Positivity

Even the tiniest of good things is worthy of our attention.
There is always something positive in our day.
Some days we forget to notice them.
We can become drawn into the negative and lose sight of the good things around us.
Sometimes we just get lost.

This is when I need a gentle reminder to refocus.
Take time to enjoy the good things even if they are tiny.

In our house we have what we call our "positivity cushion"
 - a little hint that there are always positive things in our world … somedays you just have to look a little harder than others.
They are there and they are worth finding (even if it just laughing at the snoring dog at my feet or loving the fact that is Friday and is lounge room picnic & movie night).

This positivity cushion has just been finished for a lovely friend who is such a strong and positive woman that she doesn't really need it - she just liked the look of the cushion so we made one for her that is exactly the same as ours.

Hoping there are lots of positive things in your day too
Cheers
Jenny

A not so grand re-opening

It has been a very long time since my little Ohjoh shop has been open.
We've had much bigger fish to fry over here so it has been packed away for almost a year.
Today, however, (insert drumroll) … I've popped a couple of things back in the shop.
Just baby steps as there is still frying of a few fish in these parts.
More bits and pieces will be added over the next week so watch this space.
Hope you're all having a lovely week. xxx

'Tis The Season (almost)

It has been a long and tough year around these parts so we have made a unanimous family decision to start our festive bits early.
We're in need of some Christmas cheer.
Normally we wait until 1st December but not this year.
Our decorations and festive bits will be up and about tomorrow - yep, halfway through November.

Today I finished a Christmas Santa sack for a nephew which will soon be in the post.
Isn't Santa a clever old chap.  He remembers each family's particular tradition.
For us it is santa sacks at the end of the bed,
For others it is stockings in the lounge room,
For some it is wrapped gifts under a tree.
Friends of ours each have a Santa chair where Santa leaves unwrapped gifts for them.
I love the little family traditions that Christmas brings - it makes it even more special.

So tomorrow we will find the decorations (hopefully), dust them off and decide how we will decorate this different house in a different part of the country.
We'll smile at all of the handmade kinder decorations that are placed on the tree every year even though kinder was years ago.
We'll remember each decoration in the box.
The kids will know who bought what and when as each year they choose one new decoration to add to the mix.
We'll laugh at the fact that ours is not a coordinated, decorated or well designed christmas but rather a mismatch of every Christmas that we have had together.
And we like it that way.

I hope there is some cheer (be it Christmas or whatever else you celebrate at this time of the year) at your place too.

Cheers
Jenny x

Art

Did you see on the news that a work of art by Francis Bacon sold for more than US$142M?

Oooh that is a lot of money for a work of art.

So, thinking about art, I thought I would share what hangs on our walls.

Our resident artist, the 7yr old, likes to make the most of any spare hooks in our house - and being a rental there are lots.

New pieces are added all the time without fanfare.  They just appear.

She is also the curator and works are often moved or re-moved depending on her mood.  

But like any good gallery visitors are only allowed to look not touch!

Do you have art in your house or a resident artist?

Almost Vintage

Well, not really but it feels like it.
I started this dress 3 or maybe even 4 summers ago and never finished it.
I have started each summer season with good intentions.  I would do a little more and then get frustrated/disappointed with it and throw it back in the depths of a cupboard somewhere.

It hasn't been the pattern - it was fine.
I think it was the fabric and maybe the gathers not being it quite the right spot but being too lazy to unpick them and do it again.
And perhaps the fact that it doesn't quite fit like it would have when I started it - something to do with eating vast quantities of cake.

Today it has been finished.
Now it will hang in the wardrobe.
But it is finished.
And I expect in a long hot WA summer it will probably see the light of day and I will wonder why I took so long to finish it.

Do you have protects like this hidden at your place?