~Vintage Suitcase Make Over Part 2~

Remember the vintage suitcase I started (Link Here) well I have finally finished it.  I was fortunate enough to find another tin of the paint I used in Sydney, so had to wait for that to arrive.  The outside is Sea Green and the inside has been given a totally girly shabby make over.  

Joining Beverley from  How sweet The Sound for Pink Saturday

Ps.....I have now included a tutorial for this case....just look for the tab at the top of my page.

~In loving Memory~

Only 2 more sleeps until I fly to Melbourne although it might be for naught.  I found out today that dear Aunt Rosa passed away today.  This amazing lady was my very first contact with my birth family.  She was chuffed to find out she had another niece and accepted me with out any fuss and announced quite happily that she was in deed my aunt.  I never got to meet this beautiful lady and I don't even know what she looks like.  I spoke to her several times on the phone and had numerous lovely emails with her (She was in her 80's and emailing....love it) and even though she had plenty of health issues of her own and her husband Dean she always asked after my health, and my hubbies.  I am devastated I never got to meet her.  

My thoughts are with her family at this time of sadness.  

Beautiful Roses for a beautiful aunt.

RIP Rosa

~4 days and Counting~

Only 4 more sleeps until I fly to Melbourne and meet my sister and brother for the first time ever.  The butterflies have started.  Up until this point the 'I'm Adopted" ...has not felt real real if you get what I mean.  On paper it has been real and in my head its real but now its going to be real in my heart.  I am going to meet those to whom I am blood related.....people whom I missed knowing through my childhood, through my teenage years, through everything up until now...all the things that one shares with a sister kinda moments.  Don't get me wrong I love the family that raised me and I will be a part of their lives and they will always be my family forever.  But I felt all my life something was missing...and now I know why.  How do I fit a life time of missing out into a few days.  

~Market Trolley Makeover~

What do you think of my yuckly blue market trolley now....revamped and shabby sweet.....

....freshly painted in satin white and I made a liner using Tanya Whelan fabric Barefoot Roses in pink and vintage pale green. 

Perfect for the next market I visit I think

I even made sweet little pocket for the inside.

 (naughty me standing it on the table)

Also joing the lovely Beverly from How Sweet The Sound for Pink Saturday

~Hot Hot Hot~

Adelaides in the middle of a heat wave ...the airconditioner has been working over time.  I am fortunate to be home in the cool but so many are not.  My thanks go out to all the Firemen fighting fires across the state.  Our wildlife are suffering too in this weather...I have no less than about 100 assorted birds sitting in my trees at the moment....making sure they stay close to the birdbath I have filled for them.  My birds in their cages out side get a cool down every hour and all the dogs and cats are inside in the cool.  

Lets hope it ends soon.

A police officer offers a very hot Koala a drink. (photo courtesy of  SA Police)

A few of the locals in my birdbath

~~Op Shop Finds~

Had an appointment this morning but as usual I was too early ...so I popped into a local op shop and hit the mother load.......2 things I have been hunting for as long as I can remember and there they were standing together in a corner.  I am pretty sure I was drooling .....and while my finds might not seem much to others....I love that feeling you get when you can cross that something off the 'gotta find' list.  Here are this mornings prizes and when I get time and this heat wave ends they will get a shabby up.

~Vintage Suitcase Makeover~ ~Part 1~

I am known for being the hoarder of all the family's vintage items.  Suitcases being one of them...well I actually I have 3.  I gave one a prim makeover many years ago when I was into blue and white and all things prim and country and thought it time for a new fresh make over shabby style.  I was going to be good and tape up all the lactches and keep them original but the tape just refused to stick ...so I gave up and chose to paint them instead.   I was going to undercoat as well but had none in the shed so that went in the too hard basket also.  I am very impatient when I decide to do something I want to be able to do it then and there otherwise I just wont do it.

First I dusted the outside of the case with a brush then wiped it over with a sponge and soapy water.  The inside (still had my brothers name inside from when he used it as a child) was paper lined and in not too bad condition so I just peel off what was peeling and left the rest.  Vaccuumed the inside and a quick wipe out with a damp sponge.  I havent decide whether I am going to line with fabric or vinatge wallpaper yet.

Out in the shed I had a can of Sea Beach Green by Squirts in a satin that would be perfect.  I am pretty sure I can finish with one can (well heres hoping).  

My Prim painting on the front.

The original inside

The first coat

The colour is a very pale green and I hope I have enough because according to the manufacturers web site the colour has been discontinued for some time.  Bugga!

Watch out for part 2...will the case still be green or will I have to settle for white.........

~Pinterest.....A Pinning Obsession~

Since discovering Pinterest I have spent more hours than ever on the computer....Pinning.  I go to look for one thing and the next thing  4 hours have passed and the first thing I was looking for is now long forgotten but I have instead another 100 pins on my boards. My purse is happier, for once its pinned I find I no longer need to purchase it as I can now look at when ever I like.  

My tastes are very diversified from the sweetness of Shabby (6 boards and growing) to the bizzare images of Steam punk which I love for its quirkiness and its ties to Victorian fashion.  I am a little obsessed as I now have 222 Boards and 58,230 pins.  So make sure you pop over and check out my boards at ~Shabby Delights Pinterest~....and don't foget to follow if you find something you like ♥

*Pinterest

~Pink Saturday~

It has been quite some time since I my last Pink Saturday.....so I will keep it short and share some pretties from my home.

Thankyou Beverly from http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/ for playing host as always.

Happy Pink Saturday

My best friends hubby found this at a Garage Sale for $10....it now sits in my didning room.

My bargain of the week for $1

I found my sewing mojo and made this for myself this week.

Have a great weekend

~Life Skills~

         All my life I have loved to make things, do things, change things and while the handy man skills come from my dear dad (I was always with him and my brother was always with my mum) who taught me everything about maintaining a house from gutter cleaning, painting, repairing holes, drilling, concreting, gardening , sawing and repairing ....I have this whole other skill set that I developed on my own from when I was a young child who tried to make clothes for her dolls and sew little accessories for them which more often or not involved sticking pins into the dolls to hold them.....that had no begining.  My mum while she was an expert at darning a sock was pretty hopless at any other sort of sewing and never encouraged me in at at all.  All my life I have sewed...teaching myself from books (before the internet) or by pulling things to pieces and looking at how they were made.  Well I now know my birth mum was a streamstress.  This makes me wonder are skills gentetically encoded.  What lead me to enjoy sewing and creating.  Its a puzzling thing.  The other thing is while my mum couldnt sew she was a beautiful knitter (before she got Macula degeneration)  the jumpers she made us kids growing up were works of art.  I was always amazed at how fast she could knit (while watching Days of Our Lives) without ever looking at what she was doing.  Me....I cant knit for peanuts....not from lack of trying.....I would always end up dropping stitches or purling when I was supposed to knit...so I gave that up and taught myself to crochet.  That however never extended beyond the humble square or rows.  I never learned to read patterns and I still need to check you tube when I want to use a different stitch.   As therapy goes,  in winter I love it and often make a blanket or two every year.  

So let me ask you this.....do you have skills in common with your parents?  

Oh and ...

..its only 21 days until I meet my birth sister and brother for the first time.

Have a great weekend.

.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•

How cute is this.......I just have to find someone to crochet it for me.

~Shabbyfufu Giveaway~

Shabbyfufu: Winter Whites And Our 500th Blog Post $200 GIVEAWAY!

~Shabby Competition~

Everyone loves competitions and I am no exception so here is your chance to win a gorgeous shabby prize from the lovely blog of Shabbyfufu. (<--- Link Here)  Just click on the link to check out the details and dont foget to follow while your there...you wont be disappointed .

~Time Flies~

Wow already day 2 of the new year.  Hubby and I had a quiet one this year...can you tell were getting old.  I hope your New Year was a safe and happy one. 

 My facebook page is going wonderful which is probably why I am hopeless at posting on here.  Even though I am not working (the paid variety) there never seems to be enough hours in a day.  I am studying again (Community Services) and try to do that for at least 3 hours a day and there is the housework, gardening and fb and pinterest....so the day goes past quite quickly. 

Pinterest is my other love and its good because it is actually stopping me from hoarding in RL.  I can collect everything I love in images and it satifies the need to own it all.  I still manage to loose many hours in the looking and pinning though.  Pinterest has opened my eyes to so much and as a recent comment on one of my pictures of my home mentioned....that we can live on different sides of the world and have never met and yet have such similar tastes. 

 I dont watermark my images and I always love seeing them pop up on others pages...it very humbling to think your style of decorating is good enough that others like it too.  However recently on two totally differnt pages I have found my photo with 2 other peoples watermark on it claiming it as theirs.  This did make me very angry.  Why would they try and claim something that they know is not theirs....I just don't get it.  I have shared thousands of images on my fb page and I am always very very careful to not claim or insinuate in any shape or form that I own the images posted and always provide a link or name of ownership or at least where I have found it if a link isnt available.  I actually love it when someone claims ownership of the images I post because then I can credit them  and 99% of the time people love it when I share their photo's because like me they find it humbling that others think their home is good enough for sharing.  

So if you get a chance pop over to my fb page here and say hi;  https://www.facebook.com/ShAbByPrImDeLiGhTs

and here is my pinterest page:

http://www.pinterest.com/shabbydelights/

oh and Happy New Year ...may 2014 be everything you want and more xx