Day to Day

Filling in the hours.

Rich is away on an 11 day dirt bike trip with some friends, so we're trying to keep busy.  To start off the day we created a photo wall in Bella's room:

 

 

Then Bella requested that she bake something, so using her cookbook that Nanny Joan gave her last Christmas she finally settled on cinnamon scrolls.  Once they were cooked she didn't like them - but James made fast work of the lot!

 

We've had lino print supplies in the cupboard for several months now, ever since we worked on our rubber stamps way back in May.  James has been asking to get them out for a few weeks and today seemed like a good day to do so.  He googled a zebra image off the internet, traced it from the computer screen with tracing paper and then transferred it onto the lino.  The actual lino carving then took him a few hours to do, but it was so worth it!  We're not sure what to do with image now it's done - perhaps a framed pic in his room or somehow transfer it onto fabric??

 

 

 

Since the craft table all set up, Bella asked to make some stamps and using THESE divine stamps for inspiration she started carving.  I had to help her with a few, but they turned out pretty neat!

 

So, that was our day.  Bella has a sleep over tonight at her best friend's house, while James and I watch old episodes of 'V' on dvd.   Do you remember that show?

Popping in.

Although I've been busy posting our camping adventures on my other blog, I thought I'd pop in over here today and share a few of things I've been up too:

 

Sewing the straps on my new craft bag.  My Mum started crocheting it for herself using scraps, got half way through and loathed the colours.  She was going to throw it in the bin...until I begged her to finish it for meeeee.  I'll share another pic soon when it's completely finished.

 

Reading the Christmas issue of Real Living magazine.

 

 

 

Drooling over my two new Amy Butler patterns that arrived last week.  The shirt really looks like something that I would wear, totally love it and hope to make it for myself this summer using some light weight fabric.  I'm pretty besotted with the bag too (in the tote size especially) and have also added that to my *sewing* list.  Thankyou so much for the patterns Amy!  If you're in Australia the patterns are available from HERE and HERE.

Lastly I crocheted this little bird.  I used Lucy's birdie for inspiration, but replaced the crocheted beak and wings with felt.  There's an actual tutorial for the birdie now, you can find it HERE.  I might add some sweet legs to the next one I make.

More Lazy Days skirts coming soon :)  Have a lovely weekend xoxo.

Camping.

Just home from a 4 day camping holiday :)  I'll be blogging over HERE on my crafty camper blog over the next few days (starting tonight once I finish downloading the photos).

We had a such a lovely time, but now have so much unpacking and washing to do!

Bloggity blogs.

I often get asked which blogs I read.  Well, I read and look at lots!  I save them all in google reader and at breakfast time when I'm sipping tea and eating my x2 weetbix with cold milk I bring up my blog list and start reading.  Ofcourse I never, ever manage to read and catch up on them all, but here are a few of my favourites that I like to look at often:

You are my fave

My happy little life 

Mieke williams

Morning's light

The delightful and inspiring nienie - everyone reads nienie though right? If you don't, you MUST!

JCasa Handmade

Bloesem

And just because I can't do a post without a photo, here's Trooper and Bella in the hammock.  It's their favourite place to hang out together lately.

Books I'm wishing for.

All of these are on my wish list at Fishpond - I do love a good craft book!

Let's go outside! This one is aimed at older children aged 8-12 years old.  Both of my two are into reading Rich's old scout book at the moment, making all sorts of structures and creations in our backyard, so I thought they might enjoy this one too.

Green Crafts for children. I haven't seen inside this book, but I do love the sound of it.  You can never have enough craft activities to do with your little ones - there are 35 step by step projects to do here, using natural, recycled and found materials. Nice!

Clay so Cute!  I'm secretly writing this on Bella's Christmas list, along with some fimo and jewellery clips etc.. to go with it.

Patchwork style has been on my list for a loooong time. Do you hear me Rich? Are you reading? I really, really want this book!!

Weekend Sewing.  Another one that I haven't seen inside, but I've read bits and pieces and seen a few photos on other blogs.  Actually the photo on the front just kills me, it's super sweet and makes me want to sew right now!

They're just a few of the books I'm hoping for this Christmas - or maybe some of them before if I'm super good :))  Do you have any of these titles? 

Yes, more lazy days skirts....

A few more to share from around the net:

Some sweetness by Amelie in France - check out Amelie's blog too, there's some really delightful sewing on there.  Link is HERE.

This one is by my sister Beth for my divine great niece Bonnie.  LOVE the spots Beth, but you know that already :))

The pom-poms on this skirt (by the super lovely Rachel) make me all warm and fuzzy.  More pics of Rachel's blog HERE.

Another super lovely girl and a super lovely skirt to match :)  Lusi also sewed a matching head scarf and you can see pics HERE.

Mari sewed two beautiful skirts (the patchwork one especially tickles my fancy).  Mari created a couple of matching reversible headbands too - her full blog post is HERE.

A very pretty black and white lazy days skirt by Bron.

Isn't this one sugar sweet?! It's by Lenka in the United States.

 

Lise sewed this lazy days skirt for her gorgeous little Lucy.  More photos HERE.

There are still more to come too - they're all piled up in my inbox - I'll share more next week :)

Its berrylicious.

Can you spot the sweet strawberry nestled in Bella's room?

 

I crocheted it last week inbetween my Lazy Days skirt sewing!  The lovely Salihan asked me if I'd like to try out her new pattern (um, YES!!) and after a little bit of shopping for the right yarn, I sat down and crocheted the strawberry in just a couple of hours.  Seriously, how fast and easy is crocheting once you know how?

Being a little short on scraps of green yarn (due to my pear making and also Bella's finger knitting with the leftover wool), I didn't have quite enough for the 8 stems/leaves required underneath the strawberry, so my lovely crocheting friend Helen suggested that I do seven instead, which worked out perfectly.  I also cheated and used a crocheted flower from my stash, instead of making one from the pattern.

Here's a close up below of Salihan's strawberry (I snuck the image from her blog):

 

At $5-95 for one ball of strawberry coloured yarn and half a ball of green, the finished strawberry came in at a project total of $9 (plus 2 buttons from my stash). I can see myself crocheting up a few of these sweeties to keep in the cupboard for birthday parties and also upcoming Christmas gifts - at $9 for a handmade present I'm totally impressed!!

If you'd like to crochet your own strawberry, you can purchase the pdf file from Salihan's store HERE.  Salihan is also running a Yarn & KIsses Malabrigo giveaway on her blog HERE.  Pop over and enter :)

Also, just to let you know that AesaLina from pixiepetals has expanded her Etsy store with some handcrafted tags using vintage materials. You can also find a giveaway for AesaLina's gorgeous products over at Elise Blaha's blog HERE.

Pop back tomorrow for more Lazy Days skirt sharing :)

Fishpond $10 voucher.

Incase anybody is interested, this just arrived in my inbox - a $10 voucher for all Fishpond purchases (today only).  Click on the pic above to start shopping.

Just enter the code PEACHFISH at checkout (minimum order value of $40 applies.)

But that’s not all. You can share this $10 off gift voucher with your family and friends. Just forward this e-mail to them and they can save $10 off their Books, CDs and DVDs, too.

Be in quick, this offer expires tonight at 11.59pm.

Sew-a-long....day 5

I'm sorry that day 5 of the sew-a-long wasn't put up on Friday.  I had a crazily busy day and completely ran out of time to sew my final skirt and/or blog.  We spent the weekend up in the north of the state too, so I've only just sat down to write a post.

I'm going to leave all of your links in my sidebar for the next two weeks, which will hopefully give you all time to blog your lazy days skirts and load photos onto your blog :))  I'll be still sharing a few of your creations on here during that time too, so please keep them coming (via email and links).

Here are a few yummy skirts that have caught my eye and/or landed in my inbox over the weekend:

Cuteness plus +++  This one is by Sheree and you can see two more of Sheree's lazy days skirts HERE.

 

There's something nice about pink and chocolate :)  Skirt by Shanna and there's a different view of the skirt HERE.

Another one by Amanda.  Go and have a look at the full photo HERE, the fabric has the most delightful birdies on it, totally gorgeous.

One more by Yael.  Aren't the pink hearts adorable?! More pics HERE.

A cute skirt for a little person :))  More pics on Pam's blog HERE.

I really love the Wonderland by Momo fabric that Tammy has used for this skirt.  Tammy also has a lovely blog that I enjoy reading regularly - HERE is the link if you'd like to check it out.

Some sweetness that was emailed through to me by Kelly. Thanks Kelly, I love how the skirt turned out :))

That's all the sharing for today.  I have more photos loaded ready for a lazy days post on Wednesday.

Thankyou all so much for joining in with the sew-a-long. It has been lovely reading your emails and comments.  Did you have fun? Would you like to do it again one day with a different pattern?

Well, see you tomorrow - I have a crocheting project to share that I've been working on :)

Sweetness.

Some more sweetness for you to peek at:

Another one by Leonie, who has also been inspired to start her own blog - pop by and say hi HERE.

Three divine skirts from Virginia - aren't they pretty!? Virginia I'll get to your email soon, my inbox is completed flooded, slowly working my way through it :)

This one by Megan reminds of a yummy strawberry.

See these two matching skirts? Donna actually sewed four of them, all identical ready for a Christmas photos shoot.  Isn't that a lovely idea :)

A sneak of Tricia's skirt, made from a vintage bed sheet. I love it!

Last share for tonight - a divine skirt by Lisa using some yummo Heather Ross fabric.  There are more lazy days skirts on Lisa's blog too - go HERE.

Don't forget to check out the Oliver + S Flickr pool and add your skirt HERE.