sunny days and a yellow bag...

earlier in the week, i told you of my great excitement when i received my japanese craft books. well, today i set aside a couple of hours to make myself a bag. i took my original 'izzy book' bag pattern and just took inspiration from my lovely books. i also got to use one of my new labels that Heather from Irishluck made for me.

here are the results, and i am perfectly happy to be toting this one around when the sun is shining and all is well in my world...

*thinking of sunny days* Tif

me and my washing machine...

so saturday was spent in the laundry room having a 'love/hate' relationship with the washing machine. 'hate' because i had 7 (yes, 7) loads of laundry from a 5 day vacation (not to mention the 7 loads i did for us to go on our trip). anyhow the 'love' i shared with my machine was because it dyed all 27 half and full slips in the most beautiful colors. of course my machine cannot really take full credit for this, it was aided by the wonderful acid dyes that i had ordered in the mail from dharmatrading. i had only sent for a sample of salmon, teal, brown and olive green. to tell you the truth i was a little scared to try this out because a) the colors were very vibrant and b) i have a front loader and all the instructions i have ever come across in the U.S are always for a top loader machine. while i was on 'boring' load #3, i threw caution to the wind and tried the teal and look what i got...

and then i tried salmon

then brown

and finally olive green

i must admit that i didn't use as much of the dye as they recommended, because i really wanted a softer look. needless to say the other 4 loads of 'hate' laundry did not get done until sunday...

after customizing some of the 'newly' dyed slips yesterday, i decided to have a go at getting some photos of them with a 'body' inside...this is usually impossible to do, as when i need to take photos of my slips it is generally in the middle of the day when no one is around to help. so i thought i would attempt to take a picture looking in the mirror...this did cause me some distress as a) i did not want to see my head and b) even though our #1's room is newly painted and pretty clutter free, i seemed to get more of everything else and less of the slip. have told husband that it is time to invest in a beautiful old mannequin so my photos will be perfect, he kindly reminded me "and with what money would that be, Tif" and so for now it is either me in the mirror ( i don't think so), #1's bright red dress form called Nora or just hanging them up with pegs...

*sigh* Tif

chick, chick, chick, chicken...

just to quickly wish you a happy easter. the sun is shining and we will be spending the day with good friends...

here are a few of the things that have made my day such a happy one

japanese craft books

i ordered these books from amazon in Japan and they arrived in just over a week, the projects are truely inspiring and i can't wait to start getting creative once the kids have gone back to school!

also this wonderful package of lace turned up last week from my mum,

i believe i have the best mum in the world...

*smiles* Tif