Op Shopping, Fabric Shopping, Quick Sunday Craft and an Art Swap

First of all I want to say a big big thankyou for everyone who posted comments with suggestions for the ladder. It's currently still sitting in the garden bed, but I will be sharing the suggestions with Mr CurlyPops (because he's the one who will actually chop it up and install it somewhere for me) to see which is his favourite. There were some fantastic ideas that had never even entered my head, so thanks!

I went op-shopping on Friday, again on Saturday, and then again today! I think I'm op-shopped out for at least a couple of weeks, but it's really hard not to stop when you're in the general location of an op-shop and you have time to duck in just to check if there's anything new in stock. I just happened to overhear the ladies chatting in Vinnies today, discussing that they were packing some things up to send back to Footscray, so they could get some new stock into the shop (bad news for me because now that I know that, I'm going to feel compelled to check back in later in the week)!

Anyhow, this is what I found.......


All these zips for about $3.50 in total. I'm going to have a try at sewing a zip into something (not sure what yet). I've never sewn in a zip in my life so wish me luck......


This huge pillowcase (photo shows it folded into four)......I bought it for the fabric....not sure what I'll make with it yet.


A set of four double sided fabric placemats......


A vintage double flat sheet, some purple floral fabric and a vintage childs apron.....


A set of 6 side plates in perfect condition (I gave these to my sister for her birthday).....


....and another craft book (because I really really needed another craft book). This one has some great stuff so I'll post some photos from the inside later in the week.



Yesterday I decided that I needed a calendar in the kitchen to keep track of everything. I have a really bad memory sometimes so I like to be able to glance at what is coming up in the next week. I have a diary in the study but I spend more time in the kitchen, so I thought it would be more useful to have a calendar......


So I decided to make myself a clipboard for the calendar pages.
I had a blank craft placemat in the cupboard and I used some of the beautiful paper that I received from Joanne last week. I just watered down pva to decoupage the paper to the placemat, scrunched up some cardboard and glued it down for the border, waited for it all to dry and then added a couple of coats of gloss varnish.
Mr CurlyPops added some bolts and nuts for me to hold the alligator clips in place and 'voila', it's finished.


I made up some calendar pages for the next few months.......


.....and added my very important appointments!


Today I went to Spotlight. My intention was to buy some spotty fabric to make more bias tape, but this is what I came home with.....


......and this is why I am sewing in the kitchen

Last but not least, I made a start on my Art Swap yesterday which is running over on Cathy's blog and here's a sneaky peek!

Phew! I'd better go and make some dinner before we starve!

This is........my jewellery / knick knack box

This was my first ever jewllery box. I got it back in the 1970's when I was a little girl. I can't remember who gave it to me or what it was for but I think it was probably a birthday gift (if there are any family members reading this, give me a call and enlighten me!).

As you can see, there's not much room to actually store my jewellery. The music box doesn't work automatically anymore but you can still manually spin the little wheel to make it play 'Raindrops keep fallin' on my head'.

I just checked underneath and it was 'Made in Japan'.

This is where my jewellery and knick knacks actually live. It's the top drawer of the bathroom vanity unit (very sad I know).

Thanks to Angela and Anastasia for this weeks theme!

This photo has nothing to do with 'this is' but I had to include it. We had a birthday breakfast thismorning for my sister and brother in law as both of their birthdays were this week. This is one of the pressies that I bought for my sister, a doggie bag for her little doggie Socket. He doesn't seem too impressed with the pink lining.

Craft Book Nook & More Wooden Stuff

This was the old bookcase that I bought off Ebay a few weeks ago. Mr CurlyPops finally finished it off for me today. He sanded and scraped off some of the old paint (I still wanted it to look old and worn), and then just sealed it with a couple of coats of clear varnish.

I love the old beading along the sides.....

Moving books in.......

A perfect fit......I spy some little owlets keeping watch over my book stash!

Mr CurlyPops also finished off a couple of old wooden boxes that I bought off Ebay a few months ago. I don't have the before shots for these ones but they were old, dirty, unsealed timber. I think they're usually called depression boxes as they used old bits and pieces to fashion into other items during the depression.

This one is now a CD storage box for the kitchen.....

....and this one is now storing all of my sewing items that are also currently residing in the kitchen (as there's no space left in my sewing room).

The hard rubbish collection is finally making it's way to our little street next week. My neighbour from a couple of doors down the street was throwing out this lovely old ladder. My mum rescued it and it's currently sitting in my front garden bed. We were thinking of splitting it in half and having half each. Any suggestions on what I can do with it?

Sweet Treats

Mr CurlyPops is participating in Relay for Life with his Step Into Life group this weekend.

He's running on the night shift tonight so I made some nice sugary treats for him to take to keep everybody's energy levels up!

Mail and Finished Projects

Look what arrived in the mail today........

Lots of lovely paper and wallpaper - some new some vintage........

Thanks Joanne, what a fab giveaway!

I can think of lots of lovely things that I can use this stash for and it's also given me some ideas for the Art Swap over on Cath's Blog.

I finished the texta roll.....

Just don't look too closely....... there are only 19 textas instead of 20....... I made the last slot on the right hand side too small and the last texta wouldn't fit. I'm sure a 4 year old won't notice!

I had a couple of great suggestions from Jodie and Megsie who suggested using bias tape. I should have taken then up on that suggestion because then I wouldn't have had the 20th texta problem. Next time, I'm definitely using bias tape to finish it off!

I started this bag lastnight and finished it off today. I used Jodies pattern again because I really like the shape of the bag.

I used this skirt that I bought at the op-shop. I used an embroidered panel on both sides of the bag.

I used some skirt offcuts to make the inside pockets and the button closure. The blue buttons are also from last weeks op-shopping spree.

I made the strap longer this time so that it can be used as a shoulder strap, but I also added buttonholes so that the strap is actually removable. Then I can change it to a short strap if I want to.

I don't actually know how to use the button hole foot on my sewing machine so I just used a really close zig-zag stitch.

I'll give it a test run when I go out tomorrow.

Mr CurlyPops returns from Hong Kong bearing gifts

So Mr CurlyPops returned safely and here are my pressies:

This cute paintbrush set. I think it's actually meant for painting henna tattoos or something similar as it has a little mixing bowl .

Some lovely fabric.......
A new MP3 player. I'll be able to fit four times the amount of songs on this one compared to my current MP3 player.
Then the 'piece de resistance' which is actually my birthday present as my birthday is later this month. A Tiffany 1837 Bar Pendant in Sterling Silver.......yah!

On my desk......on a Wednesday

A work in progress pencil roll (it's actually going to be a texta roll). This is a gift for a friends son's 4th birthday later this month. I bought a packet of textas and a scrapbook to go with it.


This is the first project that I've tried from this book. I had to read the instructions a few times at each step before it made sense (I usually just make things on the fly). I had to modify it a bit because the pattern was for 24 pencils but the packet of textas that I bought only had 20. I also didn't follow the correct fabric colours to match the texta colours. I just used whatever was in the scrap pile.

Check out Kirsty's blog to see who else in playing along!

Mr CurlyPops goes to Hong Kong - part 3

More MMS photos:

Catching the ferry to Macau

The Venetian Casino

Some crafty cutlery

Mr CurlyPops is on his way home so I should be getting some pressies very soon!