wow...2 posts in one week....

what have you done to deserve this??!!

just wanted to show you lucy's new wallet she has made for her friends 18th tonight.

all recycled from a pair of her old jeans and the bib and braces from the top of a pinny that charlie cut off and turned into a skirt. she has modified this one with a magnetic clasp and stiffenned the two outside panels with cardboard.

looks amazing , i hope her friend likes it.

she has used the hems off everything for the tops of the card pockets.



the back has plastic pocket for her myki bus card so it can be scanned directly onto the bus without taking out, clever!!!

i said she shouldve pressed the red taffetta but she said that she liked it creased, 'it went with the look'







and heres 3 atc's i have made a little while ago using twinklings, not much of a 'watercolorer' but sometimes simple is good.
i think lately i have been a bit overwhelmed with all thats going on, rotary, debs and work that i am trying to cut the clutter from my life and simplify things. im probably also a bit frustrated because i havent made anything for a while and am getting itchy fingers.

i call these my 'shower designs' cos my inspiration came from a hair and blob of soap on the shower screen.

lol now you'll think im nuts!!!

for trade



lonely house traded


just traded

oh and theres a link to the side for itkupilli, she is having a giveaway, love her collage sheets....

from this to this.....

hard to believe i have gone from this





to this.....
















pretty nice Huh???

however it is a challenge to keep it clean and not have papers all over my desk....

i am not a tidy person by nature!

see the lovely stripey towel thrown over the bar at the top, for when the pipes in the roof leaked :( cant believe how grotty it looked......

when it quietens down, my desk will be shifted back a bit as its stuck right out in no mans land. i find it very distracting with people walking behind me all the time.
the grand opening was brilliant, long hours though, 7am start with a lovely brekky and finishing at 6.00
the customers were queueing up at 6 am down into the carpark Lol,[bit sad that i think!!] although the $99 sewing machines might have had someting to do with that.

we had the ribbon cutting, speeches, new uniforms and it was a good day, manic but good......

another week flown by.....

cant believe how quickly the year is flying by. i am particularly busy at work and its only going to get worse with the new shop opening and warmer weather.....

remember how the fires of last feb came up to the back door of my work?

well, we shifted out 7 container loads of stock, mainly fabrics,then moved into the vacant store next door as temporary premises while they refurbished the old shop.

in the last few weeks it has undergone a total transformation, the shopfitters came in and fitted it out like a big mechano set in two weeks. then the merchandisers, dispatch people and extra staff , flown in from stores all over the country, cairns, toowoomba and even new zealand had the shop nearly stocked in two weeks as well. ive been particularly interested in seeing how the shop displays go together, really interesting how they just put things together and twist and pin fabric onto the mannequins to make trendy outfits.
weve all been doing lots of o/t too although i havent had to do any 8-6 days.

my new area [custom made furnishings] is looking beautiful, it took 3 days to fit out and it will be a loverly place to work :D, ill get some before and after shots so you can see the hovel im working in at the moment. the big shift for me is thurs, and we open on Sat with brekky at 7am. no weekend off next weekend :(
the old store is now a clearance centre and we have a week to get rid of it. i have been buying sheets, doona covers and wool like a madwoman!!

so nothing made but lots of lovelies in the mail.... first of all from my fused plastic trades.

jeannie sent me this lovely one made from fp with copper foil tape. the foil and copper tape work really well together. its fascinating how diferent plastics react when they are fused too...




and debbi sent me these lovelies.... love how shes punched and stamped the shapes and used different types of stitching.



debbi also sent me this fab blog award which i am finally getting around to posting.



i feel very honored but always feel a bit funny about passing them on, especially when theree is huge list of requirements to fill in. we all spend far too much time on computers as it is!

there is however no presuure with this one so you can accept and leave it at that if you wish....

so i am listing 5 obsessions......

1, chocolate would have to be the top of the list, although i am trying very hard to cut back on that little obsession!

2, fabric, you can never have enough and i just love to touch and feel it...

3, my craft group, i get really antsy if i miss a week!!its so good to touch base and have laugh over coffee..

4,making stuff.....could be a bit more obsessed at the moment but i always love to be making something, always have....

5, the sea, i wish i lived by the sea, i can spend hours watching the waves, its sooo relaxing.

and 5 blogs in no particular order....

1, The loverly Les' blog Les and i met and started a yahoo atc group together. shes turned into a technique junkie and is always up to something interesting. she has some great tutes on her new blog too....

2/ the fabby Jan whose blog is new too and makes lovely atc's. check her mermaid ones out... beats me at scrabble quite frequently too ;)

3/patty's blog always has wonderful eye candy and she's such a beautiful person too....

4/ another one i lurve visiting is margarets blog, always great art, lovely pics and amusing stories...

5/ and finally jacky whom i havent met yet but would love to one day.....love her klimt dollies!

its very hard to narrow it down to 5 blogs because i have so many that i love visiting..

Also, i just wanted to thank you for your lovely comments on charlies deb too, we were so proud of her.....and 250.00 later the next morning the cars ignition was fixed too:)

da deb...

life has been pretty hectic around mostly because our youngest dd keeps us pretty busy!
last night was her Deb [debut ; in the 'olden days' in England it was your coming out into society and so the debutantes could be paraded around for the marriage market ;) while those reasons dont apply any more , its still going strong here and our school had 50 couples spread over two nights to accomodate them.
I daresay its good for a lot of local business' too!

for once, we were all organised until 3pm when charlie came home and her hair had fallen out. so for two hours i curled it with the straightener [ seems odd that , dont you think?] and sprayed it with enough hairspray so that it was still in this afternoon when she got up! i always wanted to be a hairdresser.

once the girl was off for photos, we went to get in the car and it wouldnt start. had to be ferried in two lots with nan and pop. luckily theyd been invited!!

our table was set for one less and we were that jampacked in, you couldnt move for most of the night. you shouldve heard the collective groan when we had to be upstanding and then sit down after a minute. lol!

all in all it was great night and they danced beautifully , courtesy of six weeks of Sunday morning dance lessons. they had to learn 3 dances, the pride of erin, a waltz and a tango. charlies partner just loved it and turned out to be a great dancer, much to her delight.

there is so much work put into these things and i really appreciated all the hard work the teachers put into this and they have do it all again tonight.

being presented......!!!