Wordless Wednesday - Ski Lessons

Play along with Wordless Wednesday at Faith, Hope and a whole lotta Love.

A Day of Extremes

Well today has certainly earnt its title. Either absolute success of abject failure and nothing in between.
First of all  were my Easter baskets for Mum and Caroline. It was obvious this morning that I had been working on them quite late last night as some of my 'logic' had gone astray and there was quite a bit of unpicking to be done before they were finished this morning. BUT, I am very happy with the way they turned out and would be very happy to receive one myself (especially if it is filled with chocolate eggs).

I put these down to absolute success #1.

Absolute success #2 is the easter tree. After searching our dying maple tree for the right branch, this is how you are now greeted as you enter our house.

Our house is white, not pale pink like the photos show but I could not get the white balance right today for some reason. Absolutely no chance on the little automatic (pic1) but getting a little closer (still not good) with the DSLR (pic 2). I will put it down to the funny light today and the fact that our front door is bright orange and alters the colours in the hallway.

Absolute success #3. All my market stock is made ( including a large pile of teaspoon bookmarks which were not actually planned for thoday) and packed in the car before 6pm. This may not sound like a big deal but I could count on one hand the number of times I have been ready for a market before midnight the night prior , and I have been doing markets for 7 years now. I can always find something to do, a sign to remake etc, designing a new stall layout. You maket goers know what I mean - well I hope you do, and I am not the only one who does this.

All these successes had made for too good a day and the failures were about to begin.

Abject failure #1. Beer battered fish and chips for dinner. Hard to muck this up I hear you say-  well maybe, but not if you are me - I can stuff anything up - just ask anyone who has attmepted to eat my scones!!!
I had borrowed MIL's fryer to cook the fish, but all it did was stick the batter to the bottom of the basket so that when it was time to dish up my beautiful orange roughy, it came out in a multitude of pieces followed by crushed/smashed batter. It tasted alright but looked pre-digested. I changed the way I placed the fish in the oil each time but as the basket rotates and lifts the item being cooked out of the oil for short periods, the batter or just plain fish with no batter still stuck and ended up looking the same. A  good night to be a blind dinner guest in our house tonight.


Abject failure #2. Attempting to put royal icing on marie biscuits so that the girls can draw on them with the new food pens. We ( or mainly I ) decided that pre-made biscuits should be easier to ice than home made ones but try as I might I could not get the icing to stay in the desired shape or for that matter not stick to the bench when I rolled it out. I muddled my way through 6 biscuits and gave up. There has to be an easier way amd will be a task for another day. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Failure #3. Hot cross buns were not even attempted today. Maybe tomorrow, when I get home from the market so we can take them for lunch on Sunday, but then again, if I am as tired as I normally am after a market ( and it does go for an extra hour tomorrow), then it will just be dinner and bed for me tomorrow before the Easter Bunny hops his way into our house.

Here's hoping your day was full of success and sunshine and have a Happy Easter.

P.S.  If you are looking for something to do tomorrow and are near the Mornington Peninsula, pop along to the special Easter Market at Mornington Racecourse.

Wordless Watchful Wednesday

Wet, on a beach, stick in mouth - pure joy for a dog

Play along with your  Wordless Wednesday here with Faith Hope and a whole lotta Love

and

Watchful Wednesdays here at Flower Photography

Elephants in Easter Bonnets

Not your ordinary title but then Mia's first Easter bonnet parade  deserves someting special. Its not every day there is an Easter Elephant!
The 3yr old ECC group at Sarah's school doesn't normally get to participate in many of the 'big'school activities as they are only attend on a Friday ( 4yr old group does 4 days) and most whole school activities take place on a Thuesday. BUT, end of term is end of term and always falls on a Friday. Our house was a veritable buzz of excitement this morning - Mia 'cos she got to dress up as an elephant ( even though the day was going to be 26'C) and Sarah because nearly 3 weeks holiday were starting. Gotta love Easter and Anzac day bumping into each other.
Here is how our fleece elephant set out this morning....

Mia had cooler clothes on underneath  but when I arrived after lunch for the parade, she was still in the costume, trunked hood and all, admitting she was a little hot but this would not stop being Mali, an Easter Elephant. After a lot of begging, cajoling, requests, Mia finally relinquished the hood in exchange for her Easter bonnet she made earlier this morning  just in time for the Easter Bonnet Parade.

With a 7 year age difference there will not be many activities that both girls will get to do at school together, so it was great that Sarah was also part of Mia's first foray into the world of parades

A very proud bonnet maker...

My Big and Little with their creations demonstrating summer and winter fashions all on the one day.

We are now looking forward to a busy school holdays filled with visits to the Tutankhamun exhibition at the museum, beach romps, exploring new parks, sleepovers and taking full advantage of all the beautiful autum days that will hopefully grace us with their presence.
On that note my coasters are now dry and ready for their next coat of modge podge before the waterproof sealant tomorrow so, I will leave you hoping that your weekend is full of fun, laughs and sunshine.

My Creative Space

My creative space this week is a little late but this week has been so hectic that it is lucky to have happened at all.
With ' real' work amping up this year to more days per week I am finding it harder and harder to get the energy to craft. The desire is still there and many a blank moment at work is spent pondering and devising new ideas but by the time I get home and have cooked dinner, cleaned up the hurricane that decends on our house each afternoon, I am buggered exhausted.
Hence this clean washing  pile is ever growing while it waits to be sorted, ironed and put away.

Any crafting that has been done this week has been restricted to dabbling in projects and finishing none. The glorious autumn weather that we have been having lately has meant that I can set myself up on a trestle table on the back deck and leave my work in whatever state I wish. At the moment the tea cup garden lights/bird feeders are drying, my new from old mirror is waiting for a top coat of gloss paint before being hung in the hall
and the plants I was hoping to keep alive to sell with my spoons at Mornington market on Sunday are well and truly dead. - all of this on one table - I love it.

I have however been luckier in the 'keepeing plants alive' department with my little money plants that I have propagated from the large bush in out garden. According to Chinese superstition, these plants correctly placed in you house will bring monetry wealth to the household. I must have read the book wrong as we are still waiting for the wealth to roll in.

Maybe with a couple more .....who knows.....

My creative mojo has to kick in tonight and tomorrow so that I can have some stock for my market. Coasters are on the agenda for tonight so they dry and be sealed tomorrow, and since flattening and stamping spoons is a little too noisy to be done at night, that will be this afternoon and tomorrows task as well as repotting clivia's to take to the market to put my teacups in, buying more garden stakes for the teacups and the everlasting Saturday basketball games for Sarah that are at the most annoying time of 4:30pm.

School holidays kick in as of today so I hope my next few weeks will be a little less stressful even if they are just as hectic. It is times like this I wish I worked at a school so that I could have the same holidays as the girls. Getting up and going to work whilst everyone else has pyjama mornings is very hard.

Here's to a creative week to you all and check out other creative spaces here.

@my house - Mondays post done in the wee (mystery) hours of Tuesday morning

This Monday finds me both loving and hating the end of daylight savings.
Love it because my body still hasn't clicked in to the extra hours sleep so everything is done and ready for school so early in the morning and there is no problem getting everyone out of bed.
Hate it because it really does mean the end of summer ( not that we really had one this year) and that it is really dark by 6:30 and it will only get earlier and earlier in the months to come.
So I look back on a wonderful weekend the girls and I shared at Torquay while Brett was away hiking in the snowy mountains.

Climbing the sand dunes at Torquay

Rock Pools at Pt Addis

Evening at Pt Lonsdale front beach on the journey home. You can tell I have spent the day in the sun without a hat ( naughty, naughty) by the sheer number of freckles taking over my face. Oh the skin of a redhead!

I am also still amazed at how popular my silverware garden markers continue to be. I really thought they would be an item that would  be a cute Christmas gift and that sales would drop off and ultimatley die after Christmas/New Year but people continue to amaze me with a repeat customer returning today to order another 41 spoons and forks.
Another plus for the day -  my second order from Xenotees  - a fantastic store on etsy, arrived today - super speedy. I already have an animal collective t-shirt but as the cooler days are coming I thought a longer sleeve was in order and since I love cutlery I thought this fork shirt very fitting. ( hahaha Yes I meant the double pun)
With a day like this I have found it very hard to wipe the smile off my face.
I hope your week has started as well as mine.

Wordless Wednesday

Play along with your WW here at Faith Hope and a whole lotta Love.

My Creative Space

 I Wish.....

My first creative space for a while finds me wishing....
Wishing for more time  -  my mind is working a million miles an hour with new ideas and there is is not enough hours left in the day after normal work and after school activities to get them all done.
I have new ideas for the silver cutlery that I hope will be a winner for Easter, and, I also want to have time to play around , just experimenting with spoons like the one above - nothing for sale,  just feel good stuff around the house for me.
I also have a grand new idea for fleece this winter. I am calling it B.L.I.S.S. ( but you will have to wait for the great unveiling to see what it stands for.) BUT, and this is a big BUT , BLISS is still in my mind and has yet to have any prototypes made.
The plus side however it that sewing can be done late at night. Bashing spoons flat and then stamping them is a little noisey to be done after dark.

As for all the other ideas, eg  the clothes that I would like to make,  learning  to crochet/knit , free form stiching, being creative with coffee sacks, the list goes on -   well, they will just have percolate in the brain a little longer.

I hope you find time for your creative persuits and play along at Kootoyoo

. . . Hiatus Over . . .

Big and Little has been on a hiatus for the last 4 months due mostly to the fact that I cannot do everything. Now however due to so many email and  other requests I will attempt to get it back up and going.
Just before the hiatus last year I started my Hand Stamped Silver Spoons and Forks. I thought these might be a cute little gift  for Christmas and that I might sell a couple or three. Over 500 spoons later I am still amazed how successful they have been and continue to be. With this, Christmas, school holidays, work and wanting to spend as much time as possible with the family in the small glimpses of summer that we had, it was necessary to sleep at night and take a break from blogging.
Over the next little while I will show you what I have been up to creatively over the last few months. To do it all now would be too much for anyone to handle - including me.
Lets just start with the fact that it is work tomorrow and my vow this year is to me more varied in the jewellery I wear ( and the wardrobe for that matter). Normally I have one necklace and wear it to death - not this year - this is the year of change!
On this note, tonight, I have been inspired by all the dandelion (or fairy clocks as they are called in our house) craft there is around at the moment and have made/stamped myself a pair of brass earings to wear tomorrow.
Not quite how I imagined them but pleased all the same. No one at the office tomorrow will notice ( a downside of all male co-workers) but I will know they are new and different.
Judge for yourself.......

I will change the jump rings and hooks for brass coloured when I have a chance to get to Spotlight etc but to be able to wear them tomorrow silver will have to do. I am a perfectionist when it comes to selling my products but for my family and myself, many shortcuts or 'modifications' are made - all in the name of experimentation of course.
'till next time - happy autumn

Waiting.........

Today was one of the hardest days I think Mia has lived though. Big sister Sarah has been away on camp this week and has been sorely missed by Mia. (She has never been an only child before).  Each morning Mia would ask if Sarah was coming home today and when the answer this morning was 'yes', I don't think I have ever seen a smile as big.
The only problem was, Mia found it very hard to understand that she had to wait until 3pm for Sarah to come home.
To try and take her mind of it, she tried chalk drawing on the kitchen concrete step while I belted the living daylights out of many, many spoons.
This lasted for only one rainbow, but it was a beautiful one.....

Then  we headed off to Bunnings to return my original vice and come home with one with a bigger, deeper grippy bit ( love the technical speak!). I am hoping that the woodworking vice I bought will work wonders for evenly bending the spoons (and maybe forks?). Mia loves going to Bunnings because they have the little kids trolleys and she feels very proud pushing our purchases around like a grown up
While there, we had to have a hot chocolate , to fill in a little more time, but the waiting was getting harder.....

Finally, it was time to go to school and collect Sarah. Mia spotted her first and became a limpit on her sister while Sarah struggled to gather her bags etc.
Mia was so happy to have her Sarah home, there was no wiping the smile from her face  - even from under Sarah's somewhat smelly camp hat....

But alas....., although Sarah swore she wasn't tired, half and hour after getting home and having a shower, this is what Mia found.....

More waiting. This didn't worry Mia though as she knew Sarah would wake up soon and then she would play with her. At least she was home.

My Creative Space

My Creative space finds me a lot more creative and happy than last week. It has however, not been a very crafty creative week so far. Instead, it has been creative in the sense of completing the company website and getting it live, finding a venue, and then creating the invitations, for the company Christmas lunch. I did finish and post my softie for the softie swap I am taking part in, so there was a bit of crafty goodness.

Now my 'real' work, as hubby calls it, is over for the week it is time to get all the 'playwork' (spoon, drum and baby sling) orders finished and posted out tomorrow. For once I wish it was going to rain so I would want to stay inside instead of being a beautiful 29'C that I will want to spend every minute outside soaking up the wonderful warmth.

Mia has made up for my lack of crafting this week as every morning as I am getting breakfasts and lunches ready, she sits at her table making wonderful creatures out of playdough and then today had an absolute ball at playgroup when the outside craft activity was messing around with shaving cream. - Oh such simple tactile pleasures.

Happy creating. Play along at Kootoyoo.

Wordless Wednesday

Play along with Faith Hope & a whole lotta Love here

My Creative Space

My Creative Space this week, finds me hoping a little normality might return to life soon. The last few weeks have been so full of sickness, death and then other major family stresses that anything creative has been totally gone. I cannot believe that it has been a week and a half since I last sat down and wrote a post ( the wordless wednesday's were scheduled well ahead of time). The only good thing to come from the last week has been the 3kgs that has managed to fall off my body from stress as the eating better bit wasn't getting anywhere. I also came to realise that I need my creative space to remain me. Although the house has been clean with everything in it place, and  the washing has been done, folded, ironed and put away all in the one day, I have not been happy in my life. I know this has a lot to do with what has been going on in our family, but also because a part of me (and a rather large part) was turned off and ignored for the sake of household order and peace. Tonight, I have produced a hula costume for a louau that Sarah is going to tomorrow night (and of course one for Mia too - her's was the test run) and I am feeling so much better with just the little bit of creativity creeping back in, that I know I must find a way to keep the house tidy etc  as it has been this week or so, and still let the new ideas and creativity have their outlet too. ( If only the creativity didn't have to be done on the dining room table).
 I will finish with a picture of my 2 hula girls (Sarah's complete skirt but not much else) as every post needs at least one photo, and an apology for the gumbling/rambling I have done here tonight, but sometimes one needs to vent in order to move forward. Let the creativity begin - onward and upward!

I promise that my posts from now on will be far happier, and creative. :)

Here's hoping your creative space is overflowing with ideas. Play along at Lou's here.

@my house

 @ my house today finds me greatly saddened, even with a clean house to start the new school term. Precious little house work was done around here last week while we were all sick and the place looked worse than I think it ever has. I don't think I have ever gone a week without doing anything  - nor will I again, no matter how sick. The marathon task to get it back to normal is too great.
The house had to be tidied this morning as I hate coming home from a trip, late at night, to a messy house, and this brings me to the sad bit. Tonight Brett and I are leaving the girls at my parents place and jumping on a plane to Brisbane. No kids, and a trip to Brisbane, should have us leaping for joy but we are in fact flying up for a close friends funeral. Craig and his wife were a tremendous support for me when I was pregnant with Sarah as Brett was working overseas from when I was 12 weeks pregnant to 33weeks pregnant - 1 week before Sarah was born -  and they were my surrogate family with Craig often saying he had more claim to Sarah than Brett as he was there for the boring first bit and helped me through all the classes just in case Brett didn't make it home in time.
For the past 10 years, our families have maintained as close a friendship that living 2 states away can allow. We would always catchup when their son was in Victoria for Tennis tournaments  or when we went anywhere near Qld for a holiday.
For such a wonderfully generous man it was a shock for us to learn last year that he had a very aggressive cancer that by the time it was diagnosed, had passed the point of being successfully treated. He tried every treatment/procedure there is but 8mths after diagnosis Craig lost his battle last Thursday night. Rest in Peace my dear friend and may your family have your strength to get through this horrid time.

Craig's sudden passing has really made me appreciate how wonderful life is and to see the beauty in the everyday things that are often overlooked. Find some beauty and play along  with Buttons by Lou Lou

30 Photos in 30 Days - Day 29 and Wordless Wednesday (but with a few words)

Carolines Birthday

Again no photo taken today as it took all my effort to drag my body out of bed and off to work this morning. Pointing a camera at something was the furthest thing from my mind. This fever/flu thing has taught me more about what medications work for me. Panadol does nothing, Codral Cold and Flu make me feel wierd but sort of work, Dimetap and Sudafed I react very badly to but the best thing for both fever and head ( no good for the nose) is good old Aspro Clear - who'd have thunk it? I am only sitting at my computer tonight thanks to good old fashioned Aspro Clear.
So
Happy Birthday to my dear sister with whom I share this blog ( she is odd socks) and welcome to the upper levels of your 30's (hehe). So for todays photo we will have one of the birthday girl.

I thought this photo appropriate as the drawn Grand Final (where this photo was taken) has affected both our birthday's - but at least my party didn't have to be postponed due to the match replay (again hehehe) and Wordless Wednesday should be of one day that can never be repeated.

For Wordless Wednesday just ignore all I wrote, look at the picture and play along here.

30 Photos in 30 Days - Day 26

39 Today!

no I am not 3539! I shared birthday celebtrations with my sister whose birthday is on Wednesday.

 I can be happy about this birthday as I am still under 40 ( which according to both my children is really old)
When I was in my twenties the idea of being nearly 40 was something I wanted to avoid - turning 30 was going to be bad enough but today at 39, I can say that I do not feel any different to the 20-something girl - just a few more responsibilitieswith a few more, actually a lot more, wrinkles and wobbly bits.
So after a day of being totally spoilt by my family I thought I would see if I could list 39 things about myself that you might not know and maybe I have not realised about myself until now.

1. I am a real red head - although I do have help hiding some of the greys
2. I am perfectly happy celebrating my birthday with family and no big fuss.
3. I like myself better now than in my early 20's and I would not go back in time.
4. I love being a mother, and having 2 children is not twice as hard.
5. If there was not such a large gap between Sarah and Mia I would love to have had more kids.
6. I still love cute shoes - although my collection is slightly smaller than in my 20's
7. I always have a tape measure in my handbag.
8. I love Thai food
9. I love seafood.
10. I am more confortable in my own skin now than I have ever been.
11. I love it that my girls and I all have birthday's in September although it can be a strain on the wallet.
12. I hate blue cheese.
13. I play piano and have taught it
14. I wish Brett and I could spend more time together - life is so hectic at the moment.
15. I have all my teeth - including wisdom teeth and have had since I was 15
16. I dont drink nearly enough water.
17. I am a planner - everything is planned in advance.
18. I am not good with going with the flow.
19. I love photography and wish I could spend more time learning about it.
20. I love to cook cakes but....
21. I would happily give up cooking dinner every night.
22. I hate food shopping.
23. I would love to own a car which had back doors. - especially with 2 kids
24. I have only owned hatch back cars.
25. One day I will get married.
26. I will never get a tattoo.
27. I would love to have my own craft room. I was supposed to in this house but 3 wks after moving in I found out I was pregnant with mia - bye bye craft room, hello babies room.
28.  I hope my girls grow up to be as close as my sister and I.
29. I love vintage silver at the moment and cannot find enough of it.
30. I wish my metabolism would keep up with the fact that I love cakes.
31. My eyes change colour depending on what I wear between blue, green, grey, hazel and a wierd kind of dark yellow ( I hate this one and avoid wearing colours that bring this out).
32. I have had a cat all my life.
33. I love 80's music
34. I love jelly snakes and am a sucker for licorice.
35. I ADORE dark chocolate and hate white chocolate - not even a chocolate in my book.
36. I would love to be more daring in my wardrobe.
37. My perfect house would be overlooking a beach with no close nieghbours.
38.  I am a hoarder and don't like to throw anything out (much to the dislike of my husband)
39. I have realised that age is only a number and it is how you live and feel that counts.

Oh my, that was hard. I do not think I will repeat it for my 40th, but I am glad I did it.
Now I think it is time to curl up on the couch and relax before the week starts again tomorrow

30 Photos in 30 Days - Day 25

AFL GRAND FINAL DAY -  and I had a ticket

As a Magpie supporter what a day it should have been. Should being the operative word. After getting away to a decent (possibly game winning) lead Collingwood seemed to forget there was a 3rd quarter, and then forget that the ball should go between the big sticks not the little ones, and  to do this you need to actually get your hands on the ball. Through sheer luck they held on for a draw but unfortunately that also means that the whole game gets played again next Saturday and it is most unlikely that I will get tickets to that game.

We can but live in hope......

Tomorrow is my birthday  - a wonderful way to top off a wonderful weekend.

30 Photos in 30 Days - Day 24

Todays photo is a little secretive as when finished it will be one of  my sisters birthday presents for our combined birthday lunch on Sunday. I was planning to work on it tomorrow but instead my lovely sister has given me a ticket to the AFL Grand Final! YAY!
And even better we are a family of Collongwood supporters and they are going into the game as the form team. It has been 20 years since we last won the flag and I would love the next win to be on a day when I was actually there.

Anyway, I must go and finish the present and make a lasagne for eveyone else to eat tomorrow night as I am not sure what time I will get home after the game with all the traffic.
Hopefully tomorrows photo will be a very happy one from the game. GO PIES!

30 Photos in 30 Days - Day 23

Sarah bought me a bunch of roses the other day and they were a bunch of buds. With the heat from the heater the last few nights they have opened very quickly and I wanted to catch a photo of them before they passed their best.
Rose buds are very elegant and beautiful but there is something very friendly about an open rose I think.
On looking up the meaning of a yellow rose, Sarah chose very well. It means, happiness and 'I care'

Thank you my darling daughter for my beautiful gift. You brighten my day.

30 Photos in 30 Days - Day 22

It is amazing what my children get up to once they go to bed. Sarah and Mia do not normally share a room but when I went to check on them and found Sarah's bed empty, I must admit my heart skipped a beat. It was put at ease again when I found her asleep on a self made bed on Mia's floor.
Both have been waking with nightmares lately, usually one after the other, just far enough apart that I am almost back to sleep after reassuringly putting one back to bed and then lying there with the inbility to fall straight back to sleep.

If this was a school night I am not sure I would have let this lie (hehe), actually I dont think Sarah would have done it, but since it is holidays - go for it girls, and prehaps tonight everyone will get a full, restfull nights sleep.

After struggling to keep the camera steady in the low light I have decided I must get one of those flash things that bounces it off the ceiling and creates a soft light. Now if I could only remember the name of it or the blog I saw it on.......