Late March Days

Greetings lovely friends & readers

On my bench today, Roses Remember Me & Heaven Scent, both gifted when Mum passed away.  I picked these yesterday as tight buds & by this morning they have opened.

 

This variety are the mini bell peppers which I grew this year for a change

Last weekend I picked all my peppers & pulled the plants out, along with the rest of my Basil which had gone to seed.  I dug over my veggie garden with a tray of worm castings, lime & 2 bags of compost.  According to my moon calendar, Tuesday 24th - 31st is very good planting time for anything that produces above ground & I plan to plant my brassicas this weekend.

I pulled out my black scabiosa a couple of weeks ago & pressed some of the remaining flower heads as well as saved lots of seeds.  I made some envelopes using scrapbooking paper, filled them with seeds & added the pressed flower - these are to be tucked into gifts.

When I went to purchase Easter bags for the Grandchildren this year I was shocked to see a price tag of $9.99, which I refuse to pay.

  I had some brown kraft bags which are 20 cents each at the supermarket so I cut out rabbit shapes using scrapbooking paper & tied their initials onto the bags - just perfect & the cost was zero.

  I have filled them with a large Egg each & an Easter activity book.  I will also do baking for the families.  The price of chocolate is very expensive here at the moment.

I decided to do an Easter table last week as my outdoor table needed a good scrub down.  I just used decor from previous Easters & kept it very simple this year.

The topiary rabbit ears that I made in * this post * was looking very brown & bare so I pulled off what I could,  then glued on some fresh green moss, which I had in my stash.  It looked much better & I am trying to remembering to spritz it with water every few days. 

This red cyclamen was in a plastic pot but I planted it in Mums old concrete urn.  Less is More I kept telling myself ... & I did remove quite a few items. 

A couple of hours after I'd finished it I came outside to find an Easter Bunny had taken up residence there .... of the ginger variety (!!) 😉🐈

I'd been trying to catch up with my friend Dee for awhile now so I invited her to afternoon tea last Tuesday.  I'd seen these simple egg pockets on Instagram - go * here * for the tutorial -  I drew my egg shape & sewed it up using this Paris fabric I had (Dee is French).  I filled my pocket with an easter serviette, chocs & a wooden bunny ornament.  I thought it looked so sweet on the white plate. 

I made a batch of simple chocolate cupcakes with frosting & I added a choccy egg to the tops.  These honestly turned out so delicious that I had to send the remainder home with Dee for her teenage sons, otherwise they would have ended up in my mouth (!!)  😑

Dee presented me with this stunning Easter basket, handmade by herself.  I just adored it ... filled with potting mix & some miniature white violas planted in it, along with eggs & rabbits 💓💓

Be still my beating heart.

Dee just used a thrifted basket that she had in her stash

 

Some faux eggs tucked in but the ones in the "broken egg" are edible - how spoilt was I !!??  

It's sitting on my dining table where I can enjoy it & I am trying to remembering to spritz the plants & moss with water.

My Easter treat-to-myself this year was the purchase of these delightful vintage egg cups off Trademe, an auction site here in New Zealand.  I just loved them & think they will be NOT packed away when the Easter decor is.  Look at that darling pink lamb .  .  .  .  

Wishing you all a most wonderful weekend dear friends,

I have more to share but I will save it for another post ... it's my turn to host the craft girls on Monday for an Easter craft so I will be back after that to share with you all,

Sending much love & friendship out to you all,

Some Round-the-House Projects - & - Some Creative Projects . . . . . . . .

Greetings lovely friends & readers

(Warning ... photo heavy post - long & waffly sorry)

 On my table today - beautiful hydrangeas in my Wrendale Jug

I snapped this sunset pic two nights ago from my back deck - just lovely with the cows grazing in the house paddock.

Last weekend my youngest son came & built a new deck on my Cottage.  (This is the cottage I used to run as a craft shop - that is another blog post all on it's own).  

Though I've forgotten to take a before pic, the deck was very rotten & I'd actually gone through it in two places.  I helped Kayne pull up the old timber which came away easily.  My son trained as a Builder though he no longer builds but will do odd jobs for cash (& sandwiches) 😉

At the end of Day 1 it was looking good but he still had the edge to finish & also drill & nail it off properly.

Prior to this being done I'd had to cut all my plants away from the deck in order to make it easier access for Kayne.  

Unoiled                                            Oiled with two coats

Day two & we have a completion.  During the week I've oiled it twice but I'll still give it another coat, maybe two. 

I'm thrilled with how it turned out & am reluctant to put back all the old junk treasures that I had on it. 

My task for last weekend was to slowly burn all the old deck timber on my rubbish heap, as well as keep Kayne supplied in a steady stream of curried-egg/ham sandwiches & homemade Lemon cordial. 

We have had the trees cut up that fell down in * this post *.  I now have a large pile of mulch to distribute on my gardens.  Does anyone else get as excited about fresh garden mulch as I do??  

I must admit though, I wish I could wiggle my nose & the job was done 😉

The tree men left the huge stump in the ground so The Mr bought home the farm tractor today & lifted it out for me, as well as removing some of the huge timber rings that I could not lift.  Gosh it makes life so much easier when you have the heavy-lifting tools to do the job.

Here he is lifting out some of the huge wood rings & here is the stump on the back tray, ready to go to the burning hole at the farm.  

It did not take long for a certain golden eyed girl 😺to come check out all the farm smells on the tractor. 

During the big storm we had last January our neighbor lost trees that fell over power lines - power was out for over 8 hours while it was repaired.  He has slowly been having a large thicket of trees removed along the road verge.  

So I was surprised (& delighted) to see them continue down the paddock.  For the 25+ years that we have lived here we have looked out onto this large thicket of trees.  I would call it a hedgerow but it was many trees planted together, not singular trees.  It has never bothered me but now that they are removing them & opening it up - Oh My!!!  The light has come in & I can see the stunning Maungatautari Ranges in the distance.  You can see the digger working away in my photo & the gap appearing in the right hand pic.  This is taken standing on my deck, but zooming in.  

Slowly the gap widens.  Yesterday they began burning the huge heaps of rubbish, two fires behind the depot yard, which was a bit nerve wracking as it was windy.  

This pic was taken just before I sat down to type this post - standing just outside my kitchen door.  I cannot explain the Joy that this fills me with, seeing the view across the farmland.

  The Mr has told me I am Not to tell the neighbor how happy this has made me as he would be out there replanting the trees in the blink of an eye (our neighbor is a difficult man) 😉

Some creative projects also happened this past week - I sat in the sun on my deck & painted these two silver dishes that had belonged to my late Mum.  I did one in Shabby Pink & the other in Vintage White chalkpaint & then added some decor transfers to them. 

They look lovely amongst some of my Easter decor.

You may remember other silver trays of Mums that I painted in * this post *. 

I completed an order for 10 applique tea-towels for an old friend/customer.   I haven't done these since 2018 when I closed my craft cottage & I'd forgotten how much work they were.  Amanda requested 6 golly ones & 4 hen ones ... these are currently in the post on their way to her.  

Thank you so much dear friends, if you've stayed through this lengthy post, 

With these uncertain times in the world currently, I hope you do find something to smile about in the week ahead.

Sending much love & friendship out to you all,

Some March Chit-Chat

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Welcome to March - with that wonderful touch of Autumn in the air  🤎

 Eldest son came to stay a night last week & bought me this stunning bunch of flowers.  There's a girl with a roadside stall not far from where he lives & he likes to support her.  The Roses had the faintest lovely fragrance which filled the dining room.

Last week we finally got our craft group get-together at Liz's.  We painted & decorated bottles & it was just wonderful sitting out in the sun on Liz's porch, painting & chatting together.  I loved Sharlaine's above right, with their dark moody vibe.

Liz & Gail's above left & Joyce's right - Joyce was doing a "bee theme" on her bottle.  

As I'd already finished my bottles I took a pair of vintage shoe stretchers along to paint & decorate.  I used some of the transfer that we purchased on our recent trip to Paint Me Vintage - I'm delighted with how they turned out.  

Gail had some lacquer there so I gave them a coat once I'd put the transfers on.  

Some touches of Easter decor are appearing at Threadbear HQ this week - I was keen to decorate my vintage Singer Sewing table using my bottles & my handmade Easter Tree. 

I am very partial to all the pretty pastels at Easter time.

Though our mornings are Cold the days are beautiful.  Yesterday I painted some old wooden spoons out on my deck table.  If you have unwanted voluntary assistance 😸 remember to give them nap breaks as it is rather tiring watching paint dry (!!)

These wooden spoons can be picked up very cheaply at Op-shops (50 cents each) - I painted one in Pale duck egg & one in Vintage white.  Then I added some more of the transfer remnants.  I like to use every single scrap when I purchase a transfer.

A simple, pleasing Easter arrangement on my kitchen bench  🐰🩶

A plain white tag that I added a transfer to & tied onto a cloche.

On the sewing front there has been very little activity - I found this old Rosalie Quinlan book & decided to make the Petite Thread basket.  I used a remnant of the Peter Rabbit fabric that I'd purchased last Easter to make this hanging hand-towel.  I'm not sure why my photos are appearing yellow-ish today - but it turned out very sweet.

It's made up of 6 segments & a base - I fussy cut the rabbit pictures for each segment & added a bobble trim to the top.  

I think it will be cute with some wrapped eggs in, but we won't do this too soon as they have a habit of ending up in my mouth (!!) 😐

When my dear friend Sandy posted me a birthday package last year she included a packet of Black Scabiosa Seeds.  I grew them in early spring & they have been just so stunning in my garden, even wonderful as cut flowers with their nice lengthy stems.  

As I've been seed saving this past week I gathered a large bag of seeds so I can sow them again next spring.  

Thank you so much for your welcome visits here today dear friends & listening to my chit-chat,

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week, remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

 

"Playing" With Paint & Transfers

Greetings lovely friends & readers

 Valentine's Day flowers picked from my garden last weekend ... dahlias, cosmos, alstroemeria & some early chrysanths 💗

I saw this verse on Instagram & loved it ... it's okay to give yourself the day off !

For our craft group get together last week we were decorating bottles.  I'd visited Gail to get some bottles as she had a large stash of all shapes & sizes - these are the three I chose.

  Many of the girls were going for a slightly Gothic theme - hence Gail had already painted the medium sized bottle black.  I decided to go for a pastel theme - you can see me deciding on a green shade with the larger bottle. 

My assistant in the background, was having a wee nap  ❤

On our recent trip to Paint Me Vintage both Gail & I had purchased this Redesign with Prima transfer above.  It was a new release for Easter/spring & I adored it.  I decided to use it on my bottles.  

Our get-together didn't actually go ahead due to Liz's husband being rushed to hospital with chest pain .. so Gail & I got together several days later & decorated some of our already-painted bottles. 

 

I first used a paper serviette on the medium blue bottle, but after a couple of days I decided I no longer liked it ... this is the beauty of mod-podge .. I just sat the bottle in a basin of warm water & the serviette peeled off no problem & I wiped the bottle down.  I added this bunny transfer & also an old frame I had with a missing back.  

The smallest bottle I'd painted cream & Gail gave me this wooden frame piece.  It fit perfectly over my bunny & I painted it, waxed it, then wiped it over with a darker wax.  I'm now thinking I may add some gold to the edges of it.  

Here is the frame I painted for my medium sized bottle - sorry my photos are all over the place today  😶

I painted this with Robins Egg chalk paint & then lightly wiped the edges with Antique Gold Rub-n-buff.

My favorite of them all is the tallest bottle which I painted with chalk paint in the colour Country Green.  I added this rubber decal, painted it & then popped a small transfer in the middle.  I glued some thickish lace to the base & painted this the same green.  I then white waxed over the details to make them pop.  I think this is an old Gin bottle as it has Pierre Smirnoff engraved on the back of it.

I painted some wooden tags & attached transfers to these ... the smallest one is an old broken key ring that had a buzzy bee in the centre.   I prized it open, removed the photo, removed the glue, added a white piece of paper & a tiny transfer & glued it all back together again.  Also an old broken brooch has been glued to the rim.  Never throw away those broken bits & pieces dear friends 😉😉

Here are my bottles so far ... I love them all but my favorite is the green one.  

Let me know if you have a favorite dear friends.

The day we visited Paint me Vintage the Owner Carla, was standing at her counter painting plastic eggs to do an Easter display.  

Both Gail & I very were interested as we both had plastic eggs at home in our stashes.  

I painted 6 eggs ... 2 pink, 2 blue & 2 green.  I added transfers to these & then glued thin ribbon to the hole in the top.  I wanted to make an Easter tree.  

Remember the trees that fell down in * this post * ? ... well we are still waiting on the tree men to come & clean them up so off I go with my loppers & cut myself some branches from them to make my Easter tree.  

Hard to get a good photo on this dull overcast day.  

My little display ... Yes I agree, it's far too early to be thinking anything Easter-ish but this can just sit & wait a few weeks until I put my Easter decor out.  I found some crochet hearts in a bag of lace so I painted them with watered down PVA glue & strung these from my branches also.  

(This next part is especially for You Ellie)

Last week I gave my deck table & surrounding areas a good scrub.  I had a new length of hessian to use & wanted to do a late summer/autumnal display.

As you can see dear friends, a certain Little Cat thought this was the most wonderful fun & Mum must've put this here just especially for my entertainment.  

After nearly half an hour of this carry-on I managed to get the table runner down & he just curled up & went to sleep (!!)

I think it was about this point that I gave up & walked away!!!

Nothing is ever easy around here with the assistance of one or other of the furry family members.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend dear friends - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

Thank you as always, for your welcome visits here today,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,