this is... my knick knack/jewellery box

Continuing the 'This is...' meme hosted by Angela from Three Buttons, here is my knick knack/jewellery box. OK, boxes if you will.

I seem to have lots of little vessels everywhere holding all manner of adornments. Not so much knick knacks per se, but hair ties, ribbons, bows, and of course lots of jewellery. I never do actually wear that much jewellery, but when I do, I like to have choice. So here are the three main containers I grab from as I'm heading out the door.

A Dinosaur Designs platter (oh colourful resin, how I love thee!!!), which holds hair clips and brooches, all felt or fabric. Many made by me, some not.


A Dinosaur Designs trinket box, which holds my favourite rings and pendants.


An old handmade box which holds a ridiculous amount of hair bands and ribbons, as well as as necklaces and bracelets - all mixed in for good measure. Not very organised, but fun to rummage around in :)

Looking forward to checking out everyone else's treasure chests!

PSSSSST!! You might like to check back soon for my next post. I have some love to share :)

Stevie Nicks dress strikes again...

OK, bit of a misleading title, but there is relevance, I promise. Remember this dress? Yes, the hilariously awful one. Well, I have been very miserly about using the rest of the buttons from the dress, as I just love them so. Although I'm pretty sure the dress was an early 80s number, the buttons have such a gorgeous psychedelic feel to them - more 60s or 70s I'd guess. Anyway, they are among my favourites in my button collection, so I've been hanging onto them.


Until now! How could I resist pairing them with this fabric?


So this little number has gone into the shop. For some weird reason I would love to know where these buttons end up. I imagine they have seen a lot - and hopefully they will see a lot more now!

Well, a lot more than sitting in one of my button jars anyway :)

Have a great week everyone!

This is...the contents of my handbag

This week's this is... theme (as chosen by Sharon from Iris + Lily) is 'the contents of my handbag'.


So here it is - in all its uncensored glory. Starting from back left and moving in a backwards S shape (why? I dunno, just humor me...) - fabric scraps, keys, pamphlets from the Paddington Fair we went to yesterday, random receipts and business cards, sunglasses, doll's hat, wallet, pen, tampon (told you this was uncensored - sorry), Kate's Easter bag, current knitting project, money that's been flung into the bag in a hurry.


And this is the bag all this came from (made by me, of course!). It's very handy as it fits a LOT of stuff, so some days my handbag loot would be twice as much as this, and might include nappies, bibs, drink bottles, food etc. It also has a long strap so I can wear it and be 'hands free' - especially important when I'm out with the kids. But as Tom Robbins likes to say, "a big front always has a big back". And the 'big back' of this bag is that it often ends up holding LOTS of things I don't really need to be carrying around with me. Same with my nappy bag, which is a big-ass Crumpler that I love, and can fit everything in, bar the kitchen sink - problem being that it often does include everything as I just keep chucking stuff in without taking other stuff out first. All I can say is, thank goodness the theme this week was not 'This is...the contents of my nappy bag'.....EEEEKKKKKK!!!!!

A little less conversation...

... a little more action". Aaahhh, the wisdom of Elvis. These words will be my motto this week.


I know that when you hear the words 'action' you might not automatically think 'knitting'. BUT....I feel a bit blogged out after doing the week of children's vintage illustrations. It was great fun, and I loved looking at everyone's books, but now I have the urge to get away from the computer for a bit. Posting every day is way more time consuming than I would have imagined, even when it is just little short posts. So I'm going to have a blogging rest for a week (well, until next Sunday anyway) and concentrate on actually MAKING stuff, which after all is mostly what this blog is about.


And I have finally done it! After ages of whining about wishing I knew how to knit, I finally bit the bullet and decided to learn. I convinced my sister to learn with me, so we both got our Aunty to show us. This in turn inspired my Aunty to start knitting again, and then my Mum (whom I have NEVER seen knit) decided to get in on the action too! So inspired were we, that we decided to start creating some clothing for the kids' favourite soft toy - Jemima. Who herself was knitted by my incredibly talented Mother-In-Law.


Isn't she gorgeous? A whole family creation. Doll by Matt's Mum, dress by my Mum, hat by my Aunty, and that piddly little scarf was by....me! Bit embarrassing really, but hey, it was a start! And I am now onto a proper adult-sized scarf (the green thing above), and a scarflette (the black thing further above), which was inspired by the gorgeously tactile scarflette created by Vanessa from Knit too! I also need to say a huge thank-you to Corrie from Retro Mummy, who has been so encouraging of my foray into the world of knitting, and even managed to trouble-shoot my purling problem via email. Thanks so much!!!! Matt thinks it's hilarious watching myself, my sister, my mum and my aunty, sitting around our lounge room knitting, drinking tea and chatting like a bunch of old dears, but hey, that's what I find so appealing about knitting. You can't sit comfortably and chat while at a sewing machine. Not that I will be swapping my sewing addiction for knitting any time soon, but it's a very fun addition to my crafty repertoire.

Anyway, moving back onto more solid ground for me, I decided to experiment with some bib making for my sister. Well, not for my sister exactly, but for her baby which should be arriving sometime in the next few weeks. I decided to go with the Playschool Window theme, and do four different shapes. They were really fun to make!


I also organised a little 'sort of' baby shower for her. Just a lunch at our favourite restaurant really, with a small select group of friends and family, although I did do some little goodie boxes for the guests (with signature packaging of course :P)


And then a lovely little parcel arrived in the mail for the kids, just before Easter.


My lovely mother-in-law (the same one who knitted Jemima) made these gorgeous little easter bags for Lee and Kate to collect their eggs in. How cute are they???


The kids loved filling them up with eggs when we did the egg hunt on Sunday morning. Is there any better magic than searching the bushes for colourful treasure that tastes every bit as good as it looks?


I think not!!!! We did it at my parents' place, and everyone came over for a BBQ breakfast of bacon and eggs, and fresh orange juice (followed by mountains and mountains of chocolate).

It just doesn't get better than that. See you in a week!!!!!

This is...my demon

This week, Drewzel has chosen the theme for the this is... meme. So this is my demon - my ability to see into the future. HAHAHAHA OK not really (did I have you worried then?). I guess what I really mean is that I am a worrier. And, as is the nature of worries, they are always about things that haven't actually happened yet (and usually never do). I can take something as simple as someone being late, and automatically jump to the worst-case scenario, and start worrying as if the terrible thing I have imagined is actually going to happen!! It's really awful. To be fair to myself, I am getting better at not doing this. In fact it is my mission to conquer this demon, because can you picture the scenarios I will imagine when my kids become teenagers and I am waiting up for them on the weekend?....eeekkkk!!!!

image taken from circulating's photostream on Flickr

Day Seven: Vintage Children's Illustrations

I've saved the best 'till last.

Once again, not one of my own books from my childhood, but one much more precious. This one was my Dad's.


It was his all time favourite book as a child, and the only one that is still around.

Written on the inside cover is:

"Happy Birthday Colin, with love from Nana & Pop. April 19 / 1957"

And next to this is my dad's name, with his address '38 Webb Street, Altona'. I wonder if there is still a house at this address? Any Melbournites from the west of Melbourne reading this???


Anyway, the book is called Stories of 1001 nights, and is a hard cover with thick brown pages, and illustrations that look as though they were painted in watercolour and pen right onto the page. The book is published by Mulder & Zoon, N.V. Amsterdam, and does not state the illustrator. However, the illustrator himself/herself has signed their name on almost every illustration anyway. It is Truus Vinger. I have no idea what nationality this name is. Any ideas anyone?


So this is my most precious children's book, not because it contains my favourite illustrations, but because it was my dad's.


Thanks so much Pip for such a wonderful meme. I have enjoyed both discovering new and gorgeous books and illustrators, and also my own trip down memory lane. Posting every day has been quite hard, but I've really enjoyed the experience.

Happy Easter everyone
xxx

Day Six: Vintage Children's Illustrations

OK, so this was not actually one of my books from my childhood - but it was my brother's. And my son LOVES this one.


I'm sure there is no-one who doesn't know this book - The Little Engine That Could. Retold (??? not sure what this means - is there a different original version out there?) by Watty Piper, and illustrated by George & Doris Hauman. This copy was a tenth printing, in 1978.


I never really got into the pictures in this book - but after photographing them, I started finding details in the illustrations that really appealed to me. Like the little girl's dress on the cover (I know, again with the clothes!), and the monkey on the train in the second photo. And the tree with the weird pineapple things in it that looks like a pretend tree stuck to the ground (weird!!!).


So there you go. Lee will be so happy that I have done a 'train' post. Don't forget to check out Meet Me at Mikes to see everyone else's vintage children's illustrations (thanks Pip for a great meme!)

And now I'm off for a 'child-free' dinner with my husband. Yay!!! And for the first time in almost two years we will have a child free night ALL NIGHT!!!! - yep, both kids are staying with Grandma tonight. Luckily she is only five minutes up the road so we will be there bright and early (and refreshed after sleeping through the night with NO interruptions!!!!) for an Easter Egg hunt.

Hope the Easter Bunny is kind to you all :P

Bec
xxx