I seem to be forever posting this past two weeks….nothing for months then too many.
The first thing I need to do is say “THANK YOU so much” to the dear, sweet blogging friend (who wishes to remain nameless) who trolled my site to get a link for a family member’s lavender farm and sent these as a most lovely gift. I am not sure what I did to deserve such a pressy but what a gorgeous surprise, I am truly touched. Big,big hugs to you know who you are 🙂
I finished the bird house and Roger added a couple of old wood and cast iron handrails around it. These had been lying around for years.
I am still working on these and will show before and afters when finished. Loving the map drawers 🙂
Last weekend we went to a couple of garage sales. One was a tumbly down old garage full of boxes and old crates of all sorts of man stuff. But I did see some boxes I needed. Roger filled them with junk handy stuff to have and asked for a price. Only $10 for the lot. See the one in the bottom corner, it ended up in the basement and I need to find it, it’s fantastic (if you love old boxes)
Emptied, scrubbed and dried, my new SOAP MOLDS!!!!!! What joy, they are on their way to being filled as we speak.
In one of the boxes was a long chain which Roger knew I had been looking for to go with this plate I picked up years ago for just a few cents. It had holes in the sides, no use for much but being pretty but I did get an idea off Pinterest last year.
A bird feeder 🙂
Funny thing which I must add just while I am here before I forget. Does anyone else look at the search engine part their stats to see what leads people to their site? Most find it through searching for Tumeric to Whten Teeth…thousands. But one last week got me ” Rubbing soap on legs descise drugrunners”. Mmmm!!!!
quarteracrelifestyle 
How lovely that you are full of creative energy. It must be spring. I do check the search engine but mine is always very dull. 😦 I am glad I found your blog via Pauline’s blog. So much easier. Happy soap making.
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Yes, it is very nearly Spring but glorious weather… lol, that must be it. I sat like a sloth all winter 🙂
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Me too.
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I had lots of thoughts but they only generated action like a month ago 🙂 Winter just had me sat in front of the fire reading 🙂
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Which is probably what we should do in winter.
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I reckon 🙂
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I am glad you did too Gallivanta – we have a lovely community of friends going on 🙂
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We do 🙂 🙂 And I get to see everyone else’s beautiful creations!
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I don’t look at my stats very often at all – maybe I should! I have no idea who sees my blog apart from those who leave me little comments or likes – it sounds like you have some dubious types checking you out 🙂
I love your idea for the bird feeder – genius! I adore your map drawers – if only!! You have such a knack for finding stuff!
Isn’t the weather fabulous? It is like summer here I am wondering if I should start gardening already …..
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The weather is beautiful, so early! It didn’t get dark till 6 pm tonight……..where did winter go?
I got lucky with those drawers, the only time I have ever seen them and so cheap. Pinterest is the best for finding ideas 🙂 🙂
Dubious sorts I reckon, they must’ve been sorely frustrated just to end up at QAL 🙂
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The birdhouse is beautiful – as is the bird feeder! All winged creatures in your area must be thrilled with your six-star facilities. I am also a huge sucker for wooden boxes and those ones look fabulous – perfect for soap moulds. You’ve inspired me to get a wriggle on with some projects! xoxoxoxox
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I enjoy the birds in the garden 🙂 Yes, sucker for boxes, wee drawers and cupboards. I crawled over all sorts to get those and smiled all the way home because they have such charm and they are really old, handmade boxes!! xx
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Yes, I’m with you there on those old boxes – excellent. I could see them with plants in, or as shelves too.
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Yes!! I would like to turn the white one into a shadow box, it is really old and beautifully made. It needs stripping though so might be a while.
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It’s really fun to score something you covet at a yard sale. I rarely do. In fact, I’m not sure I ever have. Those are all fab wooden box’s and will make your soap projects extra fun.
I do look at my stats sometimes, but not to often. I suppose those words or tags must be in a post somewhere?
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We generally do well at yard sales but little stuff only, we don’t buy alot of the lovely things we see and sometimes would dearly love. But we both love wooden stuff like this and they are great molds..or whatever else they become 🙂 There was an old carved sewing machine drawer with them that now holds old bottles.
I don’t know that I have drug-runner anywhere in my posts – maybe the word soap. Got me beat how the ended up here lol
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Wendy, I just loooooove your bird house, you could go into business with them lol they look so good.. A lot of time and effort and love gone into it.. Those draws are lovely, and so are those wonderful gifts.. 🙂
Loved the old draws.. now should you have lived a little nearer lol, I would welcome you with open arms to have a browse around hubbies Garage.. Its filled to the ceiling with urr hum ‘handy’ things that never come in handy, and when searching for said ‘Handy’ thing ends up going to a DIY store as the said ‘Handy thing is burried somewhere deep at the back of the hoarders cave its no where to be found!! hehe…. You and your hubby would have a field day in there… 🙂 Loved your draws and what a clever idea to use as soap moulds… Can’t wait until retirement next month and get to grips with projects LOL… But will probably sleep a month to recover 🙂 But so so looking forward now to have more me time.. 🙂
Loved this post xxx Sue
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Oooh, I wished you lived closer too! lol. I tend to think we get things so cheap because we buy the rubbish stuff no-one else wants, people are relieved when we say we want to buy something. You should see Roger’s basement workshop, he just said in the weekend it needs another tidy up because he can’t get in it…again! That is one place anyone else would never venture into and sometimes he asks me if I have been in there and shifted something – as if!!!!
I retired last year Sue hoping to have more time but six months later went back as a reliever…not only for the occasional wage but because I sorely missed it. When I left I certainly didn’t think I would want to go back in a million years, this type of work takes it’s toll and I was exhausted. You will love it though I am sure, you have other things you want to do and you are so good at that, time for you to have “nice” rather than sad and stressful. I look forward to seeing you future creations xxxxx
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Well Wendy I have been a Reliever for the past 3 yrs and yet at times put more hours in as relief Support worker than I did when contracted LOL.. I Have loved it and like you say you miss those whom you work with.. I missed the last Service Users loads when I was made redundant from our Local Authority as private firms took over.. I have been working one on one for 3 yrs and I will miss them but not the stress of working in mental health… Much preferred severe learning difficulties to be honest..as I didnt fear for my life as I have at times in this position.. I am on count down.. 🙂 Isnt is amazing how we still work as we do and manage what we get done as well? Love all your creations Wendy.. 🙂
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It’s a very stressful job, you never know from hour to hour what you are walking into. I did not like community at all in the end and since I went back it has been in the respite housing area of the organisation and I love that, it’s where I started. There is a chance we will be getting closed down at the end of the year due to funding so I am making plans to earn from home….hopefully! And yep, that will be nice…I think it’s the ideal really for me so am hopeful for you too everything turns out just fine 🙂
Thank you 🙂
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Yes it will Wendy. All will be well in our world… 🙂 Soaps and things sounds just grand.. and Natures HeART is what I am thinking about too… I am blogging today well its evening now.. but painting tomorrow… 🙂 I love relaxing with paint brush in hand…
We will be fine. 🙂 Just Fine.. 🙂
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Wendy, I sometimes look to see what Google search terms lead people to my blog. Sometimes for my blog they are scary – things like “in despair” and one especially chilling one, “In despair Golden Gate Bridge.” I always say a quick prayer for whoever typed that search, that they will find what they need from many different sources. Love your creativity! I can’t stand to throw any sort of wooden container away. I have a problem with throwing most things away, but especially anything made of wood, even old crates and scraps.
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Oh no, that’s terribly sad 😦 I hate to think of people alone and desperate and there are so many out there. Life can be very hard!
A girl after my own heart – love wood and crates and scraps… 🙂
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I love your painted birdhouse and the bird feeder made from a pretty plate. I wonder how you drill holes without cracking the plate. Anyway, it’s a very clever idea.
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Thank you 🙂 Yeah, I wouldn’t have a clue how that was done but wondered if when it was made it fitted into some sort of frame or had wee handles for some reason….sort of odd thing but made something pretty 🙂
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I just love your birdhouse and holding on to that plate was genius as now it’s perfect as a bird feeder. You have been so creative lately! And if Roger should want to share some of his latest finds….they are perfect for so many things.
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🙂 The birdhouse is a large ply dove house that weighs a ton and I insisted Roger pay for and carry a couple of years ago….it was really cheap at a garage sale. Took me a 2 years to finally get it painted and Roger a whole day to get it up where it is 🙂 And a custom built plate, very lucky 🙂
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Well, they turned out beautifully no matter how long it took to complete them. 😉
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Love your many posts, but I have fallen behind. I LOVE OLD BOXES!!! Those are really neat + boy could I find uses for those. Your pieces are beautiful…bird feeder, cleaver:-) You should open your own shop and pick up all this stuff to sell to others since you sure have a natural gift for putting it all together. Really nice:-) Stuff people pay a ton of money for in gift shops!
Your gift from a friend, really nice + you are special, so I can see why they would do it! Keep on posting, I’ll catch up:-)
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Hi Robbie 🙂 I can just imagine how busy you are….just like us in summer, you hit the floor running and then do that for 3 – 4 months 🙂
My gift was very generous and very thoughtful and such a very lovely surprise!!
I will share a little secret but don’t tell anyone 🙂 We hope to do just that in 3 years time. My sister suggested it a couple of years ago but I had forgotten and thought it was my grand idea 🙂 Our ideal would be to not have to work outside of the home and to be able to do what we love, we have a couple of ideas to enable this. We have a house that would lend itself to a country shop in a good location (4 houses down from the main state highway) Dreams are free I guess but they always do precede reality so it’s down to us to do it really 🙂
You should see the box that ended up in the basement, it’s like a trug with a handle and 4 different sections and really old!!! Treasure like you wouldn’t believe lol. Roger sneakily scored it but it’s too beautiful to house tools and when I picked it up I grinned from ear to ear 🙂 🙂
Enjoy ya garden 🙂 🙂
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“HAHAHAHAHAHA” SO funny! Drug runners eh? (bugger…she is onto me…) You are ever and always my guru. Stop being negative about it, you are stuck with me now and may as well make the most of it. You are being reminiscent of Brian in “The Life of Brian” when his faithful servants (that he kept protesting should “go away!” to no avail…) took his sandal and wandered off into the wilderness… consider me your faithful servant and if you keep tantalising my new found “New enthusiasms” with all of these gorgeous creations I am going to stick around! LOVE that map cupboard, am writhing with excitement about those boxes…what is it about New Zealand and bargains eh? If I got to garage sales I get acres of Peppa pig books and backpacks, old wine bottles (got enough of them HERE thanks) and old manky pot plants and I don’t even want to remind myself of how many of them we already have…
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Lol….must be just Kiwi garage sales 🙂 I love the boxes and I love how the map drawers are looking. I have been very busy with “new enthusiasms!!” Must be Spring Fever.
Ok, I will be your Guru, we shall start a cult of rabid recyclers and soap makers and we shall call ourselves ….um?! Do you have a name for us servant?
And I thought it might be you, just dropping a discreet note, on to ya!!
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OH, i want to go to your garage sales. I can see so much potential in your finds. Love the drawers and the dish and and and and….. a lady after my own heart.
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Hi Lynda 🙂 I think we get good finds because we search for the stuff no-one else wants 🙂 🙂 It’s cheap as and holds potential! I love the drawers too, easy beauty! And the plate.
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oh I love your birdhouse and I could see something in each one of the wooden boxes..now if you lived here in Texas, I would have garage sale partner ! 🙂
sorry I took so long to get back…weird year for me …each time i get up I get set back …but ..here I am… I had wanted to ask about your pumpkins you were growing, I think I saw you were over wintering them on a compost pile? I was curious about that…I am getting ready for my fall gardens, and would like to try that..(unless of course I am hallucinating ? LOLs)
I will be back in full swing to catch up in the morning, its been a hit and miss with me, but so many of your post I have marked, now to just find where I stored them..( technology and I are not compatible it seems)
I love this post,…the birdhouse is so gorgeous!
Take Care…You Matter…
)0(
maryrose
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Thank you 🙂 The birdhouse turned out ok 🙂
Sorry to hear it’s not a great year for you 😦 I know how that is, last year was not great for me. I hope things get better for you soon. xx
The pumpkins we grow on a compost heap and we leave them on the plants till they have all died off and the first light frosts come, they go a deep orange and very sweet, the skins get well seasoned for storage.
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a very pretty bird feeder. And the bird house is fabulous. Congrats.
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Thank you Cynthia 🙂 🙂
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Have a Great Week Wendy.. 🙂 xxx
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You too 🙂 xx
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