Last week was happy mail week. You know, the kind of mail that you didn’t “order” and have been hanging out for every day! It was more like, “surprise – bet you weren’t expecting me today” kind of mail – and not yucky bills, but lovely parcels full of super special goodies.
Like sweet Evonne, who sent Carli and I a cute plush heart each in gratitude for running the QLD Flood Appeal Auctions which she sends out to people she thinks has kind hearts…
And this wasn’t in the real mail, but did make it’s way to my inbox…a GREEN version of Jan’s special quote from Leanne. Love it!
Then to top things off, lovely sisters Amelia and Kate surprised Carli and I with a gorgeous cushion cover each. They are just beautiful and it is going to be very hard deciding who gets which one – Carli, your thoughts?!
My friends know that I don’t “do” opp-shops (thrift stores).
I really want to, but they kind of ick me out a bit!
I’m happy for people to buy things from opp-shops and give to me all washed and fresh, but I’m not very good at going myself and sifting through everything.
Which is why this post is a big deal for me. A couple of days before the wedding, I went looking for some vintage fabric to use as tablecloths and lucky for me, I scored!
Check out the cool doily tablecloth I found – and only $2!! It is beautiful, but won’t be staying whole for very long as I have plans to cut it up and dye away. (Stay tuned, because I think I am going to have an abundance of hand-dyed doilies that I might just have to give away later on!)
And I’m loving this awesome piece of fabric – broderie anglaise – with pretty green and yellow flowers. I’m envisioning a sweet dress made from it, or maybe a nice flowy skirt? It is about 2m long so plenty to work with! Again, a bargain at $2!
So, my opp-shopping adventure was successful…until I heard a kid blowing a tune into a recorder only to turn around and find it was Lil and freaked out a little bit. GROSS!
(With all of the business on the blog during the Flood Auctions, I postponed a few Cool Shops! reviews – thanks Beth and everyone else still to come for waiting patiently.)
Bamboo Grove is a trendy shop found on Etsy selling handmade books and concertina albums with Japanese paper – also known as washi. Beth, who resides in Melbourne, is the creative mind behind Bamboo Grove. Her little albums are just a treat, they are superbly made and a fantastic gift idea for that person who “has everything”.
Beth kindly sent me three of her little concertina albums to review. I love them and can see tons of potential for turning them into gifts for the grandparents by adding a selection of our favourite photos of the kiddies. How easy is that? A completely handmade gift, that isn’t going to cause you any stress! They look great displayed on a bookshelf or side table and are made with exquisite attention to detail – they don’t look handmade at all!
Take a look at what this photographer has done with some of her photographs and Bamboo Grove albums – I would love to be one of her clients!
Yes, I know – Christmas was a whole month ago and I am still talking about! Too many exciting distractions in the last four weeks and I think I’ll be playing catch-up for awhile!
I don’t know about you, but I’m always struggling for ideas for the adult boys in the family. It is so easy to buy pretties for the girls, but what to get the boys?
My intention last Christmas was to make each of the big boys a tie – because we are church-goers, ties are worn at least once a week so there is always need for a new one to add to the collection. Unfortunately time ran short and I only managed one for my brother who is on a mission for our church in Japan (and I didn’t get any photos) and this one for my brother-in-law, Chris:
My sister (his wife) chose the fabric, and at first I was a bit unsure, but by the time it was finished I was super duper happy.
And so was he:
And it is a good thing that I didn’t get a chance to make ties for the rest of the boys because now I have a present idea up my sleeve for the next birthday or Christmas!
In our family, we decided to do a “Handmade Christmas” this year – we each randomly selected another adult and had to make their gift. There were some great presents exchanged, but I think I hit jackpot!
My other brother-in-law, Winston, took a photo of Lil off my blog and drew a pencil sketch of it:
I love love love it – thankyou Win – you rock!
SUPPLIES:
Tie fabric – Ronnie Walter, Retro Campers in Ivory
What a wonderful adventure we’ve been on together the last fortnight! In the wake of the devastation and loss of the floods, you have poured out your support for those affected and your support for one another. We have been touched by your generosity, your humour (some of that bidding got a little competitive!) and your creativity.
You’ve each shared in giving something you had a part in making, making something with your hands from scratch, with care and love. These very personal items have helped raise much needed funds and also been received with great gratitude from all those who supported by bidding and buying. You should be so proud of yourselves, from the $10 to the $2000 raised, every contribution is worthwhile and wonderful. Apart from the money raised, just voicing our awareness of the flood victims on our blogs, websites, and in the media, has been a real emotional support to many of those affected. Sometimes, in our greatest trials, it’s just nice to know people care. I know this outpouring of love has really lifted hands that hang down and hearts that are sad. In knowing we care, we ease the load, and sometimes, that is the best thing we can do. “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love”~ Mother Teresa. So, I know we’ve said it before, but we mean it with full, grateful hearts – Thank you. Thank you for making our little scratchy vision big and marvelous. Thank you for putting up with our sleep-deprived mummy memories when we forgot something. Thank you for your kind emails, you are all women (okay and like two guys!) with big hearts, deep pockets and you know that all we can really give in this life is the gift of ourselves. Now, onto what you’re really waiting for and that’s our grand total…we’re scared you won’t believe us – we had to double check our spread sheet 3 times!
We’re not kidding!
So here we go. Altogether, you raised
$99,089
for Queensland!! WELL DONE! That is just amazing!! Now get back on your computer chair…don’t run off the road if you are reading this on your iPhone. How awesome are you?!!!!
(To all of you wonderful Author’s for Queensland crew – we thankyou for joining us crafty chicks and sharing our pink umbrella.)
So, in return we have a little (tiny) farewell gift for you. It’s just a little token of our appreciation:
You can put it on your blog or site to remind you that you were part of something very special. And, if you were a bidding/ticket buying supporter please take one if you want to, because you made this big effort possible too. What a wonderful end to Australia Day this is – just an ordinary group of good, Aussie women doing what good Aussie women have always done, just lending a hand to friends in need (a tech-savvy modern-day CWA cake stall!).
Thank you again, and hopefully we’ll meet again in blogland, (or maybe even in real life!), Toni and Carli.
