Catching Up.

 

It's that time of the year when l try and catch up with friends before the holidays begin and everyone's bustling around (including me) trying to start/finish their Christmas shopping and no longer have time for a cuppa and chat.

l think this is a first for me....showing food in a blogpost:-)) l'm SO not a cook but l did manage to ice these (bought) muffins...l made it really solid so it'd survive the 15 second warming in the microwave...naughty l know but hey it's legal:-))

 

We didn't even crack open the lemonade....l'd love to tell you instead we sat around drinking champagne and cocktails, but no....just lots of herbal teas....bit sad really...haha!!!

The little floral dish and the handpainted glasses came from last Sundays' market the 3 for $4.00.

 The plastic cutlery (pic above) is made that little bit special and festive with the gold fleck through it.

 

We did however enjoy flicking through some books and mags....granny chic is full of pretty vintage inspiration. 

 



 

 

The lace parasol was found in the childrens dress up basket at the opshop......

 

 

and although pretty....it looked like a GIRLS parasol.... l unpicked the bottom ruffle, then gathered a double layer of tulle and glued it round the edge and covered the gathering seam with a daisy braid. Lace was added to hide the plastic knob at the top and ribbons tied on. l'm thinking of dyeing it "ashes of roses"a (greyish mauve pink)....another little project (on the backburner for now:-))

 



 

l really loved this little shell purse, even though it was minus it's chain handle....l used part of a pearl necklace to make a new one. Can't fit your mobile phone in it.... just a hanky and lippy:-)) 

 

 

Hoped you might like this idea to sew a teatowel or two for someone.....all you need is some linen fabric and lace, l found this amongst my stash... l love how it has birds printed on it...It was cut the same size as one of my old teatowels, l then sewed the edges and to one end l added the vintage lace....Voila!! 

 

 

Rachel Ashwells gorgeous summer brolly....umla.tumblr. via pinterest.

Well l'm off to find somewhere to cool down....the temperature's heading for a sizzling 37 degrees today which is about 100 (farenheit).....and still a couple of days yet til Summer.


Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week and weekend coming up....thanks so much for stopping by.

Til next time,

Bron.

Shabby Romantic.

  

 

Found an old watercolour pad in the backroom. I'd say it's been there a while.....totally forgotten about. All the paper had yellowed which looked lovely to me. l turned one of the shabby pages into rosebud (colour) charts and they became a placemat of sorts for the rose display. 



 

  



A couple of plain apothocary jars were made a little more interesting by tying their necks with string and glueing some feathers to the string.

 

 

 

Sometime ago l spent an afternoon making this no sew tutu....made from looping strands of tulle over a piece of (joined) elastic. l've been deliberately unfussy and used varying sizes, lengths and types of tulle as well as strips of lace....if shorter pieces needed to be longer l've simply knotted them together.....wherever possible the fabric has been torn instead of cut neatly with scissors.

 

 

 

As the elastic was being covered, the tutu was becoming huge so l began using really short pieces in between the longer strips, which you can see above...l like to think it adds an interesting layered effect.

It was a lot of fun to make and might be a useful idea for Christmas/New Year party costumes....There's lots of kids ones on pinterest but l've tried to make this one vintagey and wearable for ANY age female...It'd prob'ly be good in black for evil queen type costumes.

If you're after a tutorial this one's excellent.... paigeandbrooke. via pinterest.

 

 



 

Those of you who've been visiting for a while would know how much of a fan of birds l am. We had them as pets when l was a kid, as did our own kids..... they were always well loved and cared about, but these days l much prefer to watch them from the window and let them be free to do what birds do....and what bird signifies freedom more than an eagle.....so this Tshirt l found at the oppy was a winner for me.



 

 

 

  

 

These nutcracker inspired pics are featured in the new Romantic Homes magazine and are of Sandy Foster's gorgeous studio in the Catskills. Pic found.here . Loved the ballet postcard used as a gift tag.

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by....have a wonderful rest of your week...To  those of you celebrating Thanksgiving today and over the next few days....may they be everything you wish for.

 

Til next time.

 

 

Bron.

 

New - Old and Useful.

Firstly, thanks so much for your kind words and thoughts for Mum and l....you guys are AMAZING....they were so very much appreciated and l really believe in the healing power of such positivity...she's been doing a little crocheting and hand sewing...a bit slower with her dodgy hand and eye, but still ABLE too...the doctors say she'll make a full recovery:-))



I've been working on a few projects and hope to share a series of them with you in the coming weeks, l really hope they're ideas you can use or be inspired by for gifts and/or decoration now that Christmas is less than six weeks away....YIKES!!



Spring is fantastic on so many levels, and one of those is SPRING FAIRS which is where l bought this very old medical book....written in the late 1800's, a MASSIVE tome of more than a thousand pages....resplendent with pop ups of the human anatomy and loads of illustrations....not to mention LOTS of now totally obsolete medical "facts"...haha!!
There's NO WAY l'm gonna read all that..... but it WAS the inspiration for this weeks project.

These bookmarks have been made with girls in mind but could certainly be made blokey for the guys in your life....Lengths of vintage ribbon have been sewn to form a loop (3 of them) and decorated with other ribbons, shoe buckles, buttons and brooches. It makes it easier if the "top" ribbons are sewn on first before joining the "loop". The long central bookmark is made from a torn strip of linen overlayed with a torn strip of velvet....l liked the idea of attaching a watch at the end so you can see how long you've been reading;-)) The cross attached at the top end and the V shaped moulding were painted to match...(as was the aqua moulding). Hopefully the photos show enough information as l'm not too good at explaining all the steps without it turning it into a mega long  (prob'ly boring) instruction manual:-))

 

Found some vintage prettys to share...lt was love at first sight for these Frenchy style prints. (bought many years ago). There's also a large matching one that's hung central to them. l painted (and distressed) the frames, they used to be a (yuck) yellow. 

 

Bits and bobs.... and Spring roses.  

 

Keyring (with keys) necklace.... an opshop find for $2.50, S/silver..it never ceases to surprise and amaze me what people give away. 

 



 A teensy pink glass collection.

 

 

A little Christmas spirit happening...rachelashwell. via pinterest.

 

Hope your week and weekend's great wherever you are and whatever you're up to.

 

Til next time.

 

Bron.

 

 

 

Think Pink.

Well it's been a bloody headless week and that's mostly because l'm the unorganised type:-)) but also partially cos my Mum had a mild stroke (the weekend my daughter came home) and can't drive for a month. lt seems that the whole putting her old dog down had more of an effect than any of us (or even she) realised....hence this small stroke. Of course it's prob'ly a bit unfair to "offload" here... blogland should be a place of serenity (and escape)  but when you blog about your home, family and life like l do...everything is so intertwined that it feels unauthentic NOT to mention the bigger events that affect daily life....Anyway she's doing fantastically well and is totally enjoying all the extra attention from everyone and all the outings to appointments.....(stopping at the odd opshop along the way:-))

 

On the weekend there were numerous events on around town in celebration of Spring....since l had to work both days l figured l wouldn't get to see much of them, but l lucked out when l got a late start....only an hour, but at least l could manage a quick whip around the Sunday market, there were lots of interesting stalls and it was so early (7.30am) l found a couple of treasures.

This lovely pink patchwork quilt....l have one similar already but it's almost worn out and the pink is so much prettier.

  

l had to try it on the bed.....

 

 

Then l threw it over the table......Also found the large (euro) cushion..not exactly the same colour but still goes well enough with the quilt.  

 

The tutu painting l've been working on may not yet be finished.... but it matched in so well with the pink theme l've got going on l took a couple of pics anyway.

 

Made this rosette ages ago with three layers of tulle (pink, white and beige). The cameo hasn't yet been sewn onto the centre...l'm sure l'll get around to it someday:-)) 

 

Found at the opshop yesterday morning and just HAD to include it in this post.....Infant Jesus of Prague dome...very kitsch but awesome with the rest of my religious collection. 

 

 Infant Jesus of Prague is a 16th century (Catholic) wax-coated wooden statue of child Jesus located in a church in the Czech Republic. It allegedly holds miraculous powers, especially among expectant mothers.(Thanks Wiki).

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your lovely comments. Have a really great weekend coming up.

 

Til next time,

 

Bron. 

 

 

 

 

 

Family, flowers and fabulous finds.

We took a trip to Melbourne Saturday to meet up with our daughter and her partner....a little girlie
shopping was in order..... strictly for bonding purposes.. haha!!The guys were having NONE of that and took themselves (quick smart and in a hurry) to the motorbike shops.
We only had the day, as they were off to Phillip Island Sunday to watch Casey Stoner bring it home (one last time), but Monday they travelled here to stay with us overnight, before returning to Melbourne to catch their flight on Tuesday...it was hectic, fun and all too short, but l keep reminding myself that it's only 6 weeks or so before she's back for Christmas:-))

Hope you enjoy the pics l've put together this week, a few vintage finds from the last couple of months....Charles and Di mug, $2.00 at the market (it contains my very first Spring rose).... clear jar with hen motiff lid $3.00 and some vintage linens.

 



.....and l also wanted to share a couple of small projects l've worked on. 

The garland of hearts was put together from the necklace below...it came in a bag of broken bits....though this was fully intact l'd NEVER wear it, but it's been all handmade so l wanted to use and appreciate at least some of the components.



 

 

l cut the holding twine and unthreaded the hearts...each one was painted with griplock primer and when dry they got the white spray paint treatment. They were then threaded onto string... to which l added some wooden and torqouise beads.

 

 

Hubby occasionally agrees to do jobs in small country towns and it may be necessary to take a drive there beforehand to check it out....sometimes l'll go along for the drive and might be lucky enough to come across an (open) opshop or garage sale l can trawl. Which is how l came across these fantastic linens at a garage sale...$10.00 the pair. They're marked pillowcases but are actually sheets.

 

 

 

This embroidered table square was found at the opshop. The lady who served me told me how she'd taken it home to mend a couple of teeny holes and launder it....what a woman!!

l thought the embroidery might be a B (for Bron) initialled onto it...what do you think, l guess it could also be an R. 

  

Whites and mercury glass.

 

The beaded "belt" still had the swing tag attached. It has a number of adjustable holes so can be worn at the waist, or slung low on the hips, or maybe even around the neckline.

The tulle flower was made from a long (approx 80cm) strip of vintage tulle....on one side l cut petal shapes (arches). It was then gathered and stitched into rose form..A diamente button was attached to the centre.  

 

Crosses and keys.... interesting pieces l can use "one day". 

 

 

In the spirit of Halloween l thought l'd include this pic of me in ghoulish makeup as "Miss Haversham"in tattered wedding gown and tainted tiara... dressed for New Years Eve (party) - year 2000. (yonks ago). 

You can't really see but l'm covered in cobwebs and spiders....fortunately l have trusty batman..s

to "rescue" me...hehe.

 

Have a fantastic rest of your week, and thanks for popping in.

 

Til next time,

 

Bron.