Treasure in photos

I used to love looking through the old family photos. I dragged them out again this weekend and thought I'd make this post a mini ode to my parents.

Peace.

I am a vegetarian again. 

I say 'again' as I have spent a few years here and there dabbling in pescatarianism (fish only) but have always gone back to the hard meaty stuff. Now there is no meat and no fish in my life once and for all.

I am so happy with my choice despite the many meat-eaters who love to tell me why I should be eating meat. One person even told me I need to check my blood type because if I am an 'O' (which I think I am) I can get very sick! 

Humph, I didn't mean this to be a rant, but seriously, vegetarians are very healthy people! 

On another, yet connected note, I also need to say that I feel completely loaded down at the moment with the material 'stuff' in my life. As I have mentioned numerous times before, I live in a shoe box. Why is it then, that I insist on collecting 'stuff'? 

That's it, my treasured items are going.

Hello ebay!

If you love vintage, watch this spot. Over the next few days I will post links to my ebay store - you may find something very delicious for a cheap price.

Looking forward to a minimal life.

x

The Darling Mouli-Julienne

This is my favourite toy of the moment.

Bought from a church market for only a few bob.

So far the darling Mouli-Julienne has given me:

 

• Super thin slices of potato, pumpkin and sweet potato for vege wholemeal lasagna 

• Super thin slices of potato and zucchini for a home made pizza 

• Easy grated zucchini and apple for a, wait for it, zucchini and apple cake. Delicious.
  

Yay retro!

x

Needing that coat

Another little vintage wooden peg gnome needed some woollens for Autumn.

He now joins Mrs little vintage peg gnome on the seasons mantle.

Bless

x

Peggy

I bought these sweet vintage clothes pegs from a little antique store in the Blue Mountains. I love the markings in the top of the pegs.

Whilst I love them as they are I think I will turn them into little toy gnomes with red felt hats. Stay tuned...

x

Felty Times and Twiddle Sticks.

I don't know what the 'twiddle sticks' are in this post - I just liked the sound of it. Maybe its all the crafty fun I have been having when I should really be preparing for the start of a new teaching term. I know that come the end of the week I will be obsessed with planning lessons and the crafty goodness may have to be moved to the sidelines for a little while. But for now...

As a little break from making Granny Squares I have been playing with felty bits.

Years ago I made some pretty felt brooches and sold them at the local markets. They were puffy felt hearts and I used a gold safety pin on the back of them. This time I am using proper brooch findings from Lindcraft - probably more secure (more expensive) but I did like the little gold safety pins too!

I hope you like them. The gnomy girl with the hat is not a brooch - she is far too big for that. Although, I tend to believe that with brooches, sometimes bigger is better. Possibly a finger puppet. We'll see. I will post them when I finish them all.

I love brooches. There is a student at the school I teach at who notices the vintage brooches I wear everyday and says 'I see your bringing brooches back miss!' and 'Nice Brooch miss', etc. Very funny. I am selling a lot of my vintage stuff on Ebay at the moment - I have too much stuff! Check out Ebay at 'smilesblue77'

This is my lovely sewing box. I have a vintage 'Witch' needle threader, vintage buttons and lace and a whole lot of other goodies. Slowly I am beginning to use these things.

I hope you have a lovely Australia Day tomorrow wherever you are!

Bless

x

My Favourite Things - Part 2

I just wanted to share some pretty things with you. Some I aquired from markets, some were given or swapped, some bought...

I LOVE this chest of drawers. Not very practical as the drawers are quite shallow but perfect for papers and christmas decorations and some craft supplies. I swapped the drawers with my last flatmate for a full length mirror. Lovely.

My bed has a little crochet blanket, again given to me by my last flatmate. Bless. Fairy lights adorn the bedhead and elfy dolly from a couple of Christmases ago rests peacefully. A very comfy bed I might add.

I bought these beautiful hand embroidered vintage pillow slips from a big ol' market in rural Victoria for $12 pair. They are so pretty. I have to admit that I refuse to sleep on them and move these pillows each night. I do however, rest my head on them when I am reading because it is such a shame to not feel like a princess.

Pretty pillow detail.

These are a whole lot of beautiful little antique vintage bottles found by the man and given to me to adorn my bathroom. They sit up high so I don't do much with them except sometimes put little white flowers in each. Little inkwells and medicine bottles, etc.

I fell in love with this painting at a beautiful antique shop in rural Victoria. I bargained down from $150 to $130. It is hard to see as the photo is not great but it is a watercolour original and painted very very well. I usually spend very little on my pretty finds but this was too good to leave behind.

These cups are retro pretty perfect. Royal Doulton. Bought from a market at a nursing home for about $25 I think. I love the colours and design. I think they would be perfect to hold little orange chocolate mousse for a dinner party.

Pretty poppies.

So, there we go, a few more of my favourite things. So many things I buy that I love are from markets and usually cost under about $20 or $30. Who needs new stuff these days?

Bless

x

A darling ditty

This is a lovely card a friend has framed on her mantle. I 'googled' it and found the makers at the etsy shop letterarypress. Unfortunately this card is sold out but there are other little dittes and quotes by other literary geniuses.

So quirky and lovely.

Collecting treasure

We, yes we, just keep finding 'stuff'. I wish I could say it was just me, but no, it is both of us which means double the 'stuff'. Slight problem. If I had a big place to live and somewhere to put all of these neat finds it would be ok, but my rental is the size of a shoebox.

This is what the man brought home the other day. I do like these finds though. The painting is from the 70s and looks like it is from the 70s, and the mirrors, well, someone's trash is definitely my treasure.

Maybe I will pair down the paint on the mirrors and paint them shabby chic white. Who knows. For now they will sit in the corner...

Strawberry shortcake greetings

Good morning!

I bought this little calico bag containing 10 strawberry greeting cards from St Vinnies for $2. What I liked about them is they all have a recipe for strawberry shortcake on the back! Yummy.