*Happy Christmas*

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

TO YOU!

Have a lovely time with your families...

they are so precious.

And all the best for the coming year. How wonderful- a new year to do all the things that we always dreamt of doing,

Shop Scenes...

Hello at last! Now that it is almost Christmas I thought that I had better show everyone what I've been up to. ( I apologise for the not so clear photos as the light was a little strange.)

Well here it is... Cathy and my wonderful shop! We have had so much fun bringing it together.

We have had a lot of very positive responses from all the lovely people that have passed through our doors this past couple of weeks.

Between my ebay finds, Cathy's lovely old, white furniture (which has left Cathy's house a little bare) and careful selection of shop stock we are both very pleased with the look. Well actually we LOVE it and wouldn't mind living there! We even had thoughts of putting mattresses on the floor and projecting movies onto those very nice, large, white walls and having a girls only movie night!

Now I must concentrate on doing some Christmas things. I have only ventured into the Christmas crazed crowds once so far but I did manage to find a few gifts....many more to go though. We at least have a decorated Christmas tree which is most important as we've got to have somewhere to put all those presents!
I will hit the shops again today and tomorrow I will have to get some Christmas cooking done. In theory that is!

Hope Christmas preparations are going well for everyone else. Take care,

Hello everyone! Such a long time since we've had a chat!
I have been spending an awful lot of time at my little desk making charms in readiness for the shop opening which is now just around the corner. Only a couple of weeks!
It's funny though, the more charms I make , the more I want to make. It is such an enjoyable thing to do. Just as I'm finishing one group of charms I'm already thinking of what ideas that I can come up with for the next.

I haven't been just working though. I have been enjoying the garden immensely. After all it is Spring (all be it the last month). I am so pleased with the garden this year as I managed to get more flowers to grow. Such an arduous task when there hasn't been much rain. I think we have had 90mm in the last 6 months!!! Horrifying! I must have carted thousands of watering can loads of water over these past 6 months to get the flowers to grow and survive.

It is a labour of love. Just to see foxgloves, cornflowers, poppies and hollyhocks flowering is so worth it.

I have also strategically positioned a couple of bird baths where I can see them from my rocking chair when I'm sitting on the verandah. It has been such a joy to see the large variety and number of birds that frequent them. As the surrounding bush gets extremely dry I'm afraid my meagre little birdbaths are the main water supply for many birds. Even the shy emerald doves have paid me a visit. It is so nice to know that I am helping the wild birds through this dry time.

A happy week to everyone.
Smiles,

I'm ba-aaaack! Sorry I've been missing in action so long. I sort of had some forced time off. You know the story.....the nasty ol' flu creeps up on you when you least expect it and the next thing you know it's two or three weeks later. Yuk! What a horrible flu! I'm all better now though. At least I was well enough to venture out for the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers last weekend.
The flowers in the parks were so beautiful.

I just love to see so many families out and about soaking up the beauty around them. It felt like being in one of the famous European gardens....not that I've been....sigh.....one day...

Tomorrow we are off for a few days camping down at the coast. It will be a nice break before the shop opening (not long now) but I will miss my garden. It was nice sitting in my pink rocking chair in the garden when I was getting over the flu. My primulas flowered really well this year.

A happy week to everyone,

Spring is upon us...

My garden is already starting to feel very "Springy". This beautiful old tea rose has not stopped flowering all year, even in winter.

The jasmine is covered in buds. I can't wait for its beautiful smell. Nothing says Spring around here more than this heavenly perfume on a warm Spring day.

Colourful nemesias are flowering.....

the shrike thrush with its pretty song.....

and the butterflies with their incredible colours are starting to arrive.

Flowers, birds and butterflies! It is little wonder that we love Spring.

Now all we need is rain to add a little touch of magic.

A happy weekend to everyone

and thanks so much for the lovely comments.

It is so nice to hear from each and every one of you,

Angela.

Ideas

At last I have time to post!

Well the last couple of weeks have been full indeed.

Cathy and I have been trying to come up with some more ideas for the shop. Things that are different and things that you can't go past. So here's a little sneak peek. These are just the starting point for some of our ideas so you will just have to come to the shop when it opens to see the finished product!

The possibilities are endless. So many ideas, so little time.

The other exciting thing to happen is that my dear son Isaac turned 18 on the 28th of July.

How exciting is that and how old am I?! Isaac is now officially a man....but he'll always be my little boy. Much to his disgust I would imagine. Seems so strange. It doesn't feel THAT long ago that I was 18. I guess it is though.

The afternoon that I made his cake made for an exciting one. It was like a scene out of Masterchef! I only had one and a half hours to make this triple layer, chocolate, coffee cream filled cake complete with chocolate meringues and chocolate coated strawberries. (A combination of several recipes, just to make life hard.) And I did it. The timing was crucial as I had to get the cakes in and out of the oven before I could put the meringues in for the hour they needed and yippee it all went according to plan. What a buzz! I'm sure that I'm meant to work in a restaurant or something. There is nothing better than the adrenaline rush of time pressures and everything coming together at the right time. Oh....now you've all seen another side to me. I always did say that I worked better under pressure. Yes I admit it, I'm one of THOSE people that leave everything to the last minute!

A happy day to everyone,

A Weekend Like Spring

What a beautiful weekend we have just had. The weather was very much like a perfect Spring day. Just when I was feeling so worn out from all the cold that we have been having Spring came knocking at the door. I think there should be more of those days.

I was planning on making a lot of charms but you don't let beautiful days like those go to waste so I spent most of both days in the garden and only managed to get a few charms made.
In the evening I tried my hand at ebay to see what treasures could be found and I was fortunate enough to find this old, black and white wooden rule. I was so pleased as they are not easy to find here in Australia and I really wanted one for measuring things in the shop....and it HAS to fit into the overall colour scheme of course:) I also bought 500 sterling silver jump rings for a bargain for all the charms I need to make and a sterling silver ball chain necklace for a steal. What a buzz it is bidding on ebay!

:)SMILES,

The Beauty That Surrounds Us

The more I look around me.....

the more beauty I find.

There are so many lovely things to behold if we stop to take the time.

Sometimes we take the lovely things we have for granted.

See the beautiful treasures that I found at my home.

What do you see?

Smiles,

A New Week

Here's to a new week!

After a few challenging weeks (raising teenagers, need I say more?), I'm in need of some prettiness.

These are some of the charms that I have been making. These always make me happy.

Now all they need is the solder.

I found a little fairy sleeping in my fern......

......and some beautiful Duchess de Brabant roses to put in my little white jug that I found at the market. Roses always give me a sense of well-being.

Did you see Cathy and my new shoppe blog?......the beginning to our new adventure of opening a shop. It is going to be an exciting and challenging (in a good way) journey.....

Wishing everyone a pretty week too,

Old Postcards

When John and I were out and about on our anniversary "date", I was fortunate to find these lovely old postcards in one of the antique shops we looked in.
Many a time have I rifled through the box of old postcards on the shop counter but I'm often disappointed as we just don't seem to be able to get many of these sort. More of the garish sort, which I'm sure someone would love but not me.

I had sort of given up looking in the box on other occasions but I think my sixth sense was beckoning to give them just one more look.

Sure glad I listened!

Happy days,