ch-changes

The women in my family have a habit of breaking into song if the conversation contains known song lyrics, one of the kids says to me "I want to hold your hand" and I start singing The Beatles song, I want to hold your hand. Yip I know you are probably thinking we are cr-crazy, crazy no, but I'll give you eccentric. It's something I avoid doing in the presence of the general public, for obvious reasons! Sometimes people probably think I'm not listening to them, it's just I'm trying hard to not to burst out into song! No, not crazy, eccentric! 

This blog post title has been floating around in my head for a few days now, so I keep breaking into singing David Bowie's Changes at the drop of a hat. The kids look at each other, then at me and roll their eyes, I'm sure they are thinking " there she goes again!". 

All of that doesn't have anything to do with the ch-changes around here and now I'm pretty sure you all think I'm crazy (it's inherited I'm sure)

The big change is -  I'm rejoining the workforce. After eight years of being a stay at home it's a big change, but with my (baby) son starting school next week, it's time. I'm working part time at a local high school, which is in fact my old high school. I'm really looking forward to starting this new chapter in my life and the new challenges it will bring. I don't think it will bring too much change to this space, I'll still be crafting, creating and sharing! I've got a couple of projects lined up to share over the coming months. I hope you will continue to join me!

mosaic

I know some might not like it, but it's been my kind of Summer. A fair bit of rain, lots of overcast days and cooler temperatures. It's meant we've spent less time poolside and more time indoors. I've been putting my thinking cap on to come up with some different ideas to keep us busy. It's not always an easy task, it's got to be something we all can do together and keep them interested at the same time, not to mention keeping me interested too! 

I went hunting in the garage, the poor dumping ground for my craft supplies of years gone by. I discovered a box of Fimo (polymer clay). I was a bit dubious if we could make a go of using it, sitting in the hot garage for a decade! I had one keen helper who quickly deserted me once he discovered all the kneading involved to make it pliable, though to be fair for a five year old he put in a valiant effort!  Once all the hard yards were completed (me kneading it for an hour) I quickly found a new friend, she was suddenly super keen to try out this new crafting material. 

We worked together on a couple of projects, some beads for necklaces, some Lego inspired pendants using a mould that I also used here and today inspired by the view outside our window, some brooches. Did you know that Fimo can be baked twice? That's how we made our mosaic pieces! Rolled out sheets were scored and baked. Once baked the scored lines were cut through. Then the little pieces were applied in a design on a fresh piece of unbaked clay! Cool huh?

Now I'm off to my Pinterest boards to find some more kid crafting inspiration, here's hoping I've got the supplies stashed away in my garage!

happy place

The Auckland Botanic Gardens is our family "happy place". It's the first choice for something local to do on the weekends, it's appeal increases dramatically when the Sculpture in the gardens is on over the Summer months. The sculptures are always amazing and very diverse, some with materials that are inexpensive but used in such effective ways. Not surprisingly all my favourites used recycled materials!

These pictures show just a small ( very small ) snippet of the gardens and a few of the sculptures on display. If you are in Auckland sometime before Sunday the 16th of February I can recommend a stroll in these gardens would be a stroll to remember! No entry fee and they have a lovely cafe too if you need refreshing after your stroll.

Handmade Christmas link up!

I thought I'd like to wrap up my handmade Christmas series with a link up. I know that not everyone blogged about what they were making for Christmas presents with the threat of potential receivers reading/seeing the posts! Now that threat has passed I've seen some great gift ideas and handmade gift posts popping up in blog-land. I particularly love this idea from Leonie of Kiwi at Heart, I have plans for making some of these gift sets up this year. 

My own handmade efforts fell a little short, not all gifts were handmade by me, many were handmade by others. I let my fingers do the walking and bought quite a few handmade items from online sellers, just as good in my eyes, if not better as I was also supporting some wonderful talented crafters.

In the handmade Christmas journey I did figure one thing out though, I kind of like that last minute rush and flurry of making right before the big day. Sitting up late at night and making and wrapping and preparing gifts for those that I love and people I want to thank, it's something that I enjoy.

A Hydrangea cushion for someone who grows them.

A zip purse and  crochet hooks

A crochet Kokeshi for a dear friend.

I'd really love it if you would link up some of your handmade presents! It will hopefully inspire me and others when Christmas rolls around again!

forgive me

Hey! It's been a long time I know, forgive me I've been in holiday mode, easy meals, a messy house, no fixed plans and not blogging! But in order to start back in this space I need to do a quick Christmas wrap up. It's hard for me to do, seriously!  I'm the person who strips down all the Christmas decorations down on Boxing day! I can't stand them up a minute longer and the house just seems so much fresher once they are packed away, that being said the box of decorations still hasn't found it's way back into the cupboard yet! So here goes, I'll keep it brief so hopefully not too much forgiveness required!

I love now that the kids are older and we can make the most of some twilight Christmas traditions. Visiting MOTAT for their Christmas light nights, and also local houses that get into the Christmas spirit. The bonus was taking them out late on Christmas eve gave my husband and I a wee sleep in on Christmas morning too.

The Waiuku Christmas display has become a firm family favourite Christmas tradition. The Waiuku town hall, jammed packed with musical and mechanical Santa's and the biggest array of amazing Christmas decorations that you have ever seen! It's noisy and so magical.

This year I started another tradition too, new Christmas Pyjamas for Christmas Eve. I hope that some years they are homemade, this year I went with bought ones (I didn't want to start a precedent!) . They were a total hit and they stayed in them all day, convincing all the visitors that they just looked like normal clothes and there was no need to change. I think that personalised anything always goes down well, especially have a name that isn't common, if only they came in my size! Thanks Stuck on You!

I made some simple drawstring bags to put the pyjamas in, complete with their initials on them I also popped a handmade decoration in each for them to put on the tree before popping into bed. It was a lovely way to celebrate Christmas eve and I'm looking forward to doing the same next year.

So that's me all caught up now. I'm looking forward to sharing lots of things with you this year. I've got a feeling 2014 is going to be an amazing year, I hope you'll join me!