My Creative Space

Working on something new just in time for Christmas....

All will be revealed very very soon!

In the meantime, I would love it if you could pop on over to the SORTED! blog and check out my interview all about donation and recycling and re-using - thankyou Lissanne.

The home of my creative space

Super Jar Pops

We're getting close to the end of Blogtoberfest but there are still entries flying in for The SuperPops Challenge.

This wonderfully creative entry is from Jodi of The Creative JAR. Made from reycled materials - including a phone book, magazines and a cereal box! She's uber cool and full of SuperPops power.

Thanks so much for joining in Jodi.

Blogtoberfest Day 3: Waste Not Want Not

I have to confess.... I definitely have the hoarding gene.

I keep every bit of useable scrap that I possibly can - I have containers and shoeboxes and baskets full of various bits and pieces that I've collected.

So what to do with the little scrappy bits of jumper that I cut off to enlarge the armholes of my felted vest (see those bits that were constricting the bloodflow to my arms)?

They're now lovely turquoise felted wool brooches (with a little bit of crazy stitching thrown in for good measure).

Addendum....

The not so fine print....... just so that we all know........ recycling or re-using things that others no longer need or want is considered THEFT!

Off to the Lino Forest

We found this lino a few weeks ago at my sisters new house in Clunes.....the pieces were on the shelves inside the kitchen cupboards. The kitchen had bottle green carpet tiles and when my sister removed the carpet tiles, she discovered this same retro lino underneath.
Needless to say, she scrubbed the floor lino and now it looks fabulous!

Anyhow, the lino from the kitchen cupboards was just about to be thrown into the skip when I rescued it (various people were wondering why on earth I wanted to save the lino)...... but it is now on it's way (via good old Aussie Post) to a new home with Liz from Betty Jo Designs. I can't wait to see what fabulous craftiness she can create from it!

This is......my way of recycling

Today's theme is recycling. We recycle and re-use in all the normal ways, we separate all the recyclables from the rubbish, we have 2 water tanks, we have grey water running into the garden, we have a front loading washing machine, a double drawer dishwasher etc etc etc.

I think the most fun way to recycle is to re-purpose something that is no longer useful in it's original capacity. The picture above is my kitchen bench. I bought it on Ebay, it was originally used as a table in a clothing factory somewhere near Brunswick. When I bought it, it was covered in dirt and paint and the top of it had a layer of vinyl stuck down.

Mr CurlyPops sanded it back, stained it a nice chocolate brown, gave it a coat of high gloss floor sealer and added castors to the legs so it is moveable and at the correct height for a bench. The great thing is that it has lots of scratches, dings, holes etc and the high gloss finish really makes a feature of them so it looks really old and loved! The stools slide right underneath out of the way.

For more of my re-purposing adventures, check out here and here and here and here

Re-Use

After our mothers day brekky on Sunday, Mr CurlyPops and my mum went to work creating these little boxes full of succulents.
These are some of the boxes that I picked up from the side of the road during the last hard rubbish collection. Mr CurlyPops gave them a clear coat of sealer, lined them with plastic, added some drainage holes and 'voila'. The succulents are all cuttings from my mums garden.



I took a little trip to Spotlight yesterday. My mum has requested that I make her a handbag, so of course I said yes because I love making handbags.......but then she said that she wanted it to be plain black! Yes, plain black! I don't do plain.....In the piles and piles of fabric that I have, there is no plain black fabric.

So I went from aisle to aisle in Spotlight searching for something in plain black with a suitable weight for a handbag......to no avail.....until searching through the remnant bins. I found a metre of fabric (not exactly sure what it is) but it has something similar to curtain blockout lining on the back (see bottom right of photo above). Then of course, there were other remnants that I just had to buy as well.....

I also bought a couple of metres of the pink spotty fabric which will be perfect for bias tape (on special for $3.99 a metre) and I found the floral fabric on the clearance table. I think it's linen and it has embroidered flowers. It was only $5.00 for 2 metres.

I'm drawing the winner of the vintage knitting book tonight so don't forget to enter if you haven't already!

Recycling.....

This is the wool that I found at the op-shop in mid April (novelty yarn on right hand side of the photo)

I used a teeny tiny bit of the novelty yarn to wrap this package..........and then today I saw what became of it......check it out! Amazing!