our creative space . . . 'creative taste buds'

Greetings all,

My studio is really coming together, a huge effort seeing i've halved the size & put all my storage tubs in there too, spreading out was sheer luxury.  So while i'm not crafting, i'm working on other parts of . . . me . . . like my desire to drink tea, but disliking the taste.  I have always loved the idea of organic happy healthy teas (sans caffeine) i sampled some fruity ones iced over Christmas.  Now with Winter fluttering in, i'd like an alternative to hot chocolate (calories) & this week took myself off to T2 for an education on what suits my very inexperienced tea palate.

 This is not a PR post, i paid the $68 for the jug & teas from my hot little pocket, however, every staff member i've ever come across in this shop is so informative & enthusiastic about tea, i'm happy to promote them.  This week i picked up the smaller jug (i have the 2L - it's quite a commitment) & these flavours, which, shock horror, i enjoyed (in store samples) as hot teas.  I was so proud of myself & how creative my taste buds are becoming.

 So this morning, between the school run & errands, i popped home for a cup of toasty nougat & homemade cookies, it was so comforting & dare i say, filling . . . satisfying!!  Tonight i'm going to try the red choc mint, which the T2 girl said is amazing with a splash of milk too.  Mmmm.  I like this pace but i'm never drinking coffee, i like the smell but taste, ick.

If you're into vintage tea sets, check out my friend Heidi from The Polka Dot Petticoat blog in Alaska USA, for some amazing finds, prepare to be jealous - coloured glass to Dutch tin sets!!

 Meanwhile, back at chicken central, check out my little blogging pal.

 I want to get back into screen printing shortly, like my muse??  She'll grow into those feet on day, right now, she's looking a bit scrawny & dare i say, like a rooster, noooo!!

Happy Creative Spaces this week folks, hope to be sewing soon, but right now my head is so giddy with the thought of my husband coming home, nothing else matters, love Posie

PS check out my last post to see if you are a giveaway winner, there are lots of you!!

our creative space . . . 'faux bedhead reupholster magic'

Greetings all,

Ever wondered why you've NEVER seen a full photo of my bedroom??  I'm sure it's bothered you for years, a true Wonder of the World.  Because it's awful, truly, Army rental blah.  Starting with our bedhead, which has moved with us criss-crossing the country, 4 times in 10 years. 

Years ago our darling son drew a green alien on our once expensive upholstered bed head (it was part of a commission, he drew a matching green alien on the bedside table too) we rolled our eyes & deemed it 'a custom design one off original' from our expressive 2 year old . . . . so, at the time, i bought some Amy Butler fabric to cover the bedhead.  Fast forward some 6 years later . . . i had a bit of a my-husband-is-coming-home-from-war-he-can't-come-back-to-this-ugly-blah-bedhead-again trantrum, with myself, while making the bed earlier in the week.  I had our scrummy Sheridan vanilla sheets on the line & thought, bugger it, i'm doing the bedhead NOW. 

If you look closely, you can see where i removed a lipstick heart (art from a different child) creative little angels they are.  Oh & crap on the bedside tables, really, Babushka dolls on my husband's side - a bathroom magazine on mine, how did we ever build the passion to create 4 babies under such conditions??  It's all going, cleaning/ sorting/ styling tantrums are very productive.  I might even stomp my feet & fix that freaking missing blind!!

 So here goes nothing . . . as we plan to get a whole new bed eventually & Amy Butler fabric should never be used on a whim, i literally threw this entire faux upholster together in 10 minutes, with nappy pins.  All those years of cloth nappies, still paying dividends with old pins & cloths (in the garage).  All those years of not-getting-around-to-doing-this, wasted!!

 Da dah, i'm thrilled, it's just transformed the entire bedroom.  Oh special mention to our beloved woollen underlay, it's heavenly, we refer to our bed as 'the cloud', you can imagine how much my husband misses it - he's currently sleeping on an IKEA bunk with a burly soldier above him in a confined bunker.

 So i whipped the sheets fresh from the line & straight onto the bed.  Then i had to toss up which coloured slips - do i pinch the green Sheridan Pop ones currently on the boy's bed, homage to his choice of texta, or use the fresh orange ones i just laundered??  I went with orange, but i think next-bed-freshen-up . . . i'll go green.  Yes, my husband can't get enough of green of course, poor bloke.

 Doesn't that look inviting??  I literally dived into bed that night.

 For some bling, a Jimmy Possum cushion i picked up last week, $90 off, yay!!

So Creative Spacers, how did you enjoy that bedhead pick-me-up??  I'm redoing the lamps & bedside tables this week too.  We STILL have the same newly-wed-furniture & it could do with a sand & something . . . anything . . . i was at Uni when we married & my darling husband was a Lance Corporal, we had zero money, just love, bland-inexpensive-furniture it was & it's stood the test of time & taste, 15 years on, just not a 2 year old boy with a green texta!!  Love Posie

PS my enormous new Mac is here, but i can't work out photo resizing, my husband is doing his best with a Skype tutorials from Afghanistan, i don't know what i'm going to do when my children resume school next week, all my IT support gone, eek!!
PPS thanks for the beautiful ANZAC day messages, love you all, thoughtful folks!! 

our creative space . . . 'i give you my sweet craft cupboard'

Greetings all,
I might not be crafting but i'm getting ready to get back into my beloved sewing & designing soon.  Over the Easter weekend i painted the buffet & hutch.  It was SO windy (i was working on the driveway - while the children were playing volleyball in the street, there is pink paint on said volleyball, get my drift, i got hit in the head a few times, ditto the buffet) so i brought it inside before i shabby'ed it up & sanded it back, but it'll do . . . better than "mother crushed under glass buffet clutching sandpaper, an Easter crafting tragedy". 

 I've spent the week decorating it, playing around, pretty versus practical.  How glorious is the wall paper, even better than i expected.  Also glad i kept it white inside, all pink would have been too much.  I'll keep tinkering too, i really do have some lovely craft supplies.

 What more does a girl need when she has lolly jars filled with lavender, beads & buttons??

 I twirled my favourite ribbons around the pole, there must be 200m of ribbon in this hold all.

 What can i say, i love little suitcases & straws.

 My blue ribbons set against the beautiful bird on the Laura Ashley wall paper.

 The drawers hold my stamps, stationery & other difficult to display supplies.

 The cupboards hold my die cuts & paper craft goodies, like lanterns & my letter press.

 I know i'll add to this craft cupboard, i see pom poms & bunting too.

 Quick tip on wall papering - don't worry about bubbles, they dry smooth, just focus on the joins!!

 So this is how it currently stands, between my cutting table & fabric racks, & stores batting on top.  So want to light up those flamingoes!!

Phew, there it is, done, i'm happy, it's homemade & the final cost . . . $60 second hand buffet & hutch + $15 paint + $20 (from $60 roll) wall paper + $35 on knobs + $10 back board + free child labour = about $140!!  I have left over paint, wall paper & paste, MDF board, so the next project will be free.
It's not perfect, but the children had so much fun painting this, the bits they missed are the parts i love the most - like pulling open a drawer & noticing they skipped the top, makes me smile, we did this project together.  Happy Creative Spaces folks, love Posie

our creative space . . . 'preparation'

Greetings all,
After the bureau success, i'm ready to take on the buffet & hutch i picked up at a recycle centre.  Preparation is always the most boring part of a repurposing/ refurbishing project, however, it also creates questions/ options/ ideas you may not have considered.  Warning, this is a pretty bland Creative Space this week, but effective. 
First up i removed the glass doors & poo brown knobs (they were hand painted, someone actually took the time to paint them that horrid colour!!)

Then i thought how lovely it looked as an open cabinet.  No, the doors will go back on!! 

After sanding, i knocked the back of the hutch out, it was so noisey, banging away, + the wood was tongue & groove so fell loudly, piece by piece.  No one blinked an eye or came out to look, no wonder we got burgled (baddies smashed through our front window) in the middle of the day & no one noticed!!  I'll replace this wood backing with a flat panel, wall papered first, THEN reinstalled. 

I really like the plate ditch along the shelves too, but this is for craft!!  Now i'm thinking i should leave the internal shelves & sides white, i love sharp white against a colour, if done well, i'm using a very strong pink with Dulux Gala Day. 

You don't need many tools to destroy furniture!! 

So this was the bureau . . . gives you a reference of the colour & beautiful Laura Ashley wall paper i'm using - i think this pink, with the celadon paper + white insides will work well. 

Every hammer swinger needs a puppy companion. 

He's not much help, especially off lead when he greets every pram & puppy passing by, i'm sure he terrifies people as he's so enormous, heart of gold & from this - preferring to sit on the carpeted tailgate of the car - he's built for comfort!! 

Poof, i want to finish this project over the Easter long weekend, with my 4 helpers & have it in my studio by Monday.  My post-surgery hands are a bit tender after sanding vvvvvvvvvv & i know the children love getting on the tools.  So many chores before painting glory, like taping the glass edges, they love doing that & they're very neat too.  Some say child labour, i say free Easter activities!! 
Enjoy more creative spaces here, happy Easter, love Posie

our creative space . . . 'furniture revamp trial run'

Greetings all,

Yay, finally something to link up with Our Creative Space.  Now before i tackle The Buffet Project, i thought i'd do a trial run on a smaller piece of furniture first, namely . . . The Bureau Project.  Armed with the tools i'll be using on the buffet & hutch (paint, wall paper) i sanded back & primed this $15 second hand bureau for some girlie flavouring, practically for free.

My child labour force took turns on the roller & brushes after school, they have skills!!

 The following day i gave it a coat of Dulux Gala Day, yes, it's bright pink!!

 Perfect painting weather during the mornings this week (too hot after midday) but i struck a snag, my Laura Ashley crystal heart knob's screw was too long for the slim wooden bureau lid, so i threaded a wooden bead behind the knob, crisis averted.  Yes, the knob cost more than the bureau ($40 for 2), the beauty is in the details folks!!

 Now the wall paper, it's so pretty, Laura Ashley Elveden Celadon, just released.

 I took basic measurements for the pigeon holes at the writing desk & cut them roughly (i used a soft tape measure & edge of magazine as a straight guide, that kind of rough).

 Then neatened the edges with the slicer!! 

 I bought proper wall paper paste for when i do this paint'n'paper job on the hutch, however, on reading the instructions, the small bag made up enough paste to wall paper 20 metres square.  Um, i had about half a metre square . . . so i borrowed my daughter's Clag paste.

 It worked a treat - i did 3 sections before school & 3 with the children, they loved doing this small scale wall papering.  Then it was instantly ready to pop in my 3rd girl's bedroom.

 I sanded the paint back a bit to shabby it up, it's a pretty rough 2 day job (note i didn't bother painting the undersides of the shelves) but it was a trial run after all & yes, my hands . . . 4 weeks on from surgery . . . are both a bit tender.  I used 100ml ($3) of the feature paint, amazing & the roller set ($7) made the job so speedy.

All that matters is that my vintage loving crafter has a new homework station & nooks to pop her favourite stationery pieces.  She's not finished styling the bureau yet & really needs to reduce the clutter hanging from her lanterns!!  Her favourite part of the whole project - the crystal heart shaped knob, yay, that's my girl.  Love Posie 

our creative space . . . 'generational knitting'

Greetings all,
My hand surgery is coming up & boy do my hands know it, a last hurrah of carpal tunnel agony before they get chopped up & fixed, yay!!  So i haven't be playing along with Our Creative Space lately as the most creative thing i've been doing is pressing buttons on various kitchen appliances & baking!!

Last night i found my 3rd daughter, freshly bathed & pyjama'd, enjoying the balmy evening outdoors.

 This girl comes from a long line of knitters: her twin sister is especially good, her mother not so great (i knit too tight, i crochet too lose) & her grandmother, possibly the Queen of knitting, who was taught by the best - her mother - who was a house maid (totally Downton Abbey style) in Northamptonshire England & her mother-in-law - who was a seamstress & made the finest dresses for high society in Sydney Australia.

 I grew up in a family where the boys matched our father's fashionable outfits & we girls matched our mother's colourful ensembles!!  It could be safari suits & mumus, or matchy matchy knitted jumpers, beautifully made, but surely we looked like a cult or Von Trapp family gone wrong.  The worst part was truly the hair cuts!! 

 Back to this little lamb - her dream is to spin her own wool off our sheepy fleece when we have a farm.  I can totally see her doing it too.  Only she wants to knit straight off the lamb, so she has a foot rest for comfort & a lamb for company!!

 Before i took these images i did spy on her first, she chatters away to herself & moves her mouth to the rhythmn of her knitting.  I do that when i cut fabric!!

 What a delightful evening in her own little world of craft.

I love that my children have been given the gift of handmade craft from my grandmothers down to my children.  Even my brothers can ice cakes & sew, knit & paint - often better than their wives!!  Generational craft, not only do you learn the skills but it's often the most memorable time you spend with family.  Love Posie

our creative space . . . 'creative children'

Greetings all,

Today i meet with the neurologist for a nerve conduction test to confirm i have carpal tunnel syndrome & send me off for surgery.  My CTS was diagnosed with this electric-pulse-down-my-arms in 2003, i was 28, pregnant with my 4th baby, hanging out with the other 70 year olds in the waiting room.  Good times.  They might have been factory workers doing repetitive hand actions for 50 years, me - a few years of hand quilting, stitching, changing nappies & carrying twins around (why make 2 trips when 1 will do??!!)  This time i'm prepared to have the surgery!!

So i'm handing over Our Creative Space this week to my children . . .

first up my first born & her origami handywork!!

 I love that my children learn to speak Japanese at their school (until they speak to each other in Japanese, plotting against me) my eldest has continued into high school & is very good.  Mind you, this time of year, they do more origami than hiragana.

 My middle daughter has been channelling Rapunzel for about 5 years now, with waist length platinum blonde glory. 

 I love how adventurous she is with twisting & twirling it up & down, not bad for 10!!

 I had to duck to the supermarket after school one afternoon & called out if anyone wanted to come - sure, girl child number 3 wonderwoman-spun out of her school uniform & into this ensemble. 

 That's my Alannah Hill sequin cardigan but how cute is her styling??  I think the silver belt makes it.  Anyone who can pull of triple layers of lace & flares, with yellow patent Mary Janes??  She's my Nina!!

 Now the boy: to wrap up the 2nd grade he had to create a rainforest.  Chatter about emergence layers & leaf litter, supplies from my paper & felt stash + a trip around the front garden . . .

 he made a multi-textured rainforest, with trees, moss, a rock, real leaves, a felt sun & hobby-fill-clouds suspended with bobby pins . . . 

 tip for young players: use a carving fork to punch holes in the side of a box & poke through a bobby pin or 5, to make things stand up, stick out or hang down!!

Poof, busy times in my studio, shame it's not me!!  Just watch me soar next year with new hands, oh i can't wait.  Love Posie