Easy Peasy Cherub Upcycling

At the minute we are thinking of redecorating our bedroom, I want a colour scheme of red and silver, so with this in mind I am keeping my eyes open for materials that can be recycled to fit the scheme or will go with the scheme I have in mind. I currently already have a few cherub items that I have collected over the years, that will go perfectly with the bedroom scheme I have in mind.
On Sunday at a local car boot sale I found the following cherub plaques

Original cherub decorations

As you can see they are not silver or red, but they were solid undamaged, easy to hang and just what I was looking for apart from the colour, and they were only One Pound for the three, so out came my trusty plastikote silver spray paint , apply liberally and you have

Finished upcycled cherub decorations

A little tip with the paint, it is better to spray a few light coverings than one heavy one, you will get better non runny coverage this way.

The three silver cherub plaques will fit in perfectly in my new bedroom scheme now.
A lot of my moneysaving comes from pre planning, I am collecting items for my new bedroom scheme now to decorate in a couple of months, I also want to redecorate the lounge so I will keep my eye out for the next couple of months for paint and items for the room. Always look at a piece of furniture or ornament with creative eyes and ask yourself is it Ok as it is ? can I change it or add to it for it to be what I want or need it to be ?.
Plan ahead to avoid I need it now scenarios, I buy Christmas cards and wrapping paper in January, I make and buy presents for Christmas and birthdays all year round, I have two spare pairs of oven gloves for when mine are ruined again because they were in the sale, I buy lunchboxes when they are on sale for when the children ruin their current ones, plan plan plan !!
Planning ahead will save you time , money and stress, so will upcycling and recycling, embrace them both.

Recycling a denim shirt tutorial

Whilst having a wander around pinterest as you do I found this
and loved it so much I decided to give it a go myself so I have written a little tutorial of what I did to create the look.
As luck would have it a local charity shop was having an everything for a pound sale on Friday, and I found the perfect denim shirt for upcycling









Be careful as you are doing this, as you can see from the finished photo mine has puckered slightly along the bottom edge



And here is the finished article, you can make the cutouts as deep or shallow as you want, you could insert a lace panel, using your cutout piece as a template and cutting maybe 3/4" larger all around and tuck the raw edges under your folded raw edge to enclose your raw edge of your lace panel.

Just try it out and find what suits you, happy recycling

Preparing to go to a car boot sale

Before going to a car boot sale there are always items that I pack to take with me, as its not a bargain for 50p if I have had to spend an additional five pounds on items I could have taken with me.Below is a list of preparations I make, and items I pack in my 20p car boot sale bargain rucksack, I hope this will give you a starting point of things to consider before setting off on your bargain hunting adventure.

First make a list, I write it on a memo on my phone of items you are on the look out for, I have my children's shoe and clothes sizes, lists of presents I need to buy etc. Always handy to refer to so you are buying the right size etc, it is not a bargain if it's 2 sizes too small


1) Check time and day and location of the car boot sale you are going to attend and make sure you know the way, try if you can to get there near to the opening
time so you don't miss out on bargains.
2) Try and make sure you have loose change for your entrance fee and also for paying for items as sellers won't necessarily have a lot of change it's pot luck if
they do or not
3) Little packs of tissues , I take these for toilet use as frequently with portaloos there is inevitably not a lot of toilet paper
4) Hand sanitiser again for toilet use, especially if you are taking children
5) Raincoats,suntan lotion, caps and sunglasses, to cope with the typical British weather
6) Snacks and drinks as you don't want to be spending money you are aiming to save on food and drink
7) I frequently give the kids an ice pop in the car in the summer on the way there saves them begging at the ice cream van as they have already had one
8) Don't forget your list as mentioned above
9) Make sure you are wearing comfortable footwear as some of these boot sales can be quite a way around and you want to be comfortable.

In the next post I will be discussing etiquette , what to do when your there

Car Boot Sales, What are they ?

Before I start sharing my makes finds and ideas, I thought it might be best to first explain what a car boot sale is as there are many people who may not have experienced one.
A car boot sale consists of an organised event , of everyday people mostly selling off unwanted items, you will find everything from toys to toiletries to clothes and ornaments and craft items dvds and books and much much more. You will generally see car boots local to you advertised in local newspapers and they usually run from Spring to Autumn as they are generally outdoors , on a field or a car park.
As a seller you will be expected to pay a fee that will be advertised and will vary from event to event , our local ones charge approx. £6.00, as a buyer you will have to pay for entry, a small nominal fee our local ones charge 50p each but children and oaps are free .
You will also find what I refer to "traders" at car boot sales , people selling generally food and household items, discontinued lines, items nearing there best before dates and items with damaged packaging, these too can be a treasure trove of finds and moneysaving .
Facilities will vary from sale to sale but they will almost definitely have toilet facilities, generally portaloos , and usually a food and drink outlet ,which will vary from event to event but generally a burger van and ice cream van or something along those lines.
In the next post I will cover what to pack to take to a car boot sale to make your visit comfortable and economical and I will also be posting soon a little car boot etiquette guide.

Introduction

I thought to start my little venture into blog land, I had best introduce myself ,my name is Anne and I live in the Midlands in the UK, with my husband and three children. I love sewing clothes, bags, purses and much more some of these makes can be found in my Etsy shop, if you click on the above tab that will take you there if you want to take a peak around the door.

In my sewing for both my shop and home, I mostly use upcycled fabrics and fabric remnants, I find this gives me the freedom to create something truly individual.
I love scouring charity shops and car boot sales for bargains to recycle and upcycle , alter or just a bargain to use as it is .

>My motto is "If it's not cheap and it's not free I don't want it and I shall wait till it is ".

I hope to share with you in this little blog some of the bargains that I find in car boot sales and charity shops, and the recycling I do with them , or upcycling items from around the house.

In doing this I hope to give you some ideas of items that can be bought cheaply and re-used and or used as they are, and give you some ideas on upcycling other items from around the house to give a new look that only costs a little more than your time.

We shall just see where this blog road goes and hopefully give you some ideas and save you some money along the way.