My Memory Pillow, Sweet & Sad Memories.

I was making my bed this morning, putting all the "good" pillows & cushions back on it as I do every day, including my little Memory Pillow.

This little pillow, with it's lovely old & not so old brooches, holds lots of sweet & sad memories for me.

The beautiful Cameo belonged to my Mum, she wore it, pinned to a scarf, at her throat, often in the winter. I think my Dad gave it to her.

The sparkly green rhinestone one, I bought for her for Mother's Day many, many years ago (about 45 I think), with hard-saved pocket money. I was just a kid, still at school.

The old ring, which is garnets & diamond chips set in silver, was also Mum's. A bit big & gaudy, but she loved it! My parents had eleven children, I was the last, & lots of my olders siblings were brought up through the Depression years & they never had much, so Mum's small amount of jewellery was very precious to her.

My Mum passed away many years ago, when I was only 33, so you know why they are precious to me too.

I don't think, no matter how old we get, that we ever stop missing our Mum. (Excuse me, I'm crying, back soon).

The gorgeous Star of David, set with Rhinestones, belonged to my Nan, she passed away when I was only 8, but I still remember her, she was rather lovely & always wore her long hair in what they called a Chignon.

The bow & locket my dear hubby bought for our first Wedding Anniversary. I really don't wear brooches, but it is lovely & it has it's special place on this pillow.

The big fancy-coloured one at the top I bought at Vinnie's, just because, and the little duck I've had for I don't know how long, when I collected ducks years ago. He is very sweet, isn't he.

So, every day when I put this little Memory Pillow back on my bed, I am always reminded of the people I love, for always.

Hugs, Coll :-}

The mess continues, Easter goodies & vintage mug swap

Well, the mess from our little flood is still with us, after almost three weeks. We've been measured for new carpet, I think I've picked out something I like (not sure, can't I have pink), we've picked out timber for the floors in the kitchen & family area, which we've been told is going to cost twice as much as the carpet!! Heaven only knows why.

The guy came today to finalise measurements for the kitchen & bring colour samples for the cupboards. I don't like any of them!! I want dusty rose pink benchtops!! He thought I was quite mad. How can they make sooo many colours & they're all yucky? Also, when I told him we had decided to put in a dishwasher & replace the oven & cooktop as well, it seemed to be a really big deal. Good grief! They have to change all their measurements (boo hoo). As someone close to me says (who you all know), "put on your big girl panties & get over it". Work round it guys, it's my kitchen & I'm the one working & living in the mess.

Oh well, at least the insurance company has been helpful, even if the tradespeople aren't.

I've been talking to a very sweet young lady at NRMA Insurance, I gave her the "poor old lady with arthritic knees" story & she was putty in my hands. She must have a nice Grandma - hee hee.

Anyhoo, enough whingeing!! Some sweet, happy stuff!!

I bought some gorgeous Easter bits & pieces on the weekend while I was out shopping with my clients (I WAS working, really I was). A bag of crystal glass eggs, proper egg-size glittery eggs with chooks on & pink ribbons to hang them by & shrink wrap thingys for real eggs. Apparently you put them on an egg, lower it into boiling water for 3 seconds & it wraps itself around the egg. I'll let you know if it works. Aren't they all just so pretty. I think I should start Easter decorating now , it might make this messy house look a bit prettier. Just gotta remember where I stashed the rest of my Easter goodies (lol).



Also, on Saturday, my parcel arrived from Rachel, my swap partner from Purple Flower's Fairy's (Debbie) Vintage Mug Swap. Such a boxfull of the prettiest things, I don't know where to begin.

The sweetest vintage mug, filled with vintage laces, buttons, pearls, vintage wooden pegs, old rhinestone jewellery, hankies, a lovely embroidered crinoline lady heart, just to mention a few. A lovely old key, shabbied & with a pretty pink bow added, some smaller keys AND the most gorgeous little plate, wrapped in a vintage hanky.









But I think my favourite is the little blue bird, & after looking at Amy's (Bunny Rose Cottage) blog, I know exactly where he is going. Thank you soooo much Rachel, it is all just beautiful, I can't thank you enough. You somehow got everything exactly right, all the things I love. I hope you will love yours too.


Before I go, here's a couple of things on my ebay this week. Finally got to list that gorgeous French lady you liked Stephanie.




Isn't that gown just the most divine thing. She's on artist's canvas, ready to hang & is quite a good size.

A cute little Chocolat metal sign for your kitchen.

Another gorgeous sign, metal also. I am just lovin' the shabby vintage French thingy at the moment, I think my house might be getting a bit of a makeover when the mess is finished with.


Hugs to you all, Coll :-}

My Lamps are Back!!

I made a conscious decision this year (nope, not a New Year's resolution, I always break them), to get back to doing what I love to do, and that's refurbishing vintage lamps.


I kinda got a bit sidetracked for awhile, I guess because it get's sooo hard to sell on ebay sometimes, when there are so many other creative people out there.


It gets very disheartening when you know that your lamps are gorgeous and made with lots of love, not to mention hours. But, as another lovely lamp maker on ebay said to me, you gotta hang in there.


Don't get me wrong, I still love junkin' & looking out for pretty treasures for ebay ( & me), like vintage china, linens & stuff, but my lamps are what got me started on ebay & what I really enjoy doing.


I've also decided to do some more of the "crafty" things I used to do, seems like years ago. All sorts of stuff, photo albums, journals, frames & things & I don't think I've forgotten how. Bit like riding a bike, isn't it. You soon remember once you're up. So, hopefully, there will be a few more of my creations (time permitting) turning up. Having a job really does interfer with creating, doesn't it (lol).


Anyhoo, here is the pair of lamps I finally got listed this week. One has been finished for awhile & I just kept putting off doing the other one.

Rachel Ashwell roses, what more could a girl want. (Thanks for the great pics Shann)

Aren't those blue roses just dreamy.




This divine sugar bowl, which I'm sure just has to be Bavarian, has been listed too. I almost kept this one.

Gorgeous Shabby French Chic sign, on tin. I kinda like the Paris thing, don't you.

Two beautiful Victorian bone dishes. All that lovely gilding & just enough wear to make them sooo prettily shabby. Could be used for all sorts of things, trinkets, soaps, candy etc..

So, as you can see, I will still have lots of other pretties. In fact, I did some junkin' today on the way home from work, bought some lovely vintage linens. I'll show you next time.

Hugs, Coll :-}

PS: my boy's back home, I'm sure he's grown an inch or two (hee hee).

I miss them already!

Shannon, Shane & Sam have gone away for a few days, as you probably all know. A friend of mine has a gorgeous caravan (I'm told it's just like a small holiday apartment) on our beautiful South Coast, so they've gone there for a little R & R.

Can you believe I miss them already, and they only went this morning - lol. It's not as though I see them every day, but..... I sure miss my little man.

They certainly need the break, they haven't had any time out since Shane was so ill and this is just what they need. And today the Gods smiled on us & the sun finally came out, so hopefully the weather will be nice for them too.

I was feeeling a little depressed about this (how did you guess), so I took the opportunity to get into the garden again. Our front garden has dried out enough to be able to work in it, but the back is still waterlogged, bit like a bog really, that's gonna have to wait. Hopefully we might get some more sunshine (pleeese, pleeese, pleeese).

I picked some of the few remaining roses that weren't ruined in the storms & brought them inside, so that brightened me up.

Isn't this the most glorious pink. It's a very old English rose called Olde Fragrance & it has that olde worlde musky perfume that, for me, is what makes a rose. Never can understand people who have roses with no perfume, it's just wrong.

I've put them on a little table between the dining room & the kitchen, so every time I walk through I can smell their beautiful perfume.

Now, if pink roses don't make me feel chirpier, nothing will.

Hugs, Coll :-}

PS: I wonder if Shann is having computer withdrawal yet - hee hee.

YOU SIMPLY CANNOT BELIEVE HOW BAD WET, MUDDY CARPET SMELLS!!!

First, I have to say thanks to all the lovely gals who commented on my last post. It's soooo nice to know that all you gals sympathise & not only that, that lots of you have been through the same thing. Not that I would wish it on anyone, you know, but at least we're not alone - lol.

Really, you gotta laugh, or you cry. Although, Shann tells me I did lock myself in my bedroom at one stage (hee hee).

And yes, boy does it STINK!!!! The morning after it was starting to smell, & by the next morning it was absolutely RANK!!!!

Thank God the men came & ripped it up that afternoon.

My house now, however, looks like we just moved in. All my pretties are packed away, lots of them in my computer/workroom, so that I just have a little pathway to the computer - lol.

Now we just have concrete (yuk, yuk & yuk) & it's been quite cool here, so I have taken to wearing my winter slippers & IT'S THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER!!

And this is my house now. I don't think I can stand it without all my pretty things around, I'm having withdrawals already! In fact, it's so bad, I had to go shopping with Shann after work today to buy some stuff to cheer me up (hee hee).

Poor little Maddie is exhausted from all the activity.

I kept my gorgeous Cherub & Roses lamp out, I need something pink & pretty to keep me smiling. Shann wanted to take him home with her "just to look after him" but I'm not that stooopid!

Mind you, it will be quite exciting when it's all done. New carpet & a new kitchen, who knows where it might lead. Of course, the curtains in the family area will just have to go & the wall colour, well, that won't go with anything. Hey Shann, better get those paintbrushes out again!!!

Hugs, Coll :-}

(aarrgghh!! Blogger will not leave my pics where I want them. Grrr).

Now I know I wanted new carpet, but this is a bit extreme

I think I may have mentioned once or twice that I HATE my carpet. It's brown. Need I say more. No-one in their right mind has brown carpet, do they? Ok, it was here when we bought the house 2.1/2 years ago & my DH has been promising that I could get new, maybe this year......

Well guess what. I'M GETTING NEW CARPET!!!!

Oh, BTW, did I mention that it's been raining a lot here lately. Now, I hear you saying, what the heck has that got to do with getting new carpet.

Well, on Wednesday Shannon, Sam & I went to pick up an ebay purchase of Shann's (which we didn't anyhoo cos the silly woman wasn't home & Shann was furious but Shann got the day wrong anyway, but that's another story}.

So, there we were, up in Katoomba & you can see right back to Sydney almost. The sky is getting really, really dark, kinda purple so I said we better get back because that looks nasty.

Nasty wasn't the word. We got back to my house, through bumper to bumper traffic & flooded roads, to discover that my house was flooded.

So, to cut a very long story short (I could go on gals, about Shann & I taking turns out in the pouring rain, breaking up concrete with a sledge hammer to help some of the water run away), Shann, Sam & I spent the next Lord only knows how many hours mopping up & trying to stop more water getting in the house.

Sam, God love him, helped his Nanny mop up wet carpet with towels & was a shining light in a very dismal night. Don't know what I would have done if they hadn't been there.

Shane (my SIL) drove up & brought Shann & Sam's stuff so they could stay the night.

My poor DH was away in Queensland visiting his elderly Mum & my step-daughter & her family, so I had to ring him & tell him to come home. No way was I doing all this on my own. He drove all day Thursday (12 hrs) to get back here.

BUT, NOW THE GOOD PART (yep, even in all that there is a good bit). NOT ONLY AM I GETTING NEW CARPET, ACCORDING TO THE INSURANCE MAN, I AM ALSO GETTING A NEW KITCHEN. (Big smiles here).

I kinda like my old kitchen, I love the colour that Shann painted it when we moved in, cos the cupboards were revolting, it's gorgeous French Blue. But, being an old kitchen, it's very porous evidently & the water damage is already starting to show.

So, Shannon, Sam & I spent all day Thursday packing all my pretties & storing them all in the computer room, which is the only room that didn't get the water. John & I have to finish off packing & moving most of the furniture so that the carpet can be pulled up.

Shannon, of course, always has her trusty camera ready (lol), so she took some happy snaps of the mess. The first one is us driving through part of the flooded road on the way back home.

Second is part of my kitchen & hallway after we mopped up the worst of it.

Don't you love the little river that was running through my laundry. And that's AFTER the worst was over. Sam, of course, is busy supervising Nanny & taking a little sustenance. Being the overseer is hard work :-}

The feet in the puddle are mine, after it had subsided a bit.

Packing up has progressed & I'll post some more photos later & tell you how BAD WET, DIRTY CARPET SMELLS!!!

Hugs, Coll :-}

Taking husbands to garage sales is not a good idea

As you can tell from the above heading, I took my DH garage sale-ing with me on Saturday. Bad idea, very bad idea. I'm normally pretty good with what I spend (really, I am - lol), but having hubbie peering over my shoulder every time I picked something up was very off-putting. He kept muttering "how much is it?" and "haven't we got enough junk?" Will these men never understand, you can never have enough "junk" as they call it.

Anyhoo, I was a good girl, there wasn't a lot about anyway, the weather was lousy & I think some of the sales got cancelled, although I did get some goodies for ebay.

But the really good thing was, we ended up in Leura, which for all you who don't know, is a gorgeous village a little higher up in our beautiful Blue Mountains. So I got to have Devonshire Tea in one of my favourite Antique stores, Beautiful Bygones.

They have a little restaurant/cafe right in the middle of the store, which is a beautiful old turn-of-last-century home. Nothing in there I can afford though. And yes, guess who forgot to take her camera, again!

Oh well, I promise to next time. But I can tell you that the scones, jam & cream were delicious.

So, this is what I bought.

This is actually a table which has been padded, covered & used as a seat. I quite like it the way it is. My pic is at an odd angle though, I wanted to show the fabric. Very French Chic, I think. This is off to ebay.

I just love this , she looks soooo elegant, doesn't she. It's on canvas. Very tempted to keep her, but she's going to ebay too.

Got this lovely old shabby frame too, I think I will keep this one, maybe another coat of paint & then rub it back a bit.

These are some of my things on ebay at the moment.

Gorgeous vintage cake plate just covered in the prettiest pink roses, daisies & tulips.

This was a daggy old silverplate dish which was past it's prime, so it's had several coats of Satin White & now it looks lovely & fresh. It's decorated with gum nuts, leaves & ferns. Very Aussie. Guess who made the cuppies?

Don't you just love this pretty pink & rosey tray. I have a thing about pretty trays, I just loooove 'em.

So, now I had better go do some blog hopping & see what all you other gals are up to.

Have a great day.

Hugs, Coll :-}