Thursday 16 February 2012

Vintage paperweight gifts..

Let us campaign for the wider use of paperweights - I remember that I had a pretty reasonable collection as a child (Quick interview: 'Do you still have them Jenny...even after all these years?  M-m-m-m-ay be....), they are both handy and nice to look at.  Every charity shop you go in to will have a selection - usually containing a naff'ish image (not to my taste anyway) - sometimes there might be one that takes the fancy of collectors such as this one here http://kitschandcurious.blogspot.com/ ...(just checking that I can do this Elaine!!And is this ok given my own comments!!).  I buy them if they are in the 50p (and below!) range.  I have written before that I am not in the business of bartering with charity shops (or at car boots sales for that matter) -  I always pay up and often make a donation on top of that.  Life is about reciprocity for me.  Anyway I remove the backing and then put the paperweight through the dishwasher - this removes all the gunk (though it bungs up your dishwasher...which will cost slightly more than 50p to replace...).


Select a pretty image (non-copyright) for the reverse.  Place paperweight on top of image and cut out - this needs to be little bit smaller that outer edge of the weight.  Do the same again with some felt (this time it will be the same size as the weight) and a dab of Pritt Stick (other glues are available) to  add on a felt bottom (colour co-ordination preferred).  By the way it will soon be time to get my vintage Easter tablecloths out!


I also have a  'range' for seasonal variation...




I do love The Magic Roundabout and these look like sweets to me


Of  course the joy of these is that when/if you get fed up of an image you can simply change it something else. In the past I have made these as little Easter gifts.
We will end with Mr Benn..



Sorry if you thought I would be showing how to create Millefiore glass paperweights in your back garden ! some things are beyond my capabilities!!
 Have you noticed that I am very fond of brackets and exclamation marks!!((()))

8 comments:

  1. These are lovely! What a great idea!
    I've just found you via Mollie Makes so I'm going to read your older posts now!
    Be prepared for comments!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good idea... creative juices a bubbling now...

    ReplyDelete
  3. (((((!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!))))

    Is there no end to your creativity!!!?!!!!!

    We used to have lots of Noddy books sent to us by our English relatives, who, I am sure were very worried that we would not grow up in civilized manner in the vast wasteland that they imagined Canada to be.

    (Always busy fending off polar bears....taking a few minutes to catch up with Noddy and Big Ears -
    or whatever he was called!)))))))))))))))))))))))!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ho ho - ironic as the 'wasteland' is actually full of loveliness and natural delights! I think that the notion of civility is enhanced by isolation - the more 'packed in' we become our manners fall off considerably sometimes! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ho ho again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Delete
    2. The misconceptions our relatives had about our life in Canada was sometimes amusing, sometimes incredible. They always wanted to show us big stores - under the misapprehension that we went a trading post every few months. You are right about being packed in - I always felt a little overwhelmed after a couple of weeks in Britain. I think when people do have a sense of space they do tend to be a little nicer to each other.

      Delete
  4. !(!)!!(!!!!!)()*()()!!!
    Enigma decoding being sent...!!!

    ReplyDelete