bumming around

Do you ever occasionally wish you were still a little kid? I do, and not just because I hate paying bills or dealing with the Tax Office or pap smears. I miss being innocent and curious and unafraid. An impromptu trip to beach with the kids this week reminded me of how good it felt to live completely in the moment and do what feels good, just watching them made me feel so incredibly happy. Luckily for the well heeled folks of Brighton I was able to contain my joy and my lily white and rather hefty backside and did not join my kids in their nudey run, but I freaking well wanted too!

Mantelpiece Monday

                                     

This baby is pretty much a straight up homage to clutter; a "look at how much pretty shit I can cram on a mantelpiece" piece. I look at this mantel and I think 'Aww - pretty' and then my nose starts itching from all the dust and I get over it.

Have you crammed a heap of shit on your mantelpiece? Take a picture and leave your link, let's spread some of that clutter dust around.

hundreds & thousands

It's been a very long weekend and I am fully shattered. I have no thrifty finds to share because I sold them all at the market today. They must of been the only things I sold because despite the beautiful weather and hoards of people, I didn't really make a lot of cash. I spent my entire Saturday cleaning out my 'studio' *cough* 'spare room' in preparation for a relative from Holland who arrived late last night AND I had to get up at stupid o'clock to go to the market and make no money. So what this means is, I am tired, I am cranky, I have no spare change and my brain looks like a packet of hundreds and thousands spilled all over a bench (as opposed to artfully arranged on a piece of paper). 

Until tomorrow friends, I wish you sweet dreams and goodnight.

we should probably be feeding some kids, huh?

image from here

Things are looking pretty rough for millions of families on the Horn of Africa right now. The worst drought in 60 years has turned the all ready struggling region into an enormous dust bowl and millions of people have been displaced and are starving. Why this is not on the front page of every paper on the globe is beyond me? Surely the immanent starvation of millions of people is the most pressing social issue the globe is facing at this time?

Social media users are usually pretty quick to respond to a crisis so I thought I would take the opportunity to help you all sleep a little better and encourage you to go to the Red Cross East Africa Drought Appeal and make a donation. Go and feed some folks, you were only going to buy a vintage tea towel with that money anyway.

Colour Play, Olive & Bronze

A bit of  colour therapy on this very grey Melbourne day. I enjoyed doing this post last week so I'm back with some more colour themed pic's and it's all about olive and bronze. Mostly little bits plundered from my own treasure, some velvet, a piece of old mirror and a bunch of magnolia leaves that should have been thrown out decades ago. The button was one of my Oma Ella's and used to reside in her collection of treasure, she passed away this April and I inherited some very special things from her. The large brass bangle was my mum's, she used to wear it with this amazing fitted, indigo velvet, maxi dress in the 70's, she used to look very glamorous and a bit witchy. The other bangle was a recent score and is getting a lot of wear at the moment. I have bakers hands with broad flat palms so finding a bangle that fits always comes as a surprise.

Funny, but when I was preparing to take these photos, I was running around the house looking for things that were the right colour, just trying to get a collection of things together that would photograph well. It's not until I started trying to write about them that I actually started to think about how they made me feel. Accidental reminiscing  has left me feeling a bit melancholy. It's a bit early for wine but I might have to crank the music and indulge myself for the rest of the afternoon.

Bye

Mantelpiece Monday, I got nuffink

so here's a little mantel 'test pattern' instead (I wasted a stupid amount of time in Picnik doing this).

Actually got something interesting on your mantel (or equivalent) to show? Why not take a picture and post your link.

flea market finds

This is going to be brief, I've had a cold all week and now my sinuses have gone on strike on account of all the nose blowing. I am the proverbial 'bear with a sore head' and I think it best if I stay in my cave for a bit. That said i did want to share a few small thrifty wins this week. Two op shop visits and a good day at the local market     came up with a really lovely unsigned painting, a bunch of 1950's Australian pottery vases (all hand signed), a Gus McLaren goat figure and a bitchin little West German vase. I also scored two set's of wool carding brushes for $4 EACH! crazy, I know. 

On further inspection, the first of the three pottery vases has since been chipped by my delinquent son, I will now be selling HIM at next weekends Camberwell Market.......just in case anyone is interested.

For more thrifty finds pop over to visit Sophie at Her Library Adventures and Apron Thrift Girl, I bet their pottery isn't chipped...grumble, grumble.

colour play, hot pink and yellow

Ada is in Crèche today so Freddy and I spent the morning mucking around with a colourful collection of bits and pieces from around the house. I love looking at crap from a different perspective, how awesome is that ping pong ball and the little balloon dog when you get up close and photograph them? The painting is one of Ada's and is currently brightening up the fridge. Hot pink and yellow is my new favourite colour combination, for real. 

thrifty bizness

It's been a while since I've posted any thrifty finds, not that I haven't been finding things, just not posting them....oops

Here's a few to catch up.

Hobbytex little Indian Chief, I love a bit of Hobbytex art. Rosemaling bowl from Norway. Signed and dates with a brief note inside about it being for a couples wedding anniversary in 1981. Shell art, I love the big eyed Owl and the funny dude with the cigar and lastly a vibrant and rather blue little pot.

Playing along with Sophie from Her Library Adventures and Apron Thrift Girl.

Mantelpiece Monday, Enamelled

Hi, I'm back, sorry for the blog silence. I've been sick, along with everyone else in my house. First with a stomach bug and then a cold. Last weekends birthday party turned out to be more of a Petri dish than usual with about half our guest coming down with colds and gastro, I feel horrendously guilty for making everyone sick and have been hiding out since to avoid a lynching. So with illness behind me and a whole bag of stuff to show you and talk about, this week will see a bit more action in Blogland. Let's kick it off with a bit of show and tell shall we?

Today's mantelpiece is all about one of my favourite things to collect, enamelled copper plates. I hunt for these things almost exclusively these days. I have visions of dozens of them all sitting prettily atop the beautifully warm red surface of a long teak side board, light by single angled spotlight so that all the crazing and imperfections on the glaze sparkle....bliss.

Enamelling a a fairly simple process and quite easy to do at home when you have the right equipment. I've been looking at purchasing a small enamelling kiln so I can have a go making some things myself. The kiln it's self is totally affordable, it's the price of copper that makes me hesitate. I need to get my hands on the inside of a hot water cylinder, that would solve a few problems.

Done something new to your mantel or display? Got something you want to show off? Take a pic and leave your link so we can all have a peek!

FOUR

When you are four, you get a bike and a circus cake and possibly a super hero watch and also some lollies and some paints. When you are four you get to run around your party wearing dragon wings and rwarring at people, you get to drink fizzy punch and eat chocolate crackles, you get to hide under the couch when it all gets to much, you get to cry and you get to throw at least one tantrum. When you are four you can be bribed with fairy bread, reduced to giggles by a burp and your older cousin can teach to to write 'wee' on the footpath in chalk. When you are four, your best friend is a genius kid called Hatty and your enormous monster dog Norman is allowed to lick the sauce from your cheeks and possibly have just a little nap on your bed, It's good to be four. Happy birthday little Ada.