Happy Australia Day

Just wanted to say Happy Australia Day.

I feel very blessed to live in this country.

I am thankful that we have the life we have.

We had a great day today celebrating with friends. We had a bbq lunch in air conditioned comfort. The kids played happily and the grown ups relaxed and talked. And my headache even settled down for me to enjoy.

Perfect.

Felt food for a 50th

Our family was invited to a 50th birthday celebration this month. The friend had seen some felt food I had made for the kids and had requested some of her own. Well, that's just what she's getting.

The brown bag tutorial is found here. The chocolate chip cookies are easy to make. I have seen a few variations of these around the Internet. I just used a cross stitch on the dark brown felt and then blanket stitched around the tan felt. And just a little bit of stuffing. Perfect.

The sandwich tutorial is found here.

I added the onion and the egg. The onion is just double thickness of white felt with circles stitched around by hand. Then I cut between the circles. The egg is from a pattern available here. Everything is hand stitched. Though I have made the eggs before using the sewing machine.

I use acrylic craft felt for all my projects. I have been reading up on using better quality felt, but the craft felt is easy for me to get at the moment and it's doing the job. I hope to post photos of the other felt food I have made soon.

Our Sleeping Beauty

Amelia was quiet today. When I went looking for her, I found her like this on the lounge room floor. Wearing dress ups and pretty shoes and clutching her 'covers'.

Project 52 - The second date

Friday night, date night was late again. Like last week the kids were still awake at 9.30pm our start time. I think we should perhaps just change to 10pm start. We would hope that the kids would have finally ran out of steam by then! Friday was a 42 degree day and an extreme fire day too. Who wants to sleep with heat like that?!

We finally had everyone settled and just sat down on the couch to our drink and chocolate when Amelia woke up crying. It took about 15 minutes for me to get her back to sleep. The plan went out the window then.

I was ready to admit defeat and go to bed at that point. I have been struggling with a migraine all week and was really feeling pretty average. Tim offered me a shoulder and neck massage though so how could I refuse that? Tim talked through his day at work while I tried to stay awake (fairly common for me). It had been a stressful day. I am glad to hear about what goes on in his day. It's good to hear what goes on in the world outside our home. And it's so much easier to listen when the kids aren't around.

To top off the night, Tim offered to get up to the kids for the night so I could take a strong pill to help my head. Now that is romance.

Next week, I hope to have the photo booth pictures I have been planning. That was another thing we planned that just didn't work out again.

It was great that even though we couldn't have what we originally hoped for, we still had a nice time. It was still an hour together that we might not have sat down for before.

Have a look at what others are doing for their Project 52 dates at Simply Modern Mom.

While my head hurt...

I made these hair ties for Miss Purple (Ellamay), Miss Pink (Esther) and Miss Green (Amelia). So easy and a quick creative hit.

Happy thought: Must go and buy A LOT more self cover buttons.

Amelia's afternoon

Amelia had a busy afternoon too. She made a picture like her big sisters. She watched the movie, like her big sisters. She made some noise, like her big sisters.

But then unlike her big sisters, she stopped and had a sleep.

This afternoon

This afternoon, the kids decided they needed to do some making.

Esther and Ellamay are desperate to have a pretty bedroom. Their room is fairly bland, aside from the graffiti on the walls that they have added to over time. I have always had grand plans for their room but we have such a small house, there is no where to move them to in the meantime and who has ever had the time to decorate since they came along anyway.

Esther's wall


Ellamay's wall

Tim just recently put up a string line for them to hang their artworks on. I wanted something like this but cheaper. I have a few more things I would like to do with their room but in the meantime, Esther and Ellamay can make things.




Ellamay has been a bit more interested in making art for her wall. She is into castles and princess' in a big way so that is what is on the wall. This is a collage castle she made. Clever! Esther made some paper lanterns and has them on a string to decorate her wall. We also recycled her broken wind mill into 2 flowers. They turned out quite well. I am hoping to get them interested in making some more things. They got some mosiquito nets for Christmas but we are waiting for Daddy to put up some hooks.

The 3 girls also watched Barbie and the 3 Musketeers. They got it for Christmas and they LOVE it. This is Esther with her "ribbon" (string) twirler weapon. Ready to extinguish candles and trip the baddies.

Here is Ellamay's design for a mask like they wear on the movie.

And the finished product. We have such clever children. They make me laugh.

Paper doll daughters

Esther and Ellamay are starting school for the first time in a few weeks. I am really looking forward to it. Okay, so I am a bit scared too but mostly I am excited. It does make me feel like time is passing faster than I care to admit.

At school, they use reader covers to protect their books when they bring them home. Perhaps you had them too. I had one when I went to school but it was covered with boring contact. The girls teacher told us we could decorate them anyway we wanted.

Esther and Ellamay love girly stuff like ballerina's and princesses. So we covered their reader covers accordingly. We used their favourite outfits from some paper doll books they had and stuck their photo on and then covered with clear contact.

I think they look super cool. Everyone will know who they belong to.

We used the same technique for their birthday party last year. They had a princess party (of course) and I printed out a bunch of dresses and they picked what they wanted. They made some art for their wall. Very easy and cheap and a great way to use the paper dolls clothes up when the paper doll loses her head - which ALWAYS happens.

'There it is' hair ribbon

I am feeling proud of myself. I have just made myself a new head band. Ain't it cute? Can you see it properly? Trust me - it's cute.

I used all these things to make it. I measured the headband I had for a general size. These are all supplies I have bought from Woolworth's and Big W. I don't get much chance for Spotlight or craft shops. I buy a lot of stuff when I am grocery shopping - you'd be surprised what you can find if you look! That Fray Stop is great stuff to put on the ends of ribbon. It's sort of like watered down glue. It soaks into the fabric and holds it together.

I hope to make some more head bands like this in different colours and make some bows on hair pins and some fabric flowers for head bands and pins. I will be doing well on my Resolutions if I can get some flowers in my hair!

I am completely uncoordinated when it comes to styling my hair, so 'there it is', are my favourite styles. As in, brush, head band - 'There it is'!

Some Christmas stuff

I do like to take photos of things and it's especially satisfying when it's something I have made... and finished!

These little bags I made for Esther, Ellamay and Amelia for Christmas last year. I used this tutorial. I found some metal bangles at The Reject Shop in a pack for about $1.50 and used them instead of plastic ones like the tutorial suggests. I finished them with fabric yo-yo's and buttons. They are very cute, I think!

I used the same bangles to make ribbon twirlers. I wrapped them in strips of scrap polar fleece to pad them out. Then, I wrapped them in ribbon and finished by stitching on some lengths of ribbon. Ta-da! Ribbon twirler! Made our 3 princesses (or ballerinas - depending on the mood) very happy.

Project 52 - The first date

Our date was on Friday night. It was supposed to happened between 9.30 - 10.30pm but due to the fact that our kids were still not settled, we started about half an hour late.

This month is Tim's turn to come up with the dates. Friday night we had to write a list of the things we loved/liked about each other and then talk about it. It was good. Writing down things like that seemed to come easy to Tim but for me, I was really struggling. I think Tim was worrying that I didn't have a long enough list. I just found that after such a long day being Mum, it was hard to even stay awake. (I get little sleep at the best of times and unfortunately it catches up with me.)

It was fantastic to sit and spend some time just remembering why we love each. And talking and being silly together.

We ate Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate with Popping Candy inside, which was very funny to us, and drank Pepsi and just had fun.

The photo at the top is actually one of us from 1999 when we had just started going out. It was taken in a photo booth at a train station and it is one of my favourites.

Plans for next date... Not sure what Tim is planning yet. My part of it is to make a photo booth set up so we can take our photo together. I want it to be something we do each date. I hope we will get a bit more organised for our next date. But hey, give us a break. This was our first date.

I am looking forward to getting some more ideas from all the other people who are signing up to do Project 52 as well.

Project 52 - Date Nights

One of my New Years Resolutions was to be a better wife. Tim and I are going to be ten in May this year. What a great roller coaster of a life it has been. I am so blessed to have the husband I have. And even though he drives me crazy sometimes and I, in turn, drive him crazy, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Life has always been super busy. The levels just change. Looking after our relationship has been hard work and often is the last thing we worry about. So this year, we are commiting to making a change. We are going to follow the Project 52 over on Simply Modern Mom. What a great idea. Commiting to having a date night once a week for a year.

We have tried to have date nights at home in the past but we have always been a bit half hearted about it and let other stuff get in the way.

This time, we have set the ground rules. We will follow the first ones suggested in the pledge.

- Can't do the same thing twice in one month

- We will rotate being in charge of date nights on a monthly basis

- No children allowed

- Must create a date-like atmosphere. No frumpy clothes or pajamas. Make it a special event. Mind the details. But most of all, keep it simple

Our additions:

- Must take a photo of the date activity including us

- Cannot go outside the house block

- No computers, TV, Phones, Blogs, CFA, etc to get in the way!

Now that I have written about it here, it will make us accountable to actually do it. So the plan is that I will post about what we did and our photo. Should be fun.

2010 Resolutions

Starting a New Year. A great gift. I figure since I sort of spoke about New Years Resolutions in my last post, perhaps I should record a list (dangerous I know) about some things I want to achieve this year.

Creatively

- Learn to crochet

- Improve my sewing

- Make some kind of embroided cushion

- Start doodling in a book (I bought myself a A5 Visual Diary today) and make fun pictures because drawing with fine liners is fun

- Improve my photography.

- Make myself some skirts. They would be A-line of course.

- Start wearing flowers in my hair again. They would have to be well placed to cover the grey that seems to be creeping through my hair though...

Personally

- The usual - Get healthy

- Be a better Mum

- Be a better Wife

- Get my house decluttered and beautiful

That about covers it really. I want achieve stuff this year that has been on hold while the kids have been around so much. I would love to make things different in lots of ways. So I had better start small.

Get off the computer...

Something happy... Fine liners and a fresh new book to draw in.

New Year - New Blog

One of my New Years Resolutions was to start my own blog. Well. Big tick for me! I didn't specify in my resolutions that I had to actually keep writing in it!

I hope to be able to record all kinds of things on here. I use to keep journals but haven't been much good at it since I had kids. Something about sleep deprivation and no time... Perhaps the world of blogging will motivate me to do it again. In the very least, I hope to be able to record my makings... all in my Mid-Craft Crisis.

I have so many projects on the go at once, I never seem to get them finished. And with our twin girls off to school this year and youngest at day care for one day a week, I have high hopes of getting things in check.

Now, all I have to do is juggle everything into some kind of order and I will achieve another thing on my list of New Years Resolutions... a Super Mum!

Happy thought for today.

Ellamay asking when I was getting dressed ready to go shopping in town today - "Mummy are you going to be all beautiful today?"