Lovely mail...

I have been so spoiled lately with lots of lovely parcels arriving in my mailbox. The above parcel was a copy of Harold & Maude (the 1970's book that the now cult movie was based on) that the generous Kylie of Lucy Violet Vintage  kindly lent to me, with the added sweetness of being wrapped in a stunning blue embroidered vintage doily and sweet hand stamped tag! 

I also received this awesome parcel from Frith for the Vintage Kitchen Swap arranged by Stella. Everything was perfectly chosen. The beaded jug cover went straight onto my vintage Pyrex water carafe and the pretty napkins, cocktail forks, spoon and picks will be very useful at a vintage morning tea birthday party the local Brown Owls and I are holding for a friend next week. Frith doesn't have a blog unfortunately but if she is reading - THANKS so much!! :)

Issue 4 of Mollie Makes (plus a spare for my friend) arrived from the UK - love this new magazine - dislike waiting for the Australian release ages after the UK one :(

A little Country Road treat for me for Spring/Summer - so ethereal and pretty...

The latest Frankie, The Rhythm of Family, and one of the new nail colours I won for having my letter printed in the last Peppermint Mag...

My gorgeously pretty and beautifully made new Naughty Shorts dress from Bec (who's birthday happens to be tomorrow - Happy Birthday Bec!!) a snippet of which is in the bottom pic however I will show you a full pic sometime soon...

Incidentally, Bec was inspired by this talented NZ lady to use my Vintage Fabric Tape to decorate her sewing machine... I was so excited! Check it out here...

...and then, just when I thought I was the luckiest girl alive, another parcel arrived in the mail from Kylie! TWO stunning blue vintage embroidered doilies, AND a vintage Anne Of Green Gables book for my collection and a bright yellow one at that! I was drooling over the peacock doily but then spotted...

JIMMINY CRICKET... and well, he's just a bit cute! Thanks again Kylie, you are most generous and kind :)

...

I'll leave you with, well me! I cut my bangs into a proper fringe today for the first time since primary school. I have some pretty persistent cowlicks happening in there so fringes have been a bit challenging, but I have high hopes we will have a better relationship this time! Fingers crossed :)

Yours in gratitude,

Allana xxx

A little giveaway, with a twist...

Firstly a Giveaway offer:

I recently purchased a copy of the beautiful book Growing up Sew Liberated by the talented Meg McElwee. The projects look divine but I can't see myself making enough of them to justify having it on my shelf just to look pretty so I am passing it on. The children's clothing is sized at newborns to size 5, and are for knit fabrics. They look super cosy and comfy but unfortunately too small for The Munchkin.

 It is in as new condition and no patterns have been removed. If it sounds like a book you would be interested in and would put to good use please leave a comment telling me what you have to swap. First suitable swap offer will have this beautiful book winging it's way to you asap. Sound fair? I know it's a bit unusual but maybe you have a book you want to swap, bunting, something crocheted or knitted, vintage goodies, cool stationery... I'm open to suggestion. It doesn't have to be expensive, the book only cost me about $25 so an even swap would be fab :)

EDIT: Thanks Miss Kel - it's all yours :)

Regularly scheduled programming:

Today was a sunshowerey kind of day and we spent most of the morning outside enjoying it. The puppies nestled in under The Munchkins tent...

...we spotted self-sown beans from last year...

... and put in Spinach seedlings and herbs, painted a little sign and then did some 'real' painting  and yoga. I also managed to get some stock photo's for a shop update soon. A successful day I think!

I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours in peace,

Allana xxx

Spring is in the air...

Today was a beautiful pre-Spring day. I love Spring. Don't get me wrong I adore Winter too but there is something in Spring that whispers of promise. In our neighbourhood the intoxicating smell of Daphne and Boronia is in the air and the bulbs pop up out of the ground with their sunny heads, sometimes taking me by surprise. Our garden has been tended by only 4 families in the 60 years it has been here and each have left something behind. This year two pink hyacinths appeared, beautiful and scented and unexpected. 

 Loads of Daffodils, Jonquils and such are flowering this year also after a bit of work last year getting into overloaded beds and recovering long forgotten bulbs. Every day The Munchkin brings new ones in from the garden and we replace the faded ones and admire their beauty. Today she sketched their shadows in an awe inspiring self-guided art project, and she has also pressed one between books to draw tomorrow. Her creativity and love of nature and everything around her is humbling.

I took advantage of the beautiful sunshine today and photographed my pile of Vintage Sheet treasure from my Oppie road trips. The soft faded orange one, although a double size, is brightening up our bed at the moment which is still in Winter mode with thick vintage woollen blankets keeping us toasty.

One of each of the pinks will be going into a little time capsule of vintage treasure that I have planned for The Munchkin. We all know how quickly these sheets and linens are disappearing and I would love for The Munchkin to have access to a few, if not for her then her own children. It seems so far away, and yet so near sometimes.

I have been fortunate to meet many wonderful, generous and kind hearted people since joining the crafty world, both online via blogs, and in person. One of these amazing people is Emma who I blogged about here. We have been exchanging little found treasures and things and she has just gifted The Munchkin and I these gorgeous origami balls, one from a vintage map and the other (and the wee one) from vintage Golden Books. Emma, The Munchkin gently kissed hers when I gave it to her and truly treasures it - thankyou x

We have been busy getting our house back into shape for a run of Open Homes we have planned to get our house sold. There is still bits and pieces at The Cottage and our lazy housekeeping ways have gotten a little out of control. Yesterday I got into the bedrooms and The Munchkin styled her bedside table all by herself. It is so hard to not take over, being the control freak that I am, however left to her own devices she is so creative and I love seeing things through her eyes.

After this super long , and somewhat disjointed post, I'll leave you with the afternoon sun streaming into our now tidy bedroom.

Happy almost-Spring everyone!

Yours in anticipation, 

Allana xxx

Distracted...

 I meant to post about my gorgeous stack of vintage sheets...

...but then something beautiful happened...

...there were some complications, we lost a sweet light brown and white pup. The on-call vet would not answer his phone, we waited anxiously till morning. Mum had an emergency caesarean, she had a pup stuck in her pelvis. We lost another. Then miraculously, after the first pup being born 18 hours prior, we were blessed with another three healthy pups...

...Five beautiful Pure-bred Border Collies and one healthy, exhausted, nurturing mother. All the boys are mostly black. The two girls are white with spots. Funny how nature works. It looks like they have been selectively painted and dipped...

...We are keeping one. The first little girl, born on a different date to her brothers and sister is special and she has bonded with her new best friend The Munchkin already. We were lucky to Kangaroo-care her and the boy puppy while their Mum was in surgery. Her name is Genevieve (Evie) after the brave dog on Madeline who jumped into the river to save her...

...The Munchkin and I slept on and off on the couch with Genevieve and Kingy (a temporary name identifying the crown shape on his neck, that's him in the first pic), and the brave pups snuggled in and wondered where their Mother had got to. She took them back as soon as she got home, and licked them well as if to say "I'm sorry I was not here. I am here now." Watching her nurturing her pups and following her instincts was the most beautiful thing. Even with the sadness (and expense) it was worth it to see her love her puppies so instinctively. It was an educational experience for The Munchkin, and a soul expanding experience for us all...

...Finally, all was quiet. The puppies and their beautiful Mum slept for long enough that we could tear our selves away from gazing at them and eat something...

...Perfect mini Pappadums with...

...Butter Chicken, brown rice, avocado and fresh coriander...

...a lovely end to a stressful, tearful, excited, anxious and happy 48 hours.

Yours in awe,

Allana xxx

Oppie finds...

On my windowsill in the kitchen, overlooking the backyard is a new-to-me blue Twinings tin donated by a thoughtful friend, and like the red tin awaiting a herb planting... LOVE...

Discovered while Op Shopping: a huge stack of mostly children's patterns to make or re-purpose...

...feeling the 70's love with a groovy apron in new condition and these two novels, one for my Anne collection and after finding out that Emma collects Wuthering Heights books I happily donated the other one to her bookshelf...

... perfect vintage sheet, NZ bowls, Mugs amazingly hand made in Ulverstone which is where the Oppie was!, Canister spotted by my beautiful friend and handed to me (50c woot!), Teak serving tray, table cloth and in the back, which photographed poorly a stunning hand crewel stitched peacock destined to become a cushion I think! - all cheap as chips...

... and Munchkin sized granny-hand-knit lightweight jumpers, brand new - $1 each! 

I was so fortunate last week to get the opportunity to go on not one, but two Oppie road trips with two different friends and both resulted in lots of treasures! As well as the ones above I also scored a fabulous stack of Vintage sheets which I will show you tomorrow. Both days were lots of fun and you can't beat great company with friends, yummy food and a good chat! 

Yours in Oppie bliss,

Allana xxx

Ps. Linking it up with the lovely Sophie for Flea Market Finds...

Published...

How exciting to discover today that part of an email I sent to Peppermint Mag after Issue 9 was published in their current issue (Issue 10) - what a surprise! I always read the Letterbox page but hadn't for some reason and found out when they contacted me about mailing details for the gorgeous nail pack I will be receiving! 

...

I have had some fabulous Oppie scores lately after having two road trips with friends so will be back tomorrow to share my spoils :)

Yours in excitement, 

Allana xxx

Let's make Rabbits...

Very early last year I remember reading a blog post about this book and the collages the blog author had done from it with her children. I of course have no idea who it was now (sorry!!) but the idea has stuck with me ever since. I finally took the book off my wishlist and into my shopping cart on The Book Depository# and it arrived today - yay! 

I traced off the parts of the scrappy bunny (allowing for the overlapped parts) and got to work cutting multiple parts out of magazines pages, mostly choosing coloured pages rather than words. I must admit to cheating here and folding the pages into a concertina type effect so I could cut out more than one at once. 

The Munchkin decided to stick these rabbits on her BIGGEST PICTURE EVER, (but more about that later), so we got to work choosing rabbit parts and pasting them on. She has since started drawing scenery and food around them which I love! 

It was such a fun project and we have a few more cut out and ready to go on too. I originally had wallpaper off cuts to use but thought the magazine pages would give it a great recycling/ upcycling dimension.

The Munchkin is 4 1/2 and she did all the eye pupils while I cut out the pieces, and was more than capable of pasting the parts together with the book as a reference. We did this together but with everything prepared it would be a great project for a child (or children) to do independently.

Yours in mother-daughter crafty bliss,

Allana xx

# We love books at our house and we use Talis (the State Library online ordering system) all the time and come home with arm loads after every Oppie visit. Sometimes though I want my own copy of a certain book or can't find one anywhere and I usually turn to the computer to get it. 

After much debate with myself (yep, I'm a little crazy!) about the ethics of cheap online book sites I have compromised with the decision to purchase older and/or hard to find books , paperback novels and the like online - and to buy all the new books that I can direct from the authors for the full price ie. Pip Lincoln's crafty offerings.  I feel this gives the 'sometimes' authors, who really work super hard to make some money from their "hobbies" a reason to keep doing it for us! I know this totally ignores local booksellers but they were never really an option. #

Lust...

Via: Berlin Quilter

I found this amazing quilt linked on Pinterest and am so very keen to make one myself. Probably the easy way with appliquéd letters though but I love the grey background and bright words. It would be a fantastic use of some of my Vintage Sheet Fat Quarters from Kel's last swap don't you think! (Pop by and check out some of the gorgeous things she has been making with her stash - talented girl!) 

What quote shall I use, I have a few favourites right now...hmmm...

Yours in contemplation,

Allana xx

PS. I'd love for you to join me on Pinterest - The sweet Estelle hooked me up with an invite a year or so ago and I'm only getting really started on it now but am addicted! I have a few invites still if any one wants to bypass the wait list ;)

Music love...

Big thanks to the sweet Ebony for introducing me to this amazing guy! I adore this beautiful version of Hey ya, but all his songs are worth a listen. 

Yours in musical bliss,

Allana xx