cheering things up a little.....

...after yet another tearful farewell yesterday reluctantly seeing my mum and dad back off to the UK (they don't get any easier).  I decided to cheer myself up with a little post about Christmas. I have been extremely slack on the blogging front this year but have been crazy mental preparing for my first market so thought I'd pop in a wee post before Christmas.....CHRISTMAS!!! how did that come round so quick???....

Will be putting up the decorations this weekend but a few have cheekily snuck their way into my house already. My sister in law sent these gorgeous wooden beach huts over with mum. How sweet are they? There they are sitting on top of my newly acquired 1920's kitchen cabinet which I am so in love with (will post on it's revamp a bit later on)

 Had to share my Christmas card from mum this year. A paper snow globe nativity scene. It's like a decoration in itself.

This ballerina was winking at me in the shops the other day. Luckily for me I have absolutely no colour scheme whatsoever when it comes to anything including of course Christmas so every single decoration is there for the taking. Which can make things a bit dangerous. Can't wait to put her on the tree this year. I'm sure she'll be a family member for many years to come, I'm not one for change. In fact I don't replace anything really (clothes, kids, husbands,friends, furniture the list goes on...)

 The advent calendar is up. I am SUCH a fan of the fabric advent calendar and have seen some amazing creations around this year. I particularly love this one that Melissa made for her family. Totally gorgeous.

 In my dreams my front door would be this one from The Holiday. However, it most definitely isn't so I have to make do with what I have. (I'm pretty sure Kate didn't have that small screaming person at her front door either who will not let me leave his side for a millisecond!). Please note I don't make a habit of shutting him inside whilst I'm out but needed to if I had any hope of getting a decent photo without the matt or coat bucket flying mid shot. I'm actually desperate to fill that bucket with pine cones but can't find any! Am reluctant to buy them when I know there must be a park nearby full of them. Hopefully it will be filled by Christmas.

I made some fabric wreaths this year which I sold at the markets but couldn't resist this one for the front door after finding it in my mother in law's garage. It had some pretty old stringy ribbons attached so I stripped it bare and added a couple of cute little dicky birds and a new Christmassy ribbon.

Looking forward to now doing some more cheery uppy stuff and checking out other bloggers Christmas things now....

loving house

Am having no regrets whatsoever on my move to the sticks. The sense of community and the peace and quiet is everything I wanted and more. Must be getting old! I also love love love having a house after being squished into a small unit with all the kiddies bumping around for so long.  It's lovely being able to make stuff for houses too.

We have two main beaches where we are. Last weekend we took a stroll off one of the beaches into the National Park and collected this piece of wonky driftwood. I bought those glass jars at Spotlight for AU$2 (!!!) each and hung them with twine to make a tea light holder above the outside table. It looks so pretty lit up at night over dinner.

 I know bunting has been completely done to death but there really is nothing like it to jolly up the place. And being from England it always reminds me of cobbled streets strung up with bunting by the sea. I made this looooong stretch of bunting using IKEA fabrics. So cheap and bright and brilliant for outdoor use. 

I have been meaning to make Kitty and Spike a door sign using this gorgeous screenprint from 

Sketch & Jones. I bought a few different designs from her at the Avoca beach markets but this was totally my favourite. Kitty on her bike dragging Spike along in the cart. And bunting featuring again!! So sweet. Not sure what I'm going to do with the other designs I bought. Might put them on some shirts for Kitty for the summer. 

spike's 1st cowboy party...

 Today Spike turned 1. I organised a Cowboy party for him. I made some flags from some Spotlight fabric, lolly bags with kraft gift bags with some cheap n cheerful Sheriff badges from Hot Dollar and an easy peasy cow print cake with royal icing.

 I have organised a market stall in a couple of months so will keep these flags to sell there as Kitty and Spike are room sharing these days so bit too 'blokey' for their space!

 Found this idea on this lovely blog and thought I'd do a bit of a copycat. Was a hit with the kiddies.

 Loved the fact the kids played cowboy/cowgirls for the entire party. Very sweet to watch.

Here he is. The biggest love affair of my life so far. Mothers and their sons. A deadly combination!

declutter reclutter....

PHEW!....It's been a busy couple of months. We moved house to this wonderful place and couldn't be happier. So peaceful, found my yummy coffee spot and perfect little community spirit. It's like going back 50 years. So me. Unfortunately the serenity goes hand in hand with many a living thing at home that doesn't include my hubbie or kids. 

 The council clear up here has proved to be a bit of a winner too. My favourite score was this gorgeous Ercol Windsor Sofa. Should have seen the grin on my face dragging that one down the street home. So happy. Also picked up some great kids toys including this original 1970's Fisher Price till that little Spike has taken a bit of a shine too.

 So that's where I've been. Moving house, emptying boxes, decluttering, recluttering, dragging sofas around streets and lapping up the peace and quiet with a few too many big spiders thrown in the mix.

Expensive Trim!

I have just returned from 5 weeks in England and had an amazing time and am struggling to get back into my Aussie groove a bit. I'll get there. Just miss my mum, my brother, tearooms, pubs and jubilee bunting everywhere!

Obviously I splashed out on some new fabrics and crafty bits but my biggest SPLURGE by far was during a trip to the beautiful town of Stamford.

I 'popped' into a fabric shop and spotted some very special looking trim all curled up in a glass jar on the shelve. I promptly ordered a metre, wandered up to the counter to be told I owed £15! Was slightly shocked and pretty pleased I only ordered a metre!

It is however amazingly beautiful and made by this super talented lady.

Priority on returning to Australia was to put that pricey bit of trim to good use.

I was recently given this lamp which is sweet but not quite to my taste. So I used some fabric I bought from this brilliant shop and added the trim to the bottom. I'm using the lamp in Kitty and Spike's room (there they are in the background making a guest appearance!).

our creative spaces..

Loved creating this hoop art for Kitty's friend Daisy who had her 3rd birthday party on Sunday. It's always nice when you make for somebody with the same taste as you so you can use all your favourites from your op shop stash of vintage supplies!

I cut a doily to fit the frame and embroidered her name and a few extra daisies onto it. I then added some gorgeous pom pom trim that was my girlfriend's grandmothers and was given to me when she passed away recently.

It's such a simple idea and super easy to do but they look really sweet and make great door signs!

Pop over here to check out crafty lovely things......

vintagey inspiration....

Kitty and Spike are now sharing a room. It is the most heartwarming thing ever popping my head in to see their gorgeous little heads only metres apart in the land of zzz's. I have had to cull a lot of Kitty's florals in order to make the room a little more Spike friendly. I'm trying to put together a vintage mish mash of crafty type decors. Here are some pictures that I am feeling very inspired by.....

here

here

here

here

All so lovely. I really need an ornate bay window preferably with a bit of stained glass, original rustic floorboards and a big fat picture rail running around the middle of the room to get me started. Guess I'll have to use a bit of artistic licensing on that one!

our creative spaces....

I have actually had a bit of time to make some me things this week. Having had a busy lead up to Christmas with my online store and then a month off followed by a busy February and March I am really enjoying delving into my basket of crafty things that have been sitting on the backburner.

Had been wanting to make an embroidery hoop with a fabric slogan for ages so made this Home Sweet Home version for a girlfriend who is about to move into a new place.

Looking forward to having a browse around here now to check out what you've been up to....

our creative spaces....

Loving making these Duffels for little people. The pattern is loosely based on one by Cath Kidston in her sew! book. I felt it needed something to keep it closed so I added the little wooden bead which works perfectly and looks sweeter than those horrible plastic clippy things.

Pretty happy with this fabric which is a new design Robert Kaufman organic cotton and was so lovely to work with.
There's a little tab on the bottom and my very useful sailor hubbie spliced the cord together so there is no join. Looking forward to making lots more which I can add to my 'sell at market at a later date' stash :)

Pop over here and check out lovely crafty projects.

dressing kids.....

My hubbie waited so long to have a boy and after 3 daughters he finally arrived. However, we seem to be having issues about dressing him. Does anybody else have clothes conflicts like this? He comes from a big surf/sail background and his little boy would ideally be dressed in head to toe Quiksilver EVERY day. I love mini surfy clothes too but I have other preferences for my boy....

...for example...my mother in law knitted this beanie for Spike, I made pom poms to decorate it and my hubbie sewed in together...PHEW....what a mammoth collaboration for such a small item.
I think he looks amazingly cute in it don't you? Last night as I sat drinking tea catching up on blogs (in particular British ones to get me even more excited about my pending trip home-my favourite being THIS one) my husband sewed the pom poms onto this beanie grumbling 'what are you doing to my boy, he looks like a nerd'. I like to call it uber!

Poor Matt, his dream of a little son came true but every day is a battle as to why I haven't dressed him in boardies and a surf shirt like his daddy.

somewhere over the....

RAINBOW!!

Inspired by this lovely piece of craft so simply put together by this amazing lady I decided to be a complete copycat and make one myself. Little Spike is soon to be joining Kitty in a shared room adventure. So I need to make quite a few changes to the small space they will occupy. At the moment it is filled with lots of vintage florals, butterflies and ribbons. I am having to slowly ease out the pinks and sneak in the multicoloured slightly more contemporary decor so my little man does not feel suffocated by fairydust!
This is my version. Had so much fun choosing the papers (never having been a scrapbooker it was a whole new world to me,they're like fabric papers, loved every second) and handcut the letters in a not so perfect fashion to give it that slightly kooky childish look.

There is a huge reason why I chose this wording. My beautiful grandmother who lived with me and was like my second mummy was very closely connected to rainbows towards the end of her illness. The nurse taking care of her at my mum's house described her passing as 'crossing the rainbow bridge'. Immediately after that a huge rainbow appeared as if on cue above the house. The following few weeks after her passing there were rainbow references popping up everywhere. It really was so unusual. So it has become a thing in our family that we all tell ourselves Marmar is living amongst the rainbows and Kitty really believes this which I love.

So that's where the 'over the rainbow' came from.

If you like these banners you should really go and make one they are so much fun to do and even more fun picking what you are going to say.

on the high street

My idea of shopping is either online (notonthehighstreet) or at the market these days. However, there are always a couple of golden finds to be had on the high street and here are my latest two;

I love this spotty range of plastic loveliness that Coles have in at the moment. And so cheap! These cups were only AU$2.50 each and they make the copious amounts of 'undrunken' drinks left around our house seem so much more bearable.
Also just acquired these gorgeous crochet thingymajigs from the ever faithful Ikea. They are actually sold as embellishments in the fabric section (how fun is slicing up your own material at Ikea by the way) but I have been using them as coasters.

Very happy with my little finds. It's the simple things in life.

i love birthday parties...

...and wish I could dedicate every single morsel of my time into organising them. To get paid to do that would be fabulous. The reality is me running around like a headless chicken the day before in between the demands of 4 children resulting in a slightly thrown together attempt at an organised 10 year old themed (must always be a theme) party.

The theme was 'around the world' for Zoe's 10th birthday this year. Food is a huge priority in my life so I always like to insert a bit of energy into getting it right. Much to the disappointment of my 10 year old guests who look slightly ripped off by the lack of lollies and chips on offer.
I wanted to make a punch and would have sworn I would be using a Hawaiian recipe but I discovered that punch is a pivotal part of German kids party. Kinderbowle is Grape juice mixed with sparkling water, maraschino cherries and mixed fruit apparently? The kids loved it.
Fairy bread has fascinated me ever since I moved over here. I always wonder where and how it came about. In fact I might google that one right now. The only explanation I can find is that it originated from this poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. Now I'm even more bemused. I'm pretty sure Robert's 'fairy bread' was not 100's and 1000's sprinkled onto white bread and butter? Or maybe it was? If not who was the first person to make this and how did it become such an Australian/New Zealand phenomenon? Any ideas?
Always have to feature a bit of British so in with the jelly and ice cream. It turned out to be a great party with lots of fabulous dress ups, my favourite being the French tart.
And completely off the party chat I had to share this picture of Kitty and Spike I was lucky enough to capture last week. Isn't it the sweetest?

A Christmas present for mummy? Oh no, Kitty!

Thought I'd share with you my all time favourite Christmas present that Kitty received this year. It's even olive green my perfect colour! Aren't the animals so sweet, I think it's from the 70's not sure. Anyway, this picture is exactly how I imagined it adorned as soon as I opened it up. However.....
....it was out with the china tea set and in with the plastic dress up shoes :( Kitty is chuffed to bits with the cupboard's new purpose and I am silently sobbing in the corner wondering how I lost so much control over my 3 year old's room aesthetics.

a bunting for kitty....

After two years of making personalised buntings I eventually got around to making one for Kitty. It's different to the ones I usually make as I have found the lovely old fabrics and trims that I adore do not sell as well as contemporary fabrics so I ever so slightly have to compromise my whimsical tastes when selling online.
So I sat myself down and whipped up a little bunting for Kitty's room with some vintage fabric scraps, some old doilies that belonged to my mother in law and a little bit of embroidery for the letters.
Of course my obsession with murky greens had to rear it's greeny head and I love the background colour on that green and pink floral fabric and used a dark olive green thread to do the letters.

It looks pretty sweet amongst the mish mash of vintagey lovely finds in her room. Including this chest of drawers from Vinnies and this bedside chest from the side of the road.

I have some issues coming up as am having to move Spike into Kitty's room at some point this year. Anyone have any great suggestions for unisex sharing?