Disc Craft

Since my last blog, the temperature has increased by leaps and bounds - summer has kicked in. Phew! its 2pm and over 30 degrees inside the house, I don't like to think what is ahead of us during the next few months.

November is the time for birthdays in our family, and so my daughter and I planned a family dinner to celebrate my husband's and son's birthdays.

We were fortunate in having relatives visiting from interstate and overseas and were able to include them in the occasion. We managed to assemble eleven around the dining table for a succulent roast pork dinner with all the trimmings followed by pavlova and ice cream and a smartie covered chocolate cake.

We chose royal blue and black as the colour theme, because blue is my husbands favourite colour, and black because we planned to make use of old vinyl records as decorations.

We had inspiration to use old vinyl LPs for decorations as my husband loves his music and it seemed an inexpensive source of material. My local op shop sells records five for two dollars, what excellent value! By scanning significant family photos and sticking them over the record label, we were able to utilize the albums as table mats.

With the help of the internet, I learned how to make bowls from records, by melting them in the oven and draping them over a bowl to cool. We used these stunning creations to hold potato crisps and later Roses chocolates. Smaller records (old 45s) proved useful bowls to sit pots of dip in. With electric blue serviettes on white tablecloths, the table looked very effective. Plumes of blue and black balloons added the extra wow factor, we were very pleased with the result. The guests were fascinated by the mats and they sparked a lot of reminiscing and laughter as they read the labels on the flip sides.

Electronic candles lit the room and added ambiance to the setting, all in all a successful, delightful evening that we shall remember for sometime.

We were originally going to throw a party in a local club and invite heaps of guests to dance the night away, as we have done for previous significant birthdays, but unforeseen circumstances meant we couldn't proceed, so we scaled it down to fit our dining room. I am now the proud owner of a set of twelve vinyl bowls.Plus eleven custom made vinyl table mats. Well, I guess I'm well prepared for the next family celebration, just change the photos to suit the occasion.

Yes, I took the odd shot for you to enjoy.Maybe it will inspire you for your next get together! Have fun.


Simply (Melting) Susan

Wonderful Weekend

Last weekend was a wonderful time for me.

Its late spring here in Queensland and the days are warming up significantly. My daughter and I planned to host a morning tea on Saturday, to which I had invited a dozen or so ladies that I thought would enjoy each others company and would potentially be interested in supporting my Craft With a Mission project. This was an inspiration that I had back in august this year to make and sell handicrafts in order to raise money to give to some missionary families for Christmas, which we all know can be an expensive time of year.

I have spent every spare moment since August making items for this purpose and we had already held an afternoon tea in October that raised a significant sum towards my goal.

I rose early to decorate the deck before it got too hot, hanging bunting, putting on chair covers and laying tables, in order to be ready before our guests arrived. Whilst it takes time and effort making the place look nice, its lovely to be able to use inexpensive items (most purchased from favourite treasure stores) to transform this outdoor area into a welcoming, interesting environment in which I can spoil friends and make them feel special for a while. It is my delight to do this and so it is no bother to me, rather a joy to spend precious moments in the company of ladies that I don't get to do very often.

My daughter concocted some beautiful rose flavoured cupcakes, and I made plain scones with strawberry jam and cream. Eleven ladies joined us and we all made new friends during the course of the morning. They enjoyed perusing my handicrafts and generously helped me get substantially closer to my monetary goal, purchasing gifts for friends, for Christmas.

I have previously blogged about my handicrafts, which included denim handbags; doily dolls; floral hair clips and all kinds of bunting. I thoroughly enjoyed making all of the items, relishing handling pretty fabrics and listening to good music - all therapeutic for me. I gain great satisfaction from making things, as you will have gathered if you have been reading these entries for long.

It was a success in every way and I look forward to sending he money to the families in various parts of the world.

On Sunday afternoon our daughter treated my husband and I to High Tea at "Creativi tea" in Broadbeach, as a thank you for help that we had given her in recent months. What a lovely venue and what a scrumptious tea! French Earl Grey tea proved a big hit with us, we hadn't tasted it before, delicious flavour and aroma and the food was beautiful, all served on Portmeiron tableware - just gorgeous. we had a splendid time, and recommend it to locals to try.

Together with the Car Boot sale that we attended earlier that day, that I have already told you about, it was a wonderful weekend, just bursting with treats.

On the subject of lovely weekends, its been a real challenge to me this year to try not to focus on the weekend ahead and all the great plans I have when I am not at work, but rather look for the lovely moments to be found and enjoyed between Monday and Friday. If not five sevenths of my life is of no importance or value.

I need to keep working on that, how is it for you, I wonder?

Simply Susan

Sunday Morning Joy

In the early hours of yesterday morning, my gorgeous, fun loving, daughter picked me up and we drove to our local, monthly car boot sale, to hunt for treasure together.

The sky was overcast, an advantage when one is looking carefully for treasure.

The park was bursting with sellers and buyers,no doubt due to the fact that Christmas is very soon. I felt all fluttery at the prospect of what lay before us, at what we might discover, and whether we would have enough time to do justice to it all, as I needed to be home, breakfasted and changed ready to depart for church by 8 o'clock. No matter we advanced towards the challenge!

Within moments, my daughter espied a set of attractive, green, retro food scales that we haggled down to twelve dollars. We had enjoyable banter with the European gentleman, who was selling them and we had a good laugh together, leaving them in his care to be picked up later.

We found shabby chic boxed, glass coasters and a set of tins, both new, for very good prices, plus some very attractive butterflies and glittery bird clips for a dollar apiece.

Next came an unexpected discovery, a wooden hat stand, its sections strewn amongst other items laying on a blue tarpaulin. Having bought a couple of these in the past, I recognized the potential here of a great find -YEP- the lady said two dollars when I inquired the price! I calmly, but hastily summoned my daughter and we checked it over and handed over the coin! WOW, What a find. We had wanted one for my daughter's home in the sky and here it was. Armed with these bits of polished timber and our quickly expanding, cumbersome haul, we continued our search.

Whilst wandering around, there was much to delight in, a poodle in a wire basket on wheels; a tiny interestingly dressed, tiny framed lady with a round water melon tucked under each arm; a pile of porcelain divided dishes that looked like strapless bras! People carrying all sorts of items, watering cans, furniture, flowers, food, some Christmas shopping, all making the most of a Sunday morning opportunity to find a bargain.

A pretty, miniature, glass teapot joined our collection, followed by three items of bling, a beaded wire arrangement and a pretty Italian glass bottle and interesting metal tongs, (such as you might use to manouevre sandwiches or cakes). Christmas patterned, paper patty cases, baskets (for a work mate to house her scarf collection) and an attractive square, white serving plate, on which Christmas goodies will look fabulous, all came into our possession. By now, I'm sure you can appreciate time was running out and we were finding things a bit tricky manoeuvring around the crowd without injuring anyone or dropping any of our precious treasure.

We headed for the gate, but didn't quite get there before I saw some beautiful African violets, so I treated ourselves to one each, a traditional violet shade and the other a frilly magenta variety- we will try our hand at keeping them alive!

We returned to our European gentleman, nicknamed Michael Jackson, to pick up the scales and we left the park, delighted at our finds and happy a the lovely time we had spent together.

Like two little kids on Christmas morning we returned to our vehicle to head home for breakfast, laughing as we went.

Here's photographic evidence of that fact.

And here's another of the violet and Italian glass bottle complete with butterfly - just gorgeous!

Hooray for car boot sales!
Simply Susan

Making Lemonade From Lemons

I've been a bit preoccupied lately and haven't had a chance to write, but today everything has changed, due to a bit of inspiration and a day off!

My husband and I enjoyed morning tea at a lovely garden centre, not too far away from our home. The cafe therein had truck loads of ambiance that I am very sensitive to and appreciative of.

We tucked into a piece of delicious Italian chocolate cake, accompanied by a cup of coffee and I enjoyed a good look around, noticing the things that made the place so attractive, seeking inspiration for our deck at home.

The centre was bursting with a gorgeous display of Christmas decorations (one of my great delights) and out the front were Balinese flags fluttering in the breeze. I've been considering making some of these for some time but hadn't got started.

On return home, I checked out my fabric stash and found a long piece that I had been given that I had no plans for, and I remembered the clutch of bamboo poles that my husband had garnered from our neighbours hated, intrusive, bamboo hedge. After a few minutes of thought, and a session with my sewing machine, VOILA, I had my version of these pretty flags blowing in the wind in the garden.

So from the dreaded bamboo threat next door and the generosity of a friend giving me the fabric, lemonade came from lemons and I am pretty happy with the result.

Having got the gist of the style, I can see that a visit to Spotlight might be on the agenda to purchase bright shiny fabric to make some more! I'll see!

Have a peep.

Be inspired
Simply Susan