a 'staycation of the utmost kind'...

i am particularly giddy, 

for we are starting our staycation tomorrow...

Ma has arrived from across the pond,

the lads are out of school for the summer

and it seemed the most perfectly perfect time

to have a staycation

i have never ever had a staycation before

our summers are usually spent in old blighty

and upon our return,

we sit in a heap

and then when the time comes

muster energies for school beginning again

but not this year!

ah ha! no sirree!

this is the first year in near on 13

that we will not be travelling to our homeland.

we will be staying put

and staycationing!

doesn't it just have such a jolly exotic sound about it!

"oh yes, we staycationed and it was most delightful, how about you?"

our staycation is a whole 2 weeks long

i have yet to plot and plan the whole thing

but i hope it involves the rain buggering off

and Mr Sun shining down on us...

*i am thinking strawberry picking beyond our own backyard

(so we can each have more than one)

*i am thinking mini bird nests in my hair each and everyday

(cos its darn thrilling to be able to tie up the old locks again)

*i am thinking lazy picnics by the rivers

(and afternoons drifting on inner tubes merrily)

*i am thinking days of wearing my new saltwater sandals

(feeling like i am 7 again)

*i am thinking endless days of wearing sunshiney frocks

(perfectly suited to a staycation me thinks)

*i am thinking days up north visiting interesting little towns

(full of quirky odd stores and forsaken souls to rescue)

*i am thinking thrifting on cloudy days

(Ma is keen to find some vintage floral bedsheets

thus, we have a mission and i do so like a thrifty mission)

*i am thinking baking cakes with the right sort of flour in them

(otherwise it quickly becomes a shortbread/cake)

*i am thinking afternoon naps with my constant canine companions

(cos they are the best sort to take naps with,

because they are experts at it)

and 

*i am thinking it will be the bees knees

whatever we end up doing...

yes, it will be

a 'staycation of the utmost kind'

i have no doubt

normal service will resume on monday 8th July

till then, wishing each and every dearest dearie reader

'a peachy one'

Tif x

footynote: to those in old blighty, be prepared, this may well be the year a heatwave hits due to us not being there, sort of guaranteed :)

thee a-m-a-z-i-n-g-s

i first stumbled across The Amazings via mollie makes magazine, immediately 2 things came to mind. 

thing 1: how simply marvelous of a magnificent idea

and 

thing 2: for the first time in my life i looked forward to turning 50

"be gone, pesky leaf eating invisible crime committer, big gone... "

i then proceeded to map out my next 5 and a bit year plan and see if i couldn't wangle the path to be somewhere in old blighty by the time i turned the big 5-0 and then apply, i am thinking they must have an application process of some sort. ("ummm, yes they do Tif, its here) i am also thinking i wonder if my experience and such like is tippity top enough to be an Amazing. perhaps i need to plot and plan a little to make sure my CV has got enough jolly crafty stuff upon it that when the time comes, i would be welcomed into the fold of The Amazings and they would indeed think of me as a possible teacher of crafty sorts.

"whats that! an imposter amongst the green buddies, one does not do fake herbs Tif, it just plain wrong"

all this pondering went on and then a few weeks back a most lovely Amazing by the name of Farzana wrote to me, telling me all about The Amazings and their courses, to which i responded with a 'oh how lovely to hear from you and yes, i know all about your wonderful band of crafty knowledgeable teachers and more to the point, Our #1 has even taken a crochet course with one of your fabby gang'

Farzana wanted to tell me all about their latest adventure. The Amazings are venturing into the world of online classes for those that do not live close to the big smoke. hence allowing any crafty soul anywhere in the world (i presume) be able to learn a skill or two from an Amazing. this i thought was quite a jolly good idea and made a lot of sense. i told Farzana i would happily have a look-see at one of their online courses and would happily mention it to my dearest readers.

"grow little green buddies, grow with all your might"

however, alas and alack, time is not on my side with school out and ma arriving and so here's what i thought, because i do do a lot of thinking, even if i might not look like i am some days. i thought to myself, i know Tif, why don't you blog about The Amazings and then later in the summer after you have not only watched one of their courses, but actually then tried your hand at it, you can do a second part to your first part and show what you learnt, and that sort of nitty gritty stuff.

yes a good plan indeedy! so that is what i shall do, i am planning to take the 'mosaic flower pot' class, which i think is something i might find very interesting as i do like my little green friends these days, and i think our outdoor/indoor garden room might like a bit of mosaic flower potting...

mosaic pots and fabric tented area surely will make for quite an exotic outdoor/indoor space when all said and done

 however i am thinking i will learn how to do it and then see if i can put my own spin on it. what sweet forsaken little lovelies can i bring to the table alongside of my flower pot and whatever else we will be using. (i am not sure yet what materials are required as i have yet to start my course)

"please mosaic us Tif, please please..."

so there we have it, i think you can't help but marvel at The Amazings and what it stands for, delight in the fact so many are wishing to learn from those that have the knowledge and skills and are a little older and wiser and i think you will agree, more than anything, it must be rather marvelous to have a little badge that says 'i am an Amazings'! i wonder if they do?! i wonder indeedy if you pass the interview and they think you could indeed become an Amazing if they hand over a little badge with just that on it...

"a bit of mosaic might make all the difference..." thinks Mr Pepper and his family

i guess i will never know until the big 5-0 comes knocking and the day after i pop my application in the mail and send it with a wing and a prayer

Tif :)

footynote:

just seen this shindig now if i were in london this summer, i would surely wish to go along and spend a crafty day with some Amazings...

frocks, socks and clogs

tis a little nutso around here at the mo.

building works still going on, 

school out tomorrow

ma (mother in law) arrives tomorrow from old blighty

amongst other nitty gritty things

that always crop up...

but i am most delighted

as where there was a will

i found a way

and today, 

i hung the last of the frocks in my shop window

until the fall...

here's a sprinkling

and yes

i have high hopes, 

frocks, socks and clogs

will indeed catch on one day...

frocks in stock in shop...

if my eyes don't deceive me,

something's going on around here...

oh be sure they are not deceiving you,

they are telling you the truth

and nothing but the truth

a dottie angel frock

or two or more

are in stock

yippee,

ya-hoo

yippity ye-ha day

on that note

it could be well noted

i LOVE with all big shouty capitals

my newly acquired industrial hangy wheely cart

i love it so muchly,

i wish to sing it out loud

like ELF does when he tells his dad he loves him

"I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOUUUUU"

i think now i have this newly found love,

i could play shops all day long in mossy shed

"i'm hungry" comes the cry

"sorry charlie, busy playing shops" reply i

"i have no clean undies" shouts a young fellow

"not my problemo, i'm playing shops" i bellow

"mum, can you pick me up, because my young youthful legs are too tired to walk home from school" comes the call

"ummmm, nope, not a chance, no sirree!

i am being terribly important

and extremely busy

playing shops"

i respond to the poor fool

yes, tis love, i am smitten, 

i have been bitten 

by the bug of love

and not by a kitten...

tis time to go and lie down now me thinks

and then there were three...

making for a perfectly happy me

mr sunshine, send me a ray or two...

so yesterday I felt a little sorry for myself, i knew i would, but then I had hatched a cunning plan to overcome this the previous night. i declared yesterday to be 'frock making day', a little carrot to dangle in front of me as i drove home from my dr appointment.

ever since i made my dottie angel sunshiney frock a few weeks back i have wished to make another, and another, and another, but alas and alack, i have not. so yesterday was the perfectly perfect time to do such a thing and in doing so i turned a crappity crappy day into a happity happy day! oh that's the spirit Tif...

when i had made my sunshiney 'jolly brighty' frock it made me feel all nice and fuzzy inside. i was particularly giddy about the hmong vintage embroidery bit, which i added a few french knots to, late afternoon just prior to a swim in Mrs W. Machine. after all, the world is always a better place with a french knot or two.

i do like a french knot or two. "oh i know, so do i". do you really? "yes, i do"

i noted it wasn't all bad at all, sitting outside catching the last of the iffy sunny rays we are seeing these days, well not bad at all unless you count my sweet chicken Polly dying in the middle of it all which did cause a bit of an upset to the proceedings, as you can imagine. we are just down to one chicken now, Little Voice, tis true, it is a somewhat sad affair to look out at my back yard where once there were 6 happy chickie peas doing their free ranging thing and now there is but 1. my mother hen heart is quite cracked these days...

school gets out in one week, one week i say! gosh, darn it, i am quite sure the school year only just began a few weeks back. the clock is counting down to summer mode. i LOVE summer mode, i am a lazy parent in summer, i do not demand summer reading schedules nor do daily math quizzes, no sirree! i switch off the 6:30am alarm and turn into a sloth in summer clothing. time slows down and with it, me and my clan. i like it that way... now on the other hand, my man would have it quite a different way. he would like to have all sorts of daily tasks and activities lined up to keep the lads cogs turning. and quite right too, tis not good to let them completely ground to a halt. i hope this summer i can muster the energy to not be quite such a sloth and perhaps meet my man in a middle ground somewhere... but then again, surely summer is all about lazy hazy days with nothing planned so impromptu summer happenings can happen and school work is just a distant memory for 10 long weeks of freedom.

i digress because my head is in summer mode, summer mode bought on by summer sunshiney frocks which need to be worn! so Mr Sun, "HELLO HELLO" i'm here, i plan to be full on ready for your 'long term' arrival in this here part of our big globe. such is my love for you, i am making another frock just so i have 3, so i may alternate whilst the other 2 are hanging on the line drying... yes Mr Sun, i even threw caution to the wind and bought some granny sandals today, not clog sandals but granny sandals for when it gets tres hot and my feet start to swell (as they do when you are approaching the middle of the forties) and i just can't have anything but comfy 'made for grannies, with flexible inbuilt special needs' footwear upon my peds. "peds?" yes peds. isn't that correct?

a friend for a friend, who are looking for another friend, and do not believe the rumour 'twos company, threes a crowd'

just like the good old days of dottie angel... 

some may think i was 'touched' by the sun's iffy rays yesterday, and some may be right, but others just may say "tis okay, just Tif rambling on, without a rhyme or a reason, proving some days she may be down, but she ain't never ever out"

'peachy plant pocket handy hangers'...

yesterday and today there has been lots of banging and crashing up above with my wonderful builders demolishing our old bathroom (looky see here if need be). walls have come down and now its just a nice big (well small) open rubblerly space waiting to be built up again into something quite spiffy.

to keep my constant canine companions out of harms way, i have barricaded most of the downstairs of our Mossy Shed, thus confining them and moi to the kitchen and the outside living space. so far we are doing most brilliantly...

 outside when Mr Sun has his hat on 

and inside when he does not

to keep ourselves from going batty, loopy or a little nutso from all the banging and hammering, and indeed calm their little critter nerves we are crafting away on 'peachy plant pocket handy hangers' whilst listening to the 'non stop, back to back' classical music radio channel i happened upon. 

yes indeedy, i have moved away from making little doily hammocks for my little green friends and stepped it up a notch, oh yes! little 'peachy plant pocket handy hangers' no less, which i do believe remind me somewhat of little neck purses and its all i can do to stop myself from popping one around my neck and taking my little green friend out for a jolly to the grocery store

over and out

Tif

footynote: well, yes i will confess, i did tippity tap this ramble with not one but two of my green friends hanging around my neck, and i must say, they were most well behaved and did not cause the least bit of argy bargy despite being in close proximity to themselves and my loopy cardi. i am thinking just how marvelous my little succulent and sedum green friends truly are with their very undemanding ways... yes most marvelous indeedy.

a doily crafty carty moment...

yesterday i was greatly distracted by two things

thing one: this doily moment found whilst reading the fabby Victoria's blog whilst eating my breakfast. i gasped, i followed the link and within seconds all i wished to do was make little doily hammocks for my sedums and succulents. i could think of nothing else, such was my lust for this brilliant doily idea

thing two: my lovely friend Jennette dropped by with a most marvelous industrial rolling trolley she was kind enough to off load on me. 

big old industrial castors which have a mind of their own

a 'big beasty' of a trolley

i see this 'big beasty' of a trolley as being most handy dandy when i have a bricks and mortars store (after all, how often do they come along?!) and in the meantime, whilst it waits to find a space in our bedroom, it has taken up residence in our family room. i did not know it at the time, but i now like it in our family room and think i may indeed have great trouble relocating it to our bedroom...

on that note i must tell you two more things

thing one (again): my man does not see this industrial rolling cart as the least bit marvelous and told me so, he also reckons in less than 6 months it will be in the garage. i did not waste my breath, i left the room quietly, knowing what i saw inside of my head, of life living with my newly acquired rolling cart and the potential of such a piece, was a match made in crafty styling heaven, not to mention my doily motives for my little green friends

thing two (again): i could not possibly have gotten to the end of the day without a) dabbling in little doily hammocks and b) painting over the blue distressed base of the trolley with a white distressed finish

base is now a distressed white (which it doesn't look at all in this picture, but pinky promise on close inspection there is distressed moments going on)

i spy with my little eye something beginning with 'L O'

this little one was made using old silk ribbon and a doily once shaped like a little crocheted basket, i just flattened the bottom with some natty stitching and cut off the handle

this little doily hammock was made using frayed knotted fabric strips

so this morning this is where my cog thinking is at.

*my trolley has a white coat

*i think i may wrap some fabric in places around the bars

*i see piles of blankets and cushions on the base

*i may remove some lanterns and make more doily hammocks

*perhaps turning it into an indoor dottie angel hanging gardens of babylon sort of thingy me jig

*i will except the fiddly-ness of removing little green friends each and every time they need watering

*i will continue to plot and plan my bricks and mortar store

*i will not allow my man's disgruntled ways cast a shadow upon my crafty proceedings

i have other cog thinking i wish to be doing, but for now i do not wish to overload my cogs and go batty...