Printers Tray Turned Photo Frame

This past Saturday we went to Lewes and visited a couple of antique markets, and oh my goshness, what an amazing day we had!

If my bag had been big enough I’d have scooped up everything!

Some of the stalls were shockingly priced, obviously catching on to the latest trends, a plain wooden fruit crate, nothing special about it I checked, was £40.00!! Seriously, what the bejinkos is going on?!

Anyhoo, I managed to snap up some wonderful bargains, the first of which I’m sharing today.

An original printers tray was a fab find, I’ve been looking for one for a while and did a happy dance when I got this beauty called, Joyce, that’s the name engraved in the wood.

She was a bit dusty, had a dead woodlice and a few cobwebs, so I gave her a good vacuum.

After this I selected and printed out a few of favourite photos of my boys.

I placed a picture over the tray and using a fleshy coloured pen, traced the lines of the tray.

Using a ruler and craft knife I cut the pictures to fit the individual sections.

I then slotted the pieces of the pictures into their respective sections.

I repeated this process with the other pictures.

I’m going to add some more pictures to the middle, but trying to find pictures that look good in these slots is more difficult than you’d think!!

I’m so pleased with it, it will eventually go on the family room wall, but for now it’s sat on my dresser, what do you think, a good use of the printer’s tray?!


Linking to


Craft o maniac, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Pinkapotamus, Eisy Morgan, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees, Fireflies & Jelybeans, House of Hepworths, Beyond the Picket Fence

Protect your Computers

This weekend some faceless individual hacked into my laptop, and to say I’m pissed off is perhaps the biggest understatement of the year.

I’m so thankful that hubby is such a computer geek, he was able to save everything ( I think) and get rid of whatever it was they had installed on my laptop. 

But for awhile it wasn’t looking good, and the thought of losing everything on my laptop literately had me shedding a few tears, photos and videos of the boys, letters, ideas etc, all could have been lost because of some jerk who most likely does it just because he can!

I do have everything backed up, but still, my laptop is in my home, where I should feel safe and not have to worry about someone invading my personal space.

There are a few things you can do to help protect your computer

1.        Install anti virus software on your computer

2.       Use a firewall

3.       use  spyware protection

4.      Update these programs regularly to keep them up to date

5.      Only go to websites you know or trust

6.      Do not open emails if you do not know the sender

7.       Do not open email attachments if you do not trust the source

8.      Be careful of what you download, do you trust it? If not don’t do it!

9.      Make sure you back up anything you don’t want to lose on to an external hard drive or disc

If you are not already taking these steps, you should start today!

My mum will be so proud!

Omigawd omigawd omigawd!

I’m so excited I could pee my pants, I won’t, but I could, because tomorrow, Saturday, I’m a guest blogger!

The lovely Lee Ann the hostess over at ‘Life of Rylie & Bryce too’ has invited me to post a tutorial (it’s one of my favourites so far) for the Saturday Play date, pop over say hi when you have a mo!

Not sure if I’ll be posting over the weekend, 4 day weekend for hubby, woohoo I get to sleep in, saying that tomorrow I'm hoping to go to my first antiques fair so I maybe back with amazing finds or sulking at finding nothing!


Whatever you get up to, enjoy the long weekend!

Make your own customised ribbon!

Here are 3 quick and super easy ways to make your own customised ribbon! 

Just think how nice it would be to really customise the ribbon to the recipient/ gift / season / occasion and at a fraction of the cost some ribbons cost!

Stamped Ribbon

You will need

Cotton twill tape

Various stamps

Ink pads

Simply stamp the image on to the tape in your chosen colour ink, repeat as necessary!

So many possibilities! 

Heat Embossed Ribbon

You will need

Cotton twill tape

Various stamps

Pigment ink pad

Heat embossing powder

Heat gun

Stamp the image on to the tape, sprinkle over the powder, shake off the excess and return it to the pot, use heat gun to set the powder.

Pro marker Ribbon

You will need

Cotton twill tape

Various stamps

Ink pad

Selection of Pro markers

Stamp the image on to the tape, colour it in using Pro markers.

You could also add some embellishments to jazz them up even more!


Linking to some of these amazing blogs


At the Picket Fence, Thirty Handmade Days

Side by Side

Whether it’s a twin thing or a brother thing, I don’t know, but what I do know, and its something I’m so proud of, my boys have each others back!

This is what we found when we went t check on them, they do have separate cots!

If one is crying the other will try to soothe him,

 if one is naughty the other will tell him off,

if one is ill the other is subdued,

if one is absent the other is lost,

if one is cheeky the other is laughing,

where you find one you will find the other,

love my boys I does!

Seaside Sign

Hubby found this piece of wood, and several others, when he was sorting through the loft the other week.

I’ve had so many different ideas as to what to do with it, but finally settled on something with a typical seaside theme.

Nothing says seaside to me more than this, my nana used to sing this including the “Prom, Prom, Prom! Where the brass bands play: "Tiddely-om-pom-pom!" part, and take my sister and me down to Clacton on Sea for picnics and ice cream, happy days!

I sanded the board down with my nifty palm sander.

And gave it a coat of blue paint, once this was dry, I applied my vinyl letters.

Using a roller I applied a coat of white with a hint of blue paint.

After allowing the paint to dry slightly, I removed the letters.

I wanted to add a little some thing to the board, and decided on bunting, our pier and promenade look wonderful when they are strung with bunting!

I used hot glue to attach blue ric rac to the board.

Using scrap book paper I cut out a bunch of flags, which I attached, in no particular order, with sticky pads. I like the raised affect these give the flags.

Now I have my very own seaside sign, which cost me nothing to make!

Linking to some of these fab blogs


Running With Glitter, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Today's Creative Blog, Reasons to Skip the House work, Blue Cricket Design, Eisy Morgan, Domestically Speaking, My Backyard Eden, Sweetpeas  and Bumblebees, Someday Crafts, House of Hepworths, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Cherished Treasures, Sundae Scoop, Sisters of the Wildwest

Fabric Fondler

Yep, I’m a self diagnosed fabric fondler!

Before you think ‘whoa, this isn’t the kinda blog I wanna be reading’ it’s totally legal and I bet most of you are too!

The other day I was doing laundry, but the fun kind of laundry! Fabric delivery laundry, isn’t it pretty?!

And then I got to iron the fabric, all nice and smooth, this is the only ironing I do! And then, I get to fold them up, all nice and neat.

By either pattern, colour or theme

Sometimes I can be found lurking in the fabric store, walking between the bolts of fabric, wondering how I can convince hubby that I really do need more fabric, or buttons or ribbons. Apparently ‘I just need it’ or ‘but they are so cute / soft / stroke able’ aren’t actually good enough reasons!  Who’d have thought!

So, now you know, I’m a fabric fondler, acceptance is the first step to recovery, the only know cure is buying more fabric, I’m off to the shops!

Bathroom Ladder from Ikea Sofa!

Okay, so I’m going totally against the norm and show you the after picture first!

I’ve wanted one of those fancy smancy ladders for my bathroom for about 6 months or so, but I just couldn’t justify the £70 on a ladder I’d never even climb.

This weekend whilst I was helping hubby smash up and carry an old Ikea sofa down from the loft (by help I mean, shouting ‘pivot, pivot, PIVOT’ in a Ross like manner and grabbing bits of wood I wanted before he destroyed them) I got the idea to use the wood from the sofa to make my ladder!

Hubster cut these pieces out for me, I then had to remove what felt like a 1000 staples, I have 3 blisters on my hand, ugghhh the things we do!

Once I had most of the staples out, 1 or 2 snapped and I just couldn’t get them out, I sanded them all over.

I decided not to bother with wood filler, I wanted a kinda bashed up look to the ladder.

For the rungs I used the bars from an old baby gate! Genius idea, if I do say so!

I used one of those fancy drill bits to make the holes for the rungs to sit in, I’m sure hubby will be along later to post in the comments what its called! I just know its jolly good fun to use.

Once I had attached all the pieces together I had a ladder. I had to work inside as it's been raining all day.

I decided to paint it a ‘rain mist’ colour, neither blue nor white!

I had forgotten to sand the rungs, which prevented the paint from adhering, so I decided to decoupage them instead. I used the same method found here and here.

I wanted to add a little something extra, this little heart seemed perfect, a splash of paint and a blob of hot glue, and it’s done.

Here’s the ladder in the bathroom, I hate those pipes, they will be hidden away soon but for now they stay.

I love this, it cost me absolutely nothing and I completed it whilst the boys were having a nap.

So, what can you make out of an old knackered Ikea sofa?


Linking to some of these fab blogs


Lil' Luna, Someday Crafts, Night Owl Crafting, Eisy Morgan, Momnivore's Dilemma, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond The Picket Fence, Paisley Passions, Fireflies & Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Elle Belle Creative, It's a Keeper, Delightful Order, 30 Handmade Days, Simply Designing, Be Different Act Normal, Homemaker In Heels, Sisters of the Wild West, I Heart Naptime, Think Pink Sundays, Boogie Board Cottage, Craft o Maniac, Keeping it Simple Making the World Cuter