#Win Yourself A Necklace Made From Recycled Skateboards

Yes, that’s right I did just say that you could win yourselves a necklace made from recycled skateboards!

The person behind this funky idea is Nat and she own’s this unique brand called Thrashion. Nat takes a skateboard deck that has been ridden, treasured then thrashed and turns it into a totally funky unique one of a kind piece of jewellery.

Nat has been making Jewellery and Homewares from thrashed skateboards since 2007 and from what I can gather she’s a real one of a kind, As it seems that there is no other brand like her’s across the whole of Europe!

Nat’s designs feature the original graphics on the board, no paint is added whatsoever, just a clear coat of varnish to preserve the piece.

Thrashion obtains their skateboard decks from various sources, such as pro skaters, friends, skateparks, shops and various skate companies. Boards are donated in their original state and Thrashion do all they can to keep waste to a minimum while constantly coming up with new ideas and designs along the way.

Thrashion have received Donations from Pro skaters such as the likes of ‘Matt Pritchard’ in the past. He loves the brand so much that the man himself was even spotted wearing on of the brands dog tags in a interview posted on youtube…

I love how every piece is a one of a kind! There’s no chance you’re gonna bump into a friend and spot your necklace around their neck (that is unless they borrowed it and have failed to return it).

For me, this is not only a great environmentally friendly idea, that produces cool quirky fashion pieces, but also an art form in itself. Its my opinion that Nat is a very talented artist.

I remember back in the 80’s and early 90’s when my little brother used to ride up and down our street on his skateboard. He actually had a few over the years that I can remember! These always displayed some really funky colourful design that never failed to make him look totally cool and impress all his friends. To think that those skate boards could now potentially be made into his big sisters pendent does make me smile. The fact I was never allowed to go near it let alone touch it, because I quote “I don’t understand Skateboards” admittedly makes me chuckle! Why? Because I may not “Understand Skateboards” but I do understand Jewellery!

I’ve actually never seen anything quite like Thrashion before. Its a great idea that takes upcycling to whole another level. I have to hold my hand up and say “Yes, I do rather like it!”

Thrashion has a site full off unique and interesting statement pieces of jewellery! I’m loving the little heart pendents with the skull graphics. These have to be my favourite! With no two pieces the same, and new skateboards being donated all the time, its a must to check back on their website from time to time for new and exciting pieces. Plus, if they don’t have what your looking for the option of a custom made piece is always an option.

Orders come delivered packaged in cute little cupboard boxes, padded out with paper shreds. All packaging is again 100% recycled to keep the green element within the brand.

The necklace I have to give away here on the blog today has a real funky pendent that is mostly made up of the colours greens, yellows and reds. This doughnut style pendent Has a beautiful shine and is totally smooth finish. Despite its size, it rather lightweight, making it really easy to wear. The pendent measures approximately 6 cms in diameter with a 3 cms opening,
and is supplied on a long length of military issue ball chain which can be cut to size if required.

The prize is certain to make a huge fashion statement amongst friends, family and even work colleagues

So if you want to win this little piece of art that was crafted in a little garage down in cornwall, then just do the following…

Compulsory Action….

Give me one of your greenest tips. It could be a great little upcycle project to that’s kept the land fields free from overload, or maybe a small change you’ve started to engage in to do your but for the environment! Whatever it is just leave a comment along with a valid email address or twitter handle (so, I can contact you if your the lucky winner).

Additional Entries

Additional entries can be gain by doing any of the following. Please not an additional comment must be left for each.

Tweet: “I want to win a Trashion necklace with @Clairelouise82 and @_Thrashion” then comment with the URL to your tweet or additionally your twitter handle.

Like the mummy of many talents new Facebook page. Comment to let me know who you are

Pin this competition on pinterest and then comment with your pins URL

Subscribe to this blog by email (button in located in the sidebar) comment to let me know you have with the same email add.

Competition will close on the 25th April 2012 at 11:59pm. Open to those in the UK only.

T&C… Winners will be drawn at random from all valid entries submitted. Competition open to all those in the UK only. Winners must leave either an email address or twitter handle with their comments so that I can easily contact them in the event that they win. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the winning notification or another winner will be drawn in their place.

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

Homemade Sweetie Jars For Any Occasion

I just thought I’d share some of my latest sweetie jars I’ve put together.

I love these round jars that almost look like fish bowls (a little bigger and these would be perfect for punch).

The round jars have been decorated with pretty self adhesive transfers. One is decorated in a pretty rose design making them the perfect gift for Mother’s Day or a girly birthday gift. This jar is filled with blue and pink Bon bons as well as the classic love hearts. The jar is finished of with the tying of a pretty pink ribbon

The Love Tape is used to secure the lid

The second round jar is decorated with pretty little butterflies and then filled with layers of retro flying saucers, shrimps and bananas and dolly mixtures, making this ideal for the 80’s sweet fan.

Round jars also make perfect table centre pieces for weddings and christening. Once your jar is empty these make ideal storage solutions. I have one or two housing cotton pads and one for beads.

I’ll soon be setting up a site where I’ll be selling a variety of jars filled with sweets and other gifts (pampering goodies, craft kits etc). I’m also planning on making a selection of party bags and Wedding favours.

If that wasn’t enough I’m also thinking about selling items of furniture I refurbish using mostly Annie Sloan paints, as well as other vintage items.

Check out the fantastic jar bottles I’m planning on selling! Absolutely perfect for baby showers. Fantastic don’t you think?

If anyone has any tips on the whole online vintage shop idea, I’d love to hear from you.

#silentsunday (featuring a diva)

Decopatched Valentines Gifts Made With Mod Podge

As some of you who visit the blog may have already guessed, this girl loves hearts, and what with it coming up to valentines day, its the perfect excuse to get crafty with hearts. Today I’ve decided to make some pretty sweetie jars with matching heart magnets.

The Jar is one I’ve had ready to decorate for some time. I brought a few of them on a bric a brac stall at a bootfair last year.

The hearts are made of paper mâché and already have the magnets attached. They are of a good size and once papered, look amazing on the fridge or a magnetic notice board. These can be brought from Hobbycraft and are available both in store and online.

So for this project I used 2 large heart magnets and 1 jar. (Pairing a jar with a magnet to make a gift set)

Both the gift set and Individual magnet have been decorated differently but were both extremely simple to create.

The first Tutorial is for my Retro Heart Magnet and Jar Gift Set.

You will need…

Medium size jar (the type with a glass stopper lid)

Large sized paper mâché heart magnet (Hobbycraft)

Funky heart Decopatch paper (Hobbycraft)

Ultra fine baby blue glitter

Mod podge (Gloss)

Thick – Satin blue ribbon (Baker Ross)

Bright red ribbon (Thin)

Dark red ribbon (medium thickness)

1 Red & 1 blue self adhesive button (baker Ross)

White acrylic Paint

Sweets or other items to fill jar

Tools…

Craft Knife
Scissors
3 Paint brushes (painting, mod podge, glitter)
Small sponge (to wipe excess mod podge)
Ruler
Pencil

First the heart magnet….

1) Give your heart magnet 2 coats of white acrylic paint as abase. Allow to dry in between coats and be careful not to get any paint on the actual magnet as it may affect how magnetic it is.

2) Take a sheet of your Decopatch paper (comes in a packet of three) and cut in half using a craft knife and ruler fir support. Place one piece aside for your jar. Now with a craft knife and ruler cut paper into squares so that you can easily piece them back together like a jigsaw.

3) With Mod Podge or Decopatch glossy glue get Decopatching. I’ve explain the art of using Decopatch to decorate almost any object or surface in numerous post here before. So, without going into to much detail I’ll explain in brief… Basically cover the heart in mod podge, lay the paper onto the heart and apply another layer of glue over the top. For this project you will want the pattern to be perfect (not all mix match) So join the paper together to form the pattern (like wallpapering).
Tips… Only apply the glue to the area you wish to cover, instead gluing each section as you go therefore avoiding any areas starting to dry and becoming tacky.

If you have small areas in need of covering, then patch them up with small strips of paper.

Now leave to dry.

Note. Decopatch Glossy Glue & Mod Podge (gloss) can both be used as a glue sealer and finish. Both glues dry clear and are both easy to use. I’m using mod podge as its much faster when drying.

4) Once dry add another layer of mod podge and leave it for around 20 minutes to dry.

5) Once dry take the dark red ribbon and run it around the sides of your heart starting at the tip. Cut any excess ribbon and then use the mod podge to add the ribbon to the sides of the heart adding a layer of mod podge over the top of the ribbon too.

Leave to dry for 20 minutes or so.

6) Once dry stick your self adhesive buttons to the front of your heart like so. Now place to one side.

Now for the jar….

7) Bring forward your other half of Decopatch paper and wrap it around your jar. Start around 5 centimetres down from the neck of your jar so that the paper stops 3/4 of the way up leaving a small area unpapered. Only once you are sure its right add mod podge directly to the jar applying the paper as you go. (Apply the paper as a whole by rotating the glass, gluing and papering as you go). You will notice that you have a little excess paper at the bottom of your jar. Don’t worry! This will be removed soon. Now, add a top layer of mod podge over the top of the paper (ignoring the excess paper) and leave to dry for 20 minutes. Once dry add another top layer of mod podge and sit to dry for the same amount of time as before.

8) Once your jar is papered and the mod podge is dry the paper will be stronger and look very glossy. Now use you scissors to remove any excess paper from the bottom of the jar as to tidy it up.

9) apply mod podge around the top section of paper like a boarder. It only needs to be as thick as your thin red ribbon. Wrap the ribbon around the top of the paper and wipe any excess mod podge quickly with a sponge, to avoid it drying. Now apply mod podge over the top of the ribbon again wiping away excess as you go. Leave to dry for around 15 minutes.

10) Now mix some mod podge with lots of the baby blue glitter. Apply this to the inner section of the jar that is still visible. Also apply some around the neck and top rim of your jar. The mod podge will dry clear leaving a crystallised glittery effect. Drying time is longer as the glue is thicker and no paper is applied. Mine took a few hours to dry fully.

11) once dry tie your blue ribbon around the neck of the jar into a pretty bow.

Dried Mod Podge Mixture

12) for the top section of the lid, place the lid face down on some heart Decopatch paper and with a pencil lightly draw around it. Once done carefully cut out the circle with a craft knife. Decopatch your cut out circle to the top of the jar again adding two top layers of mod podge to the top of the paper. Leave to dry for 20 minutes.

13) Fill with Sweets or anything else you like (tea lights, makeup, pamper goodies, cookies) and fit lid.

Now just use some pretty tissue paper to wrap your heart and jar, place in a pretty gift bag ready to give as a gift.

Fabric Flower Power Heart Magnet

You will need…

1 Large paper mâché heart magnet (Hobbycraft)

Some funky flower fabric (enough to cover heart) Mine is from eBay

Medium thick orange ribbon (Baker Ross)

3 Self adhesive buttons that coordinate with your fabric (I used red, yellow, baby blue) from Baker Ross

White acrylic paint

Mod podge

Tools…
2 brushes (for paint and mod podge)
Scissors
Craft Knife
Ruler

1) Paint heart in white paint as before.

2) use a ruler and craft knife to cut fabric into two pieces one 3/4 in size and the other 1/4 in size. Use ruler to support fabric as you cut. Remove any frying.

3) cover 3/4 of your heart in mod podge placing the 3/4 piece of fabric on top at an angle so that only a 1/4 of the heart is left to cover. If fabric comes over the edges trim or just stick down as I have done. Add mod podge to both the heart and the top layer of fabric just as we did the decopatch paper.

4) Mod podge other 1/4 of heart and add the other half piece of fabric joining the pattern. Again add a coat of mod podge to the top layer of fabric working in the same way as the first piece. Leave to dry for around 20-30 minutes.

5) Once dry add the ribbon to the sides of the heart as we did for our retro patterned heart above. Leave to dry for 10-15 minutes.

6) Now stick on your three buttons like so and you’re heart magnet is set to go.

So… There you have it. Some fantastic Valentines handcrafted inspiration.

Have you made anything for Valentines Day?

Upcycle – Shabby Chic Spice Rack & Jars

Now we all know how much I love to find treasure at jumble sales, bootfairs and charity shops. Its become a great little hobby of mine, I must admit.

A few weeks back I discovered a wooden spice rack with 12 cute glass jars, all with horrible wooden lids. Now, this definitely wasn’t the prettiest of spice racks, but somehow I had my shabby specs on & could see past its less than attractive appearance! In fact, this shabby dark rack and its jars were now a vision of beauty within my mine and for just pennies (50 of them to be precise) I just couldn’t walk away without it.

So, the spice rack became another of my vintage finds, one needing a bit of tender loving care! So a plan unravelled in my head. One involving antique creams and bright reds, gingham & spotted hearts. I was gonna transform this spice rack into something gorgeous.

Here’s what I used…

Antique white acrylic paint
White acrylic paint
Red Santa acrylic paint
6 red gingham wooden hearts (self adhesive)
6 red spotted wooden hearts (self adhesive)
Mod Podge (Gloss)

Tools…
Large & Small paint brushes
Sand Paper (100 grit)
Sponge (make up sponge for mod podge)

Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the old spice rack all set up and looking horrid. However from the step by step images that include all the parts (yes, rack, jars and lids) you can clearly see why it needed an upcycle.

first step was to prepare the rack and wooden lids for painting. I did this by first washing my wood with warm soapy water. I dried them fully and then gave them all a good rub over with the sand paper. The last step was to remove all traces of any sand paper dust with a small brush before finally giving it another wipe over with a damp cloth.

Once my rack & all 12 wooden lids were all clean and dry I was technically ready to apply a prima to my rack, however, I felt that it wasn’t really needed so instead I skipped this step and went right on to applying my first coat of antique white paint.

I used the biggest brush to paint on the paint but used the smaller brush to paint the racks corners and edges.

If you want to do this then Its important to remember to paint just one thin layer of paint, leave to dry and then paint on another layer this way you won’t end up with drip and brush marks.

I ended up giving my rack 4 coats of the antique white paint and did start to wonder why I ever thought I could skip painting them white beforehand so didn’t make the same mistake with my lids.

With this I painted my 12 jar lids in 2 coats of white paint as a base coat and left to dry.

Once my white paint was dry I then went on to give my 12 jar lids 2 coats of ‘Santa Red’ letting them dry for around 20 minutes between coats.

Once dry all lids got a coating of mod podge that I applied with my thick makeup sponge.

The next step was to add some character to my rack and shabby it up a little. With the 100 grit sand paper I rubbed it along the edges of my stand, removing some of the paint to reveal the dark wood underneath. This gave the impression of age, making the rack look as though it had encountered natural ware over the years.

Next I made sure all dust was removed from my rack with a brush and a damp cloth. With my sponge I then gave my rack a layer of good old mod podge.
Mod podge is great and will give my rack a nice coat of protection.

Making sure all jars were nice and clean I then applied the 6 self adhesive gingham hearts and 6 spotted hearts to the middle of my 12 jars. I gave these a layer of mod podge for protection.

Finally I lined all 12 jars onto my rack, gingham, spots, gingham… and so forth and then stood back to admire.

At this point you can add pretty ribbon or thread 12 miniature tags through some twine, adding the names of you’re spices to the tags before looping them over the jars. This is optional! I didn’t feel the need to do this as I’m pretty good at knowing whats what… Plus if I’m ever in doubt a quick sniff always sorts it out.

So… There it is… My antique white spice rack with a splash of Santa red. I’m really pleased with the results and the difference is actually really big considering I’ve only used a few items to help form this transformation.

Talking of transformations, I’m currently refurbishing a number of furniture items I’ve brought for my bedroom. I’m using Annie Sloan chalk paint and clear wax and hope to share my progress of the next few days.

As for my shabby upcycle, I would love to hear your thoughts?

From The Jumble To eBay – How To Buy To Sell

Firstly, I’m not one of those mad nutty spammers talking about how to make money online… But I do have some tips on how to make money via eBay and it all starts at your local jumble sales, bootfairs and the odd charity shop.

Its all about shopping to sell, not on the high street (well that is unless there is a great little charity shop there). Jumble sales are your best bet though, whether held at the local church hall or in the school playground, these babies house a treasure trove of bargains. Every jumble sale i’ve ever been to, I’ve never left with no less than a few black bags that are normally bursting at the seams. You can bet your life on it that I’ve also spent no more than a fiver. I recently filled a huge black bag for £3 and I’ve almost ebayed the lot. Items from this bag that instantly spring to mind that sold well on eBay are that of a Boden dress (women’s) £16, river island jeans £12, tweed girls coat from monsoon £22, Jane Norman jeans £10 and a pair of infant converse that sold for £18. Look at the statistics here… This is all from my £3 bag of jumble sale finds.

Of course you have to know what your looking for. I suggest you scan eBay to find whats selling well at the time. But there are always certain items and brands that never seem to let you down. Here’s some I suggest…

Children’s Clothing…
Next (I’ve found that girls items do particularly well as do boys coats and knits).
Mini Boden (kids jeans are a winner as are girls dresses)
Brand Tracksuits (Nike and Adidas, especially in baby and toddler sizes)
Monsoon dresses & coats
Ralph Lauren (especially baby and toddler sizes)
Converse ( mainly high tops and rare pairs).
John Rocha and other designers for Debenhams
Popular Character wear (whatever is big at the time, example… Peppa pig, bob the builder, Thomas the tank engine, mike the knight).

Women’s clothing…
Boden (again especially jeans)
Donna Karen
Zara
Jane Norman (I’ve done well with coats and jeans)
River island (jeans do well)
Coast (dresses)
Lipsy (dresses)
Onesies are currently selling well (even those from Primark)
Levi’s (vintage, cut offs)
Vintage & Retro items of clothing (examples… denim, retro printed tees, Sequinned tops)
Festive wear in the summer time (includes vintage finds, floor sweeping dresses, boohoo inspired fashion)

Men’s clothing…
Levi’s (Vintage Red label 501 are a winner)
Ralph Lauren (especially the tops with the big logo)
Vintage leather beats
Rare converse

Accessories…
Vintage leather bags
Oversized vintage weekend bags
Cath Kidston bags and purses
Vintage costume jewellery
Shoes (Dune and Office do great)
Ralph Lauren Green Holdall (the one I’m actually referring to was given away with aftershave from the fragrance store back in June. It can fetch between £70-£100 on eBay)

Ralph Lauren Bag given away free with fragrance.

Toys…

Vintage toys… Old matchbox car, Barbie, Sindy, Lego sets (rare) Play Mobile, Dr Who, He Man, Thunder Cats, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Lucky Trolls, Toy Dummies on necklace… 80’s toys (All boxed and unboxed)

Current Toys…
Whatever is Highly popular at the time of selling… Currently I’ve found these toys to bring in good money… First edition monster high dolls especially that of Holt Hyde. Others include… Gillington Gil Webber (Skull Shores) Torelei (first edition) Jinafire Long (hard to find new character) Jackson Jekyll and Deuce (Scaris). I have witnessed all make a good amount of money on eBay, Holt Hyde more so than any.

I’ve not personally sold any monster high dolls, my daughter is a huge fan and I just seem to be buying them hence the reason I know.

The differences when buying items to sell on eBay at Jumble Sales, Bootfairs and Charity Shops

Jumble Sales… Its in my opinion that Jumbles are the best places to find great selling items at very little spendage (yes, I’m aware that isn’t a real word). Vintage clothing and accessories are relatively easy to find at car boots and jumbles as are well known high street and even designer brands. Jumble sales normally sell items of clothing for around 20p-50p an item with a lot of the time that sum often being less. This is regardless of the brand name or condition. You will often find that sellers at the jumble sale will do you a great deal on filling a bag or two (example £1 a large bag of clothes). Most jumble sales are made up of donations, often given by those wishing to get rid of items quickly for lack of storage or those who have more money than sense (I only say this as I’ve picked up newly tagged expensive items that eBayers have snapped off me in a heartbeat). Its not just clothing that jumble sales are great for but toys, brick a brac and pretty bone china.

Bootfairs… These are also great places to visit and bargains can be easily obtained. However, sellers normally sell their own personal items rather than donations and therefore ask for more money as a result. I find that by visiting stalls on a cold wet day when sellers are just itching to get in the car and leave (round about packing up time) is the best time to grab bargains. Sealed makeup, good handbags and collectable toys have been some of my greatest finds.

Charity Shops… These can offer great little finds but are likely to offer the least selling profit of all. Charity shop workers are much more on the ball these days when it comes to brands and what people are looking for. However, this does tend to be seen more across the big store chains such as Cancer research or Mind. There are still some great little charity shops out there that are selling children’s clothes for a quid and adults £2 an item…. You just have to find them. Villages and slightly remote places have fabulous little charity shops. Those outside of the big town centres will always offer more for your pennies. My best charity shop buy recently, was infant converse (2 pairs) for my 3 year old. These looked almost new yet I paid only £1 for each pair. I plan to sell these on eBay once Harley has grown out of them and although they will likely sell for less, these will probably fetch more than a quid a pair.

So… Have you ever spotted anything for a bargain at any of these places and then gone on to sell them on eBay making a tidy profit as a result? If so I’d love to hear what! It might sound crazy but some people are actually making a good income this way.

Would you buy to sell?

Jumble Sale Finds – The Ultimate Treasure

This week I again visited a Jumble Sale that was also running an auction.

Here’s whats I found…

Jumble Sale…

Darjeeling From Twinings Stacked Tea Tin

This very pretty stacked tea tin in blue and white with gold top opens into 4 different sections. Its extremely pretty and decorative and I think it would be the ideal tin to store crafty things like pins and buttons. Of course it was a total jumble sale bargain at just 20p

Decorative Lead Crystal Twinklet pots and jars

two of these twinklets are most definitely lead crystal and the other is just pretty decorative glass I think (but still rather heavy in weight). I gave these a clean so they would really shine and now they are ready to dress up my new dressing table which I’ll be getting in the new year. Maybe these could house bobby pins or cotton buds. Im currently using one to store my rings in. Again these were a total jumble sale bargain. I paid 50p for one and the other two I got for £1.30 for the pair.

Tall Traditional Sweet Jar

This reminds me of the vintage jars housed in a traditional sweet shop… You know… The ones who used to sell sweets from a jar, weighed on a proper scale. I’m not referring to them many online stores that sell “retro” sweets. I’m talking monkey nuts, bonbons and cough candies sold by the quarter! Well, if I’m not mistaken, I think this jar is probably just that… A vintage sweetie jar. Its perfect as a source of storage or maybe the framework for a homemade gift for a friend or family member. This is nice and tall so you could layer sherbets and other sweets or maybe create a pamper jar filled with handmade bath bombs, face packs and shop brought makeup miniatures… The possibilities are endless.

So… How much was my sweetie jar? At 40p I found it more than reasonable.

Auction Buys

Art Deco Vintage Glass Lamp

At the auction I picked up this stunning glass and crystal lamp. It looks very vintage and Art Deco and i just love it. This was actually buried in a box of lamps and lamp shades, so therefore auctioned as part of a large lot! Unless you had a good dig round before the action began, you wouldn’t have even known it was in there… Well I didn’t till I found myself bidding for a box of random lamps that I was hoping to use for a craft project! Maybe that’s why it came home with me for just a quid!!! Yep one of my best ever finds… My stunning £1 lamp!

I love the reflection the light makes on the walls and ceiling, it really is very pretty.

As for the other lamps in the box, it was the shades I was biding for. I wanted to upcycle them with the use of fabric off cuts and buttons. Nonetheless… This remains on my “To Do List” but I’ll most defiantly share the results when I do.