The Button Box

Did your mum have a button box in her sewing cupboard and did you spend time looking through the button collection, sorting and choosing your favourite ones? I made this little box for my mum when I was in primary school. Truly a labour of love......carefully cutting the cardboard, folding it and putting it together, then marbling the paper to cover the box. It does look a bit worse for wear these days. The lovely marbled colours have somewhat faded but its all still intact and still holds some special buttons.

Now there are two layers to this button box......a little 'tray' that fits inside. 

I do love buttons and so I picked out some of my favourites that my friend and I have collected from various places. Its very relaxing sorting through buttons and you can't help but wonder what clothes they came from and who wore those clothes. I hope you enjoy looking at them!

 

Earth Hour

Here I am, taking part in Earth Hour 2014. Sitting by candle light, enjoying the quietness and peacefulness of the night. It reminds me of when I was a little girl and we lived in rural NSW. Blackouts were common so my parents always had a supply of candles and a very impressive 'hurricane lamp'. It was put in the middle of the dining room table, where we would sit and play cards or board games by its light. It was so much fun! Sometimes I would want to tell 'scary stories' but being a bit of a scaredy-cat, these were very short-lived.I can remember being disappointed when the power eventually came back on. A few years ago, my own family lived out of town in an area that often has blackouts. My two children were younger and living at home. Whenever we had no power, there would be a rush to light lots of candles and set up the cards or board games at the dining room table. And there would be moans of disappointment when the lights came back on. They enjoyed these times so much that we were known to have 'pretend blackouts' so as to sit by candle light and play games!

Teacups and tea parties

I would like to share with you a beautiful birthday present that I received from my daughter and her partner.......this one missed my blog post at the time so it now gets its own space!

My daughter knows my like for quirky, vintage 'things' and my love of T2 shops......so she found and sent me this amazing book from her local T2 shop. I suppose you can guess where the cup and saucer came from!

And a couple of little 'snippets' from inside.......

The spotty cup and saucer just seem to fit with the theme!

Babushka, babushka!

In an arcade in Melbourne is a babushka shop. If you are a fan of these beautiful dolls, you could find yourself lost inside for quite sometime. This is just a snippet from a display in one of the windows.

And among my many collections ..... a babushka card that my beautiful daughter sent me last year!

Little Tin Houses

When I was a little girl, my dad made me a dolls house, which I loved so much. I spent many hours playing with it and imagining life in miniature ......rearranging the furniture, dressing the dolls who resided there and pretending what they would say and do.
Maybe that explains my fascination for tiny things and why I just had to buy these little tin houses/shops that I found at the local market. There is a stall there called Takara Crochet and it is owned by Caroline, who crochets the most amazing things and makes fantastic jewellery. I know because I have bought quite a few pieces! She is very clever!!! Anyway, she had these tiny tins for sale and I couldn't resist them. They are quite amazing.....I am sure you will agree. One day I will photograph the inside, as it is like the interior of a Victorian dolls house with so much detail.
Now, to finish this little rambling, I have a dear friend who I met a long time ago and we have many interests in common. And, guess what.....we both love dolls house size things. So, these little gems went straight into her Christmas present.