Wednesday 26 February 2014

Something Old, Something New

Only one month and fifteen days until our wedding!! 
It's coming around so quickly, and all the bits and pieces are now finally coming together. We've been busy gathering things for the day and making stuff, but I don't want to put all of it up here as otherwise I'll spoil the surprises for those going! I am, however, prepared to just show you all what I've come up with for my bridesmaids to carry all their essentials in on the day.
Charly and Alex are two of my oldest, bestest friends from secondary school, and will be keeping me calm on the day! Alex married last year, and Charly and I were honored to be bridesmaids to her also. We had these clutch bags on the day, which compliment Alex's purple thistles and white roses theme in our flowers:
It's a nice clutch, and a good size. But I own nothing cream and can see very few occasions when I'd use it again. I've been looking for clutch bags for the girls on the day, but wondered whether we might be able to give these a second lease of life by including my peacock feather theme. The girls have white roses in their bouquets also, so it should compliment it perfectly.

First I removed the flowers, which came off without too much effort. There was a lot of glue residue though, so the peacock feather needed to cover some of that up.
Cut your feather with enough of the stalk remaining so that the glue has something to bond to.
AWESOME TIP: To make your feather look extra beautiful and fanned out, simply boil your kettle and hold the eye of the feather over the steam. It will open out and look gorgeous!

Add a dab of all-purpose, extra strong glue to the front of the bag and position the feather to your taste. In this case, I needed it to cover the old glue, which the fan of the feathers does beautifully.
Then get out your BUTTONS!!! (Because this wouldn't be a Button Brown crafty-make without them!!) I've picked out three smallish buttons that compliment the colours in the feather's eye. Dab on your glue and press them slightly so that they bond with the feather and bag.
And that's basically it! It was that simple! Something Old transformed into Something New, which cost me absolutely nothing. Peacock feathers can be quite expensive to buy from shops, but I got these smaller 'craft' bunches from Ebay for a competitive price for 100 of them. Worth checking it out.

I have one more of these to make and then I can put them away into my Wedding Bits Box. I have not one, not two, but THREE fabulous hen parties organised for next month, so I will no doubt be back with more little projects involving feathers before then!

Until then, stay happyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!

BB xx







Saturday 15 February 2014

One Man's Trash...

I am absolutely BUZZZZZZZZING right now!! You will all be familiar with the following scenario: You've filled up your car with all the stuff you are going to take to the dump, maybe you're having a clear-out or just have leftover rubbish that needs to be dumped. You arrive at the dump and rid your car of that all 'junk'... only, as you throw it on to the top of the skip, you notice maybe a piece of furniture or useful item that you simply Can Not Believe someone has thrown away!! But... You can't have it! Because they be the Rules of the Dump. UNTIL TODAY...

Aston Clinton's Household Waste and Recycling Centre have now opened an area where they are selling useable and decent quality items in aid of raising money for South Bucks Hospice, a local charity, in order to rebuild the hospice building. They not only re-sale furniture items like chairs, cabinets, tables and office furniture, but also some toys, photo frames (some with the photos/certificates still in them! Very interesting!) and unbroken crockery. There were an array of bicycles for sale, all in good condition, as well as large containers with shelf upon shelf of tvs, computers, laptops, hoovers, electrical goods (all PAT tested) at seriously low prices.


Not sure who would want the weird squeaky deer toy...??
 I have no idea why EVERY DUMP doesn't do this!! It's absolutely genius! As a country we generate about 177 million tonnes of waste that goes to land refill every single year, which causes environmental damage and is a poor use of resources on our part. There should be much, much more of this kind of thing. Especially as it's SO CHEAP:
Dressing table stool - £3!!

Two large photo frames, to be used as a table plan and information boards at my wedding - £1 EACH!!
I've been searching for a vanity table stall since I got my charity shop vanity table. I have seen things, but for quite a bit of money, and I also wanted something individual to me. I am so pleased with this, and got right on to 'upcycling' it when we got home. This was my first ever attempt at doing this sort of thing, but it's already given me the confidence to go ahead and supe-up my dining room chairs. Have a look... whatcha think?

The finished article! Well proud, innit.
The fabric was actually an old scarf of mine that I don't wear as it's not quite long enough to wrap around my neck. I had to pull out the staples and take off the green carpet on the top of it, and then used a staple gun to put the scarf square on top. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube, I would have logged a better explanation here but I was too excited!
We also bought a dart board which needs some serious TLC - it's filthy!! - but we also only paid a rock bottom £3 for it. Tom plans to put it up in the garage for boys night's... of course.
It's literally just been such a great day, it's made me remember why putting the effort into looking for this stuff is so worth it, as now I have something that is unique to me, and will put me on a creative path to trying even more out. Love it.

What have you done that's creative this week??

BB xx



Sunday 9 February 2014

Dedicated to my Hero of the Hour

For those of you who tuned into Channel 5 this week you will have witnessed the somewhat lively debate about the welfare system in this country called The Big Benefits Row... and a row it was indeed! If you haven't watched it, get it on Catchup and have a look. Whatever you think about people on welfare and using food banks, you can't blame anyone trying to make our lives easier by coming up with some money-saving, healthy ideas to keep us going through these hard times.
Enter Jack Monroe (www.agirlcalledjack.com) who was there to fight the corner of those who find themselves really needing those services. Now she has a successful blog, recipe book and column writing about how to get the most out of your food, and is now appearing - well deservedly - in Sainsbury's adverts, with delicious recipes on a budget. Makes a change from seeing Jamie's smug face on there! Jack was on the Big Benefits Row with an aim to making people aware that those using the food banks don't want to be using them, but needs must. When you have young children to feed and have to survive yourself on so little, why wouldn't you use them? Edwina Currie, however, sees it differently, and admitted live on tv that she felt no shame that this country has been reduced to being so reliant on such resources. Instead of letting Jack explain how they work, she attacked her newly earned success and her family - with hilarious results - and made herself look like an utter fool. It just proves how out of touch she and her party really are with The Real World.
Jack, complete with tattoos!
Since this programme, I have talked about Jack to pretty much anyone who will listen to me! I just think she's wonderful - Jack, You Are Wonderful!! - and so I decided to make one of her recipes this weekend to share with you all as a toast to her campaign and what she stands for.
Funnily enough, it's getting to the end of the month and money is quite tight this weekend. Jack's carrot, kidney bean and cumin burgers require ingredients that tend to hang around in your veg draw or in your dry store cupboards, and to my utter delight I had them all!
Follow the recipe in the link above, and this is what you get:
The photo's don't do them justice, but they are so delicious! I sadly didn't have salad left to have with them, but in a wrap with a little spread of mayonnaise they made a great option for a light Sunday afternoon snack.
The recipe states to use 1 carrot, but I had 2 hanging around so I used them both up, making 6 burgers from the mix. I plan on freezing these 4 for another time. They're reeeeally yummy, give them a try!

I hope this post doesn't come across too gushing! But whilst in the middle of a social work course, where all my original beliefs and morals are being systematically turned on their heads, this woman and her cause just make so much sense to me. She is one of many people out there who understand and recognise what it's like to work your damn butt off for what feels like so little back sometimes. I also completely believe that if poverty-stricken families were given vital education around how to cook and eat nutritiously and on a budget, we wouldn't be in as big a mess as we are. Bear in mind that a majority of Jack's recipes were created out of what she got given in those food bank parcels, and having worked with food bank recipients quite recently, I know that the parcels are put together to give as nutritionally balanced a meal as possible. They include the important food groups, but it's about knowing how to use them.

Spread the word, spread the love... and Fight The Power.

BB xx