New Item Friday

A Vase for your Mother Day flowers - check out it out HERE

I have another busy weekend ahead of me. On Saturday I will be in Cardiff as part of a belated Christmas present/mothers day event. Myself, my Mum and the mother and sister in law are all going to see the ballet Sleeping Beauty at Cardiff Millennium centre. It will be the first time I have ever seen the ballet and I'm really looking forward to spending time in Cardiff with my Mum.

On Sunday I will be working at Stourhead all day, and for anyone that has forgotten, it will be Mothers Day! I won't get the opportunity to spent much time with my Mum (I'm hoping the Saturday will make up for it) but don't forget to send a little love their way.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
xx

Before & After: Metal Frame Chair

This is another example where stripping back the layers slowly can bring up some fantastic surprises.

I bought this simple metal framed chair because I felt it had simple charm. But I confess, I did not like the material on the back and seat. Although its orange, and I love orange, I felt it needed something a bit more colourful.

With the intention of re-covering it, I started by slowly removing the layers of fabric on the seat and back, and what did I discover underneath? A gorgeous original red fabric!

Unfortunately, there was a sticky residue on the surface and some small holes, so it was decided that the chair would need to be recovered.

I removed the seat and the back rest and took off all the old layers and stuffing. I recovered everything with a modern fabric in a lovely retro print. I sanded down the metal frame and repainted it. I put everything back together and we have a gorgeous little chair.

I took it to a market the other weekend and it got a great response. Fingers crossed it will find a lovely new home soon.
xx

Shade on Shape

I have discovered a lovely little shop on etsy that has some very eye catching things for sale.

Shade on Shape have gone for a very bold design style with that touch of retro and vintage which I just can't resist. Their choice of colour combinations is gorgeous! Their range is small at the moment, but I will be very interested in seeing how their products grow in the future. In the mean time, $19 for that Home Sweet Home print is looking very tempting!
xx

Hobbies Weekly

I have had a very busy weekend - a market on Saturday and work with the National Trust on Sunday. By Sunday evening I had talked so much that my throat was starting to feel a little scratchy. A good lie in this morning did me the world of good and I feel fighting fit to face all the challenges that are being thrown at me. I meant to post this particular blog last week but, as usual, time got away from me, but before I go into details let me give you the background first.

 A few months ago I went to an auction house here in Frome and found a card board box hidden in the back filled with hundreds of copies of an old pamphlet/magazine called Hobbies Weekly. I had never seen the magazine before but it was filled with the most wonderful content about making things for your home and things like house hold maintenance and tips. On the off chance, I left a bid and actually won!

So, what to do with hundreds of magazines? Well, I have decided to digitise them to share with you all! This will become a regular feature here at Springy Beard and I've decided to call it '57 years ago today'. Our first instalment is actually dated from the 29th February 1956 (hence, I should have listed it last week and possibly started this whole thing on a leap year!). Each issue is full of the most amazing projects, handy tips and also some very nostalgic adverts and advice. I hope you enjoy flicking through them as much as I do and please let me know if you manage to complete any of the projects.

P.S. Please remember that this is a vintage magazine so some of the materials used may no longer be suitable or comply with current heath and safety regulations. Please be careful and check out all materials for modern equivalents. We can not be held liable for any injuries incurred, but please don't injure yourself!

New Item Friday

Head over to the shop HERE to check out these lovely tea and sugar pots

I am in need of a very strong cup of tea with something chocolate related. I have just received my new phone through - Yay!!! - but have just spent the last 2 hours trying to set it up and get my number transferred. Two hours! I'm not even changing provider, I just wanted a new shiny phone! I had one guy who was so utterly useless I actually said 'can you just pass me on to someone else'.

I'm exhausted, flustered, angry.......need chocolate.

Tomorrow we will be at a new market in Bristol with Retrolex. I haven't done a Saturday market before (I've done a weekend fair but haven't heard of many markets on a Saturday?) so it will be interesting to see how this goes.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
xx

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

We have developed a slight obsession lately with pineapple upside down cake.

It started when I wanted to make a nice cake to take to a friends for dinner back in January. I thought it would be nice to have something fruit based that was a bit retro. My mind immediately went to upside down cakes and pineapple flavour was my first choice. I followed the recipe found over at Smitten Kitten - which is a fantastic food blog - the only catch was we didn't have any dark rum so I used alcoholic Ginger Wine instead!

It turned out a huge success and I have been making this pineapple with ginger wine cake every other week ever since. And tonight, when I have had a long cold day at work amongst objects and dust, a slice of warm cake with cream really brings me back to life.

Mmmmm......
xx

Tutorial: Covering a Container with Odd Sized Paper

This is a very simple and quick project for you today. I find it very useful to keep containers to store all my bits and bobs in, but it is always nice to decorate them and make them a bit more fun. One of my birthday presents was wrapped in a gorgeous orange paper which I couldn't resist keeping. I also picked up a really nice size container from work (which originally held coffee). The problem was that the paper I had was too tall for the container and did not wrap all the way round. Even if I cut the paper the pattern would not match up along the join. Hmm...What was to be done?

Well, I have a solution for any one out there with the same problem.

YOU WILL NEED:

• Container
• Paper of your choosing
• Ruler
• Scissors or a guillotine
• Glue (PVA or a decoupage glue)
• Brush

METHOD:

1. The first thing to do is measure the height of your container.

2. You then need to cut your paper to this measurement so that you should have a strip that wraps part way round the container.

3. Using the left over bit of paper measure out and cut another strip of paper at the same height. You should end up with 2 bits (or possibly more) of paper that are the right height for the container but the pattern does not match up probably when wrapped around.

4. Take your guillotine or scissors and start cutting strips of the paper. You can keep them all the same width if you want a uniformed look but I went for different widths and mixed it up a bit.

5. You should end up with a pile of strips of paper.

6. Next, start sticking your paper to your container. Using the brush paint on some glue and pick strips of paper at random. Once you have covered the entire container leave the glue to dry.

7. To help seal everything in apply a coat of glue over the top of the paper. If you are using PVA it would probably be worth while watering it down a little bit to help give you a nice even coat.

And your container is covered and ready to be used, even though your original paper was not the right size. Mine is all ready to keep my scraps of ribbon in. A very useful little tip I think.
xx