'H' is for...

Tutu Cute

2009-11-23T08:43:00.005+11:00

I've been busy making some Christmas presents - tied tutus. They are so easy to make and so effective.

Here is a quick how to for one to fit up to approx 5 years old:

*You will need at least 2.5 metres total of soft 150cm wide tulle in the colours of your choice. The more tulle you use, the boofier it will be and fit a bigger waist.

*You will also need a piece of elastic to fit the waist of the wearer ( I cut mine approx 48cm) and sew the ends together by overlapping them.

*Alternatively you can simply use a piece of ribbon long enough to go around the waist and

enough to tie into a lovely bow.

*I then fold it in half lengthwise and run my scissors down the fold to give two strips.

*Pop them one on top of each other and cut them into 10cm wide strips. If you can find something to use as a guide it is a big help. My pine floorboards happen to be the right width so I line up the cut edge on one side of of a floorboard and use the line of the other side I can see

through the tulle as my cutting line.

*Now with all your strips cut, its time to start tying. Its a simple knot but the challenge is trying to get the ends to stay level if thats the look you want.

Some tutorials say to stack a few layers together and tie them together. This would create a nice full skirt but it would take a lot more tulle as you still need to cover the whole band in knots.

*Now here is how to tie

*I do mine in a regular pattern but thats my anality coming through until the whole band is covered. I find it takes about 50 strips at least.

*You could finish it off by trimming the ends if you like and with a flower or bow stitched to the front

*I have seen them done very short and very boofy which looks lovelt and is the more traditional dancing tutu. Using a stiffer tulle would make this type stick out more.

Now please let me know if this inspires you!

For Lee

2009-09-12T07:46:00.003+10:00

I spied this over at a new blog I've come across, Just Something I've Made, and immediately thought of Lee from Glimpse of Style.

http://justsomethingimade.blogspot.com/2009/09/copper-metallic-gourd-embellishing.html

Image via JSIM

Now Lee, I don't really think of you as a crafting type of a person but with your recent interest in knitting, you never know what might inspire you.

Kitchen Idea love.

2009-08-12T16:13:00.004+10:00

The new movie Julie and Julia is all the talk at the moment. Apparently its a wonderful movie. What has been noted though is Julia Child's kitchen. After all our kitchens are a workspace so why should they not be organised like one, hence Julia's pegboard which her husband made for her.

Image via Smithsonian.com

Each pot and pan has its shadow outline drawn so it always goes back in the right place. Even the pegboard colour is lovely.

I have an aversion to stacking pots as I invariably want the one on the bottom so this is a perfect solution for me. Now to renovate a kitchen and figure out how to work it in...

Julia donated her kitchen to the National Institute of American History but her pegboard was at a different institution in California until being reunited recently which coincided with the release of the movie.

Playdoh recipe edit

2009-07-22T14:02:00.002+10:00

I just wanted to let you know I've edited the playdoh recipe as I realised I'd missed an ingredient. This is the actual recipe:

Microwave Playdoh

1 cup plain flour

1/4 cup salt

2 tbsp Cream of Tartar

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 cup hot tap water

food colouring

Sift dry ingredients together

If you want to colour the whole batch add colourng to water

Add in liquids and stir well

Cook on high in microwave for 30 second increments, stirring between each.

Its ready when it forms a ball and is not sticky.

Let cool a little

Turn out and knead on surface for a minute to make a nice soft dough.

If the mix isn't coloured, you can knead in colour now.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge to prolong its life

Reheat on very low for 1 minute ot warm and soften if required

Gift ideas #4

2009-07-16T09:41:00.002+10:00

Oh how could I forget! My eldest will be getting his first bike! There are great ones with a push handle which controls the steering but unfortunately they are too small for my tall boy.

Gift ideas - found!

2009-07-16T09:23:00.005+10:00

I've found one of my gift idea's! Soccer nets and at a nice price too. Available from Sam's Warehouse. I'm off to get a set today to put away for gift time.

Gift Ideas #3

2009-07-10T13:09:00.003+10:00

A quick idea for Christmas for the rellies kids. Seeing as I have to post them over, I could make a batch of playdoh as I have a lovely and smooth recipe, colour it up a few different ways and parcel it up with some tools and the recipe.

Incase you are interested, my great recipe is from one of my friends.

1 cup plain flour

1 /4 cup salt

2 tbsp Cream of Tartar

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 cup hot tap water

food colouring

Sift dry ingredients together

If you want to colour the whole batch add colourng to water

Add in liquids and stir well

Cook on high in microwave for 30 second increments, stirring between each.

Its ready when it forms a ball and is not sticky.

Let cool a little

Turn out and knead on surface for a minute to make a nice soft dough.

If the mix isn't coloured, you can knead in colour now.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge to prolong its life

Reheat on very low for 1 minute ot warm and soften if required

Gift Ideas #2

2009-07-06T07:57:00.005+10:00

I'm gathering idea's for gifts for my own boys who will be 2 in August and 4 in February with Christmas in between.

The first two I have 'stolen/borrowed' these idea's for gifts for my own boys from the blog Two Straight Lines.

Kids sized gardening tools (available from Big W)

Butterfly nets ( still looking for these)

A larger slide than the 2 ft high one we have ( haven't looked for this yet)

A set of soccer goals that are moveable and we can pack away ( nor this)

Build a sandpit. I like this one from Ohdeedoh

There were more I know.... but I can't think of them right now

Gift ideas #1

2009-07-06T07:35:00.004+10:00

With birthdays and Christmas galloping towards us, I am starting to collect ideas.

I think I might make this for one of my boy's cousins who has their 3rd birthday just before Christmas.

Image via Ohdeedoh

The cone is made from brown felt or card, strawberries from red felt, banana's from yellow, cherries are small red pompoms, the icecream scoops are differnt coloured large pompoms and brown wool for chocolate sauce. As this is for a 3 year old who has a 1 year old sister, I will ommit the sequins for sprinkles.

All via Ohdeedoh

What to do, what to do......?

2009-06-15T14:13:00.002+10:00

My eldest has started back at daycare today. he used to go to a community daycare one day a week before we moved interstate ( 9 months ago now - doesn't time fly?). We felt it really helped his development as he has a language delay so we have put him in for one day a week here. I've rung the centre and they said he is doing fine, which is what I expected. He is a very flexible child and not much perturbs him. The ladies at the center seem lovely too and I like their set up of lots of activities that the kids can go between as the fancy takes them interspersed with structured things like stories and dancing.

Now back to my question - What to do?

My youngest son still has a nap of a couple of hours during the middle of the day. This leaves me with a dilemma. Should I use this time to blitz the housework and do those things that you just can't do with 2 small boys running around, like wash the floors, or should I use this as 'me' time to sit and read a book, magazine or do something else I no longer get the time to do (Oh to watch a movie or sew!)?

I know I probably should use it as 'me' time but I can't relax knowing there are the other chores to do, so I think it will be housework time for a few weeks until I get on top of it and actually finish unpacking! Maybe I can start to get more housework done in the 2 hours between dropping one off at daycare and going to playgroup with the other, then I won't feel so bad about doing what I want to do.

Favourite photo's

2009-06-15T14:00:00.005+10:00

I've been tagged by Janelle at Nellbe's Scribblings

It's really simple. I love how every photo tells a story. Some short stories, some long tales. I want to know what is your favourite photo of yourself. Everyone has one. The photo they look at and smile. It reminds them of something, some time, some place. A moment in time.

So share the photo, share the story and then tag three other people. I want to see photos and stories all around the blogosphere.

There are so many to choose from - ones of the kids, wedding photo's, ones from my teenage years which remind me of lots of fun days but this has to be one of my all time favourites. Just a simple pic of me and my Dad on our cousins farm. They've since sold the farm so that brings a tinge of sadness, but its lovely to see my dad looking lovingly down at me. He isn't a very outwardly affectionate man, but this photo reminds me of how much he really does care.

I'm meant to tag 3 more people but I'm not a tagger. I like to blog without obligation and I don't want to pressure others into feeling like they should either. If you'd like to blog about your favourite photo, please let me know.

Blog This: Challenge #4

2009-06-15T13:48:00.003+10:00

Random Acts of Kindness.

If you could name one small gesture someone else has made that had a big impact on your life, what would it be?

That is a reasonably easy one to answer for me. I don't think it was intended as a RAOK but more of a " I've just moved to this town and I want you to come too".

One of my great friends moved interstate and we were talking on MSN, like we did most days. I was saying how unhappy my hubby was in his job and this is how the conversation went:

Her: Oh they are always looking for teachers over here

Me: Oh yeah, where?

Her : Here ( link attached)

I opened the link and it was my husbands dream job. It closed the next day so we threw together an application overnight and emailed it across. A phone interview later and he was offered the job which they made a permenant position rather than a 1 year contract as advertised, to secure his services. We moved 6 weeks later.

That was September last year and 9 months on we have settled into our community and bought our first family home.

Funny (sad funny that is) thing is that now I actually talk to my friend less even though she is only a few blocks away. Life gives and takes away doesn't it....

Giveaway time!

2009-06-12T08:29:00.003+10:00

No, not I sorry, but if you go over to Swish and Swanky, she has a wonderful giveaway from Dandi. All you need to do is have a look at Dandi's wonderful products and comment in the Swish and Swanky post which is your favourite.

I think the adult Pini Aprons are divine. What a way to add a little glamour to your daily chores!

Olive Branch Adult Pini Apron in Pistachio

Blog This Challenge #3. Its the little things..

2009-06-10T16:38:00.004+10:00

Challenge 3:
Photographic Challenge - "It's the little things".

Simple, everyday things which make your life a pleasure.
Limit of 10 images...no minimum. You don't have to be a fabulous photographer, just have fun.
No words required, let your photos tell the story...

I didn't mean for this to end up being mostly about my kids but thats how it ended up!

Kids Art

2009-06-08T10:56:00.003+10:00

Image via The Long Thread

What a wonderful way to save and display your kids artworks?! I stumbed across this and a wonderful blog at The Long Thread as I was searching for a recipe for edible playdough ( that wasn't the peanut butter and dry milk one). These are made by Love.

I think this reinforces my idea of scanning in or photographing all of my kids artworks as I'm sure they are going to soon start flooding in from Daycare, Kinder and School. Then I have the choice of reporducing it how I want and it is forever imortalised.

Blogger I blame YOU!

2009-06-07T08:51:00.002+10:00

I hereby officially blame Blogger for my lack of time to do the other things that I should or could be doing. I have a 6 month backlog of my magazine subscriptions to catch up on let alone the new blogs that I find all the time that interest me and all the wonderful ideas that I get from them!

I'm really starting to get information overload. Seeing as I'm already someone who must invetigate all the options available and have a slightly adictive personality - this is not a good thing.

Blog This:

2009-06-04T08:57:00.002+10:00

I've joined an blogging group Blog This.

I can't think of a better way to explain it than what is on the site:

"A new network for Australian bloggers who want to have a little fun, make some new bloggy friends and gain a little exposure for their blogs. It looks a little dull right now, but we're working on it.

Each Friday we will have a new blog topic, suggested by our members. It could be as simple as posting your favourite recipe, or as involved as a week long photographic challenge. Sometime during the week, make the post on your blog, then respond here with one word."

It sounds like fun but I only hope I can come up to the standard of some of the other wonderful blogs out there.

I'm looking forward to next weeks challenge. Its quite reasonable too for sporadic bloggers like me that you do not have to complete every challenge.

If you want to join, head on over to Blog This: and follow the instructions

Another task for Hubby

2009-05-27T05:26:00.002+10:00

I do like this concept but the reviews on this particuar product from this particular supplier are not good as to the quality of the product, so I think it will be a project for hubby. I'll make the bags in different colours so that its easy for the kids to help sort lights, darks/reds, and colours. Then once each bag is full, there is a laundry load. (the top his hinged too).

Its raining...

2009-05-25T13:57:00.003+10:00

..its pouring, my little man is snoring.

Why is it that I always have a couple of kids songs that get stuck in my head when I do somethings? One is the one above when it rains and the other is when I am hanging out the washing... "Wet washing hanging on the line, drying very quickly when the weather's fine" - which it isn't right now hence the first song.

Hopefully it will keep the little man snoring. He is a terrible sleeper. Probably of my own making as his older brother is a light sleeper so we always ran to him as a bub to keep him from waking his brother.

So what to do today? Lots of things I could be doing, that I should be doing... but will I? Probably not. I think I might just make a nice warm cup of tea and sit and catch up on some magazine reading. I might even look through a fandeck for paint colours.

What are the odds the little man will wake as soon as the kettle boils though?

An idea for next time

2009-05-21T08:51:00.002+10:00

Image via Ohdeedoh

I have to bottle feed my bubs due to medication I am on, so when I saw these bottles, I thought I have to file that away for later (you know, just incase). My first bub had reflux so I used the older style angled Tommee Tippee bottles and then they released the Closer to Nature breast shaped range which have been a great success with my second bub. If we were to have a third, we'd be ready for new bottles so these might be the go as they are free from all the nasties and help prefent colic and reflux as bub doesn't have as much chance of swallowing air, the same as the breast.

Paint update

2009-05-21T08:42:00.005+10:00

Now I'm doubting myself. I've just painted the whole chimney breast with the rest of the sample pot and I think it may be too dark once I paint the whole room! Especially since I have black wall decal to go on it. What do you think? I might have to have a play around watering it down and go a three quarter or half strength.

Arrgh I wish I wasn't so indecisive! I must work on that.

Doing it right

2009-05-17T14:49:00.005+10:00

I am always striving for the perfect thing. No matter what it is, I must over research it or else I end up finding a better 'whatever' just after I got my ' whatever'. Then again sometimes I do research to the 'nth degree only to later find other features I hadn't thought of.

Paint is my latest research project. Our bedrooms are in dire need of a lick of paint and I wanted to do them all the same as I'm not sure we will all stay in the rooms we are currently in.

Chosing colours was the first big task. I had in mind the colour of a summers evening sky - a mauvey blue - but I also liked the idea of a duckegg blue too. I alredy have the bedlinens for my boys rooms, Miller by Deborah Hutton when it as on clearance at Kamrt, and plan to accessorise one room in green and the other in reds. Our linens are browns which I accessorise with either blue in summer or red in winter.

Miller by Deborah Hutton

I thought I had the perfect colour chosen, Haymes Sleepy Eye, but once I painted test patches, I decided it was too cold and not quite the colour I was after. I have a Solver paint store literally a 3 minute walk away so after borrowing a fan deck, I had it narrowed down to 4 different shades. 4 more test pots later and I could make my choice.

Left to right we have Solver Parisienne, Solver Sloop, a small band down the centre of Haymes Sleepy Eye, Solver Teal Grey and then Solver Zephyr with another block of Sleepy Eye below it. Two of the bedrooms are on the south side of the house under a verandah so they don't get any direct sunlight and the third gets the morning sun, so this has to be taken into consideration. After placing accessorising colours near them, my hudband and I narrowed it down to either Parisienne or Sloop. I then decided on parisienne as I know if I did Sloop, I would always with I had the guts to do Parisienne ( I'm usually a very neutral person). Parisienne goes wonderfully with the other colours I want to use and also has a little warmth to it. This colour will be painted up to the picture rail with warm white walls above the picture rail and ceiling. Looking back at teh Deborah Hutton picture, its the colour of the wall behind the bed!

Now I can't wait to get started painting but next I need to chose a suitable paint. One of the reasons I chose to go into Solver ( besides them being a short walk away from our place) is that they have a low VOC paint. I still have to do some comparison with other brands and their environmental credentials. Ideally I'd like a satin paint to bounce a little light around and also to make cleaning a bit easier ( also I really don't like the feel of a flat low sheen acrylic - it feels like a chalkboard), but Solver only has a low sheen or ceiling white.

Painted Earth has a selection of low or free of VOC paints which have a pleasant smell, are non toxic, a competitive preice and wash up in water. They can be tinted to any colour too. I think some more research is in order.

Then its back to colours for my hallway and study.

2009-05-16T07:43:00.005+10:00

Image via StarryDesigns

I came across these beautiful pendants on my friend Krys' blog Inspired by Children. Aren't they beautiful? My favourites are the Robins Egg Blue, the Pink and the Pearls. I tell you what I can imagine though is if I ever have 3 children, to have one made with the birthstone of each child. At the moment my nest is filled with an Amethyst and a Peridot, I wonder if I will get the third egg? That is stil up for discussion and not for a little while yet. 2 little boys keep my hands full for now.

Hopeless!

2009-05-15T10:25:00.002+10:00

I've seen an image lately of a beautiful birdhouse but do you think I thought to save it? Of course not. Here are some others though.

Pagoda

Summer House

Hanging Gazebo

The Buckingham

These are all from For The Birds

What is next?

2009-05-05T16:05:00.002+10:00

I'm finally getting around to reading my subscription of Home Beautiful and I'm wondering what the next motif fashion will be. We've had cats, dogs, bugs, now there are a lot of birds around. My money is on, or maybe just what will be my next motif of choice is, the tree.

I say that as I look at the beautiful peppercorn tree that hangs over our side fence and still extends at least 10 metres into our backyard. The late afternoon light is just peeking through the boughs, not enough to blind me, but enough to illuminate the small weeping mullberry a little further across the yard. The leaves are all a golden yellow and its almost glowing in the crisp light.

The tree is a magnificent creation. It encompasses strength and fragility, shelter and the bareness of autumn, minuteness of its seed to the enormity of a 100 year old tree.

Image via Flickr

Tick One

2009-05-01T15:49:00.006+10:00

After posting about needing a desk for hubby, I went to a second hand shop I've been meaning to visit for a while. They do a mix of new and second hand with most of the second hand things being commercial office furniture - not exactly what I was looking for. I mentioned to the assistant when I walked in what I was after - an old style large wooden desk - and he said he didn't think they had anything. I continued up to the far back corner of the warehouse and squeezed inbetween pieces of furniture with my 2 little ones trailing behind me, to lo and behold...

...there it was! Exactly what I was looking for and delivered today. Its huge ( I've added the mug for scale). 40 inches deep and 62 inches wide. The wood underneath is pine and it has been painted a dark brown. Its not perfect in condition but it suits the style that we were after perfectly. We did have something similar up to a year ago with only 2 drawers which had gotten very loose and wonky and the top was a very thin pice of plywood that I had covered in vinyl. It ended up as firewood before we moved interstate as we really didn't think it would make the trip. This piece on the other hand is solid. I dont' think the couriers were too happy when it wouldn't fit through the front door and had to be carried around the back and through the french doors.

And no, its not going to be living in the centre of the room. I had envisioned it under the window over the heater but I forgot that it had a back 'modesty board' on it. Oh well thats Hubby's job when he gets home!

Hmmmm

2009-05-01T15:36:00.002+10:00

My self imposed mini budget of yesterday may have been blown out of the water already.

Image via Flickr

I've had one person around to give a quote for heating and their suggestion was to do ducted heating which will possibly be about $5k on its own. I am getting more quotes next week but his argument for ducted was very good. Used properly, it seems a much cheaper option in terms of running costs than gas space heating. On thinking about it, a well done ducted system, although costing more, will add more to the value of the house than a simple space heater. We shall see what next weeks quote suggest.

Little things

2009-05-01T15:09:00.005+10:00

I know you are waiting for photo's of our new home. I haven't got it tidy enough yet to give you large scale pictures but I want to share with you a couple of things I really love. They are only small details but so beautiful.

Firstly is the leadlighting around our front door. Its just lovely to look down the hallway, which is relatively dark, and see this beautiful glass work. We have had a good look at it and think it is all original. There are only 3 minor cracks in the glass and all the glass matches so we don't believe there has been any replacements. (Pity there is an ugly fuse box there though but at least it is behind the door)

Secondly is when you look closer at the front door. There is the modern chain and deadbolt but there is also a slide lock. It is beautifully embellished in a way you don't see functional items treated a lot anymore.

If you look closer, you can see a rub mark near the slide. There is quite a groove in the wood where the thumb of everyone who has lived here over the past 100 years has rubbed. To add to the connection with previous occupants, we have received the original title to this property as it has been digitised. To have this document, on vellum no less, is quite magical. To see the names and occupations of previous custodians let the mind wander.

I hope this satifies your curiosity for a little while.

Swoon

2009-05-01T14:59:00.005+10:00

Image from Hopewood Country House

I've just seen this picture over at Glimpse of Style of the lovely Hopewood Country House. I can just see this as my extension. Not sure how it would function in summer ( or winter unless its double glazed) though if it is part of the open plan. Maybe it could be my own private little studio and workroom though? Dreams abound.....

Reprioritising

2009-04-29T15:43:00.006+10:00

Image via Flickr

Well we've been in our new home for all of 3 weeks and I've already had many ideas for extending and renovating. My latest involves extending the existing extension ( what a mouthful!) and then flipping the current layout around. This would give me lovely morning sun in a new sitting and meals area, a new kitchen, dining, a main bedroom with ensuite and move my husbands study into the extension which would make his current study into a kids lounge.

I have no idea how much all this would cost but it sounds really nice.

We are fortunate enough to have not spent our limit on buying this house so we have the financial room to borrow this money if need be. Our position at the moment means that we could actually have the purchase price and interest on this house paid off in 7 years time with no hard yards ( fingers crossed interest rates don't skyrocket in the mean time) according to online mortgage calculators.

When I plugged in the figures for borrowing to do this renovation and still making the same repayments we are now, it blew out to 19 years and multiplied our interest component by a factor of 6! The interest alone would be more than we borrowed to do the extension!

This got me thinking and looking at our budget. What if we went the other way? If I could find an extra $100 or $150 a week out of non essentials, we could own our home outright in under 5 years! We are a single income family and my husband is a teacher so we aren't on a huge income but we do live simply.

There are some things I do want to do to our home to make it more homely for us but I'm thinking of setting myself a challenge to do these things well and on a tight budget. We don't actually NEED much but there are some things that will make home much more comfortable for us.

These things include:

Heating for the extension - this needs to be done urgently as its getting really cold here and I have a young son who wakes at 5:30am!

Curtains for the extension - 6m of french doors to be covered

Painting

Extending the deck - our plan is to do this for next summer

Hubby to make beds for the boys new king single mattresses

Desk for hubby

Outdoor table setting

Cupboards for the living area - plain white to the roof ones so they are more like a wall than cupboards. My dream ( not a good phrase when talking about budgetting) is to have this contain a kitchen office.

Now can I do all of this for around $5k? The heating will probably be $2k in itself

Of course there are many other things on my wish list but maybe I can console myself with thinking that there will be something better than what is currently available in 5 years time and continue dreaming. Of course that won't stop me talking about them though.... thats for another post though.

It's starting to rain...

2009-04-25T12:53:00.003+10:00

Thanks to Justine Clarke, I have had this song in my head since yesterday morning whenI woke to find it raining here in Central Victoria. We haven't had rain since December and it was a very welcome relief.

Our dire looking lawn has started to bounce back which is more than I can say for our box hedges. They were left without water in the settlement period which happened to also be the hottest part of the summer so all bar a few plants seem to have perished. We've pruned them heavily and kept the water up to them as we can but if they don't show any signs of reshooting after these soaking rains, I think they will have to be replaced.

We are settling in to our new little home nicely. The boys are loving the yard and do laps of the house daily with either a pram or block trolley. I've told my husband that we will hve to install a ramp on the side where there are currently 3 steps when the boys get bikes. The back lawn is covered with a smattering of balls, the trampoline is positioned so they can climb on and off of it from the deck without our help and the cubby house gets a daily visit from the littlest man. Birds flit in and out of the yard - Indian Mynahs, Rosellas, Magpies, and even a Rainbow Lorrikeet or 2.

We had a lovely welcome from our neighbour who shared a bottle of bubbly with us on our first night. She has also offered us the services of her 2 teenage daughters as baby sitters which, once the boys get to know them, we will take them up on, I'm sure.

I have got a lot more posts up my sleeve, just now to find time to do them all. I've been wondering what direction to take this blog in and I'm still unsure so if you can tell me what you'd like to hear from me, that woudl be lovely. Also I'll be looking for decorating opinon too soon so feel free to decorate vicariously through me if you like.

Nice to be back

x H

A little break

2009-02-20T09:15:00.002+11:00

I'm going to be taking a little break. I have a hectic month coming up. This weekend I'm off to Sydney for a girls night out, then next weekend, the two boys and I are off to Western Australia to visit family and friends for a week. I then come back and we have 2 weeks until settlement on our new home and therefore the move and to add icing to the cake, my parents are visiting for 2 weeks too.

Hopefully I'll have a few minutes and some must share inspiration here and there to pop in though, but until then au revior!

The White Houses

2009-02-18T12:22:00.003+11:00

I've been meaning to blog about theses two houses for a little while. I walk past them almost everyday on the way to the shops and they make me 'ahhh' everytime. They are actually next door to each other and the only two houses on a little side street. Each one of them has a monochhrome scheme but in a different way. I love the crispness of them and how the evening light hits them. These are my inspiration to paint our cottage white when it needs repainting as the front is southfacing so will not be struck by the sun and blind passersby and keeping the garden mostly deep green for contrast.

Visitors

2009-02-14T16:08:00.001+11:00

I want to thank everyone who has visited this little blog. If I'm completely honest, I blog for the attention so when I looked at my stats and noticed visitors from all over the world, I was very chuffed. To see visits from places where I don't know anyone, gave me such a buzz. Once again thankyou - you have made my day and I'd love it if you could leave me a comment.

Pink Petals from Red Bubble

2009-02-14T14:33:00.006+11:00

Pink Petals by Lyn Evans via Red Bubble

I've just come across this amazing website for Australian artists - Red Bubble. There are some amazing pieces of art on there at realistic prices, from a card to a wall print. Go and have a look and I dare you not to buy something. They really do need a wishlist...

Love is

2009-02-14T14:16:00.003+11:00

Embrace - Jack Vettriano

Today is the day of love - Valentines day. Unfortunately it has become commercialised and lost a lot of its significance. Why do we need a day to express our love? Lets express our love everyday in the little ways. Even those three little words, although sometimes trite, have such power.

I Love You - DaniB via Flickr

Whatever your plans are for today, have a lovely day.

Techno List

2009-02-14T14:02:00.002+11:00

While I'm on the list writing, my husband and I started talking techno gadgets today. So our wish list includes:

USB receiver for the TV
Vista for the PC
Soundcard for the PC
Speakers for the PC
Relay to be able to use our pay TV and USB receiver on the other TV
.. see again I've got lots more but can't think of them.

I need to modify my list from yesterday because next week I'll be the owner of a DSLR!

Wish lists

2009-02-13T19:01:00.003+11:00

Ok, I admit it - I am an eternal 'wanter'. I always have a wish list of things I would love to have. I'm sure if I did have them all I wouldn't be happy but it still doesn't stop me wishing. This is all aside from having children that sleep well mind you.

Currently on my wish list is:
DSLR camera ( while I have 2 perfectly good point and shoot cameras)
Well fitting jeans (to fit over my bum but still fit into the small of my back)
... of course I can never think of things when I want to can I?
An outdoor lounge that is a natural material - water hyacinth, cane or banana leaf for example
Photoshop software
... there must be more than that!

Then there is my wishlist of things to do to our new home.... that is for another day

I'm It!

2009-02-10T13:55:00.007+11:00

I've been tagged my Kirrily from Life as Kir in a game of Blogspot. The idea is to show everyone your blogging space. I'm really quite embarrassed about mine and even thought of not doing this until we had moved into our new home, but I've sucked it up and here it is.

I use an Indonesian sideboard which is about 50cm deep. It has 3 small drawers which are very hard to open. As you can see, I use a PC which seems to be rare nowdays. I've just made myself the cuppa in a chipped mug. I was only thinking this morning I'd like to get a new set of mugs for the new home. I have the monkey toy that my littlest monkey brought to me this morning, my mobile, a services guide to our town, a bill to pay, my ever present 'To Do' list, a hairbrush and a dummy. In the pinplate there is lipbalm, a pen lid, a stone pendant the kids found in an old jewellery box, a 1951 half penny our neighbour found in his yard the day we moved in that he gave to the kids and funnily enough - a pin! Next there is the phone, an energy saving plug which lets you turn off things on standby power and 2 camera's - well one camera because I'm taking the pic with the other one.

Hopefully I'll soon have a bit more of an inspiring place to blog from and I promise to post pics when I do.

So here are the official rules: Show Us Your Blog Spot!
1. Once you are tagged, post a picture of where you blog. This might mean a picture of your cozy bed, or your office at work (you naughty employee, you!) Feel free to be creative, but be honest--if your desk is usually covered in Ritz crackers and love letters to Brad Pitt, then show us!
2. Feel free to tell us a little about your space, or explain certain items in more detail. Or not.
3. Link back to this post. (I want to see how far this goes!)
4. Tag five other bloggers to show their blog spots.
5. If you are tagged and do not participate, you will become allergic to cabbage.

And now, Tag! you are it:
Inspired by Children
Glimpse of Style
Two Straight Lines
Sometimes I Think
Frills in the Hills

I always wonder if anyone 'tags' the celebrity bloggers like Martha or Shannon Fricke?

Devastation

2009-02-09T11:29:00.003+11:00

Image - TVNZ.com

Bushfires are ravaging our state. It is now Australia's worst ever natural disaster with 750 homes lost and already over 100 lives lost and many more are missing in communities that the services have not been able to reach yet.

We unfortunately lost 50 houses in our town and one life. It is now thought that the fire was started by a lit cigarette thrown from a passing car.

As we plan to move into our new home, my heart sinks for all those who have lost their own homes and for some much much more.

Hurrah!

2009-02-06T13:19:00.005+11:00

I've just taken a call from our bank and our loan has been approved! We didn't really have any concerns over it being approved but its still nice to now know that it is all official. 5 weeks left now until settlement.

Speaking of having our new home, I have decided on a painting concept for the 'old' part of the house. This is the current scheme, which although traditional and matches the stained glass around the front door, it isn't my style.

I know at least two of my friends will consider what I want to do very boring but, well, that is me sometimes. I like things calm and serene, especially as this is the sleeping end of the house. I plan to paint below the rail (which is painted textured wallpaper - quite effective actually) a creamy tan, the wall above the rail a quarter strength of the colour below and the architraves, corbels at the archway and ceiling, white - architraves in gloss. All of the doors have been stripped back to their original wood as you can see on the front door, so this will all tone in lovely.

A photo gallery in dark wooden frames will be hung in the hallway which will tie in with the dark fireplace.

The fan and light fitting will be changed, including the one in the entrance, as will the window treatments, but I'm not sure what with yet. Suggestion would be appreciated! This will be my husbands study at the moment but will end up becoming the kids loungeroom in future years.

Now the hunt is on to find an eco friendly paint to use. Painted Earth might be the place. Their UltraSaten looks interesting and can be colour matched to any local colour charts. I think I've got some more research to do though. I'd better get on with it as I'd like to paint this room before moving in as I don't want to move my husbands 7ft x 4ft bookcases stuffed full of hardcovers any more than I have to.

I am falling more and more in love with our new home and can't wait to move in. Hopefully the last time we move for a long time.

Heatwave

2009-02-01T08:08:00.002+11:00

Photo by Javiy

Something to cool everyone down.

I have to apologise for the lack of blogging but this heatwave has sapped all of my energy. We have just had a record 4 days over 40°C and today is also forecast to be around the same. We have had a little relief overnight where the mercury dipped to 25°C, which was our warmest minimum this month, but it felt much cooler thanks to a strong breeze.

Harvest

2009-01-27T16:00:00.002+11:00

I picked the first fruits of our mini vege patch this morning.
We only have corn and tomatoes and were a bit late in planting them but the tomatoes are starting to colour ever so slowly and these corn were nice and fat for dinner tonight.

The Finds

2009-01-26T08:40:00.004+11:00

Here are my finds from the Fryerstown antique Fair on Saturday.

My first find was this glass flower frog. I was particularly looking for one but as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a great pen holder for my desk. I am always searching for pens, so now having a nice way to store them, they may return to their home. Yesterday I thought that I should have bought the other one there as they would make a great way to store the kids pencils and crayons, so I'll be keeping my eye out for more flower frogs.

I've been looking for two children's school chairs to go with a double school desk I have. I only thought to look for them half way thorugh the market so when we were deciding whether to do the last strip of stalls or leave, I just knew that if we didn't do the last stalls, I'd miss out on the perfect chairs. Although these aren't what I was originally looking for, they are perfect and at $5 for the pair, I couldn't go wrong! The desk is currently pink and a bad paint job at that. I plan to strip it back and depending on how the wood comes up, either varnish or repaint it. Once recovered and the frame sanded and repainted, these chairs will go beautifully with it. I plan to recover them in a fabric that I'll also make lounge cushions with as the desk will be in a corner of out new open plan living area.

One thing that I did see and had to restrain myself from buying was a wicker fishermans basket. I would have been great for one of the boys bedrooms but I already have more baskets than I know what to do with...but they aren't boyish and this was. Oh well, something else to keep an eye out for.

Finds

2009-01-25T21:09:00.002+11:00

I'll be back tomorrow with pics of my finds from the Fryerstown Antique and Collectors Fair that we went to yesterday. Hot and dusty but worth it, even if we did spend more on icecreams for the kids to bribe them to sit in the pram than on our other purchases.

Please, please, please!

2009-01-23T13:45:00.005+11:00

This is a painting by one of my favourite Australian artists, Joseph Zago. Sorry, I cannot tell you the title of this work. My brother has a gorge landscape that I have always admired. Zago passed away in 2008 and his last works are being brought into the gallery that my brother bought his piece from. I have always wanted one of my own and now I may be so fortunate. I am (not so) patiently refreshing my email waiting on details of these last paintings. I think it would be a perfect piece to grace our new home.

Inspiration

2009-01-22T13:52:00.005+11:00

Its funny how location affects you.

I have a subscription to Australian Country Style and Home Beautiful. My husband always gets me a subscription for a gift during the year. Its his recognition that I need time for myself. Anyway, I used to love devouring them cover to cover, dreaming of designing my dream home. We moved across the country in October and although the magazines kept coming, I have had no inclination to read them for the last 4 months - if you look closely, there is an ACS still in the plastic. I couldn't put my finger on why until we signed to buy our new house. Suddenly my urge to read them came back.

I realised that although we had rented for the past 3 years, it was this particular rental house that sapped the creative spirit out of me. We are all living on top of each other and noone has any space to do just what they want and to be able to leave it without it being interfered with by little hands. Not even room to sit and read in comfort. We also don't have a dining/kitchen table or even a proper laundry. The bathroom is incredibly impractical in design and it all adds up to a disorganised house.

But that is all soon to change. Even with out the planned renovations, my husband will have a study, I will have an area to sew ( I'll blog about that room later) and the boys will have a corner of the living room as well as a bedroom each. If having the toys in the living area doesn't work, we can always put the boys in the same room again (they share now), move the sudy into one of the bedrooms and the toys into what was to be the study (an open lounge room). This shuffling and talking about rooms makes sense to me as I know the home's layout - I hope it makes sense to you.

You might notice that I try to make a distinction between 'house' and 'home' as I don't feel like we've had a 'home' for a long time - certainly, for me, not since I left my parents home and my husband is the same.

Fresh

2009-01-20T14:29:00.002+11:00

I thought I'd give you a sneak peek of our new home. This is our new bathroom.

Image from realestate.com.au

And I love it! I never in a million years would have painted a bathroom bright green but this is lovely. I'm even considering painting the second bathroom (that I plan to install one day in where the kitchen currently is) this colour.

As it is, the bathroom is a bit storage poor but I think a couple of white floating shelves and some baskets should do the trick. Add a palm and some white towels (although I'm not sure how practical white towels are with 3 males in the house - I may stick to my tan bamboo towels for now) and I think it will be a beautiful space. It will be getting a new shower stall in the near future though as this one is a bit small for my 6'2" husband. Oh and some long towel rails too. One of my pet peeves of bathrooms is lack of towel drying space. You must be able to hang out every person's towel to dry properly.

Happy Day!

2009-01-19T15:41:00.000+11:00

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary.

Image by Linda Norris

We have come a long way since then. My Husband was studying to be a teacher after a varied career. I was working full time and we lived in Western Australia. Now we are parents to two wonderful boys and live in regional Victoria where my Husband is finally teaching the areas he trained to teach and has a real passion for. I am able to be a stay at home mum and once the boys are in school, I can pursue whatever I want.

Today is an extra special day though as this morning we signed a contract to buy our first family home. In the past 7 years of married life, we have lived in shared or rented houses and rarely in a location of our choice. Our eldest son has lived in 4 different houses and he hasn't turned 3 yet! Add to that a month of being 'homeless' where we stayed at holiday accommodation between rentals and we are well and truly looking forward to making a real home. A place where we can hang our pictures and paint the walls. So, all things going our way, we become homeowners on the 20th of March, 2009.

Image care of Realestate.com.au

I'd love it if you would follow my decorating journey as I make this house a home. Those of you who don't have the opportunity to decorate a home yourself can live vicariously through me as I'm sure to be asking for opinions and suggestions.

Hello!

2009-01-19T07:49:00.000+11:00

Hello, I'm Heather. Welcome to my little place to put my thoughts out there.

So what is 'H' for? H is for Me (Heather), my Home, things I like (Heart), things that make me Happy and my Hopes and dreams to name a few. I can't promise to keep everything relating back to H but you never know.

Please enjoy.