decoupaging my spinning wheel

 I have seen lots of spinning wheels that people have personalised. Many have been painted with beautiful designs. I decided I wanted to add some sheep to mine.
First I thought I would paint it but I didn't have the right colours and was too impatient to wait and get some from the shops. Second I thought wood burning but decided it was too permanent in case I want to remove it in the future. Lastly I thought of decoupage. Perfect! Easy, effective and removable. I used to decoupage lots of things. At one stage I made a decopage cupboard for my bedroom with a collage of beach and surf pictures. Its such a nice craft that also happens to be dirt cheap which was its appeal when I was a poor teen always looking for something creative to do after school. All you need is some pictures and cheap shop craft glue!

 I found my sheep pictures on the internet and printed them out. I first blu-tacked them in place (or in my case orange-tacked) and shifted them around until I was happy with all of their positions.

 I then carefully glued the back of a picture, pushed it in place, smoothed it down and put a coat of glue on top to protect the paper picture and give a nice finished. The first one was a tester. I waited for it to dry to ensure I was happy with it.

 Once it had dried and I could see that it had worked well with no bubbles or smeared ink I proceeded with the rest of the sheep

 I have 7 sheep happily 'running ' as I spin! I also added some of the left over sheep to a bobbin and decided that I like them on there so I will one day add some to the remaining two bobbins so they all match

Here Is my first plied wool made on this wheel.
After asking for a new spinning wheel for my birthday I was so nervous that I wouldn't be any good at it. The last spinning wheel that I had was hopeless and wobbly but I couldn't help but fear that the problem was just my lack of experience. I will admit that my new wheel sat for an entire day just being treadled because I was nervous to try it out. After months of looking forward to receiving it I didn't even want to try it! Its by far the most expensive present I've ever received and I was happy just to look at it:)
Finally I put some wool on it and gave it a go and I have to say its a very different thing to be using a wheel that WORKS! I cant believe how quickly I'm getting the hang of it. And it is indeed relaxing like spinning is supposed to be.

For more inspiration head over to Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday