Ava Pot Pie

Adventures in Machine Knitting

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:16:00 +0000

Once upon a time my Dad called me on the phone and told me he had met my future Step-Mother. I laughed, he laughed and a little while later they got engaged. At this point I thought maybe just maybe he was being serious.

A couple of weeks ago there was a big wedding and Emmy and Ava were adorable flower girls. I realised then that yes he was being serious.

I now have a new Step-Mother and two new gorgeous and incredibly nice sisters.

There is a point here...

Weddings mean unions and joining of assets and furniture. In Dad's and Cathy's case it meant packing up and moving to a new house together. There is always treasures to be found when vacating a house after many many years and one of these treasures has found it's way to me!

Cathy was so kind and has given me her old knitting machine. I have wanted one of these for a long time. Hand knitting takes far too much patience for me. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful Brother KH-892 which is a punch card machine. Even better it came with a stand, ribbing attachment, knit leader and a suitcase full of patterns and wool! I am fully equipped.

Image courtesy of Scanthecat.com

Now I don't knit. I try occasionally, I fail. It's not for me. But the knitting machine, it's the perfect blend of problem solving and speed.

Being from the 1980's it did need a little bit of work.

My first tangled attempt

First up the sponge bar needed replacing. Then everything needed cleaning and re-oiling. There was a lot of carriage jamming until everything finally started running smoothly. There are still some needles that need replacing but I'll need to order those from overseas. Spare anything for these machines do not run cheap.

My incredibly flat sponge bar

I think it took me about of month of tinkering and practice before I finally knitted my first thing, a dishcloth in tuck stitch. I then knitted a few more and gifted them to anyone that looked remotely interested (Cathy included).

Knitted cloth with a massage bar I also made

Dishcloths mastered I moved onto something more ambitious and knitted a fair isle scarf for Ava's doll.

Ava looking oh so stylish in her scarf

I have plans for a throw next. Just working out how.

The funny thing is this knitting machine caper takes a lot of patience. I've been using it for months and have very little to show. But it's a different kind of patience. The actual knitting is of course very fast but the learning and the fixing that takes time. While there are resources for machine knitters on the web it's not as prolific as hand knitting so you can't always find what you're looking for.

But I am greatly enjoying it despite the fact that it takes up a good portion of the already space starved living room :o)

Pinterest Challenge - Kissing Pegs

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:59:00 +0000

It's time for another Pinterest Challenge. These are always perfect for slack bloggers like me to get off their backside and actually do something. In fact that is the entire point, stop pinning, start creating!

Recently Ava's teacher got married. This was cause for great excitement among her classmates, particularly about the fact that *gasp* they would kiss! It was all she could talk about for the longest time.

Understandably she wanted to make her a card to celebrate and when I saw the following pin on Pinterest I knew it would be the perfect craft for a seven year old.

DIY: Kissing clothespin cake topper | Brooklyn Bride - Modern Wedding Blog

Our supplies were fairly minimal (and cheap) for this project. In fact the only thing we bought was a new packet of wooden pegs as the ones on the line were a bit weathered.

We decided to pull our pegs apart completely before we started to we could get paint coverage everywhere. The original inspiration is a much bigger peg so I'm not sure how that would go.

I drew an outline of where we needed to paint with pencil and then Ava and I got to painting one each.

I was pleasantly surprised with Ava's fine motor skills and she was able to paint in the small area quite well. The hardest part was waiting for the paint to dry. The white needed a couple of coats.

We used a sharpie to do the eyes and the bowtie. We did the necklace and blush with the end of the paint brush dotted on. Finally we finished them off with a tiny slip of tulle for the veil.

Ava was so excited when she took this into school. Apparently it was a great source of amusement to the class that you can make them kiss by opening the pegs. I had to cross my fingers and really hope her teacher took it in the light hearted spirit it was intended, but thankfully she let me know that she did like it!

This was such an easy yet rewarding project for us to do. I can't wait to try some more peg craft!

Don't forget to head on over to Emily, Katie, Sherry and Renee to see what everyone else has done too. I love finding new blogs to follow!

A Hat For Baby - Oliver + S Reversible Bucket Hat

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 09:50:00 +0000

Sometimes you need a quick and easy project in your arsenal for last-minute gifts. So when a gift collection was been done at work for an expectant Mum the Oliver + S bucket hat seemed like the perfect gift. It uses such a small amount of fabric that I had everything on hand to make one.

I've made this pattern up before for the girls and their hats are still going strong. This time though I did follow these fantastic instructions for the assembly. They eliminate the need for any hand sewing!

The pattern is available as a free download from the Oliver + S website and also in their book Little Things To Sew.

The anchor denim was leftover from a pair of shorts I made my nephew Max a couple of years ago and the lining cotton was just one from my stash. It's always amusing going shopping with my sister for fabric. She buys the exact amount she needs for a project. If I need one meter, I buy three. Subsequently my entire linen closet is filled with fabric :o)

I'm alway a little nervous giving hand made gifts, especially to people I don't know exceptionally well. I love my hat but you can tell it's not from a store. All I can do though is hope that it is well received and loved. I included a little tag with sizing and care instructions and sent it on it's merry way. But not before I snapped a pic of my adorable nephew Linc wearing it :o)

This week I'm linking up to the Knock our Socks Off Party hosted by Mom4Real and JoJo & Eloise. Also girl. Inspired's You Inspired Party.

Easter Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:26:00 +0000

Easter has been and gone in a whirlwind blur of craftiness and chocolate. I'm a bit late in getting my recap up but better late than never!

Every year my sister and I get together with our family for Easter and make the little people Easter baskets and bunnies

2012 Baskets

2011 Baskets

This year Tam was in charge of baskets and I did the bunnies. You can read about how the baskets were made here.

There were a few false starts on the bunnies this year (and honestly this is why there were no bunnies last year). I originally started making Funny Tummy Bunnies but ended up with something looking like an alien. I didn't have time to figure out what went wrong and instead opted for something really simple and went with Mooshy Belly Bunnies instead. It's a free pattern with incredibly easy to understand instructions.

I made a few changes to the pattern. I stitched the ears into the main head seam and omitted the stitching along the arm and leg lines.

The girl bunnies got little pom rosettes and the boy bunnies got little felt bow ties. They all got white pom tails. I love the poms that Tam makes and was delighted our bunnies got to wear some.

We had a great Easter and got to spend time with all our family. A week off work has been the icing on the cake. I feel relaxed, refreshed and ready to take on the world!

Winter Pinterest Challenge: Ombre Drawers

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:32:00 +0000

It's time again for the Pinterest Challenge. This time it is being hosted by Katie, Sherry, Megan & Michelle

The idea of the challenge is to stop pinning and start doing, the perfect challenge for me! This is my second one. For the first we did some very simple cress heads, so this time I was a little more ambitious.

Between their bedroom and their play room the girls have a decent amount of space to hang up their clothes. But some things just can't be hung and so a set of drawers was in order.

My inspiration pin was this adorable set of ombre drawers originally posted here. I envisioned finding the perfect set of second hand drawers and sprucing it up. Unfortunately it was not to be.

Luckily for me, when scouring the Aldi catalogue for bargains one day I came across this set of drawers for $80. Being from Aldi they came in a flatpack and with zero assistance from staff (and some chuckling from an elderly woman standing nearby) I managed to lift these into a trolley and get them home.

I'm so proud that I managed to put these together all by myself! I then did what pinterest suggested and got myself a sample pot of each colour on a paint swatch. The pots were only $5 each and this project barely touched the sides.

The trip to Masters was rather enlightening and I learnt many things like: You can't just paint directly onto laminate! Who knew? Well apparently everyone other than me :o)

The girl there was lovely and explained each product that I needed. This is me examining the primer that I used. You spray it on, leave it, then wipe off with a cloth. The result, perfectly primed laminate! No sanding required.

I lay the drawers outside and primed them. I then frog taped around the edges and set to painting. It was an extremely hot day and my paint keep drying too quickly. This meant lots of brush marks. I ended up sanding them back and doing a final coat with a mini roller which seemed to give a nicer finish.

The final product, Ombre Drawers. I'm really happy with how they turned out and they tie in perfectly with the rest f the room. I'll be showing off more of their room soon so stay tuned.

You can see my inspiration board for the girls' bedroom here

Ava & Em's Bedroom

I'm off now to check out some of the other amazing projects that have been tackled. Hopefully I'll also find some awesome new blogs to follow!

Liebster Award

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:17:00 +0000

Imagine my delight when I opened my emails and found out that Liz from My Life in Projects had nominated my little blog for a Liebester Award!

Liebster, in German, means endearing, valued, lovely, etc. This award is presented as a way to acknowledge up and coming bloggers and to help them be recognized for their outstanding accomplishments within design that is presented on their blog.

I was super excited to get this award. I didn't actually think anyone outside my family read my blog. And if my FeedBurner stats are anything to go by I may not be far off :o)

Here are the rules for receiving this award:

1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about

themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, and then

create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.

3. Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the

award to and link them in your post.

4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.

5. No tag backs.

11 Random Facts About Me

I dream of one day having my own little self sufficient hobby farm
My sister is my best friend in the entire world
Chocolate is my favourite food
I have a zombie apocalypse survival plan
I was a vegetarian for 7 years
For most of my childhood I wanted to be a psychiatrist when I grew up
Current dream careers include; author, crafter and underwriter
I lost 25kgs by switching to Primal eating
Exercise and I are not on speaking terms
90% of things I start, I never finish

11 Questions For Me

1. What magazines, if any, do you subscribe to?

Other than the weekly grocery fliers that come to my email, none. I’m not much of a magazine person.

2. What made you decide to start a blog?

I had a sewing blog years ago but let it fall by the wayside. I started again because my sister was bugging me incessantly.

3. When you aren't blogging, what's your favorite thing to do?

Probably pottering around outside

4. What's your favorite room in your home?

My bedroom, I get to sleep there!

5. Where is the one place you'd love to travel?

It's a cliche but I'd love to go to Paris

6. What blog inspires you the most?

Three Ring Circus. I'm always in awe of how Tiff keeps on going through the most difficult times.

7. When you go shopping for yourself, what's the first thing you buy?

Chocolate

8. What's your favorite t.v. show?
The Walking Dead or maybe Game of Thrones

9. If/when you go to Target, what area of the store do you spend the most time?

Toy section, I love looking at toys

10. What is the best book you have read?

Gone With the Wind

11. What is one food you could eat every day?

Chocolate!

11 Blogs to Nominate

Gosh I'm not sure I know 11 new blogs with less than 200 followers? I'm going to pick some of my favourites that have less than 200 followers according to Google Reader. Not very scientific I know :o)

Sophie At Home

Renters in Love

Create

And that is unfortunately all I've got. I have a huge blog roll but most of those have been on there for years. It may be time to expand my horizons.

My Questions

1. If you could have any job, what would it be?

2. Favourite song?

3. What is your favourite way to wind down?

4. Do you prefer sweet or savoury food?

5. Do you prefer to dress up or dress down?

6. Favourite place to go shopping?

7. Coffee, Tea or neither?

8. What is the best movie ever made?

9. Do you believe in Aliens?

10. If we had one united world, who would our leader be?

11. Have you ever caught a fish?

Gosh that took a long time, especially with Emily's "help". Thanks so much to Liz for nominating me!

Basil Pesto

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 04:00:00 +0000

My mother has always told me not to let my basil flower. She says it will lose all it's flavour. I tend to believe her when she gives me gardening advice because a) she's my mum and b) things actually grow in her garden.

My little basil plant is somewhat of a miracle plant. It's been in my garden about 6 months now. It didn't have the best start to life. I bought it from the supermarket, left it inside for about a week and then when it was just about dead I thought I had better plant it. So I dug a shallow hole (in my 10cm of top soil) and stuck it in. It didn't really do anything for the longest time, but all of a sudden it took off and actually grew into a healthy plant.

For about a month now it has been trying to flower and I have been dutifully picking off the tips. But since I've planted new basil in my vege garden I decided to strip this one back and then let it go to flower so I could harvest the seed. I read that seed from a plant used to your garden is good seed.

Post harvesting it's looking a little bare. You can see my pile of leaves that weren't considered nice enough to keep.

I got about 1.5 cups of leaves which is the perfect amount to make this delicious basil pesto.

Basil Pesto

1.5 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup parmesan
1/2 cup oil
2 cloves of garlic

Traditionally you use olive oil for pesto but today I decided to use cold pressed extra virgin macadamia oil instead. It gave a lovely nutty flavour and is definitely something to consider if you find olive oil too bitey!

Quickly toast off your pine nuts in a pan. If the pan is really hot it will only take about 30 seconds. They burn really easily so be careful!

You can use a food processor, handheld blender, magic bullet or whatever other whizzy, choppy thingy you have on hand to mix it all together. I used my Magic Bullet knock off from Aldi today. Put all the ingredients in and turn it on. It looks like a lot...

But it really processes down!

Put it in a sterile jar (my definition of sterile is I ran it through the dishwasher) and keep it in the fridge. I'm not sure how long it keeps for because ours is always gone long before it goes off!

Ava doesn't like pesto but Em and I love it. We use it on our meat, eggs and as a salad dressing. We also eat it off the spoon when no one is looking :o) This amount would last us about a week.

Since I stripped my basil plant this morning I've read mixed things about whether flowers effect the flavour of basil leaves. I guess we'll see soon enough!

Square Foot Gardening - Here we go!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 10:40:00 +0000

I really do enjoy getting out in my garden. I don't mind the physical labour and I love to eat what we grow. I've never really has much success with it before though. I think in part it's because I never put the effort/money into prepping for planting.

When I first moved here I went in whole hog and planted a bunch of herbs, tomatoes and some gardenias. I didn't do anything other than dig a hole and stick the plants in. Now that might work if you have nice soil but I have a layer of mulch, 5 cm of top soil and then rock hard clay!

The cherry tomatoes gave us about three fruit (they'd already flowered before we bought them) before promptly dying. The gardenia's flowered but have never really grown. The herbs have mixed success. Some things like the basil are huge and flourishing, while my oregano and thyme are about a week away from death.

Ever one to learn from my mistakes I asked around and found out I needed to break up the clay for any chance of success. So this time I dug deep holes, spread around a bunch of gypsum and then filled them with compost mix. Better but still not great. If it rains the plants still get water logged because the excess can't drain off through the clay. Plus my capsicums look like this:

I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on! New shoots are constantly forming and there are no leaves on the ground. What was eating my capsicum? There are no bugs around and besides bugs tend to eat parts of leaves not chew off whole stems. I ended up blaming the birds. That is until I saw a random cat chasing a random bunny through the yard this morning. Mystery solved. It's time to rabbit proof the fence!

Still I thought there must be a better solution. I remembered reading Square Foot Gardening a couple of years ago. It made sense at the time but I couldn't afford the outlay to set it up.

I did my maths and worked out what I needed. I couldn't find any affordable 1.2 x 1.2m raised beds, but I did find these .97 x. 97 ones instead. At two for $19 they were the most cost effective solution I could find.

When it came to making Mel's mix it wasn't just as easy as popping down to my local Masters/Bunnings and picking up some giant bags of vermiculite and peat moss. They only had tiny bags and it would have cost a fortune. I found a 100l bag of vermiculite on eBay. I couldn't find an economical way to buy peat moss and it's a non-renewable product. Subsequently I decided to substitute with coir instead which people say gives just as good results (finger's crossed).

It ended up being about 300l that I was trying to mix together on my tarp. Thank goodness the girls' father came over and saved the day by hauling my tarp all around to mix it up. By my calculations I had enough mix to fill up my two raised beds. I built them, lay fresh mulch all around (we lost a lot in the recent deluge). And then I waited. The photo above was taken at 9.30am and my two beds had just hit full sun. It was officially too hot to be outside.

About midday I had a sudden thought that I should check the depth of my beds. The depth of soil was only 10cm. So I spent about 5 minutes shovelling mix from one bed to the other. It was hot, I managed to get sunburnt from 5 minutes sun exposure.

At 3.30pm the last of the sun was leaving the garden and I had one full garden bed and one half full bed. So much for my maths! It was ok really though as I didn't really have anything to put in the second one yet anyway. I filled up a few pots with left over mix and transplanted some seedlings that had been growing in jiffy pellets.

Three cherry tomato bushes and a coriander plant. I really hope they keep growing. I've been lovingly raising them for a couple of weeks now.

I made the most of my forced inside time by planning out my little garden. The spacings in the picture aren't quite right but it's a handy guide for me to know what I planted where.

About 4.30pm it was cool enough to head out again. As you can see from the picture it's light out but no direct sun on the garden. With some help from Em planted all my seeds and watered them in. I think I might just cry if nothing grows!

The Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 04:23:00 +0000

Young House Love were holding this awesome little challenge around the Thrift Shop Song. I'd never heard it before but as soon as I did I was hooked!

As I nice way to end out January my sister (check out hers here) and I got our $20 and went Op Shopping wild. :o)

Step #1. Go to a thrift shop with – just as the chorus of the song says – “$20 in your pocket”and take a picture.

Step #2 was to spend your $20 any way you’d like and photograph your spoils.

1. Awesome Beach Bag - $2

2. Burda Toddler and Baby Magazines

3. Heart Shape Ice cube mould

4. Simplicity Toddler Patterns

5. My Lock Overlocker magazines

The lovely server was feeling generous and only charged me $2 for the above. I tried to give her more money but she wouldn't take it!

Grand total - $4

The magazines are old and dated but hold some great little treasures like this cute sailing boat and fish

I gave Ava $5 too and she managed to spend hers on a few play item that she tells me are for her Moshi Monster toys.

Step #3. Find one item (or more) referenced in the song and snap a pic.

Tam in an all pink outfit

Me in a Big A$$ Coat (yes it smelt!)

I'd never been Op Shopping with Tam before so it was a fun outing. I hope we get it to do it again sometime, just not in February.

Frugal February

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:59:00 +0000

I can't believe that January is gone already. Ava is now back at school and the year is flying by!

My goal for February is to bunker down and save some cash. Bring on Frugal February.

Frugal February is about only spending money on essential things. For us this will be mean no discretionary spending on:

clothes
take-aways
stuff

I'm going to try and cut my spending in other areas too:

Halve petrol bill
Cut grocery bill by $50 a fortnight

There are of course some exceptions and caveats!

I will still pay all my bills when they fall due
I will follow through with items I've already committed to buy - like Ava's new violin
I can spend any gift cards that I have/earn during Feb
I can spend money on my vegetable garden as it gives us food but this month the money has to come from my grocery fund instead of play money

The combination of money saving and my intended eBaying blitz should see with my a nice wad of cash at the end of the month which will go straight on the credit card.

While I'm here I might do a quick wrap up of my resolutions went in January.

Organise our home - I started well with this one but typically got less enthused as the month went on. I have got rid of a lot of rubbish I just have to keep on going
Build up my garden - My garden continues to be less than average. I've decided to give square foot gardening a go and I've got all the supplies I need.
Become Debt Free - I paid off one credit card and destroyed it in January. I didn't get as far ahead as I'd like with the second. This is a long and painful process to undo years of bad decisions. It really motivates me not to let this happen again though.
Become healthy - The drugs have kicked in and the migraines have stopped. I feel normal again! Now I just have to figure out how to get off them :o) I've gained 3kg lately so in February I plan on getting back to basics with my diet. It's easier to lose 3kg rather than 30!
Finish things I start - I finished several projects in January, I just need to blog about them
Sew at least one item a month - I waited all month for overlocker to come back from the shop but they are still waiting on parts to come back. In the end I borrowed my Sister's and achieved my goal by making some underwear for Emily.

February is going to be tough but hopefully some things will stick and become habits. Will you join me?

Polaroids from Instagram

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:03:00 +0000

I think sometimes it's hard to go from a crafty planner to a crafty doer. The actual act of starting (and finishing a project) can seem a little overwhelming. And that's how you end up with a fridge that looks like this

I bought these cute magnetic Polaroid frames at Typo way back when I was doing my Christmas shopping. They were a very spur of the moment purchase but I had wanted to put up polaroids ever since my Sister made these last year.

DIY Instagram Polaroids

If you're wanting a from scratch kind of DIY then her blog is the place to go. I found so many reasons I couldn't get started on these. My photo's weren't good enough, I didn't have a colour printer set up, I didn't have time, the list was never ending! In the end though I decided it didn't matter if my photos weren't professional, it didn't even matter if they were horrible, we'd still enjoy looking at them.

I resized my instagram shots to 3" x 3" in Photoshop and put them in the middle of a 4" x 6" white background. I then had them printed out at the local shops for only 15c each.

There was another photo on my USB stick of my sister but for some reason it didn't show up when I was printing them out. I trimmed the white border off with a ruler and hobby blade.

I put a little washi tape label on each one with a caption. The writing shows up much better in reality. You can get the adorable washi tape at Chibi Run.

The only thing left to do was put them on the fridge with some of my favourite magnets. This really only took about 15 minutes tops, but they are already brightening my day. Though I can't decide whether to keep them on the fridge or use them to spruce up the eyesore of a filing cabinet in the middle of my living room?

Are you on instagram? If you are you, feel free to follow me!

It's just a migraine...

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:53:00 +0000

After a trip to the hospital (thank you to my sister for calling an ambulance, I'm sorry I yelled at you), blood tests, poking, prodding and an MRI the Dr's have established I am suffering from migraines. The kind where:

- Body parts go numb

- My vision goes out of whack

- I forget how to speak

- And I don't get a headache

You could forgive someone for thinking it was a stroke.

I'm fantastically grateful that there is nothing more wrong with me but I am utterly disappointed that the diagnosis didn't come with an instant fix. I don't want to space out on a daily basis, I don't want people to constantly watch me to see if I'm about to do something weird and I get frustrated constantly explaining that a Dr can't help and I don't need to go to hospital.

I feel like I've aged about 60 years with the amount of pills I am suddenly popping. I've got beta blockers to stop them long term, instant fixers (when they work) that I take daily and the chemist convinced me a magnesium supplement was needed too.

I hate taking the drugs in that I want to believe that through healthy living I can stop the migraines myself. I can think if about a million different ways that I could improve my lifestyle, but changes like that time take time to take effect. And I need to be a functioning member of society now!

I wish I knew why they got suddenly and dramatically worse, but no one seems to know or care because it's just a migraine.

I'm having my own little pity party at the moment but the reality is I just need to be patient. The new medication will take time to work and then when it does I'll feel like my old self again :o)

Ikea Love - Floor Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 12:07:00 +0000

The furniture in my house is getting on a bit in years. It was gifted to me by my Dad when he downsized and comes from a home much bigger than mine. At the moment it is all crammed in minus a few arm chairs that I had to leave in storage.

I have a lounge dining/area combined. Half my lounge space is taken up by a ginormous corner desk and the other half by my sofa and TV console. My rather small dining area has an 8 seater table, but only fits if part of it is pushed up against the kitchen island!

My furniture is funcional and it does the trick but I do plan on replacing it all. And I do love Ikea!

I have a certain sister who would happily take my dining set off my hands any time I asked, I have no need for a desk that measures 1.8m x 1.8m, a console half the depth of the one I have would do and I would dearly love to replace my couch with a sofa-bed so my poor Mum doesn't have to sleep on a mattress on the floor when she comes to stay!

As I cleaned today I moved my sofa around trying out different locations until I finally settled on a setup I like. Floor space isn't so much a problem as the ridiculous location of doors and windows that leaves not much in the way of blank walls to put furniture against.

I scoured the Ikea website to find some furniture I liked then drew up a little floor plan in Illustrator.

HEMNES

Bureau with add-on-unit

HEMNES

TV bench

MÅNSTAD

Corner sofa-bed with storage

BJURSTA

Extendable table

STEFAN

Chair

The total cost of my new downstairs? $2235.96

Hmmm.... Not quite sure how this fits in with my New Years Resolution to become debt free? A girl can dream though can't she? :o)

New Year, New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 02:36:00 +0000

Happy New Year

And while we're at it Merry Christmas, I seem to have forgotten that one :o)

Christmas was a quiet affair here and it made for a lovely change. Just relaxing with my girls and my Mum.

I don't normally do resolutions but I feel good things about 2013 so I thought I'd try and organise my brain dump into a meaningful list.

Organise our home - We moved into our little townhouse in May. We've finally finished unpacking but things are still cluttered. I'm going to kick of the New Year with The Organised House Wife's "20 days to organise and clean your home challenge" I also hope to get my hands on Kiki-k's family diary if it ever comes back in stock!
Build up my garden - We are very lucky in that our entire back yard is garden. This means no mowing and incredibly low maintenance. But there is also a lot of space to plant new things if you are that way inclined (which I am)
Become Debt Free - This is pretty self explanatory and just requires discipline. I've paid down a lot of debt in 2012 but am no where near where I could have been if I'd stuck to my plan. I'm trying hard at the moment to find that balance between being frugal and living a little :o)
Become healthy - It would seem that I'm experiencing out of control migraines (waiting on official confirmation) at the moment. I need to find out why this is happening and how to stop it!
Finish things I start - I have so many unfinished projects its beyond a joke. A main goal of 2013 is to finish what I start.
Sew at least one item a month - The motor on my overlocker has died and since I'm forking out the $300 odd dollars to get it fixed I need to make sure I get some value out of it. What better way than more sewing for me and the girls. I was lucky enough to be given Gertie's New Book For Better Sewing as a Christmas present and there are so many things I want to make.

Gosh I think I could go on forever but fear the more I have the more likely I am to fail. So expect to see some posts on organising, gardening and sewing. I think 2013 is going to be a great year, what about you?

Stocking Stuffers - Baby Zilla DIY

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 23:00:00 +0000

1. DIY Felt Slippers from Wills Casa

2. Personalised Hand-Stamped Tea Towels from Chibi Run

3. Personalised Tile Coasters from Made 2 Style

4. Sock Monsters from Ava Pot Pie

5. Homemade Basil Pesto from KukuCouture Invitations

6. Lace Boot Cuffs from S{Thomp}ing Ground

7. Aromatherapy Eye Pillow from Markham Street Design

8. DIY Paint by Numbers Canvas from Sophie at Home

9. Personalised Memory Matching Game from Max & Me

When my delightful sister Tamsyn asked me to participate in her handmade Christmas gift collaboration, I jumped at the chance. I have so many handmade gifts I want to get done and so little time!

I decided to make this adorable little monster from Craft Schmaft. I picked up the paper pattern at the Finders Keepers Markets but you can get it online too!

The first step is getting some socks. It took me two goes to get this very simple bit right! You see unless you want your monster to have writing on his belly then you’ll need to find some blank socks. Of course I didn't figure this out until I started sewing my monster...

Luckily after a quick trip to Big W, I found a variety of suitable socks. You see I have four of these adorable creatures to make. One each for my girls and one each for my nephews. They're from Santa though so shhh don't tell :o)

You want to turn your sock inside out and make sure it's nice and flat. Whenever I cut the sock I lay pins just to the left of the cut line. This meant the layers all stayed together nicely. The instructions recommend leaving a gap at the end of the tail (the top of the purple line in the photo) but when I make more of these I will leave the gap in the middle. I think this will make it much easier to turn and stuff. Just make sure backstitch on either end of the gap if you do it this way.

Flatten out the sock so the sole is facing towards you. Trace out a curve for the top of the head. I used the top of another sock to get the shape. You could also use a flexible ruler if you want it to be a bit more accurate.

Pin along the seam line before cutting and then pin vertically before stitching.

Reflatten the sock to it's original shape. Measure from the tip of the tail to the seam line on the head. This is how long you want the spikes to be.

Either enlarge or reduce your spike pattern to get it to be the right size. Pin to your felt and the cut to size.

Cut from the tip of the tail to the seam line. Line up the flat edge of your spikes with the cut line, making sure the felt is sandwiched between the two layers. Stitch along the back of your monster. Then you can turn the sock through the opening you left.

Use the toe of the sock you cut off earlier for the chubby little legs. There was no pattern piece (that I could find) for the legs and arms. I cut them to fit scrap that was left.

Using the sock, repeat the process to get some monster arms. Sew around the outside of the arms and legs, then turn them to be the right way around.

Oh look, it's starting to look like a monster! Time to stuff! Stuffing through the tail was a very time consuming process, I recommend lining up a good tv show before you start. Once you have the body stuffed you want to stich it up. I think ladder stitch gives the best result for this. Now I'm not even going to pretend I'm some sort of hand stitching expert. Thank goodness for the trusty internet to show us how!

Stuff the arms and legs and then whip stitch them onto the body. Depending on how the stuffing is distributed and how big your arms and legs are will determine where they look best. Play it by ear and once you've got one side done make sure you line it up to the same place on the other.

For the face I used the same reduction in size as for the spikes. It ended up that the mouth was still a little big so I just cut it to size. Next stitch the pupils and teeth to the black felt. I'm not sure what the name of the stitch you use is (sorry) but basically you want to have a tiny bit of thread come through at the front and a line of thread between stitches at the back. Use the same method to attach the eyes and mouth to the body. Whip stich your final spike to the top of the head.

One finished little Baby Zilla. I have a feeling these are going to be a hit with the little people. It was easy to put together and would make a great gift for someone this Christmas :o)

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to check out some of the other great gifts to make

Chowstalker Love!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 22:18:00 +0000

Somehow, up until recently, it has completely escaped my notice that there is an awesome website called chowstalker.com

From their about page:
"Chowstalker is a place to find real food and connect with people who know how to cook it"

We've tried out a couple of recipes lately and been impressed with the results.

First up was Olive, Garlic and Lemon Chicken. We had this with green salad and the sauce made a great dressing. It was also good in that you use whole chicken thighs. This meant it was a hit with Ava who doesn't like olives or onions. I could just take out a thigh and it had all the flavour with none of the "bits".

A few nights later we had Pollo Fundido. What's not to love about this one? Chicken and bacon in a creamy cheese sauce. If your stomach can handle the dairy then it's a guaranteed winner. We were all fighting over leftovers the next day!

So if you're into gluten free eating I highly recommend you check it out. Now I'm off to explore this thing called Dessert Stalker!

Finders Keepers

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:32:00 +0000

I was incredibly excited when I heard the Finders Keepers markets were going to be on in Brisbane last weekend. I've always wanted to go but the planets have never aligned!

Last week my sister and I disentangled ourselves from our offspring and headed off to the markets. It was a marvellous day. The weather was mild and the markets weren't too big. Perfect for Tam who is now 39 weeks pregnant

It was so hard to choose just a few things to bring home and I have dreams of going next time with a much bigger budget

My little haul

What I got...

The chalks are from One Lantern, but I'm not sure if they sell them online

An adorable fox brooch from Sharon Muir

All her ceramics were truly devine and I hope her online store opens soon

A rattle for the upcoming arrival from Amor Amor

Their items are made so you can colour them in with washable texta!

3 patterns from Craft Schmaft

I first pinned those balloons a while back and I was delighted to find

the patterns. You can get the PDF's online but if you get the chance to

see them in person their paper patterns are beautifully presented.

We made a quick stop in to Chermside on the way home so Tam could help me pick out an outfit from Portmans. She very kindly gave me a voucher for my birthday. We got a dress and some shoes, woot woot :o)

Photography by Ava. You can see me wearing my little fox brooch.

If you're on Instagram you've probably seen by now that they've put up profile pages. I'm loving it and if you want you can see us here Instagram.com/miss_jent

Countdown to Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 01:09:00 +0000

November is upon us and the countdown to Christmas has officially begun. This year's celebrations will be smaller that years past but there are still menus to organise and presents to buy.

My main Christmas planning tools this year are the above Chirstmas planner from kikki.K and of course my Pinterest boards.

I have a couple of main boards going.

One for the kids: Stocking Stuffers

And one for in case anyone asks me what I want for Christmas: Wish List

My sister is a co-collaborator on the Stocking Stuffer board as we normally combine our talents to and make things for all the kids.

I also have a few projects hidden in and around various boards so as not to arouse suspicion from fellow pinners.

I'm planning quite a bit that's handmade this year and I need to get my butt into gear. A trip out to Spotlight this afternoon will see me officially get underway.

How are your plans coming along for Christmas? Planning purchases, busy crafting or a mixture of both?

Pinterest Challenge #5 - CressHeads

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:43:00 +0000

This is my first time participating in the Pinterest challenge. That is unless you count this bird I instagrammed last time?

Original pin here

My Pinterest boards are currently overflowing with things I want to do/try/own. It was hard to pick a project. In the end I went with one that was quick, easy and also entertained the little ones.

From http://katescreativespace.com/2012/03/11/spring-fever/

My sister had done a similar project a little while back so I knew it was something that would work in our climate.

We gathered our supplies of egg shells, cotton balls, glue, goggly eyes

and of course some cress seeds

The girls carefully stuffed cotton wool into their eggs.

Em need a little help

We then filled them with water. It was only afterwards I realised

you're meant to wet the cotton wool first!

Em was very careful but we did end up losing an egg...

Em had enough by this stage so Ava and I sprinkled on some seeds

and decorated the eggs

Now next you're meant to put them somewhere dark so they can sprout and then take them out after a couple of days to keep growing. Well we sort of kind of forgot about ours...

A week later and they were in some desperate need of some TLC!

Luckily after some water, sunshine and a few days R&R

they were looking more like the pinspiration

Bonus: Ava's scary ones looked great for Halloween

Unfortunately Emily's cracked replacement did not turn out so well.

Between failing to really sprout and losing an eye, it was one

sad little egg cup.

I'm calling this a success. Ours definitely don't look as uniform as the original but we had a lot of fun! Who knows we might even try our hands at some old fashioned grass heads next!

The Pinterest Challenge links up lots of great bloggers and ideas. The hosts this time are Katie, Sherry, Sarah and Carmel. I'm a little behind the schedule so there are already heaps of cool projects to go and check out!

Ottobre 3/09 Velma Vintage Skirt - A Gift To Say Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 10:57:00 +0000

A little while back we went travelled up north and went to a friend's baptism. After the service there was a gathering at the local park. It was a special occasion and I made the girls new outfits to celebrate.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos because
a) Emily kept getting completely dishevelled and
b) About 5 minutes after we arrived Emily went head first into a pond

If there's trouble to be found, Emily will be there! Thankfully all the parents were standing dutifully by their toddlers and the open body of water, I fished her out pretty quickly. I won't say it wasn't heart wrenchingly scary but the nightmares are slowly dissolving...

Moments before...

I was completely unprepared and of course had no spare clothes for Em. Thankfully Kate's mum (Kate is standing to the left of Em in the picture) is a WonderMum and quickly produced towels and spare clothing. She even had spare shoes!

Basically she saved the day and Kate was very sweet making sure that Em was ok. I wanted to say thank you and I know Kate loves pretty things. I decided to make her a skirt to say thanks.

Velma Vintage Skirt - Front

Velma Vintage Skirt - Back

An Underskirt for Extra Puff

I can't say I'm a particular fan of Ottobre patterns but then that could just be because my sewing skills aren't up to par. I have to re-read the instructions so many times before I can understand them.

I do apologise for the photos. I think improving my skills might be on my to do list for the New Year!

Hopefully Kate and her Mummy will like the outfit and get some good wear out of the skirts :o)

Paleo Birthday Cake - Miss Em Turns Two!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 10:39:00 +0000

Emily turned two on Monday. I can't believe how fast the time has flown! It took me until Saturday to make her a Birthday cake but it was definitely worth the wait.

The cake was a paleo recipe from a CrossFit website. I used the same one for her cake last year with much success.

The batter it makes is really thick, but it still rises just like you would expect a cake to.

Okay so the icing is more Primal than Paleo...

Dark chocolate ganache

Seriously if you live in this part of the world and haven't tried Whittaker's Chocolate, do yourself a favour and buy some!

The finished cake with little bunting.

I've been wanting to try this effect for a long time.

It's a great way to decorate a cake without using sugary icing or fondant.

The washi tape used in the bunting was a birthday gift purchased from chibi run

Two layer cake

That's a double batch of the recipe cooked in two 8 inch pans.

Emily loved it!!

This is a delicious recipe and perfect for a Birthday. Cream doesn't really agree with me, but it was nice as an occasional treat. Plus it has no ill effects on the girls (they drink milk every day).

Super Heroes

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 05:15:00 +0000

What do you do when your darling angel comes home and tells you that she needs a super hero costume for tomorrow? Why you stay up until 1am sewing of course! And you make two to save the inevitable drama of your toddler wanting one too...

Super Ava

Super Emmy

Ava originally wanted to be batman. Unfortunately I had used the last of my carbon fibre making protective clothing in preparation for the Zombocalypse* and so I had to search my stash for something else.

Fortunately I had an abundance of Barbie fabric that I'd picked up at a dollar store. It was so cheap that even though I only needed a small amount to make Ava a chair bag for school, I'd bought many metres. Unsurprisingly there aren't too many projects that call for Barbie fabrics so this seemed like a good way to get rid of some of it.

I tried to wake Ava up to ask if she approved of my fabric choice but that child could sleep through anything...

I quickly whipped up a pattern for each of them. I read a few different tutorials but ended up just doing my own thing. Measuring them while they were sleeping was a bit tricky but we got there!

Emily's wasn't quite wide enough in the neck but Ava's was perfect.

The outer was a Barbie flannel and the inner was a Barbie cotton. They are reversible of course

It was just a matter of sewing the two sides together, edge stitching and attaching some velcro

Capes hanging and waiting their heroes

I took a million measurements of their little sleeping faces.

The measurements were so close though that I just made two of the same for the masks.

I did one white felt layer and one pink and stitched some elastic between the layers. Edge-stitching the outside and outlining the eyes.

The look on Ava's face the next morning was worth every ounce of lost sleep. I was worried that it was such a far cry from Batman that she wouldn't like it. The minute she saw it though she squealed with delight and said "I can be Barbie Girl!"

Emily wasn't interested in hers when she woke up but as soon as she saw Ava wearing it she said "Emily turn" and tried to pull it off. Luckily I'd prepared with two!

My Heroes!

Playing dress ups is fun no matter your age. Ava has just had another few days in hospital which is always tough for her. As were leaving today we ran into some Storm Troopers. Ava was so excited and they were kind enough to offer to pose for some photos with her. It never ceases to amaze me how kind people are in volunteering their time for sick kids. We had the clown Drs visit as well and the difference to Ava's stats while they were there was nothing short of amazing :o)

*Note: Since writing this it has come to my attention that Batman's outfit is made predominately of Kevlar. Good thing I didn't have any carbon fibre left, that would have been soooo embarrassing!

Paleo Banana Split

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 09:59:00 +0000

I love my children to bits but some days are a little harder than others. Some days its a non-stop stream of this:

This particular tantrum was because she had to give one of three cloths she had to Ava so Ava could wash her face.

Days like these normally require copious amount of chocolate (as opposed to a normal day that requires high levels of chocolate). Today it did not seem like chocolate alone would be enough and so the Paleo Banana Split was born.

Paleo Banana Split

Ingredients:

One banana

Strawberries

Dark Chocolate - I like 85%

Some sort of Nut Spread - Cashew is my favourite

Side note here. I am slightly annoyed that Coles Online decided 70% dark chocolate was an appropriate substitute for 85% and Almond, Brazil and Cashew spread could sub for Cashew Spread!

Start by cutting your banana down the middle (harder than it looks) and slicing your strawberries. Eat the ends of the strawberries as you go because it's important to have flat parts for the split! Melt a couple of rows of dark chocolate. At this stage you could dip those strawberry ends in the melted chocolate to make sure it was properly melted...

Arrange your banana on a plate and then spread with nut butter. Lay your strawberries on and then finally drizzle with the dark chocolate. If your fruit has come from the fridge then the chocolate will harden on top.

Eat, enjoy, but most importantly be thankful the children are asleep and you don't have to share!

Oliver + s - Reversible Bucket Hat

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:02:00 +0000

I've been quite the busy little bee getting these hats ready for the weekend. We didn't end up going to the Food Festival but we had a great weekend nonetheless. On Saturday I took a trip out to Spotlight with my favourite sister, Tamsyn. I picked up the interfacing and a spool of thread. We oohed and ahhed over various fabrics but managed to restrain ourselves to what we needed!

The hats went together very easily and by Sunday morning I was done. The most time consuming bit was topstitching the brim but I love the look that it gives. I'll admit I struggled with the blind hand-stitching but I think I got the hang of it in the end. Technically the hats are reversible but they will probably alway be worn denim side out.

The girls loved the fact that I was making them hats. Throughout the construction Emily would wander off with bits of them and I would have to go and find them. When the hats were done and ready to be worn they both wanted to wear them straight away.

We headed over to Tam's house so we could work on a wall hanging for above Ava's bed this morning (more to come later). They wore them the whole time we were inside!

But they found it a bit harder to keep them on while jumping on the trampoline!

Later on this afternoon we headed out to the park so they could have a play. I tried to get some more photos of them wearing them but most of the time they were too busy having fun. Ava loves her new hat and was happy to pose for a few shots.

Emily on the hand would not keep still and so this is the best of the bunch in terms of photos. Lots of side shots. It's funny she would look at me and smile but as soon as I tried to take a photo something would distract her. Toddler fun!

I'm really happy with how they turned out. It's definitely a pattern I will make again and an easy weekend project.

Strawberry, Lemon and Apple Juice

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:03:00 +0000

A little while ago my Mum gave me a giant bag of home grown mandarins and lemons. Emily and I ate the mandarins very quickly leaving us with a giant bag of lemons.

Well you know how the saying goes, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade". Except we don't eat sugar. So we decided sweeten ours with other fruit.

In the fridge I found half a punnet of strawberries and an apple. I decided three lemons would be good. I couldn't find a juicer so decided the food processor would have to suffice.

I recently got this nifty gadget that peels, cores and slices apples. It's good fun and I'm always looking for a reason to use it! I put the sliced apple, lemon flesh and strawberries in the processor. Whizzed it, added about 600ml of cold water then whizzed it again. There was still a LOT of pulp so I strained it through some fabric.

Voila! Strawberry, Lemon and Apple Juice. Emily and I really liked it but Ava thought it was too tart. She has such a sweet tooth that one. If you're used to drinking sweet things you probably won't like this but if you don't mid a little tartness then this is one refreshing drink!