Craft Group Decoupage & "Paint Me Vintage" .......... Catch Up Post # 2

Greetings dear friends & Readers 

Welcome to Catch Up Post No 2 !!

On Monday of last week our little craft group got together again - our meetings have been sporadic this year but 
there are no rules 😉
We all met up at Joyce's home to do some decoupage using paper serviettes.

Sharlaine's work above left & Joyce's to the right

Some of us had painted wooden items to bring along to decoupage.
The technique we used was simply to mod podge the cut out serviettes onto the items.

Maureen's wooden bottle & letters for her grandaughters
(Note - I have photographed these items in their "wet state" - they will smooth out as they dry)

Gail worked on two wooden birdhouses

I had painted this wooden box the week prior, & then decoupaged it with some cut out tissue flowers 
I am not happy with my box & plan to sand it right back & begin again (sometime !!!)


Late last week The Mr needed a tractor part collected from Tauranga.  I rather quickly volunteered my time to drive across country & pick the part up for him - he is calving at the moment so he is especially busy.

You see I had a "method in my madness"  😉 as I wanted to visit a certain shop over that way that I had come across on the internet

This shop right here !! 💕

The beautiful Shop Counter created & upcycled by Carla

I spent a wonderful hour browsing at all the gorgeous things in this store ... the Store Owner Carla, was just delightful & so helpful & generous with her information.

She was also happy for me to snap some photos.

SOooooo many beautiful things that made me Wish I had a bigger bank balance 😉
(& perhaps a trailer !!!)

You can find this wonderful shop's website Here

* Here * on Facebook     
 & *here* on Instagram

And Yes - of course - some purchases came away with me!!

I had been wanting some transfers & a stencil for quite awhile now so I treated myself to these, along with some rice paper (for decoupage) & a small pot of a new paint colour to try.

And this gorgeous upcycled 3-tier tray just might have come Home with me too 💗
I am looking forward to displaying some pretties on it.

While I have been busy lately creating birthday gifts for friends celebrating "special birthdays" my Orders have somewhat piled up on me .... so I made a start last weekend with these candles for my dear friend Shirley.

The containers are Shirley's own & she requested the fragrances Calico & Sandlewood/Musk in them.

With constant winds & rain here today, it is a good crafting day.

Her Royal Highness is in residence by the fire & I am happy about this because . . . . . . it means she is not outdoors bringing in rodents!!!

Have a wonderful rest-of-the-week dear friends,

I shall be back at the weekend with my final Catch Up Post.

Thanks as always, for your visits today,

With much love & friendship,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0x

Catching Up .............. Post # 1

Greetings dear friends & readers

I have been missing from blogland for over two weeks ... the words & the photos just go around & around in my head & I've been unable to find the time to write anything down.
So I have decided to do another series of Catch Up Posts this coming week, probably three of them 😊

Today is Mother's Day here in New Zealand ... I want to wish all the Mother's out there, be it two or four legged ones, 
A Very Wonderful Day  💗
(If you manage to stay with me til the end of this post you will see the "very kind & generous gift" that Miss Pippi presented me with this morning)


Quite sometime ago I entered a wee Giveaway over on Raewyn's blog
There were two draws, one for a book & one for some thread -  & I was lucky enough to win the book.

I had quite forgotten about it as Raewyn informed me it had to come all the way from the States - so it was such a wonderful surprise to receive it in the post last week.
Thanks so much Raewyn for the opportunity to enter your generous Giveaway.


In my last Post I wrote about the Winter Wreath Workshop my friend Sally was holding at this amazing Venue *here*.
Last weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to go with my friends Sally & Jane to visit the Venue, while Sally did some prep for her upcoming Workshop

We were lucky enough to be given a tour of the house & the gardens & I rather promptly fell in love with all of it.
Although I think I took about 50 photos, I have just shared a very few with you here

The formal dining room where Sally was to host her workshop

                                            The photo to the right is the scullery

Some of the outdoor areas

The statue is called Guardian of the Garden.  The far right photo is some old pet gravestones in the garden.
We also had a bit of a Girl's Day Out shopping but I will share my purchases with you in another Post.

Last week I stood in my kitchen & made lemon dusters.
This is a recipe from my book The Natural Home by Wendyl Nissen
I had some old cloth nappies which I had purchased from the Op Shop - these make perfect dusters.

Lemon Dusters are simply equal quantities of water & white vinegar + lemon essential Oil,
Soak the dusters in this mixture then squeeze out, roll up into lengths, then roll into a ball - they look a bit like cinnamon scrolls!
I like to put pieces of lemon peel in with them - the fragrance when you take them out of the Jar is just wonderful!
Now that we have started having winter fires, the dust is incredible & these are ideal for giving the mantel a quick wipe over.

Silver Trays that had rust or imperfections in them that wouldn't polish out

I have been painting/upcycling some more projects for the St John's Op Shop - these were done using the 
grey chalkpaint - Quarter Absolute

I really enjoyed doing this corner shelf above but .  .  .  .  

Chalkpaint Voodoo Molly Vintage - Colour Sandstone

.  .  .  .   I did Not enjoy doing the rattan tray above - it took so many coats to get a decent coverage.

Yesterday was my youngest son's birthday - I got up early & made him a chocolate cake as I was going for 
morning tea.
I stopped on my way there & bought a box of smarties to decorate it.
 I cannot believe my son is 34!   Where did those years go to I wonder??!! 

I posted on Instagram last week, how when The Mr comes in from the farm each night, he stands in front of the fire 
& takes his smelly/dirty socks off & tosses them on the mat.
Miss Pippi makes a beeline for them & then spends the rest of the evening rolling around in them & sleeping.
There's just no accounting for taste in some folk 😉

And speaking of Her Royal Highness ... here is the Mother's Day gift she so kindly left me this morning under my gardening shoe!
Still alive & moving I might add! 😖

Thanks So Much for staying with me through this lengthy post dear friends,
I hope the coming week is good & kind to you all,
I shall be back soon with my second Catch Up Post,
With much love & friendship to you All,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Belated Easter Greetings

Greetings dear friends & readers,
Though I am a little late with my wishes, I hope you all had a most wonderful Easter 

The lead up to Easter this year saw me create 9 Tilda rabbits altogether - in varying sizes using
 the free pattern from here
I decided Rabbit No 10 should definately be for myself !

This wee girl is the original pattern size - 27 cms from her toes to the tip of her ears.
I had wanted to put together an Easter vignette on my coffee table so I made her small enough to sit under 
a glass cloche

The pale blue wool blanket bunny top left is also a free pattern download from Twig and Tale designs

The polystyrene eggs are from the $2 shop - I covered some in Tilda fabrics, some in vintage sheet music or tissue paper, & modpodge.

Here is my completed vignette above along with my fairy lights, which stay out all year round.

I especially love her little fluffy tail

This pink wool blanket bunny is a pattern I used to make & sell in my cottage & put a small baby rattle inside ... instead of a ribbon around her neck I embroidered a flower chain, the same as the blue bunny.
I think I will leave my Easter display up for another couple of weeks so I can enjoy it some more 💗

 

My grandson's parents don't like them consuming too much chocolate so these simple Kinder Surprise eggs were what I bought them this year.

Although the egg cups look brand new, they are actually Op Shop purchases - I had been keeping an eye out in 
my Op Shop travels for some time now.

I made each one a mouse egg cosy & sat on top of the choccy egg.
The grandsons often enjoy a hard boiled egg so I thought they might fancy an egg cosy !

Once again, the fold out Easter boxes were from the $2 shop 

With a packet of mini m-&-m's they just finished off my little Easter treats nicely 

I wondered why Blackie had been smelling of stale grass lately - I figured out why when I saw him sound asleep last week in the back of the lawn mower, which The Mr had not finished emptying !!

You can just see the mouse in the right hand photo, bottom corner

Speaking of naughty Blackie ... he is fixated lately with bringing mice inside the house ... here he is giving me the evil stare when I shut the door on him & his wee friend just yesterday !!

My neighbours were away over Easter so I shifted stock, fed their pets etc
I found much delight in watching the 5 baby ducklings each morning & night ... so CuTe 😊💛

My very clever & talented friend Sally, is running a winter wreath workshop next month.
Below is a photo of the gorgeous wreath everyone gets to create at the workshop

The workshop is being held in this most stunning venue here 
If you click on this link ......   winter wreath workshop you will find the details of the workshop, which includes all materials as well as lunch provided.
I would encourage anyone in the greater Waikato area to attend as Sally is a trained Florist & you will learn lots of tips & techniques along with creating the stunning wreath to take home with you.

Thanks so much for your visits today dear friends,
I hope you get to enjoy some creative time in the weekend ahead 😊
With much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Mums 90th Birthday

Greetings dear friends & readers & 
Welcome to April !!

I had a good trip down to Mums to help celebrate her 90th Birthday 

Though Mums birthday is April 8th, we held her birthday party/luncheon on the 6th so family members could attend.

    We also had lovely hot savouries & spinach & feta rolls - these are heating in the Oven when I took this pic                                                                             

When I asked Mum if there were any special food requests for her birthday luncheon she asked for brandy snaps filled with cream ... & cupcakes !!
I decorated the cupcakes with some edible stars & sprinkles as I thought the Grandchildren would enjoy this 😊

Mum also requested a fruit cake which I made a few days before I left home.
As well as completely forgetting all my fudge, slices & balls - left behind in my fridge 😞 I also forgot the special 
"Happy Birthday" plaque I had purchased to adorn the cake.
Thankfully I remembered the "9 0" candles which Mum enjoyed blowing out.

As the day of Mum's party was also my daughter in law, Nicole's birthday, we put some candles in a cupcake for Nicole to blow out, with a little help from Sid.

Mum with her grandsons  . . . . . .      & here with Yours Truly! 

Now I make no secret of the fact that I adore the Op Shops in Mum's small town
Though time was limited I did manage a quick visit to two Op Shops while Mum was getting her hair done on the Friday before her party

Right beside Mum's hair salon is the SPCA Op Shop, then directly across the road is the local Hospice Shop.
These treasures were thrifted from both shops 

I could not resist buying this beautiful cathedral window cushion from a $1 bin at the Hospice Shop, as well as the Fairy Tale book, (also $1)
I have removed the inner from the cushion & soaked it in Napisan ... I am looking forward to revamping it slightly

I was delighted to arrive home to some surprise mail packages
This plate above had been gifted to me by my late Aunt about 4 years ago.  She always called me "a crafty tarty"  so I was thrilled to come across Miss Vintage NZ who paints plates for sale & also does commission work.

I had sent it to Ange a couple of months ago & it arrived back while I was away .... it is now hanging in pride of place in my sewing room & makes me think of Marg every time I look at it 💗

These beautiful hydrangeas were picked about a month ago & plonked in a bucket of water to have a good drink
Upon my return from Mums they felt dry & papery so I arranged them in my vintage cane trolley.

 Sid's parents sent me this delightful photo below of Sid modelling the wool vest I made him in my last post

What a little treasure he is.


Well dear readers, I have just this morning put the last stitch in these two Tilda rabbits & am off up to my local Post Shop to send them on their merry way.

I enlarged the pattern slightly more again from the last ones I made & this pair measure 37 cms in length.

Thanks so much for visiting here today dear friends,
I hope the coming week is good & kind to you all,
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0