Shadow Shot #10 and a Wordle

Shadow Shot time again! (wow, I've done 10 already?!) Head over to HeyHarriet to see last weeks SSS pics.
I have a little table on our deck with an assortment of mainly white, lovely pots on it. All of the plants (bar one hardy succulent) in these pots are dead. It looks terrible and I feel guilty every time I spy it! But I like the shadow shot - the last of the winter sun, making way for Springtime!

And here's my Wordle - I hadn't done one yet and decided to after seeing U-handbag's blog, so I tried it out. It's 'lovely'!! ... and also very addictive!!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Post Script

Hi again!
Hiding away from the kids at 'witching hour' (my husband's a good man!), I've just discovered this great blog with a lovely little tutorial for a vintage lady coat hanger (very cool - my mind's racing with the alternatives!).

The blog's called Green Kitchen (you savvy people probably already know about it ... I'm a bit slow!) and she's having a giveaway too! All very exciting for my Thursday night!

beautiful bunny

Thank you to Net from Area Thrifty One for sending me one of her gorgeous bunny kits.
In green - my favourite colour!

I'm really looking forward to making it up and I really like the idea of putting smelly stuff inside (like rosemary or cloves) or stuffing with sand and using it as a cute doorstop. You can see more of Area Thrify One loveliness at her etsy shop.
The 'generosity of bloggers' indeed :)

Thrift Delights and a Kitchen Tea

I visited my local Vinnies today - they have just refurbished the shop (it still smells like new carpet and fresh paint!). Lucky for me, they discovered that they have an over abundance of books and so are selling them off - fill a bag for $1!

I filled my bag with all sorts of novels - some for using with my students, some because they were good stories, and some because they had interesting covers! My son also picked up 3 lovely fairy tale books from the 70s with lovely illustrations (he's got a good eye!). You can see one of his books at the bottom left of the pic, my 'tower' of books keeps going out of the picture!

Not satisfied with my book stash, I also bought a sweet set of yellow daisy glasses (perfect for little hands, I think!) and a lovely heavy glass vase. Thrifty happiness!

Another thing that's made me happy lately was my sister-in-law-to-be's Kitchen Tea. It was a proper, old-fashioned ladies Kitchen Tea, complete with a vast assortment of delicate sweeties served on beautiful plates and stands and lovely china cups and saucers with flowers on them. So delightfully civilised!

As it was a 'traditional' Kitchen Tea, I gave a traditional gift. My s-i-l-to-be loves cooking so I made up a recipe box with blank recipe cards as well as some already filled in. I had so much fun putting all of this together (which is good because it took way longer than I thought it would!!). I enjoyed choosing some of my favourite sweet recipes for her as well as making all the cards and finding suitable vintage ladies for decoration!
Now we wait for the wedding! I'm very excited as I love a wedding! It's just over a week away and I still have my outfit to finish (I'm so good at procrastinating!) ... maybe I should go and do a bit now ..?

Shadow Shot #9

Although I'm looking forward to Springtime, I am enjoying the lovely winter sun that streams in every morning. This is a strange shot, I think; I took it of the glare of the sun on the floorboards under our table this morning. The long shadow lines are created by the backs of the chairs.


Yesterday we had out monthly BrisStyle meet-up in Hamilton, across the road from where we are holding our Christmas market in the old Hamilton Town Hall.

It was nice to welcome some new faces to our group. As usual there were lots of handmade Brisbane goodies on show, lovely conversation and (huge plates!) of delicious food! Here are the BrisStylettes in action (before the food arrived!).


Visit the lovely HeyHarriet for some more shadow shots.
Happy Sunday everyone!

Spoilt Rotten!

One of my simple pleasures in life is receiving mail (nice mail, not the 'bill' variety!) from the postie. I've been a 'mail-lover' since I was a little girl - as soon as I could write!
And, I have been such a lucky girl this week. Today, three packages arrived for me!!

The first was my gorgeous little book that I bought from Bexx. So tiny and perfectly made .. and my favourite colour too!
The next was a super-sweet surprise from lovely Helen from ruby2gogo. She sent me a gorgeous pouch (love the fabric!) for my newly bought bracelet (similar to this one) and a fantastic 'Wonderwoman' ring!! woo hoo :D All packaged up so nicely. Thank you Helen.

My third parcel was a great pack of goodies that I won from the lovely Jess at 'Button Beauty' (I thought I was one of those people who never wins anything!! so glad I was wrong!!) I am so lucky in winning her gorgeous pack of goodies. I was gob-smacked at Jess's generosity - she included vintage pillowcases, vintage tea-towel, op-shop Eskimo place-mats (so cool!), yarn, fabric pieces, vintage trim, seeds for our garden, fair trade chocolate and a great apron she made herself! Thanks again Jess!

Wow! Lucky me :) I'm so inspired to get into my sewing now with these beautiful fabrics and the ones I got from Bec too. I'm off to bury myself in my stash! ;)

Etsy goodies

We have such a wealth of talented etsy sellers in Brisbane! I took advantage of the recent BrisStyle etsy sale and bought some lovelies!

HeyHarriet sent me out two sweet aceos - packaged so nicely with a cool card and Charlie Brown comic pics :)
This is the one I especially love "Red Wall Girl" - I'm still trying to figure out what she is feeling! Thanks Tracy!
Beckybean packaged up some great goodies for me too. I bought her lovely 'Witch Snippet' bag which is just lovely - yummy colours and fabrics.

Beckybean's package was full of extra goodies which warmed my heart and swelled my fabric stash a little more!

What was extra special was the bookmarks she made for my two little people. Thanks Bec!

Check out the BrisStyle blog for some more fantastic Brisbane Handmade etsy talent!

Shadow Shot Sunday #9

I'm a bit late this week - we have been soaking up the sun and good times on the Gold Coast all weekend.
I'm also cheating a bit: the weather this weekend was so glorious and sunny, the kids were having so much fun, we had lovely company and the beach was looking so good ... but I forgot the camera :( so silly. SO, this is one I took a few weeks ago of our neighbour's palms on our wall. Nice, but not exciting like the Gold Coast, sorry!

Thanks again to HeyHarriet for her great SSS collages and Happy Sunday everyone!

Red Button Beauties!

I have a lovely friend who loves buying things for me, and I love making things for her.
Today I received another little goodies packet from her ...

These gorgeous RED buttons!! I love the colour and the different textures and materials - some are Bakelite and some are wood. They are on an old button card that says 'Fashion's Latest' and 'Made in Czechoslovakia', but I doubt any of them are the original ones that came with the card. They were found in one of the lovely vintage-selling shops in Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast (mental note: grab some pocket money and take a drive up to Eumundi soon!!).

I'm a lucky girl! I'm thinking of making maybe a bracelet out of the 6 flower-y ones. Hmmmm...
I told her, the next time she's out shopping, I'd like her to buy me some extra time so I can make things to my hearts content!! hee hee.
Thanks Kira :D

Shadow Shot Sunday #8

Today's SSS is the Swash-buckling Shadow Pirate with his cardboard sword and plastic parrot. He cuts a fierce figure playing in the park!
We went on a grand pirate adventure with the neighbours down to the park, complete with pirate flags, eye patches and pirate treasure! So fun.

Thanks again Hey Harriet for some great SSS collages!

Happy Sunday everyone and be sure to check out some great Brisbane craft and art on sale at the EEE sale :) !

BrisStyle EKKA Sale!

THE sale is here!
The Etsy Ekka Extravaganza Sale is on now!
Please visit the BrisStyle blog for a list of the participating shops and their great deals!

The ‘Ekka’ is the annual agricultural show held in Brisbane, Australia. It is a fun-packed 10 days of bright lights and rides, local produce, entertainment and cute animals! We thought it would be a perfect excuse to have a sale on etsy to promote our BrisStyle team and our talented members, as well as a chance for lovers of handmade to snap up some great bargains!

This little fella and his enormous bull have come all the way from Tamworth (where I grew up - that's why I included the pic!)

And here are some lovely handmade Brisbane treats from the BrisStylettes you can pick up from the EEE sale!!

BEST Books Sale

As well as our BrisStyle EEE sale next week, I'm also taking part in the BEST book sale which runs from Friday to Sunday. I'm offering 15% off + a free ATC with purchases over $15.

BEST is the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team, you can see more info on the blog. Here is a list of the participating members - I'm looking forward to grabbing myself a good booky-bargain too!

bluevalentinepress - free shipping and free gift
spacedogstudios - free shipping to USA and a free bookmark
kupokiley - 15% off case bound books
scodioli - free shipping
bound-to - 15% off if you mention BESTbooks
prairiepeasant - 15% off OR free shipping on orders over $40
yatsu - free shipping
jellygnite - 15% off & free ACEO with orders over $15
thisisbexx - 20% off if you mention BESTbooks
catharticslant - set of gift tags or note cards with purchase
kristincrane - 10% off and a free greeting card
thecraftykitten - 20% off & free shipping for orders over $50
myhandboundbooks - free shipping
dragonflycrafts - 20% off all books
subu - 15% off if you mention BESTBooks
la paperie & cozy - BOGO 20% off

Retro Ladies

I've had fun creating some 'Retro Ladies' aceos / art cards the past couple of nights.
I uploaded them all to my etsy shop tonight (and unfortunately due to the square cropping - they all look decapitated - hee hee!! ah well!)
I love the great expressions these wonderful ladies have - as well as their great clothes!

There were polyester and pantsuits everywhere in the 70s!

Part of the reason why I was motivated to make these beauties was our BrisStyle 'Etsy Ekka Extravaganza' Sale which starts Saturday. The deal I am offering is 15% off storewide as well as a free aceo with orders over $15 ... so, I thought some fresh new faces were in order for the 'aceo' section in my shop!

Enjoy these retro lovelies and make sure to swing by the BrisStyle blog to get the lowdown on our sale and all the particpating shops.

Shadow Shot Sunday #7

Thank you again to Hey Harriet for her Shadow Shot Sunday - so lovely to notice the shadows! (and to read the poetry - hee hee!)

Using Kids Craft Weekly as some crafty kid-inspiration, we came up with these very special scrap paper and sequined papier mache bowls. I decided I had to photograph them rather quickly after they had dried as they are quite fragile (I love the raggy edges!). The pink one now is misshapen and looks a little worse for wear, I'm afraid - but well-loved! :P

We've been enjoying the winter sun.
Happy sunny Sunday!