With the month of love looming I wanted to create some fun elements using the Lady Pattern Paper papers. What better way to surprise some friends than to shoot them with an arrow filled with love and friendship? Even the kids can join in on this fun activity, making their own friendship arrows.

Hello and welcome to today’s blog post. I finally got around to painting some more furniture with the new POP Paint range. Well I have painted quite a lot of things but finally got around to taking the photos. And let me tell you how excited I am about it all. I painted this little treasure given to me by a special friend after she replaced it with another unit that I incidentally also painted for her.

I painted this table using a combination of Urban and Meringue paint combined together and mixed really well to form a light grey.
The great thing about the POP paint is that you can mixed dark and light colours together to for lighter shades.

So start off by mixing 1 part of the dark colour to 5 parts of the light colour.

 Mix it really well using a spatula or spoon. Add some more of the light colour until you are happy with the look.

 Paint the inside and outside of your furniture peace.
TIP: Paint a single layer and let the paint dry. Then paint another layer for a good coverage.
Avoid painting over already painted areas when they are wet as the paint will clump and become a mess.

 Once dry sand and distress the edges of the painted piece as much as you like.

 Wipe the sanded piece down and then add a coating of clear furniture wax to seal the paint and protect it from further distressing.

 I first painted the table in a layer of white before painting the grey on the outside.
Once distressed the white peaks pout from under the grey.

 I love how this unit turned out with its pretty distressed edges and beautiful curvy legs.

 I can’t wait to share some more painted home decor items with you using the beaufiul POP paint colours. Visit the website to shop your favourite paint colours.
[oh and look…if you look carefully there’s that flat spider in the bottom right hand corner]…where’s the doom.
Happy painting until next time!

This has been an unusually long absence from the blog for me - my apologies if you have been hanging out! Life has been busy and quiet at the same time and still recovering from the blows that 2015 dealt. But just wanted to pop in and say Happy 2016! May it be an amazing one. I will be back soon!

With LOVE and appreciation for the love and support! Without blog readers and followers - blogs are just meaningless words hanging out in space!
Here's to an absolutely amazing God filled new year!

Today I am sharing another double page layout I did for the November issue of Create magazine. The sketch was given to us as a single page sketch to work with, and I turned mine into a double page.
I used my much loved Lady Pattern Paper scraps along with some other paper scraps to complete the portion on the left. I pretty stuck to the sketch portion but changed it up a bit as I stretched it into a double page.

I love how the Lady Pattern Paper works perfectly with other paper ranges - effortlessly.

Down the middle of the photos on the right side of my layout I used a Celebr8 stencil and added some light stenciling and stamping on my background. A beautiful heart sticker all the way from Israel adorns the page - thanks Cecile! The stars scattered across the layout is from a frame pack by the talented Melody Ross/Chatterbox fame, and the flowers from my favourite The Wholesaler.Little Birdie, who makes loving flowers so easy!

Embellishments include tags, buttons, brads, diamante and metals.

 And don't forget the much loved sewing to add some lovely texture and pattern.

Over on The Wholesaler blog you can read all about my Christmas Exploding box - perfect to impress those crafting skeptics and make a statement. This truly is a magnificent piece that cause everyone to ooh and ahhh. So go on and give it a go...

 Making gift boxes has become a rather important and easy thing to do – so if you are a crafter then you really have no excuse, other than to have a fabulous gift box for treats and small gifts alike.

Years ago when I first made my first exploding gift box I turned it into a mini album rather than a box. I was pretty impressed with it and it had huge impact on everyone that viewed it. But nowadays I am much more of a simpler kind of crafter. So instead of making it complicated like we do, I made the same box using a festive theme.

I will use the box for a small gift or chocolaty treats instead and afterwards the recipient can recycle it and turn it into gift tags by simply cutting it apart, punching a small hole and adding some ribbon. This way no one will be stuck with something that can’t be used, gathering dust and adding clutter to their lives. A gift within a gift I say.