Bungalow Bliss

Thirty One Thankyous

2012-02-01T06:05:00.000-08:00

Well before I get to the summing up a month of gratitude part, just had to share what Liongirl and I fossicked up at the op shop today. We were, in our favour, dropping off some baby toys, curtains and a big bag of miscellanea. It does appear to take two of those whopper D batteries so we are not sure if it works but for $3 it had to come home. In fact even the box was cute.

Unbelievably something amazing popped up at the Salvos just in time for my birthday in a few weeks. Cannot wait to bring it home, just need to find the right moment to tell Legoman that he needs to nip down there on the weekend with the trailer........

We had a girls crafty kind of day today. Very much inspired by our other op shop find- a very cool retro book all about shapes. Time for a shape inspired art work. I helped with a lot of the snipping but miss Liongirl's prowess with the scissors is quite astounding. The only problem is that she does tend to just keep going and going until all that is left is a pile of confetti.

So, what about my pledge to 365 days of thankyou notes? Handwritten snippets of gratitude snail-mailing their way around the country. Well amazingly I am on track, thirty one cards completed. I have taken time to appreciate and thank friends, family, kindy teachers, swim coaches and neighbours. Many of these wonderful people have then taken the time to either phone, text or email me with gratitude for the kind words that I have sent their way.

I have not written one a day, usually I will sit down at night, get in the zone and write three or four. Being in the zone of this concentrated positivity seems to be having a very powerful flow on effect on my general thinking about my life. I would not describe myself as a natural optimist. I am enthusiastic and love to see change and improvement but the analytical aspect of my personality means that I am prone to dwelling, ruminating and preparing for the worst possible scenario. Only now I am learning to focus the intensity of my thoughts in a stronger, more positive and meaningful way.

I have a huge list of people still to thank, but little worried thoughts do crop up. Will I run out of people to send cards to? Will it diminish the value and meaning of my cards if the recipient knows I am doing a gratitude project? Most amazingly, some very positive moments have also popped into my life this month.

After nearly a year completely stalled on what to do with Betsy, in the last month we have installed new blinds, met with a building designer, picked and eaten our first cucumber and surprisingly, I won a fantastic blog giveaway- something I really wanted and needed. And just wait until you see that Salvos special coming home for my birthday. These experiences were by no means the desired intention for this project, but they are greatly appreciated. Anyone inspired yet? Perhaps just start with one card and see where it leads you.

Gratefully yours, Mel.

Australia day heroes

2012-01-26T04:43:00.000-08:00

It was a public holiday today, a day off work and school to celebrate the greatness of our wonderful country. Apparently that necessitated an entire post school afternoon of costume design and production. Actually the whole week involved intense discussions about planning the ultimate water bomb fight, secret codes for signaling the start of the bombing and requirements of action hero costume production for said fight.

I have mentioned before that our street really gets into parties. Last year two local streets combined to celebrate Australia Day with a barbie on the lawn which later degenerated into a waterfight between the Menace brothers and some older kids. So this year, they were planning a revenge assault, covert of course.
My stash of lycra, sequin and satin fabrics was raided, copious safety pins used and look what we knocked together while grieving the fact that holidays were over and school was back.

This was the trial run with the water blasting machines. Before we prepared the water bombs. Let me just say that there was no time for photos at the actual party but copious water bombs were dispatched and our old street is the perfect slope for a slip and slide. And not the shop bought kind, the original slip and slide with 3 tarps joined together and a whole bottle of diswashing liquid. If only I had managed to get that photo of Roboboy skidding down on his knees, cape flying behind him.

I did manage to nab this one though. Can I preface it by mentioning that dirt is really good for the immune system.

It has been raining a lot here this week. Some areas of Queensland have flooded, again. Many children have been cooped up in new classrooms going slightly crazy. This started out as a simple play in a puddle across the road in gumboots. And then the Menace brothers came home from school.

Then all of a sudden there is a mud pit, sliding area, mud pies, gumboots being used as mud carrying vessels and mud body paint. All over. I suspect the Menace brother's mother was wishing she had chosen after school sports that day. Or perhaps even that we had not moved in 18 months ago.

Me, I'm just hoping all that mud washes out of that brand new school uniform. The socks unfortunately could not be salvaged. But the memories........ priceless.

Floral flannies and teeny tiny treasures

2012-01-22T05:45:00.000-08:00

Goodness, can you believe the school holidays are over already? Those weeks of sunshine and beaches just flew by and now I am madly covering books and washing new uniforms. I did squeeze in a tiny visit to an op shop near work this week and look at these three lovelies that were waiting for me.

The middle one is cotton and the other two are flannelette. I have been using the soft flannelette ones for backing some little quilts as they are so soft, and not too hot. The little teeny chair came from that garage sale a while back when this lovely girl was moving house. Miss Liongirl loves to kick back with a big stack of books.

Roboboy needed a chair cover for school this year in grade 1. After an initial thought of sewing my own, I decided to go one better and just use the standard school one as a base and embellish it a little. Add one thrifted Barrier Reef teatowel and our fish loving boy will have no doubts which chair is his.

Do any of you ever have those really quiet toddler moments? You know when it seems like an unusual length of time that they are playing quietly by themselves? At our place that only ever means trouble of some sort. Ours just involved an entire pack of newly purchased bandaids.

Lets just say the back of the baby was in much worse shape.

And my aggies finally bloomed, seemingly weeks after everyone else in blogtopia.

And most excitingly, I did start chopping up my vintage sheet stash to make a teeny tiny quilt. Like many things in this house, it is still a work in progress, but here's a peek. Please ignore the obvious wonkiness.

How I love all those wonderful florals together. Such a shame I started sewing in another midnight frenzy and forgot to add seam allowance on all sides of the square. About 5 cm out in measurements so now needs a blasted trim. I used one of those lovely soft flannies on the back.

And did you hear that the Vintage sheet swap is back on? I am so excited as this will be my first and lately I have been stumbling across some beauties, must be due to those 6 bags of stuff that just went to the Salvos. We are in the process of a massive decluttering over here at Betsy's, kind of a room by room purge. There is less time for blogging but lots to show for it and some exciting Betsy related news coming soon.

Pop over to Sophie's place for more flea market finds.

Holiday treats

2012-01-15T04:29:00.000-08:00

Well with school holidays in full swing, there hasn't been much time for thrifting. I did manage to steal a few child free hours and felt it was my civic duty to attend one of my old favourite op shops that closed down for almost a year after the city floods in January 2011. The flood went nearly 2 metres through the whole warehouse and it has taken this long to get up and running again. Even though I have no idea how to knit, I could not leave this lovely cluster of pearlescent knitting needles behind. Heck, last year I didn't know how to crochet, so this seems like a vaguely justifiable purchase.

Never been a huge fan of tapestries before, the ones I remember seeing in my childhood were horrid (those 80's have a lot to answer for), but these much older ones are so lovely. And only $2 each.

That sage green in the floral is one of my favourite colours. I was excited to find these buttons in the same colour as well as this lovely little box for $1- I love sewing bits and bobs.

But my find of the week, this oh so wonderful little dolly cot. Even though we have a little one already, that I have been painting and making bedding for. It was just so pink and cute, I could not leave it behind. Can I also add that miss Liongirl does have a LOT of babies and 4 babies in the one cot is probably breaching all dolly safe sleeping codes.

And finally, thank you all for your many kind words on my last blog post. I feel so fortunate to have this wonderful bloggy family out there who love and appreciate op shopping, crafting, colour, gardening, house renovating and all the other small details of life. You bring so much colour to my day.

Linking in with Sophie for more treats.

To Grow with Gratitude

2012-01-09T05:47:00.000-08:00

If I were to sum up my resolutions for 2012 in one word it would be to GROW. To extend myself, as a mother, as a crafter and as a human being. To take great leaps into the unknown, to learn new things, to expand my heart. Today is the exact one year anniversary to the day that I started this little blog. It was probably the day I tentatively stretched out my first shoot, that first curling tendril, that first leaf.

Before that I was not in a place where growth was an option.

I have a complicated child, my first child. When you have a complicated child everything is, well, complicated. Every single tiny thing is hard. To just feed your child and leave the house is hard. Spending time with other people and their uncomplicated children is hard. For a long time your complicated child does not let you sing, or take photos, or like to be touched. You start to feel like most of the joy in being a mother has been stolen. Many many many hours are spent learning how to help your complicated child do the things that other children can just do. This does not leave much time for anything else and it can be a very lonely path to travel.

But as you walk along this road, and the weeks turn into months and the months turn into one, two, three years, gradually the fog starts to lift and you can see something in the distance. A little light, in a little room. And a sign on the door that says, YES , you have turned the corner, it is getting easier every day. And people stop noticing your complicated child, he is a little less complicated, and you start to worry a little less.

And many, many people turn up when you need them, to give you advice, or support, or to guide you in the right direction. And then maybe one day you wake up and you are not filled with the anxious dread of how you are going to get through another complicated day. And you remember once, when you were not filled with complicated thoughts, that you loved to make things and be creative. And you want it back, and you think there might actually be a little time now. And so you start a blog. Because one cannot have a blog, without doing something blogworthy.

A year ago I started this blog with the sole purpose of being more creative. Along the way I have found much to inspire me, many new friends, and have surprised myself with what I can achieve around the day to day with two small children. What I was not expecting was that by finding the tiny moments of goodness in what may otherwise be a complicated day or week, I have come to love my complicated child so much more. I have learnt that through adversity comes strength. And with the retreat of adversity, comes joy. Simple joy for tiny things that are hard won. I am slowly learning that gratitude is indeed the best attitude.

A few months ago I cut out a review of this book and it stuck it on my pin board. I remembered to ask for someone to buy it for me for Christmas. And it was more inspiration than I expected. John is a lawyer whose life is not in a great place. At an all time low point he has an epiphany that he needs to express more gratitude and he commits to writing a thank you note every day for a year. The old fashioned way, with a pen, paper and a stamp.

And then while shopping for Christmas presents, I came across this book and bought it for myself. Gretchen is a writer and mother of two small children in New York who realizes while she is not depressed, she is hardly happy as a clam. She does a massive amount of research on happiness and then undertakes a project where over the period of a year she will implement her distilled knowledge of all this happiness research. Given that I would describe her as a neurotic over thinker, we had a lot in common. It heartened me that she with her uncomplicated life and uncomplicated children would need to undertake such a project.

Gratitude is very current, very trendy for want of a better word. I had already been inspired by this grateful project where a young photographer mum took a photo of a moment to be grateful for, every day for a year. But I was not inspired enough to actually do it.

After reading 365 Thankyous, I felt differently. This was daily gratitude, but to me this was bigger. Not only was it taking a moment to be grateful but it was taking the time to write a real thank you and send that gratitude onto someone else and hopefully brighten their day. And this was enough to inspire me.

So my big scary committed project?

Every day for 365 days, I am going to write a thank you to someone who has created a positive moment in my life. And I am going to write it by hand on a card and then post it, snail mail style. I have done eight already and it feels good.

It is scary too. That is a lot of cards, a lot of words, a chunk of time. What if I don't have the right words, what if I run out of people to thank? It will probably involve having to make some of my own cards.

So, if this inspires anyone, I have called mine " Gratefully yours, 365" as this is how I will be signing my cards. At the end of every month I will let you know if I am keeping up. Feel free to join in and bounce that gratitude right around the world. Or just get your hands on these two books, you will inspired.

I am so looking forward to learning, sharing, being inspired, being humbled and walking down this road with all of you. A whole lotta people I really like. 2012, Bring it On. And for anyone with a child, complicated or not, remember as I learnt from Gretchen, The days may be long, but the years are short.

Pav-tastic milk glass moment

2012-01-05T03:35:00.000-08:00

Remember a while back my mother- in- law mentioned that she might possibly have some sort of milk glass dish stashed in her cupboard? Well holy cow, look what she ferreted out and brought over recently. No, not the pavlova, that's my creation.

The absolutely perfect Fenton milk glass cake stand. I think I almost wept on the spot. It is sublimely beautiful, every little hobnail and frill is a delight. I had been waiting to cook something impressive in order to show off it's best features and thought I also needed to redeem myself with respect to recent pavlova efforts. This is a triple tier pavlova magic mountain special that I made for my mother-in - law's birthday. I think she was a little stunned by the absolute pavtasticness of this creation but was more than a little chuffed that her milk glass cake stand was making such a spectacular debut.

I made three pavs and was attempting a wedding cake tiered shape but pavs are obviously not that well behaved and once creamed it sort of looked more like a hat. A few more adornments and well, more like a mountain.

Yes, there was a small implosion of the ground level. Still, once covered in all the yummies, it transformed into the magic mountain special.

So easy to whip up a few meringue kisses with the leftover mixture. I didn't even pipe these, just twirled them with a spoon. My mother-in-law took the whole top layer home and we all ate the bottom two layers. The cake stand is mine to keep, never again will I raise an eyebrow over MIL's hoarding tendencies.

Other than scoffing down pavlova the start of the new year has left me reflecting on my resolutions for 2011. My three broad goals were gratitude, organization and creativity and I feel that I did make a good start on all three.

My more specific achievements are much less impressive than I had hoped. Progress on Betsy was painfully slow and frequently hampered by indecision. I'm too embarrassed to be more specific than that. On a positive note, before the year was out I did manage to start a vegie garden, plant 2 trees and 3 rose bushes, have my own chickens (until they were foxed a few months ago), pull out a sewing machine that had never been out of the box and start sewing, learn to crochet, start a sewing group, upgrade to a digital camera, start a milk glass collection, make two installations for the prep classroom and find the best vintage sheet stash on holidays in rural Victoria. Oh, yes and I did start a little blog.

And now I'm plotting something to build on this year of progress, something big, and wishfully grand and a little scary. A project of sorts, a commitment of both time and thoughts. Want some clues?

Back soon with the whole story. Hoping someone else might be inspired to come along for the ride........

Thrifting by the sea

2012-01-01T04:41:00.001-08:00

So, a beach holiday is always a good thing. Sunshine every day is not guaranteed but was very much appreciated. Coastal town op shopping was just the icing on the cake. Due to being Christmas/New Year week at least half the op shops were closed. That left about four to ferret through, some with the kids, some while they napped. The sheets were $2.50 each and there were two of the middle one, the top one made me swoon on the spot. Legoman spotted the milk glass for me, he is well trained now. I returned the favour with a very cool lego find.

I love adding to an existing collection. We have about six if these Australian animal Golden books now.
Op shopping with kids can be tricky. If the toy section is small , they are not always easily amused. This would have to be my ultimate op shopping with kids find.

The biggest tub of random buttons to sort through. This is so up Roboboy's alley it's not funny. He probably thinks this out ranks Seaworld for a fun afternoon. So I just left them there ferreting through, choosing all the colourful ones while I had a good prowl around the rest of the shop. Even after we arrived home we got more mileage out of those buttons with more sorting and selecting. And unbelievably, there was a 50 % off sale at the op shop so those 200 buttons came to a sum total of $1!

This supremely awesome towel was thrifted a few weeks ago back home for $3 but I had to share miss Liongirl's delight at the discovery that it completely matched her new favourite birthday swimmers from the best Aunty in the world.

It's very important when you are exploring rockpools looking for treasures of the sea, to be appropriately attired.

We stumbled across a heap of hermit crabs. That only means one thing. Time for a hermie race. Draw a circle, select your hermie, racers to the centre of the ring, then go go go. For the record, my crab "Big Mama" powered home and crawled completely off the race rock while a few of the others barely even woke up.

I love having a sense of building a history at the place you go for holidays. A collection of memories of the passing of time with your small children. I took this photo back in February of my Liongirl.

Just a little moment of deja vu.

Same girl, just a little more hair and longer legs. Same attitude towards politely requested photographs.

Moffat Beach Caloundra, we will be back, hopefully soon.

Happy Merry New Year

2011-12-31T21:39:00.000-08:00

Well you won't believe what we have been up to. Although you may have suspicions due to the extensive blog hiatus. We did the unthinkable and absconded for Christmas. To the beach no less. And I must say, I would highly recommend disappearing for a week from Christmas Eve, the only negative being the process of having to stuff all the presents in the car. Feng Shui Nonna came and stayed for few nights and brought a teeny tree for us to redecorate on arrival so we didn't miss our house or the Christmas lego too much.

Roboboy was quite concerned that Santa may not realize we were at the beach and would leave the presents at home, but gosh that Santa seems to be switched on.

Santa had obviously taken note of the school work book complete with detailed drawing of the requested item. With accompanying text just to be sure, "Aleene Con Cwest" (Alien Conquest). I myself just breathed a great sigh of relief that the most wanted item back in June was still highly prized come December (one wouldn't want Santa to not hit the mark of course).

And Liongirl, well anything pink and she is pretty much happy. The prized items appear to be a toy manicure set from her cousins which she wields with gusto on any set of nails she can find and a talking My Little Pony Fairy wand with my all time favourite cracker of a line " I'll be the best looking pony in the library". The Duplo hospital that she has been coveting on every visit to a Target all year appears to be providing therapy of sorts as she provides medical care inter mixed with periods of Time out for various infractions.

I did make a pavlova of course, it's completely traditional and pretty easy. Unfortunately due to an incident best described as an implosion, this is the best photo I can provide. Can I add that before I dropped that very large dollop of cream on the top, it did look perfect. Liongirl thought the whole event was for laughs and frankly any pav disaster can be recovered with a slathering of cream and fruit and no one is any the wiser when it comes to the eating part.

We had a barbeque lunch and then spent the rest of the day playing with our Christmas cracker racing Santas,

as well as a lot of this.

Liongirl suddenly worked out how to swim a few weeks before her third birthday and is just like her brother- completely fearless in the water with no awareness of her limitations whatsoever. She can easily swim 3-4 metres now but would probably then sink like a stone when she had to stop and take a breath. Makes for constant parental vigilence but so pleased she is a water baby too. She was not so at ease with the ocean waves though, which meant some quality time for Roboboy and I to hang out and make some sand creations.

Mother and baby dolphin of course. There is always time for a moustache, and a general horse around.

And how about rounding the day off with a spot of ocean gazing from the bedroom window.

While getting stuck into reading some delicious Christmas presents as the kidlets collapse with icypoles in front of the Octonauts Christmas special on ABC kids. Could life be more blissful than this?

Actually yes, it can be more blissful. Just wait until you see the spoils of regional coastal town op shopping! Back soon, and wishing you all a very happy merry New Year.

A little gift of sunshine

2011-12-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

I really did not intend to go near an op shop today. But since the presents are all sorted and the tree is decorated, how could I not? This little pile of included the sunshine yellow pyrex, two pillowcases and a sheet all for $8.

I'm quite liking the simplicity of the dead stick tree. While I'm not normally one for specific New Years resolutions, I will say that that terrible two tone custard/undercoat wall will be GONE by next Christmas.

Now, for other goings on that should have been posted weeks ago.

This little cushion is the finished product of the recent frenzied midnight sewing session. I have been wanting a pile of colourful cushions on my lounge for the longest time but was waiting for fabric inspiration to strike. Despite my inability to cut or sew in a straight line, I think it turned out quite ok (just don't get out one of those rulers that tells you if things are square).

I really loved that floral tablecloth fabric and it was easy to chop into as large parts of it were too stained to use. The St George teatowel seemed to have just the colours that I needed. The insert was a $3 cushion from Ikea. Here is the other side. I'm itching to make more now.

On the garden front, here is our completed raised bed full of vege seedlings. We are amazed to be able to report that the pegged down bird netting does indeed appear to be possum proof.

Unforunately the herbs did not fare so well on account of these free loaders living in our carport roof. That's the mother on the right and the baby kicking back on the left. With the amount of noise my rabble make getting in and out of the car these possums must be seriously sleep deprived. Perhaps that is why in just one night they decimated both the dill and the continental parsley. We have applied chicken wire now and will see what bounces back.

And what about that proof we found that Christmas is just about upon us? Well we were down at the park collecting seedpods when we stumbled on a little tree covered in these Christmas jewels. I haven't seen Christmas beetles since I was at school, did I just forget to look all these years? It's times like this that I am reminded that having children makes us slow down and notice all those little details that get lost in our big busy rushed adult lives.

And that is really the best gift a mother could ask for.

Only three more sleeps.

Holiday Hijinks

2011-12-20T04:52:00.000-08:00

Well we seem to be settling into our school holiday groove. While I was looking forward to 6 weeks without clock watching, I was more than a little worried how my kidlets were going to go spending all day together. So far there have been some moments of pure joy like this one, kicking back on the home made- lets- destroy- the- lounge and make a fort. Must check for pirates.

Yikes, I think I see some. What are they doing to those babies?

Now that is just a tad concerning. Surely they are not going to eat them without sauce.

Aaargh I see, lets have a duel then shall we. With that oldest Menace brother neighbour popping over, there is never a dull moment. See even his budgie Buddy is happy to get into the pirate theme and do the parrot on shoulder thing.

Since we've got all day, lets make a whole rainbow of playdoh colours.

Buddy was a little threatened by his playdoh replica and proceeded to try and pick off his embellishments.

While Liongirl napped, Roboboy worked on the architectural plans for his house. He likes to talk out loud to himself to problem solve what else he needs. There was a long dialogue about where to put his best friend for a sleepover. Should it be on the top of the 4 story bunk bed or perhaps they could share a bed. Could boys actually get married? His poor best friend is a little stressed as Roboboy had written him a note about getting married and the best friend really just wants to marry a girl in their class. Best friends mother stepped in and pointed out that "marry" was not actually spelt " Maree" and therefore Roboboy must have been meaning something else entirely. Phew, crisis averted. The bachelor pad appears to have a sustainable vege garden, bowling alley,waterslide, aeroplane runway and elevator shaft running through the middle.

Ok plans are done, lets knock up a quick castle.

Parents won't agree to an i phone? Just whip your own up. Complete with i pad and docking pod to charge the phone up.

And if things are getting a little dull, there is always a Tupperware container cupboard to sort and tidy. We need some more space for the pyrex.

And finally with a mere 5 days to go, we popped down to our local park to find a dead stick to drag home. Yes that corner of the lounge room is still half undercoat half custard. Resolutions will be made shortly.

We also found PROOF that Christmas is imminent. Stay posted for photographic evidence and other festivities.

Pinkety Pink Party

2011-12-14T04:38:00.000-08:00

Happy, happy day to my pink loving tutu wearing girl. She is loud, she is fearless, she will try anything that the big boys try, and she really loves pink, and tutus, and tea parties. She wanted an Angelina Ballerina fairy princess party. The invites did not actually mention pink but suggested wearing a tutu or fairy dress. Since I didn't have a blog when she was a baby, here is a tiny snippet of the last three years.

When you were ONE I baked you a Rainbow Fish. I like to make up my own designs, the only two rules being maximal colour and maximal lolly coverage. Here are Roboboy's birthday cakes.

When you were TWO ....

the party you had been talking about for weeks, or was it months, was rained out and postponed three times. We celebrated with your best friend and a very last minute cake. You thought it was fantastic.

When you were THREE we invited your best friends for girls only tea party.

And I baked you a Fairy Princess cake. The actual idea came at about 11 pm the night before the party, hence the more slap dash than usual icing.

We were so lucky to have our big kid neighbours on holidays, and BORED. They begged me to come and help out at the party. They help put faces on goody bag gingerbread men, dolloped cream onto scones, hung balloons, lay out more pink food than you could imagine, hid lollies, ran the lolly hunt and pass the parcel and that oldest Menace brother even donned a pink rabbit costume and brought his pet mouse and budgie over for extra entertainment.

Apparently you cannot tyre swing without constant squealing and giggling.

Nothing better than just hanging around with all your mates.

And best of all....... PRESENTS.

HAPPY BIG THREE my gorgeous girl. I think there are going to be a whole lot more tea parties going on over here.

Crazy Busy

2011-12-09T20:24:00.001-08:00

Look at this dolly kicking back in her faux wicker chair, quietly pausing and reflecting over a cup of tea. She is in no way reminiscent of what is actually going on at my place, which is crazy non stop festive and end of school year hoo-ha. . This has of course left me no time to blog for nearly two weeks and has rendered me crazy enough to be playing with dollies.

This dolly has been hiding in my cupboard for nearly 2 years waiting for miss Liongirl to turn 3 which is happening soon but we pretended it happened last week as that was a whole lot more convenient! Would you believe I just found the little table and perfectly sized chair at two different op shops in the last week, 50 cents each. As staging a tea party is Liongirl's favourite way to while away the hours, these were all a big hit.

Last week was one of THOSE weeks. You know the ones where it is 30 degrees and you have just discovered your air conditioner has died. The timing is exceptionally poor as you are required to make 40 dairy free cupcakes for the end of year Christmas parties for both school and childcare. Of course your husband would be away interstate for a few nights. While carefully placing the first tray of cupcakes in the oven you are clumsy and manage to tip the entire batch out into the oven and watch in horror as vast quantities of mixture spreads into every crevice and starts baking itself onto racks and trays.

You rapidly come to the realization that with the time it takes for your oven to cool down then warm up again, you have no choice but to clear the thickest of it up and then just BAKE through it. You are so addled whilst making the next batch you manage to omit the sugar. During the third and fourth batches the stench of burnt cupcake permeates every nook of your 30 degree house. In the midst of this baking debacle it starts to storm and the three loads of dry washing on the line get completely drenched before you remember that they are even out there. Don't even get me started on the merits of icing 40 cupcakes with two small children in the morning before you have to go to work, or the resultant state of your house/kitchen and the fact that you also have a birthday party to pull off less than 48 hours later. Now you can see why I have resorted to playing with dolls whilst quietly rocking myself back and forth on the lounge room floor.

We also had to squeeze in our first school swim carnival.

The infamous street Christmas party.

My work Christmas party which of course required a new frock. The cardi did not actually come with it, instead there are glorious green straps like the belt. It is from this lovely shop. Luckily I missed the spring collection or I would have been coveting the entire store.

Somewhere in there I had to squeeze in my turn presenting to the prep class about my job, parent teacher interviews and producing an installation for the prep class village hospital. After producing this creation mid year, I knew we could do something that the kids could find really interactive. Meet Sam, a very sick patient.

Poor Sam really needs to keep track of all his internal organs.

And he should know better than to insert tiny objects into his ears. Now that 20 little preppies have had a good look I'm sure he's feeling really regretful.

And I bet he wished he hadn't complained about a sore throat. Those tonsils were whipped out faster than you could blink.

Frankly I think he was a whisker away from a lobotomy as well.

Preppies are probably best described as being very enthusiastic, and very random. One little boy stood up in front of the whole class and proudly shared that his dad was a garbage collector. Not sure what his investment banker father would make of that one. They do philosophy now in prep. And boy, they sure don't shy away from the weighty topics. I personally witnessed both "Should animals be kept in zoos" and "Is Santa Claus Real" being debated by the entire class.

And at parent teacher interviews, I discovered that while understanding diversity is not one of Roboboy's strengths (he is of the absolute belief that boys cannot wear pink) , he was the driving force behind a protest rally to save the rainforest. Staged on the school oval, complete with posters and resulting in a $100 fundraise for the Wilderness Society. And that weird animal he had been talking about all term - the one with stripes like a zebra, head like a giraffe, velvet fur and a purple tongue- the one that had been baffling his teacher and I, yep it is real, it's an OKAPI. See what those Diego shows are doing to our children.

See you all soon with a great wall of pink. Yep Miss Liongirl rocks the big THREE, in a tutu of course.

Tuppertoys and Owl toes

2011-11-27T02:43:00.001-08:00

Remember last post I mentioned something about vintage Tupperware toys? Aren't they just the cutest. We are so pleased that these Zoo- It-Yourself animals have come home to live with us. They have completely interchangeable heads, legs, bodies and tails which if nothing else is sure to create some bio- diversity.

From my little bit of research I have discovered that they were released in 1966 and despite being 45 years old seem to be almost indestructible. They come as a combination set of dog, elephant and giraffe heads with interchangeable legs and bodies. Of course Roboboy wanted to genetically modify his own creature from all the spare legs.

And then he whipped up this little friend,

before announcing, "Look mama, a Pushmi-pullyu". You know, out of this super wonderful book that we found a little while back.

I think he's spot on. Well except for needing slightly longer horns.

In other news I was most surprised to see that I had been nominated for a Versatile blogger award by Annie from Artistica Domestica. Until I sat down and thought about (and googled) what versatile really meant. And then I figured if it means dabbling with ones fingers in a whole lotta different pies then that would actually be me. And definitely Annie as she finds humour and art in the wrangling of 5 small people.

I had intended shortly doing a post apologizing for the fact that while this blog was originally intended to involve a whole lot of house renovations, it has kind of meandered into being about sporadic bursts of painting of Betsy interspersed with lots of op shopping, quirky kid things, crochet, sewing, gardening and too long sentences like this one.

Now that I have been told that this haphazard style of blogging is an acceptable thing, I am quite relieved as some of my favourite blogs are a mixed bag as well. I have lots of favourites, most are on my blog roll so that I can share what I like with everyone who visits. I love how there are so many blog styles. Thinkers, dreamers, writers, crafters, photographers,gardeners, embracers of small children and chooks.

Mostly I love people who are doers- who have their own ideas and then follow them, and those who embrace and have gratitude for the small things in life, including their small people. If they also take gorgeous photos, well then that's the trifecta. My two all time favourite blogs, who have perfected the trifecta, are Foxs Lane and Ivy Nest. I'm not sure how they feel about being nominated for awards, but pop over and enjoy your visit, perhaps make yourself a cuppa first.

Now I think I'm also supposed to write about why I started to blog but in the interests of keeping this post shorter than War and Peace, I will give that story the post it deserves another day. And now I know you are wondering about the owl's toe. Well, just another definition of versatile- capable of moving in all different directions.
I was kind of thinking that my blogging style was more of a dog's breakfast so I am heartened to know it's actually more of an owl's toe.

Linking in with Sophie and all the other flea market finds.

When the op shop delivers

2011-11-24T02:35:00.001-08:00

I love it when the op shops deliver a pile of colour to bring home. And all at miniscule prices. The glass situation had become critical at our place. Clumsiness runs strong at our family and we had not only broken all the glasses we had ever purchased but also the two freeby Coke glasses we had been given somewhere along the way. I not only found the two lovelies above but also eight heavy plain drinking glasses, all 50 cents each. Legoman was impressed that the op shop was starting to deliver essential items and not just vintage sheets.

The pyrex was $4 , the pillowcase $1 and the books 50 cents each.

There is nothing better than finding a Golden book that you loved as a child but haven't seen for thirty plus years. That Runaway Squash book was mine but didn't seem to survive with my other collection, so nice to find one to share with my own children. The other three are all Golden books that I haven't seen before, all circa 1974 and all with a pure gold spine and fantastic colourful 70's style illustrations. Miss Liongirl was also very pleased with her new melamine bowl and matching plate and had to use them for her next meal.

Roboboy has very specific likes in books and probably the ultimate for him would be clever animals inventing machines. Can you believe that the op shop delivered that too. He was so excited he made me read it twice the minute we got home from school.

I could even pick his favourite page in advance.

He does have a thing for reptiles too, this was a close second.

Meanwhile I have been dabbling with this colour.

And let me leave you with a few words of inspiration for my next post. Vintage Tupperware Toys. Boy did the op shop deliver.

Mud pies and thrifty buys

2011-11-20T02:41:00.001-08:00

We have had the busiest sunniest weekend in the world. What could be a better start to the weekend than a vintage garage sale hosted by the queen of cupcakes and vintage fabric, miss Laura from Kit & Nancy. She and a few other vintage lovers had a massive cleanout and I was more than happy to come and relieve her of a few unwanted tablecloths, teatowels and pillowcases. Oh yes, and that lovely piece of milk glass.

Another friend had a little pile of Enid Blytons that had to come straight home for Roboboy. There was also a lovely metal outdoor chair in the perfect size for Liongirl, once I whip up some cushions for it I'll share a photo.

I had a surge of sewing focus last night at midnight and savagely snipped into this pile. A St George teatowel, a very stained tablecloth and some dotty fabric are on their way to adorning my lounge.

I also had a little moment at Spotlight the other day. Legoman was kind enough to let me know that there was a 30 % off sale on everything in store so I could pop in my way home from work. I did actually need some fabric for my sewing group so could justify most of this little pile.

And what about the mud pies? Well, it's actually a pizza pie and Roboboy had not yet sprinkled on the grass cheese when this photo was taken.

We've been having a grand old time mucking around with this stuff all day. Roboboy is working his standard "I really want to be in a Target catalogue" pose. Goes so well with the giant mountain of dirt.

We have made quite massive progress in our garden today. This laundry tub was salvaged from underneath Betsy and finally has been planted out with some herbs.

And the mere sight of a trailer load of dirt just flushed out those Menace brothers from two doors down. They even brought their own shovels and helped us fill and plant out our vege garden bed.

There was much discussion about planting based on the merits of vegetables in Plants vs Zombies and significant disappointment over the fact that we have no pea shooters, hypnotic mushrooms or cherry bombs. We did plant corn ( which provides a catapult and cannon apparently), carrots, lettuce, and cherry tomatoes. The "burpless" cucumbers had everyone picturing little rows of normal cucumbers burping away. Actually maybe that was just me. Photos of our stellar efforts including possum proofing coming soon.

Linking in with Sophie for some weekend vintage thrifty sharing.

New curbside find and garden colour

2011-11-18T02:40:00.001-08:00

Look what was propped up on the side of the road on the way home from school the other day. Luckily I only had one child in the car at the time or I would have had to leave one of them on the footpath in order to get this baby home. Don't ask me which child, that can vary from day to day. I thought for sure it would be wonky or broken or missing something structually important, but no, it's perfect except for being a bit grubby and needing sanding in a few spots. What really caught my eye was the beautiful rising sun pattern at the top and I can already imagine if stacked full of vintage sheets. I can't wait to get the paint out and give this a colourful makeover. See if you can guess which colour I'm leaning towards. I promise this makeover won't take anywhere near as long as my last curbside find.

Check out this gorgeous rose. Last year we started a new tradition of buying a special tree for our garden using the excuse of a wedding anniversary. (There is also the longstanding tradition of a piece of art every year as well but that is a whole other post).

This year, I was a little uncertain about choosing another tree and so these gorgeous roses came home instead. While I love having functional trees that produce fruits to be eaten, I am equally fond of trees and plants that are just there to look decoratively gorgeous. So nice to have some more colour in the garden.

My bougainvilleas have all burst into bloom and the kids just keep picking little branches for me.

And miss Liongirl is still very happy with every dandelion she stumbles across.

Just not sure if she is going to puff this one or eat it.

No, I think she's worked it out. And if you are wondering why there is a derelict car in the back of this shot, that would be because we are geocaching of course, the cache was in the boot, or what was left of it.

Flowery footstool fancying pirates

2011-11-13T03:25:00.001-08:00

Firstly, I wanted to share my fantastic fabric finds from the oppie this week. A bag of vintage off cuts for $5 plus some crochet cotton in the loveliest shade of blue. The same op shop must have had a big craft donation since I was last in as there was a huge pile of crochet patterns too. I was really excited to find this pattern booklet dedicated just to crochet edging as this is something I have been wanting to try my hand at.

While I was very selective and left a huge pile behind, these little girl patterns had to come home.

My mum had this book and I have so many memories of flipping though it looking for projects. She gave hers away years ago but I can't wait to make those toilet roll people with my gang.

Remember this footstool I bought at the oppie a few months ago? A few of you quite liked the original harlequin green and cream vinyl cover. Well, it was grubby, and heritage green would have to be just about my least favourite colour. So at 10 o'clock last night I was suddenly overcome with a desire to sew a new cover, and I knew just which piece of my corduroy stash would do the trick. A few years ago I even sewed a little shirt for Roboboy with this same fabric. Look at the little dude in his horsey shirt aged 14 months.

Despite having absolutely no idea how to best reupholster anything, I tackled it with a frenzy that can only be found late at night and put the finishing staples into it this morning. It's not perfect, but I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I left the original cover intact underneath, just in case the next owner is a footstool purist.

Now Legoman and I can both put our feet up while on the lounge, and I get a new piece of colourful eye candy.

Meanwhile we appear to have been invaded by pirates. Roboboy had his pirate stash raided and while he was happy to give up the never worn eye patch, we had to make a new sword and scabbard with a more girly theme.

Unfortunately we were only able to conceal one of Liongirl's matching black eyes, courtesy of a bad knock to the forehead a few days ago. How you can get two black eyes from pulling a sheet off the washing line is a little beyond me but coordination and domestic capabilities are not my strong points either.

Thank goodness for a large chest full of fake gold coins and every piece of quartz crystal fleeced from the school playground. All we need now is a map.

Roboboy has just started writing by himself in the last few weeks .His very first illustration with spontaneous accompanying text did not make the blog as it had a drawing of his cat demonstrating her bowel and bladder function. What is it with boys and wees and poos? I love seeing how he problem solves the phonetics of words when he is left to his own devices.

That would be a " short cut" (not cat) as well as the "finish" and "map island" at the far right. Of course the treasure is clearly marked with an X. This map inspired a good hour of repeated hiding and finding of the above treasure chest complete with terrible impersonations of pirate speak by myself and copied hilariously by Liongirl .I think "Aaaaargh, yee scurvy dogs", will be going around the traps at kindy this week.

Linking in with Sophie to share all the crafty finds.

For the love of parcels

2011-11-10T03:40:00.000-08:00

Take a peek at what came in the mail for me today. These beautiful vintage sheet pieces, some gift tags and some map envelopes, all part of my prize from entering gorgeous Lea's giveaway. I really love that orange pink and red sheet on the top, they are completely my sort of colours. I am itching to add these to my stash and start cutting out a quilt but there are a few other projects that I am trying to finish first.

I had to take a photo of the packaging as well, almost as exciting as the actual gift.

I have been fiddling around making more yo-yo's. Liongirl and I found a teeny tiny haberdashery with a wall full of buttony bits and after prolonged deliberations, and much pretending that all the button containers were maracas, we came home with some real treats. Nothing better than some vintage fabric and mustardy buttony goodness. These are destined for a date with a hot glue gun and some hair clips.

Roboboy is on a roll with this whole sewing thing. A few weeks ago, we had a student free day at school and I did something unheard of and took both kids op shopping with me. Roboboy found this teatowel and was in love. Rainforest, rainbow lorikeets and vivid colours are three of his favourite things.

Today he didn't want to do an extra swimming lesson, or stay at school to play with his mates. He wanted to come straight home and work on a sewing project with me. I had been eyeing this teatowel up against his generic school library bag and the minute he spotted them both on the dining table he was onto my plans. He chose the orange thread and how we would stitch it, as well as being in charge of removal of pins whilst sewing. Meanwhile, I chose the simplest way we could throw this thing together, including putting the rope under the seam before stitching.

He was so excited about his new bag, he immediately had to pack his book inside whilst telling me that I am the "best mama in the world". I am so relishing this probably shortlived time where a home made knock up mama job out ranks a generic Ben 10 or equivalent fad item.

And when I went to hang out the washing, look what was peeking up at me atop the thick green carpet near the clothesline. Not sure if the fact that it appears to be some sort of mutant frangipani with three extra petals is some sort of omen. It does suddenly make me aware that summer must be just around the corner.

Time to fossick out the slip n slide.

Yo-yo's a go-go

2011-11-04T05:17:00.000-07:00

The Sewing for Sanity gang met again yesterday. The much awaited Heather Bailey pattern that was our next group project had unfortunately not yet arrived. So we all set to work on a few other projects and for me that meant cracking open a yo-yo maker that my MIL gave me about a year ago. I know yo-yo's are probably done and dusted by everyone else in the crafting community but still an exciting challenge for all us crafty newbies. And this yellow plastic donut thingy makes it so much easier. Try and not be distracted by that luscious lolly pink corduroy, a recent op shop find heading towards miss Liongirl's owl.

We managed to knock out 5 of the little things between us. I know seems pretty paltry but in our defence we only had one plastic thingy and many breaks were taken to slurp tea and scoff chocolate hedgehog.

Not forgetting what our newest member managed to whip up in her first session. Realizing that her excuse of sleep deprivation was not going to cut it two weeks running, she even cancelled her root canal surgery to hang with us. Doesn't the yo-yo just complete this fantastic headband. You can find the free pattern here.

And that super cute model baby, well she belongs to our resident sewing guru. Unlike me, (who has very limited sewing knowledge but likes to spout off words like interfacing just to sound clever), the guru KNOWS all that important stuff like tensioning, what causes extra threads, and where to find whisper weft. She is our Yoda, and she makes very cute children. Use the force mini- Yoda.

And check out these critters that the host whipped up for her Angry Birds loving boy. She even made some golden eggs.

Thanks gals, I'm feeling quite sane again........ now just need to try and make it last for a full 2 weeks.

Mustard flower makeover

2011-11-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

Today, I had a lucky find at the op shop. It inspired a very rapid creative makeover and I thought you might like to share the sunflowery joy. My mum gave me a bunch of sunflowers on the weekend and we have been enjoying their beaming faces ever since.

And then I popped into the oppie near school and found a roll of this still in the packet for $1. It is some kind of vintage contact with soft furry embossed mustardy flowers all over.

I was ferretting around the house looking for something, anything that I could justify contacting. And then I stumbled onto this magnetic board that was involved in the great demoulding incident and came off a little worse for wear due to my complete lack of adequate dropsheets.

And in the quickest makeover of all time, five minutes later, presto. The little cat doorstop came from a local handmade store - you know the ones full of crochet baby jackets and booties manned by a team of dedicated fundraising crafty grannies. Given that he was corduroy and only one of Betsy's doors actually shuts properly, he obviously had to come home with me.

And what did miss Liongirl find in the oppie in a little yellow tupperware container? At first glance I thought this was some odd box of dominos with lots of missing pieces, but I liked the pictures and thought we could use them somewhere.

What a wonderful suprise to discover such a clever puzzle, perfect for a two year old who can count but doesn't recognize numbers. Just match the coloured stripe across the top of 3 puzzles and you've got it.

I knew all that decluttering was heading somewhere positive.

The trick of too many treats

2011-10-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

I think I've told you all before about the amazing street that we live in. There are lots of young kids and several families who love an excuse to party. Since we moved here a little over a year ago we have been invited to a welcome to the street party, a lets get together after the floods party, a Christmas party, a boys camp out and several impromptu summer evening barbecues. Last year we missed Halloween as we were at the beach that particular weekend, but boy did we hear all about it when we came back.

The kids have all been talking about it for weeks, costumes have been planned and compared, the sausage sizzle arranged for someone's front yard and invitations delivered. Our street and a few others within walking distance are all in. Even the pets are involved.

Before we knew it, our street seemed to have formed a gang. With a few parents to negotiate road crossings. Liongirl was the youngest by a few years, but as she thinks she is a 5 year old boy, it's no issue really. That's my two, far right.

Many many neighbours had decorated their houses and gardens so it was obvious who was participating and who was keen to be left in peace. We had to leave signage at our place.

We had no idea how big an event it was until we were caught in a swirling mass of noisy excited children in one of the nearby streets. One neighbour told me she had given out well over 100 treats already. Word has it that one particular house always really gets into the spirit of frightening everyone witless and that it also is probably haunted. Of course we had to check it our for ourselves. It used to be a military hospital and does look like it has great haunting potential.

Yes there are two bodies hanging from trees in the foreground, several people trapped and shrieking on the lower level, a ghoul that runs out of a hole in the hedge front right and a pitch black dungeon underneath the house which had the ultimate lolly stash and a resident ghost. Aside from the ghoul which made Liongirl forget she was a brave 5 year old boy and cause her to burst into tears and then comfort eat half her lolly bucket, this house was a complete highlight. Even the smoke machine in the neighbouring yard had nothing on this spectacle.

And the funniest moment? Hearing from another mother how she had to help Roboboy pick up his food after watching him unsuccessful groping a donut for a full 2 minutes due to his extreme costume dedication and refusal to remove his lizard paws.

One of Roboboy's many quirks has been a complete refusal to embrace costumes of any sort so when he excitedly decided he wanted to wear this lizard costume designed for 2-3 year olds, I was just relieved that all those years of allowing my children to squeeze into clothing that is too small for them was finally going to pay off. I just wish I had a side view photo with tail. I have years to catch up on you see. And the best part, is that tomorrow, when they are coming down off the sugar high, I get to go to work.

Milk glass magic

2011-10-30T04:32:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, Legoman and I were lucky enough to have some time to explore the seaside suburb of Redcliffe, sans children. We had a long ocean view lunch and then took our time exploring some of the second hand stores and all the op shops we could find. I found a few bits and bobs, but nothing amazing. And then in very last oppie on the list, the Sandgate Salvos, I stumbled onto not one but two gorgeous pieces of milkglass. The bowl was $8 and the vase was $6. I was grinning from ear to ear all the way home to my corella pears.

I already showed you this other piece I also found recently, so it really was milk glass month for me. I am working my way towards a lovely little collection and when my MIL saw it the other day it got her thinking. She might have a cake plate squirrelled away somewhere in her very crowded cupboards. I can't even begin to think about it.

And then at our local weekend markets, this pyrex just popped up. And when I casually asked if it had a lid, she dropped the price to $6. Straight into the trolley dolly, yep move those eggs right over.

In thanks to the op shop gods I have been vigorously decluttering and readying bags of clothes for friends with younger children and toys for our local childcare. Who knows what will show up next?

Linking up with Sophie to share the thrifted joy.

How to not make a ten dollar owl softie

2011-10-29T04:18:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, we were at our regular weekend markets when Roboboy spotted a lady selling owl softies for $10. He saw one, a teal coloured one with fringed wings and he fell in love. The only way I could pry that creature out of his little paws was to promise that we would make our own owl, all his own design. I probably should have just handed over my ten dollars.

But no, ever since then, the unfinished owl project has been hanging over my head. Complete with the Spotlight receipt for about $37 for all the bits and pieces. Together we designed a pattern and Roboboy diligently snipped it all out himself. He even helped with the pinning.

And finally, just in time for my Blogtoberfest pledge to complete a sewing task by the end of the month, we did it. Meet our very own Hoot. He is tucked up in bed at night with Roboboy and our cat, and has been trotted out to the lounge to watch the favourite TV shows as well. He is just the right size to tuck under an arm and snuggle or to use as a pillow.

Now I can't wait to make another one for miss Liongirl, pink of course, with some vintage sheet highlights.

Hide and seek

2011-10-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

It was Legomans's birthday the other day so we thought that was a good excuse to get out and about for a family picnic. The Mt Cootha Botanical gardens had the most spectacular display of cannas and of course we had to get up close and really explore. The looked like rows of lollipops all standing on end, red, yellow, orange and peach. And just look at this vibrant Jacaranda in bloom. Betsy has three in her garden but none of ours are looking quite this spectacular. Liongirl was given these clear plastic shoes by a relative, of course because I loathe them, they are her favourite and her best.

The Upside down pear cake did not last long, this was about 2 minutes in.

Meanwhile I was coveting my MIL's thermos that is about the same vintage as me.

And Roboboy was singing into his agapanthus microphone " I've got the moves like Dada" while doing some sort of funky bottom wiggle. (He thinks his version is better than the original "moves like Jagger").

And check out this rainbow chard, in yellow, red and pink.

And these gingers, almost resin like, but real.

And look what came home from the oppie with me this week. A vintage Australian animal themed eiderdown that can be zipped up into a sleeping bag.

I just love all the colours, and the animals of course.

Pinwheeling with crafty pals

2011-10-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

Well I might have wigged out on daily blog posts, but look, true to my word I have managed to sew something to completion before the end of the month. Woohoo! It is a little wonky and the hand stitching could definitely be better but I love it. Op shop spotties fabric on one side, and favourite vintage sheet on the other and an hour or two later you have a pinwheel pincushion.

And that gorgeous much less wonky blue one is from one of the gals in my new crafty gang. I had been spouting off to practically anyone I ran into that I really wanted to be part of a craft group and lo and behold a few mums from my very special playgroup were also keen. Discussed, organized and brought to fruition in just one week. I am vacillating between calling it a "Stitch n bitch" or "The Sewing for Sanity Circle". It was so good for the sanity though.

Not only was a sewing project started and completed in one sitting, there were cups of tea, consumption of muffins, ogling of Heather Bailey fabrics at her online store and plenty of great chatting. And best of all we are making it a regular installation every fortnight. A big thanks to Tea for Evie for sharing her tutorial for this very simple and super cute pinwheel pincushion.

While we are sharing, I just read an entire book (thanks to the girls weekend away) and was very inspired. Feng Shui Nonna often turns up with random books for me, I'm not entirely sure if she was giving me a hint with this one.

For anyone who wants to lose weight ( and frankly, that would be just about every woman I know) this book is about eating the way the French do, and losing weight in the process. A lot of common sense but lots of little things that have resonated with me including undoing the habits of our childhood, taking the time to enjoy our meals and enjoying everything, just in teeny tiny portions.

And lastly, look what the oppie delivered this week. Yep, it's the "Powderpuff Playhouse" circa 1980, complete with working elevator. This one even flushed Roboboy out for a play, he is an expert on outdoor furniture placement and finds parking cars inside bathrooms quite thrilling.

And the best bit of watching miss Liongirl play with this house is when she calls it a "Holly- heart" house- her version of " love heart" for some unknown reason.

Buttony bits and bobs

2011-10-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

Today I had a little revelation about Blogtoberfest. Basically, someone who is always late with her tax, takes a week to reply to an email, decides what to wear on the morning of and never puts the vegemite back in the same spot in the fridge, should not ever think that she can commit to daily blog posts.

Rather than feel like a failure, I have decided to embrace the gesture of Blogtoberfest and aim to blog more than I ever have before in a given month, reducing the requirements down from 31 to 17 which feels remotely achievable. I would much rather do my usual wordier post every few days than conform and do something that is just not me.

The sewing project is on track, thanks to a lucky button find at the $2 shop. All I wanted were plain red buttons ( Spotlight was not coming to the party), but isn't this a lovely little collection? Oh, yes in an ode to vintage sheet of the day (which also went by the wayside) they are displayed on a lovely tablecloth from the motherload stash.

This little crochet cushion number is coming along slowly but surely.

And this was a little pile from a few weeks ago before the farm jaunt. I just love the lilacs and greens in that blankie.

And lastly, in an exciting turn of events, miss Liongirl has suddenly progressed from producing meaningless scribble that she talks up as the next Monet, to elaborate family portraits. She seemed a little unsure as to whether the additional members are pets or grandparents.

Crochet by the sea

2011-10-16T03:53:00.000-07:00

I know I committed to Blogtoberfest and then just disappeared without blogging for three whole days in a row. But I was otherwise occupied doing something amazingly worthwhile. My first girls weekend away in five years. Two whole nights at the beach at Noosa while Legoman stayed home and managed the kidlets. Aside from the sleep ins, the late cafe breakfasts reading the paper, slow walks, shopping in Hastings Street and gelati on the beach, there was a lot of this......

and this.....

And of course a lot of chatting, laughing, soaking up of sunshine and serenity. So now I'm home to enjoy my children and catch up on all your lovely blogs.

Hello Yellow

2011-10-12T04:31:00.000-07:00

This little friend came home with me the other day. My grandmother had a pair of the same cats in orange and seeing this one brought back a flood of memories of my Gram. She also had a big bowl of plastic fruits, would make me bologne and tomato sauce sandwiches served with a strawberry Quick milkshake. Oh and the best pikelets in the world in an old electric frypan. Details girl that I am, I can still remember the entire layout of her house and the peach tree in the backyard.

When she died a few years ago, I was in another state with a toddler who was a terrible traveller. It wasn't until months later that I found myself wandering around her deserted house, most items having already been sold or given away. I was under instructions from my dad, to take anything that I felt belonged with me. And there in a box in the spare room was an old old vintage book on sewing. It felt as though she had left it out for me as if to say, here, this is all you need to remember me. I think I closed the door on her house with this book under one arm and some teatowels under the other.

I have fond memories of visiting my Gram as a little girl, she was a fantastic knitter and made me many things on request. I am looking forward to learning a thing or two from this little book.

Mulberry magic

2011-10-11T04:25:00.000-07:00

I have a very dear friend who has known me since we were in grade 8 together and she has has this incredible knack of being able to choose gifts that are always spot on perfect. I cannot think of a single gift she has bought me that I did not love and this is quite amazing as my tastes are quite eclectic. I would not want to buy gifts for me. Partly as I also am a terrible liar and if I don't like something it's unfortunately usually written all over my face. So when she bought me this tree for a housewarming present, she exceeded all my expectations. Not only a tree, but a dwarf mulberry tree at that. This is what it looked like about 12 months ago when we planted it.

Back then it didn't even reach the top of the fence and Roboboy was the taller one. Amazing what a year and lots of rain can do. We certainly we not expecting this bumper crop to greet us when we arrived back from our farm jaunt.

Even more amazing was the fact that the possums appear to not have a taste for them. Same could not be said for us.

Our lovely little housewarming tree came from Daley's Fruit Farm who specialize in tropical and subtropical fruit trees, and they even deliver from Northern NSW. Pop over here for a spot of internet tree shopping, my personal favourite kind of shop.

Needless to say, the little tree has already been picked clean but that has not stopped me from dreaming about next years crop. I am thinking mulberries and cream, mulberry jam and warm mulberry mash on pancakes.

Spelunking in the suburbs

2011-10-10T05:27:00.000-07:00

Firstly, if you are like me you will be wanting to know what the heck spelunking is. Legoman, while often unable find the salt directly in front of him in the pantry, is a wealth of information about all things trivial, particularly with interesting names. I am informed that spelunking is a much more interesting word than caving or cave exploration.

Secondly, if you are like me you will be wondering where on earth are there caves in suburban Brisbane? Well, let me fill you in on our adventure filled Sunday. Last weekend, while scoping out the lookout at Mt Gravatt mountain, Legoman discovered a geocache nearby. The cache description stated to never look for this one at night, and that it was not safe for children. We figured in broad daylight we would press on and I would turn back with the kids if it became too rugged.

We easily found the cache and then turned around and saw this huge hole. About 3 m deep we of course had to climb down and have a look. Unfortunately, being a cave and all it was too dark to see much. So an expedition was planned with our neighbours the Menace brothers for the following weekend. Backpacks were stocked with provisions, torches, rescue rope and maps. The Menace brothers being the oldest were straight in.

Liongirl, who had dressed for caving with boots, fairy skirt and pet lamb, was given the coveted job of winding up the battery free Ikea torch.

When we got to the bottom this time, we were prepared for some serious exploration.

I had felt a breeze down there last week and suspected a connection to a larger cave we had found. Sure enough, there was a tunnel and the boys were off.

A few minutes later and we stepped out into a massive cavern with several light well holes filled with ferns. Hence the suggestion not to go geocaching around these parts in the dark. Yep, the tiny figures at the bottom are the dads.

And we found the other bigger cave entrance, no warning signs, no barricades, no theme park entrance ticket booth. Just pure unadulterated boy's own adventure stuff with the possibility of spiders, bats, a cave in, skeletons and treasure. For the record we only saw some dead huntsmen spiders and a small frog.

But it was so super exciting, we had to go all the way back through and up our original rope.

And then we packed up all our gear and talked about caving, and talked some more and then we were all so hyped up we thought we had best find some more geocaches. The caves must be known to locals as there was evidence of a fire within the large one and they are quite close to some houses that back onto the forest, but I am still amazed that they were not closed to the public for safety reasons.

We were thankful for the opportunity to take a risk and sail unchartered waters so to speak. I think that opportunities like these are particularly important to boys who thrive on quests and adventure and whose everyday lives are often so safe and sanitized that they can only obtain this kind of adventure in a computer generated world.

After all this we were pretty worn out so it was straight up to the cafe for Lemonade icypoles.

There is nothing better than adventuring in your own backyard with neighbourhood mates. We feel so lucky to live where we do and have a neighbourhood of like minded kids and parents. And we are getting really excited about Halloween as our whole street gets right into this celebration as well.

Birthdays and new discoveries

2011-10-08T05:07:00.000-07:00

It was Feng Shui Nonna's birthday yesterday so we took her somewhere she had never been before for a delicious afternoon tea with a view. Despite having lived in Brisbane almost my whole life, I had never once been up to the top of this mountain ten minutes from where I live. Mt Gravatt mountain not only has the best view of the city, the ocean and several islands off the east coast, it also has a playground, a cafe with panoramic views and multiple geocaches.

Amazingly, Nonna had never been up here either and she was suitably impressed. A light breeze, birdsong and a verandah table to kick back and soak up the atmosphere and afternoon tea.

Don't forget the sticker mosaics to keep everyone busy and therefore quiet.

And after the big play in the playground a little explore of the native garden. Liongirl only recently discovered the joy of a good dandelion.

We love our Nonna so much, Happy happy day mum.

The Echidna Magic Cafe is at 185 Shire Rd Mt Gravatt and opened last year as a direct result of Indigenous Group First Contact receiving a government grant to establish the cafe as well as undertake hospitality training and provide employment opportunities to local disadvantaged and indigenous youth.

Yay for Blogger help forums

2011-10-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

Here is vintage sheet of the day. I have spent most of this week being unable to post comments on about half the blogs that I want to comment on. I have written long meaningful comments and not even realized that they had vanished into thin air until days later. I have spent much time on blogger forums with supreme nerds who love to blog about how to fix other bloggers issues. Finally tonight, a week later I seem to have fixed it but I am too knackered to make the most of it.

I don't do brevity very well so this will probably be my best attempt at a short post. Remember that feeling as a new blogger when you only have followers who are related to you and the comments box keeps saying zero?. When you feel like you are talking to yourself and that interesting and creative people wouldn't have any interest in whatever you are posting about?

Well, having raved about the wondrousness that is blogtopia I have convinced one of my friends to start her own blog and share her sewing creations. I would love it for her if some bloggy friends were able to pop in and pay her a visit over here. She really needs some advice on how to best sell her kids clothes and has no experience with Etsy.

See you soon.

Cherries and pears for inspiration

2011-10-06T05:38:00.000-07:00

Well there has been much busyness over here at Betsy's. I decided to start chopping up this vintage seersucker cherry tablecloth for my first project. It has some mild fading and a few holes so no stress over carving up this one. A few of you expressed distress over the proposed cutting up of vintage sheets. When they are completely pristine, I too would think twice. But several in my stash have got patchy fading or holes or just thinning in the middle of the sheet, so no hesitation.

See if you can guess what I started making today. There is a little clue. I wanted to start with something super easy with minimal stuff up potential. The best thing about conquering ones sewing machine issues is that it completely justifies ones vintage pattern collection. I have been ~~hoarding~~ collecting kids patterns for ages, usually they are around 50 cents each. I love all those 60's and 70's short dresses and Maryjane shoes in pastel lollipop colours.

Popped into the oppie near school and look what I found. It has a tiny almost invisible crack on one scallop of the edge so it was $5. Pears are just a work of art in my opinion. The kids were banned from eating this installation yesterday until I had taken a good photo. Roboboy keeps calling them Rosella pears, when they are actually Corella pears - he has a real thing for native Australian birds, particularly the colourful ones.

And I haggled over this one. Op shop prices sometimes are just crazy. This tablecloth had bad staining all around the edge and would never return to tabletop glory. So not worth $7.50 so haggled down to $5 as I could already picture it sewn into a bag.

And how about finishing up with a vintage sheet of the day.

Conquering the fear of the machine

2011-10-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

Haha, I did it! The machine is out of the box and not only did I work out how to thread all the bits, I actually started sewing today. This machine was a birthday present back in early 2009 and had never been unpacked. To be honest, initially it was just life with a toddler and a new baby getting in the way. Then we sold a house, bought a house and moved house. Then it progressed to some kind of avoidant denial phobia type thing. I haven't sewed for years and only ever on my mums very basic 30 year old machine so this fancy schmancy number completely intimidated me. I am also completely technologically challenged - (I am only on my second ever mobile phone which I excitedly chose because of the flip open function as this was a serious upgrade from the fluoro yellow Nokia ).But recently, even more intimidating was the impending social shame of not following through on wild and reckless blogging resolutions. Let's see if I can work out how to follow a pattern now.

Now as previously promised, here is vintage sheet of the day, probably my second favourite. My love of the colour brown goes way back and mustard, well we all know it is the new black. :

There is nothing nicer than hanging out a load of vintage sheets and dreaming about what to do with them. Especially when you have conquered your sewing machine issues. Several people suggested that she needs a name and I am totally on board with this but am a little stuck for ideas. Betsy is the house and Queenie is my bike, any suggestions for my little lilac sewing machine would be appreciated. I'm sure she'll be much more supportive of my button holing attempts if we name her too. Anyway no time to blog, must get excited and sew on.

A new camera really helps

2011-10-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

I love taking photos. I really love capturing moments with my kids, especially out and about in nature. My old dinky camera had an upgrade before this holiday and boy does the new girl rock. Makes such a difference when your kids are fast and difficult to photograph. I would love to say that this one was all skill but no, pure luck as I'm still learning how to use my new girl to her best potential.

Love a little ring a ring a rosie, running around and around with your cousin and her matching set of fairy wings.

Or some wildflowers in front of an old watertank.

Or heck, even the rusty old tank will do. Unfortunately, while very artistic, it was also leaking and about to be replaced with a new one.

I don't have a macro lens yet, but gosh it's my birthday in a few months. Pear tree blossom.

No vintage sheet close up yet as work got in the way today. How about the coolest geocache hidey hole ever instead?

Where o where would you hide a cache within this stone wall outside the Warragul police station? In one of those crevices perhaps? Too obvious? What about that there triangle shaped rock in the middle?

As long as you feel comfortable disassembling the police station wall, look at that teeny tiny cache glued onto a rock. All I can say is that the nerds in Warragul are seriously dedicated. Perhaps they are also responsible for the superior op shop brochures as well. Legoman and I have a fantastic system going at the moment whereby I op shop and he finds the closest geocache to the op shop. Win win all round really. See you tomorrow.

Vintage sheets and a winner

2011-10-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised, here is the motherload of vintage sheets. Of course there is a story to this as well. After finding my Baw Baw shire op shopping pamphlet, I had followed a little trail of op shops through Warragul. I think I found the little blue woodgrain sheet in the middle and that was all.

And then I stumbled onto the warehouse. A massive shed used as a storage facility for one of the op shops just visited. Normally, they don't let people like us out the back. But when I said I was particularly looking for vintage sheets, a little old lady led me through a maze of goods to some serious sheet storage racks out the back. And left me to ferret. I did have to dig a around a bit but look at that pile, some I have duplicates of too. And the best part- all priced at $3-4 each. I'm really excited about all the yellows as I want to make a quilt for our bed with all the yellows and browns. And the pinks and purples are for miss Liongirl.

I thought given that this is Blogtoberfest, I might do a daily sheet photo up close for each post until I run out. Share the goodness in all the glorious detail so to speak.

Now, the other exciting news is that Liongirl and I drew a winner for my Cath Kidston book giveaway.
First we wrote and snipped and counted and counted again. Then we mixed and carefully reached in to pick a winner.

I was so pleased to see that the winner of my giveaway was Catherine from here. She and her lovely curly girl will be able to share this book and unlike me who is all talk and no action with sewing projects, she has actually sewn things and shared with the bloggy community.

Me, I'm too busy trying to keep up the portfolio of miss Liongirl's crazy outfit selections. Fairy wings are the new must have accessory for school pick up.

Country op shops are gold

2011-10-02T05:25:00.000-07:00

I am a city girl at heart, but there are so many things I love about the country. The long expanses of rolling green hills, the clean air, the absolute quiet (aside from birdsong and the occasional tractor engine), the gorgeous backdrop to every photo, the sound of your boots crunching down a gravel road.

But the unexpected and surprising love, well that one is for the humble country op shop. The family farm is tucked away in the hills of Gippsland Victoria, about 90 minutes out of Melbourne. Of course, on a drive like this, one must stop for snacks at the nearest regional town, which for us happened to be Warragul. And of course, most regional towns have an op shop or two, and with only a few main streets they tend to be easy to find.

What was most unexpected was the revelation after a friendly chat in the first op shop we found. When I asked the lovely lady if there were any others in town, she whipped out a BROCHURE detailing all the op shops in the region, including a map. This was no photocopied list, this was a full glossy colour pamphlet. All I can say is that Baw Baw shire are impressive in the marketing of their op shops. So off we went for a little oppie crawl through Warragul and Drouin, another town up the road.

Now, a subsequent post is dedicated to the unearthing of some serious vintage sheetage. Here is all the other cool stuff we found. I'm not usually tempted by tapestries but the colours in this were too gorgeous to leave.

And who can walk away from $4 pyrex, straight into the suitcase. This one came from an oppie that was more like a giant supermarket, it was so huge it even justified the automatic doors.

And here is my favourite vintage sheet thus far, a little faded but gorgeous colours.

And this vibrant cornflower blue floral melamine tray.

And lastly, some fabric for $1 and some embroidery hoops for 50 cents.

If you love vintage sheets, you'll be as excited as me about tomorrow's post. Not to mention the winner of my giveaway will be revealed. See you then!

Linking in with Sophie in the last few hours of school holidays.

Back for Blogtoberfest

2011-10-01T04:53:00.000-07:00

Finally, we are home and ready to come back to Blogtopia and share our adventures. And what could be more timely than Blogtoberfest, a whole month in which to blog every day, a celebration of the small details in life.

In the last 11 days we have travelled by plane and bus and train and car, spent a week on the family farm, op shopped, geocached, picked wildflowers, taken a million photos, moved cows, counted 11 new calves, collected pinecones, chopped wood, ridden tractors, driven quad bikes, met new baby nieces and welcomed new girlfriends, caught up on about a year of family news, visited a zoo and been inspired by lego on a grand scale. Phew, it has been a whirlwind and I can't wait to share all the inspirational bits with you all.

I have intermittently checked in the whole bloggy gang but have barely had time to comment. I can't wait to get back into visiting everyone and chatting properly.

So, I have with great enthusiasm, linked into Blogtoberfest, ready to blog every day for the rest of this glorious month. I am a little daunted as currently I usually blog about twice a week and am well known for a wordy post. I am however, all about appreciating the small details of life, that little bit of sparkle in what otherwise may be a dull or rancid toddler filled day.

So, just to repeat, for my own benefit, my plan is to commit to blog every day for a month. While making grand and sweeping gestures that I will probably struggle to uphold, I am also committing to wearing more colour and to not only unpack the sewing machine, but sew and complete something by the end of the month.

Blogtoberfest. Be inspired over here and come along for the ride. See you on the sunny side of tomorrow.

My children have decided to test my photography skills by being creative with their poses. Shoes in the air was apparently essential for this shot in the airport terminal. Summed up day 1 of our travels when we missed our plane by THREE minutes due to a small child needing to do wee wees and our complete lack of awareness that Tiger airlines has a 45 minute check in. We then spent the next 10 hours waiting for the next available flight while dwelling on the fact that this particularly wee wee cost about $320.
And yes, the ride on suitcase convoy is a highly effective way to get small children through a busy airport.

Oh, and remember, my Giveaway closes tomorrow at 6pm so pop onto my last post and leave a comment if you want to be included.

Vintage bag and a giveaway

2011-09-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

Some women love Oroton, some must have a Burberry, or perhaps a Gucci. For me, it seems that gorgeous retro colours, a ridiculously low price and pvc lining sum up the kind of girl that I am. You might remember this bag that I found a few months back at Rummage for $5. The new bag trumped the mustard wonder big time at just $1 and I am so in love with all the colours that it completely inspired my recent blog makeover. It was scrunched up on a pile of shoes looking like a worn out dishrag. All it needed was a loving handwash and presto, even the pvc lining looks like new.

Things are starting to get very busy over here at Betsy's this holidays and I haven't even been able to photograph all my finds from last week yet. I did manage to iron the two fantastic teatowels that I found though. Now I just can't wait to get my sewing machine humming away turning these into a cushion or two.

Remember, I said I was working on my sewing space? I did manage to clear a table and make it all mine. Here is the proof. (The sewing machine is, however, still in the box as I am still finding it a trifle intimidating).

And so with all these holiday goings on I have decided to take a little bloggy hiatus. You know, to squeeze more of that real life stuff in. (There will be photos I promise). To fill in the gap, and also to celebrate my 100th post I have decided to have a giveaway. I was fortunate to be given not one, but two copies of this lovely book (by the same well meaning but slightly scatty relative I might add) so I would love to share it with one of you.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will count you in the draw. All entries will be included until next Sunday afternoon the 2nd of October but it is only open to Australian residents. Have a wonderful week and I will be back soon with more treasures to share. melx

Thrifted pretties

2011-09-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time at a few op shops this week. Went exploring a few suburbs I have never opped in before and found some treasures. The pink jug was $5, loved the colour and the shape. The milk glass was $1 and the teeny tiny tea cup and saucer was $2. I am hoping to find a collection of these to make a mismatched tea set for Liongirl who is completely smitten with tea parties. The lady in the opshop told me when she was a girl her grandmother would give her one of these tea cup sets at every birthday, and all her friends were collecting them too.

The pink fabric is actually a dress that I found a while ago that I plan to cut up for Liongirl, when she first saw it she practically ran up and gave it a cuddle she was so excited about its pinkness. I really like the yellow and pink together. Despite leaving my bag of opshop donations at home, I found some lovely finds.

This tablcloth and teatowels had only come in that very day. I think I have the same one with blue flowers but the orange and pink is gorgeous.

And this 70's inspired wonder.

And this one is for Roboboy, he loves yellow and maps.

And some teeny tiny wooden blocks. I am a complete sucker for colourful wooden toys. I did restrain myself and leave behind the wooden trainset complete with wooden peg people.

And the best thing of the entire day was an amazing vintage bag which I will share with you tomorrow as it is still on the washing line. Along with some more teatowels and vintage sheets. Linking in with Sophie to share all the thrifted loveliness. All this plus massive progress in the setting up of my sewing room. Can you believe it's only day 2 of the holidays?

Nuts and Crosses

2011-09-17T05:25:00.000-07:00

Well after about five minutes of Spring, it appears Summer arrived today. Clear blue skies, hot sun and plenty of time amusing ourselves in the backyard. I love it when you supply the kids with a few basics and they get some kind of creative momentum and the art just evolves.

We started out doing this. Look at the little weasel suggesting where I put my next nought.

Plenty of room on the random 70's slab for everyone and shaded all day by our macadamia nut tree. Liongirl on scrub duty, Legoman cracking the nuts and Roboboy providing the crosses.

Then in miss Liongirl's opinion we needed a bit of this.

Which then prompted a bit of this. Amazing how vibrant the colours are with wet chalk.

Which then inspired Roboboy to release an exclusive print run of chalk lithographs.

Sun + concrete slab + chalk + water + paper = about 2 hours of very happy, creative children. A perfect start to the school holidays really.

Additional note : chalk lithography appears to have limited durability as when they dry most of the chalk flakes off, but we didn't seem to mind about that. We are a little more concerned about the fact that it was 29 degrees on only the 17th day of Spring.

Curbside reveal and a whole lotta pink

2011-09-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

The start of the whole lotta pink this week was this glorious miniature crochet bouncinette found in a tub at the oppie for $1. Luckily within Miss Liongirls veritable family daycare of baby dolls, we had a baby just the right size and desperate for a bounce. While she was tending to the posse of dolls, who largely seem to be called "Baby", I snuck in to Roboboys room to take some snaps of the curbside find in all it's shiny white glory.

Remember this glorious piece of unwanted furniture snaffled by me from the curbside on the school run a few months ago?

Flipped around the other way and vigorously sanded. Nasty damp vinyl padded door coverings removed.

Well, take a look at it now, 4 coats of white paint and about 4 months later.

Roboboy loves it. So good for lego display which is frankly essential around these parts. He intermittently pesters me about getting a fish tank for up top which I think would be fantastic if I could trust him to actually keep them alive. We still need a knob for the door. I haven't yet found any funky boy suitable fabric to recover those padded doors but they have come up quite well just with the white paint.

And the other treasure this week was the remaining factor responsible for the "whole lotta pink". This fine specimen of a tutu was $3 from the oppie and had never been worn. Liongirl wishes to make known that Spring fashion still includes beanies but gumboots are so last season and gold flats are in.

Here she is attempting to indoctrinate one year old friends in her playgroup into the world of pink fashion.

Is everyone feeling all the Spring in the air?

Trolling for treasure

2011-09-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

Who's that trip-trapping over MY bridge? Why that would be Liongirl and one of her besties. We rounded up some ~~nerd friends~~ good mates and went on a Geocaching marathon. The clue for this location was that we would have to "troll to find this cache". The boys found it almost instantly, tucked under the end of this bridge. And look who we popped back into the cache to continue his adventures.

Meet "Travel Bug". Our friends were sitting in a Roadside diner on the way to Toowoomba when they thought they might just check their iphone app and see if there were any caches around. Lo and behold about 2 k's up the road they found a cache containing this bug who had made his way across the world from Texas in the United States. He is now sequestered in a cache under a bridge in Toowong. Apparently you can hop onto Geocaching.com and log all his locations.

Since the energy was running high we decided to push on and see if we could locate a few of the numerous caches hidden within the sprawling Toowong Cemetery. We had a visual clue of the gorgeous stained glass windows in the Temple of Peace. Roboboy's mate found the tomb almost straight away, but where could the cache be hidden safely? Let me just say that trying to keep a gang of small children from disrespectfully walking over tombstones is no mean feat.

This tomb is a fantastic piece of anti- war propaganda. It was erected by a man who purported to have lost all 4 of his sons in the war. There is even a statue in honour of his dog "Pup" who was also killed. Tucked behind the large structure was a small bunch of faux flowers in a dish. Roboboy was the lucky finder of this cache, hidden in a most ingenious manner. Treasures were pocketed, others replaced in the cache and the logbook completed. If you stumble across "Geo-Legoman" in your caching travels, that would be us.

We found two more caches here before arsenic hour hit and it was time to get those toddlers back home. There is something gorgeous about old tombstones in the slow light of dusk. Dedications to long gone " Henriettas" and "Berthas". And some simple ones that just make your chest constrict a little.

No graves were desecrated in the finding of these caches. We did however replace some cool treasure items with some slightly dodgy bits and bobs from the coin drawer in our car. Comet boy and Magnet girl who had found one of the caches only hours earlier had logged in but not taken anything. Legoman wants to have a dedicated cache stash in the car at all times for fair trade swaps. He is even considering leaving lego bricks at every location.

If you have not yet tried Geocaching, and you are part of the huge crowd of people who own an iphone ( that would be the entire universe minus me and a handful of others), give it a go. It's super fun, and very addictive. Legoman and Roboboy even found a cache this morning while waiting for the new tyres to be fitted onto our car.

Pedals and Poppies

2011-09-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

I trotted off to the Flower markets at Rocklea today, as one of the school mums had given me the heads up that poppies were now available. These are my absolute favourite flowers and the window for them in Brisbane is very brief due to the heat. They started popping open almost the minute we left the cool room. What a treat to have fresh flowers again, the last time (before the snapdragons that is) that we had fresh flowers in the house was for the open inspection on our old house just over a year ago.

While there, I also did a little reconnaisance work regarding the expected arrival dates for peonies (my other favourite flower) and was super excited to discover that they are due, give or take a few days, right around the time of our wedding anniversary. Lets hope Legoman is still reading this blog.

Imagine spending all day looking at a view like this. So much choice , the ranunculus bunches were lovely too .
Pretty much the only place with such a sea of pink would be the little cloud around miss Liongirl. Check out her new wheels, the big girl sort, with pedals. Was meant to be sequestered away until her upcoming third birthday in December but she kind of found the hiding spot and was overcome with rapture. Comes with a zip up bag for snacks and a basket for friends to ride in.

We are very big on ride-ons over here at Betsy, there is an assortment scattered around the place and a few ready to be retired. Thought you might want to see where miss Liongirl developed her fearless hooning tendencies. Probably started with this, one of my earlier curbside finds.

Or maybe this. You could really build up speed down the very long hallway in our old house.

And when it's your first birthday, there is usually at least one of your mates to give you a lift.

But then for out and about, you need some serious wheels to keep up with your big brother. Cause prams are for babies you know. This one will be retired to some friends now but was an old faithful and has done some major mileage.

And when you want to get about under your own steam, big brother hand me downs are fine, especially if they have a trailer for your friends. This was our recent rope along trike.

And within a day of hopping on her new bike, look what happened.

Mama, let go I can do it MYSELF. Minor details like the fact that she does not know how to brake or stop at roads or the fact that training wheels cause tippage on uneven surfaces, appear to be irrelevant. Of greater concern, this was a few days later.

Roboboy backed out. She did not. Who says that 2 year olds on pink Dora bicycles are not allowed on the bmx dirt biking track?

High tea with vintage frocks

2011-09-04T05:50:00.000-07:00

Liongirl and I were invited to a girls only High Tea yesterday. The invitation specified the wearing of frocks so we decided to go vintage. Liongirl wore the this gorgeous little white dress that we found at our local op shop for $5 a few weeks back. Of course embellished with an underskirt of a tutu and the essential fairy wings. There was much twirling and whirling of that wonderful skirt.

I was lucky to have my gorgeous tea dress arrive just in the nick of time. The fabric has Australian wildflowers, with lots of wattle in particular, so a mustard cardi was a must. As an avid follower of Bec's blog Naughty Shorts she gave me the option of either having her original dress design, or her newer design with optional pockets. How gorgeous is this dress and her workmanship is spot on, you can tell this is a dress made with love and care.

Look at the lovely v back.

And perfect for twirling.

But enough about the frocks, what about the food? My gorgeous friend made every single treat on this table. And it was HER birthday.

The little girls even had their own table covered in miniature treats. With a resident chicken to clear up the crumbs.

Liongirl only left that table to sample the high end cupcakes on ours.

Needless to say, Liongirl could not be extracted until dark and she is still talking about it. Roboboy was most unimpressed that it was a girls only affair. We made it up to the boys today with some Fathers day celebrations down at our favourite park.

We did so love our girls only adventure, Liongirl and I. Time to start planning our own tea party I think.

Spring is sprung

2011-09-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

I was so excited about the arrival of Spring today that I shouted myself some snapdragons. Frankly, I have been counting down the weeks, as winter here at Betsy's has been fraught with lurgies of every possible kind. It has been quite reminiscent of the Winter of 2008 when I was 7 months pregnant, had recurrent sinus infections and Roboboy was hospitalized for removal of both tonsils and adenoids. So you can see, the deserved status of the snapdragons is not in question.

The weather here is currently best described as divine. Perfect blue sky days, a hint of breeze and comfort in jeans and a T shirt. These spring days usually seem to last around 3 weeks before we are dumped into full humid summer heat so I plan to make the most of every day. See this here custardy corner?

I attacked it today and it has been undercoated to oblivion. Top coat hopefully complete on the weekend. Earlier in the week I found some more lovely white birdy treasures to add to my collection. They were being unpacked as I arrived at the oppie, $2 for both.

Now, remember my recent post involving a chenille find of the century? Well, take a look. A king sized fringed chenille bed throw in perfect condition. I was initially quite undecided about the colour, probably best described as peach or flesh or perhaps fawn. I am trying to only buy opped things that I actually have a spot for, not just because they are amazing. I was vacillating when I asked her the price. Would you belive $5? And incredibly it looks fantastic on our bed, and goes well with the painting we recently purchased. Still to get a decent photo of this due to the dark south facing state of our bedroom.

And just when I thought the day could not possibly get any better, looked what arrived in the letterbox.

I could barely contain myself to not rip it open instantly. Let me just say it contains my very own Naughty Shorts tea dress. It arrived in the nick of time as Liongirl and I have a High Tea to attend on Saturday. It fits beautifully and there will be photos, come Saturday.

The only hitch in the whole day was having one of those moments, were you stop and notice how quiet the house is. You know, a little TOO quiet. What on earth was miss Liongirl doing all that time in her room, so quietly?

Nothing like a little chair makeover, wiggles stickerbook style. Yet another proud mother moment*. Did I already mention that whilst in recovery after her recent operation she received an " I have attitude " sticker, complete with a picture of a feral child. So, so proud*.

Insert sarcasm here*. Just in case you thought I was celebrating having a renegade 2 yo in the house.

Jelly cups and other rainy day trifles

2011-08-28T05:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of those all day rainy days. We had made plenty of weekend plans, for a sunny day. Time for some new plans. I recently found an unopened packet of these gorgeous plastic jelly cups for $1 in an opshop. There were 12 in the pack in six wonderful pastel colours but Roboboy dropped four and broke them whilst ripping open the packet.

Suddenly with rainy gushing down, I was overcome by a desire to make jelly, from scratch. It is actually superbly easy and the kids LOVE it. If you buy a container of Ward's gelatine it has the instructions on the back. We dissolved 1 tbs of gelatine in half a cup of boiling water. Then we added 400 mls of pear syrup from a can of tinned pears. (you could also probably use any fruit juice or cordial). We used the same pears diced into chunks as well for some of the cups. :Liongirl was in charge of dicing ( a blunt dinner knife works well) and Roboboy was in charge of distribution. He is so obsessional that each cup had to have six and only six pieces of pear.

Remember my post on the dried rosella flowers I was given? They were perfect for giving us those glorious violet pink jellies, just steep the flowers in a little boiling water and add this to the pear syrup and gelatine. Pour into cups and refrigerate for few hours. If they are not sweet enough add a little sugar but my kids gobbled them up as is, with not an artifical colour or flavour to be seen.

What to do while the jellies are setting? We headed off to our local Tip Shop. This is where the City Council Dump and the Endeavour Foundation work together to salvage goods that have been taken to the dump, and onsell the ones that are too good to go to landfill . Picture a huge op shop in a shed, open all weekend.

Some of the stuff was interesting, if you fancy a boat or two. I did find a lovely pyrex dish for $1 but Legoman managed to break it before the day was out. The kids had a thoroughly good time racing around the shed, road testing all the bikes while the rain pelted down outside.

A lot of the stuff was just junk. The only piece of furniture that was interesting was this desk and bedside tables combo in that cane style which is quite popular at the moment and just needed a repaint, the whole set was $40. No room at Betsy's but someone else might be looking.

If you were a 17 year old wannabe film director, this would be the place to come to pull together an entire zombie film set on a budget.

On the way home, there was the non negotiable stop at Bunnings, our other rainy day backup plan. The kids played on the playground for ages, making friends with a little girl who Roboboy called "Whoopy", Liongirl called " Puppy" and whose actual name was "Poppy". Legoman was in the zone and managed to find the lucky red hammer from the lucky red hammer promotion. Five are hidden during the store each day.

A $10 gift voucher thank you very much to put towards his Father's day present. Would you believe he has been hankering for a self retracting hose reel? Or perhaps a new esky?

Legoman thought the umbrella wielding staff member who escorted us to our car was provided because he is married to an extremely hot yummy mummy ( and voiced this out loud to said escort). Only to realize that right on closing time Bunnings staff have an overriding concern for bringing back every last trolley in the carpark, hot wife or otherwise.

Foxes and nose tonsils, when small things cause big problems

2011-08-26T05:39:00.000-07:00

We have had an exhausting week over here at Betsy's. See this cheeky minx? You would never guess that she is recovering from an operation yesterday. Adenoidectomy to be precise. Or for those who have no idea what adenoids are, I like to call them nose tonsils. Useless bits of tonsilly like things that if they are behaving you would never have any reason to know about them. In Liongirls case, they have been harbouring bacteria for about 5 months such that she has been requiring back to back courses of antibiotics, snoring, night waking and being generally less than princess like in her demeanor.

So we spent an epic day at the hospital yesterday (picture amusing a grumpy, woken too early toddler who is hungry and thirsty for about 2 and a half hours in a confined space with less than adequate entertainment- and that was BEFORE the operation).
I took the day off work today to care for her. She has bounced back so amazingly speedily that our day involved op shopping and babycinos. Now we are looking forward to the inner princess appearing and her very dark black under eye circles disappearing.

And, the day before the operation, knowing the week ahead of us, we awoke to discover this.

A sea of feathers under the trampoline, black, white and brown ones. Our three gorgeous girls, all dead, killed by a fox in the night. I am still in a state of disbelief. That there are actually foxes in inner city Brisbane, and that I am probably responsible for not checking that the door was bolted shut properly. We are very thankful that we discovered the poor headless chickens before the kids saw them. Roboboy is sad but not devastated, and Liongirl has no idea. I have had to borrow eggs from the neighbours and the yard is very quiet.

Just a little reminder for everyone to check your chickens and tuck them in, to count your lucky stars if you have healthy children and if you have children that have seen the inside of a hospital be amazed at their ability to just get on with it and not dwell on the difficult bits.

Sewing basket with a story

2011-08-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

Had one of those op shop experiences this week. The sort where you not only find something that had been on a searching for list, but something most wonderful and unexpected. This sewing basket with it's murky green velvet and floral embroidered lid, was for sale, with all its contents as well.

Suspect the original owner was probably around my vintage, it has a 70's vibe about it. If I had received this for my 10th birthday I would have been over the moon. The name pencilled carefully on the bottom in extremely neat grade 8 style handwriting says " Susan Grinsell". It is always exciting to take a peek at what treasures are inside. Look at the gorgeous mint green satin lining with built in pin cushion.

I can tell you that Susan had a fondness for tape measures ( she had three), was dabbling with fusing wire (whatever you do with that I have no idea) and was contemplating a " bra back repair" but this was never done as the required piece is still in the packet. She had a lovely assortment of buttons and most revealingly, a 1982 Commonwealth Games embroidered badge still in the packet.

Last week I was reading another lovely Brisbane blog and stumbled across a link to my old year 11 boyfriend who is now a photographer. When we dated he was a drummer in a rock band. Knowing my luck he is probably married to Susan Grinsell and she is going to want her sewing basket back. Despite having over a million people, there seem to only be about 3 degrees of separation between people in Brisbane. A few months ago we sold Liongirl's cot in the weekend shopper. How super to discover that the purchaser was one of my clients at work who turned up on a Saturday morning when I was still in my pyjamas and the kids were running feral around the house.

Look what else I found. Three lovely pyrex bowls, 50 cents each and superb colours of course.

And check out the gorgeous crochet number for miss Liongirl. Inspiration for making my own. I have to say, after the cardigan to fit a guinea pig disaster, I really needed something to get me motivated again.

And the action shot, she wanted to put it on as soon as it came off the washing line.

And the item that I had been searching for? Well, would you believe I had been scouring ebay for some velour corduroy in a mustardy yellowy greenish colour to make a cushion for our bedroom. The inspiration came from a new painting that I will share shortly. And low and behold, a huge piece of yellowish mustardy greenish velour corduroy was just there waiting for me. I kid you not, I really had been looking on ebay for this but it is a tricky colour to search for.

It's the one on the bottom, a bit of a chameleon colour, in the top sewing basket photo it looks quite green. The fabric on top of it was bona fide polyester all the way baby. In this super cool mustard, white and brown zig zaggy pattern. No idea yet what to do with it, but could not bring myself to leave it behind. And the final item, well no photos yet but let me just say it involves a king sized chenille bedspread in immaculate condition. I think I was hyperventilating and frothing at the mouth when I stumbled onto it and then when she told me the price I just promptly had a turn and passed out. Images arriving soon, of the chenille, not me frothing at the mouth.

Linking in with Sophie and her fabulous thrifting adventures.

Treasure hunting the Geocaching way

2011-08-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a public holiday here in Brisbane for the Exhibition or Ekka as we all call it. Given that several of the occupants of this house have been almost continuously sick for the last 3 months, and the Ekka is a cesspit of disease, we made other plans.

A few days ago, one of my oldest and dearest friends wrote this post about going Geocaching in the Latvian countryside. Like all important things in life, she had first learnt about this from her hairdresser. Geocaching is the ultimate treasure hunt. Random strangers hide treasures all over the countryside, then leave clues and GPS coordinates for fellow treasure hunters to follow. Of course in Latvia this involves scouring the stone ruins of windmills and finding the tombstones of Baronesses. Our curiosity was piqued, nerds that we are, so we jumped straight onto Geocaching.com.au and signed up (it's free). We were stunned to discover at least three hidden caches in our surrounding area , one hidden within a local park that we have frequented since Roboboy was first toddling.

There was no time to lose, snacks were packed, helmets buckled and our little biking convoy was on its way. Legoman is yet to own a bike so he enjoyed the job of towing Liongirl along. We seem to always need a snack stop within about 2 minutes of leaving the house.

We had approximate GPS coordinates on the iphone and a brief clue to indicate which section of the park to look in. Of course we had to make several stops to sample playgrounds and collect flowers. I can highly recommend this trike and rope system for needing to get a toddler to travel long distances, the trike cost $19 in Kmart from memory and this journey would be at least 2-3 kms return.

The clue suggested we search within a particular area of the park, quite daunting when you don't really know what you are looking for. The kids were checking under all the trees, around trunks, along fences when Legoman finally spotted the cache. Excitement galore from us all.

Quite high up in a tree, hidden nesting inside an old bike helmet were the cache goodies. We knew there would usually be a notebook so we could record ourselves as finders, and sometimes there would be trade objects as well. You know, take one, leave something behind in its place.

Look at that. Amazing to think that we had been pounding the paths past this avenue of trees for the last 5 years, none the wiser to the treasures hidden there. We carefully recorded our details and packed it all up and hid it again. ( we plan to sneak back with a trade item, Roboboy has his eye on that snail) This cache spot is apparently one of a series of 15 with an individual clue in each spot to lead to a further final cache.

Legoman is hooked, he and Roboboy are already plotting to team up with our neighbours the Menace brothers to tackle another cache within riding distance. He was also most excited to discover an iphone app that shows you the coordinates and clues for the three closest caches to any location you might be in (yes, that is 1.4 million caches worldwide). Or just jump onto Geocaching.com and you can search all of Australia and New Zealand as well.

Bored of girl talk at a cafe? Sneak off to that cache hidden just around the corner and be back in time for your pancakes. On holidays at the beach, sitting around while your wifey tries on togs in that little boutique? Duck out to that cache and be back in time to find her a matching sarong. I think men and boys everywhere would be rejoicing to know there was such a fantastic excuse to sneak off from all the boring girl things we drag them along to. The only problem is, I want to go too.

Budgies, buried treasure and bassoons - A great suburban adventure

2011-08-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

We went out for a ride after school today, a team of great explorers on wheels. First stop was a massive bird aviary a few streets away that is set directly adjacent to the nature strip. At least 30 budgies chirping away. And guess which one Roboboy has fallen in love with? See that manky mottled one in the middle ,the really decrepit one that was sitting in that exact spot on the perch two days ago when we walked past. Yep, my quirky boy has a knack for sniffing out fellow oddballs everywhere he goes. This is the budgie that would normally be picked last by anyone else. Roboboy loved his odd colours and odd patterns and decided to name him "Rainbow". Remember last week he did try and domesticate a stink bug. We did discuss that he was not having a bird until he was 10 ( that is mother talk for never ever ever having a caged bird but hope he forgets because ten is a long way away).

On our way home we took a different turn and found somewhere new that we had never discovered before. We have lived in this suburb for 11 years but it never ceases to amaze me what you can discover when you slow down to an explorers pace and take that different turn that normally in a busy rushed world you don't make the time to take.

A quiet dead end street high above the river. A long long winding staircase down to a hidden world.

A rolling expanse of meadow bathed in golden late afternoon winter sun. Stretching down to the calmness of a big river bordered by mangroves and washed up treasures. And completely quiet. Once I managed to get my noisy rabble to keep quiet, it was completely silent, not a car to be heard. Inner city suburban Brisbane, amazing.

We rolled on the grass, took crazy photos of each other, watched pelicans and just enjoyed that special yellow light you only get in the late afternoon. Then it was back up all those stairs to ride home and tell Dad what we had discovered.

Of course we had to stop at the pine cone tree on the way home to collect pine cones, you know, for the collection. And you will never believe what we discovered half buried under the base of the pine cone tree.

Yep a really old, ancient actually,sword with real gold and carvings from India. Apparently they have battles over there.

And look at this gorgeous house we found on our travels. Betsy would be excited. Darker grey than I was planning, and a much grander house than Betsy but the same gorgeous bungalow assymetry, as well as almost identical gates and fence. Actually, these gates are the fancy version of Betsy's but lets not spoil the fantasy.

So, we arrived home for Betsy and I to dream about new grey frocks while Roboboy of course had to whip up a scabbard for the ancient sword.

And the bassoons? Where is the bassoon in this post I hear you all wondering. A while ago Legoman and I were having a quiet conversation about Roboboy and all his quirks. He is complicated, challenging and amazing all at the same time and we know his quirks well. Can almost predict his choices based on them. I think the conversation was inspired by this hilarious post over at Maxabella Loves. ( Who would let their child play the euphonium for goodness sakes). We were debating which instrument our (manky-budgie- loving, stink-bug-rescuing) quirky boy would choose. And I made a suggestion and Legoman agreed. The ugliest weirdest instrument would have to be the one.

And then just the other day we were watching a segment of Playschool with Liongirl featuring an orchestra. And as we scanned all the instruments I asked Roboboy which one he would like to play. Perhaps a cello I suggested, or a trumpet like one of our neighbours, or something in the percussion section. And the camera paused in front of the ugliest weirdest instrument in the whole orchestra. And his little face lit up and he said " that one mama, that one- that's the one I want to play". The bassoon.

Jumping on the bandwagon

2011-08-14T04:11:00.000-07:00

Yep, we are finally on, the vintage pyrex bandwagon of course. There is a lot of love out in blog world for the humble vintage pyrex bowl and Betsy and I are so excited to have joined the club. I feel compelled to reveal the secret to sourcing such an item as they are getting scarce in op shop circles. This one was from my local op shop, just down the road, the one I would pop into easily once or twice a week. Usually there is not much of interest.

Until I did a quick sideboard and wardrobe cleanout and took a huge bag of scary things like coasters made of laminated gum leaves, down to my local oppie. Secret Santa presents from 1999 and the like. I suspect the coasters had been spawning as there was also an equally nasty set of glass coasters with dodgy handpainted butterflies. And for this speedy cull, the universe decided I was to be rewarded with not only vintage pyrex but a small collection of treasures, all from the one shop.

This plate just caught my eye for the lovely pattern, made in Germany, no idea if it's new or old but could imagine it covered in bikkies.

And just look at this dress. A beautiful home made pale pink dress with fabric in that old style stiff cotton that is almost like linen. Still smelling very much like a nanna's wardrobe and with the pearliest pink buttons all the way up the back. But the lucky little girl who wore this (maybe once, to a wedding perhaps as it is in immaculate condition) had another little sister dress to this one.

This one is white with a gorgeous pink frill down the front but has a zipper in the back and is not lined like the pink one. I can't wait to dress miss Liongirl up in these and take some photos. Am a little scared to wash them though, any tips on this kind of fabric would be appreciated.

And one lovely pink, purple and pale blue wool blanket to finish off with. Confirms to me that culling and giving away is really, really worthwhile. Now, I do also have a small confession to make. I have been experimenting with house colours again. Exterior colours actually. After living with my previous colour choice for a few months and it being too cold to actually do any nocturnal painting, I decided my previous colour choice was too neutral, bland and too similar to the neighbours house. Now I'm leaning towards grey. And I've started mixing my own as I can't find a sample colour I like.

It's obviously a work in progress. Did make a nice backdrop to the German plate photo, that's my own colour mix going on. Just need to live with it for a while and let the weather warm up a bit to be sure. Linking in with Sophie to see if anyone else had a falling in love with pyrex kind of weekend.

We love oilcloth

2011-08-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

The projects have been humming away over here at Betsy's. Several on the go and one complete and ready to share. Remember these stools courtesy of a rainy day at Ikea?

Well they were chosen to complete the makeover to the kids craft table. I bought this second hand coffee table on ebay for $20. Perfect height and size for creative projects. Not so perfect as a visual feature at the end of my lounge room.

I had been itching to tackle a simple oilcloth project. Found some gorgeous Heather Bailey laminated fabric and realized this might be something I could actually finish in one session. One staple gun purchased and let's go.

This was super easy and took me about 30 minutes to do. And look at the difference. The legs were already green and amazingly matched pretty well. And so did my old canisters that contain all the crafting essentials.

The kids love it. Look what Roboboy did before school yesterday. I swear the inspired creative table decor is behind his recent prolific art production.

Mother and baby fire breathing dragon of course. And we mustn't leave miss Liongirl out of it all, this one came home from Nonna's. Apparently she chose all the colours and the stencil design.

Anyway, I just love looking at this gorgeous corner of my lounge room, my first step at reclaiming this space as one where I love everything in it and there are no nasty plastic toys to be seen. Ooops, was that a piece of lego that just got sucked up into the vacuum?

Eight words no mother should hear

2011-08-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

A few incidents this week have been cause for concern.

Case 1. The above outfit was selected by Miss Liongirl to wear to school drop off. ALL chosen by her ( except that I made her wear a long sleeved shirt under the short sleeved one that she wanted). Just to clarify, yes it is a beanie with earflaps, 2 shirts, a tutu, jeggings which are concealed and striped gumboots. None of this was of particular concern to me. Until we did the school drop off and one of the other mothers commented on how cute she looked. She then went on to say that Liongirl has obviously got her dress sense from me.

What does one say to that? I swear I have never left the house in a tutu, do not even own a tutu. Maybe that she can tell I would secretly love a tutu. Not sure if it is a compliment or not really!

Just a quick pose under the frangipani tree as there is a natural seat within the trunk and it's a good spot to ponder what the chooks are up to.

Case 2. Significantly higher grade concern and in two parts

Roboboy seems to be of the opinion that he and I share a brain. That I just know stuff that he is thinking with no real need to elaborate or explain. Last night we went out to dinner with the grandparents from interstate. As we left the pub Roboboy started to leap excitedly into the air pointing into the distance and exclaiming "mama, mama" followed by more exaggerated pointing. I looked and saw.......... not much really but then saw a the lights of a plane flashing in the sky, so I said "Oh yes, a plane".

He then looked at me like I was a few iced vovo's short of a picnic and said "Units, units" in a voice I would reserve for Legoman arriving home with diamond jewellery. The kid has some sort of weird interest in units and townhouses. However, this is really a minor concern overall. The words of great concern came as I was tucking him into bed.

"Mama, I just had to rescue him, two boys were poking him with sticks and I thought he might get really, really hurt". I kept making the bed and distractedly replied " Who's that matey". Then came those eight words - "THE STINK BUG, HE'S IN MY LUNCH BOX".

At least he's cranking out some splendid art works. This is a birthday card for his best mate who was turning six. The seventh candle is the one for the wish. Note the tray under the cake, he has been happily directing the styling of my blog photos as well. Does help distract from the stink bug situation.

Orange and mustardy sunshine Sunday

2011-07-31T05:33:00.000-07:00

Two of my favourite colours at the moment turned up this week in my favourite oppy. Gorgeous orange pyrex pie dish and my absolute favourite, a mustard Tupperware container. I think this might be a microwave steamer as it has a little tray in the bottom. It was quite marked and scuffed particularly on the lid but came up looking brand new after a little wipe over with a few drops of this amazing stuff.

It's orange oil, it smells beautiful and it is amazing at taking marks off plastic. I also used it recently to clean all the marks off my white replica Eames dining chairs. You do need to do a small patch test first as with some shiny plastics it can remove the sheen but no problems at all with this Tupperware lid.
And then up on a high shelf a scraggly cardboard box caught my eye. Just seeing the picture on top was exciting.

And then to peek inside and discover that it was all intact, no missing pieces, and a spectacular colour.

Anyone for fondue? I have never had a fondue experience and am debating whether to keep this little set or to rehome it with someone else who loves orange. Just a little tricky to do dairy free fondue as cheese and chocolate are both out.

While we are onto the wondrousness of all things orange, must share Roboboy's new most prized possession. He is almost too big for his walking bike, so a shiny new metallic orange bike with training wheels came just in time.

Nothing better than doing a bit of circle work with your mates. My cautious, careful and sensitive boy.

Always nice on a Sunday afternoon to take your toddler for a brisk walk.

My fearless, feisty, speed loving, gumboot wearing girl. She had just ditched the fairy dress as it kept getting stuck in the wheels. And she plays a mean of tug-of -war.

Happy orange and mustardy sunshine Sunday to you all. Linking in with Sophie and all her flea market finds.

Brunch when you have lost the will to blog

2011-07-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

This post could more aptly be titled " Being a single mother for 12 days really sucks". Pestilence and disease. Betsy is riddled, hence the extensive blog hiatus. The kids are finally better when Legoman hits the deck. Big time. Not just a man-cold but the bedridden with 39 degree fevers kind of flu. He has just spent 5 consecutive days in bed and dragged him self sporadically to work the prior 5 days to infect the remainder of his organisation. And, just for something different, he spent the weekend before that in bed as well.

Meanwhile, I have been left to do EVERYTHING that could possibly need doing, as well as going to work and attempting to muster some vague attempts at sympathy. I haven't had the heart to point out that I spent less time in bed post Caesarian section. I did draw the line at being given the option to inspect his snot. Yes, I do believe it really was a hideous brown colour. Thank god the man rarely gets sick and praise to all the single mothers out there, I suspect none of them have time for something as indulgent as a blog.

Ok, enough ranting, where is the brunch I hear you ask? Well, as my weekend midmorning was spent at Coles doing the food shop with 2 small assistants, the brunch was not over here. However, the fantasy brunch of croissants and quiet reading of the entire paper that I was entertaining in my addled brain would not be complete without this gorgeous red and white canister set that I found a little while back on one of my prowls around Ipswich (nothing like scratching up an old unwritten and forgotten post when life gets in the way of bloggable experiences).

As well as hitting the op shops, imagine my delight at discovering a veritable cave of vintage goodies. The Vintage Advantage is on the main street and the owner finds he barely has to even go ferretting for items, most people just bring them in. Oh and he has a posse of little old ladies in a few local Churches who put things aside for him.

One of those gorgeous old shop fronts with huge glass windowcases either side of a foyer to showcase the wares.

And inside, every nook and cranny filled with goodies. I think I was roaming in there for a good hour or so. So many things to look at. I love it when items are stacked up to the ceiling.

Ipswich is not like the old days. Back in my uni days it was the Thong epicentre of the world. Now it has Boutique homewares stores. You know, the ones with 3 items of artfully placed furniture, complete with incredibly expensive price tags.

It has boutique cupcake stores. Complete with kids play corner. If it had a bed I'm sure Liongirl would be quite happy to just move in.

And boutique mower stores. Could easily leave the boys in there for a few hours .

Ispwich, something for the whole family really. I should be doing their publicity. I would perhaps be obliged to leave out the fact that they were chosen by Jamie Oliver for one of his nutritional overhall kitchen schools.

Anyway, my only other sanity saver in the last 12 days of flying solo was a trip to Ikea. I love Ikea and with 2 small children there is only one way to do the experience known as Ikea.

1. Wait for a rainy day when you are really not sure what else you have up your sleeve.

2. Drive for 20 minutes with 2 year old who doesn't understand that the radio will not play "Who's that girl" by Guy Sebastian on request just because she thinks she is "that girl who walked in the club"

3. Park near a trolley bay and let the kids ride the trolley all the way into the store.

4. Go straight to the restaurant. Order the $2.95 breakfast for everyone. Do not order the kids breakfast as the lack of hash browns will be sure to cause conflict.

5. Do not forget to take your dirty dishes over to the conveyor belt into the dishwasher. This is at times the highlight of the trip.

6. Go to the toilets now as they are near the restaurant. Omit this step at your own peril.

7. Go straight into the kids section which in the Brisbane store is adjacent to the restaurant. Play with as many items as possible. Before we took them to Seaworld my kids thought this area was a theme park. It was unspoken but understood that none of these items are available for purchase.

8. Do not be tempted by any other sections on this level. This is not the time for contemplating wardrobes or lounges or kitchen layouts.

9. Go straight down to the lower level and pick up a mega trolley. It is helpful to add two $3 cushions to your purchase as it makes lying down on the trolley so much comfier.

10. Whizz through this section taking every possible short cut through doors made of plastic flaps.Sounds effects help but are optional. Remember this is Seaworld for toddlers, without the hideous entrance fee.

11. Just before exiting, pick out the one item you came here for that had been researched via the internet the day before to ensure stock availability.

12.Finish up with 50 cent soft serve icecreams ( if there is dairy allergy, selection of a really groovy battery free torch is a good idea)

13. Congratulations, you have 2 exhausted and exhilerated children just ready to nap all the way home. And you get to bring home these lovely items for an project to be revealed shortly.

(product disclaimer- no responsibility will be taken if the 13 step plan is not followed exactly and everything goes pear shaped).

Crochet capers

2011-07-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, after what seems like a long hiatus, there is some serious hooking going on over here at Betsy's. And, miracles of miracles, I actually like what I am making.

You see, there has been covert crochet going on for weeks. But, not a single scrap has been finished as I get half way through and realize that I don't like that particular combination of colours, it's just not working for me and I cannot imagine that finished item being displayed anywhere in my house.

The problem being, I am a colour perfectionist. This also explains the multitude of paint sample pots in our carport from both Betsy and our last house. I would photograph the stack of tins but it could be indicative of deeper psychiatric pathology so we'll just leave that for now.

I am loving this cushion cover pattern found in a 1982 Woman's Day Collectors Series pullout booklet. Complete with advertising for Summit Light cigarettes and Pearl Drops tooth whitening polish. And these colours are joyous and light and sing happy to me.

These were my previous attempts that seemed good in theory and then were just not doing it for me when executed.

Too dull and yet kind of fluoro at the same time. Will be unravelled and turned into something else not involving concentric stripes. The colours were chosen to compliment this cushion. Which they kind of did, sort of.

But, I like the new combination so much more. Must get back to it, overwhelming need to complete something.

On a concerning note, I think my children have been reading the blog, or my mind. Both are worrying. A few days ago I posted a little note about wishing I had found my wool basket when my children were small enough to fit inside it.

Liongirl was eyeing it off for about 10 days before being unable to overcome that desire to just hop in.

And there is nothing more motivating to a 5 year old boy than his 2 year old sister beating him to it. Quite impressive really, in an awkward way, must look into contortionist classes.

Turrets, Lockets and Tea Dresses

2011-07-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

We finally finished the castle we were constructing for Roboboy's prep class. We used 2 large watermelon boxes from our local fruit and veg shop stacked on top of each other. The fruit shop gets $10 for recycling these but if you ask nicely they will often give you one for free. We have used several before to create a ball pit for a toddler birthday party and a rocket at kindy last year. The top one was trimmed to look like a turret and the bottom one had a drawbridge cut out of it. A few arched windows, cobblestone exterior and some crepe ivy and we were done.

Road tested by Liongirl of course, who also helped make the red flower. Drawbridge up, dragons approaching.

And of course the official test at prep. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. When I did school drop off the next day there were about 8 of the little kidlets in there, furiously defending the castle against rogue dragons. Requests have been issued by the girls for another plait please and a flower making class to complete the ivy. It is so exciting the watch their enthusiasm and enjoyment of something so simple.

The fabric behind our castle was found by another mum at Reverse Garbage and stapled up to enclose a little room. Isn't it an amazing find for looking like cobblestones? So that covers the turrets, now what about the lockets?

Well, look what I was lucky enough to win on a blog giveaway from gorgeous Bec at Naughty Shorts. Firstly, I must show how it arrived.

Beautifully wrapped with a handmade card and vintage sheet sample as well. I was beyond excited as the last time I won something was a plant in a grade 9 raffle. A very uninspired plant too from memory. I can't wait to pop some photos of my kidlets inside this locket.

Bec makes these lockets as well as the most wonderful vintage sheet tea dresses and I am super excited to have finally ordered a tea dress for myself. Will be counting down the weeks until it arrives. Luckily, she intermittently does little showcases of all her recent orders so one can share all the vintage sheet joy while awaiting the delivery.

Bathroom makeover reveal

2011-07-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

Sadly the bathroom makeover did not happen in Betsy's bathroom. No it was the dollhouse that received some attention today. It all started with a trip to Spotlight to exchange some wool and buy felt and only felt. And then we took a wrong turn down aisle 23 and ended up in front of these.

A little set of wooden dolls house furniture complete with paint pots and brush. Before I could blink Liongirl was clutching this in her grubby little paws with no chance of extraction. Roboboy had simultaneously snaffled the boys version of a build and paint bomber plane. As Liongirl had already endured a visit to the doctor, nose swabbing for possible influenza and still had a fever over 38 degrees, I felt that in light of the significant sleep deficit I had endured for the last week, it was an entirely reasonable purchase. Straight to work the minute we arrived home.

Once the furniture was dry, installation was arranged and Roboboy set to work on the elevator. And then some staircases were installed and sheets and blankets snipped out of the felt we had chosen.

And then, because he was obviously on a roll, Roboboy decided to undertake a full bathroom makeover. Using every square inch of the sparkly pink paper chosen by Liongirl. Yes, we have been letting him stay up late to watch the block. His faves are Polly and Waz, he even chose their room when they had the bland week. Not entirely sure if he has talents within the design arena.

I think using "The Block" scoring system this would have to be at least a 6 for design and maybe a 4 for execution. Note that he even pink sparkly sheeted the ceiling. Oh yes, and there are matching pink felt towels. I do have some concerns about the thoroughness of the waterproofing though. But it was all complete within about a 30 minute time frame, and surely there are extra points for having a yellow toilet.

Second hand joys

2011-07-10T03:38:00.000-07:00

Finished the week with a splendid find at my favourite oppy. I have been wanting a footstool for a while and had even been scouring ebay. Rectangular would have been fine but a round one is just perfect for my plans to either crochet or sew a cover- changing my mind daily on that one but the harlequin vinyl is not exactly my cup of tea.

And the same oppy unearthed a gorgeous lamp. The shade had seen better days but the base was gorgeous.

I'm planning to repaint the base and cover a shade and then send this one into Liongirl's room. But for the time being it has a new thrifted shade and a home on our silky oak sideboard.

Linking in with Sophie today to share the second hand joy around.

It all started with a Singer

2011-07-07T04:53:00.000-07:00

Today, I discovered a little church op shop that I had never even noticed before. One of those ones that only opens certain days of the week and you just have to be in luck to know when that is. In through a tiny narrow door I found myself in a huge cavern hidden within the bowels of the church. As I ferretted, above me musical intruments were being tuned and chairs were being scraped into position.

I found this set of Sylvanian Family dollhouse furniture. Still new in the box, vintage 1985. And I believe this emerald green is quite fashionable currently.

And in the same section, in a non descript little box, was the clincher on buying the lot.

A teeny tiny Singer sewing machine table with foot treadle plate. The full sized version of these is practically iconic around these parts, even my mother in law has one.
So, I thought I would just put them all aside for a while until a dolls house appeared.
And then I had a cup of tea and checked my blogroll. And you won't believe what I spotted in a photo of the new stock at Paint me White down at the WAC . And I was in love. I drove straight down there and brought this baby home.

I have a bit of a thing for shadow boxes. But the colour and shape and size of this one had my name all over it. I can picture it full of cottons, and little jars of buttons and crochet hooks. But for the time being, I am happy to share the joy and have it looking more like this.

It has pride of place in my lounge room, against the only completed white wall in the house. As soon as I got home I had to find my old stash of furniture from my childhood as well as the little dolly my mum made for me all those years ago.

That red table and chairs and little stove are the only toys of mine that I had carefully packed away and saved for a day like this. They are like old friends and it makes me smile to see them again. Liongirl came home from visiting her Nonna and was straight in, rearranging and redecorating. The dolly has been tucked in with bunny creature into the little bed and all the furniture is now on level four. Roboboy is going to help us make an elevator and Liongirl has already requested a crochet blanket and pillow for dolly, as well as some new shoes for her too.

And that's my new wool basket, it's huge and cost $5. I just wish my kids were smaller so I could pop them in it for a photograph.

Chooknosis via YouTube

2011-07-03T04:43:00.000-07:00

Today was spent upholding all our chook maintenance duties. When we bought the new chooks, the man at Brookfield Produce offered to clip their wings. We declined, having no idea what this involved and thinking that it could only be a bad thing to do to the girls.

However since they have been spotted CROSSING the road ( don't even start on the Why would they jokes) and flapping their way into several neighbouring properties, we decided it was time to curtail these extreme free range forays. With a little wing clipping, courtesy of a YouTube tutorial.

After being side tracked by a whole series of crazy animal footage including a cat that uses the toilet, and toilet paper, we set to work. How on earth did novices get anything done in the days before YouTube I ask you?

The above photo is courtesy of Roboboy as I was holding the poor bird by the ankles while Legoman did the wing trim. It doesn't hurt the chooks at all (just the indignity of it all), more like a haircut really. We trimmed the ends of about 8 front wing section feathers and this should stop them being able to fly over fences.

Catching the wretched birds was more the issue and resulted in a comedy sketch involving 2 grown men, 5 boys and a toddler all haring around the yard with nets for about 40 minutes. Liongirl then set out to collect all those gorgeous feathers.

This was part of a bigger plan to curtail our girls general free ranging, partly from a safety issue and partly for the preservation of our grass. Our gorgeous lush lawn has large sections where it has been pecked down to bare dirt and so we decided to create a large chook run for the girls during the day, and we will let them out to free range after school pick up only. This way our garden gets a weed, our grass gets a rest, we should not be stepping on chook poo with every trip to the washing line and the girls still get to roam for a few hours every day.

So, we headed off on a shopping trip for all the essentials and Legoman set to work at record speed. This is the prairie near our back fence that will become the day time hangout for the girls.

Nothing like watching a man thumping in star pickets with purpose designed tool.

And that smirk of all round satisfaction. At this stage it is all progressing so rapidly he is feeling like a regular genuine handman type of which he is generally not affiliated.

Look at this- an almost complete chicken run. I won't labour the point but the chooks did escape underneath the wire less than 30 seconds after they were popped into the run. Details, Details according to Legoman who will be tweaking this design flaw in the morning.

And with all the work completed, surely it was time for a little fun courtesy of YouTube. Ever wanted to hypnotise a chook ? Legoman is now the Yoda of chook hypnosis. There is the chook lying on it's tummy following your finger technique.

One hypnotised chook.

But for extra impact, the hypnotised chook on it's back, legs in the air, is sure to draw a crowd.

The neighbourhood boys are desperate to come back and take MasterClass from Yoda. Lucky there is a whole second week of the school holidays left. Expect the whole set, in a row, legs in the air before the week is out.

White walls and Kids creative space

2011-07-01T04:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I faced the music involving holidays while sick with sick children and while there was some " Don't say no, no, no, no, no,no, just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ,yeah" there was also a 5 yo bursting into song in the bath singing " I think I wanna marry you" that made it all ok.

Another white wall finished. Ignore the cream window trim, that's a fiddly job beyond my capabilities right now. Just fuzz your eyes and admire all the other white. Remember how it used to look?

I moved the kids craft space from in front of our bifold doors, tidied it all up and they were straight there creating. Roboboy intermittently pulls a few glorious masterpieces out of his hat.

The Giraffe. From memory this giraffe had some kind of neck injury hence the head down eating cacti situation.

Night Owl. This one came home from Feng Shui Nonna's ( aka my mother's) house. She has been giving him blank canvases since he was 2.

And that other wall? Well, only undercoat so far but giving me goosebumps already. That was a high as I could reach with a footstool. Remember this was an impromptu febrile child in front of TV paint job.

And the aforementioned sick child with fevers came out of his room wearing this in his ear.

"Mama" he said, " come at look at my cochlear implant". His mate at school has one and not to feel left out he just had to whip up his own. We are all about embracing diversity over at Betsy's. Heck, we wrote the manual on diversity. You'll find us under Q for Quirky.

Roboboy and I had a special treat yesterday. We went and saw Cars 2, just the two of us. We both loved it. Lots of fast racing, explosions and cars with awesome secret agent sexy British accents. Afterwards, we looked at some toy shops and I gave in and bought something on a whim, for no good reason other than pure unadulterated 5 year old boy love. And of course, it has been lovingly taken to bed for the last 2 nights.

Yep, that's the cat on the left and Finn McMissile action vehicle with triple missile launcher on the right.

Scared to face the music tomorrow

2011-06-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

Today was just one of those weird crazy days with its own momentum. Poor Legoman doesn't know what hit him. All he wanted to do was try out his new attachments for our Dyson vacuum cleaner. As that involved moving one of our lounge chairs I pounced, knowing this kind of opportunity may not come again for months.

Then we started to clean that huge bank of north facing windows inside and out that were covered in dust and mould and had not been cleaned properly since we moved in 10 months ago. The kids were enthusiastic for all of about 10 minutes then dropped like flies and started doing their own thing, with a few nudges along the way. Liongirl threw the contents of an entire puzzle box across the floor in a huff and while in timeout in her room proceeded to pull at least 87 books out of her bookshelf before coming to her senses and setting up a tea party quite happily.

While waiting for the final spray of my favourite mould killer to do its work, we set up a blanket in the garden and had a morning tea picnic. Then the windows were finished- sparkling clean, and the old blinds and brackets removed. This window is north facing and has the most wonderful winter light streaming in and we never use the blinds so they are gone.

And then Roboboy suddenly wanted a nap. Which he hasn't remotely considered since he was at kindy about 9 months ago. Sure enough he was sick- fever 39.5. So we provided drinks, cuddles, panadol and copious tv while he collapsed on the lounge. So between cooking Chicken, corn and noodle soup from scratch and providing regular temperature checks and medication, I decided, I as am prone to do, that now would be the ideal time to start painting that really clean wall. Windows open to remove fumes- check. Kids nearby to supervise- check. Legoman happily building lego with Liongirl- check. Would you belive I nearly covered that entire wall? Photos coming soon.

I had to scrape this section back as the paint was bubbling. I love seeing the layers of colour history in an old house. Under the custard comes spearmint green. Under that is an olivey green. Goodness knows what's under that one. I usually undercoat and then sand any imperfections as there is likely to be some lead paint around and much better to leave it undisturbed and sand the layer of new undercoat.

So, tomorrow is looking like a day to be feared. Child one- sick with high fevers and severe phobia of taking any medication. Child 2 still on antibiotics from recent infection, still snotty and whingy but thankfully no fear of taking medication. Mother in law sick with pneumonia so unable to be of any assistance. Mother at work. Husband at work. Me- oh yes I've got what child one has. Starting to feel better after 9 days of not feeling good but the glands in my neck are so swollen I look like a rugby forward and can't turn my head properly. Will be getting throught the day courtesy of ABC kids and knowing that no matter what, Legoman will make sure he will be home in time for me to watch "The Block".

Gifted Rosella seeds

2011-06-23T04:38:00.000-07:00

In my work I am lucky enough to get to look after people and get to know them over many many years. Sometimes we talk about mutual interests, like gardening. Recently, one lady that I know well mentioned that a friend of hers propagated rosella bushes. My ears pricked up immediately as I have been looking for one of these bushes since I saw one in a friend's garden. They are gorgeous to look at and functional as well, with flowers that can be used to make jam, or even a tea of sorts.

The following week she returned and came bearing gifts. A little jar full of those blue stones and some seeds mixed in. The blue granules are copper sulphate and are there to keep the mould away until September when it should be warm enough to plant the seeds. And another much bigger jar full of rosella flowers, dried and ready for making an infusion. The taste was unusual, warm and rich with a vague hint of berries and with just a little sugar it was delicious. The colour of the water was also a beautiful pinky ruby red and inspired a photograph.

Things have been quiet over here at Betsy's as we are currently in the midst of the inaugural Winter Solstice 2011 Snotfest. There is not a lot of room for inspiration or creativity when the most frequently uttered sentence is "Mama, I've got gooby, need tissue" in the most piteous high pitched whining tone ever imagined. You know they really are sick when they conk out while watching "The Fairies" on the telly.

There was a tiny reprieve though today with a quick peek in my favourite oppy. As I was ferretting through the manchester I was told there was also a 5% discount for completing a questionnaire. As if there was any doubt about bringing home this little pile of vintage sheet beauties but at $4.75 each, no further thought was required.

My favourite is the orange floral on the top, closely followed by the mustard floral doona cover with matching ruffled pillowcase on the bottom of the pile, would you believe original tags still intact. Although the statement on the tag that it was part of a collection that also included matching curtains and wallpaper was slightly concerning.

Totally addicted to fetes

2011-06-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

We hit another of our local school fetes today. We couldn't not go, we have mates at this one. Who need our support, and companionship on the unlimited rides. We are starting to worry though that the smalls may start to consider it normal weekend etiquette to obtain an all day ride pass to while away those gorgeous blue skied wintery days. This was the lolly necklace tree on the sweet stall. These necklaces are THE item to have and sold out in a jiffy. A few fantales and a lollipop on a ribbon and Bob's your uncle thankyou very much and even the boys are lining up for these.

How cool is that tree adorned in all it's sugary glory?

And check out the sweet stall in general. Looks as spectacular as a box of chocolates I think. Put together by a mate of mine who runs the best Wedding and Reception Stylist company in the Southern hemisphere. ( Ok well definitely Queensland- she just won the two top Bridal Industry awards for Wedding Hire and Decorating) I will now shamelessly plug her talents - if you are planning a beach or garden wedding pop over to Beautiful Beach Weddings and take a peek.

Of course we had to sample the wares. How cute are these fairy mushroom sprinkle marshmallows on a stick?

And how good is a $1 helicopter toy when it provides hours of fun and conversation.

Not to forget those rides in the last hour or so when there are no queues and you can just go back on over and over and over and over......

And the other really good part for me was getting to sneak in at 7 am on my own to ferret through the trash and treasure. A mountain of kids books for $1 each, Real Living magazines for 50cents each (I only started buying this year but managed to find most of 2010) and a pile of puzzles for $2 a pop. We are all wonderfully weary and are vowing no more fetes...... well, until August at least.

Reverse Garbage

2011-06-18T04:08:00.000-07:00

Today we trotted off to Reverse Garbage to check out the free kids workshops as part of a family fun open day celebrating their recent move to new larger premises. Roboboy was most pleased with his huge fill a bag for $7 haul plus the green plastic thingy for 20 cents that is destined to become the foundations for a medieval castle.

Liongirl is doing a spectacular version of her sulky lip pout. Unsure if this is because she has just realized she has spent the morning wearing a bonnet designed for a 6 month old baby or if she knows she can't compete with Roboboys cracker of a pose that surely destines him for a Target catalogue feature.

They spent a good hour or so whiling away time at a creative workshop for kids. All the bits and bobs you could dream of - fur, fabric plastic thingies, string, adhesive dots and unlimited glue, scissors and hole punches.

Within an hour they had made mobiles, a plane, a spotty dinosaur, a furry mouse and a necklace. Not to mention Liongirl herself using an entire bottle of glue. Then it was time to check out the warehouse and fill a bag with craft goodies to take home.

Reverse garbage takes off cuts and remnants from all kinds of factories and businesses then on sells them to the community to avoid them going to landfill. The also have a small shop where you can buy items crafted from these cast off items. The warehouse is a den of crafting treasures. Including things you never knew you needed.

Spiky wheels, sheepskin remnants, topographical maps - they have them.

Looking for that Luna Park mask?

Plaster feet - with toes for $2, without for $1. Which frankly begs the question- where are the toes?

Oodles of fabric remnants, ropes, cords and carpet bits.

And every boy needs his very own man at work road sign. Actually this would have been a good back up for Roboboy's second birthday as the combine harvester proved difficult to source.

The kids loved filling the bag with goodies of their choice, and as soon as Roboboy can sway the democratic prep vote towards a space theme I'll be back for some of that silver padded stuff in the bucket on the right.

Back home a creative vibe was happening and we launched into creating our turret for the castle theme at school. Legoman and the kids snaffled some of my grey deck paint and started work.

Can you see where we are heading? Tomorrow we have to add some arched windows, cobblestone walls, a drawbridge and a moat, then it's off to school.

The perils of vintage wallpaper

2011-06-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

This blog post could equally be titled "Corkboard and wallpaper- lessons in frustration" or "How to have big ideas and execute them poorly".

I have about a dozen projects on the go over here at Betsy's and today I really just wanted to follow through and complete something. I attacked this with a crazed zealot like intensity that comes from having a very short window of time without interruptions. It was also one of those slightly spur of the moment creative ventures that came about while I was painting some more white walls. I had just done another coat and while waiting the 2 requisite hours to recoat, decided that I could probably use the same paint elsewhere.

I have had this corkboard since I was about 14. The fact that it has followed me from my childhood bedroom to 3 share houses to this house seems downright strange. Many other items have been culled and forgotten but this humble corkboard has hung in there. Back in the 80's it was brown with pine trim.

Back in about 1997 it received a white undercoat and it's pretty much looked like this since then. Recently I stumbled across some wonderful vintage wallpaper and thought that Corky might appreciate a makeover. Having never used wallpaper before I have to admit I was a little sucked in by the funkiness of it all and given that vj walls are not suitable for wallpaper, this was the only place I could think of to try it out.

Well aware of my lack of skills with respect to wallpaper wrangling, I decided to pretend the wallpaper was just plain paper and use spray adhesive to attach it to the cork. Seems like a reasonable and well considered concept doesn't it.?
Except that despite generously spraying both the paper and the board, there was pretty much nothing happening in the adhesive department. Hmm. So I thought maybe I should treat it like wallpaper and follow the wallpapering instructions. So, I cut it to size, dunked it in a bucket of warm water and tried again. Still, pretty much nothing happening. So I sprayed a little bit more adhesive and then it seemed to stick a little. And then unstick itself. Despite furious smoothing out of lumps, there are some rumples and the adhesion quotient is on the low end.

I'm still not sure if it was due to the fact that the wallpaper is vintage 80's and has lost it's adhesive tendencies or if the painted cork is the issue. Legoman's take is that the porous cork is probably absorbing all the glue. Hate to think he might actually be on the money. Eventually with much cursing and half a can of spray adhesive it seems to have stuck although it wouldn't surprise me if it all detaches and rolls off tomorrow when it completely dries.

I do think that while it's still intact it does look quite lovely. And it's completely finished ( until I have to superglue it back together). Product disclaimer : Any obvious wrinkles in wallpaper should be (until proven otherwise) presumed to be reflections from the rumply folds in my new boots (thankyou Myer stocktake sale and a gift voucher ferretted from the depths of my purse).