How green are you!

I think I have just made the BIGGEST carrier bag store EVER!! hee hee!

Its 3ft long and stuffed full!!...Now if only I could remember to take them with me when I go to the supermarket! LOL!

 

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Make do and mend....!

Hey gals...look at this 'Make do and Mend' idea!

Don't go buying yourself a new mouse mat....this little idea works just as well!
Yes its a quarter of a vintage scrabble board game! you must have several unused games lying around the house! The finish on them is brilliant...and just perfect for the job! and looks soooo much better too!

I wouldn't be without mine :)

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Happy's vintage ramblings....

  

Hello everyone, I do hope you are all well :) ....swine flu has been talked about quite alot this week, have you noticed! ....and everytime they mention the symptoms...I seem to think I have them!...they seem to change as well! have you noticed!...I have been thinking....ah well! I havn't got a sore throat, so I'll be Ok...but the other night they never mentioned anything about a sore throat! SHOCK!...so for all I know I could of already suffered from it and not known! Oh what is a gal to do!....anyway enough of all this doom and gloom! LOL....lets move on to nice things...and we'll start by having a look at all my material that I chucked around the dining room this week!!

Do excuse the weird colours of the pictures!...I am not sure who has been playing around with the camera settings! but I shall have a bone to pick with them when I find out LOL!

Yes... the above picture, was taken at that point...you know when you are thinking to yourself...why oh why! did I go with this idea....but the other half of you is thinking - go on girl! carry on with it...it will all be worth it in the end :)

...and worth it, it was!.....I found heaps of material, that I had totally forgotten about!

Modern and vintage alike, bright and happy colours along with pastel and muted tones.

It was a real treat looking through everything and folding and arranging into the cupboard that i had chosen to be their new resting place...

Some of these pieces I just can't bare to cut up, or make anything out of them...thats probably why I have so many lovely pieces, I just cannot cut up vintage pieces and yet I know that by making them into something else, that can be used, rather than sitting in an old cupboard would be so much better :)

This is one of my favourite pieces (below) it is sooo cute, don't you think? some of it is decaying...I think it might be certain dyes that were used years ago - I have noticed this happening in certain materials where red and brown is used, could it be, that the dye back then was to harsh or is it just part of the age of a fabric...I would love to find out :)

...and this is what my cupboard looks like now...all neat and tidy...and ready to be all used up!...You see, at the moment I have the 'Lets be different' bug! I sooo used to love buying a certain brand of shabby chicness! but these days, as it is getting more & more popular...I am trying to move out of it and create more of my own style....so I am busy making my own things for the home...vintage cushion covers, throws and shopping bags...you name it I am making it!...and it is really looking kinda eclectic, which I love.

Speak soon gals...Have a lovely weekend...I won't leave it so long to write next time! I have a lot more things to tell you all - so add yourself to my followers and you will be updated when I have something new to tell you ;)

Cheerio for now
♥

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I CAN SEW !!!!!

Isn't this a lovely piece of material (above) I have had it for about a year now and apart from covering my shopping trolley with it...I havn't done much else. So the other day I dug it out. You see I have an itch in my head...you know the type! I wanted to make something, but wasnt really sure how! and I wanted to use this material....so yesterday I started....surely it wouldn't take long!!!!

I layed out my material and cut it to the right size, including a lovely old french linen sheet for the lining and preceeded to sew it altogether on my lovely sewing machine (you have to talk nicely to the sewing machine you know! coz if you dont it picks up bad vibes and starts going wrong!)....
BUT someone in the house must have been having bad thoughts just at that moment, coz look what happened...all the underneath started to jam and knot up in a most angry manner! OH POPPYCOCK!...

As I got up from my chair Max looked at me very guiltily!....I reckon he must of been having bad thoughts...prabably about that cat again!! oh I could just scream...what wasn't going to take long, was now turning into an olympic event!

Then I remembered the conversation that I had had with my lovely mother-in-law the other day and she said that IKEA cotton was the best and to use that if my machine ever played up....so I started looking for some...surely I had this magic cotton...I have most things, as I love to buy all the bits...! LOL.

I had a look here....

Here....

...and here...but still I could not find it.....but what i did find was.....

These vintage pinking shears, and this lovely green checked ruler...Great finds and I havn't even spent any money! LOL....Phew I am getting good!

Then I had a brainwave...Lets look in my sewing box....I dont know why but I keep this in my lounge and often forget whats in it!

Success! At last I can carry on with making my bag....only 4 hours later!
Thats what I hate about sewing - its one thing after another...I dont think my machine likes me very much...now! if it did like me sewing would be a pleasure...without a hitch going wrong!

I started sorting out the tension, because I have never really got to grips with that!...I have lost the manual long ago and after a further hour I had sorted that out too and my machine was at last smiling at me! I have made her all better...she is now working like a dream!
...and after all that - this is the end result...its not perfect, but its perfect for me! I love this vintage material and I think I'll be making quite a few more items from it...even though it took me forever! hopefully it won't take so long next time now that I have sorted out my machine :)
Have you made anything that you are proud of lately :)

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HAPPY'S CRAFT ROOM & VINTAGE FINDS

Hello gals...Thank goodness its Saturday...and what a lovely day again, especially now the wind has died down!...the garden took a beating last week...everything was blowing around and we had to do a rescue job with our pots and plants as lot of them were strewn all around the garden!...but today is lovely and sunny...the thought of those dark nights coming! arghh! I hate them...I love the long days and will miss them sooo much! Anyway lets get on with it - enough already of the weather! LOL!...

Oh and I must just say...I have my headphones on again today and I am listening to Radio Danz its an american radio station, broadcasting from Miami, Florida with all the latest dance tunes that I love, make sure you check it out gals...it will definitely put you in a HAPPY mood!...

Right lets get on with it! LOL! As you can see from my pictures I have been tidying and rearranging my craftroom...well I say its a craftroom, really its an outhouse come laundry room! Yes I really have packed everything and the kitchen sink in this small space...but it so needed a tidy and a spruce up, as I have been working on a few projects lately and have got into a total mess...its not hard, as the space is sooo small!

This is the finished look...all the pictures that you see here...phew what alot of colour I hear you say...but thats me, and I suppose it always will be...I love clashing it all as you know! and a good thing about having a clearout, is finding things that you forgot you had :) saves you going out and buying more!!!! NOT hehehe!

I have all my past and present bits and pieces stored in cafe, tea and Farine tins and jars! Infact I would rather store my items in vintage tins and wotnot...these pieces were built to last, unlike anything that you buy today...nothing is made to last, we are living in this throw-away society...which is such a shame! BIG up the Vintage collectables LOL!

Last week I ordered some MOO cards, this is the first time I have ordered these cards and I was really quite impressed. They were a bit darker than I would of liked - but then is that me being a bit finicky!....Is that a word?! LOL! The piccy above is taken with buttons that I found at a good old english booty that I went to last week... I have included pictures of the stash. Its not often that you find a whole collection like this. I was thrilled to bits, I was cooing and coveting everyone that I got out of the bag...oooh! aahhh! Oh Look! ah lovely! ah no look at that! It went something like that! HA HA!

I have a few ideas up my sleeve as what I would like to do with them...when you have a creative mind - you just can't help thinking of the possibilities eh! Yes you gals know what I mean ;)

Such pretty shapes and colours, they are all sooo divine


...and don't forget gals, to keep loading up your piccies into my two groups on Flikr.....one is called HAPPY'S HOMESTYLE DECORATION and the other is called WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY keep 'em coming gals...I love all of them....YOU ALL ROCK :)

Have a gr8 weekend chicks :)...I'll be back soon with some more Happy pictures next week :)
Love to ya all xx

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