Vintage Goodies...

To end the week off I will leave you with these gorgeous vintage clothes from jessjamesjakes on etsy:

Aren't those dresses to die for?? And the red boots are such a show stopper!

I love it!

Please go and browse her shop for more Vintage Goodness!

Have a lovely weekend!

   

The round table

(A beautifully restored family chair - from 33 Shades of Green)

I am living in a small-ish Townhouse that fits me perfectly but there is something missing...

I need a table to do the things I do.. you know.. the creative things that I'm slowly wanting to do again.

Due to space constraints I will have to come up with a really clever plan to make it work though..

What I really would like to do is to get a medium sized round table with a few different vintage chairs that can serve as dining table as well as general craft table. They are scarce as chickens teeth.. let me tell you.

I have been trawling 2nd hand shops and websites.. to no avail. Square tables are a dime a dozen, but rounds ones... nooo...

I have seen one or two around, but then mostly the big dining type tables that takes about 6 chairs. I want... no.. need something much smaller... 2 to 4 chairs max.

There is the perfect little table at a Vintage Coffee Shop in our local Mall.. do you think anyone would notice if I dragged a small round table out the door?

Patient Parenting

Since the end of 2011 my load at work has steadily increased.. and as this load increases, so my patience decreases. I have never been very good at handling heaps of stress, and it seems I haven't been getting any better at it the last 10 years or so.

But, I want changes.. to be more aware.. more available.. to live in the moment.

I want to be more patient, a better listener, calmer, less irritable!

I found a wonderful website... a type of life coaching site.. I like it..

.. this week I'm trying to be a more Patient Parent.. you can read about it here.. you might also need it. It's practical and I'm going to try it out.

We are halfway there and the weekend is around the corner....

Hope the rest of your week is Filled with Precious moments with your loved ones

xxx

Pretty Pictures

We had a family photo shoot just before the new year.
These beautiful pictures were taken by my photographer aunt.

She took all these photo's using a green background and then edited the backgrounds in.

 

I love this pic of Jess and me... in our "dance dresses"

Jessie putting on her mischievious smile..

Sisters and cousins....

and a beautiful pic of my sister and her adorable baby.. Wardus...

and he has the exact same blue eyes as his cousin..

Look at those smiles.. and Wardus looks like he knows something the rest of them don't!

Hope your week is filled with joy..

20.....e.l.e.v.e.n....

.....breathe in..... breathe out...

2010... turned into a monster year....

If anyone out there still pops in here from time to time... I'm still here...

I've had to deal with things that where way too big for me in 2010.. the end of a 10 year relationship.. a marriage that lasted 5 years.. I've had a difficult time keeping it together...

but now...

I feel better ... lighter... I'm starting to re-focus now... to gather myself...

and...

2011 will have to be better.. friendlier... less sad...

I've stopped sewing, baking, cooking, crafting... but I'll get back there... I still have a list of things I'd like to do and make.. the scope and the landscape has just changed...

But, i'll be back here.. posting ... on life and whatever else I get done!

[frame it]

A couple of years back, my friend gave me a Large frame that she had no use for. It has been wrapped in bubble wrap in my garage for near on 3 years, and it really has been one of the things on my list of things to do.

As this is the season of public holidays in South Africa, I have had a few extra days at home to tick some things of this to do list, and the frame was one of them.

It was an old gold wooden frame with fabric on the inside of the block, pretty old fashioned, but I knew I could work with it.

Enter a can of white paint (regular PVA), a piece of sanding paper (with a fine grain), a soft cloth and one of hubby's new paint brushes (oops).

I painted the entire frame white (including the material piece on the inside) and then started sanding...

A close up of what it looked like when I was finished. I lightly sanded the entire outside rim of the frame. I rubbed the paint off the golden part just inside the thick border with a soft cloth to bring the gold back up. The innermost border I left very white to set off against the gold.

Now I just have to put a backing on and I am going to make a collage and hang it in our front portal.

The week (or two) that was...

Some random goodness from the last few weeks:

More Vintage goodness, My mother-in-law bought me this beautiful Trio on a recent visit to New Zealand and gave it to me for my birthday. I love the shades of Pink in it.

We enjoyed a friend's birthday party.

Relaxed in the baby pool, before the rain settled in. What we didn't realise at the time, was that this was our last bit of summer....

And we baked a cake, and licked out the bowl (yummy)!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A Vintage Sunday....

I have been struggling for 2 days to upload this post, and for some reason Blogger does not want to upload any images.

Frustrating? YES!

Will it stop me from trying again? NO! So here goes:

Yippeee, now I can tell my story:

We had a Sunday Market at our town's Windmill Organice Produce Store recently. There were a variety of beautiful treasures for sale.

I bought the two books above for Jessica. The first one was in honour of our trip to Zanzibar, where she was infatuated with the Hermit Crabs and thus the book "A Home for Hermit the Crab" was perfect.

The beautifully illustrated pop-up book "Uncle Peasly and the Pea Pod Kids" (circa 1986), was just too good to be true and had to come home with us!

Can you tell how much she loves this book?

I bought this "Midwinter" set of vintage China at a steal! A beautiful Trio to add to my collection of Antique Cups and Saucers.

A Wonderful day spent at the Market!

30. TWO.

It was my Birthday on Saturday...

A beautiful Easter Birthday shared with those I love best!

When I was a child my birthday used to always fall on Easter Weekend, which was not great for having birthday parties, as all the kids where always on holiday.

Roll on 20 years or so, and it is quite pleasant not having to be at work on your birthday, but celebrating it instead with lots of lazy days and lovely people .... oh and chocolate of course :-)!

The Wednesday Edition is back

Live Loud pot by Lorikoop on Etsy

 

So the Wednesday Edition is back, and since I have started picking myself up again, I found this pot carried just the right message! It was made by lorikoop on Etsy, and it comes with the following explanation:

"UPWoRDs are words or phrases that encourage and inspire. Their messages reminds of the possibilities. Let their energy refresh your thinking and lighten your step."

Isn't that FaNTaSTiC?

Ok, so here is THE LIST for this week:

• BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATIONS on this blog
• Check out this designer Dad, with lots of practical ideas you can do with the kiddos at home.
• See some beautiful embroidery on Geninne's Art Blog - Also who could resist a dog called Turbo (especially when you used to have a Siamese cat called Jet)
• This is what I want to get my girl for her birthday, as she is always taking things apart and putting them back together again. 

So, no new clothes today, but I am looking... I am thinking stuff for winter..... will keep you updated!

 

P.S. If anybody knows of some easy knitting projects, I have just started to knit again, and knitting only scarves, is getting a bit boring!

Grateful for this day..

Yes, I am.

I have been under the weather since our holiday, perhaps it's been post-holiday blues, or maybe it's real, because, you see it can not really be defined.

The doctor's don't know, they are calling it Hypotension, or perhaps it is my Thyroid that is at the bottom of the bottom end of how it should function, but still no answer.

Perhaps it is anxiety, and to tell you the truth, I am inclined to agree with the latter. As always, I hope it will get better sooner rather than later and be forgotten for another year or so, until it rears it's ugly head again.

One thing is certain, if it wasn't for this wonderful man that is part of my life, this road would have been a lot bumpier. He gets me ..... and for that I am forever grateful!

P.S. I am going to try and be a bit more present here.

Back from Zanzibar

We had an awesome trip to Zanzibar...
I am still in that laid back holiday groove so I will let our pictures do the talking..

We'll miss you Zanzibar!

Asante Sana!

Take rest

My morning started all wrong! A mix up at work, everyone wanting everything from me and pulling into every direction! SIGH.......

Then I opened our intranet to look for today's currency exchange rate, and this is what greeted me:

"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop"

(Ovid, ancient Roman poet 43 BC-17)

.... and then I remembered, that is exactly what we are off to do tomorrow...

See you in a bit more than a week.

The Wednesday Edition

Welcome, thank you for stopping by.

Please come in, have some tea and cake and let's chat.

What is it that I like this week you ask?

Well, here it is:

• These guys run in packs -  I love that they look like you’ve caught them in the act!
• A Gorgeous dress
• and another. Except, I actually would like to attempt to make this one
• I love this rosette headband. Especially in this silver gray!
• Natural DIY baby-wipes - go have a look. Not harmful to baby or the environment.
• My new blog of the week: Frugal Home Designs. I love what this mommy does with ordinary around-the-house sorta stuff!
• Yummy Chocolate cake that we baked to celebrate my sister's BIG news!

Sleep has become a myth in our household this week. Can you believe we are all too excited about our trip to even sleep? I tell ya!

 

If you do ever stop by this blog, please be so kind as to say hi or leave a comment, lest I feel like the crazy cat lady.

 

Colourful Little Market Bags

In honour of our upcoming trip I made all the girls a little market bag to tote around

Isn't this bug material super cute?

I added a pocket to the outside for collecting sea-shells, rocks or whatever else might need collecting.

... and beacause I enjoyed making them so much, I made an extra one (yes, that is 4 in total) for a friend at Jessica's school who has a birthday today.