Getting ready for the new pad.

 

I am so excited to we found a home that I know we will plan to live in for a long time and I look forward till when we move in. The house was filled with some left behind surprises like a garden filled with many gnomes and statues that have since been donated to the op shop. However they did also leave behind some flying ducks and I'm still undecided as to whether or not to keep them.

A new space is always exciting but I really want to be very selective about what I put in my new house and have been continuing with my 210 days of decluttering. I managed to take 5 grocery bags full of gear to the op shop yesterday.  With only 128 days left to continue to clear stuff, I am already loving the fact that my house is slowly being dwindled down to those truely beautiful and important things...and I've already started moving things in :-)
It's also a time to fix up items that aren't quite what I want them to be yet, like this little wooden box I had that seemed it would be good craft storage.I think it used to be a disc box but now just needed some brightening.

With some craft glue, scissors and bunting paper (from spotlight), I had a quick and easy solution to make it a box I can keep and want to use.

Lisa x

A little paper dog.

I was at a favourite store and saw the most delightful paper dog. It was just so sweet but for $170, I wanted to experiment and see if I could make my own version. I read a few different techniques and opted for making the dog frame from scrunched up balls of newspaper held firmly together by lots of tape. It took about an hour to make a dog shape that I was pleased with. Once finished I gave it a coat of white paint so the newspaper writing would not show through.

I thought the dog would look good on a bookshelf so used modge podge to cover the outside with old book pages. I used some pages from the golden book, Dumbo. However the pages seemed a bit heavy so I used some  red and white polka dot tissue paper to even it all out and make it nice and smooth.

Once it was all dry and complete all I did was give it a quick coat of clear varnish.

This project ended up costing me $2 for tissue paper as I had all the other supplies already. I'm pretty pleased with my cute little dog- just perfect for the library room in the new house. A room just for books, I can't wait! I do think I will try this technique again and see if I can get an even more even surface. Tissue paper was definitely easier to modge podge than the book pages and next time I think I'll just use tissue paper.

Lisa x

 p.s I'm linking up with

504 Main
Redoux Interiors
Craftionary
The Grant Life
Just Us Four
Thrifty Handmade Days