Vintage Wallpaper Covered Notepads & Pencils

 Last weekend we celebrated my eldest son's 4th birthday with a Jungle Safari party (More posts coming on that later!). I gave some notepads and pencils a make over to fit with the theme, so I thought I'd share the process with you.

Vintage Wallpaper Covered Notepads & Pencils. 

1. Gather your materials

Cover paper. I used a vintage wall paper that I have been hoarding for years.
Glue. I used lampshade glue because the covers of the notepads were a little shiny, and I didn't want    to risk the paper and the cover separating.
Notepads
Scissors
Pencil
Fine nosed pliers

2. Bend the end of the wire coil so that it opens up into a spiral like the rest of the wire.

3. Wind the wire coil out and set aside. Do this to all of the notepads.

4. Trace the cover onto your paper. I noticed that the bottom of each note pad was cut slightly different, so I just decided to go with a rectangle and tidy up the shape later.

5. Apply glue to the notepad cover and invert it face down onto the back of the wall paper.

6. When the glue is sufficiently dried (I went and did a few other things around the house while I waited about 30 mins), turn it face down and using your hole punch (I've had mine for YEARS, but I found one for you here), make a hole where each of the original covers holes are.

7. Replace the cover, and bend the wire coil end back to it's original position.

8. Admire your handy work! :)

I also covered pencils to go with the whole Safari theme  ~ and I loved the result!!! I enjoyed it so much I may even cover a few more in time. :) All I did was use a strip of paper (the receipt from the pencils actually!), cut it to the length of the timber, and then wrapped it around till I had a tight fit for the pencil. I measured it, and cute the strip to that width. I double checked the fit on the pencil (You don't want to have to alter the fit once it is glued on the pencil!!!), and then marked and cut strips from the wall paper to match. I covered the back of the wall paper in PVA since it was going on to bare timber, lay the pencil on top, and rolled it on. Then I smoothed it with my finger to make sure there were no bubbles. And there you have it ~ matching notepads and pencils!  :)

Happy Creating! :)

S xxx

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Sunshine in My Mailbox

Hi there! I've been a bit quiet of late, haven't I? There has been quite a bit going on though - I assure you. I will post about it all in time. I was just looking through some of the photos that I have taken, and realised that I never showed you what I received from my partner in the Sunshine in the Mail Swap!!! Tsk tsk. The fabulous Haylee from Rainbows In Wonderland sent me a package that made me smile so much! I feel very blessed to have her as a partner.

Here it is in all it's glory.

A cool Polaroid Notes card and a handmade envelope. ( I love her envelope idea - I think I may have to try it at some point). Don't you just love that card? I'm going to have a look online and see if I can find some of them for myself!

Minted note cards and envelopes in a box. These are cool. I have seen them in magazines like Real Living (one of my fave mags at the moment), and I can't wait to use them!

Massachusetts Strawberry Jam that she picked up at a farmer's market in New York City (AKA as her fave place in the world. :) ) The jam reminds her of spring, as her mum always makes strawberry jam around that time.

She made me a Christmas apron out of tea towels! How clever is that? And if you want to think about the clever factor even more... try sewing with one hand. I don't want to wish the spring away (It's one of my favourite seasons!), but I'm really looking forward to wearing this apron this year while I dance around the kitchen listening to crazy music and making fudge or something (TMI?).

Last but not least, she spoilt me with a tiny little jar of Nutella that she found in Italy when she was there a couple of months ago. I think when it is empty, I might fill it with beads or something and sit it on my desk to remind me of Haylee (yep, I'm saving it for a special occasion!).

Thanks Haylee for a wonderful, sunshiny package! It really made my day (yes, there were squeals of excitement!) :)

Hope you are having a sunshiny day too!

S xxx

Vintage Wallpapered Frame + Tutorial

You might have noticed that I have been a bit scarce around these parts lately. It's partly due to the fact that I've been a bit preoccupied with a friend and her newborn baby, who at around 1 week of age is going in for surgery today. We are praying that there is a successful outcome from today and that she will grow rapidly stronger.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a quick peek at what is going on behind the scenes at Seaweed & Raine headquarters, and share a quick tutorial with you (quick in that there's not a lot of instruction... the process took me a little while to do though).

Jellyfish is turning 4 in a couple of weeks, so there is lots of planning going on.

Vintage Wallpapered Frame.

I suppose there are lots of ways that you could do this, but here is what I did.
Gather your materials.

Yes, this is a Kidney dish. It's stainless steel - so great for clean-up.

Timber frame ( found on a thrifty adventure)
Vintage wallpaper sample in your desired pattern
Screwdriver
Small nosed pliers
Sand paper & block
PVA glue (I did consider both Mod Podge and wall paper paste - both of which I have, but I wanted the strength not so slippery factor of PVA)
Paintbrush
Exacto knife (or similar)

1. Remove screws and wire from the frame, then take out the staples that hold the back in the frame. Save these. (Find a place to stash the glass and backing board of the framed work so that they don't get damaged).
2. Lightly sand the frame to give the glue something to grip on to.

3. Measure your frame, then measure your wall paper sample to give you enough to wrap around the frame. I used the rule of thumb "measure twice cut once". (Mine was 4.9cm wide strips)

6. Mark the wall paper and cut into strips.

I started the next part in the corner. You don't have to, it was just a starting point for me.

6. Mitre the corner of the first strip at a 45 degree angle. Cut off surplus wall paper. Glue the strip on the inside of the frame first. (I did try it the other way, but this gave a neater finish).

When this is dry, add glue to the front plane of the frame and smooth the wall paper over it. Leave it for a few minutes and then glue the outside edge and back.

Continue this the whole way around the frame. It's not rocket science. I did make a few mistakes as I went, but thankfully the busy nature of the wallpaper print is fairly forgiving.

Now sit back and admire your handy work! Ta - dah!!! :)

(N.B. Yes I realise I have put the hanging wire on in an odd way for the photo, it was intentional as the frame is going on a little adventure outside before having the glass cleaned and put back in.)

Hope you are having a fabulous day!
S xxx

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Raisin & Walnut Rice Salad

The other day (When the weather was a LOT warmer!), I was digging through my recipes when I came across this little number in my Nourishing cook book.  Since my little visit to the ER I have been looking for more low fat recipes to try (getting healthier ;) lol) and since this one says it only has 12g of fat total (which is olive oil anyway), I thought it was a good candidate.

The only change that I would make when I make it again (Which I WILL), would be to use 1/2 a Spanish Onion in stead of a whole one (it was a bit strong), or double everything else! :)

Recipe found online here.

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