Day to Day

My favourites - Sammiabrie Designs

Don't forget that today and tomorrow are the FINAL days for the 10% discount over at Sammiabrie Designs.  Plus, every purchase made during this time entitles you to an 'end of month draw' to win a bonus $15 voucher to spend in store.  Simply make a purchase and then Amie will announce the winner on her blog HERE after April 30th.

Now, my favourite picks from Sammiabrie Designs:

I'm totally in love with this tree design clutch purse!  Link HERE. 

Yummy apples - love, love this beautiful fabric so much that I have a stash of it in my cupboard.  It looks beautiful sewn into a purse.  Link HERE.

The super messy flowers in store are definitely something I need in my own stash.  Super cute for scrapbooking, card making or for stitching onto sewing projects.  Link HERE.

Baby wipe holders - wishing that these were available when my two were little!!  Link HERE.

I know that I've shared a photo of this one before in Amy's opening sponsor post, but seriously it's too good not to share again. I adore the sweet print and wouldn't it be nice as a Mother's Day gift?  Link HERE.

Thank you to all my lovely sponsors in April! I'm having a sponsor break for May, but will be back in June with some lovely new stores to share with you.  If you've emailed me regarding a sponsor spot (or anything else) and haven't heard back then please email me again - we accidentally deleted an entire batch of unread emails via webmail a couple of weeks ago so I have no idea if I've missed anything important.  Thankyou xoxo

My favourites - Greatest View

A few of my favourite picks from Greatest View:

Yummy chenille flowers.  Totally beautiful and only just back in stock, so be quick if you'd like some.  Link HERE.   

Sweet and delicate mini banner.  My favourite is this one (rose garden) but it's also available with a lovely red and blue colour theme.  Link HERE.

These baby button embellishments make me wish that I had a little one to scrapbook all over again.  Link HERE.

I really love the idea of a 'welcome mini album' for baby.  It comes with 12 cardstock pages, some embellished and others plain.  Link HERE.  

An adorable tag for each month of baby's first year, with a spot for journaling.  Link HERE.

Also, don't forget the April special from Greatest View - only a few days left:

All purchases during the month of April will also receive a free set of 9 circular Birdie Journaling Tags.       

My favourites - The HeyDay Shop

A few of my favourite picks from The HeyDay shop:

Totally sweet with a vintage feel, I love this 'From Holland with love' fabric. Link HERE.

I'm always a sucker for any Little Red Riding Hood fabric!  Link HERE.

Mmm...mushrooms, all cute and sweet in a line. LOVE!  Link HERE.

I'm super fond of this little 'traffic jam' fabric too. It would be gorgeous sewn into a car mat for floor play.  Link HERE.

Can you spot the tiny ladybird in the trees? Sweet :-)  Link HERE. 

It's yummy, green, circular and waterproof.  Perfect for a funky tablecloth. Link HERE.

Divine vintage buttons. Such pretty colours too.  Link HERE.

I can never pass up a cute Russian doll fabric. This one is super darling, love the colour combo.  Link HERE.

Also, don't forget the following special offer (only a few days left):

For the month of April, the HeyDay store are offering FREE worldwide postage on ALL orders.  To receive the free postage you must enter the following code in the comments section of your order:

hey day to day   

Friday

More crocheting of Bella's blanket. I'm getting there slowly.

In my mailbox. Yummy Sweet Vintage doilies, all pretty and colourful.

A sick boy with a rash & head cold. Snuggling on the couch and soaking up his Warhammer book.

Warm from the oven, chocolate chip Amish cookies.  They put a big smile on James' face for the day.

Also in my mailbox.  That delicious tea towel I was talking about yesterday. It looks good hanging on our stove.  At dinner I pointed and explained - Mama's new tea towel, it's to look at and not touch.  It's not for drying up. It's not for running your grotty fingers over. It's not for wiping down benches.  It's not for getting dirty.  They all thought this was hilarious and Bella asked what the whole point of a tea towel was if we weren't going to even use it.  Um, I'm not sure, but for now it's just for displaying.  James suggested I buy some Preen (like Nan Joan mentioned today for my teatowels) and spray and soak it after each use.  Um, no.  Did I mention it's just for displaying?! 

 

And a little sneak of the new tutorial I'm working on for Quilt Fabric Delights.

I hope your Friday was a good one.

In my spare time

Isn't this gorgeous?! A 'breakfast in bed' set especially for Mother's Day, creating by Lisa.  I am so making that tea cozy for myself, it would look gorgeous in my new kitchen.

You can find the free tutorial for the entire set over at Quilt Fabric Delights.  Link HERE.

I'm working on a fun tutorial too using some yummy Basic Grey fabrics!

My favourites - Little Snoring + GIVEAWAY

A few of my favourite picks from Little Snoring:

Gumball headband, only just in store! These are seriously cute and super comfortable to wear, my Bella wears hers all the time.  Link HERE.

Wooden bead necklaces. YUM! YUM! Link HERE.

Double gumball necklaces.  Bella has the single gumball, but this one is on her wishlist too. Link HERE.  

Hello cuteness.  Pocket pandas - we have these too and we love them so.  They're beautifully crafted by Edwina and have recently become 'pets' for Bella's Blythe dollies. Link HERE. 

Red Russian babushka necklace - although they also come in black and white. Um, we have one of these too (are you seeing a pattern here that I adore all things 'Little Snoring'?).  Link HERE.

Necklaces for little people!  My favourite is the cherry one, Bella's is the panda.  Link HERE.

Nesting bird necklaces. Everybody should own one of these! Link HERE.

Log cabin patchwork pillow with owl and goldfish print.  These beautiful pillows have velvet piping and backing, plus a zipper closure for easy washing.  Link HERE. 

Little Snoring is also running a fabulous give away for you, just in time for Mother's Day.  There are four yummy prizes:

To enter, pop over to to the Little Snoring blog HERE and leave a comment telling Edwina your favourite family meal. You can also become a fan of Little Snoring on Facebook for more chances to win!  

The winners will be drawn on Sunday, 2nd May.

Goodluck!

Soup all round

Today I:

Dropped Bella off at school, did the grocery shopping, picked Mum up from an appointment and dropped her home, washed the floors, did two loads of washing, made a huge pot of pumpkin soup, had a lovely visit from Kama and Bonnie, drank far too many cups of tea, had Bella's parent/teacher interview (it was so, so good), grabbed rolls and bread from the bakery and looked longingly in the window of a new homewares kinda store that looks like it is opening soon, paid bills online, crocheted 2 more squares for Bella's blanket, helped Bella load photos so she could type a blog post, skimmed over the May issue of Real Living magazine (I think it's my fav. issue yet), realised a huge chunk of emails have somehow been downloaded onto our other computer instead of my laptop (arghh so frustrating) and thought of baking some freckle slice only I ran out of time.

I should have been typing tutorial instructions today, but was very naughty and didn't.  You know those days when you just need to deviate a little from your work and catch up on things like house stuff and odd jobs? Today was the day for it.   

 

Oh and the pumpkin soup was delicious, but even yummier was the minestrone soup with homemade focaccia bread that James cooked today in Home Ec. I love it when he brings home such nice treats for us to enjoy.  I'm definitely stealing the recipe to make more bread too, sooo good.
 

Indoors

 

Our kitchen is coming along nicely, two benchtops down and the other one is half finished in the shed.  All the lower level cupboards are in and once the final benchtop and new sink are installed we'll start on the top cupboards, tiles and then the floor.  I'm really loving it and not feeling quite as impatient as I thought I would be about getting it finished ASAP.

While I'm talking kitchens, I have an admission......I suck with tea towels.  Really suck.  Mine are all stained and horrible and out of shape.  My Mum tells me that I should be ashamed of my tea towels (that's how bad they are) and she's especially disappointed that I don't iron them up all pretty and flat. LOL.  So, tonight I stumbled across this yummy tea towel:

I ordered one for myself and I'm going to try my very best to keep it all pretty and nice.  It's going to be hard but maybe my new kitchen will inspire me to do so.  Perhaps I'll even be all grown up and leave it hanging on my oven permanently (that's a sure way to keep it clean hey).

Link HERE incase you need one for yourself.

Thanks so much for all the espresso machine love too.  Wow, you girls really know your machines and coffee!  I'm going to give it a few more tries over the next couple of weeks and hope to have it down pat soon.  Or if I don't, I might do what Janice does with hers and leave it sitting on a shelf to look pretty :-)  

Atomic home espresso

Meet atomic home espresso machine, our new toy.  Cute looking and kinda shiny:

We aren't coffee drinkers, but Rich arrived home with a bag of mocha and this coffee machine that he borrowed from his parents.  You pop it on a stove top to brew away - is that even the correct lingo?  

We've had a couple of tries, but so far it's tasting awfully ordinary and weak.  I'm just posting on the off chance that one of my readers own one too and have some success tips to share??

Blog love

I know I've posted a few of my favourite blog links here before, but here are a few of my favourites at the moment that I enjoy reading every day:

Bluebirdbaby, link HERE.

The adventures of Bella & Blythe, link HERE.

Crafty Girl, link HERE.

Dottie Angel, link HERE.

Salt & Chocolate, link HERE.

Thompson family life, link HERE.

Birdnest, link HERE.

Ofcourse, I have many more! Do you have a favourite? I'd love you to share the link if you do :-)