Pretty wooden bunting

To add some colour and interest to my boring green fence behind my new corner etagere I decided to make some wooden bunting. I bought some wooden triangles from Craft Shapes and using their fab "drilling holes service" - I requested that they drill two small holes at the top of the triangles. I then painted them in a range of pastel shades using Cuprinol Garden Shades to protect the wood from the damaging effect of the weather. You can order 30ml mini tester pots from Cuprinol for £1 each! I made the Lavender and Beach Blue colours paler by mixing with Pale Jasmine. I strung them with bakers twine and attached them to the fence using cup hooks.

Pretty wooden bunting
Tools and materials

• Wooden triangles - 14cm, laser cut wooden bunting shapes x 3
• Cuprinol Beach Blue garden shade
• Cuprinol Pale Jasmine garden shade
• Cuprinol Sweet Pea garden shade
• Cuprinol Coastal mint garden shade
• Cuprinol Lavender garden shade
• Pink and white bakers twine

Start by painting the bunting wooden shapes in several coats of paint till you have a solid even colour on all sides. When paint is completely dry, thread bakers twine through the holes and hang!





Have a sweet day!

Bird house herb labels

This past weekend the sun finally came out to play! I finally get to show you some of the crafts I have been working on for my garden. First up are my birdhouse herb labels, which I painted in Cuprinol Garden Shades to protect the wood from the damaging effect of the weather. You can order 30ml mini tester pots from Cuprinol for £1 each! I made the Lavender and Beach Blue colours paler by mixing with Pale Jasmine.

Birdhouse herb labels
Tools and materials

• Wooden lollipop sticks - 114mm x 10mm
• Birch plywood bird house shapes
• Cuprinol Beach Blue garden shade
• Cuprinol Pale Jasmine garden shade
• Cuprinol Sweet Pea garden shade
• Cuprinol Coastal Mint garden shade
• Cuprinol Lavender garden shade
• Ink jet water-slide decal paper in clear
• Clear vanish spray

Start by painting the birdhouse wooden shapes and lollipop sticks in several coats of paint till you have a solid even colour on all sides. When paint is completely dry, glue lollipop stick to birdhouse shape.



Print labels onto a regular sheet of paper so you can check the labels for size and colour. Once you are happy with the size and colour of the labels, print them on to the glossy coated side of the decal paper. In a well ventilated area, and with newspaper laid on the ground to protect the surface, coat the printed labels with an even coat of clear varnish. Leave to dry for about 30mins. Next, carefully cut out the labels. Place cut-out labels into a bowl of water and leave for up to 30 seconds. Before placing the decals onto the painted birdhouses, wet the surface of the birdhouses so you can slide the decals into position easily. Remove label from water and place it facing up on your birdhouses. Carefully slide the decal paper slightly and attach the corner lip of the decal onto the birdhouse shape. Once you have the lip attached to the birdhouse shape, gently pull the backing paper away and adhere label to birdhouse shape. Once the decal is attached to the birdhouse shape, carefully slide it around to your desired position. Then gently rub the label with a lint free cloth to remove any air bubbles and leave to dry for 3-4 hours. Finally, spray birdhouse label with a coat of clear vanish.

Tips: Use clear varnish spray in a well-ventilated area and protect your work surface from overspray with a newspaper. To start the paint flow properly make sure you have shaken the paint enough (refer to directions on can) and spray first on to newspaper. Spray varnish 30cm away from labels and spray in a sweeping motion maintaining a constant distance from the printed labels. Ensure labels are fully coated in varnish or there will be a leakage of ink when placed in the bowl of water at the later stage.


To make my pale aqua colour I mixed Pale Jasmine with Beach blue.




Have a sweet day!

Pretty gardening never looked so good

Centre image by fashion photographer Margaretha Olschewski

From left to right: Sophie Conran for Burgon and Ball bird feeding house, kids pastel gardening set, Country Living thermometer in aqua and white spot print, Polaris wall basket in pale blue, Verve propagator in pastel blue, pink wicker trug, peacock door mat, Lavender wicker hanging basket

The weather has been so miserable here of late, it just seems to rain all the time! I am dreaming of better weather at the weekends so that I can get out in the garden and give it a good tidy. Then sit back and enjoy it! I am loving all these new pretty pastel gardening accessories, from the wicker hanging baskets to the pale blue propagator. Gardening never looked so pretty!

Have a sweet day!

The Balcony Gardener

Today on shops i love I bring you The Balcony Gardener. The Balcony Gardener was set up by Isabelle Palmer after her own experience of owning a small balcony in the city. She believes your own outdoor space, whatever size, should be a special place where you can sit, relax and grow your own little bit of green in the city.

She has put together a wonderful collection of treasures from plants, seeds and window boxes to pots, planters and garden furniture.
I would love the paper pom poms for alfresco parties and, for indoors and outdoors, the quirky bird chandelier and the pretty duck egg blue herb planter pots for my kitchen window sill.

Have a sweet day!

Tin signs

I love the way old-fashioned tin signs evoke nostalgic memories and I have many dotted around my house. My garden metal sign hangs on the wall on the side of my house leading to the garden. There's also one hanging on my garden shed.


Next, I'd really like this No Junk Mail one above to hang on my front gate.

Alfresco dining

I like to make the most of dining outside in the summer months. Over the past couple of years I've collected everything I would need for entertaining outside in a colour palette consisting of pale pink, pale blue, green and red.

In the picture above, the dip bowl set was from Tchibo, the colour coordinated pink and blue cutlery from Cath Kidston, and the blue ribbed table runner from Casa Domani. The small glass green votive contains lemongrass scent from Restoration Hardware.



In the picture above, the striped red and white bread knife is from Tchibo, the bread basket is from a local store, and the bird print napkin is from Cath Kidston.



Great for summer garden parties or everyday eating (not just for kids!), I went for these large and small floral and bird melamine plates from Cath Kidston on the bottom and top, with smaller dotty melamine plates in the middle from Green Gate. The salad bowls, small bowls and red spot salad servers are also from Green Gate.

Garden shed

After:

Before:

When we moved in the garden shed looked worse for wear, as you can see above. I cleaned it up and painted it with Cuprinol Garden Shades Silver Birch paint.

We replaced the broken window with some new sheets of perspex. Then, using some old net curtain wires I hung some curtains in the windows made from stone spot cotton duck fabric from Cath Kidston.

For a touch of humour I hung a Honest Otto's metal sign on the door.

Being the colour coordination obsessive I am I found garden accessories to match. The garden kneeler and gloves are from Cath Kidston. The sky blue hand trowel and fork are from Burgon and Ball, the powder blue wellington boots from Hunter, and the cream enamel garden trug from Franksy Kitchenware.