DIY Creations - Spray Painted Vases

I’ve been looking at different way to bring splashes of colour to my flat through a few personally made creative touches. As yellow is my colour for the summer, I decided to spray paint some plain glass vases with a very bright yellow spray paint and create a dipped effect.

These were very easy to make, just follow the steps below to make your own.

All you need is:

• Vases or an object you would like to spray
• Spray paint - I used a quick drying one
• Masking tape
• Newspaper or magazines
• An outdoor space, cardboard box and old sheets

Here is what you need to do:

1 - Clean the vases using detergent. Washing up liquid is fine. Make sure they are dry.

2 - Decide on the area you want to spray and mark this off using newspaper and masking tape.

TIP - If you are looking to paint create the same effect as me, put water in the vases to measure the level.

3 - Head outside to paint your vases. As the paint goes everywhere make sure your space is covered. I used a sheet to cover the table and created a spray guard using a cardboard box.

4 - Spray the area you want to paint evenly and leave the painted vases outside to dry for a few hours.

5 - Once the paint is dry, carefully take off the newspaper and the masking tape.

I’m really happy with how they have turned out. They are now proudly placed on our dining room table and bring a great splash of colour to the room.

Discovering the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

This week, Pete and I went to visit Stratford and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. As it has just opened to the public and is a DLR ride away from our flat, we wanted to go and see the legacy that has been left by the Olympic’s in 2012.

This massive new area of redevelopment has the potential to be a great space for the future. The buildings left by the Olympic games are stunning. I love the Aquatics Centre and Velodrome, both are two standout pieces of architecture.

At the moment, the park feels very unnerving, everything is planned to perfection and there is not much activity. Once the areas of the park settle into their surroundings and the people move into the new flats next to the park, it could be a great place to be. Once all the areas of the park are open and you can wander along the river and canals, it will be great place to visit on a sunny Summer afternoon in London.

Enjoy the photos on Flickr: http://bit.ly/RzFqGv

An afternoon in Blackheath

It’s been a lovely Bank Holiday weekend so far! After a yummy experimental breakfast (recipe for which is here) this morning, Pete and I headed for a wander around Blackheath. This beautiful village tucked away was superb on this sunny spring day.

We explored the shops and then headed for the hills to find a spire that we had seen. This led us to a beautiful private residential street with an array eclectic house.

Enjoy and see more photos here on my Tumblr

London Adventure - Spring is here!

I love this time of year.

As the days become just a little longer and the cold chill of winter becomes a distant memory, the sun starts to shine and London becomes a glorious city.

To celebrate the sunshine, Pete and I headed out for a stroll around London town and ended up in Regents Park. As it was my birthday recently, it was time to get to grips with my new toy, the Panasonic GF6 camera.

Check out a few of the photos below.

You can view the complete set here: http://bit.ly/1ieih69

3D Printed Miley Cyrus Wrecking Bauble for the Christmas Tree of 2013

The other night, I came home to find Pete waiting for me with a big smile on his face. He had told me that he had something to give me, but I was not sure what it could be. Was it wine? Had be cooked a 3 course meal… no, he had done something even better! He had sculpted, printed and painted a Miley Cyrus on a wrecking ball bauble to hang on our Christmas tree!

It had taken him 7 hours to print on our 3D printer and about an hour to paint, but it was an amazing Christmas gift.

If you want to print your own 3D Miley Cyrus Wrecking Bauble, you can download the file from Thingiverse here: http://bit.ly/1eb15ip . Find out more on the blog for our creative project RUNdevilRUN http://bit.ly/19HuXeD

Don’t worry if you don’t have a printer, you can also print a paper version of Miley to put on your own baubles here: http://bit.ly/Jg0ttC

The Christmas tree of 2013 won’t be complete without Miley Cyrus on it!

Steve

The Day Trip to Oxford

Last weekend Pete and I headed out on an adventure. As it's only an hour from Paddington, Pete and I decided to get our Network Railcards out headed in a totally different direction to Oxford.

If you’re planning a trip and want to find out more about this city, check out these links here:
Local’s Guide to Oxford - http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/jan/19/locals-guide-to-oxford
A Quick Travel Guide to Oxford - http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/feb/02/quick-travel-guide-oxford

When we visit somewhere new, Pete and I don't really plan things and spend most of our time discovering what we can about a place as we wander around. We ended up at the covered market, the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodelian Library before continuing to our walk to the Museum of Natural History and back into the centre to visit the Museum of History of Science. Oxford is a great city just to wander around.

The city is extremely picturesque and a great place to go if you're into photography. There were several guided tours too and if we had more than a day there we would have definitely gone on one. Don’t expect to get phone signal though, so if you rely on Google Maps on your phone, be careful.

We had a great day in Oxford and will definitely be back again in the future. Check out this gallery for more pictures: http://bit.ly/1jkgREA 

Exploring London - KERB Saturday

I was introduced to KERB last year when I visited one of their monthly markets at UCLU with some of my workmates, it was great to find out that there was an organisation bringing together the best foodie stalls in London. (Their markets happen at different locations around London, so check out their site to find our year nearest.) I had been planning to visit their market at the Gherkin, but was gutted to see that the City of London had closed it down (Check out this article for more details).

Over the summer, KERB have been holding a series of weekend markets and a couple of weekends ago, Pete and I headed to the last KERB Saturday event at Granary Square near Kings Cross.

The square itself is worthy of a visit if you are in the area, especially as it currently is wrapped in a stunning art installation by Swiss artist Felice Varini and houses some great coffee shops, restaurants and the University of the Arts London (Central Saint Martins).

When we arrived, the square was filled with a huge variety of stalls and vans to please any foodie and a big crowd of people who were stuffing their faces with the great food on offer. After wandering around, trying to decide what to eat, we settled for a devilled pork roll from the guys at What the Dickens? and washed it down with two gin cocktails as it was the weekend. Both feeling rather full, we started to stroll around the square itself and explore the Granary Square site. The whole development is massive and it’s amazing to see it change so much since I was last here in 2012 when I did my evening photography course at University of the Arts London (Central St. Martins).



As we started to crave something sweet, we head back for more food and settled on two delicious coffees from Beanstalk Coffee and hot doughnut bits covered in cinnamon sugar, chocolate sauce and crushed Oreos from the team at You Doughnut! I can’t really explain how orgasmic they were! After munching on our sweet treats and watching the world go by, we both left the event with a huge grin on our faces and stomachs full of food.

If you are a foodie, I would suggest following KERB to see what events they are up to. Or if you are at a loose end one weekend, head up to Kings Cross and explore the area.

Bring on more KERB Saturdays!

Steve