weekend wallpapering

I am massively in love with my newly wallpapered kitchen. This is something I have wanted to try for a long time but I have been a bit afraid to get started. I imagined that it would be very complicated. I worried that vintage wallpaper might not work with the wallpaper paste available these days. I worried that I would stuff it up and waste a beautiful roll of paper. In the end there was nothing to worry about!! I found some fantastic advise online via you tube tutorials and in particular this article here.

It has completely revitalized my love for my kitchen space and now I just want to wallpaper EVERYTHING!! I will be finishing this wall as soon as the next roll arrives in the post :) Next will be a single wall in each of our bedrooms and one in the bathroom.....

If you want to get your hands on some gorgeous paper, I found mine here or you could try out hannah's treasures or retro villa.

It did take a little bit of preparation and the small person did watch about three movies while I was preoccupied with my project. A spare pare of hands is helpful but not essential.

Best weekend ever!! Hooray!

Bec x

D.I.Y - Gifts for baby...

Handmade gifts are the greatest! and even with the most basic sewing skills this picture book bunting is easy to make and looks damn cute.

You will need pinking shears to cut out your pages, something round to use as a template for your flags, a packet of bias binding and a couple of old picture books with pretty pictures. Of course it might be nice to find a book that has seen better days for upcycling rather than murdering a perfectly good one...

Cut out as many flags as you wish! Make your bunting as long or as short as you need. Simply fold your bias binding in half and start stitching it closed. Add your flags in one by one, sandwiching them in between the fold of your binding, spacing them evenly as you go. Leave a short length of binding at either end to tie your flags up.

These flags are not robust! They will not withstand folding or crunching. Why don't you recycle the hard cover of the book as a handy packaging device? Cute!! You could even make a matching card! Gee whiz, how good would that be! I keep a packet of blank, pre-folded cards with envelopes in my craft drawer ready to access at short notice. Just save a picture from the story book, cut it to size and stitch it on. You can see more card making inspiration HERE. Lovely. Go forth and make flags!

Dining area overhaul!!

What a crazy day! I sat down to my machine, ready for a day full of sewing and making, when all of a sudden the power went out. I had forgotten all about the letter I received a few weeks ago telling me that the power would be off for scheduled maintenance in my area. Drats! I had no idea what to do with myself. The small person was at daycare and I was alone in the house all day with no power. I might have headed in to town for an op-shopping mission, except I did that yesterday... I started potting around the place, picking things up, re-arranging, as I do, the next thing you know a full scale dining area overhaul was in progress!! And I am pretty happy with it. For now anyway ;) I styled the table with a few odd jars and beakers with succulence cuttings. FYI - The seagrass mat is actually a door mat from bunnings! You can pick them up for $2 a pop and I think that it makes a dandy table centerpiece.

My shiny new kitchenaid blender arrived so I found a new home for it on my kitchen bench. This means the smoothies are back on!! I am so glad I made the decision to spend a few extra bucks and get the pink blender of my dreams as I will be forever proud to have this on display... As soon as the power came back on I made myself a smoothie.

Now its time for a shower, and maybe a coffee, I have some late night sewing to catch up on...

Bec x

sweet charity - my latest op-shop finds!!

Today I met up with a lovely new friend in Busselton for a yummy late lunch.  While I was in town I hit up my favourite local op-shops. The thing about op-shopping is that you never know what will turn up. You have to look regularly despite occasionally coming home empty handed. It can be disheartening, going weeks, sometimes even months, without having a good score. You have to keep your eyes open and your mind positive. Today I was lucky!! Today I struck gold! A lovely stack of vintage linen at bargain prices. All now soaking in the washing machine ready to hang out tomorrow. Hooray!

I was EXTRA lucky today as I was gifted a bag FULL of granny hangers from my stellar lunch buddy. Thanks so much miss Sarah, you really know the way to a girls heart :)

All in all it was quite a wonderful day. Lots of sewing, yummy food, good company, a bit of shopping... It actually doesn't get much better, methinks.

Happy Wednesday!!

Bec x

D.I.Y - Prinstagr.am gift cards

I generally loathe most hallmark style, news-agency cards. I always keep a packet of blank craft cards handy for when I need to make a card on short notice. It is much more personal and does not have to look dodgy or 'cutesy' as some homemade cards can be...

You can have your instagram pictures printed via a number of places online nowadays, I have tried a few and the best I have found so far is prinstagram. They print your pretty pictures on a lovely thick and quality card, thicker than your average business card, and they arrive super quick, even internationally!!

Simply sew your prinstagram print onto the front of the card and hey presto! You have a lovely personalized card ready to go that is one of a kind. The white of the card serves as border for the photograph, so you are giving an already matted image that could even be framed! Wonderful!





You could spell out your sentiments with scrabble tiles...





You could even make a set of cards and give them as a gift...





Yay!! Happy card making!!

Bec x

My new sofa...

A few weeks ago I found this sofa on the side of the road around the corner from a friends house. Luckily I was with my handyman and his trusty ute so we were able to pick it up immediately.

I noticed its gorgeous curvy timber arms and knew I wanted it straight away. As you can see from the 'before' picture it had been treated to a pretty ugly home-upholstery job, with a massive chipboard back, wrapped in a yucky-carpety feeling fabric and a big chunk of disintegrating foam. Urgh! Yesterday I decided to rip the back off to see if what I was left with was worth restoring, and to my delight I discovered the original timber back was still in place and intact!! I pinched some cushions from the outside chairs and immediately brought it inside. 

Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed by my stuff. It is getting easier and easier for me to cull as I make the tough decisions as to whether or not I need to keep something. I have acquired so many beautiful things lately that I can let some things go.I am adding more and more to the 'garage sale' pile so stay tuned for details of when it will be held if you want to get your hands on some ex-sugar shack booty...

This little place is constantly evolving. I loved having the day bed under the map, but I figure its silly to become attached to an 'arrangement' as it can always be put back that way later, right? The more I move things around the more I learn about my style. 

Happy, happy Sunday, Beautiful people!!

Bec x

you can write on my wall if you want to...

Since moving into this little house ( can you believe it was nearly 6 months ago!! time flies when your having fun, right?) I have slowly been making small changes to make it my own. A few weeks ago I finally painted a wall in my house with black chalkboard paint... At first I really was not sure if I liked it. I was thinking, What have I done!!!? My beautiful light filled room all of a sudden had this massive black wall. After the second coat my worries started to ease, and once I put the room back together I was confident that it would look as awesome as I had imagined...

The next step will be to take down the sliding door on the right that leads to my bedroom. The door no longer slides and I think it will look much better with only one sliding door covering the blackboard.

Zavian loves it!! I have been using it as a bold backdrop for my dresses and anyone who visits likes to have a quick scribble.

I still have a list as long as my arm of things I would like to do. Over the last couple of weeks I have been hanging shelves, hanging pictures, culling junk and collecting more junk and cleaning out nooks. I am planing on hanging some wallpaper in the dining area in the very near future... There is so much fun to be had :)

I might even do a little more this weekend...

Bec xx