are you an Op-Shop Show-Off?

this sweet festive, rorstrand of sweden porcelain cup-or-sugar-bowl, and a trio of deer (i know nothing of  nana-nick-nacks, beswick maybe?) complete my christmas mantel this year, alongside clauds homemade advent calender and a sleeping elf. 
i'd dearly love a greened up up mantel but that soon to be replaced icky mustard wall paper makes green look bleurg so white was the only way. i'm looking to replace the mustard with a grey. it's very hard to find a grey that doesn't look either blue or purple or too light or too dark for this sunny room. but once it's done the white cup will join these other thrifted "whiteys" up there (from left: 'made in china': Arabia, Finland: Thomas, Germany) currently doing service in the craft room.

are you an op-shop show-off? or more modest about your superior thrifting abilities and luck? either way not everyone appreciates your skill, dedication or indeed finds. but we do here, and i'd be thrilled if you linked up and showed-off your second hand finds, new or old, here. (we'll be here every tuesday in the new year).

to link up just click on the blue click here message and follow the 3 simple steps to link up your blog post, and leave me a comment to let me know your here!
then if your keen grab the Op-Shop Show-Off Button from my sidebar to decorate yours (paste the code into a HTML gadget under the 'add a gadget' part of the layout section in blogger and save)

play along with us

play along with us

Doll House do-up #2

Where to begin, where to begin, where to begin. I've been very busy on the doll house do-up front, enthused, to put it mildly! So here is...well, where I'm up to. Now, some of these ideas won't surprise those of you who follow my blog actively; such as a plan for map wallpaper in one bedroom; and this washi paper room plan...

This is for the 'grown ups' bedroom. The crazy drawers I found on a junk stall at the local school fair on Sunday. I think it was supposed to be a jewllery box, but had a handle missing. The tortoise shell mirror is made by moi from an old hair slide and the mirror out of a broken compact. I've got a couple of tortoise shell hair slides to use as handles too once I've sanded and stained the handle patches.

I've also ordered the craft gadget, called a 'yo yo maker' to make the following quilt for the bed...

Isn't it awesome!

(and totally in-keeping with the 'crafty' vibe I want the dolly-house to have)

I spied it at a doll house show held last the weekend in Christchurch. Whilst the show was VERY victorian doll house heavy, there were a couple of charmers I though you guys might like too...

                         And for Christchurchians, this might bring a tear to your eye as it did mine...

The Piko whole foods store, destroyed in the earthquake along with nearly all of our other beautiful redbricks. Sniff.
                                             Anyways, onwards and downwards to la kitchen.

This is the colour inspiration, the last remnant of my fave ever op-shop fabric find from years ago

Not quite sure what colour to ask for down the Resene shop... dead daffodil for my kitchen walls please? I'll make some little cushions with the last bits for the kitchen seating (ideally a miniture Saarinen tulip table and two chairs, but more likely a homemade from op-shopped balsa wood scrub top table and chairs).

Hey, check out that flooring...and this flooring...

Oh the things I've learnt about lolly sticks. The main one being, you get what you pay for cheapskate. What I'm going to do with 1000 crappy splintery hopeless-for-parquay-ing lolly sticks I don't know. Actually, does anyone know of any cool lolly stick crafts? Seriously, I'd hate for them to go to waste. Maybe I'll weatherboard the outside and turn it into a villa...hmmm. It was my own fault though. Normally I wouldn't quibble over the price of lolly sticks, but it is turning out to be a rather expensive exercise this dolly-house doing up. Lamps for example were $10 each at the show. Obviously I didn't buy any, and was later chuffed at my savvy when I found these buttons down the local craft store for a dollar each instead

   I'm trying to save my cash for one special piece of furniture, or something I just couldn't find or make.

                                             When I saw this at the show I got pangs

The A.G.A. A.h.h.h.h!

Wouldn't it be perfect in my Country Living (UK) style kitchen?

Given Aga's here cost 3 times as much as they do in the UK, where they cost loads anyway, my chances of getting the real thing are slim to say the least so I felt I deserved a miniature version.

'Only' 55 pounds when I googled it, eeeeyyyykkkk! Right scrub that idea then!

To stop me obsessing about it I went down the 'free-shop' (the backroom at the local charity barn where they let you sift stuff before it goes to landfill; where everything costs nothing).

Pah! Who needs an aga when they have...

                    A snazzy-placky microwave; plus kitchen friends! Zero dollars, hey, thats more like it!
                          Can't you just smell that roast chicken. You want to move in don't you?!

                             I also got the makings of a couple of beds for free, and some other bits and bobs.
                                                                     Long live the free shop!

 

                                                Other stuff I've been playing at making are:-

                                                             Mini pom pom bunting!

and

Lego mantelpiece-makings

Blimmey, this is fun!

I could go on, but phew for you, I think thats quite enought for one blog post, and certainly enought to cover my creative space; flea market finds; mantelpiece Monday and the 'I'm a giant' challenge for this week, heh!!!!

See thee next week x

Mantelpiece Monday

Our period dining room mantelpiece, or as my mum reminded me, in Yorkshire lingo, our 'chimneypiece'.

In keeping with donkeys years of tradition ours is topped with a mantelclock, in front of which Claudine does her "tick-tock" song and dance every time it chimes. Every 15 minutes and she hasn't tired of it yet. (She also performs it when I get the kitchen scales out, bless!)

The flowery thing is a candlestick designed by a kiwi called Stephan Rondel.

The pewter do-dad is Arts and Crafts, possibly made for Liberty.

The mantelclock is French Art Deco, made from marbles and possibly Onyx? In addition to the time it measures earthquake intensity as every earthquake over 5.0 stops or starts it.

I love its tick, it makes me feel sleepy and timeless.

Want to see more or show yours?

Go here

Mantlepiece Monday

Mantlepiece Monday has come around again, yay! This week I'll show you my kitchen mantle. Ta da!

As per last weeks mantle, this one is rarely mucked with, if you disregard the spot at the end where a vase of flowers usual perches, as, as far as we are concerned, this is kitchen mantle perfection. It features the husbands collection of kettles and much as our clutter-hoarding overtakes us it is never allowed to sully this lovely corner. Of course being metal they are also safe from the not infrequent cooking fires I have!
Lovely, loved, but not used, just gazed at lovingly, they are from left to right:-
WMF Art Nouveau; Silver American Art Deco; French Art Nouveau; my favourite one which might be Japanese, approx 1900 (usually found to be containing chocolate he is hiding from me, but sadly empty today); Dutch, Jan Eisenloffel, 1900. Dust bunnies and cobwebs-vintage!

See you next week x

Mantlepiece Mania

Estelle at Forture Favours has started up a mantlepiece Monday's linky...I'm keen as mustard as I have 3 mantlepieces, and though I rarely pimp them, and never dust them, I'm love-em, mine and others, so count me in!

Here is my fave at our place, in the lounge. I like to think it looks rather dramatic, with the spooky Bill Hammond lithograph above (NZ artist, from Lyttelton). I like the red brick as it reminds me of my old red brick primary school back in England!

These are 'sea secrets', rather coral-like ceramic creations by Len Castle, an outstanding NZ potter. Safely out of reach of Claud-hands, and stuck fast with large gobs of quake wax; none of them moved in any of the earthquakes (so far...).

And these antique welsh dragons, or are the griffins...hmm, whichever they are they look terribly grand lit-up at night.

The paper fans are from the 50's, I have millions of them, you can get them from Acorn and Will if you really like them, cheaps as chips and twice as cheery!

We were equally frightened and relieved by a recent inspection by the Earthquake commision, who noticed that this whole mantlepiece/brick edifice had in fact come loose from the wall/chimney during the quakes and could have fallen at any time. Feck!

So we've bolted it to the wall as best we can and the builder thinks it can be saved-hurrah!!!

See you next week with more mantles x