the dog room sign

Posted on February 16, 2013 by zefiart

I have a new ‘Dog Room’ sign!

When I’m grooming dogs I find that people who’ve never been to our place before will wander around the yard aimlessly, not knowing where to go. I used to have the blackboard on the front porch with instructions: ‘Dog grooming in the shed behind you’, but since I started painting the house the chalkboard has been moved.

I thought it was time I did what I’d always planned and put some signs up to direct people to the right place.

The first thing I did was consider what I had on hand which would I could use to make a sign. I had plenty of timber, but I also had this cute little wire thing I’d found at a tip shop which I thought would make a great wall hanging sign holder.

I have no idea what this thing was used for originally, unless it was to hang bananas on… I drilled holes in it and voila! A bracket to hang a sign off!

I also have quite a few of these old metal tool boxes. The smallest one I had was a perfect fit for the hangy bit thingy.

(You only get the best technical terms here!)

So… since I was already painting the house and had the undercoat enamel tin opened, I used some of that paint to paint the letters on the metal box.

I had made myself a stencil (for a sign I’ll share tomorrow) so I simply re-used it to do this sign. For this sign I decided to shortcut the process. Instead of drawing the letters and then painstakingly painting each letter by hand as I did with the other sign (the neat one), I just painted over the paper carefully as you would a proper stencil.

Given I was using a paper stencil I’d cut myself and not a proper one, I had a bit of ‘leakage’ under the stencil. Not to worry. I wanted this sign to look a bit rustic. After all, its going on the side of a very rustic old house-come-shed-come-grooming-room/workshop/feed storage/laundry and whatever else we need it for.

You’ll notice the chippy paint on the old timber windows, the unpainted boards, the general aura of abandonment and disrepair…

Of course I had to hang the sign on the bracket. I only had one piece of chain I could pry open to attach on both ends. All my other chains are too heavy and too impossible for this job. So I improvised. I got some rusty old wire and made myself a hook for the other side.

It now hangs off the door frame (the entrance to the hydrobath room with the grooming room to the left) between my dying herbs in colander planters (you may remember them from this post when the herbs were new and still happy to be alive) and the four leaf clover Wayne made me out of rusty barbed wire.

PS: I cannot grow herbs. I’m going to put succulents in those baskets. Or plastic plants. At least I can’t kill them…

This is the view as you drive into our yard. I think people will get it. Don’t you? Especially with the new sign at the gate directing them to look that way.

Stay tuned for that sign tomorrow!

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pretty things make it home

Posted on January 19, 2013 by zefiart

Do you remember the heart wreath I made for our front door as a welcome? Well, I loved it, but Wayne kept knocking it around as he came and went. So in the end I gave it to a friend as a housewarming present and hung up something new…

Wayne made this and its the perfect front door decoration! Just my kind of thing.

Have I mentioned how great Wayne is? Yesterday I asked him to price an air staple gun for my birdproofing the house and he came home with one for me!

Nothing melts a girl’s heart like power tools!

Its a big week next week. Merrill is moving to Victoria and I’m helping her sell stuff before her move, adopting some of her stuff for us, and organising to make room for things here! I’m buying her old leather sofa and armchairs (cause its leather!) and 2 of her bookcases.

The headache… We have too much stuff. This is not a big house. Four bedrooms, but not big bedrooms. In fact, the smallest bedroom is so small you have to go outside to change your mind.

ha. ha.

I’ve always wanted to say that.

Now I have and I apologise.

Anyway, small bedrooms, a huge living room but too much furniture. I like things to look pretty and this place ain’t pretty. Yet.

I have pretty corners. Like this one on the coffee table…

And this one on the other coffee table…

But I have plans. I’ve sold my grey couch. I’m donating the single bed and tons of clothing and bedding to the fire relief. The other couch and the recliner are both looking scared.

I plan to make more room in here so I can feel the space. And the smallest bedroom will soon be a walk in wardrobe!

Stay tuned!

a new place to store eggs

Posted on January 12, 2013 by zefiart

Today was a day of relaxation and enjoying eachother’s company at Wind Dancer. No house painting.

We started the day with a sleep in, some time just sitting quietly and watching our animals, a brunch of french toast, bacon, maple syrup and banana… Then we spent some time reading and relaxing.

Then we went grocery shopping.

Ok, that wasn’t relaxing but we started out going for a drive to a small town I thought we’d be able to have a coffee in a cute cafe and explore the antique shops. Turns out the town had ONE antique shop and no cafes… Who knew?

Anyway, since I haven’t done much new lately in terms of craft or decorating, I thought I’d share my cute little egg cabinet. I found this at a local op shop a couple of weeks ago. I just loved it! Had to have it. Even Wayne agreed it was gorgeous.

So now I’m the one in charge of storing our eggs cause I have a strict rotation system. Fresh eggs go into the cabinet, then when that fills up, are moved into the fridge. Wayne tried to grasp my rotation method but decided it was safer to just let me handle it.

I now find eggs all over the kitchen where he leaves them for me to store.

On the subject of eggs… we lost 2 chickens in the last 2 days.

I’m not impressed. I found one of our black chooks dead in the yard yesterday afternoon, and this afternoon Wayne found one of the brown ones dead.

Both had been obviously killed by the dogs. But this is what I don’t get. Yesterday morning when Wayne went out to the hen house, one of the black hens must have come into the yard… But neither he, nor I heard any sounds at all.

Later on, while grooming, poodles locked in the house and Barney and Mischa in the yard, I did hear some loud sound. I went outside and saw nothing untoward, thought I’d simply heard the rooster crowing and went back to work.

Well, now I think it was Barney and Mischa killing that chook. Because there was no sound of squabbles or anything later on when all the dogs were in the yard.

This afternoon when Wayne went out to feed the chickens and put them in the coop he said he was there, with the dogs the whole time. He said they ran around and ignored the ducks and chickens like they usually do. There was no chasing or squalking or sounds you’d associate with a chicken hunt. Yet there was a dead chicken with obvious bite marks on her and still warm.

I just don’t get it. They’ve all been so good at ignoring the chickens for so long, why this suddenly?

I am heartbroken.

On a happier note, one of our chickens is sitting on 5 eggs. We plan to catch them soon as they hatch and put them in a pen to get them through chick-hood. If we don’t the birds or stray cat we’ve seen around here will get them as they do the ducklings.

We’ve lost all the ducklings we had a couple of weeks ago.

Sigh.

Its nature I guess.

simple christmas decorations

Posted on December 9, 2012 by zefiart

I’m not all that into the big traditional Christmas thing. I’ve never had a Christmas tree since I moved out of home. It seemed rather pointless when living on my own. Then, later, something small and slightly offbeat seemed a better way to decorate the house for Christmas.

This year I had some bedsprings I wanted to do something with. I bought some wooden stars and put them together to make these:

Aren’t they gorgeous? So simple yet so interesting!

Well, I took them to the market with me thinking I would sell them. I’d keep one for myself and sell the others….

It seems I’m the only person who finds these little beauties irresistable. One person picked one up and looked at it, not even asking for a price. No one else even seemed to notice them!

How strange.

Maybe it was meant to be. I mean, I loved them so much I was torn over selling them in the first place. Maybe fate steered everyone away from them so I could keep them.

Then again maybe it was the way I growled when anyone went near them that put people off!

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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!

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!

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junk4joy banner

Posted on December 4, 2012 by zefiart

Things are coming together… I’ve finished my banner for the market stall. What market? If you don’t know then you haven’t been paying attention!

The Shabby Chic Market at St George’s Church Hall, Cromwell Street Battery Point on Saturday 8th December from 10am – 4pm of course!

I thought having a stall with beautiful things is all very well… but a banner with my logo on it would be so much more professional!

After all, it goes with the flyers!

And I’m really into burlap lately.

Wayne’s been great. He’s coming to the market to help out on the day which is wonderful. He’s made me two weathered stick hanging rails for the dangles we make together and he’s all set to man the booth and buy coffee as needed.

I sure hope people like my stuff!

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it started as a square twig wreath

Posted on November 27, 2012 by zefiart

It all started when I was making wedding decorations for a friend’s wedding. I thought a lovely square wreath, with a sign inside it (their names and wedding date) would be a nice decoration for the church and for them to keep.

But somewhere along the way something just didn’t work. This is what it looked like back then – willow twigs as the main frame, smaller eucalyptus twigs as the decoration, twisted willow twigs with beads wired around them… wire hearts and jute twine.

I wasn’t happy with it. Even when I added the rusty coat hanger and crystal heart, it lacked something. So I did what any self respecting artist does when something isn’t working – I set it aside.

Then the other day I was inspired. I’d been cutting and painting chalkboards for other projects when I thought a chalkboard would finish this little beauty and make her practical as well as pretty!

I apologise for the photos. The lighting wasn’t the best and the sharpness factor just isn’t up to scratch. However, you get the idea. Lets just say I’ve used a filter to create softness… Yeah, lets say that!

This is what it looks like now, a pretty and unusual chalkboard.

Something you could put on the front door or in the entry to welcome visitors.

Or maybe write messages of love. I don’t think this pretty little thing is the shopping list type of chalkboard. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… I’m just saying.

This wreath was sold at the Shabby Market I took part in. It went to a great home… a young lady bought it for her wedding. Ideal! 🙂

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tiny birdcage revolution

Posted on November 25, 2012 by zefiart

So… what have I been doing in the evening while watching TV?

Well, I’ve been keeping my hands busy!

I started making teeny tiny birdcages out of old bottle tops and wire. Only this time around I’ve sprayed them and added some glitter to make them sparkle.