My list of 7

I've noticed quite a few of my blogging friends inviting other bloggers to reveal 7 things about themselves. I'm not sure what kind of things to reveal. I'm not the most exciting person. Infact I'm a bit geeky. Oh well, here's my list.......

1. I am a huge Dolly Parton fan. I have loved her since I was a child. She always seemed so beautiful to me. She is an amzingly talented woman and I admire her confidence so much. She doesn't give a toss about what other people think and has always been able to laugh at herself. Love love LOVE her!

2. I was raised on tea. Literally. My parents have a wall in their kitchen with a huge collection of Twinings tea caddies in all different colours and flavours (I was lucky enough to nab the Rosebrand tea tins from them when we moved). Whenever we wanted to chill out it was always over a cuppa. I love my tea :)

"Bay of Angels" by Marc Chagall

3. I studied painting at Sydney College Of The Arts and graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts. There are so many artists that i adore but I really love the work of Marc Chagall. His work really moves me. They capture the true essence of "L'Amour" and that excited, giddy,floating feeling you get when you're with the one you love.

4. This song puts ants in my pants and makes me wanna dance.

Image by www.myhusbandcooks.wordpress.com.

5. I hate Lychees. I can't bring myself to eat something that reminds me of an eyeball or something else that i won't mention. They smell and feel gross.

However I do love brussel sprouts. Go figure.

6. I am the fourth child of five. I have 3 brothers and one sister who is my best friend. We have only ever had one fight and that was back when I was 4 and she was 8. I won by pulling her hair.

7. My favourite movie of all time is "Transformers The Movie" released in 1986. It's sad I know. There are others that are right up there, like "It's a Wonderful Life" and "My Life As A dog" however none of them give me the same feeling over and over again since the first time I watched it. This one does, especially when Hot Rod gets the Matrix off Galvatron and you hear Optimus Prime say "Arise Rodimus Prime" then "The Touch" kicks in. Love it!

Oh dear, you all think I'm a nutter now don't you? I'm going to try to redeem myself by telling you all that the movie features the voice talents of Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Idle and Judd Nelson. So it's not that bad is it?

is it?

Time to transform and roll out!

Alisa x

Rylstone Show 2010

We had such a wonderful time! However I'm absolutely EXHAUSTED. I think today is going to be very lazy indeed!

Alisa x

My fruit sticker garden

Well hello everyone! I've been away on a lovely trip interstate and have spent the last couple of days trying to catch up with the blogger world. I was reading Anna's post from Lona de Anna about what your decorating style says about you. I found it very interesting. My style has always been a little on the quirky side. I love the juxtaposition of found and/or recycled objects within a traditional space. An example of this is my kitchen. A lovely space with an apple green table, old coloured wooden chairs, mix match cabinets that are impossibly high, a TINY sink, a standard stove with a cooktop that works and an oven that won't and my favourite (especially in winter) a 1940's wooden stove in the old fireplace (that gets used alot considering the other one is busted). When we moved into this house i HATED the kitchen. Now I love it! I think that all it's differences is what makes it cosy. We will of course have to re-do it one day but in the mean time it's serving it's purpose.

For a bit of fun with the girls I started to grow a pretend garden by adding fruit stickers to the cabinets one by one. For the petals i usually get some of their paintings and cut them out to suit. The girls LOVE this idea and our little garden is growing everyday. I love the effect of the fruit stickers themselves.

This brings me back to Anna's post. I know that my decorating style is very strange. I've been thinking about the motivation behind why i do the things I do. All i can decipher is that it makes us happy. I loved the look on the girls faces when i first showed them the rainbow that i painted in the archway of the hall, and the puzzled look on hubbys face when i hung birdcages from the ceiling.

My house expresses my family and they are my true inspiration.

Alisa x

Antique blue

More to come xxx

Ruby red and a thankyou

First things first...I must thank Anna for mentioning me on her beautiful blog Lona de Anna. I was really touched by her beautiful gesture and the kind words so from the bottom of my heart, thankyou Anna!

Now, I have some photos of my ruby red head bandeau. Again, the pictures don't really do it justice (where's my sister when I need her?) It is INCREDIBLY detailed with vintage pale pink glass seed beads and swarovski Crystals. The lace has been layered with cuts of vintage red tulle and a faux velvet/organza rose and peony. The 4 egg shape Magenta AB crystals and the red AB crystals are all from a 1950's beaded crystal necklace and are slightly but beautifully worn away.

Looking forward to showing you the blue one tomorrow.

Alisa xxx

Rags to Riches

My dear friend came around today with a bootful of old sheets, table cloths, bedspreads and curtains that she cleaned out of her fathers linen press. She let me take my pick before taking the rest to Vinnies. Hubby shook his head in frustration as I already have quite a collection however I'm going to use these purely for sewing (except for the really funky pear print kitchen curtains, they're going up!). Everything's a bit shabby at the moment and I've already got alot of it soaking in the tub. There are some wonderfully bright colours and patterns that are just waiting to burst out from the surface. I think they'll be great for my new plushie tweets that I started sewing today. Very exciting!

In other news from the Burlington base I'm coming down with a cold and it ain't pretty. I'm running low on resources (tissues, vitamin C and chocolate) and I've got no gusto. I'm currently on to my 3rd cup of ginger tea and trying to muster up enough energy to prepare the topping for our pizzas (the girls are cooking tonight). Heres hoping I feel better tomorrow.

Have a great week everyone!

Alisa xxx

It's a tough life for Obi

xxx

Inspiration

Here are some ladies that are giving me inspiration for my new range of headpieces.

Sarah Bernhardt

Gloria Swanson

Theda Bara

Mata Hari

Frida Kahlo

And last but not least, The Geisha

The headpieces are coming along nicely. I have a pink one that is fabulously over the top!

Pictures soon, promise x

Decorating with gameboards

I love collecting quirky vintage items and displaying them in my house (this includes a cash register in the kitchen, and birdcages hanging from my ceiling). My latest obsession is old game boards. I was first drawn to vintage games for their playing cards and pieces that I like to incorporate in my jewellery and paper art. I always loved the boards and decided that they are too cool to just sit folded away in my studio so I've put them up on the wall. They're hanging over the daybed in the office where the girls like to sit and read while i try to get computer stuff done. I'm loving it! They look great with my retro wall paper cut outs and floral print. Now.....where to put the rest of them!

P.S I really REALLY suck at taking photos.

Earring chaos!

No need to say much other than I'm making a HUGE mess!

16 pairs of earrings, 5 necklaces and 2 brooches....I'm on a roll! Back to work!

Alisa x