Birthday Cupcake...

Delicious passion-fruit cupcake

Iced with passion-fruit butter cream icing...

Decorated...

with sweet fondant  and sugar pearls! 

Who needs a cake when you can have a birthday cupcake?

Blue fondant butterflies...

Gorgeous paper case...

 On a beautiful antique plate...

This plate is 'Paragon'

Pretty, don't you think?

Fine bone china, made in England.

Birthdays are a time to celebrate...

With a cupcake made with LOVE!

For updates about the latest blog posts,

you can join for free HERE.

#cupcakebirthdaycake #cupcakebirthdaycakeideas

Stamped Gourd Bowl...

On my previous post about painting the back boards on the bookcase/shelf, 

you may have noticed the decorated gourd...

Many have asked me how this was done...

Here's a quick tutorial:

Paint the whole gourd (Cutting into a bowl comes later!)a base colour. 

 Here I have used cream.

Then stamp (I used a large shell stamp from the 'Stampin Up' range) 

using permanent black ink,

 spacing the shell stamps around the gourd as you go. 

 I guestimate everything...no rulers used!

Wait for it to dry.

Use a very sharp cutter to cut around the top of the shells, 

thus creating the bowl.

Paint the inside of the bowl.

Then using a sponge swipe contrasting colours of paint randomly around the gourd.

I used a bright yellow, brown and a gold.

Do your detailing.

I painted a border of brown.

Touched the shell stamp design  up with some bright yellow, 

and painted bright yellow around the cut edge of the gourd.

Join the shells and accentuate the top border using a permanent black marker pen.

When completely dry coat with clear varnish.

And there you have it.

Have a go if you can source a gourd.

They are so much fun  to paint and decorate.

#gourdart #gourds

Shelf do-up...

I have been looking at bookcase do-overs on Pinterest.

 Which, if you didn't already know, is my other 'happy place'!

There are so many clever ideas to be found there for shelf.

Wallpaper on the shelf backboards.

Painted wood

Fabric mod podged on.

The list goes on.

I have always disliked my bookcase.

Ornaments just don't display well because the wood is so dark.

The 'Sitting Room' where the shelf resides has a lot of red and white in it, and it's pretty bright.

To fix these issues, I decided to simply paint the backboards of the shelf white, while leaving the dark wood everywhere else natural.

And what a difference it has made!

 My ornamental collectables stand out!

(I am wondering why it took me so long to do this!)

It has brightened up the wall too!

And the best thing is...

 My cute flying pig has wings for all to see!

For updates about the latest blog posts,

you can join for free HERE.

#paintingwoodenfurniture #diyshelfdoerupper

#restylingwoodfurniturewithpaint.