decorative grinders

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Somewhere along the line I picked up a few broken salt and pepper grinders cause I just liked the shape of them. I mixed up some pretty pastel colours to try out then roughed them up a bit.

Not too bad for something someone tossed out.

I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had much time to write and I have a ton of things to finish, photograph and share. As the end of the year approaches I feel more tired than ever. Its gotta be psychological. I mean, how on earth can the end of a calendar year make you feel more tired?

Maybe its the anticipation of three weeks off work.

Time to relax…

…Time to recoup.

Time to paint the house.

Ahhhh.

No rest for the wicked!

z

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it snowed in the dog room & public dog shaming

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All I wanted was a quiet night. That’s all. Was it too much to ask?
I think it was. 
I stepped into the mud room and was greeted by this scene.

It had snowed.
Let me explain. Barney and Mischa sleep in the mud room on this bed. Together. 
I’ve been recycling old doonas, which I no longer want or need, as dog blankets.
The first one got very dirty so I threw it out, giving them this down-filled one.
They loved it. It was fluffy and snuggly and comfortable.
Then I made a mistake… I fed Montana and Romeo in the mud room, separating them from Mischa and Barney, cause I’d given them lamb bones and we have had a bit of growling over bones in the past.
I thought I was playing it safe. I reckoned without the Romeo Boredom Factor.
Sigh.
This afternoon I received a dog public shaming email and laughed out loud at some of them. So I’ve now forwarded the email with my own addition.
Here are my favourites in case you missed the email.

 z

framed

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Another gorgeous little project, inspired by this pin on Pinterest, though I approached the subject a little differently.
I got the frames at a garage sale not long ago and knew they’d be perfect for this project. Of course they were dark wood at the time…
I had an old dictionary I never use (after all, there are dictionaries gallore online). 
The images came from The Graphics Fairy

Pretty.

I have more framed projects on the go… I’ll be sharing those later. For now I have to get back to work.

z

intricate birdcage

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As promised, here is a preview of something I’ve made for the Shabby Market coming up at a great rate of knots.

Lately I’ve gotten all wired about wire.

I love the stuff. I love the whimsical things you can do with it.

A while ago I made a teeny tiny birdcage as inspired by Pinterest and since then I’ve been feeling the need to make more. So I did. I made more teeny tiny ones. (Pics of those coming later).

I looked through the items I’d collected in my travels thinking they’d make interesting suncatchers or objects d’art. I found two of these little beauties… and I did what any self respecting re-purposer would do:

I made them into bird cages.

Aren’t they cute?

I’m now working on a set of 4 very tarnished silver cups…

Are you as mad about wire as I am?

z

dangling around

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Things have been very busy around here lately. And I’m so glad I no longer had to blog every day!
Over the next few days I’ll be sharing some of the projects I’ve been working on.
Today its the latest suncatchers and windchimes. These were made for a lady who was interested in buying a few as Christmas presents. She said she may be interested in four but I had to make more to give her a choice.
Naturally.
What she doesn’t buy will go with me to the Shabby Market on December 8th.
The first one, above, is one of my creations, made from a tea strainer, keys, beads and crystals.
The one below is a very bent fork (I think Wayne may have had some anger issues on the day he made this one). I then blinged it up with cyrstals and keys.

The one below is more of Wayne’s twisted wire shapes, my bling and antique silverware.

The one below is an ‘on my own’ creation made with a coffee filter (I think it came out of an old coffee pot), lots of different chains and keys – both shiny and rusty.

Another Wayne creation – I love this one. The decorated flat spoon… very pretty.

Wayne’s wire flower suncatcher.

Again, an abused fork, wire and my blinged up forks.

We work well together don’t you think?
z

smelling the roses

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I’ve been taking it easy since the end of the 31 day challenge.

By that I mean I’ve been working till late every night (after work) on projects for Hobart’s first Shabby Chic Market on December 8. And I still have a long way to go!

As I work, watching Criminal Minds, CSI, Bones, Grey’s Anatomy, House Husbands… (I multitask ya know) the poodles keep me company by sitting nearby and watching me work.

Montana, above, next to me, and Romeo opposite. I love the way they’re always nearby!

I always say “get a poodle and never pee alone again”!

The weather has been great lately. Warm days, some light rain. Perfect weather for grass, and weeds, to grow. I got the mower going (or should I say ‘someone else got my mower going so I used it’) and I mowed the lawn.

Of course it needs doing again – mow, look back and its grown an inch… A fact that I ignored on the weekend cause I only had so much time between grooming dogs to work on my market projects. I figure the market has a deadline. The grass will always be there.

But the farm is looking gorgeous and its the best time of year to really appreciate living here. The weather is warm enough to sit in the sun without burning to a crisp in 2 minutes, the breeze fresh, the smell of grass pleasant, the smell of dead things gone. (Only found one dead wallaby on the weekend, seems the toxoplasmosis outbreak may be slowing down. We can only hope.)

Anyway, no rest for the wicket. I have to go to work and then get back to the treadmill that is my life.

More later!

z

day 31 – a review

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Day 31…. Its finally over. The pressure is off! Now I can just go on living my life as if I’m superwoman without the added stress of blogging about something semi-interesting every day!
So lets review. Here’s the original list as it looks now.
Projects to finish:
  • 4 wire dangles for a customer order  Done. I need to contact the lady.
  • memory box which was going really well till I stuffed it up More or less finished.
  • put up a shelf I’ve been working on in the toilet The shelf is done… its not up yet cause I have to figure out how to put it up.
  • finish living room curtains I started over a year ago Not even started.
  • memory tin I haven’t stuffed up yet 
  • finish sorting items to donate to the work garage sale The garage sale has been and gone and I’ve found more stuff I could have donated.
Projects to start (and finish would be good):
  • make tea light holders for the porch for summer Not started
  • organise hanging baskets for around the house I bought chains… its a start.
  • fix and put up an old chandelier for the bedroom No. Its still in the casita gathering dust.
  • make a hanging light for Wayne’s desk  Changed my mind so crossed that off.
  • clean up some old metal baskets and find a home for them in the house Technically its half done, I cleaned up one of the baskets, the galvanised one I’ve used in the office to store objects for inventive dangles.


  • re-make a drawer unit into a bench for the mudroom I’ve pulled it apart and balked at the work involved. But I will do it. One day…
  • make a hat rack for mudroom No rush. The mud room is far from finished.
  • make a coat rack for mudroom Ditto. ie. Not done yet.
  • make a small box to hold mobile phones & chargers Still in the planning stages.
  • use the flour sacks to make kitchen curtains and cushion covers Not started. This needs to be done soon as I want to include those in the market stall I’m having in early December.
  • make nifty curtain tiebacks (or rather, ask Wayne to make them for me cause this one involves metal work) Eh. I’ve totally forgotten about this one.
  • find a use for some fairy lights I have The fairy lights are sitting here, waiting.
  • make a broken suitcase into a side table The suitcase is now empty and waiting for me to decide whether I should try to mend it or should upcycle it.
  • finish my tip shop chairs They’ve been put on the backburner since I need to make market stuff first.
  • fix and paint my gate leg table Ditto.
  • make a shelf under the kitchen window for herbs I have the bits. Just need to put it together.
  • paint the mudroom Well… realistically I need a ceiling in there before I can paint the walls, but the window has a frame now so that’s a step in the right direction.
Big projects: 
  • remove office carpet Not yet.
  • remove linen cupboard from LR I did this before the 31 days started.
  • paint the toilet walls Not yet.
  • make the smallest room into a walk-in wardrobe Still a way to go on that one.
  • paint the house – outside Waiting for the weather to be reliably good. I’ll be waiting forever so I’ll do it starting this month. Maybe.
  • stain the deck Ditto.
  • repaint most of the house inside, cause I changed my mind on the colours. Backburner.
Not too bad…

On the other hand, I’ve done a ton of things not on the list:

  • made a wedding present for Kelly and Simon
  • made 2 items for their wedding and for them to keep 
  • decorated the church
  • re-arranged the office furniture
  • bought a cabinet and filled it with my craft stuff
  • tossed the grimy rug from the grooming room and put down lino offcuts from the mud room, making it easier to clean
  • learned how to rust things effectively
  • planted a ton of lavenders and a few other plants and cuttings – some of which are even still alive!
  • made a dispay for my old scissors and shears
  • started quite a few projects for the market stall
  • brought the ironing board into the house and bought a new cover for it so its usable.

So, maybe I didn’t get it all done, but I’m getting there in my own way. The round-about way where I take a step forward, a few steps to the right, a step back, two steps forward, spin around, step sideways and hop to the right.

I’m taking a break now.

I think I reached a point where I’m just so tired… for the last week, at the end of a long day, I’ve had no energy to do anything but watch TV in the evenings.

I need to restore myself so my hands get restless again, then I can start working on stuff as I watch TV like I usually do. I miss my times in ‘the zone’ where I multi-task cause doing just one thing is a waste of time.

Where is SuperZefi?

I want her back!

z

day 30 – the beach

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Yesterday was a glorious day. 23 degrees C, a light breeze… It was the kind of day when Hobart is the best place in the world to live.

It was also one of those days when I have the best job in the world. Yesterday was my 1:1 day with a client where we’re free to go out and enjoy the day. We went to Kingston Beach for a long walk on the sand and along a walking track.

Today its a bit cooler, a bit rainy, and tonight the temperatures will drop and the horses will have to put their pjs on for a few days again.

Got home late yesterday, meetings you know, and just didn’t feel like doing anything at all.

So:
List some random number big enough to make you feel queasy.
Zefi nil.

Ok. Not quite, but close enough.

What I did do:
I took the dogs for a run in the paddock and laughed at their antics.
Spent some time rubbing Ben’s tummy.
Clipped off Montana and did 1/2 a groom on her as well. You could say I’ve now groomed one entire standard poodle…
Watched Mischa find the dead baby blackbird I tossed over the fence the other day, in an entire paddock, and roll in it.
I had another close encounter with the dead baby blackbird as I relocated its remains.

What I didn’t do:
Wash poodles.
Clip and wash Barney.
Fold the washing. I did move it to a place the dogs can’t sleep on it. Does that count as a tick?

Turns out I also unwittingly gave Barney a forbidden treat.

When I got home I put my bag on the floor in the corner of the office, forgetting I had a small organza bag in it (from the wedding) with 5 chocolate hearts in it.

While getting ready for bed I found an empty (and strangely undamaged) organza bag on the floor and one tiny bit of red foil. That’s all that remained.

We’re looking forward to finding the ‘decorated’ poop in the yard over the next couple of days.

z

day 29 – rusty horse shoes

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What I did today:
I mowed the lawn.
I went to Fentonbury to have a look at what work needs to be done there, and organise it.
I visited the pacing trainer I bought Ben from and collected some rusty horse shoes. Cause you never know when you’ll need more rusty horse shoes.
I put off folding and putting away clothes. Again.
I groomed half a dog. Or should I say, I half groomed one dog. I put Romeo on the table and clipped the dirt off him. Its amazing how poodles are clean under the top layer of fur. Tomorrow is Montana’s turn. Then they’ll both get a wash. At least that’s the plan.
I bought a baby oak tree. Now to research where to plant it…
I made carbonara with minimum bacon. By necessity, not choice.

What I didn’t do:
Look at my To Do list. Time is ticking, we’re nearing the end of October and I’ve barely scratched the surface of the list.

Basically, I crossed off a couple of items and added 4 more.

z