Glasgow, Scotland

Well, we have left Glasgow for Oslo and looking back at our time there, the things we loved the most were things we have easy access to in Australia. The things we are most excited about are the very Anglo things we seem to miss about our old home. Things like meat pies, fish and chips, people speaking english, peanut butter and OP SHOPS GALORE! It was such a cool city filled with vintage stores, craft markets, old buildings, a huge cemetery (kims favourite pastime) and the smell of bacon and haggis in the air. With alot of free museums, great coffee shops and micro breweries we walked around the city with a skip in our step.
-morgan

our home.

For a while I have been wanting to do something like this. About a year ago I started reading The Selby and since have wanted to share a little virtual tour of what for the last year and a half we have called home. We have about one month before we start selling most of our possessions and clearing this little apartment to prepare for our one way trip to Europe.



When we first moved here, it was very scary, the apartment is built in the steepest street in Queensland, it is always dark and cool inside and when it rains, everything stays wet and the man who built it simply threw together with odds and ends from scrap shops. As Kim and I tend to collect a lot of treasure/junk we have filled this apartment very rapidly, with lots of beautiful things. Sadly, now we must sort, sell, throw out and reminisce of all our nick nacks.


Hope you enjoy our home as much as we do/did.
-morgan

re-style: pink dress

This little dress re-style has been a long time coming. I started sewing this dress back in april, finally finished it in August and only got around to taking photos last week. Well it's better late then never. Here is a dress that i fixed up for my sister. It started off as a massive size 22 dress that I got for $2 at an op shop. I loved the neckline straight away and new I could do something better with it.

I cut off the sleeves and re-shaped the shoulders. I brought in a bulk off the skirt and raised the waist. I have pretty much re-sewn this dress all over again, the only original part is the collar. I love how it looks on my sister sarah. It is made especially for her and i'm very happy with the result.

enjoy.
-kim

i learnt

Yesterday I learnt how to play backgammon.

I'm hooked, and now, the hunt begins.

For a travel backgammon case.

what is your favourite board/card game?

we play monopoly deal, scumbags and warlords, billionaire, times up and mancala.

-morgan

op shop finds August

It's been a while since I have done an op shop find post.
When kim and I went camping a few weeks ago we found a few treasures but recently I have been spending more time working in my op shop and have come out with alot more things.


(some of this is not pictured but here a few beauties)
So, my recent finds are
A dapper hat for kim
A beautiful woolen jumper for kim
A few expired rolls of film both 35mm and polaroid
A few embroidery hoops
A couple of Sigma lenses for my Pentex K1000 ($15 for both a 100-300mm and 23-80mm Macro!)
A frame to make this to display our instax and polaroid pictures
A couple of working Brother typewriters
A Tom Sawyer book
A beautiful crocheted boat in a frame


And this is by far my new favourite of the house, a handpainted 2 metre long landscape. Stunning.)

What have you scored from thrifting of late?

-morgan-

black star coffee..

Over the Easter weekend I went on a little day trip down to Brisbane with a couple of friends. One of the first places we stopped at to fuel our bodies was a little cafe/roastery called Black Star Coffee. This lovely little place roast their own beans and make a very lovely brew which is both organic and fair trade. They even sell their own cold press coffee in bottles, which is what I had since I am totally loving cold press at the moment. I also brought some beans home to try out our new grinder morgan brought back from the op shop the week before. It works a treat and you can totally taste the difference with freshly ground beans and fair trade coffee. There is nothing better than a good cup of Fair Trade coffee. enjoy.
-kim

april challenge pt1.

So, as a result of my April Challenge to work through all the clothes waiting to be sowed in my art room, I am finally making progress and taking photos. Unfortunately in all the excitement of sowing this dress, I forgot to take a before photo [woops], so you just have to imagine what it looked like.


I brought this dress for $2 at an op shop because I was instantly in love with the fabric print. If you can't tell in the pictures, there are parrots all over this dress and they make me smile. When I brought it, this dress was really wide and frumpy with a drop waist, not really my style or suits my body shape, so I took to it with some scissors and a sowing machine and this is what i achieved.




I am so happy with how it turned out, and have been wearing this dress so much since I finished it. It was so easy, you can do it too. Hope this inspires you to take to the sowing machine and make old clothes great again this weekend. With all the public holidays here because of Easter i'm going to be sowing even more, so I should have more things to share next week. Enjoy...
-kim

ps. what im wearing: pack brixton hat [gift from derek], opshop dress, belt and bag, found sunnies, and whittner shoes from dfo.

op shop finds.. APRIL

Ohh my. So i just realised we hadn't posted any op shop finds in ages. Its funny, now morgan works at an op shop we don't tend to go out op shopping much any more. Anyway, here are some of our finds in the last couple of months.


morgan and i have been looking for a sweet chess set for about a year and a half. He came across this one at his store a few weeks ago. It's lovely and wooden and very fun to play.


So the main couch we used to have was a futon, and was a major hand me down that passed through about five hands before me. It was kinda left at the share house I used to live at and some how became mine when others moved out. It was super uncomfortable and kinda engulfed you as you sat on it. One day we had a incredible idea! Why don't we get a new couch... it was so revolutionary. Morgan picked up this 5 piece 1950's couch from the op shop he works out for only $40. They even delivered it for us and took our old one to the tip. Major score!!


Morgan also found this uranium glass platter and tea pot. I've seen so many uranium glass things at vintage stores recently so I was keen to get some as my own, and now I do.

Thats about it at the moment. Most other things we have found have been given to others or are clothes sitting in my art room waiting to be sown. I hope to show some of these revamps soon.

We hope your well and have a lovely weekend ahead of you. We have my sisters birthday tonight which is cowboys and indians themed and we are doing all the food. It's gonna be epic! Might share some pics if we get some.

-kim

part-time

Recently I started working part-time in a little catholic op-shop/thrift store. I have had so much fun working along side such a diverse and funny workspace. from little old catholic ladies to rough as guts truck drivers. Working for a charity can be so rewarding not only for you personally but you may pick up a few things along the way. Here are a few things I have found over time.

We seem to be reliving our childhood and collecting 'the classics'
Op-shops get alot of 'scrap metal' when it looks like this i couldn't help but save it from the trash.
I have never owned one of these, it had no bowl but we have plenty around the house. Now kim has no excuse why we can't have fresh baked goodies everyday.
I picked these up today, they were in the junk pile but I really love them and they might come in handy in the future...

What girl doesn't want 1000 doilies? I can't wait to see what kim makes with these.
Who doesn't need more coat hangers and tupperware?
And lastly I have had to retrain myself from bringing home too much art seeing as we are running out of space, but the old ladies at the shop keep putting stuff aside for me.

The only problem is I don't visit any op-shops anymore, because deep down I know if I wait long enough I'll find what I'm looking for at my shop. What's the best thing you've found from an op-shop/thrift store? feel free to leave a photo too so we can drool.
-morgan-

op shop finds.. DECEMBER

It's been a while since we have posted some of our op shop finds. Since we did a second hand/handmade christmas we have been busy op shopping, but not really for ourselves. But here are a few of our most recent op shop finds.

This little picture was love at first sight, $2 and helps to remind to pray each day.
This typewriter needs a little work, but at 25cents I couldn't turn it down. We gave this to a good friend who hopefully will restore it and then we can all write little typed notes to each other.
20 cents each, I love Bribie Island opshops, best kept not so secret.
And who can turn down highly flammable clothing.

Lady at the counter: 'Is this style coming into fashion?'
Me: 'Not sure, I'll let you know how I go.'
Lady at the counter: 'Oh...um...just don't iron it.'

If you don't already op-shop or thrift-store in your local town, get amongst it, you'll save heaps of dosh, look sweet in sometime one off threads and your minimizing the need to buy slave made, high priced clothes from busy shopping centers. yep.
-morgan

i made: coffee date dress

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, and finally with the post Christmas holidays i have found some time to write it.. so here goes..

I made the coffee date dress from Burda Style. I am always trying to be ethical in what I wear and have been trying more and more to make my own clothes from recycled materials. Sorry about the crazy photos... they were done in a rush before I ran off to work. This is a sweet pretty easy pattern, which creates a very nice shape. I actually didn't put a zip in this as I can just fit it on over my head, so very simple.

I used an old bed valance which I found at an op shop for a couple of dollars. I love that this is a completely recycled outfit, and cost next to nothing except for my time. I liked the gray fabric, but it was a pretty bad decision for this dress. Because I made it mostly to wear to work and the fabric is cotton it reacts to water and goes dark. So if you spill some water on you it is VERY visible which is not good with high pressure taps in the bathroom at my work. I quite enjoy the zig-zag frills on the front, simple but effective.

I like that I can try things and learn from them. I still wear this dress, but it was a good learning curve. My friend Talia tried to make this dress too, but ended up making something even better. I recommend this pattern for you to use, its a lovely dress.
enjoy. kim

Second hand/ Handmade Christmas

Source besimo

I love Christmas! It is such a great time for me as I get to gather with my whole family and share joy, memories and kindness. I love giving gifts, (and receiving them) but I hate when this becomes such a big thing for people and it just turns crazy.
This year, as a family, we are going a Handmade/Second hand Christmas. This means all our gifts must be either Handmade (by us or others) or Second hand (from markets, op shops or vintage stores). I am so excited about this and the amazing fun things we will give a receive.
Morgan and I have just started planning what we will create and search for to give to our family and close friends. Hopefully I will be able to share some of it here. I love this so much, conspiring together how we can spoil our friends and make them feel great
::kim::

Source wildolive

Ok, so I hate Christmas....I know you you should not say the word hate, but really growing up christmas was such a weird thing. My mum and dad separated when I was 3, leaving christmas an un-family time. Until my dad remarried and I adopted a very a Australian step family (considering my parents are French). But I never liked christmas because there was always this pressure to see who gave the best gift and just a lot of wasted money on pointless gifts we will not use. Of course in time I became a Christian which now forces me to love Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Jesus. But I was still torn. Kim is like the number 2 fan of christmas (right after santa), she has helped me to get that it's about thankfulness and togetherness, and NOW we get to do a second-hand/handmade christmas......which is what I'm all about. So I'm sure in time...i might grow to at least like christmas.
::morgan::