Pleasingly Pickled!

Crafting station

Plays this

Crochet addict

Recently in blog-land I was wandering about and happened upon a refreshing lovely blog. A real life this is me warts and all no pretentious crap to see here blog! I feel at times in blog-land,there's a whole lot of nothingness and not a great deal of soul to be had. So thanks goes to Picklebug for providing a great honest read with lovely photos, craft and real stuff. Well done xx
Above images from Picklebug blog. 
Go take a look for yourself.

May has been mayhem.. so far

Although May has gotten off to a somewhat crapola start,I am hopeful the remainder will be filled with;

LOVE 

PLAY time, really connect - turn off the TV, the phones, computer and the rest of the world for a moment. MAKING of items with yarn and showing GRATITUDE for all things.

And of course SWEET tunes, this  film clip is especially super cute!
Here's hoping I am successful xxx

Wish it weren't so, but it is...

We are sombre here at ours as we have lost a beautiful man in our family, way too early.
It just seems mighty unfair. That's what we feel right now.
He was a vibrant, engaging, warm and loving man. Who luckily crammed so much into this life.  
It makes me think of this song. Fitting for a man who acted as though he knew he wasn't here for a long time, but a good one.... 

Sheeesh, I'm waiting for that something beautiful!!!

Oooh I wish I had some excellent news or a fabulous story to tell but I've got nothin' Things at ours have been simply crapola. Some things become clear during such times, there are those who are distinctly absent and that my friends, work mates and the beautiful M have provided some amazing support.
This has got to get better, improve, we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel, our luck will change and all those other useless sayings folks offer when things are....shit! I know it will but  for now though Julia Stone can offer some relief for a few minutes!!!!

Epic Rainbow layer cake

Our sweet Matilda Violet turned 13 this week.

I had seen the amazing rainbow layer cake on Pinterest which originated from whisk kid and I thought, how hard could it be? Thankfully my trusted baking partner is not faint hearted!

I loved making this cake to surprise the Birthday girl, her reaction when cutting into it made all the work worthwhile.

There is a video on Martha Stewart which was helpful as I had never made Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

Go watch it I bet you'll want to make one too.

Brother - Little Birdy,turn it up!

My Brother has been having  a tough time. I have played this song often lately.
Need to cheer up? Miss your Brother? Wish you had one? All that harmonica, tambourine, guitar and great vocals will do the trick.  Make sure it is LOUD! 
Dance about and enjoy.... Funk up your Friday x

Headed to a place called love

St Valentines Day is almost upon us.

This week it's been all about the heart at ours. We've set about simplifying things by making plans to take off to where we can...    

     

Enjoy Valentines breakfast served with love

Perhaps an evening stroll here while eating our favourite ice cream then

retire to bed with a sweet heart above made from polaroid pics of our day like this...if we pack blue-tack that is!

Sunday too soon....

Our weekend has been a fun one. We indulged in some family op- shopping fun. Number 2 wears strictly Cotton On, Supre and any other mass produced low quality company that teens go mad for. However she was really into finding funky stuff and items that no one else would be wearing. I witnessed her light bulb moment. 
She was super happy to get some cool things. 


There was also donuts, a picnic, happy pets, movies, garage sales, sleep-overs and head banging at Battle of the bands.


Is it Sunday afternoon already?

December draws near

2011 is heading its close, which gets me thinking....... CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I had a bit of downtime yesterday to look at a few things for inspiration, gift ideas and to all round get the Christmas vibe flowing. 

                             First I looked here and found 

Happy little gift boxes

                                 Photo gift blocks by these guys

super gift idea

Are you in the Christmas zone yet??

Birthday Boy of mine

Today my boy is turning 15. Wow the time goes by so quickly. 
I am so proud of the gentle and beautiful natured young man he has become. He is sharing his special day by Motorbike riding with his mates. Enjoy your special day sweetheart and relish in being 15, it really is a great time in your life. 
                                 xx Mumma

Addicted Much?

Well I have a confession to make. It appears I may have become addicted to knitting! Although there are many things one could become addicted to, at least knitting is productive.  It began just prior to World wide Knit in Public Day (I was practicing to make sure I was an ultra cool looking knitter) and it seems I can't stop. There are so many beautiful yarns around and the weather is just perfect for getting all snuggled up on the couch and knitting. The kids have even dragged out the family scarf, which was knitted by each member of our family on our Tassie holiday a few years back. Clearly they are reminiscing about the feel of the yarn and the clacking of the beautiful wooden needles. I wonder if they are feeling the urge to knit too?  I believe it is quite contagious. Go on try it sit next to someone knitting and tell me you don't feel something, I dare you!!

2011- Does it really have to be called "The Year of the Rabbit?"

Look at that! How quickly did Christmas and New Year roll around? It felt like a whirlwind blew through. So much so, that I can't bring myself to take the Christmas tree down yet.

Let's get on to The Year of the Rabbit. During the Christmas blur, M,14, 13, 11 &  I were having a BBQ with the NT friends. There was a rather traumatic incident with our friends big dog and our pet Rabbits. Score being Dog 1, Rabbit 0. So there is a slight painful association with the Chinese Year of the Rabbit at ours.However,

we have enjoyed a lovely time catching up with family and friends over the festive season.

These things were awesome:

•  A visit here 
•  Celebrating my sister's birthday
•  Cousins sleep over
•  Romantic 2 day child-free getaway to Melbourne
•  Exploring Piper St, Kyneton (ah child- freeee!)
•  AWESOME presents ( I DID get Pip's new book,thanks to Fine & Sunny
  
•  Time to myself to begin an embroidery project from my book 
•  Beautiful food and wine
•  Finding a gorgeous pair of shoes here that fit my big    feet YAY!
•  Painting at Caledonia St (I made a great team leader)
•  Driving home with 14 as my DJ, the same Hip Hop song 16 times made us laugh alot

So I guess The Year of the Rabbit isn't so bad after all......

Portarlington

My love and I went to the beach at Portarlington, we wrote our names in the sand, searched for treasures gifted to the shore by the sea. It was so beautifully rainy, the sea, the rain and my love....sigh... how lucky can one girl be?


We wrote our names in the sand and declared our love. Awwww so sweet.

There was a gorgeous antique shop where I found two souvenir spoons from Carlsrhue in Victoria. This was such a great nostalgic find for me, as I spent six months in an annexe program on a farm there in primary school. I have many fond memories of this time in my life, raising animals, making mud bricks, learning how to construct a fence. These spoons came home with me and I will make a piece of jewellery just for me.