would you like a side order of play dough with that?

Playdough continues to be a favourite activity in our house and never goes out of style. Hours of work went into the Babes playdough feast... it included hand printed menus and 2 very charming waitresses... delicious.

fridge magnets

I have been making these little fridge magnets as gifts (4 magnets in a pack). Super easy.

Materials

• I used some of my screen prints but you could use beautiful printed paper, your drawings, your kids drawings, photos etc.
• Self adhesive magnet sheets (art supply shops)
• Mod Podge or any paper lacquer
• Packaging if you like

1. It's as simple as taking your paper, peeling the backing of the magnetic sheet and placing on the back of the paper.
2. Use a cutting knife and board to cut magnets to the required size.
3. Lacquer with Mod Podge (I used the matt version)
4. The packaging is just clear cellophane bags from a discount store and I used a tree stamp on the corner of the label.

Nice Chrissy presents? I think I'll make some with the Babes drawings for their grandparents.

water hole

After feeling very excited back in early July that our Development Application had been approved, we've now had a long six weeks waiting to finalise the Construction Certificate for the pool. We have spent more time than I ever imagined chasing documentation and paying fees and feeling a bit despondent about it all...

... then finally yesterday, they came and they destroyed. Mud as far as the eye can see and a huge hole that's filling with water. For the two babes it's paradise... they've fished, they've climbed mountains, they've dug for treasure then dinosaurs ... and for Audrey it's digging and mud-rolling heaven. For us... as the rain pours down... it's kind of a nightmare... and we're both in a strange daze that after more than 2 years of planning... it's real... it's all begun.

pears anyone? - a corner of home

These beautiful stone pears are a gift from the Lovely-One. They sit by on the hearth by the fire near the felt pebbles. It was a beautiful surprise to receive them.

one world, many stories

For the last few years I've been helping the Librarian up at the Babe's school with the displays for Australia's annual Book Week celebrations.

Again there are some beautiful children's stories this year - Mirror by Jeannie Baker and Family Forest being two of my favourites - but the best thing this year is the theme. 'One World, Many Stories' has both beautiful sentiment and also huge creative scope. So this week the kids at school are busy creating all the little pieces (different elements that we've given them to illustrate the different books) and we will pull them all together into a display. So this week I'm all about 'the world' as I will try to create hot air balloons from globes, big foyer posters and wall art and bunting made of chopped up Atlas'.

Which brings me to this post and this beautiful collection of paper globes from Geografia (above)... I can see a few hanging from string in our new study already. Actually, there's a whole bunch of stuff on the NoteMaker website that would look quite nice in our new study....   hmmmmm....

make lace, not war - love lace

Linda Galbraith - Steeped in Memory
Photo: Sotha Bourn - Copyright Powerhouse Museum Sydney

Extraordinary exhibition on at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney at the moment. Incredible works with lace ... I'm in absolute awe. More at Powerhouse website.

come fairies...

'Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame! '
William Butler Yeats

The sun has finally come out in Sydney, a beautiful weekend and all seems rosy again. The babes spent two hours after school last Friday under the Crepe Myrtle tree creating the most intricate fairy garden, fairy queen house, elves river (complete with water and bridge) and very clear directions (written on gum leaves of course) to the bird bath should they wish to bathe in this beautiful sunshine. Simplicity.

The next morning at 8.15am my very special friend gave birth to her beautiful new baby girl and I wondered if it may have been somehow related to the fairies that played in the girls fairyland that evening.

Welcome to the world little fairy - we are so looking forward to getting to know you.

[glass raindrops and zinc stars hanging above the fairy garden - heaven in earth]

craft kit

I don't often brag... but I can admit that the Babes have a fairly fantastic craft box. It's actually several boxes that contain the usual stickers, toilet rolls and pipe cleaners but then expands into offcuts of fabric, origami papers, framing board, timber veneer offcuts, lino, bubble wrap and more, an awesome collection of beads and buttons as well as paints, pastels, crayons, pens and glitter glue galore. When kids come to play they always head straight to the craft boxes - which suits me fine because I lack any skills in the sport departments.

So it seemed a fairly natural thing that for Babe2's special friend's birthday, we should put together a 'craft kit'. We loved sourcing the contents from discount stores and art supply stores. We put the collected bits into little ziplock bags, printed out ID stickers and then stamped them with a floral stamp. Packaged it all up and here's the result. So much joy to make and so much joy to give. In fact it was such a hit that we've spent the afternoon packaging things up again for a special 3 year old cousin's birthday on the weekend.

festive fruit by amy moss

Beautiful downloadable drink bottle labels from Amy Moss' Eat Drink Chic

As I sit here, freezing cold in the wettest July Sydney has had in 60 years (all plans to dig a hole for a pool on hold), I was longing for some sunshine... when I came across these gorgeous fruit drink bottles on Amy Moss' site Eat Drink Chic. Their vision filled me with 'virtual warmth'! In her usual, very generous way, she has included the labels as free downloads in case you want to bring a little sunshine into your day today. Thank you Amy... now back to the pouring rain.

wall necklace

I saw, and promptly fell in love, with a great big bag of these timber beads. The larger ones are 25mm diameter and they had a 'please hold me' aura about them. So I threaded them up into this wall necklace (the larger beads being threaded into a length of about 4m or more). Now everyone who walks past tends to touch it so the 'please hold me' aura seems to be universal.

When mum came to visit she asked if it was inspired by her beads? She bought these Rosary beads at a street market in Mexico City about 30 years ago and they have always hung on a wall in their home. They too are about 25mm diameter timber and are about 3m long beads and of course they must have been my subliminal inspiration - though I didn't quite realise at the time - which lead me to thinking, again, about inspiration vs copies in my work and that that I observe online.

Having working in TV and Radio for most of my professional career, copyright and appropriate sourcing of material are topics close to my heart. If this is something you're interested in reading more about then you might like to check out these discussions:
- Design Sponge's great 3 part discussion on Online Etiquette and Ethics
- Decor8's real talk column DIY is not Duplicate It Yourself!
- and Bloesem's discussion Find the Differences...