christmas eve

Posted on December 24, 2012 by zefiart

…and all through the house, not a creature was stirrring…

.. wait. I hear the clinking of a spoon as Wayne finishes his dessert.

The dogs are flaked out all over the floor.

The table is set and all pretty for Christmas. (Love my op shop dishes)

I finished the gateleg table (sort of) so we can have a proper christmas dinner at a table somewhere other than in the kitchen.

Not that we have enough room in our living room for a table. I’ve had to move the couch back to Layout 101 to put the table in there. You’d think having one very big room would mean you have tons of space for everything… but we don’t. The wood heater takes up some space. Wayne’s office in the living room takes up more space… I dry clothes by the heater in winter.. we have two 3 seater couches and 2 recliner armchairs and 2 coffee tables. Its a miracle we can walk in there.

Anyway, back to the table… It was left at my house after the first lot of tenants left. It was broken and the glue holding the slats together has ‘let go’. I’ve fixed it for now but left the top as it was. I finished painting the legs, distressing it just enough to look natural. I also finished the two chairs so we have a non-matching set of 4 now.

(Yes, there are only 2 chairs at the table right now… I’m aware of that.)

The table settings is simple. Burlap placemats, lavender sprigs from our garden, tags and twine holding cutlery.

The house is clean (ok… well MOST of it is – as my mother would say ‘all the mother in law would see’ is clean).

I’ve forbidden Wayne from making a mess, from using the kitchen, from being inside…

Ok. Not that, but I made dinner so I wouldn’t have to clean up another mess. The one I cleaned earlier was more than enough, thankyouverymuch.

The pressies are on display in my minimal token nod to christmas – on the shelves in the living room.

This year I’ve gone for stencils on plain brown wrapping paper. For Wayne I’ve just numbered the presents so he opens them in the right order. The dangly thing is apparently mine – a whole lot of little parcels joined together on a string. Can’t wait to open them!

In case you’re wondering about the grey square on the wall… Well… when we moved in I chose that dark grey colour for a feature wall at the far end of the living room. I love it. Everyone who sees it loves it. The rest of the room is painted in that ‘meant to be light grey but looks more like light blue in that room’ colour. I don’t like that so much.

I wanted a wall with shelves to put framed photos on display. I got some pine, cut it to size, painted it, got some decorative brackets, put them up… then thought, hm. That looks a bit plain. So I painted in a dark grey square behind the shelves.

Its different…

So. Resting now.

Tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!

silver cup birdcages

Posted on December 17, 2012 by zefiart

You may remember these little bird cages I made from old silver egg cups and an old cup or trophy. I took them to the market where they got lots of attention but everyone kept asking where the birds were.

Wayne explained to people that we’d run into a hitch with our breeding program, in our efforts to breed birds small enough for the cages. I don’t think anyone believed him.

Here are the cups as they were before:

And here they are now, with teeny tiny little birds in them. The birds are less than an inch long (and that includes the tail) so they fit perfectly in the cages, on the little swings.

Really cute.

I have 4 more silver cups waiting for their own cage and a few more birdies waiting for a home.

Shared at

little birdie bye bye

Posted on December 10, 2012 by zefiart

Does this look familiar?

It should if you’ve been following my blog. This is what it looked like last time you saw it.

Only problem is, without my bling it looked really boring. Since I was taking it to the market, boring was something I couldn’t have.

So I decided that the cage area needed a bird. And a nest.

The nest was easy – I rolled and looped and stitched some jute string into a nest, added some pearl beads as eggs and voila. Nest.

Then I made a bird. A little floral pink bird. From a pattern I thought up in my head.

Turned out it wasn’t quite right. Cute, but not right.

So, like that joke – what did God say when he created Adam? “I can do better if I try again” so he created Eve –

I tried again and made this little cutie.

Much better huh?

Here is the little canary in the cage with its nest.

I’m proud to say this little canary has found a new home with Kylie who also had a stall at the Shabby Market. You may have noticed the little birdie I got from her in my post yesterday…

Cute huh?

basket full of burlap flowers

Posted on December 6, 2012 by zefiart

I remember when I first read about making burlap flowers the tutorial said “be careful not to burn your fingers, cause you WILL burn your fingers.”

I sure burned mine.

I have a new hot glue gun, a big one, bought at a garage sale. Cool. Or rather, hot. Much hotter than the small one I’ve been using till now.

Or so it seemed when I got a nice big dollop of hot glue on the nail of my right ring finger.

YOUCH.

That made me stand up and pay attention!

So, with blood, sweat, tears and burns, I present a basket full of burlap flowers for the market.

See you there!

the small coat rack

Posted on December 6, 2012 by zefiart

Another tip shop find. This poor little coat rack was in a bad state when I found it. Broken bits, chipped paint, screw holes and a couple of nails which had been used to fix it to a wall.

Some gluing, some sanding, some filling of holes… nail removal of course, and a lick of paint and its as good as new…

Better than new actually, with its chipped paint and the character of a much loved old piece.

fish bowl with a difference

Posted on December 6, 2012 by zefiart

You know those wooden bowls you find in almost every op shop?

Well this one was fish-shaped. Different. Unusual.

It appealed to me cause things that are different and unusual always catch my eye.

This is what it looked like when I found it – boring, uninspiring.

This is what it looks like now – fun, whimsical and offbeat.

I’m not sure if you’d use it as a bowl or hang it on the wall. Either way, I think its cute and much much more interesting than it was before!

Shared at:

odds & ends finials – counting down

Posted on December 6, 2012 by zefiart

The countdown to my first ever market stall is well underway.

I’m nervous.

I’m excited.

I’m hoping people will love my stuff.

I’m hoping people will buy my stuff.

I’m hoping my car is a lot lighter on the way home than it is on the way there.

I’m worried in case this doesn’t happen and I’m on the wrong track…

Wayne is worried I’ll buy more than I sell…

Meanwhile I’m wrestling with my To Do (In Preparation) List. Instead of getting smaller it seems to be growing. Its now going to be HOT on Saturday* so an electric fan has been added to the things I’m taking with me. And a small eski with ice blocks to keep some water cold.

*Only in Tasmania can you have snow on the mountain on Wednesday and a heat wave on Saturday.

I don’t do well in the heat. But enough about that.

I’m sharing a few more items which will be coming with me to the market. Here are some cute finials made from odds and ends I collected here and there.

I did a bit of mixing and matching (odds & ends, here & there, mixing & matching…hehehe) and when I was happy with the results I glued them together.

Once dry I gave them a couple of coats of paint, beat them around with some sand paper then glazed them with some burnt umber to age them.

They’ve come up really nice I think.

Sometimes I wish I had a bigger house and more room to display things. But then I’d never be able to part with anything…

Shared at:

the flower tray

Posted on December 4, 2012 by zefiart

I found this worn and battered tray in my wanderings a while ago and brought it home to the tray hospital for some TLC.

This is what it looked like before:

And this is what it looks like now:

The colours are very soft so the photos were difficult to take but you get the idea.

This is another item coming with me to the market on the weekend. I’m getting there in terms of preparedness… the flyers are printed and cut and I found a cute little box to keep them in. The tags are all printed and aged. I have my wrapping paper and more twine for tying.

All I have left to do is finish off a few projects (or decide to forget them and leave them for the next market!) then tag, price and pack everything going.

And pack a ‘market toolkit’…

I have all the best intentions in the world. I come home from work all geared up to get stuck into it. I have plans buzzing in my head: finish xxx, make more of xxx, check xxx…

But I get home, feed dogs, cook dinner, clean the kitchen, check mail, look at the overflowing laundry hamper, at the living room and its piles washing to put away and the craft mess, the carpet that desperately needs vacuuming… and I lose all my energy.

Instead of crafting and organising I sit down and watch the episode of Bones or Grey’s Anatomy or CSI I taped, then go to bed.

I guess I’ll be doing an all nighter on Friday night.

I’m having some serious headaches lately. I think its a tooth which I got filled not long ago. I saw the doctor and ruled out ear infection. Now its down to either TMJ (long name for sore jaw joint from clenching – which I do in my sleep) or a dying tooth… maybe even an abscessed tooth. Yet when I saw the dentist (after the filling but before the headaches cranked it up to ‘killer’ status) he swore there was nothing wrong with that tooth or any in the vicinity, nothing showing on the xrays.

Great.

I’m popping pain killers like they’re going out of fashion but I think I’ll have to bite the bullet and call the dentist today and get in to see someone the earliest they can get me in.

Ugh.

Off to take another pill.

4 chalkboards

Posted on December 3, 2012 by zefiart

Chalkboards are a good thing. Not only are they all the rage, but they’re fun, practical and pretty to look at.

In preparation for the market I made these four beauties using bits and pieces I had in my workshop. They’re all different styles and sizes of frame, and all have old drawer pulls added to them for chalk holders.

The first one is a distressed antique white and has a black metal drawer pull with just enough chippy paint to make it extra special.

The second is antique white, glazed with burnt umber and has a rusty bronze coloured drawer pull. This one will have string added to tie onto the chalk for those who lose things.

Third is another antique white and glazed frame with a brass pull, again with a hole for string to be attached.

Last is a pale pink frame with a gorgeously patina-ed drawer pull. Before market day I’ll be adding string to chalk for each chalkboard and perhaps a bit of bling… see how I feel about that when I do it!

I already have 2 chalkboards in our home so I don’t really need any more. (Can you have too many chalkboards?) I have a huge one on the porch to welcome people when they arrive, this one has pegs up top to hold chalk. (My chalkboard art leaves a lot to be desired!)

The other is next to the fridge for the shopping list, also with a peg chalk holder.

an old belt and a pink tray

Posted on December 2, 2012 by zefiart

I don’t know what it is about trays. I don’t really use them, not in the way my grandmother did to serve greek coffee and sweets to visitors. I just love them as decoration, on a table to hold objects or displays of interesting objects.

So when I find an abused and abandoned tray in an op shop I can’t help but rescue it.

Before: