Pretty Me & Make Me ~ February Ta Dah!!!!

Firstly, thank you so much for your kind, supportive and genuinely lovely messages of support in response to a recent post regarding my ongoing challenges with my health.  I'm now 8 weeks in to a new medicine regime which takes 12 weeks to feel the full benefit so I am very hopeful for the future.  This combined with strictly following a dairy, gluten, meat and added sugar elimination diet sees my spirits raised (which always helps coping with these challenges).  After the news that my immune system was not only attacking my joints and muscles but also damaging my liver and kidneys I was willing to do anything to bring some relief!  Anyhow, the steroids, medicine and special diet have seemed to have a calming effect and I'm super happy with that.  Your lovely messages though really help during such a difficult time.

So back to the matter in hand - the Games Trunk!  It has been completed for a good few weeks but I wanted to have my mitts finished to do a full February Ta Dah post!

So without further delay let me share with you my Pretty Me Ta Dah!

This was a really easy and straight forward upcycle.  A quick clean and wipe out with bleach solution and the trunk was ready for its new coat.   I used Annie Sloan paint (which I had in the shed) to smarten the outside up and to enable it to suit our lounge decor more effectively.

I then patched the damaged section of the lid with gaffa tape and initially used an off cut of wallpaper to cover this over.  Unfortunately the wallpaper crinkled and showed too much of the damaged surface underneath and so I was forced to think of an alternative...  In my offcuts I found this toning piece of oilcloth - literally the perfect size to cover the lid.  I think it works well and I simply attached it with double sided tape.

The inside of the trunk was given a fresh coat of lining paper - some Cath Kidston blue star paper I had from a long time ago!!  This gave a really smart and practical finish to the trunk, which on reflection was a very frugal upcycle!!!

The AFTER picture was taken while the glue was still wet so the paper shrunk back even better once completely dry.  Saved from land fill and functional once more.  Happy Days.

As for my Make Me Project - these gorgeous mitts.  I absolutely loved making them - my delay in finishing them was partly due to me putting them aside in favour of making progress on my Target Squares blanket (as I was participating in Sandra's Blanket Along).  This week I decided to bite the bullet and complete the final bits of the mitt pattern.  So finally, I managed to finish the edging and sew on the buttons.

The blanket was a really pleasant distraction although I've proven that I really can only work on one crochet project at a time.  Whilst I may have great plans to work on both projects, something inherent in me is all or nothing - one or the other.  I must say finishing these mitts was a great reward though.

I absolutely love them - they are my favourite colours and due to my complete LoVE of buttons they suit me perfectly.

I continue to make progress (albeit very slow progress) on my long list of projects to make / pretty and do hope you enjoyed seeing these finished items.  I can't wait to share my next projects with you.

J9 x

P.S - I really appreciate all you lovely readers and especially love to hear from you.  Unfortunately at present, I have such limited time on line that I am failing to comment / keep up to date on many of your lovely blog posts.  I do tend to binge read weekly when I get a moment but time / laptop availability seems to be a continuing issue.  Please know that I love following your blogs and am a silent witness to many of your achievements but value you sharing them none the less.  Blessings, x