Another Busy Week .........................................................

Greetings dear friends & readers

Another week has rolled on by & we are just about to turn the calendar over Again !!

I picked the last freesia's for the season this week - before the winds & rain battered them.

Also I was so pleased to see the orchid flowering that my son & his family gifted me last year for Mother's Day 💗

Last month at our craft get-together Maureen gave everyone a flying geese shape that her husband had cut out 

of wood for each of us.

We had to paint the shape & bring to our next meeting to decoupage

I painted mine with some very pale pink chalk paint.

Last Weekend we had a 4 hour power cut ... there is not alot you can do with no power so I sat at the table & decided to start working on my flying goose.

As you can see I had "my usual furry assistance" 😉

I mod podged some of the gorgeous rice paper that I had purchased from Paint Me Vintage to my goose.

Then I added a lace ruffle & heart charm to the neck,  & found 3 small pearl heart buttons which I glued 

to one of the wings.

I also attached a hanger to the back so I could hang my flying goose.

Last Monday we met at Sally's & here are some of the ladies working on their geese - like me, some had completed them already. 

We shared a delicious lunch while the mod podge dried & then we carefully sanded the edges of our geese.

I snapped this pic just prior to lunch so you can see the bottom two are still wet & also one is yet to be trimmed.

Some of the girls used rice paper but most of them used serviettes to decoupage the geese.

It was a fun craft event & I really enjoy seeing all the different variations come to life.

The two pots above left were hauled out from under my house, painted & then I applied a Re-design transfer to the pale grey one.   I stencilled the white pot as this is a gift for my sister in law who is very much into black & white.

I would love to plant it with black pansies but I think I may have missed the pansy season here now. ❤

I have been the lucky recipient of some kindnesses lately & it was time for me to say Thank You to some folk.

I made some lavender bags using vintage linens for Jill, along with a Thank You soap ....  & I made a Soy Candle 

& some Potpourri for Julie as a "Welcome to your New Home" gift. 

Both ladies received some of my Gingernut Bites in cellophane packaging.

Then this morning I hand delivered a small parcel to my friend Marie who turned 80 the other week & wanted 

"no fuss, no bother whatsoever"

Sometimes I just don't want to not acknowledge certain things so Marie received lavender bags, choccy's, baking & some veggies from my garden.

Yesterday was my Tuesday-with-Sid day so I said to him "let's go to the Library".  

His reply was "Oh Granny I think the Library is closed ... I think there's a piece of the corona virus there".

(He's 3 & a half I might add !!)

Off we went & he spent a pleasant hour there looking at books & puzzles - I snapped the pics above of him .... probably seaching for the piece of the corona virus !! 😉

Thanks so much for stopping by today dear friends,

I hope your week is going well - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to You All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

(Still !!!) Waving My Brush Around ...............

Greetings dear friends & readers 

(warning .... photo heavy post so grab a cuppa or a tipple !!)

My dear friend Sally had a birthday coming up & after coming across this watering can in my sleepout, I decided to paint/revamp it as a gift for Sal.

These are just the aluminium watering cans that you can buy from Hardware Stores.

I pulled the half-lid off the top & then proceeded to paint it by my fire over a couple of days.

I used a lovely colour Chalk Paint called "Grey Mist"

After I was happy with my coverage I applied some transfers to both sides of it and .  .  .  .  .  .  .

.  .  .  .  .  .  . I also applied some to the spout.

To finish it off I tied a swing tag to the handle.

I had initially planned to plant it up for Sal, but in the end I decided to just include a garden voucher so she could choose what she would like planted in it herself.

Some knitted cotton dishcloths & a handmade soap also got popped in the birthday parcel .  .  .  .  .  .

.  .  .  .  .  .  . along with some Mars Bar Slice & Gingernut Bites as I know she loves my baking 💗  

I received the loveliest message from Sal to tell me how delighted she was with her parcel.

This next part of my post is especially for Gail & Sarah who both contacted me after my post about my Fireplace Mantle & asked if I could please share more info on the "fairy/snow queen dome" shown on my mantle

Happy To !!! 😊

This glass dome came from my Mum - I think she had received it as a gift but decided she only wanted the imitation succulent inside & not the dome itself.

Here is an image borrowed from the web of what it originally looked like.

For my part - I was more than happy to receive the glass dome & it sat there for many months before I finally decided to do something with it during our Lockdown.

I had the vague rumblings of an idea of what I wanted to achieve ... so I hunted out this wee fairy from amongst my Christmas decorations

I painted the wooden base, then glued on torn music papers & glued one of Sid's building blocks to the centre base as a prop.

I covered this with some dried moss (Yes I do keep all these bits on hand!!) then I glued a large bead to one side & covered it in moss - as I wanted a prop to sit my small tree on.

I made a small "banner" with music paper & a brass tag & glued this in place ... also tucked a tiny porcelain cherub in the other side.

The fairy got her wings, hair & belt removed & then I added my own dolls hair & wings as well as adding in lots of sparkly embellishments, pearl beads, more sequins to her skirt & I even made her a halo from florists wire.

Everything was either stitched or glued in place & it all came from my stash - nothing was purchased as there were no shops open !! 

I gave her a feather for a wand & then I glued a porcelain bird (also found in my Christmas stash) to the top of the dome & tied a French tag to this.

I hot glued her onto the mossy base making sure she was really stable - I also carefully wound a small set of fairy lights up around her.

Here she is in all her glory with the lights on ... the new mantle is just the perfect place to display her  💕

Last night as I was going to bed I snapped this pic of my mantle with all my fairy lights on ... Yes I do like to live in a bit of a wonderland 😉

Thank You all So Much for staying with me through this lengthy post but before we go, let's just play a wee game called "Can you spot the fairy ??"

This "game" happens most mornings when I am attempting to make my bed !!!

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead dear friends,

Be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Waving My Brush Around .......................................... Part 2

Greetings dear friends & readers

I meant to be back much sooner than this but  ......  well life just gets in the way sometimes 😊

This small wooden bookcase has been in our lounge for many years now.

While I was "waving my brush around" I decided to paint it with my "Antique White" Chalk Paint.

The new paint definately lightened it up but it still lacked something, so I played around with one of my 
Re-design transfers from Paint Me Vintage

As this is the side that is visible when you walk into my lounge I applied a couple of transfers down the side & then added some to the side of this small drawer shelf - also a Paint Me Vintage purchase 

I love how the pink floral transfers just add such a feminine touch & go especially well with the vintage china that I 
like to display in the shelves.

I lightly sanded all the edges of the bookcase to give it a distressed look

This little candle holder on the left was a $2.50 purchase from the Hospice Shop - I loved how dainty & sweet it was.

I needed a pink taper candle to sit in it ... but the only one I had was lime green (!!!) - you can just see from the end of it here the original colour

As I had no actual intentions to burn the candle I simply painted it with the leftover pale rose paint from 
 last week's suitcase project

I applied a couple of small drawer knob transfers & it sits perfectly in my new/old candle holder.

After being so inspired (& rather addicted) to the re-design transfers, our craft group ladies decided to take a road trip over to Paint Me Vintage

Six of us spent a glorious couple of hours browsing all the pretties & being inspired - & Carla, the Owner, very kindly gave us a gilded waxing demonstration

I hardly snapped any photo's & they certainly do not do the shop justice, but I was too busy taking it all in.

I had been ordering a few bits online but it is just lovely to see it in real life & be able to hold it in your hands.

We had a wonderful outing ... after Carla's we stopped for lunch at a gorgeous cafe, visited two Op Shops, then 
home again ... just enough !

After watching the demonstration I treated myself to a good quality waxing brush ... & a few other purchases came home with me too 😉

Late last week I received 2 wonderful parcels in the post ....  Sue from Kiwikids blog sent me the gorgeous doll patterns in the front & then a small order of the latest Tilda Fabric "Maple Farm & Tiny Farm" arrived from 
Milly Mac Supplies

Thanks so much for thinking of me Sue ... I just love both the patterns 💕

When I put my new (vintage) bedspread on our bed & made myself some new cushions to match I loudly declared to all & sundry (& anyone else that might be listening!!) there was No Way In The World those cats were going on the bed anymore !!!!

Well you can see who won that argument & it certainly Was Not Me !!! 😣

Thanks So Very Much for stopping by today dear friends.

I will be back (hopefully) before the end of the week with a final Part 3 as I still have more paint projects to 
share with you.

Take care & be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Waving My Brush Around ........................... (Part 1)

Greetings dear friends & readers & Welcome to Spring 💚

My absolute favourite season of them all !!

Thank You all So Much for your positive & encouraging comments regarding my Mantle in my last post - you are all such a kind bunch out here in blogland 😊

My neighbor has just delivered this sweet little dried arrangement for more pet feeding duties & it looks just perfect 

on my new/old mantle.

Seeing as it's not actually surrounding a fire like it's original purpose is - I wasn't sure what to actually put in front of my mantle

I found these vintage suitcases in my sleep out - left over from display props in my craft cottage.

I quite liked them stacked up together so an inkling of an idea was born  ..............................

I painted each one by the fire - what a faff of a job this was & Yes -  I had the furry supervision that I usually have 😉

Originally I painted all 3 with cream chalk paint but I didn't like them all the same, especially alongside the 

cream mantle - very bland.

So I used the remnants of the Pastel Rose testpot (picture frame in my last post) & some leftover pale duck egg 

that had gone rather hard but I was able to mix some water into it.

I loved the combination of the 3 pastels together.  💕

I had ordered a new Re-design transfer from Paint Me Vintage & I thought the flowers would look pretty scattered across my 3 suitcases.

The cardboard swing tags are from The Joy Within - purchased on my last trip down to Mum's.

I even found an old original leather luggage tag that I painted & applied a floral transfer to. 

They are just the perfect size for under my mantle and the best bit of all  . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . I was able to fill them with my grandson's toys, books & puzzles thus doing away with 4 random

 baskets & boxes cluttering up scattered around my lounge !!

This narrow wooden shutter was also a purchase from Paint Me Vintage ... I gave each side 2 coats of vintage white chalk paint.

It is just the right width to sit on my mantle.

Yes I found some old fairy lights in a drawer last week & have wound these all across my mantle ... The Mr just 

rolled his eyes 😉

Our small craft group were due to meet up at Maureen's.

The girls had expressed interest in learning to apply transfers at last month's meeting so I told them all to bring an opshopped item that they had painted 

Gail had ordered a couple of tranfers & we cut them up & worked out a price for each one - the girls had so much fun & said it was all totally addictive !

( Click on the pic's to enlarge & see them more clearly )

Gail had painted a small oval coffee table, 2 waste paper bins & a cute little wall cupboard

Maureen had painted a container that her husband had made her for their en-suite, & Sally had painted a rectangular op-shopped tray

I had hauled these 2 heavy ceramic pots out from under my house - I'm not sure who they originally belonged to but I emptied out the weeds & soil, scrubbed them & painted by the fire - a pale grey (leftover) chalk paint.

After applying a transfer to each one, I gave them 2 good coats of wax,  then planted them with some of my spider plant babies that I first started off in this post back in April

Thanks so much for staying with me through this lengthy post dear friends,

I will be back in a few days with "Part 2" as my paint brush has sure been getting a good work out lately !

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0