A New Adventure

So for those of you who might be wondering why I have not done a follow up post on my office space DIY I thought I would fill you in. Now I realise there are probably only about %1 of you who actually are a tiny bit interested in my office space, not really the most exciting blogging :) but I thought I would share the progress.

About the same time as the new office space was discussed an amazing opportunity came up for our family. We are relocating to a log house!!!!!!!! Thats right, a genuine hand built by a dear friend, log house!!!

So the office space ended up being a quick, very underwhelmeing, not fit for a post DIY and the move became our new focus.

We move in 6 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's still in the same area just 15 minutes out of town so the kids will stay at the same schools and tama and I will continue on with our jobs.

We feel so blessed to have a new adventure to go on with our family. My 16yr old daughter perhaps the least keen. In her words when seeing our new abode exclaimed "So we are moving to a glorified tramping hut!!!!" (read it loud with teenage disgust in your voice and you will get the picture).

The others are as excited as tama and I. Lots of space to ride our motorbikes, fun for tilly the dog and chandler the kitten, a space for chickens, a stream for eeling, trees to climb and make huts in, space, silence and adventure!

We are hoping what we spend on fuel we will save on power (it has solar panels!!!!!) But really it's just a lets try it and see!!!!

So I will carry on with my sorting and packing. I took a break from sorting all my craft stuff to write this post. 

Heres to our new adventure :)

Arohanui Mim

Art Deco

You may remember the post last year re Art Deco weekend, see here.

Well, we did it all again this year. We all dressed up in our Art Deco inspired clothing, loaded the vehicles with chairs; our finest china and silver, bunting, beautiful table cloths, yummy food and a marquee to set it up in and off we went!

It was a beautiful, (windy) Hawkes Bay day. We were very happy to have shelter from the intense summers sun!

We got ourselves an amazing spot on the seas edge, right out from the main festivities and right in the middle of the foot traffic. It was awesome! We felt like celebrities as we were constantly having our photos taken! We even made it in the paper! We loved it ;p

Here are some of our fav photos from the day.

If you wanna know more about Art Deco Weekend, go here.

Much love

Kate and Mim

Art Deco Sneak Peek

We just got back from art deco & had a blast! Heres a sneak peek from our awesome day. 

More pics to come

love kate and mim

Teepee DIY

Tell me I'm not the only one obsessed with teepee's at the moment? Call me a follower, as I'm aware they are the latest fad, but seriously! I love them!!!

And, because of my love for them, I decided to make one for my daughter. She is coming up 16 months and I thought she would love her very own little hideaway.

Now, before we move on, I must put a disclaimer out there... I am by no means a sewer. I am however, learning. Jono refurbished some old furniture over christmas and made me a sewing space in our spare room. I just love it!!! I will one day do a post on it, because it's just amazing! 

He knew I was quite keen on learning to sew. I mean, I'm pretty much home 24/7 these days, I needed a hobbie!

So with that out in the open, I feel happy enough to continue on with my very own Teepee DIY.

There will be no sewing lingo, as I have no flippin clue what any of it means. But I hope it's clear enough for you. 

And hey, if I can make one! So could you!

Materials needed:

Tape measure

Fabric - for the same size teepee, you're looking at about 2.4m in length by 1.8m (or 2 single flat sheets :)

Dowling x4 - 1.8m lengths

Thread

Sewing scissors

Sewing machine

 I picked up these retro single flat sheets from the hospice store for $4 a piece.

Lay out fabric in a big open space. The lounge has the biggest open floor space in our house, so that was the go! Oh, and if you have children, namely a toddler, do this when they are sleeping :)

Jono and I had pre cut the triangles from the first sheet. Here we had pinned it on the 2nd sheet and used it as a guide, this way, I got 4 perfect triangles that matched!

The measurements we used were 1200mm across the bottom of the triangle and 1600mm on the sides.

Jono took a sneaky pic of me 'hard' at work. Yes, I am wearing onsies. Yes it is about 3 in the afternoon.

Basically once you have all 4 sides cut out, pin them together. If you are using alternating fabric, make sure you space it out :) This pic shows the teepee sewing together, pre door and dowling. I love the fabric!

When you have decided what side you want to have the door on, find the centre, so in this case it was 600mm along the bottom of that triangle. Cut a slit up the centre to the height you desire. See below.

 I then pinned the door, ready to hem it.

Pre sewn

Now, this is obviously not the finished product... but it is awesome! I didn't take a picture of the sleeves to hold the dowling (wooden poles) in. Partly because it took me so much mucking around to get them perfect, even then, they are not picture perfect. But imagine if you will, the sleeves on this teepee holding the poles, but in the one I made the sleeves are on the inside of the teepee. The concept is pretty much the same.

Next time though, I think the above picture would be a better way to go!

The finished product, set up in my daughters room!!!! The dowling has been inserted into the sleeves and there is string holding them together at the top so that they don't slip. 

My daughter playing with her BFF's, two of Mim's kids. Seriously, this kid is totally obsessed with them!!!

Daddy came home and she grabbed his hand, and her towel and took him in to her new teepee.

I am so happy with how it turned out. It is such a cool feature in her room.

If you guys are game enough to give one a go, please tell us about it! If you have already, send me a link, I'd love to see it.

Much love,

Kate

Just saying hi

Just popping on to say hi and hope everyone on this side of the world is enjoying the heat!!!! Got up to 32 yesterday here in Waipukurau (which is 89.6 fahrenheit for all of you over the other side of the world).

This photo is one from a wedding Kate and I went to a couple of weeks back.

Its Art Deco this weekend whoop whoop!!!! We can't wait and have been busy getting outfits sorted and creating accessories. We went last year and had a blast, so we are really looking forward to it again.

We will make sure we take lots of pics and pop them up for you all to enjoy.

Does anyone else do the art deco thing? We would love to hear about it.

Arohanui Mim

Office space DIY part two: Recovering the Chair

So as part of my office space DIY I was really keen to find some cool fabric to recover the chair with. I was all set to head off to spotlight until I looked in my stash and found some perfect fabric.

I had already used it once when I recovered Tamas office chairs and I  realised it would be just the thing for my new motivational space.

It really was the quickest DIY ever, literally 10 minutes!!!! All you need is:

• An old chair in need of a makeover
• Some fabric (I used upholstery fabric so I know it will wear well)
• Gun stapler
• Sewing scissors
• A screw driver

So here's the chair before I began. Pretty ugly old fabric but the chair it's self is in pretty good condition. The first thing to do is too unscrew the top from the frame. Pretty easy and would be easier if you had a drill rather than an old fashioned screw driver.

The next job is to lay the seat on your fabric and cut around it. Make sure you leave enough fabric to put up and staple. Once you have done that you just gun staple all the way around and boom you are done.

Screw the top back on the chair base and your DIY is complete!!!

I am stoked with the results and cant wait for the rest of my DIY office space to be completed.

Arohanui Mim

Office space DIY part one: The thinking and planning

So unfortunately we do not have an office. We live in a house with six people, a cat a dog and only one living space and no spare bedrooms. Every small bit of space is taken up with something. I have got pretty good at over the years utilising our space well. I will admit I think I do however frustrate my husband when I come home with yet another cool find and have to find a home for it.

When you walk into our backdoor we have a small tiled space with a chair and tiny dumping ground desk :) This is the space I have decided to do some DIY on, and I am excited about it!!!!

This year I am going back to the books, in-between work and family, and doing some more study. I haven't started it yet and I think one of the reasons is I just have no where to actually set stuff up and begin! I actually began to get depressed just thinking about the tiny desk and wondering how on earth I was going to make room for my books, computer, notes etc.

So after having a bit of think and talking to tama we have decided to clean the space out and I am going to DIY that puppy over.

We are checking out an old desk of my grandfathers, I am on the hunt for some inspiring fabric to recover the chair, pinboard, fancy stationary, storage boxes or baskets and maybe some art work.

Stay tuned for hopefully what will become the space that inspires me as I begin my somewhat unknown venture into my masters.

I would love to see some of your work spaces you have set up that inspire you to work, be it study, sewing, craft or kitchen.

Arohanui mim

Short Hair Don't Care

Time for a change

Work Day Weekly Wears

So I quite like these pics cause I look a bit younger in them, ha ha. Think it's the high pony...Yessss.

I really love this outfit cause it's kinda fun and comfy and I really enjoy mixing up my colours. 

Earlier this year my awesome mum shouted me and my sister a trip to the Philippines and Hong Hong for our cousins wedding!!! how cool is that. But no....... it wasn't cool...... it was hot!!!!!!

We knew it would be so I went and grabbed myself a couple of really light weight tops that would be good for travel and the humid conditions.

I really quite like the colour mustard but it does not suit me that well, but it was only $5.00!!!! and i just loved it. So when when I wear it I usually put a bright coloured scarf with it to lift it.

This scarf is another fave and I got it on the same trip but in Hong Kong. I like a bit of leopard print and a bit of fluro and this scarf combines the two!!!!

Top: Cotton on
Scarf: Hong Kong
Shoes: Shoe Connection
Jeans: Just Jeans

Rainbow Party (part three)

Months ago I decided a Rainbow themed Party was the go for my daughters 1st birthday.

With that sorted, I started to think about what food I would like to have!

It was fun researching food ideas for rainbow parties and seeing what others had done. Pinterest was where it was at! So many fantastic ideas.

My husband thought I was a little obsessed, but hey, when have I ever got to host a 1st birthday party, let alone my own daughters!!!! He got over that when it came to party time and got to eat all the yummy food I'd prepared.

The party was a shared BBQ lunch followed by a Rainbow afternoon tea which was done by yours truly. It was a flippin mission doing it all, but luckily I had my sisters to watch my daughter so I spent most of the day prior to the party frantically baking! We got there in the end.

Check out the Rainbow spread and enjoy :)

Much love,

Kate

Truffles were made by my sister in law and they were to die for!!!!

Fruit kebabs with pinapple, green and red grapes and strawberries.

 Vanilla cupcakes iced with butter cream icing and coloured with food colouring gels.

 Bowls of Cadbury drops, Pebbles and Skittles

 Cake pops using my trusty chocolate cake recipe (found here), iced in white chocolate and coloured with food colouring and finished off with hundreds and thousands.

Rainbow Jelly in cups (Let's not get into how hard that was)

 The cake!

 That moment, when you cut into it and you find that it actually worked! A beautiful Butter cake made up of 6 layers using food colouring gels, iced with cream cheese icing between the layers and covered with lemon icing.

Me with my creation.

The birthday girls seal of approval :)

Rainbow Party (part two)

About two weeks prior to the party I started checking the weather forecast like a mad woman. It obviously kept changing by the day. But I was faithful and was praying my heart out for a sunny Hawkes Bay day, which is exactly what we got!

I'd always pictured the party to be outside in the sunshine, embracing the start of our amazing summer! It was so perfect!

We have a pretty blank canvas back yard. Both Jono and I are not avid gardeners, but we sure do grow some sweet weeds :) It's ideal for hosting bbq's and get togethers as there is nothing but grass, which means we can add our own touches and it looks like a new place!

Have a look at the decorations we chose to turn our yard into the party zone.

Much love,

Kate

 Rainbow bunting made by Jono. Each triangle represented a month of our daughter's life.

 Fabric covered balloons all in rainbow formation. I was annoyed they didn't stand up straight and then Jono informed me I needed the things below. Lame. But they still looked cool and Mim has since claimed the fabric for her own DIY.

 Drink station, complete with mini milk bottles filled with punch and chevron paper straws in rainbow colours.

 Giant Jenga was a hit. This is when it was being used as it was created. About an hour later these guys were using them as a jumps on their scooters!

 A cosy tent shelting everyone from the hot hawkes bay sun. You can purchase these tents here.

 6 empty glass jars filled with a colour of the rainbow each and white flowers. Looked perfect on the table.

About our girl.

 The Rainbow afternoon tea in all it's rainbow glory. 
Come back tomorrow for the final part of this party madness, the food!