Xmas Dino Bike #1

This year, tippy top of Liam's Christmas wish list was a Dino bike. Not just any Dino bike but this one we'd seen on craft blog! 

Secretly I was thrilled Liam chose something that would get my creative juices flowing! I love a challenge and love trying something new! I've never spray painted before let alone stripped a bike down and rebuilt it! Please excuse the lighting and poor quality photos. Being a Christmas present, I worked on the bike on an evening when Liam was asleep so not to spoil the surprise. 

My Dad's wife managed to source a second hand bike for £10. Sadly I didn't take a picture of the actual bike before I took it apart, but I managed to find a stock photo. The bike was rusty in parts, the wheels and pedals grated when turned so everything needed stripping down, stickers peeled off, washed and all the moving parts and bearings re-greasing. The breaks were fab and the bike was in good condition for a second hand bike, it didn't have too many knocks on it!

Original Bike (stock photo!)

All stripped down, washed and ready to paint!

Once stripped and taped up, I sprayed the entire bike (including the wheel, spokes and chain guarded) a lovely green colour. Once dry, I tipped the bike upside down and sprayed a yellow on the 'underbelly' and centre of the wheels.

I hand-painted dino stripes all over the bike on a metallic blue colour which looks almost silver in some lights! I also sprayed the stabilisers to match the bike as these were initially just standard chrome and white and I wanted them to match.

First coat of colour

Yellow underbelly!

Bidding farewell to 2013!

Happy New Year!

Having just got used to writing '2013' on everything (I think I'm still living in the early 2000's!!!!) I've to try get used to 2014! We're almost two days into the New Year and I'm finding myself feeling increasingly fed up and pondering over things I wouldn't give a seconds thought to.

Why do I feel so glum? I've two beautiful, healthy, happy children. A partner who loves me and I love him. A home which is our safe haven, our fun place and our little sanctuary. 

I've recently discovered Cherry Menlove's blog and something I read today and looked into, inspired me. She's taking part in the 365 Grateful project and after reading the projects page, I feel inspired to follow suit. 

The project began in 2008 when Hailey was feeling very low and didn't know why. She was inspired by a nun to find something, everyday, she was grateful for. She quickly realised how much it benefited her life and bought enough Polaroid film to last a year so she could capture her grateful moments. This daily act changed her outlook and quality of life in more ways than she could've imagined. This alone is enough to inspire me to do the same.

So, alongside my usual blogposts, I will dedicate a page to 'My 365 Grateful' where I will capture my daily moments of gratefulness. Somedays I'm sure I will have more than one thing I'm grateful for, and I reckon that in 365 days, I'll repeat myself more than once! After all, I'm eternally grateful for the love of my family! 

Finding my feet!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Tonight, I'm having a bit of a play about in the blogging scene! I'm so new to this so please bear with me! I've found this Bloglovin page and it asked me to paste a link to a new post, so that's what I'm doing :) 

I'm itching to get some software downloaded so I can have a play with my templates and make my blog more exciting to look at!

New Years Eve-Eve & my Autumnal painting.

It's New Years Eve-Eve!! I've said it in my last blog post but this time of year always makes me think about what I'd like to do around the home. My goal for 2014 is to make as many home furnishings as I can and introduce some reclaimed furniture to our collection, once it's got the Annie Sloan treatment! 

The picture above is one I painted back in Autumn. My favourite trees are silver birch and after seeing a similar picture in a famous retail catalogue, thought I'd have a go at painting myself. My mum gave me three huge canvasses and I had some acrylic left over from the dino room.

It took me an afternoon to create this and it now hangs proudly in my dining area. Now I've just to think of subjects for my other two canvasses!

Xx

What I'm all about!

I've written my first set of DIY blogs (which I hope you enjoyed!) and realised you don't know me from Adam! So this post is dedicated to you getting to know me! This is all about setting the scene and waffle.....lots of waffle so be warned, but hey, it gets it all over with ;) 

The happy couple!

I'm Carrie. A 31 year old stay at home mummy to Jake and Liam and partner of Craig. We live in a humble, suburban home in West Yorkshire and have Bobbin and Thimble (cats), Patch the goldfish and at the moment a tank of Aqua dragons and a Hawk Elephant Moth chrysalis (I'll probably blog about this in the future!).

Liam in his homemade snail costume!

I love all things nature and outdoorsy and completed a degree back in 2006 in Geography and Environmental Science. I love how I can look at certain formations - whether it be earth, rock or clouds, and know the science behind it. I can't look at mountains and valleys the same and trips to the beach often involve discovering fossils, sedimentation layers and finding the wave cut 
platform! Sad I know, but hey ho, it's me!! I'm a self-confessed science geek, even though I failed my A'Level Chemistry and Biology with terrific ease! I am thrilled to bits that my eldest son is following in my science-y footsteps!

Mummy & Jake

After having my first son Jake and finishing my degree (he came along in my GAP year!) I've felt a bit lost. I never had the chance to take that dream job in my chosen career. I went straight into motherhood and to be honest, felt useless and like I'd wasted my efforts on my degree. To some extent I still feel like that but then think of the depth of knowledge I can offer my children about 
their surroundings and how it all formed. 

When Liam came along 5 years later, I still felt a little lost but had started to find myself and what I enjoyed most - crafts! I've dabbled in card making, silk painting (not successful at all!), cross-stitch (erm......I got very bored by this!), jewellery making and in 2011 I found cupcake/cake decorating. 

This new found hobby flourished into something more. It began to grow into a viable business providing me with the independence I yearned as a stay at home mum. I could help provide at long last and as daft as it sound, even if I only made £5 profit, it felt pretty damn good! 

In May 2012 we moved home with our boys. Feeling settled, we found the opportunity to start creating the perfect living space for us. We rent so it's hardly viable to knock down walls, build new features etc. We have to work with what we've got and to be honest, we're pretty damn happy with that at the minute.

I don't know why, but this time of year always sets my mind on fire wit DIY projects and can't help but feel excited by what we have planned. 2012 saw us adjusting to our new home, 2013 brought about some re-decorations, much needed storage solutions and a playground for the boys. I'm hoping 2014 will bring us a new kitchen, let us finish the garden, decorate the hallway and sort 
out our shabby, rotten front door surround!

I plan to dust off the sewing machine (once I get it back from mum!), buy myself some knitting needles and teach myself how to knit again. Jake was given a guitar for Christmas so may even try teach myself how to play that! 

Whatever this next year brings, I hope it is filled with love, health and happiness. The rest is secondary xxx

And finally, the soft furnishings.....Dino bedroom #6

There are tonnes of uber cute dinosaur bedding sets out there but each time I googled the theme, I was drawn to the Catherine Lansfield set. Again this was another online purchase and I forget the exact pricing but I bought the bedding set and curtains and could not be happier! 

The shades of green and blue in the set compliment Liam's room beautifully and looks like they were made for my project!

Liam's bedroom provides so much more than a place to sleep. It's his space to enjoy, play and ultimately provides the best bedtime stories starring the main man 'Liam the Dino Mad Lad'! 

Liam's adventures have included being chased by a playful T-Rex who just wanted some jelly babies from his pocket! A lost Triceratops who couldn't find his way home in the dark until Liam lit the way home with his super duper torch! A tiny Teradactyl leaving the nest for the first time...... I could go on and on with the stories we make up together, I'm sure they bring his room alive and this is what childhood's all about isn't it? 

Xx

Fabulous furniture .........Dino Bedroom #5

The Dino bedroom went down a treat with Liam! At long last he had a bedroom which was as wild as his imagination! He had a 'big boy' bed and a place to put 'his' toys that were accessible. The toy storage also provided a little seat and he quickly learnt to climb up it! Something I'd not thought about!! 

We bought the step type Trofast storage system from Ikea, with a combination of blue, green and white boxes (prices range from £1.50 - £3.50) which provided ample storage for Liam's toys! This cost £63. He's sat on a little £5 Mammut stool from Ikea which he uses as his side table amd the bed is our eldest's old Mammut bed. 

I find Ikea is unbeatable for affordable storage solutions and can lose hours trawling the Ikea Hackers website! In fact, in the future I plan to build Liam a cabin bed using a Kritter bed frame and two Besta units. I'm hoping this will make good use of under bed storage and provide an area for his clothes. These are currently in a chest of drawers in our room! 

Trofast Storage System