My Creative Space.

It's time for "My Creative Space" again, this week I'm going to share something I've been wanting for a long time............A GOOD PAIR OF SCISSORS!
I ordered these a little while ago and they finally arrived this week......so excited! When I used to have a paying job with a soft furnishings business these were all I used ( except for the big industrial cutters ) they are a joy to work with, they make me smile just looking at them! God help anyone in this house that even thinks of using them!

Slightly excited about a pair of scissors aren't I?

If you want to see a whole lot of creative spaces head on over to kootoyoo and say hello.

I'm off to do some cutting with my new scissors..........have a happy day!

I took a little break!

It's been a few days since I blogged.........naughty aren't I? I'm sorry I think my mojo just needed a few days break to recharge find a little inspiration and get back into it again!

On the weekend we all went swimming and fishing at this perfect little waterhole along the river.
It was great.......the kids swam and explored for hours.

The water wasn't too deep which was good.

A perfect place to sit, relax and cool off.

Megan heard some scratching on one of the huge river gums and thought it must have been a Koala....upon investigation we all discovered it was a massive goanna! He was only a few metres from where we set up our picnic, but he just stayed nice and still and watched us for an hour or two.

We tried for quite some time to catch a fish but found it a little hard with Megan around! She doesn't know the meaning of the words "quiet please", and she couldn't resist splashing in the water constantly.

Did I mention how beautiful this spot was...........I think we're going to go back and camp at some stage, hopefully the goanna will have moved on by then!

It was just on dark when we finally got the kids out of the water........a huge afternoon.

Ryan wants to go back again next weekend an try to catch a fish to eat for dinner........ That's OK as long as I don't have to clean it up, yuk!

Hope you are all staying cool!

My Place And Yours

It's Saturday again and that means it's time for "My Place And Yours", this weeks theme queen is "Bricole" and she has chosen "Your secret weapon" for this weeks theme, something you can't go without, something you keep close to your creative heart.

It only took me a few minutes to think about this one, what would be the first thing I would grab when leaving the house? I simply couldn't live without my camera! I love it because I get to capture moments like this..........

Yes that is a chicken in a pot!

One very happy little girl!

And one not so happy chicken!

This is why my secret weapon is my camera! I love being able to capture all the funny and unusual things that happen in my part of the world.

If you want to play along this week go and visit "Pip" over at "Meet Me At Mikes", say hello while you're there.

Thanks for stopping by.

My Creative Space.

When I was brushing Megan's hair on the weekend getting ready for our little drive to Tamworth I was kinda wishing I had a cute little orange flower to put in her hair.....the whole ribbon thing is getting a little tired.
So while we were wandering around Spotlight filling our basket up I saw some Crochet Cotton in these beautiful bright colours........perfect for making some little flowers to put in Megan's hair!
So for the past few nights while watching some TV I made a few flowers, I crochet away until my little finger and ring ringer are so cramped that they don't want to move!

I think a few of these would go well on a scrapbooking layout or a pretty little card......so many possibilities! What would you use them for?

If you want to see some more creative goodness head on over and see Kootoyoo and say hello to Kirsty.

Thanks for visiting.

Pastry Chef at work!

I've been in the kitchen cooking up a storm! Low calorie cakes! I love a cake which looks this good and doesn't make your jeans tight!
The box which these cakes were created around stand 8.5cm tall and 12cm diameter, once the decorations were added on top they stand 12cm high!

Are you hungry yet?

The icing lid comes off to reveal a fully lined interior.....perfect for stashing something special!

I'm very pleased with the way these turned out.....bit fiddly but well worth it. I've nearly finished a third one which will have some pink puffs of frosting....just have to make a few more strawberries.

I haven't figured out a price for these yet, but as soon as I do I'll let you all know.

Sorry I haven't blogged for a few days, I've been trying to catch up on a few orders!

Thanks for visiting!

Day at the Track!

On Saturday afternoon we went to the races, not something I would normally go to or get all excited about but Megan's best friend's family are "Trainers' and they had a few of their own horses racing, so off we went!
The local race club always has a heap of things going on to entertain the kids while the grown-ups have a bet or two. Megan immediately lined up to go on the "Mad Cow" a huge bucking bull.

She held on real tight!

Then it spun, bucked and turned until she went flying off!

Next Ryan had a turn.

He lasted a bit longer than Megan before he was thrown off! They loved the "Mad Cow" so much they lined up to have a go over and over again.

After we were all finished over at the track we went over to the stables to check out some of the horses.

This cheeky boy got a third.

Check this out.....both the kids and the horse were pulling faces every time I tried to take a picture.

This big boy got a first!

I think one day when the light is much better I'll go out to the stables and try and take a few more pictures, there is so much to look at.

Watching Megan around the stables I knew this is something she would really love to be around all the time, she really looked at home there.

I grew up with horses, competing on a regular basis at shows and sporting gymkhanas......I know Megan would thrive in that environment.......maybe one day we will be able to make that dream come true for her.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

My Creative Space.

Late last week while in my local fabric shop a new shipment came in and I fell in love with this absolutely gorgeous fabric. I dreamt about it for the next few nights wondering what I could do with it and should I really buy it? Do I really need it? The answer I came up with was YES, YES and YES.
I've decided to "re-do" Megan's room, I'm going to make a new doona cover and some co-ordinating cushions and a few other goodies ( all when I can find the time ). Megan is seven now and while the linnen she has now is gorgeous I'm tired of the "pink and lime', I think it's time to move on to a more grown up theme! What do you think?
I started on a few donuts yesterday........all in preparation for the markets.

Ooooh and I finished a couple of these.........I think I might keep on of these for myself, if you want one I can make some more!

I've been seeing polka dots in my sleep!

I plan on getting stuck into a few more journal covers in the next few days ( now that some new fabric has arrived ), so much to do, so little time!

I hope you all enjoyed my "Creative Space" today! If you want to meet some fabulously creative people head on over to "kootoyoo" and say hello!

Time to cook!

On Sunday Megan decided she was going to turn our dining room into a nursery for all her babies, she fussed and changed them, fed and rocked them when they cried, when she decided that it was time for all the babies to sleep she wanted to do something which involved cooking!
So it became pancakes with a twist! She was told only to put one or two drops of food colouring in.........it didn't quite happen like that I knew it wouldn't, I knew even before we started that she would tip half the bottle in!

Food colouring overload!

I wonder how it's going to taste?

We used cocoa for the chocolate ones then put them in the pan!

One by one she poured waited for bubbles and flipped. Don't they look........errr colourful?

And take a look at this...........

They turned out amazing, the colours are beautiful and so pretty all together. All I wanted to do was take pictures of them and all Megan wanted to do was eat as many as she could.

They were (surprisingly) very nice to eat and didn't last long.....I had to put some away for Dad and Ryan otherwise they were going to miss out!

I've been getting a bit creative over the past few days so hopefully I'll have a picture or two to share very soon.

Hope you are all having a great day!

My Place And Yours - Bedside

Pip from "Meet Me at Mikes" has a weekly thing called "My Place And Yours", this weeks theme is " Bedside".
Here is my bedside table ( I removed the dust bunnies first - too embarrassing ). There's usually a great stack of magazines only I cleaned them all up a week ago and put them onto another stack of magazines in the bookcase!

I like to keep something to read just before sleep ( Eclipse doesn't really help me sleep it just keeps me wanting more ) and a few things which I think look pretty, like one of my favourite necklaces and a giant silver apple, and most precious of all a picture of the little darlings!

Now it's time to be honest! Yes I did have to clean the dust bunnies before I took the picture but I also removed one thing, a roll of toilet paper! It's not on my bedside table for any other reason other than I'm not about to let my family wipe themselves with a roll of toilet paper worth $11.95, and I want to keep it somewhere safe until Christmas because I think I will put it in my mothers Christmas stocking, I know she'll get a real kick out of it because it has a barbed wire pattern on it! ( My mum likes novelty things )

So there you have it, my bedside table. If you want to join in head on over to Pip's and have some fun!

A Grasshopper and Polka Dots.

You never know what kind of creatures you are going to find around our house from one day to the next. Most of the little creatures Megan finds she wants to keep as pets ( yay for that ), just like she wanted to keep this big grasshopper after finding him on our veranda. I didn't want anymore ( things ) living in our house in containers so thankfully I convinced her to let it go on its merry way.

Take a real close look at the detail on this fellow......truly amazing!
I cut out some tea sets yesterday but only got to finish one.......

This one is real pretty.............if you want it just let me know.

I bought some more spotty fabric yesterday and got a little excited about all the things I could do with it so I went back again this morning for some more......everything is about to be covered with polka dots so stay tuned for that!

Hope you all have a creative weekend!

My Creative Space.

My husband loves his "The Land" newspaper, when he gets his new copy each week he sits and reads it from front page to back page. He keeps a few months worth of papers in a basket in the corner of our lounge room and gets upset when I decide I can't look at the basket full of papers anymore and sneak them into the bin.
How upset do you think he's going to be when he finds out that his precious papers have got holes in them because I tuned them into these?
I used the property section!

I think they would look great as an embellishment on my next scrapbooking layout! Simple to make and a great way to recycle your husbands news papers!

If you want to see some more fantastic creative spaces head over and visit kootoyoo.

Hot and Not.....

Hot

• A cold orange from the fridge for an afternoon snack.
• I've nearly finished two tea sets today!
• This site is hot.....loads of inspiration!
• Bought some fabric on Etsy yesterday for less than half the price I could have bought it here in Australia! That's nearly too hot to touch!

Not

• Discovering that one of my children has carved their name in my very large green candle which cost me $30......not happy.
• Not wanting to go ouside because of the snakes.......I found a dead one down at the gate a while ago.
• People who think it's okay to stand in my personal space at the checkout....it creeps me out!
• Trying to get a seven year old to do her homework when it's clear all she wants to do is go outside and ride her bike! If you want to see more of What's Hot and What's Not go and visit Loobylu.

Snakes and Stripes.

Here is a picture of our luscious Lulu in one of her favourite spots to catch a bit of sun in the early mornings! This morning while I was hanging out some washing on the clothes line I saw Lulu playing with something, I watched for a little while thinking that she may have caught a bird or a mouse..............a snake! There she was playing with it while it was striking at her, I called Lulu away from the snake and back to the house.......away from dangerous toys!
Don't anyone panic she didn't get bitten, but if that toy she was playing with comes any closer to the house it's going to meet my shovel!
This Tea Set was a special order for a lady here in town, she chose this fabric because it matches her kitchen blinds..........did I mention stripes are really hard to work with when creating something round like a ball!

I had a few sleepless nights thinking about this one.........in the end I knew I'd just have to do it and not worry how I was going to tackle it! I think it turned out okay.......not really my "cup of tea" ( ha ha ha that was too funny )but I know she'll love it!

I going to cut out some more tea sets that have SPOTS not STRIPES ready to put together for the Christmas Markets in Goondiwindi to be held on November 28. My first markets.....feeling a bit nervous.

Busy with Journal Covers!

Knowing that the Christmas Markets in Gundy are going to creep up on me real quick I got stuck into some A5 Journal Covers yesterday! Put a bit of ribbon around it and it would make a great gift, teachers, mother, friends, anyone! The cover is totally removable ( and washable ) so when you fill up your book just replace it with another!

These gorgeous book covers could also hold a diary, index book, or what ever you want! The books that are currently inside are plain ruled ones.

This one is called..... Disco Dot - Flamingo

Below we have Disco Dot - Sorbet

Little Bugs

Cupcakes - Aqua

I also made some A6 sized Book Covers. Here is one covered in Apples and Pears......I also made A5 ones covered in Apples and Pears just didn't take a picture.

Here are some more little books ( A6 ) against the bigger ones (A5). They are all fully lined and have a layer of thin wadding in them so they feel extra soft.

If you think you'd like one of these very useful and colourful book covers ( Journal Covers ) they are $20 for A5 size, $15 for A6 size plus postage, books included!

Let me know by sending me an email ( found in my profile ).

You have had your vote and her name is.................Sylvia!

How perfect is that!

Do you think she'll stop gazing out that window when she gets a boyfriend?

My Creative Space.

Today I'm going to share a little birdie hanging ornament I made......... I think I'm going to have to make this little birdie a friend ( boyfriend ) because she's just hanging around waiting for someone to talk to.

What should I call her?

I've got a few other projects on the go at the moment involving some new fabric I ordered a few days ago, lovely bright colours, can't wait to get started.

If you want to see some other very creative spaces head on over to kootoyoo.

Holidays.

The kids have been keeping themselves busy during the school holidays, about a week ago I cut a length of rope and strung it up in Megan's room, hung a sheet over the top and made a tent......Megan has been sleeping in it ever since!
I few years ago Santa gave Megan a gorgeous bike but Megan for some reason wasn't really interested in learning to ride it, she was quite happy to get around on her scooter. A few days ago she saw one of her little friends riding her bike ( without trainers ) and all of a sudden she thought it's about time to learn, so she went home, made Dad take off the trainers and off she went! Yes that's right....off she went! Only problem now is that she has already out grown her bike......she said it was okay she would just get Santa to get her another one!

She is so proud of herself, I've even caught her outside riding around in her pj's before breakfast, and racing against Ryan.........somehow I think that's going to end in disaster if she doesn't slow down!

Yesterday we went Ten Pin Bowling.

Sorry about the picture quality.....I took these pictures on my phone.

There were nine of us in total and it was a great activity for the kids during the holidays......everyone had a good laugh!

After all that we had Pizza for lunch and did a bit of shopping.

Guess what I did last night? Scrapbooking!! I haven't done any in quite a while and it was heaps of fun to pull out all my bits and pieces and create a layout! Would love to share but you're going to have to wait a while for that!

Okay, I'm off to clean my fridge ( yay so excited ) and I think I'll have a glass of wine while I'm going!

Back real soon with something creative!

Guitars and Snowflakes.

On Thursday I took the kids over to Tamworth to go see a movie, afterwards we drove over to the Golden Guitar to take a look. I don't know how many times we have driven past this thing and never stopped, so I thought it was about time!
Here we are in the country music capital of Australia.

Something strange happened to the kids, all of a sudden they thought they were plying Guitar Hero's!

Or is that Air Guitar?

They rocked!

And they rolled!

Eventually I had to stop them as there were other nice people waiting to take a few pictures of their own!

I made a few more snowflakes, I'm really liking this colour combination.........red pink and purple look great together.

As do blue red and purple.

Or this!

Or why not hang them all together........my little display ( in preparation for the Christmas markets ) is really coming together.

Just remember if you think that some of these beautifully hand stitched snowflakes would look good on your Christmas tree send me an email with your order.

Have a happy weekend.

My Creative Space.

I'm so excited about how my snowflakes are coming together. Last night I cut out some more pretty colours ( very time consuming ) and I hope to get them done over the next couple of nights after the kids have gone to bed.
I know it's a bit early but this afternoon we found a tree branch without leaves and hung a few of the snowflakes up just to see what they'd look like .........I think they look super and so do the kids!
If you want to see some more creative spaces head on over to kootoyoo and have a look.

78 Sleeps!

Can you believe that there is only 78 Sleeps until Christmas! I noticed that all the Christmas decorations have been appearing in the shops for a few weeks now.....some of them are real pretty, but as usual I wanted to have a go at making some of my own!
These are my snowflakes!

All lovingly hand stitched!

I plan on making a big stack of these ( I've got a feeling these are going to be popular ), I might try a few different colour combinations and see how they look. What are your favourite Christmas colours?

I might also try and make a few other types of Christmas ornaments like, little birds etc. If you want some of these gorgeous snow flakes I'll make you some.......$6 each. Compare that price with some of the alternatives in the shops at the moment and I think you've got a beautiful hand made bargain!

Did you know that real snow flakes have six arms not five.....something to do with crystals and how they form symmetrically! My snow flakes have mutated into stars although they do carry some of the characteristics of a real one.....no two snow flakes are the same!

So there you go!

I finished a few more A5 journal covers yesterday........need to make a few more in different colours and sizes real soon!

School holidays are in full swing as most of you know, the kids have been having a great time doing as they please. They helped Mark cook a big fish for dinner the other night.....I'm still finding scales all over my kitchen!

Although I love having the kids at home for the holidays I'm not enjoying the fact that when they are playing out in the yard that there is always some danger, danger of being bitten by a big brown snake!

On Saturday when I got out of the car to shut the gate I nearly stepped on a big brown snake, I jumped back in the car that quick that I left my shoes on the road just 30cm from the snake. After a bit of smart circle work Mark squished it with the car.....thank goodness.

I had another encounter yesterday when driving out of the house gate with a big snake, I tried to run him over but I'm not as good at Mark when it comes to circle work so he got away. I don't know why all these deadly snakes want to come and live around my house..... I wish they'd all go back in their holes and stay there!

I love Orange!

Did you know that Orange is one of my favourite colours? Did you know I grew up in a place called Orange.....famous for apples and wine nothing to do with oranges!
Did you know that my husband and I have been married 10 years and over the weekend we went away, the room we stayed in was.......you guessed it, Orange!!

We don't often get a night away without the kids so this was a real treat! The room was really nice, however I was slightly confused as to why when sitting on the toilet you need to be calling someone on the telephone?

We drank champagne and had a wonderful fine dining experience...... he told me I'll have to wait another 10 years to get that again. I even got a little box with something that sparkles inside......totally unexpected!! Looking back all the signs were there because he has been acting a bit funny and doing things that are a little out of character.......I'm still blown away that he organised such a special weekend for "10 years hard labour ", his words not mine!

Now for something crafty.......my new pin cushion!