Lavender Ribbons

 

The weather of late has been both hot and cool. Today is starting out coolish, here's hoping it will stay that way. At home, I've been drying a lot of pot pourri and it's now at the stage where I can do something with it. I'm thinking lacey sachets.

 

I've also been painting. The theatre of the  Lantern lighters girl has a sister: Moon Waiters. Together she waits with her sister and while she waits sends ribbons to the faeries for gifts. That's the story at any rate.  I'm not too fussed on the drawing skill of it so far and may go back to improve it. So maybe it's just a start and not a finish yet.

 

 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening whereever they are.

Home Comforts

The last few days have been very hot. The heat invited in some indulges of ice-cream with soft drink to make a 'Spider'. Very sweet and something I won't want again for a while. Just when the heat looked like it was going to stay around we had a cool change today and there might even be the prospect of some rain.

 

 

While at home there has been some general yard duty to clean up the very wilted yard, pots and underneath the grape vines. I did discover a volunteer Cherry tomato plant and harvested the remains to remove the spent plant. Next year I hope to have a good veggie garden a little 1940 Victory type. We shall see.

 

 

We had a fur visitor and I hade to fur-babysit for a little while. Mister Simba was not impressed not being able to play with the kitty. And I think all that kitty action was exhausting for both of us!

 

 

 

Also I managed to 'inherit' two large book shelves that are painted green. I have one in my room and I'm sorting through things and rearranging them. You can just see that large haul of old broken vintage earrings I got from the thrift store the other day sitting in a thrift store basket I was going to use for gifts.

 

 

There has been some crafting. I am finishing up some things and just made these for Christmas wrapping paper. I cut up a sponge in shape of a tree and added paint to it to make the trees, then I used a Noel stamp, and after that I added green glitter on the trees to make it more Christmas-y.  The heart paper I added some red glitter on some of the hearts. I like the heart one enough I might use it to make up envelopes and stationery for writing to pen pals.

 

 I hope everyone is having a good day or evening whereever they are.

Magpie collector

 

This morning the weather is cooler than yesterday, but then it is still morning and the heat of the day has yet to set in. If it's hot today I am indulging myself with a 'Spider', made with ice cream and soft drink. Meanwhile, on my desk are some finished junk journals and one journal which needs to have the pages decorated. The first journal has ribbon threaded through the pages and I used up a lot of stash scraps to complete the look. All the pages have been inked. The cover is made from manilla file folders.I toughen them up by added layers of scrap paper underneath and add the final page image I want to use as the front piece.

 

Inside the pages are very homely.

 

Also on the finished list is the second issue of my homemade zine: At Home. I finally settled on a ribbon closure for the pages and added some clear hole re-inforcements to stop the ribbon from tearing through the pages. I need to redo the first issue as I am not happy with the margins.

 

 

 I spent time on both issues hand drawing the images and writing. There's some pages with type font.

 

Here's a sneak peak of my December Daily junk journal. I used all old Christmas cards to make this and you can follow instructions on Jennibellie YT channel found here to make one the same. I decorated the spine with handmade paper beads and the Christmas ornaments I got from the thrift store. None of these things cost me very much I think the most exspensive item was probably the bus ticket to go into town at $3 return. Sometimes it pays to be a Magpie collector. Now I have painting on my mind that I want to do.

 

(An old collage painting of mine: The sea captain's author.)

 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening whereever they are.

 

 

Thrifty things

 

 

We've been having some sorching weather the last couple of days. There is some relief with a bit of a storm and today there was breeze even if it was a hot one. I've been sitting outside underneath this shed awning, seeking breeze and looking at blogs on my IPAD.  The garden looks wilted in this heat and the lawn isn't worth mentioning.

I got news today from my operation that all is well and nothing was cancerous. I've healed up very fine and even have lost some weight which is good. All up the cyst(s) they removed was 1kg.

 

 

I was brave enough to get out and about in the heat to look around a few thrift stores this week. I came home with a few things I want to use for Christmas creations. I was particularly happy to find two whole bags of broken earrings, the big kind that were popular in the 80's and some nice bling-y sort. I want to use these on Junk Journals. I also found a huge bag of Christmas Ornaments, I've used some for a December Daily. The photograph above is some thrift finds from last year with a my sketchy journal for drawing.

 

 

I've also been making some Junk Journals. Different to the ones I usually make. I like to create signatures in my Junk Journals this time I have single pages, decorated front and back, inked and I am threading the pages together with soft over dyed silk ribbon tied in a bow on the front cover. Like the old vintage photograph albums.

 

 

 

Is it too early to mention Christmas ornaments? I've made up these bells from simple cardboard, string, and foil from the kitchen. These are the undressed ones. I've finished up some all dressed up nicely from my stash. These are rather large, I like to make some smaller ones for the tree. I hope to show instructions for these soon-ish.

 

 

And now I have some ideas for paintings I want to work on.

 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening whereever they are.

Cottage flowers

 

It's been mostly cool and fine days here of late and I've been out collecting flowers from the garden to press, dry, and use for cottage-y projects.

 

 

I collected some of the roses from the front garden and added in other flowers like lavender, heliotrope and some mint leaves too.  These will air dry right down into a small amount I can use later.

 

I've been drying this lavender for a while and it is crispy dry ready to be put in potpourri.

 

 

Other leaves like roses leaves and geranium petals I've pressed and added to some cheap store brought candles. The other candles I decopauged and painted.  All this cost hardly nothing except some slow time to dry and press. I've also been making cards from scrap stash.

 

 

 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening wherever they are.

 

Left Overs

 

 

Well, we were having some nice weather until winter decided it wanted to come back for a visit. Even with the cold snap the day outside is still pretty. The weather, though, is meant for indoor pursuits during breaks with  warming cups of tea and hot buttered scones, of course.

 

 

I've been crocheting these flowers following the instructions from The bluebirds are nesting which can be found here. I'm using a thinner thread because that is what I have on hand to try them out. I made them into rosettes for scrapbooking. The ribbon and lace came from the old coat hanger I pulled apart, the fabric on the coat hanger I used on the tea towel here. I have a few done and I used a lot of things like buttons and flowers from my stash. It was a good way of using up things I already had.

 

 

I also braved the cold and went for a short walk down to the local church jumble sale. There's always something there to bring home. I brought home some books (naturally) and some baby flannel for crafting. I had a good buy for those things everything was only $2, and the lady serving said I could have the bible I picked up to bring home for free. I could have brought more home.

 

 

The roses in our front yard are blooming again and soon I'll be picking them to make use of the petals in pot-pourri. These roses, particularly the yellow ones, have such a nice scent. I want to press some petals too to decorate on candles.

 

 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening whereever they are.

Artful letters

 

Over the weekend my sister,  (I have three sisters younger than me and an older brother) came to visit and there was a lot of talking. She's a talker and good for a laugh. She is more like my other sisters, out going and with that mummy vibe that looks after everyone. I'm the shy one of the family and it always hard for me to be engaging out side of family. Having three outgoing chatty sisters (and an older brother) always give me people to talk to. Other wise I just wouldn't talk as a child. Needless to say the internet chatting is more comfortable for me.

 

 

Over the weekend I also went through a lot of my stash just sorting and thinking about where I want to go with things. I've done some thrifting of late and there's a few things to sort through.

 

 Looking at the pile of cards I made gave me the idea to think now is a good time to start letter writing again. Letter writing seems to have fallen out in favour of emails and phone calls. Which is a shame. Even with postage costs high I don't think sending a simple letter or card would break my or anyone's small budget.

 

If you would like a letter and card from me please email me your snail mail address at Vintagepapery (@ gmail) and I'll send you snail mail (overseas friends are welcome). You never know what else you might recieve in the mail from me too. It'll be a nice way to revive the art of letter writing don't you think? Hopefully my handwriting will be readable! I don't type my letters out I always write them out.

 

Now I have some painting to do. Sisters, keeping the light. With peacock greens and blue birds. I think. The story will change as I paint. I also have lots of stitching to do too.

 

I hope everone is having a good day or evening wherever they are.

Waste not

We've been having some nice days, warm, but not too hot. It looks like rain is on the way too. Meanwhile I've been tackling the tea towels I messed up when transferring. I thought these should be destined for the bin, but I try not to waste anything.

 

I had some cheap gingham trim I brought at the dollar stores here and knew I wanted to somehow include it. A while back I was cutting up some old clothes and also pulled apart a couple of old fabric padded coat hangers to reuse the lace and fabric. There was a far bit of fabric and lace in such a small area.

 

I used the printed floral fabric from the coat hanger and a fabric from a linen shirt. You can't really see it but there is black flowers embroidered on the black fabric too. I did this by hand as sometimes patching things by hand is easier for me as I'm not used to using the sewing machine. The finish is  not perfect by any means, it is better than throwing away the tea towel.

 

I've also been scribbling away in a junk journal meant for quotes and such. I'm not worrying about making it pretty, just writing down quotes I like or mean something to me. Now I am off to tackle the other problem tea towels and do some painting...a sister to the Lantern Lighter I think.

 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening whereever they are.

Lantern Lighters

 

On the last weekend I had a small day out visiting the Cabarlah markets which is always an interesting visit. There a good array of stalls to look through and I noticed a lot were now selling handmade vintage craft items like tea cosy's and such. I came away with some books (of course) and a rooster tea towel with a crochet topper. All in all a good day out.

 

And a day at the market isn't a day out unless you buy something for morning smoko, I came home with a tray of different slices for $5.

 

 

I've also been working on some drawing's and paintings. Whimsy things with little stories I make up as I paint. Theatre Of The Lantern Lighters is a small piece which has possiblties for more ideas. I was making some Christmas paper lanterns (will be posting about that soon) for the tree at Christmas and I think that inspired this little painting.

 

I once read some where, God gave people Guardian Angels to look after them. To help look after the plant and animal kingdom he sent the Fairies. Another thing I read about Fairy origins is that they are the Angels who wouldn't take sides when God and Lucifer were at war; God banished them to Earth. I don't know about you but I like the first one better.

 

Now, I have some stitching to do.

 

 

 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening wherever they are.

 

 

Rotation System

 

If you have a lot of craft projects going at once you know how some fall down to the bottom of the sewing basket and never see the light again. While I try to finish one project up at a time before I start another it's hard to do when I like doing a variety of crafts.

 

 

Some time ago when I was cross stitching I read in a magazine how to use your project time wisely. When I find some projects getting out of hand and probably not going to get finished before I flit off to the next project I follow the instructions in the magazine to start up a rotation system. Over time I created my own way of doing this and it works for me. You can use this as a starting point to see what works for you.

 

 

 

Rotation System:

 

Step 1: Gather all your craft projects you are currently working on. Find yourself large snap lock bags.

 

Step 2: Sort all the projects out so you have the instructions/charts/patterns/threads/materials all together for that one project and pop it into a snap lock bag and label that project 1.

 

Step 3: Do this for every craft project you have out. Labelling each one as Project 1, Project 2, and so on.

 

Step 4: Look at each project and see how much is done on them. One might be nearly completed label this project as 90%. Another might only have a small amount done say 10 %. Another might be 50%. Label all the projects and the amount you think is left on them.

 

Step 5: On all the projects work out how much time you can allot during the week, every day, or night, or morning. Say 1hr or 2hrs. Write on all the bags how much time you are willing to work on each project during the week.  By now every bag should have all of it's instructions and materials to finish the project. It should be labeled Project 1, or 2, or so on. It should have the amount of time you can devote to it. The pile of baggies should be in a basket or box you can have easy access to.

 

Step 6: When your week/weekend starts begin work on the project you are likely to finished first or want as a focus piece to finish. All the projects have a 2 hr time limit to work on. You work on one for 2hrs and move on to the next. If you finish a project the 2hr time is alloted to the next project in the rotation.

And that's my way of doing a simple rotation system. Clear as mud, eh? Of course you can throw everything out the window and just work on what appeals to you whenever the mood strikes. Which is called: The screaming rotation.

I hope every one is having a good day or evening wherever they are.

Gray day

 

It's a gray sort of day today with what looks like the promise of rain on the way. Our glorious spring days seem to be gone but they will likely be back again. It's a good day for puttering around. I made oat scone, with a crunchy sugar cinnamon topping which goes just nice with a good slather of butter and jam on a fresh out the oven slice.

 

I noticed the other day on one of my previous posts how I spelt a word wrong on this junk journal page, today I added a little white out and fixed up the mistake.

 

I'm also finding some old clothes I no longer like to wear and cutting them up for the material to use in future sewing projects. The floral material was a old padded coat hanger. The material needs to be washed and is only narrow and small but I can be use for small things like sachets.

 

Speaking of mistakes this set of seven dishcloths tea towels just doesn't want to be done. I sorched one. Moved the transfer on another while ironing and this one I ironed back to front, don't ask me how, so the letter for the days of the week is back to front. I think I'll stitch it up and cover the lettering up with a pretty piece of floral at the bottom. Shh. No one needs to know. I read on the web I might be able to rescue the scorched tea towel by rubbing it with hydrogen peroxide. I'll let everyone know how that will go. Some help in the comments on how I can remove iron scorch marks from a 100% cotton tea towel would be useful too. 

 

I'm also working on some sketchy still life paintings. Roses and teacups.

 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening whereever they are.