While we’re on the subject

I have been meaning to blog this since before Christmas. Remember this box I got at a garage sale? I was going to do it up for my brother’s 21st birthday…

Here it is all done up to the nines’. 

I painted it a slate grey and attached new handles.

The outlines of the letters were lightly printed on to old pages of Shakespeare plays, then I cut them out and modge-podged them on to the box. I did several layers over top of the letters to make sure they wont come off.

I managed to get it to him only 6 months late… a record for me!

Who knows what he will put in it, boy stuff no doubt.

A Bargain and a Half!

I had a little windfall yesterday at a garage sale. I found these little earrings and thought they were a bit cute, although I don't wear gold. So I got some other bits and took them to the seller, she said 'oh those have real sapphires and diamonds in them so they will be $5 if you don't mind- they've never been worn'. I said no problem and bought the lot.

When I got in the car I decided to have a closer look. I knew the other bits I had were sterling silver, which I can pick apart and use in my jewellery. But when I took the earrings out, they had a price tag of $130 on the back and were 9ct gold!

So I got 2 tiny diamonds, 2 sapphires and some gold for $5... not bad I say! I'll be picking them apart to use in my jewellery!

New bits and peices and a little help?

These are just some of the new bits I've been tinkering with:



This is a butterfly that was meant to be a dragonfly. I made the wings first and then decided they didn't look anything like a dragonfly so did my best to make a reasonable butterfly instead :)



A simple but effective pebble in a cup ring.



And another filigree ring, this one better and more uniform :)

This morning I've been to about 20 garage sales again, this time in Cohuna (not far away). It was kind of a fund raising thing where a lot of people had a garage sale and they had maps so you could find them all. Some were really good, some not but that's what happens with garage sales! I got some good buys and some silver so I'm happy!

I've been looking for a shop in Melbourne to maybe sell my jewellery trees through. Does anyone know a place like this? Or can point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance!

Make sure you come back again soon, I'll be having a giveaway and this one will be GOLD! (hint hint)

:) Have a lovely weekend!

Ok I said the next post would be about last Saturday (aka the bestest day out ever!). So here it is...

My friend Min and her Mum and I set off at 6am last Saturday morning for Bendigo. We arrived at 7:30am and the fun started. We went to approximately 15 garage sales up until about 11am! Oh the giddy bargains to be had!!
Then, as if that wasn't enough, we went to 4 op shops and then out to lunch! Oh it was fabulous! No kids, just females and female talk, laughter and happiness!
After lunch we wondered thinking about what we could do and of all things, went to find more garage sales! I think it was about 1 o'clock and I think this is still a good time to go to garage sales- by this time they just want to get rid of the stuff so they don't have to pack it up for the op shops! The bargains we got were unbelievable! I paid $2 and came away with a small set of draws, an aluminum case and a fishing rod for Aus from one garage sale!
Here's a small list of what I can remember buying (there was quite a lot of things)
- An entire box full of Hawthorn memorabilia (for Husband, who nearly wet his pants when I gave it to him!) for $10
- A new Olga Berg nappy bag for $20, when I got it home I looked at the tag which said $130
-Several sets of small draws for my studio in bright colours
- A queen size heated blanket $5
- Some toys
- Heaps of silverware, including a sterling silver spoon!
- A HUGE bag of cottons for $3
- Several photo frames and bits to put in them

I took some photos of all the thread in the colour allotments just because I like colour sorting :)


This is one set of the new draws















Sorry it's dark- kids don't allow enough time during the day for pictures! :)

That's all I can remember for now. We took a big 4WD and when we came back there was not a single place you could see out the back window, it was packed!

But wait! There's more! After all that walking around we wanted a coffee and sit down. So, why not at the cinema?! Off we went and watched 'It's Complicated', which was hysterical. I don't think I would have laughed as much if I wasn't married and had kids, it's definitely not a 'teeny' movie. It was seriously good. And it topped to day off beautifully!

We were all happy and tired on the way home and so glad we'd made the effort to go (and nudged our husbands into having the kids for a day! Which, by the way, both guys did really well and both had dinner waiting for their wives when they came home!! How often does that happen!?)

I only wish that I had remembered to take photos!! Gah! I had the camera and everything! Oh well, I'll remember it even without photos :)

And what, might you ask, is planned for this weekend? Yep, more garage sales, although not quite as far away :)
What's on your agenda this weekend?!

Ginormous weekend!

Yes I'm just getting around to writing about my weekend now... I'll admit it, I'm lazy. And it's hot. Like 41 degrees at 2pm hot! Gah! The house is starting to heat up despite my best efforts to cool it. 3 days of baking heat tends to do that I guess.

Anyway, last weekend was the most fun I've had shopping in ages. Not normal shopping though, I think the count ended at 6 garage sales and 4 op shops in the Bendigo area. We stayed at Jem's brother's house and I snuck off at 7am to visit the garage sales I mark on my iphone map! The first one I went to was AWESOME! It was at the fire station in Maiden Gully and all the profits were going to the local stations. There was so much stuff! These are what I took home with me...


The coolest retro 70s lamp ever!! I love this so much that every time I look at it I get all warm and fuzzy inside. $5 was beyond a bargain!!!


A Holly Hobby sewing machine for $2. I don't know what I'm going to do with it though, I was thinking of putting it on ebay but I think it looks nice just being in my studio!


And this wooden box sort of like a foot locker. I'm going to sand it right back and either paint it or give it a glossy coat.

I also managed to get a $15 black LEATHER lounge suit for my brother when he moves into the batchelor pad next year. It was in such good contidion and had a 3 seater, 2 x 1 seaters and an ottoman. Seriously it was worth so much more and my brother was pretty pleased :) (it's part of his christmas present)

Then it was off to the oppys, where I found this:



A pretty cake plate right? I thought that too but I was wondering if $7 was a little too much. Until I turned it over and saw that it had 'Royal Albert' written on the underside. My Mum taught me a bit about plates and which manufacturers are worth collecting. So I took it home and perused the Royal Albert website and eventually found it... you can still buy them for a neat $100. *Happy Face* So all I have to do now is hang onto it for another 20+ years and it might worth more :)

There were lots of other goodies that came home like toys and balls etc. which Aus has been having a lovely time playing with.

Then we came home and Sunday was a big day. After much hard work this is what my studio now looks like:







I made myself a new bench (with a little help from Hubby)! Oh the delights of having space!! Now all I need is new curtains and it will be the perfect space for my needs. Oh and I so have a few recent additions:


My new rock tumbler- don't worry, I'm not tumbling rocks. It's going to make my jewellery all shiny :)


And these little doo-dads are for my new dremel tool that my parents gave me for my birthday... hours of fun to be had with this stuff!

So there it is, a huge weekend, filled with shopping and building and creating!
Hope the next one is as exciting for you, seeing as how I'm off to an auction and a twilight market! Yay!