Tassie Oppy Finds

Of course, whilst in Tasmania we managed to fit in a little bit of op shopping ;-)

I found this sweet little tasmania souvenir hankie which I have taped to my wall at the moment, along with a cutout from the packaging of a bag of apples we bought.

I also found some more patches to add to my collection! There was a whole pile of them but they were $2.25 each so I had to restrict myself :-( It was so hard to choose but I loved the sparkly ones (you can't really tell in the photo but 3 of them have gold and silver sparkly thread). 

I also found a sweet little swan planter. I now have three swan planters which makes it a collection and gives me an excuse to keep buying them :-P

Tasmania.

I thought I'd share a few pics from my recent trip to Tasmania. 

We explored Launceston for a couple of days and I fell in love. All the buildings were so beautiful and old and the grey sky was so pretty.

We also did a little bit of hiking in Cradle Mountain. It started snowing quite a lot when we reached the top of this mountain and it was pretty awesome but also mega cold.  

This was a cute little market run by sweet old ladies at a church that we happened upon and I picked up a few little things which I'll show in a later post.

I took a heap more photos but I figured I'd keep it short and sweet and finish off with a rainbow and a snowy boardwalk :-)

DYMO

Hello all, so I'm back from Tasmania and I had a wonderful time! But more on that later when I get around to doing a post with tassie photos. But for now I'll show you my new dymo labeller :-)

I already have a cheap labeller and when I saw this vintage dymo one for $10 at an op shop I almost wasn't going to buy it, but then I saw that it came with old tapes. I normally buy my tapes for $4 a pop and this labeller came with 7! 

It's a lot easier to use than my other one too, and the tapes are pretty colours and matte, unlike the shiny ones you can buy today. I've been using them on all my mail lately :-)

Anyway I'm off to go camping for a few days so till then toodaloo x

Collection Post: Patches

 This is my latest obsession. At the moment they are all blu-tacked onto my wall but when I collect enough, I have grand plans to sew them onto an old woollen blanket like this one (isn't it perfect!) and pretend I'm a scout.

The one's above are probably my favourite.

This is basically my whole collection so far (minus a few that didn't quite fit)

I like vintage ones best, but I couldn't help but buy these new ones from the internet. I'm meant to be saving for my trip to America but I have no restraint >_>

Speaking of travel, I am off to Tasmania with the fam on Saturday - we're going to be hiking in cradle mountain in the freezing cold (wish me luck). So I will be back in the blogging world in a week or so, but until then, adios xx

Birthday Goodies

So it was my birthday a few weeks ago and I got a heap of awesome op shop goodies from the fam, including the cute birthday golden book below. 

It has all these little name cards and lolly cups etc. you can cut out for your own party. so sweet. 

My mum gave me the awesome brown crochet poodle thingo. I bought the orange one a few years ago and use him as a door stop because I have no idea what they are actually meant to be aside from brilliantly tacky ornaments. Any clues anyone? 

I also received some lovely flowers from friends. The Australian ones my friends just picked in the bush and are still going strong almost 3 weeks later.

I went antiquing on my birthday and treated myself to the board you can see in the photo- it's from a local(ish) RSL that shut down. It has the names of the club officers and life members etc. and it came with a box of letters that I can add on (although I probably won't). I am so in love with it, not really sure why, but it's just so daggy and cute!

The wooden cookie box is probably one of my favourite gifts from my birthday.  You can't see the detail in this photo but its hand painted and the cookies have embossed patterns on them. I can't wait to take it on a picnic! 

And I am now the proud owner of a plastic flamingo!

I also got an instax mini 8, from my brother and sister, which takes the cutest little polaroid pictures! I was awfully spoiled :-)

I'm back!

Hello all! Sorry, it's been yonks- about a month now! I finally bought a camera yesterday, hoorah! I didn't end up getting an SLR coz they were a bit out of my price range (thanks for the advice though everyone), but I bought a sort of in between camera that takes pretty good photos, so I'm back now, yay! 

To be honest not much has been happening in between uni work lately, but theres some snail mail that I need to catch up on and share with you all. Below are just a few little things I've bought lately- there's more to come :-)

I bought a set of cute little watermelon coasters and a serviette holder, which I have absolutely no use for, but I can't help but join in on the watermelon craze.

I love the bright colours and the cute typewritten book plate in this sweet little golden book

I found this Ken Done scarf which I am super stoked about. Ken Done is a rad 80s Australian designer who I am a little in love with. A lady at an op shop the other day found an amazing Ken Done doona cover, which I only noticed after she picked it up, and she bought it to use for her dogs. I already have one like this, so it's not like I need another one but it was so cringeworthy :-P

Anyway it's good to be back in the blogging world, talk to y'all again soon :-)

Random Photos

Hello all. My camera has broken and I will hopefully be buying a new one soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd share some photos I took with my phone.

1. spotty potplant (from this post- I ended up keeping one :-P)

2. vintage orange postcards

3. cute bunny cookie

4. Went for a wander in a park with my mum. 

5. My new (thrifted) pineapple candle now in the bathroom

6. Some presents I wrapped

7. Mum's lovely mantlepiece display

8. Another cute cookie 

Not a terribly exciting post I'm afraid, but when I purchase a new camera I will be able to show you all my op shop purchases! So until then, aurevoir.

Mendl's Mail

Below is a letter I sent to a fellow grand budapest hotel fan :-) 

All you have to do is paint an envelope salmon pink with watercolours, allow it to dry, then use red paint to do a simplified version of the mendl's box design.

I didn't bother drawing the design first, mostly because I'm lazy, but also because I like the uneven look, but if you prefer a more perfect envelope you could trace all the swirls etc from the actual box design. Don't forget to substitute the words for your friends address though!

Next I want to try making the courtesan au chocolat sweets that feature throughout the film - you can find a video and recipe here. 

You can even make a box to put your cooking creations in using this DIY!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the mendl's inspired mail and have a lovely week! 

p.s. I may be absent from this blog for a little while because my camera has broken :-( I have yet to decide what type of camera to get - is it worth the extra money to get a slr or should I just get a still shot camera? I am torn because I would like to have better quality images but I don't want to spend too much- definitely no more than $500 so it would be on the cheap end of slr's- is their quality still good? I am by no means a photography person so any advice would be much appreciated!

Guest Post: DIY Ombre Parcel String

Hello! Claire here from South by North. Here is a simple little diy project to add some colour to a parcel.

Cut two metres of cotton string, or however much you need. In two glasses, add a few drops of different colour natural food colouring to water, it should be quite strong so you only need a small amount of water. Drape half of your string in one glass, and the other half in the other, leaving the middle portion out of the glass. It helps the string soak up the colour if you press it into the liquid. 

Take the string out of the liquid and squeeze the excess out over the sink. Lay it out to dry. Once it is totally dry you can use it on anything!  Word of warning, if you get the string wet again the colour will likely run.