Another Christmas Present Finished!

Just wanted to share with you this sweet little purse which I've just completed. I really enjoyed making this one and was able to use some of my vintage hankies, combined with laces, buttons, scraps of fabric, charms, beads and embroidery. 

I think I'll give this one to my dear Mum, as I know she wont be looking at my blog, as she doesn't own a computer! Also I know she loves these colours. 

 

I guess you're all busy now with your Christmas preparations as the Day draws nearer.

Hope you're all having fun, shopping, baking, wrapping presents etc., etc. 

Have a lovely evening

Robyn

I've won!!! Thankyou Paper Whimsy!!!

I'm so excited to share with you my good news today. I've been following along with Nancy's 12 Days of Whimsy and all her lovely Christmas projects. At the end of the 12 Days am thrilled to bits to be one of the 2 winners of the $50 gift voucher to spend in the Paper Whimsy shop! Thanks so much to Gale Blair for your generous gift!! I must be having a lucky streak as I also previously won one of the $5 vouchers as well!! Can't wait to go shopping now!!! You can visit both Nancy
and www.paperwhimsy.com 
to view all the Christmas projects and the delicious items in the shop.
Have a lovely day!!
Hugs
Robyn.

Christmas Stocking Finished!!

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share with you some pics of my completed Christmas stocking, I learned in Nancy's online class. Just click on the photos to take a closer look. I've completed 2 stockings, but can only show you this one for obvious reasons (you can probably work out for yourself without me going into too much detail, Lol!!).

I was pleased with the way it turned out in the style of the victorian era, and thoroughly enjoyed making it. I had great fun rumaging through my stash of craft supplies and came across lots of little gold charms, the stars used at the top of stocking, as well as the charms attached to the streamers, which I'd forgotten I had! So was pleased to finally put them to good use.

 This one, I'm keeping for me, and will hang up in a prominent position for hubby to fill with nice Christmas gifts. Well, I hope so anyway, tee hee!!

Have a lovely evening,  Robyn xoxo

Christmas Pudding is underway!! Are you ready for the Countdown!!

Latest research shows that each week most women spend about 6.6 hours a week getting dinner on the table, yet less than 2 hours is spent enjoying the meal and a further 1.5 hours is spent cleaning up afterwards!

I'm sure I spend longer than that in the kitchen each week, only wish my dear hubby would take up cooking. 

Then there's all the special occasion get togethers such as birthdays, Easter and of course the upcoming festive season, when those of us who much prefer home cooking spend hours slaving in the kitchen preparing for the big feast on Christmas Day. 
But in the end it's all worth the effort. I'm sure most of us these days would prefer to sit down to a healthy home cooked meal than a commercially made takeaway. 
It's far better for our health and well being to eat freshly made healthy food, lovingly prepared in the home kitchen. 
Sharing a meal around the table is a great way to share ourselves with each other and exchange our storeys of the days happenings.
This afternoon I spent in my kitchen preparing the fruit for our Christmas pudding. You see, in our house it just wouldn't be Christmas, unless there is a home made pudding served for dessert. 
This tradition was carried out yearly both by my grandmother and my mother. 
So I guess it's just a natural thing for both my sister and I to keep the tradition going.
 It was pleasant this afternoon, to spend a little time in the kitchen cutting up all the fruit and mixing with some good brandy and leaving it to soak for a while, and thinking about the coming Christmas Day and the other food we'll be having on our table.
Tomorrow I'll mix it with, butter, eggs, sugar, breadcrumbs, flour and spices, wrap it all in a cloth, tie it up tightly, and boil it for many hours. 

Then it will be hung out to dry, before storing away for Christmas. I know everyone in my family will enjoy this pudding, made in my kitchen, which didn't really take that long to make at all, nor did it cost very much either. It's just a matter of planning and organising.
Though I'm often guilty of complaining about cooking meals, I do enjoy fresh cooked home made food and would much prefer to cook my own than, purchasing processed, commercially made food.
So what about you fellow bloggers? What will you be cooking for Christmas this year? Or are you lucky enough to be going to a friend or relatives' home to put your feet under their table? Now that would be nice... Do you have any family traditions that you keep going each year?

Would love to hear from you and any ideas about spending less time in the kitchen would be greatly appreciated!!

Have a great week-end, wherever you may be
Hugs
Robyn.

I'm Back from Holidays!!

Hi there everyone. I've just returned from holiday, we spent 2 weeks being very lazy at our fav. holiday place Shoal Bay. I wont bore you with holiday pics. but this was the view from the balcony of where we stayed. We just had to walk across the road and down the steps and we were on the beach. Was very hard to take!! Lol!!

Since returning I've noticed Carol of Bingle Bears is having a generous giveaway over at her blog. Just click on the button above to visit her blog.

Also I've been kept very busy making "fine & fanciful holiday stockings" at Nancy's online class. It's such a fun class and I'm really enjoying it. Will post pics. of the finished items.

We're having a heatwave here at present 34 degrees C today, summer has arrived early. Hoping for a cool change soon!!

Hope your day has been good, wherever you may be.
Goodnight now and happy creating,
Robyn.

New Items for Etsy!!

These are some very cute vintage enamel mugs, repurposed for Christmas gift giving, with paper images vintage buttons, lace, seam binding ribbons. They each have matching tags. Great for holding a gift, or for chocolates or sweets. 

Some beautiful altered vintage bottles. 

This is a sweet wooden wall shelf which I've

altered with papers

buttons, lace, braid, etc. 
Sorry, but the bears aren't included

 Thanks to Ana http://fotosvintagegratis.blogspot.com/  and to http://www.etsy.com/shop/arosewithoutathorn 

 and Karen at the Graphics Fairy for the beautiful images. 

Thanks for looking and hope you're having a 

 wonderful day!!   

 Until next time  

Happy creating!!!

 Robyn

Australian Bear Creations Magazine!

I was both delighted and thrilled to open the latest issue of Australian Bear Creations mag.,  received in today's post and see they'd published my letter to the editor featuring some of mum's thread crochet bears she's made from a pattern, by Berta Hesen-Minton,  featured in their previous issue.  

Here are some photos of her bears. The little ones with the hats are the ones I referred to in my letter. Aren't they just the cutest? I think she's done a great job!! She is now in her 85th year and still manages to make lots of little bears as well as other crafts and patchwork.

 I know this was just a letter to the editor and the photos they published were quite small, but it made my day and I know it made Mums also. 

 I hope I'll still be able to create like that if I make it to 85!!

Happy Spring!!

Although it's still a little cool here on the Central Coast of New South Wales Australia, spring is definately in the air and it's just one of those beautiful days here in my part of the world.

 First of September is the first day of spring, my favourite time of year. 

Some New Altered Art Projects

Just wanted to show you these projects I've recently completed using the skills I learned from Nancy at http://sugarlumpstudios.com/  I've made 2 altered mini clipboards and an altered wooden heart . 

I used images on the clipboards from Blanca at http://magicmoonlightfreeimages.blogspot.com/ and the image on the wooden heart is from http://www.etsy.com/people/fadedtatteredroses 

I've really enjoyed making these, using the old images and papers and embellishing with vintage lace, mop buttons etc.

On the wooden heart I rescued some lace from a vintage handkerchief which fitted perfectly around the heart shape.

Hope you like these.

Have a wonderful week!

Robyn. 

Blogger Trials

Well I haven't really been the most avid blogger of late. I spend too much time reading and enjoying other peoples blogs instead of paying attention to my own, and not to mention catching up with my creative adventures.

 I soo enjoy reading all about what other people have made and get excited to see what their latest creation or craft collection is. Am still working on Nancy's fabric book which I've learnt via her Parisien Dreams online class. http://sugarlumpstudios.com/ Also have almost finished a couple of altered clipboards from the same class, so will have the pics of those up soon.

Pop over and have a look at Nancy's blog, she does some amazing work and I can recommend her online classes.

 But the point I'm getting to here, is I've had a couple of people say they can't see all of my blog posts when they click on my blog. So I've been fiddling around with the template designer and as you will see, I've changed to a new blog template from Background Fairy http://www.backgroundfairy.com/ , so I'm interested to know if all is ok now.

If any of you are still having trouble viewing my blog I'd be pleased if you'd let me know, and maybe you can come up with some clues for me as to why this is happening.

 Hope you're all having a wonderful week, 

 Robyn

Shabby Fabric Collage Notebook/Journal

Hi everyone, just wanted to show you my latest creation. I had to take a little break from the fabric book in Nancy's Parisien Dreams workshop, as I wanted to make a gift for my Sister for her birthday. I found an old photo of her when she was a little girl, maybe 4 or 5, transferred it onto some fabric and added it to this notebook cover that I made.Here is the photo I used.

We couldn't help commenting she was wearing lace-up school shoes and Mum reminded us that back then we only had the one pair of shoes and we had to wear those every day. My sister (Sue) and I were also very fortunate to have a mother who sewed. She sewed all our clothes, we had a dress for each day of the week. She also made our underwear too and knitted all our cardigans and jumpers. She also made her own clothes and knitted jumpers for my Dad and sometimes made him shirts also.

How times have changed.   Makes me feel guilty now when I complain of being too busy. Especially when we have so many modern appliances to make our life easier than it was for our Mum back in those days.

Anyway, back to the Journal cover. This was a fairly quick project to make and I enjoyed every bit of it. I just made a cover out of fabric to fit the size of the journal and just built up layers of texture using pieces of fabric, bits of old doilies, laces, cheesecloth, seam binding ribbon, vintage mop buttons and some embroidery stitches. I also printed a quote from one of Robert Browning's poems "grow old along with me the best is yet to be".

 I also made a card to match, which I forgot to take a photo of, but you probably get the idea now.

 Anyway my sister was thrilled, she rang me as soon as she received it in the mail and said she loved it. So I felt pleased I'd made it for her.

 Anyway, do hope you like my little creation. Now I need to get back to my fabric book so I can show you the finished result before too much longer.

Winter has really set in in my part of the world downunder. Lots and lots of cold rainy days here, just perfect for creating. 

 Wishing you all a happy week, wherever you may be right now,

Robyn.

Some thoughts worth pondering

Many of us whose lives have been changed through having to face or live with serious or chronic illness, are often forced into a tough reality check and a new assessment of how we are living and what our priorities really are. 

For many of us this is reason enough to give up forever what wears us down emotionally or physically. Better still, it's a reason to do much more of whatever will most effectively lift our spirits.

My own personal experience of going through this, some years ago now, taught me to do much less of the things that I "ought" to be doing and far more of what I enjoy and find pleasureable to me. It's funny really how it can take something like this to happen in your life to "give you permission" to be kinder to yourself..at last!!

The same rule applies to people. Spending time with people who overwhelm or upset us will send our spirits plummeting. Crucual to taking better care of ourselves is to spend as much time as possible with people who are good to be around.

Most importantly we need to learn gently and in so many different ways how to be good to ourselves. 

As we find increasing ways to choose wisely and well on our own behalf, we might discover how easy it is to say an unapologetic "no" to things we don't want to do. We might also find a quiet delight in saying an enthusuastic "yes" to anything we have been putting off because we thought we wouldn't do it well enough, or that we had no time for it, or because we believed that other people's needs and wants should always come first.

Becoming our own advocate or best friend doesn't turn us into a selfish monster. My observation is that the opposite is true. It makes us far easier to be around.

So take that time out for you today, whether it be a treat for yourself, or doing that special something you've always wanted to do. You deserve it!!! 
Have a happy week!!
Robyn xx

Taken from the writings of Stephanie Dowrick with some of my own thoughts added.

My Work in Progress...Gorgeous Fabric Book

Hello again, well I've spent the best part of the last couple of rainy days absorbed in making Nancy's Fabric Book. I'm enjoying this so much it's like "painting with fabric and thread". For this you're given a basic guide to follow and then you use your own creativity selecting images, fabrics, laces threads and embellishments to create this little artwork. Eventually the pages are all stitched together to make a fabric book. Here are some pics of the work in progress. 
Lots more work to do on it yet, so will keep you posted with pics of the finished work.
Whatever the time in your part of the world hope your day has been wonderful.

Until next time, Happy creating!!

Robyn.

Shabby Fabric Cone

Hi everyone, well it has been a long while between posts. Have had our daughter and her boyfriend visiting for six weeks, was just like a breath of fresh air for us, being empty nesters now. Sadly, they have now returned to the U.K. to continue on their work/travel adventures. Oooh to be young again!!!

I've been working on another of Nancy's projects from her Parisien Dreams online class. I love her classes as the projects are always sooo beautiful and the instructions and friendly online help make it all such fun. I hope you like these pics, this is a fabric cone, with vintage lace, buttons, seam binding ribbon, lace an old image from Paper Whimsy (they have such beautiful images). Katharine (our daughter) gave us a beautiful thankyou card, before she left and it had this quote on it from Oscar Wilde, which I really loved, so I decided to add it to the front of the cone just to make it extra special. Hope you like it too.
You can view Nancy's beautiful work on her blog http://sugarlumpstudios.blogspot.com/

Have a wonderful evening everyone, be back soon, Robyn xxx

Just love altering bottles!!

  Have soo enjoyed working on the altered bottles project in Nancy's Smitten http://sugarlumpstudios.blogspot.com/  . I was unable to find old vintage bottles, but came across these old coffee jars at my local op shop. I was pleased with how they turned out, so am on the look out now for some really old bottles.

Hope you like these

Hope you've all had a happy week-end

Robyn

My very first project for the Smitten Class

Hi everyone, well it's been a while between posts again, but I'm back with a little something to show for my time away, hope you all like it.

You see I've joined the Smitten class over at Nancy's blog http://sugarlumpstudios.blogspot.com/  The class includes some beautiful projects and is packed full of wonderful information and ideas. Nancy is certainly one very talented artist.

So after a long time getting started I finally completed my first project.As usual with these things I'm way behind, but I WILL get there in the end.

I made this tag for my daughter who has been living over in London for about 3 years now (miss her sooo much). So I wanted a mother daughter theme. I was also inspired by the E.E. Cummings love poem (being one of my favourites as well) used by Carol Anne http://carolannesboutique.blogspot.com/ on her  beautiful tag. I remember this poem was featured in the movie "In her Shoes" and was used to convey the love between sisters.

So I've popped the tag in the mail and it's now on it's way to London, hope she doesn't see this post before it arrives.

I've used an image from Faded Tattered Roses on Etsy added some vintage sheet music, metal corners, seam binding ribbon and old key and the words "I carry your heart in my heart".

Here is a copy of the poem below

I Carry Your Heart With Me

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
                                  i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

E.E. Cummings

Have a lovely evening, until next time I wish you much love xxx Robyn

New Bears and Hare for Ebay!

"Candy"

                                             "Sweetie"

"Sophie"

                                  "Amy"




Hi everyone, have just listed these cute little bears and hare for sale on my Ebay. You might want to click on my Ebay link above and pop on over and take a peek. They're sooo adorable!

A New Year a Sad Farewell and a New Beginning

Well it's been such a while since I've blogged, you've probably all forgotten about me, ha ha!! Happy New Year to all and wishing you a great year ahead with lots of creativity. 

Today was a very sad one for us as we had to say goodbye to our beautiful beagle Lucy, our family pet for the last 12 years. She had a beautiful nature, and will be sadly missed. 

Goodbye old friend...

On a brighter note I've been listing and selling a few items on my Ebay. I have 2 of my fabric collage bags still up for sale so do pop over and take a look.

The New Year has brought for me a change of lifestyle with it and I have to fit in my creative persuits around my exercise. Exercise now being a priority in my life. I'm beginning to feel the benefits so that is encouraging as I've never been one for exercise much in the past.

So you'll still be seeing my creations on my blog, ebay and etsy, but maybe if you don't see anything for a while you'll know things are a bit busy for me. So please be patient.

Looking forward to catching up with everyones blogs again. 

Have a lovely evening

Robyn xx