op shopping, market and more.....

We have a monthly St Vinnies sale day in our town. On the first Saturday of every month the sale starts at 9am. So many people go that there is a rope fence put up and it is not until exactly 9am that the rope drops and the crowd moves rapidly amongst the various tables.

There is all sorts of wonderfull things on sale and is a very worthwhile venture for this charity.
I have only just started going and get a real kick out of it. I always come home with something!! My husband always groans!!! My like minded friends always wish they lived in the area too!!!

Anyway today I did not buy too much but did enjoy myself. It is also very social and I met lots of friends and workmates there today.

 So there is a big role of yarn, about 8 rolls of crochet thread and other yarn, and old boook for tags, flowers etc, some lace and doilies, a heavy (maybe silver but I dont think so) swan and other bits and pieces of jewellery for altered art etc.

I love this blackwood bowl which will be on my work table

No matter what its made of this is adorable. I can see it as a pincusion or simply to hold my jewellery bits during a project..

This bag of star anise is one of a few I made a few years ago and I still love it. The smell is divine.

The chook below is a little project I made up years ago. It has cloves inside and a cinnamin stick tied to the outsie and dimply hangs on door knobs or in closets. I sold so many of these. i also did heart and cow shapes at the time....love them!!

Anyway I am off to take some more snaps and plan my next project or two.

Lessology Challenge 14 - Birds of Feather

http://lessology.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/lessology-challenge-14-birds-of-feather.html
(scroll down to view completed project)
Here is my altered egg basket which is now a birdcage with a nest and little birdie dangling inside. Its been such fun to make and my boys have really given me a stirring over this!!
Anyway it fits the criteria for Challenge 14 over at Lessology - a favourite blog!

The main piece is an opshop wire egg basket which was $1, the bird was 50cents after Christmas at our local florist.

As the basket did not have a lid and I didn't want my bird to fly away I made one out of brown paper covered florist wired twisted to form the needed shape and attached on one side.
I glued and wrapped heavy twine around the handled to hid the original spring like metal handle.

Other ingredients are muslin strips which I "Tim-dyed", old lace, old buttons, scraps, tigs, twine and all sorts for the birds nest at the base of the cage and paper flowers from my home made stash.

 Working on the nest was like kindergarten.....sticky mess!!

The bird hangs inside the cage from the centre of the 'lid''
The bird was originally plain white metal with punched holes. It too is now 'Tim-stained' and I embossed a heart shape on each side.

I made the tag and the flowers are torn pieces from the edge of tea dyed cotton lace pieces.
Lol the twigs on the tag are cut from the rolled stick fence in the backyard.

I just had to add the buttons.....I loved spending time picking out the colours that fitted in. When I went outside to take the photos and hung the cage on the tree the leaves dropped in, so I have left them there as the autumn tones are just beautifull.

The two photos below are my favourites...this is outside in the garden...I think the little bird is happier wiht the "lid off"'!

 This photo below shows the reverse side of the tag. The paper is Kaisercraft Timeless Collection

The basket looking down from above to show the nest inside.....

I was lucky to have the perfect flowers to add from a previous project which I made with cricut cuts.
Thanks for looking.....

ATC cards for May 2012 at Scrapbook Sinners.....

The theme for May was ''Mother Dearest"...
This left us wide open for such a huge scope of pictures and techniques and to me its always vintage....

This is a vintage download free from the internet printed and then I used Tims Holtz distress crackle......shhhh dont tell anyone but that is the first time I have ever used it...such fun!!

Then I cricut cart the scallop frame put the backing paper on and brightened it up with some Rose Star Gelly Roll ink pen from Sakura...love these pens.

Added the adhesive leaves, small tag and tiny touch of bling.

My friend Leanne very generously set up a page for me with the ATC backing info that I can alter and print out each month.

Thanks again to Leonie and crew for their wonderfull support at the shop.....and I have to say these little adhesive leaves which come like ribbon on a roll are just divine to work with.....love them very much!!! Oh and you girls as well!!!

We are all so excited at being able to attend Tim's class in Melbourne in June....................

International Nurses Day 2012

Its Florence Nightingales birthday tomorrow. A day which nurses across the world recognise as the birth of the career we have chosen. No matter which way we choose to look at the profession of nursing we have followed in her footsteps - that is we all care about others, physically and emotionally and want to help those in need.

Call me old fashioned..I don't mind - after 34 years of nursing and a taste of many different sides of nursing which I consider myself to be priviliged to have experienced..I am proud to be part of the profession. I have certificates in general nursing, midwifery, crictical care, education and management  along with many other short courses etc. I have also worked in community, ambulance and industrial nursing.

I am one of the ''older nurses"  - hospital trained and proud of it....wow did we have some fun!! Every role I have had I thought was my favourite until the next....

Anyway enough rambling here is my post.....

The cape is my original from basic training (PANCH School 41, February 1978), with all my badges attached...my cap is ''somewhere safe....''

The tags are 6 x4 inches and double sided with Florence on the front, some tea dyed calico torn "bandage"with "Thankyou for touching my life" stamped on it. Old buttons, ric rac and flowers make up the other elements.

On the reverse is a copy of part of a letter dated 1855 referring to Florence and her nurses work in Turkey.

I ordered a small bouqet of flowers for each of the nurses in our workplace and the tags were attached. I hope they enjoy this small gift celebrating a remarkable lady and career.

Vintage tag....

Here is a tag I made at International Scrapbooking Day at Scrapbook Sinners Taralgon yesteday...

We had a wonderfull day although I fiddled and procrastinated for ages before settling down and actually producing something.....

My friend Leanne was sitting with me and is a really positive influence on my work. I keep learning lots of new techniques from Leanne, Leonie, Bec and crew at Scrapbook Sinners...

 This tag was voted winner of the cards/tag comp for the day and the gorgeous jar of boiled lollies was earned...that is going to sit with the tag in pride of place on my desk!

The rossette is from cricut cart ribbons and rossettes which I am becoming more at ease with once I worked out on gypsy a few tricks.

I cut down the width of the tage once cut from cricut to make a smaller rossette. The little piece of cream netting is a vintage piece originating from Thursday island in the little shop which was the original general store on the island and closed about10 years or more ago. My sister gave me this along with other treasures recently...all cherished ++.

Visit Leannes blog...celebrating first 1000 posts....

My friend Leanne has a lovely blog and does beautifull work..
Please visit and join...

http://nanaantscraftroom.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/over-1000-site-visits-time-for-blog.html?showComment=1336267117020

Cards from Scrapbook Sinners classes......

The card above was simple but very effective to make and for me, a nice change to use some embossed acetate. It is a smaller card and I plan to make some little boxes to hold half a dozen in each as small gifts..

The card above again is effective but not too difficult...Leonie's choice of papers is always perfect and the stamps are lovely!

This card is a kaiser designed card that has influenced me to have a major play with ribbons and rossettes cart when time permits!

Thanks again to leonie and crew at the shop...we have a wonderfull time, lots of choice in classes and very friendly service. Looking froward to a 12 hours playing on Saturday!