Hey Baby

So I hosted a baby shower today for one of my best friends. It was really fun. I decided on a kind of bunting heavy, cool scrapbook paper, doily, typed theme ha ha. You will get the idea with the pics. 

I made a really good carrot cake with the best cream cheese icing. So it is only the second carrot cake i have ever made!!!!!!!! The first was just after tama and I got married. I didn't really have all the correct ingredients so I was kinda like oh this will do, and this, and it will be ok without this..... boy was I wrong!!!!!!!!!! it was tiny, like hardly rose at all, and the cooler it got the harder it became until it was time to cut it and the knife didn't even make it in a cm led alone the whole cake. 

I am pleased to say todays cake was great, moist (aarrghh hate that word) lots of flavour and a hit.

Instead of using the words baby shower I decided to call the day 'Hey Baby' kind of like a welcome to the little one.

Lots of fun games, great food and drink, laughs and wonderful presents.

At the bottom of our door is a board with blackboard paint so I wrote a wee welcome sign for everyone

My yummy cake :)

I grabbed the clip boards from church and attached doliys with 'Hey Baby' written on them and a pen for all the games so people could lean on them.

Guess the weight, date, sex. Cute little cards I cut out and tied together with twine. I typed them up on my daughters typewriter.

I made a wee book out of cool paper for people to write a prayer, blessing or some advice for the new baby and mum and dad.

Some of the pages. I did them all sorts of colours and shapes and sizes and sewed them altogether

done and dusted!!!!!!!!!

I have just posted my final essay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't quite believe it. After 3 years of study it is all wrapped up and only the student loan remains, but really who care about that! :)

I am just so pleased it's done. I won't know what to do with my self. But actually I do, I have so many things I have not done and put to the side because of my study. The biggest has been my fitness and my craft. I just have had no spare time for these things because nagging in the back of my mind was always  the next essay.

I have a list of things I really really want to do this term so here goes:

My fitness!!!!!!!!! it's quite hard to believe i actually used to be fit, in fact i actually used to run often an hour a day!!!!!!!!!! I have put on 5kgs this winter and while the weight does not bother me the fact that i don't fit my clothes and fell all gross does. So in the weekend I brought some new running pants (don't lie I know you all do it too, buy new gear when you begin your new exercise kick :) and I will be using them 2moro morning.

Reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have so many book I can't wait to read. I LOVE reading but really just felt guilty and didn't have the time cause of all my massive loads of txt books. I have some wonderful Alexander M'Call-Smith books just waiting for me....yay.

Quilting: I have the best quilt ever to finish. Last christmas I made me and my sisters memory quilts out of fabric from both grandmothers, mum and my stash. I finished theirs but not mine!!!!!!!! and i can't wait to get it done. My sewing machine does not have a quilting foot so it's the old school way and all done by hand. 

My room: tama made us a new bed and bedside cabinets and that inspired me do give our room a mini makeover. I have started with making a great cushion and finding some fabric to re cover a lamp but there are so many things yet to do. I need to remember to take before and after pics too!!!!!

My rose garden and vege garden: It really is so so so bad. It needs some tender loving care, it is terrible!! poor garden, not a lot of weeding or pruning NO tender loving care, so that is a must!!!

I can't wait to get started!!!!!! perhaps after a good nights sleep

Pinterest and red velvet cupcakes

Just made a pinterest page, yay, check it out. Also had my first ever red velvet cupcake the other day!!!!!!! so sooo soooooo good :)

Fathers day: My Dad

So it was fathers day in NZ yesterday. A bit of a funny old day as my Dad died when I was 11. Some years it's all good and other years I find it quite hard. Yesterday at church people were sharing what their Dads have taught them, what they love about them, the best advice they have even given them etc. I was sitting there eyes brimming with tears trying not to let them fall out of my eyes (as i put it:) It's all good to cry i know and have people comfort you, but it was a moment I just wanted to have alone.

So the last 24 hours got me thinking about my Dad and all the things he taught me in the 11 years I got to have with him. Not enough at all, but i can tell you, those 11 years were the best, he was the best Dad ever.

My Dad taught me to love children, create exciting programmes for them, tell amazing stories, whistle when it's dinner time, present your work well, keep your bike clean, put up all your camping gear and get your site totally set up before you go off and have fun, sing silly songs, love jesus, be confident, have an open home, laugh loudly when watching funny tv programmes.

I miss him, he was one of the good ones.

Homemade Bunting

So I am a bit of a bunting maker, I LOVE it. I love how quick and simple it can be or tricky if you want to add embellishments, and how it can just tie any room together. 

These are two of my latest projects. The first is 'engagement bunting' One of my very best friends is getting married. She is really creative and quirky and loves autumn tones so I decided to create some engagement bunting for them. I really wanted to give them something handmade and something that was unique to them and found some really great fabric, some I had and some I thrifted. 

I am so stoked with the end result. And yay they loved it too.

I enjoyed adding doilies I had found, I think they just added a neat touch

This next one is for my friends daughter for her 3rd birthday. She always wears these colours so I was stoked to find fabric that all worked in together well. My favs are the little scotty dogs and the wee birds.

Yay bunting love

Rainbows after rain

Recovering old chairs part 2

Ta da, i actually have the photos to put up!!!! usually i say i will and i don't... but not today people, today I DO.

So when i set about to recover these 4 chairs for Tamas new work space I had to actually find fabric cheap enough to make it worth while. I can't believe how expensive cool funky upholstery fabric is!!!!! right, does anyone in New Zealand have a good source for me apart from Spotlight???

So off to spotlight it was. I really could (and actually do) spend hours looking and trying to choose fabric, but it was made easier in that a couple of us had already worked out the colour scheme in the rooms and had picked the wall paper so I had some colour perimeters to work with.

I chose a cool black and white/cream spotted, kind of giraffe/leopard spots, for the admin office reception area, and a nice green for the lounge.

When recovering them i had a few issues. The first was actually unscrewing the arms to get the old fabric off. Some were ok but on some the screws had lost their thread and Tama had to help. The second thing was is was not just a straight forward staple gun round the edges. I had to create a pattern and sew the back as slip cover and then staple the bottom. It was all good but took a little longer. The third thing was after two chairs my hands were SO SORE trying to use the staple gun. I really must be weak and would totally love a air compressed gun as once again I had to call on my trusty husband to get those staples in securely.

But I am totally happy with how they turned out, yay.

The admin office has a really nice yellow and a rich choc brown as colours with white walls so the spotted chairs looked great in there.

The green looks great with the wallpaper.

In total the fabric didn't even cost $30!!!! so I was really happy to get four chairs done for less that $10 each. A total saving. Can't wait for my next project.