There once was a little red house....

And in that house lived a little red man

And everything in the house was red, the walls were red, the floor was red, the furniture was red and all even all the cups, plates and spoons were red.

One day, the little red man was having a little red shower when he heard the little red doorbell chime!

He grabbed his little red towel and tied it around his little red waist and ran down the little red stairs to open his little red door.

There stood a little lady (but she was not red) and she said hello....

As the little red mad was trying to say hello, his little red towel fell from around his little red waist....

The little lady gasped with shock, turned and ran down the little red path and out the though the little red gate and ran across the road in such a hurry that she did not look where she was going and caused much chaos and havoc as the cars tried desperately to avoid hitting her, beeping and some smashing into one another!  Luckily the little lady was OK.

The moral of this story is....

Don't cross the road when the little red man is flashing!

Have a lovely day everyone - here is the completed fold away carry house!

At my house .....

Birthday preparations are a plenty in our house right now.... the list just keeps going and I was overly delighted when I found my husband preparing our dinner at 8am this morning so that I didn't have to worry about it (adorable LOML!!)  and could focus on other pressing issues....

I worked most of last night on a little fabric, fold away carry house which will be a present for her 2nd Birthday.  I started it on the weekend when my mum was staying with us for a few days so it was great to have the advantage of an extra pair of hand cutting fabric and wadding and especially when it came to deciphering the instructions and working out how it would piece together. It's not yet finished but the hard stuff is done, I just have to stitch some walls in place!

Today we've collected a few little treasures that will make up some party favours...

And I had to share this most adorable cup-cake tier from the Robert Gordon range - a bargin addition at only $14!  My accidental carnival theme party is taking shape!

This afternoon my son and I might make some more pompoms and sneak in a game of snap!

What's up a your house??  Visit Lou to join in...

my creative space...

It is creative mayhem at my house this week.....


There is a little girls 2nd Birthday happening next week.  I have a few things ready, like a cute little madamoiselle from my dear friend Steph.

 To add, I have taken it upon myself to

a) make little invitations for a little morning tea party!

b) make the cake (still undecided!) and am in awe of the cake make by Cathy for her son's birthday
c) make some presents - one being this little portable carry house!   that Karen showed off last week - I have only managed to download the tutorial, buy a few things I needed and the rest has just stayed here on the ironing board waiting patiently!

I also finished two of the tote bags I was making from scraps of fabric and sent one off to a friend and mine (the yellow one ) has already come in use at shops that don't provide bags! Yes, is says I 'heart' op shops!!  I've put a picture on my side bar if you want some op shop love at yours....

Yesterday my kids were ready to head off to Playgroup really early, so I took my crochet with me and lucky, because we were the only ones for quite and while and I got making this little project (something that has been in my head for a while!)  Not quite finished, but will show you the progress another time!

Lots of projects - most of them unfinished but it's lots of fun!

See what other crazy crafters are up to at Kootoyoo!

wardrobe wednesday {fine dining}

My husband and I got an offer to go to The Press Club with our very good friends at short notice on the weekend.  We don't go out often, needless to say, given we have two little children - but we were looking forward to this occasion.   It's a restaurant that has been on our list for quite some time, and unless you completely missed every episode of Masterchef, then you'll recognise that this restaurant is in fact George Colambaris' (judge on the show).

It was a late sitting, so the little ones were asleep before my friend came to babysit and she was looking forward to some quite time on my couch as I was getting ready.

We were able to have some pre-dinner drinks and nibbles at the Little Press Club which has only been opened for 10 days and this started the night off on a lovely note, as the waiters doted on us and George himself walked passed our table and headed off into the kitchen!

We were escorted to The Press Club once our table was ready and our coats were taken and placed in the cloak room as if we were royalty!

My husbands best friend is a wine buff, so he was in charge of selecting the wine, and it was amazing!  Our food was sumptuous (I had the duck and my husband had the lamb) and I would have to say the best fine dining experience I have ever had!

I watched the chef's in the kitchen, work like a well oiled machine - there was no yelling, no plates being returned, no tempers flaring, just quite hustle and bustle!  I was in awe of these desserts being plated up and asked if I could take a picture - needless to say, that when it came time to us having dessert, this is the one I chose as well!

Aphrodite - Greek Goddess of Love

And since this is Wardrobe Wednesday, a girl has to put on some heels when going out for dinner....

Black top - small local shop that's now closed
Black tulip skirt - Sussan
Pink floral shrug - Dotti
Tights - Myer
Shoes - local shoe shop
Belt - Portmans (on sale of $4.95!!)

at my house..... {cause and effect}

It's a daily challenge being a mumma to two kids (adorable as they are) when it comes to keeping them amused, stimulated, happy and matching games and toys to their developmental capabilities and also their interest.  The weekend was pretty gloomy and I thought of an idea that would interest my son, but wondered if he would like it, but I was wrapped when we was so taken by it, he played for hours, and has asked to play again when he comes home from kinder....


so what is it I hear you say??

Something so simple, most of you will have these items in your kitchen....


What you will need...

 - some clear drink bottles (remove the label by soaking in some hot water)
 - another clear container with a larger opening
 - food dye (yellow, blue and red) in primary colours.

Fill the three bottles with water and add 1-2 drops of food dye in each bottle so you have a red, yellow and blue water.

Then get your child to pour one colour in the larger container and mix with another colour and watch what happens.  My son was so enthralled by the changes of colour....

So I've promised him we can play this game some more this afternoon!

(if you have smaller children, they too are excited by the changes of colour and you can always punch a hole in the lid of the water bottles to reduce the flow of the water if you think pouring will be an issue! )

What are you up to today??  Join Lou to let us know...

flea market finds.....

One's mans trash is another man's treasure (or in this case, a woman's treasure!) and there is nothing like hunting around a junk shop, op shop or garage sale and spot a treasure in the distance, only to find out that the shop keeper or owner don't understand it's true beauty and value and have it listed at such a price that you just have to take it home...


but sometimes those places are filled with nothing that captures your eye and you leave empty handed AGAIN!!

Alas, this is when a girl can turn to Ebay, and hunt for random objects at her desire....
Two of my favourite vintage finds from the land of ebay are this cute little wooden plaque snapped up for $4

And this vintage barometer which was a little bit more (around $40 i think)

Perfect finds to adorn my wall next to this little plate of the dancing couple and clock!

What did you find this week, and where??  Well head to Sophie's to see more....

handmade christmas challenge

I feel productive if I can sew, make or design something on a regular basis (hopefully a little bit each day - but not always).  This week has been busy, but I have been able to sneak in a bit of crochet, and some sewing and have been making some Key Fobs that I sell in My Store that I think will be great for small Christmas presents for Kinder teachers and friends....

I have also been having fun with my ever growing pile of scraps and vintage fabrics....

I wanted to make some tote bags as more and more shops these days are not providing plastic bags (ie, spotlight!!), and it does feel good not to carry those ghastly green bags around all the time!!

I thought of having a cute little saying on it...

Then I remembered my little crochet flowers I bought from OneCrafteeMumma and thought they would be a great addition.  The bags are not finished yet, but I really don't think I can wait to give them out at Christmas, so I think two special friends will be benefiting from my little experiment...

To join this Handmade Christmas Challenge...head over to knicky knacks!

my creative space...

They say that a four year old child can ask approximately four hundred questions a day!  wow - that's a lot, especially when you are the one person answering most of them day in day out!  My son's curiosity to question the every day phenomena is astounding, challenging, but mostly enjoyable as I endeavor satisfy his need for information....

examples of some questions include;

   - Why does it rain and how is wet?
   - What makes the letter R, R?
   - Why do the leaves turn brown?
   - Why is the moon so far?
   - how come you need so many (key fobs) mummy? (ha!  I do tell him I sell them, but so cute that he thinks I make myself heaps!!)

On one particular afternoon, when we were chatting we were discussing birthdays (as my and my son have both celebrated ours recently).  This is how the conversation went;

Mum are you older?
Yes, I am older than you
Why i cant i be old?
you will be one day
I want to be 29
how come...

So i can do knitting (crochet) too...

for more creative types...head over here! 

wardrobe wednesday

I cannot remember the last time I made myself an item of clothing....

this week, whilst making a skirt, my certain quirks regarding sewing for myself came flooding back....

regardless of what I am sewing, I have certain quirks, and laugh at myself, and often my husband will  shake his head in amusement - thinking "what are you doing??"

You see, I can't sew wearing shoes or slippers on my 'sewing foot' - that is, the foot that is controlling the pedal!  oh, no it has  to be as close to skin on metal (or plastic??) as possible - perhaps a sock, but sometimes not even, and in the cooler months when the chilly breeze is seeping through the cracks of our old floor boards, I am sure that I come close to loosing all feeling in my right foot and possibly suffering from frost bite (ok not quite frost bite, but you get my drift) as I parade around limping with one slipperless foot...

And so, as I enjoy cutting up fabric that will eventually be turned into an item of recognisable clothing, I again embark on a journey quirks as rarely am I able to settle on 'one pattern' as I feel compelled to 'create my own - as i go along' type of thing - which involves lots of 'trying the garment on' at various stages of production - which means, in this case, I end up wearing very little, standing next to the iron madly pressing seams, pinning hems all with one slipper on....

"honey - have you closed the blind in that front room?? - because the neighbours can see you!"
"ha - oops" - i say!

and so the stripy high-waisted skirt that i spied in a catalogue and admired,  is now finished!  Final price was about $11 for the fabric and I already had a black zip and I used little snap fasteners to close the band (which I thought about covering with buttons, but I like it as is, i think!).  It might not be exactly like the extravagant expensive version, but I am content with this little number!

We are off to a little girls 4th birthday party today, so perhaps I'll just stay as I am, as I feel dressed up to party, although I'll play around with with cardigan I settle on as I have a grey one i like...

black top - dotti
pink cardigan - sorry can't remember!
skirt - Hah!  Made by ME!!
footless tights - I think i just picked these up at the supermarket in an emergency, and they have been handy ever since!!
shoes - Miss Shop
braids - Diva
earrings - by me also!

xx

not all girls like pink!

The sun is shining, the little one is asleep and big one is chatting to me whilst playing outside....so I quickly snap and pics of these items still to upload onto Made It....

These gorgeous little skirts are perfect for all seasons with added layers when cold or perfect with a simple t-shirt or singlet for when the weather is warmer.... (and a matching clip or brooch is included!!)

and not all girls love pink.....

So i have heaps of things in other colours other than pink in my store....