Thinking Outside the Square

A rainy Good Afternoon to you dear friends & readers,

(typing this post with kitten on lap so please excuse any typo's!!!)

I am making sloooww progess with my Cottage Revamp, but at least I am making progess

There have been several boxes of old stock packed up to give back to suppliers & a large bag went into the Op Shop just yesterday.

These little wooden bowls were an Op Shop revamp quite some time ago

They started out their life as dark stained wood, which I waxed, painted & lightly sanded.  I displayed them as "vintage wooden bowls" 

They sat  .  .  .  & they sat .  .  . & did not sell.

I reduced them to half price  .   .   .  they still did not sell.

It was time to "think outside the square" .... my idea to display them as "little bowls of prim" pretty much came about by purchasing these cute wooden spools of twine & a packet of rusty looking bobbins . . .

. . . from The Warehouse of all places !!!

I covered the bottom of each bowl with a layer of dried rose hips then embellished away to my hearts content.

 I wanted to be able to scent the bowls with my cinnamon & clove oils so the rosehips & the cinnamon stick bundles were perfect for absorbing the fragrance.

Now I just need to design some grungy primitive style labels to attach to them ... mostly for those customers that ask me "what are these for??"  . . . Or "what do you do with these ??"

(My Mr always suggests to me when I get asked this last question, that I smile politely & say "you take them outside, plant them in the garden, & hope that more will grow"  .... as I am not sure that they would laugh, I have never yet tried this !!!!)

Earlier in the year I made a couple of purchases . . .

This gorgeous Seed Box was bought on my last trip down to Mums

(No, not the cat, well yes, the cat was purchased but I am referring to the box here)

These envelope templates above were my other purchase.  They were bought online from here

I knew I had an old book of bulbs in the back of my cupboard .... a $1 find from the Op Shop many years ago.

Pippi & I spent a rainy afternoon last week sitting at the table making envelopes from the pages of the Bulb Book ... apart from Pippis help it was quite therapeutic, all the repetitive cutting & folding ... we made 8 small size envelopes & 6 large size ones.

(Incidently old calendar pages are great for making envelopes also)

My plan is to package up some of my seeds from the garden, display in my new Seed box & sell in the Cottage

Often in the spring, when the garden is pretty & the groups come, I frequently get asked if I sell any seeds.

  I plan to make a label & attach with plain brown string to the envelopes . . . cross my fingers & hope for the best !!!!

While attempting to sew an orange wool blanket rabbit yesterday I grabbed my phone & clicked to show you just how very difficult creating can be since a small ginger 4-legged being came to live here . . .

She is fixated when the needle goes up & down & a paw will often shoot through from the other side ... other times she decides I might need the stitch length altering on my computer panel perhaps !!!!***!!!!

Though I try really hard to maintain some sort of order here in the house, some days it just all turns to chaos.

 It has been a bit like that lately as Pippi has discovered a basket left on the dining table (previously housing my bags of rose potpourri) makes an ideal sleeping spot

She is there in the mornings as the sun comes into the room . . .

. . . she is there tucked up in the afternoons as the fire warms the room . . .

. . . well golly gosh, look who is there in the evenings with his ample proportions squeeeeeezed into the basket ??!!

While the shortest day looms closer here our nights draw in very early now ... I have been so enjoying the beautiful Yankee Candle gifted to me by my youngest son for Mothers Day last month

The fragrance "MacIntosh Spice" is just beautiful ... I burn it while we have our dinner, away from little dancing paws & inquisitive faces.

I hope you are finding some creative time in your world dear readers,
I hope life is treating you kindly whether it is winter Or summer you are experiencing now,
Thank you So much for stopping by today ... I am off to fill the wood basket (yes, again!!)
with much love & friendship to you all,
Julie, Blackie & Pippi Longstocking 
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