This weeks Blog This challenge peaked my interest. ”

I’ve been trawling through etsy and other sites looking at things for inspiration or things for my closet and home, so heres whats on my gift wishlist:

* This cool cardigan from Kaylim: because i have plenty of ordinary cardigans and this one has the ‘IT factor’ for me.

* A sweet pendant from BrooklynRehab: i love that it so ornate and vintage and black, of course!

*Murchison Hume Cleaning products: these ‘green’ products are created with love and are a non-toxic way to cleanse your home. A friend of mine recieved a pack for her kitchen tea and i turned GREEN with envy on the spot!

* The Envirosax Graphic Series 5pf of totes in “Monochromatic”: My grocery bags are starting to look a bit tired and they dont fold down very well so storage is such a pain. These envirosax bags look cute and are quite big in size. They have a heap of colour themes to suit all tastes too.

* This cute cover-up from Victorias Secret, for our summer holiday: perfect for poolside or for throwing on over the swimmers and ducking off to the shops to fetch ice creams.

Thanks for joining me on my virtual shopping trip!

I love making custom name posters. Especially when i have the chance to get to know the parent or child. Its much easier to create something that will light up their eyes when you know what they love. Leanne and I have had the opportunity to share lots of our lives little quirks and we totally get eachothers style so when i was asked to make a name poster for her daughters i was thrilled! I just knew it would be girly, whimsical, beautiful and timeless…

This poster is a little bit different to my traditional name posters but i know it will fit right in witht he gorgeous playroom Leanne has planned for her kids. Here it is:

I was holding my breath when this one came off the printer because turquoise can be a hard shade to reproduce. It can turn out too green, or too grey, or too blue. But when this baby emerged it was perfect! I hope Tabitha and Alyssa enjoy it for many years to come!

Lisa approached me looking for some artwork for her boys walls. She wanted to have a similar theme run through all the artworks but also a personalised touch to acknowledge each sons favourite thing. After some collaboration i transformed her wishes into this :

Harry is a mad soccer fan, Samuel loves his cars and little baby Oscar looks the sweetest in his overalls. The images will be printed on canvas and Lisa has promied me some photos of the finished product once it arrives. This was so much fun to create, everything from the pegs, to each boys key item, to the little birdies- Fun! Hope you like it too!

Been a bit quiet on the blog front, my apologies!

Ive been busy trying to get over another wisdom tooth extraction and tending to my etsy shop with some requests for custom work. Three lovely ladies contacted me in need of posters for their nephews and newborn son. They all picked the same colour scheme and there were some crossover themes but i designed each to the specifics that were relayed to me.

Take a peek…

For Zekes poster i was asked to include elements of baseball, and oak tree (he’s born in Oakland), water and his love of zebras.

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We love dining out at lovely restaurants. I look forward to the whole process of being seated, ordering some nibblies, perusing the menu and discussing the ingredients and courses. I usually skip to the dessert menu first then choose my main and entree after. If  we are dining with enthusiastic foodies and we are all undecided, we usually order one dish each and share bits of it. Same with dessert, if the menu is outstanding and there are enough people we’ll order them all and taste each. I wish restaurants would have a dessert degustation menu- heaven!

Im also slightly anal in that i will have a look at the restaurant menu online, a few days before the booking, and choose my items. I like to take the time to look at all the options, look up ingredients or cooking methods that have fancy technical names so i can fully understand what im ordering. This also means i dont have to waste any valuable ‘chatting time’ with my face buried in the menu and i dont feel rushed to order something i may regret. I guess its my way of ensuring that my dining experience isn’t disappointing- or im a total control freak!

If youre indulging in French fare do you order the typically french dish? Or do you seek out the house speciality and order that? Or do you stick to your safety chicken dish? I make it a point never to order chicken at a restaurant, unless its served in an extraordinary manner with irresistable sides.

Am i the only one that does this? There were some raised eyebrows at the table the last time we were seated and i mentioned i had done my homework before hand and knew what i wanted. I though everyone did that…

Lace. Leather. Black. LOVE!

I thought i’d be really good and not have the TV on while i prepared Dinner. The kids were playing nicely with their cars when Alex remembered a game that Chris showed him how to play on the ABC kids website. So he was asking me to play on the computer, and i set him up on the laptop on the dining table, where i could see him, as opposed to the office where he could make a right mess and be out of my line of sight.

So he’s playing In the Night Garden and the hideous music attracts Nicholas to the table. Soon they are jostling for the mouse and right clicking everywhere and getting frustrated that they cant navigate the site. Im calling out to them to play nicely and see if they need my help. At this point Nicholas is bashing the keyboard and scraping his fingers across the keys like crazy. More yelling from me as i take the pan off the fire and to go investigate.

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Lesson learnt Fri Jul 18, 2008

Im actually very surprised that in their 3years of waging a war of disaster on my house, haven’t discovered the mother load of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that lie in my make-up drawer.

My cosmetics sit in a large perspex divided tray in the top drawer of my dresser. There is a plethora of loose eyeshadows, mascara, eyeliner pencils, liquid foundation, loose powders, lip glosses, lipsticks and even tiny ziploc sample bags and pots of mineral powder shadows and foundation. If one puts their mind to it, there really is a lot of potential in that one, unlocked, freely accessed drawer, to create enough mess and graffiti to keep me scrubbing and washing till they are are ready to be booted out of home.

On Wednesday morning, i tucked the kids into my bed in a desperate hope that the warmth of the electric blanket and the extra mummy cuddles would lull them into an extra 15mins of sleep.

Fat chance!

Actually, it lulled ME into a quick 15min power nap and since there was no bouncing on my head or doona tents being made i assumed the kids had joined me in my slumber… its so wrong to assume…

They had stealthily slid out of bed and the loud rattling of plastic containers woke me up. I see Nicholas doing something frantic in my make-up drawer and Alex by the window playing with a train. On closer inspection, Nicholas had discovered my ‘paint brushes’ and my favourite tube of gloss (Estee Lauder Pure Pops- the purpley glittery one)

and decided to squeeze out half the tube and PAINT the inner sides and base of the drawer with the sticky goo. So even brfore i had a chance to rub the sleep out of my eyes, before i had a chance to put the kettle on, or have a morning wee, i had to shampoo 8 make up brushes, wash the inside of a drawer and about 10 different tubes, pots, bottles and vials of make-up as they were all very sticky and purple and glittery!

The culprit of course was later found sitting on the lounge watching ABC Kids and proudly showing me his “Shiny mouth, mum”- which was in fact gloss spread right up to his nose and down his chin, in some weird disco clown look.

After i re-assembled the drawer and its contents i put some junk in the bin next to the window and discovered that Alex wasnt meerly playing with his train! He had commandeered my dark brown eyeliner and drew a lovely piece of concentric circle line art on my WHITE window sills!!

Serves me right for trying to catch that extra 15mins of snooze time!

Flours in your hair Wed Jul 16, 2008

Nicholas was helping me make some Banana Cake last week and was getting annoyed that i wouldn’t let him sift the flour. Before turning my back to get the Vanilla from the pantry i asked him to stir the mashed bananas.

Instead, he decided to scoop some of the flour into the bananas, and onto the bench and floor and himself. I just sighed in frustration, dusted him off and thanked him for his help. Then took the stool away. He protested wildly for about 30seconds then wandered off. I thought ‘Hmmm… that was a short tanty. Good” then continued on with the cake.

I got it into the oven and was halfway through washing up when there was a blip on my Disaster Radar… the house was quiet… TOO QUIET! I dumped the dishes and raced through the house. Bedrooms? No. Main Bathroom? No. Office? No. Oh wait… there was a light on in the office bathroom. I slide the door open and see :

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More toilet disasters Wed Jul 02, 2008

The sound of continous flushing always strikes terror in my heart!

Chris and I looked at eachother in that silent exchange of:
“You go…”
“No you go…”
Then we both get up to go see what the comotion in the bathroom is all about.
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