Paper Dolls

My friend Kelly sent me this gorgeous canvas tote bag from Sydney featuring vintage style paper dolls. 

I absolutely love it! Then my friend Pascalle launched her latest collection Twenty Five Seventy Five 

from The Lavender Room on etsy and of course, her paper doll necklace was an immediate favourite and so I thought I'd better put a collection together! 

1 paper doll tote {girl side}  2  lemon dress   3 vintage cloche hat

 4 paper doll greeting card set  5 pink bow ballet flat  6 Dr Martens brogues 

7 avon ice cream comb  8 peter pan collar  9 vintage paper doll postcards

10 twenty five seventy five paper doll necklace  11 vintage marigold silk dress  12 silver mary janes

13 nothing boat love for you dress  14 white and navy cloche hat via  15 navy bow ballet flat  

16 paper doll tote {boy side}

Another special mention to Chibi Run  and her lovely blog. I have only recently discovered her blog which I love visiting and her shop has so many cute affordable things! I particularly like the paper doll stationery range {items 4 and 9}! And Oh My Gosh, I was so glad to find the avon "ice cream comb", I had one when I was little and LOVED it ! Did you have one too?
I love the twenties/vintage/ great gatsby look of these traditional paper dolls, however for a bit of a mod twist the wall decal paper doll collection from Love Mae is TOTALLY fantastic... am I too old to be playing with a set of these???

Tuesday Treasures

This Tuesday I want to show you this 60s/70s?? flask set. It belonged to my Nan. I don't know how many of my posts include the phrase "it belonged to my Nan" but there must be quite a few!

Alas there is a cup missing and the flask is a little faded but I love it just the same. How great are the illustrations! The faded flask makes me wonder if my Nan had it on display in her kitchen. I don't remember seeing it when I was younger. I'll have to ask Dad.  It's made in Japan and that's about all I know.

I am looking forward to seeing what Rach at Picklebug has for her Tuesday Treasure today! Sure to be something gorgeous!

perfect sunday

A quiet day at home is always nice. I've been catching up on jobs around the house. Can I show you my pride and joy... two tomatoes from the tiny tomato plants I was given at Christmas. 

These were my Nan's. I don't use then very often so I took them out of the dark cabinet they were in so
I could at least enjoy looking at them.

This little enamel tin was a score from the lady down the road who had it on her junk pile during the council clean up a couple of weeks ago. You can bet I was all over that in a flash.

My lovely swan found at "Vintage Frills" at Mt Tamborine was a completely practical purchase after all.

Originally Christmas decos but they stay up all year.

Hope you had a relaxed and perfect Sunday!

mess!

I knew my white painted table top wouldn't stay tidy for long. Here's what happens when I get excited about a craft project...

hmmm, I know I left my creative genius in here somewhere...
It's rainy, I have the morning off work and I still have a few more match boxes to go.
Please tell me your craft space is just as bad.

matchboxes

The Gentleman's One

one for the gents....

I painted a woodgrain effect box and covered the outside with vintage gentlemen's advertisements.
I made a tiny silk bow tie, a pocket watch and cut out some cricket collector cards and some playing cards too.

The Rose One

one for the ladies...

this one is covered in rose fabric and a vintage silk rose bud {one from my Nan's collection}.
Inside is some tiny roses, a pale green button and a bead as well as a bundle of rose incense which was part of a box of floral incenses sent over from Japan several years ago. You can see part of the packaging on the back of my matchbox.

So many more delightful matchboxes at Lobster and Swan. Their makers have come up with some really creative ideas. See more at the group's flickr page.

Tuesday Treasures

You can judge a book by it's cover ~ absolutely!

These have been collected because I loved their covers. And yes, I have read and appreciated them for what's inside too {I'm not completely shallow} and found them to be worthy of their fabulous exterior!

More Tuesday Treasures at Picklebug!

two for tuesday

1 quote + 1 picture = two for tuesday

glorious!

On Saturday I had a busy morning at work then headed down the coast with the boys to do a fitness test that I had been DREADING! Liam {my 14 year old} and I do Arakan once a week and it's one of the best things I've ever done in my life. I put on weight and lost a lot of fitness over the last three years and starting Arakan last year has been what has given me motivation for exercise again and made me a happier person in general. Doing this fitness test, {which tested my cardio fitness, strength and endurance etc} has given me some concrete goals to work towards. I was really, really nervous even though I wasn't pressuring myself to perform well at all {as it's just a starting point} but it must have meant more to me than I realised. 

The Arakan instructors are so encouraging and kind and so patient but they also make you work hard and take you out of your comfort zone. I really love the way they treat my sons especially. They are wonderful male role models, which is something I really value. The boys do have really great relationships with their granddad and uncle who are both really good men to look up to but I think, the more the merrier! Liam is gaining self esteem, strength and learning to enjoy exercise. The young boy who was angry and depressed and having counselling a few years ago has become, calm, positive, strong and much happier and I'm very proud of him. 

I am really glad I now have more time to focus on myself again and am doing something to challenge myself because, as depressing as some of my stats were and as much as I H.A.T.E doing things like beep tests, at the other end of each training session I feel so good and as I said before - happy - it makes it really worthwhile. There is so much to be said for the effect it has had on my mental strength too. 

So, after the test I was feeling completely wrecked but at the same time, felt on top of the world! 

We stopped off at the beach on our way home and this is how we ended our day!  

This is Broadbeach on the Gold Coast. We got there at about 4pm. The sun wasn't too hot, the water was perfect and just being by the ocean was pure joy and so beautiful. It was glorious!

Do you remember doing this as a kid!

two for tuesday

1 quote + 1 picture = two for tuesday

pepper & spice chocolate brownie for valentine's day

I made these by adapting a fantastic recipe that my friend Jamie gave me. 

The original is called "Mother Of The Year Chocolate Brownies".

Unfortunately I'm not sure where the recipe came from but I have added it here with my extras so you can print it out and try it yourself.

It's so quick and easy you can whip up brownies at the drop of a hat. 

Jamie uses this recipe as a base and adds all sorts of ingredients and makes all manner of 

amazing cakes, desserts and cupcakes from it. She's very clever!

I just chose to add black pepper and mixed spice {another idea borrowed from a chocolate spice 

biscuit recipe from a friend!} and made them into cupcakes. 

These will be for the boys for valentines day. Luke did a fantastic job at decorating the top of this 

one with a red candy heart and chopped up musk sticks!

* just to let you know, these brownie cakes taste amazing with the pepper and spice addition!!

here's my adaption...

and look what else...
how cool are these!

I found this free printable project at sweet muffin suite printable valentine's card via creature comforts 
I made these up in about 5 minutes this afternoon using some cute black pencils I found at spotlight.
I think they such a clever idea.

The boys will love them I' sure.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow!

perfect sunday

 Went for a walk, went to the markets for fruit and veges and finally went to the garden center for some plants and saw these lovely lisianthus. Aren't the colours divine! I brought a pot home as a Valentine's to myself thank you very much. I borrowed the bathroom bin {ikea} for them and put them next to my front door ~ very pretty. All that before 10.30 am! I guess getting up early has it's virtues.
Now I will wait till it's cooler this afternoon before I do any gardening.

This is also happening... from maccas, first coffee in a week and it was pretty amazing !

Have a perfect Sunday!

A little present

Just finished making a little memory wire colour blocked bangle for a little lady's birthday.
So easy and fun to make. Do you like the bird charm at the end? It was one half of a pair of earrings whose partner was lost. My sister brought a little box of beads and broken jewellery for me to add to my bead collection and I found this lonely birdie in there. Happy for him to have found a new home!
I am also using the Happy Birthday matchbox I made instead of a card. I just wrote a little message inside ~ hope she likes it  ♥