coming soon

ice battles

There has been a battle raging at our house these school holidays, the ice battle. I filled an ice cream container with water and froze it, I had envisaged the kids spending some time playing a "soccer" type game with it, kicking it to each other. That's why they are wearing gumboots. It seems though, that my visions were not aligned with what the kids had planned, the story of my life.

Let the ice battles begin. They worked out a game where they both chucked up their blocks of ice, letting it smash down on the ground. Then the race was on to gather up as much of the ice as they could, jamming it back into their containers. The battle raged on for a long time, while I prepared dinner. I heard giggles, and a few cross words too (it was a battle after all) eventually I was greeted with some small slivers of ice and instructions on how I was to keep them safe in the freezer, um yeah.

There has been talks of "ice battle #2", luckily the battle supplies are easy to gather. What have your children been up to these holidays? Any ice battles? No? Just my children then!

spring green

I love that first burst of Spring growth, it's a colour of green that you just don't see at any other time of the year. The foliage is baby soft as it unfurls, a vibrant green, a true sign that Summer is on it's way.

A sign of longer days, of getting washing dried in mere hours (can't wait!) and cooling off at the beach.

So it's a bit of a surprise to find inspiration for dying wool amongst all that vibrant, warmth heralding green! Last week I spun some Merino and a Merino/Coopworth blend that I had been given in my "to spin" stash, I spun it thick and within a few hours it was done. I delved into my dying supplies, hoping to recreate some of the greens that are gracing my garden at the moment.

I was pleased with the results! A bit of a relief, my dying has always been a bit ht and miss, ahem.

I've got a "spring-like" project in mind to use it up. Watch this space .......

and the winner is .....

Thank you SO much for all the enthusiastic comments on my Makedo post! The winner of the Makedo set is comment #5 - Creative Mama ! Congrats! I'll be in touch.

a little show

I have been meaning to share with you this amazing little find from a local thrift store for quite some time. It was tucked away under a bunch of puzzles in an op shop that has seldom yielded any really good finds. But I keep looking there anyway, you just never know right? There was something about the edge of the box caught my eye. For the grand sum of $0.50c it came home with me.

It comes with five little figures and two sets of scenery, one printed on each side.

The edges of the cardboard are a little frayed, but I'm planing on slicing off the bottoms to even them up. I might paint the edges with some clear glue too, to add some strength.

So at the moment I'm chief scenery changer! But I've just challenged the kids to create their own scenery and put on a show for me. I've traced around the old background pieces for them,  it might save me from being a kill joy as I remind them I have to change it over. Did I buy it for them to play with? Probably not, ahem.

Have you had any good thrift finds lately? Pop over to Blackbird has Spoken to see what other "thrifty" people have found.

A Makedo review and giveaway!

Have you heard of Makedo? If not, prepare to have your mind blown! I'm not kidding, every time we use this amazing stuff, I can't believe how cool it is and how I wished it had been around when I was younger.

So what is this Makedo stuff? "Makedo is a reusable system for creating things from the stuff around you".

 The system is really simple, a collection of clips "re-clips",  lockable hinges and a safe-saw. The safe-saw has a point on the back that you use to make holes in the cardboard (for the clips), it also does an amazing job at slicing through cardboard! The re-clip is in two parts, and can be used over and over again, you just squeeze the back to slide it off and reuse it! Genius!

an action shot - miss E and the safe-saw

I love that the kids can do most, if not all of the construction themselves, with a little help from me if needed. But without that safe-saw I would be there with scissors or a craft knife helping. I love seeing them problem solve to work out how and where they are going to clip, to make the "in their head" designs come to life.

We mainly use the system to make giant houses! Seriously take over the whole lounge type huts that have multiple rooms and spaces. The Makedo system means we aren't using a ton of sellotape to keep the structure together and we have been able to make big huts with small boxes too, something that I've attempted unsuccessfully in the past with sellotape (it's just not strong like these clips).

This morning we made this little/big house, we worked together on the main structure. I helped them form the roof, I had the height advantage there. After these photos were taken a little annex was added to the back and lots of shelves etc were added to the inside. All of the added extras were done by the kids, letting their imaginations run wild, I really love that part.

That is pretty much all you need with Makedo, imagination and perhaps a good selection of cardboard boxes! But you needn't stop at cardboard, you can use Makedo with all sorts of things, foam, plastic and fabric too.

So if you live here in New Zealand you might be wondering where you can get your hands on some Makedo, you can buy Makedo sets at the following places : Trademe, IQ Toys, Te Papa and the Auckland Muesum to name a few. You can buy themed sets, like for flowers, a play house, car etc, which include some stickers to turn your creations into something extra special. I do like the plain sets though, like the Makedo Kit for one. Makedo is also for sale on the Makedo website.

To get you inspired pop on over to the Makedo website, where they have an amazing showcase of customers creations. I would seriously love to have a go at making these bird wings over the holidays, lucky for me there are instructions!

This is not a sponsored post, but I do however have a giveaway for a lucky blog reader. I have bought a Flower set to giveaway to a New Zealand reader, because I really want more families to have some of this amazing Makedo at their own homes to pass on the joy of making something with things that you might already have at home! I really think that this is "magic" stuff.

So, leave a comment on this post telling me what you might make with Makedo! Extra entries for being a follower of this blog via GFC or Bloglovin, liking the NZ Green Buttons Facebook page, and sharing this giveaway via whatever social media you prefer! Just make sure you pop back to leave a separate comment for each extra entry.

I'll close the comments on this Friday - 4th of October. Good luck!

I love eggs

I love eggs. My easy  lazy family weekend dinners often consist of eggs, scrambled, boiled or  sometimes french toast. But for breakfast, not often, if ever. Certainly not on a weekday. Why? Well they take too long to prepare, or do they?

Well turns out that a couple of boiled eggs and toast are a lot easier to prepare on a weekday morning than I thought, taking about the same time to prepare as our usual breakfast options.

I was contacted recently to see if I would like some eggs to feed my family for breakfast during New Zealand Nutrition Week (September 23-28). It sounded great and I said "yes!". I've got two kids who love eggs, but with the hustle and bustle of getting ready for school/preschool we usually stick to muesli and toast and fruit. I must admit that by the time that Friday rolled around I realised that eggs were just as easy to dish up as our usual breakfast. I also found that the boy of mine who normally eats a three course breakfast and is still asking for food on the way to preschool, was actually full! Those normal nagging requests just didn't eventuate.

So in case you need any more convincing to try eggs for breakfast on a weekday, here are some points that I found interesting from a survey competed recently by Horizon Research on behalf of Eggs Inc.

"Adding two eggs to toast at breakfast time , provides over 20% of the daily recommended intake of protein alone"

"As well as containing over 11 essential vitamins and minerals, it is well documented that the high quality protein in eggs boosts satiety. A recent study in America has shown that people who ate breakfast were less likely to eat a high calorie lunch than people who ate cereal for breakfast."

"Perceived lack of time was the biggest obstacle to considering breakfast options with a higher nutrient content"

Well I can certainly bust that myth about time, it didn't take much time at all to pop some eggs in a pot! I love eggs!!!

me and MY feet

So if you have followed this blog for a while, you probably would have noticed my Saltwater Sandals pop up now and again, oh and of course on my header! I've just invested in another pair (an early birthday present, that's them above! patent turquoise!). They are the pretty much my all year round footwear, it's pretty mild here in Auckland, they are so hard wearing too. My first pair, in red is still going strong 3 years later, other than some thinning on the soles the tops look almost brand new. I don't drive so my footwear needs to be comfortable and long lasting, I do a lot of miles, and these are perfect in every way.

They break my "buy local" rule as I get them from Me and My Feet in the United States of America, they make the rule worth breaking. I first noticed Saltwater Sandals on the Soulemama blog, instantly fell in love, but after a short local search I abandoned my hope of owning any, they were way out of my price range and shipping from a supplier in Australia was almost as much as the shoes themselves.

Then I discovered Me and My Feet, their shipping to here in New Zealand is SO reasonable. It's a bit nerve wracking buying shoes from so far away, but with four orders under my belt I can tell you it's not as scary as you might think.

Me and My Feet was founded in 2007 and started out only selling children's footwear, but they branched out into selling other items too, like women's footwear, skin care and bags, things to make parent's lives easier, seems they must listen to their customer's needs.

 So if you are looking to invest in some Summer shoes (and yes I totally think they are an investment) I can recommend Saltwater Sandals from Me and My Feet, I LOVE mine! You might be thinking why would I need so many pairs if they wear so well? Well, you'd be in good company there, seems my husband has the same question. If I chose the black pair, I'd probably just have the one pair, it would go with everything right? But I think that's a bit boring, considering all the fabulous colours the Saltwater Sandals come in! Do you have a favourite?

*this is not a sponsored post, I was so impressed with the service I have received from Me and My Feet that I wanted to spread the word. I did however contact them to gain a little bit of background information. All opinions are my own. 

*A little update, with all the comments and emails I've received about shipping costs I want to share that info here. This info is current as of 4/10/2013, the shipping cost of one pair of Saltwater sandals cost me $17.95 US dollars. The total cost for one pair was just a little over $70 NZD with the current exchange rate. Any more questions feel free to email me or the lovely people at Me and My Feet! 

mini makeover

It's not unusual for my children to have quite different ideas about what they would like to bring home on our op shopping trips than I do. This spice rack/cupboard was a treasured find a few years ago now by my daughter who was five at the time. I'm certainly not it's biggest fan, I'd even relocated it to the garage, ahem. Once it was discovered in the garage I gave some sweeping reassurances that I had a plan for it, a makeover. I wasn't so sincere in my reassurances if I'm being totally honest, I actually had serious plans to relocate it to the opshop. 

But when these little mini grocery items started appearing at hour house (a giveaway with purchase at a local supermarket) I found some inspiration. I removed the doors and gave it a quick sand down. I had some white spray paint and gave it a couple of quick coats before I ran out of paint.

It's not perfect, but the kids seem to be having a great time playing with this mini food, taking it on and off the shelves. It keeps it off the floor too which is a bonus.

Now if all my "relocated" projects were so easy to finish and transform I'd be happy!