Category Archives: thrifting

art from trash – my new bag

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I am never happy with bags.
Handbags are just too small.
Or they hold too much and become too heavy.
I used to use backpacks. They make sense… After all its better to carry the weight of your life on your back than on one shoulder. With the amount of crap I carry in my bag its amazing I don’t lean to one side permanently.
But somewhere along the line I decided I needed to start using handbags. Or rather, shoulder bags.
Then I got my big diary…
It wouldn’t fit into any of my handbags/shoulder bags so I started using canvas shopping bags as my work bags.
They’re ok, but they have no pockets, no inner dividers, nothing to hold things in place… I was constantly losing pens, car keys and my mobile phone.
I was sick and tired of it.

So I made my own shoulder bag.
I got this bee in my bonnet about it one night last week. I looked through the cupboard in my office, found some upholstery fabric samples which might work then started thinking of ways I could use the fabric to make a bag.
I was limited by the size of the samples. I didn’t want to make a patchwork carpetbag looking thing so I didn’t want to mix and match too many fabrics.
In the end I only used one sample for the body of the bag, though I turned the fabric inside out on the sides just for contrast.
I’d never done this before but it wasn’t that hard. I just had to work out the size and design, then cut.
Or cut and then make it work.
The living room was back to normal again.
Normal means a coffee table full of crafting stuff. That’s more normal than clean and tidy round here.
One thing I wanted was a pocket to hold things securely. I wanted a divider inside the bag so that I could put the diary in that part and it wouldn’t fall and lean..
I cut one piece of fabric which I stitched in when I put the bag together, it forms a divider ‘pocket’ at the back of the bag for the diary. I added a couple of fabric loops to hold pens inside that pocket too!
I re-used one of my canvas bags for the strap, flap and inner pocket. I just cut or picked off the bits I wanted from the old bag. I put the small zipped pocket inside on the divider, and put the straps on the sides of the bag.
I reinforced the sides where the straps join and I put in some stiff fabric under the bottom of the bag to help it hold its shape.
Lastly I needed to pretty up the flap/front of the bag…
I was inspired by this image on Pinterest:
I used scaps of burlap and another fabric (using both sides) and some blue cotton yarn for the stitches. I opted to leave out the beads. Knowing me they’d be flying off left, right and center.
Ok, it looks nothing like my inspiration, but I still think its pretty ok. And it’ll hold my diary and TWO pens!
I’ve decided to enter it into the Salvaged Art Competition being held in Kingston next month. Why not? Its all recycled!

z

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The Girl Creative

one last paros project – shabby photo frame

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This is one of the smaller projects I worked on while on holiday in Greece. I had a huge collection of old buttons (I really wish I had them here!), a large collection of old doilies, ribbons, lace…
Then there were the other odds and ends my aunt Marisa found for me. One of which was this little heart shaped basket. 
She said “Do you want this? Can you do something with it?”
I said, “Sure, I can do something with it.”
My standard reply. 
Never say no to ‘stuff’… it will always come in handy one day.
In order to prevent becoming a hoarder featured on one of those awful reality tv shows “Buried Under A Ton Of Crap” however, you have to actually USE the stuff you’re given/collect to make more stuff which you can either sell, give away or display prominently in places like your kitchen, toilet or garage.
I decided the little basket would make the best photo frame for Marouso’s bedroom… she has a little alcove in there which is bare and desperately needed something pretty. So between working on the light fitting for Zefi and some small hearts like these for my aunt, I started putting together this little baby.
I used some old buttons, some still on the card, some old curtain lace, a bit of rusty wire and a bead… plus a little bow and icon pin from a christening. You can’t see it well, but at greek christenings they hand these little pins out as a memorial. My aunt had (of course) a collection of them.
Zefi, I’m sure you’re reading this… you promised you’ll collect me some!
Next step was a photo… Marouso had a few really nice ones she’d taken with her kitten, and I had a great one I’d taken of her and her ‘titini’… a bodyless stuffed toy cat which she’s had since she was a baby. Its sort of like Linus’ security blanket. No one knows what ‘titini’ actually means, its what she called it back when she couldn’t talk. For all we know it means “Get that stupid cat toy out of my cot right now!”
Marouso and her ‘titini’.
I had a play with the photos on picmonkey.com – I don’t have Photoshop on the netbook so I had no other way of altering the images. I wanted to go with an old fashioned black and white look but when I got them printed I decided to go with the photo above.
Great photos though. I love the one above where the kitty is all eyes.
I slotted the photo in behind the buttons where I’d left a ‘photo tucking’ gap, tied a ribbon to it for hanging and voila. Done.
z

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lace doily light fitting for a cousin

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Well, I’m back home. Back to Wind Dancer Farm, back in Tasmania, back to my own little family. Its good to be home despite the fact that it means no more lying around on a beach, no more Paros, no more mom and cousins around me.
The trip was good, considering it was LONG and the seats on airplanes these days are made for height challenged individuals with eating disorders.
Seriously.
Have you ever tried sitting in one of those seats for 14 hours straight?
If you’re of ‘average’ height and you try to slouch in your seat you end up kneeing the seat in front of you. They used to have foot rests under the seat in front but they’re gone, ensuring that if you stretch out your legs, the seat has a sort of tourniquet effect, cutting off circulation to your lower legs. The new, improved individual monitors are a great idea… till you realize that you don’t actually enjoy having a screen 12in from your face. And that if the person in front of you leans his seat back, the monitor barely misses scraping your nose. You used to be able to say “excuse me” and sort of squeeze past the people sitting beside you if you needed to get up, all they had to do was sit up and pull their legs back. Now you have to get everyone to get up and pile into the aisle, or what passes as an aisle, so you can get out. Heck, even getting in and out of your own seat required contortions reminiscent of a pretzel if the person in front of you has the seat laid back. I remember being able to get up and walk the aisles during a long trip and loiter near the back of the plane doing stretches. This trip four of us were standing in line near the toilets and had to dodge stewardesses and serving carts… Bet they were pleased to have us in their tiny work area.
Hey. I know I’m older. I know I’m no longer as flexible as I was, but even if I still had the figure of my 20s, I still wouldn’t be able to squeeze past my co-sardines’ legs or lean back without touching the seat in front of me.
On the positive side, the food is a whole lot better than I remember.
So, I’m back home. The tan is fading fast and jet lag is keeping me up when I should be asleep… thought I’d share my last big project on Paros before life goes back to normal and the blog goes back to being about living on a farm with poodles and other critters. (I don’t mean Wayne.)
The lace doily light fitting in little Zef’s bedroom.
When I first got to Paros my aunt Marisa was all set on getting me to make a lace doily lightshade for Zefi’s bedroom. She had seen one of these in a shop and wanted one badly. Only difference was, the one my aunt loved had a wire frame inside.
Great idea if you have a wire frame. A very round balloon and tons of glue could also make this but it wouldn’t hold well in damp conditions I was betting. I started looking for alternatives.
I saw a rusty trap similar to this at Souvlia but it was bent beyond repair. I did find a new one for sale eventually (in a fishing shop, go figure!) but by then I’d moved on…
What I decided to do was build a kind of chandelier doily and lace light using 2 of the sieves I’d seen previously at a grocery store.
I went and bought a couple of these little beauties, limed them white and got a friendly uncle with a drill to make holes for chains.
I then started planning how to place and sew on the doilies and lace without cutting or ruining them, as per aunt Marisa’s instructions, and without aunt Marisa watching my every move and making suggestions as to how to do it better…

I ended up using quite a bit of old curtain (since I was allowed to cut that) as an under-layer, then layered and joined the doilies over that. I embellished it with ribbons and buttons and pieces of lace.
Only one doily was hurt in the making of this light shade… it was just too big and I really wanted to use it.
I was working in Zefi’s place, hiding from aunt Marisa… when she walked past and saw me. First words out of her mouth were “Oh, you cut that doily” before Zefi hustled her off with threats to her life if she said another word.
Zefi and I searched every hardware store on Paros to find the right chain. She was the one who found the perfect one – large links in bronze.
We’d also asked Andreas (Zef’s husband) to see what he could find in Athens and he’d brought us some silver chain. In the vein of waste not want not, I thought we should use the silver chain as well. I secured the chains to the sieves with wire and hid the silver chain with lace ‘sleeves’ made from the old curtain hems.
That way I didn’t have to sew any more than necessary!
I had to buy a pair of wire cutters to cut the sieve for the light fitting to go through, but that was easy enough.
Lastly, while Zefi was at the beach I climbed on her bed, and with her daughter Marouso’s help, put the light up on the hook already in the ceiling, fed the light through and replaced the globe.
Let there be light!
It came up pretty good even if it does look like an upside down wedding cake!
Payment for this: some very old doilies and a gorgeous old cut lace curtain.
Thanks guys! My next trip will be longer so I can plan on working for part of it! 🙂

z

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Keeping It Simple

making do and interesting things

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 My cousin Zefi’s house in the commune that’s known as ‘Souvlia’ used to be the boat shed and garage. It was built on a slope so the front is a couple of steps down. As a result its darker than most of the houses on Souvlia, but no cooler. In fact, being at the back of the block, with other buildings as windbreaks, it doesn’t get the full force of the wind – great when you want to sit on the porch for a drink, terrible if you want a cool breeze to cool down.

Despite that, Zefi has made it into a gorgeous place. Thanks to her mom’s fossicking, her husband’s good taste and Zefi’s practical mind, the place is pretty, traditional and totally user friendly.

I love her old island couches. I’ve tried to find this type of couch in Australia as its the ideal outdoor couch. Its not so comfy as a living room couch, but so pretty.

I love the big dresser as well, in the traditional dark timber. Zefi’s grandfather on her mom’s side used to be a carpenter and he made some beautiful pieces.


 I love the lace on the shelves inside the glass cabinets.  My aunt Dora has it in her kitchen in her house as well.

 One thing I love to do when I’m here (or anywhere for that matter) is look at shops. I love looking at shops. Sometimes I see things I want to buy, something I see things which inspire me. Whatever. I love to look at shops.

In the market street in Parikia there’s a traditional old homeware/grocery store. Its been there as long as I can remember. They now sell more stuff to tourists than to locals I’m sure, but its the only place I saw one of these:

 Its apparently a dough bowl of some sort. You put the bread dough in it to rise. I find myself needing one of these… I never make bread, but I’m sure I’ll find a good use for it.

I also love these things:

Sieves of all sizes with all different wire thicknesses… from flour sieves to lentil and bean sieves. Pretty cute.

At the other end of the shopping scale are the home decorator stores… not very different to the type of stuff I see in Australia. Still pretty displays and colours though.

Colourful outdoor cushions with jute and bling tassels and fish, naturally.

Burlap mini cushions and a jute string bowl on a lace table runner.

A beautiful simple white bowl.

A rope and sailcloth lamp.

Table centre piece of sea urchins minus spikes, shells and starfish.

I found an antique/second hand shop which has some beautiful things in it but this one was right up my alley: old windows with photos in them.

 

I even found a shop which sells marble things. Like a marble sink… why have a ceramic butler sink when you can have the real thing? And this slab of carved marble which you can put in your garden and run a tap through.

 A tap like this! Isn’t this a beauty?

Or, if you prefer, you can buy marble columns. Cause no house is complete without marble columns.

 

 Of course, there are tons of places which are done up beautifully whether they’re shops or cafes or restaurants. Sometimes its something simple like these fish at a taverna by the sea:

Sometimes its way more elaborate, like the boat/couch at this bar in Parikia.

And these door coffee tables.

There just aren’t enough door or window signs though, like this one on a closed antique shop.

 

And I love this sign on a cafe.

I haven’t been inside many hotels, but the couple I have been into have some interesting items in their lobbies and bars. Like this lamp …

This wooden trough is now a frame for a wooden boat.

Obviously made by the same artist, this boat wall clock at the Paros Bay Hotel.

And a ton of these fishing boats.

This is my favourite. I love the humour in the little paper sailboats.

A couple of little shops in Naoussa, a small town on the other side of Paros, have gorgeous displays. Right up my alley.


 

Closer to home, I found some interesting ways to deal with the small issues life throws at you. This is my uncle’s solution to the wind taking his umbrella along with the small table.

It might take up a bit of table space, but it works.

My fish bowl has a new spot among the shell collection in my aunt Flora’s kitchen.

The oven in the main house has a dodgey door, so the kokones (a name we call the aunts) have found a simple solution.

Aunt Marisa has found a cute way to cover the electricity panel in the hallway using a hand woven mat.

In her house a little down the road, my aunt Dora has a small corner where she keeps her ancient sewing maching, which she still uses, and a few items from her mother’s house.

You can always tell a greek house, cause there is always an icon somewhere in it. I now have my own icon, my very first. My aunt Xeni gave it to me. I’ll have to find a spot in my home for it when I get back. My decor will be shabby-greek…

Love the old irons with the big base to hold hot coals.

z

my aunt the recycler

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I’ve already mentioned my aunt Marisa, the collector. She’s collected all kinds of things over the years.
In fact, it might be more accurate to say she never throws anything away if it has sentimental, historical or potential value.
She’s been going crazy since I got here, getting me to make things for her, asking my opinion of this or that, and generally making a pest out of herself. I’ve taken to avoiding working within her field of vision.
Ok. She’s not that bad. And I do love the stuff she’s collected. The only thing is, her imagination and mine don’t always meet in a harmonious blend. At least we both like similar raw materials.
This is her bedroom at Souvlia (the family home on Paros).
The bed is an Ikea bed, not an original, but it suits her style. Everything else in the room is old and has some story to it.
This lamp had a dark green lampshade on it with gold trimming.
Yuck.
So aunt Marisa asked me if I’d cover it in doilies for her.
Remember the doily post? Well, suffice it to say, this lampshade has been covered in cut up pieces of old curtains and lace.
Three old lace curtains to be exact. Two of them are old but not antique, with no particular sentimental value. The other one, just visible on the left hand panel, is a curtain my grandmother gave her many years ago which has been ruined by years of sunlight. I had to patch a small hole on it using a rose cut from one of the other bits of curtain.
By using part of this old curtain in a lampshade, my aunt can retain the curtain and still have the memories of it.
She made these cushions for her bed out of things she hoarded kept after they were deemed to useless and were going to thrown away.
One of them was from my neice Alex’s baby bed. The cushion had worn thin but my aunt kept the lace edge so she could re-use it. The other one was some other baby’s pillow, I just forget who…
The ‘throw’ on the end of the bed is in fact an old curtain she’s trimmed down and edged. The bedspread is an old thin woollen blanket she’s added a lace edge to.
The cushion covers are made of old linen and and old petticoat she used to wear in the 60s. When the petticoat wore out she kept the lace… and its made a reappearance on her bed in 2013 in the form of pillow covers.
Pretty amazing.
There’s an old chest in the room, probably something my aunt found on the side of the road… she’s found the most amazing stuff people have thrown away…

On top of the dresser is an old linen towel visiting friends had left behind many years ago. My aunt added lace to it and made it into a pretty dust collector.


If my aunt was a blood relative I could say it runs in the family!
z

rusty barbed wire heart – creating on paros

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Seems my reputation has preceeded me…
I arrived on Paros and my Aunt Marisa was all over me. She’d seen the windchime I’d given little Zefi, but he’s already been subjected to months of “Mom, come see what big Zef did”, so she was prepped and ready.
“Come and see what I have for you to make”, she said, and proceeded to show me her collection of STUFF. The doilies she’s had for years that her mother made, the old curtains, the collection of ribbons and things that will come in handy one day….

I hear an echo in here…
Did I ever mention my nieces?
I’ve never had kids, right? But I have tons of nieces and nephews thanks to my brother and the fact that I have 23 first cousins. 
And somehow, even though I haven’t had children of my own, I have somehow managed to pass on my genes…
My brother’s daughter is Maria. Apparently he often calls her Zefi cause she’s got my temper and my good looks. She’ll say “Dad, I’m Maria, not Zefi.” (ie Are you senile already?) He’ll reply “I know what I’m talking about.”
My cousin PG’s daughter is Alex. Apparently a carbon copy of me. In all the good ways: moody, stubborn, my good looks…
Little Zefi’s daughter Marouso way more beautiful than me… except for the fact that she’s a mad animal lover. Yesterday at the beach she found a kitten and brought it home. Little Zefi gave me the filthiest look. Its all my fault. Those are my genes popping up in the next generation.
I feel quite pleased with myself. I’ve managed to create Zefi carbon copies without having to worry about pregnancies or changing nappies!
But I digress… I was talking about my Aunt Marisa and her plans to harness my creativity to her own ends.
She keeps dragging things out of cupboards, neighbour’s yards and roadside bins for me. She has visions… “Look what I found. You can make something with this right?” “Fuzz (my nickname), I found this. I think we can make … but I’m only giving my opinion… its up to you… I’m just suggesting… you’re the expert… you tell me…”
The other night my hands got bored. I’d already bought some basic tools – a small set of pliers, some fine wire, a hot glue gun. 
I already had a box of odd and ends, bits of lace, a million buttons from the 50s and 60s, some old dessert forks, some rusty stuff I’d scavenged.
And a piece of barbed wire I took off a fence on the way to town.
I even have Little Zef’s son working for me now. Every day I come back from the beach he has another treasure or three for me. A rusty grill, some rusty tools, a key…
This heart hangs outside Zefi’s bedroom door: barbed wire, some old lace and ribbon, an old key, a small fork, rusty washers and a rusty door strike plate. I added some dry wildflowers as well this afternoon.
Its a pity I don’t have this ‘team’ with me in Tasmania. I could have a ton of stuff to work with if I had Aunt Marisa and little George foraging for me.
Just in case you’re wondering, I’ve already put in my claim… Aunt Marisa is leaving me her collection of STUFF in her will.
I guess I better get to work on the other projects awaiting me. I have to pay for my room somehow, right?
z

raiding mom’s drawers

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While in Athens I’d gone through drawers, boxes and suitcases. Its been a long time since I lived in our home in Athens and there’s been a lot of movement in that house. My brother and his family lived there a while, then Peter moved back in with mom… you can imagine. Things have been moved, gone through, packed, moved again, sorted and thrown out. 
I’m lucky to find any goodies at all. However I did manage to find some things I’ve wanted for a long time. Like dad’s slide collection. Sure, I have some photos of my childhood on paper, but most of the photos dad took were on slide. I’m taking the slides back to Australia with me.
Hello excess baggage fees…
I’m also taking one of the projectors though I found two. One is a single slide projector and I’m torn over whether to take that or not. The other is a carousel. Both are light and I’m not even sure they’d survive the delicate handling of our airline baggage handlers, but I want at least one. If it doesn’t work I’m not overly concerned. I know a man in Hobart who can fix anything.
One aunt has given me 3 koureloudles (rag rugs) we bought when I went to Egypt with her many years ago. I’d shipped mine to Australia in a chest which was unfortunately put in a container shipping olive oil. One broken bottle and my books and koureloudes transformed into oil sponges. I love the smell of oil oil on a salad, but on rag rugs not so much.
My aunt never used hers so she’s given me hers to replace the ones I lost to the great oil disaster of 1989.
I found tons of old photos. Obviously my brother’s gone through them and taken some he wanted for himself (first come first served) but lucky for me there’s tons he didn’t want. Like the ones of the entire family who came to see us off when we left Greece to immigrate to Australia in 1962. Petro wasn’t born yet then. I plan to enlarge one of those as they’re so tiny I would need a microcope to see the faces.
There’s tons from the 70s too of course and all in between as well. Better make room for more stuff…
While rummaging I found my old baptism dress and shoes. Antiques! And mom’s old sewing basket. Here are a few of the things from that, buttons on their cards…
I have this idea to make a display which will include some of these old sewing items and a photo of my grandmother. Now if I can find one of my grandfather’s net mending needles I’ll be set. I can make one for him as well. I have a great photo of the two of them from the 60s. My mom’s father was a fisherman and in the old days the women made the nets and the men would mend them when they ripped. Grandpa was always mending nets.
Moms’ old pinking shears were still in their box and there were needles in their original packaging.
 
 
Mom said she’d forgotten she had that stuff cause she no longer sews.
I found some old cookbooks… I can’t wait to read about new ways with food. I’ve seen some very old ‘exciting new’ recipes which looked oh so appetizing. And check out the 15 Ways to Get Your Man With Rice… mmm!
 
I even found the manual for the Kenwood mixer I took when I left home!
Note the old kourelou (rag rag) background!
I really do enjoy going through old things!
This morning I went into Parikia early in the morning and walked around before the shops opened. I’m a bit sunburned from my first day on the beach so I was in desperate need of sunscreen and after sun lotion. Plus my eyes are itchy already. I’m allergic to Paros… Soon as I went to the beach I started itching. This happened last time I was here and it turned into conjunctivitis. Hopefully I can avoid that this time. I got some drops from the chemist and bought a cheap pair of sunglasses – 400 UV whatever that means, darker than my prescription sunnies. Hopefully that’ll help. I can’t wear my presciption sunnies and read on the beach so I have to take them off, with these I’ll be able to have them on all the time.
I’ll be like one of the old women on the beach – swimming in my hat and sunglasses…
Oh how the mighty have grown old…
So I’m not on the beach now. I will go later when the sun’s not so strong. 
z


pallets and koureloudes

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What, you may ask, is a kourelou? (kourelou-DES being plural)
Its Grenglish for greek rag rugs. 
I love them! I want some to take back to Australia to make outdoor cushions out of like they did at the cafe/bar we went to last night.
How gorgeous are these? Take a standard footstool and cover it in a kourelou = instant cute.
And this? A built-in stone seat with kourelou covered cushions. Its ‘greek chic’ as opposed to ‘shabby chic’.
I forgot to take photos of the pallet couches lining the outside wall and its kourelou covered cushions. As it was I was walking around the bar taking photos of everything.
“Its ok…. I have a blog.”
Like having a blog gives me license to behave like a Japanese tourist.
But the bar was cute. They had pallets for everything outside. This big outdoor table/bench/thing.
 
The outdoor bar: 
 
The outside wall:
I LOVED the collection of old colourful trays on the pallet bench outside. They had them on the steps as well. I figure it was like a portable table, you grab a kourelou cushion and sit anywhere you want with a tray to hold your drinks.
Inside, the bar had some nice simple light shades which looked they were made from twisted cane painted white.
And the decor was a mix of modern, fashionable and the contents of old Aunty Evronia’s house.
The old wooden chairs were gorgeous. Distressed just right. The tables… not quite so good. Someone should have taken the sander out of this guy’s hand a couple of hours earlier.
I mean really. Shabby chic is all about making things look old, like they’ve been used for many years by generations of french peasants. Not like someone had an accident with a runaway grinder.
I loved the detail in the tiling though. Plain tiles on the floor and then a strip of mismatched tiles. Gorgeous.
Down on the corner of our street in Athens there’s a house which hasn’t changed since I was a kid. Its owned by some Boo Radley type family. Seriously. We were scared of the guy who lived here as kids. He’s now in his 60s and is still the same creepy guy he was then.
When I walked down to the bus stop yesterday he came out and kept staring at me… I thought maybe he recognised me so I said ‘good evening’. He said “What did you just say to me?” in the same tone of voice De Niro used when he asked “Are you looking at me?”
oops.
Better stay clear of him and his creepy house. I did, however, manage to sneak in this photo of their gate. I really really wish I could get into that place to see what’s in there… I bet they have tons of interesting stuff. I’d need a tetanus shot and maybe a bio-suit to go in there. It looks like no one has swept a floor since sometime before WWII.
This afternoon Petro and I managed to get my code or whatever from the local taxation branch (some people can’t afford to go on strike), only to discover my paperwork has the wrong birth date on it so there’s another thing I need to run around for when I’m back in Athens later. Oh joy.
I went to visit a couple of friends in the neighbourhood which was great. One of them is my godmother’s daughter. I remember her when I was growing up as someone who disliked dogs. She’s had dogs in her home, sleeping on her bed, for my last couple of visits now.
That’s one thing I DO love about the changes in Greece. People love animals here now. My aunt collects table scraps to feed the stray cats, every second person has a dog they treat like a human and you see people walking dogs everywhere. Its nice. I love that about the new Greece.
The other lady I dropped in to see is an old friend of mom’s. Her son and I were born 2 months apart and as babies we played together. We played together a bit as teenagers too, but that’s whole ‘nother story.
She was so sweet. Telling me how gorgeous I looked and how I looked prettier every time she sees me (her cataracts are getting worse) and that I look younger than her son. That was nice. It feels good to get compliments. 
I love some of these old ladies. They’re just so down to earth. She was telling me about how her son and daughter-in-law took her to one of the new-fangled restaurants where they give you all these glasses and cutlery and you’re too afraid to touch anything in case you use the wrong thing. She hated the food. They said she must try some spiced fig jam cause it was so good. Nope. She’d rather go to the local taverna where the food is real and they don’t put spices in the jam. Well, they don’t serve jam with meat, they serve tzatziki which is how it should be!
To my greek friends: Before I forget! You see that door handle on the blog header? I want one!!! If you know where I can find one, let me know!
z

a quick pinboard

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Yes. I’m getting ready for a trip. I’m drowning in grooming appointments, chores, housework (which I’ve successfully avoided so far) and all manner of things hanging over my head with a deadline of June 23.
Yet I can’t help myself.
This morning, between grooming appointments, I finished this pinboard for Wayne’s office space. I don’t know if you remember I moved Wayne’s office into the living room. Some might call it banishment, but I call it relocating him to a space more likely to be used!
(Btw, it looks nothing like in the photos on that post. Its now got a more relaxed look. Some might call it ‘lived in’… I call it plain messy.)
When we first moved to the farm we thought we’d share the office, but Wayne never used it. He’d use the kitchen table… which got old really fast, let me tell you! So I decided I’d create an office space for him in the living room where he could be warm (near the heater), see out through the window to the front yard, watch TV and be near his favourite reading chair. Everything close at hand.
One of the things I used to have in the real office was a bulletin board. I’ve always had bulletin boards in my office no matter where I lived. They’re so handy. I had one in the office here till I bought my gorgeous antique cabinet and had to remove it. It was sitting in the casita for ages. I decided to use about half of it to make Wayne a smaller pinboard for his office space since he really loves having one. The rest of it I think I’ll put up in the grooming room to pin up photos of customer dogs.
I had this old frame but it was an unattractive colour so I sprayed it white. I had considered repainting the pinboard but I left it. Its the same colour as the feature wall at the other end of the living room so its ok. Dark grey. You won’t see much of it once Wayne pins everything on it. 
I think its his entire filing system… 
Anyway, I found the bulletin board material easy to cut with a jigsaw, then I used my staple gun to hold it into the frame. I reinforced it with some wire, and voila!
Meanwhile I wanted something I could put pins in for him. Something cute but big enough for him to get his big manly fingers in easily…
This little old tin belongs to Wayne, no idea where he got it, but its now back in his space, put to good use.
There. One last (??) craft project before my trip.
We’ll see… Maybe the last…
z

milk churn photo display

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Ever since I took the doors off the two overhead cupboards in the kitchen I’ve liked my kitchen a whole lot more.
I’ve finally got somewhere to display some of my pretty things, and some of my collections.
The little vignette below includes one of my scales, the lid off a small milk churn, 2 flower frogs and other old metal objects in the form of a cast iron flying pig and an old light switch.
I got the milk churn lid at the Shabby Market I took part in a while ago, and have had it sitting on one shelf or another for a long time, waiting to for it to speak to me and tell me what it wants to do.
Yesterday it finally spoke and said “I want to hold a photo”.
Well at the time I didn’t have any photos handy and really didn’t feel like printing one out. I wanted to test it out NOW.
You know how it goes…. Nothing like the present. Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today… I pray for patience, but I want it now…
I took the photo of Wayne and Ben which I just love, man and horse communicating quietly.
I got a small magnet and put it behind the photo. It worked! The magnet holds the photo onto the handle. Perfect.
Who needs frames when you can do things like this? Much funner!
z