cool stuff - cooking

How cool are these? Babushka dolls which are actually measuring cups. The size is written at the bottom of each section - the biggest is 1 cup, there is 1/2 cup, 1/3, 1/4, etc. Not only are they useful but they look soooooo good. I leave them out on the bench and that way they never get lost in my draw!

cool stuff - fabric paint

This was just a weird photo that I wanted to share... and this one was them actually in some normal clothes - well 2 out of 3 aint bad on their way to a party.

And finally this cool stuff- Jo Sonja's Textile Medium.

As I said the other day I do have fabric paints - but they are packed up in the shed, so for the t-shirts the other day I used normal acrylic paint (not even Jo Sonjas) and mixed it with some of this stuff. I let it dry and then even threw it in the washing machine and it looked great. I gave away the tiger and the blue bike print. This is really great stuff and easy to work with and is much easier than my actual fabric paints. I got it at Spotlight ( a little while ago so I can't remember its price- sorry)

uh....hello....

Yeah, well...um.....hi. Remember me? I know, it has been a really really long time - and not a word. Not a photo, a blip, nothing. Why? Pretty good question - with a pretty lame answer. There were computer problems - which have been resolved. Four family members had birthdays, two more in extended family and lots of friends. Throw in a bit of Christmas and oila - no contact for nearly two months.
Two months - wow! I have not been sitting idle though I would love a chair in the sunshine with a good book - even a bad magazine, I digress - we have been out there doing stuff. And I have captured it all for the blog. So this message is somewhat of a warning - that there is a mass of post coming - really really soon. Beware - two months of posts of kids christmas crafting and holidays will be bombarding. I have planned it all in order that if you wish you can go back in time to the 7th December, when transmissions suddenly vanished.
While I always do 'plan' to keep this blog up to day - planning is a form of procrastination in which I regularly practice. Hope to see you again soon - love Nic

Its almost time....

The school books are now all ready, the pencils labelled and the bag packed. Monday Alexander is back to school and we are all excited. The twins start kinder on Monday - lets hope they get excited about that too.

Is my face red??????

Yup, had one of these moments today. Turned up, late (that usual, not the embarrasing bit), for a playdate that had been organised for a long while. I knocked on the door, which was opened and I ushered Alexander in. The mum was looking at me very strangely. I wondered if she recognised me or what the issue was. The issue was the playdate was not today, but TOMORROW. By this stage I was already in and the kids were playing. UGH! I just wanted the floor to swallow me up! Alas I stayed for a cuppa and then left as they were going out. Now I have to front up and do it all again tomorrow as there is someone else coming as well. Hopefully my red face will disappear by then.

Cool stuff - tshirt

Whenever I do something, I usually go a little OTT - case in point for these t-shirts. I need two tshirts to go with some shorts for PJ so I decided to print on some I had bought (I stockpile these when I see them on special for $3-$5)



With tshirt in hand - all I needed was freezer paper, image/design, cutting knife and fabric paint. I was a bit lazy and it was late, so I found pastels designed for fabric as it was quicker than going out to find my fabric paints. Anyway, found this frog image on free clipart site (actual link is lost but there is heaps of free cliparts around) and printed it out in the required size. Using the freezer paper I traced the image on the matt side.



I cut out the image, saving those little pieces that needed to go back into the design.Place the image using an iron. This is where you replace those little bits again. If it is in the wrong place you can simple cool the paper, replace it and reiron it. Just be careful not to iron too much as the design can be difficult to remove. Stick it enough so the paint wont bleed and you should be able to use the design again.

Add the colour - you can see that I mixed the colours a little as the palette was limited

then simply remove the freezerpaper and set the image as per your directions. I was so happy with the result, I did all of the ones at the top - even finding some paint! No doubt there will be more of these!

Australia Day

We packed the bikes, the kids and some food and headed up to the Dandenongs to celebrate this Australia Day. While we weren't the only ones who decided that Emerald Lake would be a good place for the day, we had a great time. We walked the kids around the lake and they are getting really quite good on their bikes. The handles are more for slowing them down as opposed to pushing them along!

And the Big Squirrel had a lovely time on the waterbikes with Alexander - and I enjoyed the opportunity for a bit of a relax in the shade on the banks.

Impromptu Beaching

What started as just a normal day, ended as a lovely family day when the Big Squirrel came home early so we decided we were off to the beach. We packed the bikes in the car and headed for St Kilda where there is a great beachfront bike track. The boys rode well to Elwood, had a play and then about face. Alexander ventured into the water - but Benji and Spencer were not so keen - and fell asleep in the car on the way home. Fresh air, sunshine and a walk certainly does refresh.

Good Night

Last night everyone was packed up for a sleepover. It was really a nigt of firsts - Alexander slept over at my brothers house and went off to the movies with him. The twins had their first night without Alexander at my parents house and we had our first night without a house full of kids. It wasn't really planned and we hadn't organised to be anywhere - but we went out to dinner (with conversation and no indegestion!) followed by a movie (Australia all 3 hours of it) and a good sleep. It was only broken with the 8am!!! phone call from my brother who was only ringing for a chat as he had been up for a while! They all returned safe and happy and we know we could do it again.

Good find

We were out driving - off to get a coffee- when we saw an overfull dumpster on the nature strip. This little awning was sticking out and i had the perfect place for it. It came home with us and now sits proudly over the back door - keeping the summer sun off the glass, and I am sure it will provide shelter from the rain. A great free find. (seeing the picture it could have done with a quick clean before we put it up!

Presents

Inspired by lovely gifts from Nay, I delved into the stash to make some pj shorts for the boys and their impending sleep overs. I actually bought this fabric with that in mind for christmas, but never got around to it - but today was the day. While I was at it I cut out some out of other fabric I had, to keep in the present cupboard.

While I was sewing Mr P mentioned he wanted a heat pack but missed out at Christmas, so he got one from the super hero fabric and I found the other ones I had cut out and not finished, so they all got done too.

The have a washable removable cover, with the flanelette inside is filled with lavended infused dried rice and little super benji helped filled them. Oh - I have been asked - the rice is not cooked.

Does this make me Mrs Incredible?

......or their maid?

Science

Alexander got this great little science pack to make crystals. Came complete with the goggles which is his favourite bit. Lets hope they work.

League of Justice

There is a major super hero fettish going on at our house. If we can pry the kids out of their incredibles shirts (mum had the embroidery on her machine) the choice is the superman suits, these superman tshirts which are much more practicle with velcro capes. The other option is batman ones which are also home made with removable capes.

A big 6 year old

Our big boy is 6 today. We had a lovely day - out for breakfast at our usually haunt which is really easy - they order us our usual!
A visit from Aunty and Uncle and Fartie followed by a casual party with some friends. I am getting more relaxed with my entertaining - trying not to stress so much and as a result I enjoy it more.
I outsourced the cake decoration at the very last minute - and Mr P did a fantastic job at R2D2 from Star WarsAlexander had a lovely time playing with some of his friends. Seriously - how good does this look - with little more than some lollies, 4 colour food colouring and slab cake from the supermarket. I think he will get this job more often.

Cubby progress

Now with almost all a roof, all sides and some ballustrading - we are getting close to completion.

bubbles

this one actually worked.

cool stuff - blocks

My brother, Mr P, together with a bit of help from Dad made this great box of blocks. The box is a toy box that our uncle made of us when we were kids and is on loan for the blocks. They are all mathematically worked out so that they should stack evenly, together with some extra additions such as long poles and round bits for a bit of decoration. I love that they are all natural wood and dont have a finish on them. Everybody loves having a play with them, and building them up is almost as much fun as

knocking them down!

some sewing...

The sewing machine was pulled out of hibernation for another birthday. A purple top for a dear friends birthday. Hopefully she will wear it and take a photo of her good self looking very sexy in it for you all to see. I was lucky enough to spend the evening with her and we went out for a lovely dinner at Orseni's in Camberwell. The food was delish - so much so there was no room for any birthday dessert and they did have both lemon tart and sticky date pudding!

Happy Birthday Robyn and lets hope this year is much easier and more fun!!

banks of the yarra

A hot night so we took the kids off to the yarra river for a bike ride and a picnic. It all went off quite smoothly - with the FREE bbq's on the river banks and the kids really enjoyed the outing. It was also the first outing for my finished picnic rug.

learning

This very flattering was taken very late at night - but its about whats in front of me. Today Mr P taught me how to make silicon moulds and resin. I got the stuff for my birthday in August - and he was over tonight and we randomly decided to do it. It isn't hard and now I have done it my mind is spinning over what we could do and make moulds of. We did buttons as I had some handy. Look forward to more about this in the future.....

paper

Alexander got a cool star wars paper book for christmas and Mr P helped with the very complex construction resulting in a remarkably sturdy star wars mask - I think it is a clone trooper but I could be wrong.

Hatching

I know it looks creepy - its on my kitchen bench. We got an egg which hatches in water and this is what came out!

happy birthday

We celebrated the big squirrels birthday today with a bbq dinner and a few friends and family. The gazebo was set up in the back yard and we enjoyed the warm evening as the sun went down. While some took the mickey - namely my dad, i love the lights on the table - a collection of glass jars all different sizes filled with tea light citronella candles. They lit the table nicely and kept some of the mozzies away.