Can't stop the music...

Thursday, November 26, 2009 by Vic


...oh no you can't!


But you do have to hurry if you want to play "Swap the snazzy CDs" with us!


My "Music to Craft by" CD swap over here will close for signups tomorrow...! I "ummm"-ed & "ahhhh"-ed & "hmmmmmmm"-ed & "haaaaaaaaa"-ed & "huruph"-ed & "prft"-ed, wondering it it wouldn't be better to post our "playlists" online instead of send CDs, but shiny CDs & happy snail mail won out in the end & my crafty swap buddies & I will be sending & receiving little packages of good tunes in the post very soon!


If all goes to plan, I'll be posting my CDs out on Monday (that's 2 CDs, one each for my 2 randomly assigned swapees), & I am really, really excited about getting some in return, I love discovering new artists, songs, or entire genres that I haven't stumbled upon on my own, or, sometimes even better, hearing a blast from the past that has me singing along loudly - out of tune & probably with entirely incorrect lyrics.


So kiddies, you best sign up if your CD player is hungry... you know you want to.... all the cool kids are doing it....


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My Creative Space.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 by Vic

I don't know how it got to be Thursday again so soon, but I just heard the garbage truck roar by, so oooooohparently it is, & here we are again in 'My Creative Space'.

I am still on the doll making I was contemplating last week, what is it they say... slow & steady wins the race....?! Here are the girls so far - don't worry, they're mostly 'armless. (HA! I kill me!)


I did something I'd never done before with the calico for their bodies - tea dying. I'd been curious about it for ages but just hadn't gotten around to doing any until last week. As is my style, I winged the entire process, also known as "making it up as I go along".

I put a bunch of teabags in a BIG pot of boiling water & waited for the water to get nice & dark, then I added a bunch of salt because I thought I had read somewhere that that helps the dye to take... that could be totally wrong, but hey, it's just salt & can't hurt...


I added the fabric & stirred it occasionally for about an hour (I took the teabags out when one started to leak tealeaves everywhere... oops!!), then I left it covered overnight. I rinsed it in the morning & it lost a little bit of colour, then hung it to dry out a little, before ironing it to dry while it was still a little damp.


Dry, it's a whole lot lighter in colour than when it's wet - so different that I freaked out briefly thinking I had the iron too high or something & had ruined it, but when it was all done I was very happy. I actually have a dress that I think used to be tea dyed until an unfortunate incident with some bleach, so I think I'll have to do a little more of this in the near future - it was fun stirring a big steaming pot of aromatic fabric - I felt like a sorceress putting an evil spell on someones cloak or something... *mwahahahaha*


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Camping!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 by Vic


We just got back.


I am SO TIRED. Like the old 'I've been out all night partying' kind of tired, but without the being out all night & partying. My brain feels as though it'll take about five minutes to warm up before it will be able to consider anything at all. Do you know that feeling....?! Where you have to think about thinking....?! It's odd & not at all fun. Camping WAS fun though, really, I just had issues with "sleeping" on an uncomfortable air mattress with bugs eating my head.


It was a very quick trip, obviously. We got to the site about 6 or 6.30, I was cursing myself on the way out for not taking something to do, like hand sewing or even a sketch book, thinking I'd be bored & have nothing to do - but I need not have worried. By the time we'd set the tent up (my very first attempt at said activity, The Boy's first at that sort of tent, it was a true team effort & I am proud as punch that we managed to get it done with not even a hint of bickering...!), pumped up the air mattresses (thinking, incorrectly, that they would be more comfortable than sleeping on hard, rocky ground...), started a fire & cooked dinner, with flaming marshmallows for afters, it was quarter to eleven.




I was up at 5.30am, not because I wanted to savour the early morning quiet or get the fire started for breakfast, but because I NEEDED a coffee like I had never needed a coffee before. I got that fire started (with the assistance of copious amounts of firelighters) so quick you'd have thought the flash had been by with his boy scout skills.




Punk had a grand time, hooning around on her bicycle with greatly improved balancing maneuvers & wondering at the birds in the trees.




We shall be going again, but next time, for more than one night. We seem to have spent more time setting up & packing up than anything else!


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Why yes. As a matter of fact I have been Opshopping.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 by Vic


Again.



Thanks for noticing.

  • Black Samsonite suitcase, MOST EXCELLENT condition, WITH KEYS....! $3. Sorry about the shouting, but this was the exciting find. The other oppy has crudalicious ones without the keys for $5. When I asked how much this was & the lady said $3 I paid for it immediately lest someone else come running out to tell her off.....
  • Set of 4 vintage yellow glasses (I don't know what happens to them but we seem to never have any glasses, no matter how many I buy. Spoons are the same. Sporks though... sporks I have more of than will fit in the drawer....!) 50 cents each.
  • GORGEOUS wee white candle holders, I love these. I'm not usually one for candles, or candle holders, but these are very pretty & they felt lovely when I picked them up so I just had to buy them. $1 each.
  • Little owl toothpick holder. I have little plans for him.... 50 cents.
  • 2 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books. Just because they were there. 10 cents each.



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Dress Ups.

Monday, November 23, 2009 by Vic



Little Punk was watching her Playschool Live DVD yesterday & there is a skit on there where there is a princess stuck in a tower - while she was watching I took 2 seconds to cut her out a crown (I PROMISE I'll make her a proper, lovely crown soon... I do!) & she loved it the second she saw it.




We had our first proper dress ups session..... so fun for both of us - but don't you think she looks an awfully lot like The Little Princess....?!






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Red Things.

Sunday, November 22, 2009 by Vic




So, oooooohparently, a few of you like red things, and would like to see some of my red things. I don't blame you, red is great. It goes faster. It's irresistible when it's shiny. It has shades like "fire engine". There are songs about it.


But.


When I thought about it, when I looked around, I realised something. I realised that as much as red is my favourite colour, and as much as I will always, always, ALWAYS choose the red option when confronted with a choice of colours in any product whatsoever, I don't have much of a "collection" to show off. It's not like I have a bunch of great red things on a red shelf to share with you - perhaps I wish I did, now, but I don't.



I have a red vacuum cleaner. We have a couple of red rugs. I chose a red camping chair for myself. I paint things red that used to be pink, or green, or not red. Punk's pram is red. My favourite teapots are red. My favourite plate is red.... but these things, I fear, do not interesting photos, or a collection make.



So instead of gathering up all the red in my house & dumping it someplace for your perusal, I thought I'd just share a couple of choice red things that I quite like. The thing about red is, you don't need a lot of it to make an impact. In fact, too much red & you could be forgiven for thinking you might have just stumbled onto the set of SAW VII (I hope that is a number, and more than that I hope it's a big number....).


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My Place & Yours....

Saturday, November 21, 2009 by Vic

....'My Collection'.


a) Isn't that just the best theme?!
b) How great is Kate for choosing it?
c) Are you playing along, with Pip?
d) Does "junk" in general count as a collection....?!



I love stuff.



We have an agreement, do stuff & I. It "is" & I collect it. All of it. I could fill this blog, day after day, post after post, with things I "collect". I could bore - uh... entertain you, for hours, regaling you with stories of things I've "collected" in the past.



"Hoard" is perhaps a more.... fitting word. And I don't rightly know why I do it. My Mother does it. My Gran does it. I don't know fo' sho' but I'd bet my Great Grandmother did it.



Probably about the only time I'm grateful that we've moved so much these last few years is when I am trying to make a dent in the "clutter". Each move saw me jettison various odds & ends that I thought I'd never be able to live without. Some of those things I don't regret - like VHS tapes I couldn't play, other things I do (I really, really do....) like my complete set of Frankie issues 1 - 14.



My collections seem to just creep up on me. I get a little something here, a little something there, and then, suddenly, there are too many somethings for it to be a coincidence any more.



Atari games.
Toys.
Handbags.
Hats.
Teapots.
Converse Sneakers.
Cookbooks.
Children's Books.
Viewmasters.
Records.
Pyrex.
Pin Up Girls.
Board Games.
Anything Really.





I have always felt I was born too late. I feel I should have been living it up in the 50s, the 60s or the 70s at the very latest. As such I am drawn to anything old, anything vintage, anything "retro". That is why I have rusting tins that used to contain sticky tape sitting around the house. That is why I have boxed opera binoculars sitting on my counter top and that is why I am going to die, without a doubt, under a pile of Australasian Post magazines that fall on my head when I'm 83.





Having said that - about being born too late - I do have a great love for a lot of things from my childhood & I have been squirreling so much of it away that one could perhaps stage an episode of ALF or Punky Brewster in my house without having to bring in many props.




I don't think I could ever channel my energies into properly collecting anything, let alone one thing only. I can't see me keeping anything in "mint" condition - I love to use everything I have & enjoy it (or now, in the case of the books & toys, let Punky enjoy them). Nor can I see me on an endless quest to find the perfect green Bakelite radio (although if I happened upon it, I wouldn't say no...), or parting with too many dollars for it. I just LOVE going to an antiques & collectibles store & seeing half my house in there with price tags up to a hundred times more than I paid. I love seeing things that are (apparently) worth a small fortune that I picked up for $1 because I liked the look of it.



I just wouldn't be able to commit to a one obsession obsession. There are too many gorgeous things, cute things, nostalgic things, NECESSARY things out there, to stick with just one....!










(.........and don't even get me started on RED things....)


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