make my week #4 - V-Day Dolls

(oops, this was scheduled to post Monday morning. sorry if you get multiple posts of it in your reader)

i had this idea of making some dolls with extra long legs and arms that i wanted to try out this week.

and so, with V-Day looming, i thought i'd add some puffy hearts for them to throw their long arms around.

Heather:



L-R: Patty, Heather, Joanie

they're tired of waiting around for Mr Right, so are really putting themselves (and their hearts) out there for Valentine's Day 2011 :)

***

and then there's Beatrice...

she's taking a more laid back approach to Feb 14th.

soooo, your turn now, what did you make???

::our first baby is *seven* tomorrow, so we're planning all sorts of wonderful treats for her...starting tonight with her FIRST EVER trip to the movies!! so excited for her::

Jada draws:

i don't think i've shared any of Jada's art with you since Plunket decided Danny was cross-eyed and Jada visually recorded it.

so here's an update of the kind of pictures i find laying around...

she's obsessed with Little House on the Prairie so most drawings are like this:

Featuring, from L-R, are: Carrie Ingalls, Laura Ingalls, Jada, Mary Ingalls.

You have no idea how much she wishes they were her sisters!

and another:

also featuring Ma and Pa this time.

Note the teeth - the shape and gaps are very important when you're 6 years old!

you get the idea :)

but then....

i go and find a drawing like this:

awww, a nice (albeit heavily!) pregnant woman.

she's smiling, and walking with a decent pace (no waddle here!) and even remembered to put her lippy on. awww~

but then...on the other side is

this!:

i haven't asked Jada but i'm convinced this poor woman is in labour: her gait has gone; her eyes are glazed and tired; her lippy and smile are long gone, the baby clothes are laid out and ready.

and that wretched clock on the wall, TICK!TICK!TICKING away the hours at a pace slower than my 6th form maths class.

and judging by the size of her, she's about to have octuplets, so it's gonna be a looonnng haul.

and i'll bet the last thing she wants to think about is "love" on the double bed behind her!!

bahahahahaaa.

ps. if you think Jada leaves these kinds of pictures "laying around" as subtle hints for her mother, you're wrong. these aren't subtle, and they're not hints - these are full blown pleading, begging, desperate requests for a sister. she NEEDS to have a sister of course...so she can really be like the Ingalls girls!!!

parenting tips from Kenny Rogers

i had myself a little hum-along to some Kenny Rogers yesterday while baking ginger bikkies and oaty caramel slice.

yes i did.

and it dawned on me, The Gambler, is really a song just for mums negotiating tricky parenting moments!

look:

You got to know when to hold 'em
this refers to the non-negotiables, win-at-all-costs, "i WILL outlast you", mountains you MUST-die-on battles.
know what they are and have a game plan before they occur. they'll thank you when they're husbands/wives/mums/dads.

know when to fold 'em
these are the fights you want to hold onto and fight til the bitter end but, really, they're not that important (and you know it...but are proud and stubborn)
say your bit (once!!!!!) then walk away. leave it alone mum! anymore is nagging/harping/wah-wah-wah/background noise.

Know when to walk away
for the moments when your patience is thin and you know that nothing teachable or compassionate is going to come out of your mouth. walk now, talk later.

and know when to run
this is the next level up from walking away - for the TNT moments. when the frustration turns to anger (oh what? am i getting a blank stare? oooo...k,...just me then huh!). the, i've-already-TOLD-you-a-million-times-in-the-last-hour...etc etc - you better run baby run baby RUN for your life. the damage done is not worth your raging vent.

You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table
this refers to the smug, i've-got-it-in-the-bag, my-kid-would-NEVER-behave-like-that feeling.
(i used to feel this away about "TNT" moments when i only had one child under one. i thought i would NEVER get mad at my kids, or raise my voice at them, or do anything except smile and enjoy them..../sigh)

There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done
when your kids are well-adjusted, happy, contributing, moral adults/parents you could maybe afford to sneakily count your money blessings, but even then...

you'll never hear this song the same again :)

(sorry)

(ps. not sure what happened to my 'moments' in the last post, but the photos were nice i guess. blogger eats words it seems?!)

MADE my week #3

bloggers in my home

a much loved (drooled on!) crochet owl from Allana

an owl friend from Stacey.

a handmade hoodie from Kristen

my most adored fave necklace from Lisa (via Sara)

brooch from Fran

a print by Katherine

::this is what i like to call vicarious "schmoozing"...my painting next to that of a real artist.. ;) ::

a reminder by my kitchen sink from Ann

an often-used handpainted plate from Stella

which blog-friends are in your home?

Make my Week #3 - Buzz Costume

the commericialism has breached our walls again. trust me, i have considered (and re-considered) purchasing a Buzz Lightyear costume for our superhero dresser-upper. but $55?? yeah, nah.

and then Meghan let me in on some Buzz-costume customising she'd done and it kinda inspired me.

my biggest problem was going to be finding purple (loathe!) knit fabric for the hood. and my next biggest problem was sewing a hood (never done it before!)


and then...i miraculously found a dark purple knit top in a bag of my daughter's old clothes to cut a hood out of. i have never bought anyone anything in this colour and have never seen this top before...and yet, it was just what i needed for a Buzz Lightyear hood! amazing :)


to "m'fi-ity and beyoooonnnd!"


explaining the buttons to the less-experienced

i've been lasered!!

What did you make in week 3?

Organised Home Project

when we moved from our teeny 95 sq/m to this one 3 years ago, i had never imagined it was possible to have SO MUCH storage space. i loved it and feared it equally. i feared filling it.

and i'm getting pretty close already. after only 3 years. ICK!!

i was planning to have a major purge after Birthday Season (around March) but Meg and went ahead and issued her Organised Home Callenge and i threw my two hands up (and hollered??...well, kinda~!)

i'm IN!!

today the pantry fell victim to my purgeful ways.

oh, a million blissful hurrahs...

before:


after:

scroll up, scroll down.

scroll up, scroll down.

:)

and all i can think about is how miss Angela Noelle must be clawing at the screen to "tidy" this up some more..../sigh. you'll be pleased to know there is ONE sticker label in the pantry Angela...:

someone had a wee play with the label-maker at work one day.

it's at eye-level height :)

MADE my week #2

this day (last saturday) pretty much made my week.

it was the perfect way to celebrate my older sister's birthday out at our parents' place and hang out with her gorgeous kiddos (especially the new lil guy...yummo!) before she went home to the bottom of the South Island again.

other moments that have made my week include:

#0025 - my dad engaging with his grandchildren:

#0027 - Monte, arriving home from his birthday-eve date about 2 inches taller; glowing! full of words. and descriptions. and LIGHT!

#0030 - baby's heads nuzzling into necks

#0031 - evening sun on blonde heads making them look haloed.

#0035 - discovering hyper-pride: when, at the end of his birthday, Ty stood on our stairs and told us he had something to say. he then sincerely said: thank you everyone for your kindness to me today. hysterical pride + love.

(all images taken by my sister on her fancy camera - can you tell??)

what made your week?

birthday season #2

2006: our FIRST son. mmmm~~

2011: our first son's **FIFTH** birthday!?!

(i'll give you 100 points if you can guess the theme!)

we had 6 little girls and 6 little boys over to celebrate the occasion. parties are very few and far between around here so this was a nice chance to celebrate our wonderfully special 'Ty Boy'.

and now, he's taken a few guests out to the beach with his dad to go fishing for the afternoon. he's gonna be happy-shattered tonight :)

here's my fave pic of the day -

with his bestest best friend Jethro, pushing the mower we got him for his birthday. random present you think? oh trust me, Ty has been begging for one for at least 6 months!! i love that he's into hard work :)

(oh, and i'm giving myself a bonus 200 points for hosting a party with those 3 tonally-challenged, least-loved, primary colours! ack!....and just so you know, there are very strict rules in place for using the mower! )

portions

it's another Birth Day celebration for us tomorrow, so today has been busy.

i was thinking how badly the kids fare when they are getting only about 10% of my attention for a day.

how much they mirror me - the comments get more and more sharp, the 'tsks's get louder, the sighs more frequent, the irritation more palpable...until it's a shameful symphony of dischord (and let's be honest, who'd want to hear that?)

so i made a deal with myself. if it's a day (and there will be those days) where the kids will only be getting 10% of my attention, i'm going to give them the 90-100%....not the 0-10%.

deal? deal.

x

headboard how-to~

here's a basic how-to make your own headboard cover

(warning: it IS time-consuming and fiddly but utterly adored by the recipient so totally worth it in my opinion :) )

each vehicle has a pocket for the 'construction worker' to sit in. the digger bucket is moveable with individual stones that can fit in the bucket and then be 'dumped' into the dump truck.

before i go any further, let me just say i am sure this is not an original idea. in fact, i know it's not. my mum made my older sister and i one of these headboard covers for us when we were kids. they were way cooler than my one - they had houses (with doors that opened), roads, trees, trucks...that's me pictured with my one below:

(take a moment to wipe the drool from the wallpaper-covet moment if you need to. k, ready?)

1. measure your headboard. consider thickness of wood and any other protruding bits of wood. also remember a pillow will block out some of the image. measure again to be sure.

2. measure fabric. measure again to be sure, then cut. you'll need: i piece for the front panel (that will display your amazing image) and a piece for the back.

3. draw up picture with disappearing fabric pen (or, in my case, white charcoal pencil!)

4. cut out all pieces needed for images.

5. sew images up - starting from smallest, working your way up to the largest.

6. place and sew images on to large piece of fabric.

Note: i used my vinyl scraps again because i am too lazy to zig-zag my way around a million corners and edges! to hold the vinyl in place i used sellotape. if you are using fabric (and doing the zig-zag applique thing) you'd be wise to use visafix or something similar.

7. once the image is complete, attach batting (is that what it's called? i'm not a quilter!) to the back of it. because i am not a quilter i didn't have any batting so used polar fleece instead. and because i loathe polar fleece, i only had pink in 'stock'! so...pink it was :)

8. with right sides together, join the fleece to the image panel along THE BOTTOM only. flip around the right way and do a tidy neat topstitch.

9. get your back panel fabric piece and with right sides together, whip up the sides and across the top, making sure you sew through all 3 layers of fabric (back panel, fleece & front panel)

10. flip through the right way, cross your fingers, and try it on.

breathe a sigh of relief........or, start unpicking!!

11. present to offspring and soak up the delight :)

mmmm, sweetness :)

(did you notice the digger cushion? i promise he does NOT use a pillow now. ever!)

Make my Week #2 - interactive headboard cover

excuse me while my brain has a wee malfunction.

this canNOT be three years ago:

our precious 3rd child. born at our (then) new home. who knew the sweetness and joy he'd add to this family?

fast forward 3 years:

( our painfully shy Monte who only just managed to get through this excrutiating moment of intense attention by locking his brown eyes on mine while a whole bunch of family sung 'Happy Birthday')


but anyway, this is a Make My Week post isn't it?
(and no, the cake isn't what i made - Ty did, actually. i merely "iced" it :) )

i made an interactive headboard cover for our birthday boy.
hurrah!

i'll post a little 'How-To' later but for now we're off to some digger hireage yards today to look at lots and lots and lots of Really.Big.Diggers for a birthday treat :) :)

happy birthday burger!! xoxo

(what did you make? share, share!)