Happy Australia Day!!

Morning All,

I wake up on unseasonably cool day, very grateful to live in such a beautiful country. A country where we are free to be who we wish. With a government, who in spite of many of our jokes and complaints, actually looks after it's people. 

Something has been irritating me this week. When I was looking around for Australian funnies this week, I happened across a site (which shall remain nameless) by a woman who migrated here from another English speaking first world country. Her blog is just a bunch of complaints about living here with us and our ways.

For example, we don't sell our bread rolls sliced - Our bakers dropped a lot of the preservatives as they were known to have behavioural effects in children and bring on other health problems, so shock horror, they leave the rolls together to keep them fresh. Now that's 2 seconds per roll slice we are never going to get back - poor backward us!

Her other main complaint is the toilet. Here, generally speaking, the toilet has a room to itself usually located next to the bathroom, instead of being in the bathroom.

I mean seriously, if these things are something complaint worthy I think she would have to agree things aren't quite that bad.

As for me, I love this country and today I'm leaving you with a poem by Doroetha MacKellar another woman who loved this country and all its quirks!

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze ...

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Happy Australia Day!

Mel xo

Lace Collar Necklace

Morning All,

Another post about my favorite online craft store wholeport.com

When I saw this I just thought it was so pretty, I had to have it and even though I don't sew clothes (or not very well!) I began to panic about wonder what I was going to make it.

Elizabeth thought it would make a good beard, like that guy from Futurama, anyone know who she meant?

Abraham Lincoln - My apologies, feel free to laugh at any of our pollies, we all do!

Anyways, after some consideration it began to scream necklace and so that's what I did.

Supplies:

• Lace Collar available here from Wholeport
• Artificial Flower
• Beads
• Chain
• Jump Rings
• Those ribbon end clamp thingys (pure tech speak here)
• Hot glue and the gun
• Felt
• Cabochon (optional)

First up I played around with the beads and flowers trying to find a pattern I liked, like so
and then hot glued the felt to the back of the collar.

Then I decided that the rhinestone was a little gaudy for my liking, so I pulled it off and added a cabochon (which I did buy from wholeport but it was over a year a go so I'm not sure if they still have them) I looked but couldn't see them.

Hot glued the beads into the middle of the rosettes.

Then I grabbed some extra felt and clamped the connector things on and hot glued them to the back

Added a jump ring to both sides and connected the chain and she was done!

I love the necklace and if your haven't checked out Wholeport do it, I promise you will not find better prices here in Australia and they are the cheapest I've found online. They even have a limited amount of freebies you can sign up for every Sunday. FUN!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

Shabby Chic Binder

Morning All,

So you might remember late last year I told you guys about my fave online craft store, Wholeport.com, and mentioned they had sent me a few things to try, well one of those items was this gorgeous pink rose heart appliqué Being the crappy sewer I am, I wasn't about to ruin it with my needlework and the kids are soon to be back at school, so I made this pretty little binder for Elizabeth.

Supplies:
Pink Rose Heart Applique available here $3.99 (bargain!)

Binder
Fabric
Trims, I also bought these from Wholeport but that was about 18 months a go and I'm not sure if they're still available and can't remember the names - (told you I was a long time customer pre blogging)
Spray glue
Hot glue/gun

Ignore the paint and modpodge I was working on something else at the same time

First up, cut the fabric to size then attach with the spray glue, don't go to tight or else it wont close. (learned the hard way!)

Then grab your trims and get a gluing

I added this to the spine of the binder, it's my favourite trim ever love it!

Then I added the gorgeous appliqué heart and outlined it with the lace trim

It still looked like it needed something else so I hot glued a little trim up the top and called her done.

DIY Delight or Disaster? How can anything this pink and pretty be a disaster? Elizabeth is going to have the prettiest binder in school, even if I do say so myself :)

So don't forget to check out Wholeport.com, awesome stuff at awesome prices, they cover just about all your craft needs and have the best customer service..seriously I have been in love with them for years!

I'm also not getting paid to say it, I did get the heart to sample, the other trims were purchased with my own $$$$

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo