Rubies' Place

The Start of Something New ...

2013-09-27T09:34:00.000+10:00

Hello friends! I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

Well it has been what seems like forever since I last visited Blogger. For many reasons, I have not posted in such a long time. In fact, I have not logged onto Blogger for the past 6 months. I feel like I really should apologise, but my break from blogging was due to many factors some of them good, some not so good...

Since I last blogged there have been many changes in my life. Probably the biggest and most exciting change has been that ... Rubies' Place now only exists for us here on this blog and in the million memories that our family made there.

Our family have moved from our 100 year old weatherboard cottage that we truly thought would be our 'forever home' into a larger place that we think will certainly see us living in it forever. Our family of 5 simply outgrew the tiny cottage. We were so incredibly lucky to have stumbled onto our new home and at a price we could afford!

Sitting on 1.5 acres of land, our new home is an A frame farmhouse situated right in the middle of a residential street in town (as close to a large farm as we will ever be able to afford). We have a creek running through the property with towering weeping willows and fruit trees ... and of course we still have our chickens!

There is so much renovating to be done, but the philosophy of our lifestyle is still the same as it was when we were at Rubies' Place ... simple country living ... with our family at the heart of it all:)

http://theforeverfarmhouse.blogspot.com.au/

I hope that you will stop by my new blog The Forever Farmhouse. I would love to see you there!

I will be closing this blog in a couple of weeks time. Thank you to everyone for the support and friendship I received here through my Rubies' Place blog. I will always be grateful and I treasure every moment.

Love
Tina xx

A Whole Lot Of Sparkle...

2012-02-12T18:31:00.000+11:00

I am obsessed with mercury glass (or even faux mercury glass for that matter)!! I have been looking everywhere, for items to start my own little silvery collection, but until yesterday, I had been having no luck!

Don't you love it when you unexpectedly stumble across something that you have been longing for ...and even better when the price is only $2.00!! Faux or not...I love my new little sparkly candle holders:)

I would love to hear what your favourite 'unexpected' bargain finds have been!! Please share :)

I am trying to keep my head above water with regards to everything teaching - wise...the amount of work to just organise the start of a school year is way beyond what I ever thought it would be! But, it has a been a steep learning curve and I think that if I can survive this term, whatever comes next should be manageable!! Well here's hoping!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

P.S:

Thank you so much to everyone who left a lovely comment on my last post about our kitchen! We are definitely going to go ahead and paint the entire kitchen Palladian Blue with white trim! I am hoping to start painting later this week, YAY!!

A Little Sneak Peek...

2012-01-26T16:16:00.001+11:00

I just couldn't help myself! I just had to start my latest little makeover project! My head has been swimming with all the planning and programming I have had to do to get ready for school tomorrow and to be honest, I feel quite lost and very overwhelmed with everything. So... being very sick of the yellow clotted cream colour of the kitchen and totally inspired by my favourite kitchen picture EVER, by Ms. Martha Stewart...

(Image by Martha Stewart Living )

I set to work:)

1 paint brush + Benjamin Moore's Palladian Blue paint = a little change in our country cottage kitchen from this...

To this...

I have only painted a couple of places in the room, so that we could get the overall effect of having a blue kitchen! I am planning on living with it for 2 weeks (hoping for some sunshine to lighten the room) and then make our final decision about keeping the colour or not...for now, it is a resounding 'YES' from me :)

Happy end of the week to everyone and for all my Australian friends and family...

Happy Australia Day!!

Cherishing the Little Things...

2012-01-24T09:56:00.001+11:00

I can't believe the time has come for our little Miss Lottie to start her schooling journey!! Lottie starts 'Big School' next week, which is exciting for her... a little sad for her Mama!!

It also means that it is an end of an era here at Rubies' Place! All three girls will be at school, and I have a full time teaching job for the first term of the school year (at our girls' school... how lucky am I?)!! No more SAHM for at least 10 weeks...and no more days spent pottering around the house with Miss Lottie's incessant chattering, playing and cuddles.

It seems at times that it has been a long time coming (especially during the hard slog that was completing my degree), but now that the time is here, it also feels like I blinked and missed most of the last 4 years.

The upside of having a full term's work, is that we can afford to do a couple of projects around here, that we have had to put off for way too long!! I can't wait to share them with you ( HINT: The first one has a whole lot to do with the colour of the vase in the photo above ... but that is all I am saying) :)

So ... we have 3 more days until I start teaching and life gets a whole lot busier ... so we are just cherishing the little things here at Rubies' Place this week, like picking roses, playing in the garden, having lovely friends over for lunch AND especially all the hugs I can fit in from my little Miss Lottie!

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.

Architectural Number Entryway Sign...

2012-01-20T13:53:00.001+11:00

One of my favourite ideas picked up from Pinterest, has been the signs made from photos of architectural numbers or letters.

After much (no ... I seriously mean MUCH) pondering over what word I could spell using these photos, I finally decided on something else!

I had two black timber frames with trio mats, that used to hang in our entryway with photos of our girls inside. I took them down ages ago as I could not fiud a matching frame for Lottie's photos.

I wanted to hang something in the entryway, so finally decided on using photos of architectural numbers instead of letters and I created a sign that signifies the date that we moved into our home in the country.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out and just love that the numbers signify the huge life change we made as a family, back on the 9th December 2004.

This was such a fast and easy project (as long as you don't get too stuck trying to choose which number / letters you are going to use!!).

Wishing everyone a wonderful end to the week.

Upcycled Rosy Bracelet ...

2012-01-03T16:19:00.000+11:00

Have you ever owned something that you felt represents who you are better than anything else ever has?

For me, that special item was my favourite shirt. Made from a floaty white cotton fabric covered in large pink and yellow roses with tiny touches of cornflower blue, not to mention the small ruffle around the neckline and pintucks on the front! Well, seems I loved that shirt a bit too much and wore it beyond its use by date.

That use by date was apparently Christmas Day. Yep, the shirt wore through during my laundry wash on Boxing Day, resulting in a huge rip right up the back.

Did I shed a tear? Why yes I did!

Did I try to search for another one at the store that I purchased the shirt from 18 months ago? Why yes I did!

Did I decide to keep the shirt and use it to create other items that I could still wear and use? Why yes I did!

Here is the first little project made using the gorgeous fabric from my favourite shirt. I know fabric covered bead bracelets are nothing new, but I had never made one before. I love this bracelet as I can wear it whenever I want to. Just like the shirt, this bracelet covered in my favourite fabric, really represents who I feel I am :)

I used a fabulous tutorial, that I found HERE. The only differences I made were... I could not actually find any decent sized wooden beads here in our little town, so used a bag of little polystyrene balls (just like the ones you fill bean bags with, only larger!). I also chose to use DMC perle embroidery thread to tie between the balls and to tie the ends of the bracelet together.

Now it wouldn't be Rubies' Place if one of the girls wasn't crafting along with me...

so here is a pic of the beautiful bracelet Miss Olivia made for herself, using the gorgeous Cabbages & Roses 'Bees' fabric.

Now to think of some other little projects to do with my remaining shirt fabric! Stay tuned :)

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

'Vintage Key' Project...

2011-12-30T16:45:00.002+11:00

I spied this FABULOUS little project over at Brooklyn Limestone, a couple of days ago and fell instantly in love!

I created a little key plate for Rubies' Place, using air dry clay, one of my Nan's vintage keys and my new little rubber alphabet stamps. For a first attempt, I love how it turned out, it was so incredibly easy and I now know what I will be making for certain family members for birthdays this year!!

Pop over to Brooklyn Limestone HERE for the fabulous tutorial to see how you can make one for yourself!

No more excuses for not being able to find my keys!!

Summer Roses...

2011-12-29T16:56:00.003+11:00

Nothing lovelier to add a summery touch to our home, than roses grown in our own garden.

Always makes me smile:)

I hope that wherever you are today, you are smiling too!!

Hugs,

Merry Christmas To You...

2011-12-24T12:42:00.000+11:00

Wishing all of my lovely friends a wonderful Holiday Season.

Tina x

Christmas Post #6 - Sweet Miniature Tree...

2011-12-05T16:31:00.000+11:00

I spied this incredibly sweet little tree while browsing in one of our local cheapy shops earlier this week, at the bargain price of $2. I just could not resist its sweetness!!

Made from craftwood, I decided it needed a lovely coat of paint...to coordinate with the rest of our Christmas decor, of course! It is now on our mantel and looks even lovelier when our votive candles are flickering away next to it of a night time:)

I have two spare little trees, if any of my Australian friends would like one?? The first two Aussie friends to mention that they would like one of the two trees in their comment on this post, shall receive an unpainted mini tree in the post, from us here at Rubies' Place. SORRY to my international friends, but the postage on these $2 trees would be ridiculous, I hope you understand.

Thank you so much to everyone who has stopped by over the last few days! I will reply to your lovely comments and emails as soon as I can. I have two Rubie girls home sick today, and tomorrow looks like it will be a repeat performance! So please know I appreciate all of your kind words and comments so very much.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Post #5 - Sweet Paper Bird Decorations

2011-12-04T12:20:00.012+11:00

For those lovely friends who visited here at Rubies' Place last Christmas, you may remember that I made these birds for our tree back then, using the fabulous tutorial by my friend Brenda at Cozy Little House.

Well I have made some again this year, but these new little birds coordinate with our paper advent garland:) For the tutorial on how to make these sweet paper birds, click on the link below.

SWEET PAPER BIRD DECORATIONS

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Post #4 - Leftover Turkey & Ham Macaroni Bake Recipe

2011-12-03T11:22:00.000+11:00

Image from Delicious Magazine December 2002

Well..I have not posted a recipe on my blog for such a very long time...! I know that a recipe is neither a decoration or a gift idea, but this particular recipe has been a Christmas dinner tradition for our family for nearly 10 years now...so I just wanted to share it with you:)

Some of you may already have tried this, as the original recipe by Valli Little was originally printed in Delicious magazine in its December 2002 Issue. I have adapted it slightly, with the main additions being ham and lemon thyme.

Even though this recipe is one of my FAVOURITE meals EVER...I only ever make it for Christmas dinner. I think if we ate this throughout the year, it just wouldn't taste the same come Christmas :) To be honest, I actually look forward to this dinner more than I do our traditional Christmas lunch!!

If you would like a copy of this recipe, I have created a downloadable PDF. Just click the link below!

TURKEY & HAM MACARONI BAKE

ENJOY if you make it....I am counting down the sleeps until I get to make it and EAT it !!

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Post #3 - Mini Clay Star Garland...

2011-12-02T18:27:00.001+11:00

Image from CREATURE COMFORTS

This gorgeous project from Creature Comforts is on my list for tomorrow! I have purchased my air dry clay ... now I just have to wait for my Baker's twine to arrive by post!!

I just can't wait to hang this on our tree!!

For the full tutorial, click on the link below!

MINI CLAY STAR GARLAND

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Post #2 - Cardboard 3D Stars...

2011-12-01T00:01:00.001+11:00

Well...what do you know! I have managed to stick to it and here is my second consecutive post!! I am teaching a Yr 1/2 class for the next two days so will keep this short and sweet so I can get to bed!!

This is a project that I saw on Pinterest and the tutorial is by Grey Lustre Girl. I have wanted a real tin 3-D star for our mantle for quite a while now. But when I saw this on Pinterest, I knew I just had to give this project a try!!

DECORATION # 2

These stars are made from a Cornflakes box...yep, you read that correctly!! They took less than 1 hour to make (for all three, and that includes painting!!). Gotta love a project like that ! I am so happy with how they turned out as they coordinate with my paper advent garland (and for the record, I really had to sit on my hands to stop myself from shabbying them up a bit!!).

For the tutorial on how to make these 3-D cardboard stars, click on the link below:

3D CARDBOARD STARS

Thanks so much for stopping by!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

2011-11-30T11:51:00.001+11:00

Where did the past year go? It seems like only a few weeks ago I was up to my ears in painter's drop cloths, sewing our Christmas tree skirt and stockings for last Christmas!! After much pleading from my family, it has been decided that this Christmas will be burlap and drop cloth free!!

I have been so busy over the past couple of months (OK, well pretty much most of the year) that I haven't spent a lot of time in Blogland...only to quickly run through my fave blogs while I gulp down my morning cup of tea! So I guess since I have not commented much...that makes me a lurker, YIKES!!

Well I am aiming pretty high here, but I have decided that I need to find my place back here in Blogland. So I have decided to do a post a day from now until Christmas. If you have been stopping by here at Rubies' Place for a while, you would know that Christmas here is all about handmade, wherever possible. So I will do a post a day on a handmade Christmas decoration or gift that I have made, or will be making, this Christmas season. Most of these will be ideas I have found elsewhere, so I will provide the links to the main source for each idea.

Let's get started!!

DECORATION #1
I fell in love with this gorgeous freebie printable paper advent garland designed by Polkadot Prints. It has set the colour scheme for Christmas at our house this year!! It took no time to print, a little *read that as, medium* amount of ink, and only an hour or so to put together!

Hung on our fireplace mantle, it is so light and summery and I am just loving the hints of blue!!

Click on the following link to download your free copy!!

PAPER ADVENT GARLAND

Wishing everyone a wonderful Wednesday. I am looking forward to catching up with you all.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Photo Wall - part 1...

2011-10-08T12:29:00.002+11:00

Do you ever have projects that you are absolutely dying to try, but you know you would be devastated if it doesn't work...so you don't even start them? No...oh, well maybe it's just me!!

I have been so hesitant to start our photo wall as I knew if it looked terrible, then I would be so sad! But yesterday, I bit the bullet and started.

I had decided long ago that I would only use things that we already had around the house. I was not going to purchase anything new for the wall. So far, I have managed to stick to it! I used some of the many frames I had around the house or in the shed. I painted the brown or gold ones, white. I was originally just going to use white frames, but I decided using both black and white gave the gallery a little more oomph and made it look a little more modern.

You can see that I also added one of my clay '2's, I was also inspired by the lovely Jenni at Beautiful Nest to use a frame that I had in the shed whose glass was missing, to make a little initial 'R' for Rubie, using my very last scrap of my favourite scrap booking paper, and I also used a square box frame with a piece of my chippy pressed tin. the family seems to be pretty happy with you it turned out - phew!!

As you may be able to see, all of our interior walls have the original 100 yr old wall trim everywhere. We like it, but at times it can be very limiting as to what you can hang and where... so now I need to expand the photo gallery into the two wall sections on either side... it may take me a while!!

Happy weekend to everyone.

Ampersand Love....

2011-10-03T11:54:00.001+11:00

Well, it finally dried ... my other little project that I mentioned in my last post! Like many of you, I am quite partial to the old ampersand. However, in our little town...an ampersand of any kind (other than the one you type on your keyboard) is very difficult to find. I really wanted one for our living room! Yes, I could order one online, but again I decided that personal and unique was the way to go ....

So, again...

air dry clay + a paper template (would have been easier with a cookie cutter, but not large enough) + another doily = a little textured ampersand for our living room.

I LOVE how it turned out, but if I made another one, I would possibly use a doily with a daintier pattern. Love the texture, the size, the cost (all up about $5.00) and it is another personal and unique addition to Rubies' Place:)

It is still school holidays here, so today the girls and I are going to use the leftover air dry clay to make some beads and then create our own bracelets and necklaces...just for fun:) Life is good!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead, as always.

Hugs,

Crafty Bliss....

2011-10-01T12:01:00.001+10:00

I have finally reached the end of my degree and only have one more assignment left! I had the most wonderful teaching prac and want to thank everyone who left me a lovely comment on my last post, sent me lovely emails or has put up with my whinging and teaching obsessed Facebook statuses, it has meant so much to me to have such wonderful support ~ THANK YOU!!

Well...it took me a few days to unwind and get my headspace out of the 'TEACHING obsessed' mode it has been in for such a long time now! BUT...the old me is finally starting to emerge:) Gosh, it has been so long since I have done anything really crafty or DIY for our home (well, that didn't involve a crochet hook)! We have had to put all our DIY plans on hold this year due to my studies, but now we are excited to be making lots of fabulous plans to finally finish all those long awaited projects here at Rubies' Place!

One of the first things I am going to do this week is my long awaited photo wall in the living room. I have a pile of mismatched timber photo frames that I will be painting white, once it stops raining!! I wanted to add some other things onto the photo wall along with the obvious photos. I decided that I wanted to include a number '2', which is the street number for our home. Now, yes I could have gone to the local craft shop and bought a craftwood '2' and painted it...but where would the fun be in that, right?

So, instead this is what I came up with....

some air-dry clay + a paper template + one of my Nan's doilies = a unique and personal number '2' to go on our wall!

I actually made two of them...not sure if I will pop one on the fireplace mantel, or next to the front door...? I have also made something else, but it is considerably thicker and in this cold weather, is taking quite a while to dry...but I can't wait to share it with you soon:)

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend. I have started to stop by my long list of fave blogs. If I have not stopped by yours yet, I will be doing so over the weekend. I can't wait to catch up on all you have been doing It feels so wonderful to be back in Blogland!!

Hugs,

Here We Go...For The Very Last Time....

2011-08-21T23:19:00.002+10:00

(Image from The Accidental Teacher, Mom, Runner...)

Well, I really should be in bed asleep...it is 11pm on Sunday night here in my little country town... but I am too excited to sleep!

Tomorrow I start my final 4 week teaching practicum placement! Yep... 20 school days left until I can actually apply for my teaching number and teach as a substitute teacher until I complete my last two theory assignments!

I have been so lucky to have been placed with a beautiful Grade 3 class at a local private girls' school. Which means that I have been so lucky and have not had to leave my family at all, for any of my teaching placements. I have such a lovely class of 14 girls and a very supportive and enthusiastic supervising teacher.

I think back to this time last year. I was just beginning my first teaching practicum placement! I was so nervous and I know that a lot of my beautiful blogging friends were so supportive, something that I am so grateful for! I know I have not been around much lately in Blogland ... it is hard to explain... I have been so fidgety waiting for tomorrow to arrive, as it still really seems like a dream to me, to be at the end of such a long and at times very stressful and difficult journey. I have not been able to concentrate on anything remotely crafty or DIY. To be honest, I have not been able to concentrate on anything at all!

Well soon it will be over, and to be honest, as difficult as it has been at times ... I know that I will miss the studying side of things....but before I get ahead of myself, I still have 20 days of teaching and 2 assignments to complete. I have an early start tomorrow, but before I go I just want to thank you for the support and encouragement that so many of you have shown me with regards to my studies. I will be taking it with me tomorrow when I step into the classroom for my first day, of what is my final 20 days as a student teacher ... so, so exciting...:)

Thank you and much love,

Cheeky Monkey...

2011-07-28T10:24:00.000+10:00

Well, there is nothing like a little browse on Pinterest or Etsy to inspire me...thank goodness, I was starting to worry I had lost my crafty mojo forever!

This past week I found a gorgeous sock monkey crochet hat pattern....sock monkeys are my new obsession! I made a hat for Miss Lottie, although she says she won't wear it because 'people' will laugh at her....*sigh*.

My Cheeky Monkey

Miss Olivia put in her order, and I am nearly finished hers too...although I had to use a generic crochet hat pattern in a larger size for hers, and then add the 'monkey' bits!

Because they are made with worsted weight yarn (I used 12 ply wool), they took next to no time to make and they just look so darn cute!!

Wishing you a creative week, wherever you are!
Tina xx

A Bunting We Will Go....

2011-07-26T17:16:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone,

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post, or popped by my 'teaching' blog to give me some encouragement! It meant the world to me! Your comments were just lovely and they are greatly appreciated!

Well I still have not really found my DIY mojo...but I have started to makeover Olivia and Charlotte's shared bedroom! Lucky for me, I had already painted the walls white when Dave and I were in the room....I tell you we change bedrooms here more than I like... Anyhoo, with the girls being such different ages, it has been really difficult to find something that they both like. BUT the other day I saw a gorgeous owl applique in an embroidery frame, which was created by the lovely Nicole from Bubby Makes Three (which I purchased)! Both Livvy and Lottie loved it and asked if they could have an owl themed bedroom, AND bunting was a 'must have' too.

Whilst shopping in our new Lincraft store, on the weekend, Olivia found a large pack of owl themed scrapbooking card sheets in pinks, browns, and whites...some even with a little hint of glitter! PERFECT for no sew bunting!! I also found these cheap $5 picture frames at The Reject Shop. So far, this is what we have put together....(oh and yes...I love symmetry, just in case you notice!)

This is above Olivia's bed.

This is above Lottie's bed

In the frames, I just used the glittery owls from the scrapbooking pack, I made a cut-out of the girls' first intials, and I printed out a black and white photo of each of the girls for the third little space in the frames.

So far so good.... now to tackle making a paper owl or two for the centre wall panel between their beds....hmm this may take a while! I can't wait to finally get their bedroom completed, it has been a long time coming!! Oh and I cracked the corner of Lottie's frame, so am off to buy some super glue:(

PS: sorry for the blurry / funny coloured pics... I am obviously out of practice...but will blame the camera ;)

Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!

Tina xx

My New 'Teaching' Blog....

2011-07-18T16:14:00.002+10:00

GOOD MORNING, MRS RUBIE!

Hello friends. I really want to start this post by thanking everyone for your very lovely, supportive and encouraging words, both here on my blog and via email! I am slowly working through replying to everyone individually, something I feel is so important. Until you receive my personal thanks, could you please accept this general one! I am also trying to get back into the swing of things and visit everyone, but this is taking me some time as I have realised just how many posts I missed while I was away from the blogging world...yikes! Thank you for your patience and your friendship, as I have said before, I feel so incredibly lucky!!

Well to be honest, I still have not done any DIY / crafting over the past week... I have been creative though!! This creative spark has developed into me starting a second blog (I know CRAZY right??) It is called GOOD MORNING, MRS RUBIE!. I actually started this second blog about a year ago, just to document my experiences with studying teaching. I only ever wrote 5 posts and I did not make it a public blog, so thank you to my gorgeous study buddies for even bothering to look at it all that time ago ( all 5 of you.. I just love you girls!!).

Well, thanks to my gorgeous Miss Olivia, who always gives me so much encouragement (sometimes I wonder who is the parent!!), I gave my teaching blog an overhaul! Yep... I learnt all about html code and found the cutest graphics to use on my blog by the very lovely Ashley at Thistle Girl Designs. It took me a couple of days, but I got there in the end! It has a very different look to my Rubies Place blog, but that is what I wanted...so I am really happy with it! It is a place for me to share my experiences, ideas and resources for all things teaching. I was in two minds about even posting about it here on Rubies Place blog, but I think that there might be a few of my friends here that may find it interesting...or even mildly entertaining, considering I haven't even graduated yet!!

If there are any teachers / homeschoolers / student teachers, or Mums amongst my friends here at Rubies Place, who would like to pop on over and have a look...please don't be frightened off by the lack of posts, I will be adding so much more over the next few weeks. I have so many resources bookmarked, so many lessons in paper format and so many notebooks full of ideas to share with anyone that may find them useful. I have received so much blog love since I started blogging 18 months ago, so I want to pass that love on and am sharing all of my resources that I make, for free. They will all be downloadable as PDFs from Google DOCS. So I hope that you might pop by and that you may, at some point, find something useful and fun!

It is a big week here at Rubies' Place... Miss Olivia went off on her week long school excursion to our nation's capital, Canberra, today! It is a very long 12 hour bus ride, and it will be the longest and furthest that she has been away from us! She was so excited this morning as I waved her bus goodbye...wish I could say the same for myself :( I will miss her terribly, but have lots of things to keep me busy until she returns in 4 sleeps time ;)

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.

I AM A LITTLE SILLY....THANK YOU SWEET SASKIA FOR LETTING ME KNOW I HAD FORGOTTEN TO LEAVE A LINK TO MY 'TEACHING' BLOG!! I HAVE NOW ADDED A COUPLE OF LINKS IN MY POST ABOVE, AND HERE IS THE LINK AGAIN...

GOOD MORNING, MRS RUBIE!

Doily Cookies...

2011-07-10T15:22:00.001+10:00

Inspired by a gorgeous picture from here , I have been itching to try cookies impressed with doily patterns, for ages...

The girls and I bake cookies every week, but they like to pick star shapes or swirls, which is absolutely adorable and fine with me! But today I had half an hour spare while Dave and the girls were downtown... so I grabbed some fresh doilies and set to work!

Here they are before baking... ooh pretty!

and after baking (not as pretty, but certainly delicious)....

I am so glad I got that out of my system . Must be time for a cup of tea and a cookie :)

Thank you to everyone again for your kind words on my last post. It feels really good to be back, even if it took me ages to remember how to post !

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.

All Is Well and Thank You So Much...

2011-07-08T22:52:00.000+10:00

(Me and our beautiful Miss Olivia)

Wow, it seems so long since I last visited my blog (well, actually it has been a very long time)! I can't believe I have not visited Blogland since April! There are many reasons ... some very negative emails I received which were related to my blog and my comments on other people's blogs I guess were the main reason for me taking an initial break from blogging (I have felt more comfortable for the past couple of months sticking to Facebook), then becoming incredibly stressed about passing my most difficult and busy semester of my teaching degree, ending up with kidney stones and a subsequent kidney infection, and trying to spend time with my family (who really suffered this semester with me being unwell, and consumed with getting through my studies)... time has really slipped away from me.

(Our family spending time together - by Miss Lottie)

As a couple of my dear bloggy friends and family know, I have been very unsure as to whether I would continue blogging and had considered closing my blog down. But I have been so overwhelmed with some lovely new comments on my last post, this past week, and lovely ladies even taking the time to email me to check if I was OK ( I will be replying to you all over the weekend). Now that I have had some space from the nastiness that came my way through blogging back in April, and seem to have made it through Uni (only one subject and one teaching prac to go), I have been able have a really good think about why I started my blog in the first place and why I loved blogging for over a year... I started my blog for me and as I always say, I never expected anyone would read it. So the generosity of spirit that you all show towards me and my family still just astounds me. Having met you all through blogging is one of the biggest blessings. I have learnt so much from you all, I have been so inspired by you all, humbled by your lovely comments and absolutely blown away that you would take time to read about my projects and our family's life in a little country town.

So...saying all that, I am going to stick around in Blogland for a little bit longer and I cannot wait to catch up on everyone's blogs and what you have all been doing!!

I have not picked up a paintbrush, hammer, or even a crochet hook since April. But I do have some great DIY projects that my hubby and I will be working on around the house, which I am really excited about and can't wait to share with you.

I can't thank everyone enough for sticking with my blog whilst I have been gone. I truly have the most amazing friends here in Blogland and for that I am so incredibly grateful.

Much love to all of you and wishing you a wonderful weekend as always,

Congratulations...

2011-04-14T13:02:00.002+10:00

Thank you so much to everyone who left such lovely comments and entered my Tweed Flower Brooch giveaway, I am so thrilled that so many of you liked them!!I am thinking of listing some in my Etsy store (which is currently closed) if I get some spare time this week!!

Congratulations to the following 4 lovely ladies (I decided to draw a name too) who were chosen randomly by myself and the Rubie girls, to receive a tweed flower brooch.

1. Chania from Razmataz (drawn by Miss Olivia)
2. Alisa from MonAlisa Designs (drawn by Miss Isabella)
3. Kerry from A Tranquil Townhouse (drawn by Miss Lottie)
4. Ness from Marley & Lockyer (drawn by me).

If you lovely ladies could please email me at tmrubie@gmail.com with your postal addresses, your little brooch will be sent to you asap:)

I am nearly done with a huge maths assignment for Uni and I am desperate to knock down a wall or something... so I am hoping to get some projects done next week! I can't wait to share them:)

Happy Thursday to you all.