SOLD!

One of my butterfly frames has sold, so I have been busy making some more. I've made 2 more gold ones (as that was the one that sold) and a couple of other trial ones to see if they sell (ie; are popular).









The deck progress has been a little slow, as a few weekends ago we were interrupted with golf ball sized hail. Although not uncommon in other parts of VIC and Australia, it has not occurred in Melbourne city and such a widespread area (many suburbs) before....at least not in the last 50 years! Many, many houses, cars and people were damaged and injured. Being a weather watcher, I knew it was coming so was prepared, but many people at Flemmington Races and the Moomba Festival were caught unaware and out in the open.

We escaped the larger tennis ball sized hail, but the golf balls that fell here did do their fair share of damage. We lost 1 tile in the roof (that we could see...) and has since been replaced, and all of the lead flashing around the roof tiles and the hardy plank on the back section of the double storey has been dented. We also have dents in the letter box (although el-cheapo temporary one) and my Husband's car has some sizable dints in the bonnet, roof and top of the door panels. It took me over a week to discover that the TV aerial is also damaged, but it still works! Thankfully my weather station attached to the aerial mast survived!

The thunderstorm warning courtesy BoM. I had been tracking the supercell on radar several hours before it hit, and had heard of reports of golf ball sized hail in the Sunbury area, so I knew it was coming:



This was the one stone that fell the closest to the back door that I could reach safely undercover! It was not the largest I saw:



Damage to a roof tile:




So after that little interruption on 6th March, the deck progress has been steady, but still fairly slow. We have run into a few unforeseen problems! Nothing that cannot be fixed with some careful planning, but it all takes time when you are doing it yourself!

We added a few more noggins to the joists for a bit of extra stability:



Continued with the mitered edges on the other side of the brick pillar:



All the edges sit nice and flush against the brick pillars:



The boards are glued to the joists using liquid nails, and then held in place with biscuits that are screwed into the joists. No nails or screws on top:



This was a tricky part! We had to cut a section out of 2 boards (either side) so they would fit neatly into this section around the pillar. The jigsaw didn't work as the blade kept bending on an angle, so it was the circular saw with a guide attached to it instead! I then had to sand the edge so it was rounded like the other edges of the boards, and sections were routered out so the biscuits had their rebate to fit into:



Fits like a glove!



This is how much we have done in 4 weeks:



We have another 2 boards to attempt to fit around the pillars, then it should be all smooth sailing from there...provided the boards are not too bowed which some appear to be..

Outside Happenings.

What a busy weekend! While I was off on a little jaunt to Sydney to catch George Michael in concert (what a show, what an artist and I get to see him again on Wednesday!), Hubby was busy beginning construction on the deck.

The deck is just on top of the concrete slab in the alfresco. We had, at one stage, thought about extending it out at the sides to catch some sun, but then thought it would take up too much room, and we don't have much to spare out the back unfortunately!







It's looking as though it may be a wet weekend coming up, so I'm not sure if it will be finished. I guess it depends on how much he wants to do after work during the week! There's a few hours of sunshine left in the day at that stage...

On another note, I have created another 2 butterfly pictures, which are now in a shop in Flinders ready for someone to buy!

Two or Three?

I'm in a bit of a dilemma at the moment, and I can't decide whether to have two pictures or three on one wall in the lounge room. I have two ready to go, but being such a big blank wall and a fairly good sized room, I'm leaning towards three.

What do you think?

Here is the room in question. Disregard the cat scratching post (saves my carpet and couches), and try to imagine a white bi-fold plantation shutter on the window with a lovely feature tree behind! Some sort of lighter coloured rug on the floor and either a coffee table or buttoned upholstered ottoman...



Here are the pictures in question. They are reproduction vintage maps of France and Italy, of course, and are actually sheets of wrapping paper:



I didn't have 3 pairs of hands, so I leaned the frames against the wall on the bar chairs and cushions to give them height. Here's two...



...and here's three:



Although the Eiffel Tower will go back to being in the hall and be replaced by another map if I can find one!

I even thought about hanging them on either side of the window, but I feel they are too big for the space, and then I'd have to think of something else to put on the large blank walls!



I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

The last 2 days have been fairly busy! Yesterday we received a delivery of joists and 'no nail' wide decking boards to begin the deck in the alfresco. Should look fabulous when it's done and I will no longer worry about the concrete dust brought into the house on people's shoes! Today we received 5 pallets of bricks to build the brick pillar fence. I will need to organise a couple of quotes and decide exactly what I want and the correct dimensions. Once that's done the driveway can go in! Yay!!!

Musical Butterflies.

Just a quick post tonight!

I thought I'd share my latest artwork, which is more butterflies, but this time out of a sheet of music (which is actually wrapping paper!). I still have lots left, but now have to find something else to do with it! I'm sure it won't be too difficult!



Lots of inspiration, and thankfully a little more spare time!




I made this one for my Mother-in-law, who plays several instruments, so I thought it was rather fitting. I have no idea which room it's likely to end up in, which is why I kept the background colour plain. But it could be done in any colour to suit a room.



I'm thinking of creating one (only larger) for our study/music room, but being close to the powder room where my other butterflies are up on the wall, it might be too many butterflies?? I'll keep thinking....

...in the meantime, I have been asked to make another red bird canvas for a friend, so that's my project for this week!

Fly, Fly Away!

Now that the children are back at school, It's been wonderful finding some free (and quiet) time to myself. It's only been 2 days, but I have managed to create some more wall art for the house. This time for the powder room.

I still had the butterfly pattern I used for a triptych for my niece a few years ago, but I wanted to create something that looked like a specimen case. I have seen quite a few various different approaches to making this using a butterfly punch, but since I already had a pattern, I went about cutting out the butterflies by hand.

These are the original canvases I created for my Niece 2 years ago:



...and this is the one which took me about 4 hours and cost less than $30 (frame included):










I still need to add some small padded double sided tape to under the wings to keep them raised, so hopefully I'll get a chance to do that tomorrow.

It should match really well in the powder room, but might have to wait until the weekend to be put up!

Happy Australia Day!

It's been a while since I last published a post, mainly due to being on holidays and not having much time to think about decorating etc. Having the kids home most days means the house is rarely clean enough for 'nice' photos!

It's been a great holiday, and hard to believe the kids are back at school next week. Although between you and me I'm quietly looking forward to some 'me' time so I can have a clean house and window shop 'till my heart's content again!

So what's new? Not much! The only thing that has really changed is the addition of my Eiffel Tower print on the wall in the hallway:



It was a bargain to create, with the frame costing me about $70 at IKEA, and the print...well, it's actually a piece of wrapping paper which cost me less than $8. I have several more to frame, but I'm still unsure just where to hang them. Maybe that's a post topic in itself!

I have spent about 3 weeks away at Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula, approximately 75km away from Melbourne. It's a gorgeous coastal town surrounded by rolling hills and rocky seas, and we just love relaxing there! With views across Western Port Bay to Phillip Island, and across into Bass Strait...how could we not!

Joyeux Noël! (belated!)

I have been waaay to busy to wish all my blog readers a very Merry Christmas, so I hope you'll forgive me for the lateness!

It's hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone. I offered to host the family Christmas lunch this year, and then hosted the other side of the family later in the day for present unwrapping. For once, we didn't have drive anywhere!

Being host, I had to have the place spick and span (first time since moving in!), but there were a few tell-tale boxes still in one corner of the family room!

The kitchen looked lovely and shiny:



I had chosen my colour theme for Christmas a while ago, and picked silver and light blue. I always make the gift tags in my chosen theme every year, and I also made some Chinese paper lanterns and hung them from the Pussy Willow in the family room.





I also used the same gift tags as place name cards for the table:



My very simple table centre piece was my largest apothecary jar filled with silver glossy and matt baubles with a blue and silver snow flake Christmas decoration around the lid. I put t on a white damask table cloth with a piece of blue tulle with silver spots on it from Spotlight! I added a couple of blue candles in glass candle sticks and a couple more tea lights to the table:





The house survived (and so did we!), and everyone had a wonderful time! The kids love their new scooters, and I have been immersing myself in all things French, and Reading Vicki Archers' new book 'French Essence'...it's to die for, and will live proudly on one of my new tables!

Santa Arrived Early!

Just in time for Christmas, I now have my 2 new beautiful tables for the family room! I am so happy, and they look wonderful...even next to the 13 year old couches with covers on them (to hide the very 90's blue and white check!)











I'm still moving things around on them (and underneath them), and will probably continue to do so for a while! At least now I have some more horizontal space to work with!

The family room is still far from being complete. I would eventually like to get a big floor rug to make it feel a little cosier, and also I have plans to paint white the old baltic pine shelves so they tie in with everything else. It will all come together eventually! But now my sights are set on getting ready for the family Christmas 'do' I'm hosting!