Branching Out

I'm trying to branch out a little.

I love recycling yarn, and always will - but there are so many other ares where we can UPCYCLE.

During my blog absence, I revamped Little Miss Katie's bedroom with a fresh coat of paint on the walls and ceiling.

My timing is not always smart with these things. For starters, Mr Goldfish was away. He's a Scout Leader - and he was interstate for a fortnight at the Australian Jamboree. So I was home on my own with all the kids. That's three school aged kids - all on holidays and expecting to be entertained... PLUS a toddler! Oh. And we were in the middle of a heat wave. The kind of heat where your paint starts drying on your brush between dipping it in the tray, and painting it on the wall.

But when you're in the zone - you're IN THE ZONE.

So you push through the barriers and just do what you have to do.

(If only I could do that in all the other areas of my life. But that's a story for another day.)

Anyway.

I wanted to add a chest of drawers for the bedside.

So of course I went Op Shopping to see what Second Hand Delight I could discover.

To be honest, there wasn't a lot on offer...

But when I saw this fully functioning chest of drawers for $1 - I could hardly say NO.

Yeah.

I know.

There's a handle missing.

And the top is kind of gungy and covered in ickyness.

Plus a dinosaur, courtesy of The Toddler.



But I figured we could get around all that...

So I set the kids to work with some sandpaper and a drawer each.

Well - they were asking to be entertained, weren't they?

And The Toddler just kind of supervised... In between juice breaks.



The dinosaur was useless, but kind of majestic looking.



So.

With a bit of scrubbing and a light sand, followed by a couple of coats of paint and some fresh handles... We have a winner!

Not bad for a $1 chest of drawers, hey?

That mirror was a makeover job too - but I forgot to take photos.

And how gorgeous is that Rag Doll?

She was made by a dear friend of mine, the Incredibly Artistic Anna.

You can check out more of Anna's work on her Facebook page - Swallowtail.

On my Mind.

What's on my mind today???

Well, I want to tell you all about what I did with that stained green baby dress...

I took Melissa's advice, and went with some flowers growing out of the pocket... thanks for the idea!



So what exactly did I do?



First I used some iron on interfacing to attach fabric shapes to the dress. Of course they were strategically positioned to cover the stains - after all, that WAS the point of the exercise, remember?




Then got carried away in the moment and forgot to keep taking progress photos...



But basically I embroidered around the edge of each piece.



Added some buttons to the centre of each flower.



Worked some blanket stitch around the neck.



And some running stitch along the hem.



I couldn't help but add a little heart.



Ooooh... and I added some curly green stems...

And here's the finished dress:



Want to see my Little One wearing it?



She wasn't very good at lying still for the camera, but I did manage a few shots:





Adorable, yes?

And if you'd like to see what's on Rhonda's mind today... head on over to Down To Earth...