Friday, May 31, 2013

30 days of Vintage/op shopped/handmade


So I decided to do 30 days of only wearing vintage/op shopped/handmade. 

Here are my first 12 days. It's been fun getting dressed each day with an extra challenge.

Day 1 was vintage pants, my love shack refashion and my decoupage shoes.


Day 2 was vintage flower power top and denim skirt refashioned from a long maternity skirt. With my handmade boots by the Thai hill tribe ladies.


Next was a vintage dress and jacket, with op shopped skull leggings.


Then homemade pants from op shopped fabric with vintage crochet top and op shopped chocolate top.



Day 5 was a vintage dress I refashioned with darts and taking in at the sides to give it more shape.


Day 6 - Vintage groovy fish body shirt and op shopped pants.


Day 7 - Vintage dress and op shopped coat.



Day 8 - Vintage green body shirt and vintage pants.


Day 9 - Skirt made from a vintage sheet and top free from a stuff sharers group.



Day 10 - Vintage mellow yellow top and op shopped jeans.



Day 11 - Vintage dress.



Day 12 - Vintage tunic refashioned from a mini dress and skirt refashioned from an old t shirt. 


Oh you may notice we've gone away for a couple of days of amazing family time. Yay!!!!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Another week goes by...

 
Hi everyone! Hope you are all doing well. Sorry for such sporadic posting but my computer is still not working. I have still been updating my Facebook page because it's easier to do that from my phone.


We celebrated Mr Crafty's birthday.  A Joyous occasion as always. :-)





I found an amazing vintage dress at the op shop. Must have been in someone's wardrobe for a long time. Anyone want to guess the vintage?


I found this absolutely perfect nest on the ground upside down, which inspired me to make a new bird feeder and resting place.




I made a vintage plate cake stand.


I had a wonderful day with my whole family (mum, dad, brothers) visiting my brother who has just moved into his his new farm in Trentham.

We found a market there.


My brother's house, which he has stuffed full of vintage furniture, and the cow bell collection he brought back from Switzerland where he lived for about 8 years.




Clock we got my brother at the market.


I visited the view hill bargain shop, which is always home to a treasure or two, and has lovely staff and often some great vintage items. Well worth a visit if you are in Bendigo. I got some gorgeous vintage orange willow tins there last year, and a mint condition chenille rug.

Yesterday we got these shoes for Mr D and a hair wrap for Ms J.


 I bought some vintage cotton reels, which I'm hoping to use as knobs for the drawers on the desk I'm doing for Juliet's bedroom.


So that's most of what I've been up to this week, as far as I can remember. Loving each day as much as the last. 

Monday, May 20, 2013

This past week.


My computer is completely dead! Or it could be in a coma. Time will tell, but for now, it was no life. This past week I've made some stuff though, and found some treasures. I'm blogging from the iPad so I will do the best I can.

I did my first crochet stitch, a chain stitch. Going to attempt another one tomorrow. I find it really hard trying to follow instructions being a leftie, so it was a bit frustrating.


Something really weird happened to me. I woke up last Wednesday morning dreaming of a red chenille blanket from the 70s. It left a big impression on me and I had no idea why. I had a busy day that day but was walking past an op shop so I went inside and there it was. Exactly the bed spread of my dream, and only $1. I had to get it and I'm still reeling a little from how strange the experience was. Here it is with a couple of other things I picked up.


I found a couple more suitcases to complete my stack. Dylan liked it. How cute is he in his electric blue velvet pants? I made these when Aidan was the same age.


I used a free postcard to make cute earrings and a pendant. I love them!


I made these for Little A using the 2 quilts pictured above.



And I found this super cute coffee mug at the op shop on Saturday morning. It makes me smile.


Juliet and I made some more earrings together. Hers are the cute birds, mine are the sewing machines.

And lastly, a skirt with some vintage lace, and a t shirt with 2 transfers for the little girl of a friend. All in a weeks work. :-) What have you all been up to? 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Dreams


Back in January the kids and I wrote down our dreams for 2013. Mr Crafty was supposed to write his down too so we could put them all together and maybe bury them somewhere for a year. Mr Crafty never got around to it, so yesterday I decided to do something with the dreams, with the help of Little A.

At the time when we wrote them, Juliet was going through an angry period, which I think now was caused by her fear after Dylan and I were in hospital over Christmas (hence the references to not being angry).

Some of these dreams have already come true. Juliet is definitely back to her world loving, positive and wonderful self, and Liam is almost a new child after being released from the oppressive teacher he had for over a year. :-)








We wrapped them up in a scrap of woolly jumper (inside 2 snaplock bags) and hung them on this tree half way down our driveway. They are swaying in the breeze, waiting to catch something magical.


Op shopping and family adventures.


On the weekend I travelled to Melbourne again, this time with 3 kids, to go to the auction of my Nan's house. We stayed the night at Mum and Dad's place, and made our way there on Friday at a leisurely pace.

We did some op shopping of course.

I got these 4 treasures at the Cheltenham Animal Protection Op Shop for 50 cents each, so a total of $2. It's one of those old school op shops where everything is stuffed in and it's super cheap. The staff are lovely retired people who are always friendly, accommodating and helpful.


Miss Juliet spent $4, and was very happy with her new sneaker boots, beanie baby and bead necklace.


Then it was off to the auction, which went really well. Here are the kids on Nan's front veranda for probably the last time. This is where she would sit if she knew you were coming.



A kitchen full of love and home cooked meals.



I was also looking in an album yesterday, and noticed that the first ever photograph or me, here with my mum, was taken in the backyard of Nanny's house.


Our last stop was the op shop around the corner, where Nanny used to take us a lot when we were little.

It's changed a lot now and is one of the more expensive Salvos, but it very retro and funky. The kids loved it, especially this 'lounge room', and the rows of beds.


It's the end of an era now with Nan gone, and the house sold, and it was a difficult drive back to Melbourne as I let a few tears flow. RIP to one of a kind.

Monday, May 13, 2013