White O'Morn Cottage

More Sheet Music Paper Ideas for you...

                                                                   

I was lucky enough to be offered this lovely old sheet music on our recycle site jumbletown.ie. I have lots of great craft and repurposing ideas for it. So far I have used it as giftwrap for a gift for a friend. I also used it to line some drawers in the bedroom. Add a few drops of lavendar oil to give it a lovely scent and deter insects.

I also used it to decorate the deep windowsill of the bathroom in the cottage. These walls are 18 inches thick and they make for a real feature in each of the rooms. I will paste it down and clear varnish it as it is in a bathroom. Isn't it  pretty?

Teeda's Craft's

When my sister, Teeda, was home a few weeks ago she brought a selection of her beautiful beads for our craft night. This is what I produced from her fabulous stash. She took over knitting my cottage teacosy while giving me instructions. I loved the colours of these aqua beads and the silver filigree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course she brought me some of her own fabulous work in the form of this Swarovski pink snowflake hatpin. I'm one of the few people who uses a hatpin!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More hatpin beauties were bought by her on Ebay. These ones are vintage...wonderful!

                                                                             

They look so lovely in my swan hatpin cushionwith the rest of my vintage hat and scarf pins.

Vintage Irish Table Linen Gifts

 

 

There is nothing I love more than old Irish table linens. So when I got a call from my friend Cecil saying he had a bag of table linens that had belonged to his mother I knew I was in for a treat. This is only part of what was in it. (Cecil is the man who made me the lovely wooden items in an earlier post.) 

A Battenburg tray cloth

Hand crocheted doilies and tatted tray cloths

close up of same delicate beauties

This beauty has tiny shamrocks on. I'll be outlining them in emerald green for someone I know.

 

Adorable homemade baby pillowcase with skipping teddies embroidery. In pink and blue (must have been done before baby  was born!)                                                                         

A set of hand appliqued napkins with the tinyiest hand stitches I have ever seen. I have used macro setting as it was so neat I thought it was machined but...no...all hand done

  

And some hand painted traycloths. Most unusual.                     

       

...And this one is my favourite...  brand new French made waffle design vintage guest towel and the lilac/mauve colour is perfiect for the bathroom!                                                            

 Thank you Cecil. I love them and will put them to good use in  White O'Morn and share some with Angie in the Old Schoolhouse. Angie and I are the only people I know who actually use tray cloths...and it looks like I have hit the motherlode of tray cloths!

Here's one I accidently collected earlier!

I had just painted and hung a shelf unit and could not decide what to display on it. I decided I should collect old teapots from now on. But of course...when I gathered the ones I already had...it was filled!  Who knew I had a collection around me!

I finally finished my hand knitted tea cosy so what better place to show it off!  It is a replica of White O'Morn. Kimme has some gorgeous tea cosies on Irish Cottage Dreams and she is doing a PIF on there at the moment. You'll find it on my sidebar...Will you have a tea cosy? Ah ye' will go on..go on go on....

Tomorrow Angie and I are going to a huge fete in Celbridge to help sort the donations. We are sure to find lots of goodies for ourselves. We'll be showing and telling on here and Angie's blog  - The Old Schoolhouse..see sidebar for the link.                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the original!

Bling your watering can!

I spent today volunteering for St Raphael's John of God's annual fete in Celbridge County Kildare. It will be on on 6th July and I will be on one of the stalls that day.

But today it was sorting day..... Which means we were sorting out the donations left in by the public.

So - of course, I found treasure while I was sorting...lots of it. But this is probably my favourite...An old watering can, painted dark green and then decorated with pictures from magazines pasted on and varnished over. It's a bit bockety and battered but this only adds to it's rustic charm! I couldn't even wait to clean it up before taking a pic of it for you!                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What else did I find? Well.....an old fibreglass roses tray....

...a vintage doll and dish for Angie at The Old Schoolhouse, a leprechaun for Debby at Sanity-no longer an Option. A cottage plaque for Kimme at Irish Cottage Dreams (to help fuel the dream) and..and andand...more vintage treasures. It was really hard work sorting all day but great fun. They are a really lovely bunch of ladies (and Kevin) who do wonderful work for St. Raphael's centre for special needs people......and I am going back with Angie in tow next Monday!  

Also I am going to Leitrim with Angie for the weekend so will be missing for a few days. Check back soon for more details of goodies as yet to be found.

 

As promised - here is the finished scottie cushion. I used a pink gingham pillowcase, a piece of floral fabric from my collection of fabric and his doggie coat from red gingham fabric from a damaged baby's dress and two large white buttons for the closure from my button jar.

I am going on holidays for a week or so - I'll miss you all. See you soon...

Nora is 100 years young!...and Thanks to - Irish Cottage Dreams!

I don't know who Nora is but she is one hundred years old in two weeks. The call went out on Jumbletown, the recycle site, who's members have been so generous to me.

Nora's family was having trouble finding cards specially for a lady who is 100. I suppose there is not much demand for these. So I got busy and made one for her and sent it off. This is what I made

 

 

 

Then this morning there arrived in the post a parcel from Kimme of Irish Cottage Dreams (on sidebar to right) It contained lovely surprises like .....

... a floral and polkadotted, hand made cup with a matching cross and heart....

 

 

 

 

 

 

and her own designed and produced beautiful Irish calendar, (available for sale on her blog )- Irish Cottage Dreams  -see sidebar.

the illustrations are amazing - photographs made to look like paintings. They are quite stunning. 

 

 

 

 

 

 ...and these dainty little handmade cards, made by her elderly grandmother. These ladies look so elegant in their fine hats. So I thought....I'll  have a go at making one of these and HEY PRESTO!........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

......Nora's family got another card made for her! A little more practice and I think I will have it down to a fine art. Thank you Kimme and Happy Birthday to you Nora...whoever or wherever you are!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am also putting together a sister box for Herself in The Old Schoolhouse see sidebar to right.

I would love to show you some of the goodies I have in it already but Herself might be peekin'...

Well alright then - just one little peek  - and only on the inside of of one of the books...ANGIE!!! Stop lookin'! 

Crafts from Rustic Roof Slates & Other Rusty Stuff

Here are some more of the nifty handmade signs I made from the old rustic slates of Angie's Old Schoolhouse roof. They had to remove some of them to put in a roof window.

They are natural slate - I think is called Blue Bangor Slates. It is quite beautiful in itself and it broke into interesting shapes. Also it is easy to drill with a fine drill if you need to hang it.

The Rose Room in basement of schoolhouse is one of my favourite rooms (I designed it - don't mind Angie if she says otherwise)

...so I made this little sign to go on the door.

The next one is a long narrow one - it is behind the rusty gate of the dry toilets at the end of the garden. In Irish it sounds so much nicer..."Leithris Tirim" so that's what I wrote on it.

The White O'Morn Cottage sign is also made from the same slate and I added a metal butterfly and some wire to hang it.

While on the subject of rustic even the garden shed has a rustic appeal...

...and can you spot the "rustic" almost disolved wheelbarrow in this picture? Shed door and wheelbarrow are both in Angie's schoolyard.

These tiny blue blooms are the Forget-Me-Nots in my cottage garden.

Nothing rustic about these pretty little flowers, I just love them. I grew them from seed last year and they are now running riot.

I have tried to get this picture before but could not get it just right. I wanted one flower in focus and the rest blurred.  Love these digital cameras!

This next one is for Kimme and Patrick...it shows the narrow boreen that leads up to the cottage  - the one I describe in directions as "has twists and turns and steep hills..." I hope you don't meet any traffic coming the other way! Don't worry, as the locals are well used to squeezing past on these very narrow lanes.

The photo was taken from the front door and has a lovely view beyond the trees.

29 Years Married Today!

Happy Anniversary Paul...how are you fixed for the next 29?

Here is the card I made for him...We're off to Leitrim for the next few days to celebrate! I'll be taking lots of photos to share next week. Cheers...for now.

Happy Birthday Catherine!

My sister had a birthday this week and I decided to make her something hand crafted for it. I bought this little wooden shack designed to hold a photo in the frame at front and it opens to store hundreds more.

It was as plain as can be so I added:  her surname- Sweetman, in plaster molded letters, I used Tippex to write "Photo Shack" added the gold sticks, roses, bumble bees, punched paper butterflies and vintage photo. It makes for a very personal and useful storage for all her loose photos.    

Amazing Anna's Photo Art

I want to introduce you to Anna. This is an example of her work...it is  a self portrait

Officially she is a friend or ours..... unofficially, she is a member of our family. She is zany, certifiably happy and a confirmed red hatter.

She is also an amazing photoartist and Photoshop genius. Here are a few of the wonderful photos she has done for us so far....

This is the postcard she made for us for when we invite people to stay in the cottage. (She has taken years off me in Photoshop so don't expect to meet this gorgeous a creature in real life!)

Ohh, Christmas pics in May! forgve me...

Here I am swamped by my very tall sons...left to right: Jamie 22, Stephen 28 and Chris 29

This is one I commissioned for Chris's birthday to mark his interest and talent in creative writing. She superimposed writings from Shakespeare in the background. Click to enlarge.

 

And this one was commissioned for Stepehen's birthday to reflect his talent and interest in music. Stepen has a grá for the stage and is in a band and she has captured that perfectly! Jamie's is a work in progress and will be added when it is finished.

...and this is another self portrait...don't you wish you had the power to make yourself look like this? If you want to commission Anna to make you a fantasy photo for someone special or a virtual facelift for yourself she charges only 35 Euro inc. shipping for an eight by ten photo (and of course, cheaper by the dozen) You will need to email her an good quality photo and details of what theme or changes you would like to be in the finished picture.

Here are some more of her ideas, makeovers and virtual facelifts for you to browse