A week of this & that

Hello dear friends & readers,

Do hope you are all having a great weekend??

It has been a busy week of a mixed bunch of things.

At the beginning of the week I did some painting.

When we put our new kitchen in, we took out a doorway to give us room for a pantry.

We have lots of doorways into our house so one less wouldnt matter.

Nothing more had been done since & it was looking tatty along that side + some areas needed repairing & tidying up 
  

I set to last weekend as I knew I had a couple of groups due & wanted it a little more presentable

I ended up having to do 3 coats but it now looks far nicer

Hard to tell there was ever a door there now

 I then rescued some old plates from the back of a cupboard
(& gave them a new lease of life)

Plus moved a suitcase I had planted earlier on top of an old table which I treated to a fresh new piece of oilcloth underneath

Lobelia petunias & impatiens - growing slowly

      Really pleased with the end result

much fresher & cared for looking :-) 

I have also been working on reducing my rubbish heap

with lots of fires later at night

(we dont have rubbish collection out here)

nosey parkers

the other night I had a small audience! !

The busgroup that came on Thursday had planned to have their lunch in town in the Rose Gardens

But it was such a lovely day they asked to eat it here

A lovely bunch of ladies from Tauranga

I do love to share the garden - especially when the sun shines

I have also finished an order for my friend Donna (from 2 posts ago) who ordered some aprons for her gallery 

Her only request was that they be frilly, girly & lacey

     I cant decide if above or below is my favourite. . . 

  They arrived & Donna was very happy with them (phew~!!)

I do always agonise a bit over orders

Then on Friday my friend Claire -
(that I posted about back in August) 
-  called in on her way to Auckland to attend Calico Christmas

She bought 3 other lovely, lovely ladies with her

Sarah, Sandra & Lynley

we had a cuppa & a catch-up & a laugh

& they had a look in the cottage

As they were leaving Claire put a surprise package in my arms

then they drove off . . .

Ooohh my goodness . .  .  this looks interesting . .  .

 Inside was the MOST beautiful dolly

Plus some rusty bells, wax melts & a felt ornie

It took me all of 5 mins to find a home for her where I could see her & enjoy her

Thankyou Claire - I love her so much :-)

(I have named her Prim)

I had to go to Cambridge this week for a part for the tractor

for the Mr

I happened to park right outside this lovely shop (! !)

& made an impulse purchase (I very rarely do this)

But it was the words that I loved so much

& thought "I have just the place for this"

            it is actually painted on slats of wood

I have hung it by the entrance that I use all day long

so I can read it & remind myself

(today the Mr walked me outside & pointed to line 6 - "don't whine" ) point taken!!!

  
Even Mr Wolf was impressed with my purchase!!

Yes Mum you definately need to read Line 6 !!!

Finally friends, I am trying to revamp my DLE marketing cards
(it is proving to be a real headache)
I asked my friend Pele to take some proper photos for me to use for images on my cards
I was amazed at the detail that showed up in my work
compared to my funny ol' photography
Pele is a professional photographer & works under this label
http://www.onelifephotography.co.nz/about.html  
I love her little "verse" 
- Remember the moments that changed you -
Anyway I thought over the next few posts I would share with you
some of her photos of my craft work 

Soy candles in vintage cups

   

vintage gloves filled with lavendar

matryoshka angels in china bowl

dear little Isabella

I will share them with you over the coming posts
& you will all think I am taking very professional pics
at long last :-)

Wishing you all a happy & safe one out there folks
Love/hugs/friendship,
Julie