Day to Day

Two pieces of cuteness

Two little pieces of cuteness today - my Mary Jane knitted slippers that I finished last night and the bunch of tulips that my super cute husband gave me :)

Random stuff

We're all feeling much better and brighter now thankyou.

I thought I'd post some random photos from around the house in today's post.

1st Photo: Bella's Ikea dragon that she insisted on buying for herself in Sydney - she wraps it around herself to snuggle with every night in bed.

2nd photo:  My cute and comfy Skechers shoes.

3rd photo: Bella's babies having a sleep in my old pram.

Photo 4: I like a big mug to drink my tea out of - this one is my favourite.

Lastly, here is a Mother's Day card that I created for Aussie Scrap Source - you can see the rest of my cards  here.

Finished.

Aren't these ribbons sweet?!  The one in the middle is Snow White and the seven dwarfs and at the bottom - Little Red Riding Hood.  I plan on sewing Bella a red cape edged in this one for her dressup box.  They are beautiful quality - available here from Ribbons Galore.

The Autumn scarf is finished.  I opted for no fringe as most of you suggested.  Perhaps the next one may include a fringe or pompoms - I really loved the pom pom idea, thankyou!

Onto questions:

Helen: Thankyou for your lovely comments Helen.  I really only started sewing when my James was about 5 (so 7 years ago). I bought a sewing machine to stitch dressup clothes for him and pretty much guessed my way through the patterns.  Mum always encouraged me to do crafting when I was growing up, but it has only been the last few years that I've sewed on a regular basis.  As for knitting - James' blanket that I started a few months ago is really my first project, so I'm only just learning.

Brigitte: I counted up my albums for you and I have 21 scrapbooked 12"X12" sized albums and a huge variety of mini albums :))

Something else that I wanted to share with you is this book, Brave Little Bear.  Bernadette lent me a copy of her book last week and it is a truly inspirational story about becoming a Mum at 16.  I'm acquiring one for our bookshelf and if you know anybody affected or going through teenage pregnancy then I strongly urge you to visit Bernie's website.

and then there were two!

Twice as much fun now for the little story writers :))

Random things

Just a few random things. 

Our little swans swimming away happily - no idea what the bush is called that we picked these from, so we just call it our 'swan tree'.

Bella's tiny fairy fire - a selection of rocks, sticks, Tarisota tissue paper and blue-tak.

The Easter cupcakes that I made this afternoon.  I copied Fiona's idea and dropped a chocolate egg inside each cupcaker prior to cooking.

A layout for Aussie Scrap Source of Bella at the beach.

One of the Easter cards that I made for Aussie Scrap Source.  You can see the rest of my cards here.

Tags & recipe

Thanks for the tag Sarah!

Old Favourite: Bloglines - where I read all my blogs each day.  Sew Mama Sew.

Food Favourite: 52 cupcakes

New Favourite: The black apple etsy shop (I just bought this print of a girl snuggling under a quilt - it reminds me so much of my kids under their treasured blankets). Soulemama, Craft schmaft,

Challenge Favourite: I don't know any challenge sites (boooring answer I know!)

Movie stuff Favourite: I'm not a big movie fan - book wise though I love Amazon

Clothing Favourite: Pumpkin Patch, Oilily (I just drool, no buying), Fred Bare

Creative Favourite: Flickr - where I go for sewing and all sorts of inspiration.

Guilty Pleasure Favourite: Babys got style, Ten little indians and Ten in the bed.

Paper Favourite: Kikki K and Smiggle.

I'd love to find out the favourites of these girls - Gina, Miriam, Beth, Sarah Jackson and Jude.

Thanks to Ainslie and Manu for nominating me for the 'You make my day' award.

Thanks also to Sarah and Angela who both nominated me for the Amazing Blogger award :O))  Here are the seven weird things about me:

1. I need to sleep with a blanket or chunk of hair over my ear.

2. I don't use straws unless I blow a big breath in them first (because I don't like the thought of there being an insect or something in there).

3. When I was little I always had to jump over cracks in concrete or at least make sure my shoe didn't walk on them - thank goodness I grew out of that! lol

4. I have a fear when watching big ships being swallowed up by the sea, it creeps me out no end.

5.  I once sat on a step in our house in a sweat waiting over an hour for Rich to get home so that he could kill a huge spider - they freak me out!

6. The couple of times that we've had a mouse in the house I have screamed continously, jumped up on a chair and continued to scream coming out in a hot sweat - even though I know that a little mouse could not harm me.

7. I don't like loud music or talking much in the car on long journeys.

PHEW!  I don't think I'll tag anybody but if you'd like to join in the fun then consider yourself tagged!

If you would like a copy of Kate's yummy chocolate slice recipe go here to my recipe blog.  Kate cooked us this to eat on our Australia Day picnic and it was sooooo yum!

Personality.

I found this on Gina's blog and have finally figured out how to get the picture to show up!

(Funnily enough Gina, we both have the same personality!)

You Have A Type B+ Personality

You're a pro at going with the flow You love to kick back and take in everything life has to offer A total joy to be around, people crave your stability. While you're totally laid back, you can have bouts of hyperactivity. Get into a project you love, and you won't stop until it's done You're passionate - just selective about your passions

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Have a pleasant time!

That's what I think every time I walk past this little Shinzi Katoh luncheon bag in the hallway.  I picked it up on Ebay just before Christmas....so so sweet.

Talking of sweet....Bella had a friend over for her first sleepover last night.  These two girls are adorable together.  We had foot spas last night and painted each others toenails followed by a weak moment today when I got talked into buying them matching outfits at Big W... incredibly cheap - like 75% off.  They desperately wanted to be twins for the day so how could I resist!!

Busy bees

James started off the day quietly with a bit of reading while I had the mammoth task of finding new homes for all the Christmas gifts.

James then spent the day with a friend while Bella created a little scene with her new playdough set.  The clear top sits over the playdough so it can be displayed and remain soft..cool hey!

We also had a bit of weaving, gardening and a few other things happening.   

Tonight we're off to see The Golden Compass at the movies. I hope you all had a happy Sunday.

Day 20 - Calico angel

This simple little calico angel takes pride of place on the top of our tree (I've moved her down slightly for a photo).  James' class all helped make one each when he was in Kindergarten as end of year gifts for parents.

Bella's class are making them this year and I've been cutting out the calico for them...which got me thinking that I could share the *how to* and measurements on here as one of my Christmas posts. 

We made quite a few of these ourselves to give as Christmas gifts several years ago and they were easy and fast.

Materials:

Calico - 40cm X 40cm piece

styrofoam ball for head (although we used tissues to stuff the heads when we made them as gifts).

Some twine or wool.

Cardboard for wings (gold)

Hot glue gun for angel hair - or alternatively stitch into place.

How to:

Overlock around the edge of the calico square.  Alternatively, use pinking shears.  The ones I made as gifts a few ago just had fraying edges because I didn't own a sewing machine etc.. at the time and they still looked cute!

Pop the styrofoam ball in the middle of the piece of calico and tie into place with a piece of twine to create your angel body and head.

Add some angel hair using twine or wool - hot glue gun this or stitch into position

For the angel wings, right hand click on the template below and save to 'my documents'.  Then print out on an A4 piece of paper and cut out.  (Again, I still don't know how to do a pdf file, but this should work nicely).

Cut out the template and use this to create angel wings out of cardboard.  Hot glue gun the wings into position on the back of the angel. Alternatively hand stitch the wings onto the calico.

Tie a small message around the angel's neck -  this could also contain a small festive season photograph of your family.

Another option is to add another loop of twine on the her back so that the angel can also be hung up as a decoration on the tree.

In other news, I have Laryngitis and a head full of sinus...so I've been instructed not to talk...lol.

I seriously need to be good and not talk because Bella has her dance concert this weekend (friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday night) and I have my name down for helping  - and yes, desperately want to be able to talk while I'm helping!

While I'm talking concerts....James performed at the Derwent Entertainment Centre at the combined primary school annual concert (band, choir and strings) on Friday night just gone.  He's been learning the trumpet this year at school and wow, this was such an exciting experience for all the children involved!  Well done James, we are so proud of you darling.