from the blue shed

gypsy caravan

Friends of ours, Zoe and Kurt, are renovating their home in early spring. They are planning on living in their "shed" while they build. This is no ordinary tin shed. They are, however, going to be living in close quarters with little privacy. They have been looking for a caravan to park next to the shed to act as their girls bedroom. My mother and father in law had this old caravan in snakeland on their rural property.
       
It was dragged up this past weekend and given a good clean. Lookin' better already.

 
I've been asked to help decorate the gypsy caravan to be. Zoe came by during the week for some craft talk in anticipation of the caravans arrival and overhaul. They have chosen their color scheme...

 
... and have been very busy this week creating lots of lovely things to dangle. Aren't these beautiful?

 

This weekend we crack open the paint tins. With a lick of paint and a lot of love, watch this caravan be transformed into a beautiful retreat/bedroom for two very excited girls. Stay tuned......

Let's talk trash

I discovered a few trashy finds this weekend during my web trolling. This blog Junk Camp shares clever ideas and projects using, well, junk. Ki, from Junk Camp, is one of the collaborators that put together this magazine Flea Market Style. I love this! It is not yet available internationally, but I can't wait for my mum to send me a copy (hint hint).
I love making something using recycled materials. It's the thrill of the hunt, discovering new treasures and giving something, that most people would throw away, a new life. Not to mention that the price is right! All this rubbish is making me want to start a weekly "trash talkin" post. So here we go.
 
I love all the clever recycling ideas people come up with. One Pretty Thing featured this recycled cupboard door tray from Apartment Therapy
 
(psst. check out One Pretty Thing's daily DIY here)
 
We aren't letting quarantine week get the better of us. We have come up with a bunch of projects to keep us busy. One of them being the refurbishment of the girl's homemade cubby house. Adam built this for Piper when she was 18 months old using recycled wood he had been collecting. 
We wanted to put a wet table/sink in the cubby. Adam rescued this metal frame from work, cut some particle board for the counter and the shelf and cut the legs down to little person size. I bought a bucket to use as a sink and measured the counter, ready to cut. It has sat in that unfinished state in the cubby for a year now. Being house bound has encouraged me to complete a few unfinished jobs.
 
This is the first time I have used a jigsaw since industrial studies in grade 7. 
   
Some liquid nails, a few coats of outdoor acrylic paint and voila! 
  
 We made some bunting and planted some flowers while we waited for the coats of paint to dry.
 

How cute is that. I think all up, this cubby house cost no more than $50. Adam, you are a genius.
 

rescued and recycled (and a little DIY)

These two lanterns had their days numbered. I rescued them on their way to the tip.  Since then they have been threatening to be another potential project that just sits and collects dust. 
  

Yesterday I stumbled across a can of black spray paint while I was rummaging around in the shed. I saw the girls quietly playing together so I quickly grabbed the moment, the paint and the lanterns and started spraying.

 
Note to self. Replace black spray paint. You just never know when you are going to need it!

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I really wish I came up with this idea myself. I can't quite remember where I saw this project but it is pure gold! Simple and so effective. I was asked the other day how I had made this so I thought I would share it with you:

Fairy light globe DIY

Materials

2 x wire hanging basket frames with chains removed
4 x cable/pull ties
can of silver spray paint
fairy/christmas lights.
pliers
 

 

Remove chains from the baskets. Fasten the two baskets together with the cable ties to create a sphere.
 

Cut the tails off of the cable ties. Spray entire sphere with silver paint. This isn't all that necessary but I find when the lights bounces off the baskets it looses its former image of the 'hanging basket' when it is painted. 
 

Wrap the fairy lights around the sphere in every different direction. The small light globes will stop the wire from slipping. Wrap until you have used all and only the fairy lights. 

 

I used a length of chain and hook from one of the baskets to attach the globe to the roof of our pergola. Don't you just love it?? I might make one with multi colored lights next. Can you have too may? Never.

Remember, you only have till the end of this Friday for your chance to win this necklace. Just leave a comment at the end of the readers appreciation GIVEAWAY  post for your chance to win. Even if you are a first time reader OR one of my friends, everyone is welcome to enter Laurie! The winner will be chosen at random. Thanks again for stopping by.

umbrella

 

Well, I'm quite happy with the end result. It actually turned out the way I visualized it! (which is surprising considering just at the crucial point of adding water to the rapid set cement, stirring and pouring, my 20 month old started screaming from bed) A nice little extra feature is that it can be used as a table. Just need to paint the chairs from the side of the road and voila! I love it when an idea comes together.