So quick, so easy...

I made some lanterns tonight ready for Christmas decorating. Inspired by A Beach Cottage, this is what I came up with...

Seriously, this is a 5 min craft and the possibilities are endless. Definitely not limited to Christmas, you could embellish them, go rustic like the ones on A beach Cottage, use your families names, words that mean a lot to you, seasonal words...

Progress...

This is the inside of the trunk from the previous post. In this photo the top still has a layer of wall paper. It's now gone and I also removed 2 layer of paper from the bottom.

I'm re-purposing it as toy storage for C's room. He loves all things travel, jets, maps, world, etc so we are giving his room a vintage travel theme to grow it up a bit (it's currently blue with Thomas curtains).

Now I just have to decide what to line the trunk with.

No time for words...

Well maybe just a few...

Some of what I've been crafting:

I am in love with freezer paper stencilling!!!

Doll wrap from here

Envelope purse from here

What I'm working on next:

Look at this...

Really cute little giveaway going on over at littlesnoring.blogspot.com, she has some beautiful things, go check it out!

The bedsides...

So here is the first finished make over of the furniture we found by the side of the road. I wrote about them here...

We started with these:

These were our bedsides before:

These are the new ones:

Please excuse the bed, we're in serious need of some new linen

Much better hey? Total cost for 2 bedsides... $28 These furniture make overs could get addictive!

No turning back...

Check it out!

The Babes Project

Something new...

Im gonna try something new. Actually I'm gonna try a few new things.

I want to set myself some challenges before the end of the year.

You see, I am forever hearing myself say things like, "oh, I'd love to do that" or "I'm gonna try that". So... I'm gonna do a series of entries on here of things I want to do and try, then I'll post about them as I do it.

The first one is a food related, things I want to make at least once in my life, all things I enjoy eating, things people once made but now buy pre-done from a deli or supermarket.

So here goes...

My small list (which I'll come back and add to as I remember things) of foods I will make this year:

pate

marinated mushrooms

marinated eggplant

soft cheese

gourmet pies

pannacotta

cook a whole fish

citrus tart

fresh pasta

ice cream

So, do you have any great recipes for any of these things? Leave a comment and let me know if you do.

Little critters...

It's school holidays here so no kinder for 2 weeks. I really enjoy the slower paced days, later mornings and extra time to chill with the kids.

I try to find a balance between doing fun, out of the ordinary things with them and having the usual cleaning, nothing special days. I think it's important they know that my life doesn't just stop to keep them occupied during holidays. They need to learn to create their own fun, use their imagination and not just rely on TV and set-up activities. Mum still has a house to clean, meals to cook, washing to do, all of which they are welcome to help with.

But... today was one of the fun days and we made fuzzy caterpillars and spiders

I also love this idea and may start to use it for C towards the end of the 2 weeks.

What do you do during schools holidays?

Tiger toast...

Mum used to make this for us when we were kids.

Vegemite and cheese, YUM!

Just put it together and put it under the grill or in the oven.

C and S loved it!

New and fun projects...

It all started 2 Sundays ago when we were coming home from church and I noticed this handsome thing sitting by the side of the road. E went back to pick it up for me and I spent the afternoon dreaming of it's potential. I was tossing up whether to keep it for my very own computer desk or use it in C's room for all his drawing things.

I love it's lines and will take to it with some paint and see what I can transform it into. It's put together really well with dovetail joins for the draws. Oh, and I decided (much to his delight) that it will go in C's room.

Well, this Sunday just gone E went to get the paper before church, he came back, flew in the door, grabbed the keys to his car and was gone again, mumbling something about hoping to get there in time.

He returned with these beautiful pieces, the owners were putting them out free to a good home. Again, they are quality pieces, all dovetail joins, oh, and they are not a set. Their stamps are different as is their color (hard to tell in these pics)

This lovely lady will go in S's room after a bit of a clean up and probably a paint.

And these 2 will go in our room. We had been looking for some bedside tables to replace the large chunky ones we currently have. I'm thinking black gloss for these.

Mmm... wonder what next Sunday could bring.

A family day...

I always run out of ideas for great family things to do during winter but last Christmas my sister gave us a family membership to Museums Victoria. So, we took the kids to Scienceworks on the long weekend and they absolutely loved it.

It was a great family day for all of us that didn't involve freezing weather or shopping centres (the only other options I seem to come up with)

To make it even better Scienceworks is holding a Star Wars exhibition at the moment.

The kids loved pushing buttons and discovering how things work and E and C both loved seeing some of the 'cool' Star Wars things. The great thing was that there is so much to do there, we didn't get around to everything so there is still plenty of new things to see and do next time.

Absent???

Yes I have been. For lots of reasons. The big things are too big to write about, the little things, I don't make time to write about. And time does come into it because our dinosaur that is barely worth being called a computer is

i n c r e d i b l y s l o w !

But, we will be fixing that in the next week or so. And I will be back. I have a bit to say too. So, keep checking... it wont be long.

Another party...

You might have noticed the new button over to the right, just under the "Great places/sites to visit" section.

I've been an avid Tip Junkie reader for a while and they are just about to celebrate their second birthday by moving to a dot com and having a massive party. Pop over and join in the celebration... 50 amazing prizes will be up for grabs!

Happy Mothers Day...

Today I got to forget all the pressures and challenges that can come with being a mum and focus on the blessing that motherhood is.

Happy Mothers Day to those who are mothers by birth or otherwise and to the women who have the heart of a mother for those in their lives who need it xx

The party...

I didn't get as many photos as I'd planned and out of the ones I did get, there are only a few I can put up (I want to respect the privacy of the other kids).

So for those who are curious, C had a superhero party. I made capes and masks, the kids decorated their initials and I ironed them on their capes during the party.

They drank "Superhero energy fuel", ate lots of food, most of the boys couldn't have cared less about the games, they wanted to run and wrestle.

It was a long 2 hours... C was ready for the end but he had an absolute ball!