Kelco Finds

Hello!
So I said I'd blog about my Kelco finds, here they are! I already had 4 Teal Kelco tea cups and saucers then I found this set at Croydon Salvos:
It's the Coffee Pot, Milk Jug and Sugar Bowl! Look at their delicious glossy goodness. They are in such good condition! I nearly jumped at the shelf holding them cos I was so excited {jumping off chair thinking about it!} Then nearly died when I read the price tag that said $6 the set!! WHAT!??!?!! {fan me down, I'm perspiring wildly!} I would have paid $15 for the set! Or maybe more (depending on my need at the time!). I recognised the milk jug first cos Mum has it as part of her orange set, and I love it's little finger indents, rather than a handle. Awesomeness!
Then 2 weeks ago at West Ryde Vinnies I found these:
It's a set of 4 coffee cups! They are taller and skinnier than the tea cups and I recognised them instantly when I saw them! I calmly walked over, picked them up and cradled them in my arm like a long lost puppy! {love!} And they were only $6 for the set too! Now I have a complete set of 4 tea and coffee cups, plus Coffee Pot, Sugar Bowl and Milk Jug! I couldn't be happier with my Kelco finds!So here's what you're looking for when Vintaging, and remember Christmas is around the corner and my birthday is in January! So keep you eyes peeled, there is always room on the shelf for more Kelco!
:) C

Loosen Up Your Buttons Babe

So I was standing in Vinnies, looking at their collection of Christmas Decorations (like I don't already have enough) when I heard a lady across the room say "Oh look at all your buttons?". {Ears prick up}. Buttons? Ooohh buttons.... I love buttons. I used to buy loose buttons by the bag full from a tin under the counter at the Op Shop in Grafton when I was growing up. It's a habit. I love buttons! I made a bee line for the shelf at which she was pointing and came across a Litre container full of buttons. No price. Me: "How much are the buttons". Vinnies Lady: "Depends on what you want. Do you want some or the whole container". {brain gets excited} Hmmm... hadn't thought about the whole container, but I see my chance Me: "How much for the whole container?", VL:" aaahh.. how about $5". Approx 0.1 second later: Me: "sold!" {heart racing with excitement!}I didn't even really have a look at the jar, I could just see buttons and I was happy! I ended up giving her $6 to round up my total (I had other things of course!) Then I took the bag of buttons (apparently the container was not part of the $5 deal) down to Mum and Dad's when I visited last week and Mum and I wasted away a few hours sorting them all out! I had quite a win cos Mum was able to gather a whole bag of real pearl shell buttons, she identified heaps of buttons that Grandma used to have, lots of old brown buttons, coat buttons, beautiful antique art deco buttons, 40s buttons, 60s buttons, buttons for knitted baby cardi's, a plastic tractor wheel, a buckle, push pins and even a coin from Jordan! What fun we had!
:) C

Vintaging

Will and I have had a super time searching our local Vinnies and Salvos Op Shops for some cool old stuff! We've come up trumps a few times too!
I love old homewares (as you might have guessed from my Pyrex Love post!), but Homewares are a little superfluous seeing as I don't have my own house. But never mind that, it doesn't stop me! I've always loved buying things from Op Shops, and homewares and buttons are my vice!
Here are some things I got on my very first Vintage adventure on my way back from vising Yvette in Canberra in August, when the Vintaging began in earnest!It was a modest gathering, but I like them all!
The books (50c each) I got at Vinnies in Bowral, I love Bambi and all things Woodland so I think that one will be staying in one piece and going on Jaimeson's book shelf. It is quite well loved already! The patty pan tin ($1) came from Bowral too and will be awesome for making Brownies with a Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cup pushed down inside before baking.... hmmmm {salivating}. That's the plan! The tiny yellow jug ($1) just spoke to me, do things in shops ever do that to you? You'll be looking around and all of a sudden a piece jumps out at you and yells "Take me home with you"! {looking around at blank faces}, ok, just me then.
The brown cup ($1.50) has been added to my ever growing collection of Kelco cups. Mum has a Kelco tea set She and Dad got for thier engagement (42 years ago!) and her set is super bright orange. I love it! She even got it out at my Woodland Kitchen Tea! I bought a set of 4 Teal Kelco cups and saucers at the Rozelle Markets a few years ago with Alicia, I love teal colour! And now I have pretty much the whole set, I will blog about that soon!And another sweet find at the Salvo's was this set of 6 glasses ($1 each) with a blue stripe and 2 cute little Seagulls! I was thinking how cool it would be to serve milk in the glass, the Seagulls are just white so all you would see is the blue line, then as you drink your milk the Seagulls appear. Like Magic {fairy dust floating down on shoulders}. I actually hate this shape of glass, but it is redeemed by the cute Seagulls!
So that was my first Vintaging excursion. Boy have I bought some stuff since then! Keep you eyes peeled!
:) C

WJWW Week 18

It's gonna be a Hot Summer, a Hot, Hot, Summer...
Remember that song? It was by Rhys from the first Australian "So You Think You Can Dance" series. Thank goodness they haven't dragged that song out on the radio yet! Though it was a little catchy. Admit it, you're singing it in your head right now! Well, you would be if you knew it.
So here's what the Little Man is wearing this week...
Singlet: Target
Booty Cover: Cotton On Baby
Giraffe: Russ (it winds up and plays Rock A Bye Baby. So sweet! And Jai loves musical toys)

Thank goodness for this cool change! I was beginning to think I was going to have to take some of the stacks of chicken nuggets out of the deep freezer so I could sit in there a while. Its been stinkin' hot around here!
:) C

Yamba Holiday Pages

Hi Y'all!
Well I've started my Scrappin of our recent Road Trip/Beach Holiday/Family Reunion! There were sooo many gorgeous photos of Jaimeson, it was hard to know where to start! So I started at the beginning (I've never been a chronological scrapper, so this was new for me!) I love how bright and sunny the photos are, so I had to use bright and sunny products from my stash to go with it!
Can you tell I made the "Y" of "Yamba" from another letter? I think it was a "P". It's not too bad is it?! LOL! I hardly have any letters left in that packet, I have to get creative and use them all up! I love that big sun sticker, which is from Echo Park. I have some beautiful Echo Park summer products, yay, now I have the pics to use them with! And that wave border sticker? Yep, had it for centuries. I think it was in the Crusades, thats how old it is.
When we went to Yamba it was Jaimeson's first swim at the beach! The water was FREEZING (it was mid-September) and he kept squeeling "Ra!...Ra!....Ra!" {giggles!} It was so cute! Its ok, we didn't keep him in long and torture him! We just dipped his legs in and swooshed him about in the water. He did get used to it too and stopped squeeling. Either that, or his legs went numb so he couldn't feel anymore. LOL!
Both these background papers I've had for ages too, so score for using them {belly bump!} And the white squiggly border on this second page was a really washed out colour that I couldn't imagine using, so I turned it over and used the crisp white side instead! Up here's for thinking! {tapping head}
Hope your week is off to a good start!
:) C

There's a little something in the air...

I've done it! I've broken out the Christmas Mugs!


I can feel Christmas in the air today!
When will you start getting your Christmas stuff out?
:) C

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Pyrex Love (me too!)

Hi y'all!
If you've been over to Yvette's blog today you would have seen her beautiful collection of Turquoise Pyrex, and here is mine!
When I was staying down with her we were inspired by this gorgeous cupboard on Pinterest, where they had all their Turquoise and white Pyrex displayed so beautifully! And i have to say Yvette's is displayed as beautifully as this too! Albeit, only one shelf (if only we lived in the US, man its so plentiful over there!)
So we have been searching Op Shops, Vintage stores, Etsy and Ebay to make a collection of our own. I have been pretty lucky picking pieces up at Op Shops around me. Will has gotten good at spotting the Pyrex too! He even spotted 2 Amish design ones (my fave!) at an Antique shop in Ulmarra (a tiny township near my home town of Grafton). I was so surprised they had them, we were doing a little dance when we found them! We have had such a fun time vintaging! Will's gotten into it a lot too, and is always on the lookout for cool old paintings, that's his thing!
This is my collection of Turquoise and White pyrex. I don't have a special place to store them all at Hotel d'Lam, and I had to move them from where I had them in Will's Mum's "Museum Room" cos his sister is tutoring 4 seven year olds and they knocked one of the casserole dishes right to the edge last week and I was paranoid they would break one! Actually, Will was more paranoid so he bought me some shelves at Ikea today to organise my stuff in my craft space a bit better so now the Pyrex is in there :) Thanks Willy {hugs!} At least I can look at it every time I go to my desk. {smile}
So I've done well at the Op Shops seeing as only the two small Amish ones at the front (the Turquoise Casserole and the White bowl) came from Etsy and the bottom back right (Atomic pattern) one came from Ebay, and all the others came from Op shops or the Antique store at Ulmarra. {high five!} Yay for Sydney Op Shops!
But on my Pyrex travels I have fallen in love with another collection, which we will call the "Flame" collection. I think it is 1970s, and I really like the flame pattern! I have been super lucky to find ALL these pieces at Op Shops! Awesome! {high five again!} Oh, I stuck the 2 Orange & Lemon jugs in there too, cos they match the colour scheme!
There is something about Pyrex that has captured me! And I do plan on using some of it to cook with too!
So that's my Pyrex Love!
:) C

WJWW Week 17

This is what Jai wore to Chatswood to go shopping with me on Saturday. What a little spunk!
Man it was PACKED at Chatswood! Then I heard that it is only 10 weeks til Christmas, WOW! That has come around so fast! I'm thinking everyone has realised it's time to get cracking on the shopping. Luckily I have done about half of mine already, so that's a load off my mind. Bodysuit: Paul Frank (I bought it in NY on our Honeymoon, when I thought it would be years before I'd have a baby to wear it. Boy was I wrong!)
Jeans: Overseas sample from Alicia. The tag looks written in Swedish or Danish. I wonder where she got them?
Shoes: Vans, from Alicia. She bought them for my baby on her first overseas buying trip years ago, cos I always had Vans to wear to Uni! But she didn't give them to me until Jai was born and she was like "Finally! I can give you these!" LOL! They are soooo cute, they even have little feet printed on the soles!
Butterfly: Bright Starts (one of Jai's current fave toys)
Hope you're having a good week!
:) C

Teddy Bear's Picnic

Hi Y'all!
Hope you had a fabulous weekend! I totally wore myself (and Will and Jaimeson!) out yesterday! We had an awesome family day out together at the Teddy Bear's Picnic at Rosehill Racecourse. It's a fundraiser for the Westmead Children's Hospital & they have heaps of cool activities for kids & families. They have jumping castles, a giant slide, a fire engine, ambulance & police cars and bikes, face painting, play doh, craft, a dancing show etc. The best thing is, once you pay admission all the activities are free {high five!}. Jai doesn't really have a favourite teddy at the moment, so we took along Miffy, cos she was up for the outing (i.e. nearest the door on our way out!) And she looks cute in pictures too. And look at my big boy in the seat part of his pram now, not the basinnet bit anymore. {tear rolling down cheek}. He's growing up!
Will has volunteered at the Teddy Bear's Picnic the last 3 years, but this year he gave that up to spend some time with Jaimeson and I enjoying all the activities! Last year I went with Alicia, Xander, Felicity, Matt, Cooper & Sienna but this year they were all busy so it was just the three Lams enjoying the beautiful sunshiney day! I even ended up getting a little sunburnt despite putting 30+ on!
Jaimeson is still a bit little to enjoy most of the festivities at the picnic but we still found a few things that he (and we!) could enjoy!
We started out at the Kindifarm where Jai got his first look at some interesting animals like a giant goat, sheep, kid & chickens. And even our name-sake! A little Lam(b)! The lamb was quite interested in him! The kindifarm was so so busy. All these city kids who have never seen animals before! Oh, it makes me a little sad to think that Jai is one of those city kids too. Hopefully we can make many trips back to the country and my home town, so he know what animals look like out in the country and not just in a tiny pen!
Next it was on to the Police Bikes for a little sit. Hopefully Jai's only brush with the law, for like, his lifetime! He looks so tiny on the big police bike!
We had to skip by the Ambulance & Fire Engine, cos you need mobility to look in them and Jai's not quite up to it yet!
We toddled around and found some of our work friends who had volunteered. We got free Nappies from the Huggies Change-station {score!}, and free samples of Ribena {double score!}.
We decided Jai is not quite old enough to have his face painted or have his hair sprayed a colour, or to make a hula-hoop at the Bunnings tent, but I put that on the to-do list for future visits!
Oh.. One of my all time favourite things for the little ones were these tiny blow-up bouncy cows! OH SO CUTE! {cuddling self} I really want to get one for Jai for Christmas! They were only $40 from Kidslifestyle too which was not too bad. We sat him on them and bounced him up and down and he held onto the little rubber horns. It was so cute! He really liked it too! I loved those bouncy balls with the antlers we used to have at Infants school. I remember when the bell went for the second half of Big Lunch, everyone used to run to the equipment shed to get there first to get one! I think these cows are even better! Did I tell you how much I want to get Jai one? Or two, so he can have a friend over to bounce with! {heart them}.
There was a Smurf Show on the big stage, even with a giant-headed Smurfette singing "I'm a Smurfy Girl" to the soundtrack of "Barbie Girl". Wow. Intense. {scared look on face!}
Eventually Jai's eyelids were dropping so we decided it was time to go. He didn't even make it back to the car before he was conked out!
What a day!
:) C

How does your garden grown?

Hi y'all!
No it's not a mis-spell in my title. I meant to write "How does your garden grown?" cos that is what is written on an American Crafts sticker I used on this layout!! A misspell?! I had stuck it down before I realised it was wrong! How did they let it get through production? I'm sure its a mistake, they couldn't have meant for it to be wrong, right? {shrugs shoulders} Oh well, it's there now!
This pic was taken when Jai was only 3 weeks old! Oh soooo long ago! He's such a big boy now {memories...}
I had all the punched "leaves" for the tree laying around on my desk after making Jaimeson's Thank You cards. Do you remember them? I used the Stampin Up Bird and branch punch but whenever I punched the branch from green cardstock it punched out the bird's "wing" too. So I was left with all these "wings" on my desk so I kept them in a little pile waiting to do a layout with a tree on it. And here it is! I hand drew and cut out the tree & I LOVE how it turned out! So cool!
My family is very special to me, and it is so lovely to see our numbers growing! I love that this is a casual pic, and Dad is even in his good old ugg boots!
:) C
Here is my gorgeous boy. Isn't he just a sweetie! He is such a happy boy. I know he's getting better from his flu cos he has his happy smiley face back again!

WJWW Week 16

Week 16? Does this mean we've done nearly 4 months of What Jai Wore Wednesday? Unbelievable!
So here he is this week:
This is actually what he wore to my Aunty Julie's Lingerie Party on Saturday. He was the only fella allowed to go so he felt very special {wink} He got heaps of cuddles off all the women too! Lucky boy!Bodysuit: Jack and Milly (from Aunty Julie)
Socks: Baby Gap (from Aunty Alicia)
Shoes: My first Converse (from Granny)
Giraffe: Model's own.

As you can see Jaimeson is lavished with clothing gifts from our families! (And quite a few hand-me-downs too!) though I don't think this bodysuit will fit much longer. He's growing sooo fast! 8.1kg already!

Today's dance move is the "wave" that you do when you clasp your fingers together and move your arms as if there is an electric current going through them. He's quite an expert to have mastered this one, Willy still has trouble! LOL!
:) C

Secret Pleasure :)

You know what gives me a secret sweet pleasure? Almost finishing a packet of Scrapbooking Embellishments!! Lol! {belly laugh} Finishing a packet happens so rarely that when I'm almost at the end of a sheet of stickers or packet of embellishments I get all excited & try & use them up as quick as I can! Am I weird?? {giggles} Come on, admit it. You love using up whole packets of things from your stash too, cos it means we can get newer & more exciting (not to mention more fashionable!) stuff!



Here are just a couple of packets I have laying around on my desk at the moment. Look!! Only one green chipboard circle left on that sheet! Come on!! Use it!!
:) C
Oh and here is Willy & Jai from this morning. Who can resist those cheeks??!



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More Holiday Cards

Hello! Good Morning! Oh, I think I just missed morning... Good Afternoon then!
Jai and I are off to the Doctor again this arvo to see about our colds/flus. Poor Jai's little voice is hoarse now after coughing for 2 weeks! And sometimes when he coughs he does a little whimper afterwards, it's so sad {tear rolling down cheek}. This will be our 3rd trip to the Doctor in 2 weeks so I'm hoping this time we might get some Antibiotics to clear it up for good! I've had a coughing fit with a little tickle in my throat the last 2 nights and it is so annoying!
Here are the other cards I made while we were away on holidays. I am happy to say some of these stamps are seeing ink for the very first time in these cards!
Of course, because it was holidays, I had to use some Ice Cream stamps! And bright colours to go with them makes them feel even more summery! I love the "thanks sweetie" sentiment, it's from Studio G, along with the Ice Creams. I do love making fun, bright cards in summer! And I don't think my card box has enough Thank You cards in it, I'm working on that!
Then the next 2 cards I made with a Fairy stamp I bought at Pineapple Cove Scrapbooking Shop in Hawaii. I don't have any other stamps like it in my collection so I bought it, but this is the first time it's seen ink! I guess 11 months in my collection without being inked is quite some time! Give me a break- I did move house and have a baby in between! Actually when I come to think of it, 11 months is probably not a long time compared to some other stamps I have which haven't seen ink yet. {slapping back of hand}. I really need to cull some unused stamps sometime!
I had fun colouring the fairy in with my Stampin Write Markers and some glittery gel pens. She turned out so pretty as both a blonde and a brunette! And Yay for using up more small paper scraps from my collection to make the Backgrounds for these cards. I may not be up to par on my New Year's Resolution to use up 20% of my stash of 12x12 papers, but I think I'm on my way with the scrap stash!
And one more card to finish off- I used my Wordsworth Stick People to create a Baby Card. I know so many people who have had babies lately, mostly from work or church, so having extra baby cards in the box never goes astray! And the last 3 babies have been girls too! I love these stick people too. They've seen ink many times over!
And lastly a pic of Jai. I can never get enough of how sweet he looks in his Car Seat! He is just soooooo gorgeous. He usually has both hands out flat on his lap, it's soooo cute! I have sooo many pics like this one, cos I go to get him out of the car and I am overwhelmed with his cuteness and I have to take a pic! Awe, love my little boy {hearts rising from head!} Can you believe he is 4.5 months already? {sigh} Time is whizzing past so fast. Soon it will be Christmas!
:) C

WJWW Week 15

Haha, it's Wednesday and I'm posting my WJWW pic! Great work! (Usually I'm a little late)... This pic I took on holidays (sorry, I'm cheating a little cos it's not actually what he's wearing today!) but I liked the outfit & it's cold and boring here today so no nice outfit today!
T-Shirt: Best & Less
Jeans: Mothercare
Socks: Cotton on Kids
Shoes: Old Navy (from Hawaii)

And there is a little dance move here, but I think it's with a song cos his mouth is open! I think he might be doing a little "Backstreet's Back" with these jeans and shoes! Quite "preppy" as Alicia would call it!

:) C

Our Beach Holiday Road Trip 2011!

Hi y'all!
Finally a post with pics from our Beach Holiday Road Trip Family Reunion Extravaganza holiday! If you're a reader of my sister Yvette's blog, you'll already have seen a bunch of pics that she's posted- go check them out to see more of our fun time if you haven't already!
Well Will, Jaimeson and I had an extra long holiday cos we went up a week early and stayed a few days with some old friends of mine in Grafton, then had a little family holiday of our own in Yamba for a couple of days before we met up with my extended family (35 in all!) at Darlington Park near Coffs Harbour.
Be prepared for the photo onslaught!Firstly when we stayed with my friends in Grafton (they're actually my ex-boyfriend's family, but hey, it's not weird at all cos I love them and they love me and we still get on great! {high five!} and Willy enjoys it too, good old Willy.) we got to meet little Sebastian for the first time, and they got to meet Jaimeson for the first time, which was cool! I even went to Mother's Group with Vicki and Sebastian which was great cos I never got a Mother's Group of my own {mental note to get onto that, it's not too late is it?} Look at Jaimeson checking Sebastian out! He's doing that in every pic I have of them together! Must be thinking "Wow, one day I'll be big like that too!" Plus visiting Grafton we got to eat lots of Hanks, which is awesome. Oh I'd love a Ned Kelly Pie & Fresh Cream eclair right now!Then we moved on to Yamba where Jaimeson had his first swim in the ocean! We went to Whiting Beach cos it's open to the channel, not the sea and the waves are only tiny. He squeeled "Ra! Ra! Ra!" when his feet dipped in the water cos it was so cold! I don't blame him, I wasn't up for a swim!Jaimeson and I did lots of walking around Yamba while Willy did some fishing. Yamba has really nice boutique shops, but man, some of those prices are Sydney prices! Willy did catch a big fish but it got away (no really!)
Onwards to DP it was, to catch up with my family. It was a bit harder to catch up with all the family with a little fella who still has 3 sleeps a day, so I spent a lot of time in our cabin catching up on Austar! Yay for Man v's Food and LA Ink! LOL!
In fact, I didn't make it down to the beach at DP with Jaimeson at all! We made it almost to the beach twice before we met the mob heading back to the pool so we just turned around and headed back with them.On one occasion I had met up with a bunch of our family returning from the beach and we were standing on the road talking when a snake fell out of a tree about 5m away from us! We heard a rustle then a thud and there was a small green snake on the side of the road. I swear if we had have been talking a couple of metres up the road it would have landed on Gareth's shoulders! {gasp!} It slithered off into the bush as we stood there with our mouths open! LOL!We did, however, make it to the beach at Red Rock with a bunch of our family and had another little swim and fish there! I love Red Rock, it has so many great family memories there for me. I even had my first birthday there (oh so many years ago now!)
It was such beautiful weather, we are so lucky that we didn't go this last week, it would have been dreadful!I took my obligatory "Holiday Feet" photo! Look at Jai's sweet little feet! And chubby leg!
It was also Jaimeson's first swim in a pool! The pools at DP are just gorgeous & the baby pool has an umbrella over it which is awesome. I bought this sweet blow up floatie for Jai with little leg holes in it and he just sat in there, arms out to the side holding on while I zoomed him around the baby pool. Too cute! He didn't smile much though, I think pools take a little getting used to! He warmed up to it after a little bit & was kicking his legs as we said "swim, swim!" (We'd been practicing that in the bath- he splashes everywhere!
And lastly we had a dress up awards night one night and the theme was "In, Under & Beside the Sea". There were some fabulous outfits (some faves of mine were Trav with his fishing headband light on as a "lighthouse" and Kirrilly in white & grey with wings as a "Sea Gull") and here we are:Will as a Jellyfish, me as a Sailor and Jaimeson as our very own Red Robster (an Asian Lobster) {giggles}. He was so intrigued by his "feelers" (pipe cleaners) and kept bobbing his head up to look at them which in turn would make the feelers and his googly eyes jiggle! It was so funny!
So it was a great holiday, as you can see! I hope it's not 4 years til the next one!
:) C