Beks Shabby Dreams

Swap and More

2009-08-17T12:45:00.006+10:00

It has been a busy few months here we have had sickness, 60th and 7th birthdays to celebrate, school stuff, ballet exams and life :)

So here is my very late blog for the majestic sea swap I did last month. My swap partner was Deb she did such an amazing job.

Look at all those goodies

The had made items it is such a lovely wall hanging I have it in my sun room, so pretty.

It was such a lovely package and really made my day after been sick for a few weeks. Thanks Deb. I will post what I sent Deb soon.

My family and I have been having some international students over for Sunday lunch, 2 girls from Africa and 1 girl from India. I have made a few Aussie meals for them so now it is there turn, first Dianna from India made a traditional Indian meal for us, this meal is usually served at weddings and special occasions, we were very lucky. Dianna and I went shopping and she showed me all the ingredients we needed, lots of fun.
Can't wait for the African meals. As each girl is from a different part of Africa the food will vary greatly, so looking forward to that.

Also during July we had 2 birthday parties. I made the cakes for both my daughter wanted an ice-cream hedge hog cake and I made a gluten free mud cake for my mother in laws 60th.

These cakes you can eat.

My daughter has been learning about Vietnam at school and last week the primary school put on the festival of nations where they dressed up and put on a parade and items for the parents/grandparents. It was a lovely morning, here is my daughter in her outfit she has chopsticks in her hair, I made the skirt from left over wedding dress material and the shirt is a pj shirt.

My son was invited to a scary birthday party he went as the Hulk, I ripped some old clothing painted his skin with food colouring mixed with water he had a ball.

And finally a week ago my daughter and son cut their hair, I am so pleased to see that now hair dressing games no longer involve cutting. This is the hair do my son did yesterday.

Hi

2009-04-15T15:40:00.002+10:00

Well it has been so long since I have been able to blog, what an interesting start of the year I have had.

I am sorry for not being in contact much since my last post. My computer was hacked into the hacker changed my ebay password, email passwords and blog passwords, tried to get into bank accounts and I could not get into anything. Arrrr (and we had one of the top virus and spyware programs). It is finally all fixed now and I can email, blog and ebay again, the really annoying thing is they changed my ebay bank account details so all sales I made the money went into the hackers account, so I have had people buy stuff which I did not know about and pay and not get items so now I have a huge mess to clean up and some very unhappy customers. If you were affected please email me.

We also have had some family and friends loose loved ones including the loss of a baby. So life has been keeping me on my toes so to speak.

I am really sorry if anyone is offended or hurt that I have not been in contact and I very sorry for that. I will try and visit you all in the next week and leave a message. I have missed you all and blogging.

Bek

Miss me?

2009-02-02T13:44:00.004+10:00

It has been a while since I last posted, been very slack I know. I have had a great break from making cakes and blogging, it has been nice to spend time with family.

This past month I have been getting ready for the new year, updating my diary and calenders, getting school things in order, spending time with my lovely Children.

My eldest started school last week, she is enjoying year 1 so much and has great teachers, my middle child starts pre-prep tomorrow, I am going to miss him soooo much. I think it will be harder for me to let him go than my eldest child, he is such a mummy's boy. I have found a great pre-prep for him and it is walking distance so we can walk together to pre-prep he has a lovely teacher and a nice little class only 16 so far in his group. He only goes 2 days a week this year so we can get use to being away from eachother lol.

I was lucky enough to find this lovely wardrobe for my youngest daughter, it has lovely Queen Anne feet was already painted (I will give it a fresh coat soon) My 3 year old was having trouble opening the door to get her shoes and clothing out so I picked up the tassel for her she pulls on it to open her cupboard. She is so proud of herself. I put some glow in the dark fairies on the door to help her get over using her night light and it seems to be working. She does not want her night light on now because she can't see the fairies when the light is on. As I will be sanding it back and re-painting it having the stickers on there is a big issue esp with the stickers being white and the wardrobe being white. (I just hate furniture covered in stickers it really gets to me and fridges covered in stuff also affects me, but this is one thing I am learning to live with:D )

I also picked up this great scrap bucket for the chook scraps, I had this tacky ice-cream container on the bench. Don't you just love it, my husband does not understand the need of it as he thinks the ice-cream container was just fine. :D

I am now getting back into the swing of things making lots of cakes and yummy looking treats I have had a lovely break from it 6 weeks of not making any cupcakes and I am now ready to get back into it.

I will pop around and catch up on all your blogs over the next week.

Oh I am feeling ready to do another swap so if you hear of one let me know, if I don't find one soon I may just have to host my own....... Creative juices are flowing after my break.

Start of another year......

2009-01-08T14:02:00.005+10:00

Well this year is well and truly underway, today my daughter and I went out to purchase school supplies and shoes for the start of the new year. We went to a cafe for morning tea and had this yummy choc moose cake. Yummmm

Here are a few photos of our New Years camping trip we went to Peach Trees near Kilcoy, great spot if you have young children the deep swimming hole has a gate on it, there are lots of Kangaroos and the camping spot is not to far from the beach or some lovely little towns and tourist spots. The bush walks are great for kids and they can ride their bikes around the roads at the camp site. I really like it here this is the second time we have camped here.

It rained a bit, but with our camp set up it did not really matter. Made it cooler :)

I ended up letting them run around in the rain on the second day of rain. They had great fun playing dance freeze.

My son and Woody enjoying some grub, they had lots of fun together. My son was so cute he packed Woody's things (sleeping bag and lamp) and they had to be packed with all our stuff in the boot of the car.

We took the Children to the beach for the morning, we went to Golden beach at Caloundra this is a great beach for Children as the water is not rough.

Hoping you have all had a great start to the new year.

Christmas

2008-12-19T10:39:00.005+10:00

Well what a week I had all these plans to post Christmas things and decorate the house but everything has been put on the back burner my Children ended up with a tummy bug and my husband has been out of town for work for the last 6 days, he gets back today:)

On Monday we got the carpets cleaned all ready for Christmas day. (I usually get the carpets done a week before Christmas, as we all end up siting of the floor opening gifts and playing with the new toys). This week we have been trying to catch up with friends.

Here are a few photos of my house, I don't think I will be doing much more decorating this year I still have to finish the Christmas cards and Christmas shopping and baking. I don't know where the year has gone especially the last few weeks.

Our basic everyday table display we have leading up to Christmas, (I change it around a bit when I change the table cloth this is how it turned out today)

I re-decorate the table on Christmas eve for Christmas day.

The Children's Christmas tree.

Some swap goodies hanging up.

On Christmas eve we light all the candles and it looks so pretty.

This will be the last post from me until after Christmas (unless something happens that I just have to post about).

Wishing you and your family a very joyful Christmas and a stress free Christmas. May we remember the real reason for Christmas and share this special time with our family and friends.

Secret Santa Honeypot

2008-12-10T15:17:00.008+10:00

Today my daughter and I received a package in the mail from a Secret Santa. We participated in the Secret Santa Honeypot swap, it was loads of fun and we enjoyed making things for someone else. I hope our swap partner liked what we made they should get there's any day now.

Look a parcel from the US.

Look at all the goodies:)

The card was sooooo pretty thank you so much we will be putting it up soon.

My daughter loved this decoration the best. Very pretty.

I love this one look at all the needle work she has done. There was a matching stocking but the photo did not load. I will post another photo later when I have found a place for it to hang.

Aren't these the cutest ever.

And matching mittens. I have the perfect place to hang the skates and mittens and will show photos later.

Just lovely this is going on one of our old door handles.

Everything was so well made and perfect for our house. I think I have worked out who my secret santa is once I know for sure I will put a link to her blog.

Well I am now going to have a coffee and hope my children have some quiet time, we have had a huge day with our playgroup breakup Christmas party.

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

2008-11-30T19:41:00.000+10:00

I am starting to feel festive. Today we trimmed the Christmas tree. We usually put up decorations during the whole of December. I will post as we make and decorate things.

While my husband and I put up the tree my Children decorated the little wire tree. I use this one for them to put on all the decorations they have made, and then we use other decorations to fill up the tree, I bet in a few years it will be full of their creations. I really love doing this as I find their decorations can get lost on the big tree and can't really be enjoyed. We put the decorations made this year at the front and the ones made other years at the back and side. We put this little tree onto of the TV unit in the family room, so everyone can enjoy it.

Then we decorated the big tree, they are so proud of their handy work:)

I have had a Christmas song in my head all day. You see miss 6 lost her second front tooth today, so guess what she has been singing. How many more days to Christmas??????

Ohh looky here I see a decorations that I got in my swap package.

Ohhh here is another one what a lovely Angel from my swap partner.

The Angel onto is one of Shannon Thompsons creations. I have another one for the Mantel. Will show photos of the rest of the house as we decorate it.

Here is the finished tree.

I also get my children to fill up bowls with baubles. They love to do that and the we put them around the house.

Vintage Stocking Swap

2008-11-25T13:08:00.000+10:00

My daughter and I signed up for the Vintage Stocking Swap that Casa Bella Chic hosted. Yesterday my swap package arrived from Kylie (A bite of Country Cupcakes)
My daughter and I were so excited. What can I say other than thankyou sooooooo very much. We were both so blessed and love everything.

Don't you just love the box everything came in. When we opened the box it was sooo full of goodies.

Miss 6 is so excited.

Kylie was so kind as to put in a little gift for each of my Children.

The stocking that Kylie made above it is full of things and below is what was inside.

So many choc scented things and look at those cards they are lovely.

Here is everything that was in the box, how she got it all to fit is beyond me.

Look at all the lovely things.... I love those hearts they are sooo cute.

Some more pretties. Look at the Angel in the box. I love Angels

Thankyou so much Kylie everything was lovely, and we can't wait until the 1st of December, when we decorate our house and tree for Christmas.

Here is what my Daughter and I made for Kylie. We were lucky enough to find this huge vintage stocking. Sorry about these pics as they were taken late at night and did not come out very good.

We gave it a new lease on life by adding bows, bells, ribbon and glitter.

Miss 6 and I did a bit of an angel theme as we both just love Angles.

3 little boxes for Kylie's children and a Christmas gift for Kylie

Some yummy things.

This swap was so much fun, and thankyou Kylie for being such a great swap partner I have really enjoyed getting to know you. I can't thankyou enough for everything.

Oh there are still 2 more spots available for the Pay It Forward so if you would like to get a gift from me and would like to give to someone else please sigh up below.

Pay It Forward

2008-11-23T20:37:00.000+10:00

You probably all know about "Pay it Forward". I'm not really sure when or where it began ,
But the idea is to spread some kindness without expecting anything in return .
I was lucky enough to sign up with
Kylie from A bite of Country Cupcakes. Now what I need to do is add a PIF symbol to my blog and a link back to Kylie.
This I have done...

The first 3 visitors to visit my blog and leave a comment saying they would like to be involved will receive a handmade gift from me within 365 days of joining .
These 3 visitors must have their own blog,
and be prepared to do the same for their first 3 visitors .
And follow the above steps as I had to do.
It all just means (besides keeping Aussie Post on their toes),
People that have generally never met,
are prepared to share some happiness "just because" it feels good .
And "just beacause" pressies are always the best! Are'nt they?
My participation in this will also mark my 50th post!!....50 posts already!!
What on earth have I been rabbiting on about???
SO...If you would like to join up just leave me a comment,

FIRST 3 ARE THE lUCKY ONES!!!

And email me your address, likes and colors...I guess??
And within 365 days you will get a little surprise in the post!

And the Winner is.....

2008-11-23T16:07:00.000+10:00

The lucky winner of my 50th post blog give away is Jo-Anne

Miss 6 drew out the name from a tea cup. Sorry I did not take photos this time:)

The Season of Giving

2008-11-21T16:22:00.000+10:00

Check out Cottage in the Making for a lovely give away click on the pic for details.

Christmas is just around the corner and there are so many giveaways at the moment. Be sure to check out my side bar for a few that I have come across.

One giveaway I stumbled upon today is The Great Christmas Giveaway.
Click on the link below or the one on my sidebar to check it out.

Now don't forget my 50th post giveaway. I will be drawing the winner on Sunday.

Trudy from Bits of Wool is also having a giveaway click on the pic below to check out her giveaway.

50th post take 2 :D ~ Give Away ~

2008-11-18T09:42:00.000+10:00

I am so sorry that I never got around to posting pics of the cards I was going to make, actually I never got around to making them. Life has been busy and things kept popping up and I was sick with the flu, so I am going to redo the 50th post give away.

Instead of making some cards I have put together 3 lovely cards/postcards. The roses card is just lovely and is one of Gail McCormack's I just love all her work my fave is her range of tea cup paintings.

The second post card is from Natasha Burns, I love these postcards the dresses are so pretty, and last but not least a tag taken from a vintage picture.

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment on this post (all comments on the last post will be entered so if you were one of the 9 who left a comment on the last post and then leave one on this post you will get two entries) I will draw this on Sunday. Really I will :D

Remember when I did up my bedroom (click here to see the makeover post) I still have a few things to do to finish it but last week I got a new comforter for the bed from the wonderful Mandii, click here to check out her eBay auctions I love what she lists.

The bedspread has made such a huge difference it has tied in all the colours in the room and really pulled it all together. I just need to get a few new pillow cases and cushions to finish it.

A close up of the cover, so pretty.

Works so much better with the white bed. Before I had a brown doona cover with lace over the top. Now all I have to do is work on the lamps and do some tweaking and then it will be finished.

It has been so cold and windy/rainy the last few days and the fog has been so thick. I took these photos this morning and when I went out a few minutes ago it has gotten even worse I can't see across the street now. Brrrrrr and it is supposed to be Spring nearly summer.

I am going to make chicken pot pie and a hot dessert for dinner tonight to warm us up. (one good thing about the cold I get chicken pot pie) I love chicken pot pie and will drop some over to my friend who just had a baby.

Last weekend my little girl danced in the ballet the 12 Dancing Princesses she was one of the night angles who protected the princesses. They preformed at the Empire Theater and it was such a lovely production I was so proud of my ballerina she danced so well.

50th Post, Swaps

2008-10-27T12:16:00.000+10:00

50th Post

Well this is my 50th post, gee that has come up quick. So to celebrate I am making 2 gift cards which one lucky person will win. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will draw the winner on the 1st September.

I will post the pic of the cards soon when they are finished.

SUMMER SAC SWAP

This week Mikayla and I were in for a treat we got our Summer Sac Swap package from Alice-Anne Nix. Alice if you are reading this thankyou soooo much it was so much fun. This swap was one where you don't know who you are getting the item from the person who you send to is not the one who sends to you. I hope Jennifer enjoyed her Swap package as much as I did mine.

So sweet Alison sent us a bag full of goodies from her trips around the US there were 12 pressies plus some news papers, real estate books and car books. Thankyou so much is was so much fun to look at those things and Mikayla now has show and tell items for the rest of the year:)

Vintage Stocking Swap

Here are my answers to Pracilla's swap questions she has asked us to post.

What do you collect: I collect Old English Rose, Kentish Rockery and American Beauty china. I have also started collecting Willow Tree by Susan Lordi (thanks to my Children and Hubby).

My China Collection
My Hubby got me this one for our last Anniversary (isn't he sweet)

What inspires you: The beauty of the world, God, my friends and family especially my children.

Favorite pastime: Well with 3 young children past times are something I have not had the luxury of for some time now. I do love to read, scrapbook, make things, cook, decorate my house and paint things usually white:) and spend quiet time with my hubby.

Whats one of your favorite vintage pieces in your home: I have a lovely Crystal dresser set which was my grandmothers and my great grand mothers it holds special memories for me.

What decoration or Christmas item would you love to have: I would love a really nice nativity set and glass baubles for the Christmas tree. Ohh and some of those cute little houses, Church's and Christmas scenes.

What vintage piece would you love to have: I would love a vintage/french shabby nighty to hang up in my bedroom. Or an old lamp.

Favorite Goodie or hot drink: I looooooove hot chocy and cappuccino or vienna or mocka or white chocy. Now fav goodie, i am a chocoholic and love lynt choc, cadbury choc and anything choc actually, I don't have enough room to write it all:) I also love cashews and mints and jelly bellies.

Any family tradition: We read a Christmas story with the Children and I decorate the table with the works on Christmas eve and we have a lovely meal together. Later we watch the carols.

Greatest Christmas Memory: My first Christmas with my first born Child. I enjoy Christmas so much more now that I have Children.

Breakfast for Breasts

2008-10-20T08:34:00.000+10:00

This morning we had a pink breakfast, we had so much fun and it was a great opportunity to talk to miss six about breast cancer.
I am also going to be hosing a pink breakfast fun raiser in a few weeks. We were planning to have it today but I did not realise that it was a pupil free day so I have postponed it.

We had pancakes and raspberry cream and fresh berries.
We added a drop of pink food colour to our vanilla yoghurt.

I am offering these two cupcakes for $20 including postage for Australians and $25 for overseas. All the money from these will go to breast cancer research.

Catch up ~ Fun with Canvas and Swaps

2008-10-18T11:29:00.000+10:00

It has been such a busy few weeks seems like everything happened at once. I have not posted in such a long time so you better get a coffee while I try and remember what I have been up to.

We will start with the last week of the school holidays, what fun we had, my husband was away that week for work so I tried to fill in the days with fun activities. My daughter wanted to invite her best friend over for a Princess Tea Party. A royal invitations was sent out and an other Princess arrived from another land (suburb lol).

The 3 Princesses and a handsome Prince Cowboy.

The table was set with china and yummy choc cake covered in Princess sprinkles (pink and pink sugar) we had choc covered teddy biscuits, piklets with princess sprinkles and some with jam and cream (for the Queen) and fruit.

Since it was a warm day the coffee pot had special royal pink drink only for Princesses and Princes to enjoy while the Queen enjoyed a pot of Lady Gray.

It was such a lovely morning I really enjoy setting up the table when little friends come over and the children always enjoy using tea cups and cake forks:)

On the weekend of the last week of the holidays our Church had its annual Ladies Camp and I went along. (first ladies camp ever) I was a bit unsure of how I would go as I have never been away from my Children before. I as on the planning committee which helped the whole separation thing.

During the Camp we had some electives I ran the scrapbooking on canvas with another lady which was fun. The night before the camp I made one as an example. (I had never done scrapbooking on canvas before)

This is the one I did the night before.

I did a larger one for my eldest daughters room of her birthday party.

During the last week of the holidays I let my daughter do a canvas, she had so much fun. The picture she made was of rainbow fairies flying over rainbow mountains. She used coloured sand and 3D pens this is now hanging on her bedroom wall.

I have also entered 2 swaps and am so looking forward to doing them, see my sidebar for links to the swaps you can still sign up but they will be closing soon.

Oh and Kylie from a Bite of Country Cupcakes gave me an award. Thanks Kylie.

I give the award back to you and I give the award to Jo Anne and Merrin and to all my other blogging friends out there you know who you are.

Questions

Do you have any friends from childhood?
Yes I have a couple and even though we don't see each other or talk often I know they are there.

What do you value about your friends?
That they don't judge you as they know your heart.

Are they your sounding board?
Working on it I am others sounding board and I am learning how to find true friends.

What activities do you like to share together??

We don't see each other often due to distance so we blog and facebook a bit. got to love the computer age:)

Well that is it from me for now.

Blog Shop and I have been Tagged

2008-09-30T19:49:00.000+10:00

I have been working on my blog shop it is nearly finished please pop in and see what I have been up to in there. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

I Have Been Tagged!!!
By Kylie from A bite of country cupcakes

Now I call it the 7...7'S AS IT CONSISTS OF ME ANSWERING 7 THINGS ABOUT ME & 7 QUESTIONS.So here goes it...

*7 Things I plan to do before I die:
1. Be debt free
2. Travel
3. Watch my Children grow up
4. Make a difference
5. Take my Children Overseas
6. Have a cottage garden
7. Learn to ski

*7Things I do Now:
1. Raise my Children
2. Co-Ordinate a playgroup and info and craft sessions for mums
3. Make fake foods
4. Look after 2 sweet little boys 3 days a week.
5. Have people over
6. Blog and facebook a lot more than I should
7. Do lots of house work and washing and folding.

*7Things I Can't do:
1. Sit still
2. eat eyeballs
3. get a full nights sleep (thanks to one of my children lol)
4. keep the house clean for more than 30 min.
5. lots of things that I can't think of :)
6. cheat (get the case of the gilts)
7. skateboard

*7THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO THE OPPOSITE SEX... well to my husband
1. His blue eyes
2. his nature
3. that he is a great dad
4. his dark hair
5. how he looks after me
6. how he has never raised his voice at me
7. that he loves me for who I am and never tries to change me

*7 Things I say most often
1. I love you
2. have you flushed and washed your hands
3. I am going to count to 3
4. Why why why why (in my head)
5. Wait a minute
6. I am blessed
7. You are my favourite (2 or 3 or 6 year old depending on who I am talking to)

*7 Celebrities I admire:I don't follow celebrities??? People I admire?
1. My Mother,mother in law and Grandmother
2. My Auntie Marline
3. Some of the older ladies in my Church - they are strong women who are not afraid to be themselves and share their life
4. My friends Jo-Anne and Kari
5. My sister in laws

*7 Favorite foods: (I like everything Kylie had so I am going to keep some of them on my list)
1. Chocolate yummmm
2. golden syrup dumplings
3. sticky date pud with butterscotch sauce...Mmmmm!
5. Potatoes with sweet chilly sauce and sour cream
6. Home made soups with hot buttered toast
7. warm dip in cob loaf yummmmmm esp in winter
8. BBQ'S
9. My hot potato salad
10.Taco's,nacho's any kind of hands on type tucker....Oh ohhhpppsss....

I am not going to Tag anyone as most of you have been tagged already but if you have missed out and want to do it feel free I tag you.

Carnival of Flowers

2008-09-24T14:40:00.000+10:00

I just love the School holidays, I can spend some time with my eldest, she started school this year and I miss her terribly when when she is at school.

This week Toowoomba had hosted it annual Carnival of Flowers. On Saturday we went to the parade, the Children really like going to this, lots of fun:)

Here area a couple of photos.

Today we went on a Train Ride to Spring Bluff. Spring Bluff is an old Train station they have restored. It is a lovely place for a picnic and during the Carnival of Flowers they run train rides from Toowoomba Station to Spring Bluff.

We went with some friends from out Playgroup.

At Spring Bluff ready for a picnic.

They were all given a train stamp. The conductor came around dressed in an uniform from about 1914 and he rang the boarding bell for the children and sang a song with them.
Yummy Mum finally made cupcakes I can eat.
Lots of places to explore
An old carriage that has been turned into a kiosk.
This house is now a Cafe.
Lovely flowers everywhere.
Train ride back home.

It was a lovely day, now the Children are watching TV quietly and I am going to visit some blogs:)

Give Away

2008-09-20T16:33:00.000+10:00

Shannon from Paint mine Pink is hosting a give away. A group of us Aussie girls have put together some of our creations. Be sure to go to her blog and enter.

Shannon has done a wonderful job in organising it all and hosting this.

My baby boy is growing up

2008-09-14T15:01:00.000+10:00

Yesterday my son turned 4. I am loosing my little boy, but gaining a bigger one. They grow up so fast, it only seems like yesterday he was 2 and now he is 4 only one more year at home then off to school.

Here are some photos of our day.

We went to the park for a birthday morning tea with family and his best friend.

My son and his best friend

His sisters and cousins.

Blowing out the candles. My son does not like cake he only wanted one so he could blow out his birthday candles.

Then back home for the afternoon.

Here he is playing with the golf set he got from his grandmother. Look out Tiger....

Yep has the professional golfer walk down pat.

He spent most of the afternoon playing golf in our back yard.

Craft Room Part 2

2008-09-08T17:04:00.001+10:00

It has been ages since I have posted or visited blogs. I have been very sick and it has taken me nearly 2 weeks to get better.

Today I finally got into the craft room. It was a huge job and took all day. I am still not finished I now have to go through everything and sort it out and organise it. I need to get some more storage containers, jars and bits to finish it the way I want it.

So here is what I did today I moved everything around and unpacked boxes that have not been touched in 5 years. Threw heaps away and put the rest in bags for charity.

As I said it is not finished but at least I can now work in the room and with Spring here I will be using the room more. Box full on mending I can now do as I can now get to the sewing table.

Cupcake area.

My craft desk I can see the back yard from here so the Children can play while I work.

I got a new bookcase to put bits and bobs in.

Sewing area again. I strung all my lamp shades on ribbon and hung them from the curtain brackets. They are out of the way and will still remind me they are waiting to get a face lift. Now I have no excuse to exercise since the air walker is no longer a lamp shade holder:)

I made something other than cupcakes this week

2008-08-28T08:38:00.000+10:00

Well I have been doing another craft this past week. Can you guess.....

Last Saturday Kris from Tag Along Teddies popped over, we have been trying to get together for a few weeks now. Kris is great and if you have not visited her blog pop on over.

Kris showed me how to knit, my grandmother taught me when I was a girl but she passed away when I was 11 and I have not knitted since and could not remember how to get started.

I have been really enjoying it as it is something I can grab when I have a few minutes or waiting for my eldest to finish her ballet lesson. There is no set up or clean up:)

Thank you Kris for showing me again. Here is my youngest sporting her new scarf she was so excited when it was finished and has been dragging it around everywhere with her.

Last Saturday I decided to clean out the craft/junk room it is such a mess and I don't know where anything is. Not only does it have craft items in it, it also has unpacked boxes form our last move, kids broken toys, mending and anything that does not fit in the rest of the house. So it is time for a clean out. I am quite embarrassed to show the before photos but figure if I post them I will them be more motivated to clean out the room:)

My work area where I can look out the window and watch the children play in the garden.
Cupcake area
Junk... Don't you love how I have uses the air walker it is great for holding lamp shades.

Sewing, mending and junk and ironing area. So as you can see I can't really use the craft room cause I can't find anything and there is not space to put anything.

After taking the photos I took a break to help the children make some Rock buddies.

This weekend I will be working on the craft room and hopefully have it all neat and set up by Sunday night. I will post photos when it is finished.

Last but not least Kylie from A bit of Country Cupcakes has given me an award. Thanks so much Kylie.

These are the rules:
1. The recipient must link back the the awards creator (http://www.thebabblingsofmere.blogspot.com/)
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.Characteristics for the Smile Award:1. Must display a cheerful attitude. (not necessarily at all times--we are all human)2. Must love one another3. Must make mistakes4. Must learn from others5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world6. Must love life7. Must love kids

The 5 people I have chosen for the award are.
1.Jo one of my sweet friends who I have enjoyed watching grow into a beautiful woman of God full of love for her creator, husband and family;
2. Merrin, I am really enjoying getting to know you;
3. Candy, it has been fun getting to know you;
4. LeAnn who brings a smile to my face when I read about her life;
5. Robin I have just started reading your blog regularly and have been enjoying getting to now you.

Family Room and Award

2008-08-18T09:52:00.000+10:00

This weekend I decided to give the dining/family room a much needed makeover. I forgot to take before pic's sorry but if you look at this post of Mikayla's birthday party you will get an idea of how the room was set out.

This is how it looks now, the first 3 photos are from the kitchen door.

I moved the hutch it use to be next to the heater and I turned the dining table around. We still have enough room to extend it if we need to.

I am thinking of making a curtain to put in the office doorway, the office does not have a door.

I changed the modular couch around.

The above photo was taken from the back door.

The above photo was taken from the laundry door. The white door next to the TV unit goes to the craft/junk room.

The above photo is taken form the office door.

I still have some things I want to do to the room like get a nice mat for the floor and some wall hangings and I want to rearrange the items TV unit and maybe purchase something else to put on there.

Trying to strike a balance between making the room look nice and being functional for a family of 5 to use everyday is what I was aiming for. I have made the lounge room where I have a lot of breakable and pretty things and the children know to keep that room clean and not to touch the "pretty" things. But you still need an area where kids can be kids and be able to draw and play board games and do puzzles, sing and dance. We do have a play room where all the toys are kept which helps a lot.

So if you have any ideas or suggestions feel free to let me know sometimes you look at your own stuff for so long you get stuck and a fresh set of eyes can see things you have missed.

Next two rooms due for a make over are the office and the craft/junk room.

Okay now onto the second bit I got an award from Kylie from A bit of Country Cupcakes. If you have not visited her blog pop in it as she is pretty new to blog land. Thanks so much Kylie for the award I was very surprised.

WYLDE WOMAN AWARD

The rules of this award are:

1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.

2. Link back to this blogsite http://www.tammyvitale.com/ so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.These women continually bring joy to my life through their encouragement, humour, inspiration and talent. It is with great pleasure that I award the "Wylde Women Award" to:

This was so hard as a few of the people who I would have given it to have already received this award, people like Shannon and Mandii.

Other people who have supported me and brightened my day are:

LeAnne at For the Love of Cottage I really enjoy reading her blog especially after a long day with the kids. LeAnne has helped and me in so many ways.

Candy at A pretty Home is someone who I count as a true friend thank you for your support and friendship.

I could go on and on but I chose a few people who have impacted my life the most, otherwise I would be giving awards out all day and I have 4 hungry children at my office door asking for lunch. You are all wonderful and I have enjoyed reading your blogs and getting to know you.

Sweet package in the mail and Flea Market Friday

2008-08-15T15:24:00.000+10:00

This week I got a lovely package from Candy. I was so excited.

There was some lovely material, pink ribbon and the sweetest card. I love it all. Can't wait to make something out of it. Thank you so much Candy you made my week.

Not much to tell, been making cupcakes all week. Hopefully I soon will be able to do something other than cupcakes:) I like making them and mostly find them relaxing but this last 2 weeks I have turned out 174 cupcakes for different orders and am getting a bit sick of making them. So I am going to set aside some time to make something else. Wish me luck I will probably just sit there and not know what to make.:)

I have just listed the Friday Flea Market items so click here to see what I have listed today.

Catch up

2008-08-08T19:24:00.000+10:00

This week myself and 2 of my children have had the flu I have kept a low profile all week.
I spent most of the week catching up on cupcake orders. I made close to 100 cupcakes.

On Thursday after fruit and veg shopping I decided I needed a coffee before heading home to finish the cupcake order, so I took my youngest 2 to a cafe a few doors up from where we shop. The Cafe is also a "pretty shop" as my children call it. It has some lovely things so I decided I needed a few items to help cheer me up. The choc cake also helped:)

This is what I purchased, my son is in the background taking photos with me. He just loves to help.

Aren't these cases so cute, I don't know if I am going to use them for fake or real cupcakes. Maybe I could do both.
They have a range of pretty little tags I always grab one or two when I go there.

Could not resist this and it was pretty cheap. Now hopefully there won't be letters left all over the dresser.
Here are some of the cakes I made. They were for a wedding and the colours of the cakes matched the brides maids dresses and the cakes design were copies of the real cupcakes that they are having for the wedding cake.

Phew I am so glad they are finished. (I made extras they will be listed and in my blog shop soon) Now to finish the order of Air Fresheners.

Don't forget to check out my Flea Market Friday items here.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Bek :)

The winners of the give away have been drawn. Click here to see who the lucky girls are.

New Blog and Give Away!!!!!!!!!!

2008-08-01T10:26:00.000+10:00

I have started another blog just for Flea Market Fridays and selling my items until I get my web site sorted:)
To celebrate to opening of my other blog I will be having a give away. To enter go to my shop blog and leave a comment all comments left between today and next Friday will go into the draw. (Comments left on that blog).

To see my Flea Market Friday items click here.

Catch up and My first award

2008-07-29T19:17:00.000+10:00

It has been pretty busy here and I have not been blogging much at all. Now that school is back things should start to quiet down again soon. I hope....

It has been soooo cold here, yesterday our back yard was covered in hail and we had sleet. It snowed not far from us. I have all the heaters on but with an old house it is so hard to warm it up.

I really don't have any news, I have been working on cupcake orders and some other things which I will be posting about later.

I have just been given my first award. Thanks so much Mandi....
Sweet Mandi from gave me an award.

The Rules Are:
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you
3) Nominate at least 4 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I am going to pass the award onto 4 blogs that I love to visit......

Fairy Tale Party

2008-07-14T10:33:00.000+10:00

It was Mikayla's birthday, I can't believe how fast the years have gone by. Mikayla is such a joy to have she is so loving, giving are caring. She shares my love of creating and enjoys dancing and music. I am enjoying see her grow up into a beautiful girl both inside and out and am so proud of her.

Her birthday is extra special for me as we nearly lost her as a baby. I had a few complications while I was pregnant and she ended up being induced early. If she had not been born on that day she probable would have died, my placenta was breaking up. After we had her we were told there was a chance that she could have developmental problems as they were not sure how much oxygen she had been getting. After lots of prayers she was born healthy and happy she surprised the doctors by being very advanced as a baby and she is now an intelligent healthy 6 year old. (I just got her first report card and am very proud). We gave her the name Shanae as a middle name as it means God is gracious. He heard our prayers.

This week and we threw her a fairytale birthday party.

See the big balloon it was suppose to be the table center piece but when I opened the bag it was sooooo big. So I hung it up here. Don't you just love old houses they have great places to hang things.

This is what I made just before the party to replace the table setting balloon:) Mikayla got a bag of feathers with some books for her birthday so I used them and tied 3 balloons to the bowl.

I covered the table with fairy dust (sprinkles).

These are the party bags Mikayla and I made. We put a sticker on top of the boxes, princess for the girls and toy story and cars for the boys.

A girl in our Church does face painting so I hired her to do face painting.

Mikayla was a mermaid, the back of her dress has a tail and when she lies down she can put her feet in the tail.
Shantelle as a princess
and Aiden was a grown monster in Yoda outfit.

Everyone dressed up. We had such fun lots of games and fun.

My friends moved last week and I was able to grab this it is quite old. I can't wait to do it up. I am hoping our wedding picture will fit in it.

Road Trip

2008-07-05T09:57:00.000+10:00

On Friday we went to a little town called Goombungee, I was told there was a cute little cafe and Antique shop there.

Inside smelt soooo nice there were these large basins filled with lovely potpourri

The cake was yummy as well I had a coffee and cheesecake it was so nice I did not realise that it had a layer of caramel between the base and the cheesecake.

I did not buy anything as there was not alot out. The owner is in the process of changing the shop from just and antique shop to cafe/antique shop he told me he had more stuff to put out. So I will go back in a few weeks to check it out.

Lounge room make over part 3

2008-07-02T14:44:00.000+10:00

Last night I went back into the lounge room as I just could not rest until it started to look ok. I did some more moving and then went around the house and found things to put around the room.

So here it is. I am not totally happy with it yet still need to add some things and cover the chairs but it is getting there. I am going to leave it like this until I have finished painting the rest of the furniture then I will have a huge house rearrange.

Lounge Make Over Part 2

2008-07-01T16:48:00.000+10:00

I posted about my lounge makeover a few weeks ago. You can read about it here and see before photos.

The last 2 days I have been painting the coffee and lamp table. I also finished painting a little corner stand I have been meaning to do up for a while now.

Here is the coffee table painted white, I am going to distress the edges a little once the paint dries a bit more.

Here is the little corner stand I did up I am thinking of putting it here where the chair use to be near the fire place. What do you think?

Now is the tough part I can't decide if I want to put the old lamp table back in the lounge room which holds all my scrapbooks. See other post to see how it looks with books in it.

Or if I want the bedside table as a lamp table.

This is the original table painted white

This is the bedside table.

So what do you think, should I use the old one or go with the bedside table.

Or should I do this or this
or this
or this

I am leaving it like the last 2 photos for now as I have changed it so many times. Maybe once I have put some pretties around I might be able to decide.

Surprise Gift

2008-06-30T10:28:00.000+10:00

Today was the fist day of school holidays so we were having a slow day, late breakfast, did not make the beds, did not get dressed until 9:30 then a package arrived for Mikayla, (I had only just gotten changed out of my pj's thank goodness) she was so excited, at first I thought it was an early birthday present for her, but then I saw it was from lovely Shannon. We opened up the box and it was filled with little pressies. Mikayla was sooo excited. There were 2 for her and one each for her brother and sister.

So off we went to find Aiden and Shantelle.

They were so excited to have a present.
ohhh arrr pretty ribbon said Aiden.

Yay Bubbles we love bubbles and in our favourite colours to.

Then Mikayla opened hers she was so happy.

Look what Shannon made her, it is soooo pretty and has all her favourite things on it, she loves cats and does ballet.

Shannon is so creative you can check out her creations at her shop Paint mine Pink - Art by Shannon Thompson

Thank you so much Shannon, Mikayla is one happy girl. Two weeks ago her bedroom door name hanger got damaged she was so upset about it. After she opened her pressy she told me to put her old one in her special box. Then she informed me her old one was a bit young for her anyway because she is going to be 6 in 8 sleeps and the one Shannon has made is for grown up girls.

Thank you for your sweet gift, I just love it when you get things in the post you are not expecting and especially love the look of happiness and excitement on children's faces.

Oh and she still thinks you are a princess Shannon.

Lounge Room Make over Part 1

2008-06-21T12:29:00.000+10:00

Help my Lounge Room needs a make over. This room is our quite room where the children are not to leave toys and it is always (well almost) tidy. But it needs a make over. I am not sure where to start, I want to recover the chairs and not sure if I want to paint the timber. I am also not sure if I should paint the coffee table and side table. I purchased these as fill ins until I found what I really wanted and also as they are kid safe, so I don't mind if they get painted or not. Also the mantle has been bothering me, it is lacking something or maybe I am sick of the display and need to tweak as Leanne would say.

I want the room to be nice and relaxing it is a dark room as it has no windows and is in the middle of the house. Our house is really old and I love this room it has height ceilings and pressed iron ceiling.

The lounge room comes off the hallway and has not real door way. The hall way stops at the fish tank and opens into the lounge. The wall behind these chairs is the original back wall of the house the wall continues past the couch and then the original doorway that opens up to the extensions which are the dining room and family room.

Chairs needing to be recovered, not sure what colour or style.
Should I paint this White?

I love the ceiling
To give you an idea of the height of the room. Next to that single chair are french doors that open to the play room.

I have to go now and take miss 5 to a birthday party where did the morning go? Be back again later to finish this post.

Pretty Parasols and Paper.

2008-06-12T14:40:00.000+10:00

Mikayla and I participated in the parasol and Paper swap hosted by Shannon. We had such a good time putting our package together.

Today our package arrived from our swap partner Victoria. Mikayla was so excited. It was just what she needed as she was a bit upset as she could not go to school for 2 days because she had been sick. (you know when they are better but they can't go to school because they still could be contagious) This really picked her up.

Here is Mikayla with the package. Do you like her dress, it was mine when I was 7. A dear family friend made it for me for a school fancy dress ball. Mikayla would live in it if I let her she said it is a princess dress.

When we opened the box if was full of pretty pink tissue shredded paper and little parasols. So cute.

Here is Mikayla with all the packages before the unwrapping she is just itching to get those wrappers off.

Look at our goodies.
These are the cards Victoria made for each of us. Mikayla has hung hers up on her bedroom door.

Look at that cute little pony with parasols on it. Victoria you are amazing, Mikayla just loves it. See the little china figurine she is so sweet I have her on my hutch.

And this paper is lovely, we also got a book full of vintage music. Lots of fun to be had:)

I won't post what we did for Victoria as she has not got her package yet and I don't want to spoil it for her.

A big thank you Victoria for making such a lovely package. We could not have been happier. Mikayla is now wanting me to look for more swaps for us to do:).

Queens Birthday Weekend

2008-06-09T09:48:00.000+10:00

I have had a great long weekend. This weekend I had a friend come and stay. We use to live together with another girl (my sister in law), while we were at uni about 10 years ago. It was so nice to see her.

On the Saturday we went to the Danish Flower Art. It is a great little place that has a cafe, and craft shops and a iron works shop. They sell gourd's that you can paint and decorate for your garden. They also have a bead shop which my friend loved as she makes jewelry.

Then we went to Black Forest Hill which sells Australia's largest collection of German Grandfather Clocks and Cuckoo Clocks.

They don't just sell clocks they have Christmas decorations, babushka dolls, original German children's outfits, dolls, bears, linen, and the list goes on. It is such a lovely shop. My daughter loves to look at the gold fish where the water wheel is.

Then we went to The Chocolate Cottage, which is one of my favourite cafes. The have a huge range of home made chocolates plus other yummy things. The cafe is in an old house and is so warm. The gardens are cottage style with a big open area for the kids to play. Then there are the other shops that are behind the cafe. Scrapbooking a shabby shop, a quilting shop and an Australian shop. It is such a lovely place. After that we went home with our bag of goodies.

Then on Sunday we went to Picnic point for a picnic. After lunch and a play at the park we went for a walk along the walking tracks to take in the views.

Later that afternoon the three of us old roomies we went out for coffee and were lucky enough to find a cafe that happened to have a live jazz band playing. It turned out that one of the band members went to school with my friend. Small world:) After that we went our for a movie The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I had the best weekend, it was so nice to get out. I have prob used up all my outings for the year in this weekend alone:). Hope you all had a lovely weekend as well.

Bek

Check out Joannes blog Cottage in the Making to enter her give away.

Motherday blog wins

2008-06-04T15:12:00.000+10:00

I finally got around to posting the winners their mothers day prizes last week. Sorry they were so late. Here is what the lucky ladies got:

These goodies were the first prize.

And an air freshener cupcake with 2 pink sugar cookies was the second prize.

I hope you ladies like your gifts.

Bowen - My home town

2008-05-31T11:06:00.000+10:00

I was just reading LeAnn's blog about how she loves the beach and it got me thinking of my home town and its lovely beaches. I thougth I might post some. Here is a link to a slide show of some of the lovely beaches.

It is a lovely town to visit thought I don't know if I could live there again, my parents are still there. If you ever watch the movie Baz Luhrmann's movie Australia staring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman there are alot of scenes filmed in Bowen.

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. I wish I was there now on a lovely beach in the sun instead of being cold on such a dull winters day.

Winter and I have been tagged

2008-05-31T09:59:00.000+10:00

Today is the first day of winter, it looks like winter. It is rainy and the wind is blowing. I hope we get lots of rain as we really need it our dams are very low. It seems that it likes to rain everywhere else but over the dams.

Here are some photos of outside. BRRRRRR slippers are on and I am going to light the fire soon.

I have been tagged by Linda this is my first tagging.

I have to answer the following 5 questions about myself.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago I was teaching pre-school and the director of a Child Care Centre. I was also studding at Uni part time.

2. Five things on my to do list?

1. Finish my clean out and list all the unwanted items on eBay, while 1/2 price listings are on.

2. Finish my parasol and paper swap.

3. Finish all my 1/2 started craft and furniture projects

4. Clean and organise the Office

5. Clean out and organise the Craft/junk room.

3. Snacks I enjoy?

I love chocolate and coffee. I also like chips and sour cream with sweet chili sauce. Or chips or crackers and dip. oh and with the cooler weather I have been enjoying (with friends) cob loafs with hot dip in the middle yummm

4. Things I would do if I were a millionaire?

First help out any family member in need. Buy a lovely old house and renovate it and do the gardens up in English cottage style and plant a vegi patch. Take the children on a holiday to see snow and Disneyland. Invest some for a rainy day, and give some to charity.

5. Places I have lived?

Bowen, Caboolture, Townsville, Proserpine (near Airly Beach) back to Townsville and Toowoomba (All places are in Queensland, Australia)

I have to tag 5 people -

Victoria at Vintage Tea

Diana Lyn at Heaven Scent

Pearl at pearls sentimental journey

Robin at BittersweetPunkin

LeAnn at Pink Icing on the Cake

Catching up

2008-05-24T12:31:00.000+10:00

I have been away for a while. We have had this terrible Gastro bug going around and around Toowoomba, looking after my children has taken up all my time and all the washing. I am still not on top of it all. I have had a few minutes here and there and have popped in and read a few blogs.

With all the sickness I did not post the mothers day wins out but they will be posted this week and I will blog about what the girls got. So sorry girls.

The last 2 days I have been trying to catch up on cupcake orders and restocking. Today I was taking photos of everything with the help of my 3 year old son. I have an old camera which does not work any more and he loves to help set up and take photos as well.

I am thinking of getting him a kid camera for his birthday that actually takes photos. Can you see the cupcakes poking out of the shelf near the books. He set them up with some pretty things.

Here are some photos of what I have been working on. I am in the process of expanding my range.

I am looking forward to having some time to catch up with you girls and your blogs and see what adventures you have been having.

And the Winner is......

2008-05-11T19:07:00.000+10:00

With help from my daughter the winner of the Mothers Day draw is.....

First we wrote out all 7 names and put them in a dish

And Mikayla picked out one name. I wonder who is could be....................................................

It's Coll from colls garden. Congrats:)

That was exciting and Mikayla is jumping all over the place maybe we need to draw another name for a 2nd prize. Himmmm Ok you twisted my arm.

And the winner of the second prize is ...............................................................

Oh my lovely eBay friend Katrina (Athena8).

Congrats ladies please email me your address to beksshabbydreams@hotmail.com and a gift will be sent out soon. I will not do a blog post about it until you get it (and I have not finished it yet shhh).

Thank you everyone who went into the draw. It was such fun that I know I will be hosing some more in the future.

And to all the Mums or Moms out there Happy Mothers day hope it was a special day for you.

Mothers Day draw closed

2008-05-11T18:56:00.001+10:00

The Mothers Day draw is now closed. I will be getting my daughter to draw the winner.

Mothers Day Give Away

2008-05-09T08:43:00.000+10:00

It is Mothers Day here in Australia on Sunday 11 May. So I have decided to do a Mothers Day give away. To enter just leave a comment for this post and on Sunday evening (mothers day) I will draw the winner.

You can enter even if you are not a Mum. I am now going to go and make some pretty things for the give away. I will post more details as I work them out. :)

Enchanted Swap

2008-05-08T12:50:00.000+10:00

I have been involved in the enchanted swap and my swap partner was Shannon the talented lady from paint my pink http://shannonthompson.blogspot.com/. My daughter and I did the swap together.

This is Mikayla helping pack up Shannon's parcel.

Yesterday our package arrived from Shannon, I had to wait all afternoon until Mikayla came home from School to open it.

She can't wait to get that box opened.

This hat is sooo cute and had little kittens on it. Mikayla loves cats.

These are all the sweet things Shannon made. They are lovely, now all we have to do is work out who gets what lol. We decided that Mikayla can choose what she would like (except for the bedroom banner that is going in my room) if she can keep her room clean for a week. We have found the perfect place to display the pretties.

Thankyou Shannon for making this swap so special.

Long weekend

2008-05-08T12:27:00.000+10:00

This past long weekend we ended up going to the park 3 times. On Saturday I took the kids to the park for morning tea. This is such a lovely park it is at a place called picnic point which has such lovely views. Toowoomba in on top of a range. I will post some photos on day. Anyway this is a great park it has so much to do. This is one of the play areas.

This park visit was one of those spur of the moment things I had to go to an ATM and then decided to go to the park, the girls were still in dress ups. Oh well.. It was such a lovely Autumn day.

Morning tea of gingerbread men and juice.

Mikayla being a princess

Aren't these the best swings my kids love them

Then Auntie Renee turned up to say hi and have a play

Mikayla riding side saddle, she informs me this is how all Princesses ride.

Then Sunday we went to another park with some people after Church and Monday we had fish and chips in an other park. Lots of fun and sunshine. We are making the best of it before winter hits and it is tooooooo cold to go to the park.

Parasol and Paper Swap

2008-05-02T13:34:00.000+10:00

I am going to do another swap the last one was soooooooooooooo much fun. I am going to be doing this with my 5 year old. We have decided that swaps are going to be a mum and daughter special time. I can't wait.

Chech out Shannons blog for swap details http://shannonthompson.blogspot.com/

Not much else has been happening here been busy catching up on orders from when I and the kids were sick. Hubby has been away for work for a week. Planning to do a big post this long weekend.

Mums Cottage Kitchen

2008-04-14T16:35:00.000+10:00

Last night I was up late waiting for hubby to come home and up with sick children. I started thinking about when I was a girl and how my mum and Nana use to make simple cupcakes and cakes that were soooo yummy. You know the ones with butter icing or mock cream and sometimes cream cheese icing.

So since I was up and my craft table was out I started creating cakes that looked like the ones they use to make (but fake). Do you remember these, simple with loads of 100s and 1000ands or coconut. The kind of cakes you came home from School and had for afternoon tea. So this is what I made. I have called this new range Mums Cottage Kitchen.

Grab a coffee :)

2008-04-12T14:10:00.000+10:00

Today when I was driving home from the shops there was this little man with a red and white sign on the side of the road. The sign said Antique and collectors fair.... Humm I thought no children with me, why not. So in I went, thinking in my head if only I had my purse with me (I had just taken $50 note out of my purse to run up to the shops, groceries I got cost $31) oh well. After paying $5 to get in i was then left with $14. I had fun looking around, it was so weird I kept looking out for my children and had the words don't touch and this is a looking only shop on the tip of my tongue.

Then I thought I might give myself a challenge and buy something it felt a bit like being a contestant on the UK antiques show where they have a set amount of money and have to buy things to get auctioned. So off I went with $14 in hand.

The first thing I bought was a little glass lidded bowl that matches a bigger one I have in the bathroom, I got it for $5, then I found a colclough plate in great condition for $4. That left me with $5 I saw some boy and girl lucky dips for $1 each and got each on the children one and one lady had 4 doily's of $1 so I have $1 left over. (Each of the girls got a cute handbag full of bling and a stuffed puppy, Aiden got a shark, superman and trading cards)

The colclough plate
The glass bowl

There were some lovely things there and some were very over priced, I am sure all the bargains were gone by the time I got there at 11:30am. I had a nice time it was good to have a break.

Onto the second item. Last night hubby decided to come home as he finished at work earlier than planned so at 9:30 he arrived to surprise me. My sister in law had just left, we had just spent 2 hours moving the bedroom around only to end up with it the way it was to begin with.

So my surprise Anniversary gift was not finished and all my plans were wrecked. I was a little disappointed as I had worked so hard and really wanted to spoil him.

So since he has now seen the bedroom here are the photos. I still need to do a bit to get it to where I want it.

View from the door

The bed, I still have to stress the paint a bit at the edges

The book case thing I got for Glen to put all his books on.

This is what Glen got for me another one for my collection.

Still need to get new draw handles.

Hubby goes back to Brisbane tonight and will be back Sunday night so I will still do some of what I had planned for him. It just won't be the same. Oh well

Visit from the tooth fairy

2008-04-11T20:50:00.000+10:00

Tonight miss 5 finally lost her bottom front tooth. It has been loose for weeks now.

She put her tooth in her special fairy tooth box.

Look what we have here a little tooth

The tooth fairy wrote a special note, it said Thankyou Mikayla for the tooth. Don't forget to look after and brush you teeth. Regards Your tooth fairy Floss. She even left some fairy dust on the note and a $2 coin. The writing is very small as is the note.

I can't wait till she wakes up in the morning and finds the note and coin.

Bedroom update

2008-04-11T14:37:00.000+10:00

I have been very busy the last few days. Hubby rang and said he is planning to come home for 1/2 of Saturday and then go back to Brisbane for work. AAAAAAh I now have less time to get everything ready. At least I have finished painting the bed and draw set. Hopefully the paint smell will be gone by Sunday.

This morning I headed out with my 5 year old, 3 year old and 2 year old to the pretty shops (as miss 5 calls them). Even though it was very stressful with 3 Young children I did get some good bargains. I picked up this little white shabby shelf thing at Vintage Primrose a cute little shop I love to shop at and it is only up the road from me which is even better. Then I went to pillow talk and they had a sale on curtains. Yippee so I picked up some lovely curtains which were 1/2 price. That will save me time. Then it was to the library to get some books out for miss 5. Then to lincraft where they had a sale on lace 50% off. I got the lace for the bed and 2 cushion's which were 20%off. God was really looking after me today. Then I found this love sign at another shop near lincraft. And I have money left, to get some little treats for hubby.

Well I better get back to the bedroom paint should be dry now so I can start the fun part of putting the room together again.

I am not going to show you my buys, you will just have to wait till I have finished the room.

Finished hutch and bedroom project

2008-04-08T14:57:00.000+10:00

Here is the finished project I have added my pretties, I am still not 100% happy with it, I am still considering getting the sandpaper out and giving it a rub at the sides. What do you think?

I still may rearrange my pretties again :)

BEDROOM

This week is Glen and my anniversary, but he will be away for work this week so we are going to celebrate it on Sunday or Monday. I am planning to do our room up as part of his anniversary gift while he is away. He has no idea that I am going to do this.

Here are some photos of what our room looks like now. Please excuse the mess hubby was packing and I did not get the bed made and the kids have been in with toys and stuff.

View from the door

View from the wardrobes

View from the bed

Corner of the room

Yucky curtains

My side of the bed

So this is what I am thinking, I was going to paint the bed and chest of draws white. I promised my dad that I would never paint the desk white. It is quite old and in great condition still has a working ink well. The desk I put all my hubby's papers etc. I am thinking of re-arranging the room. I am keeping my eye out for new bedside tables, either a matching one to the one I am using or 2 new ones. (I do have a matching one to the one Glen is using the kids are using it at the moment, I am happy to paint them white)

I hate the curtains and am planning on making or buying new ones but not sure what type if I should go for one colour or have 2 layers or flowers????? The bedside lamps will need to be replaced sometime and I need to find somewhere for all the books. Oh and the bedspread, I was thinking for now I would maybe get some lace to cover it until I get a new one. What do you girls think any ideas would be great.

I am also open to swapping furniture around I have other chairs I can swap with the one I have in the corner.

I forgot to add this little area above the door, I am trying to work out what to put here, I have thought about little birdcages, mini shoes and heaps of other things but just can not decide. All of the children's rooms also have this space and I have decorated it with letters of their name, Mikayla has ballerina's.

Wedding and Good News

2008-04-07T21:56:00.000+10:00

On Saturday we went to my friends wedding, it was such a lovely day. It was so nice to get out and get dressed up. I got a new outfit and got my hair done.

Here is the Paige boy pushing his little sister the flower girl down the isle in an vintage pusher, I tried to get a better photo of it but people kept getting in the way.

Rach was stunning in her wedding dress

Don't they make a cute couple

Mikayla and Aiden blowing bubbles

Shantelle looking like a princess

Daddy and Shantelle blowing bubbles

Yummy wedding cake or should I say donuts, they were covered in Lynt chocolate yummmm

My hansom little man

Shantelle on her second donut, Aiden did not eat his (he does not like sweets much)

Sunday we had a nice quiet day. Today I finally did the hutch I took before and after photos, I am thinking or getting the sandpaper out and shabby it up a bit. I will take another photo when it has the china back.

The hutch was a real mess it has marks all over it and the bottom has been painted with this black thick plastic paint stuff not sure what it is but it took ages to sand.

It was very cheap now I know why I think it must have been used in a garage.

I gave it a good sand and then painted it, when done I added some cute pink draw and door knobs.

To me it still does not seem quite finished not sure what is missing, maybe it will look better once all my pretties are back in place.

Thankyou to everyone who has been praying for the little girl Carmen, she is now out of hospital the doctors are amazed and have said she is a 1 in 80 000 child. Usually with the injuries that she had you either die or you spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair and have ongoing medical issues. She is walking with a halo and spine brace on. She will have to have this for about 3 mths. The doctors were expecting her to be in hospital for a lot longer but she is such a fighter and God has heard our prayers. The next year will be full of physio and doctors visits but she should be fine and only suffer slight stiff neck in the future. We are all so proud of her she has been a real champ.

Swap and other things

2008-04-05T08:36:00.000+10:00

Today is going to be a good day.....

I am doing my first swap I am sooo excited. I think I need to get out of the creative box I am in and do something fun and new. Check out gypsymermaid blog for more details. http://gypsymermaidlife.blogspot.com/

I am very excited as I am going to do up my bedroom. My hubby is going away for work for nearly a week so I am going to paint the bed and draws, and get up to all sorts of creative mischief with a paint brush. I will be posting before photos sometime this weekend. Will be back with more later.

Now I am going to start getting ready for my friends wedding today. Will post photos and stuff later she is having some really fun and different things but I have been sworn to secrecy so you will have to wait until after the wedding to see.

Cross Country

2008-04-03T16:14:00.000+10:00

Today was the Primary Cross Country at Mikayla's School. It was such a lovely day not to hot or to cold. Perfect for running. All the prep children ran 1 lap of the oval. Once they were finished they all got a Well Done Ribbon. They were all so proud. I just love my daughters School they really think of the children and encourage them. I just loved how the teacher gave the little girl who came last her ribbon 2nd and all the children exclaimed she did not come last with the ribbons hooray. That made her day. Mikayla would have run a lot better if she was concentrating. She and a few of her friends were running together talking, waving to everyone and blowing kisses, she is sooo social.

I just love this photo

Look I got my first running ribbon

Prep class they look very pleased with themselves

My other children and a little boy who I look after having Morning Tea at "big school"

Well I have been quite busy this week, I have had the flu so have been keeping to myself a bit. We had the funeral for the 2 dear children we lost over Easter. The service was very well done. The mother is now home and is doing well and her daughter should be out of hospital in a week or 2. She will be home in time for her 4th birthday. We are all so proud of her she has been so amazing through it all.

So after Monday I have been busy painting and finishing cakes and cake slices and cupcakes and sugar cookies. Getting back into things has really helped. Here are a few photos of my latest. I have nearly finished a whole cake (ran out of faux pink icing last night, I only had 3 cm left to pipe)grrrrr :) so I will post the photo of the cake tomorrow when it is done. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. Tomorrow is the last day of term 1 for us, I am sooooooo glad as I have been missing Mikayla, I get her to myself for 2 weeks.

These are some sweet shabby sugar cookies, I just love how they turned out.

I have listed all of these on ebay.

Blessings

2008-03-29T16:25:00.000+10:00

Today is such a lovely day outside. I just love the day after rain, every thing is so clean and fresh. I love looking at nature and its beauty and all the small detail of the flowers. We are so blessed to have these things. Everyday I thank God for another day with my Children and Husband and that I can enjoy the beauty around me. For being able to see, hear and smell and all the little things that in our busy lives we sometimes take for granted.

Even though this week has been very sad for us it also has made us thankful for our family and life. To see things in perspective, to be more patient with the children, to say I love you often and really mean it, to count our blessings.

I started painting again yesterday and it really helped me feel better I have listed some of the cuppies I painted on eBay today. I am working on some more cakes and cake slices I have not done any of these since December. Hopefully I will have them finished in a couple of days since my husband will be away for work.

Thankyou to all you lovely ladies who left comments, thankyou for your prayers and support.

Update

2008-03-28T09:41:00.000+10:00

A quick update to let you know the Mother and Daughter are doing as well as can be expected. It will be a long road to recovery.

Easter

2008-03-24T08:17:00.000+10:00

Easter was both bitter sweet for us this year. We gathered together to celebrate Easter and the reason we celebrate it. We usually go to Church at the Easter fest but this year all plans were changed.

We had a surprise sleepover my 2 nieces (2 and 4 years) arrived in the middle of the night to stay. In the morning when my 3 children woke up they were soooo surprised that the girls were over. After all that excitement I pulled out the Easter gifts. Some how I had 2 extra bunnies which I could give to the girls. After that it was breakfast and then lots of Easter craft, making baskets, decorating eggs etc......

The rest of the family arrived for a family BBQ at lunch and then we put on an egg hunt for the children. I used plastic eggs and hid a fun gift in 5 of them. Once they found all the plastic eggs they came and traded them in for choc eggs. Great deal hey plastic of Chocolate. My dog was most upset this year as she was not able to swipe any of the hidden eggs.

All ready to egg hunt.

Showing Aunty Shi what they found

The only sound that could be heard was the rustle of confectioners foil.

The adults did our best to make the day fun for the children while we were also dealing with a tragic accident. My sister in laws sister was in a terrible car accident and 2 of her children passed away and her other child is very badly injured, as is the mother. Which is why I ended up with the girls over for a sleepover. After the long day my husband and I had the hardest job, we had to tell our 5 year old what had happened and why she would not be seeing her friends again and that her other friend is very badly hurt. My daughter went to kindy with the children as well as seeing them at family functions and was very upset.

Please spend time with your children and loved ones laugh and hug them lots, life is so quick and can be taken so fast. In an instant everything can change.

Please pray with me for the little girl and her mother for both their physical bodies and emotionally and the family and friends.

Pink Princess

2008-03-12T19:09:00.000+10:00

Today when my daughter got home from school there was a package for her she was soooo excited. (Thanks Shannon for addressing it to her and for the Cinderella picture on it, that is her fav princess how did you guess). The poor girl had to wait until after ballet class to open it, she was jumping out of her skin all through class.

When we finally got home she ran to her room and got changed so she could open her package. You should have seen and heard her gush.

Thank you Shannon the wand it is lovey and thank you for the extra effort you put in with the tag. Mikayla just loves it and wants to shop at your shop again soon. Here are some photos of her. Please excuse the funny look on her face we are going thought the strange camera smile stage.

Even the ribbon was a huge hit.

The wand is from Shannons shop, take a peek it is lovely. http://www.artbyshannonthompson.com/ Click on the link to see her shop.

Table

2008-03-11T10:21:00.001+10:00

My sunroom is also our libary/reading and relaxing room. No toys are to be taken into the room, puzzles and quiet boardgames are encouraged. So lately whenever I go to relax in the sunroom I can't because of this table. The rest of the sunroom is nearly finished and all matches and then there is this table. I love the table but the brown paint and peeling paint is getting to me. (as well as the 2 piles of books that need a home). So I have decided to do it up this week. The hutch will just have to wait. And as for the books I am going to go and get another matching bookcase.

I picked this table up last year it is quite old and my father (who is a furnature maker) said it is hand made.

I am not sure which way to go with it, should I strip it and then varnish it or should I paint it again. Either way I have to strip the paint off. (Yuck yuck I have stripping and sanding.) I would love some feedback from you talanted ladies. Also with the carving should I do something to make it stand out???? This is such a cute and usefull table. Here are a few photos of it. Sorry about the one on its side I uploaded them straight from my camera. I will fix it up later. Till then tilt your head :)

Thanks Girls

Who can relate?

2008-03-09T21:56:00.000+10:00

Today we went to pick up a new entertainment unit we won from eBay, (it is only 12mths old) and soooooo much better than our old one. The doors don't fall off. Anyway as we were leaving my hubby and I were discussing the couple of marks on the timber. I told him I would give it a scrub and polish and if it did not scrub up ok I might paint it white. He looked at me rolled his eyes and said "just as long as you don't paint me" Poor guy....

Next month he is away for a week for work and I am planning to paint our bed white while he is gone, at least this way I won't paint him while he is asleep in bed.

Sunny days

2008-03-03T18:49:00.000+10:00

Hubby is at a work meeting so I am finally posting another post and ebaying as well as putting my 2 year old to bed. I think I am up to 7 times now. Deep breath... Here she comes again.

I have been busy trying out some new colours and different types of glass glitter. I have been feeling bored doing the same type of thing with they same colour range.

Those of you you have seen my eBay listings would have seen my sugar cubes and sugar hearts. This weekend I was so happy to see the sun finally shining that I decided to make some yellow sugar hearts. I will be listing them tonight.

I have also been making some more faux cupcakes, I have decided to bring back sprinkles again, I use to do allot of them but found the cake yellowed from the glue after a while and putting on beads and glass glitter takes time. I think I will have to redo the photos I usually take them during the day but ran out of time and had to take them at night and they just don't turn out as well.

I just love pin dishes and sugar bowls. I have them all around the house full of faux sugar cubes and sugar hearts, at Christmas I fill them with sugar stars and trees. They brighten up those hard to decorate areas.

Well better go and list some more things on eBay and put my daughter to bed again. Till next time:)

2008-02-23T16:26:00.000+10:00

This morning my hubby went camping with a group of guys so we sent him on his way and then went to a special birthday party.

We all had a lovely morning at my Neices 4th Birthday party. Lots of cake and lollies were had by all which helped to take the kids minds off dad going away for the weekend.

It is such a hot day today I had all these plans of cleaning the house and having every thing tip top, but alas I have not done a thing except play on the computer and read blogs, ebay and facebooked. I did buy some lovely pink glass draw knobs from ebay.

I saw on Mandi's blog her latest project and now am inspired to paint my buffet. I bought it about 8mths ago to paint and sell so I could upgrade. But have been putting it off as I hate sanding. Worst job ever yuck yuck. I have so much stuff to sand and paint.

Better go the kids are now fighting about who's turn it is to choose a dvd.

2008-02-19T17:18:00.000+10:00

Here is a photo of my little ones the photo is about a year old but is one of my favs. I will post another one soon.

Well today has been another busy day, I have been madly making more Air Freshner cupcakes and other goodies, I also picked up these cute white draws that need some TLC.

Opps the photo is was ment to go under the writing, still getting use to this prog.

Well I should go and cook some dinner for my lovely children and husband.

Finally

2008-02-11T10:47:00.000+10:00

I have finally got around to starting my blog. Thanks to playschool (which is keeping my daughter out of trouble) and my husband (who has taken my son out for some boy shopping).

I am looking forward to getting to know some you interesting and talented women. Will post more soon.