Showing posts with label pretty things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pretty things. Show all posts

Thursday, March 1

discoveries of the utmost kind...

i love a day when a discovery is made,
a discovery of minute proportions in comparison
to many in the world,
but one which changes something within your own.

i would not say my discovery is worthy of calling our local paper,
nor climbing upon our roof to shout for all to hear.
however i do marvel at its discovery
for once again i am left, 
upon discovery of my discovered thing,
marveling how something you have had all along,
can upon one moment of 'ah ha'
become of use.

" we are a little sad, our lives in the kitchen no longer required, due to worn out spots & blobs of cooking "
last week,
 upon wrestling my growing braids into place
upon my bonce.
i noted as always the front looked done,
and the back did not.
i noted this is because in fact, i had done the front
and as always, neglected the back.
after 2 nights sleep, 
the neglect was even more in evidence.

to tame the matted back and highlight the smooth front
i rustled around in my scarf collection.
but just as i had thought before my rustling began,
all scarves in my possession just would not suit.

and so as one does,
i thought of ties, and when one thinks of ties
one thinks of apron strings
and without further ado,
this very thought led to some careful snippity snipping.
after keeping waistband and ties intact
i had myself a natty bit of vintage string 
to adorn and control the growing nest upon my head.


such was my delight, upon seeing it from Ivor's point of view
several more half aprons 'volunteered up' for the chop.

 " yippee! yippee! a new life, how thrilling to spend our days wrapped around Tif's birds nest hair "
they did not fret nor fear 
their bodies would be left discarded and unloved.
for i told them of my crafty plans... 

" oh how loved we feel again, our strings in Tif's hair & our body bits as a perfectly peachy cushion "
Tif



Tuesday, February 14

love is...


love is... snail mail from my girls

love is... an old patched heart

love is... just saying it like it is
~ Tif ~

Wednesday, February 1

a 'little string of happy hearts' how~to...

i must admit to not being one for decorating for valentines, however i do like hearts and i do like little strings of happy for their ability to brighten the day, so why not i say...


before we begin, several things
several thing one: you could make this little string longer and larger if you so wish by using full sized book pages and more of them
several thing two: if you do that, you will probably have to use something more sturdy to string them altogether
several thing three: you do not need a trusty sewing machine, there are ways around this and i will pop them in brackets where relevant in the recipe below
several thing four: due to the nature of how i have stitched the pages together, it is a tres delicate little string so care is needed when handling the happy hearts

a 'little string of happy hearts' how~to

skill level:
easy peasy lemon squeezy

ingredients:


* old book pages
* happy coloured thread for trusty machine or hand embroidery thread
* scraps of decorative papers (wallpaper, scrapbooking paper, wrapping paper etc)
* handy dandy glue stick
* little paper label of sorts (more on that in recipe)
* spiffy paper scissors
* trusty sewing machine (optional)
* 15 minutes and a cup of tea

recipe:

* with 2 or 3 book pages held together, fold and tear in half, and then in half again, so you have 4 quarters when put together, make a whole page


* with trusty sewing machine and happy coloured thread stitch around your torn pages. this is for two reasons, one to keep the layers together and two, because its a jolly thing to do
(if not using a trusty sewing machine, just glue your layers together and set aside to dry. perhaps consider adding faux stitching with a coloured marker, could look mighty fine)


* cut out happy hearts from your scraps of paper, do not draw them on first, eyeball them so each one will have their own personality and charm



* with glue stick in hand, spend a few moments attaching each heart to its own little stitched book page, once again do not worry about the placement greatly.



* if you happen to have the 'little lucky bunny' postcard which came with my book, then cut out the tag saying 'please hold on to my heart', if not, do not fret nor weep at Tif using something which you do not own. you can hand write your little tag or indeed print one off like i did, if you have a handy dandy printer


* take your happy heart pages and with a trusty sewing machine stitch them in a happy line. be sure to leave plenty of thread either end of your happy heart pages so you have something to hang them up with. also leave a little gap when sewing them together so they dingle dangle nicely. don't forget at the end to stitch your tag on. i did and had to go back due to my forgetful ways.
(if you are not using a trusty sewing machine, take a needle with embroidery thread and carefully so as not to tear the book pages, hand-stitch running stitches along the top of your book pages)


* admire your little string of happy hearts



* hang your little string of happy hearts in a place most suited to maximize the happiness they give off and where others may too appreciate the sentiment behind your little string



Tif :)


Friday, November 18

round and round...

'tis no secret, i am partial to a stool or two in our mossy shed. i appear unable to say no to little waifs and strays of stools i come across in my daily travels. however there is one stool i hold dear, above all the other little stools within our nest. now of course i know it is terribly wrong to have favorites but i cannot help myself. for the stool in question has been there all my life...


(i am quite sure i have told this story before but as it is buried deep with in the rambling archives of this here blog, i'm just going to repeat myself rather than try to find it as i fear it could take all day to unearth it)

 as a small child i would sit on a stool at my mother's dressing table every sunday evening. where upon i would don what can only be described as a shower cap attached to a long flexible tube which in turn was attached to a box which was attached by a cord to a plug in the wall. 


my mother would switch it on, the cap would inflate and hot air would start to dry my tresses. after half an hour, my mother would remove my head from the hairdryer of sorts and say "voila", where upon i would sit there silently praying that this time my hair would come out poker straight and gloriously shiny. upon opening my eyes, every sunday the vision reflected in the mirror, told me once again, my prayer had not been answered and thus a week of going to school with kinked, fuzzy, cow licky hair proceeded until the following sunday when i started praying again...


despite the horrors of my childhood hair-do i still look back fondly on those moments, and i am quite sure that is mainly to do with the stool upon which my derriere sat. for it was a glorious tulip stool and its fine form, is to me, one of the best a stool can have.

nearly 14 years ago, my mother kindly entrusted the tulip stool to me. in the years that followed it has had many little coats of various grandness, some quite dubious, like fake fur, or lilac sateen, but still it never felt unloved. recently, (and when i say recently i mean the past 10 days), i got itching to be stitching it a new little jacket.


inspired by lovely folksy round cushions, i took one large doily and started going 'round and round' with strips of lace, fabric and one embroidered vintage doily for the middle.


i spent many many happy moments with embroidery floss in hand. i then went a little nutso on the french knots which are my fabby fav thing to do. they are so peachy, you do one and it looks just right, and so you do another and before you know it, there are many little knots doing a brilliant job of looking spiffy.


after which i took my large decorated folksy doily and appliqued it like a cap 'on top' my stool.
i am most happy with my lovely folksy stool


however i must confess, i was not happy with my man when he came in from running around a soccer pitch for 2 hours in the rain last night and promptly sat his derriere down upon my fine and roundy stool! it took all my willpower to remain quiet, i took deep breathes followed by recalling my 'labouring' breathing exercises, for fear of what was happening to my french knots under the soggy soccer gear. i thought i had it under control, i really did, i channeled my inner kindness with all my might, thinking of the long day at the office he had had, and how i needed him to fix a lamp for me and all those other good things he does for me daily but alas, no! my french knots and their fate was too much to bear. i could not get past 2 minutes before i burst and had to ask him to find another stool to plonk down on... any stool, any dumptie just get off my french knots hoppity quick 'pretty please'

she has 3 lads haircuts and one 'constant canine companion' bath lined up for her thrilling saturday morning ~ Tif 
footynote: a little message for Katie (Bob) i have tried to send you several emails today, alas they keep on bouncing back to me, not sure why. could you please email me again with your email address so i can respond to you. many thanks :)

Monday, November 14

a 'joyful' update today...

i am not here today, i am over here,
hanging things in clusters in my shop window.
how nice, clusters throughout the day.
i am thinking if one saw every day in clusters
it would make things quite nice.
i'll do a cluster of laundry and then craft,
another cluster of feeding the clan, then craft
and so forth...
yes i do like myself a cluster or two








she has rediscovered her love of paddington bear pyjamas now winter is upon her, and thinks a cluster of pj's in flannel would be grand too ~ Tif 

Thursday, November 10

a 'small being'...

i do not have any 'small beings' lying around my shed.
i have plenty of 'little critters' and 'large beings' but that would not do.
as luck would have it, 
i found myself a perfectly perfect 'small being' on tuesday,
courtesy of a fine friend and her shed.

photo credited to fine friend

photo credited to fine friend






photo credited to fine friend

gosh darn it, after going cold turkey for 3 months, she has broken down and is back on 'chocolate spread on white toast' again ~ Tif

Wednesday, September 21

note taking again...

oh how i love myself some notes...

bee day notes:
note one: it occurred to me, half way through yesterday, the Queen does birthday portraits every year, so why can't i, after all i had my new birthday frock on.


note two: my 'lads of three' did not let me down! to think they plotted and planned without Our #1 and #2 around made me feel super spiffy inside. along with handmade cards (the bestest kind to receive) i was given three lovely books of which i will show on an up and coming thrilling 'book week' (to be announced, i like that and so i had to write it, "to be announced"), two bars of cadbury's caramel and EVIL'O', a glowing pesky daxie. my lads have noted on many an occasion that OLIVE spelt backwards says 'evilo' and so this seemed most fitting for a life size daxie now glowing in the corner of our lounge


note three: EVIL'O' looks a little chilly to me :)

crafty notes:
note one: in between a mammoth amount of chin wagging with clan members far far away i did get a little crafty yesterday, not enough for my liking but enough to feel like i am making headway. for this sunday i am heading to Seattle to install (doesn't that sound professional and like i know what i am doing, gosh what a spiffy little word) a 'dottie angel' vignette (please see booky notes below for install reasons)




note two: i wish for a cluster of goodness and i need to get my crafty granny pants on and not dilly dally about the place, for dilly dallying is banned this week. i think i may put up signs around the shed stating this. i do not think i have ever banned anything in our shed before, however, time is not on my side and dilly dallying therefore will be banned

booky notes:
note one: hurrah hooray, for 'tis tres exciting. Janine and myself are having a book launch in Seattle and you are all invited! in my heart of hearts, i wish you could all be there but alas and alack i know this is not possible. however there maybe one or two of you peachy readers who do live near by, who are not doing much on September 30th, between 6 and 9pm and fancy a bit of dilly dallying at the lovely Assemble Gallery and Studio. (the dilly dallying ban will have been lifted by then)


how grand it would be for you to come and join us, small beings and little critters most welcome. actually i do not know about the little critter bit, so perhaps if you have a mousey who likes to go out and about in your pocket i am thinking that might be okay. or a hedgehog like Basil, but not so sure about larger critters, so best leave them at home. but small and big beings all welcome. my 'lads of three' will be there, i have mentioned to my man he may want to read my book as he might be asked a tricky question like "have you read the book?" his response was "i live in your dolified world Tif, i think i'll be okay"
i think he has a point...

she is thanking you most kindly for the peachy well wishes yesterday and will be back tomorrow with a little monkey busy businessy stuff ~ Tif

Thursday, September 8

snippets of...

ah yes, 'tis been a while for sure. but today we have 'snippets of...' but just like always, before the snippets, there must be a ramble. of course you could just scroll on down and skip the ramble, quite understandable and i will forgive if you do. for those that are not skipping, then here's the blurb...
(the word 'skipping' is a most spiffy word i think)

yesterday i practiced the 'fine art of avoidance', some days i think i could get a degree in this form of fine art.
there i was sitting staring at a 'pressing' blank word document, Colin the Computer was so kindly holding up for me, when the little voice inside my head piped up

"do not put off till tomorrow, what you can do today"

wise words indeed i thought as i stared blankly at my screen. then another little voice butted in reminding me of the little spiffy can of paint my magical paint man had mixed for me. the most perfectly perfect greeny aqua colour, the exact match of our kitchen chair.
the first little voice pointed out this was not what it meant, the second little voice said, surely these wise words apply to anything, including a little pot of paint and a laundry room cupboard waiting patiently.

i then proceeded to ponder how it is, i see my laundry room as a luxury space. is it because i am a Brit and until moving stateside always had my w. machine in the kitchen? i think perhaps it is, and so therefore i love my little laundry space with quite a passion. however i do not love dirty laundry with any passion, but as this is part and parcel of the life i lead then how spiffy to have a small space to do it in. when we first moved in, the little space was filled with old Formica cupboards, i removed some doors and painted others.


as i was practicing the fine art of avoidance, it seemed only fitting i listened to little voice number two and switched off little voice number one. whereupon i spent a happy half hour freshening up the laundry room cupboard. upon which i noted afterwards, it needed a new curtain, so i took some of the fabby nylon tablecloth i found in the thrift store a few weeks back and made one. after which i noted my little laundry space needed a clean, so i did. and then after all that, i felt such a love for my little laundry room i invited 'frankly frank' in to record my afternoon efforts.


so today i have
snippets of... a laundry room
thrilling stuff!













and the besty best snippet of all
Bingo Bee...


she now finds herself one day later staring at a blank word doc, kindly held up by Colin the Computer, more pressing than the day before and this time she has no choice but to listen to voice number one ~ Tif