Doodling or Decorating?

The felt tip pens are getting some hammer right now... so relaxing this doodling lark and all I need is my pens and a sketch pad.... just as well cos I still can't find things. I've a million (ok teensy weensy bit of exaggeration there lol) boxes still to unpack before normality resumes.
It's sooooo nice for all the painting to be done though.... hopefully soon I can do a creative sort of painting instead of the necessary kind. So more pics of the refurb so you can see what I've been up to... my bedroom this time.

Wanted a white bedhead so had to paint it... enamel paint is ace!!

Lots of stripping a preparing to do but this room wasn't as major a job as some of the others...

and as red is my favourite colour of all time I had to use it here although it's more of a deep cherry red so it's not so in your face.

I painted the wardrobes with enamel paint too because previously they were teak effect. The pictures are just framed wallpaper :D Gotta be frugal sometimes and besides I had no time to make any so they will probably be updated when I do.

Had to use another huge paper lantern in this room too cos I loves them.

The curtains were a 'steal' two pair made from a £6.99 quilt cover and there was fabric left over for two cushions on the bed :D

I hate cupboard doors in a room so I painted the door the same colour as the wall so that it would look part of the wall... so need the storage though so glad the cupboard is there.

and now you can see where I'm sitting as I type up this post...lol I have got a chair to sit on only it weren't there when I took the pic.

Finally on my bedside table are these little darlings... I seem to have developed a passion for them :D
Have a great day

hugs

Chris xx

Gothic Arches challenge - Risque

It seems like forever since I have taken part in any of the challenges... what with the move and decorating etc. So as I love the Gothic Arches I decided to go for this weeks challenge of Risque. I didn't think you were going to get to see it though!! Just when I'd got my Internet back and thought I was up for some fun bloghopping...huh my computer had other ideas :( I timed my other posts so I could just concentrate on catching up and then everything went tits up. I couldn't get on me blog...waahhhh ... I tried everything I knew but not being THAT computer geeky I was almost giving up the will to live... just ask me pal Chriss...lol Well it seems I needed an update (never thought of that one...lol) to Internet Explorer 8. What the devil is that about!!! Anyway so I'm back again with fingers, knees, toes AND eyes all crossed that I can stay this time :D I got this cheeky lady from Art-e-zine and tarted her up a bit (oooh did I say 'tart' ed...rofl)
I gave her a tattoo but she earned her wings too cos she's a good girl really. She would have been very 'Risque' in her day though eh :D
Thanks for looking
hugs
Chris xx

Ok now I am in shock!!! I'm typing away and without noticing the return key on my keyboard has decided to work again.... oooeeeer there are gremlins in my house....honest!!

Halloween fun

I love to doodle and I was in need of some fun me time... so for the first time in ages I've had a play, I scanned a doodle and used photoshop to colour it and with the help of the new Halloween images from Lisa's altered art I had me a hoot. How cool are these babies...lol I did me a couple of atc's too using sections of the doodle

and these little cuties just blow me away. Can just imagine the mischief they could get up too eh :D

Thought you might like a play too so if you like you can grab the doodle sheet below... click to enlarge then right click and save and then you can print it out on an A4 sheet. Each piece is 5"x7" so can be cut into four for atc's or left the size you see. Have fun :D

hugs Chris xx

Before and afters

I now have somewhere to relax and the hard work is over... now that I have time to look around it's difficult to believe that I've done so much... so I'm glad I took the pics so that I can remind myself NEVER to move again...lol Well at least not unless I win the lottery or summat so I can pay someone else to do ALL the work for me :D There were more holes in the walls than in a malteser ;-D The 'before' photos were taken AFTER I had filled in a trillion holes and then used a coat of thinned emulsion to see where I'd missed... as you can see I'd missed A LOT rofl... told ya I needed new specs, I mean look HOW BIG some of them are!!! and I still had to put lining paper on the walls when I'd finished filling and sanding.

Preperation is a pain....

but worth it in the end

The room looks quite small

but it's just the way I've taken the pics.... maybe a bit tooo close up... as it's quite a size really :D

and do you know what tickles me fancy out of everything.... the £1.99 huge paper shades from ikea... my brother is so tall that everytime he comes in, he ends up playing headball with them(no wonder he keeps saying they're the naffest things he's ever seen) rofl
Hugs Chris xx

Check out my colour scheme... a few photos....

to wet your whistle... just like I promised. Just when I had almost given up the will to live... everything has started to come together nicely aaaaand.... I am back on line WHOOOHOOOO with bloody bells on (pardon me french if you please) I'm so excited that if I only had the stamina I'd be a hop, skippin' and a jumpin all around me newly decorated rooms but as I have little energy left then I will have to satisfy meself with being happy to be back and look forward to getting back into the swing of things in bloggy land and catching up with all my chums Yeeeehaaaaa. Oooooooh it feels like Christmas ;-D First of all thank you all for your continued support and friendship while I've been awol it's really kept me going when I've been hard at work and though I haven't been able to visit any of you online I have thought about you all often :D It has been an uphill struggle trying to do all that I've had to, with moving house but finally I can show you the fruits of my labour. I told you that 'Changing Rooms' wasn't going to get a look in and you will see what I mean as you scroll down.... nowt went untouched....lol I decided to let you see some of the nice bits first cos I have so much to share with you that you would be here for days so I will eke it out over the next few weeks. Don't want ya' all to be getting bored now do I. Crafting of a different kind I call this ;-)

The fireplace didn't fit with what I had in mind for my colour scheme sooooo it had to be re-vamped.

I scrounged this old rocking chair off of my Sister's Father in Law and it got the treatment too....

I think it was worth it.... anyway I will have plenty of use for it in my dotage...lol

Now this little lady gave me nightmares....honestly I jest you not. I have never re-covered a sofa before but let me tell you I will NEVER...NEVER....NEVER in this lifetime do it again. Well actually this one is a sofa bed but I digress.... it gave me the Mother of all headaches!!!

I assumed (wrongly I may add) that it couldn't be THAT difficult... famous last words, It took me hours and a totally sleepless night to finish it.....

but even though I cursed and almost cried and was one step away from launching the whole thing through the nearest window.... I persevered and won through in the end and I reckon the effort was worth it. I LOVE.... LOVE....LOVE me new sofa :D

I reckon you've guessed by now that my new found love of the colour green a few months back hasn't diminished. I'm loving it... in fact if I didn't think I would become really fed up with it too quickly the whole house may have ended up that colour... but I know that I am fickle...lol ... so I went for a different colour in each room. You won't have tooooo long to wait to see what I mean but give me a little while cos boy have I got some catching up to do :D

Okay I'm off to me bed now cos I've got some MEGA bloghopping to fit in tomorrow.... yeeeehaaaa!!!

hugs
Chris xx

Is it a month ALREADY.....

I just can't believe how fast time has flown since I last posted.... it's passing me by at a rate of knots!! Could be that I've been down with the dreaded lurgy which has slowed down my decorating antics and made me take to my bed. The will to keep awake and keep going was in my mind but my body it seems had other ideas. DG began with a cold that lasted 2 days and kindly breathed my way.... the result... almost two weeks of coughing, sneezing and sleeping combined with the headaches from hell that had me wondering if I had succumbed to swine flu... but without the energy to do anything about it if I had.
I'm coming out the other end slowly however, even a short walk to the loo has me feeling like taking to my bed again.... the moral of the story..... never let a snot laden kid within ten miles of you when there's work to be done....lol
Just sharing some pics of an experimental hand crochet beaded necklace, ('nother done before today project....lol)

Hopefully I will be back really soon, as my own internet connection should be up and running in the next couple of week and ALL of my decorating will be FINISHED..... YEEEEEEEHAAAAAAA...... did I say FINISHED?....... YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

I promise you some photies next visit.... it's taken a long time but the transformation is sooooooo worth it :D

hugs

Chris xx

eeek!! What a shape....rofl

Fed up and painted out I spent the night at pal Chriss' house, after chatting on the phone and totally on impulse, I left my house as I was ...knowing that no matter how I turned up Chrissy wouldn't turn a hair...lol She kindly decided that I should share with you my fantastic new fashion statement.....so took some pics of my fabby designer trousers to share with you... you don't get to see the rest of me....tooooo painful....lolI freaked when I saw this pic.... but believe me that REALLY ISN'T my normal shape...lol My painter trousers have grown a shape and life of their own after six weeks of hand wiping additions. Don't know what cloths are for me :D

Not really doin' any work here... photo is staged... if you look close you can see there's no paint in the tray...lol
Okay that's enuf from me today.... work to be done and all that.... today sanding walls....uuurrrgh... but one step nearer to having some me time and crafting fun... so onwards and upwards as they say :D
Hope you aren't too envious of my designer duds....lol
Have a fab bank holiday all.
hugs
Chris xx

Metal atc's with alcohol inks

Everything is taking soooooo much longer than planned with the decorating etc.... you know the saying 'the best laid plans' an all that!! Well I am beavering away and must admit I am getting sick to the high teeth of looking at paint cans etc but because the walls decided to fall with my latest wallpaper stripping efforts I now have 3 times as much work as originally planned. Lining paper has become the latest must have addition in my quest for a space that is liveable... hopefully it will solve many problems and mean that sooner... rather than later... I will have somewhere to put my sofa so's I can put my feet up for a while.
'tis DD's 27th Birthday today so I have just popped in during a well earned rest before I go help her celebrate with a big fat cream cake and a teensy weensy drink :D Mind you knowing that each year along with DD... I also get older.... doesn't fill me wif glee... specially as half a century is looming... OMG did I say half a century.... ok not for a couple of years yet.... can breathe a little for now...lol
These atc's are ones which I did for my pal Chriss' monthly atc club swap.
All images are from Lisa's altered art

The theme was 'Metal'

Backgrounds were created by running metal through script embossing folder and then adding Tim Holtz alcohol inks.

With just a few adhesive half pearls added in strategic places for added decoration.
I was quite attached to all of these and it was really hard work letting them go. I hope the recipients enjoyed them :D Hope to be back with you all soon cos I am soooooo missing my blog hopping and all your gorgeous creations.

hugs till then

Chris xx

2 down,2 half done and 2 to go.....

places to decorate that is!! Okay the main reason for my absence is that I have moved house and oh boy what a lot of work to do.
2 rooms down, 2 half done and two to go....ooooooer
I have scraped, filled, sanded, painted, laid carpet and burnt the candle at both ends for weeks but hey it will all be worth it in the end. The t.v. program changing rooms don't have a look in...lol There will be lots of pics later but as I'm still borrowing computer time I can't upload anything right now.
My bedrooms are all done... bathroom and staircase almost there.... kitchen getting done(fingers crossed) at weekend and then only one more room to go....... cor I will need a rest after all this.
I must say though the self satisfaction at a job well done is fab.... I'm not very good at delegating cos I'm so bloomin' fussy.... so it serves me right if I'm knackered :D
I'm even considering learning to plaster...ha ha..... well I almost re-plastered the staircase the amount of filler I had to use for the million of holes left once the wallpaper was removed...hummmph.
So while you are having fun with your crafting.... spare a thought for this busy old bird cos curtain making and picture painting will have to suffice for my playtime until my boudoir is complete :D Can't wait to share with you the fruits of my labour but all in good time.

Ok some crafty stuff..... not made lately but luckily I had saved this ready to post before I moved so I would still have something to share with you.
I love wooden beads and I luuuuuurve playing with chain since I started jewellery making but although I was quite good with the set above..... I kinda lost the plot with the bracelet.... I will need someone to help lift the arm I wear this on in the future...lol

Hope you are all well and having fun and I hope to be back with you all real soon if everything goes according to plan.

Off to make curtains now...... wish me luck :D

hugs
Chris xx

atc's

Well I've managed to get online again for a wee while so sharing a couple of atc's I did a while back.... not much crafting going on right now... well unless you count painting walls :D Wish I dared to be as adventurous in my home as I am with my crafty bits.... but I know I would get carried away so I have to stop myself :) I remember once lifting all the floor tiles in another house and deciding to paint the floor with caribean crush paint (in your face orangy peach colour...lol) and then stencilling multi coloured massive flowers in a border all the way round....blimey!! Felt good at the time but I have to put restraints on myself now cos I know that I wouldnt stop at plain colour OR stencilling...lol
A few SAFE experiments on paper to make backgrounds allow me to rein in my mad tendancies at home thankfully.
Images are all from Lisa's altered art.

Thanks for looking.
hugs
Chris xx