wordless wednesday: like a painting

playing along with faith hope and a whole lotta love.

i heart faces photo challenge: white

the photo challenge this week on i heart faces is white. not black and white, but the colour white. it has to be a main feature of the photo, and of course a face has to be there to! for my photo, i decided to photograph one of my boys holding a bowl full of icing sugar (i thought it would be more fun for him than flour...) and blowing on it so that little particules of white would be flying everywhere, therefore creating the white effect all around him. we had a lot of fun doing the shoot, and aston was delighted because as a reward he was allowed to eat some of the icing sugar! here is my entry:




make sure you go and check out the other entries (here), there's going to be amazing photos i'd say!

flea market finds

bonjour mes amies!
this week i only allowed myself to go to one opshop, where i found some little white plates and a couple of slightly bigger ones for the boys. i also found a piece of material to be used to cover food. that's in preparation for the many picnics i am planning for my family this summer. i bought some duraware falcon plates and cups from trademe some time ago, i have the basket, and other bits and pieces, so the piece of fabric together with the one i found last week and the one i already have will complete the set nicely.
a couple of weeks ago i finally found our dining table from the second hand shop - i am told it is an old art table from a school, it is 80cm wide and 240cm long, just what i was looking for. i sanded it, polyurithaned it, et voila, it's now in our house, we had our first breakfast on it this morning and all loved using it. we need more chairs now... there's always a good excuse to go opshopping, isn't there?!!

this retro sheet is a treasure from last week's hunt

the piece of fabric with embroidered flowers
from last week

the piece of fabric i found this week

medium size plates for the boys

i liked these little white plates, they are all similar and yet
they are all slightly different from each other

and...the table

if you like vintage, old, used, or simply cheap objects, check out sophies' flea market finds to see many many more opshop finds.

have a wonderful week and see you all here next sunday.

xxx

wordless wednesday: flower girl

playing along with faith hope and a whole lotta love's wordless wednesday.

op shop treasures

hello, such a beautiful day, after a big frost this morning, the day has been glorious. a little walk to town and a play on the swing and slide for lulu and some scooter(ing?) for the boys, we had a lovely lunch on our deck, i polyurithaned our newly acquired dining table, some rugby playing for the boys and their father in our backyard with a keen spectator in lulu. just wonderful. plus this week i was able to go opshopping a couple of times, serious opshopping in terms of the shops visited but i was careful not to spend too much (i'm still saving for my camera and for our trip to france in 3 weeks). here are the few things i bought, they will be linked to sophie's flea market finds (here), along with many others, check them out.

i'm very fond of this purse (i really like the clasp)

i am drawn to yellow glass glasses at the moment

this crochet blanket will have a new home in my car

i think yellow is my colour at the moment...

little plates, i love cute little plates

i definitely bought more things, but i can't remember what they are...oops!

see you next week!

bread sticks

yesterday, as lulu was going through my 'collection' of recipe books (meaning the few i own!), and as i was busily running around trying to prevent the heavy volumes from falling on her and hurt her, we found a recipe for bread sticks which i thought would be great for her (meaning instead of the sweet cereal bars she loves...). they were actually much fun to make, and i made a mental note to make them with the boys for i thought they'd really enjoy the bit where you roll the little balls of dough on the table with your palms to turn them into long, think sticks. they were yummy and so easy. basically, it's just a normal bread recipe (or maybe pizza dough, so very easy) and after the rising of the dough, you make some little plum size balls and roll them between your hands. in the oven at 180 degrees celcium for 15 minutes or so, and your done. yummy! all the children liked them, from 9 years old to 1 year old, and so did the adults! they are quite addictive, like at the restaurant when you are waiting for your meal.

the recipe

the end result

my little helper

wordless wednesday: j'adore le fog

these days, i wouldn't miss sarah's wordless wednesday on her blog faith hope and a whole lotta love (here), it's fun, easy, and there are some wonderful photographs to enjoy looking at. have a look, you won't be disappointed. thanks sarah for such a great idea!

i heart faces photo challenge: beautiful eyes

there's so much exciting stuff happening all the time on i heart faces website (here), so this week i thought i'd enter the photo challenge, the theme being 'beautiful eyes", with a photo of my aston in the snow (the only clue of him being in the snow is the snowflakes in his hair). have a look at all the entries, there are some very exciting photographs being entered every week.

scavenger hunt sunday

i'm so pleased i discovered ashley sisk's blog and her scavenger hunt sunday (here); i can see myself becoming addicted to it. i enjoy thinking about the themes, taking the photos, and then discovering how other people interpreted the themes and indulging in looking at some of the beautiful photographs they have taken. what a great community of people who enjoy photography: you are all so inspiring and uplifting.
the themes this week were: against the light, frame within a frame, best part of my day, buttons, and ink. here are my photos:

agains the light:

this one was actually taken last summer.
it is winter at the moment here in nz
so i wouldn't make my boy run naked in the garden at the moment!!

frame within a frame:

i like things within things, so i enjoyed taking this picture

best part of the day:

there are so many best parts of the day...
but i love those beautiful winter late afternoons
when the sun shines on one side of the sky
and there are dark grey clouds
on the other side (it happens a lot around here),
and the light is just amazing.
it makes the trees look unbelievably beautiful.

buttons:

quite a few vintage buttons in my favourite vintage jar

ink:

fountain pens are the best pens,
shame children here in nz
don't learn to write with them at school

thanks for stopping by.
have a great week!
xx

flea market finds

bonjour!
i've been so busy with photography recently, and saving so that i can upgrade my camera and still afford our trip to france next month, that i have been avoiding opshops as much as possible. of course, i can't always resist, so here are the few little things i have found this week:

this green vase (the green doesn't really show on the photo)
is delightful, it's really pretty with flowers in it

i've always wanted one of those, so i was really pleased when i found it

ok, this is an interesting one. not to everyone's taste i know,
but i like it's looks, it's quite quirky.
and no, we won't have a bird in it! it's for my bedroom,
the base is the colour of my wallpaper
and i will paint the metal in cream. i think it will look really nice.
oh, and the stand will be used on our deck, with a pot plant hanging on it perhaps.

don't forget to look at sophie's blog (here) to see the weekly finds of other seekers of vintage treasures.

my creative space: crochet flowers

when i was looking at everyone's creations some weeks ago on our creative spaces, i discovered this fantastic blog, dedicated to crochet, heaven!, called annemarie's breiblog (here). it's one of the most inspiring crochet blogs i have seen around, the creations are cute, the instructions are clear, the work is beautifully presented, and the photography is lovely. have a look at the site, it's cool. one of the patterns that drew my attention was for making crochet flowers. i had been looking at making some for a while, and when i saw the ones on annemarie's blog, i was hooked (!!). i am planning to make a bunting for lulu's room, hopefully finished for the next round of our creative spaces. here's what i have done so far. work in progress...






when i am not trying to find a bit of time to crochet a flower or two, i spend my time taking photos. here are a couple i took this morning.





have a look at all these amazing creative people and their wonderful work here

this morning / ce matin

linking up with wordless wednesday here

scavenger hunt sunday: first time...

sometimes, all you need in life to put you on the right track again is one person, or two. they may see something in you that you had lost sight of, they may get excited about something you were doubting, they may just say the right thing at the right time. i have met a couple of people in the past two or three years who have just done that for me, separately, on different levels, but the result is that they have given me confidence to pursue my dream again. and that is photography. i have been really pleased with the work i have produced recently, and like a snow ball, this great feeling is making me go out there and take more photos. so much so, that this week there has been little time for opshopping... plus we are planning a trip to my home (well, my parents' home!), to france, and so i need to save money.
but back to photography. sometime ago i found ashley sisk's blog/website (www.ashleysisk.com) and i thought i'd give a go at her 'scavenger hunt sunday'(find details here). the themes this sunday are: seeing double/two, whatever, sweet, space, and bright. here are my photos:

seeing double:

whatever:

sweet:

space:

and, bright: