lounge room camping

It was cold and wet outside today. Isaac and Jazz were kicking balloons into the pop up soccer goals, which Isaac started using as a cubby. A cubby only big enough for one - of course 2 yr oldtears followed (they seem to be the standard reaction to nearly everything atm!) so I offered to make a blanket cubby.

It looked like a tent, and Isaac decided it needed a campfire outside. A bit of red cellophane and some cardboard sticks took care of that. It was fun listening to just how we needed to make it - he is such a kindy boy now (and they have been making 'campfires' at kindy this week) and knows just what he wants to do, and what he needs to do it with - luckily his request for orange cellophane and rocks to go around the fire were open for discussion. He happily accepted the red cellophane I had in the drawer, but declined my suggestion of using wooden blocks around the edge - "they would burn Mummy"! He choose his beanbags to be rocks instead.

In the kindergartners guide to camping, if you have a camp fire, you MUST have marshmallows on sticks! A quick scrounge through my sewing stash, a few minutes work, and I came up with these.

A piece of rolled up blanket wrapped in pink felt, tied with a ribbon and popped onto the end of a wooden skewer. "I love your great ideas Mummy, these are cool marshmallows"


Even Teddy got in on the action and toasted a marshmallow.

We even had some visiting wildlife. This bird has been hanging around all week.

It seems fascinated with the new glass we have had installed in the front door side light and loves coming up and knocking on it - much to the children's delight. We sat watching it some and go through the window as we toasted marshmallows on the fire.

Once this game was over they were desperate to get outside - of course it was raining. If its a nice sunny day they don't want to set foot out the door, its raining and they HAVE to go outside to play.

I rugged them up popped on their raincoats and let them go - they had a ball...for about 5 minutes! It took longer than that to get them ready to go out!!!! But they had a great time!

she quilts, and PIF #2

OK technically Ive only been getting some cutting done, but at least its something. I thought Id share all the gorgeous 4"squares Ive been cutting for my scrap quilt.

Ive raided my scraps as well as had some generous contributions from the scrap piles of a couple of my quilting buddies, Anna & Ruth. I'm loving the huge variety of patterns and prints I'm accumulating for this project (and am so thankful for your help in achieving this girls!). At this point I'm planning on alternating the coloured squares with plain white and having a totally random layout with the colours. I will see how I go with that bit - I'm not good at random, I tend to start over thinking it!

My second PIF has arrived at its destination. Now that Shan has it, I can show you what I made for her. An Apron - refashioned from a denim skirt, trimmed with lots of spots and ruffles.

Excuse it being a bit large on my little model!

Keeping warm

Its that time of year again - the autumn leaves have almost disappeared, only a few remain, clinging to their branches, providing a welcome splash of colour, their beauty a stark contrast to the bare branches nearby that remind us of winters immanent arrival.



The days and nights have a real chill to them now and the snugly winter woollies have made an appearance. Isaac, Jazz and I all have new knitted slippers for around the house. SO comfy!!!

Isaacs and my slippers, Jacintas are a pink/purple combo


The beanies and warm woolly jumpers keep the cold at bay for long enough to enjoy a play outside in the afternoon.




And best of all, the fire burns, providing us with a steady warmth through out the house.

Photo a Day Challenge - May

Photo a day May 2010
days 22 - 27

Photo a Day Challenge - May

Photo a day - May 2010
days 17 - 21

Photo a Day Challenge - May

Photo a day 2010

days 8 -16

Play Dough

After working with kids for the past 20 years Ive made my fair share of play dough. Its one of those simple, timeless activities that will provide hours of fun for the kids (and kids at heart!)


Most of the recipes for good play dough are cooked in a saucepan on the stove - its messy, and you end up with an arm ache. For as long as I can remember Ive been making play dough using boiling water rather than cooking it on the stove. I find it works just as well, keeps just as well, and doesn't leave you with a clean up job that makes you think twice about making the dough in the first place. Here is how its done.

You will need...

2 cups plain flour
4 Tablespoons Cream of tartar
2 Tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup salt
2 cups water
food colouring

Add the flour, Cream of Tartar, cooking oil, and salt to a bowl. Add the two cups of boiling water and mix until it comes together. Tip on to a lightly floured bench and knead until you have a gorgeous smooth dough (this only takes a minute)
To colour the dough you can either add some food colouring to the water before you add it, or if you want more than one colour from a batch, divide it up and add a little colouring to each piece and knead it through (be warned this is the messy option!)

Today we choose to make four colours - pink, purple, yellow, blue and green, and the kids are sitting having a wonderful time with it.


If you have toddlers, making a lovely rainbow of colours is purely for Mummy's sake - mixing the colours up is half the fun, it will most likely look like this with in minutes!


At four, Isaac is much more interested in having a lump of dough and seeing what he can make with it.

..and the skirt

I finally got the hem done on Jacinta's new skirt today. It fits her perfectly, unlike most of the other skirts Ive bought her which sag under her pudgy little tummy! All ready for a weekend of fun - Dora, McDonald's, afternoon tea party, sleepover, farewell lunch - its going to be a busy one!!!

A dress and a skirt out of a $2 ladies size 12 denim skirt - not bad!

a winter dress & PIF #2 sneak peek

Yesterday I made this winter dress for Jazz.
(excuse the quality of the pics, it was way too cold to contemplate going outside to take them, although she did decide to add pink and purple gumboots and a pink knitted beanie to the outfit and go outside later on!)
The denim has been cut from a ladies skirt I got from the op shop. Its a lovely soft denim (it was a designer label skirt with a $2 op shop price tag!), with a nice stretch to it. I added a little cuff of the denim to the sleeve as well. Got to love the fact it was all pre hemmed for me too! Can you tell Im really enjoying turning all these op shop bargains into new clothing etc!!!

The denim doesn't hang as nicely as I hoped, I might try making the gathering a little looser and see if that helps. I think this design is more for softer flowing fabrics, but it looks cute and seems really comfy. There was also enough fabric left, complete with waist band, darts and invisible zipper to make her a denim skirt as well. I will share that one once Ive done the hem and taken some photos.

Since my sewing mojo had returned, I also made a start on my next PIF - here is a sneak peek - its all spots and ruffles, and like Jacinta's new dress, it also started its life as a ladies denim skirt. Its finished, and waiting to be packed up and sent off - you better email me your address Shan!

PIF #1

Last year I joined in with a pay it forward that was hosted by Car, and held my own blog PIF as part of that. I finally got around to getting my first PIF gift completed and sent off. Now that its arrived I will share it with you. I made this pin cushion and needle case for Nat - you will probably recognise the thrifted fabric, the same as I made my bag from recently. I also popped some cute little heart topped pins, needles, a quick unpick, and some tiny 'just in case' scissors to finish it off.



Thanks for being part of my PIF Nat, and I hope you loved your gift as much as I loved making it for you!

Photo a Day Challenge - May

Photo a day - May 2010
days 1 - 7