Flea Market Finds & the things you find in Nanna's cupboard.

I was at my Nanna's the other day.  She was excited I came, because she had a box to show me.  It was an old box full of crafting supplies and she just KNEW I'd want some of it.  This isn't the first time she has given me the opportunity to raid her stash.  Last time I took about 70% of what was on offer.  That's why she was wanting to show me this box.  Here's what I ended up with...

Can you guess what it is?  I didn't know at first...

It was made by my great grandma, which is pretty cool.

It's a needle holder!  I think it's pretty neat!

Do you know what this is?

Nope, it's not a puppet.  It's a pot pad!!  Another of my great grandma's creations.  It seems this crafting gene has run through a couple of generations now.

Vintage lace!!! The one on the left is from a formal gown my Nan made once, and the lace on the left is from her wedding dress. 

And then I got a life supply of..

Paper doily's!!  She didn't think I'd want these.  I'm so glad she showed them to me 'just in case'.  I was so excited when I saw how many there were.  There are even a few gorgeous gold ones too..

And now for my finds from the past few weeks in Oppy shops, I haven't played along for a while so have some catching up to do! 

It was the first time I'd ever seen one in an Op shop with my own eyes.

It reminded me of Sophie, but I didn't buy it.  Just took a picture for everyone to drool over how gorgeous it is.  I promise I did buy the rest of the items in this post though..

Two pillowcase sets, which will make perfect summer dresses.

More gorgeous fabric cause I couldn't help myself.

I love this!  I was so stoked to find it!  A cotton holder, which quickly made me realise I have hardly any cotton at all!  I really do need to work on that.

How gorgeous are those little berry iron ons??  I can't wait to use them!  Also a new yellow zipper, and some lovely binding.

BUTTONS!  Cause I 'needed' more.  (Hey Wendy, are those the kind of buttons you are after for your Eskimo Jackets?  If so, you can have them.  I only impulse bought them anyway.)  Some cute doily's and a box I have no use for as of yet.. I'm sure I'll come up with something to put in there soon haha!!

And an Atlas I plan on tearing apart and using for little projects.

I have one last thing to show you.  It's a little giveaway item actually, for first in best dressed.  It's a small quilt pattern booklet that my Nan gave me but I will not ever use.  I'd rather it go to someone who will appreciate it, and who like that kind of quilting style.  So let me know if you would love to be the next owner of it!

As usual, I am getting in early with my post, but be sure to link up over on Sophie's!

My Creative Space - collar trouble

I have been experimenting with a delightful vintage girls dress pattern.  The collar wasn't sitting right and it was irritating me.  So back to the instructions.  I sewed it on wrong.  I think I ironed it out of shape too, so will probably just cut out a whole new collar and try again.  Other thing is, I don't know what size it is.  The pattern is VERY unclear.  The instructions are weird, and are a jumble of confusing words.  Thank heavens for the little pictures...

Check out everyone else's spaces here.

Rebirth of a Craft Room.

My Craft Room set up has taken another turn of late.  New carpets were to be layed, so I took advantage of destroying my room again, and this time set it up RIGHT!

Before:

During:

Putting it all back:

With a new table to assemble...

Stay tuned for the final product!

Softies that make ME smile!

I have received more parcels of late, containing delightfully GORGEOUS softies.  I MUST share!!

Looooove them!

 Thank you so much Tammi!!

And then on Monday I got this big box in the post.. I was so excited to find these little guys inside!!

Thank you so much Lisa!

You are both so talented and I know these will bring MANY smiles to the faces of their new owners soon.

Good news is all of the beautiful softies that have been sent, will soon be shipped off to the town of Theodore, which is in North QLD.  Let me know if you still plan on sending through any softies please!  I think this is all of them, but I really can't rely on my memory much these days!  

Be sure to check out these clever ladies blogs!

Featured!

Today I have been featured on Jill's blog - Creating my way to Success!!  I'm excited!!  I was able to answer some questions and share a little about myself, my blog, my crafting adventures and plans for the future.  You can read it below, or go to Jill's blog and read the blog post for yourself!!  Thanks so much Jill!!

********************************

What do you create? 

It's a bit of a mixed basket.  My desire to make things changes with my moods.  I have recently come to the conclusion I am a bit of a Jill of all trades.  I make greetings cards and other cardboard crafts like gift boxes and voucher books, I make hair accessories and brooches out of ribbon, fabric & felt, I make soft toys, I make children's clothes, magnet pegs, embellishments, library bags, hats... I really could keep going on and on.  I make whatever tickles my fancy each given day!  My list of what I WISH I knew how to make is also growing!  I also spend alot of time creating for my blog.  Some may not think this is a craft or skill, but it's hard work and can be very time consuming.  I spend alot of time trying to ensure what I post is not only entertaining or interesting, but visually appealing.

Why do you create? 

It is necessary for my sanity.  Crafting is my outlet, and without it I become a crazy lady!  Just like every other woman out there, my life is hectic, over-scheduled, full of time constraints & stress!  When I sit down at my craft table, I can channel that stress and tension into making something awesome!  It also gives me an opportunity to most importantly, be still, and think through the things that are troubling me.

Do you sell your creations? If so, how? Where? And is it profitable?

Although it can be hard at times to let go of something that I've made and love, of course I sell my creations!  I have a Madeit store which is where I am concentrating on selling my creations at this point in time.  I have done a few markets in the past year and am not a fan of the stress that occurs leading up to market day.  I like that I can work towards my Madeit store at my own pace, and put things in there as I want to.  It doesn't matter if my store looks bare!!  Infact, that's a good thing because it means people have been buying up!!  I am still fairly new to the Madeit scene, but have started to see the money rolling back in - which is my husbands favourite part.

What mistakes have you made or lessons you have learned?

It doesn't bother me to make mistakes.  I have made a few items that just look terrible.  So I take them apart and try again.  Trial and error is the best way to learn.  But probably the hardest lesson I've had to learn is to believe in MYSELF!  If I don't believe in myself and trust my abilities, how can I expect others to?  It all begins with me.  Since having that light bulb moment I have had greater success in selling items, made a tonne of great blogger friends, and enjoyed the blogging and crafting experience ten fold. 

What, to you is success? Have you achieved it yet, or are you on your way towards success?

Success is a term generally used for huge achievements.  Success to me is when you sell a $2 embellishment, or finish sewing a dress, or learn a new skill.  It doesn't have to be a $50 sale.  So YES I have achieved success, and I have hundreds and hundreds of successes ahead of me in the future. 

So, what's next?

I don't have any huge crafting goals for the upcoming year.  I just want to keep up with the pace of making, selling, blogging, befriending, networking and developing better photography & editing skills to showcase my products more effectively.  So my goal is to be better, gain more skills, and develop my existing skills to a higher standard.    


 

Crunchy Salad Recipe

WARNING:  No pictures to make you feel hungry.  But maybe that's a good thing?

I will be the first to admit this is a STOLEN recipe.  I am not genious to come up with it on my own, but I am sharing it because everyone must have the opportunity to eat such delicious things, plus people asked for it.

INGREDIENTS:
- Half a cabbage, finelly sliced

- 2 carrots, thickly grated

- few stalks of a celery, finely chopped

- small red onion, finelly sliced
- couple shallots, chopped

- 1/2 packet Chang's Oriental Fried Noodles

DRESSING:

- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

- 4 tablespoons mayo

These are all approximate meausurements so use some of your own judgement.  Basically chop all the vegies and mix in a bowl.  Mix the dressing in a seperate bowl and then mix it through the vegies.. I just add a little at a time till there's enough.  Then I add the Fried Noodles right before serving.  If you add them too early, then you can just call this "Salad", cause there will be no fun crunchy left!! 

This should make about 4 serves, and if you use low fat mayo, it is only 2 1/2 points per serve according to Weight Watchers, so it is quite a healthy salad.  But I will not lie, full fat mayo tastes better in this salad.  So realistically it's probably about 4 1/2 points. 

Enjoy!

Organised Home - Project Beads

I have a big bag that I put all my beading supplies into.  I haven't been good at keeping it organised.  I have 5 plastic containers, each with compartments so I can seperate the different beads.  Then a few boxes holding tools and old jewellry to be taken apart & fixed, leather & wire, and all the other bits and bobs that I'd thrown in the bag and box over the years.  

 I threw out old stuff, ugly stuff, broken stuff.  I took stuff apart.  I finally fixed other things.  I put together two big bags of beads to giveaway - which was excitedly received by a family at church with three preteen/teenage girls.  

After about 3 hours of sorting and such, it's finally all looking lovely!  I might even want to start making stuff again now that I can see what I have and it's all sorted nicely.  

Now I just need to finish organising my craft room and the new furniture additions that it now holds so I can show you!  Hopefully this week.  I have been silly busy this week and haven't had much time for anything at all, so hopefully this upcoming week I can concentrate on catching up on this blog of mine and showing what's been going on (and our new cheery grey carpet).  

Pop over to Mousehouse for more Organised Home Projects!!

Blogger Butt - 2 week catchup

Well I haven't done an update for a while.  Last Friday (which is when I do my BB update) I was away on holidays which you can read about here and see the pretty pictures.  So I skipped out for a week.  And in true holiday style, there was NO WAGON in sight!!! And that's the way I planned it.  Husby and I enjoyed some delicious treats and ate out a couple of times.  It was wonderful.  I KNEW I would put on weight and was totally OK with that.  But when I got on the scales, I was SHOCKED...... to find out I'd only put on 500 grams.  Fantastic!!  So I haven't weighed in since then - as weigh in day is Wednesdays. 

But I have other news.  As it was my birthday Tuesday of this week, husby got me a fabulous gift... a Weight Watcher's membership!  So now I am officially a WW girl and need to learn the new Pro Points system.  It is already hurting my head!! I really need to go to a meeting and get the new books and I'm sure that will all help.  I have the new free app for my phone so that will no doubt help.

As for the wagon coming back into town.  I have had such trouble getting myself back on track this week after a lovely week of not having to count.  I didn't go crazy with my eating last week, but I certainly enjoyed some yummy things.  It only took me a week to destroy my mental strength!!!  But I am trying hard again, and have done some exercise this week.  All I hope to achieve when I weigh in on Wednesday is to be back on track with where I was the week before my holiday. 

Oh and have you tried Weight Watchers new frozen Beef Lasange meal?  It's sooo tasty!!  You should try it.  And husby tells me the Satay Chicken is also quite desirable.  I love it when they're on special at Coles, I buy like 10 of them!!!

Now onto my thoughts and things for the past two weeks:

- Tim Tams probably aren't the best thing to eat for breakfast

- Since starting WW I've cut back on my dairy intake, and I no longer enjoy the flavour of milk, which is good cause now I don't want to drink it!

- Homemade pizza is delicious - especially when you put avocado on. 

- I'm feeling excited at the prospect of buying new smaller sized clothes in the upcoming months

- I'm glad I have sewing skills so I can alter some of my clothes as I shrink so I can keep wearing them

- Grapes give you gas (I'm serious)

- Eating at meal times helps with my energy levels

- A few moths ago I discovered my magic number of hours of sleep at night was 8 - lately it doesn't feel like enough.  I might trial 9.  (I know I know, wait till I have kids, and I'll never sleep again)

- Moving furniture has become my main exercise over the last month, strangely

- Wearing white as a fat lady isn't the worst thing in the world.  It can actually work sometimes

- I am beautiful even if I have more rolls then the bakery

- Housework sucks - oh wait sorry that one slipped in

- I can't eat as much as I could even a few months ago, and I am also better at listening to my stomach and when it is full!  (this is a HUUUUGE one for me)

- I have a new stretch mark at the top of the back of one of my arms - it makes me feel like crying.  It's the first of it's kind to appear on my arms.  RUDE!

- Watermelon is my all time most favourite "snacking while making dinner" food that ever existed. 

- My lactose intolerance has eased off a little - which is AWESOME

- Water is still amazing

- I wish sweet potatoes were cheaper so I could cook with them more often.  Same goes for tomatoes.

- Crunchy salad is my favourite salad - if you want I can email you the recipe.

And I think that's it.  I think I might make pizza's again for dinner tonight.  I just chop up a tonne of vegies really finely, and for meat use shredded ham cause it's less fattening then bacon and mince and all that, and then sprinkle a tiny bit of mozarella on top.  Oh and avocado of course :)

Giveaway win

I won a giveaway a little while ago and wanted to share what I got because I love it.  It's nothing huge, but I really like it!!  

Cute headband huh?  If you want to purchase one of your own, pop over to Caroline G's shop!!

Holiday Report

Husby and I had a lovely week away last week.  Even though we both ended up hurting ourselves (my neck and husby's back), we still were able to relax and sit back and unwind.  Here's some snapshots of our week.

Part of our view.  That's Surfer's Paradise in the distance.  Husby has much better pictures of this on his camera.

Under water husby!

Under water me.  It's rather attractive isn't it?

Mum and my nephew came to visit one day.

My pale skin got some sun.

We made pizza one night... one of the best homemade pizza's I've ever tasted!

Only bad complaint about our holiday was the bed... which is nothing unusual right?  It was so uncomfortable!!  Already thinking of our next holiday, whenever that will be...