Pretty things

Today while I was out and about I spent some time fossicking in a few charity shops and found this delightful china piece.  It is very small and has three holes in the top which I assume is for putting buds or flowers in.  So home it came with me and is now sitting on my kitchen window sill housing a few Azalea blossoms.  Please excuse the dirty window frame.  Ooops!  Why is it only after you take a photo you realise you have some serious house cleaning to do?

You can see one of the holes on the right hand side of the photo.

  I love getting mail and greeting me in the mailbox when I got home was a little package all the way from England.  My lovely blog friend Louise from Ramblings of a Roachling sent me this beautiful metal owl for my birthday.  It is so just gorgeous and I'm going to look for the perfect spot to hang it in my studio.  I hung it on one of the pergola posts so you could see what it looks like hanging.

Thank you Louise for the lovely owl gift and beautiful card too.

We are currently getting some lovely spring rain which will do wonders (I hope) for the lettuce and tomatoes I planted out yesterday.

Wishing you all a lovely day/evening.

Anne xx

Today

Mothers Day flowers

Beautiful gift with beautiful wrapping paper and gorgeous owl eco carry bag from Miss C.  Thank you darling.

Views from walking in my neighbourhood.

A nearby creek.

The laneway opposite our home.

Our front yard is behind the post.  You can just see a stone wall in the centre of the photo, that's ours.

We had our first frost last night.  We don't get too many of them where we are because we are quite sheltered.  I'm thinking of you Claire up in the cold countryside air wearing your lovely new wrist warmers.
I'm sure the fire is roaring today.

Enjoy your day,

Anne  xx

PIF parcel from the U.K.

When the postman/lady delivers the mail 5 days a week, he/she usually brings nasty little pieces of paper in window envelopes.  They normally go into my cute toast rack mail holder  for hubby to take care of.  Today while I was out pruning the triffids, the postman/lady came by on the motorbike as usual and instead of the quick stop at the mailbox, there was an extended visit which had me running down the driveway to see what was happening.  Extended visits to the mailbox usually means someone is struggling to get something in the small space allocated for mail.  There were two items for me, squeal!!!!  One was a postcard from a postcard swap, I will blog about them when I receive all 12.  The other item was a parcel all the way from the U.K., a PIF gift from lovely Donna from the blog Love Hope Craft.


Inside were these packages wrapped in the prettiest pale mauve tissue paper.  I'm afraid the little Easter chicks also included didn't fair very well.  They look jet lagged, don't you think?  :)

Donna sent me a cute little crochet bunny just in time for Easter.  A crochet and button flower brooch for me to wear in winter to brighten up a cold, miserable day.  A gorgeous fabric bird with the most amazing feet, a pretty flower key ring.  Some lovely little tags, with my favourite being the owl.  And a gorgeous calendar with scenes from the U.K. with recipes as well.  Donna wrote her lovely message to me in the prettiest flower card, so bright and cheery.

The bunny is keeping the grey bird company.

The sweet little bird with the awesome feet is brightening up a window frame in the family room.

Isn't this little owl soooo cute?!!

Look at these gorgeous calendar photos.
  I had fun using some of the items Donna sent me to add a little more zing to my photos.

Thank you Donna for these lovely gifts.

Have a lovely day everyone,

Anne  xx

Gift giving on a $0 budget

Hello everyone, how are you?  I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend.  During March I enjoyed following Stephanie's blog Full of Great Ideas as she set herself the challenge of decorating (which she loves to do), on a $0 budget in a bid to stop unnecessary spending.  She had to use what she had on hand and amazed herself and her followers with her creativity.  You can read the many things she learnt from this challenge on her blog and of course see her lovely creative ideas on her $0 budget.

Stephanie is having a linky party for other ideas on a $0 budget so I thought I might contribute.  My idea is a little different from decorating but I thought it was a practical one.

I'm a gardener and have an assortment of herbs growing outside my back door.  They recently needed dividing so rather than put the excess plants in the compost, I planted some in pots.  Stephanie's challenge had me thinking about gift giving on a $0 budget so here is what I did.

One very overgrown oregano plant, weedy too.

Divided oregano plant $0, recycled tin can $0 and soil from the garden $0.

Recycled newspaper $0, string already in my supplies $0 and a tag already in my supplies $0.

Put these altogether and you have a lovely $0 gift to give someone who is either a gardener, has a passion for things culinary or even for someone who is hosting a dinner party.

 What do you think of my idea?  I had so much fun doing this I think I might be looking at what else I can do on a $0 budget.  See Full of Great Ideas for other $0 budget ideas.

Bye for now,

Anne  xx

Home made car freshener sachet

Who likes a nice sweet smelling car.  Nothing too overpowering, but something other than stale car smell.  I would be one of those people but I don't care for the smells that come with the hanging car freshener thingies you can by from auto accessory shops or supermarkets.  Here is a little idea I thought of earlier today and decided to make it up straight away.  It's easy, cheap and quick to make.

Materials

calico or muslin (only small amount needed)

craft fabric (only small amount needed)

thread

ribbon and/or cotton twine

scissors

sewing machine

sewing pins

cotton wool balls

essential oils, dried rose petals, dried lavender flowers etc.

I am making two bags and you will see why as we proceed.  Cut out a small squarish or rectangular piece of muslin or calico and a slightly larger piece of craft fabric for sewing into little drawstring sachets as follows.

When sewing the hem for the drawstring, remember to leave a gap so you can thread either your twine or ribbon through.

Tie a knot in your twine to stop the ends disappearing into the hem.  It's happened to me before.  :-(

Make the sachet from your craft fabric the same way.

 Tie that knot.

Your calico or muslin sachet should be smaller than your craft fabric sachet.

Turn the sachets right side out.  Get a couple of cotton wool balls and essential oils you like.  Put a little of the scented oil on the cotton wall balls and put inside the calico or muslin sachet and draw the string tight.  If you are using dried lavender flowers or scented rose petals instead of cotton wool balls, put them in this sachet too.

Then put your calico/muslin sachet into the craft fabric sachet and draw close.

The reason I have made two sachets is to stop any essential oil potentially staining the outer fabric.  If you are using dried lavender flowers or scented dried rose petals, you have less chance of them spilling in your car too.
All that remains to do is find a spot in your car to hang your sachet.  When the lovely smell of your sachet starts to fade, either add a few more drops of essential oil to your cotton wool or replace rose petals or lavender.  We aren't chucking anything away here.  At the very least it will be a couple cotton wool balls a few times a year or rose petals and lavender which can be put back on the garden or a pot plant if you don't have a garden.

Please excuse the lousy photo, the sun was just too bright and shows up every little speck of dust, fluff and hair.   These little sachets might make a nice Christmas stocking stuffer.  Perhaps they could also be made for the men in your life fathers, brothers, hubbies, partners, sons, nephews, uncles, brothers-in-law, grandfathers (have I forgotten anyone?), by using a masculine fabric and scent.

Before I go I've got a little tip for you.  When I'm doing my vacuuming, I put a cotton wool ball that has a few drops of essential oil on it into the vacuum cleaner and then as I'm going about the house, instead of any yucky smells like dog hair etc., I have a nice essential oil smell.

Bye for now,

Anne  xx

Flowery crochet things

During one of the many tea or coffee breaks I take during the day, I either pick up a crochet hook and some wool to make a granny square or two or a needle and thread to work on some other crafty thing I'm doing.  A couple days ago (actually about two weeks ago, time flies),  I thought to play around a bit with some wool and a crochet hook and this is what happened.

 I really don't know what this is, maybe some sort of flower?  It's kind of wonky looking in places but I guess that's what happens when you muck around.  Heartened by this little experiment I went on and made this 

and this.

 I have no idea how what to do with these flowery crochet things but I sure had fun playing.  I did make a purply coloured one and put it on my niece's birthday present as decoration, so perhaps I could use them to pretty up gifts. Maybe I can make Christmas coloured/themed ones to use on Christmas pressies.  Sorry, thinking out loud here.  Anyone else do that?  :-)

Happy crocheting.

Anne

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