craftjuice

scandi: felt folk

One of my very cleverest friends, Miss E of Touch Wood Design is having a new exhibition opening on Friday 10 September showing off her amazing new cushion collection entitled scandi: felt folk.

It's at our 'secret coffee place' down a back alley of Elizabeth Street in the city and is THE place for a cuppa java if you're serious about your coffee. Which we are. Sometimes several times a day.

I've had a sneaky peek at her new range and it is sensational to behold with scandi-inspired design (like this truly patience testing 'snowflake from hell')!  I'm a bit partial to the featured moose I must say.

If you love these, Miss E often also stocks her wonderful cushion designs at Absolutely Fabulous.

One day she'll have an Etsy store....sighhhhhhh....

I shall report back on the opening!

PS  Miss E has a very talented partner, Mr A who does amazing woodcut and woodblock designs. How is there so much talent in one house? I should just sit in their kitchen and let it soak through my pores.

the magical rainbow pony birthday cake

This year we decided to have a 'pony party' for Miss M at a great place just down the road called Mini Mates. It's a miniature pony riding school and they do a great kids party with riding, wheelbarrow and hay races, brushing the horses and feeding them. Awesome.  Theme set. Now for the cake. What to do? 

Miss M had been to a birthday only a few weeks before and Miss K had an awesome birthday cake with a fabulous rainbow, my little pony's and fairy floss for the fluffy clouds!  It clearly made an impression as I was asked to replicate said cake. And here was I dreaming of cowgirl cakes...oh well.

Now I need to do two cakes. One for day care and one for the actual day. So I usually use the day care cake as a dry run and then work up to some sort of cake masterpiece (if only!).

So I involved Miss M (who is very good at mixing food colouring) and set about making every colour of the preservative rainbow...

Scary eh?

I then made a simple square butter cake and thinly iced it, Miss M sprinkled green dessicated coconut for 'grass' (Miss M was very handy with the whisk to make this!). Note that the result of fingers in the icing has already kicked in...

Now onto the rainbow. I pulled out my throwaway icing bags and a fancy schmancy nozzle and boldly squeezed out this rainbow. Lucky four year olds don't care about technique!

Sprinkles make it look more magical don't you think!?

Then to finish, I just whacked on some $2 shop ponies, more icing and sprinkles and wha la!

Magical Rainbow Pony cake :)  Note to self: ensure flammable pony hair does not get near candles...

Here's what the bigger cake looked like for her 'real' birthday party...

I added some icing flowers.

Miss M added fingers...

Happy 4th Birthday Mackenzie. I love you baby girl.

money stuff

Part of learning how to get back on my feet has included learning new financial skills - proper budgeting, saving (err, still learning that bit), learning about my superannuation, etc.  One of my great friends at work Ms F sent me this great article about girls building knowledge and confidence with money.

The article states that the Women Understanding Money Report published by the Australian Financial Literacy Foundation, found 52 per cent of women find dealing with money stressful and overwhelming and 25 per cent have no savings for retirement. I certainly find it overwhelmingly stressful and anxious even when I even have to do my online banking! This general feeling has spawned a number of great resource websites for women to learn more about getting smart with money.

If you want to know more, check out Moneygirl, 10thousandgirl and financy.

some very nice online clothes

A Summer maxidress from Pomegranate.

I'm not very good at getting out and going to the shops and tend to either make do or try and get a bit creative with the clothes I've got, but I wanted to share some great online stores I've tried and that have been recommended to me by my sensational friend Susan.

I have, although not lately, bought some great clothes from MaxShop. Their clearances are fantastic! The clothes are always very well made and have great fabric and detailing. They are NZ based, but ship everywhere.

This week Susan recommended to me the lovely Pomegranate Clothing (I think I really do need that lovely flowing white cotton frock number for Summer). If you sign up for their emails, you receive a $20 voucher! Awesome! She also directed me to the fabulous Birdsnest.  I like this shop very much because for someone with no idea how to put clothes together unless they are all black (ie me), they provide fully styled outfits that suit different body shapes. How awesome is that!

Thanks Susan for these great gems!

learning to fly

I know its been MONTHS since I last posted - I've been busy trying to find my feet and get life as under control as possible as a working single mum. I won't lie to you - I've found it hard and very up and very down. A few weeks ago I had a weeks holiday (all by myself! Miss M went on a lovely trip to Cairns with her Nannie and Peepa) and realised that apart from work and Miss M, I don't really have my own things to do. I spent the whole week cleaning the house! Even the pantry, the garage, my wardrobe, the linen cupboard! That's not really what a holiday is for. And by the end of the week I was truly exhausted. But I didn't really know what else to do with my time. I was talking to a friend of mine Mr J about this and he said "Well, what did you do before?" and I don't really know or remember!  I guess Mr B and I used to do lots of things and now I'm on my own, I'm finding it really hard to get back into the habit of doing things for myself that I enjoy in my own spare time.

Over the past six months, I've now got the house under control and fear I have developed an OCD cleaning habit!  This is how I currently fill in my spare time. I get the broom and start sweeping, I get a rag and start dusting, I find a cupboard and start to tidy - totally unnatural behaviours!! LOL!  It has been however a very cathartic experience and feels good to clean the clutter out of the house and make it my own a little more each week.  I've been learning to fly and take control of the house with Flylady and I have to tell you its been the single best thing that helps me take control and manage my time each week. I have simple cleaning routines in place and the house is always clean and tidy. Well, tidy-ish!  I'd encourage you to try it if the house chores are getting on top of you - start with the babysteps and work your way up. It's quite magical. The daily emails I find are very motivating too. I've even got Miss M in on the cleaning act! Once she gets a bottle of window cleaner in her hand, there is no stopping her!

I am rediscovering some great music to listen to on the bus on my way to work and perhaps have enjoyed iTunes maybe a little too much! Most recently I've downloaded Megan Washington, BlueJuice, the new Cat Empire, The Bird and The Bee and Sia.  I'm still also listening to Babylon Circus, Sola Rosa and Elana Stone.

I haven't picked up a book or a magazine in ages. I have a pile of Frankie and a pile of fantastic books sitting on my dining table ready to be devoured. This morning I finally re-subscribed to mixtape.

Today I was thinking that I've actually been quite anxious and even fearful to do things for myself that I like to do. So I need to overcome that and concentrate on finding myself again and a better balance for a happy life. Like blogging, crafting and sewing and reading and just enjoying having creative fun and freedom to do whatever I want. And allowing myself to do that. Without the guilt and anxiousness and fear.

So here I am back at my poor neglected blog. This is my first step. Getting back to the habit of blogging. I do have so much to share with you!

You should see the rainbow pony cake I made for Miss M's birthday last week ;)