Why buy new?

I love a great thrift find, as you may have gathered by now. Seriously why bother buying new flat pack for three times the price when you can get something previously loved? To me its a no brainer.  What is more enjoyable; rummaging around a thrift store finding a bargain, thinking how you can make it your own when you get it home or fighting your way round Ikea?  As someone who fought their way round Ikea on Sunday (BTW got a lovely new bathroom sink!) I know which I prefer.
So this chest of drawers is now part of our family.  It was 50 bucks from our local thrift store.  All she required was a new draw knob from Home Depot, a wash down and buff up with beeswax and orange oil.  Isn't she pretty? 

It is beautifully made with so many great features.

Gentle bowed front

Warm patina

dovetailed joints

Simple claw feet

I can't decide what the wood veneer is (it has been stained and is a beautiful dark walnut colour on the inside) or the age. Any suggestions?

Strawberry jam

2lb's of strawberries for $1.99, crazy!  That means only one thing to me, jam.

Strawberry Jam

4lbs of strawberries, better slightly under than over ripe

3lbs sugar

juice of 2 lemons

6 jam jars

6 disc's of greaseproof paper

I like to wipe the strawberries clean (mainly because Delia says so, water can dilute pectin apparently) and cut to desired size.  If they are small enough I like to leave them whole however these were hand sized brutes so required some chopping.  Some people like to mash them...Your call.  Put a small plate in the freezer which you will need later.  Put the clean jam jars in a low oven to warm.

Put strawberries and sugar in to a large heavy bottomed pan, all the better if you have a proper preserving one (I don't), and heat gently.  Once the sugar has dissolved add the lemon juice and wack up the heat to bring the mixture to the boil.

Do not be concerned about the scum.  Some recipes say to skim it off at the end, I don't bother. A lot of it dissipates by the time you get to putting it in the jars.  Now the next stage requires patience and stirring.  You need to stay by the pan (once you've had jam boil over you won't leave it again!) and keep stirring to prevent it catching on the bottom and burning.  It takes about 25-35mins for it to reach setting point and to get to a temperature between 209-220F.   Mine took a little longer than 35 minutes and was up to 220F. I would like to say I can look at it and tell when its ready, or judge by the consistency but I can't.  This is where the plate in the freezer comes in.  Put a blob on the plate and if it wrinkles up when you push it (after its cooled) its ready.  Strawberry jam can be a soft set, so in this instance the 'wrinkles' were very slight on the surface of the jam.    

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in a knob of butter, this helps get rid of the scum.  Leave the jam to cool for about 15 minutes before decanting into the clean, warmed jars.  I use a jam funnel and ladle for this process.

A few hours later make yourself a piece of toast and sample the fruit of your labour!

Octonauts Party

I'd like to use the excuse that its taken a month to recover from the birthday parties - but that's not strictly true.....Although there is no denying a full on kiddie party is hard work!  It was  all worth it, to see my eldest squeal with delight to have her friends at HER party.  It was Octonauts themed as requested, most ideas stolen used from Pinterest.  
I hung blue streamers from the archway to create an entrance way into the underwater world.  As kids arrived they went straight to a craft activity, making either jelly fish (from paper bowls, streamers & googly eyes) or fish from paper plates. I would recommend having an activity to hand as people always arrive in dribs and drabs.  

They then played 'Pin the patch on Kwazii', unfortunately we forgot to take a picture of this. I order the poster from Etsy and Mr Maker printed off a super sized version at work.  
Speaking of Mr Maker, his mornings preparation for the party was the map for the treasure hunt. And what a creation that was! (one would hope so as it took him 1 1/2 hrs to draw, yup, really).  The treasure hunt was a great success, and took longer than anticipated which was a bonus.  He put the kids in teams for 2 or 3 and gave them an empty party bag each.  The hunt started when each team was given a picture clue. At this location (e.g. inside washing machine, BBQ etc) they found their beautiful map which was marked with red X's - the treasure bags.  The treasure bags were marked with a letter and contained 'goodies' which they all took, one of from each location.   After visiting every treasure bag they unscrambled the letters to make the word, and win the treasure hunt!
Anyway, enough games onto the food....

The table

Menu

Cheese straws

fish sandwiches

Goldfish (obs!)

carrots & toms + dip

hot dog squid

strawberries

clam & pearl biscuits/cookies

Captain Barnacles cake

fish sandwiches on seaweed

Octopus dip

squid

Pearl clams

My personal favourite are the clams, aren't they cute?!! I bought the biscuits (cookies) and made some butter icing which I coloured pink.  The pearl is a yoghurt covered raisin and the eyes are dots of black icing. 

Captain Barnacles cake

And here is the man bear himself.  Phew, glad the parties are all over for another year! Happy 5th year to a gorgeous girl xxx

April - the birthday month

If you like cake April is a good month to visit our house.  Three birthdays in one month = back to back cake eating.  The gorging is usually sufficient enough that I can't bring myself to look at a cake until at least June, let alone think about making one.  It's the off cuts that pull me in...
In case you didn't know, both daughter's are completely Octonauts OBSESSED at the moment so it kinda made it easy on the cake design.  Connie's Octonaut of choice is Peso.

Pretty good hey?!! I was really pleased with my first foray into fondant icing.  The whole process took took longer than I thought - with cutting out his shape, a first ice of butter icing, then the rolling and laying of the fondant and of course the gentle coaxing of said icing into the creases and corners.  I made the hat and collar from blue sugar paper and the feet from a tube of yellow icing.

Birthday girl

  The next birthday cake was Mr. Maker's 5 days later. Fortunately no requests had been put in for sea creatures or other animals.  As a parent, you soon realise that you are way down at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to birthday's (isn't that right Will?!), hence no photographic evidence. His was a banana and chocolate chip loaf, yummy all the same.  


I have also had my in-laws visiting this month who kindly carried out (along with my precious Earl Grey tea bags) a Clothkits parcel.  I grew up with Clothkits as they are based in Lewes, Sussex where my cousins live.  For those of you not born in the UK in the 70's to middle class parents, Clothkits print their patterns onto the fabric for you to make into clothes and in my case, dolls.

The kit arrives will all you need to make up Kitty (you can even order with the stuffing), including easy to follow instructions. The doll didn't take long, the dress longer.  Bias binding on a tiny neck is very fiddly!  

A birthday gift made this month for it's recipient in a few months time.


Finally we come to my eldest daughter's birthday this weekend.  The invitations have been sent out, RSVP's received, games formulated and food shopping done. The effort gone into it deserves (and will have) its own blog post, so come back soon! 

One down....Nine to go

The duck is broken, or in other words I have finally finished decorating the guest bedroom.  I decided to do the guest room first for a number of reasons; it had the least amount of furniture in it (therefore less shifting around), it was a neutral colour to start with (minimal coats of paint required) & my lovely friend and her baby were coming to visit. I like need a deadline to work towards!  I got the walls painted before J & P arrived then had a break for a couple of weeks whilst they were here, & finally finished off this week.

Before

It has turned out quite 'pretty', which isn't necessarily my taste, however I wanted the decor to have universal appeal.  But I am loving the thrifted elements.

After

I think I love the bedside tables the best! Recognise the the vintage soda crates?  Two sandwiched together make a perfect side table.  They could do with a piece of glass cut to size for the top, at the moment old InStyle magazines are doing the job.  The  bedside lamps were $16 for both of them from my local ReStore, what a bargain!

Also another thrifted find was the embroidery hoops, $6 bucks for the three.  The girls and I loved going through my fabric stash to find the right fabric to go in them.  I like the thought that I can change the fabric when the mood takes me.  The idea is all over Pinterest (what idea isn't?!).

Other elements of the room - pictures are prints from the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, chair from my mother in law (I think!), bedlinen & cushions from Ikea.  I am on the hunt for a picture to go above the bed...

Padded Pelmet

To set the record straight, I am not really a padded pelmet sort of a person.  However it seemed to be a good fix as a window dressing in our guest bedroom.  There is a functional, good quality wooden blind on the window left by the previous owner so it seemed crazy to get rid of that and spend a heap of money/time making something else. Enter the padded pelmet! There are loads of  "how to's" out there which I used for guidance, I found Jenny's at the Little Green Notebook the most helpful.  I want to show you how I made mine as it is slightly different, and I think a better method (sorry Jenny!).


Materials required

• foam core board
• wooden batting - I used 1"x1" and got the helpful chap at Home Depot to cut it to the desired length
• gaffer tape (love a project that uses gaffer tape)
• fabric 
• quilters batting
• x4 L shaped brackets
• Drill
• Stanley knife

First off you need to decided on the dimensions of your pelmet, it depends on the window size.  Mine is 7 inches tall & 5 inches deep (ie. the sides are 5"x7"). As I said I got the wood cut to size at Home Depot so then just had to cut the foam board to size. If you have ever used this stuff before you will know what a pain it is to cut.  I found the best method is three strikes for each cut, if you see what I mean.  First cut goes through outer layer, second middle foam layer & last cut through the bottom board. Once you have cut your pieces gaffer tape the thing together.  

I then attached the wooden batting using the staple gun and gaffer tape (for luck).  Attach 2 of the L shaped brackets in the corners and add on your side panels.

Now move in from the garage! Once you have cut the fabric and batting to size (don't worry if their is a join in the batting, it won't notice, but I would try to use a continuous piece of fabric) lay them out together on the floor.  Start by stapling the fabric & batting to the inside edge of the wooden rod.  I started in the middle of the pelmet and worked towards the corners.  When you get to the corners fold it round like wrapping a present. I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit of a bodge!

Along the bottom I double folded the fabric to give a neat edge and also enough bulk so the staples wouldn't show through on the front of the pelmet.

Attaching it to the wall required a little more thought, and the services of Mr Maker.  Essentially we attached the other L shaped brackets to the wood & then into the wall.

What do you think? I might just be converted to the way of the padded pelmet!

Thrifting

So it is now a post a month; all I can say is I'm not proud of my lack of commitment but I will try harder!  Thank you Kate for the gentle nudge to get me going again.  Needless to say I have not been resting on my laurels this past month.  I have decorated the guest bedroom & painted the spare bed.  When I have finished the last few snags on the list I will give you the grand reveal.


Visiting the thrift store(s) has been a constant over the past months, despite moving house and having visitors so I thought I would share some of my finds with you.  Moving house has given my thrifting a renewed focus & energy.  Thrifting is big here in the USA.   I am curious of others thrifting habits - How often do you frequent your local thrift store?  How far do you travel to solely visit a thrift store?  Do you ever haggle on price? Go on, share you secrets with me!

This old glass lampshades were $4 for the 3 of them from our local ReStore.  I am hoping Mr Maker will be able to make them into something like these ones I've seen at Terrain & cb2, for a fraction of the price of course!

firefly pendant lamp - CB2

Mason jar pendant - Terrain

My best score was this mid century modern side table, only 10 bucks from Goodwill.  It is a bit of an odd size - too big for a side table, too small for a coffee table. As you can see from the pictures it has a few scratches but I think I can get those out, and if I don't find a home for it I can always sell it on for a profit. Kerching! 

I like to have one (or maybe several) constants when thrifting; something I always keep an eye out for even when I am on the hunt for a specific piece. At the moment that constant is plates or trays.  I want to decorate one of the kitchen walls with plates, as I've seen on Pinterest.

apartmenttherapy.com. Lisa & Clay's home

The collection has started with a kitsch tin tray from 1971, actually made in the UK ($3 Goodwill) and a bold flower motif plate/tray which was expensive at $15.  A great start to the collection though.

I hope you like my purchases. Not 'makes' I know but they will be made part of our lovely new home, ahhh!