Mollie Makes Prints

 I'm usually pretty good at resisting the Mollie Makes Magazine. 

But this month it has seven little prints included and I couldn't help myself.

  I knew I could find a home for them. 

And they look super sweet next to my op shop find,

oil painting!

Mixed in with some prints from old calendars and my crochet hearts it looks pretty cute me thinks.  

Mini Monsters in Matchboxes

Lots of little monsters for loot bags. 

Green for the the boys.

And pink for the girls.

All ready to go to new homes.

With instructions on how to take care of them. 

I loved making these and they reminded me of when I made my tiny travelling fairy house which was the clever creation of Trixi at Coloured Buttons.

Monster Madness Party

 It's always such a good feeling to have a party done and dusted! Particularly this one with 35 kids - let me tell you 35 kids is too many - never again! 

We went for a black and white theme with fluro pink, green, orange and yellow. 

The kids loved the recycled monster bath water.

I covered juice boxes with white wrapping paper and then a monster juice label.

The contents of my loot bags. 

 The handsome birthday boy! 

 Happy Birthday beautiful boy!

Pamper and Slumber Party

 This little girl just turned eight (sob sob) I keep telling her she isn't allowed to get any older, but each birthday just seems to come around quicker than quick. This year we went to the local kids Pamper Parlour (which is just down the road from our house) I figured it was inevitable that she would want a party there eventually.   

 I made all the girls spa slippers to wear after their pedicures. 

They did the girls hair, makeup, manicures and pedicures.

Together we looked on Pinterest and she decided she wanted an ombre cake with the ruffles. It took ages to make but it was well worth it.  

Then her three besties came to our house for a slumber party. 

I made each of them a nightie and sleeping mask. 

We emptied out her desk and setup a little candy bar in Bella's bedroom. 

I reused the top tier of the cake for the candy bar. 

I think it's pretty safe to say that they all had a wonderful time!

The Perfect Vintage Winter Dress

About four years ago I found a stack of gorgeous vintage patterns in size 8 at my local op shop, and though my daughter was only four at the time I snapped them up. 

I have waited four years to make it, and it was so worth the wait. Bella is smitten with this dress, she wore it two days straight and has asked me to make her a pink one too.

I have used a very heavy knit fabric that was on clearance for $2 a meter and the white lace was also an op shop find. 

The pattern is for short sleeves, to make long, I measured her arm and made the sleeve that length, then made the arm cuff smaller to fit her wrist. It's the most perfect winter dress. 

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I had never heard of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint until I went into a local vintage shop and spotted some pieces the owner Robin had painted. Well - I spent the next month planning what colours I wanted and put my order in for my birthday.  

 I think the name Chalk Paint doesn't really do this stuff justice, so I fondly refer to it as Magic Paint. Here's why: No prep work - that's right no sanding! Just paint! I find two coats usually does the trick and it dries really quick (like 20 mins quick). Wax. And you're done. It's also non toxic and doesn't smell, really, there is no bad paint smell at all. 

I repainted this chair in one afternoon. I was completely stumped as to what I was going to do with the awful vinyl padded seat, but I loved the shape of the chair. With magic paint you paint anything, so I painted over the vinyl. I actually think it covers the vinyl better than the wood. It's crazy stuff.   

  The colours are not really my normal colour palette, I'm more into pastels, but I have been having a lot of success with mixing my own colours. Watch this space to see random pieces of furniture I have picked from the op shop and off the side of the road getting a makeover, my latest project is a roll top desk for Bella's room. 

Dr Bronner's Castile Soap

This post comes about two weeks late as I have had a cold that will just not go away. The first few days I was bed ridden, but i'm still sniffy and coughy. 

Anyhoo, I wanted to show you some new (to me) products I have bought in my attempt to be more mindful of the chemicals in my home. Some of you are probably very familiar with Dr Bronner's and after alot of reading I decided to give it a try.

Dr Bronner's castile liquid soap is so versatile, on the bottle they state 18 uses, although I do not plan on brushing my teeth with soap anytime soon. The big bottle of Peppermint is for my kitchen and I am using five drops to wash the dishes, at first I wasn't really sold on it as I missed my bubbles and they seem to help dry the dishes. I have found that if I wash and then dry immediately I am happy. I also plan to wash my floors with it and anything else that needs doing. 

The little bottles are for in the bathroom, rose for the girls, peppermint for the boys. We use five drops lathered up in our hands as our body wash. It works really well and smells divine. Before I had even tried it I dropped the bottle and smashed the lid, so now it will not shut. I reckon I'm about to lose most of it when someone knocks it over. 

The little bars of soap are to make my own washing powder which I am yet to try, they are sitting on my window sill and every now and then I have to have a smell of the almond soap - it is gorgeous!

 Do you use Dr Bronner's? I would love to hear what products you use and how you use them. 

Monday Makes

 This week I have decided to tackle my project life album. I am going to fill up some empty photo spots...and...write on the cards with a pen [not a pencil]. Me and my pencil are best friends, I love how you can just rub mistakes out, brilliance. But the time has come to let go of trying to be perfect and just get things done around here. My gorgeous hubby always says to me "it's better to be terribly finished, than fantastically unfinished." I think he's right.

Last weeks challenge was to crochet some granny squares and I am happy to say I made another ten. I could have done more but I am waiting to get some new wool [I couldn't wait for a sale] in the post with some aquas and light blues which I desperately need.

If you've got something you'd like to finish, or even just start add your link here, I'd love to see what you are up to. 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Cookie Connection

In my return to full time blogging (as in actually blogging) I have been trawling through blogs and found some lovely new faces. One of which was Sunshine x 3 who got me on to the cookie connection over here. Now if you know me well, you'd know there is no way I would ever be able to commit to baking once a week religiously (unfortunately that's just not how I roll). But what I am going to commit to is sharing my baking every time I do bake and I'm going to aim for Fridays. But if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen, and I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I figure the kids will love coming home from school on a Friday to find warm cookies for afternoon tea and then together we can do the deliveries. 

I am off now to bake and crochet. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend. 

Monday Makes

It's amazing how quickly we come back around to Monday when you've set yourself a challenge! I am pleased to say that I completed my personal challenge of making a gift for a baby shower. 

 I decided to go with this cute scottie dog as the theme. 

I appliquéd it onto a lovely blue towel, a onsie and made a card to match. 

And I also made a cute little rattle that has the polka dot fabric on the other side.

So this week my challenge is to crochet as many granny squares as I can for a bag I am making for myself. I need to make 34 and so far I have made four. 

I would love you to join me, so if you have something you would like to make this week why not join me. Add your link below. 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up