heart tray

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How pretty is this tray with its heart handles? When I found it in an op shop it was all pine and looked heavy and chunky. Not that there’s anything wrong with chunky. I like chunky. I love chunky sport shoes, I love chunky bracelets. But this tray just looked like something you’d hit a burglar over the head with, not serve tea on. And so un-pretty…
But the hearts. And the solid wood. I couldn’t go past that.
So I did what any self-respecting DIY-er would do – I painted it. Sanded it. Painted it using a chalk paint of my own mixing, lightly sanded it again to create a smooth satin feel you can’t get enough of touching.
Heavy no more. Chunky it might be, but its also light and pretty now.
It may still come in handy as a weapon of self protection, but you’d think twice about using this pretty tray to pound someone on the head.
I like it when things work out, don’t you?
z
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Homespun Happenings

DIY cake stands

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I’ve always loved looking at the gorgeous cake stands people make out of recycled items. I had a few wooden ‘plates’. And I had a few lamp bases and large chunky candle holders.
I figured “I can do that!”. So I did.
I made two gorgeous cake stands. Here is the before on one of them:
A chunky candle holder and a wooden plate I’d painted yellow originally and disliked.
After: painted pink in its new life as a cake stand.
Here’s the other one. A white one this time.
Before: a lamp base and a wooden plate.
After a pretty white cake stand.
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a little basket

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Its the little things, isn’t it?
A little basket that no one wanted any more, looking a bit worse for wear, with dusty lace and dustier flowers…
I gave it a makeover and its now looking pretty cute and pleased with itself.
A pink burlap flower with a silver pearl center. Some florist wire for ‘interest’ and texture…
Now the little basket can hold its head up and unapologetically take its place on a bookcase or a dressing table with pride.
 z
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Beyond The Picket Fence

DIY christmas lights

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…Or what to do when the decorative fairy light branches you’ve dragged around from one house to another for more than 5 years break…
You stuff them into a preserve jar and turn them into a jar full of lights!
Not just Christmas decorations… a bit of sparkle you can enjoy all year round!
z
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Beyond The Picket Fence

christmas eve

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…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!
z

getting the christmas spirit

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It was evading me for a while there.
I mean, it was really absent. I wanted to close up the house, park the car around the back, and pretend I wasn’t home.
It wasn’t a ‘bah humbug’ kind of thing. Just a ‘really tired and worn out’ kind of thing.
However, I seem to be snapping back to my usual hyperactive self. If the fact that I can no longer sleep at night is any indication…
This is what it was like inside my head for the past two nights:

I must clean the house. Vacuum. Might be easier to rip up and replace the carpet at this stage, its so dirty in there. Presents are wrapped. Where will I put the table for us to eat on? I have enough chairs… Should I re-arrange the living room furniture (run through 31 scenarios of where to move what). I really want to make the smallest room into a walk in wardrobe. How to do it? Should I try to build my own our of pallets or MDF? Adapt other objects (old doors, hardware shelving, old lockers)? Will 2 salads be enough for tomorrow or should I make a pasta salad as well? I need to find my bottle holder for a centrepiece on the table. Its in the shed. I think. That shed needs sorting out. Should I use that to store larger projects waiting to be worked on? The lawn really needs mowing. Are the baby birds out of the nests yet? Found another unfeathered dead one on the lawn last night. I want to remove the nests so I can clean the house and start painting. My office is a mess. Gotta change all the throws over the couches. And wash the dogs…
Sheesh.
Its exhausting being me.
I’ve just been so tired lately that I’ve had no desire (or energy) to tackle anything at all. But somehow, a couple of days ago I recaptured the need to be creative. I took out the old broken gateleg table my first tenants had left behind and started mending it planning to use it as a dining table for Christmas. Then, since I had only a bit of a tin of Stain Cover left and it was on the edge, I undercoated two kitchen chairs which have been waiting to be painted for about a year. I also went through some booty I’d collected from trips to op shops and tip shops over the last month or so. 
I’m back!
What really got the christmas juices flowing however, was going to my friend Amanda’s yesterday and making three batches of melomakarona! These delicious traditional greek christmas sweets are one of my favourite. I helped mom make them many times as I grew up but have only made them myself 3 times counting yesterday.
Here is the recipe I use and, let me tell you, its delicious and easy!
z

christmas is coming

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Is it just me, or does time seem to be playing up this week?
I have so much to do and can’t seem to get on top of things. Its so bad I’ve buried my To Do List cause it was depressing me. If the world does end tomorrow it won’t matter.
In the hopes that it doesn’t end, I bought chicken for the dogs yesterday – a great sale. Normally a box of chicken frames is $10, on sale for $5, but when I went in they said they had them down to $2.50 each! I’d ordered 4, I said I’d take 5 and the guy at the shop gave me one more as a Christmas present. Isn’t that sweet?
Anyway, wishing everyone in blogland a wonderful Christmas (or Holiday Season if you’re politically correct) and a great New Year.
z

silver cup birdcages

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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.
z

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little miracles

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Yesterday I was out in the paddock with the horses and dogs when I heard laughter coming from the chicken coop. 
Wayne is the designated chicken feeder, putter-awayer at night, and egg collector. I love listening to him when he goes up there, filling up chicken feeders, calling the chooks…
“Chook chook chook… here you go…. No ducks! You’re a duck! Get out!” etc.
But then I heard laughter. Real belly laughter. 
This is why:
At first glance its just another egg, right?
But look again:
Its the smallest chicken egg in the world!
I’m still laughing!
I can picture it now:
The poor chicken that lays the huge eggs, straining and pushing, face all squinched up, leaving claw marks on the perch as she struggles to bring forth the monstrous eggs.
The chicken next door thinking “Eh, that’s big enough” and popping out the tiny egg…
Maybe she’s lazy. Maybe she’s going on strike – “Till we get better food, better working conditions, a new chicken coop, an entertainment centre with blu ray and wide screen TV – this is the size of eggs you’ll get from us.”
I love this egg!
I love all things miniature. I used to have a big miniature collection of anything tiny. There’s the (working) tiny spanner I have on the ute (truck to my american friends) key ring which Wayne gave me. I sold most of my miniatures a few years ago, all except the poodles, but this is one I want to keep.
Now… how best to preserve it… Boil it so its hard? Or punch holes and blow it empty which will mean no stinkiness if it breaks, but its much more fragile…?
z
PS. The tiny spanner:
P.P. S. OHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I broke it!

I was putting the eggs into the fridge and dropped it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I’m so sad! 😦

little birdie bye bye

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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?
z