Christmas Day in Oz.

 

Sailboat serviettes, floating on a sea of blue....

A sea of calm...for now!!!

I hope you have a lovely Christmas and a joy-filled 2013.

Til next time.

Bron.
 

Something a little different.

l hope you enjoy this week's post....it's a bit of a mother, daughter combo.

 

Its a lot of fun having my girl home and of course one of the things we love to do together is opshop (it's hereditary.. haha) l love seeing what catches her eye and what makes it's way home with her.This dress straight from the 70's was something that appealed..... she says it needs a bit of a remake.... it'll be interesting to see what becomes of it.

 

 

The Christmas decorating has her stamp on it as well.....the starfish were shaped from air dried clay before she came home, they've since been painted and strung with ribbon, she also covered the baubles on the tree in hessian...in keeping with the beach theme we planned ages ago.

l liked the idea of tyeing the presents with tulle...hopefully it passes as beachy since it's a type of netting:-))... l like to think it gives a lift to the understated wrapping paper.

The last couple of Christmases l've had a purple tree, but l've really missed having a white one... so the  purple one's been passed on to a good home and l chose this snowy speciman instead.

 

l just had to sneak a few pink roses in there didn't l...(just for the pic).

 

 

 

Brown paper wrapping and fluffy tulle bows...the guys'll LOVE 'em ;-))

 



 

l added a few accessories to her dress...fringed bag, vintage hat and a few roses add some pretty.

 

 

Just wanted to show you how long the dress is....pretty much floor length.

 

 

Lovin' this white hydrangea smothered hat.

 

 

 

Strung some vintage mercury glass baubles (in different sizes) onto a chain to create a festive door knob decoration.

 



 

This is last years Christmas table....

 

 

 

.....still a work in progress when the pics were taken.... but before too many colours were added :-))

The striped tablecloths were made from tab top curtains....the tabs were simply cut off the top and then thrown over plain white tablecloths. 

 

 

 

 l hope to do a quickie post before Christmas day...but just in case it doesn't happen....

 

l'd like to wish you a truly beautiful Christmas season laydeez...l wish you all the very best things of life...like love and peace and happiness and l hope you all get the chance to simply relax, kick back and enjoy this special time with your families.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit and also for your lovely comments....

 

 

 

Til next time.

 

 

Bron.

 

 

 

 

Coming Home.

 

Wasn't it only yesterday when l said my daughter would be home in 6 weeks (for Christmas)....well that's this Friday..... l fluffed around in the spare bedroom and prettied it up for her,

 

....and thought hmmm...maybe l'll take some pics.....course l won't leave all the roses laying around on the pillows....not so comfy haha....It's all rather girlie but hopefully she'll just be happy to have somewhere to lay her head :-))

 

l bought this framed cross for son which l thought might go nicely with the medieval-ish theme he's got going on at his place, but he just looked at it and said no Mum....just nuh!!

I figured l could do SOMETHING with it, so l stripped the cross from the backing board and removed the glass from the frame....a couple of coats of dry brushed torquoise paint, and a little decorating on the cross and this is the result....Oh yeh and l hung a necklace behind the frame also.

 

 



It forms part of the new wall display in the spare room.

 

 

The feathered wreath was very simple to make...all you need is a wreath and a bag of feathers. l glued these on completely randomly til it was fully covered. Hung a bell in the centre and a merry christmas sign underneath. A fabric bow which l also glued on, holds it on to a hook. 

 

 

 The once plain glass bottle (holding the rose) was coated all over on the inside with pearly white nail polish which  produced this pale opaque sheen. Found another vintage butterfly brooch for my collection.

 

This lovely embroidered sheet came from the opshop ($10.00)....out of it's old packaging it came..... into good use on the spare bed.

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of lace and flowers. 

 

A new "old plaster Mary" (with child) to add to the collection....both have been beheaded and reheaded at some stage....which just adds to their character and charm:-)) 

 

 

l'm hoping that when daughter's here she'll add her create touch to a couple of posts.....anyway l've mentioned it to her and she didn't say no...so we'll see.

 

Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your lovely comments at this busy, busy time of the year..... Have a fantastic week, til next time.

 

 

Bron. 

 

 

Christmas Centrepiece.

Well l don't often bang on about the weather...(that's usually hubby's job:-)) however the day after the
 37 degree heat last week we had a violent (golfball size hail) storm rip through our town tearing roofs off , upending trees and just generally leaving a path of destruction. We count ourselves very lucky to only have the garden shredded to pieces....then last night it was cold enough to light fires and turn electric blankets on....Struth... what's goin' on!!!

Anyway.....bedroom pic with tutu.

 

l think the single most thing l love about vintage shopping is the randomness of the stuff to be found....and how inspiring it can be.

 

 

 

Scanning the Salvo's l spotted a shelf devoted entirely to ballet trophies, and each one only 99 cents....that alone was enough to make me drag a couple home to experiment on:-)).... but right away l thought they'd look pretty with a coat of white paint and a "new"vintage frock and wings. 

When they were done l figured they'd make a lovely Christmas table centrepiece.

Pic on the right is the before. 

 

l would have just set them up on a tray with mercury glass balls and choccies, but couldn't believe my eyes when l stumbled across this horse drawn (Cinderella-ish) carriage decoration for only 50 cents at the opshop last week.....the perfect match. The carriage roof opens up...great for filling with lollies. 

 

 

 

 

l loved Sandy Fosters ballet gift tag  (last post) so much l had to try and paint a few "Nutcracker inspired" gift tags of my own....l played around a little with different fabric bows. 

 

   

 

And made a Christmassy ballerina garland.
The beads are tiny mercury glass ones that were the ringers out of vintage Christmas bells.

Daughter and l are trying to do a bit of beachy Christmas theme this year and loved some of the ideas in this pic..... found here.

 

 

Have a wonderful week and stay safe, thanks so much for stopping by.

Til next time,

Bron.

 

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.