City girl gone coastal

Lost Keys Come Home, Maybe!

2012-02-24T09:25:00.000Z

Don’t you just hate losing your keys?!

I’ve probably lost or misplaced more sets of keys than you can shake a stick at!

With my recent spate of ‘bad luck’ I’m not taking any chances and have made myself a new key ring.

Not just any ol’ key ring, but one which, if lost by me and found by some random person, will hopefully find its way back to me.

It’s a regular fabric key chain, but with my phone number sewn into the inside!

Genius if I do say so myself. Everything should be labelled in some way; like when your school uniform had your name labels in EVERYTHING, so when you toddled up to lost property you could always get back your own stuff rather than the manky jumper which had been sat in the box collecting moths and dust bunnies, eewww!

Anyhoo, if you want to make one for yourself, or anyone else you know who likes to lose keys here is how!

Gather up the following

{Fabric, 4”x16”

Key ring

Sewing machine & bits’n’bobs

Needle & embroidery thread}

Iron your fabric all nice and smooth.

Fold in half and press.

Open up; fold both edges A & B, into the centre and press.

Fold in half press again, a bit like making bias tape!

Thread your needle and embroider your phone number.

You almost want to unfold the fabric, but don’t, just make sure your needle goes up through A and back down through A only, when you have finished embroidering, press A & B together again, the underside of your stitches will be sandwiched between A & B.

Once you have added the phone number, lay the fabric out flat, and top stitch a ¼” along both long edges.

Fold the fabric in half, with the short ends together, and the phone number on the outside.

Slip the ring on to the fabric loop.

Sew ¼” from the edge; make sure you go back and forth several times.

Fold fabric so the seam is on the inside along with the phone number.

Pull the ring towards the seam, top stitch just above the ring to prevent it from sliding around too much.

Attach to keys and hopefully don’t lose them!

I would use your mobile / cell phone number not your actual house phone number.

Obviously this only works if whoever finds your keys calls the number to tell you or hands them in at a Police station!

Or you could try ‘accidently’ dropping your keys whilst strolling past a certain Ryan Gosling! Now wouldn’t that be an awesome phone call

“Hey girl, I got your keys, shall I drop them round…?”

Okay well I’m off to lose my keys!

Linking up to some of these blogs

Northern Cottage, Cherished Treasures, Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage, More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry , Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, J & M's Eye Candy , Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17, Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Making Lemonade, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Cherished Bliss, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna, Crafty Confessions, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sew Woodsy, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Home for the Holidays, My Repurposed Life, The Tattered Tag, A Little Tipsy, Momnivores Dilemma

And so it continues...

2012-02-23T15:09:00.000Z

The grey cloud of doom is following me.

Since last posting

My bath puff went poof, damn those things are loooooooooooong once unravelled. Did you know you can fit your leg in it, now you know!

Ethan dropped a stone in my fav Cath Kidston mug, don’t ask. I’m actually really bummed over this, it was my only one and you know drinks taste different depending on the mug. The hubby is going to fix it and make it in to candle.

I plugged in my coffee maker this morning, the boys got up at 'stupid o'clock' and I blew all the electrics! Luckily I knew how to sort it out, but man oh man!

Give me break will ya!

I know nothing major has happened but I’ve had enough, if I fall over one more time I shall just lay there and have the mother of all temper tantrums.

Hope your having a better week than I am!

My Little Grey Cloud of Gloom

2012-02-22T21:26:00.000Z

I have no idea what on earth is going on with me lately, but I have a little grey cloud of bad luck / karma, call it what you will following me around for the last week or so, just raining down crap on me.

It all started just before Valentine’s Day

{Monday}

Ahren asked me where his sister is!!

He doesn’t have a sister, and we have no plans of adding a sister or brother to the mix any time soon, didn’t exactly get me in the mood for romance.

Then my back gave out whilst I was in the kitchen. I managed to stager to living room, kinda dropped to my knees and was howling / screaming / crying in pain.

The kiddos asked me what was wrong; I told them mummy had hurt her back, which they ‘naturally’ took as an invitation to sit on my back expecting horsey rides.

How the heck I managed not to scream blue murder is anyone’s guess.

I really wasn’t destined to have a romantic Valentine’s Day.

{Tuesday}

I slipped over on the kitchen floor whilst holding a cup of coffee, ouch!

Hot coffee all over my arm and back. My leg buckled under me in a rather ungainly manner.

{Thursday}

Unable to find the glass etching cream, so can’t finish off DIY, really ticked off and refuse to buy another as I know I will then find the original bottle, misplace the receipt and be left with 2 bottles.

So I shall wait, and ignore the DIY project mocking me every day, grrrr.

{Friday}

Slipped over on one of the kiddos books, whilst holding Ethan, not sure who was most scared/ shocked/ upset. Who said book learning was good for you?

{Friday ~ Sunday}

Break about 40 or so finger and toe nails. Stand on more toys, pointy end only, than I ever knew we had.

{Monday}

I try fixing my staple gun, the spring had got a little stuck, and I was wiggling it free, when BAMO the bloody thing fired off into my boob! Lucky for me I had taken out the staples but that thing has some smack / pinch combo going on that hurts like, well you can imagine!

{Tuesday}

Find my stash of 20 or so hand sewing needles by jabbing most of them into my hand whilst rooting around my fabric basket, oweeee!

{Wednesday}

Slipped over again, bashed knee on kitchen step and japed my toe in a way which is still hurting over 4 hours later L

Burnt my wrist on the waffle maker, flippin’ hurt but the waffles sure did taste

AWESOME!!!

Burnt the handle of the kettle on the waffle maker!

Set fire to the slotted spoon when it fell into the flames on the stove top!

On top of all this I’ve had the usual {for me any way} bumps and bruises, burnt toast marathons, attempts at putting the kettle in the fridge and slips down the stairs.

So what the bijinkos is going on? I’m pretty accident prone but this is getting rather ridiculous, I know nothing major has happened but I’m getting a little fed up of it now.

I dare not try anything to crafty incase I accidently sew my fingers to some ruffles or mitre saw my hand off.

Search Keywords!

2012-02-18T22:18:00.000Z

Oh my goodness!

I don’t regularly check my blog stats, but the other night I decided to just have a peek.

What I saw almost had me walking up the South Downs to sing in true Julie Andrews style whilst twirling around in a floaty skirt I’d just sewn.

It was -11 outside, so I had to be content with just doing a little ‘hurrah’ jig where I sat.

The reason for all my excitement

Not crazy visitor numbers

But a few little words in ‘Search Keywords’

Wait for it, and please don’t snicker or laugh out loud, but people have found their to my blog with the words

{Great sewing blogs}

Now I know for certain that there are some truly, amazing, crazy talented sewing bloggers out there, whom I can’t even begin to compare myself with, but by golly gosh I’m pleased as punch!

I shan’t even entertain the thought that it’s a mistake or anything else sinister, Mr Google really does think I’m great!

But, that’s not all, oh nope!

Several peeps have found their way to my blog by typing in the following

{How to break a dishwasher}

Seems as though my harmless yet eventful shenanigans could be helping others.

Just to go all totally British, but how bloody marvellous!

Not only do people think I’m a great sewer but I’m a dishwasher engineer too, hurrah!

Have you had any ‘odd’ {Search Keyword} results, do share with us all in the comments!

Adding some Spring to the Winter gloom ~ decoupaged table top

2012-02-15T11:17:00.006Z

Anyone else feel as though they need a little Spring in their lives?

I thought I would make a start on brightening the place up by revamping a few pieces around the house, nothing major just little tweaks which will add fun pops of colour.

Last year I painted these side tables, Ahren has since commandeered the smaller one and the larger of the two was looking a little sorry for itself.

One of the boy’s comics got stuck on the table top and left a bit of paper behind.

I decided this would be perfect for a little revamp.

I've done a few decoupage projects before, always with napkins, this time I decided to use fabric!!

If you want to have a go at fabric decoupage here is what you need

{Piece of furniture

Fabric, nothing too thick

PVA glue

Varnish

Sandpaper}

Firstly I cleaned and sanded the table top.

I then made up my glue mixture, I find that 2/3^rd PVA glue to 1/3^rd water works well; you can always add more of either if required.

Working in small areas, I applied the glue mixture to the table top, and then lay a piece of fabric on top. Using a brush I smoothed down the edges.

{The fabric will stretch and distort if moved too much and to vigorously!}

{Try to remove any straggly bits of cotton}

I continued this process until the entire table top was covered.

I applied several coats of glue mixture to the fabric covering the table top, allowing each coat to dry before applying more.

Once the fabric had hardened, leave over night if you can, I applied several coats of clear varnish, this protects the fabric from spills and other accidents likely to mess it up!

Again I left each coat to dry before applying another, the number you will require will depend on the type and thickness of the fabric.

Now I have a lovely new table top!

I can’t decide what colour, if any I will paint the table legs, so for now I shall leave it alone.

Makes a lovely colourful addition, especially when adorned with a few bits n bobs!

This little basket was a gift set with some tulip bulbs the boys got me last year, the bulbs have long since been planted out in the garden and the basket was looking very sorry for itself.

A quick clean up and a coat of paint, it looks good as new!

The little {LOVE} sign is one hubby cut out for me, talented chap, another quick paint job and it looks perfect!

Are you doing anything to add some cheerfulness to the Winter gloom?

Linking up to some of these blogs

Bedtime Shenanigans!

2012-02-12T22:17:00.000Z

We recently transferred our boys from cots to big boy beds; we were kinda apprehensive over whether they would adjust to it well.

Well, they love it.

Bedtimes are now so funny!

We pretend they are going to stay in bed and sleep.

But we know, they will have duvets on the floor, hide under their mattresses, have toys all over the floor and jump around like headless chickens.

When they are tired, they climb into their beds with a book each and fall asleep.

While they are sleeping they get into some funny ol’ positions!

Ahren, half on the floor half on the bed

Ahren, sleeping on the floor not his bed!

Ahren, just chillin'

Ethan, sleeping next to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Ethan, sleeping with his wellie boot on!

Ahren, half on the floor half on the bed!

Ethan, sleeping with his festive headband!

Ethan, sleeping on the floor!

Ethan, sleeping with his head on the floor!

We do put the boys back into their beds and tuck them back in and they get a good nights sleep.

Here's a pic of my boys having a cuddle, so flippin' cute!

Pouch Round Up

2012-02-10T21:42:00.000Z

Last weekend the boys spent a few nights with nannie and duppa, which gave me a few evenings to get all my sewing gear out and tackle the ever growing mound of scrap fabric I have.

I made a bunch of yo~yos, with a button in the centre of each one; eventually I’m going to make them into a garland for my niece.

I used scrap fabric and unfinished projects which I had no intention of finishing to make some zipper pouches.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with them all, and what I can make instead of pouches, I’m in a sewing rut!

Linky Follower Blog Hop

2012-02-09T23:22:00.000Z

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the new Linky Followers tool, well have you heard that Cheri over at It's so very Cheri is hosting a linky hop.

This makes it super easy to link to all the blogs you want to keep up with, and you will no doubt find a whole bunch of new ones to follow.

All you need to do is

RULES:

1. You MUST have the LINKY FOLLOWERS tool on your site to participate.

{You can have both the LINKY FOLLOWERS & GFC on your site but you must have the LINKY FOLLOWERS to participate in this party hop.}

2. You MUST follow the person who has the party on their site as a thank you.

3.Just add your blog button to the LINKY PARTY below.

4.Then grab the BLOG HOP code

You will find the code right under the Linky Party where it says CLICK HERE TO ENTER–

just under that it says: WHAT IS A BLOG HOP? GET THE CODE HERE

Click on GET THE CODE HERE and enter it into a post on your site.

You can grab the party button code in the FOOTER at Its So Very Cheri

You can grab info from my post if it helps you with your post.

5. Then you follow other bloggers–(as many as you want)
–leave each one of the blogs that you follow a comment letting them know you are following them and ask them to follow you back.

If you want to add the BLOG HOP to your own site you will get lots of new followers–(see rule #2)

Simple!

Join up and mingle a little.

Valentine's Candles - Home made

2012-02-08T22:57:00.000Z

Love is in the air, everywhere I look around…

I'm kinda shocked at just how much Valentine's Day inspiration there is out there, I've not really done anything this year, maybe tomorrow I shall get myself together and come up with something!

The hubby on the other hand....

Hubby has definitely got the Valentine bug and has made me a few candles.

These ones are votives with tiny red hearts in them, ahhhh, the hearts show when the candles start to melt.

These are the little heart chunks, aren’t they cute?

He also made some of these gorgeous tea lights with pink heart centres, so cute!

Isn’t he a talented chap?

Button Balloon Embroidery {Snow Watch}

2012-02-06T14:25:00.000Z

Apparently we are in the beginning of a ‘Big Freeze’.

We had a sprinkling of snow on Saturday night, which left a pretty layer over everything; this has now mostly turned to a horrid gray slushy ice.

Oh well, hopefully we will get a little more snow in the next few weeks, I do love my snow!

Between taking my sewing machine apart {more on this later} and sewing up almost 20 pouches I managed to get a little embroidery done this weekend.

A few weeks ago I treated myself to this book

Doodle Stitches

The Motif Collection, by Aimee Ray

A great starting point for newbies to embroidery like me, my favourite part is the disc which contains all the images from the book. Once up loaded to my computer I can edit and resize the images as I wish.

I tinkered about with image number, 433, a Woodland Fairy, and came up with a little lady.

Once I had transferred and embroidered her on to my fabric, I used a regular back stitch to embroider some balloon strings.

I was going to try either embroidering or using appliqué to make some balloons, but then I spied some buttons which would do the job perfectly!

A few stitches and it was done.

I’m really enjoying embroidery at the moment and have a few more ideas I want to try, but, without an endless supply of embroidery hoops I’m wondering what to do with the embroidery once I’ve finished.

Do you just buy more hoops or do you use the embroidery in other projects?

Well, I’m off to resume ‘Snow Watch’.

Hope your week is off to a wonderful start.

Linking up to some of these blogs

Northern Cottage, Cherished Treasures, Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry , Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, J & M's Eye Candy , Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17, Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Making Lemonade, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Cherished Bliss, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna, Crafty Confessions, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sew Woodsy, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Home for the Holidays, My Repurposed Life, The Tattered Tag

Google Friend Connect Alternative!

2012-02-02T22:40:00.000Z

You guys seen / heard about the new Linky Followers tool?

Got to say, I love what I’ve seen so far, it’s new so there maybe some teething issues but it looks pretty nifty.

I was wondering what to do when GFC parts ways with non Blogger blogs.

I just don’t get on with the ‘new’ dashboard,

I’m not keen on Facebook,

Still a little ‘hmm’ about Twitter {I have at least sent 1 tweet!},

Google+ just baffles me,

So hurrah for Linky Followers!

I’ve added a follow me widget thing on the side bar, join up and lets all be linky buddies!

Have you got another way to follow your favourite blogs, please share!

Bags of Love

2012-01-29T21:31:00.003Z

It’s been an interesting week.

Taking the twins out of their cots and putting them into ‘big boy beds’ has led to some ‘interesting’ evenings.

They are now bouncing around the bedroom likes loons for about 3 hours each night.

Jumping on / off beds

Tossing mattresses on the floor

Jumping on the bed slates

Making tents out of duvets

Emptying out their drawers and closets

Whipping off their pants

Flicking their torches on and off

Playing their piano book…..

Whilst it has led to some interesting ‘sleeping positions’ it has left me little time to do any crafting.

I did however manage to grab a spare half hour to make these.

{Bags of Love}

Want to make some, grab the following

Linen / muslin

Lace trim

Stuffing

Bakers twine

Cotton tape

Ink & letter stamps

Sewing machine & bits

From the linen cut 6 rectangles, 6 x 3 inches.

Approximately half an inch from a short edge, pin a piece of lace, and sew in place.

Repeat for all remaining rectangle pieces.

Take 2 rectangle pieces, place them right sides together and pin.

Sew along both long edges and the short edge closest to the lace trim.

Snip corners and turn right side out.

Cut the cotton tape into 3 pieces.

Use the stamps and ink pad to stamp

{I love you xxx}

on to the tape.

Either stitch or use fabric glue to adhere one piece of tape to the front of each sack, trim to size if necessary.

(You could do this before sewing the sacks together)

Fill each sack approximately 2/3rds full with toys stuffing/ dried rice or scraps of fabric.

Bunch up the neck of the sack; tie a piece of bakers twine around the neck.

And now you have some cute little sack decorations, you could add some dried lavender or rose petals to add some scent.

I have a feeling this will be another interesting week, I’m stocking on up coffee to get me through!

Linking up to some of these blogs

Sewing up pouches and purses, at last!

2012-01-25T20:58:00.002Z

Where is this month going?

Between potty training my boys, keeping the house in order and those everyday things that eat into your time, I’ve had precious little time to do anything even remotely crafty.

Last week I finally got a chance to sit down and do some sewing.

My poor neglected sewing machine (Doris) let it be known she wasn’t happy being abandoned, and puckered, bunched and generally messed about for awhile.

Eventually I managed to calm her down and stitched up these little cuties.

My hubby ordered this fabric for me, I love it, so fun! I made these using the same process here, I just amened the sizes.

I added some beads and ribbon to the zipper, makes a nice addition I think.

Around Christmas I purchased some Keyka Lou patterns and made some purses.

With all this drab and dreary weather we are having I decided to use some fun bright colours.

Can you tell I like my polka dots?!

As someone who hasn’t been sewing for a long time, I found these patterns / instructions easy to follow. Lucky for me Michelle includes some handy tips to make things easier, all of which I will be using on other sewing projects.

I’m hoping to get some more sewing done this weekend, I’ve already cut my fabric and applied interfacing, now all I need to do is sew it all together!

Linking up to some of these blogs

Picnik Alternatives - Free Photo Editing Sites

2012-01-23T17:25:00.001Z

I'm sure by now you have heard that Picnik closing as we know it and will be joining up with Google+ in April.

I’ve had a look at and messed around with the photo editing in Google+, if you haven’t yet, you access it by clicking on your photo, when the 'light box' appears, use the ‘Creative Kit’ to edit the photo.

You will find a few of the features from Picnik there, its kinda basic, but who knows how they will develop it over the next few months. You can of course use Picasa which will link into your Google+ albums.

If you are not yet convinced by Google+ there are several alternative photo editing sites around.

{Pixlr Express}

You can upload from several places. So far I have only used it on my own photos.

By clicking on the Browse icon you are taken to where you store your photos, Photo Library.

From here you choose what you want to edit. It will then appear on screen with the editing options along the bottom of the screen.

Adjustment gives you all these options to play with, they are self explanatory.

One of my favourite tools on here is the ‘colour splash’ tool.

By clicking on the photo you can isolate a colour make it pop!

Do you see the yellow balloon Ahren is trying to blow up, now it pops! The other adjustments are easy to use and give great results.

Moving on to ‘Effects’, here you have a wide selection of effects to choose from, each one has a little preview for you to view before selecting.

I went with ‘Melissa’. It gives it an aged effect which reminds me of the family photos from the 70’s.

The next option you have is the ‘overlay’ tools. Here you can choose from a wide range of overlays to place on your photo, each one is editable.

This is ‘Rainbow’

‘Stop’

‘Glitter’

Click on the ‘more’ tab and you are taken to this screen where there are even more overlay options.

I went with ‘Rainbow’, and then went to the ‘Border’ tab.

Once again there is a wide selection from you to choose from.

‘Rustic’

‘White’

‘Round’

The ‘more’ tab again gives you more options.

I went with the ‘Ground’ option

Using the ‘save ‘option in the top right hand corner you can save your edited photo to your picture library.

Another option available is

{pixlr editor}

You can either create a new image or edit an existing image (photo).

I think the layout is very similar to PSE. Great if you like that, but a bit too much for me!

From here you can use the tools on the left hand side to edit your photo; further options are available along the top of screen.

On the right hand side you can see your history, layers and navigator tools, again this reminds me of PSE and I’d suggest some time messing around with it to find out what each tool does.

From the ‘adjustment tab’ you get a drop down menu with several options.

‘Old photo’ gives you this

The ‘Filter’ has a ton of options on the drop down menu

‘Water Swirl’ gives the photo this rather funky appearance.

‘Emboss’ gives the photo a grainy almost canvas type appearance.

Using the text tool you can add text to anywhere on your photo.

The save option lets you choose from several different locations in which to save your work.

Of the two options, I much prefer Pixlr Express, seems cleaner and easier to use, but that’s just me!

There are other options out there, Photobucket being one; I like this site as it will host your photos, but the adverts drive me nuts!

Another one you can use is Big Huge Labs, this site has a ridiculous amount of options! Great if you want something different. One thing I love here is the ‘colour generator’, you simply upload a photo and it generates the colours for you in a pallet.

There is also

{Foto Flexer}

which is probably the closest to Picnik in features and ease of use.

You can use this site to upload photos for editing from several different places.

Once your photo is uploaded, your editing options are along the top.

You can add text, either with or without a transparent background.

You can also add frames and some animation.

You also have the option of creating collages of your photos.

These are just a few of the free to use photo editing sites out there. I’d suggest having a tinker on a few to find one that suits both you and your needs best.

Here is my opinion on a few of these sites, nothing professional, just my opinion!

{Foto Flexer}

Has several options for editing your photos, easy to use and understand. Can be used for making blog headers and buttons. I think this is the most similar to Picnik in ease of use and features.

{Google+}

At the moment has a limited amount of features from Picnik, I believe all the features from Picnik will eventually be here, not sure when. Great for sharing photos with your Circles. You can edit in Picassa and link back to Google+. Worth keeping an eye on if your a die-hard Picnik fan opposed to change!

{Pixlr}

Very similar in layout and appearance to PSE, bit too much to me, I like my editing simple!
I do however like that you can start from a blank image, handy for blog headers.

{Pixlr Express}

Lots of fun ways to tinker with your photos, shame that you can't add text. A definite one for quick, easy and dramatic edits.

{Big Huge Labs}

A huge amount of options here, best if you take a look. I do like the collage options and the colour generator could be handy.

{Photobucket}

The adverts here put me off, but it is fantastic for hosting your photos and being able to get html and direct codes (blog buttons etc).

Uses Foto Flexer for editing.

You can go 'pro', I have no idea what that gets you.

There are many more, you could even buy some software such as PSE or Photoshop. I would suggest having a play on them and seeing what best suits your needs. I think I will mostly be using Foto Flexer with a splash of Pixlr Express.

I hope you have found this somewhat useful, any questions just ask!

I'm not being paid to write any of this, just my own opinions based on my own tinkering about on these sites!

They Grow Up So Fast

2012-01-22T20:57:00.000Z

There was a time, not all that long ago, when my children needed me for everything.

Now, in under a month my boys have made leaps and bounds into their journeys of independence.

{No more bottles}

We spent an age finding something Ethan could drink from after coming home from hospital. Whether it was damage to his lips from the birthmarks or just being a fussy so and so, we eventually found something he would drink from.

I would show you the ‘wonder’ bottles, but in a rather ceremonious demonstration of

“I don’t need that anymore”

Ethan bit the top off!

So both boys now drinking from proper cups, woohoo!

{No more nappies}

Whilst we have had a few interesting moments in the potty training area, both kiddos are now nappy free!

Even through the night!!

They wake up to go to the loo, and settle themselves back to sleep, yippy!

Not sure I have ever been more proud, they have done amazingly well.

Not only that, but they love their pants!

Ahren actually woke up at 4am the other day shouting

“My pants! I’ve lost my pants, and it’s all my fault”

He likes to wear them on his head and pretend to be a pirate, aaarrrrgggghhhh!

We have however still got over 200 size 5 nappies, poop!

{Big kid beds}

When we ordered the cots back before the boys were born, I was adamant that I wanted ones which could be turned into junior beds. This weekend we turned those cots into beds.

Not going to lie, I actually shed a few tears.

Nothing makes you realise just how much your children are growing up than seeing them sleeping in beds for the first time.

Less than 3 years ago, they both could fit side by side in a Moses basket!

It's amazing how quickly they grow up, must remember to cherish all of it, the good and not so good.

So how is that for a month of moments.

Picnik Closing!

2012-01-20T22:26:00.000Z

Yep, as of April 19^th Picnik is closing its photo editing doors and working on something new with Google +.

Good news is, all premium features are free as of now until it closes!

I’m off to edit some photos!!

Parenting Know How Or Not!!

2012-01-18T22:10:00.000Z

It seems as though parents just know what to do in certain situations.

It’s like something is turned on when your child is handed to you and BAM! You have this whole encyclopaedia of knowledge you never knew you had at your finger tips.

When your child needs comfort, you give them a cuddle.

When your child is hungry, you feed them.

When your child has done wrong, you tell them off.

When your child is scared, you reassure them.

You ‘just know’ what to do or say.

But, what do you do, when you have nothing ‘up there’?

Today I’ve experienced just one of those situations.

I walked in to the living room with a basket full of laundry to find Ahren dancing in a freshly filled potty of pee.

Yep, Ahren was dancing in pee.

Our conversation was something like this

Me: Ahren, what on earth are you doing?

Him: mummy, I’m dancing!!!

Me: Get out the potty, we don’t dance in pee

Him: But why not mummy?

Me: Because……

Him: Because what mummy?

Me: Ahren get out the potty now, your splashing pee everywhere

Him: It’s my peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

SPLISH, SPLASH & SPLOSH

Whilst this conversation is taking place, I’m trying to avoid getting a face of pee and dropping all the laundry in the pee.

I do consider just dropping the laundry and picking him up and out the potty, but the possibility of his feet just whooshing his pee everywhere make me hesitant.

Eventually that is what I do, I wonder not for the first time just how the heck a kid of his size can pee so much, I roll him in a towel and grab another to mop up the pee, don’t want anyone slipping over. Although the comedy effect of Ahren slipping on his arse by stepping in his own pee isn’t lost on me.

Once I’ve cleared everything away, we have another conversation about dancing in pee, specifically the ‘DON’T DO IT’ part.

So, here’s my dilemma.

Dancing in pee is frowned upon in most civilised societies, with good reason.

But how do you convey that to a child, a child who isn’t even 3 yet!!

I don’t want to just say, ‘Pee is disgusting’ cause I don’t want him freaking out over something natural, besides, most guys tend to be a bit ‘hands on’ when peeing.

His argument of ‘It’s my peeeeee’ is valid.

But as his mummy, is it not mine until he reaches an age of maturity and can ‘deal’ with pee in a more acceptable manner?

I’d like to say this is the first time we have had ‘Pee incidents’ but it’s not.

They get upset, really upset, when their pee is flushed away.

They can cry, ‘But mummy, it’s mine not yours’.

They tell it to ‘Have a nice day’ as it whooshes it's way to where ever goes.

They are oddly possessive.

So, how do you know what to do in situations like this? We have never expressly said, ‘Do not dance in pee’, never actually thought it was necessary.

What does the ‘Parental Handbook’ say about these things; I’m missing this particular chapter!!

Embroidery floss organising! Getting back into the swing of things!

2012-01-18T12:20:00.002Z

I'm finding it ridiculously hard to get back into the swing of things.

With the hubby back at work, potty training the twins and just keeping on top of the house work, I have no umph for anything else.

I have lots of ideas; I just have no umph to do them. So I thought I would start of small, sorting out my craft stash, beginning with my embroidery floss.

Whilst I haven’t been doing embroidery for long, I’m already familiar with the pitfalls and issues surrounding embroidery floss.

They are ridiculously easy to get tangled up in to one huge knot which is impossible to un do.

Whilst the vast range of colours available is wonderful, I think it can be slightly overwhelming when choosing colours for your latest project.

A few times I’ve been stood in front of the racks of floss at the local haberdashery and been completely daunted by the options available. Who knew there were so many greens!

I do 2 things to help me get the right floss if I need extra.

Firstly, whenever I buy a new floss, before winding it around the bobbin, I make a note of its number on the bobbin.

This is great for buying the exact same shade by the same manufacturer. It also comes in handy if you use a conversion tool, widely available on the internet, you can use the number to find the same shade from another floss manufacturer.

Secondly, I attach a small piece of floss to the bobbin.

You can see with these here just how similar in colour these two are.

Whilst the difference might be slight if you are finishing off a project, the difference will show.

By taking the bobbin with me to the store, I have a piece of floss which I can compare to those available in the store. Very handy if they don’t carry the same brand and have no conversion list available.

Another thing I have learnt the hard way is to secure the floss around one of these cardboard bobbins as soon as possible.

This helps to prevent them getting tangled, and with the number recorded on the bobbin, I don’t need to worry about those paper cuffs coming off and having no idea what number floss I have!

‘Treat’ yourself to one of these.

Not sure what they are called, Ahren calls them a cranker, so that is what I shall go with. A cranker saves you so much time when winding the floss on to a bobbin, and helps get it on there all nice and neat.

I store most of my floss in a plastic tray box; the rest is stored in an old biscuit tin. I don’t want them getting dusty or faded by the sun light.

So, now I have sorted my embroidery floss, on to the rest of my craft stash!

Linking to

Northern Cottage, Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry , Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, J & M's Eye Candy , Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17, Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Making Lemonade, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Cherished Bliss, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna, Crafty Confessions, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sew Woodsy, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Home for the Holidays, My Repurposed Life

Freebie Inspirational Printable {hopefully}

2012-01-10T22:27:00.004Z

Following my post the other day on not giving up on things, I remembered this quote from Ernest Hemingway. It seems totally apt for what I was trying to say.

I decided I wanted to share it with you gal's so I made it all pretty and spent a wee while figuring out how to share it as a pdf.

I think I did it!

I will admit that it took a few attempts and I now have a headache, but I don't care!

I did it (I hope)!

If you want one for yourself, just click on the colour you like blue, green or pink, and you should be taken to scribd, where you can download.

Blue

Green

Pink

If it doesn't work, sorry!

Let me know and I will try to fix it.

If it does work {fingers crossed} and you want to know how to do, let me know and I shall do a quick 'how to'.

Oh, and do you see my snazzy new buttons at the top?

Finally I linked my twitter here, I still haven't used it, but I linked it!

Linking to

Baby Steps

2012-01-08T22:22:00.000Z

This time of year many of us rush into making resolutions or setting goals.

Aims we wish to accomplish before the bells chime in the next New Year.

Sometimes we go too fast, running before we can walk.

This is when we can fail; good intensions are all too often set aside at the first sign of failure.

Goals and aspirations ignored when the first hurdle presents itself.

I was thinking about this when I realised I hadn’t taken a photo of the boys yesterday. My mum and niece came for a visit, there was so much talking, and laughing and playing that I just forgot.

At first I felt a little deflated. A week into my ‘resolution’ and I had ‘failed’, not good.

But then I realised, surely the best reason to forget to take a photo of my boys, has to be because we were all having such a great day.

And I’m totally cool with that. There will be other days to get photos.

So, I’m not going to beat myself up over it.

I missed one day, it is not the end of the world.

Can you imagine if we all gave up at the first hurdle, the first sign of failure?

I found these socks.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when even these would have been big on my boy’s feet.

Now, my boys walk and run and kick. They never sit down.

If my babies had given up their attempts at walking, deciding the first time their bums hit the floor ‘It’s not worth the effort’, where would we be now?

So, if our kids can find the determination, strength and will power to walk, I’m sure we can take a photo, eat healthier, learn something new, exercise more or spend time doing what matters.

It doesn’t matter if we miss a day, or eat an extra cookie, we can get off our bums and try again tomorrow.

Photo Round Up!!

2012-01-08T20:28:00.000Z

I’ve decided that instead of posting my photos every day; I shall do a ‘weekly roundup’ on a Sunday.

{Day 4}

Hubby’s last day before returning to work, we took a trip to the beach. Oh my gosh it chilly down there. The boys ran to the sea and ran back. Ahren told us he was ‘chilly’, so we bundled them back in the buggy and headed back home, brrrrr!

{Day 5}

The boys missed their daddy and spent most of the time snuggled up with dinosaur sandwiches.

{Day 6}

Bath day blues.

For kids who love wading out in to the sea, splashing in the pool and puddles, they sure do hate bath time.

Think we all cried this day.

{Day 7}

Opps! I forgot to take photos.

{Day 8}

We all woke up feeling grotty. Sneezes and snuffles all day long!