Blossom Cottage

Cardboard House and Paper Rabbit Making Day

On a very wet dismal day, it was announced that it was now craft time!   Bonnie decided that a cardboard house was the craft item for the day.. a shoebox, some scissors, an old cheezel and muesli box, a roll of sticky tape, some fabric and felt and a bit of paper.. the most prized possession of course was Miss nearly 4 having a roll of sticky tape and a pair of child friendly scissors at hand!...   Nanna cut the windows and door and Bonnie did some hacking on the other boxes to make a bed.. some bits -- as she called them stripes were added to the roof, a straw on the cheezel box, must have mats and curtains.. a bit dismayed that the curtains would move backwards and forwards :(   So much fun having the roll of sticky tape at her disposal..long pieces would be torn off and then become twisted until nanna fixed them up! 

And then we must make poppy something.. we settled on a cutout piece of cardboard, that didn't have an aim to start with but turned into a rabbit.

To Market to Market....

Everyone conjures up a different idea on the word market.. my first thought on a market resembled this image.  Bright colourful, lots going on..  outdoor, indoor, fruit, vegs, secondhand, new, craft, other people's bits and pieces that have outlived their lives with them..  I love wandering around, chatting to the stall-holders.

Our market locally is very different to those that are large and colourful, its a small scale, undercover market mainly secondhand items, with lots of crafty bits and pieces.  My mum and step-dad were there with a stall today and I went along, bringing home a few treasures.. such as lace, needles, crochet cotton, some of my mum's home made raspberry jam which we just sampled on the scones I made this arvo.

Special Bits and Pieces

About time I posted again..  found some nice items in and around home to share...  and my birthday present from my lovely sister Melissa - I think its so lovely that Mel is giving homemade presents and books this year, lets hope the rest of our family can follow Mel's idea.  Can't wait to cook up a recipe later today from the book and my gorgeous dishclothes are going to take pride of place in my kitchen. aren't they fabulous.. check out Mel's blog for more, her group have produced some wonderful designs. and the soap looks good enough to eat..  Yes, Mel I'm ordering the cotton today!  Not too mention the fabulous japanese fabric.. thinking cap on, anyone have ideas for its use??   I'm thinking it would make a beautiful cushion cover.

My daughter, Kama gave me these lovely measuring cups for Christmas..  Habitat stores in Australia stock them.

And this is a lovely coaster that I couldn't resist in a speciality shop Centrepoint Hobart.. its a great little gift store..

 
My family call me the necklace queen..  I love stunning but plainish pieces..  I have a few hand made glass pendants, Rino does a lovely job..  a red one, a green/blue and now this lovely larger piece of blue swirled glass on leather..  I'm quite excited as I am enrolling to undertake a silver jewellery class this year with Rino's partner.  I hope to set a piece of agate into a silver surround for the pendant I am required to make.. and the ring design I am stilling mulling over in my rather cluttered head!  Have a few designs springing into my mind though.

Visiting the East Coast of Tasmania

It was raining on Saturday, so we decided to head up the East Coast and join Tanya, Scott, Georgia and Izzy at Swansea.  We stayed at Swansea Cottages (lovely), ate out the Bush Mill, played in the great exercise playground by the river.. and took our time heading home today.   I also got to shop at the little craft shop again that I mentioned in my last post.. lots of little bits and pieces came home from there.

 

Sylvanian Family Furniture

Gina gave me this lovely little dolls house for my grandchildren to play with..  yesterday I was in Toyworld and spotted these lovely little pieces of furniture, thought they would be perfect for the doll's house, so now I have a new project : ) fitting out the dolls house, making some small rugs and tincy wincy pieces, as well as finding some more furniture.  

 

Whats happening here and what I enjoy..

eating passionfruit, diet food (mm), and this weekend before the diet starts some chocolate and cinnamon scrolls - find the recipe here Gina  (not together)
...watching my AFL footy team Carlton win!  And watching my lovely grandchildren play....

...reading nothing at present, just enjoying magazines, diet sheets and craft dreams

...walking on the treadmill (psyching myself back into it)..  and wearing my new orthotics for an hour each day until I get used to them.
..crafting... well I'm thinking on the next project, some patchwork squares to sew up.  Also making some cute hair accessories.
...thinking about sewing some gifts for xmas, reorganising the end bedroom, and planning the menu for our diet.. ...Hoping that I will be able to move forward with my work ideas and soon we start to enjoy some nice warm weather...looking forward to starting my christmas shopping (lol) 

Back from Queensland..

A lovely 10 days in 24 degree heat.. I hear that Tasmania had rain, rain while we were away.

Shopping is great in Queensland, especially the large shopping centres, we only have a smidgeon of the shops and product here to chose from, I bought some new shoes, a few summer tops.. and this gorgeous little koala so I could contact the designer and hopefully develop some Tasmanian animals for my workplace shop.   Its so cute..

 

And this.. lovely new doona cover..  Morgan and Finch from BednBath.. one of my favourite shops, I wish they would go online! 

Queensland ... yah....

Sorry everyone, I have been a bit slack of late with the blogging, seems life has been a bit hectic, work, etc.. haven't done much in the way of craft for a while..

I visited an iridologist last week, that was fun and apparently according to my eyes I am fairly healthy.  Nice and clear.   We worked out that the droopy lids are related to my sulphur allergy (sulphites).. so when I return from holidays I am going to try a new diet. 

If anyone has buckwheat bread recipe..please point me in the right direction... or send to my email please..  I hear buckwheat pancakes are great too.. I am thinking that with the allergies gluten free diet may be an option also.. so any great recipes appreciated... or links to books,e tc...

Friday we are off to Queensland, hoping for some warm weather while we are there, Tasmania has been a bit bleak of late, rain, wind, cold... brgghh winter seems long this year.  10 days with Kama, Daniel, Oscar and Bonnie oh and dh!  So it will be great to lay back, swim in the pool, do some touristy things.. bring back some inspiration for Hastings Caves for the coming year..   www.parks.tas.gov.au/reserves/hastings.

I'll try and get back on track when I come home : )

Stamps

Tasmania has a lovely store in Hobart called the Inside Shop - they have different things to the normal shop...last trip I found these lovely animal stamps, they were fairly expensive, but little Bonnie loves them, she goes into my craft room, locates them and brings them out, asks for an underpaper and some paper to stamp on.. then when she finishes without being told she carries them away again!

Another Elephant

I found this cute little elephant to add to my collection in the Tree of Life shop in Canberra. My sister, Melissa, my niece Bella and my mum came with me to Canberra last weekend.   We enjoyed a lovely weekend in Goulburn with my brother Roger, Jane, Kate and Clare.  Shopping day was Saturday!