Happy New Year-Welcome 2010

Farewell 2009 No you werent all bad there were flashes of real happiness ,
My mother was diagnosed and went through treatment for breast cancer.My Aspergers son made it through year 10 which i would not have thought possible a few years ago,Two of my sons moved to Canberra and my eldest and his wonderful partner bought their first home.One son got a promotion and we all made it through.The end of a decade is a funny kind of thing,makes you realize what happens in 10 short years,We have lost two fathers which changes you,been to hell and back on the aspergers rollercoaster,
I lost a good friend to cancer,Battled with my own demons of weight and worry and crafted my little heart out.I found the internet and blogging and swapbot all of which changed my life completely and at times saved it too.Ten years one decade is all it took for three of my babies to turn into men and fly away.Ten years is all it took to take my husband from a bachelor to a father and a husband and to family life somewhat resembling malcolm in the middle(but much much better decorated and i am far sweeter than her).Ten years and now they too are gone.What do the next ten hold-a good thing we do not know i think.We step forward into 2010 nay we dance through its doorway and await the wonder.

Radio Flyer wagon ride

When my God daughter and her brother made their Christmas visit it was time to drag out my Red Radio Flyer wagon (a Christmas gift from hubby last year) I had seen an old Christmas movie that involved a Radio flyer wagon and wanted one ever since,So all year long it houses the toys i have for visitors children to play with and at xmas it becomes the bearer of the presents.They had fun being pulled around the yard by Neil and they looked adorable.Ahh childhoods days are short but oh the memories of them are long.I hope this is a good one for them.By the way do you think Maddison liked her dolly stroller.

Crafting at the cottage

Well its been busy here crafting at the cottage and wrapping and fighting the sticky tape and losing the scissors and my patience.I love to sit at my desk and make little Christmas extras.I am working on the Christmas day table favors.This year i am using little back boxes with giant silver snowflakes on them and chocolates inside.
I have also been making a few Cup of tree presents i place tiny trees inside odd sweet teacups and decorate to my friends taste.So sweet also made this tiny tablescape isn't it the sweetest the silver glass glittered word is memories.My photography is not doing anything justice.The little Christmas door i saw in a craft magazine and knew i had to make.

Now surprises is a christmas swap from my partner nic who lives in a barn in western Australia.Thanks for all my treasures nic and the super gorgeous trims and Nicoles daughter Angel made me a darling paper lantern ahh a crafting blogger of the future !


Also a gorgeous pink and white swap with a vintage girly feel is my present from Lisa Hessabi (Lisa Laughs blog)my friend from California.All vintage trims and velvet yoyos and a mini shadowbox no wonder i love Lisa.

Yes Virginia i do believe !

I wanted to make my boys a special Christmas card this year. So i took a vintage photograph of three little boys and cloned another then added my boys heads and Santa hats- I'm liking it. Guess i miss those yearly Santa pics.I always miss them
now that they are mostly grown and have their own lives (and motor bike for one ugh don't get me started and God please protect him !)At Christmas though i miss them most.
I know i know its the way of things and as it should be but try telling that to my mother heart.Christmas morning SHOULD start at 5am and should contain noise and mess and yes even a little disappointment amidst the cavalcade and cacophony.These days however there is only Neil and i and Alex who at 16 does not think its cool to LIKE anything.Thank goodness for my sisters boys whom i love dearly and my little god daughter and her brother.Because you know what, YES VIRGINIA i do believe !

Its a Brambly Cottage Christmas

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Tinsel, Tantrums and a Tall Tree Trauma

Yes dear reader look at that heading and only the end of November.
The horror my friends of the annual Christmas decorating.The mess that i once again liken to Christmas spew.The boxes the bags the tinsel EVERYWHERE.I so love Christmas and i love to make the house look magic BUT....
I am sometimes wont to complain oh why cant i be normal.You know a normal person with one tree in the corner and cards on the blinds,happy to buy my Christmas cards in the bargain shop and not make them all.My craft room looks like Christmas central ( well it is in this house.) But did i have to pick the hottest days in 30 years to do all this ! Ahh tis true i am my own worst enemy.The tree oh the tree that's where the tantrums and the terrible bit comes in.I bought a tree off ebay factory direct in February (which of course one does) when i couldn't sleep as i had such terrible asthma.Bargain $19 7 feet tall.Its huge its bulky it takes up heaps of space and i have always wanted a huge tree. So why do i hate it,why do i know after Xmas it shall be going to my dear sisters house.I shall stick with my tall thin tree next year,By the time i got it up i had yelled and snapped at everyone including the cats.Still its all done and not even December.Now i can enjoy Christmas UNTIL i have to take it all down !
Every year i put little santa hats on my vintage tin pram full of Kewpies.Im sure its the highlight of a boring year for them ! I adore cupies Kewpies however you spell it i do !

Late Spring Garden

Its been hot but you know what My garden is looking almost decent,
Hubby and i are not gardeners,I dream of a cottage garden with foxgloves and lupins
grannys bonnets and forget me nots,You see i know a lot about flowers but thats because im a dreamer and a writer not because i garden.Still my lavenders are spectacular and i have daisies everywhere and roses too so really i could be happy with them and the hydrangeas around the back.

Collapsa Cats

No one knows how to relax like a cat.Its been extremely hot lately and so we have collapsa cats every where.
I think Avalon was saying does my bum look big in this (garden) umm no Avi but your gut is looking pretty big hehe Emmilou is getting older now she has a tent on my computer desk and that where she hides when the sun is high.

First ever Halloween party !

Well at my age there aren't that many firsts (i mean maybe if i were to take up bungy jumping or whitewater rafting but folks that aint likley to happen anytime soon ,i dont like my bits and bobs flapping in the breeze lol)
So it was lovely to go to our family's first ever Halloween party at the home of my friend Cecily and Lee parents to our god daughter the light of my life.The highlight of the night was certainly the appearance of said God daughter Maddison dressed as the cutest pumpkin ever.Forgive her if she looks a little disconcerted to wake up to family and friends not looking as they usually do.My witch nose was definitely upsetting as was Captain flylow (my husband and her god father)whose sunglasses and hat perturbed her.
Captain FlyLow who is a Pilot for Wanker Airlines was definitely a hit .The women were all witches as the men testified was really quite normal.Dracula barbecued and little ghouls jumped on the trampoline after downing finger cakes and eyeballs.Talking of eyeballs there were a number of them in the blood punch.
Maddisons brother Caleb assured us he wouldnt throw up after eating then bouncing but can you really trust a ghoul.Alex who was a zombie (isnt every teenage boy) bashed the witches head off in the pinata game.
I loved her pumpkin lanterns that she got for the bargain price of $9 at aldis.
A very Bootiful Halloween all in all.

We are what we believe we are -CS Lewis

I won her in a Party Hat swap

Thats my friend Lisa I won her once in a vintage party Hat swap.
Then i found out she was pretty darn wonderful so i thought i would keep her.
for maybe forever!Heres the Hat i made her that started it all off

and then well we just kept going,quite a few matchbox swaps and xmas swaps an inchie swap and soon a Christmas Tussie swap.She is the best most sweetest swapper ever and always goes that extra mile to surprise me no matter how many swaps we do.
In our inchie swap she presented them in a bound envelope style book with what looked like a hundred coloured ribbons hanging off the binding.Its everything about her that makes me smile and it always is wrapped or packaged so sweetly that your heart skips a beat.


Lisa lives in America her blog is Lisa Laughs
anyway see what the internet does to you .If i had never signed up for the vintage party hat swap on Flickr vintage ephemera group i would never have got Lisa and my world would have missed a lot of whimsicality and that ,that just doesn't bear thinking about.This world needs more of the whimsical ,Im doing my part are you doing yours !

Friends are gifts you give yourself

I believe that saying.I value my friends and i try not to ever take them for granted.
I think i have the loveliest friends in the world and i have kept most of them a long long time.I am reminded of this very much lately.I have been going through a rough time not rough as in feel sorry for me everybody but rough as in personally hard.
Anyway things are looking up or perhaps its me looking up and what has helped me are my friends.Some friends are online and although i have never met them they keep me company and make me cry and laugh.They live all over the world and have expanded my knowledge a whole lot.Others are friends i have had for a while like my dear friend Chris who was my first married next door neighbour when i was 18 and newly married.Boy have we been through things that would make your hair curl (is that why mine is sooo curly)The other day i had lunch with her and she gave me such a gorgeous book called hope and told me it was ok if i wanted to cut it up,I said never ! (never lasted 4 weeks).She also sent me a book i'm reading called the five languages of love it tells how we all show love differently,some of us (me) are present givers and love sayers,Some (him) are service givers and NOT love sayers.
Anyway what a gem is Chris.Then there are what i call surprise friends,friends that you never expected and the next thing you know there they are in you heart! Jo Chris's mum is one of these.I never expected to feel as i do with Jo she just sorta grew in my heart till hey there she was,Jo calls a spade a spade (i can be like that myself) she is more my mothers age which i have come to know means nothing.Friends come in all ages and sizes and sometimes they are not even people but cats and dogs.
Anyway theres Jo a surprise friend and yesterday i opened an unexpected parcel,and aren't they always the best kind.She had heard i was going through a rough time and sent me the sweetest note saying the gift was from her heart and more true the bottom of her sewing box, Buttons galore teeny tiny buttons and picture buttons,ribbons, shapes, a teeny mouse (my favourite thing of all!)So thankyou Jo you made my week.So anyway after this epic post if you are still here listening to me ramble,here's to friends so lift your cup (tea or coke it matters not)
To my friends-the most precious thing I've got!

Ever the dreamer

Feeling a little low today and made this
wanted another two lines but got stuck
was going to add on the end
"like why the moon
is sometimes sad"
but then couldnt get the next two right perhaps another day....

My BOOtiful mantle

By the way my cats hate hate hate the Halloween cat (maybe its just me but i find him sweet) maybe its the arched back.Perhaps its his sharp sharp fangs but they definitely do not like the mantle visitor and keep swiping him off there hehe !

Feline-Fairy Encounter

This is the sweetest pic of an encounter between a feline (one Emmilou) and a Fairy,well actually a fairy Godchild (mine).The fairy being my god daughter Princess Maddison .How sweet is she hunkered down for a chat with a cat with just one thing on her mind (that door and escape!)Please click on the pic to see it better.

Halloween Shadowbox

I was in Vivs Whimsy shadowbox swap for Halloween and i had to make a shadowbox for my American partner Hope.This is my shadowbox complete with a light that i am so proud of.The little pumpkin on top with the face turns the light behind the moon on and off.Move him and the light goes on place him back it goes off, The little hard plastic pumpkins i carved the faces on myself breaking several craft knives in the process.I had this vision of sweet trick or treaters with a sinister backdrop.It was hard to send off but Halloween is Hopes favourite holiday so it goes to a good home.

In Memory of my Dad-a very good man

"And on the first day of spring
Love made him wings
and he flew away"
Four years since you said "Hello love"
Four years since i kissed your cheek and and answered hello Dad.
Four years and so many hours of missing you !
The tears are less but i think i shall miss you till im old and grey.
The songs you used to sing sometimes come into my head and out of my mouth.
Sometimes they make me laugh ,sometimes they make me cry.
I wouldnt have traded you for any other father on the planet.
No you were not perfect but you were perfect for me!
Welcome Spring and memories of you !

Slippers for a Rose Faerie

These little slippers are for a Rose faerie (Miss Emily-Rose to be exact)
The have Rose petal cuffs and crystal tips.Tassels on the back and teeny pearls
on the side.They have a wisp of green leaves trailing to each pointy little toe.
i think they are sweet,My sewing of course is imperfectly perfect for Faerie shoes

Life is a great bundle of Little Things

Recently I did a bedroom revamp,i was given the quilt by an aunt,i wanted the bedroom less fussy so i chose neutral uncluttered curtains,i have kept the colour scheme muted,palest pinks and cream and white against the whispy green walls.
i am pleased with the dreamlike atmosphere i created! mY love of words is evident everywhere with To sleep perchance to dream on the wall above the curtains,To the plaques that have meaningful quotations on them.





Cynthia my mannequin (who is quite a hussy but that's altogether another tale !)
holds my collection of vintage brooches and imitation pearls with grace.
She wears two old hats one of which i adorned with every flower i had hanging about.


I love these little bears (they have such a quiet dignified air) atop my dresser which is full of vintage finds collected over the years.

This plaque says "Life is a great bundle of little things"

This hanger is full of little things i love One of my sons christening petticoat,
an old paper collar and some vintage baby hangers ,Tags from Linda a good friend of mine who also supplied the two sweetest bluebirds in my craft room in the previous post.



Dont you love my quiet corner with its shabby cream framed faerie picture,the hanger that the vintage clothing is on was a vinnies towel rack.

Where I create

It took me four sons growing up before i finally got my own craft room
and what you wont see here is my husbands wall of the room.Sigh yes i share it with him.I thought it was fair that i got 3 walls and he got one,after all he has a blokey double garage all to himself !
Above is my favoutite part of my craft studio which is my bluebird shelf.
Its part of an old dresser i bought for $15 off ebay .My sister and i madly decoupaged it one night so we could hang it up and i love it.

My sister made me the banner which says imagine and the noteboard has letters and craft from friends i have met on teh net all over the world.


This dear little hoop pine cupboard is really a tv unit bought off ebay for $50 it
hides a multitude of craft buys from those who may frown.

Another favourite atop the craft cupbopard sits my bits jar a huge i think punchbowl bought for $5 from vinnies and filled with bits and bobs and treasures untold.

This is a dresser that holds many treats,specially my collection of vintage bottles filled with German glass glitter, (i am a glitter snob and you cannot go past German glass glitter !)It also houses gifts from blogger and swapbot friends and my yahoo group.


Ok here is the nerve center or craft central
I was going to wait till my desk was tidy but we may all grow old and die hehe
Actually i am a pretty organized crafter i like to know where everything is and after each project i do tidy my desk, I love this desk given to me by an old friend
its a roll top with many hidey holes it is much loved.
The shelves above the desk are built into the wall where an old window used to be before we extended the house.My son takes great delight in taking the S from the wall so it says Crap hehe Thats a magnetic spice rack you can see with its round containers with see thru lids.So handy for odds and ends within reach.
Dont you love my library index drawers found on ebay for a song they house all my papercraft and scrapping needs,They are all labelled and i can find everything so easily.