Up-cycling!

Last summer I became hooked on up-cycling. What is upcycling? It’s where you take something old/boring and turn it into something unique. I started with a bedside table, then I moved onto a bed. My fad ended with a piano. By the time I’d finished the piano, I was all up-cycled out. I never wanted to see another paintbrush again. But it was all fun at the time and I am now the owner of some lovely looking, quirky furniture which cost me peanuts. You should try it.

Let me begin with my bedside table. I saw it on Gumtree for £12. I offered 8 and got it for 10. That’s my first tip – haggle. If you don’t ask, you don’t get and the best part of upcycling is boasting to everyone about how little you spent on your masterpiece afterwards.

This was my ten quid, solid pine, bargain…

Not the most original and stunning looking piece of furniture I had ever seen. And certainly not what I had in mind for my up and coming ‘country chic’ bedroom. So I bought some supplies:

• Sanding paper
• Primer
• Paint
• Gloss spray
• Little crystal handles from Ebay

It took me an hour to sand it down, removing any coating and then I applied two coats of primer, three coats of paint and then a good spray of gloss finish. I was delighted with the result. What do you think? Not bad for about £30, eh? 😉

My next little project was a bed. Again, got a nice little bargain on Gumtree for £30. And here it is. This is it dismantled on my garden. Try to use your mind’s eye to imagine what it could look like. That’s what I did.

This time the sanding and painting took me HOURS! I used about three coats of primer and five coats of paint. I also got sunburn from working in the garden.

Tip 2 – wear sun cream when upcycling in the sun. In fact, don’t even do it. The paint dries too quickly.

Here is the finished item…

Finally, my piano. I’d always wanted a piano so the grand plan was to find one, upcycle it and then get lessons (because I can’t actually play the piano). I needed a new hobby (yeah, right!). It took me weeks to persuade my husband to let me have one. He said that our house was too small and that it would be too overpowering in the lounge. When his auntie offered us hers for FREE, my nagging went to the max and he finally caved in.

Tip 3 – persevere in your nagging if you have a stubborn partner.

Here is the piano before…

Here it is after 12 hours of back breaking work in the garage. I even upholstered the seat. £30 total cost for this little gem. Which would be awesome if I could actually play it.

Turns out that my husband was right. It was way too big for our lounge. I ended up selling it.

Tip 4 – occasionally take your partner’s advice into consideration before upcycling a piano.

Hey ho! You win some, you loose some!

Have you ever upcycled anything? Or nagged your husband enough to get something you wanted to find that he was right about not getting it after all? Let me know in the comments box.

Keep busy mother bloggers,

Kelly x

Keep it glam, ladies!

I refuse to EVER stop making the effort to look presentable. Call me vein, call me proud, call me whatever you like, but I think that an impeccable apperance and good personal hygiene says a lot about us. It says that we give a crap; that we work hard; that we are willing to make an effort in life. Anyone agree? You will never see me in joggers, with no makeup on unless I am: sick, exercising or sleeping. (Ok, I’m a little vein!)

I am a complete sucker for makeup and other scrummy skincare goodies. And now I’m a mum and have thirty years on the clock, I feel a desperate need to preserve what I have. Anyone else feel this same panic? As I watch my two little boys grow up before my eyes, life is cartwheeling faster than ever. Keeping myself in skinny jeans isn’t as easy as it used to be. I actually have to work at it now. And, shock horror, tiny lines are appearing at the corners of my eyes. Ergh.

So, I take my skincare and makeup pretty seriously now. No longer do I go for the cheapest moisturiser or foundation I can find in Boots. I don’t mind paying a bit more for better products. I think our face deserves to be spoilt!

Let’s start with my skincare routine. I’m a big fan of Arbonne. Arbonne is a completely natural, vegan skincare company. No animal testing, no nasty cancer inducing extras such as Parabens. The products are quite pricey but all based on science and use lots of lovely botanicals. Their RE9 range is amazing! I have DEFINITELY noticed a difference to my skin since using their facial cleanser; night creme; and day creme. My face is a lot smoother and there are less blemishes. The cleanser smells like chocolate orange but there are no synthetic fragrances; what you can smell are the botanicals firing up. Gorgeous. I often shove my face under my husband’s nose in bed and say: ‘Smell my face! Ooooh, doesn’t it feel soft?!’.

He admits it does.

You do need to know a consultant to buy these goodies, so if you’re interested in purchasing any, leave me a comment and I’ll hook you up to my lovely Arbonne consultant.

Ok, the contents of my makeup bag…

• Arbonne primer (amazing stuff! Has won awards. Hides pores and fine lines)
• Arbonne foundation
• Bodyshop highlighter pen (apply to forehead, down nose, over cheek bones for glow)
• Arbonne bronzer
• Bourjois blusher
• Bourjois eyeshadows (nude and white)
• Clinique eyeshadow palette (natural browns)
• Arbonne eyeshadow (blue)
• Maybeline dark brown kohl eye pencil
• Eyebrow pencil and brush (defines and shapes eyebrows)
• Bodyshop mascara
• No7 transparent setting powder (keeps everything in place)
• Selection of brushes

If I had to select just four items to take onto a desert island, no doubt they would be these beauties (primer, foundation, highlighter and bronzer). They give you the most lovely, flawless base. Your skin just glows! Oooh, lovely. Nothing better than healthy looking skin.

I’d love to hear what products you find work well. Any tips and tricks welcome in the comments box.

Keep it glamorous mother bloggers x

A little Sunday morning selfie 🙂

Sew cool!

Sewing has become quite cool just lately. Have you noticed that? In the winter, I got into a TV programme called, ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’. A lot like ‘The Great British Bake Off’, amateur sewers would compete each week to make various garments, getting eliminated until there was just one winner. The ultimate seamstress. I grew envious of these people who could choose their own gorgeous fabric and then make anything which their heart desired. If only I could whip up my own dress; that would save me loads of money and my wardrobe would be so unique! I was becoming inspired. Uh oh.

My lovely friend noticed my interest in this new hobby and for my birthday, she bought me ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’ book. Yes! So it was decided. I was going to make some clothes. The most I’d ever sewn was a button onto a shirt (even that fell off two days later) and so this was going to be… Experimental.

Here’s what I started with:

• Polka Dot medium weight fabric (playing it safe with a simple pattern)
• Thread
• Box Pleat skirt pattern (‘Very Easy’ level apparently)
• Zip
• Hook fastening
• Interfacing (makes the waist band more stiff)

Sewing supplies

I won’t bull crap you, it took me about 6 hours, a lot of unpicking, three glasses of wine and a lot of language which I wouldn’t use in the classroom. The zip was the most difficult bit and I ended up having to buy a new one because my first one frayed from being unpicked four times. However, I’m pretty pleased with the result. I’m no Great British Sewing Bee but my skirt is wearable at least.

Front view

I have since made another which took me only four hours and one glass of wine. See, practise makes perfect guys. This one was made from material which I fell in love with on my first visit to the fabric shop. I added a few more pleats and made it longer as I wanted a midi skirt for work (getting cocky now). I personally love it and have had a few nice comments from my students at school, BUT my husband thinks it’s revolting. What do you think? You can be honest, I won’t cry too much.

Second skirt

So, moral of this story? Give sewing a go. Even a cack-handed girl like me can make something acceptable.

Till next time mother bloggers,

Kelly x

My lovely little terranium

So, today my husband and I were feeling a little green-fingered and creative. We had seen a terranium on a website which we thought would go great in our newly decorated lounge, but didn’t fancy paying fifty quid for it and thought that we could give it a good go ourselves. So off to the garden centre we trotted and this is what we ended up creating. Feeling rather proud. What do you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments box.

Here’s what you’ll need if you wanted to have a go at this yourselves:

• Moss
• Compost
• Charcoal
• Gravel and stones
• Succulent plants
• A glass container

All of these items were either from a garden centre, a fish/pet store or our own garden. Can be made for well under twenty pounds if you can recycle an old glass container. Love a cheap DIY project!

 

1. Firstly, you’ll need to find yourselves a nice glass container. We picked ours up from Debenhams for about £20 but you may already have something in the cupboard. Add some stones to the bottom of this. We pinched some grey stone chips from our front garden!
2. Next, pour some gravel on top of the stones. We got our gravel from a fish supplies store.
3. Add a thin layer of charcoal to the gravel. We also picked our ‘Fluval’ up from a fish supplies store for a few pounds.
4. Now add some compost and your succulent plants. We went for three which had pretty colours and which were completely different to one another. There’s loads to choose from and you could even choose cacti. The fun part is choosing plants to suit you or your room.
5. Bed down with more soil and add some moss to the top, around the plants to keep them moist.
6. Give a good spray of water, take a picture and show off on Facebook. Job done.

Happy terraniumering mother bloggers!

Kelly

 

Busylittlemum’s first post (yay!)

If you have stumbled across this blog, then hello. You are my first visitors. Welcome to my blog! I invite you to grab some cake, pour a drink and get comfortable. It’s a casual kind of hang out.

I am a thirty year old mum of two, a wife, a secondary school English teacher and an enthusiast of various different hobbies. They change all of the time. This month it’s yoga; last month was up-cycling furniture. As the title of my blog suggests, I am very busy. So why write this blog? Because I love a good hobby, I love to write and I love to ramble on about myself and my interests.

There are no pretenses here; I like to talk about myself. Who doesn’t like to do that? Well, you should.

To save my husband from having to roll his eyes and sigh as I start explaining why my next project is going to be lots of fun and save us pots of cash, I thought I’d share it with you instead. You’ll probably be more interested. And enthusiastic. And patient. Hopefully.

This will be my little hang out where I can share my little finds, my new ideas, and my favourite pastimes with like-minded people. From yoga, to crochet. From up-cycling, to makeup. From fashion, to baking. From soap making, to dress making. If you have something you want to throw into the mix, please do. I’m very open minded to new ventures which keep me entertained. And please do comment. I will get very excited if you do!

Till the next post mother bloggers, be yourself.

Kelly