Pinspiration.

I love pinterest.

For a hoarder like me it means I can collect as many

ideas, patterns and pictures as I like without have shelves full

of folders and box files cluttering up the place,

although of course I do still have a few.

Well this week I had to clean up some jars to be used

as garden night lights at a wedding.

 It's a job I hate as it usually takes ages to get rid of

that sticky residue left by the labels.

So on to Pinterest to look at some of the weird and

wonderful home cleaning ideas that are on there and 

see if there is an easier solution.

Of course there was, how did I doubt it. 

The solution turned out to be mixing 

equal amounts of bi-carbonate of soda and vegetable oil,

Paint it onto the jar, make a cup of tea and catch up

on some blogs.

10-15 minutes later wipe the jar with kitchen roll

and pop in the dishwasher.

Voila

 beautiful shiny jars

which is wonderful as I have quite a few to do over the next

few weeks.

One of the other things I love doing is browsing charity shops.

This week I found this wicker basket which I 

knew would be the perfect size to put herbs in on my kitchen windowsill

but felt it was a bit dark for what I wanted.

So out came the left over white emulsion paint from the garage

and a couple of coats of paint later it looked much better.

While it was drying I remembered something else I

had seen on Pinterest and as the paint was out

I thought I would give it a go.

These two baskets have been used as waste paper baskets

and needed a bit of a lift.

Put the paint in an old washing up bowl and dip

the basket in the paint.  Then you sit there for ages in the sunshine

holding the basket and 

letting the excess paint drip back into the bowl. 

Then just leave them to dry.

Parsley, basil and coriander fit nicely

in their new container

With my lovely ceramic plant labels.

And

It might be back in the same position but it looks

a lot nicer I think.

So thank you Pinterest for the inspiration.

And to finish

 some flowers from the garden

Gillx