Happy Mother's Day Ladies

Hope you have all had a happy day if you are celebrating Mother's Day today.

My day was quiet and restful. It started with breakfast in bed {pancakes made by Liam} and I received some sweet presents from the boys. Liam and I had coffee and cake at the Cottage Garden Nursery and Antique Center earlier in the week and I found another puppy to add to our menagerie. We called him Bob after a little terrier who is the hero of one of Agatha Christie's books "Dumb Witness".
Little Luke chose this chocolate rose from his school Mother's Day stall.

My sisters and I celebrated our Mother earlier last week before she went on an overseas trip with Dad. She is at the moment visiting Denmark with the added purpose of doing some family history research into her danish ancestors. Mum has been methodically collecting information into our family history for over ten years including scanning hundreds of slides and ancient photographs. It will be a treasure for us all in years to come. I am eagerly looking forward to Dad's photos when they get back. Of course I miss them already. Mum is one of the biggest players in what makes my life work! She does a lot for me and my boys.

I would also like to mention all of my friends who are mothers - you all work so hard and always inspire me. You are the village around me it takes to raise a child. We all have truly had some difficult moments yet I am proud to say we all know how to laugh our arses off, have a good time, find as much joy as possible from the roles we chose and still somehow manage to hold on to what makes us the unique people we are. Our hearts have all grown bigger in the process and we always find a bit of extra room in our homes and lives for the people who need us.

And "Mummy Bloggers" this includes YOU! You are an extension of my friends and family. You are there all day and night with your stories, photos {pretty and messy} and are always a comfort.
I hope you all get how much value you are. Mums need people around them, people on their team. Doesn't matter where you get it from.

Brisbane writer Rebecca Sparrow has written a fantastic post on her blog called: Why I won't read "Mummy Blogs". You gotta read it. It's important. Maybe you feel sometimes, like me, like you don't have enough time to do all the things you need to do, want to do and why am I even wasting time writing this blog? Well, you HAVE to make time for things that you want, things that are important to you or you will go crazy, your brain will shrivel up like the dried apricots you are throwing in your kid's lunch boxes. People like me really value visiting your blogs - so thank you and thank you Rebecca Sparrow.

Finally, here are some vintage mummies for you to read about ~ Mrs Miniver, who is lovely and 

E.M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady, who is quite hilarious. If you like English fiction set in wartime, then you will like these. As a Mother, you will be able to relate to their antics no matter how removed from your 2013 lives, I swear. I particularly like the covers of both of these books, Mrs Miniver dating from, according to the dedication in the front page, 1941 and The Diary of a Provincial Lady, a modern copy done in vintage style by Cath Kidston. 

pictures for my kitchen

I am so happy that my lease on my little house in Tarragindi has just been renewed for another year - no dreaded move, thank goodness! However I am still settling in to my "new place". Rejigging, finding what works, reorganising. A year is not enough time apparently.

I recently found these beautiful frames in a box of frames and pictures which either need to be hung or revamped. They come from my mother's childhood. I love their chipped paint and slightly convex glass. I had previously had other pictures in them but this time I wanted them in the kitchen to hold a gorgeous card with a teacup photograph I have been keeping for forever. 

And perfectly, I was able to use a page from one of my 2012 calendars. I think they make a sweet pair. 

Love to reuse stuff to stop it from becoming, well... just stuff.

op shop findings

A lovely little collection of shops along Ipswich Road at Annerley is just a short skip away from our new home. The boys and I went for a Saturday morning excursion. We had brunch at Groove Cafe which is going to be a new favourite and then checked out the 2nd hand book shop and a wonderful shop full of handmade goodies. We pressed our faces against the glass of the huge aladin's cave of an antique shop and I made plans to return later without the youngest of the boys... and then the op shops, this little strip at Annerley is famous for them. It was fun. I found this lovely vase!        
These are all places I've ventured out to before but it kind of feels different now that they are in my own neighbourhood, do you know what I mean? We are enjoying exploring our new surrounds.

Tuesday Treasures

dominoes ~ little ones

I can't remember where I found these. I've had them for a couple of years. I have photographed them next to a normal sized domino so you can see how small they really are. Aren't they so cute!
They came in a plastic tray and are made of plastic too. Somewhere along the road some of the pieces have become quite warped, {which adds to their charm} possibly from being left too long in the heat... a long car trip maybe?

Because of their warped-ness it's really tricky to fit them all back into their little tray but we can and then we take them with us when we go places.

I am following Tuesday's Treasures at Picklebug - go and visit!

perfect sunday

oooh look ~ exercise does pay off!

This is what I found on my early Sunday morning walk!

I was just saying to my pt/brother in-law Dan, as we walked past piles of council clean up rubbish, that I really was NOT going to be picking up and more fantastic junk finds as my house is at capacity but just as those ill fated words fell from my mouth my eyes spotted this orchy crate and good intentions were swiftly kicked to the kerbside. I had to walk another approx 5kms up and down hills with that, although Dan did offer to carry it for me. It was a great workout!

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!

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!

Can You Keep A Secret

Shhhh Can You Keep A Secret?

I can't... and I shouldn't.
My friend and I visited Can You Keep A Secret on the weekend and I just have to tell you
how lovely it is!

It's more than a shop that sells vintage, it's a whole 1920's Queenslander style house in
Greenslopes, Brisbane where each room is wonderfully dedicated to it's own theme of vintage.
I liked the "gentlemen's room" and the "kitchen room".
My friend had fun trying on dresses in the "ladies room".

the gentlemen's room

front entrance

There is parking right out front on Logan Road and what I love about it is that as you step through the front gate from the footpath, and walk across the bridge to the house, it feels like your are stepping back into the past. So many cool things from my childhood! It's just like closing my eyes and imagining I am back at my own Nan's home in Greenslopes when I was a little girl in the 70's... except my eyes are open and it's all real - with the same authentic feel.

I really enjoyed having an unhurried look at everything whilst catching up with my friend...
Our conversation went something like... "oh my god, check this out" "oooh that looks good" "blah blah blah, he's really nasty" "LOVE those shoes" "you're looking really skinny" "my Nan had a set of these plates!" "should we get coffee?" "that is JUST gorgeous" "what are you doing tonight?" "oh my gosh, I had this exact same thing when I was little" "that's hideous, but quite cool" " I love polka dots" "damn kids" "I really need to have that" "what size shoe are you?" "that looks great on you!" "what the hell is this for?" "you HAVE to buy it" "yellow is your colour" "I love it, it's a SWAN!"

There is a really good mix of clothes, accessories, furniture, household and decorative items.
You should really go visit! It's a lot of fun.
Here is their facebook page for more info {looks like they have some cool events happening}
or their website.