Autumn in the garden

The last of the potatoes have been harvested.

                                                                                                                                

It's time to sweep up the leaves and pack delicate garden decorations away for the winter.

The vines have produced a few bunches of grapes this year.
The pumpkins have taken over the vegetable patch. 

I'm not sure if they will be ready for Halloween though.

Shabby Chic Garden

I love the Shabby Chic style. I wanted to use the style at home but didn't want to make over any of the rooms in the house. So, I decided to Shabby Chic the garden. Without realising, I already had lots of things that I could use, such as a fire bucket that I bought a couple of summers ago and some signs on the fence.

My friend had given me 2 heart shaped tea-light holders as a birthday present which I hung in the trees. I added another one for balance. I'd brought several tea-light holders in a sale in a supermarket a couple of summers ago. They'd been stuck in the garage whilst I came up with the best way to hang them above the decking. I'd had all sorts of elaborate ideas, but in the end made hooks from old coat hangers and hung them in the trees. This simple approach looked so much better than I had imagined.

So, now I needed somewhere to store the tea-light holders when not in use, spare tea-lights, a lighter and a few other bits and bobs for outdoor living. I spent a while hunting around in the charity shops until I found a cupboard that was just the right size. The Ugly Cupboard was purchased and made over.


I've always liked bunting. I'd put some in the house and garden for the Royal Wedding and decided to keep it in the garden for the summer. I made 2 strands of my own. The plan was to use up scraps of fabric, but couldn't resist buying small amounts of other designs.


The plastic chairs had to go and were replaced by rocking chairs which I picked up in a charity shop and on e-bay. I had intended to paint the rocking chairs, but they looked fine as they were. I also found a small table which I made over.

It's a work in progress. I still keep coming up with more ideas, 

but they will have to wait until next summer.

The result is not traditional Shabby Chic, more Jeannie-Shabby-Chic, 

but just what I wanted.

Autumn Wreath

During a recent trip to Hobbycraft,  I found this wreath base and leaf garland. Just the things for a quick Autumn make. 


I wound a length of the garland around the wreath base and then wound some orange organza ribbon in the gaps between the garland. I added some fake berries from an old box of chocolates. To finish I tied a loop of yellow organza to the top for the wreath to hang from.  

Bunting for the Garden

This was fun project that only took an afternoon to complete.


The idea was to use up old pieces of fabric, but when I went to buy the webbing to attach the flags to, I found myself buying more fabric to add to the variety of patterns. 


 I made a triangle paper template based on the size of my Union Jack bunting. As the bunting would be viewed from both sides, I made the the flags double sided. I folded the fabric in half with the pattern facing outwards, pinned the template to the fabric and cut around it with pinking shears. 





I sewed along the long edges of the triangles to secure both sides of the flags together. 
      

Each flag was pinned to the middle line of the webbing. 

                                                                        

The flags were pinned a 6cm intervals along the webbing.

 I then folded the webbing over, re-pinned  and then machine sewed along the edges of the webbing.

The last job was to hang the bunting over the deck. 

The Degus have Landed

When my ex husband is on holiday, we look after his pet degus.  They arrived  last week to stay with us.

 They arrived, however with no back to their holiday cage. This is not as much of a  problem as it would first appear as the cage is designed to sit against the wall so that they can't escape. This would work at my house, but they quite like nibbling wallpaper and I quite like  my wallpaper.

So,  I had to abandon my plans for nice cup of tea and a sit down that evening  and construct a back for the cage.  A trip  to  Wickes to buy 2 small sheets of hardboard and and then   work got underway.  I cut down the hard board to fit as best I could. There was a 4 inch gap in the middle which I bridged & braced it with some wood scraps from the garage. The job  was made  slightly more difficult as one of the degus had escaped and kept running over my feet whist  I was working.

I'm not  going  to win any awards for my wood working skills, and the back is attached to the sides of the cage by gaffer tape, but the boys are contained and my wallpaper is safe.

I'll hide here and dash in as
soon as the door opens.
They'll never notice. 

  


Just one or two other problems with the 
visitors that aren't so easy to fix................



I know they're in there.
 Just need work out how to open the door.



Ugly Cupbord Makeover

I found this little old 1970's, possibly 1960's,  cupboard in a local charity shop. I think it might have been an old record storage cupboard. It wasn't the style that I was looking for but was just the right size to fit in the spot on the decking where I wanted it to stand. It looked like the sort of cupboard that no one else would love but I could see the potential. The price tag of £5 was the deciding factor and I paid my money. I named it the Ugly Cupboard.

First job was to sand it well and clean it up.

With my old faithful kitchen table acting as a work bench, work began. I  applied a coat of melamine primer and on top of that a general primer. I then applied a couple of coats of pastel green. I knew that I wanted to decorate it with a flower theme, so green was the obvious base colour. I didn't worry to much about the finish, a few brush marks and traces of the undercoat added to the Shabby Chic look.

Now for the fun part. Using stencils from a previous decorating project I stencilled tulips and daffodils on the doors using acrylic paints. The design was a little too bold for traditional Shabby Chic style but was just what I wanted. The plan was just to decorate the doors, but then the rest of the  cupboard looked a bit bare.  I decided on an ivy design for the sides and top. The finishing touch was a butterfly on one of the doors. When the painting was complete  2 coats of tough exterior varnish were applied.

So, now I have some where to store tea-lights, when not in use, a few other things that have found their way in there.

The £2 Table

Before

I found this little table in the charity shop when I was hunting for a rocking chair.

It was tucked away amongst the larger tables. At £2 - I couldn't resist. Just what I needed to put next to the rocking chair to stand my cup of tea on.

Work in progress

It underwent the usual treatment,  a good sanding, coat of primer, and a coat or two of light grey emulsion.  

The top of the table was sponge painted in various shades of yellow.

 

Using a stencil of a vine leaf  boarder that I picked up on ebay,  I  put a boarder on the table top and decorated the table legs. 

 A couple of coats of exterior varnish and it was ready for use.

The only thing missing is me !