Paula Mills Art

I wish I could bottle up and sell the great feeling I get when I have a good week - its so great you want to keep it for those times when the week is not so hot. However, I've had a sizzling week, starting with a lazy "labour day" BBQ - ones of those sit around, mellow out, sun on your back, listen to the bees kind of BBQ's. That was just the beginning. Tuesday, I went to a prayer meeting with the lovely King's Church woman (trust me, there ain't nothing boring about that!) Wednesday was super dooper cos Helen came back from Melbourne telling tales to make me green, and bearing a lovely, special, decorated cigar box bursting with all the things i love - buttons, trim, ribbon, paper bits, iron on transfers, an old shell road map - it was like Christmas - thank you Helen xxooxxoo In between all this - I want to show off our Mommy's sitting pretty in the window of Juniper gallery in Newtown- (a really gorgeous little design and floral shop) - cos I can now t...

Well I remember there were times in our early years when sharing was quite hard to do ( eg : bedrooms and barbies). I think if I went thrift/garage/op shopping with you we would have to revert back to our age old system of working out who got what: put everything in a pile, then take turns choosing the first three things we wanted, then the rest numbered and drawn out of a hat! Here are a few of my latest bits of a recent scrounge: Lovely granny blanket (can't have too many of those), some fabric, apron and vintage habby . The really bad eighties patterns you seen in the corner are not there because i have a yen for a drop waist jacket or a lumberjack shirt- no, they have an eco use. I felt these patterns were in dire need of being put to rest once and for all, they are so bad one should put them out of their misery and so I do - by using the pattern paper to clean with!!! Love, Shells

There are so many things i would love to share with my sister, this blog and our little shop is what brings us together even though we are a few 1000 km's apart. We are both busy mum's with a thing for op shops and market - here are a few things i need to share: Op shop finds - old russian doll, vintage fabric, old leather case, orchid print calendar, lovely old silver tea spoons, granny baskets, nice hoard, hey? My new coffee mugs - I avoid buying things new but was quite pleased with my latest red inspired mug collection. My girl's wonderful creation - Lia and Rosie got hold of my jar of whimsies and had a go at doing some decorating of a wire tree, i thought it was quite good. These pictures are set against a back drop shot of my desk top - busy with drawings and over flowing with new thoughts and ideas...

Wellington has a fantastic craft market: Craft 2.0 and i love gearing up for it. The house could fall down around me while im in the zone but its all good because I get a real buzz out the whole thing. I'm going with Carmen from Ring around the moon - she makes great hand bound books. if any of you are considering doing a market - no 1. tip - go with a friend - it makes it a lot of fun, less intimidating and you can have a coffee break! This time round my eight year old is coming with as she wants to see what mommy is up too at these things and she is going to be a great little help! If you are in Wellington on Sat. come down to the New Dowse and check it all out. Some bits for the stall:

Here is the first of a series of purses and pouches based on Paula's illustration design. For all those tea lovers / cup collectors out there. What's your leaf of choice? Mine is a lovely cup of Rooibos - redbush is the translation - a South African herbal tea full of all the good things but without the caffein. I also love a good chai and I have a great recipe for homemade chai: In a saucepan, cover four tea bags with 800 ml boiling water. Allow to draw for five minutes, then remove the tea bags and discard. Add two 1cm pieces of peeled fresh ginger, two cinamon sticks broken in half, four bruised cardamon pods, four black peppercorns, four whole cloves, 1ml fennel seeds and 1ml allspice to the tea. Simmer over gentle heat on the stove for 10min. Strain and serve balck or with milk, or - the best condensed milk. For a stronger flavour, remove from heat and allow to stand for 30 min. before straining. yum!

I've taken all week to reflect on turning 38 (as one does).... It occurred to me that it felt so different from when I was turning 18 and I think the fundamental difference is that i have a much better sense of who i am these days and what my purpose is. back then it was so hard to know, i really could not see it at all - but now its easy and i have a very clear sense of my purpose. What i know now that i did not know then is that- I possess some of God's inherent glory. That I was made to recognize his glory, honour his glory, declare his glory, praise his glory, reflect his glory and live for his glory. And knowing this, embracing it, is why i am so much happier turning 38 than 18!