United we stand

I couldn't resist this this lamp that I found at an auction recently. It has a beautiful wooden base and amazingly was in good working order. It had a rather shabby shade which I updated or in fact back dated with a vintage flag. I love the effect.

Dolls on holiday

Our divine local children's shop Spoilt Rotten had these gorgeous papier-mache hot air balloons in the window recently and each morning we would drive past on the way to school and the girls were keen to make their own. They were so simple to make but they do take a few days to make, as you need to let them dry.

To make you will need a balloon, newspaper cut into strips, cornflour paste (recipe below) paint, ribbons and buttons.

Blow up the balloon to the desired size, remember the bigger the balloon the more work required so start small. Using lots of paste stick the strips of paper onto the balloon, you will need four or five layers of paper to make it nice and strong. Leave to dry for at least a day possibly longer in cold weather. When they are ready paint and decorate as desired! We painted ours with stripes and then decorated them with buttons and ribbons. The gondola was made out an old cereal box and attached with string. The doll usually lives in the doll's house but she was keen for a holiday.

Cornflour paste recipe (taken from The Best of Children's Art and Crafts)

You will need

3 parts water

1 part cornflour

saucepan

Bring water to boil, remove from heat.

Dissolve cornflour in a little cold water and add to hot water, stirring constantly. Boil until clear and thick (about one minute). This paste will keep well in the fridge and can be used for other papier-mache projects

Dearly departed

I have been lucky enough to 'inherit' various haberdashery items from both my grandmothers. My paternal grandmother left me the most amazing button collection, the remnants of her children's wear factory, and my maternal grandmother left me this fabulous collection of cotton reels.  I say 'inherit' but really these items are just one of many that become part of an estate and need to be distributed thoughtfully.  

Happily they have each inspired me to create.  The buttons are used in my hair accessories (button bows to be precise) and the cotton reels will ensure that I never need buy cotton again as I have every shade imaginable!  

The lovely part about these items is that I think of both of my grandmothers every time I see their things in my sewing cupboard.  I think about their lives and the fact that they saved everything and wasted nothing and it makes me reflect on my own wastage and misuse of materials.  I do endeavour to recycle and reuse as much as I can and I think the key to this is to be well organised and have great storage where you can clearly label and categorise items.  

Amongst the collection was this hosiery darning thread, I marvel at the idea of mending tights. Now laddered tights are only good for staking plants in the garden, but in my grandmothers time they would have been painstakingly mended and mended again.

When we lived in the UK I used to collect the lids from the milk bottles and I even brought them with me to Australia to use in children's art projects and costumes.  Sadly they are all gone now and I wonder whether it would be ecologically sound to have my mother in law collect some more and post them to me?  Probably not as I am sure the carbon emissions would be breathtaking.

A bird box for the birthday girl

I made this for my littlest child for her birthday.  She loves 'posting' things, so this is perfect for her little imagination, needless to say she loves it!  I used some fabric from my Japanese fabric collection, re-cycled cardboard pieces and ribbon from an old shopping bag, so nothing needed to be bought for the project!  I should say that I saw this idea years ago in a magazine, (I think) so it is not an original idea but one that stayed in my memory and was crying out for being recreated!

Floating on the end of summer

On our summer holiday we made a family of birds, each bird representing a member of our family. The birds were made by creating a shape out of aluminium foil, then covering them with tissue paper and found feathers, grasses, leaves and gum nuts.

It was a great project that even our 2 year-old could get into. Nothing beats gluing! We made them into a mobile using sticks from the garden and string. They floated around on the deck making the holiday rental look more homely. The idea originated from Susie Cameron & Katrina Cook's wonderful book, Small Fry Outdoors.