The Good Things.

Tonight i want to focus on the good things from our week, we've got an unwell girl here & another little girl who is cutting teeth.......plenty of sleepless nights have been had. Yawn.  I finally got a chance to photograph the top i made for Scarlett last week.

This will look gorgeous with a pair of skinny leg jeans i think. It originally had very flarey sleeve ends (quite 70's-esque), which i thought would be very annoying for a little one year old, so i made a casing at the ends & threaded through some elastic to gather them in. Much more appropriate for mischievous little hands! All i need to do to finish it now is try to figure out how to make some loopy things at the top of it for button enclosures (or maybe not?)

Today i made up a batch of these tags. My sister in law & i are going to start a market stall & have been getting creative making some goodies. So i made these tags to write sizes & prices on, they were a lot of fun & Amity had a ball punching out the love hearts for me.

Now how pretty are these shoes?! Amity was very brave having some tests done & these were her reward - it took a lot of bribing.....but i know the key to her heart! Shoes......pretty sparkly ones.
And lastly, i won another prize this week! Am i on a roll or what? I was lucky enough to win tickets to the Baby & Toddler Show in Melbourne through a giveaway over at Lark. Even better, a very special person i know also won tickets too, so we'll be able to meet up! *Waving Joanne* Lady Luck certainly has been shining on me lately, must go & buy a tatts ticket i think!

Today i will....

: :  Attempt to vacum carrying a 13 month old who is scared of the vacum cleaner.
: :  Pray it doesn't rain before my washing dries.
: :  Clean the bathroom & toilet & mop floors
: :  Photograph the top i made last night for Scarlett
: :  Blow my nose a gazillion times (yep i caught their cold)
: :  Go through another battle with Amity getting more tests done on her
: :  Read the paper & flick through my new Jamie Oliver cookbook
: :  Toss some chicken & whatever else i can find into the slowcooker for dinner (no it's not a Jamie recipe)
: :  Fold & iron the washing & put it all away (then repeat the process tomorrow)
: :  Yawn my head off all day, after yet another sleepless night

I hope your day is a little more exciting than mine.  Happy Monday everyone.

Four Happy things on Friday.

Well with the crappy week we've had here health wise, i thought i'd join Green Tea and Red Nails again with four happy things this friday & share with you the good things from our week (and i actually remembered to take photos too!)

Amity looking very pretty after a friend's birthday party, she loved that the face painter painted the beautiful butterfly to match her outfit & even added sparkles. Enough to make any five year old girl happy.

Baking some delicious Apple, Cinnamon & Oat Biscuits (before i got struck with the tummy bug), they taste just like Apple Crumble in a bickie. Yum.

Autumn showing it's beauty. How lovely are those red leaves & blue berries? To be honest, i dread Autumn every year & the weather cooling down, but the sight of this gorgeous vine on our patio fence always makes me smile.

Slowly.....but surely, she's taking steps! She's been crawling since she was 6 1/2 months old - so this seems to be a long time coming. Still she finds it quicker to crawl. (Please excuse the runny nose, must've missed that before i took the photo).
I just found out that i have won an awesome prize over at Kid Independent (thanks for letting me know Joanne, hehe) which has made me even happier! Kid Independent is a fantastic blog that has lots of giveaways & links to handmade goodies for kids - go check it out! Hope you all have a lovely weekend, we've got a busy but fun one planned!

Illnesses & Creating.

We've had sick kids here this week, two with colds & one with a tummy bug - it's that time of the year when all these nasty viruses haunt us. Then of course i had to get sick too, the tummy bug got me yesterday.........i have a phobia of gastro & spray Glen 20, wash my hands & disinfect like a woman possessed when it's in the house - but this time it failed! Anyway, starting to feel better today & want to share with you what i was up to before i got ill.

I bought this little dress from Cotton on Kids a while ago for only $2, (why oh why didn't i buy one in every colour?!) thought it would be good for Scarlett to mess around in next summer (got to love navy for girls), then i thought i could pretty it up a bit with some rolled fabric flowers. I sewed the yellow one on too low, so please excuse that - i will re-do it, i am just too lazy at the moment to take photos again.

The rolled fabric flowers are so easy & a lot of fun to do, here is a tutorial for them if you'd like to have a go yourself.

Also been creating some other goodies for a little something i've got coming up that i'm both excited & nervous about! When i'm feeling 100% i need to make a trip to buy more fabric - i've got a heck of a lot more sewing that needs to be done. But right now i need to try & restore my house (The Bloke did try, but there's only so much i can expect i guess!) & pray that no one else catches this darn bug.

Treasure

Isn't he just gorgeous? I found this little deer in a cabinet in a pokey little op-shop in Maldon. I have had my eye out for deer ornaments like this for a while now & this little one was my first find - all mine for only $2!
His head has been broken & reattached with glue, but he's still perfect to me. It was love at first sight.
Go and visit Sophie & see what treasures she & others have found this week.

From the Patch - Spinach/Silverbeet.

Spinach - Silverbeet.......i can never really tell the difference! But you can pretty much use one the same as the other. This was the first year we have grown this & probably wouldn't have if we weren't given a couple of seedlings, but i'm glad we did. I have used it to make Spanakopita (Spinach pie) which is so easy & delicious. Here is the recipe:

Spanakopita
150g spinach leaves                                                        
125g ricotta cheese
2 tbsp chopped parsley                                                   
1 egg
150g mashed fetta                                                          
 6 sheets filo pastry
100g melted butter                                                          
 pinch nutmeg
Method:
Preheat oven to 180c. Blanch spinach in boiling water. Refresh immediately under cold water, squeeze out excess water & chop finely. Mix spinach with ricotta, egg, fetta, parsley & nutmeg, until smooth. Brush one sheet of filo with melted butter - lay another sheet on top & repeat until all six sheets are buttered together. Lay pastry sheets in a square or rectangle dish. Spoon spinach mix in. Fold pastry ends over to enclose filling completely. Brush top with melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden.

Really yummy for lunch or a light dinner with a side salad. Will definitely be growing spinach again next year, if only to make Spanakopita! I also sauteed some last night with a bit of garlic & that was really yum too, kids wouldn't eat it of course. We are now being innundated with apples, so my next From the Patch will be yummy apple ideas.

An Adventure.

This weekend in Victoria was a long weekend, Chas & Amity went away camping with their aunty & uncle & The Bloke went back to our home town - so i decided to do something i've planned to do for a long time........i packed a suitcase for Scarlett & myself & took a five hour train journey to Castlemaine! We had a fantastic time staying with my cousin Joanne & her family on their beautiful property just out of Castlemaine, oh my goodness i just love it up there. On Saturday we took a trip to Daylesford, where we popped into the Lark shop.......oh dear what a pretty store, Joanne had a hard time dragging me away from there! We browsed some local shops & op-shops & headed to the Maker's Market which happened to be on - what a fantastic market it was, so many lovely handmade goodies, i could've easily spent a fortune there! .

On Sunday, Joanne took us for a tour of the country side - being a bit of a history buff, i was in heaven looking at all the beautiful old buildings & houses. We stopped at Vaughan Springs & i finally got to go down this big slide!

We went to Maldon for lunch, another lovely historic town where i found the best little treasure in a pokey little op-shop (watch this space). After lunch we caught up with some rellies, it was great to see them all & have a gas bag.

I had a great time away, i just love the area so much - there is such an abundance of creative people, antique stores & history up there..........right up my alley! I had to really restrain myself to not buy so many things (probably a good thing catching the train!)

I can't wait to go back.

Beautiful.

Whilst browsing  Pinterest yesterday, i came across this & gasped...........

Isn't it beautiful? A hand painted cross-stitch mural. Since re-discovering my love of cross-stitch recently i just can't get enough of it & i think this idea is just gorgeous. Now just to convince The Bloke that this would be lovely on a bedroom wall....
Image is from here, along with more  pretty photos of the rest of the house.

What i am doing - In March.

:: making  rolled fabric flowers using this tutorial - lots of fun!
:: cooking tomatoes still......still being inundated with them
:: drinking water
:: reading "Little Women" a classic that's been sitting on my shelf for a bout 10 years & i've finally started reading it
:: wanting  a new handbag
:: looking out my kitchen window at the last of our beautiful roses
:: playing over at Pinterest
:: wasting time on the pc still. I blame Pinterest
:: sewing working on a cross-stitch i started about 7 years ago
:: wishing we could of had a looong hot summer
:: enjoying the sunshine - for today at least
:: waiting for the long weekend
:: liking that Chas is finally 'getting' into lego
:: wondering about handmade stuff for markets
:: loving living in the country
:: hoping Scarlett will start walking soon - there's pretty dresses to be worn!
:: marvelling at how quickly she's started talking. Think we have another chatterbox on our hands
:: needing funds to get that new handbag & then the boots to match
:: smelling the paper mill.....ewwww
:: wearing black skirt & green floral top
:: following Scarlett everywhere she goes & putting things back after she's pulled them out
:: noticing the evenings are getting colder
:: knowing today is Monday & that means i need to do all my cleaning
:: thinking Australian music is awesome
:: bookmarking pirate party ideas for Chas
:: opening the letterbox.....nope still no happy mail!!
:: giggling at Amity thinking her friend lives in America, because she can't understand her properly when she speaks!
:: feeling forgotten

I've been slack with my posts lately, i know. But i've been busy chasing a little one year old around - boy i'd forgotten how much toddlers keep you on your toes! She's into everything at the moment. As i mentioned above, i've also been cross-stitching - i was sorting through some stuff the other day & came across this project i started almost seven years ago. I was nearly due to have Chas when i began it & then when he was born, well.........cross-stitch got shoved into a cupboard & forgotten about! Now, three kids later, i'm giving it another go - i don't care that cross-stitch may be 'dorky', i'm really enjoying it. I find sitting with a needle & thread very relaxing. What about you? What have you been up to?

Baking.

Today i donned my frilly apron & done some baking for the kids lunchboxes.

I made some button shaped bikkies - aren't they cute? (Inspired by these). Chas, who is almost seven, gave them the all important seal of approval - they are "cool". And Amity declared the next time i make these she has to be there to help. They were quite simple to make, i used a simple biscuit recipe & rolled the dough out then cut circles with a round cookie cutter, i then did the inner circle by pressing down with the base of a small medicine cup & made the holes with the tip of an old kids medicine syringe (i knew i kept those things for a reason!).
Most importantly they taste yummy.