Shop Open

Welcome to 2015

This year I have to decided to follow my dream of opening a shop.

Today is my first day.
A while ago I read a Quote that said
"If you are not doing what you LOVE
then you are wasting your life"

Now I love my life and all that I do. I enjoy craft, soap making, candle making, shopping at op shops and all these fun things.
So why not continue to do this on a wider scale.

I have really enjoyed getting back and doing the markets so opening a shop is a extention of this.
It's a hobby really, that I have so much fun doing that I can fill a shop, so I have!!!!

I won't be open every day just Thursday - Saturday 9:30 -4:30.
We will see what the new year brings and I am going to enjoy my little shop.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL

Mandy

Carnival Week...

This week Toowoomba has been celebrating the

Carnival of Flowers....

We started last Saturday with the Wine and Food festival and the parade.

 

 

The wine and food festival is a great week end filled with Great wine, food and live bands...This is our third year of playing tourist in our own home town and we all enjoy the great family weekend.

Monday saw Robbie and William go of to camp for a week so it was only Cassie home for the week.

 

Monday saw us going to the quilt exhibit. Us being my friend Helen and myself, the quilt below was my favourite out of them all. There were so many but this one caught my eye as the stars were not visible at first until you really looked at it, subtle but brilliant I thought.

 

 

Then after lunch it was of to see the gardens, so many to see and ALL of them were outstanding.

Below is a sweet little nook we had a rest in, I could imagine sitting here having a good wine and some cheese.

 

 

Colour every where, so many ideas going through my  mind as I walked around.

By the time I got home that night I had sore feet and lots of inspiration.....

 

 

Wednesday saw

Bruce, Cassie and myself head into the Lockyer Valley to have a look around....We were going to look a a caravan so thought we would look around on the way, we got to look at the van at 3pm....Not getting it as it was bad really bad......Worth the trip though as there is So many amazing shops in this area. Well worth the drive down through Forest Hill and out through Laidley...

 

 

So many thrift shops as well I went to 10 all up and got some great finds.

My favourite find of the day was this little shop in Laidley called Potato Studio....So full of some amazing bits and bobs. Below is a taste of what they have with these ceramics....and so much more, I will be going back again.

 

We stopped at some great little cafes a long the way, they day did seem a bit like a food crawl hahaha

So we came home with no caravan, but lots of goodies from our travels...

This week I will be doing catch up on house work, book work and yard work. Never mind all worth it for the wonderful week we had...

 

Blessings to All

Mandy

Thrifting....

 I have been on the Op shop hop, and having the best time and getting the best bargains.....

 

 

 

I have gotten lots of vintage sheets and pillow cases, that I love to dress my bed in. I know some people (like my daughters) thinks it is awful to use them but really wash them in napisan and they are clean and so much nicer than you can get today.

 

Today I picked up lots of little bunnies to do up a Easter display, more of that later.

 

 

This necklace is going to be my favorite for Autumn, it goes with some earrings I picked up many years ago from an op shop.

 

 

This week I picked up lots of new clothes, this shirt and another still had the price tags on them so haven't even been worn.

 

 

Jeans jeans and more jeans. I have got all of my winter wardrobe from the op shops over the last couple of weeks.

 

 

Since Christmas I have been on http://changinghabits.com.au/

HCG Protocol, well this has really worked for me and  I have lost 13kgs so far. This is why I have needed so many new cloths and I didn't want to spend a lot of money as I still have a long way to go.

Below is my favorite outfit at the moment, this dress cost $3 and I love it.

 

I know a lot of you out there enjoying the thrift shops as well so I know I am in good company.

 

 

Happy thrifting.........

Mandy

A Weekend away and some much needed RAIN....

Hello all on this wonderful wet Tuesday.

Waking up to a storm last night with lashings of lightning and pounding rain was a blessing. We are long over due for rain in our tanks and on our thirsty ground.

Guess where I went for a well needed long week end....the new tea towel is from there.

I have never stayed in Noosa before so we had a lovely time looking around. The we being Chloe Damien, Bruce and I . I must say that poor Chloe was sick of shopping by the end, but as it rained all week end there wasn't much else to do....

I did pick up some great bargins as every shop was having a sale. I got the new hanging baskets on the veranda from a junk shop there for only $12 each.. I filled them up with some plain old herring bone fern from the garden and they give the veranda a real lift.

I also got this cute bird cage for the dinning room table, it is not an old one but it is sweet. My favorite find was this photo frame below, it is quite large and made from old glass. I did pay $50 for it though, it was $79 so I did all right. The clock was $7 from the same shop as the hanging baskets.

Sunday the day we were coming home was sunny and perfect. We finely got out side and went to the the Noosa Farmers Markets.

This is Steve Waughs vege stand...Every stall at the markets was fresh food......I was in heaven, we got lots of goodies for a picnic for the way home.

After having sick choldren all week and then my self getting sick on Thursday, getting away child free was a blessing. All is well now and back to school and work...

Thank you for the kind comments and a big hello to my new followers, thanks for dropping by and saying hello...

Blessings

Mandy

End Of Term.......

The school holidays have arrived.

It has been a long tiring term, looking forward to no early morning lunch making and running to catch school buses.

Today Cassie has left for Coloundra with her cousins for a week, so it is just the two boys and me at home. They will have to spend some time at the workshop with me each day but I will work shorter days. They are old enough to do some general cleaning in the shop for some spending money.

Tomorrow I am going to Brisbane for a girls day out with 2 of my daughters Chloe and Alanah. We are of to Ikea for the day. I am hoping that they have the POD chairs there as I have wanted one for so long. I can see one hanging on my veranda in the sun for early morning cuppas.



Thursday my quilt arrived from Vietanam.OOOOOOHHHHH
it looks just as I imagined. This quilt was all hand made by local village women and the money goes straight to them.

Well I'm heading outside to enjoy the sun on this beautiful winter day.
Enjoy your week end
Mandy

Fridays at Home..............

It has been nearly 2 weeks since I have been on here..

A very busy 2 weeks with the children back at school, and the bus run in full swing again. It has taken a while to get into a routine, now that I am at the workshop all the time. One thing I have realized is that I needed help. (No not the head kind of help) Work help......I now have Alanah working with me. She is doing a great job and we work well together. Alanah is at the workshop full time. This leaves me to come and go as I need to, I am here for the younger children when they get home from school and am free to be there for them. They were missing me not being here and I was missing them....It will take a while to get things working for us, so far though this is working.Last night Robbie and I had meet and greet with his year 8 teachers, they all love him of course. He is very much like his big brother at school, always pushes the boundaries but never gets in to much trouble, must be the Storey charm I think?

After sitting in my puddle of sweat for a couple of hours I decided it was time for retail therapy.
Of to air conditioned shops we went....I couldn,t leave this mat there only $5 so I got 2 for my kitchen...Ahem, I also got 2 pairs of shoes, a skirt, a dress, belt, top O and some baby clothes.( I can't say why other than they were cute)

Did I feel better for this shopping spree...To be honest YES....sorry wrong answer but it was fun, Alanah was with me as well and she got lots of bargains for her glory box as she is planning on moving out this year.

What I was really looking for was curtains. I am slightly obsessed with curtains at the moment. As you can see in the above and below photos(sorry they are so dark) now that I have opened up this area, none of the curtains match.

The yellow ones need to be block out, as this side gets all the hot morning sun. I am thinking of just going with plain whit curtains for all of these windows.

Any ideas...This will all be painted white as well when the building is finished so I,m not sure if it will be to much white.

My chandelier has finally gone up in the bathroom , it is a smaller version of the bedroom one. I love them both as they are something I always wanted.

Today I am staying home as the electricians are here finishing of the power points.

I am staying inside as it is way to hot to be outside. I am going to do some sewing as I am making my niece school uniforms....

Have a great week end

Blessings

Mandy

I went shopping instead........

Let me tell you about my first day at the workshop. Imagine being sent into a bull ring and told to catch the bull, you have no idea what to do....That's a bit how I felt yesterday........O.K....O.K I could turn the computer on and pretend I was busy, looked through the bookwork, even though it meant nothing to me.

After about hmmmmmm lets see 80 mins I left.......

And went shopping yep you read right Shopping. Thought I needed a new hand bag and then of course shoes to go with the hand bag.....O! stopped in and got a pedicure as well,theeeeeennnnn Katies had a sale so I got a pair of linen pants and denim jacket........ I just want you all to know that if you ask YES I can justify buying all these things, just give me another day to come up with something......

Apple Tree...

All in all a nice day because even though I was in town I was alone and it was good to be alone. I know that things will be O.K at the workshop, once I get someone in to talk me through things and show me what to do there, their will be no stopping me.....

Blueberries.

After my breakdown,( I prefer to call it retail therapy) I managed to go for a nice look around my garden....Spring is here and I feel sad that it is passing me by. Every thing keeps growing though and flowering and shows me that life does go on.. The apple trees I planted are all in flower and leaves are growing...

Lemons.

Look what I found on the lemon tree, truly it seems like every-thing has grown over night. All the citrus trees are in flower, there are mulberries on the Mulberry tree and there are even blueberries that are still green at the moment....The passion fruit vine is in flower and the grapes are starting to shoot....Every where I look there is life, I can see my productive garden starting to take shape....

Orange.

Today I am having a new septic pit put in so it is busy around here today...I have tomatoes to plant and lots to do in the garden....

Enjoy your day today....

Blessings

Mandy..

Busy Times Ahead...

Birthday time in the Storey household has arrived............

From now until the end of May we have lots of birthdays, Easter

and our wedding anniversary. It works out that every 2weeks

there is something.

Party season.......

This month is exciting as on the 10th William our youngest turns

six and Jessica our eldest daughter turns 21.......on the 21st of this month.

Two parties...I always give the children a birthday party in grade 1 and of course they have a 21st.

Today I'm of to Toowoomba to do B/day shopping. I know what I'm getting Jessica,

I always said when the girls turn 21 I would get them a sewing machine.

So that's easy as I know which one I want.

But William.........That's another story. William has always been hard to buy for.

No it's not that he has every thing. William has never been one to play with

toys inside. He has always enjoyed his farm animals and cars,

but he would rather be out side doing something.

Last year he wanted a vege patch..that's the kind of child he is.......

Comes from being the youngest I think and always having

had some one to play with......

He did say he wants some Ben 10 stuff, well that's alright but who

the heck is Ben 10!!!!!!!!Must be some T.V character.

Better go and get ready for town, find some thing ironed (Ha Ha should see the ironing basket)

Put some make up on. Which by the way seems to take

alot longer these days, and then when I'm finished

doesn't make alot of difference any way.

Have a great day every-one.....

Mandy

Afternoon One & All

I have been in town (Toowoomba) all day today and my feet are protesting to the amount they had to walk.

The few times I do venture into town i park the car and walk to do all my bits and pieces.

I do go grocery shopping each week as it is to hard to buy enough

food for my lot any more than this.

One of the places I had to go was "spotlight" to get some more material

for Christmas presents.

I am known to get a a bargin now and again ,

and did I get one today.

See this quilters fabric below? well I picked it up cheap.

The checked one was $3 a metre and the rest were $8 a metre.......... plus.........

if you bought 1 mtr you got one free, that's right ladies.

(I think I just lost a lot of readers they are in there cars now and heading for the closest spotlight)

The red material is the same as in DILs quilt and I needed some more of that.

The plain pink one is to bind my quilt and the others............who cares

it was cheap and I know I will use them.

.

Here is a sneak peak at Karen's my DIL blocks, they are all mixed up as Karen reads my blog

and I don't want to give to much away.

You will have to wait until after Christmas to see the finished quilt.

Now that I have learnt to put a quilt together I am finely going to

make up these blocks. They have sat in the cupboard for years and I never got to finish the class as baby No 6 came along. Yes I no that was 10 yrs ago.

I am going to make into into a single bed quilt for that No 6 child.

Here is my top all together all to do know is put the wadding in it and the backing and quilt it.

That,s the fun part I can do that no worries.........




Well I need to go and water the vege garden and pick some greens for tea.
I hope you all had a great day.

Mandy