About zefiart

Blogger, DIY-er, poodle lover, graphic designer, dog groomer, recycler, artist, wonder woman in my spare time.

31 days topic

Posted on September 28, 2012 by zefiart

After much deliberation, I have decided what my 31 Day topic will be. I figured the only way to post for 31 days straight is if its about something I already love doing, right? Makes sense.

So my topic for 31 Days will be Wishful Thinking.

aka Everything I Planned to Do But Didn’t.

aka Crossing Things Off the To Do List.

Or Real Life if you prefer…

It’ll be about life at Wind Dancer Farm – with all its ups and downs, dog hair, mess and unwashed dishes (I sure hope my mother doesn’t read my blog!), dogs, horses, chickens, ducks and more rainwater than we have use for. But mainly about my our ongoing ~~battles~~ projects, new projects, planned projects, unfinished projects and dream projects.

For the 31 Days of October I hereby promise to post daily about the simple (complicated, frustrating, funny) things in our daily lives which make Wind Dancer Farm a home.

So what’s different, you ask? Well, the fact that I’ll be posting daily about things I planned to do but didn’t quite manage as well as things I did do.

I wish I could say I’ll post about interesting projects every day, but real life ain’t like that. You can’t be in control of everything all the time, much as I would love to. For example: a chipped filling last night which necessitated an emergency dentist appointment today.

Life is unpredictable and the best laid plans are only there as a rough guideline to what you’d like to do today if all goes well, the stars align and you held your tongue just right in the corner of your mouth when you wrote your To Do Today list.

to 31 or not to 31

Posted on September 26, 2012 by zefiart

The dilema continues to rage inside my head.

Do I do this thing or do I not? Can I do anything for 31 days straight?

Remember, we’re talking about a person who has the attention span of a gnat. Most people who are successful in their chosen field are successful cause they choose something and stick with it.

I’ve chosen lots of things in my life, done really well in them for a while, then got bored and moved on.

Rock’n’Roll dancing. Roller blading. Breeding standard poodles. Showing poodles. Graphic design. Art. Gardening.

No. Never gardening. I only put that in to see if you were still paying attention.

What I’m saying is that I get all enthusiastic about something, do it for a while, do it well, then move on. I can, and sometimes still do, the things I’m good at (artist, designer, grooming show poodles), but I dedicate my time to my next new thing.

Thats why I don’t have a ‘product’ to make/sell. I make one or two ‘somethings’, get bored and find something else to keep my mind and fingers busy.

And trust me, I have a LOT of different ‘somethings’ on the go all the time.

I guess thats why I like painting – every painting is new and different, even if the subject is the same. The interpretation or ‘expression’ is different every time.

Back to the matter at hand – I’ve been torn over the 31 days project for the last week or so.

I thought I had the best idea: to make my 31 days days of making do and using what I have and not spending money. In theory its a great idea. Teach me a thing or two about money.

Then I realised I would end up having to spend money when I found I needed 45mm screws instead of 25mm or 65mm ones. Or when the curtain I decided to make needed a curtain rod I didn’t have.

So I thought, maybe I should make do as much as possible and limit myself to buying the ‘finishing’ touches if necessary…

And I thought I could make it about making stuff from nothing… or from as little as possible. From junk, in other words..

Then I realised that’s what I already do! I pick things up from tip shops (or our back paddock) and make them into something people might want to put in their homes.

So what would be the point in doing 31 days of the same ol’ thing?

Grrrrrrr.

I’d talked myself into a full circle and talked myself out of the idea.

I’m frustrated.

Maybe I should just do what another blogger I follow is doing: simply blogging daily for 31 days. Not only is that copying, but…

I’m not interesting 31 days in a row!

Wahhhh! This is where I throw myself on the ground and have a tantrum.

Maybe I should write 31 Memories From My Childhood.

Or 31 days of crazy rennovation/furniture re-making ideas… Name that one 31 Days of Big Plans. Or just 31 Days of Eye Rolling From My Other Half.

What about 31 Days of Finishing What I Start? (All the languishing products in the shed…)

31 Days of ~~not complaining about anything~~ Positive Thinking?

31 Small Treasures?

Hey. I kinda like that one. It can mean anything – its a broad topic… But I might get too mushy. Like I do when I talk about my poodles…

Or 31 Days Without Ch-Ch-Chocolate?

Ugh. I can’t even say that one!

31 Days of Reducing. A worthwhile topic.

My weight would be good, but I was thinking along the lines of possessions. Things we don’t need. Clutter. Stuff under beds. Things you never use but keep cause one day you might feel the need to take it out, look at it, then put it away again. I could make a point of donating, giving away, selling or tossing one item a day for a month.

31 Things I Can Live Without. That’d work.

31 Things I Can’t Live Without. (Do I have that many things I can’t live without?)

Hm.

I have 3 more days to think about this.

3 days.

ugh.

creative in a different way

Posted on September 24, 2012 by zefiart

Suzi, looking cute

Today has been a very busy day. A non-DIY busy day.

Just as creative though.

I spent most of the day grooming. Only three dogs. One blink-and-you’ll-miss-it monkey faced little shitzu cross girl (above) called Suzi, and two not-quite-so-small poodles: Chewie (aka Chewbacca The Wookie) and Zefi (aka Munchkin or Munch).

Chewie with her new bell bottom ‘do’

Grooming is creative work. Especially grooming poodles. I love making dogs look gorgeous. Unfortunately, with most pets, you have to balance practicality with as much ‘pretty’ as you can.

Most pet owners start off with ‘Don’t take a lot off, I like him fluffy’ and end up with ‘Shave it all off! I’m sick of the grass seeds/the mud/the matts/that he bites me if I try to brush him.’

With poodles its different. They have that sculptural hair – you brush it out, fluff it up and it stands there for you to scissor like a topiary.

Its respectful hair. It stands up, waiting to be scissored. It doesn’t just flop, making your life difficult.

Seriously.

Its the best hair.

And scissoring its a pleasure.

Then again, I love scissoring. Yeah, I use the clippers. But when it comes to finishing a trim, nothing beats scissors.

Scissoring is the fine tuning of a trim.

Zefi Munchkin waiting for her mommy.

As satisfying as DIY really.

Like when you find that perfect piece to fix up a piece of furniture, or you get the paint job just right.

Worth the effort when you see them go home looking great.

cupid cage?

Posted on September 24, 2012 by zefiart

What on earth would you do with a small drawer thingy with a cage that you can’t even open?

I mean, really.

I saw this thing in a 2nd hand shop.

It was ugly.

Painted gold and aged in a really tasteless mass produced authentic made in china antique kind of way.

Yet I bought it anyway. Says a lot about me, doesn’t it?

To be fair, it was part of a ‘how much would you take for the lot’ kind of deal.

There was something about it. Something I couldn’t put my finger on… maybe the dust, or the faux finish…

Anyway, got it home, brushed it off, gave it a wash, then proved the well known saying in DIY-blogland: everything looks better painted white.

So, it does look better. Doesn’t it?

Pretty.

Still quite as useless though.

Unless you only have 2 rings you need to store.

Which I don’t.

…. I have no idea what I’ll use it for… then again, give it a few months of sitting on a shelf and I’ll find something.

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quick & easy photo display

Posted on September 23, 2012 by zefiart

Here’s a quick and easy little project. It only took 4 months to finish.

3 months, 30 days, 23 hours and 40 minutes were spent in the planning stage. The most important stage, as you know.

20 minutes were spent putting it together.

First step, spot these cute little flower frogs in an op shop.

(I was told that’s what they’re called. I had no idea what they were, much less what they were called, when I saw them. I just liked the shape. And the rust didn’t hurt either.)

Next step, pay your $2 and take them home where you put them on a shelf and let them gather dust while you consider options.

Then, when you’ve got a spare 20 minutes, search your computer for photos you like. Resize them, adjust the saturation in Photoshop and add frames to ‘age’ them. Put new ink cartridges in the printer, print them out, laminate them and trim them down.

Once that’s done, stick the photos in the frogs and photograph.

See? Easy.

Have I ever lied to you?

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nostalgia

Posted on September 22, 2012 by zefiart

I got an email today with a link to the site with these colour slides from the early 1940s. They’re just gorgeous. Of course I love some of the old buildings (especially the old shop fronts with their signs) but the people are what touch me the most.

Like the faces of these cute little boys. The innocence of them. The photo looks like it was taken a week ago, but these boys probably grew up, got married and are now are grandparents. Or they are no longer alive. But they look so alive in this photo, their whole life ahead of them…

And the clothes! This is what making do and re-using what you had on hand was all about. Hand-me-downs and making dresses out of bolts of cheap fabric… We don’t know what it was really like in the depression. At least my generation and younger doesn’t.

I love this old shed, which is actually some juke joint apparently. What struck me is that this is pretty much how the side of our garage looks – all patchy pieces of corregated iron.

What I need now is some old signs… Then I think I’ll love the patchy old shed!

an old tie hanger sparkles

Posted on September 20, 2012 by zefiart

I’ve had this old tie hanger for years. Since I was at art school. I think its the little black knobs that appealed to me. Plus I’ve always had a love affair with all things 50s and early 60s. That love affair predates my love affair with french provincial, shabby chic and country/rustic style.

Even though I’ve slowly gotten rid of most of my 50s-60s items and furniture over the last few years, I have retained a few favourites.

This little tie hanger somehow managed to survive my many bursts of clearing out and re-homing.

Over the years I’ve used it to hang scarves (ok if you only have thin scarves), belts (not so successful) and necklaces. Its hung on the wall as a work of art in itself.

It was time for a makeover.

Its now making music with keys and little bells every time the wind blows.

And lately the wind’s been blowing a LOT.

upcycled pringles container

Posted on September 19, 2012 by zefiart

The other night my hands got bored as I watched TV so I got this old pringles tin and made it unrecognisable.

First I cut it into 3 uneven slices. Put bottoms on the ones that ended up bottomless. I did a couple of layers of papier mache to strengthen them.

I wanted it to say something, so I found synonyms for the word ‘write’ and printed them out in different sizes.

By way of aging the paper, I used a candle and slightly browned it.

Note: Browning paper is a tricky business… there’s a fine line between browning and flaming.

After dancing about the kitchen with a piece of paper rapidly turning to ash in my hands, I kinda liked the burned edges.

Note (again): After a certain point, blowing on a flame doesn’t put it out. It encourages it.

good things come to those who fossick

Posted on September 18, 2012 by zefiart

I really scored today!

On the way home from work I had to stop for something at a $2 shop (ok… I lie… I didn’t have to!) and well, once I was in there I just had to look around, right? I mean, I was there!

I went through all my favourite aisles (art & craft, homewares, stationery) and just as I was leaving I spotted this little fellow.

I just had to have him! Of course he’s not porcelain, what do you expect from a $2 store? (Things which cost more than $2, that’s what). He cost me $8 but I think he’s worth every cent. I’m working on a few little projects and I think he’ll find himself in amongst them soon enough.

My other, even more exciting news, is this!

You know I can’t resist an op shop, right? And if there’s no one there to stop me, I just have to go in.

Well, this time I’m so glad I did!

This is an op shop I generally visit once every 2 weeks or so as they tend to have good prices. When I walked in today I spotted a basket full of what looked like old cotton pillowcases.

On closer inspection it turned out they were all cotton sacks. Flour, bread, coin sacks even. As I started pulling them out and looking at them I knew I had to have some.

The basket had 30c each on the side so I started unfolding, sorting, looking.

Then I thought stuff this. I want the entire basket!

So I took it up to the ladies behind the counter and asked how much for the lot?

$5 they said.

DONE, I said.

I’m so excited! Not all of them are old, but a few at least are before the metric system! (I haven’t yet sorted and counted them, just flipped through them.)

Oh boy!

I can barely contain myself.

They wanted to know what I was going to use them for.

I have no idea. When I saw them I just knew I had to have them.

Kitchen curtains comes to mind.

Office curtains even, if there’s enough of them.

Some of the bigger ones would make nice cushion covers. Some would probably look fantastic framed…

I just love the idea of a curtain though, sacks sewn together, without cutting them up and ruining them… so the curtain is double thickness. Or do I cut them up and sew them together so the curtain is more flimsy?

Oh, the dilema!

I may have to sleep on it. Give them a wash and good iron. Sort them out by size. Just look at them and admire then and thank my lucky stars I decided to stop in at the op shop today!

the woodshed finished!

Posted on September 17, 2012 by zefiart

Its finished! Mission accomplished. This September break, we made over the woodshed!

The last finishing touches went on on Monday, the last day of our break.

I made a couple of signs for the shed (what is it with me and signs lately? I have this unhealthy obsession…)

I made a small ‘Woodshed’ sign which I put into the center of the barbed wire wreath.

I also made a special sign –

When we moved here, we named the farm Wind Dancer after Wayne’s special horse. I always wanted to make a sign for the gate and never got around to it. Then while we were making over the woodshed I found this old round piece of plywood. I’d seen it many times before – its been there since we bought the farm after all. Its old, weathered and broken in spots.

It was perfect.

I wanted it to look like a very old sign. Like you’d see in an old garage or something.

I had to print out the words on lots of bits of paper and I cut them out like a stencil. Using charcoal, I drew the letters and horse in, and then painted it.

Unfortunately, when I coated the sign with polyurethane to protect it from the weather (cause now its a sign I don’t want it rotting or washing away in the rain) it darkened. Varnish always darkens the colour of timber.

This is how it looks when you come up our drive now. The fence ruins the look a bit, but we can’t do much about that. (You can see where Wally has been gnawing on the fence posts!)

Wayne has finished the last wall – on the right. Its a half wall. He won that arguement. Actually, it made more sense than leaving it open on that side. Now we can toss wood in and it won’t just bounce back out.