more fun :)

ive been having a ball lately with sewing! i sewed another dress and another skirt yesterday - both of them a bit more advanced than the ones i did earlier in the week. trying to build my way up to something really complicated. something like these:

1. corset top - http://youcanmakethis.com/info/hats/How-to-Make-a-Corset-Top-With-a...
2. layered tulle skirt - http://youcanmakethis.com/info/hats/How-to-Make-a-Layered-Tulle-Twi...
3. peasant top - http://youcanmakethis.com/info/hats/How-to-Make-a-Peasant-Top.htm

i squealed when i saw those patterns. i can totally see brianna wearing them in a gorgeous yellow, red and hot pink colour combo!!

and the fourth one im interested in is a really sweet hat that i want to make in matching fabric: http://youcanmakethis.com/info/hats/How-to-Make-a-Newsboy-and-Cloch...

but thats $40 US dollars ..... $60 AU dollars. just for the eBooks.

i nearly passed out when i saw those. but troy isnt too impressed with the price tag. but if i got it then id be making that for friends/family for special occasions. so itd be worth it. i just gotta convince troy ;) the hat would make an awesome gift.




but here is the free tutorial for the following blue and red dress. i made the dress out of two matching red pillowcases ($1), a blue skirt (50c) from the salvos, plus some buttons/ribbon out of my scrap stash. im really enjoying recycling fabrics.

for this dress i actually didnt pick apart the skirt once i bought it from the salvos. ive used it as i bought it. so i followed the tutorial for the bodice, then just made a ruffle out of more of the red floral fabric and sewed that onto the bottom. then joined the two sections. i also changed the tying of the corset a bit. i added an extra bit of ribbon that goes around her neck and ties into another bow at the top.

this is my fav item out of the 4 ive made this week:



i did a boo-boo with the straps. u can see it in this pic. i sewed the lining to the bodice forgetting about the strap loops. so i had to sew those differently. i now know for next time tho! i was so lucky that i had 2 meters of this ribbon in my stash as it was a perfect match to the skirt material.

details:



and i also made this twirly skirt using this free tutorial. for the fabric i found a floor-length size 10 girls dress (Pumpkin Patch brand) at the salvos for $2. i unpicked the dress and ended up making this skirt plus i have heaps of leftovers. the material was in mint condition but i wasnt too keen on the pattern. but brianna fell in love. and she was begging me for a "watermelon skirt" .... i dont know if she realised that its actually oranges on the material haha.

the skirt goes into a full 360 degrees - perfect for twirling :) her face is so silly. but i dont bother with her posing cos its just "her". its totally brianna!



i also grabbed this hat while i was at the salvos and tied some scraps around the top.

Cost of the hat and skirt combined = $6.

See - i should be allowed to get spend the $60 to grab those other patterns :D


xxx K


PS. if anyone else is keen on getting those "you can make this" patterns please let me know. i was love to share the costs because its a PDF document u get sent through email. so we can share the tutorial :D makes it affordable if we split the cost.

another bargain homemade dress

i think im sewing so much so that i can avoid the photos i need to scrap. its not going to work. i know that this weekend i gotta get them out otherwise my kids scrapbooks will have a huge gaping hole in them from when i got lazy and distracted with other things :)

so here is today's scrapbooking-avoidance task ...

a pillowcase dress. this dress is made from a pillowcase from the salvos (50c) plus some trims/buttons from my scrap stash. it looks super-cute on Miss B. she loved it cos i let her pick the buttons.





i hope this weekend finds you inspired to create! but either way, make it a good one :)



xxx K

PS. if u wanna learn how to make a pillowcase dress just google it and u will find a bazillion tutorials and variations you can do. all very simple and quick!

Today I made brianna a skirt :)

for the grand total of $1. I went to the op shop to purchase material. but when i found this little linen skirt:



look at that print!


it was sooooooooo cute. but it had slight discoloration in places because it was really old. it had the yellowing thing happening to parts of the white. but cos of that it was only 50c. so i snapped that up. and then i found this matching pillowcase for another 50c ...


so I unstitched the pillowcase so i had a length of fabric. and chopped up the skirt.

then i resewed it all together and i had this gorgeous skirt, complete with a bow on the back! not bad for a noob sewer. she loved it. and i loved that it looked so "country".

now i just gotta get some green trim to dress up this pale pink singlet so she can wear them as a set :) i love that how when the singlet is tucked in it looks like a dress.






but i spent $8 all up at the salvos and i left with a big bag of fabric, clothes to unpick, and linen to chop. so im hoping to make brianna a bright red, white and mid-tone blue dress over the weekend :) ill post up here when finished!

have a great weekend :)


xxx K

ive *actually* been creative! (shock horror)

ive had so much fun this last week. Ive been feeling a bit more like my normal self and have scrapped a couple of layouts, done some OTP and even sewed a bit! its been so refreshing and nice. hopefully it is the beginning of a very creative year. ive missed the feeling. im scrapping again tonight - so 'yay'!

anyways, I have shares. the latest awesome Scrapboxx newsletter came out today and I made something for it but its been moved to the next month - so u will have to wait for that one!

but something else, i have decorated this Scrapware milk crate in a super-simple way:


we've had rainy weather basically non stop lately so its been hard to get nice photos. so just excuse the horrible photo quality above.

my kids love to colour. and i mean LOVE to colour. they have a craft table and they colour in their books and do drawings probably 3 times a day, each time they last about 15 - 20 minutes at a time. they both love to be creative. so i made them this box to keep their colours in so i dont ahve to clean up pens off the floor what feels like 50,000 times a day! they both were excited about the crate and sat down to colour as soon as i gave it to them - almost as if to test it out. so cute.

also, big news in the Day household! brianna started kindy today!! she was such a big girl. i was so proud of her. shes very socially confident, so as soon as we walked in she went off and played with the other kids and couldnt have cared less when i left. when i said bye she didnt even look up from what she was doing. i was totally snobbed!!

here are some pics from today.

before kindy i tried unsuccessfully to get some nice pics of brianna. she gave me alot of silly faces and refused to look half normal. but i just ran with it and didnt pressure her cos she was so super excited about kindy she couldnt be bothered stuffing around with photos. haha. but i think she looks so sassy in this photo:


here is her once we got to kindy. she went straight to the blocks and built a zoo with the kids that were there already.


i was amazed at how many bags kids need for kindy!!! she needed 1 backpack, and 3 drawstring bags for sheets, hat and spare clothes. i made her drawstring bags and also her cushion cover for naptime. i was so proud of myself cos although i desperately want to know how to sew i really dont have the time to learn! but im so happy with how these turned out, even if it was really basic.

i made three of the following design, but in varying sizes depending on what they were to be used for. and each one had a different wooden tag attached. of course u have to name everything. so i threaded a wooden minialbum page that i had decorated onto ribbon so it couldnt be pulled off. each wooden circle was covered in Basic Grey and Sassafrass Lass papers, some journalling rubons, AC stickers, Sass chipboard and CC alphas. they turned out real cute.




this cushion cover was a bit harder. i made two boo-boos but u cant really tell :) the back of the cushion is just the plain red polka dot material.


Anyways, I hope u all have a great night!! im gonna watch a movie while scrapping :)

In awhile crocodile.



xxx K

time with the kids

ive really been focusing on enjoying some time with the kids this month. so im sorry for the lack of posts! i was just so busy in nov and dec that i took a month off from all my "work" and just did family stuff.

here are some pics of the some of the stuff we have done since my last post.


we had a wedding to prepare and organise :) brianna and liam got married (briannas idea). liam was SUCH a stud ...






we had some fake smiles ...


some even faker smiles ...


and some real smiles ...


liam proved that "white men can jump" ...


and also learnt how to use a potty (apparently its easier to pee in a potty while wearing stilletos" ...


liam and oates found their best friends - each other ...


and oates learnt to sit on command (thankyou puppy preschool!) ...


we did finger painting (and liam did face/leg painting) ...


i got a second-hand double jogging stroller. this isnt my exact one, mine is fairly faded and doesnt have these inserts on the seats. plus mine only cost me TEN DOLLARS from lifeline. so now i can walk the dog and the kids together.



the only thing i didnt do this week was go to WW! (eep my bad!)

i do actually have scrap shares (shock horror) i will post them up tonight :)

have a great weekend!!!


xxx K

Alice in Wonderland Garden Tea Party

brianna's official party has now finished :) it was yesterday and it was SO worth all the effort!

i normally invite over all the family friends with their kids so we end up having 20-something kids. but this time i decided to make it a "big girls only" party, and i narrowed the list down to 8 girls. this way i could focus more on doing individual treats for the 8 girls and it wouldnt blow my budget!

my fav aspects of this party:
- i did everything girly! so much fun!
- i LOVED the hanging paper lanterns and paper flowers
- i learned how to do a topsy turvy cake
- my mum and dad came!!!!!!!!!! this is HUGE cos my mum doesnt travel well. so she has only visited moranbah a three times since we moved here. so that was a huge blessing that she not only made it out here, but she also got to enjoy the party :) i really appreciated that mum!
- all the girls got presents during the games, these included barbies, colouring in books and fancy shoes. i kept my eyes out for specials leading up to the party so each girl got a nice toy to take home.


here are some pics:

the paper lanterns, fairies, glass candle hangers (i love these so much!), and crepe paper flowers. the pink tulle in the background is from my daughters bedroom. i hung it from the roof and draped it around the food and cake table to stop the flies getting on the food. was so handy - ill definitely be doing that again!


another shot of how i set it all up. i had heaps of teapots everywhere. on the sitting table i had them down the middle and i had coloured pencils, darryl lee large lollypops, lollypop sticks, massive sherbet straws and colourful fake flowers in them. i also had them on the food and cake table.

each setting at the table had their own lace placemat, mismatching teacups and saucers from Lifeline, their goodiebags and M&Ms. the goodiebags didnt have lollies in them, they had bracelets, necklaces, and lots of cool hairbands, clips and a scrunchie.

i did a doughnut tier instead of a cupcake tier for something different. ive done cupcake ones before but doing it this way made me realise just how much easier it was to fit the donuts on then cupcakes. i always seem to have the icing not quite fit when i make cupcakes.


this photo looks really pink cos of the tulle behind the table. but this was the cake i made. the top tier is buttercake, the bottom one is mudcake. colouring the fondant took awhile but was worth it. i had so much fun doing it cos i havent done anything like that before. the sticks on top were candles i found at coles. the teapot handle isnt part of the design, i shoulda moved the teapot behind it before photographing. oh well :)



my mum took pics of brianna so once i get those ill post those up. i didnt take any cos she was and she is fab at photography. but here is one i snapped of my neice Hula that afternoon after everyone had left while we were all relaxing beside the slip'n'slide. shes so cute :)


thank goodness the next birthday is at the end of 2009!! yay!


xxx K

What a beautiful day!!!

Brianna turned four today :)

(warning: longest blog post EVER - for the family's benefit)

yesterday was NOT so wonderful!!!! i spent the morning cooking a cake, but it was one of those chocolate cakes where u cook most of the ingrediants in a saucepan, then u let it cool, then u mix in the flours and eggs. so i did the first bit in the morning - then it cooled while the kids slept - then in the arvo i added the other ingrediants. i was planning on icing and decorating the cake at nighttime. but when i added THE LAST EGG it was ROTTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was soooooooo spewin. i had to throw the whole thing in the bin. i was tired and emotional too, cos my hormones are crazy with this new pill im on.

so i gave up and i got packet mixes and made it lastnight. i was pretty disappointed cos i like to make the kids cakes. i had to stay up till 10pm to get it out of the oven. then i had to get out of bed at 2am when it had cooled (it was a HUGE cake) and wrap it in cling wrap. then i had to get up AGAIN at 4.30am to ice and decorate the cake cos i wanted it all to be done before brianna got out of bed.

i was SO tired!

but today just got better and better. brianna had an amazing day filled with friends, love, laughter and fun. i was so glad that troy and i got to give her such a fun birthday.

basically today brianna called the shots. anything she wanted to do ... she did! so here is the low-down:'


4am - brianna remembers in her sleep that i said her presents would be out in the hallway so promptly decides to wake up in the middle of the night for them!!!!! "go back to bed brianna!" haha.


5.30am - brianna wakes up again, this time we let her get out of bed for pressies from us :) she got three boardgames, 2 dressups, a red and white polka dot party dress for today, a gorgeous purple ballerina tutu, a cash register for the "shop" she set up at home out of cardboard boxes, a hi5 DVD game, a barbie, some little pet-shop dogs and her big pressie was a barbie doll house. she wouldnt stop playing with it all day!

her barbie doll house:


one of her new dressups:

this is the party dress and the register. its amazing how u can find presents for kids that are SO cheap, and they just adore what they get given. after getting her other presents and buying food for the parties, i only had a few dollars left out of her "birthday party budget" so i ducked into the local Salvos to see if they had anything in there. being a mining town its amazing what u find in there!!! i quite often get name brand clothing in mint condition there for $1. anyways, the register was only 50c and the dress was $1!!!!!!!!!!!! Gods blessing hey. He knew what would make brianna happy :)


9am - breakfast while watching Tinkerbell. i love that movie!!


10am - her "cake party". her alice in wonderland birthday party is on saturday morning, but today we had a morning tea at the local cafe so brianna could have a birthday cake on her actual birthday. kinda like a mini-birthday-party. some of her friends were invited and we just basically hung out and ate too much cake. very relaxed. i so enjoyed it!

here is the cake i made for this morning. she loves Tinkerbell so i couldnt resist that cake transfer!!! mind you, i ripped it a bit while putting it on (oops). its a bit hard to tell from the angle of the pic but its a two tier cake.


i found these cute edible icing frangipanis for the cake im making on saturday, so i stole some for this cake.

poor brianna actually put her mouth ON this candle when she was blowing it and she burnt her lip a little bit on the wax. poor little silly billy.


a few of her closest friends.


Midday - Home for a rest. she was exhausted.

3pm - We cracked open her new boardgames. They were awesome!!! she was so excited about them, and wanted to play all of them more than once. mummy needs a longer attention span haha. but i survived - barely. My favs were the Dr Seuss ones!! If you have young kids i highly recommend checking them out. We got the "ABC Game" and the "Cat in the Hat game". Brianna is pretty good with letters and numbers so picked it up quickly. They will help her practice her alphabets while also being fun.

5pm - Pizza at the park. Brianna got to choose the "what and where" for dinner. Family tradition. whoever's bday it is gets to choose. she loves pizza but doesnt have it often so i knew she would pick that. and cos it was a special occasion we let her have softdrink. she isnt allowed it normally. so she thought she was the queen. she doesnt like alot of softdrinks anyways, only raspberry lemonade.

liam with his pizza face. he thought it was awesome that he could have softdrink. he guts it more than brianna. typical boy! he was such a good boy today.


brianna giving me a dazzling smile for the camera haha:




Then it was just the normal routine of showers, milk, teeth and into bed. they got to stay up till 7.30pm tonight.

and thus ends my long long LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG blog post. i wanted to record it all for future reference!!!


xxx K

My exciting news ...

... well, its exciting for me and my fam anyways! :D Here is my new little poochie named Oates. He is an alaskan malamute and he is 6 weeks old.

He is just a complete joy! Oates has a lovely nature and is very cuddly. Troy and I have wanted our kids to have a dog for awhile, but it was never the right time for a variety of reasons (eg. no fence) but im very excited to have taken the step now.

My two fav things about Oates are that (1) he looks like he is always wearing a batman mask, and (2) the fact that one ear flops over, and one stands up straight. They are always like that!! You can see it above.

Anyways, just a quick entry cos Troy called me from work asking me to post up a pick of Oates so he can show his mate :)


xxx K

Im back!!

Wowza - im never going to move house over the Christmas/New Year period again. It was chaotic and terrible!!! Anyways, ill be back tomorrow with a proper post with some very exciting news :)

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that im still alive!


xxx K