DIY ladybirds

My clever friend Jordan made these gorgeous ladybugs and has been kind enough to share the DIY here. I think these would be cute for a bedroom too.





More pics of the party on Jordan's blog and here. Have a fab weekend! I'm off to Brisbane for a wedding :-)

My Creative Space - Party Cakes

As I mentioned yesterday my handsome little guy is almost 1! We had a little family party for him last Saturday on the rare occasion all 4 my siblings were in town and it was my brother Jeremy's actual birthday that day!

My first 'boy' cake! From the "Women's Weekly More Cakes for Kids" book. It was very easy and if you have the book, I just doubled the butter cake mix and used a square tin instead of a loaf tin but I forgot to double my icing so I only just made it! Those flat icing knives really are worth having for this sort of icing!







Best dad ever! Another rare shot, Anya smiling for the camera, she is such a 'contrary Mary'.


The birthday boy a little unsure about the singing (pictured with my sister and niece).



The two birthday boys, Jeremy and Josiah. More creative spaces for your viewing pleasure, at Kirsty's.

Mud Australia

Nice to find a beautiful range of ceramics actually available locally! Mud Australia has been around for a while but I have only just discovered them! Plenty of lovely pieces and the colours are very soothing don't you think?





They look so delicate but all mud porcelain is oven, microwave and dishwasher safe, hurrah! I hope you all had a lovely Easter break? We did, it was really lovely to hang with my family, it was extra special as my brother and his wife flew over from New Zealand to join us. We had an early 1st birthday party for Josiah (can you believe he is just about 1 yr old!!!) and I made my first plane cake, really easy... will rustle up some photos tomorrow....

Happy Easter

Happy Easter lovely people! We have an extra long break here in Australia due to ANZAC day falling in the Easter vacation - 5 days with my lovely family! I can't wait.... It's also a special time for us as we remember and celebrate an awesome gift, new life!

Beautiful photo by Krista Keltanen.

Kate Towers - Designer, Seamstress, Artist

Kate Towers describes herself as "self taught through experimentation"... her pieces are handmade and inspired by romance and nature.





Along with these amazing photos, Kate's creations excite me!! They make me want to whip out my sewing machine and just create something beautiful with luscious fabrics... We share a love of ruffles it seems.



One of the best things is you can buy her work on Etsy - wooooo! I say get in while you can. I love being inspired, don't you?! Cheers Kate!

All photos courtesy of Kate's Website and Etsy store.

For the Home

I fell in love with this beautiful hanging shelf from Bride & Wolf as seen on Lara Cameron's (Ink & Spindle) home tour! I won't be getting it any time soon but a girl can dream.



I also saw this gorgeous hydrangea lamp made out of veneer by Sarah Foote! Each piece hand stamped, now that is a labour of love! Happy Hump Day! (middle of the week day, just in case you were wondering ;)

Mothers Day Wishlist - Accessories

1. Hair Clip and Bag by Kate Spade
2. Toms shoes - sparkly of course and what a great cause to support
3. Scarflette by Ticked Pink Knits on Etsy (I'd want the scarf though not the pattern!)

Easter Craft - Glassine Cookie Bags

I thought some cute custom-made glassine bags would be a nice touch for our Easter cookies!



You need a sheet of glassine (we bought one from our local art shop), a pack of doiley's and your sewing machine! You could use double sided tape & washi tape for a no-sew project, but I love to sew paper!



Cut glassine to your desired measurement - I folded my paper over so my bags were thicker, then fold in half again, sew the doiley into the top seam, then sew up the sides! Very simple really.



These are my 3rd attempt at icing biscuits, I am getting a little better with practice. I was very happy with the spotty technique! The icing was much brighter than I expected but I did use gel colouring and as the book says, it gives a vibrant colour compared to supermarket food colouring. You could pop little eggs in these too and seal with washi tape!

Friday Favourite - Palette Reading Bed

Photographer Ashley Ann has built the most enviable piece of re-purposed furniture I have ever seen! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! I have been walking around our new suburb eyeing off all the pallet's and wondering what I could do with them, then I saw this post! Now to get my hands on a pallet.... and isn't the cluster of pom poms and lanterns gorgeous.

Photo used with permission.

A few cool reads for over the weekend:

• A special oil recipe for your wooden chopping boards/bowls etc..

• Handy guide to the perfect cheese platter

• How to do a fish tail braid

Easter Craft Inspiration

Some glittery eggs and felt birdies - tutorial here



These would be much safer to paint than real eggs in our house!



Martha, Martha, Martha....



A few more links at Bloesem kids and tonnes here.



Some lovely Easter Printables from Jordan!

Photography Props

I'm always interested to see how other people use photography props! I do like the use of nature when styling a photo too. These are really 'white' but the jewellery is shown off really well I thought.



But I think plain backgrounds can work really well too! The less busy the better. I know white items look better on a dark background but I can't help myself photographing my light coloured flowers on white/light backgrounds, they just seem so much fresher to me.





There is an excellent Etsy article on Photoshopping product pics. If you don't have photoshop there are other programs you can use, many are free. Picasa, you usually get Paint if you have windows, Picnik, Photoscape etc.. Out of these I have mostly used Picnik but hubby has Photoshop which I prefer overall.

Click on photos for credits.

Decorating for the Boys

I have been working on breathing some life into Anya and Josiah's room for the last fortnight, very slowly I might add! I'm looking forward to sharing some photos as soon but in the meantime, here is some inspiration I found along the way. I adore this stunning boat made from recycled books and maps.



Also love this paper plane mobile made from old comics via The Brothers Trimm.



Gorgeous wallpaper from Fine Little Day designed by a very clever 8 year old called Otto Dunker.



Cool wooden whale cut out from Bride and Wolf. Or for something different, the son of one very clever artists does pet portraits! Of course all these ideas aren't just for the boys! But if you do have boys you must check out Dana & Rae's series called "Celebrate the Boy" - it is worth it. My little man needs some kid pants with big velcro knee pads :-) but that is a story for another time...

Lovely new Resin Jewellery store on Etsy

Aren't these Sorbet Skinny Bangles divine! I found the beautiful Drift Gifts on Etsy over the weekend, with a lovely shop owner to boot - Louise is from Brisvegas, say no more :-)





This sweet little cloud brooch may just be floating my way!



I hope you had a good weekend we went to a little school fair on Saturday and cleaned up in the second hand book department, scored a few other great bargains and Anya tasted her first fairy floss! Fun to be had all round. Happy Monday!

Children's design

These fabulous, fun items are from Sweedish company, Little Red Stuga. Tell your kids to go and climb Mt Everest, Fuji or Kilimanjaro (which is my personal favourite).


'Play' - a folding plywood screen, easy to move around and change form. My daughter would love this - especially for our games of hide and seek.



Saved the best till last - these colourful foam cloud cushions make me want to play too! I hav a spring in my step this morning - as it's the start of the weekend!! I am doing some decorating in the children's room finally as I have spent 6 long months procrastinating over it. It is much easier to do on the weekends with hubby home, so I am itching to get going :-) Have a magical and relaxing one.

My Creative Space - Mini Bean Bags

Did you have these at school when you were a kid? I have vague memories of them but saw them about the web last week and *bing* - the perfect way to use our Moda Pillow scraps! They are just charm squares filled with split peas from the supermarket.



Anya delighted in filling them with me - thank goodness for the funnel and vacuum cleaners I say! We have been practising our throwing and catching, balancing on our heads and even Josiah is enjoying playing with them. For more fun join in here.

Mothers Day Wishlist - for the Kitchen

1. Love, Love Caroline Swift's work
2. Elephant Ceramics
3. Teapot by Tea 2
4. Pottery by Sara Paloma on Etsy
   

Reincarnated Kimono Project

Our lovely Handmade Market stall-holder and jeweller extraordinare, Emma Kidson is participating in a cool group exhibition called the "Reincarnated Kimono Project" in West End, Qld this month.



Above is Emma's piece. The concept was to repurpose two vintage kimono's and give them new life. Some cute ideas and diverse pieces.





If you are in Qld, get along to Hanasho, 5/235 Boundary Street West End, Qld. April 2 - 31st 2011.