The week that was

Well, I have been out of action for a few days. Initially because of my last post (researching took some time), and also family duties have taken a precedent. But hey ho it is Sunday night and all are in bed (hubby included) and I have ignored my 1500 calorie per day regimen and have pulled out the Cadbury milk block (God bless you husband of mine).

Yesterday I did my first school fete. It was great. I forgot how great fetes can be. I sold lots and then bought lots (love those trash and treasure stalls). The only thing I didn't do was take photos. In fact I have hardly taken any photos all week, in a week where I should have been trigger happy.

I received my new stock, but did not even get a chance to photograph it whilst preparing for the fete, and have now sold most of the new stock. So now I have to get a new order in quick before the school holidays begin.

But I wasn't completely camera shy. Here is a bit of my week:

Made roast capsicum salad - twice. We have great garlic breath this week. I will take better photos next time and do a post on it.

Pulled out the one and only doily I have ever made myself and made a bowl out of it. Post to come.

Dyed my own hair. My husband refused to hold a conversation with me whilst I had a plastic bag on my head.

Fairy Floss and face painting at the fete for my little assistant.

Hope you all had a fun week.

Things I am loving - Pinterest

18 Sep 2011 Addition: Well, I have contacted who I could from my previous pinterest post and have removed four photos. The only reason I removed them is I either could not locate the original source (2 pics), it was in a foreign language and I thought it would be too rude to write in English (they were French - 1 pic) and I am still awaiting a response (1 pic). All other people who did reply were wonderful. Most were very grateful that I had sourced their photo, and also enthusiastic about their photos being loved (and also being on pinterest). 

This exercise was an interesting one to say the least. It has shown to me that, as in all things in life, something I regard as great someone else will not. There are many differing views on pinterest and how it works. Watermarking is crucial. This will in some way safeguard ownership of the photo, though not always. Perhaps something I should do. Also, I did get taken aback by the whole venture. Previously I have only ever used 3 pictures in my whole blog that weren't mine (a pic of Elle McPherson, a pic of Ashton Kutcher and a pic of some slippers I like on Etsy). Perhaps I will stick to my own little trusty point-and-shoot camera (can't wait to get a DSLR).

13 Sep 2011: ADDITION: I am in the process of contacting all people whose photos I have shown below. I am keeping this blog post up only so the people in question can view their photos and see what they think. I shall then source or remove each photo correctly.

Things I am loving at the moment

Pinterest

I love it.

I am addicted to it.

I had signed up a few months ago and then never really looked into it. Then last week a  playgroup mum/friend was raving about it and simultaneously one of my favourite blogs, Dana at Made, mentioned her Pinterest discovery. So off I went to see what I could find, and I have gone NUTS.

Things I love on Pinterest:

 

ADDED 18 SEP 2011: Original source:  Dos Family blog. A great and creative blog.

ADDED 18 SEP 2011: Original source: Martha Stewart.

I am a closet doily lover so cannot wait to do some of these doily projects.

ADDED 18 SEP 2011: Original source is "a thousand words" blog. The blog's author did not have the original post.

ADDED 18 SEP 2011: Original source: La Toriana. The picture is no longer on the website as they have sold out. The hats are from Consitution and the clothes from Tea Princess. Both labels sold online at La Toriana here or you can read La Toriana blog here.

ADDED 18 SEP 2011: Original source: Hiya Papaya. This one was very difficult to source and if Cristi and Jessi (the team from this fabulous blog) had not watermarked their image I would never have been able to source it. But thank goodness they did as now I have discovered another great blog. Find their blog here.

Come and join me in the fun here.

For more Things I'm Loving visit PaisleyJade.

Superhero Capes

So, my fabric stash was getting out of control. WAY out of control. So I sucked it up and attacked the laundry cupboard where they are stored. The result:

 That's just half of it.
I never took a before shot - it was too embarrassing.

As a consequence of the fabric stocktake I have discovered I literally have no more room to store fabric and I had better start sewing things. Master 3 has been requesting a superhero cape and Miss 5 wants one too. So that is the first cab off the rank.

A quick google later and I found this fab tutorial at The Long Thread. It’s a two sided cape and she includes a selection of appliques. We opted for star and lightning strike for Master 3 and heart and star for Miss 5.

They love them.



Friday and Fathers Day

I hope you all had a lovely Father's Day. We had a very full weekend but enjoyable.

Gearing up for a busy weekend I had a lovely Friday prepping for it. I finished my second mosaic pot. I don't know what I was thinking with that maroon claw-thing (it was supposed to be a succulent), but I did like working with glass this time and I really like the finish it gives. I also had a fun time with all the women at Mia Mosaics. They had a good laugh at my desire to buy a sausage maker for my husband for Father's Day. It didn't eventuate so I will have to get moving to get him that for Christmas (if anyone knows where I can get a good one?) Mia runs a really lovely class at her Mosaic studios.

Watching Oprah the other day: "According to research by Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, joining a group that meets even once a month can produce the same happiness gain as more than doubling your income."
So go join a club! I am getting a lot of happiness from my mosaicing.
Father's Day was yet another meat-fest (we love meat - well my husband does). Here are some pics of our day (please turn away if you are a vegan/vegetarian):

I didn't take a pic of the end result as by then the "wrath of mum" had arrived and I wasn't taking anymore meat photos.

Yes, my daughter is wearing a swim cap and goggles for no apparent reason.

Kids constructing something in the backyard.

Ta-daa - a tee pee/tent.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend - whether you celebrated Father's Day or not.

Spring! Spring! Spring!

Helllooooo Spring! Welcome! Shine your sunny rays down on me. Your warm smell in the air, the flowers blossoming cheering you in. Oh glorious Spring, hello.

In celebration of the first day of Spring I decided to attack my stash of hoarded coffee jars and create some happy looking vases. I got the idea from Calico and Ivy, who got the idea from Sania Pell. They originally used Liberty of London fabrics (which I love), but I decided just to source my materials from the other hoarded product I have which is fabric.

Now there are a million things you can reuse old coffee jars for (I love tealights in a collection of them), but vases is another good one. I got some fabric remnants, and some scrapbooking paper I picked up for 10c a pack at Spotlight (you heard right – ten cents a packet!)

I measured the height that I wanted and the diameter of the jars using my measuring tape and cut it out. I glued the fabric on with regular craft glue but you can use any adhesive you deem reasonable.

I then cut up my Italian favourites music book that I picked up on Saturday (see here), glued that on and then tied a piece of string.

Three jars later, some flowers raided from the neighbour’s yard, and voila. All done in a very short period of time with one persistent 3 year old that was fixated on  wearing his swimming goggles and swim cap (and I NEEEEDED to get them NOOOWW), and a sick 8 year old home from school (who at the end really wasn’t that sick).

And moving further along the glass jar route, I came across some great blog posts about the beauty of glass. Sometimes we forget how wonderful glass is in both storage, presentation and preservation. Have a look at this post here about the beauty of glass storage, and this one here about the uses of broken glass (she puts it in her garden – I don’t think I’ll be doing that with children constantly roaming around in the yard but a novel idea nonetheless).

So I hope you all had a beautiful first day of Spring if in Australia, but if elsewhere celebrate some Spring in Spirit.