bird tree posse

I finished the last of the puppets. No more boring puppet talk I promise.....

Fran - is the thrifty queen. She likes nothing better then to rummage at the markets or second hand stores looking for treasures. Fran found this bag over the weekend at Savers for 90 cents.

Sue - likes to compete with Fran. She has flaming red hair and a temper to match and wrestled Fran for this tote bag.
Fran is the real winner.
It's not a Burberry tote but a cheap knock off from Bali.

Mike and Mabel.

Mike likes to take photos of anything. The camera is permanently in his hands. He went in the Movember challenge and only managed to grow this miserable fluff for the whole month.

Mabel likes pina coladas but not getting caught in the rain because it does terrible things to her hair.

Bob - likes turtle necks and sports the worst comb over in history. He is secretly in love with Mabel but he thinks she won't see his beautiful personality because of his bald spot.

Mabel is leaving Mike tonight.

They meet often at their favourite spot,

sitting together,

under the bird tree.

my puppets

So inspired by the puppets a few posts back, I attempted to make my own.

I made the heads from masking tape (the non-shiny tape) and molded heads onto twigs from the garden.

I then glued layers of paper onto the faces and let them dry overnight.

I painted them with skin tone paint and then glued on eyes, gave them some colour and a hair-do and I just finished the first two!

Jay -he's armless and likes to listen to music on his headphones. He needed a bit of help to get them onto his ears.

Esmerelda - she is known for her wild hair and doily dresses.

Except Jay feels inadequate....

He's short.

my place and yours

I have the honour of wearing the Theme Queen Crown for Pip's My Place and Yours Meme Series. Thank you Pip!!

Being the foxymoron that I am, I decided on the theme - That's nyoice, that's different, that's unewesyewl!

Does your home have a quirky feature or several? Something you throw a strategically placed coat over if people are visiting or avoid telling the real estate agent about? You might be very proud of your house flaw. Maybe you have issues with plumbing, and give the Meryl Streep toilet speech from Mamma Mia, "Now about the toilet. If it doesn't flush right away, just go, then take a walk and...." with a hand wave.

We live in an old home and we have more nyoice, different and unewesyewl features then normal ones, but this light switch tops the list. It's a switch with no light. Just stuck to the wall with no light to turn on. A bit like being dressed up to go out for a night on the town, except your date doesn't show up.

We have thought of many scenarios, obviously being that the electrician maybe took a plummet from the roof when he went to install the light and didn't finish the job. Then we think maybe we have a prisoner under the house and we are turning his light on and off, or maybe it's a switch connected to the neighbours tv.

One day we will fix it, but for now it's too much fun to watch our visitors looking skyward and confused.

If you would like to play along, go and visit the lovely Pip and pop your name on the list. I know I would love to see your nyoice, different and unewesyewl home feature or secret, and I won't tell anybody I swear.

*That's nyoice, that's different, that's unewesyewl here

puppets

I love puppets and clay animation.

I have always found it fascinating that a lump of clay or a sock, paper mache or a figure resting quietly, can be brought to life when it's manipulated, adding movement and matching it to music or a voice. You no longer see it in it's original form. It has been transformed.

I also admire the painstaking process that goes into making a puppet/clay model. It it time consuming and made by hand.

My favourite puppets are from an etsy shop called Rose Lullaby Dolls , which made this beautiful angel doll. So sweet with her doily wings.

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Rose Lullaby Dolls here

AMC Creatures here

Sycamore Moon Studios here

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If you have time, watch these two Australian music videos involving puppets.

Josh Pyke - Sew My Name

Sneaky Sound System - Kansas City

more puppets......

Team America - I'm So Ronery

The Dark Crystal

Rapunzel

and Being John Malkovich.

jingle bells week 3 - setting the table

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I can sometimes spend hours deciding what to use for a table setting. I love flowers, but sometimes it's nice to think outside the box and try something a little different......

such as this branch suspended above the table. Suspension is good - more room for platters and your clumsiest relatives (but you love them dearly) won't knock anything over.

You can leave it earthy, paint it or even wrap it in material. Make sure it's secure (nothing ruins a dinner like Grandma getting hit in the head by a falling branch) and if you are going to dangle tea lights from it, don't set the branch alight.

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I love this scene. Nordic, inviting, sticking to one colour palette and the table decorations line the window sill.

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Rachel with her thrifted animals and doilies has made a beautiful display on her sideboard which can carry over to your table. Rummage for animals and if you don't like the colour, paint it.

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Instead of candles use your sticks and place baubles on top. Get out your glitter pen and you have created something new. You can even write names of your guests on baubles and place them on the plates.

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Cupcake platters look lovely used as ornament holders.....

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....and cake platters can hold wayward decorations keeping them all in place.
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Paper with tiny punching can make lovely soft glow candle holders.

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Leaves cut from felt and then ironed down the center can make lovely napkin holders.
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Crochet ornaments on a wooden tree.

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Or a mega crochet tree. If you follow the link you will be able to download the free pattern.

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Crochet a granny square table runner.

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Take Polaroids of your Christmas decorations, your day starting with opening your presents, or pictures as your guests arrive. Place them in a big heap down the middle of your table or peg them to string and make a garland.

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Lovely handmade trees and pom poms. Make one or a cluster.

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You can make or buy (from Ikea) Ginger Bread houses. Use your house or make a village of houses down the middle of your table.

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A house under a cake lid transforms it into a large snow globe. It also keeps the house fresh and away from little fingers.

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Wow! Have lots of time on your hands. The sky is the limit!

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My son loves trains. Collect the straight track pieces and run it down the centre of your table.

You could also involve your children and get them to make you a table decoration from Lego.

You could find lots of Christmas books and make a stack.

Buy the cheap knock off Babushka dolls from the markets and make a line of people. Print out pictures of your relatives faces and put them on the front.

Collect random jars and fill with coloured sand, beads or flowers.

Make fudge and arrange it in a Christmas tree shape. Add icing sugar and sparklers.

I could go on and on...but I best stop.

:)

clean white love

I love Lisa Mitchell.

I would like to be one of her friends running around with brollies (umbrellas) and wearing red boots.

polyvore

I have created an account (littlesuitcase) on Polyvore.

It's great if you have the shopping bug because you get to mess around and create lots of different styles, and you don't have to part with any money!

You can mix and match and see if things go together, and you can print out your looks, put them in your bag and the next time you are on a shopping spree/at the thrift store you can use them for a guide.

There are some fantastic users on Polyvore and I'm still learning so my creations are pretty basic but still lots of fun if you can't sleep at night and have hours to kill.

My sleep has left the building.

your collection

This week's Pip-Hosted meme theme is Your Collection and it was thought up by lovely Kate from Fox's Lane. Pop round and say hello!

I love to collect things and I can't seem to stop at one. If I love something, I have to keep finding them to bring home. Like rounding up cattle if I was a cowboy.

I love birds. Found this little thrifted one yesterday at Savers for $1.70. Gave him a fresh coat of paint.

Wool. I love to buy wool from "the yarn man" at Camberwell markets. I keep them in this vintage travel bag.

Cook books. Ben and I are always on the lookout for a great cook book.

Elephants. I love them.

Coffee table books on Homes, Paris and Audrey Hepburn. I have several Audrey books and art hanging in my home. My prized possession is a drawing of a mother with a baby she did and it hangs on my wall....which needs a post all of it's own because it is so special.

I love to collect aprons. I found this blue little spot apron yesterday at Savers.

Can you count your own handmade things as a collection? Quilts, pillows and doilies.

Doilies.....

Embroidery.....

A draw full of scarves.

my well worn Ked shoes.

more birds...I love these glitter birds. I cover hoops with material and then push a sewing pin into the bird and hang with fishing wire.

more elephants for luck.

Our wine collection. The wine rack is over 100 years old and I got it from my old work at the Supreme Court Of WA. It was the Judge's pigeon holes for mail. It weighs about a billion tonnes and you get death stares from movers when you ask to change the position for the 3rd time.

A collection of books I used to read as a girl for Audrey. I have been building them up from Ebay.

and our classic penguins...

vintage cases and birds...

vintage thread which was my mum's.

vintage ornaments

our Lemax Christmas ongoing collection....I want to be an old Granny with her village.

soaps from the market

suitcases

and little vintage toys.

Phew!

Even now our children are starting their own collections. Audrey loves Barbies and Baby Dolls and Elton loves Trains and Cars.

When they are teenagers and don't want them anymore, I am keeping them in a cupboard because they will love them when they are old. They just won't know that when they are teens.