Sorry about the blurry photo but I made this little hat for Archie (with the help of my very clever mum) out of a recycled pillowslip that I bought from a second hand store.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out but then my husband made the comment that it was a little feminine looking for a boy with the flowers and all.  Not sure - can boys get away with this???? Probably not.  Well I will just have to keep it on the shelf for a later date I guess.  Next time I would probably make it out of a heavier fabric but not to worry it was a fairly good first attempt and only cost 20 cents……

Excuse the unflattering photo of me but despite this I just love this photo.  My little boy has this knack of just planting a kiss on you somewhere at the most unexpected time and it just melts my heart. 

My husband and I stayed up late last night putting our latest home decorating project in place.  We have always loved having a world map featured in our house given our diverse number of travels and it always proves to feature as a point of discussion when we have guests over.  So we took the initative and removed the small one and put a big hum dinger in the viewing line of our dining room table and we are totatlly rapped with the outcome.  Check it out below for yourself. This room gets the beautiful morning sun in Winter and it is just delightful to sit and read a book in at this time of the year.

Well we have returned from our latest snowboarding adventure.  This year we decided to try out the Australian snow scene and made our way to Falls Creek in Victoria for a week of snow fun.  Talls about expensive!!!!!  Well some may not but I would consider 9$ for a bag of hot potato wedeges a little over the top myslef.  And that was the cheap option.  None the less Archie had a wonderful time and was in awe of the snow.  He is still a little small to take to the slopes so we decided on a taboggan for him which gave us all a very good work out.  We had glorious weather in terms of sunshine but a little more snow would have been wonderful towards to end of our week to soften our landing when we came off our boards which thankfully wasn’t too often.    Some pics are below of our little snowbunny Archie who was in awe of the scenes and couldn’t get enough of the white stuff.  It was delightful to see.

It seems to be all about dogs or animals of late.  I have had an idea in my head for quite some time now and thought I would take some time to try and get it out of there.  It turned out okay but I feel there is still a little tweaking still to do.  The first pair I  made the pant from a red cotton voile which is nice and light for those fresher evenings here in queensland (our winter) and the origami dog applique I used a cream linen.  I probably wouldn’t use the linen again because it frays very easily but for these pants I just reinforced it a little more.  And the second pair I made the pant in a stretch navy and used a good quality calico for the fish applqiue.  They seemed to turn out the best depending on what you like. Archie didn’t seem to mind and was quite happy in both as he tinkered around the back yard. 

I couldn’t resist sharing these gorgeous photos of my chocolate labrador called Switzer.  They were taken by my sister in law and the results are fantastic as you can see for yourself.  Hats off to anyone who works with animals  because it would be one tough gig getting them to pose for you as we oursleves experienced.

I was ever so gald to see a copy of Family Circle on my local newsagencies stand last week.  I am not sure if this is the first issue back since it was discontinued from being published or whether i have just had my head in the sand and have missed past editions.  Please let me know if  i have.  Anyway it is full of great things for families and yummy recipes including these delightful pupcakes which I am sure the little ones are just going to love.  You  might need to allocate a little bit of time but I think the final outcome will be worth it.  

I bought a new diary the other week with the idea that I would actually use it to improve the way I approach and organise my day.  So I went for this a5 style because it allocated a full day to one page (so far so good) but it must have been the most boring diary in the shop with its plain black cover so…………………. as a means of motivating me to be attracted to this thing I whipped up a nice little cover to dress it up a little.  Hope you like it????? 

I made these cushions a little while ago now and I am so glad that I did.  They have proven to be a great addition to our family room and the kids over the road think that they are pretty good for building a cubby house out of too when they come to play.  But the thing I love most about these cushions is that whenall those friends and visitors ask where I got them from I can proudly tell them that I made them myself and know that no one else will have any one the same.

We have been working on new designs for the store over the last couple of weeks and it is such a nice feeling when you get them out there into the public domain!!!!!!!!  So here are a few snapshots.  All new designs are available in store now in Long and Short sleeve styles from size 00 - 4.

                       Doggy Woggy        Delightful Delilah                      

                                                                                   Alfonso                      Rocket

I don’t know about  you guys but I am really into toasties at the moment.  Maybe it’s because the weather is cooling down  but they are just so damn great for lunch especially when they are dripping with melted cheese.  So i thought it appropriate (gvien my obsession) to share with you my toastie of the day (which I inhaled for lunch). I introduce the Turkey Pride Toastie.  Made on Walnut Bread by Sol and layered with chilli jam (homemade by my mum), tomato, red onion, a bit of basil and cheese.  Anything goes really but gee it tasted sensational. 

There is definately no better gift for a little one than a gorgeous handmade quilt.  And here is one gorgeous quilt handcrafted by no other than my very clever mother who made this for my gorgeous niece.    I really love that it is not to girly and it isn’t too bulky making it easy to pack up and take somewhere for the day.  Mum you are a gem!

With the weather cooling down here in the great South East it is the perfect time to eat all that yummy comfort food.  An old favourite of my famlies is Lamb Tagine with Cous Cous.  It is one of those meals which I always seem to have the ingredients for in my cupboard.  It involves a slow cooker but I am sure it would work also on the stove top.

Lamb Tagine 

2 Tblspns Olive Oil

8 Lamb Shanks

1 Large Onion, Slicey Thinly

2 Cloves of Garlic, Crushed

1 1/2 Tablspns Moroccan Dried Spice Mix

1 Tblspn Tomato Paste

1 x 400g Chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 x 400g Tin Chopped Peel Tomatoes

1/2 cup Chick Stock

1 Large Sweet Potato, Peeled and Diced

1 Cinnamon Stick

2 Cardamon Pods, cracked

Salt and Peper to Taste

Cous Cous to Serve

 1. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat, cook lamb shanks in batches for 3-5 minutes or until evenly browned all over. Place in the slow cooker.

2. Reduce heat and add onion and garlice to frypan and cook for 5 minutes or until onion has softened and coloured.  Add spice mix and cook until fragrant.  Stir through the tomatoe paste.

3. Place onion mixture into slow cooker with remaining ingredients.  Cover and cook on High for 3 - 4 hours or on Low 6 - 8 hours.

4.  Adjust the seasoning to your taste and serve with cous cous.

And Ta Da!!!!!!

(Recipe adapted based on Sunbeam Slowcooker Instruction Booklet)

Phew! All i can say is thank goodness for the Wiggles.  After a hectic week of orders I have to say the wiggles were definately my saving grace as evidenced by the attached photos. 

I have always had a love for mosaics.  I remember seeing pieces scattered around my grandmother’s house when I was a child but of course this art form dates back to way before then.  In fact did you know the art of creating mosaics goes all the way back to the fourth millennium BC - Wow that is old!

Below are some lovely photos of some pieces created by my mum.  She has developed a real love for creating mosaic pieces in between helping me with Tees 2 Knees.   Like any crafter she can spend hours piecing together hundreds of bits of glass, stones and shells to turn a boring table, pot or piece of board into an inspirational piece of artwork. 

I simply have to introduce to you Nine Lives Critters created by the very talented Taryn Rode. 

Meet Mrs G - for goldfish that is! She’s made from recycled fabrics sewn together lovingly for your smooching pleasure.  Mrs G comes from a family of stuffed critters called Nine Lives Critters.   The name Nine Lives Critters came about from the fact that each of Taryn’s creations can be constructed using up to 9 types of fabrics coming from different lives before making their way to becoming a crittter all of their own.  Below are some other examples of Taryns work.  Each critter is different and unique and they would love to part of your unique life too!  If anyone would like to know more about Nine Lives Critters then please drop Taryn a line on tarynfaerie@hotmail.com

Taryns Owl Creation

Reverse side of Mrs G

It’s my birthday.  The big 32.  I just don’t know where the last ten years have gone.  I know I have filled them with many things but they just seem to have gone by so quickly.  I was indulged by  many gifts and phone calls.   So thank you to everyone for their thoughts and birthday wishes. I particularly like these little earings a friend of mine bought me.  She couldn’t remeber exactly who handcrafted them but she bought them from a store called ” i dream a highway” which is based in Melbourne at 259 High Street Northcote.  They are supe cute and crafted from letather and fabric.  Very nice indeed.  A couple of other gifts included pjs and flowers amongst others so here are a few shots above.

 I really do love the saying “anothers trash is anothers treasure.  I love scouting through thrift shops finding vintage patterns and fabric.  I can spend hours just sifting and rummaging and the excitement when i find something that I really think is worthwhile that only costs 50 cents is even more exciting. 

Got to love it and with some new tee shirt designs swirling around my mind it will be great to use these fabrics to bring them into reality.  

Gosh! It has just been raining cats and dogs here on the not so Sunshine Coast.  The tank is full, the pool is overflowing and everyone is hibernating.  It has provn to be a great time to do little things that you don’t seem to find time to do when the weather is great! Naturally I did find time to do some crafting and managed to turn out some new hair slides to help me grow out my fringe. The actual slides have been sitting in my box of tricks for sometime now so it was time to give them an overhaul. So here they are….. 

 The two patterned ones are just out of cotton fabric and the white one is out of some scraps of leather that I have had hanging around here for ages.  I really love the fabric flower one that i made a little while ago and I have had so many comments on it

I have decided that my little boy Archie is a Bower Bird.  I recently bought him a little bitty bin from K-Mart and it keeps him entertained for hours.   He fills it up with anything he can find then dumps it all out, sifts through the contents and anything he like goes back in.  Of course if anything important is missing (mobile phones, keys, sometimes underwear, Tv remote, family photos) you can be guaranteed that it is in the wheelie bin which is fine because at least it is easy to find without having to sift through the entire house.  He is so in love with wheelie bins now that whenever we go walking in the mornings on bin day he gets rather excited pointing and yelling out at the sight of wheelie bins lining the streets.  yep - do i get some weird looks. It tends to go most places with us (within reason of course) but we get so many parents asking us where we got it from.  So much so I reckon it would make a great kids birthday gift (around $20.00) and it also keeps everything tidy because at the end of the day I just put it back in the corner until morning when the cycle starts all over again.

                            The Wheelie Bin Itself                   Content On The Floor               The Sacred Contents