A Catch-Up Post (part 1)

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Some days/weeks it feels like I achieve very little but once I look back through my photos, I see this is not always the case.

The last of the Freesias picked before the thunderstorm came

 I have been in hospital for some surgery & I came home with a long list of things I was not allowed to do .... fortunately crafting was Not one of them.

My neighbor gifted me this set of vintage scales back in January for pet feeding duties.  She no longer wanted them but they were always missing their tray.  I kept an eye out on my Op-Shop travels & found this expandable cake tin for just 50 cents in the bargain bin.

I painted it with 2 coats of matt black paint & then 2 coats of clear acrylic spray varnish.

It could do to be a little larger but in the meantime it does the job wonderfully & I'm thrilled with my 50c purchase.

My youngest son cut me out these house shapes from a piece of custom-wood that I had lying around.  This design is from an old pattern identical to this one * Here *.   Yes I had "assistance" from Blackie with this project 😉 - he very kindly helped me select which buttons to use. 

I spray painted 5 of the tags with some matt black & then added Christmas fabrics to the roof.  I glued on some wooden buttons from Theodora Cleave that I already had in my stash.  The tags can be written on with chalk, then rubbed off & re-used.  These were such a fun project. 🎄

These are photographed beside my adorable new tin sign from my dear friends Jane & Sally

One of my favorite things to do is watch YouTube videos - I find them very inspiring.  At present it seems everyone else is decorating for autumn & there are pumpkins Everywhere!  I found this simple free pattern on the internet & decided to try knitting some myself - I just love how these turned out & am now knitting some in paler colours.  Though I don't consider myself a very good knitter, these were simple & fun to create.

I had a packet of wooden coathangers in my stash like these ones * here *.  I had painted two of them ages ago but never done anything with them.  I wanted to make gifts for two friends so I decoupaged them with a gorgeous Rice Paper & then stitched my friends initials onto some linen offcuts.  These initials are a pattern from Jenny of elefantz designs - I stitched them using Cottage Garden thread Pink Lavender & tied them onto the hooks. Just before gifting I'll add a generous drop of lavender oil to them. 💜

Last year I purchased two Tilda Mystery Boxes from Craft with Fee.  I have been slowly finishing off all the projects in them & this needlecase was the last one.  Everything is included in the kitset - you just have to sit & make it all up, which is lovely & relaxing.  This particular Tilda fabric was one of my favourites from an older range.  

Just prior to my hospital admission it was my eldest sons birthday.  Nobody could visit as they all had colds & I could not afford to catch anything, so there was no celebration.  

As soon as I was home & able to, I baked him his favourites - Lasagne, & a Raspberry & White Chocolate Shortcake presented with a bowl of whipped cream! He was delighted.

(Just some of the woolly mammoths that I managed to get a pic of)

I have had Sid a couple of days last week as its school holidays here in New Zealand.  We went along to our local Library as their school holiday programme was Dinosaur Themed.  We made woolly mammoths.  Now let me tell you dear friends ... this was by far the most exciting thing that I've done for ages!! Which probably tells you something about my life of late.  (in fact I am pretty sure I enjoyed it way more than Sid did - I am writing this small as if I am whispering to you)

Thank you so very much for your visits here today dear friends,

I shall be back in a few days with Part 2 as I have lots to catch up on here,

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

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x