Gesso mirror and snow...

We've had quite a dumping of snow here in Hertfordshire and my daughter had the day off school today as a result. Blogland is full of stunning snow pictures. Until now.

Sorry. It didn't stop snowing at all yesterday which made for very grey pictures. And I took two pictures and then the camera battery died.

Husband and daughter taking the car boot sale vintage sledge for a spin. It gives a very smooth ride and is infinitely better than our red plastic version. Vintage is best! But we knew that already didn't we?

 

Our snowman with weird orange eyes. Usually I get all competitive with our snowmen and have to do the biggest and best in the street. (Which isn't hard as we live in an area populated by the elderly!) But I just wasn't feeling it yesterday and building him was a chore. Look he's not even got a scarf! Shoddy.

So, onto indoor pursuits which are much more me!

The brass mirror? I always meant to paint it. I probably would have used spray paint at some point but I decided to try the gesso treatment.

Before

I used a lot less gesso this time...

 

After. Yes the glass is still broken! Er, and could do with a clean!

I'm liking it. It looks more expensive I think. I used dark wax over the gesso again as the chalky white finish does nothing for me.
I realise I have broken my new years resolution. Poor photography and styling in this post. I should have fixed the glass but I didn't fancy the half hour walk to the glass place in the snow.

Snow just ruins everything.

Let me just show you what I found in a charity shop this week...

Crazy high heeled wellies! Just need this treacherous snow to be replaced by some rain so I can take them for a test drive without breaking my neck.

Hope you are warm and cosy wherever you are!

Painting with gesso...

I first used gesso around 15 years ago to try and restore an old frame. It was something I had to mix from rabbit skin glue and chalk if I remember rightly. The frame turned out quite rubbish anyhow and I never went down that road again!

More recently I have stumbled accross the wonderful work of Rosemary at Villabarnes and been intrigued to see that she paints with gesso, which is now thankfully readymade and acrylic. (Perhaps it was back then but I was shopping in the wrong place!)

Rosemarys work

Rosemarys work

It seems to work well on heavily textured or carved items. She doesn't just use it on frames though. She used it on this bedside table...

Rosemarys work

And even on fabric flowers!

Rosemarys work

Isn't that beautiful?
I was so taken with this look that I had to have a go.
On my wall I had this old picture...

  I pulled it all apart and painted the frame with grey emulsion...

Then I painted it in white acrylic gesso (it also comes in grey and black.)

 

£3.99 from the art shop

I was painting it on and wiping it off so it settles in the dips but wipes off the high bits. I did 3 coats. This was too much! It just looked very white when it dried. I took a sanding sponge to it and it wasn't easy to sand back but I got a bit of the original colour and the gold showing through. I thought I'd ruined it to be honest so I didn't get a picture of this stage. The whiteness was annoying me! I missed the original finish so I thought I'd stipple on dark wax to bring back some depth.

The whole thing came back to life and I love it!

What do you think? I know mine turned out nothing like Rosemarys! I like it, but I liked it before too. I'm going to play around some more with gesso! Next time I'll have to paint it on something I'm not so keen on.

If you pop over to Villabarnes there are lots of tutorials with gesso and you can see Rosemarys lovely work.

Next up for the gesso treatment?

 

This vintage brass mirror my husband dropped. Good job we're not superstitious! His only bad luck is that he has to replace the glass for me! 

Big thank you to Rosemary for allowing me to use her photos! 

Sorry, crates AGAIN and a winner...

Sometimes when I've given something a makeover, it's still not entirely done. My painted crate being one of those things! It was looking very dark in the pale living room...

I've given both crates (well, crate and drawer) a wash of emulsion, very watered down and wiped off and I like them much better now. They look a bit more muted and driftwoody and suit the living room better.

I had to re-do the lettering on the Hitchin Lavender one as it got lost under the wash of pale paint.

 For the drawer I decided upon the logo from Bettys, Yorks finest tea rooms.

York is where I was born and grew up and Bettys is a must visit tea room in the City centre. They queue up outside to get in, it's that good!

Here's the famous Fat Rascal

I've never had one as I'm not a cakey sort of person but I had the most delicious Eggs Benedict of my life in here!

 

This is not a sponsored post! I'm just saying if you're in York, you've got to go! 

So here's the crate, er, drawer...

Just need two matching plants now...

 

I took a sanding sponge to the lettering of the Hitchin one and I think it looks better. I'll do it to the new one when it's dry. 

I'll try not to do any more crate posts for a bit ok? Obsessive? Moi?

Without further ado, the winner of the giveaway is... (drumroll...)

... MARILYN! Woo hoo!
Marilyn please could you email me your full name, address and postcode and I will pop them in the post to you!

Linking with Me and my shadow; Magpie Monday

and Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

and PJH designs




 


and Knick of Time Tuesday

 

Recent finds...

With plummeting temperatures and the threat of snow I fear I may not make it to my car boot sale on Sun. I know! Heartbreaking!

I've done quite well recently though, so let me show you my finds.
Remember this?

Well, I found a new home for it on the mantelpiece. It looked lovely but lacked a bit of symmetry.
At the car boot sale in York last week, look what I found...

I thought it was another crate so I bought  it for £2. When I got home and looked properly I realised it's not a crate at all, but a drawer!

 The top edge is much thicker as this is the drawer front.

The knob has been cut off leaving the screw embedded. The front is a painted finish and you can see where a label once sat.

The shape of the missing label makes me wonder if it's a drawer from an old apothecary chest...

But don't they make a sweet pair? The newer one is looking dark as I treated it for woodworm and it will be a while before it dries out as the woodworm treatment is oily.

I'm a little tempted to lighten both of them up with a wash of paint. And I've worked out what I'm going to paint on the front but I'll save that for another time. I thought they'd look more authentic if they had different logos on them, rather than doing the lavender one again.

This weeks flea market was a goodie! I bought this fabulous metal crate!
(I say fabulous, but I got some funny looks walking round town with it! Possibly because it was COVERED in congealed cobwebs and vegetation! I pulled off the big lumps before I dared take it into work with me at the charity shop, then washed it with the shower head in the bath which blocked the plughole THREE times it was so grim!)

I'm thinking bathroom shelving? We have the skankiest, most dysfunctional bathroom  I've ever seen but we are hoping to rectify the situation this year.

My husband never even batted an eyelid at it's appearance in our home. I thought I might have to try and convince him of how great it is. He likes the painted crate so maybe this isn't too far for his imagination to stretch!

And speaking of eyelids... Bad Bobby is in the doghouse having woken me at FIVE a.m. by pressing his cold wet nose into my sleeping eyelid to say, ''Isn't it breakfast mummy?'' Then purring at top volume right by my ear so I can't go back to sleep. He really is a naughty boy. If I tell him off and push him away he will go straight into my six year olds room and wake her up. He knows damn well that if she's up, we're all up!
Bad Bobby is the more conventional looking cat below...

I don't know what to say about Fat Freddy. He's angelic but a bit weird...

My handsome boy.

So it's an early night for me tonight!

Linking with Funky junk Interiors SNS

Giveaway time!

A few weeks ago I hit 10000 page views and I decided to have a giveaway to celebrate. But it was Christmas so I thought it best to wait a while. The time has come my friends!

I'm new to blogging so I was pretty perplexed as to what to give away. It's like a blog swap thingy except you have no idea what your partner likes.

So I figured I would tailor my giveaway to the sorts of people whose blogs I read and follow and who are kind enough to comment on my posts. I suppose the people who don't comment but just read, are just like them too.

So, without further ado, my prizes are as follows!

For the painter girlies, one of my favourite painting books. I love this book so much that I borrowed it from the library and never took it back, which is not theft by the way, because I had to pay for it! But it wasn't even available on amazon at the time. When I came across another one recently I snapped it up. It is in very good used condition and let me show you why it's so good.

It has lots of different styles of folk art painting for furniture and takes you step by step through each project. Imagine you love this painted dower chest...

...well, it gives you the line drawing so you can trace it onto your furniture...

and leads you by the hand through the painting too...

and there are plenty of other styles on offer too, like French scrolls...

and Norwegian rosemaling...

 

It's a great book!

For the crafty knitting, crocheting and stitching girls, this is a vintage Bakelite BEX knitting needle box with a needle gauge on the lid. It is in excellent condition and was a boot sale find. These are quite sought after on eBay.

For the vintage fashionista I have really had to think hard. I spent a morning doing the charity shops of York, trying to get in the head of the vintage loving ladies looking for a certain something to give away. Despite York having loads of great chazzers and in fact the entire upstairs of the Sue Ryder shop dedicated to vintage, I failed. It's probably futile to try and think like a vintage fashionista whilst wearing jeans, a holey tee shirt, and ugly shoes.
In the end I popped into Cath Kidston and picked up a pretty shower cap. Not vintage but vintage style at least.

So, how am I doing? Something for everyone? The winner gets everything I have mentioned, but due to prohibitive costs for posting overseas this giveaway is open to UK residents only. I'm sorry, rest of the world. Next time I will bear you in mind and come up with an airmail friendly gift.

So what do you have to do to win this bountiful booty? You have to follow me on one of the followy thingies at the side here and you have to comment below. That's it. ( If you are following under a different name please tell me what that is or I won't know who you are!)

The closing date is midnight on Sunday 13th Jan and the winner will be picked from a hat the following day. Good luck!

Linking with Me and My Shadow 
and Faith Hope And Charity Shopping 

New Years Resolution...

I resolve to:


 Keep on blogging but be more patient and try to improve my photography and styling! One should never 'style' a hand painted crate with a box set of Dexter! This is inexcusable!

I'm heading up north to my dads with my daughter for the rest of the holidays. No doubt we will squeeze in a car boot sale and some charity shops.

Back soon!