Made by Me May - Day 20

I got some exciting mail today.  When I first started this blog I also made my first comment on one of my favourite blogs.  That comment won me an amazing pendant from Agy at Green Issues.

I chose the one on the left.  And it arrived today,  I love it, thank you so much Agy.  If you want to check out her tutorial you can find it here.

Inside the parcel also came a lovely note

I have mentioned before the Earthquakes that have destroyed parts of the city I love.  But I haven't gone into how they have affected me.  Today we had a strong reminder that the earth still has the upperhand, a 5.3 10km deep quake.  Here in Christchurch we are up on the lingo but basically it was a really good shake, enough to get you running for the doorframe in ordinary circumstances but here, we just pause in mid conversation for a few seconds and when it doesn't develop into anything carry on as if it never happened.  It hardly even warrants a mention on facebook.

Before Sept 2010, the last quake I remember feeling was in 1992, in the middle of a high school art history class. Comparatively small now, it was terrifying at the time. So, 4.35am Sept 4th was a huge shock, I was at a friends and after a long night we were about to head to bed.  I sat shocked on her couch while she ran for the doorway screaming.  I can remember clearly the sight of her being flung across the room. We spent the next few hours under her dining table, ringing and texting everyone we knew.  The power was out and we had no water and no way of knowing what was happening in the rest of Christchurch except rumours.  Rumours of people fighting over water, bridges collapsing, buildings falling down. Never before would I have believed them to be true, now I know better.

 Her family soon came over as they had a new baby and no way of heating their house and she had a fire.  I got a ride back to my place, at the time we were staying with my Mum, and was shocked to see our chimney, guttering and fence in the neighbours driveway.  The Mr had not mentioned this on the phone.  Luckily our power had been restored, and I spent the next two days on the computer and watching TV shocked at what I was seeing.  I couldn't sleep for days and even then I had to have the light on for weeks.  We were so lucky, noone was killed and few hurt.  There was a lot of talk about what it would have been like if it happened in the middle of the day, and we felt relieved, everyone had a story and we heard them all, it was the main topic of conversation for months.  I think we were in shock and we all turned to each other, I know I have never valued my friends and family as much as I do since that day.  7.1 on the richter scale they told us and it was just the beginning.  Part 2 Tomorrow.

For more information look  here

Here are some more of my button jewellery items.

Brooches

Multi Coloured Button Necklace

Necklace made from Shell Buttons

Jen

Made by Me May - Day 19

I have always wanted to go on a cruise.  I've never thought too much about doing the big OE, travel just isn't that important to me, but a cruise.  Ever since I was young and watched The Love Boat religiously I have wanted to wave goodbye from the ledo deck and sit at the Captains table for dinner.  It's the romance that gets me I think.  You can imagine how jealous I am of my MIL at the moment, she is on the high seas visiting beautiful places and drinking colourful cocktails.  I received an email from her today and although she hasn't said too much or sent any photos I'm sure she is having a wonderful time.  I think she would be a lovely romantic interest  for Captain Stubbing......

 

I'm not a huge fan of shirts.  I find them uncomfortable and unflattering.  I loved the colour on this shirt but not the collar, so off it came.  I sewed some crochet lace onto the new neckline and added a crochet spiral, much better.

Made by Me May - Day 18

We turned the heatpump on for the first time today, Man it's getting cold!  For me to say that you know it's true.  The Mr and I are so different when it comes to temperature tolerance, he can be sitting with 2 jerseys and a jacket on complaining about the cold and I'm sitting next to him in a t-shirt feeling comfortable.  So, when to turn on the heatpump is always an issue.  We were lucky enough to have a heatpump installed by EQC (Earthquake Commission) for free just before last winter and I have to say I don't know how we would have managed without.
It's been long enough that I can show you more pictures of our fur babies right, don't want you to get sick of the sight of them. I took a photo of each of them today and have to say they encompass who they are quite nicely.

Here's Jack.  Sleeping in Mr's suitcase, which I refuse to unpack and has been sitting in our lounge until it's empty.  Jack loves to climb into things to sleep, we have found him in some weird places.

Mr Wobbly, looking regal and giving me his usual, "What do you want?" expression.

And lastly Kitty, who as soon as she saw the camera wanted to know what it was and wouldn't sit still. I usually have to sneak up on her for a decent photo.


About a year ago I found an old mirror frame for free, I had a vision and grabbed it.  I filled the space where the mirror used to be with some old wallpaper I had grabbed from my Granparents house, it had been left over from decorating their bedroom and stored in the top of their wardrobe for I don't know how long (that wallpaper was up when I was born).  The frame still had the metal tabs on the sides that held the mirror and I used them to criss cross some string over the front.  I used pegs to hang some black and white photos plus other bits and pieces to decorate.

This is one of my most favourite free items ever.

Jen

Made by Me May - Day 17

I'm over half way now. When I started I wasn't sure I would have enough to share, but I'm amazing myself with how easy I'm finding each new day.  I had heard about blogging of course, but it took one lady to get me hooked. That's Marisa of  newdressaday.com, if you haven't seen her stuff you have to go check her out. Go on do it now, I can wait..............Ok, isn't she so inspiring.  I suddenly had a name for what I had been doing for years and a whole community of like minded people.  Before I knew it I was obsessed with blogs. That first day was over a year ago now and I can't believe how far I have come since then.

Today I have for you a copycat of a Marisa copycat.

Here is the original Anthropologie necklace.

Here is Marisa's Version.

 If you want to see how she did it you can find her tutorial here

And My Version

I used a thinner wire and blue cotton.  Next time I'll use a thicker wire, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Jen

Made by Me May- Day 16

Thought some of you might be curious to see how the bedroom makeover is coming.  We moved into this place in Dec 2010, we were looking for a temporary place and weren't too concerned about the looks of the place, as long as it had plenty of room.  It's definitely an interesting place, the outside desperately needs a paint and the garden was a bit overgrown before we weeded. The Feb 22 earthquake changed our plans a little and as places to rent are hard to find in Christchurch we plan to stay put.  Now the inside was a bit of a shock the first time we walked through, hadn't been cleaned in who knows how long, paint was peeling off the walls and there was even some lovely graffiti in the bedrooms. But I saw it's potential and we forged ahead dispite others concern.  We have done a bit of painting throughout but the room that is our bedroom was left until now, I couldn't stand the colour anymore

This is a pic of the ceiling, that's right the ceiling!!!  I have now painted over the walls but they were this dark blue colour also.

Now this shows you a bit better, the large blue diamond that hung above our heads every night. As you can imagine it was like a cave in there

 Now, here is the window I finished painting today, a crisp clean white instead of the dirty cream it was before.

And a better look at the new colour, a gorgeous soft green. The diamond is still there for now, but not for much longer. 

Now why paint a rental house you may be thinking,  Well I have plenty of free time at the moment and I find it great practise in decorating and design besides so far this makeover has only cost me $26 and I'm figuring the total will be about $40. We get the bnefit of a beautiful cosy room without the rental price to go with it. And we can use the before and after photos when we decide to start looking for a new place, whenever that may be.

And a quick refashion

A new pair of socks made from the sleeves of an old unwanted Jersey, aren't the buttons just so cute.

Jen

Made by Me May - Day 15

Halfway! Yah!

Throughout the years I have had a few jobs.  I was nanny for a year, I worked in retail sales, I studied to be a hairdresser, I even worked in telemarketing ( I never sold anything, I only worked there for 2 weeks until they went out of business, Not my fault I'm sure :) )  But I always came back to childcare, It is a joy for me to spend time with kids, they are so refreshingly unspoiled by the world at large.  I have cared for all ages but my favourite is preschool.  I have worked from home doing Home Based Care, looking after up to 4 children in your own home as a trained carer and educator,  I hope to go back to it again in the near future.  So with that in mind I started decorating our spare room as a potential playroom/nursery.

The wardrobe doors were painted a faded and marked cream and one frame of the door had been replaced and not painted.

I painted the whole thing white and wanted to add some interest so dove into the pile of children's book I have and came up with some pictures I liked, but to have it make more sense I added phrases from the book and now each panel has it's own story.

 

 

Here's a close up of the doors, The left one has Goldilocks and the right Jack and the beanstalk.  I'm really happy with how they turned out, and still have heaps of stories left for future projects.


Jen

Made by Me May - Day 14

You have probably noticed by now that my photos are not the best, I have a very basic camera and I don't know how to use it.  I need to take some lessons from the guy who took these photos.

These were taken by my brother who had never really taken photos before a few years ago and has no formal training.  I encouraged him to do his first wedding for a friend of ours a couple of years ago, and he just stuns me with his talent.  Check him out on facebook, just search for PhilBailey photography.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

Over time I'm sure I will share lots of his photos in the meantime you'll just have to put up with my pics.

Below is a selection of my button jewellery, each piece is totally unique and I loved making them.  The first two of these were made from buttons that were in my Gran's collection.  I made pendant necklaces for my cousins as a keepsake. The button charm bracelets are my favourite and I have kept a few for myself.

Pendant Button Neckalce

String Button Necklace

Button Charm Bracelet

Jen