it's too good!

Well today I made Ben go around the corner on two wheels.

I spotted this table sitting out for curb side collection (junk day) and it was just too fantastic to throw in the bin. I wish I had taken a before photo, but I was so excited about fixing her up, that I jumped right into my project.

This fine lady was brown on the outside and had pine draws that were not painted. She also didn't have any handles...until we got home and looked inside and in a plastic bag we found these old handles!

I gave her a sand and a few coats of paint, Ben put the handles on and I lined the draws and look at her! My new sewing storage and Lorraine is so happy. She's my beloved machine.

Lorraine also lost her plastic cover and I made her a new one from some of the thrifted material I found last week. I think the material is so beautiful. I love big flowers.

So lovely.

I also made a crochet headband with a vintage fan button for Style School,

and another headband made from one of Ben's old ties. I am enjoying the class so much.

I also found these shadow box frames I had been saving for a rainy day, so I gave them a coat of paint and crocheted some hearts for Valentines Day. 4 hearts for the 4 of us.

I am now off to do the ironing. Better even out this craftiness with some chores.

Happy Sunday!

bridget jones, frank spencer and me

Sometimes (all the time) I feel like Bridget Jones and Frank Spencer rolled into me....which equals clumsy. I am not graceful.

Yesterday I went to the doctors to have my stitches taken out of my leg. 10 days were up and they could come out. I was home for 30 minutes after they came out, skidded across the floor on an extra large jigsaw puzzle piece, fell on my leg and split my stitches open. The whole thing. So we pile back into the car, into the doctors, I have the whole thing stitched back up and now they have to stay in for 14 days and I am on antibiotics.

Clumsy.

Clumsy I tell you.

Then I came home and was getting the kids some lunch and smashed the rice crackers into a thousand pieces knocking them off the bench and later was putting away the ironing and a beauty case fell out of our wardrobe and knocked me in the back of the head.

I am clumsy but I am also crafty and I made these little things for RVA style school this week -
stationery design out of a potato...I couldn't find any carving tools or rubber, so I used a potato. If you do try this, emboss (heat gun and powder) the image because a potato is damp, so this will help it to dry.

and yarn flower display. I love this idea and it looks so beautiful in the glass jars I collected.

Thank you again for your lovely comments on my blog and for visiting. I am going to work on a giveaway over the weekend for next week. :)

Happy Weekend to you!

x

rice

I have talked about my love for Rice on my blog before and how good they are to the people they employ. All products are produced in the third world to eliminate starvation and poverty and the company is SA8000 certified which among a long list of rules includes no child labour or forced labour.

Not only are they responsible for their staff, they make beautiful things! Who could not feel happy looking at that wall display every day?!

or beautiful blankets and quilt covers.....

plastic dining ware which is brilliant if you have kids or are clumsy like me.....

this shelf is so beautiful. I would have them scattered all around the house..............

a patchwork serving plate.......

I think the kids would even eat veggies if it was served on this plate.........

birdhouse egg timers........

a pretty jug......

this bird hook is so lovely........

and I love this dinner plate......

Rice. It's too good!

wedding party re-do

When we were married we had a wedding in Las Vegas.

Ben and I are quite shy and decided that the best wedding for us would be travelling with a wedding along the way. So we saved our money and booked a round the world holiday with a wedding on the side.

We loved our wedding and never wish for the day to be any different. It was right up our alley. Just Ben and I.

One thing we do wish we hadn't done was our wedding party. We set money aside to have a little party for when we returned to celebrate with our family and friends. This we would do-over.

We made some bad decisions - we had the party too close to when we got home. We had terrible jet-lag and we were like two corpses...like extra's from Michael Jacksons Thriller music video.

We didn't assign jobs to anybody at home, so when we arrived at the destination of our party, the place was a shambles. There are pictures of me walking on cardboard over mud with a football pushing thingy blocking the entrance.

The catering lady hassled me all night and I wish she would've bothered somebody else. The last thing I wanted to think about was what to do with the leftover potato salad.

It was boiling hot - 45 degrees with no wind...and the place was not airconditioned.

There were no decorations.

The DJ was the lovechild of The Rock and The Incredible Hulk and only wanted to play his music. Nobody was going to wrestle with him.

I didn't get to speak to Ben all night. We were like two strangers passing in the night. Not the love of my life.

We made a tape of our song and it was never played.

We didn't get to do a special dance.

I had sparklers and special lantern holders I'd made and who knows what happened to them.

Nobody gave us a speech.

We were the last to leave and when you are the last to leave your own party, you know it's bad.

We were so thankful to see our family and friends and they were troopers trying to dance in the heat, but using Ben's words...the party blowed.

Maybe one day we will have a wedding anniversary party and call it our re-do. The way we really wanted it to be...and what did we learn from this......

....that every cloud really does have a silver lining, because when we do a Ben and Toni wedding party re-do, Elton and Audrey will be there.

all photos from Once Wed

nice flames or nice buns?

A lovely lazy Australia Day celebrated with a bbq and listening to triple j's hottest hundred.
My song came in at No.92, so it was a long afternoon.........

I spent the night crocheting my granny square scarf, which is taking me forever, but coming along nicely, and watching Australia on foxtel.

Happy Australia Day, Australia. I love you.

tears from my treehouse

We live up on a lovely hill and there are trees all around our home. You can hear the birds all through the day and early in the morning the kookaburras wake you up when they spot the sun.

The air smells lovely and clean - damp with a medicinal wet leaf smell that mixes with cold air.

Inside our house we have shutter windows that you can push open wide. You lift up the fly wire, open the shutters and close the fly wire again. Just a thin piece of netting separating the outside from the in.

During the week I moved our bedroom around. We used to have our bed under the window and for a year and a half of living in our home, I never thought our bedroom windows could open. I shifted our room so that when we are in bed, we can look out the window and after a bit of pushing and figuring out the old fashioned lock, I can open the window. This makes me so happy because I love to sleep with a breeze on my face.

Every night I am the last one to go to sleep. I read or listen to my music and never fall asleep before midnight.

Last night everyone was tucked in and it was dark and I could see the outline of the trees from the window, and could hear the bush wildlife grunting (possums make this loud grunting moaning noise. It is scary when you first hear it....now it doesn't make me jump) and I felt so sad.

Little man is heading off to Kindy next week. We have a big year ahead with lots of changes. Kindy is 4 hours a day for 3 days a week, and for the remaining two days we all go to Irabina for his group session and his speech and occupational therapy classes.

It doesn't sound like much and I am probably being silly, but I will miss him so much. I don't let him know I'm sad or say that I will miss him, because I want him to think that Kindy is a hoot and how much fun it will be.

But inside I feel so sad.

My little bird is going to be outside, and I will be in.

make

A few more little craft projects for style school...this birdiful makeup bag made from felt.

Embroidery quote pillow. I say this to Ben every single night. :)

Besides brooches and a small pair of stud earrings, the only other jewellery I like are necklaces - long pendants -and he gave me this camera necklace yesterday.

A girl makes them at the Camberwell Markets. Her jewellery is so lovely.

Thank you my Benny. You never hesitate in buying something for me if I am staring googly eyed at it.

More work on the rock wall. It is looking so good.

Happy Monday!

x

thrifty finds on a sunday

This morning we went to our favourite Camberwell Markets. It was a treasure trove of goodies today. We did two laps and I spotted many, many things and if we were driving a truck, I could have filled it.

I had to settle for filling my arms instead.

Ben haggling with the lady for this basket. This is now our egg basket.

Audrey found a book and Elton found a truck. They love to rummage too.

We found this voiture de pompiers (a french/japanese toy company) fire truck from 1965. The ladder still goes up and down and the truck moves. It was in it's original box.

I found a lovely lady selling beautiful material. She was practically giving it away. This stash and two bags full of wool cost $9.

A polaroid camera from the 70's. For my camera collection.

and last but not least....this granny square blanket.

So much treasure!