please join me.

This is a post to all my loyal and lovely readers,
I have so enjoyed all your comments over the last year and a bit and all the people I have met.
However I have decided to take my blogging in a new direction and embark on a new challenge.
I would love so much for you to join me at my new blog:

www.herthriftychallenge.blogspot.com.au

Lisa x

going bush.

for the long weekend we packed up the car and headed into the flinders ranges.

 we had a wonderful weekend away with our church family.

lazy lying around, 

sitting by the fire, 

eating homemade goodies, 

visiting the picturesque town of blinman

 delicious scones and quandong jam from the wild lime cafe

cuddles with a cute baby kangaroo

 and an impressive fireworks display.

oh how i love a long weekend!

(photos by the lovely taliah)

scrabble ideas.

when i found an old scrabble board i almost jumped with joy. 

i have been looking for one for so long.

and the fact it was only $2 made it even better.

so many diy possibilities.

here are a few of my favourites...

scrabble piece magnets.

decorative jar.

labelled shelves

scrabble piece coasters

shelves.

 after being suitably inspired i decided to get crafty and here is how i used scrabble pieces in my home...

top 5 garage sale loves.

i love a good garage sale. it's pretty much my weekend hobby. today i thought i'd share with you some things i always look for at garage sales because it's good to have some idea of what you're after before you drive round...though you can always find things that are surprisingly amazing...and because i happen to have found lots of them recently!

1. nice picture frames.

you can never have too many :) and they can be painted and turned into some fantastic craft projects.

2 outdoor furniture.

i dont know why but outdoor furniture is just always so expensive- so though it's rare, if you find a nice piece of outdoor furniture at a garage sale, grab it or i guarantee someone else will!

3. old games

i'm a big fan of board game nights and it's where i've got my favourite games from. also old scrabble boards can be turned into some pretty things.

4. retro/vintage tins.

great storage, so many uses- and just so very pretty! i know i shared these last week but they're my favourite find of recent days.

5. this last one is mainly because i'm a teacher of twenty 5 year olds but i am always looking for good fun toys. things like lego are super scarce at garage sales so you're lucky if you find it. the one i'm currently searching for though is some wooden blocks...one day! i'd share some pictures of some great car mats i found the other week but they're already at school getting much use.

happy thrifting!

p.s as usual i'm linking with her library adventures and apron thrift girl.

a weekend of garage sales.

i love a bargain and this last weekend was pretty much dominated by garage sales.
first my garage sale with friends  and then the annual Quorn town garage sales which were as epic as last year.

i got lots of new things but i thought i'd share today the magazine rack (above ) and some picture frames. i've just hung them in the hall way for now but am thinking of using the prints to be the background to some inspirational quotes, i just need to work out the right ones. but my personal favourite find of the day was some cute little canisters. they're not a matching set but wherever they end i know they'll look fantastic.

 happy thrifting! im linking with her library adventures and apron thrift girl.

i've got a green thumb.

normally me and the garden don't go so well, the cacti are my only survivors. everything i plant tends to turn brown and die- despite all efforts to water it. but i have found the solution!
introducing my little window garden...

i have discovered that you can replant the base of a celery stalk and it will regrow, how exciting! can you see all the little growth? and also you can place the ends of green onion in glasses of water and they'll resprout...my kind of gardening.
any secrets you want to share? i can't wait till my little produce is fully grown.

what to do with a giant hole in the wall.

i'm a dreamer and love to think of ways to change up the house without spending a fortune. last weekend my super handy parents, hubby and i decided to redecorate the 'junk/dining room'. 

our house is a beautiful old house with high pressed tin ceilings, wood paneling walls and plenty of charm but it has one ugly old aircon that isn't used so before changes happened it was kind of essential to ditch the air con.

so in a weekend solution: find a pretty piece of leadlight cheap and knock out the aircon. build a frame around it, mount it and smile at a beautiful blank canvas room. 

it took about a day to complete but boy is it beautiful and turning our junk room into a nice sunny winter room where i just want to curl up with a good book and cup of tea and read all day.

before:

after:

i'll show some final transformation pictures of how our 'junk room' has been transformed into a dining room/spare room/ reading nook but it's still not quite finished. above is a small peak but i've still got so many ideas to put into place before it's complete.ah, the joys of pinterest and ideas galore on the net :)

hope your having a good week! x

trash to treasure decorating.

i am the biggest fan of recycling old 'trash' and making it into something beautiful in my home. this weekend  i was lucky enough to have a visit from the number 1 handy man- aka dad, to help me practically achieve my artistic vision and transform our junk room into my dream dining room.

i was fortunate to snag a few old crates from a local garage sale this weekend and thought i'd turn them into a few things round the house.

we drilled 3 crates together to create some cute shelving.

and one of them became a planter box for some strawberries phil received as a gift for helping someone.

and while cleaning up the shed for our garage sale i found an old rake which i spray painted yellow and have set up in the dining room to hang wine glasses from... i just really need to stop breaking wine glasses and buy some more. these sad four are the last left of the wine glass collection we got for our wedding. maybe i'll be able to get some more from another garage sale :)

 i'm linking with her library adventures and apron thrift girl

happy thrifting!!

making plans.

it's been a bit quieter on this blog this year as work has got busier and i've had less time but i thought i'd share a few projects i have going on.

currently there is a large pile of bits and bobs in the middle of my guest room as we are planning for a large purging garage sale in a few weeks. i've been sorting through all the cupboards for the last week determine to clear things if they don't fit my two categories : 1) beautiful or 2) practical and useful. goodbye clutter!

and the other project that i'm feeling passionate about is transforming our dining/second spare room into a more beautiful space. since we've found out we're going to be staying in our country town next year too  i figure there is enough time to change up the room a bit before we pack and move again. i'm pretty happy with our our bedroom but there's definately room for improvement with dining and maybe even some of the other rooms.

i have lots of ideas but it all comes down to what i can find cheaply around the town. i like the idea of seperating the room into two halves so when lots of guests come to stay we still have somewhere to eat! i've also been collecting frames of similar colours from garage sales in the hope of creating a great picture wall. 

well above you can see the before and hopefully the after might look a little bit more like the picture below.

source

have you got any projects going at the moment? 
enjoy the rest of your week!

margaret river wineries and factories.

so  continuing on with my sharing all the great things about the margaret river region i thought it'd share about how it's full of excellent wineries and food factories.
while in the margaret river region we went on a wine tour with the company bushtucker tours and i'd highly recommend going with this company if your planning a trip and tour.

the tour changes each time depending on where you start. however on our tour we visited...

1.cape natureliste vineyard  which had some beautiful wines and two extremely cute dogs that greeted us on arrival. 
2. driftwood estate winery which had some good wines but probably not my favourite.

3. sandalford winery where the wine was lovely and we sat under the vines and had a traditional cold bush tucker lunch.

4. the crocktail bar- i can't actually remember the real name of this estate but they sell lots of liqueurs and cocktails.

5.the margaret river dairy company which make a fantastic double brie cheese that you can get from most foodlands.

6. the margaret river chocolate company. chocolate company! what more can i say. definately worth a visit and they have free samples which makes it all the better.

7. bootleg beer  which had good beer (or so i've been told since i don't drink it) but i can say the atmosphere with beautiful- the perfect spot to sit relax and unwind after a day of exploring.

 and one other place i have to mention is bettenay's margaret river company because the nougat they make is amazing and i bought so much i've been snacking on it every day since.
so if you're heading across to margaret river for a holiday these are my recommendations!

a new bookcase.

this weekend the yard sales in my area weren't amazing but i was pretty happy to score a lovely handmade dolls house and bag of dolls house toys for $5.

i bought it for my class to play with but after looking through pinterest for ideas on what colour to repaint it, i realised it could also be a unique bookshelf.

 at the moment the roof is an orange colour but i thought i might give it a lift, either by painting it a royal blue or lime green. any thoughts?
and our roses out the front are growing amazing. nothing like a fresh bunch of flowers on the kitchen table.

happy thrifiting and i'm linking with her library adventures.

busselton.

when we were in western australia we stayed in a beautiful town called busselton.  busselton is 21/2 hours drive from perth in the margaret river region. we stayed at the abbey beach resortwhich was simply lovely with a pool, tennis courts, bikes, a full kitchen and a spa bath. nothing like some lazy resort days to kick start holidays!

if you're off to the margaret river region here's some recommendations for eating out in the town of busselton.

eat at:
vasse bar cafe for pretty decent pub style food
the goose restaurant for an amazing ( a bit pricey) night out. such good food!
coco thai for some really well priced lovely thai food.  
el gringo's mexican restaurant for the best mexican food i have ever eaten. so good i just wanted to eat there the whole time! and for dessert we had something called 'death by chocolate' which was all the chocolatey goodness anyone needs- a giant cup of joy!

 

 ah, it's only the end of week 2 and i'm already dreaming of my next holiday.

sunshine and parks.

it's almost the weekend!  

there's nothing like lazy days at the park playing cricket, climbing and flying kites.

keep this extended warm summer, in my country town, coming.

hope you have a lovely friday and weekend. x