My Blog Banners - trip down memory lane

A Maximist in a minimalist space

Can you believe i have decluttered

all this AND MORE

Well folks its official Brambly Cottage is losing its soul (me) and I am moving to a rented apartment in Penrith at the foot of my beloved Blue Mountains.I just keep thinking me with all my stuff living in a two bedroom apartment yikes.Alex will have a bedroom as will i meaning my craft room will now become a craft cupboard.I have sold so much stuff  ( my friend sue has for me at any rate she has been a true Angel check out the sale she had for me on her blog Junkit Junction )given away even more thrown away quite a bit and donated more than i care to admit.But wait theres still more folks too much more and before the move is over there shall be more unclinging of me from my stuff.I am going for a lighter decorating style no more dark colours and dark furniture.This Space has to be light and airy and lift my spirits.So far i have at the apartment a large bookcase that even has a ladder.My first purchase as a single person again.I am mixing my old things with new white furniture going for a paris apartment feel..As such next year along with this blog i will be starting a new blog of my apartment adventures in decorating and storing heaps in a small space.Sale pics courtesy of Sue -Junkit Junction blog.I'll move soon so watch this space!

Yesterday he was only 4 now he is a husband !

Congratulations are in order ,I am a mother-in-law  why do they call it that awful name,
Seems to me after witnessing the Marriage of my son Tim to his beautiful bride Megan it should be mother-in-love
As they are -so in love i mean just as it should be.The day at Mt Tomah botanical gardens was just too perfect.
Well actually it was just perfect enough.The groom was handsome the bride looked like a princess and the wedding party looked like a film set against the background of our beautiful Blue Mountains.

The mothers cried and when they played Guy Sebastions" Angels brought me here ",one mother really cracked (hmm it could have been me) .You see yesterday he was only four ,so full of life and trouble and hugs.Now he is a man ( and he is her problem now hehe) I guess i did my job really and what a job that was. I cant believe the happiness a mother holds when her children find THE ONE and you know at last they are truly happy.He did
he found the one and what a lovely one she is , I am a lucky mother-in law I finally have a daughter (in-law, in-love) after four sons she was a long time coming.
PLEASE CLICK any PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT !

see In the blink of an eye it happened ( I guess 10 years will do that to sons! )

Thinking of you

Five years since you said my name and yet i love you just the same.
Sometimes suddenly i sing one of your songs and i know you are somehow here.
I still think of you every time i see an ambulance and everytime someone says cancer.
Everytime i look at the jewellery you made me and everytime one of my boys is almost as stubborn as you (or i dad as you passed it on) and dear God i wish you were here sometimes
to fix stuff like you always did,I miss your glue and your capable hands.And on the first day of spring when you went away thats when i think of you most when the snowdrops and forget me nots are in bloom.Forever you are in in my heart but you already know that,
your loving Daughter
Jullie

Lovely News

My second eldest son Timothy and his beautiful bride to be Megan got engaged a few months ago and the wedding is in two weeks.Its my first time being mother of the groom.I am very lucky the two partners two of my sons have are just the most wonderful girls (women) Suzie and Megan I am blessed and i mean that to have you both in my life.The pic above i did for them and they had it on their engagement invitations its the two of them around age 3 i merged the pics together and they just loved it.I wish them all the best and it suddenly hit me Im going to be a mother in law yikes.Im determined to be the sweet kind not the evil meddling kind.

Hi Honey Im home

Well i think its been long enough. I have had my wallow i have shed my tears ( although im sure there shall be plenty more) Misery is so exhausting and just sooo uncreative .So i am going to try looking ahead with a smile. It hasnt been all bad when im miserable besides eating (chocolate gives such solace) i have spent too much money on crafting supplies.Thinking of the budget times ahead when i leave here has had me stocking up my stash so i am ready for the great depression of 2011.I have the paper and i intend to use it.Graphic 45 have some wonderful new papers out and believe me i should know i have em. Lets just say if there was a world wide glitter shortage i could probably still last a decade maybe more.A friend told me of the Book depository in the UK too (thanks Jennie you evil person) They ship books anywhere in the world free can you believe that at great prices too.So there you go i have escaped into a few books lately too just finished ROOM a great read,also reading The Book Thief which i cant put down.Next on the list is the memory keepers daughter.Have also done a few swaps will post some pics next time. Thanks for all your kind words during my pity party .Maybe i should have invited you all i could have made the cutest party favors you know tiny bottles of tears and comfort chocolates in paper cones.
I do so love to decorate.

Teacup Tuesday a few favourites

I just love teacups and i have many
Tea tastes better from a nice teacup and looking at them makes me feel better,
I love this violet teacup as i am partial to violets. I have a few of these Brambly hedge miniature teacups and when i move i wont give them up as they are like old friends.I love the world of brambly hedge and the pictures of their little houses chock a block full of all sorts of stuff remind me of home (my home) .Thats one reason i called this house Brambly Cottage.

When life gives you a hundred reasons
to break down and cry,
show life that you have a million
reasons to smile and laugh!
(found on facebook)

Sadness and change

I have been very sick the past few weeks and during this time my husband has asked for a divorce.This has left me heartbroken but i know that hearts mend i have been down this road before and hoped never to travel it again.That's why i haven't posted i will gradually get myself together and my son Alex and I will start again.Not in this house i have made my home.I will need to get rid of a lot of my stuff but we all know in the end stuff is just stuff.Its the not having someone to share things with i will miss ,i thought we would grow old together.There is no hate between us ,sometimes too much happens to people and i think thats what happened to us,We have been through a lot.Im trying to pull my socks up and get on with life,this post is proof of that.
Anyway im on the mend at least physically and i lost 6 kilos due to not being able to eat i was so upset. So there a bonus.I just wanted you to know why i havent been on or visiting blogs as i love to do.

Blogland

Sometimes when my day is dreary,
I'm feeling down and kind of teary.
In the quiet of my beloved house
I hold my friend ,my little mouse.
I just click his back and off i fly
till i see all Blogland whizzing by !
Across the world and back again,
I see the seasons wax and wane.
I visit friends I have never met,
Sharing tears and joy upon the net.
They teach-I learn, they have-I yearn
They show and tell -I do as well,
So soon my coffee has gone cold
the day i see is getting old !
The blogs I've been to in my head
going round are the things I've read.
The ideas i simply must now try
so many things,I smile,I sigh !
To me the magic of it never ends,
my host of crafty Blogland friends .
And all because someone dreamed
impossible although it seemed !
Forever am i in their debt
for catching me within their net.

by Jullie Dodds 2010

A is for Alex and Aspergers and Amazing

My Alexander is oft times amazing.He has Aspergers and although he wouldn't have a clue when April is he loves words as much as i do and writes down sayings that touch his soul.
I love the ones he picks so much starting today i am going to post his favorites a few times a week.
Most Aspies have a passion an area or two on which they obsess and become expert, Alex's is words and History.When he was younger it was Ants before it became history.He has however always been a writer and writes lists and lists and lists of words in notebooks and papers all over his room.This always fascinates me .He also writes stories and poems like an angel (he spells however like the devil-really he spells phonetically like we should!)

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass,

It's about dancing in the rain."

Teacup Tuesday

Terri from Artful Afirmations and her friend Martha from Martha's Favorites, have started a weekly event called Tea Cup Tuesday. I know most of us love teacups and tea parties etc.
We are all just little girls at heart playing with our tea sets .So grab a cup of tea and pay a few visits.
On their blogs you will find links to other teacup tuesdayers (hmm is that a word ?)
To start today i have a little panorama of my Plate pantry a sneak preview so to speak.
I love my green teacups they are by Woods England and i have 15 cups and saucers they were froom the op shop years ago for $5 the lot.And no they never fall.Its the visual merchandiser in me that made me stack them like so.

Studio peeks I spy white for wednesday !

This week i thought it would be fun to find white things in my little studio.
I love white its freshness picks a room up.Here is my sweet little white heart cupboard that holds many of my ribbon spools.Got it once at the op shop for $5 and added the wallie rose, Can you also spy the miniature luggage pieces on top.Including a tiny white suitcase.


Do you spy the white laces on their cards these are gorgeous and were a gift from my Friend Joan who like my Aunt shares her stash with me often.No you cannot have her she is MY friend.( i knew you were going to ask dont deny it)
Lastly here is a tin bin i also found at the op shop and jazzed it up with some rub on scrapbooking words.I love how it turned out,Do you like the spoon pincushion i made it myself
when i was going through my spoon bending phase (which was quite a few phases ago hehe)

OOh lastly is that a rabbit flying by .This is a secret project im working on for Easter.
Don't ask me why but my Easter decorations sometimes end up on sticks.He makes it into I spy cause he is of course white and German glass glittered white at that,

I love Miniature luggage

Well you know me i love miniature anything but i really adore miniature luggage.
The other day i got a swapbot swap personally delivered as my partner lives in Springwood too .
Jennie gave me the most darling pansy case like a miniature of the ballet bags we had as children.
I adore it and inside were the sweetest things,I am just a child at heart and surprises delight me. Its the lucky dip factor and Forest Gump was right Life is like a box of chocolates you never do know which one your gonna get!

Anticipation the story of a swap/

Long ago (like late last year) I won keke in a swap.Well i got her as a partner but i soon realised i had won as she is lovely.The annual flickr vintage ephemera Home for the holidays swap.,
Excitedly we exchanged addresses and we also chose to name our swaps to each other.
For mine i chose Believe and almost everything on her swap had the word believe on it or a tag attatched to it. Keke named hers Anticipation ahh and i feel therein lay the problem.Keke worked hard on it sent it off in a flurry and a hurry and i waited and waited and anticipated and........ alas it never came.Its caught up in the christmas mail i said and so we waited and waited and anticipated.Finally in mid january even i in my infinite capacity for positive thinking had to say its not coming.So someone out in postland has a lovely swap .Keke had wanted to resend sooner and as soon as i conceded defeat she started to make another swap by this time she added a valentine swap as she felt bad it was late. So anyway where was i ,oh yes anticipating,well finally just after Valentines day it arrived and it was BETTER than i anticipated,I love love love everything especially the christmas shadow box and the valentine apron.Thankyou thankyou thankyou.
You may visit Keke at Cherry Kingdom.

Big Marthas Favorite thankyou

Sorry this is so late but thankyou thankyou thankyou to Martha of Marthas favorite blog fame
I won a giveaway on her blog for Rachel Ashwells Gift of giving and it arrived wrapped in a sumptuous mauve satin bow and clipped with a vintage pin.All of which tells me she has read the book which is very good by the way.Martha also emailed me and asked about Aspergers and wanted to pray for Alex so she asked me what specifically to pray for,my immediate answer was a friend.Aspergers is so socially isolating and more than anything i wanted a friend for Alex to share things with. Believe what you will my friends but two weeks later Alex has a friend.Another boy from his town from his school and also with aspergers.I think Harry and Alex will be friends for a long long time. To walk through this world without a friend is a lonely lonely walk !

Breathing is optional but kinda nice !

Sorry long time no post,Have been on the dreaded asthma wagon, The kind where breathing is optional but kinda nice.It just makes things hard when you dont you know-I mean if you dont long enough you are dead so Alex tells me ! Ahh so anyway been on the cough cough nebulize etc and then after a week of that not helping it was the dreaded Steroids and a real bad case of the roid rage.WE are talking impatient bad tempered off my face roid rage.Alls i can say is how do people who are shitheads do it.Its exhausting to be angry and upset all your life.Im glad im back to me.Im pretty patient as a rule.Living with a son with Aspergers after bringing up 3 other sons you need to be patient. (hmm is that patience or Apathy) Anyway im back thank goodness and im even breathing which is kinda nice....
PS see this grumpy fellow well that face was me last week !

White wednesday- Dresses sewn with dreams

Ahh there is something so lovely about vintage wedding dresses,I guess its all the dreams

that were sewn into them and the hopes caught up in the tiny buttons and the lace edging.

Perhaps its the fairytale effect and the wondering weather the wearer got her happy ending.

Did the prince turn into a frog or did they live happily ever after,

You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore....but let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
- Kahlil Gibran\

Grace and remembrance be to you both.
- William Shakespeare

Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.
- Emily Bronte

When you meet someone who can cook and do housework--don't hesitate a minute--marry him.
- Unknown

Believe in yourself

♥

Believe

in yourself,

in love,

in trust,

in magic,

in angels,

in happy endings,

in god,

in promises,

in miracles,

in people,

in fairy tales,

in following your heart,

in peace,

in true happiness,

in never growing up,

in following your passions,

in making your dreams come true,

in helping people,

in making the world a better place,

in changing for the better

♥
(found on facebook)

White wednesday- Fragments from the past

There's just something about black and white or sepia that modern colour cannot even come close to. It captures the moment and creates its own mood.I have a lot of my modern photos converted to black and white.Here are some fragments of time captured on film and wearing white !
(Baby ballerina is modern day from google images)

Okay i confess i break things.You know why i break things (just ask my husband) cause i am a fiddler and a creator and i have too much imagination. Yep i am never happy cause i finish a project and there is that one little bit that is not quite perfect and so i fiddle fiddle until the little imperfection is now a huge one and so then i have to find the right something to stick over the mess and then no i don't like that.So the whole thing goes in the bin and i have to start over.Know what i mean ?
Or i get an idea that if only i can put this (whatever) on another (whatever) it doesn't belong to then i can make something great.Its not meant to go there says hubby,it isnt meant for that,its the wrong size you will break it if you force it.
Well sometimes he is wrong you know and i manage the impossible and i am happy.Mostly i end up breaking the whatevers and or maiming myself. Then he is happy cause he right.So why do i do it ,why cant i leave things alone.But if i left them alone i wouldn't end up with some of the good things i have made.Ahh its a conundrum alright.Life must be so easy for the uncreative surely!

Its not real -so why am I crying !

I am,Have you ever watched UP.I love Disney Pixar I mean they make magical movies that actually mean something, My sons loved them and now Alex and I watch them.All summer long i have been watching guy movies or in the case of a lot of the action shoot em ups that they have been watching i kinda just melt away and hide in here blog hopping.Today it was my movie choice and since it had to appeal to Alex i chose UP.OMG i cried Alex cried .Who knew watching all those cute trailers about a grumpy old man and a floating house that it would be so darn sad.It was happy too and funny but the story line was just sooo sad and i couldnt believe just how sad and touching in a film aimed at little kids.So by all means watch it but grab the tissues and wheres the chocolate i think i need chocolate.