Found objects.

This Guy Boyd plate in perfect condition, found on the side of the road in Park Orchards.

Swizzle sticks cheap $1.50 (for a whole bag of them) at our local op-shop.

This beautiful ply wood and plastic 70's lamp found on the side of the road in Park Orchards.

These Dinosaur Design salad servers found at the children's fete at the end of the day by me. "You can have those". Didn't know they were Dinosaur until I got home. Just liked the look of them.

Things on our walls and in our windows.

Here are some of the lovely things that adorn our walls and windows in our home. Some were gifts, some bought at garage sales and markets.

Below is a mermaid from the Apollo Bay market made by a local artist. I think she is exquisite.

Below is a wooden carved mermaid found at an op-shop.

Below: a Noah's Ark wooden hanging that I bought for our 18 month old as a first Christmas present.

I found this great '70's glass piece at an op-shop many years ago before everyone wanted this stuff and it is a fantastic thing, I think.

I got this glazed pottery flower at a church garage sale. It's also a '70's piece and it was about $2.00.

Below is a plaque that hangs out the front of our house, given to us as a gift.

My favourite plaque below, a '70's piece I think, that I bought at the Camberwell Market more than 10 years ago for about $2.50. I loved it, but had to convince my husband. He understands now.

Below are some of my collection of beautiful tiles. Some are Delft tiles and others are from Italy and England and the mermaid was made for us by an artist. I use them as pot stands and have them sitting looking pretty on my kitchen bench.

A lead light hand holding balloons. I love this.

Gus McLaren pottery fish below.

Some recent op-shop finds.

Hooray, I have my camera back. It broke down and it's been at the camera repair place for so long it seems. Now I can get back to doing a bit of posting.

Below are some relatively recent finds at our surrounding op-shops. I have noticed that some of my opportunity shops of late have been going down hill at increasing rates. But I have still managed to find a few treasures.

This is a lovely little vintage vase/bottle which charmed me and I spent a little more on it than I normally would have (about $18), but I loved it.

The yellow elephant below was a bargain at $2.50 and our 18 month old bub loves it a lot; carries it around making elephant trumpet noises and that alone has already paid it off 100 times over.
An Indian wooden fabric print block.

A religious icon gear stick set in resin (coolyschmooly).

A little set of opium scales.

Silk Paintings.

Below are some of my silk paintings that I did a long time ago. They were inspired by one of my favourite artists, Vali Myers. They are not ironed, just pulled out of a drawer in the garage. It was nice to see them again. It reminded me of how enjoyable silk painting is, how immediate and how relaxing. A very forgiving medium and you don't have to be an artistic genius.

This week at my fabulous NQR.

Below: My favourite buys for this week including: Watherthins parmesan and poppyseed straws, Waterthins chocolate and caramel biscuits, Free range ham (I think this is brilliant as I don't buy anything but free-range or organic pork products) and some SPC apricot sticks that I put in lunch boxes.

Below: frozen inari sushi made in Japan. Frozen?? I'll give it a try. No one makes sushi like the Japanese.

Below: delicious chocolate coated dried strawberries. They are covered in really beautiful, high quality dark chocolate. The packaging does not do this product justice. They are gorgeous and only $2.00 a punnet.

I love this below: Iced tea by Moby (you know the bald rock star?). I just picked this up because I was thirsty and it was 60 cents or something stupid like that. Then I read the label and had to get a photo. Moby has opened his own tea house in England and as a spinoff, has begun to bottle his flavoured teas. They are sweetened with organic cane sugar and use all organic flavours. Pretty great. I'll get some more of these.

The Danish butter below is yummy, usually extremely expensive and so I stocked up on these. I love Lurpak butter and have scored this before at NQR.

Organic, fair trade mint chocolate below. So cheap and with lots of use-by left. It is a lovely chocolate, rich and dark and anit-oxidenty, I think.

The bargains just keep on coming and I always get a kick out of finding goodies at this big, yellow, no-frills establishment.

Lighting.

I love the way that lighting can create warm, cozy and inviting living spaces. I remember as a young child, requesting a lamp in my bedroom because the overhead light was too stark and made my room seem cold and blanched.

A night light with a difference. The x-ray light below is not everyone's cup of tea, but most people love it. One visitor thought it was a strange choice, but I think it has a certain industrial, old medical, charm and you don't have to put an X-ray up on it. We have also put up lovely Japanese rice paper, children's art work and other things that work well.

I love Ikea! The lights below are cute, cast a warm and safe glow and can be kept on all night in the kid's room without being too bright.

I have featured this light shade before. Made by my beautiful artist friend and we luckily scored one.
The Moroccan light fitting below is exactly the same as one in the film Casablanca. I remember watching the film, then getting very excited to see our light shade. Perhaps it's the very one??

We found this Nouveau chandelier in an op-shop in Melbourne. It is made of heavy, gilded metal. We forked out a whopping $80 for it!

The little flocked angel lamp below was bought in a bargain shop. I love it; it's cheap, it's plastic, but it is so sweet and quite classy, I think.

My Nanna's deco lamp made by my Poppa's electro plating factory.

The Tiffany lamp below is a favorite. We found the shade at a garage sale in Toorak and it is made of plastic panels in a metal frame. I couldn't believe it and I love its fakeness. My husband put it on a genuine Tiffany style Arts and Crafts base, so it looks really great. I still think it looks like glass and even up close you can't tell.

The light shade below was found at our local op-shop. It is a Japanese back pack basket for carrying fish or other goods. We took out the base, turned it upside down and hung it over our kitchen bench. It cost me $10.

A Chinese wooden possum lamp. We still haven't found a really great shade for it yet, but want a fringed, round little fabric red one. We might be lucky.