get your craft on #3 - paper butterflies frame

Happy Tuesday lovely readers! The sun is shining in my part of the world, the first time in a long time, my horrible cold is subsiding and all my spring bulbs are poking their little heads of the sodden earth to say hello. Lovely. Why not bring a bit of spring inside with some delicate paper butterflies? Good day for crafting I say. 

You may remember my little bedroom spruce up, and how I was still lacking 'something'. Well - I had a random Ikea ribba frame (don't we all?!) which I thought would look good in our white and neutral bedroom with the help from some aged book pages and a little help.

Here's how it all went down...

With a piece of cardboard to fit your chosen frame, use a compass and pencil to outline some circles where you would like the butterflies to 'flutter'. I did random bits of circles, smaller in the centre and getting bigger so my butterflies would seemingly fly outward. Well that was my plan anyway!

I got an old book from the op shop, I couldn't bear ripping out pages of one of my books, plus this book cost me 20 cents! You will need to be armed with a butterfly craft punch also, remember when I got all punch drunk and happy with my punches? 

Now punch away! You should end up with lots of little butterflies cut out from your books pages. Try and make the positioning of the butterfly punch quite random so the text is not running all the one way.

 

Fold the butterfly wings upwards to make them three dimensional. I stuck my butterflies down gently with a regular glue stick, running the body of the butterfly along the glue stick whilst it's standing up rather than trying to be fiddly and use the glue stick as a pen to put the glue on. Make sense? ;)

Position your butterflies as you wish, like I said I tried to do a bit of an outward spiral but found that I actually didn't need that many butterflies otherwise it became too crowded and you couldn't really see the spiral shape.

When you're done carefully use an eraser to rub out the pencil marks and pop the cardboard in your frame. Voila! Paper butterflies fluttering next to my bed.

(The photo framed on the other wall is by Tracy Edgar and in a recycled timber frame which was in the cottage when we moved in - love it!)

{ The Bedroom }

You may remember way back when I detailed some ideas and inspiration of my vision for the master bedroom here at the cottage. The idea was natural and neutral, minimal colour, white linens contrasting with our dark timber bed and bedside tables with perhaps some burlap or wicker thrown in for some good country style measure. Well here is what I've come up with...so far, I think I might need some more finishing touches but I'm happy :)

Our bed and bedside tables once belonged to Mr M's sister and admittedly I'm not their biggest fan. but I don't hate them either. The bedside lamps I bought at a discount store for $15 each. They are a nice simple shape and are white - not much to dislike there! Our quilt cover is a white and creamy taupe coloured thin stripe, although in these photos that is hard to tell. The underside is a thicker, more nautical stripe which we alternate between. Quilt cover is from Adairs.

 

The cushion is from Etsy seller The Home Centric and I love it. It is made from a lovely linen fabric and is adorned in a scalloped pattern with mother of pearl button-like beads. There are so many other cushions from The Home Centric I want but I am currently on a cushion buying ban!

The 'All You Need Is Love' print is from (Melbournian!) Etsy seller The Love Shop. Again, so many prints I would love from here but I finally settled on a chocolate background and had a matt made for it to go in a frame I already had. The frame used to be black, I gave it a quick white spray paint to tie it in with the white linen and lamps. I did intend to wrap the matt with some linen or burlap fabric, as the colour is not at all what I intended. A project I might still do.

This is 'my side' of the bed - with my beloved Real Living and Country Style magazines neatly stacked. The lovely 'A' and 'Z' wrought iron bookends were a gift from a work friend when I left my job earlier this year. 

  

A stack of interiors and photography books sits on my bedside table. On Mr M's side is a stack of three coffee table books which I was published in as a photography student, Fujifilm's Site Unseen. I love their spines, the repetition and the perfect contrasting colours for our bedroom.

On the opposite wall stands my overhauled wardrobe, lovingly brought back to life with a few coats of paint, some textured wallpaper and new knobs. You can see a glimpse here of the light fixture which I have featured here before - unfortunately it hangs extremely crooked as we shortened the cord. The curtains were existing and since I didn't fancy forking out mega dollars to replace them in a house we don't own (and they are good quality and I actually quite like them) they were the base for my natural and neutral theme. An old industrial fan, a white eiderdown and wicker picnic basket sits atop the wardrobe and an Ikea stool with my riding boots next to it. 

I hope you liked the little tour of where I sleep, to see where some others sleep go here to join in the 'my place and yours' fun. 

{ Wardrobe Makeover }

When we moved into the cottage there were some little bits and pieces sitting in it, unloved and forgotten. This art deco wardrobe sat forlornly in the once external laundry, crying out to be saved. How could I say no?

 

So, I set about a total overhaul - first step a good belt sand. I stupidly decided to do this on a scorching 40 degree day in Mr M's shed. So hot, so exhausted, great work out for the arms though! The door and drawers had swollen over time so I tried to sand them back to make them close properly. It worked well with the drawers but the door still doesn't quite close. I like to think it adds to the wardrobes charm though! Some candles rubbed on the drawers to make them run smoothly made a world of difference.

 

I ordered some wallpaper from Eltham Wallpaper Brokers - a textured paintable pattern to go on the door inserts. I ended up only using 2 or 3 metres of the wallpaper and am selling the rest on ebay this week. Head over here if you would like to bid. I did a bit of research and found a wallpaper paste recipe online, just a simple flour and water glue mixture which I wasn't too sure about but it worked a treat! Very easy to apply and stuck like, well, glue! 

 

A few coats of Dulux's Antique White USA (left over from the cottage's interior painting overhaul) plus some new knobs from my Ikea drawers that sit in my workspace and voila! A new storage solution for our tiny cottage which now stands proudly in our bedroom.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a total bedroom reveal - go here to see my original inspiration.

{ Bedroom Plans }

My musings on the master bedroom here at the cottage...

We have dark wood furniture with freshly painted, splendidly white walls in the master bedroom so I have decided to go with a neutral colour scheme. I originally had my heart set on a white/chocolate brown/duck egg blue scheme, due to our white and blue Ikea doona cover but I wanted to keep it nice and simple and classic.

Floorboards: existing, and throughout the whole cottage (minus the laundry and bathroom).

Wallpaper: from Wallpaper Brokers, I used this on the door panels of my freestanding wardrobe I restored. It was in the cottage when we moved in, with half sanded/chipped blue paint, no handles and a broken mirror in the door. I will blog one day about it!

Basket trunk: from Ikea, to sit on top of the wardrobe - I am starting to think vertically for storage!

Print: from The Love Shop, a fabulous quote from the one and only Mr Darcy. Great print for a bedroom.

Chair: this was my grandmother's chair which I saved when my crazy mother was throwing it out! I love its shape, it's great to curl up in and read a book. It is sitting in our living area at the moment but I want to have a chair in the bedroom. The plan was to have it recovered in a white linen but the budget might prevent that from happening for awhile...

Lighting: this is the light I won from Buyster! Yay! We put it up this week but the cord is way too long and Mr M has strategically weaved it through and around the inside of the shade...and 'secured' with sticky tape...hmm. Any tips on shortening super long lighting cords???!

Driftwood heart: from Sand Treasures, keeping with the natural theme, and a possible Valentines Day present for Mr M???

Bedding: from Freedom, simple and neutral. 

{ Image by Little Miss Emma }

{ Truth Be Told }

Roaming around on Made It I found these whimsical illustrations by Jess Hyde, a Melbourne designer. Her Made It shop Truth.Be.Told is full of designs inspired by fashion illustration, sewing and muted tones {I am loving the pink and grey}. Here are a few of my favourites...

Isn't the last one just too cute? I would really like this as a print in our bedroom. It would be a great wedding, anniversary or Valentines present too.

{All images from truth.be.told }

{ Buyster Lighting }

I have been on the hunt for a new light fixture for our bedroom. The one hanging in there at the moment is far too small for the space - it is a cheapy I picked up from Bunnings when we first moved to Yea and hung above our dining table in our old house. As much as I would love a big drum pendant or chandelier above our dining table in the cottage, there are just downlights throughout our open plan living area.

So, the hunt began...at the usual suspects (i.e. Beacon, Freedom) I was looking for something modern yet traditional, classy yet casual. Ideally I wanted a chandelier but Mr. M has drawn a firm line in the sand on that issue. No chandeliers. Hmph.

I had seen on other blogs the website Buyster.com.au - for furniture, rugs, kitchenware.. and LIGHTING! Sooo much to choose from, lots of stuff I liked, and at reasonable prices. Exceptionally handy also for me who doesn't get to the big smoke that often, they ship within 3-5 days. Great. Now which one? I finally settled on this beauty:

Can't wait for it to arrive - it will {hopefully} look amazing in our bedroom with it's crisp white and rustic brown touches. Yay for Buyster! I will let you know if it lives up to all my expectations, and of course post some photos of it in it's new home.

{ Enchanting Bedroom }

This bedroom is beyond dreamy - it reminds me of The Secret Garden.
I would love to fall asleep and wake up in that bed.

Shabby paintwork, lacy details, chandelier. Love it.

Image via Country Living.