Christmas Card Production

Above are a few images of my Christmas Card production... and below are the secrets of how they were made!

Well before the actual mass production day, I traced two images of pinecone in black ink which I downloaded from the internet, and after a little tweaking of the contrast in photoshop, sent it to The Rubber Stamp Factory to have a large and small stamp made of them. 

Dovecraft Pigment Ink makes loads of coloured ink pads, but I wanted a rich chocolate brown for my pine cones, and was able to order this one from Amazon, along with some 6mm wide white satin ribbon.

The grey card was purchased from the Cowling and Wilcox art store in Camberwell, along with some brown ink pens for writing my season's greetings. I cut out the luggage tag shape myself with a blade, and simply punched the hole with a single hole punch.

Then it was just a matter of stamping, and tying on the ribbons!

Christmas Cards Off!

 

 

This weekend was my annual Christmas Card fabrication and production weekend, so accompanied by my Christmas music playlist, hot chocolate, and mince pies the task was completed.

 

Off the cards go now!!

Oh Christmas Tree....

 

 

This weekend I bought my first own Christmas Tree!  In the past it has never really seemed worth the effort as I always go home for Christmas (as I am this year), but I figured if I was organised and it was purchased on December 1st, then I'd have a good few weeks to enjoy it. 

Decorating it are a few ornaments from the Budapest Christmas markets from my visit there a few weekends ago, and a few pound store bargains including the little silver bells.

Music CD Clear Out

Before

After

I gave up my CD plastic jewel cases back in 2003 when I was in Chicago.  I remember how brilliant it felt to be free of all that plastic clutter and have my CD's neatly arranged in portable leather books which I could slowly bring to the UK every time I went back for Christmas (travel allowance weight permitting).  

Today, after 2 weeks of regular burning and song labelling every morning and every evening for a hour or two each day,  I finally finished the monumental task of digitising all my music CDs. Not only has the music been ripped onto my computer, but I have also imported all the album artwork and song names in i tunes.

It feels great to be free of the weight and space the CDs took up. With movies on demand, I also got rid of all my DVDs earlier this year.   

Next task in the ever present clutter reduction task - burning all my data CDs!

Nectarine and Banana Smoothie

I bought a basket of nectarines a little while back and because they were ripening faster than I could eat them, I chopped them up and froze them so that they wouldn't go to waste. Combined with some orange juice, fresh banana, and a dollop of honey and a splash of soya milk - they made a refreshing morning smoothie!

Sticky buns

Now that the weather has turned autumnal and my renovation tasks have dwindled, I decided to spend a lazy sunday baking these cinnamon, walnut and cranberry sticky buns. The plan was to have them for breakfast but buy the time the dough had proofed, twice, and they had finished baking, they became an afternoon accompaniment to my cup of tea instead!

Bathroom Featured on Tile Daily

Exciting news - my bathroom has been featured on the Tile Daily blog! 
Check it out here: TileDaily - London Bathroom Installation

Morning Mist at Tower Bridge

Last week I woke up early to find that a thick mist had wrapped itself around the city.  I decided to swing by Tower Bridge on my way to work to take a few photos. Here is one of the shots.

The long view

So here is a full view of what the bedroom looks like now with my home office corner.  I enjoyed having the bed between the windows as it left lots of space in front of the fireplace, but its nice to mix things up a bit and now have the bed facing the fireplace.

The Finished Article!

So here it is.... just a week, (and countless coats of paint), later - a brand new home office! 

I have to confess that the vintage Eames desk chair is not in fact mine, but borrowed from my good friend Nick who lives across the street.  I don't quite have the desk chair that I want yet, and it just didn't seem right to do this photoshoot without a nice desk chair!  (So thank you Nick!)

Some felt slippers for the desk

I discovered last week to my dismay that cast iron table legs can make rusty 'footprints' on a nice white floor, so to avoid this in the future I have given the desk some little felt 'slippers'.  

The felt slippers also solve the problem of how level a table on a completely uneven Georgian floor.  To get the desk to sit level, the two back legs nearest the wall have one felt pad each, while the leg nearest the window gets two, and the leg nearest the fireplace gets four!

Final Coats of Paint and Finishing touches

 

There are few things as satisfying as opening a fresh new can of paint... especially when it is the colour of liquid sunshine!

Here is a photo of the final coats going on, including the yellow ribbon around the perimeter of the desk.  The table legs needed 3 coats in the end to get an even coverage, I guess because I was going from black to white.  

To get the yellow edge I taped off the grey top and painted away.  Unfortunately, because the desk is old and the edges slightly chipped and uneven, some yellow seeped beneath the tape and it was difficult to get a perfectly clean line.   I will need to touch this up with a careful hand in due course.

A bright idea!

I just had a bright idea about how to add a fun punch of colour to the desk - I will paint the edge bright yellow!  I brought home some paint samples today and will collect a small tin of 'Delhi Bazaar 4' on the way back from my Pilates class tomorrow morning.  The grey in the background is the colour of the desk top - Cornforth White No 228 - from Farrow and Ball.

First Coat of Paint

On goes the first coat of paint...!  The paint needs 4 hours to dry between coats, so the second coat will go on before work tomorrow morning.

Hammerite & Prep work

Today the Hammerite 'Direct to rust' metal paint arrived in the post.  I debated for a while about whether or not to get the spray or the paint - a spray finish is usually smoother, and I thought it might be easier to apply given all the detailed scroll work on the legs.  

The Hammerite technical department informed me that as their product was an oil based paint, you dont really see the brush marks anyway, and with a spray you would need 4 coats, whereas with the paint you'd only need 2 as it goes on thicker.  So, in the interest of time, and for the ability of being able to paint the table legs in the flat, I opted for the paint.

I chose the satin finish in white as I thought it more appropriate for an interior application over the glossy.

I also started sanding the table top in preparation for the Farrow and Ball 'Cornforth White'  Estate Eggshell paint, and cleaned the table legs with soap and water. There wasnt any flaking paint or rust to brush off.

A new table

This bank holiday weekend was pretty relaxing and didn't involve much more than pottering around town eating nice meals.  On Monday however, I found this desk in a junk shop in Crystal Palace.  I've been keeping my eyes open for one that would fit in the niche beside the fireplace in the bedroom to make a little home office area, and this one fits perfectly!  My plan is to paint the legs white, and the desk top light grey to match the fireplace and shutters so that it blends in more with the bedroom decor.

Magnetic Boards for Kitchens with Concealed Fridges

I love my integrated fridge, happily concealed behind a white cabinet door, but being hidden left me with no surfaces on which to pin up postcards, recipes, to do lists or little messages. Its been a nice clean, minimal aesthetic for a while, but when ordering some magnetic white boards for my office - I suddenly had a light bulb moment.

These boards (fabricated in custom sizes up to 1200x2400mm, and in any colour) - would be perfect running the full length of my kitchen counter where there are no upper cabinets, and no backsplash.  Not only would they serve as an elegant magnetic 'fridge door' , but its metal surface would be easier to wipe down than the matt emulsion paint that exists there now.

The board was delivered last week, and was installed this weekend. Im so pleased with the result - Its like Ive got a brand new flat wall instead of the wobbly one that was there before!

Highlights from the IKEA Stockholm Collection

IKEA have just released their 2013 "Stockholm Collection" which appears to be targeted at the design conscious 30-40 somethings who have grown out of their cheap and cheerful Billy bookcase once used in their dorm rooms and to furnish their first apartments, and who are now looking for more durable, high quality, designer furniture.   

Overall, the collection looks really great, and I plan to check it out in reality next week to see how it looks in the flesh!

Some sunshine for the floor

I've been keeping my eye out for a good flat woven rug for ages.  The problem that Ive had is the flat woven rugs I've seen are either too small (sized for a door entrance mat), too expensive (over £1000 from Skandium), or just not the right colour or pattern.

At last however, I believe that my solution awaits in this fantastic yellow rug available at IKEA from their new Stockholm Collection!    Its a little bit smaller than I would have liked, but I think it will work... now just to wait for it to be listed as in stock!

iPad Wall Mounting

Now that I have an iPad living with me I have come to the conclusion that it would be nice to have the option to mount it on a kitchen wall somewhere. This way I could listen to music, watch catch up television, or read recipes from it hands free without it getting splattered with spaghetti sauce.

A quick online search revealed a myriad of options including table stands to prop it vertically with plastic covers,  a suspension device which hangs the iPad from the bottom shelf of an upper cabinets, and a shelf which affixes to your fridge door and holds the iPad in place with magnets.

None of these quite fit my brief as I have a built in fridge, and was keen to get the iPad off of the counter. I also wanted the fixing device to be attractive and simple so when the iPad is removed, it still looks neat on the wall and not as though anything is missing.


The best of what I found so far are below:

This Ringo holder by Vogel looks the most sleek and minimal, leaving a simple black 'button' when the iPad is removed, and retails for about £40:

Next up is this under counter mounted job from a company called InKitchenBite which swivels and comes with a built in speaker so is on the expensive side at £120:

Lastly, for a cheap and cheerful way to go,  which isn't permanent, these 3M plastic hooks seem also to work a treat as the iPad is so light.