Shutters Turned Photo Display

Rolling on from my post OLD LOURVE DOORS TURNED SHUTTER DÉCOR, these hideous brown doors which were given a new lease of life have now been given another purpose for Jayden.  A photo display.

My original thought was to use old wooden pegs to help display Jayden’s photo’s she wanted, but unfortunately I couldn’t find any pegs that could hold the photos.  Solution?  Small bulldog clip.  (Well that’s what the guys in the office call them).  I even found different coloured ones and took them home to see what Jayden thought.  Luckily she approved and voila!!  Shutters turned photo display.

Happy living peeps!!

Ornate Mirror Renewed

There’s a few favourite websites I like and trademe has to be one of them.  Although some things that I generally look for are unrealistically priced, if you look hard enough you can find some really great deals.  

Over a year ago, I was looking for an ornate mirror that could sit on Aaliyah’s drawer and started “watching” one which was priced for about $150.  It was made up of three mirrors which could tilt/turn in different directions and thought it would be perfect.

Unfortunately I missed the auction and had to start from scratch again.  Fair to say I was pretty disappointed with myself UNTIL I visited one of my favourite shops on the north shore of Auckland called JUNK & DISORDERLY.  Low and behold it had exactly the same mirror for less than $100, although this one had seen better days.  “Nothing my husband can’t fix” I decided and carefully crammed it in the back of the tiny car to take home.

I was pretty pleased with my purchase as was my husband and both my daughters.  As it turned out, the mirror didn’t end up going into Aaliyah’s room on her drawer and I’m not sure whether Jayden claimed it for herself or whether Aaliyah agreed to keep the one she already had.

The mirror now sits in Jayden’s room on top of a great desk I got for a bargain on trademe.  I blogged about it in OLD DESK MAKEOVER.  My husband fixed the small issues it had and gave it a beautiful gold finish.  For an added bonus, he whipped up some great lights.  What do you think?

 After finding this beautiful piece, I've since seen another just like it pop up on trademe every now and again.  I've been tempted to buy now

Happy living peeps!

Creating Their Mark

If you are looking for a quick decor fix, you have limited funds and you want something that will last forever then hand prints or foot prints of your children is the answer.

Nearly 18 years ago I wanted just that.  I had some paper left over from making our wedding invitations, an old ink pad (yes just like the ones we used at school many years ago with real ink stamps), some old picture frames and my two year old twin daughters Aaliyah and Jayden.

The process was pretty easy and best of all my daughters had lots of fun doing them.  I think the funniest part was managing them so they didn’t run all over the wooden floor boards with ink on their feet.  :-)  Thinking back now, our old Navy house would've looked amazing had the floor boards been whitewashed with their ink footprints on the floor.

These pieces have travelled with us through every home we have lived in and although the girls have changed them slightly by painting the frames, they sit pride of place in both their rooms.  The date on the prints represents the date the prints were captured.

At first the prints were meant as a quick decor fix, but nearly 18 years later I find myself reflecting on my decision to do these pieces and how they represent so much more now.  They represent my legacy.  My past, present and future.  Those people who have influenced me throughout my life, especially those who have left this life but continue to guide me and my family.  They are a reminder of my daughters achievements and the journey they have travelled.  More importantly and what's more exciting, they ask what successes await my daughters and how as a whanau we will enjoy them somehow, somewhere, and always together.

Happy living peeps!

Old Louver Doors - Turned Shutter Decor

I generally get accused of holding onto something for nothing on a regular basis -  trust me, I hear it all the time from my sister Deanne. Why do you have that?  What will you use that for?  Get rid of it!  It's just clutter!  Or as my cousin Marian says "it's mish mash".  BUT, if ever I had a reason to hold onto something for nothing, this idea has definitely paid off and I'm getting praises from the haters out there (in my family that is!!)

I had these old louver sliding doors which were used on an old built in cupboard in our laundry.  They weren't very effective and I thought they were hideous!  My husband took them off the cupboard, and in his quest to clean up was going to throw them away until he heard one of my frequent sayings  "STOP!!!  I want to keep those".  He probably rolled his eyes and thought "WTF would she want to keep them for" .. but graciously set them aside.

Fast forward 12 months ... we were redecorating Aaliyah's room and I wanted to use them as a feature behind her side drawers.  Only problem was, Aaliyah only wanted one side drawer and her awesome revamped headboard became to main feature in her room.

Roll on Jayden's room.  Yip, two side drawers and a feature wall at that.  Perfect!!  These hideous brown doors were given a new coat of paint and now sit proudly behind her side drawers.  What do you think?

Jayden has a quite a few photo's she wants to display, so I purchased some small pegs that she can hang them on the shutters.  Maybe when that is finished, I'll put up another post.

Happy living peeps!!!

Tomato, Basil & Garlic Salad

This is another quick, easy and healthy dish to whip up for a meal.  It has some strong flavours so this dish goes really well with salmon, steak or lamb, or simply by itself with a nice chilled glass of white wine.  

I like to lay the sliced tomatoes on a platter, then layer the rest of the ingredients, but if you prefer to place this in a bowl, then I recommend using sweet cherry tomatoes.  Simply half them and gently toss with the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients
3-4 tomatoes - sliced 
2 garlic cloves - thinly sliced
A handful of roughly chopped fresh basil
Olive oil
Sea salt
Cracked pepper 

Method
Get out a nice flat platter and lay the tomatoes in a single layer. 

Sprinkle the garlic over the tomatoes and sprinkle with of olive oil over the top.

Season with salt and pepper and then finish by sprinkling the basil all over the tomatoes. 

Serve at room temperature and enjoy!

Happy living peeps!!

DIY Sequin Shoes

A few months back my husband and I received an invitation to a "Sequin and Suits" event from  our very good friends, Maia & Sheryl Peters.  Within a week or so I received a parcel containing gold sequinned material with instructions that I had to use at least 1 metre of the material and wear the garment to the event.

Geeezz ... my imagination ran riot with the opportunities of what I could make.  I settled on a top but decided to take it a step further and cover some shoes with the same material.

I went to the local K Mart store and purchased some flat shoes for $8 then stuffed each shoe with newspaper to keep the shape of the shoe.

Using self adhesive glue, I sprayed the shoe and placed the material over the top, pressing gently to smooth the material and left it to dry overnight.

Once dry I trimmed the material leaving enough to fold a seam around the sole of the shoe.  Using a hot glue gun, I folded the seam and glued the material where the existing shoe material met the sole.

For inside of the shoe, I cut a hole out of the material, then continued to trim it until I could form a seam.  Using the hot glue gun, I glued the seam down.

I was pretty impressed with the final product considering I made them the night prior to the event itself.

As for the event I attended?  Turned out Maia and Sheryl surprised everyone by renewing their wedding vowels after 20 years of marriage.  It was such a lovely day and I thoroughly enjoyed being apart of their special day .... along with my fabulous shoes!!

Happy learning peeps!

Elizabeth Paki Haggie (Turner) - Part Two - The Young Woman

Growing up in Mercer and Te Kohanga was always fun for my nan.  She loved spending time with her siblings, cousins and more importantly with her dad.

School for her was intermittant, attending Mercer primary school.  She grew up in a time when te reo maori (maori language) was forbidden to be spoken in schools and coming from a household who only spoke te reo maori was a tremendous challenge for her.  Over time she told her Aunty and father that she didn't like going to school.  My nan's solution was to make ways of trying to travel back and forward from Mercer to Te Kohanga on a more regular basis to reduce the time spent at school. 

My nan said that at first she didn't understand why her pakeha teacher didn't allow maori to be spoken.  To her, it was a way of life.  The only language she knew.  She witnessed her school mates including her family getting severely hit when they spoke maori which confused my nan even more.  If maori had to speak english, then why did pakeha not speak maori?  Why was her language not embraced?  She didn't like this open display of violence and made her own decision.  She wasn't prepared to give her language up, however she wasn't prepared to be hit either.  Her solution was to quickly learn when and where to speak maori and when and where to speak english.  Adapt to the environment surrounding her, however remain strong in her own values and beliefs.

Little did she know as a young child, the indomitable leaders of her people at the time such as Te Puea Herangi, made no secret that upholding the mana of everything in the maori world was paramount.   My nan did not truly understand at the time that there was a much greater cause for her people but as she grew, this was the biggest form of education she received.

Te Puea looked to live and rely on a colonial world, however remain strong on her attitude to holdfast to the values of the kingitanga and more importantly constantly remain aware of the injustices forced on her people.

The kingitanga was a way of life for my grandmother.  She was schooled by her kaumatua, her aunties, her father, her brothers and sisters and even Te Puea herself.  Her family was the biggest and most important asset she had and if the kingitanga was important to them, then it was important to my grandmother.  She grew up on the oral histories of her people.  Where she came from and how they came to be at the puaha (port).  She grew up hearing the stories of the influenza epidemic that had a tremendous impact on her people and how barges would constantly be travelling to Taupiri mountain with the bodies of her people.  She was educated in the history of the kingitanga and the impact of raupatu.

My nan saw the outcomes of the kingitanga growing fast as a young teenager.  Her aunty Mona and her husband Korota Pingareka were working closely with Te Puea to help fulfil the prophercy of Kingi Tawhiao by building Turangawaewae.  They had already made a move to Ngaruawahia, while Aunty Mona tripped between Mercer, Te Kohanga and Ngaruawhia.  Nan's cousin Wes Dixon remained on the farm in Mercer to help work the land and supply the people Te Puea had taken to Ngaruawahia with the necessities required.  My nana told me that in the early days, that is what it was like for the people from the port.   You either went with Te Puea to build Turangawaewae, or you stayed back to help fund or sustain the people who were in Ngaruawahia building Turangawaewae.  That was the vision.  That was the way it was.

Eventually her cousin Wes came to Ngaruawahia to live with his parents.  By that time, there were other children who had been whangai'd to Korota and Mona including Tame Herangi and Rongo Herangi - both being brother and sister.   My nan told me there was an older child also called Tame Herangi, however he passed away as a baby.  Rongo would become my grandmothers best friend as a teenager, although she was a few years younger than my nan their character were very similar.

My grandmother told me a story one day about how Aunty Mona asked her to help clean Mahinaarangi.  She got up on a ladder to clean the upper walls when she heard a stern voice behind her.  She got such a fright, she let out some "unladylike" words and when she turned around it was Te Puea.  My nan nearly fell off the ladder but Te Puea did not react and they both carried on.  Later that night she received such a growling from Aunty Mona so my grandmother told her aunty to clean the house herself next time.  This reaction from a teenager to her Aunty Mona took some guts but nana stayed true to her word.

There were so many different fundraising events happening all over the rohe to help with Te Pueas work at Turangawaewae.  Going to a dance was always my nan's favourite activity.  Her, brother Bill and sister Annie would get dressed up in their "killing gears" and head off to the dance.  As most teenagers do, they were there to enjoy the "eye candy" telling each other to help get them a dance partner for the night and dance all night long.  My nan takes pride in telling us that Te Puea ran a tight ship so the dances didn't have alcohol or drugs back then, and everyone would get dressed up properly.  Her words "beauty times".  My nan told me that Te Puea enjoyed seeing the young ones enjoying themselves and more importantly enjoying each other.  It was part of her vision to build a strong 2nd generation into Turangawaewae thus creating further generations to continue into the future.

It was at one of the dances at Turangawaewae that her brother Bill introduced her to a young man called Binga Haggie.  He was the son of Korota Pingareka's eldest sister Te Aumihi Haggie who was also part of the first wave of people to come with Te Puea and establish Turangawaewae.  Nana's eyes always come alive when she would tell me how he was a pure gentleman and looked so handsome wearing a grey pinstripe suit when they first met.  PLUS he was a very good dancer!!

At the time my nana was working for the railways near Auckland and the pair would correspond through letters.  When she would have the weekends off, my grandmother would travel down to Ngaruawahia on the train and stay with Aunty Mona.  Binga would come over and take her to the local pictures.  After a while, my nana finished work at the railway and moved permanently to Ngaruawahia with her Aunty Mona and Uncle Korota.  Her cousin Wes and brother Bill became good friends with Binga and they began playing sports together.  Subsequently, my nana became good friends with Binga's sister Doreen or Ngahia, and they began playing basketball together.  (Back in those days basketball ... was today's netball).

Work was still important and my nan would find work in the king country working in a shearing gang that went from Turangawaewae.  She was there for a few months when she returned back to Ngaruawahia.  It's no secret that many people commented on how beautiful my grandmother was when she was younger .. and of course still is.  I heard she received the nickname 'Tainui beauty' but when I asked my nana she didn't confirm or deny the name nor would she tell the story of where it came from.

My grandfather told me that he thought my nana was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.  In fact, he told me a story about when my grandmother first started coming to Ngaruawahia as a teenager.  Turangawaewae was always a bustle of activity.  One day, as the men were all working creating a mass of noise, my grandmother walked from one side of the marae to the other and silence fell across the marae grounds while the "boys" watched her.  He told me that that moment always held a special place for him.   "your grandmothers beauty commands attention" he once said.  He would later nickname her SNOW.

Upon reflection, during my childhood I was always fascinated by two photos of two beautiful young women that hung in the hallway at my grandparents home.  The woman in photo 1 had impeccable skin with dark hair that was styled perfectly.  She wore a white blouse with embroided flowers around the neck line and she had a warm but cheeky smile and a beauty spot between her left cheek and upper lip.  

The woman in photo 2 had the same warm but cheeky smile.  Her skin was also impeccable and her hair was styled perfectly, however her hair was lighter,  her skin was slightly darker, she wore a khaki blouse and didn't have a beauty spot above her lip.   I would stare at these photos for hours wondering who these woman were in the photo.  When I was told that it was my grandmother in photo 1 and her sister Annie in photo 2,  I didn't believe them.  The woman in photo 1 looked so different to my nan and the defining feature that linked my nan of young to my nan of old was that trade mark beauty spot above her lip.

Later in life my grandmother told me that those photo's were taken by her brother Bill.  One day he came home with a camera and made both his sisters model in a series of photo's.  He got angry because nana and Aunty Annie were mucking around, laughing and joking for most the time and she thought the photo's wouldn't turn out very well.  He had the photo's developed and gave them both a copy and to their surprise, they were perfect!  It's such a shame that the whereabouts of those photo's is unknown now.  I would so love to see them one more time.

My 'NOT SO HAPPY' nana as a brides maid at her sister Annies wedding

By this time, my grandmother had lived at Mercer, Huntly and Te Kohanga but it was at Ngaruawahia where the foundations for her long term future would begin and Binga Haggie would play a very important role.

Happy living peeps!!

  

Lamp Goes Chic

Jayden had these two lamps in her room that lacked personality so when we renovated her room we decided to give them a new life.  I am pretty disappointed that I didn't get a before photo because the upgrade is awesome.

The base and stem of the lamp was glass and because Jayden's colour palette is pink, gold and grey we spray painted over the glass with gold paint.

For the shade itself, we had some left over material from her tufted headboard and decided to use that.  I blogged about her headboard in HOW TO MAKE A TUFTED HEADBOARD.  I think the finished product is fabulous!!

Happy living peeps!!