Arts And Crafts

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Whenever I ask Sid what he would like to do today he always replies "Arts & Crafts".  I save a myriad of boxes, tubes & other containers that I think he might enjoy creating with.

The other day he made a "marble run" ... a contraption made of tubes etc for his marbles to go down - even including a sharks mouth for the marble to run through. I am always amazed at his imagination & he never needs any prompting.

 

Every Tuesday after school we go to Lego Club which is held in a part of our local Library.  Afterwards we go into the Library & he chooses books to get out.  The Christmas craft book above left caught his eye as he wanted to make the Snow Globe Terrarium in it.  Off to the Op-shop we go to buy a large glass jar for $2.  Thankfully Granny had everything else required to make it.

Sid wanted to "re-enact" the scene shown in the book so I found my other bottle brush trees & we did a matching display.  The snow globe has fairy lights in it but ours aren't showing up well in my photo.  We had to thread white pompoms onto clear fishing twine to make the effect of the snow falling.  Sid was delighted when Granny found a remnant of green ric-rac for his lid. 😉

Also in the book were these Christmas Pinecone Owls.  Luckily I had some pinecones in my woodshed so we made one of these as well but chose not to spray paint our pinecone.  

I've covered Connor's face as I don't have his Mums permission to put his photo on the internet

Sid had been asking for a friend to come so we invited Connor, a boy from his class & such a sweet delightful boy.  Together they made a range of characters using cardboard loo roll tubes.  I googled & found * this * wonderful site for ideas.

  When I collected Sid from school this past week Connor came up to me in the playground & said "Granny - I've been saving my toilet roll tubes for the next time I come to your house".  What a perfect compliment 💙

My lovely friend Kiwikid Sue & her husband have been on a trip over to New Zealand & we arranged to meet up in Tirau for lunch.  I had wanted to give Sue a wee gift for her new (6 month old!!!) Grandson Finn - just a little handmade Kiwiana gift, so I sewed some bibs & a matching teething ring, then made a cat from a wool blanket in my stash. 

I pulled apart an old toy of Sid's & removed the rattle from inside it - then I stuffed the cat with the rattle inside & it sounded great.

My friend Carolyn has been up for 2 weeks dog-sitting for her son while he was overseas.  Carolyn wanted a chalk painting & decoupage lesson so we organised a painting day together last Saturday.  She painted the thrifted tray & bowl above & then I showed her how to decoupage them using paper serviettes.  She plans to gift these two items filled with baking. 

I had been working on this old saw that had belonged to my Dad - I bought it home in March when I emptied out the family home.  The Saw was rusty so I sanded this off & then coated it with Fishoilene which I found in The Mr's shed. 

Unfortunately the Fishoilene was still sticky after 5 days of sitting the saw by the fire.  I googled "fishoilene still tacky" & it suggested sprinkling talcum powder over it to remove the stickiness.  I figured I had nothing to lose so I sprinkled it liberally with talc & then shook the rest off onto the grass.  This certainly did the trick & took away any sticky residue.  While Carolyn was painting her woodware I painted Dad's Saw - 2 coats of black chalkpaint.

I wanted to gift the Saw to my Brother for his birthday - he is right into growing veggies but although I looked hard I could find no transfers or serviettes relating to this theme.  In the end I used offcuts of the Botanical transfer that I used on * this box * & was really pleased with the end result. 

  I have sprayed the saw with two coats of clear matt finish varnish as I think this will protect it well.  I especially love the detail on the wooden handle & will give this a couple of coats of wax before I gift it to him next month.  

Little One is fine & dandy & living his life to the fullest ......

He enjoys watching the birds out the dining room window as they eat the bread I toss to them.  We leave the door open for him to venture outside but he is still a little timid as yet & has only gone a handful of steps out.  Mind you, if you could see the face on the Ginger girl who guards the door, hissing, spitting & banging on the glass, you would think twice about venturing out too (!!!)

Little One is fixated with the front-loading washing machine & spends a great deal of time watching it agitate round & round.  He is also absolutely obsessed with the toilet ... the above funny appeared in my inbox this morning from The Mr. 😐

A funny thing I've noticed that he does ... when I use my grumpy voice to him, shake my finger & say No - he squints his blind eye at me several times as if to say "Well I am incapacitated you know!" 

Dear Pippi & Blackie have not become friends with him as yet.  I live in hope but I think that the website I read that stated "it can often take 8 to 12 months" was probably referring to Our Household!  He has been in the household for 9 1/2 weeks now & for those that were wondering - Yes I am counting!!  

The photo of Blackie is especially for you Willie my friend ... notice no leg-in-the-air today 😉  

Alec picked these few straggly daffodills yesterday when I had him here - we had really strong winds on Friday & these were almost flattened.  They make me feel that hopefully, spring is around the corner.

Thank you, as always, for your ever-welcome visits here today dear friends,

Wishing you all a Happy Sunday (I started this blog post 3 days ago now!!)

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

A June Recap

 Greetings lovely friends & readers 

Even though we are now well into July,  it's time for a bit of a June recap. (warning - rather photo heavy)

We had a family day out to "the big smoke" of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, about 2 hours north of us.  First we visited Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World.  I last visited here when my 2 sons were aged 4 & 8 years old & my brother took us all as a treat.  I had been wanting to take my 2 Grandsons for awhile now as I felt they were really good ages to enjoy it.

 The boys both loved it so much & all agreed their favourite of all was the Penguin enclosure.

Sid found a new friend 😉

Eldest son taking photo is not in pic

Next we drove into Mission Bay & had an early lunch at the Bald Eagle Diner.  This was fun & then a walk along the beach front back to our vehicles.

After lunch we visited the Auckland Museum & saw the Dinosaur Exhibition amongst other wonderful displays.  I took 98 photos of our day out so I have just tried to pick out a few special ones to share with you.

I loaned my dear friend Claire a Simply Vintage Magazine - the same copy I used to make this primitive pumpkin..  When she posted it back she included "extras"

The sweetest fabric pear & a matching miniature quilt in autumnal colours - she had sewn both items for me as a thank you for lending her the magazine.  Needless to say I have offered her several other copies Any Time She Likes!  😉

I completed an Order for my lovely friend Shirley for 4 lavender/lace coathangers along with some more Mothball sachets.  When I posted my Mothball sachet recipe on Instagram I received orders for 24 of them.

I celebrated another birthday in June - 63 years around the sun! Happy Birthday to Meee!  We had a family tea celebration planned but had to postpone due to Alec developing Whooping Cough, so youngest son Kayne came to visit me after work with Sid.  

We managed to have our postponed pizza dinner last night & my daughter-in-law made me the most delicious carrot cake 💝

With some birthday money I treated myself to this expensive-but-gorgeous book above.  You can buy it in New Zealand from * Here *.  I drool over the pages & want to make Everything in it!

When I cleared out Mum's house in early March I bought this old silver tray home with me - Mum used it to sit her toaster on for as long as I can remember.  I sanded the rust off,  chalk painted it & applied a sweet lavender transfer.  

It is school holidays here in New Zealand so I have been on Granny duties. I took both boys to Extreme Edge Rock Climbing last Thursday & they had a wonderful time until it got super busy with other kids.

They very much enjoyed the coin operated air hockey game. 

I let them choose where to go for lunch & of course they choose that old favourite McDonalds.  I didn't mind as I rather enjoy their fillet of fish burgers & fries. 

A Little One Update:

Well I would love to tell you its all going tickety-boo but unfortunately it is Not.  Little One is fine & living his best life but Blackie & Pippi are most unhappy & they have not learnt to get along yet - it's over 6 weeks now.   I tried tough love the other day whereby I shut Little One in the cage above right, & shut Pippi in the same room so that they could get to know each other through the cage but it was traumatic & the most traumatised of all was Me!  Having said all that I did read this online (read the highlighted part) & realise it is still very early days. So I shall persevere & in the meantime, continue to eat chocolate (!!!) 😐

Thankyou as always dear friends for stopping by today,

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the (3) furry ones x0x0x

L.B.L.O. (Life Before Little One) 😉 ...... & an Update

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Life is still very chaotic here at Cat Central Threadbear HQ but I realised I had not shared some projects that I'd finished before Little One came into our lives & tipped everything on its head !! 

The Mr sent this through to my inbox yesterday morning ... I did not laugh like once I would have 😉😐

Before Little One I found an old wooden frame in my stash & chalk painted it off white.  I then framed the wonderful Certificate that Sid gave me in * this Post *. It hangs on my sewing room wall 💗

Before Little One I called to visit my friend Jane whom I hadn't seen in many months.  Jane was just about to list this gorgeous vintage needlework picture on Trademe, an auction site here in New Zealand.  As luck would have it I was able to purchase it off her & I absolutely adore it! My photo is not really doing justice to the beautiful colours in this handwork piece. 

Before Little One I hauled this old wooden stool out of my sleepout. It was a $2 purchase from the Paws Animal Care op-shop.  I was originally going to just paint over the old vinyl top but in the end I removed all the staples & took it off. 

This was fortunate because the original foam padding had completely disintegrated & turned to dust.  I cleaned all this off with a scraper & gave the stool a good scrub with sugar soap. 

I gave the legs 3 coats of chalk paint in the colour Sage - the same colour I used on this small table.  I gave the top 3 coats chalk paint - Vintage White which is really more of a cream.  Then I applied this White Cloud transfer.   I lightly sanded the whole thing as I wanted it to have a time worn appearance.  I will use this either as a plant stand or just a stool to put a cuppa on - these are always handy as little side tables.  

While still on the "$2 theme" I saw this wooden box on my last trip down to Mum's, in the Hospice Shop, sitting forlornly in the corner.  The first thing that popped into my head was "pansies" ...  I could visualise it planted with pansies.

Once again, a good scrub & then two coats of a matt black testpot that I had in my stash. You can see I painted the inside well too.  Miss Pip used it in the interim as a sleeping box - then I added some of the leftover Botanical Transfers from * this * chest of drawers..  I waxed it really well both inside & out before lining it with a folded up black rubbish sack.   I forgot to add that I drilled 6 holes in the base for drainage.

As originally planned, I planted it with a selection of 6 gorgeous flowering pansies - they are so pretty here in New Zealand this time of year.  

The reason I used the Botanical transfer was because I wanted to sit in on the chest of drawers that I'd previously upcycled out on my deck.  Many things that I sit on here blow off & I knew this was solid & weighty enough to withstand some wind.  

I am so pleased with how this turned out. I've put a piece of oilcloth underneath so that when I water it, it doesn't run over onto the wooden drawers. 

An Update on Rascal Little One ........

Physically he is doing very well. On a trip to the Vet last Friday he was pronounced well enough to have his surgery (neutering). I don't know what they gave him but he came home bouncing off the walls & has not really stopped since.  He has finished all his antibiotics & even his blind eye is looking alot better.  He is living The Life of Riley

He is most fascinated with the fire & cannot understand it - our fire makes a noise as it has a fan fitted in it to blow the heat around

Now that he has some confidence he is venturing further than the spare room ... there is much to explore in this house & different smells.  This is not always a good thing as I have to be vigilant with my other two cats.  Blackie takes not alot of notice but then he is gone most of the day to his favourite sleeping spots outdoors.  Miss Pip, being an indoor cat, has her nose most out of joint & I can't leave them alone as yet at all! This means not alot gets done. 

She is currently allowed to do things she would normally NOT be allowed to do ... such as sleeping in my underwear drawer (!!) 😟  (You may notice I managed to quickly tuck a cuddly rug down to save on cat hairs)

Oh dearie me .... & on it goes . . . . . . . . . .

My friend Elaine popped by for a visit last week & gifted me this beautiful bowl of Viola's - perfect colours for my deck table, & such a lovely surprise.

Thank you as always dear friends, for your visits here today,

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - its mid winter here in New Zealand now & a bit gloomy,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones (3) x0x0x

The Tale of "Little One"

Greetings lovely friends & readers

I captured this stunning sunset last night from our deck area.

Well my dear friends ... it would seem that - without even trying ... we appear to have become a three-cat-family 😉

Let me tell you the tale of "Little One"

(Yes named by The Mr - can't you tell !!)

You can clearly see the glassy eye in this photo above - this is the one he is blind in

His pregnant Mum was dumped at the metal pit beside the farm that The Mr runs ... this is a frequent occurrence (cats being dumped) as the farm is at the end of a dead-end road, not very far from town - so they don't have to use much petrol to abandon their animals. 😠  This infuriates me but that's not why we're here today. 

 Pregnant Mum (black & white) made her way to the cowshed where The Mr feeds a motley crew of assorted previously-dumped cats.  The Mr always maintains "you either shoot them ... or you feed them but you never starve them".  I am inclined to agree with him.  Our small rural town no longer has an SPCA so there is nowhere to take these dumped cats & nobody wants them.  

Pregnant Mum gave birth to Little One & a black/white female kitten around Christmas time if my memory serves me correctly.  The Mr would sometimes send me photos of Little One & I remember saying I thought he had Siamese in him.  Always one eye was runny.  As time went on & he became very friendly The Mr decided he needed to get him neutered so off to the Vet they go.  The Vet checked him out thoroughly & informed The Mr they would not be doing the surgery as he had a nasty lung infection & an eye infection, as well as being born blind in one eye.  She also said he needed to be kept inside & given antibiotics & eye drops in order to recover properly or the lungs would never clear up.

The first I knew of this was when The Mr arrived home & plonked the cat cage on my table ... what should we do??!! What a dilema ... we both shook our heads.  So The Mr said we'll try it for one night & see how it goes. 

It's a very stressful life here at Threadbear & sometimes we get tired from playing with the toys!!!

Now let me be 100% honest here dear friends.   Do I want a 3rd cat? No I most certainly do not!! Somedays - I don't even want the two I've got !!!! (sorry Pip, sorry Blackie) But can I bear the thought of him living in the tractor shed in the cold & the damp with a lung infection?? No I cannot.  

And so we do the best that we can.

He has certainly made himself right at Home in the spare bedroom & Yours Truly (myself) even found herself in a weak moment at the Variety Store last week - purchasing cat toys (!!!!) 😖

Back again to the Vets last Thursday for another check up (we're up to $397 currently) ... & although he is much better, he's still not well enough for an anaesthetic, so another weeks antibiotics.  

Oh my goodness ... how on earth did this happen I ask myself?! 

Unfortunately along the journey of caring for him - he has well & truly crept into my heart & I just adore him.  

The Mr informed me that several people had been to the farm to look at taking him but they all either wanted a female so they could breed from her ... or the weepy eye put them off.  Our new milkers took him home & he lasted one night before he escaped through a window & back up to the hay barn to his family.  

The minute I walk into the spare bedroom he gives a tiny squeak & starts to purr 💙

And so - for now - Little One appears to be living here at Threadbear HQ - & what the future holds I am not too sure. I always said introducing another cat would upset the balance but we shall see what unfolds.  And while I am being honest here my friends ... No it is Not all cuteness & playing with toys - it is VeRy stressful & I find I feel anxious alot of the time & get very little achieved with endeavouring to keep everyone (3 cats) happy !! 

And what's a girl to do when her Mother does this despicable thing ... bringing in a strange-looking creature to the house?  Why take to her bed of course & while she's at it - sleep on one of the Good Cushions that she's usually Not allowed on 😉😖

I found some time over the weekend for a couple of creative pursuits ... my friend Sally had given me this gorgeous vintage fine lawn nightie in a toile pattern & asked me to make her some lavender bags from it.  I had enough of it to make a lavender sleep pillow too.  The sewing room smelt heavenly with the lavender fragrance  💜

I made up another batch of Laundry Liquid over the weekend. I find a batch usually lasts me about a year ... I used the recipe in Rhonda's book below, which I refer back to all the time.  The vintage decanters have been thrifted over the years & I love filling them with the liquid but I keep a plastic milk bottle under my laundry sink to use daily so I can give it a really good shake first as the liquid can tend to gel.  

Thank you so very much for staying to the end dear friends,

I am off to fill the wood basket again - a heavy frost here this morning & its taking some work to get the house warmed up.

Wishing you all a wonderful rest-of-the-week,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones (all 3 of them !!!)