Ladder Love

I (Mrs Owl) have an addiction. Ok ok I have MANY addictions, doilies, owls, turkish delight chocolate, that little bit of froth in the bottom of the coffee cup, throw cushions, sarcasm (pretty sure that counts as an addiction) and many more but today... today's addiction is brought to you by the letter AWESOME and is all about these.....

The ever lovely never outdated wooden ladder! Infact I am SO in love we have a Pinterest board dedicated to them!


When I first met Mrs Elephant I told her of my ladder love (hey nothing to be ashamed of - ladder lovers unite!!) and how desperately I wanted one to put in my loungeroom  and she told me about this gorgeous wooden ladder her mum used to have. Her mum gave it to her (so much better than any other form of love!) and get this - when Elephant demolished her house SHE LEFT IT BEHIND!!!!  Like a little abandoned puppy, void of love, out in the cold. Her father-in-law went and got it (love a man with heart) then 6 years later when they moved THEY left it behind at their old house aswell!! What is with these people?? Ladders have feelings too!!  I was GUTTED!

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. The Elephant clan decided to do a drive by of the inlaws old house on the way to school and guess what was out for roadside pick up (hard rubbish, garbage collection whatevs!! Elephant laughs at me when I call it hard rubbish - is that an eastern-stater thing??) MY LADDER!!! Well... their unloved ladder... NOW its MY ladder!!

It was waaaaay too tall to stand up in my loungeroom so needed the bottom chopped off. Mr Owl was away (which is always the best time to raid his power tools) but I could not for the life of me work out how to use the damn power saw. Reverting to the good ol fashion hand saw I got so excited I actually set the ladder on fire. True story. Gave up and called on my hire a hubby (Mr Elephant) to come and finish the job and well... look at it now!!!!

*sigh* Archibald my Owl ladder LOVES his new home. How great does he look? All he needed was a lil love..... don't we all???


Thought of the moment is brought to you by the fact I am one of those weird people who gets songs stuck in their head constantly triggered by a single word!:

All you need is love.... do do do do do

We ❤ Ruffles!! | Our Market Stall Re-vamp

After almost 2 years our little business is getting a market stall makeover! We wanted to inject our love of fabrics, patterns and colour into our stall and show our faithful followers (the ones who know what people mean when they say "the table with the blue and white polka-dots") how much we have "grown up". We are big kids now!! 
It has certainly been an A-mazing time we have added a baby to the mix, juggled a hubby who flys in and out for ridiculous amounts of time, as well as a shift working hubby, toilet training children, tantruming toddlers, first time school kids and pre-pubescent boys! We have been lucky enough to meet some incredible people along the the way and learnt a heck of alot about ourselves, each other and the business world that is work-at-home hand-crafting mums!! So the time has definitely come to have a market stall that reflects how much we have changed from those 2 clueless first timers to where we are now!

Inspired by this lovely creation at Bella Studio, we started searching online for where we could purchase something similar. All the ones we found were $200-$400 and no where near as nice as what we envisioned and didn't quite meet "The Owl and the Elephant" criteria, so of course we decided we had to make our own! This meant it was time for one of our all time favourite things -  fabric shopping! And that was where the fun stopped..... next came the not so fun part MATHS! It was certainly an interesting time figuring out how to get the right amount of each fabric, how many strips of each fabric we would need to sew together to get the right length of fabric to go all around the table, and then getting the ruffle ratio to look pretty. What a flashback to high school algebra! You should see our 'working out' sheet. Josie was TOTALLY the brains behind this one *cough* she sucks at maths and Nat had to work it out pretty much single handedly whilst Josie entertained the m&m's (Max and Mischa!) with various forms of "spalarkaly" stuff *cough* copious amounts of snacks.

So for those of you wanting to play at home...here is a 'semi-tutorial' for figuring out your fabric requirements:

Trestle table = 180cm wide. We wanted to ruffle the front and sides and leave the back open for stock access and to avoid bulk and weight. So our overall length that we were wanting to ruffle was 330cm (75cm side + 180cm front + 75cm side)
We had 7 fabrics we wanted to use. The length of our table from top to floor is 75cm. So 75cm ÷ 7 = 10.7cm. We then added allowance for the top of the ruffle seam and an overhang so each ruffle covered the next one slightly, and made our strips 12cm 'deep'. 
After purchasing a ruffling foot (best....thing.....EVER!!!) we did many trials to find the perfect number of ruffles and the perfect depth that gave us the look we wanted. This worked out to just under a 2:1 ratio, meaning for every 2 metres of fabric we got just under 1 metre of ruffled fabric. So our 7 gorgeous fabric prints were cut into 12cm strips and we used 6 full fabric widths, sewn together to make around 6m per fabric type.

 Sooo bearing all of the above in mind....all up we have 42 metres of strips ready to ruffle!!
Here are some pics of the during stages...

All our strips joined together and edges overlocked (or serged) ready to put through the machine with the ruffling foot. 

Some closeups of our fabric combinations...

Feeding the strips through with the ruffling foot attachment. Best money ever spent, would have taken DAYS to sew gathering and gather them all up by hand...

Close up of the ruffling foot

Ruffly goodness glinting in the sunlight....sigh!!

And that is not all! We have more pretties in mind for our stall! Think lace canopies, Anthropologie inspired ruffle backdrops, patchwork logo-banners, shabby chic frames ad more....ahhh its is going to be divine! Can you smell it???? See us at the next Market Girl and Perth Upmarket.


If you love ruffles, be sure to check out one of our favourite Perth designers, Alana from Yuminess Textiles. Her ruffles are sought after nation-wide and we are so proud of how her business has grown. She puts the awesome in amazing!

Thought of the moment: 

Sewing: A creative mess is better than tidy idleness.  ~Author Unknown

Sweet Dreams | Shabby Chic Bedhead

Ever since buying our new ensemble bed almost a year ago I have been searching high and low for the "perfect" bedhead, one that suited my "style" and was not going to cost me an arm and a leg.
After months of frustration I turned to Pinterest. Why on earth did I not do that sooner? I dont need to hunt down a bedhead - I can make one!! (with a little bit of help from Mr Owl!)
I am so in love with it! Made with repurposed recycled wood, white washed and laquered and shabbied within an inch of its life, I love how rustic it is! Heck i just plain LOVE it!! Everytime I walk past my bedroom with its perfectly arranged throw cushions (an ocd habit I learnt off Mrs Elephant) I cannot help but *sigh* its just so damn lubly..... So tell me - what do you think?

If you love it as much as we do - we would love to make you one! Stay tuned to our website as we will be listing them for sale very soon.

Thought of the moment:

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me.

Steve Jobs

What does an Elephant make an owl for christmas?

Ok so fairs fair, you got to see what I made Mrs Elephant for Christmas so now it is time to show off what Mrs Elephant made me!!!

Not one......

But TWO gorgeous handcrafted beautifully beautiful owls!

Henry here is created with a repurposed jacket. Check out his wee little eyes and that gorgeous "jacket" pleat on his back:

And Marcel - well he is just too cute for words!!

I just love them!! Isn't she clever?

On a sidenote - don't you just love the little chair? Did you see the one in the newest little unborn elephant's room? The littlest Owl loves to sit on my one at snack time:

Love them just as much as we do? Register your interest below in the comments section or send us an email at sales@theowlandtheelephant.com.au - we think it is time to share the love and get some in stock for all our lovely followers!!!


Thought of the moment:

Winning moments:

What does an Owl make an Elephant for Christmas?

Josie The Owl is one of those 'awesome present givers'...you know, the type that spends ages thinking about the perfect present for someone? No gift vouchers, socks or chocolates from that gal...she takes present giving very seriously!

So what did The Owl make for The Elephant this Christmas? Something she was bursting out of her skin to show me and tell me about days before Christmas...that's what!!

NOW I know why she was asking me what my favourite scripture was...I couldn't pinpoint one so she had to stalk me on Pinterest and see which ones I had been pinning!

Seen here with Earl the Elephant, yet another awesome gift from The Owl, made by the ever so talented Robyn at Focus on Art

We love doilies here at The Owl & the Elephant, and are busy pinning LOADS of projects to captivate their frilly goodness! Have you seen any good doily repurposing?

And if you like the look of this one, be sure to check out Josie's hand-made rustic wooden signs made from repurposed palettes on our website. She custom makes a fantastic We Are Family sign which incorporates all your family names in a scrabble board style format. Or do you have your own favourite inspirational quote you would like? Contact us for a quote.

This is another of our favourites: 

Available on our website

Stay tuned to see what The Elephant made The Owl for Christmas!!

Thought of the moment:

Gifts must affect the receiver to the point of shock.
Walter Benjamin

Mama told me there'd be days like this.....

So you know those days, the one's where you peer out the curtains and it LOOKS nice and sunny and happy and then something happens and you realise that the nice sunny happy day has lured you into a false sense of security and BAM - the day may have gone better if you had just stayed in bed.

Well my day was kinda a eeny teeny bit like that. It got better but boy did it start out super special!

Max the youngest owl is one of those kids that wakes up super happy, and stays super happy as long as you feed him ASAP once he is up, as in get him out of cot, run to kitchen, throw food at him until he bursts and then continue on with the day.

So today I got him out of his cot, ran down to the kitchen, put him in his why did I not know about these 8 years ago IKEA highchair and went about getting his breaky. No milk - ok so what? no cereal today he can have toast. No bread - ahhhhh crap!!!  I was totally not intending to put my bra on nor brush my hair for AT LEAST another 3 hours.

Get the four kids dressed, pack them in the car (which I have had back for only a few weeks after the last "incident") get the milk, bread and other various non-essential items (mind you those choc chip muffins rreeeeaaaallly came in handy later on down the track!) pack the kids back in the car, reverse out, head to exit BANG car is on two wheels, moment of panic, what have I done??? Car back on four wheels, park it again thinking I have hit a parked car again but NO!! IT WASN"T MY FAULT!!!! WOHOOOO!!! (I know, I know, not REALLY a cause to celebrate but if you read back a couple of blog posts you will understand) feling very shaken I hope out of the car and inspect the damage. Having felt like it all morning, I have just - quite literally, been hit by a truck. Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse having had to drag four kids out of the house before 8am...IT DID.

At home a strong coffee and a couple *cough* of chocolate muffins later I felt a little better. * sigh* its just a car, we are all ok and its insured. Stuff happens,stressed spelled backwards is desserts and if all else fails... smile!!!

Now to Nat's day..... now lets all be honest here... how many (let alone those of us trying to run an online business) could live without the net nowdays? This is the predicament facing the lovely Mrs Elephant today - no net till Tuesday!!! She was reduced to reading a book!! Looking stuff up the old fashioned way and having to go without Pinterest - cold turkey!!! Its just not right..... It has however made her come up with the newest Owl and the Elephant" clause. We solemly swear, no matter how big we get. We will NEVER send your phonecalls offshore. Ever. So my car may be written off, but no internet? Like none? No Pinterest, no facebook, no online shopping? Nat wins.WHat did we do without the net?

Something that makes our bad days better? The days a little sunnier and our smiles a little bigger? Our new repurposed, shabby chic, bus roll inspired, rustic wooden signs. We hope you love them as much as we do!! head over to our website for full details on owning one of these babies or on requesting a custom design!!

Thought of the moment:

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.  ~Author Unknown

beauty isn't in the eye of the beholder - ITS HERE!!!!

So as mentioned in earlier posts we have a side table/ hall table/ doolacky table that we intended to repurpose/shabby chic/ do up/ renovate and make all round amazing..... well we failed.

We did NOT make an amazing table. We make a super dooper ooper beautifully awesomely amazing table!!! We just fell in love with this Michael Miller fabric and new it would go perfectly on this table.

As you MAY be able to tell we are a little excited!!! So tell us..... what do you think??

Thought of the moment:

Everyone has photographic memory; some just don't have the film.
Anon

Our next furniture piece...commence drooling...NOW!

Simply take this exquisite side table and add an equally as exquisite piece of fabric...........

Then sit back and wait...... finished product coming soon!

Meanwhile....we are so excited our shipment of homewares has arrived... check out my comfy cushiony couch! 

(comfort level as displayed by Miss 3!!)

Thought of the moment:

laugh as much as you breathe 

and love as long as you live

Anon

filling the void....

So.... as you may have heard by now Alice is gone! *sniff* 

We are SOOOO over the moon, jump up and down, heart smiling, face crackingly happy that she has found someone who is going to love her just as much as we have but what to do next......

 * insert finger drumming nose!!*

 So we had a play with a stool....... 

What do you think???? 

and as fun as it was hootifying it (hehe get it? beautifying? hootifying? The OWL and the elephant? ahahaha ahhh sleep how I miss thee) it just isnt enough! So we have headed to our "workshed" (aka the Elephant's garage) and pulled out our next project!!!

We have visions of a piece for the boys this time around, rockets and spaceships, blues and reds and more scrummy handles!! 

Maybe with a dash of....

THIS!!!!!

Would love to hear your ideas! If we where making it for you (which is TOTALLY an option lol) what would YOU like to see?

Thought of the moment:

" Dust is a protective coating for fine furniture" 

Maria Buatta

Voila!!

We started with this (well, after a little sanding!):

Knew we HAD to have this fabric:

The Owl worked her magic "shabby chic'ing" up Alice and making her look all rustic and beautiful...then came the next step - fusing the fabric onto the dresser...a difficult task!

Measuring it all up before we start

The very painstaking task of getting the fabric fused perfectly to the top of Alice

The Elephant being 'pedantic' about smoothing out every single bubble or imperfection

All smoothed out waiting to dry

Just about dry....time to trim off the excess fabric (stay tuned for what we do with that)

Little Miss Elephant HAD to have a closer look...its JUST her size!

Now all we are waiting on are these beautiful drawer knobs we searched high and low for and eventually found in a store in New York

We think they will be just the finishing touch for Alice! Now please pray they arrive THIS WEEK!!

and here she is completed...

WHAT DO YOU THINK??

If you have fallen in love with Alice, register your interest by comment below or email us at theowlandtheelephant@yahoo.com.au