Tuesday 24 June 2014

photo bombers

 Hello!
My home at the end of the runway was recently used as a location for a photo shoot. The pictures will appear in a two brand new magazines, Crochet Now and Patchwork Now.
These are new additions to Sewing Now.
I thought I would take the 'tidy house' opportunity and share a few sunny shots.

You may notice a couple of photo bombers and I felt it only fair if I gave the cheeky pair a close-up too.
It is quite obvious that they both love a photo shoot!



new addition - Bella


the kitchen island or as it has now become, Bills' look out


Bill looking out

Both magazines are due on the shelves next month (July).
I am rather excited about being a backdrop and I am kind of hoping that it reignites my love of crochet.

Bella is a miniature schnauzer. We rehomed her a couple of months ago, she is 4.
She is such a good dog and I am enjoying getting out and about with her.
We just spent our first holiday together and she was smiling the whole time!

Thanks for reading. x


Wednesday 7 May 2014

Things...

Well, my new blogging regime has fallen at the first hurdle.
Again, no excuse.
I thought I should pop by, say hi, and simply show you some 'things'.


I recently visited this lovely lady, we did a cool swap, and I came away with some lovely fabric.
This was a while ago, and because of my lazy ways I have only just made them into cushions.
This fab lot are now available here.


Last night I went to the Manchester Craft Mafia LoFi meeting.
Last nights was the last one to be run by the most fantastic Nico, and although I am going to have her in my life forever, I will miss her crafty ways at LoFi.
We always learn a new skill during these sessions, and we always come away with a new creation.
This was last nights, a simple macramé hanger. I am thinking tea-lights and the garden.
I will be making plenty more of these in the future.


At the last Vintage Village fair, I purchase these in-trays, which are now housing a portion of my ridiculously huge magazine collection. 
I am now the administrator for Vintage Village and loving my new role.
There is now a new Vintage Village event held on the 4th Sunday of the month at Old Granada Studios, you can read all about it here.
It is so good. Just like a flea market….but better.
If you can get there, get there!!

I think that is all for now. Thank you for reading. x




Friday 18 April 2014

Where have I been?

Sorry!
I have plenty of excuses for my poor blogging rate. Mr Betty being away, 3 boys taking up my time, new job, new pets, but in all honesty, maybe I have just not felt in the mood.
I decided, on waking this morning, that I would get back to it.
Lets see how it goes!

I though I would start with a few new additions to the home.
(not incl pets).


My son plays rugby so I can quite often find myself in some faraway village on a Sunday morning.
Very often there is nothing to do whilst they train for an hour pre match (why??). A couple of weeks ago he had a match over in Congleton. Not a million miles away but a nice little jaunt.
I parked up, looked to my right, a car boot no less. All of a sudden I was wishing for more than an hour.
After a nice mooch around the car boot, I decided I would attempt to park nearer the rugby pitch, only to find myself parked up outside an Antiques shop. Three floors of treasures to investigate. It was ace.
I watched Joe getting caked in mud for an hour, then hit the antiques once more. I purchased 3 glass jelly moulds….the start of a collection, and a lovely advertising tray. You will see that shortly.

  
These little Rice espresso cups were a gift from Ms Beth Taylor.
I have always had a love for espresso cups, anything mini right?
As luck would have it, now Mr Betty is on a health kick (has been for a while), he has espresso, no milk of course. I can now embrace the purchase of lovely little cups and these have become a permanent fixture in my coffee making zone.


As you may know, I had a new kitchen about 18 months ago. I love it, but it just wasn't working.
You know how kitchens have to have that layout design that stops one walking 4 miles whilst chucking together a hotpot, well, we sort of had that problem.
I was forever moving my table around (ask the kids), trying to get the feeling right.
In the end I just new we needed to go to Ikea….again!
We bought the Stenstorp kitchen island and things are now pretty much perfect.
Of course then I needed some barstools.
I found these online and I absolutely love them.


Just lately I have been collecting theses Observer books.
It is a bit of a trend I know, but I am a sucker for trends and one can quite often find me jumping on passing bandwagons. The lovely thing about this little collection is that people keep gifting me new additions ( thanks Kristy, Emzy and Searsons).
Mr Betty loves Automobiles, Aircraft and Commercial Vehicles. Littlest loves all the nature ones. I love Cacti because it is yellow.


I purchased these in/out trays at Vintage Village. I am now the Vintage Village administrator, I bought these with my new position in mind. They are now housing part of my rather ridiculous magazine collection. I will just have to find some more for my more important paperwork.
I love my new job. I work from home and my boss is also my friend. 
Perfect.


The mini Kewpie is another Vintage Village purchase, couldn't resist.


This is my favourite corner. I am always taking pictures of it and it is always changing.
I am forever rearranging it's contents or adding new finds.
The standard lamp base was bought at the charity shop for £6.
I like the shape of it and it is a welcome addition to my corner of joy.


Here is the tray I was telling you about, purchased from the antiques centre in Congleton.
It is a little bit rusty but I love it.
I have a thing for trays but have recently given myself an 'only round ones' rule. At least they can all be stacked on my new handy kitchen island!!

Thanks for reading. xx

Friday 7 March 2014

Room Swapping

Hello
I have been a very slack blogger of late, sorry.
It has all been a bit hectic round here. Mr Betty has departed on his charity run to The Gambia
(all is going well apart from 27 hours of seasickness).

I am missing him lots but have been kept busy with room changes.
There is a new, rather large addition to the kitchen which I will blog about, and the boys have been swapping rooms.

Middle son who is now massively massive was originally in the smallest room which had lately become 
a bit of a hoohaa….poor boy constantly banging into things.
Littlest and Middle came to an agreement involving something Xbox related and have now exchanged bedrooms.

The small room has had a complete overhaul.
Newly plastered and painted walls, new fancy flooring in a white board effect and a good old sort out.

Here are the results
(excuse the quality, Mr Betty has took my nice camera with him)



fave pinterest idea
spice rack shelf and paper cups - Ikea


mini drawers RAST and spice racks (used for pens) from Ikea
personalised with paint and skull knobs


light chord and shade Clas Ohlsen
cushion made from Abakhans fabric

As usual, it has been completed on a tight budget, re-using lots of existing furniture. Ikea has been very helpful in the budget department!
Orange curtains are pre-loved and the amazing patchwork blankie is from here
I bought the very well priced RAST chest of drawers from Ikea, and changed it by painting the drawers in the wall paint colour, and adding cool skull handles that I picked up at TKMaxx

Littlest absolutely loves his little room although he is yet to sleep in it.
He is filling Mr Bettys bed space for now and keeping me in cuddles.

Next…Middle boys room.
 He wants an industrial theme and luckily I have experience in that ;-)

Thanks for reading. x

Monday 10 February 2014

and the winner is ….

Sorry, this is so late I know.
Due to a trip to London and a rather nasty tummy bug I have only just got to drawing my winner.


and the winner of the book
Congrats, it will be in your hands before you know it.
Thanks to everyone that entered and for all the lovely comments about my TV appearance.
xxx

Tuesday 28 January 2014

The Great Interior Design giveaway


Hello! Just a quickie today.
I have had so much lovely and needed support re The Great Interior Design Challenge that I decided to purchase two of the wonderful books and give one away.
The book is ace, better than I ever expected and of course, my room is in there looking better than I remember.
The book has loads of Interior Design tips for every room in the house and really handy DIY tips including up-cycling projects featured in the show.
The photography is top banana and all the rooms from the heats are featured.
I have just spent a happy afternoon perusing its pages and I know you will love it too.
.
The rules.
Follow me here and leave a quick comment, maybe tell me which room you are planning on designing next?
Alternatively, follow me on IG (Oooh Betty) and leave me a note or even pop over to my Facebook page and give me a like.

I will announce the winner in a weeks time which will be whatever this day is next week. I think it is a Tuesday?
Good luck! X


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday 24 January 2014

The Great Interior Design Challenge - the morning after the night before

hello!
did you watch it last night?
I think the whole series is brill, such a great format.

I filmed the episode back in September, hence the tanned glow and tiny frocks, so it has been a long wait to see the final cut and also to keep it a secret from you.
I have been very controlled in not immediately blogging last night but I always find that a nights sleep is best, particularly when one is on the wrong side of merry.
What I want to get across in this blog post is just the bits that the time constraint forced out on the TV show. There are elements of the design that are important to me and therefore important that I talk about…if you know what I mean. I am not being all serious about it (fat chance) it is just in my head and it needs to come out.

I sprayed the basic Ikea table trestles green. I left Ricardo a little note on the typewriter

  Firstly, let me tell you what my take on Interior Design is, without using Wikipedia, and don't forget I have no experience and no training. This may soon become obvious ;-)
In my mind it is all rather simple.
 Do what the client wants, make their ideas look ace and design the room and its furniture to suit the way they live/use the room. That is basically what I did.
Ricardo wanted a new minimalist look. He did NOT want the hidden storage. We removed the double wardrobes, a massive job might I add. It certainly looked hard work from where I was sitting (with my cappuccino).
I knew that he wanted a grown up desk area and I knew from the start that this would be the perfect space for it. 
The desk would double up as a relaxed eating area because obviously, his table and chairs were now gone (god knows where?).
 I added vintage school stools, that stacked, and could easily be placed around the table for an impromptu gathering. Ricardo looked like an impromptu gathering kinda guy.
I absolutely have to point out that Sophie Robinson mentioned Ricardo had nowhere to place his unsightly bills and paper work, Uh, 2 filing cabinets right there!!


I added some wooden shutters to the window.
This was high on Ricardos wish list.
The sofa (we will hit on that elephant in a mo), is a sofa bed, guests would sleep in this room so he wanted the ability to black out the window. I think the shutters were fab and I know Ricardo was delighted.


I was really keen to add an industrial style light.
I made this using a very basic and low cost mechanics inspection lamp, and added an up to date wire shade. I spray painted the lamp to a dark green shade to tie it in with the other lights.
I am going to make one of these for my house.
The total cost was £18 and you get a really long flex which enables one to hook it and hang it wherever one pleases. I am a great fan of hooking and hanging.



My up cycling appears a little, shall we say half hearted….it probably was, BUT, in my defence with the whole creative thing, I had very little scope to be as creative as I would have wished.
Ricardo wanted very little colour, no pattern and definitely no florals. I was itching to get a stitchin but it forced me out of my comfort zone and I loved that about it.
The TV stand worked brilliantly for all its simplicity and it looked pretty good. Luckily the judges agreed.
From a functional point of view, Ricardo had the problem of lifting his TV out of the way every time he opened up the sofa bed. His new fancy pants, moveable media unit (its getting serious) was the perfect solution. I think he was planning on getting all creative with the crates once we had shipped out so its all good.


The wallpaper…..oh god the wallpaper.
What a hoohaa!
What was I to do? paint the walls grey?
I liked it, I love a bit of drama.
If you are into a bit of faux brick, firstly keep it to yourself and secondly pop on here and you can buy it for just £20 a roll.

the ladder was a hit!




I did buy Ricardo a new sofa within my £1000 budget. It was a second hand find but it was cool, it was a sofa bed and when I was told that he would like to keep his existing one I was not amused.
This soon passed as do most of my emotions.
I had to make the best of the sofa but I know that it would have looked a darn sight better, and more polished, had I got my own way but lets face it, I got my own way with the wallpaper so I really can't complain.

Overall I thought it was a truly great experience.
I got fantastic feedback on Twitter etc
You have been utterly amazing and I have realised more than anything that I have the most wonderful family and friends.
Big congrats to the winner of our heat Luke, well deserved and Dee, if you could only see everything that poor, lovely woman had to cope with you would've cried for her. She coped so well.
My builder Johnny was a diamond, I miss him and I also loved my camera man Charlie. I hope they read this and know I appreciated them.
I am now drawing to the end of my most important speech. If you have read to this point without dozing off then I will send you a free gift ;-)

Thanks for reading. x

lets see Ricardo one more time!

Saturday 18 January 2014

Oooh Betty Peg Doll collection


Hello!
I have been busy over the last couple of weeks trying to decide on what to do next on a creative level.
Maybe wanting a change, and to get away from woodland creatures - not literally!

If you have followed my blog for a while you will know that I love peg dolls, always have.
My little peg doll kits are always a hit at the fairs and they make great gifts for teachers and friends so I decided to extend them into a little Spring/Summer range

I have recently been slightly more involved in Pinterest, using it for boys bedroom ideas and inspiration and I just love all the peg doll creations, some painted to look like a family, some the characters in Star Wars and some just very simple….a bit like mine.

I am sharing my makes today in the hope that you like them and that you can give me some honest feedback. 
I think I am pleased with them.





All my cushions are made using wool fabric and good felt (v.important).
I like the fact that I can make them to suit individual people and families. Quite good as a wedding gift?




night night








create your own style house front
dog tooth fabric handle

use the chalk pen on the inside of the box too!

The pics above are my fave creation.
It is a mini, carry along suitcase doll house.
It is painted in blackboard paint and will come with a chalk pen.
The design on the outside and the inside can be tailored to the owner of the house case.
It comes with the family members of your choice and in the future it can be added to.
I just like my case to be opened on my sideboard.
I am hoping it will appeal to big people and little people.








Finally I have tweaked my peg doll kits a little to fit in with my new range (hark at me with a range).
I will be adding all these items to my Etsy shop today and then hoping for the best!

Thanks for reading and I hope you like x