opshop finds...

I've been trawling the op shops lately, and have found some very cool bits and pieces.

Today after a great coffee with a very dear friend, we walked to some near by op shops and I discovered some cute vintage jigsaw puzzles for Summah...$1 each!! 

so cheap!

I remember my mother having 2 of these puzzles when I was a child and may be that 's why I wanted to get them for Summah too.  

They are simple, educational and I just love them.

I will continue re-visiting my new favourite op shops for little treasures.

another for the cousins...

Here is the latest trick of Summah's, she is rather musical with the sounds that come out of her mouth and rather entertaining.

You often see her just sitting on the floor whilst playing with her toys and she has stopped to make interesting mouth noises.

So enjoy this little video.

excited for friends...

today is a great day close friends of ours had their first child a wee girl...so excited for them!! (even though they live in the States and we don't see them much)

Anyway Summah and I did a wee photo shoot a few weeks back in anticipation of this momentous day.  They really are super cute photos so I have to share them with you.

it did take a while for Summah to finally hold the sign the right way up, but we got there in the end and had fun.

for the cousins far away...

At the moment all Summah's cousins are far away and they are missing out on her crawling adventures so we decided to video her and let them see how much  their little cousin has grown in a month.

Summah really misses her cousins and is looking forward to hanging out with them when the Northland ones get back to the Waikato, and the Southland ones hopefully in January. 

For the mean time we hope you enjoy the videos, and can view them ok.

(apologises if the quality is no good)

I've done it!!!...

....reconstructed a top!!!

I've finished my first attempt at reconstructing a top of mine that I loved the front and detailing on.

            




Top 1: From Jeans West, nice linen the sleeves tore really easy, so I was unable to wear it.  I loved the detail on front so I kept that and recut a new back and sleeves.

                              the torn sleeves were replaced

Top 2: From Stax, this top had uneven collar heights, which bugged me every time I wore it.I have cut out a new back from this to go on the above top and used the sleeves and put a cuff on them from the back of the above top.  This top also had a cut sash belt which I can wear with my new top, like below.

 

(it's hard to get a good pic of yourself when there is no one else around to take it)

The end result is this cute top, that I can wear with a skinny belt, the sash belt or with out either.  I also made the back of the top a little bit longer than the front.

The verdict:

I think I'm addicted and will rethink when I have wardrobe clean out now, I will see my clothes with different eyes.

It has been a fun project for the last day, what can I make now????

the past 10days...

The husband is in the USA and Summah and I have been spending some time at my parents...yay!! it has been fun and here are few things we've learnt/done in the last 10days.  Everything is so much more exciting now that a little girl can crawl and explore the things/objects around her world now, it is fun to watch.

1. Summah loves music, & Grandad's CD collection

 was delightful to play with...now they are out of order...oops!

2. Uncle Ross loved reading/playing with Summah 

even when he didn't feel well

3.  Summah's hair is long enough to spike up 

when shampooing it...fun!

4. Banny has the best selection of rolled material balls to unravel 

5. Bandad (aka. Grandad) can multi task!! 

watching motorsport on t.v

eating an ice cream in a cone, and feed Summah.

6. Grandparents are the best thing since sliced bread as they have so much time for grandkids and love spending time with them.  Don't rob this time from them, allow grandparents to have time with your kids.

7.  The best thing is coming home to your own bed and familiar surroundings, even Austin was excited to see us home, he wanted a bath with Summah.

DIY: Art piece

I've been doing some artwork for my conservatory space and it's simple and if you want a cheats version of what I've done here is what you do.

What you need:

canvas 8x8 

(or preferred size)

scissors

PVA glue

Paintbrush

Old school book 

(that you don't mind cutting up)

printer

varnish

next cut 2 stripes for 2 sides with a bit of an overlap to glue it down nicely with watered down PVA glue....this part can be messy! Cut 'V' shapes out where you want to fold the extra at the corners for a nice finish.

Next do a google search for images you would like to print onto your book page, for the effect of an ink drawing you'll need to look for pictures that are sketched. 

(some google image ideas: dandelion seed head, birds, flowers, building silhouettes, bridge silhouettes, powerlines with birds on them,  windmills etc) 

(also you'll want black images to print off ... easier.)

For mine I've hand drawn them all with ink pen.

(your canvas will look like this if you have choosen to draw your own picture)

Then cover your canvas front with a full page from the book which covers the remaining 2 sides.  My book pages were about A4 size which was perfect for the 8x8 canvas.

The end result could look similar to these:

(excuse the poor quality photo's my husband has our good camera with him in the USA at the moment, I had to use the budget panasonic point and shoot camera)