Bits and bobs... vintage buckles

Some bits and boobs for you this Monday and this time it's a little collection of vintage buckles. These came from my grandmother, Great Auntie Ila (she passed a year ago today - gosh that's gone quick) and some given to me by a lady at work. They're odd things but they're nice nevertheless.

Did you have a nice weekend? It was perfect here yesterday. I'm not sure what temperature it got to but it was super sunny. It was also Mum's birthday so we had afternoon tea at my sister's house. I baked mum a tiramisu layered sponge cake with almond praline. It was delicious, light but tasty. Easy-ish too.

What are your plans for the week? I have today and tomorrow work free so I plan on getting out into the garden to get the vegie patches under order. Time to get the tomatoes in, along with beans and corn I think.

Have a great week!

xx

Birthday week goes on...

Thank you for your lovely birthday wishes the other day. It feels more exciting being able to share my birthday with my bloggy friends. Much more fun.

I decided for my birthday that I wanted balloons, plus I thought my almost-5 year old niece would enjoy them when I had family over for dinner. She loved them!

I saw this idea on Pinterest. I bought a small cylinder of helium, some clear balloons and confetti. I used a cake piping fitting to open the end of the balloons so I could fit in the confetti. It wasn't easy but I loved the results. It made my dinner really festive.

Here's me just before opening my champagne. Yum!

I made myself a cake as well, the pink ombre vanilla cake. It turned out well. So much butter and sugar though! Half a kilo of each. Oh well...

The aftermath...

Really, it wasn't that bad as Mum and the MIL did some washing up for me before they left. That was nice :)

Tonight Lyn and are are going out for dinner. I'm really excited and already know what I want to order - it's a funky place where you can order a few small plates. This might be the first or perhaps second time this year we have gone out for dinner. Terrible! Do you go out for dinner much?

Have a lovely Friday friends

xx

ps I've realised it has been such a long time since I have done a vegie patch and garden update. I shall get onto it!

Birthday bits

Happy Monday friends! Yes, I'm another year older today :)

I decided that this is the year to celebrate, big 41. Last year was a bit tricky with lots of difficult things happening, so this year is going to be a bit of fun.

Look at the beautiful cake by very good friend Liz baked and decorated for me? Gorgeous!!

I can't wait to eat it.

I have decided to have a bit of a birthday "week", so started last Friday night with a few drinkies with Lyndon, followed by yummy pizza.

Saturday arvo I had more drinkies with my buddy Liz (cake maker extraordinaire) and so much fancy pants French cheese that I felt sick :) That evening Lyn and I ate yummy Asian takeaway sitting up in bed.

Yesterday, because I felt like it, I had Baileys and popcorn for dinner, followed by maltesers. I'm so naughty!

And today I have popped this lovely bottle of bubbles in the fridge to share with my family this evening.

Lyn spoilt me with this lovely brown box this morning. Inside, well, not a handbag, but a book I have had on my wishlist for a long time.

I'm really looking forward to a family dinner tonight and even going out to an actual restaurant for dinner with Lyn this weekend. We hardly ever go out for a meal, so I'm excited!

I hope you all have a wonderful week too. For the southern Tasmanians, yay for Show Day holiday this Thursday!

xx

Friday flowers...poppies

Having a conversation?

Friday flowers today is a bunch of poppies that I bought almost 2 weeks ago. They are just hanging on, most have dropped, but I have enjoyed their company immensely!

I hope you enjoy these images :)

Happy weekend to you all. I am a bit excited as next week is my "birthday week".

Well, it's really Monday but I thought I'd stretch it out a bit. I'm not planning much, just a family dinner, some cake and Lyn has promised me dinner out (we rarely do this!).

xx

Bits and bobs... francais

Like many of you, I have a bit of a 'thing' for all thing French, so for this Bits and bobs I am going francais.

What do we spy here?
 Some gorgeous old faded tricoleur ribbon, vintage blue lace, very old postcards featuring the Arc du Triomphe, an old perfume bottle that once held a concentrate of violets, a blue sparkly ring by Jacqueline Singh that my very good friend brought back from Paris for me on my 40th last year, a tiny bottle of the classic Chanel no.5, my very special Chanel brooch that I recently acquired (I finally spent my 40th birthday money after 11 months of thinking about it) and one of my handmade Paris pendants featuring an image from another of my vintage postcards.

Anything take your fancy? What is it about France? I don't know, just "something".
Can I admit to you that when I visited Paris for the first and only time (so far) in 1997 that I signed my name on the hand railing at the top of the Eiffel Tower? Call it graffiti if you will, but I think of it as my calling card and a promise that I will return :)

xx

ps sorry I have been so slack with the blog, I have been very under the weather. Feeling on the mend now though.

Also, Good Mail Club friends, I will be emailing you today!

Good Mail Club invitation

Following the positive response to this post where I showed you the beautiful mail I received from fellow blogger Ally and the envelope I decorated to send back to her, I am inviting you to join in on the fun.

I'm establishing the Good Mail Club and invite you to join in.

SO, what does it mean?

Basically, you email me with your postal address to register your interest, I will collate a list and email it out to other interested ladies and then it's time to get those creative juices flowing.

A few notes:
- open to international penpals.
- I will give us 3 weeks to get our mail created and sent, so hopefully we will receive letters at around the same time.
- have fun, no stress, decorate an envelope any which way - draw, paint, stamp, stick!
- write a friendly note to your recipient - it doesn't matter if you don't know them.
- try to enclose something extra, a nice photo, a favourite recipe, a thoughtful quote, some pretty paper.
- when we receive them we can start sharing them on our blogs or instagram and the like.
- it's really important to keep everyone's identities private, so no passing on addresses or posting images showing surnames and addresses please :)
- if there's only a few of us I will send out all of our names to you, otherwise I will pick 6-8 out of a hat for each of us.
- you can join in once, twice, or however many times take your fancy.

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know!

So, are you in?

ps. do you have a better name than Good Mail Club??

Edit: we have closed this first group, but will do it again in a month or two x

My art practice - what have I been up to?

It seems like so long since I have posted about my art/craft practice. Maybe that's because it has been a while since I have created something. I have been feeling a little bit enthusiastic lately so thought I'd share a few bits with you.

After three attempts I finally finished my Paris zippered pouch! I just couldn't get the lining and zipper in neatly enough for my somewhat exacting standards. I was trying to create a little lip so the zipper wasn't very visible, but it was just impossible given I was also trying to sew in lining at the same time. So frustrating. So I did a bit of Googling, bought a metal zip and had another go. Success! I'm happy with it and think I might make a few more.

I have also been busily creating a bundle of jewellery - necklaces, pendants, bracelets and the brooches above (also showing the reverse side of the pouch ). I am loving the vintage brooch fitting on the right so much that at the moment I know I am unable to part with it. I'd like to get some fabricated from this design, but that's a whole other story.

The final thing that I have been working on for SUCH A LONG TIME is getting my fabric designs printed so I will be able to make them into lovely scarves. These will feature vintage images similar to above. It has not been an inexpensive exercise, but one I really wanted to do. Hopefully my samples will arrive soon, some lengths of chiffon and cotton and a sample wool/silk stole. Exciting.

I'm contemplating a redo of my Etsy store to stock these bits and pieces and perhaps doing a market, but I'm yet to decide.

I'd love to know your thoughts and get a little feedback on my designs (good or bad) :)

If you look closely you can see that ABC reporter Airlie Ward is wearing one of my necklaces! She has had it for a while now so it's nice to see that she still enjoys wearing it. This image was taken from the tv on 21 September. She has good taste, no?

xx

ps I'm joining in on Jane's Post of the Month Club 

 

Bits and bobs... red

It's Bits and bobs time again and this time I have gone with the theme "red".

As much as I love blue, I also adore red, especially a good, clear cherry red. So, here are some of my red bits from around the house. My new red and still sharp scissors. I will not cut paper with them! A sewing machine needle case, lacking most of its needles, thread, a birdy Christmas decoration made by a friend, Lindt chocolate ball, a freesia from the garden, nailpolish ( I especially like red for my toes), pretty red apple sticky notes, washi tape and my gorgeous pre-loved Louis Vuitton vernis agenda (the colour is called 'pomme'). The glossy, almost sparkly surface is very pleasing to my eye.

Do you like red?

xx