Sunday Smörgåsbord

After a short break from blogging on account of a busy start to the term, I have lots to include for you this evening, so I'd best get cracking!

1 Yummy mini pies at The Hornbrook Inn. Cosy pub, homey food and very reasonable prices.

2 The rain before the shine. I love this moody view across the Surrey Downs.

3 New bracelet from the ever fabulous Urban Outfitters. I don't feel cool enough to pull off some of their clothing, but I can do my best with the accessories at least!

4 French manicure with peach tips and glitter.

5 Porn Star Martini at Wabi. Delicious.

6 Sensational sliders at All Bar One. Generally trying to be good at the moment, but these were a lunchtime treat last weekend, and worth every calorie!

7 I bought this lovely grainy wooden frame with heart apertures from Chickidee (no website to link to as yet), then printed vintage maps of two meaningful destinations as an engagement gift for one of my best friends who just got engaged. She rewarded my handiwork with a request to be one of her bridesmaids - I cannot even begin to express my excitement! (Love you, H! x)

8 Buds...

9 ... and blossom. Spring is beautiful.

10 Yummy salad of pea shoots, baby spinach, grated courgette and cucumber, edamame beans, jumbo king prawns and seared scallops, topped off with a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce.

11 Bringing the outside in with lilac stocks, baby pink tulips and fluffy gyp.

12 My new pink, um, I don't even know what to call it! I bought this at the Sussex Country Brocante last weekend. Such a lovely vintage fair held in the stunning, quaint little village of Wisborough Green. It is held once a month and at only £1 entry is well worth a visit. You will find an array of antiques, hand-crafted items, clothing, fresh fruit, veg and flowers, and a warm reception from  all of the stall holders.

13 This stunning old clock has just been bestowed upon me by very lovely and generous friends, who were looking for a new home for it. I am so excited to find out more about it and hopefully get it working again once I find the right person for the job.

14 Obligatory bunting and even a sweet little duck pond at the aforementioned Sussex Country Brocante, organised by Love Lane Vintage. Next date: Saturday, 22nd June.

15 - 19 The delightful Three Crowns pub in Wisborough Green. Possibly my favourite pub ever. Top three at least. Great styling, food and service - an absolute pleasure in every respect.

So, there you have it: a handful of my latest purchases/ventures/culinary delights. Before I sign off, you might be interested to hear that I finally got around to making my ombré cake yesterday, which I look forward to sharing with you asap, and I also have a backlog of blog posts that I've started but not quite finished (apologies for my poor post management), that I hope to get out over the course of next week. In the meantime, if you're looking for online fodder, why not take a look at my boards on Pinterest?

Night all!

pp x

Magpie Make & Do ~ Tom Binns Inspired Jewel Bright Necklace

Even if you're not aware of it, you know Tom Binns. His statement pieces have bejeweled many an A lister, from Amanda Seyfried to Julia Roberts, and his designs are even favoured by the First Lady herself.

Michelle Obama, Julia Roberts, Rihanna. Source.

"Binns has been designing, manufacturing and distributing jewellery for over twenty-five years. Beginning his revolutionary career in 1981, his creative inspiration was and remains the early twentieth century Dada movement, amongst whose themes were deliberate irrationality, anarchy, and the rejection of standard beauty and social organisation." [Source: Designer's own website, www.tombinnsdesign.com]

Amanda Seyfried, Kate Beckinsale, Britney Spears.

Recently, Binns' jewellery has become increasingly colourful, juxtaposing clashing shades of neon brights and featuring intense metallic splashes across delicate pastels. You can peruse his latest collections here; be sure to admire the Gilded Pleaure collection. I did. In the past two years or so, we have seen these designs filtering down ever more readily and swiftly from the uppermost echelons of designer society and into the high street...

His inspiration is ubiquitous, visible not only in the jewellery counters, but also gracing the rails, where kaleidoscopic rhinestone embellishments abound. However, whilst some of the high street price tags are not to pinch your purse at, the higher end stores (J.Crew, for example) are still charging more than I would spend on a piece of statement jewellery, that I am frankly unlikely to to wear for more than a couple of seasons at most. Having said that, I do love the look, so I decided to take matters into my own hands, quite literally: rather than purchasing a high street imitation, I would create my own interpretation of a Binns necklace, one that was perhaps a little more classic and therefore easier to wear on a day to day basis...

Tom Binns Inspired Jewel Bright Necklace

Budget: Under £10

Time to allow: Approx. 2 hours, although this will depend on the number of rhinestones in your necklace

Difficulty rating: Relatively straightforward, provided you have patience and a steady hand!

Materials required: A rhinestone necklace/s, one with clear or at least pale stones would be preferable in case you are using light/translucent varnishes, though mine was in fact dark purple and coverage wasn't an issue.

1) I bid for and won this necklace on eBay for £9.99. I had thought I would find one for around about the £5 mark, but I was impatient to get cracking so I settled on spending more to secure an item I liked the look of that was ending soon! I have no doubt that you could find things online/in charity shops more cheaply than this.

2) Clean the surface of your necklace. Ordinarily, I would recommend nail varnish remover, but I was concerned that might affect the finish on the stones, so I just used a (barely) damp cloth and left it to air dry for five minutes.

3) Choose your nail varnish colours and decide on any pattern you might like to follow when painting your stones. For the purpose of simplicity, in terms of both method and end product, I stuck to plain straight runs of colour, but with a more intricately designed necklace, I think a geometric pattern would work really well. I chose a combination of bright and pastel shades, but I'm still considering adding some gold accents...

4) Paint each stone carefully. Don't worry about painting over the claws, as the Tom Binns pieces themselves have these covered. I used two coats of varnish on each stone (apart from my mint Essie colour, which I only ended up using one coat of since the coverage was perfect), ensuring each layer was dry before applying the next. I decided against applying a third layer in case the varnish became too thick and obscured the facets of the stones - you still want to see the shape of them. It might be worthwhile having some good music/a film on in the background - this is rather time consuming!

One coat.

Two coats.

5) Finish with a coat of top coat to seal in your colours and prevent chipping.

6) Leave to dry for 24 hours before first use - enjoy!

I will try to post a better picture than this of the end result being worn - sorry, the light was not good and I find self portraits tricky enough at the best of times! I hope it gives you an idea at least...

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. More to come from the little magpie tomorrow and on Sunday, so do drop by!

pp x

Magpie Make & Do ~ DIY Decorative Mason Jars

Hello, sunshine! What a beautiful spring day we've enjoyed today, at long last - the perfect inspiration to share my latest new feature with you all...

I'll be posting a series of tutorials on various things you can make and do at home on a budget; some for as little as £10.

The first of these tutorials is for decorative mason jars. These are so pretty in their simplicity and provide an attractive means of storing trinkets/knickknacks/stationery, a shabby chic alternative to vases for floral arrangements, or simply look great as ornaments in their own right. They are also popular for creating table centrepieces at weddings and other celebrations.

Just follow these simple instructions to create your own...

Distressed, Hand-painted Mason Jars

Budget: under £10 for three jars

Time to allow: approx. 1 hour for three jars (including drying time)

Difficulty rating: supremely easy - no skill required!

Materials required: mason jars, paints, a sponge, a fine emery board (nail file) or very fine grain sandpaper

Before I start, I should say that you could follow this project using any size or shape of glass jar, in fact, I think an assortment of different jars - which, if you're anything like me, you already have stashed away in a cupboard somewhere - would look great painted in this way. It would also make the project even cheaper!

My inspiration for these came from BeachBlues on Etsy. I love all her different colour schemes, and think the contrasting inside/outside jars are a great idea too (maybe next time...). The Kerr jars you'll see she has used are not easy or economical to find here in the UK, so I settled for Kilner jars, the British alternative, which are very similar. I used the 1L jars, which are widely available and can be purchased cheaply from Hobbycraft, Wilkinson's, Amazon and the like. I bought mine from Hobbycraft, where I paid £7.99 for three jars. I loved the first three so much in fact that I decided to buy three more!

The paints I used were all little tester pots, which can be bought very cheaply from any homeware store. Wilkinson's are currently selling three for £1, so I lucked out there... I picked up a free Farrow and Ball colour chart from Homebase, as I am a big fan of their muted shades, and played about with the colours I wanted to use. Once I'd chosen my shades, I set about finding cheaper brands of paint (Farrow & Ball tester pots are £3.99 each - eek!) that matched the F&B colours most closely. I did resort to mixing paint to achieve two of my colours, but this was simple enough to do. I tested all my colours on a spare glass bottle before I started, just to check how long they would take to dry, and also to see the result of the colour on the glass.

                    

Right, on to the instructions:

1. Ensure your jars are clean and dry. Rubbing over them with a clean tea towel should suffice.

2. Use a sponge to apply your first layer of paint. I swept down the jar in straight lines for this layer, to give underlying texture to the final finish of the paint. I left out the top of the jar, so that I could hold it securely, and the bottom, so that I could stand it upright to dry. Repeat for all your jars in each colour you have chosen.

After one coat of paint.

3. Leave to dry for 15 minutes.

4. Paint the second layer, this time dabbing with the sponge to leave a more even finish. This time, I painted the top and bottom, turning the jar upside down to dry. I didn't want two layers of paint on the top of the jar, in case this affected the thread so that the lids would go on, and I didn't think two layers necessary on the bottom.

Second coat (different colour to the previous image).

5. Leave to dry for at least 30 minutes this time. I ended up leaving mine overnight.

6. If you prefer a perfect, solid finish, then at this point you are all done! For the distressed look, use your nail file/sandpaper to slough off small areas of paint. NB Ensure the paint is completely dry before you undertake this, or you may take off rather more than intended.

7. Find a home for your latest objets d'art and enjoy!

(8. If you wanted to, you could paint the lids as well. I've chosen not to do that at this point, but may spray them gold/silver at a later date - I'll update the post if I do.)

If you wanted to seal the paint and have a glossier rather than a matt finish, you could carefully paint them with a thin layer of PVA glue. I prefer the matt finish, so I will leave mine as they are. Obviously this means they are not waterproof, so take care if you intend to use them as vases. The good thing about the paint washing off though, is that if you tire of your colour scheme, you can simply repaint them any time you fancy. The paint washes off easily with soap and water.

Let me know what you think. I hope some of you will have a go at these yourselves - they are so easy to create and the end result is very effective. I think they would make a lovely homemade gift, especially if you filled them with little treats, like flowers and chocolates.

I would really welcome and appreciate any feedback on this new DIY series! Look out in the next few days for: a cheap and easy Tom Binns inspired necklace, beautifully simple floral corsages & buttonholes and a showstopping ombre cake...

ttfn, pp x