on ebay and Folksy yesterday afternoon and sold it the same day. Nice local gentleman came and picked it up this morning, and was very happy with it. Sold for £95. I will have to decide which piece of furniture to tackle next. I have a big sideboard, and also a really nice welsh dresser in the shed.
Waring & Gillow Dressing Table


Relisted a lot of jewellery on my Etsy site and have had 2 sales this weekend too. Sold a FLASH and a SUPERMAN necklace, so will gift wrap and package them up today for posting tomorrow. One is going to San Diego.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/redkittencrafts

Going to try and keep my blog up to date weekly now, things kind of slipped when I got back from holiday in September. Will let you know next week which piece of furniture I decided to renovate next!

Sunday 30 October 2011

OMG WHAT A TRIP!!! Part 1. San Francisco to LA

Well, back from our holiday, and what a holiday!!  
 San Francisco from the air

We have been home for 4 days now and are just getting over the jetlag, we were totally wiped all weekend and have been like zombies last 2 days at work. But it was all worth it :-)

Arrived in San Francisco on 1st Sept, stayed 3 nights at the Vertigo Hotel in Sutter St. Fresh modern boutique hotel, with an Alfred Hitchcock theme.


Lori's Diner, SF
 Did all the popular tourist stuff - boat trip under Golden Gate bridge and round Alcatraz Island, cable car ride down to Fishermans Wharf, Clam Chowder for lunch and shopping at Pier 39 and Union Square. We also visited an amazing museum called Musee Mechanique down at the pier, full of old working arcade machines. It was brilliant fun! Had 2 meals in Lori's Diner near Union Square, breakfasts and burgers were amazing. Great atmosphere too!



Picked up our  rental car on Sunday and decided to drive across Golden Gate bridge and back before heading south down Highway 1 to Santa Cruz for our 4th night at the Inn at Pasatiempo. Santa Cruz was so busy as it was Labor Day holiday weekend, had a nice walk along the front but it was spoiled a bit by the business.

The Inn at Pasatiempo


Next day was fantastic! Carried on down Highway 1 to the 17 mile drive ( 17-Mile Drive is widely recognized as one of the most scenic drives in the world. The famous coastal landmark runs through Pacific Grove to Pebble Beach, from the dramatic Pacific coastline to the majestic Del Monte Forest). took some stunning photos and ended up at Pebble Beach Golf Club where we had a delicious lunch in the sunshine on the terrace.

Next, we drove down to Morro Bay. we stayed 1 night at the Beach Bungalow Inn and Suites, a gem of a hotel with modern well equipped rooms, and even a working log fireplace, which we turned on as it was quite chilly in the morning. We had a light dinner down at the waterfront after watching the stunning sunset! next morning we were given a voucher for a free breakfast at a local diner down at the harbour (within walking distance). very traditional American called Frankie & Lola's and they made fantastic corned beef hash. It was pretty cool weatherwise when we headed south again to LA, but by the time we arrived at our hotel in Hollywood (The Dixie Hollywood) it was SO HOT

 More to follow. Too much for one blog!!

Still doing the furniture too, just finished and sold a beautiful dressing table. I am currently redecorating my own bedroon in shaby chic style. Picked up 2 bedside cabinets at car boot sale for £3 each!! I painted them in Annie Slaon old white and put some coordinating wallpaper on the top, which I am also going to use on a 6 drawer chest I am currently working on. 


Sunday 21 August 2011

California Road Trip

Haven't been on to update my blog for a few weeks - weekends have been very busy with Birthdays, family down to stay etc

Also havent managed to get a lot of craft work done, although I have painted up a lovely picture frame as a wedding gift for a friend at work, and managed to list a couple more things on Unique Chic. To be honest, I am just so superexcited about our holiday!!  Only 10 days till we leave, so I thought I would show you some pics of places we will be visiting :-)

We fly with Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow on 1st September and land in San Francisco around 4pm the same day. We are staying 3 nights at the Vertigo Hotel then pick up our hire car on the Sunday. We plan to drive across Golden Gate bridge before we start our journey down Highway 1 towards LA. We have two overnight stops on route, one in Santa Cruz and the second in Morro Bay and then 3 nights in Hollywood, where we have front of line passes for Universal Studios. Would also like to drive round Beverley Hills to see how the other half live. We then have 2 nights in Lawndale, nearer the coast to visit the beaches, then a 4 hour drive to Vegas to stay 4 nights in the Tropicana Hotel on the Strip!
Here are the pics of places we will be visiting!!







As soon as I get back I will update the blog with all the news and photos from the trip !!

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Exciting weekend ahead!!

Sorry about not posting last weekend, but I was so busy!!

Went to Manchester on Saturday morning to see Batman Live at the MEN Arena. I was really just chumming Russell and didn't think I would enjoy it so much! It has been getting rave reviews and certainly lives up to them. We had a great times, had really good seats too!

Tried the Metro park and ride this time and it was much better than having to park in the town centre. Cost £4 return for the tram and it took us right to the entrance of the Arena.
Had a look round some shops in the afternoon but I have never been impressed with Manchester, 
much prefer Derby (Westfield Centre) shops. 
Stayed in on Saturday to start cleaning and tidying for my sister coming to stay next weekend, but it was so hot I didn't get a lot done. Did pop out in the afternoon to pick up a welsh dresser (pic below) that I won on eBay, and while I was at the sellers house also bought a table and a dressing table :-)  so I now have 7 items packed into the shed waiting to be transformed!!
Really excited about my sis coming to stay, first time since we moved down here nearly 3yrs ago. Planning to take her round a few pottery factory shops and possibly Dagfields, and of course....
Buffet Island.....love that place, but not great for my diet :-(

So it will be a couple of weeks before I get any more furniture up for sale, but I did finish off a nice plant stand, that I gave a couple of coats of Old White then stencilled with ivy leaves ;-)

Only about 5 weeks till we fly off to California for our road trip, so excited. Ending our  trip with 4 nights in Vegas staying at the newly refurbished Tropicana Hotel !!  Woo hoo!

and Russell has bought me tickets for my Birthday to go and see Cirque de Soliel Show "O" in Vegas, supposed to be the best show on the Strip!!!! Can you  tell that I am excited !!!





Sunday 17 July 2011

3 days off!!

Decided to take some time off work for a break as it is a long time to wait till my big holiday in September. Decided to make it a long weekend and took Thurs, Fri and Monday off this weekend. Been busy though  -   Tidied up all my paints and brushes and took them all out to my new work shed :-). I have all my furniture out there now and the house doesnt look so much like a furniture store any more....which is nice! Got the bureau finished...hooray! Turned out really well too so it was worth persevering with the paper on the work area.


 See the finished bureau listing on "Unique Chic" shop on Folksy


Spent most of Friday out in the garden photographing jewellery for my new Folksy jewellery shop

http://www.folksy.com/shops/RedKittenCrafts


Managed to get most things listed same day, and plan to make some new things too so will get them on asap. Tried to keep my P&P charges as low as possible too to encourage more buyers ;-)

Saturday, we headed up to IKEA, thought we might pick up a few bargains as the sale ends Sunday, but not a lot left. Had a nice coffee, and bought some storage stuff, light bulbs, etc. Just been on the website and saw this -
Maybe that's why there weren't so many bargains, but it was the busiest I have ever seen it in Warrington. Screaming, bored kids everywhere!! was glad to get home at tea time and order in chinese for dinner (all pointed on Weight Watchers!). Lost another 2.5lbs last week making a total of 5.5 :-)


Watched a good Australian horror film last night too - The Tunnel - "An investigation into a government cover-up leads to a network of abandoned train tunnels deep beneath the heart of Sydney. As a journalist and her crew hunt for the story it quickly becomes clear the story is hunting them". Very creepy, edge of your seat movie. 


 Planning to watch another tonight - Gacy House - "A group of paranormal investigators enter the abandoned home of pedophile and serial killer John Gacy, hoping to find evidence of paranormal activity. Upon entering the house they set-up cameras throughout the abandoned house while going room to room with hand-held cameras, performing séances and asking for John Gacy to come forward. As the evening progresses it seems the investigators are not prepared for the horror still within the house.
Right, nearly 9pm (movie time), going to go look out some popcorn!  I'm headed to Manchester Arena next Saturday morning to see Batman Live! Starts at 11am so will hopefully get a chance to head to the shops after (my reward for driving us up, and chumming Russell ;-) )

Have a good week!!

Sunday 10 July 2011

Bureau de Change

Sorry for not posting last Sunday but I pinched a nerve in my shoulder first thing and was on painkillers all day. Needless to say I didn't get much work done, but I did go to the boot sale and found a garden table and chairs set that will look great painted up.

This has been a good weekend for getting on with things. Another good car boot sale this morning and got a lovely dressing table mirror that I plan to shabby chic and keep for myself. I am also on the look out for a narrow chest of drawers to sit it on, and will paint it all in Old White and lightly distress.

The shop in Cornwall paid me this week for their first jewellery order, so that was nice. I was beginning to worry that it was a con to get free samples. I have supplied 8 items in the first order so will wait and see now if they come back to me for any more.

Had loads of people coming this weekend to pick up all the stuff we sold on ebay from the shed clear out. We sold everything but sadly a few items sold for next to nothing and once ebay take their fees there won't be much left. Never mind, I now have a big empty shed to store all my furniture and equipment so really happy.

I went a bit mad buying teddy bears today at the boot sale. I though they would look really cute to dress up furniture I'm selling. I have noticed on ebay that the items that are well dressed and photographed go for a lot more, so well worth a try. Didn't spend more that £2 for ALL of them, and I had to stop myself buying more!!
Also bought a Royal Winton large jug and bowl "Country Diary" range. Will either just sell it on eBay or it would look good on a dresser.


Had a bit of a disaster today with the bureau. I painted it all and started waxing it yesterday and today I was going to glue the nice Paperchase paper onto the work area, however, it didn't work as I expected it to. The paper stretched, bubbled and creased, and in the end I had to scrape it all off and then sand the area back to the wood. I suppose this is how you learn if techniques are going to work, and I will not try this again, I will use wallpaper which is more suited. I did happen to have some nice shabby chic rose design paper that matched the green very well, so I have now used this and varnished over.



 
I finished off the photo frame I was working on, and also a pair of candlesticks I bought last weekend.



 
Having a 3 day week this week at work and having Thurs, Fri and next Monday off, so hoping to get loads done, and maybe start making some new jewellery and get my new Folksy shop "RedKittenCrafts"stocked up. Just never enough time at the weekend. I would also love to get my sewing machine out and make some little cushions and little shabby chic hanging hearts, I have loads of ideas for them and have ordered some material on ebay today.

Right, better go and get the dinner on, I put on a pound last week at Weight Watchers and I was so upset. I have been keeping to it rigidly this week so I should be ok. Less than 8 weeks now till California so will keep going till then and will not feel as guilty when I pig out on my hols!!

 Have a great week!