Op shopping adventure

I stayed in my jami's all day yesterday. Bliss! It's nice to have a jami day now and then, I think. We had a shuffle around of some furniture and I had a massive clean up in my craft room. There is much more to do! But I popped some of my thrifted storage containers on the desk for a little show and tell. These have been collected from local op shops over the recent months and range in price from 50cents to $3.00-a bit of a mish mash but all very useful in my crafty space.

I also recently picked up this typewriter for $5.00. I ummed and ahhhed over this. Did we need it??!!
I can't believe I gave it a second thought. The children love it and I have used it to type on some shipping tags.

As for this weeks haul-only one little pillow case...50c well spent tho'.

Playing along with Sophie's Flea Market Finds.

Little Bits of Pretty

Little Bit's of Pretty is THRILLED to sponsor this months challenge at Let's Get Shabby.
You can read all about it here!

Here's a little peek of the prize. I spy some crocheted flowers, colourful doilies, thrifted floral sheeting, vintage music paper, buttons, lace and some pretty covered buttons handmade from thrifted doilies. For a bigger peek at the prize click here.

Do you think you might like to win?? 

To be in the running, you need to create a layout or off the page item based on a childhood memory or photograph of yourself. Easy...and fun. There are also a couple of runners up prizes. That's three chances of winning something!! 

Here's my layout. I think this is the first childhood photograph of myself, that I ever actually scrapped!

 Crocheted flower made by a gorgeous family friend. You will find some in the shop.

Gosh I remember that buffet in the backround. And all the treasures in it. Sometimes, my mum would let me have a look at some of the things inside and tell me about them.

I don't remember that bike though..but gee, it is in so many photos.

I would LOVE you to join in the challenge. You'll find all the details here and the design team samples are AMAZING!

A cosy, patchy pillowcase

A sweet friend gifted me some beautiful vintage sheeting recently. Thank you sweet friend. It was so very thoughtful and lovely of you...
This gorgeous yellow made me very happy. It's so cheery and bright and I especially love the splash of pale pink in it.

I have been carrying it around in my bag trying to find something perfect to go with it. I wanted to keep the yellow as the feature fabric so initially I thought maybe the purple was going to compete but once I snipped up Boo's thrifted chenille bedspread, I felt like I was on the right track.

I have to say she wasn't that happy I snipped into it but I just couldn't get it out of my head. I held the yellow floral next to numerous other fabrics but I kept coming back to the pink chenille. I added in some denim from a hand me down dress my niece had given me and I am thrilled with the end result.

Bella loves it too and quickly claimed it as her own. I offered to make her another one and said she could choose her fabrics but she assured me this was the one she wanted-probably had something to do with the pink chenille.

Op shopping adventures

Thank you to all the lovely ladies who popped by to see my flea market finds last week. Gosh I look forward to Sunday having a peek at everyones finds. It seems you all adored the comforter...and I adore it as well but because my children have lovely handmade quilts on their bed I just didn't know if I really needed it. And thought maybe..I should have left it someone else to discover. Anyway, I am feeling reassured and it's a keeper:) and I love Lyndel's suggestion of using it for tea parties.

This week I had a lovely time fossicking through a container of buttons and choosing this little collection for 20cents.

This adorable little beaded purse-Marly, I am sure you had one one of these as a child. And the dotty fabric it's laying on-about a metre of fabric for .50c Happy.

Some lovely vintage sheets were also spied...

A couple of days after my op shopping adventure, my big girl started a new dance class-right across from an op shop. Oh my! I know how I'll be spending my 45 minutes while she is hip hopping away each Thursday afternoon. I picked up some blue floral and this pretty pink sheet.

Just as I was ready to go I lifted a bundle of thin, worn flannelette sheets and hiding right at the bottom was this bright floral number. Perfect! It's lovely and soft, in great condition. Yay!

For more flea market finds, visit Sophie!

Making breakie

On the weekend we like to sit down to something yummy and take the time to enjoy it and each other-as opposed to the go, go, go of our weekdays!

Boo's favourite is french toast. As a special treat, I bought some lovely Canadian Maple Syrup. It is SO good. I tried to be all fancy and drizzle it around the edge of the plate but it just looks like I accidently spilled it don't you think?!

 I am super thrilled though because while Ollie was eating his toast with vegemite, he asked to try some of my french toast...and he LOVED it! This is a major breakthrough because he has such simple tastes and usually, he will not even try things. Boo, on the other hand loves a huge range of foods. She loves Indian and salami and avocados and bircher muslie. And she'll try anything! Lulu is still finding her way. She loves vegemite toast too but will occasionally branch out and try something else.

The dining table might just be the prettiest spot in our home today. 
In the spirit of keeping it real...

 

Earlier this week we cooked the yummiest cinnamon scrolls. I stumbled across them on Sheree's blog who discovered them on Mel's blog. I love that about blogging..lots of link love. They were SO good. You must make them too.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend! Ours is gloriously warm and sunny!

Op shopping adventures

I've missed playing along with Sophie's Flea Market Finds and I have loads of bits and pieces that I've picked up over the past month. I really am trying to curb my op shopping addiction a little though. Today, it's all about linen, sheeting and fabric.
Gorgeous rose tablecloth!

Yellow and blue floral sheeting, red floral fabric remnant.

Yellow/green floral fabric remnant(LOVE) and brown floral round tablecloth, beautifully soft, made by Sheridan.

And this FANTASTIC bunch of quilting squares-10x10inch, 30ish squares at quick count. All for $1.50. I actually have a cushion in two of these fabrics in our front entry. It cost me $45.00 at a local homewares store. Can anyone tell me what this fabric range is?? I have spied it before in an online store.

 

 And finally, this pretty floral comforter. I am not sure if we needed this. I bought it at vinnies in Mossvale when we travelling home from holidays. I wandered through some shops for 45 mins thinking about it, umming and ahhhing..I really don't like to buy stuff just because..I have it on Lulu's cot at the moment. It's also made our reading corner a cosy space. When and if it isn't being used and loved enough, I'll donate it back:)

Hope you are having a lovely Sunday!

A new skirt

When life is busier than usual, blogging and crafting take a back seat at my place. My head is spinning with ideas, I have a gazillion things bookmarked and I feel a little frustrated because I haven't been able to make 'me time' lately. I am sure many of you relate.

This morning I just felt desperate to make something

I stayed in my jama's and the Mister took the big kids to school and did the grocery shopping.(I LOVE having a husband on holidays) I decided to pop Lulu's 'favwet show' on(Barney) and did a bit of sewing. It had to be quick and simple because sewing really wasn't on the agenda for today. After 'favwet show Barney' was watched 3 times, the mother guilt began to creep in and G turned up with the groceries:)

The little sewing fix has left me feeling happy and restored-and WANTING TO MAKE MORE!

I told Lulu, ' Look, mummy made you a new skirt'. She smiled and pointed at it and said 'ohhhh I love that'.
Happy Mama here... 

I've used some thrifted blue corduroy, the floral trim on hem comes from some thrifted sheeting and the doily pocket is another op shop find. A very cheap little skirt, cost no more than a few dollars and upcycled everything but the thread and elastic.

 Little model didn't want to play...

 This is the WANTING TO MAKE MORE... a matching bag for books and snacks!

What have you been making lately?
Do you feel a bit antsy too..when there is no time for you??

Happy Mail

My package of sheeting from the Vintage Sheet Swap arrived today! I could hardly wait to rip into it!

And to top it off I picked a couple of new sheets from the salvo's this morning too.

Better get sewing!

Warning ...photo heavy post

I've been a busy bee this week as we have had the Mother's Day gift wrapping stall at our local shopping centre. It's been super busy, I have wrapped sooo many gifts and there have been loads of lovely donations made, all going towards finding better treatments and that elusive cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Who knew that gift wrapping was so exhausting! I thought I might take a book or my knitting and wrap a few gifts here and there but we have been FLAT CHAT alllll week, which is fantastic, of course!!!

I have been neglecting my poor family blog and in case I don't get to it, I just wanted to upload a few pictures from our recent holiday for my beautiful friend who asked to see more.

I have a tonne of op shop finds to share, a spot of crafting plus some lovely show and tell from the handmade markets but have had very little time for blogging at the moment. Until then...I hope these few pics will suffice Yvette:)

P.S I just wanted to give a shout out to Wendy as well. She made the wrap dress I am wearing in the photos. I bought it a couple of months back from her gorgeous store. I loved it when I saw it but you know how you never quite know what you are getting when you purchase online...well I am SO happy with it. The fabric is lovely and it is so beautifully stitched. During the Summer I wore it with thongs and sandals(not at the same time) and now that it's cool, I am wearing it layered with jeans and leggings(not at the same time). I LOVE it! I have since purchased a sweet dress for Lulu and a gorgeous Winter coat too. I'll definately be visiting her store again. It's lovely and definately worth a peek.

Have a happy weekend, may all the mamas be spoilt!

Easter break

We've been away on a little beach holiday.

Boo LOVES the beach. She loves to dig and play in the sand, she loves collecting shells and seaweed and loves rockpooling and all the creatures waiting to be discovered. We arrived in the late afternoon and headed straight to the beach. She ran around yelling 'I'm free' and danced in the water. Then she ran up to me excitedly and exclaimed, 'look what the sea gave me' and held out a pretty little shell. Pure JOY!

 

O loves the beach too. He LOVES the water.  He loves the foam on his feet, loves to skim rocks, loves to jump over the waves and loves to swim. PURE JOY!

Lu's first time at the beach!  It took a while for her and the beach to become friends. As she walked barefoot on the sand for the first time she frowned and said 'dirt'.

We kept telling her it's the sand, this is the beach, isn't it wonderful. She kept saying 'dirt'. But eventually...she and the beach became friends..and she enjoyed all it had to offer. The water, the 'birdie friends' and even the dirt. PURE JOY!

 

This silly Mama didn't pack the togs despite the clever Daddy telling her she should! Who knew people went swimming in the middle of Autumn!? The water was chilly but it didn't stop these country kids diving into the surf in their undies and singlets.

 

Funny thing was...there were heaps of kids swimming in undies, so apparently I wasn't the only silly Mama.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter break too!