Roundabout Primitives Blog

Look who's skeerd!

2011-09-11T17:15:00.002+10:00

LOL! Ok, this is a skeerdy cat. Just finished him up today. :-) A pattern by Button Eyed Annie.

Wacky Grubby Punkins

2011-09-10T17:00:00.002+10:00

Made these wacky grubby punkins today. Turned out pretty cute I think. I was going to call them wonky, but my boys said go for wacky. LOL! Here they are:

Yay! Got some things made.

2011-09-08T13:55:00.006+10:00

Something kicked in and I got in a crafty mood! About time too! It's nice to have finally made some things. These are made from Chestnut Junction patterns. They will go into my shoppe soon. :-)

Items marked down

2011-09-06T14:09:00.002+10:00

Decided to mark down all of my items in my shop. Unfortunately haven't add anything new in ages! I know I need to, but I just haven't decided on what would want to make. I've been working on other crafts that aren't primitive at all though.

How could I forget

2011-06-28T12:39:00.003+10:00

A while back in early May, my daughter's school had a Heritage Day where all the kids had to dress like they did in the pioneer days. I only had a limited time to make something for my daughter to wear, but this is what I came up with - a mop hat and prairie dress, with a petticoat underneath. :-)

Haven't blogged in a while

2011-06-23T12:29:00.002+10:00

I am still here! Just haven't had anything to blog about, and I haven't made anything new. Hopefully I will feel up to crafting again soon. I just haven't felt all that great the past few months.

Bunny trio

2011-04-04T12:37:00.002+10:00

I just finished making this bunny trio today, and just love how they turned out. It's a pattern by Crows Roost Prims. This will be the last of anything Easter-ish I think, although I have a ton of other Easter patterns I'd love to do. I think I'll work more on Summer items now. Anyway, enjoy!

Grubby Prim Cats

2011-03-29T16:33:00.002+10:00

Here are some cute little grubby prim cat bowl fillers I finished making. They are a pattern by Bluejean Primitives. I think they are real sweeties. :-)

My next doll

2011-03-22T12:17:00.002+10:00

This doll is my own design. Wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, but this is how it ended up. Hope ya like it, and it will go to my shop soon.

Mayme and her bunny poke...

More prim bunnies

2011-03-17T16:40:00.003+10:00

A set of cute extreme prim bunnies using a Kentucky Primitives pattern. There are so many awesome prim patterns out there that I wish I could make them all. I need to start making my own things more, although I am no pattern designer. All too hard for me to figure it all out.

Flopsy and Mopsy Bunny

Another bunny

2011-03-16T13:23:00.003+10:00

I actually put this photo of my bunny up yesterday, but I just didn't quite like it. So I decided to give it a few more carrots, and took away a couple easter eggs, and think it looks much better now. This is my own bunny design - Chloe Bunny. She's been out carrot pickin'.

It will be going into my shoppe soon!

Latest creations

2011-03-15T10:48:00.005+10:00

I finally got around to making some new dolls. The first one is from a pattern by Trudy of Crows in the Attic Primitives, but the little stitchery is from a pattern by Cathy Penton Designs.

Next is Miss Blossom, a pattern by Kentucky Primitives.

These will be going into my shoppe soon!

Got my shoppe moved

2011-03-05T09:07:00.002+10:00

I opened up a DIY Mini Shoppe over at DJ Doodles. I've wanted a shoppe with them for a few years now actually. And I've felt motivated to start making things again. I think my cat is trying to tell me she wants to help because she keeps messing with my sewing machine. Hehe! and my daughter is always wanting to help stuff dolls, and play with my bag of buttons. Maybe she'll make prim crafts when she's older. :-)

A change is coming

2011-03-02T09:15:00.002+10:00

A change is coming, but nothing drastic. I am just in the process of moving my shoppe. I felt I was in need of something new, and hopefully it will motivate me a bit more in making things. Will let you know once the move is complete.

Still here!

2011-02-25T07:49:00.003+10:00

Hi everyone! I'm so sorry there haven't been any new updates for a while now. I haven't done a single thing lately. Plus, I still am not feeling well and still having daily panic attacks. My anti-depressants haven't helped, which makes it hard to believe that they are supposed to help in some way. I'm still having to take medicine for the panic attacks, which really can't be a good thing, and I wish I didn't have to keep taking them. It's very frustrating to have to deal with all this on a daily basis. I pray about it a lot for healing, and wonder why God is allowing me to keep feeling this way. Wish I knew.

I really hate that I haven't felt like making anything. Sure hope I will be up to it soon.

The winner of my Snowman Family drawing is....

2010-12-06T20:33:00.006+10:00

Ok, here's my oldest son, David, with all the entries in a cute little snowman canister:

My daughter, Katie, holding the canister while David draws out a name:

Hmmmmm......

I wonder who the winner is........

Oooooooh, the suspense!

The winner is............

Congrats Tricia! I hope you will like my little snowman family! I don't have your email address, so will get in touch with you through your blog! :-)

Drawing will be tomorrow - American time!

2010-12-06T08:34:00.003+10:00

Yep, tomorrow is the drawing for my Snowman Family. I think my kids will be fighting over who will get to draw out the name, although my oldest has already asked if he could do it.

I have everyones name down who have entered so far. I've tried to email some of you to let you know I got your entry request, but I'm having email problems at the moment. Must get my husband to fix that tonight. I can't even send him email at work. It's strange though because it's only certain email addresses I can't seem to send to.

Anyway, stay tuned for the drawing tomorrow. I'll actually be doing it tonight, Australian time and will post before I go to bed so no one has to wait around tomorrow (cuz I'll still be in bed hehe).

Check this out!

2010-12-01T09:33:00.005+10:00

Linda, over at Prairie Flower Farm is offering a Christmas Cooke Cookbook for download. Lots of yummy recipes to try out! Be sure to have a look. Thank you Linda, and those who contributed, for this sweet little cookbook!

My very first giveaway!

2010-11-30T19:48:00.000+10:00

Please check below for newer posts, as I am trying to keep this one at the top until the end of the giveaway!

Well, I got everything ready to go with the re-grand opening of my site. I only have items in the Autumn, Winter and Everyday catagories at this time. More items will be coming soon. Click here --->Roundabout Primitives.

Also, I am having my very first giveaway ever to celebrate my re-grand opening. You can win this little Snowman Family:

All you have to do is ---> Email Me <--- to enter the giveaway. Just give me your name, website name and email address. The drawing will be on Dec. 6th, and the winner will be notified by email, and the winners name will be announced here as well. I'll arrange for postal details at that time. If you would like to let others know about my giveaway, feel free to take this little graphic and link back to this post. :-)

That's all there is to it. :-)

Sentiment ornies

2010-11-25T10:35:00.004+10:00

Sentiment ornies (pattern by Sue Allemand of Palette Primitives) added to my shop. The tree isn't included though.

They turned out so cute! Can be used for any day of the year.

2 new items added to my shop.

2010-11-19T13:30:00.003+10:00

Added 2 new items to my shop, under the winter category. Here's a photo of them.

The snowman pattern is one by Threadbare Primitives, and the ginger doll is a pattern by Primraggs.

Close to re-opening

2010-11-12T08:24:00.002+10:00

Getting close to re-opening my site, but I wante to get a few more Wintery/Christmas things added. I don't have any Spring or Summer items at this time, but that will eventually happen.

Working on new site

2010-11-10T11:38:00.002+10:00

I decided to move all my stuff from my selling blog onto my own site. Will make things easier and I can put things into categories. Just getting it all set up is a pain. Still working on new craft items as well. I'd love to have a shop with either DIYestores or with DJ Doodles but I can't afford to do so. Using their services would be great though. So I'll be having my shop on my own server.

In the meantime I'll be working on the site and crafts, as well as trying to feel better, which I still am not. Some days are good, some days are bad.

Got to the craft store

2010-11-07T12:13:00.002+10:00

I can't believe how much warm and natural is. I don't know what size of a piece they were selling, as it was bagged up, but they were wanting $136 for it?!?!?! I opted for some natural cotton batting that I thought I was getting for $11, but turns out it was $29.95 for 50in x 60in size. Jeepers! Also I got some bells to rust, 2 different sizes, and I got some black buttons and more thread for the sewing machine, and some mini christmas trees as I wanted to use the branches for projects. I am almost done with one project (haven't gotten very far actually), which I will finish up tomorrow.

Have to start over

2010-11-05T08:15:00.002+10:00

Well I was almost finished making some little snowmen, but stupid me, I used plain old marker to trace things with, and when I went to coffee stain the snowmen, the marker bled. I don't know why I didn't think this would happen beforehand. So now I have to start all over.

Hoping to get over to the craft store tomorrow. I want to buy some jingle bells since I am running out. And hopefully can find some other good things to buy. I haven't been to this craft store for about 5 years now, and really hoping around this time of the year they will have what I want. Fingers crossed! Maybe I can get myself a proper tracing pen too!

Getting back into the groove!

2010-11-01T12:52:00.002+10:00

Happy november 1st! Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween.

I am slowly starting to get back into the groove of things. Still not feeling 100% terrific, but hopefully will get there. After not having made anything for a year now, it's so hard to get back into it all.

But, I'm finally starting to work on some craft items. I missed out on any October-ish items, so I am working towards making Winter/Christmas items.

I'm also considering closing my selling blog down (as much as I LOVE the graphics), and going back to having my own website on my server. I think it will be better to be able to have the different catagories to list everything under. I'll see how things go. I think I'd be happier to go that route again.

All moved in!

2010-10-19T12:53:00.003+10:00

We are officially all moved into our new house! Yesterday we handed in the keys to the rental house. My keychain doesn't seem the same anymore.

I'm really hoping to get back into making things again. Not sure if I will get anything made before the end of the month. But might end up trying to make some things for the Christmas season.

The past few months have been an incredible struggle for me. Since June, I have been dealing with daily panic attacks, which I have medication for thankfully. But the fact I have to end up taking the medicine daily can't be good. And I'm just so over this whole thing. I don't know what is causing the panic attacks. I've been going to counselling for it all. It's wearing me down. Weird things have been happening to me during the past 2 weeks that has caused me some concern. I'm going to the doctor this weekend to get a 2nd opinion on what has been going on. I'm so over feeling this way, and really hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally found a house!

2010-08-07T19:04:00.002+10:00

Yes, we finally found a house! But we can't move in until around the end of September, as the owner wanted a 60 day settlement (or hopefully sooner). It's a huge house, 5 bedrooms (3 upstairs and 2 down) plus a little study which will become my computer/craft room, plus 2 bathrooms (up) and one downstairs that needs to be finished, huge living room upstairs, and a huge rumpus room downstairs that needs to be finished. The owners husband passed away before he could finish some rooms.

Really looking forward to getting back into crafting!

I'm still here

2010-06-04T13:55:00.001+10:00

I am still here, and still not being able to make anything. We have a few more months to go until we can start looking for a house to buy. All my craft supplies are being stored in the shed of my inlaws, and it's not a box I can ge to easily out there.

But, YES, it is really driving me crazy not being able to make anything. A lot of good seasons are coming up, and I can't make a darn thing.

No crafting for a while

2010-03-11T08:34:00.002+10:00

Doesn't look like I will be making any crafts for a while. Can't find my sewing machine, and all my supplies too. They are all back at my inlaws shed. So until we buy a house, I won't be making anything. And that won't be until August/Sept. UGH! I don't like this at all.

Finally moved!

2010-02-26T07:16:00.002+10:00

We're finally moved. We got to Tasmania on Jan. 31st, and stayed with my inlaws for a few weeks until we could find a house to rent. We've been in our house for a week now, and will be renting for 6 months. In the meantime, we will be trying to find a house to buy. It's good to be back in Tasmania!

Now, I don't know when I will be getting back into making anything crafty, as I haven't found my craft boxes yet. We don't have all our stuff in this house at the moment, because it's a tad on the small side for the 5 of us, and we have a lot of stuff in storage. I don't know yet if my craft stuff is here or in storage. I'm hoping here though because I really want to get back to making things. I haven't for so long!!!

Getting ready to move

2010-01-19T17:56:00.002+10:00

Not much longer now! Just under a week til we move!

Our house is finally up for sale. It's been up for a week 1/2 now. We've had a lot of lookers, and finally got an offer, so hour house is under contract now. The buyers had their pest and building inspections done today, and that all seemed to go well. We have to wait for them to get the written report to see if they are happy with things, but we think everything will be fine. Next up they have to get the finances to pay for the house. And in about a month I guess, the house will have sold.

Sadly, we can't take our sweet kitty with us, and I have not been able to find anyone, or any place to take her. I don't know what we'll do. I don't want to take her to some cat place, only to find they put her to sleep because they can't find anyone to adopt her. The whole thing is so upsetting and stressful. No one can take her, and all the places seem to be too full with animals to adopt out. With less than a week to find a new home for her, it's not looking promising. :-(

Happy New Year!!!

2009-12-31T18:14:00.002+10:00

Sorry I haven't posted in ages. But just wanted to wish you all a very blessed New Year!

Still working on cleaning up our house and getting it all nice. Our house goes up for sale next week, and I am nervous and excited, and really hoping we can get everything done before then. But it's all happening finally. And at the end of January we move back down to Tasmania. We can hardly wait.

Obviously I haven't made anything new for my shop, but hopefully once we get moved into a new house, I can get back into the swing of things. I just don't know when that will be yet.

Anyway, til next time......

An owl-rific challenge

2009-12-03T15:51:00.004+10:00

Robyn, over at Daisy Quilts put up a challenge for her viewers to take part in. She posted a photo of a cute little owl, named Otto, that she made, and we have to make up our own version of it. I couldn't resist, so I made one for the challenge. So, here is my Lil Otto. He's a funny little guy, so feel free to laugh. :-) Not that great of photos, just so you know. If I can get better ones, I'll put them up here.

Hope you like him. :-) And thanks, Robyn, for a fun challenge.

Another swap received

2009-11-28T17:19:00.003+10:00

This came a few days ago, along with a handmade card. It's from Narelle over at Nell's Notions. A cute little snowman ornie! Can't wait to hang it on our tree when we put it up, probably on Tuesday. My kids are eager to put it up! Thank you for this sweet ornament, Narelle!!

Received another swap

2009-11-23T14:31:00.003+10:00

This is actually from a secret swap I participated in, in a forum called Crow's Creek Primitives Gathering Forum - we didn't know who would send us an ornament. Well, this one is from Deb, and her website is Crow's Creek Primitives. I was just in awe when I opened this up, because it's quite a nice size, and the snowflakes are made from wax and smell devine. I was actually surprised this got through Customs/Quarrantine, because it has dried plant material in it. Thankfully it did though. Anyway, here it is...

Thank you so much, Deb! It's beautiful!

Next ornie swap received

2009-11-19T11:45:00.002+10:00

YAY! I received my next ornie swap. This one comes all the way from Hawaii, from Kathleen over at Just Charming. Isnt't this a cute little sheep!!!! Thank you Kathleen! I love it!

Got a card made

2009-11-13T13:27:00.002+10:00

Well, I got a Christmas card made. It's not prim, just something nice. I won't put a photo of it on here yet until after I send my swap off and my swap partner receives it. Don't want to spoil anything incase she just happens to look here. :-)

Thanks to those of you who left comments on my card post with ideas for me. :-)

Need to make a handmade Christmas card

2009-11-10T11:31:00.002+10:00

For a ornie swap I am doing, I am supposed to make a handmade Christmas card to go along with it. Eeeeek! I have never done anything like that before, and don't even have anything to make a card with. It's quite daunting to me, because I have no idea what I am going to make. Anyone have any nice and simple ideas?

No more ornie swap sign-ups.

2009-11-09T18:16:00.002+10:00

Thank you to those of you who have contacted me about doing an ornie swap! I've contacted everyone who has wanted to swap with me, and still waiting to hear back from one more person, as I only just saw her request. :-)

I'd love to take more people, but due to the fact we are trying to get our house ready to sell around the end of this month, I'm going to be busy with that, plus getting the rest of these ornies finished.

Thank you again, everyone! I am really looking forward to receiving your ornies! My tree will be extra special this year! :-)

The first of my ornie swaps

2009-11-05T09:31:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I received the first of my Christmas ornie swaps. This is from Loretta, over at Under the Wild Cherry Trees.

Aren't these little guys just the cutest? I absolutely LOVE them. I'm such a sucker for snowmen!!!! Thank you so much, Loretta, for these sweeties! You did a fantastic job on them, and I can't wait til we get our tree up and I can hang these up!

Still here

2009-11-04T09:09:00.002+10:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I've been so busy with house stuff, and I haven't made a single craft item. Plus my hubby has been home the past few weeks so we can get some things done around the house before he goes back to work. So nothing is new in my shop right now. I hope I can get around to making something soon.

Added a new item to my selling blog

2009-10-20T14:05:00.001+10:00

I added a cute little redwork wall hanging to my selling blog. Be sure to check it out. Link is over on the right. :-)

Slowing down, and moving

2009-10-19T11:23:00.002+10:00

My crafting is going to start slowing down a bit for a while. We are going to be moving around the end of Janurary, and we have a LOT to do between now and then. We need to get one of the side fences fixed, fly screens put in on all windows (I think that is what hubby said), the roof fixed because there are some cracked tiles and it causes the ceiling to leak in a few places, fix a few holes in the ceilings from where it leaks, insulation put up in the roof, a new a/c put in, LOTS of yardwork to do, and not sure what else. And we need to do as much of that as we can before we put our house up for sale. And hubby wants to try and do that in a months time. Eeek! So we are going to be pretty busy.

We're excited though. We are going to move back down to Tasmania, which is where we lived before moving here to Queensland in 2006. It's really an answer to prayer!

But I will try hard and get things added to my selling blog when/if I can get the chance. And I am still trying to finish up a few ornies for some swaps I am doing. :-)

6 ornies left to swap

2009-10-11T16:42:00.004+10:00

I have 6 ornies left to swap! If anyone is interested in doing an ornie swap with me, please let me know, and I will get back to you. You will be sending to Australia. All you have to do is swap with me one handmade ornie. That's it! And you can send it anytime before the end of November. I'm still working on finishing mine up. :-)

Ornie swap anyone?

2009-10-09T10:48:00.003+10:00

OK, so I guess I will be doing an ornie swap through the forum, and another one that Pam from Cloth to Creation passed onto me. Thanks Pam!

So that leaves me with 7 ornies left. Would anyone be interested in doing a one on one swap with me? All you would have to do is send one handmade ornie to me (here in Australia) along with a Christmas card ( :-) ), and send around the last week of November.That gives us plenty of time to make something. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will get back to you.

Awww, the swap's cancelled

2009-10-08T08:55:00.004+10:00

The swap I was talking about was cancelled. Well, not totally, just changed to a one on one swap, because not too many people joined up. That's so disappointing. I was trying to get a head start, and have been working on 9 ornies to start with, now I don't know what I will do with these.

I was really looking forward to doing this swap, because I haven't done one before. I'll finish these 9 ornies, but not sure what I will do with them.

I'll hold onto them incase they get a few more people to join.

Ornie swap question

2009-10-06T10:06:00.002+10:00

I'm a member of the Crow's Creet Primitive Gatherings forum and they are going to be doing a Christmas ornie swap. I really hope a lot of people join as I have never done a swap before, and I think it would be a lot of fun.

Now, I have a silly question. For those of you who have done ornie swaps before, is it ok to sign the ornies you make? You know, so the receiver will know who made that particular ornie?

Happy October 1st to you all

2009-10-02T10:28:00.002+10:00

Hope the month has started out well for you! Can't believe how this year has gone by so fast, especially the last couple of months! My folks came to visit us in August and stayed for 6 weeks - they left 2 weeks ago, and it's been sad not having them here.

Found some safety pins!

2009-10-01T13:19:00.002+10:00

I never did find the safety pins I was wanting. But I happened upon a bag of ones I can rust up. But for some reason I am having a heck of a time trying to get them to rust. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I will persist!

Also, thank you all for checking out my selling blog. I do appreciate it as well as the kind comments! :-)

It's opening time!!!

2009-09-30T13:20:00.002+10:00

Well, I think I am pretty much ready to open now. I have added everything that is ready to sell, and am happy with how everything looks. I hope you will come on over and check everything out.

Roundabout Primitives

Thanks for looking! :-)

Bowl fillers or tucks???

2009-09-29T16:06:00.002+10:00

What is the difference between a bowl filler and a tuck? That has me really confused.

Missing craft supplies

2009-09-29T14:16:00.002+10:00

I think I am going to go crazy! I've been trying all day long to find some rusty safety pins that I had in a bag, and I can't find them anywhere. I took all my craft supplies out of the cupboard where I keep it all, went through everything, and I can't find them. I know I could make up some more if I had some to rust up, but I don't have any, and I really need the pins now. I can't imagine I would have thrown them out. It just makes me mad that I can't find them.

On the good side though, I found some things I had made a while back that I had forgotten about.

I am very close to opening my selling blog. I just need to finish one more lot - a set of ornies, then take photos of everything, get those photos and descriptions added, then I think I am all set. I don't do fancy photos, as they tend to be pretty plain.

Don't you just hate it...

2009-09-26T17:17:00.003+10:00

When you go to the store to buy specific craft items, and then you forget to get everything you needed. Well that happened today. I went to buy some raffia, because I couldn't get it at a huge craft store here, and then went to another store to buy stuffing which I completely forgot to do. Stuffing is such a necessary craft item. Hopefully we can head out again tomorrow and buy some since I am just about out.

It's hard finding specific craft items here such as spanish moss, pip berries, those little christmas tree branches whatever they are called that a lot of people use in their Christmas crafts, and just other things. I certainly have never found anything like that in the craft stores here.

Dust storm a few days ago

2009-09-25T12:07:00.005+10:00

On Wednesday, down in Sydney they had a really bad dust storm. Well that day, we had strong winds here in Queensland, and the dust storm came up this way. It was amazing how it all happened so quickly. I took a few photos of it until the batteries in my camera died. But here are a few I did take as happened.

This was taking kind of near the start of it all, although the dust storm was worse down in the city which is south of us.

This I took standing in our driveway looking down the street. Starting to look orangey now.

This is looking out our bedroom window. The hill in the background is just starting to slowly disappear from view.

Taken out the same window just a while later. You can certainly see the change between the 2.

I took this photo a moment ago so you could see what the view is supposed to look like.

They say we are supposed to have another dust storm over the weekend, so we'll see.

A good day

2009-09-25T11:43:00.002+10:00

I've been working on some more crafts today, which are just about finished. And I have been having some custom work done on my selling blog, which I am just thrilled with. It's my first time ever having something like that done. Even when I had my own website, I never had custom work done, although I did purchase graphics, and had to do everything myself. But it's coming along nicely.

I'm really excited about getting back into making crafts, and back in the prim world. I'm kind of out of touch with everything. I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of you through your blogs. :-)

New items coming soon

2009-09-24T12:50:00.002+10:00

I am currently in the process of making Halloween/Autumn type crafts for my selling blog before I open it. Hopefully won't be too much longer for that.

Hello, and welcome!

2009-09-23T21:40:00.002+10:00

Hello prim lovers! Welcome to Roundabout Primitives. I'm Andrea. Some of you may remember me from my old site - Bracken Ridge Primitives. Wel,l I am back, starting out fresh and new, and getting ready to open up a selling blog shortly. So stay tuned for that.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm 39, an American living in Australia and have been here 13 1/2 years. I met my hubby through the internet and we have 3 children - 2 boys ages 11 and 12, and 1 daughter who is almost 3 1/2.

I love primitives - extreme prim, cats, dolls, ornies, etc, you name it! I have been making prims since early 2004.

I do hope you will join me on my new adventure with Roundabout Primitives.