Turquoise Surprise

When we recently bought our new lounge chairs in chocolate and latte, I took it upon myself to whip up my own cushions to bring the theme together.

There are sooo many gorgeous (and expensive) cushions around, I decided it was teasing and tearing me up inside to look at these pretties and not have some of my own, so I just had to make my own or not have them at all.

I had planned on mixing baby blue or duck egg blue into the mix, but I ended up finding a beautiful turquoise (or more aqua) shag rug and decided that was the colour to highlight and blend with the chairs.   I just love this colour and that fact that shag rugs hide stains and can be shaken to remove any mess the kids have left.

eof fabric and bought a few items from Vinnies and this is what I came up with.  The brown suede was a Vinnies skirt I made into a ruffled flower and also the ottoman at the bottom.  The turquoise ruffle cushion was an old pair of linen pants of mine.  The cream satin fabric was a vintage fabric sample given to me, the knit one was a turtleneck of mine.

I did go crazy making cushions.  The square(ish) one at the back was vintage fabric of my mum's, so we are looking at 30 years old here, (she made her own dress out of this when she was my age) and I added a turquoise fabric covered button that I made.

The houndstooth print chocolate and cream cushion was the only new fabric that I used, have had it stashed for a while for a shirt, but it was calling me to DO SOMETHING with it, before it was vintage too!

So that is the lounge arrangement to date....but I am thinking the leftover materials from each could be made into an ottoman with vertical panels of each. 

But alas my sewing machine is out of action, so sewing is on hold for a while.

Very retro lampshade

In my secondhand shop browsing yesterday, I came across this light fitting for $5 and although it is not that pretty now...I have some plans......

Stay tuned for the "redoux". I saw this name on a blog recently, love it.

New kitchen curtain - retro style

I bought a retro style red laminate table and four chairs around 4 years ago from the local secondhand shop and have just loved the smallish shape, the fact that it has no sharp corners and that it fits into our small space. I have had to make chair covers and have never ended up making a matching curtain with the remainder of the fabric.

This is what I got up to one afternoon last month.

My newest addiction

For my little girls 5th birthday, Nana bought her a knitting Susan (or knitting implement anyway,....thought they were called Susan for some reason....correct me if I am wrong).

So I showed her what to do and it is just soooo easy. She thought it might be a little time consuming so I sat up watching TV and just went to town with the little contraption.  By morning I had 4 inches poking out the bottom and left it as a surprise on her bedside table.

When she woke she ran in to show me.  I have been wanting to get her a gorgeous couple of shag rugs for her room, but now I am keen to just knit one.  It is sooo soft to touch and it would be so much more special to have made it ourselves.  So each night I knit away.  Definitely my sort of knitting. 

Clearly I have quite a bit more to do to make a decent rug, but am enjoying it and will invest in a second one so my little darlin' and I can work together.

Golden ornament

Loved this great little idea I found on a blog many months ago, but can't reference it back unfortunately as I had no idea that I might be writing about it one day soon.

Starting off with a basic foam ball.....

Just pin around in a circle with a tac of any description or colour of your liking.  This was so easy and the kids can even help out with it.  I used about 2  x $1 packets from Dollars and Sense.

Will talk about the other things I repurposed in this piccie at a later date. 

The candle holder and tealight lamp.

The beautiful silver ornate edged tray was from Vinnies - $1

Cushions for the boudoir

Can't wait until tomorrow, just had to post something else to keep you from getting bored.

These are an assortment of cushions I made recently from old shirts.  The ruffled edge, yellow trim one is what my Mum made for my wedding as the ring pillow.  I still love it.

The white woollen one was a jumper.  The pink pleated one was a collared shirt and the diagonal white stripe pink one was also a shirt transformed to a pillow. Then I added the sequin trim, which was a 50c elasticized belt from Vinnies.  Buying this trim at a craft/sewing store is very very expensive.  Just found another sequin stretch belt today at Vinnies to save for my next project, whatever that may be.

Vintage Redo assortment

Of course I was very keen to step out in my turquoise/red creation that I posted about yesterday and today just seemed to be the day.

Whether it is too crazy an assortment of colours for most was beside the point....I enjoyed wearing it, was fun, even got to show Mum her brooch resurrected from the jewellery box.  And hubby likes the look so it was a goer!

Have a nice evening all!

Monthly Planner

I found a large frame in my little one's bedroom last week and kept it close handy until I thought of what I might want to do with it.

Today it has a new lease on life, with a sentimental twist and useful edge.

It is my new monthly planner.

I used leftover sheets of gorgeous garden scene paper from our wedding to make a monthly planner.

So then I just cut the sheets to size (joined a few pieces) added the lines for each week, will add the vertical line with ribbon when I get some, added a few garden images, then attached to back and I now have a monthly planner.  Such a great help these days as life seems to get busier.

You can write on the glass with whiteboard markers.  Just perfect.

xoxo
Deb

Retro brooch

In my most recent search through my Mum's jewellery box, I found a gorgeous old gold edged brooch with dried flowers inside, just what I remember her wearing when she was my age. 

I haven't worn it yet as I haven't had the outfit to match it.

But then searching through my cupboard (in a bid to remove some of the items my dear husband suggests I just don't wear anymore....that and the fact that my clothes keep creeping up onto his rack) I found a nice turquoise cardi I bought last year but haven't yet worn,...no matching shirts accessories.

Then.....still more, two days ago I was in a spray painting mood and grabbed my old pale blue belt out of the cupboard (again, never wear it) and spray painted in turquoise - just because that was a prettier colour really, no other reason.

When you team the three of these together with my red bolero, it just looks gorgeous, now to wear the outfit. 

I heard the other day how turquoise is one of those colours that just goes with everything and thought, they are probably right, especially nice with red.

So, what do you think?

Can't help myself - Chalkboard Table...DONE!

                                                                      
Ok, so while packing away kids toys yesterday afternoon,...a great idea suddenly dawned on me.  Our old little blackboard that my littlest cutie likes to draw on, keeps falling down and is basically untidy to look at.  So that coupled with the fact that I looooove to paint, meant that the table was ready for a chalkboard makeover. This solves two issues, untidy blackboard on table and not falling off, hence easier for my little darlin to draw her piccies.
                                       
                                    The table beforehand

This revelation happened at 5.30 in the afternoon, whilst I was in the midst of cooking tea, getting kids inside and starting the fire....but couldn't help myself.  Gave it a quick sand back and applied a quick coat of chalk board paint.

Next morning, the next coat and another after that.

Today, Daddy and his little girl have already had a noughts and crosses championship on it, filled with giggles, competitive scrawling, lots of love and satisfaction at todays creation.

                                  Chalkboard table done!
                   Noughts and Crosses championship complete!
   

Mission accomplished,...another day made a little sweeter. 

That and a 10 minute romp in the hammock with the kids has made this day funfilled and great!

Coffee Table Revamp

I was disappointed but also so pleased to see one of our local secondhand shops was closing down and everything was cheap cheap cheap.

I initially popped in to see if the beautiful big oval mirror with decorative edging was reduced any more, but alas found that it had been thrown out......DEVASTATED!!!! After adjusting to this news, I thought I would see what else was left.

A little plain round table had caught my eye during previous visits....but this week I saw it in a new light....for $5 I could see this baby painted gold and suiting my lounge room.

So I grabbed it, along with two very shabby chairs for..........wait for it...........50c each.  Not to bad.  The total the week before for these items was $130 so I was rather impressed.  Lucky I could fit them in the car. 

Here is the table today.

Deluscious Beginnings!

Let's do this.....

Welcome friends!

I am living and loving in a world of repurposing, crafting, cooking and sewing and the next step for me was to share my experiences and achievements online.

Each day is complete for me if I can create something special for my family that might just make our life a little sweeter.

Stay tuned for all the fun I have been having!