Gingham Cherry

Benched

2012-02-06T17:03:00.000-06:00

Look at what I found (well, bought anyway)! Let's just say that I have a veeeeery patient husband... ha ha. He sees me walk through the door with this over my shoulder and barely batted an eye. Ok, he may have groaned a little when he saw this one. But I can see the beauty in her! I am hoping the fabric on those legs will be easy to remove (fingers crossed). We have wanted a bench seat like this for the foot of our bed and this is the perfect size and the right shape for a very cheap price so I am going to have a crack at rehabilitating her. I can't wait to see if the vision in my head matches the reality (sadly, a rare occurrence).

The Dreaded Lurgy *

2012-02-03T16:33:00.000-06:00

{source}

My whole family has come down with a 'community virus' - whatever that means. First A on Tuesday, then myself and E yesterday and now my husband has finally fallen today. It is rather dreadful - A is still suffering with high temps on day 4 although not as high as the start thankfully. Miss E is still in very high temp land and so is dear husband now. Despite how awful we are all feeling, and having all our plans and activities going by the wayside, I am very grateful that we are able to just hang around at home snuggled in front of a fireplace sipping soup and eating vegemite toast until we feel better (seriously though, how many episodes of House Hunters can HGTV run???).

* I know this phrase isn't well known here in the US but, especially for when my sisters read this, it actually came from The Goon Show in 1954. I wonder if Dad knows that?

Waiting to dry

2012-02-01T16:01:00.000-06:00

My favourite part of doing embroidery? Washing out the blue marker that I used to draw the design onto the fabric and seeing the design 'clean'. Now I just have to wait for this one to dry and find a suitable frame.

Tag - you're it

2012-01-31T13:03:00.000-06:00

I have been making lots of these cute tags. So simple to make - just use a large scalloped craft punch to cut out the shapes, hole punch and leave as is or add a simple eyelet and some string/thread.

I designed these papers I used and printed them on card stock. Here they are if you would like to use them as well.

Grey paper
Pink paper

Makeover Monday - Thrifty Lamp

2012-01-30T11:50:00.000-06:00

Remember my (potentially) pretty glass lamps that I picked up a while ago? I bought a new lampshade for one of them and doesn't it look great now? I love it! I got the new lampshade at Ikea for only $10 so the lamp in total cost $14.99. I love a good bargain too.

DIY ping pong

2012-01-13T14:03:00.000-06:00

A has had it stuck in his head that he wants to play ping pong (table tennis - whatever you want to call it). To the point that he made the net himself and he kept asking me to buy the bats (paddles? what are they called officially?). Before I felt like going shopping for them I decided to have a go at making some.

Cut two handle lengths from a sturdy cardboard roll.

Cut slits on opposite sides (just eyeball it).

Use something round to mark out your circles.

Cut out the circles.

Squish the circles into the cut slits on the tubes.

I have to say, these lasted longer than I anticipated. I think we probably got a good 8 - 10 hours play out of them (over a few days). If you want them to last longer you could use some duct tape to secure them as well. I was just buying some time until I went to the shops (and also seeing if the desire matched up with the activity to be honest). We had a lot of fun using these on our coffee table before we got annoyed with the small size and I relented and bought some bats and we are still using the net on our dining table now. I have played many, many, many games of ping pong over the last week....

By the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I haven't been in this space for awhile so apologies for that. I have some health issues I am dealing with but I won't bore you with the details - hopefully it will all be sorted out soon. Aside from that, here's to a great year ahead!

Pudding origami box

2011-12-22T21:06:00.000-06:00

Well, Christmas is upon us! Last year has evaporated and the New Year is looming. I can't imagine anyone having any last minute wrapping to do - no sirree. But, just in case, I have this nifty little 'pudding' origami box design if you have a teeny tiny (or I should say 'wee', Lee) little present you might want to wrap. The finished size of this box is just under 2" square (~ 4.3cm) so it would be perfect for small jewellery. A link to the instructions on how to fold it is here.

{DOWNLOAD HERE}

The lid of the box is the slightly larger square on the printable of course. Just fold it exactly the same and it will fit snugly over the base part. One note for the lid, the first two folds are to highlight the centre of the square for you to fold towards - to save so much creasing on the finished product just take a ruler and pencil and mark an X in the centre on the reverse (white) side. This will give you a neater finish at the end. I forgot to do that on this one and you can see the more noticeable fold lines on top.

I have to say, they are quite therapeutic to make. These are the first ones I made. I need to find a use for them now...

With that, I am going to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (or insert appropriate greeting for your circumstances) and I am going to be back in the New Year! Hope you all have a wonderful and special couple of weeks! (fellow Minnesotans/normally snow covered bloggy friends, where is our snow????)

Dollhouse Christmas

2011-12-14T10:31:00.000-06:00

Christmas is arriving with the speed of an express train it seems. I keep having ideas for things to do, things to decorate, only to realise it will all be over very, very soon. Miss E and I took a breather from activities, home work, house work, shopping etc. to sit down together and decorate her cereal box dollhouse. It was a lovely 'slow' activity to do together.

Gift wrapping

2011-12-05T00:09:00.000-06:00

Here is one idea for gift wrapping I am going with. I printed out some sheets of paper I designed last year (snowflake in red here, dotty stems), wrapped red yarn around and popped it through some labels I designed and printed out from MS Powerpoint. I really like how these turned out. If you would like similar labels you can download them here. It is a Powerpoint file so you can add your own text if you want (plus in three different colour ways). I also did rounded rectangle ones that are WAY easier to cut out. That little notch in the corner? Pain in the butt....

Oh, I just realised I never posted a link to the snowflake paper in blue...oops. Here it is if you want it.

Advent calendar

2011-12-01T14:21:00.000-06:00

Phew, Christmas is approaching with the speed of a runaway train it seems. I made up these quick advent chains today for my two kiddos (look! a sprinkling of snow - it is late this year I think). I already have an advent box setup that I will use with the kids as well but I love the visual effect this one has. This is so quick and easy that you could whip it up today before the kids get home from school and still be on time.

I printed off three of my paper designs in my Christmas themed colours of red, white and blue plus I used a plain piece of white paper. Cut them all up into strips, loop and staple, loop and staple, add a bit of string at the top to hang from a curtain rod or wherever you like. Now A wants to make a bunch more to hang elsewhere (I think my detail oriented side will win and I might have to use double sided sticky tape instead of staples on that one...).

If these happen to be your colours as well, I have created a pdf with all three for easy download (click here).

Oh, I had to share. Mini trampoline meet pear shaped terrarium..... (Just to explain - terrarium was on lower shelf on bookcase, kids rested mini tramp on it's side at the end of nearby sofa, mini tramp was bumped and fell over, leg struck my pretty pear.... boo hoo - but, it's just stuff, and no-one was injured so it is all good! - what do you think my chances are of finding another one in a thrift store??)

How was your Thanksgiving?

2011-11-25T10:50:00.000-06:00

Well, I hope all my American bloggy friends had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday. We aren't native here but I really enjoy this holiday and I wish we had something similar in Australia. Actually, there is an official 'Thanksgiving Day' in Australia but no-one knows about it and it certainly isn't celebrated. I might start an online lobby for it to be celebrated in July in Australia - we need a good celebration in the cold part of the year so we can enjoy the yummy hot food too (obviously the most important factor when deciding these things). Turkey in December when it is steaming hot is not the best (though many of us labour on with it - and add fake snow to our windows to boot!).

Not having any family here, we had a very quiet, simple day. We invited some friends over for breakfast (which was just lovely and helped stave off any homesickness) and then we put up our Christmas lights outside (before it gets too cold) and had a very simple turkey dinner. In the morning I put out my berry branches and punched a bunch of circles out of craft paper for everyone to write what they are thankful for to hang on the tree. The kids got really into it and continued on throughout the day until it was looking quite full.

My son isn't a confident writer yet so he dictated his list to me - this one is my favourite. I felt good that he got down to appreciating some of the simpler things in life after he listed off things like the Wii and iPod first!

Thrift Store Thursday - doily bowl

2011-11-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Have you ever made one of these? Stiffened a doily with fabric stiffener and draped it over a mold? This is a very quick craft and great for kids too. Miss E saw me make this and wants to do some too. I have a whole heap of doilies from my Nana but I can't quite bring myself to make them into bowls so the thrift store will be my friend again (yep, had to twist my arm on that one...).

I think I am going to use this on my desk to hold office supplies (like my covered bulldog clips).

Furoshiki wrapping cloth

2011-11-08T13:24:00.000-06:00

So, this is what I made with my stamp. A japanese furoshiki cloth for gift wrapping and a little matching stamped tag. I will do a tutorial for this by the end of the week.

I think these are lovely and simple and I love the reusable nature of them (I will be including a little note about the art of Japanese gift wrapping - tsutsumi - with each Christmas gift I use these for).

Stamp me

2011-11-04T23:04:00.001-05:00

If you have been around here for awhile you might remember my foray into stamp carving. I busted out my snowflake stamp for some plain white fabric. I hope to finish up this project tomorrow and I can show you what I have done with it. I highly recommend stamping fabric though! Very satisfying.

On a totally unrelated note, I have had A home the last three days with a nasty cold (imagine green slimy nose and gross cough and you have it). I never, ever tire of his Lego and Playmobil people setups... they crack me up and I love watching his imagination at work.

Do all kids like to line stuff up?

If I don't get back, have a great weekend!

Thanksgiving on my mind

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

Well, Blogtoberfest has ended and I really enjoyed it. I am quite happy with my effort even if I did miss the last day!

Did you all survive Halloween ok? We really had fun. It was hectic but a great deal of fun. For our kids there is always that element of 'is this the last time I get to do this?' as well. We never know where we will be in the next year so we really enjoy these things while we can. For the record, Halloween in Australia (well, from when I lived there anyway) is not very big. Some people might have fun Halloween parties, might decorate a little bit and so on but nothing like here in North America. Trick or treating is pretty uncommon too. It is gaining traction though so maybe it might be more popular when we get back. It doesn't feel quite the same though as it is usually already hot by the end of October so the whole autumn atmosphere is missing. Anyway, that never stopped us from putting fake snow in our windows at Christmas even in sweltering heat! We are funny (odd?) like that.

Well, now that Halloween is over, we get to think about Thanksgiving coming up and then Christmas. In the spirit of that, I will show you what I have pinned for inspiration for Thanksgiving so far.

Definitely making these for the kids...

Might use some of my blue mason jars like this for our table decoration.

My little fabric acorns would look cute hanging from branches!

I would love to build a little black bench for the front porch (need to do that before my garage gets too cold!).

I love this card. I think I might buy it just to frame. The illustration work is so cute and vintage'y (that is a word...).

Click through here to find all the original source links.

Day 30 - Quick last minute Halloween decorations

2011-10-30T22:55:00.003-05:00

Halloween kind of came too quickly for me this year. I have been pinning fun ideas, recipes etc. and then, bang!, it's here and I am not really ready! Sometimes I spend way too much time thinking about and planning for something rather than actually getting it done. Tell me I am not alone in that! (no need to respond Anonymous - aka B!)

Source: create.northridgepublishing.com via Catherine on Pinterest

I did manage to do this idea above though, at the begging of my children to decorate properly (you mean the electric jack-o-lantern in the window and the foam bat on the front door isn't enough??). This isn't my house obviously but I used this idea on our front door (and side glass panels), as well as adding a couple of hanging black lanterns with orange candles on either side of the porch entrance plus some carved pumpkins and fake spider web I had from last year and we are looking quite festive now! I will have to try and get a photo of it for tomorrow.

Lesson learned? - start decorating for Thanksgiving immediately and I might actually have it done a few days before the day! Ditto Christmas....

Day 29 - why do they make lamps like that?

2011-10-29T22:40:00.002-05:00

Well, the last 3 days have been crazy busy! Between play dates, windows needing replacing, gymnastics classes, karate classes, school functions, girl scout functions and trying to keep on top of washing and so on, the last few days have been a blur. Loads of fun but a blur.

I did manage one little thing I wanted to share with you though. This is one of those ultra simple little problem solving ideas that just makes you feel quite a bit clever. I shall explain my dilemma.

You know what I really don't like about bedside lamps? Where the switches are located. They are either up under the shade which requires having to sit up to turn off (yes, I realise how whiny and pathetic that just sounded but bear with me - I am guessing I am not the only short armed or very tired person who finds that annoying when you are all snuggly in bed ready for sleep) or they are placed on the cord about a foot down from where the cord enters the lamp base. Why? How is that supposed to work? The switch always falls down behind the bedside table then. I just don't get that design. Why don't they all just have the switch in the base of the lamp like hotel ones mostly do? Well they really should. Maybe I will design a bunch of bedside lamps just like that and everyone will sigh with relief that they can buy them...

So here is my solution. Cable ties. Simple as that. Tie that sucker to the bedhead so you can reach it easily (but it isn't really visible if you slide it down close or below the mattress line). Now, obviously, I have the type of bed that is easy to use cable ties on but I am sure, if you have the same problem and a different style bed, this could inspire you to find a solution. I love it!!

Day 26 - Random stuff

2011-10-26T12:01:00.003-05:00

I still have my awful, awful headache (if it goes for longer than a day even after taking painkillers is that technically a migraine? - I can still function though). All thoughts of crafting/making over our bedroom have been abandoned for now. So far today I have managed to get dressed and fold two loads of laundry and that will have to be it.

Yesterday, I did get my movie program framed (not hung obviously). Wow, that yellow looks neon in this photo. It is actually a much calmer sandy yellow in real life. Didn't that frame come up a treat? I love it now. Our bedroom is going to be white, grey and yellow with touches of purple when I am done. I have some fabulous ideas and can't wait to show you.

Oh, I also managed to walk the kids to the bus stop this morning and lookie what I found beside one of my distant neighbour's rubbish bin? Niiiice. I have been looking for one for the kids playroom for all my indoor plants to live on for the winter so I can have them in the sunniest room in the house but be able to wheel it out of the way when needed. I had a quick look at it as it seemed broken but there is just one little screw missing and it could use some new glue. Easy peasy.

One other random thought, I just thought I should let you know that all the planets must be aligned in some 5,000 year random pattern. Want to know how I know? Not one, but two, family members random socks all matched up! Amazing but true.

Day 25 - Pop up paper craft

2011-10-25T22:48:00.000-05:00

I have a splitting headache today so a very quick post from me. I made these for A while he was eating lunch. My kids can't get enough of them and I must admit they are fun to make. I found the idea on Pinterest (original link here).

Day 24 - Old frame makeover

2011-10-24T23:11:00.001-05:00

I have had this picture (that I probably bought in the late 80's/early 90's) languishing in our basement waiting for a makeover. Stylin'! Look at that lovely yellow frame... (excuse my totally crappy blurry photo - A has developed the bad habit of trying to run into every shot I take so I was trying to be quick before he noticed me! Little angel...).

Well, hubster is away for a few days so I decided to give our very bare bedroom a bit of a makeover (I may or may not show photos of this - depends how it all pans out). Nothing drastic but I haven't added any homey touches to it since we moved in a year ago and I figure we need a nicer space for ourselves.

First up, this frame is getting a beautiful coat of shiny black.

Random aside - A has been dying to spray paint something (ever since he found my spray paint can stash) so he grabbed some blocks of wood and joined me.

I am ditching the old Van Gogh print (didn't everyone own one of these at some point??) and replacing it with a movie program from a favourite restored Art Deco theatre (the Astor Theatre - if I have any Melbourne readers) we used to frequent when we were young and starting out in Melbourne, Australia. I have had this poster for just as long as the Van Gogh print I think.

I will show you it all framed up tomorrow - it is past my bedtime now...

Day 22 - Security envelope re-use

2011-10-22T18:21:00.000-05:00

(source: ecomonster - flickr)

I pinned this image in Pinterest a short time ago because I thought this was such a clever and simple idea. I really like the patterns inside bill and junk mail envelopes and, as this person did, if you turn them inside out you can reuse them. Love it.

I have been saving envelopes for a little while after I read somewhere else about using the cute patterns for paper crafts so I had a stack of them waiting. Only problem was most of them were window faced envelopes so I decided to rip them open, make a mini envelope template and make a stack of little envelopes. I thought these would be so cute for gift tags with little cards made to fit inside (that reminds me, I have two miniature cards and envelopes that I think I bought when I was about 12 years old and have never used because I just adore the cuteness of them - random thought).

Then, of course, the brain doesn't stop there. Wouldn't tiny little address labels look cute?

How about tiny little stickers to close them?

Hmmm, who should I mail this to? Look, she is so happy to be getting mail! I think even my non girly daughter will love these.

I have another idea for these that I hope I get to tomorrow. It will be great if I can get it to look how it looks in my head right now. I know, it is an exciting world over here.... :-)

Day 21 - Cane basket makeover

2011-10-21T21:25:00.001-05:00

Dang, knew I shouldn't have kept numbering the days! Then you might not have noticed a day missing - la la la.

I have this little basket that I use for small hand sewing projects so I can carry it around from room to room (for things like felt acorns one might say). I felt like doing something to the handle so this vintage twill tape came to mind. Little dab of hot glue one end, wrap it around and secure with hot glue at other end. I think I might like it painted white too but I was too impatient to do that today. I just might have another basket around here somewhere that I can do that to (ha ha, Lynette, I still find a basket hard to resist at the thrift store!)...

Day 19 - Fabric acorn tutorial

2011-10-19T14:03:00.001-05:00

Remember these cute little guys? I thought I would show you how I made them. You probably don't need a tutorial for these but, hey, I have 31 days of blog posts to fill!

Cut out a little circle of fabric (I eyeballed it) and stitch around the outside (no prizes for neatness here - just get that gathering thread around there). Pretty much how you would make a yo-yo. Without the neatness.

Pull the gathering thread, add some stuffing inside as you gather.....

pull it tight and knot the thread. I normally get it tighter than that so you can't see the stuffing but the little sucker slipped as I tied the knot. It is getting squished into something so I am not too perturbed.

Take your selection of acorn caps and shove it into a few to see which one fits best.

After you have chosen the cap, take the little fabric ball out, squirt some glue into the acorn cap....

and squish the little ball back in there. Let dry and then do 10,000 more to fill a small apothecary jar... (anyone have some more acorn caps???)

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest.

Day 18 - Thrift Store Tuesday

2011-10-18T16:34:00.000-05:00

Dang, I missed yesterday... just too busy...

So, today I am back with some thrift store goodies plus I would love some ideas.

I found these vintage fabrics (just had to get them - they remind me of something we had in the 70's as children - Lynette or Sheryl, do you remember what?? did we have clothes in this sort of fabric?). I don't usually lack in the ideas department but any ideas for what to make with them? I thought I might use some of one to make an a-line knee length skirt for E to wear. Trying to think what else to do with them.... I thought of cute soft toys but I don't have the need to make any with my kids being older. I like these coloured plastic embroidery hoops for the kids to use too. They look pretty on the wall when you hang them in a child's room.

I also bought this beautiful crystal bowl. I think I am going to give it to someone as a gift but not sure. I might just re-sell it on eBay. I bought it because my Mum has mentioned on more than one occasion some red drinking glasses that she missed out on at an auction and I am always searching for some for her. I am not sure if this is the style she meant or not. Sandra, is this what those glasses looked like??

I scored these two glass bottomed lamps for just $5 ea. Pardon the bad light, they are being stored in the basement for now. Obviously the shades need to be changed (somehow my living room just isn't going to rock the disco vibe) but these lamps are usually pretty pricey so I am very happy with these. I don't have many lamps as the ones we brought here all have different plugs (from different countries) so these will do very nicely.

I hardly ever shop at Target anymore!

Day 16 - Sunday funnies

2011-10-16T10:53:00.000-05:00

My bloggy friend, Aunt Lolo, shared this with me and I laughed so much I thought I would share it with you.

Basic Lessons for Boys from amy drucker on Vimeo.

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest.

Day 15 - Thrift store doll bed

2011-10-16T00:18:00.002-05:00

I found this at the thrift store for $4. It was being used to hold a lamp but it looked like a doll bunk bed to me. I left it there as it was quite rickety but, after telling Miss E about it, we decided to go back and get it if it was still there. Miss E has two American Girl dolls and I thought they would fit perfectly.

I added some glue and more nails to hold it firm. To be honest, I just did a fairly basic patch job - this isn't and won't be an heirloom piece by any stretch of the imagination. I gave it a quick sand and primed it.

Here it is painted. I was quite surprised E picked pink for it - she is not a girly girl at all so I was really expecting orange or green but there you go. Glad I was right, the dolls do fit perfectly!

Now I just have to make some coordinating bedding - the fun part! A little mattress, a pillow and a patchwork quilt for each bunk (which I have decided will be my introduction to quilting - I have always wanted to try it). I was going to do sheets as well but the beds are so shallow I think it will look fine with just a pretty mattress.

Then it will be on to the next thrift store makeover. I found this plane shelf for a couple of dollars which will be perfect for A's room. He is mad for planes.

Day 14 - Fabric acorns

2011-10-14T19:43:00.001-05:00

My little acorn collection is coming along.

It is going to take me longer to fill this jar than I thought...

Birthday goodies

2011-10-13T12:40:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I just have to show you what two of my sisters sent me. One sent me that gorgeous ceramic box with the wooden birdie lid. I have been coveting a similar one and never even told her (good ol' sisterly esp). She went to Bali recently and bought it there for me. My husband and I honeymooned in Bali so that is really special for us. This same sister also bought me a pair of really lovely silver and garnet earrings that I forgot to include in the photo. Now I have two new pairs of favourite earrings (see the lovely pink pearl ones in the bag?). Now, check out those soap boxes from my other sister! I love the packaging for these. Can you see the sparkle? I don't think you can but there are little touches of glitter all over the illustrations. Not only is the design on the box just delightful but glitter is involved. Sigh, so lovely. (ok, I do have a rather freakish love of boxes so that could explain my unnatural delight in these...)

I also love how the calendar my best friends here in the US bought me last Christmas has this as the October page... very fitting! I love this calendar so much that I will have to try and find the same style for next year. The back of each page has a printed template of a fold up box or a mini file folder or things like that so you can reuse the pages. Brilliant idea.

Now, it is my hubby's birthday today so I need to go and bake a cake! (we made sure we married someone with almost the exact same birthdate so we couldn't forget.. we're planners like that)

Day 13 - Brave reveal (not really....)

2011-10-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I am not very good at willingly showing pictures of not so nice sights, especially when they happen to be existing in my house but hey, I will live on the edge over here and show you the cupboard under my kitchen sink.

Behold, the wonderful before shot.....

Now, obviously this cupboard could benefit from a large splash of white paint (imho) but I am renting so I have to work with what I have (don't get me wrong, this is a great home by the way - I am not complaining). Because the kitchen is a little dated and in need of a refresh I have kind of been neglecting trying to prettify it up much. Which is a bad idea for me. Prettifying (yes, that is a word now) stuff up is something I really can't get away from. I operate much better in tidy, uncluttered and preferably pretty surroundings.

I don't think this reveal will win me a spot on Apartment Therapy or Design*Sponge but what the hey.

Behold, the after.....

I just added some shelf liner to the bottom (cutting around the pipes and stuff at the back), collected random stuff in some spare plastic storage containers I already had and put my dishwasher tablet thingies into a jar (oh, and tidied that little hanging basket on the door). Simple, quick changes but, aaaaah, that feels much better...

In case you haven't noticed, this Blogtoberfest challenge is basically me catching up on the million little 'to do' list items I don't usually make time for and for completing some of my huge project 'to do' pile. Yay for Blogtoberfest!

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest. In case you missed that paragraph above...

Day 12 - puppy shirt

2011-10-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Take a clean, new shirt (maybe even consider ironing it...)...

Add an embroidered puppy done my E herself...

Add double sided fusible interfacing to the back of it, cut around it, peel paper (from interfacing) off, iron on front of shirt, embroider a quick border...

and voila! A cute surprise for a sweet 9 yr old when she gets home this afternoon.

You send me....

2011-10-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

(I wish you could see how much they sparkle...)

I post a reasonable number of presents, living overseas from my family, and I am always trying to think of ways of embellishing gifts in a flat sort of way (to avoid crushed bows). I thought this might be my Christmas tag this year. Just glitter glue on plain wrap. Would work with glue and loose glitter as well of course. So many ideas for this now!

(hint: draw out your design lightly in pencil first then put glue over the top - you can get the name straight then!)

This post is brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest.

From Russia with love

2011-10-10T11:52:00.000-05:00

I finished up my second russian doll embroidery a couple of months ago (first one is here if you would like to check it out) and have been mulling over how to frame it (not the whole time obviously...just when I think of it...you know...). Let's see. Leave it in the hoop? Paint or yarn wrap the hoop and leave it in there? Frame it? Hmmm, let's try that. I have a few basic white frames lying about (as you do). White fabric doesn't look right against white frame... need a border... ric rac? that would look cute... don't have red ric rac... have to go to store... trying to stay on budget and not spend money.... ~~almost~~ impossible to go to craft store and ONLY buy needed ric rac.... hmmm, what else... aha! red card cut with scallop scissors! I like it! (of course, now I am thinking I need a teeny square frame...)

(I won't bore you with the whole thought and action process behind trying to just take the darn photo... aarrrghhhh...) (you are welcome)

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest.

Day 9 - Sunday stuff

2011-10-09T16:23:00.000-05:00

A photo wrap up of our weekend and what I have been doing today...

(obviously this is why autumn is called 'fall' here in North America - that is not dead grass, friends, it is all leaves...)

(sitting with E trying to knock over her homework for the week - with emphasis on the word 'trying'....)

(hexbugs getting ready to go into battle - A's recent birthday present is getting good play time)

(making numbers with A on a Lego mat)

(bustiers and hardhats go so well together I think)

(matching bustiers are the new 'it' thing for Lego couples...)

(you never know who you are going to meet crossing the road in this town)

(on Friday we headed to South Dakota for a karate tournament - saw this wind energy farm on the way there - this photo from my phone doesn't do it justice. It looked pretty awesome.)

(thanks to aforementioned tournament, now I have to find somewhere to put these... the kids did well but just about everyone in the younger age groups gets a trophy regardless so you end up with a truckload of the things)

Day 8 - Scrapbuster clipboard

2011-10-08T09:00:00.002-05:00

Old clipboard, scraps of scrapbooking paper, mod podge. Looks cute hanging on the wall above my sewing table!

Day 7 - deer frame

2011-10-07T13:24:00.000-05:00

So, I have had this cool cutout (thank you, master jigsaw/scroll saw cutter Barry!) for a little while and was mulling over what colour to paint it and so on. I was going to put it on a wall somewhere but like this better I think (shadow box frame, scrapbook paper behind, mdf cutout put on with mounting tape for depth). It is my little nod to the midwest hunting culture. I have a deer over my mantle too! (sorry, hunters, but the thought of real hunting has me squirming....)

Barry, if you have any spare time, let me know and I can think of a whole other load of things I would like silhouette cutouts of!

Dang, I wish I knew how to take photos of pictures and rooms a whole lot better... they are hard!

Day 6 - You are so deer to me, pretty acorn...

2011-10-06T23:52:00.001-05:00

:-)

(for technical purposes, it was before midnight where I am sitting when I posted this... the blogger clock must be on the east coast...)

Day 5 Blogtoberfest - framed doilies

2011-10-05T18:38:00.000-05:00

Today had me framing doilies that my wonderful Nana embroidered (dang, the top one is too low in the frame! have to fix that tomorrow now...). My Nana is 103 and still going strong and I love her to bits. I have a stack of embroidered and crocheted doilies that I rarely use so I wanted to frame them so I can enjoy them and think of her every day, especially when I am so far away from her. This is one wall of our dining room and I have this fabulous little table that my best friend, Barry, made for me years ago sitting there. The plant pot is a gift from another best friend (hey Em!) so this is one of my happy little corners for fond memories.

Simple goodie bag for a not-so-big child's party (not allowed to say 'little' anymore...)

2011-10-04T10:48:00.000-05:00

As I have mentioned before I have a thing for goodie bags at my kid's parties. I really like to give something handmade or useful (preferably both). It was A's birthday last Saturday and we had his party at their gymnastics place (great place for a party!) and I made these simple little goodie bags for A to hand out at the end. I always get a kick out of seeing how excited the other children are to see the birthday child open their gift and how equally excited the birthday child is to hand out the goodie bags. It is really sweet. I didn't put in a 2am sewing effort with these like I did for E's party in June but these were just as well received.

I made the little books (slightly adjusting a tutorial from here), added a pretty pencil and a couple of chocolates. I also made bookmarks with each child's name that I laminated and put in. I didn't have one left over for the photo but they were basic patterned rectangles with the child's name in the middle, cut out and laminated.

These are the steps I used for the little books:

1. I did the layout in Powerpoint (on Letter paper - in portrait mode - you get two to a page). Just put the image and writing far over on the right hand side.

2. I used free clipart from the internet for the colouring book style image (I did a bunch of different ones - a dolphin, squirrel, beaver, duck, owl, bird, etc.). The font for the book name is 'superpoint - rounded' (from dafont.com). I liked this one because the kids can trace over it if they want some letter writing practice. The font for the name and age labels is Pakenham Free (can't remember if this came with my computer or I got it from one of those free font sites).

3. I printed out the pages on white card, cut them in half to give me my two book covers and then measured and cut other papers for the inside pages. I did a mix of papers.

4. I stacked the pages and cover together and folded them in half, stapled in the crease (on a couple I stitched them as I couldn't find the right staples for my longer armed stapler), trimmed the paper with my little paper guillotine (or scissors if you have a steady hand), rounded the corners using a round corner punch (from a scrapbooking/craft store - near the decorative punches) and applied duct tape strips for binding. I didn't have any bookbinding tape and it was too expensive to buy some for this sole project. Plus A loves purple and the brightly coloured duct tape suited him.

If anyone wants a picture tutorial let me know and I will do it for you.

Blogtoberfest!

2011-10-03T09:36:00.000-05:00

I missed this last year but am joining in this time. It is a blogging community challenge to post every day for the month of October all together. Anyone else want to join? You can join in here! It doesn't matter if you join in late.

Koi necklace

2011-10-02T09:31:00.001-05:00

I went through a phase a few years ago of making a little bit of jewellery here and there. Sometimes for presents but mostly for myself. I think I got overwhelmed with the choices and so never really stuck at it (have you seen how many different types of beads and findings there are?? mind boggling). Having said that, I did enjoy it so I busted out the old needle nose pliers and whipped this little guy up for a present for someone (can't say who until after they receive it...just in case they read this). I just love this koi pendant. It is all jointed and is flexible. The other little beads are swarovski crytals and hungarian glass.

Over 40...

2011-09-28T23:08:00.000-05:00

Can someone please explain to me how, after a certain age, you suddenly have to pluck hair seemingly continuously from your face, neck and body and do so religiously but, one day, you catch the light a different way and find this....

(pardon my shocking computer drawing skills for what looks like a mattress spring coming out of her neck)

(no, that isn't me)

...which apparently has been growing for 3 months and you never noticed it before! Just delightful.

Pear terrarium

2011-09-28T09:59:00.000-05:00

Received my fine white sand! I need to rearrange it a bit but otherwise I LOVE IT. Seriously love it. Like 'walk through that room on purpose as a detour so I can look at it and smile' love it. I think I especially love the tiny little starfish and shell that Robin Charlotte from Etsy included with the plants. I can't wait for the plants to grow up a bit now.

I had some sand left over so A made one in my rose bowl vase. I think his actually looks better and I really like the addition of twigs. I might have to get the sweet boy to rearrange mine for me.

Of course, now I have to buy more sand so E can make one (twist my arm - not). Oh, looky that, I have a good reason to go to the thrift store again for a suitable vase/terrarium planter! Oh wait, I would have gone anyway.... :-)

Thrift Store Tuesday - a bit early

2011-09-26T14:19:00.000-05:00

Phew, those last few weeks flew by... between school and after school activities and dog stuff and health issues etc. etc. it is crazy around here!

Ok, well I promised to show some more of my thrifty finds and here they are! After this, there are going to be some fantastic crafts coming up so stay tuned...

I found a bunch more (ok, 14) of these blue mason jars and they were cheaper than the other three I bought. Of course, I probably have too many now but I am sure I will find a use for them... they are so pretty I couldn't resist! This sweet little apothecary jar was just $1. I am not sure what I am going to fill it with but I now understand my sister's obsession with all things glass - I love the sparkle and reflectiveness of it. I am still a sucker for porcelain as well but glass and crystal is definitely working it's way in to my heart too.

I found these two leaf prints and knew exactly where I could put them in our living room. They really make this little corner of our rental feel much more homey. Funny how little touches can do that.

I am picking up just about every clean white planter I can at the moment. I am hoping my little collection of indoor plants survive the winter with me (not known for my green thumb...). I really love having indoor plants as my daughter is horribly intolerant of flowers (bad hayfever) so I very rarely have cut ones inside. Which is a pity when you have a husband who loves to buy them!

This lovely is a vintage (antique?) crystal lampshade that I kept on seeing at the thrift store over weeks and weeks. I don't know why but it just kept whispering to me (ok, anyone who antiques/flea markets etc. knows exactly what I am talking about!). I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but thought maybe it might look nice upside down on a candlestick. So I went to that section of the thrift store....

and look at what I found.... perfect size to make this......

They fit together perfectly thanks to a large'ish cloche on the candlestick. I have been umming and aahing over gluing it all together but think I will leave it loose so it will be easier to change the candle. I really love how it came together.

But, the piece de resistance is saved for last! I was having a quick wander through one of my regular haunts when I spied this high on a shelf above me (which probably wasn't very high if you saw how tall I am....)....

for only $5!!! I grabbed it so fast I nearly got injured.

If you have been here awhile you might recall I have been coveting this one from Viva Terra. I could not believe my luck. So I immediately went on line and bought some air plants (from this shop on Etsy) and am waiting for my order of fine white sand (from Discount School Supply - love these guys!) to arrive. So, for the princely sum of around $25 (including the plants and sand and shipping) I have what sells for $79. Not bad! I will show you how it looks after my sand arrives.

Thrift Store Tuesday

2011-09-06T09:00:00.001-05:00

Look what I scored at the thrift store last week - a perfect fit for my cute little cake stand! Actually I did get some other beauties as well but I will show you them later...

Jeggings to shorts recycle

2011-09-05T16:38:00.000-05:00

My daughter has about 6 pairs of jeggings that she used almost the entire autumn and winter for school last year. They still fit her but the knees are worn through on most of them (some of them got patched for school). I don't know how long we will have warmer weather for here in Minnesota* but to stretch her wardrobe for a bit longer I thought a bit of scissor action is all we needed. I just cut the first leg and then folded the jeggings over to follow that cutting line on the other leg. Then I used the cut off piece as a guide for the rest.

Now she has 6 pairs of long denim shorts. Yay for recycling (upcycling?)! She wouldn't even consider me hemming them so this is about one of the easiest clothing refashions you will ever do. I will just have to snip off threads as they come loose over time I guess. Now I just need to find another 6 pairs of jeggings in the next size up to last this coming winter...

(* since I wrote this, it has been feeling all autumn like here the last two days... we missed a month of summer and don't feel ready for autumn yet! please wait mother nature!)

Book racks

2011-09-03T19:32:00.000-05:00

I was going to actually use these Ikea spice racks for ....wait for it.... spices! Radical thought I know. But then I saw all these great pictures of people using them for book racks so their destiny was changed. There is a sofa sitting right next to that red table so it makes it easy for us to choose our favourite books to snuggle up and read. A shout out to my wonderful landlady who doesn't mind me attaching things to walls. She is awesome.

Covered buttons

2011-08-26T17:35:00.000-05:00

Dreaming of making stuff for my own little shop some day......

Thrift Store Thursday

2011-08-25T21:05:00.000-05:00

Yep, I have thrifty goodness coming out of my ears lately. Just a quick post to show you my latest scores!

An Emile Henry jug I bought for $4.99 (that is retailing on Amazon for around $60). It is perfect and I love it!

A West Elm faux bois patterned planter for $8 (no idea if this is a good deal - they no longer sell it). I also got that cute geranium for just $1 at the thrift store too.

A complete game board of Mousetrap. Lord A (I can't keep up with my nicknames for my kids either...) has been asking and asking for me to buy this for him so when I spotted it for $1 I snatched it up.

It doesn't take long for him to personalise how he plays though.

I actually got this before last Christmas (for about $5) but forgot to mention it. It is not a great quality one but it works fine and the kids love it so that is good enough for me. Only problem is, we have used up the candles and I can't find where to buy new ones. Anyone have any advice about that??

Way overdue thanks

2011-08-25T18:54:00.000-05:00

THANKS!

I have been meaning to write about these two wonderful prizes I won for aaaaaages. I guess I really wanted the time to write a very thoughtful post on each of them and of course, as these things go, time just whizzed by.

Firstly, in March, I was oh so lucky enough to win a place in a Playful Learning Spaces e-course with the wonderful Mariah Bruehl through her blog of the same name - Playful Learning. I was so excited to win this. Ridiculously excited actually. I have been a fan of her beautiful and simple approach to children's play spaces for a long time. The course ran over 5 weeks and we had access to a recorded lesson by Mariah each week as well as other inspirational resources she had collected for us and we shared as a group through Flickr and Pinterest. I have to say I was not at all disappointed, even going in with such high expectations. I LOVED the course and wish it could have gone on and on and on. The information was stellar and I just enjoyed the whole process. I enjoyed looking at ways to simplify my children's spaces and provide thoughtful little nooks for them throughout the house. The process even helped me think about how I live and like to create and I made some little nooks for myself. Below I will share photos of some of the spaces I was inspired to create during this course. Mariah has just released a 'Playful Learning' book and I highly recommend it if the course is anything to go by. I can't wait to get a copy. Mariah is doing a blog book tour at the moment so if you head over to her blog you can follow along as well.

displaying animal figurines in an attractive, easily accessible way...

a bird watching nook in the family room (the basket usually contains Audubon birds and binoculars)

the kids' playroom before (I just kept stuffing more and more in there!)

and after (aaaah, much more serene)

a basket of books in the family room which has led to lots more reading time cuddles

These are just a very few of the simple but profound changes I was exposed to and have made. There is so much more information in the course that I can't do justice to here and I am truly thankful to Mariah for the opportunity!

Secondly, on another high note, in May I was fortunate enough to win the e-book 'How to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too' by Mandi Ehman through the wonderful Overcoming Busy blog. I was thrilled to win this book! It is covering the topic of how to follow your passions/interests and still care for your children and home etc. I would have bought it even if I hadn't won it. I would love to do a review of it here but I haven't finished reading it yet (slow aren't I??) but I will do that just as soon as I get it totally finished. Mandi is holding a book club discussion over on Life...Your Way starting either today or next Thursday (keep an eye out) and is offering the book at a discount (Kindle version is available as well). Go check it out and join our discussion!

With all this winning in the air I just might go and buy a lottery ticket!

Thrift Store Tuesday

2011-08-23T14:45:00.000-05:00

I have seen these around the internet for quite awhile and decided to try my hand after spotting this sweet little vintage plate the other day in one of my thrift store rounds. So easy and such a fun, quick result. I think these would look lovely en masse for a party dessert buffet.

I bought the plate and glass candlestick for less than $2. I used E6000 glue to stick them together, waited 24 hours for it to cure and that was it. Let me know if you try it or have already tried it.

Makeover Monday - Thrifty Mirror

2011-08-22T13:38:00.001-05:00

Remember this thrift store mirror I had plans for? The white kind of looks all fresh in this photo but in person it was looking a bit tired and tatty.

Here she is, all freshly painted and hanging in my entry way (some hints for indoor, poorly lit photography would be welcome Karen!). It really brightens up this space and makes me feel cheery every time I walk past. I love how little tweaks we do have that effect. By the way, the paint colour I used was Martha Stewart's Cornbread. The photo makes it look very bright but it is actually a softer colour in person. Check out the paint swatch next time you are at Home Depot and you will see what I mean.

Mouse mat makeover

2011-08-21T12:28:00.001-05:00

I was thinking about doing this ages ago and then Benita from Chez Larsson beat me to it so if you hop on over you can read her wonderful instructions. The only thing I did differently was to pull off the original fabric from my mouse mat as it was already lifting and I sprayed both the mat and the fabric before sticking them together (spraying one side gives a temporary bond, two sides makes it more permanent).

This is possibly the quickest makeover you will ever do and you get to look at and appreciate it every day. My favourite kind.

Pin It

Thrift Store Thursday

2011-08-18T16:25:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo, have I had some wonderful times in thrift stores lately!

Firstly I found this cute little bongo drum (which I recently saw in a catalogue for $25) for $4.

Then I found this gorgeous porcelain owl lamp. Just $10 and it is in mint condition.

But lastly, I hit the mother lode yesterday. All of this jadeite for $25! I am still over the moon about it.

Anybody else had any thrift store luck?

Rulers rule

2011-08-14T18:05:00.000-05:00

Miss E's rulers are getting a little makeover for school.... (and, yes, I specifically bought wooden ones so I could do this - cue Miss E's eye roll).

Birthday party for Miss E

2011-08-13T11:05:00.000-05:00

This is a catch up post for Miss E's birthday party which we held before we went back to Australia for our holiday. Miss E has not had a proper birthday party for 4 years (due to moving twice right around her birthday and other factors) so I decided to put a bit of effort in this year! E wanted a sleepover party (ugh - not my favourite thing) so she was allowed to invite 5 friends over and I stuck with a very simple party plan. I did quite a big party for her 5th birthday and I actually made notes of things I liked about it and what I would do differently. Here is a list of my basic party planning rules (from my vast experience of like two proper parties..lol):

1. Keep it SIMPLE. Children really just want to run around and play most of the time anyway.
2. Have only one or two scheduled activities.
3. Don't have a heap of food and make it simple too. The children are too excited to eat much generally (although maybe this rule will not be as important as they get older).

I had six girls in all coming for dinner, party, sleepover and breakfast and it was actually pretty easy to pull off (although I did have the help of a wonderful friend to help get it all done on time - thanks Dawn!!).

The girls arrived before dinner and I had platters of fruit, vegies and dip plus some potato chips out for them. Yep, I am one of those Mum's that doesn't like to sugar up the kids (especially when I know they have to go to sleep at my house!). I remember my sister doing a party for my nephew once and, amongst the fun foods (ie. lollies - aka candy - etc.) she had a platter of fruit kebobs. The kids descended on them in a frenzy and it always stayed with me (this was well before I had my kids).

After the girls had played for awhile I got them organised with a craft activity. I have been buying up embroidery hoops whenever I can from thrift stores and had just the right number in this size for the girls to whip up a little bunny outline (I printed a shape off the internet and traced over it to get the outline). You can still see the blue water soluble marker in this shot. I forgot to take a photo after they had rinsed them out. My favourite part of this craft was my idea to provide mini pompoms for them to add as the bunny tail! I think it worked out so cute. They all did a great job after a very quick lesson on how to do a basic back stitch.

Dinner was easy - I figured panini type toasted sandwiches would be easy and the girls could customise their fillings. I have a super hot panini press which toasts them very fast so that helped too.

Dessert was the cake plus orange cupcakes and lemonade (there is enough sugar there for them I figure). Now, I seem to be missing the decorated cake gene. I like to try most things and I love to bake and decorate at times but for some reason the whole themed party cake motivation has eluded me. For E's cake I made a favourite family chocolate fudge cake recipe. I cut it to make a layer cake and filled it with fresh whipped cream and strawberries then poured chocolate icing over the top. My lame attempt at decorating was sitting a few of her favourite Schleich animal figurines on top to which I added some miniature bunting which took me just a couple of minutes to make. I cut out tiny triangles of paper, used a sewing needle and cotton to thread them on and then tied the cotton to two short skewers. I loved the bunting and I thought the cake looked quite festive (crappy photo aside). Anyway, despite it not being very elaborate, it tasted marvellous!

I also made cupcake picks using cute little animal photos I got from the internet. I didn't get a decent photo of those though so another blurry photo will have to do! Ugh, I didn't have time to check my photos during this.

After that, the girl's watched a movie, went to bed (and to sleep - finally!) and, in the morning, I put out a breakfast of mini croissants, cereals, fruit and juice boxes. The girls were even brave enough to try a little piece of toast with vegemite on it (most of them did not like it - I guess you have to grow up with it). It has been a surprising offshoot of our expat lifestyle, this being a vegemite ambassador...

Now, I may have lucked out on the decorated cake gene but I really love to make the goody bag something special (and useful). I have actually thought about opening an Etsy shop for goodie bags I think about it that much. I am just not a big fan of the little plastic bag full of candy (no offence to those of you who are happy with them - to each his own!). For each of the girls I made up these lined calico bags that are big enough to use as library bags. Now, one note about these. I got a little ambitious and put a little more time into them than I would normally for goodie bags but just couldn't stop myself once I got started. So, anyway, they ended up with these cute bags with their initials appliqued on the front. I used a combination of fabrics that I had in my stash and some I had found at thrift stores in remnant bins. A quick note about thrift store fabric finds - always WASH THEM WELL. I am not germ phobic at all but, really, you have no idea where those fabrics have been so wash, wash, wash them.

Now, before this blog post becomes a novel, the last thing I did was add a few little personalised items to the bags. I put in a little bag of candy which I personalised with a tag with a cute animal photo and a message from E. I bought some cheap little items from the Target dollar section as well. There was a little matchbox style notebook and pretty decorated pencil along with these bubble bottles that I personalised by replacing the label with a personalised one I whipped up on the computer. You get a bag of four of those mini bubbles for $1 and the same for the notebooks and pencils (2 for notebook and 8 for pencils) so it is very cost effective as party favours.

I will do another post about how to personalise those little candy/lolly bags and the bubble bottles. They were really quick and easy and looked great.

Have a great weekend!

Trip home

2011-08-06T07:53:00.000-05:00

Things I love about going back to Australia for our once a year visit....

being able to collect fresh eggs, pick cherry tomatoes, passionfruit and mandarins fresh off the bush, vine and trees, picking macadamia nuts off the ground ready for cracking open and gathering a bunch of pretty violets for a vase....

trampoline fun with a missed cousin...

attending camel races (camels just run funny!)...

feeding the chickens...

collecting the eggs...

King Parrot and Rosella feeding at the mountains nearby...

Getting close to a Kookaburra...

Misty sunrises...

Quad bike riding...

and watching the wallabies having their breakfast in the front yard.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T22:05:00.001-05:00

(my husband and daughter)

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful day celebrating Father's Day here in the US. It isn't Father's Day until September in Australia so I hope I don't forget my own Dad on the day now that we have celebrated for my husband!

We had a low key day which involved a special breakfast, a small gift, two very heartfelt homemade cards, a bike ride to a favourite park, getting to watch some of the US Open golf tournament (I think that was it), yummy dinner made by my husband (he loves to cook) and chocolate cake (made by children and I).

I love celebrating Father's Day and seeing my two children show my husband how much they care by the very careful and precise placement of doggie stickers on their cards and all the other tiny little touches they agonised over. They are lucky to have a wonderful Daddy and I am so happy to be married to him.

Thrift Store Tuesday

2011-05-24T19:29:00.000-05:00

Well, we are into day 5 of rainy weather so my projects are going nowhere (paint is involved in a few, sunlight is required for photos of others). So, I thought I would share some thrift store finds I have had recently.

My son just loved this little chair (only $1.99!). I am a sucker for a chair and it is in great condition. I am not even sure if I will recover the seat. The red vinyl looks kind of cute for now. I will remove the stickers and freshen up the wood though. It is a folding chair and Jughead loves to show everyone how it works.

I needed a small mirror in our entry way and I liked the shape of this faux bamboo frame (99c). It is getting a coat of paint (this is one of my half done projects) before it gets hung up.

I found this white painted timber paper sorter that fits scrapbook size paper as well ($8 - very solid and heavy).

I love white plant pots and this was looking really grubby in the thrift store (79c) but I liked the shape of it and it cleaned up just like new. You can't see in these photos but it has a faint wine barrel pattern to it. I bought some moss to cover the dirt of my plant and the kids just had to 'populate' it. They love doing that. Anybody else have a million squinkies around?? I am not even sure if that is what they are called. I am pretty sure this one is a cheap knockoff from one of those little bubblegum type vending machines. I have a rooster and a penguin sitting on my kitchen windowsill too.

I found this coat rack for $3! There is nothing wrong with it that I can work out and it is now hanging on the wall right where we come in from the garage - perfect! Blessed be those who save me from a paint job I say. I am going to cut out some pretty scrapbook papers for the label holders.

So, that is my haul over the last month or so. I also grabbed some vintage buttons, more embroidery hoops and some sheets (cheap fabric). I have a project coming up with one of the sheets so, once sunlight graces us with her presence again, I will show you.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

2011-05-20T15:12:00.000-05:00

Very quick post to share some exquisiteness. Sigh, aren't these just so gorgeous?? My dear husband bought them for me last night. Peonies are my favourite flowers but I have never had a bunch and I just love them....

I have a whole host of projects coming up over the next week. I just need some light to take some photos (raining here today) then I am all over it... Hope you are all looking forward to a great weekend!

Freebie Friday - Counting with Shapes poster

2011-04-29T13:22:00.000-05:00

Counting with Shapes

Here is Freebie Friday again. I designed this poster for my son so we could have fun counting and learning what certain shapes are called at the same time - I have included tiny labels on each shape. Honestly? I needed the little labels more than him I think. ha ha. By the way, is anyone having any problems accessing these files? I am using Dropbox and just wanted to check.

Also, I have had some thrift shop scores lately that I have to share. Look! Now I have 3 of these lovely blue Mason jars. I am trying to convince myself I don't need any more now. They make me so happy to look at them on my kitchen windowsill and sometimes I use them for vases which just ups the cuteness factor even more.

Owl fever shows no signs of abating and I have succumbed to a few little treasures. The latest being this adorable little plant pot and a vintage owl themed book which I bought mainly for the illustrations.

Here is a better view of the little pot.

Look at this page out of the book. Would be lovely scanned and printed off to frame for a child's room don't you think?

I really love thrift store shopping but, after my first flurry of cheap purchases I am keeping myself in check so I don't bring too much 'stuff' into my home for no good reason. Not what I need after all my (past and continuing) decluttering efforts. Do you like thrift store shopping too? What has been your favourite find?

Embroidery beginnings

2011-04-25T16:55:00.000-05:00

I thought I would be brave and show my first attempt at a fully embroidered picture. I have done little bits of embroidery over the years but never had a real go at it. I am totally hooked! I was making this for a friend but I am not happy enough with it to use for a gift. The eyes are a bit weird (I made them too big and they are different sizes), the stitch lengths are all uneven, yada yada yada. But I am quite happy with it for myself. I will have to do another one for my friend. I bought a few embroidery books recently to help kickstart my attempts and this pattern comes from Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray (she has a really lovely blog and Etsy shop too). By the way, I have absolutely no affiliations with Aimee - I just bought her book and checked her out. I don't have affiliations with Amazon either (but I probably should if I am going to recommend anything). Anyway, what I love about her book is that it comes with a CD with all the designs on it and you can print them off very easily and trace the patterns onto your fabric using a water soluble marker. So, so easy and lots of cute, simple designs to start off with.

The very best thing of all though, was that it captivated the interest of my 8 yr old (Pupster - as a refresher for her new nickname) so much that she has completed her first one and has started on another. She has taken to it so well and it makes me so happy to sit and do it with her and the chatting time that comes with that.

Here is her first completed one (a dog of course!). We are going to applique this on to a t-shirt for her.

Here is her second one in progress.

Jughead wanted to try one as well today (he has had a hoop with burlap in it for awhile that he has enjoyed randomly stitching in). He really wanted a picture to do so I will get a photo and show you as well when I get another minute. So fun (for me particularly)!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T10:03:00.000-05:00

I know this has been around for awhile but this cartoon still makes me laugh every time I see it. I couldn't find a source to credit it so if anyone knows please pass that on.

Busy kids - activity roundup

2011-04-23T17:19:00.002-05:00

We have been busy around here lately.

So, after A's fun with his cheerio box dollhouse (inspired by Joel of Made by Joel), Miss E decided to do her own.

and then with residents, dogs of course.

Then she progressed to make up another style of dollhouse with walls and lots of cool details. She had the ideas and I helped her with the walls - they were a bit tricky.

I love her basin and tap...

the toilet has a downpipe....

and there is a fireplace. All in all, a lot of fun.

Plus we made a bottle bird feeder. As a tip, instead of cutting holes in each side to push the stick through, I cut an X. Makes for a tighter fit for the the stick (I am pretty sure I saw this tip in a Martha magazine at one stage).

We have been playing Double Shutter.

We made a zip line/flying fox for the back door (again, inspired by Joel).

Plus the 'how to draw' books have been getting a work out.

What have you all been up to with your kiddos?

Freebie Friday - Bunting To Do List

2011-04-22T23:36:00.000-05:00

Bunting To Do List

Short and sweet tonight (although I am very proud of myself for posting freebie Friday on an actual Friday - hee hee). Here is a cheery little to do list to brighten up the task! There are three to a page that you can cut out and staple together if you so choose.

Freebie Friday

2011-04-18T00:22:00.000-05:00

Let's pretend it is still Friday ok? Delusions are my modus operandi these days.

Blue moroccan tile inspired paper - letter size

I have been seeing this pattern around and, thanks to my good friend Katy, have been drooling over it on cushions mainly. So, I thought it would be fun to make a printable scrapbooking paper design with it too. Enjoy!

Mushroom beads

2011-03-27T10:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, here is my other idea for these little mushroom buttons, beads for jewellery. Cute!

Let's gather some supplies. I bought the jewellery making supplies at Michael's. Some silver chain, fixings including the clasp and some flat head pins to attach the mushrooms. I haven't done a lot of jewellery making but this is the simple of the simple techniques. You do need these needle nose pliers though. I really should have used rounded pliers but this worked fine for me.

Next, you need to paint your little mushrooms. I used some poster putty to keep it steady on the end of a skewer and it was much easier to paint this way.

Put them onto a little piece of scrap timber (for when the drill comes through the other side) and drill a hole through the middle. Don't worry if you are a little off - it won't matter to the end look.

Insert the flat head pin through the bottom of your 'bead'.

Use your pliers to make a little hook.

Put it on your chain and use the pliers to close up the hook as much as you can.

Add as many as you like and ask your 8 yr old to model it for you. Adorable! (if I do say so myself...)

Make your own knitting needles, mushroom style

2011-03-10T21:43:00.000-06:00

Here is project number two with our fun little button plugs. Knitting needles! I visited a Waldorf school once and they showed me how they made their own knitting needles by sanding down the ends. I just sped up the process a bit with the pencil sharpener.

Take some dowel (mine is approx. 12 in/30cm long and about 10mm in diameter but use whatever width you like of course). Glue a button plug to one end.

Stick the other end in a pencil sharpener....

Until it looks like this.

Gently sand the point down until there are no sharp edges and you have a soft point....

Like this....

and then paint your button plugs to look like mushrooms (or ladybugs).

Too cute! Now I just need to learn how to knit...(I am totally not kidding).

Ladybug love

2011-03-08T20:35:00.000-06:00

One of my commenters from yesterday's mushroom magnet post suggested they would look great as ladybugs and she was right! Thanks Willow's Quiet Corner! By the way, these were even easier as I just coloured them with Sharpies and only painted the little eyes on. I have another cute idea for these little painted buttons for tomorrow as well.

Making Monday - Mushroom Magnets!

2011-03-07T17:04:00.000-06:00

Don't these look adorable? I saw this idea used on pencils first (check out her other projects - adorable!!) and then my sister sent me some cute little Japanese mushroom magnets (like this) for Christmas so I thought it would be easy to make some too. Here is how I did it.

First, buy these little wooden button plugs at your local hardware store (I found these in the tool section). They come in different sizes so pick whatever suits you. I bought these teeny little magnets at Michael's but the hardware store has them too I think.

Gather your supplies. Button plugs, magnets, paintbrush, paint, glue*, something to put your little dabs of paint on. (* see note below about the glue!)

I used this little enamel dish to put the magnets on and then glued the mushrooms on. *Realise the gorilla glue does not work AT ALL and switch to Aleene's Tacky Glue. Leave them to dry.

Paint the tops red (leave the little 'stem' natural). As Kimanh says in her pencil tutorial, paint from the top down so you don't get paint on the 'stem'.

Use the other end of your paintbrush or a skewer to dip into white paint and do your spots. I actually cut the tip off the sharp end of a skewer so I could get a smaller dot. Let it all dry (it doesn't take long).

Use on a magnetic noticeboard or your fridge or anywhere you need a little mushroom love!

Yet more snow... that is why they call it Minnesnowta!

2011-03-06T21:30:00.000-06:00

It is snowing yet again. It is March and the official first day of Spring is in exactly two weeks. Someone should tell the weather or this is what I am going to look like..... (hee hee, this puppet was at the Christmas display at Macy's downtown - I keep meaning to send this to my Mum, she would find it hilarious).

On a more positive, less whiny, note, look at my thrift shop score yesterday! I was so happy to find these vintage beauties. So pretty. I have found quite a few other things recently that are all getting little or big makeovers and I shall be revealing them over the next few weeks. After the temperature gets high enough that I can use spray paint anyway.....

Serving plate makeover

2011-03-04T08:35:00.001-06:00

I have these two little serving plates. They are not too big, I love the colours and I like that they are a rectangle and square - so handy for lots of things that aren't round cakes. I thought this would be a cute way to jazz them up a little sometimes.

I cut out some pretty scrapbook papers to fit in the bottom, laminated them and popped them in (securing them with double sided tape is a good idea). I can make as many as I like and change them out for different parties and so on. I am going to do the same for my small cake plate as well. This would be a nice way to use your plain white salad plates as serving pieces also. Too easy!

Better late than never and a quotable quote free printable

2011-02-26T12:55:00.000-06:00

I never got around to discussing the whole New Year and all that it usually entails. Resolutions and so forth I mean mostly. The New Year just kind of whooshed past taking January and February along with it, it seems.

Well, I like to say that I don't make resolutions but, truthfully, I make dozens of them! In fact, I could just trot the same ones out every year really. So, in the spirit of resolution making, I have made one more. To not make so many resolutions! ha ha. Here is my very short list:

1. To become a wealthy business owner who has scads of people to do all the dirty work for her.
2. To grow very long legs.
3. To own a private jet so I never have to wait in line at customs, immigration and security with the other 400 people who just exited planes ever again. EVER AGAIN.

Oh wait, that's not my list!!

Here it is:

1. To learn how to use my mobile phone (tragic but true).
2. To learn how to access my home voicemail (again, tragic but true).
3. To appreciate the joy in the ordinary day to day minutae of life.

Spot the hard one. Oh, you have trouble with your mobile phone too? :-)

Anyway, back to the distant memory that was New Year's, I started off my year with this quote which is my motto for this year and I am going to share it with you as a free printable. Better late than never I (too often) say. It is framed and up on my mantle so I can remember my intention and I thought you might find it inspiring as well. This file has four pages - a different colour for each page. If you desperately want a different colour just let me know and I can do that easily. Oh, I am trialling a different file sharing facility here this time as well so let me know if you have any problems with accessing it.

Free quote by Howard Thurman

Hope you enjoy it and I hope it inspires you this year as well!

Update: I actually started writing this post in the middle of January and you will all be ecstatic to know that I can now access my home voicemail! Yay, progress!! I knew you would sleep better knowing that....

Cabin fever

2011-02-22T13:18:00.001-06:00

Another 16 inches or thereabouts of snow....

Basketball hoop required inside.

Quickie address book

2011-02-13T10:38:00.000-06:00

I am continuing with organising and decluttering my house and looking for every little area where I can do that. One of these is an address book. For quite a few years now I have been trying to do this electronically and, for whatever reason, it just isn't working for me. I end up with addresses in different programs or in my email and I don't get around to putting them all in one spot. I think being a very tactile person also interfere's with my good intentions when utilising technology. I just like to feel paper in my hands sometimes. I am trying to overcome this with my personal calendar too. I have a perfectly good phone with a very good calendar system and am trying to get in the habit of using it whilst walking past all the gorgeous paper calendars. The problem with a paper calendar is that I don't like taking it in my handbag because I like to keep the weight down but then I don't have it with me when I am making appointments and so on. Anyway, that is a whole other topic, I am digressing.

To solve my address book problem, I made up a very simple system that works for me. I used 3" x 5" inch ruled index cards to write everyone's details on. A separate card for each family/friend. I can write quite a bit on each card. As well as the usual address and phone numbers, I also add things like their email addresses, birthdays, the names of their children and any other notes I feel like.

I made up front and back covers in Powerpoint and printed them out.

I laminated them and then hole punched the front and back covers and all the cards. Then I used little hinged rings to hold it all together. Similar to my recipe folder, I haven't used alphabet dividers or anything. All the cards are alphabetical but that is it. I have spare cards at the back so if I need to make major changes to a card or add another one, they are already there.

Oh, by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed my four days away and have come back all refreshed (and looking forward to lots of hugs)! These are the sorts of views I enjoyed in the beautiful Banff and it was wonderful to share it all with a good friend. I have to say one of the things I really enjoyed about my trip was sitting in the airport reading a book and, for once, not being the parent struggling with kids! Oh yes, and eating at nice restaurants and going into shops that are not kid friendly and sleeping in and eating breakfast slowly and.... Aaah, the simple joys. :-)

Where I will be for the next 4 days....

2011-02-03T22:37:00.000-06:00

Ok, who knows where this is? I will be catching a bit of well deserved R&R by myself (yes, BY MYSELF) for the next four days. Well, I am travelling by myself. I should clarify (tips hat to sister #3 - she gets the joke). I am actually going to visit a girlfriend there. Should take about 24 hours before I miss my husband and kids horribly but I will suffer through the remaining three days. I am a trooper like that.

Let's pray for Queensland

2011-02-01T21:13:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe this monster of a hurricane is about to hit Queensland, after all they have been through. I come from Queensland but much further south from where this is going to strike. I invite you all to hope and pray that this cyclone won't cause too much damage or loss of life.....

Link to the satellite loop

Snow day activity #389 (at least it feels like it has been snowy for that long)

2011-01-30T23:41:00.000-06:00

When the backyard looks like this (and has for 2.5 months)....

you look to the wonderful world of the internet for inspiration. You must check out the brilliant simplicity of Made by Joel (here is the link to his original cereal box doll house creation). I love his stuff so so much.

Anyway, I was flicking through his site one day about two months ago with Lord A on my knee and, last week, with no prompting from me, Lord A made this from memory. I helped with the furniture (the little table and chairs in the bottom left) but he directed. and added slides. every little cereal box doll house has to have at least two slides apparently.... the Lego people are loving it. (also a good illustration of how you just never know what is going to stick in their heads!) (see the food on the table? one pistachio...Lego people love them apparently)

Recipe folder

2011-01-14T17:27:00.000-06:00

There is a lot of organising going on around my house at the moment. How cliched of me for January right? I guess it is a cliche for a reason. I actually love organising and find it fun and relaxing. Not that I live in organised bliss unfortunately. I have another 3 people (and a dog) who bring their own challenges to my utopian view of a clutter free, organised and peaceful home. Oh yeah, and my family history of keeping just about everything because 'it might be useful'. Thankfully this last tendency is nearly cured. Three international moves in 4 years will do that to you!

One of the things I have reorganised is my collection of printed, clipped and handwritten recipes. I have tried different methods for sorting all of these before (including folders with categories etc.) but seeing one of my best friend's recipe 'bible' folders with everything in plastic sleeves but with no apparent system for categorising was a revelation. I love her recipe folder. It is massive and is full of the sort of love that only a well loved collection of recipes that really feeds a family comes to have. The kind with food splotches on pieces of paper and little handwritten notes by her whether it is saying how much she loved the recipe or how she adapted it. So, in the spirit of copying being the finest form of flattery I decided to make my own and combine all my different folders into one (exhibit A above).

I find that, after a while, I know exactly where to flick to get which recipe so the lack of categories is not missed at all. Now I can enjoy my printed out recipes next to the handwritten ones my Mum or sisters have given me and they nestle alongside favourite ones cut out of magazines. I love it!

Of course, I had to pretty up the folder. I bought a new folder (by some miracle I didn't have one the right size on hand) and a bunch of plastic sleeves.

I then cut out a piece of scrapbook paper the right size to fit in the spine and printed out a label to stick on top (see first picture at the top of this post). I am enjoying it already...

Medicine (wo)man

2011-01-11T15:10:00.000-06:00

Here is what I have been doing over the last two weeks. Lord A has been sick with a cold and then Strep, Sporty Girl had the cold and then my better half came down with a cold as well (we are seeing if the Strep is taking hold on him yet..sigh). With so many people sick and everyone taking different medicines at different times, I came up with this little system to keep me sane. Inspired by hospital charts, I made my own little chart that I thought you might find useful too. Just as a side note, something else that keeps me sane is grabbing a little basket and making sure everything I need to tend the ill is in there - medications, medicine cups/syringes/spoons, lozenges, Vicks vaporub, thermometer, hand sanitiser etc. I keep it on the kitchen counter until no longer needed. It also helps if my hubby and I are taking shifts through the night - we don't have to wake up the other to find out which child had which medicine at what time. Works for me!

I am having trouble with Scribd for my document sharing so I am going to trial sharing this with Google Docs in the meantime. Let me know if you have any problems and I will send you the original Word document.

Medication Tracker

Joy to the World.....

2010-12-25T11:43:00.000-06:00

Geo board and popcorn experiments

2010-11-23T13:46:00.000-06:00

I will be doing lots of kid stuff this week with both children home for school holidays. We spent all morning making and playing with a geoboard (I got the idea from these wonderful people). I have been meaning to do this for awhile so we went and dug an old piece of chipboard out of the crawlspace (we have access from the basement) to use. I divided the board up into three spaces with a Sharpie and then the kids drew their own dot patterns while I did a grid in the middle. I didn't have enough nails so not all the dots got covered. I have to say, don't use chipboard for this! It was too hard for the kids to do any of the hammering and that was going to be part of the activity. I would look for some old pine next time so the kids could hammer as well. The kids really had a ball playing with this for ages.

The other thing we did this morning was popcorn experiments. I figured that if the popcorn pops in a paper bag why wouldn't it pop in a covered bowl? Well, I will have to look into the science behind it now as it didn't pop very well at all. Then we tried a covered plate. Then a plate with no cover. You can see our dismal results. I did get more popped corn than this photo shows but the kids had already retrieved most of it. They really enjoyed watching it pop and ping all over the microwave though! I haven't given up on my experimenting in this arena though. Can oven bags go in the microwave? I will have to check...

Berry lovely

2010-11-23T00:16:00.000-06:00

Take some dead branches (I have been saving them from our autumn pruning)....

Grab a bowlful of mini pom poms and willing children....

Use tacky glue to stick them on said dead branches and voila! I really like how these turned out. They look super cute in person and will be decorating a table somewhere for me for awhile. I kind of wanted just red, orange and yellow pom poms for a more authentic berry look (but really how authentic are pom poms going to look??) but Michael's didn't have them. So I bought fall themed ones and added red and white ones to it. They still look cute.

Although, I have to say, the kids tired of it pretty quickly and I was left to do a lot on my own (not that I mind) while they made Christmas cards instead. I think scrunched up bits of tissue paper might have been easier for them to handle and they might have stuck with it longer.

Basket case

2010-11-22T15:45:00.000-06:00

Remember those little baskets I found at the thrift store for mere cents? Well, I finally found time to bestow some mod podge love on them and have turned them into stationery organising central. I just stuck strips of scrapbooking paper around the rim and am now using the one on the right as my Christmas card organising centre (in there I have cards, stickers, mailing labels, stamps, a pen, sticky tape, scissors and also some writing paper that I needed a place for). The left one is holding all my leftover note cards and envelopes. I need to start writing letters again! Maybe I will search for ideas of how to use up copious numbers of envelopes instead....

Carrots on the windowsill

2010-11-14T20:39:00.000-06:00

Have you ever done this with your kids? My Mum used to do this for me and my siblings when we were young and we loved it. I just remembered it the other day when I was cutting the tops off carrots whilst making dinner. All you do is take the top, put it in a little bowl (or on a saucer or whatever) with some cotton wool and keep the cotton wool moist. It doesn't take long for the carrot to sprout. Every morning at breakfast my two ask to check on its progress. Cheap, easy fun.

Homemade microwave popcorn

2010-11-11T19:46:00.000-06:00

This has been a very popular activity around our house for the last couple of days. Thanks to Maize Hutton, we have been making our very own microwave popcorn and I give it a huge thumbs up for super easy, super yummy and for making Lord A think I can do magic.

Here is a quick rundown of the process (not that you really need it but for all those other visual learners like myself here goes).

Grab a paper bag and some popping corn. I am recycling a paper bag some takeaway soup came in but you can use any paper bag I would think. Like Maize Hutton did, I will probably buy some lunch bags and make a bunch for the freezer.

Throw a handful into the bag (I worked out that two tablespoons in the bag was right for my microwave).

Fold over the open end a couple of times (you can tape this end shut if you want but this bag was big enough that nothing was going to be falling out).

Pop it in the microwave and put it on for about 2 mins (longer than 2 minutes and they start to burn - trust me).

Declare yourself a magician to the under 5 set and throw some melted butter and salt over them in a bowl.

Mmmmmmmm....

Monster in the house

2010-11-11T12:33:00.000-06:00

I had this cute little milk bottle that I thought I would recycle by cutting little windows and doors into it (as per the idea here at Filth Wizardry) and maybe we could make a cute little mouse from pom poms or something to live inside after the kids decorate it with stickers and Sharpies and so on.

Lord A had other ideas.

Back in the game....

2010-10-29T13:43:00.000-05:00

Yessirreeee, I am back now. My computer is fixed (yay! 1500 malware, spyware and adware files later.....) and is working better than ever. So, how did I celebrate? I dragged my family to a thrift store for a spot of fun trawling of course!

This is most of my bounty. I bought a few of those old decorative tins as my Mum collects them so I can use them as gift boxes for a double gift. I always find it hard to pass up cane and wicker baskets (so I don't!) especially when they are all less than 90 cents. I like to do basic embroidery with my kids so I am always on the lookout for hoops and I was thrilled to find these little packs of vintage buttons for 20 cents. I got these hand knitted mittens for Lord A. I am assuming that one of the volunteers knits them up to help with raising money. I also got a cute striped runner that is the exact length of our dining table for $2.80, a couple of board games for the kids for less than $1 ea (and all the pieces are there) and a small basketball that fits Lord A's new hoop perfectly. I did also pick up some owl ornaments that I was going to spray paint white as a gift but the kids nabbed them for their rooms.

So, I will have to show you what I do with the cane baskets and tins. I am thinking the larger basket will be my greeting card one stop organising centre. Anyway, I will show you what I come up with later.

Oh, and Happy Halloween everyone for this Sunday! (by the way, what is with the adult female costumes for sale??? does every adult woman want to look like she is in a very questionable dinner theatre production at the local 'gentleman's club'?? harumph..)

Sound matching game

2010-10-23T18:27:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo! I am managing to do a quick post. I still haven't had any luck getting my computer fixed and I have a bunch of comments waiting for moderation but I can't access that page right now. I am just happy I can do this quick post.

Here is a very quick idea and one that I am surprised with the popularity of it with Lord A (he just turned 5). I made these awhile ago but forgot to mention them. They are the little plastic 'eggs' that Kinder Surprise toys come in. I kept a bunch of them, thinking they could be useful, and came up with this classic sound matching game. Lord A and I gathered a bunch of items to put inside (in pairs) and then we just sealed them up with some hardware store tape. We have them sitting in a cleaned out ice cream container although I am keeping an eye out for a nice little wicker basket from a thrift shop. I think that would look nicer. And that is very important of course. ha ha. Lord A goes back to this again and again. They just pick up one of the eggs, shake it and then try to find the other one that sounds the same.

If you are interested in some ideas, here is a list of the items we used. Well, the ones I can remember anyway.

- sand
- little tubular beads (from those large Ikea bead jars)
- coins
- rice
- tiny metal nuts (from nuts and bolts)

It was a little tricky with the last couple to get different enough sounds to distinguish from the others. These would be fun to have a bunch of them just filled with the beads or sand as little maracas also. Those items make a lovely sound.

Computer problems

2010-10-13T18:09:00.000-05:00

I will write this quick (before the page disappears!!). I have been trying to post for the last week and have to finally admit my computer must have a virus of some sort. I will be sorting that out and then back with a vengeance! I have some great projects coming up! See you all soon.

Wha?? It is October already??

2010-09-30T23:24:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh, how time flies when you are busy. Ok, well we are settling in nicely to our new home. The house is great, the kids are happily ensconced in school and I only have my craft/sewing stuff left to unpack. So, here is my question everybody. I need to buy a new sewing machine and I am having a hard time deciding which one. I mainly sew easy clothes and even easier homeware type stuff like cushions and I will be delving into the area of sewing for dolls soon (my daughter has acquired a passion for American Girl dolls). Basically, I don't need an industrial type machine anyway. I want to know what you all use and what you like/don't like about it. Also, where is a good place to buy them in the US? Do they sell them at Joann's? Can you believe I have only visited a Michael's store twice and have never even visited a Joann's since being in the US (we arrived way back in June)?? I haven't dared go near them when I can't actually do anything yet. What self control! Ha ha.

Home Sweet Home.....

2010-08-17T09:59:00.000-05:00

At last! We are moving into a house tomorrow (southwest part of Minneapolis). Anyone have suggestions on which shops would provide the best price/value for things like heavy curtains (blackout ones for the bedrooms)?

I am still around....

2010-08-06T11:44:00.000-05:00

Wow, I am quite impressed I still have Followers! Thank you for your patience everyone. Things have been a tad hectic, a tad stressful and it isn't over quite yet. To give you an abbreviated version of what has been happening since we left Uruguay, well, we moved to Boston and were frantically house hunting (this is a full time job in the market here right now - it is brutal!) only to have circumstances change and be told two weeks ago (I think it was then - my memory is blurring now) that we need to relocate to Minnesota instead. Ugh. Boston is like my dream location to live so I was pretty upset but, after having the appropriate mourning period, I don't believe in dwelling on that. So, onwards and upwards to Minnesota! Lucky we hadn't unpacked our boxes yet. Anyway, we are heading over there next Tuesday and will be frantically searching for a house. We will have to find one fast as our shipping container has finally cleared customs and is on it's way!! Wish me luck! Boy, do I have some projects planned once my stuff is unpacked....

Meanwhile, we managed a weekend trip to New York last weekend and that was a dream come true for me too so I will leave you with a photo of our weekend in New York. This is my two kids on Liberty Island with the Manhattan skyline in the background.

No news is good news....

2010-06-23T11:57:00.000-05:00

I knew this photo I took of a funny looking little piece of cereal would come in handy.....

'Familiar' book (with activities)

2010-06-01T13:50:00.000-05:00

As you know, we are moving this week from Uruguay to the USA. My children (ages 7 and 4) are not the super relaxed types who don't really care about such things (neither are we so surprise, surprise) so, to help ease the transition, I made each of them these little 'familiar' books.

I had this stack of plastic envelopes (they are approx. 20cm x 16cm) that we had DVD's in. The kids have 15 sleeves each that I have connected with small rings. I think they might be curtain rings - they open with a hinge - I can't even remember where I got them. I designed the front cover and printed out the pattern in the middle of the page (this neatly wrapped around a thick piece of cardboard for stability).

For the first half of the book I added photos (and simple words for reading practice for Lord A) of themselves, family members and familiar items like their beds, toys, etc. All of the toys and items pictured are things they won't see for 2 months so they love to look at them and anticipate their return. I did the page layout in Powerpoint.

For the last half of the book, I copied images of mazes and connect the dots off the internet. In the second photo you can see a small face washer (face cloth, face towel - whatever you call them) inside the front cover. I had these teeny little face washer's left over from when the kids were babies. They are much smaller than normal but are the perfect size to use as an eraser with dry erase markers. This way the kids can do the puzzles over and over if they want. I have a little drawstring bag full of dry erase markers in different colours for each of the kids to have with their book.

The back cover is the same as the front without the title. I used a really nice thick cardboard for the covers so they will be sturdy enough to hold and write on if they don't have a table handy.

I am really happy with how these turned out. Sporty Girl has seen hers and has been carrying it around already but I am waiting to surprise Lord A for a moment when he really needs it (or when I really need him to be occupied! - hello, Customs lines anyone?). Anyway, my quick break hiding away from the packers is over so I had better get back to it!

Aaarrrgghhh, the removalists are nearly here.....

2010-05-30T06:29:00.000-05:00

Well, things are pretty frantic here of course. The removalists are coming tomorrow morning at 8.30am to commence packing. Oh, this is so not my favourite part about moving. I just have to keep in mind that in one week we will be in our new city (and country).

Well, I did complete most of my 'meaning to finish' projects but I don't have time to put them all into a blog post with this very loud clock ticking in my head. I will leave you with just one.

This is my second little sock owl (number one is up there in my banner right now) which I made for a dear friend who just had a baby. I changed his eyes a little bit but that is about it. He is sitting on a little blanket I was going to make but, as I don't have access to the correct needle etc. (and I am scared of sewing interlock), I took the fabric I bought to a 'merceria' (a tailor/haberdashery place) and had them make it up to my measurements etc. I really love that soft coloured spotty pattern. I am so happy with how this gift turned out.

Ok, well that is it from me for awhile, I will be busy probably most of this week with packing and relocation stuff. Wish us luck (and speedy ships to get our stuff to the US)!

'Meaning to Finish' Project Week - day whatever

2010-05-14T16:07:00.000-05:00

I barely even know what day it is, let alone keeping up with project days right now! ha ha.

Ok, well, I am making some progress. I haven't exactly been powering through mod podge land yet but I have completed a few things to show you.

The kids did more of the Sharpie Softies (Lord A did one too - so cute!) awhile ago and I hadn't finished them off for them so they were happy to cuddle them finally.

I covered a plain little craft box to make a gift box for the girly hair bow for my friend. My little box went from this:

to this:

I really love that effect of the two different patterns for the box and lid.

Next up is a DIY padded mailing envelope. I can't buy padded envelopes for posting gifts and so on at the moment (this is a veeeeery long story....) so I made my own using a regular office supply envelope.....

some bubble wrap cut into two rectangles and made into a pocket by using clear packing tape to seal 3 sides....

and then pop them into the envelope and bob's your uncle!

Love it. Oh, I forgot to take a photo of my snazzy label I made. I will do that another day with another parcel I have to send.

I also bought one of those plastic organiser boxes (like the ones for beads) to organise my stationery but I am pretty sure you don't want to see a picture of that (although I do have very cute squirrel clips and penguin paperclips!). Have a good weekend everyone!

Another free printable invitation - Snails and Mushrooms

2010-05-12T19:39:00.000-05:00

I actually designed this one before the butterfly one (before I thought to ask what the birthday party theme for my friend's daughter was going to be - d'oh). I really like this design too. Enjoy! Download below:

Pink Snail invitation - A4
Pink Snail invitation - Letter

Mother's Day

2010-05-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

I would have posted this sooner (like actually on the day) if I didn't have trouble getting the images off my camera card.

This gorgeous little leather apple purse was given to me by my kids. I love apples so much so this is perfect. I was going to use it as my main purse but it really is just too small for that because I can't fit any cards in. I think I will use it as my 'shove in my pocket' purse when I am out flea market shopping or something. I forgot to take a photo of the beautiful cards and pictures my kids made for me too. Like every Mum, I truly think they are the best part of the gift.

This is what I bought myself for Mother's Day (what? you don't buy yourself a mother's day gift? well you should!). I love 'my' jeweller. These are so cute and I have worn them every day since. Apparently peridot green goes with everything! Well, even if it doesn't, too bad! I love them! I might use another exclamation mark!

A belated Happy Mother's Day everyone.

Giveaway results!

2010-05-09T19:32:00.000-05:00

The winner of the giveaway is...... (drumroll please)

Christine from the blog My 2 Monsters!!

Christine chose the blue kids oven mitts so I will be emailing you shortly to get your address (and giving my kids the red polka dot ones so they can finally play with them!).

Congratulations and thanks for playing!

p.s. I used Random.org for this but can't work out how to get a picture of it to put on my blog.....

'Meaning to Finish' Project Week - day 3

2010-05-07T20:26:00.000-05:00

I had such a busy day doing Very Important Things (like reading stories to and playing animal snap with Lord A, lunch with good friends and visiting my favourite jeweller - yay!) so only got one little thing finished. This super cutesy over the top girly headband. I have a friend here with a beautiful daughter who has the most adorable blond mop of curly hair and I am going to miss saying goodbye to them before we leave. So I am going to leave this for them. I hope she likes it.

Meanwhile, mod podge land is waiting for me....hopefully Sunday! We are having good friends over tomorrow and our friend's Spanish husband is making paella for us all! Yum!!