Flea Market Finds

Our home is like a big blank canvas. Whilst the renovations were at times challenging, there's something to be said for having the space to re-decorate and nest all over again. 

Speaking of nests, my first Op shop purchase was this nest of tables. I was thinking of painting them white. I'm starting to struggle with colour to be honest. I have a white wall home (airy cream to be exact) and so I need some colour thrown in for good measure but I have absolutely no idea what colour to try. Any suggestions would be well received. 

And then there is the telephone table. If you saw my March post, you'd know I've been looking for a while to find the perfect table to sit under my tree in our front entrance. I love these tables. I was very lucky actually. I mentioned to the mum's at school that I was looking for a table and one of them told me she had one and didn't want it. I wasn't going to take it off her hands for free so...cue conversation...

"take the money"

"no, I don't want any money"

"yes, you must have the money or else I'm not taking it"

"please, I don't want any money, just buy me a coffee"

"a latte hardly repays the favour, unless your thirsty enough for 42"

"No"

"fine, than I will leave the money here and run away with your beautiful table as fast as my thongs will take me"

and so I ran like the wind...

and she didn't catch me although tried hard to throw money at me but wind caught it and blew it back in her face...

 

Like the nest of chairs, I now have the dilemna of whether I should paint it or not and what fabric should I use to recover. 

I love the history of this chair. I took the seat off and began stripping back the tacked on material - over the years the seat had been recovered six times - it was like pass the parcel as I peeled back each layer of material to find a new pattern underneath. 

Head over to Sophie's for more bargain finds.

My Creative Space

My Creative Space this week is a little unusual - it's my front fence. We spoiled ourselves recently, commissioning a local artist to build a garden gate. We wanted two mermaids to represent our girls as a way of welcoming people into our enchanted garden. No signs of enchantment yet as we have loads of work to do on landscaping the garden but the gate is the first step and a great focal point. 

This week I've been busy staining the front fence whilst the sun is shining. Back breaking work but still very rewarding.

As you can see in this photo, to the right is the finished product and to the left is what's waiting for me to finish.

For more creativity, pop over to Kootoyoo.

One lump or two?

I love my tea and I'm a sucker for a giveaway - put them both together and I will unashamedly promote La Dolfina's latest post.

Let me tell you though, I've never seen such a structurally engineered bag of tea. We are talking years of research here people - just to quench our thirst.

Remarkable really - surely it tastes as good as it looks! If Oprah endorses it, it must taste good - right?

Gorgeous interiors

Some of my new favourites.

Tired Tuesday

I have no energy for words today - I'm too exhausted. A picture tells a thousand words anyway!

Flea market find

My flea market find this week is something I picked up some time ago but has been sitting in my garage patiently waiting its debut. I bought the pair for a whopping $5 and felt like the luckiest girl alive. I do however realise that whilst $5 may have been a bargain, re-wiring them and buying new shades may not turn out to be the most financially viable decision I've made. But hey, love is blind and I do love them. 

I particularly love the beautiful detail of the soft green leaves and sunburnt yellow sunflower heads. Unfortunately my novice photography doesn't really give them justice.

Any ideas on what kind of shape I should consider for the shades?


For more bargain finds, visit Sophie at Her Library Adventures

Shadow Shot Sunday

This is my first entry into Shadow Shot Sunday. I'm very much the novice photographer but I have grand plans that once I've learnt how to sew, entered pin cushion and apron swaps, set up a stall at Christmas to sell my own craft (that I'm yet to figure out), I will then start a photography course. Think it's safe to say I have more ambition than talent but hey, a girls got to start somewhere!

Caught this shot as my daughter was twirling around our living room.

For more shadow shots and a good squiz at those that know how to handle a camera, visit Hey Harriet.

White is the new Black!

If you love comfy, snuggle into crisp linen sheets kind of white, this is the white for you. Certainly not your sterile, hospital grade, white king white. 


Oh, to dream....
 

 

Inspiration can be found everywhere....

 

What an entrance...

 

 

images courtesy of Little Emma English Home

Happy Saturday - what's left of it!

Now what?!

My mother-in-law gave me her sewing machine this week. I was very happy to take it off her hands. I pulled it out of its box, ran my fingers over its slim lines, played with the bobbles of coloured cotton and dreamt of creating the next best crafty creation. Once I checked in with reality, I bit down on my thumb nail and exclaimed NOW WHAT?

I'm off to check out where the local sewing classes are run as I'm sure you need a licence to drive one of these babies!

It may take time, but I intend to stay committed to my crafty promise.

My Creative Space

My creative space this week is my plant stand in my backyard. When we purchased our home, the old plant stand was left, filled with rust and quite unloved. I repainted it and have slowly acquired planters from Op shops and filled the stand with quirky cacti and alike. The kids and I have oodles of fun planting - its what I call our cheap and cheerful creation!

For more creative creations, visit kootoyoo.

Delightful packages

They came, they came....my first Etsy purchases. I do love them. Can't wait to frame the linen towel to hang proudly on my wall. As for my little (and it is little - a bit smaller than I expected) ceramic bird, I received some complimentary cards to place in the note holder so intend to write a couple of positive words on them to encourage cheeriness and positive thoughts. Not sure if its just the change of season but I'm tired and grumpy today so these cards will help do the trick. 

Happy Wednesday all!

Plentiful Pink

We have the most amazing bougainvillea creeper at the front of our home. Years ago, before we purchased the house, there stood a 50 year old Eucalypt Tree which towered over the front garden. One very windy day, it came down but left half its trunk, roots defiant that they were not going to let go. Over time, the bougainvillea has crept in to every corner of this old Eucalypt tree trunk. It's flowers are prolific. 

Due to the onslaught of pink when you enter the front garden, snipping some some flowers and putting them in a vase always seemed a little OTT. How much pink can a girl really have!

But then I woke up this morning to a beautiful message via the Pretty in Pink posting at The Diversion Project via Mark Bolton (images you see above) it gave me an idea.....

Said Tree and Creeper

And inspired by others, my creations

Hope you have a lovely Sunday!

The Mother Load - Flea Market Find

My flea market finds are usually discreet little purchases that don't take up too much room and are subtlety added to my collections that even Mr Lycra (husband) doesn't notice.

Oh how the tables have turned!

I got carried away with myself today and bought a number of items that are not so inconspicuous. It was a bit of an 'out of body' experience where I found myself grabbing things before the movement of my hand on my purse and my fingers frantically digging for change, registered with my brain. The brain that usually kicks in and says "great bargain, but where on earth are you going to put that? Take hand off cash and step away slowly".

No, the brain was in school holiday mode, mute button on, suspended in time. Damn Brain!

The little table with those great steel handles are the issue here. Quite frankly, I fell in love with the handles! I have absolutely nowhere to put the table. I've toured my home numerous times and can't imagine where it could go. Hard to hide this one in Mr Lycra's shed as it's already brimming with cycling gear and more bikes than Lance Armstrong could justify! 

The basket is a no-brainer - small enough to blend in. 

The old scales - not too sure where to put them but I ask you - for $4 how could I have walked away?

The Hessian bags are fantastic - bought 2 of them. Plan on turning them into cushion covers. 

So, really, when I take a good hard look, its not that bad. My brain has now at least provided exceptional justification for my purchases that the guilt is now no longer there. Brain, you have redeemed yourself!

and....

Just when I thought I'd exhausted my good luck, I made a sneaky trip to another Oppy and found this delightful material...

Oh how I love to Op shop!

For more Op Shop finds, visit Sophie at Her Library Adventures.

The Love Affair Has Begun!

I tried ever so hard to avoid it. Tried distracting myself as soon as my eye's caught a glimpse. Tried to reason with myself that it is a want rather than a need. But then I was overcome with emotion - these hardworking crafty geniuses need to be supported by people like me (the kind that dream of being a crafty minx but are hampered by little to no talent!)

As has always been the case in my life, the heart ruled supreme of the head!

I caved and I bought.

And let me tell you....nothing is as sweet as pushing a virtual shopping cart to the register and handing over your credit card in the knowledge that soon those pretties will be yours!

I'm singing it from the rafters sista - I am no longer an Etsy virgin and I'm proud of it!

I'd like to thank two very special people that inspired me to go forth and conquer with their irresistible treasures...

Danielle Stewart Designs for this gorgeous linen number which I plan on framing






   

and Natalie Kibbe at Humblebea for a divine ceramic beauty I just had to have. I was so taken by this little treasure that I forgot to save an image of it before I bought the one and only design. You'll just have to stay tuned to see it when I receive the package in the mail.

Mansion Picnic

It's been too long since I've spent time with my gorgeous friends in Melbourne and today we made time to reconnect and let our kids run wild. There is absolutely no better place to do this than the Werribee Mansion that has acres and acres of lush green pasture, flanked by beautiful flower gardens and centred around a 1926 heritage Mansion. 

In the wonderful minds of our children, there were enchanted woods to explore, secret gardens to discover and many treasures to unearth. No tv, no distractions - just blue sky, fresh air and beautiful surroundings.

  I made what turned out to be a very scrumptious chicken and pistachcio club sandwich, wrapped with a little creativity and a hell of a lot of love. Despite the passing of Easter, we bought our stockpiles of eggs and also had yet another Easter egg hunt. 

 

When you may be short on money, but long on time, this is definitely the place to visit.

A ray of sunshine and a crafty promise

The lovely Bee from Honey Jumble shared a ray of sunshine with me this week in the form of the Sunshine Award. If you haven't seen Bee's work, you must visit her. She was one of the first blogs I followed when I started.

My blog is very new so I'm very humbled with receiving this vote of appreciation for the creativity I share. I'm constantly surprised, excited and downright stupified by the creative geniuses that live in blogging land. I can't understand why you are not all millionaires with the amazing, gorgeous, one-of-a-kind creative treasures you all make (from your bare hands no less)...

...and thank goodness our creative environments are a tad better than this...


This is why I love blogging. It sometimes (a slight under-exaggeration) comes in between me and the house cleaning, dinner preparation, and anything else I'm not particularly fond of doing. There are simply not enough hours in the day to pour over everyone's latest creations whilst maintaining some form of domesticity.


THE PROMISE...

I've decided to get serious about this crafty business and I know that by sharing this dream, I will now have to stay true to my intent. I declare today that I will make something crafty that will be worthy enough to sell at Christmas. My grand plan is to organise a stall over Christmas at a local market, convince my very talented friend Mel from Little Ted Canvas, to come with me and sell our wares. I have a couple of ideas in mind but I need to seriously get cracking as I'm pragmatic enough to know that my first few attempts will be worthy only to those that love me that much, they won't mind receiving the non-descript crafty treasure I bestow onto them.

I can hear it now "Oh, thank you so much for...for...the lovely thing you made me.. It will look wonderfully placed....errr....somewhere". Code for "What on earth is this?...surely we've moved on since her kinder creations!...I can't believe she hasn't at least given me a hint...I'll just smile because I love her and we'll not speak of this again!"

So wish me luck and once I'm organised I will share with you my first attempts.

It would be remiss of me not to continue the Sunshine Award tradition so here goes:

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you.Thank you again Bee from Honey Jumble for nominating me.

2. Copy the logo and place in on your blog.

Done!

3. Link to the person who nominated you.

Also done - very diligent!

4. Pass it along to 12 other people.

And to the 12 people that inspire me with their crafty creations (that haven't already been nominated), in alphabetical order (drum roll and fan fare please):

5 Star, baby!

Absolutely Beautiful Things
Artsy Mama
Beach Vintage

Casa Bella

Design in Mine

Her Library Adventures

Hoo are you lookin' at?

Inspiring Interiors

Little Emma English Home
Lona de Anna

Nantucket Mermaid

Happy sunshine all!

Easter soiree!

There's nothing more enjoyable than having a great group of friends gather together for a little Easter soiree. I invited a dozen families to my home for a bbq and easter egg hunt. Last count I think we had about 16 adults and 20 kids. It was a wonderful day full of great food, laughter and a bountiful supply of easter eggs!

 Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Day!