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!

winner

The winner of the Hazed subscription is Kerrie! Congratulations! Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment.

We have been busy saying farewell to some very dear and familiar places over the last couple of weeks. Like our local playgroup that we've been attending almost every Wednesday for seven and a half years. It can't quite be possible that we've been going for so many years, it seems like it's all happened in a few short months rather than seven long years.

We are still caught up with end of year happenings for the next few days, including an early birthday celebration for a little one. But I'll be back next week for a Handmade Christmas wrap up!

Hazed - Giveaway time!

Have you heard of Hazed magazine? No? Maybe you've heard of Hazel loves design? Well let me fill you in if you haven't been lucky enough to stumble across either.  Hazed magazine is dedicated to showcasing New Zealand Indie design (yes!) and has been an online only read for the past year. But now you can actually hold in your hands the latest issue of Hazed, yes it's now in print!

I loved flicking through the pages recognising a few familiar faces, Justine from Redflax and Sophie from The Sisterhood. My favourite read was about the man behind Fat Spatula. I've long admired his oh so clever products! Especially the Man Shawl, but I see he's just released a range of notebooks, with the one titled "things that are totes amazeballs" one my favourite.

The Hazel Loves Design website also has an online emporium, filled with lovely handmade gifts! As you know I'm big on promoting handmade especially locally handmade items, that's why I answered the call when Hazel was looking for blogging partners. You can read my interview here. (if I knew the photo of me was going to be so BIG, I would have sent a different one!)

So how can you get your hands on the latest issue of Hazed? You can buy it here!

Hazel has been so super generous to donate a subscription for one year to Hazed magazine to one lucky NZ Green Buttons blog reader! Open to NZ readers only.

Just leave a comment on this post to be in to win. I'll draw a winner on Wednesday the 18th of December.

Maybe you could tell my something handmade you've made or bought lately or been lucky enough to receive? You know how I love handmade!

gifting

Lego Club Christmas gift! 

I really try to think "outside the square" for presents for little ones. I've given Lego club memberships for a few little people that we know for special birthdays over the last year or so. The Lego club is a one off payment and the child then gets an interactive magazine, stickers and sometimes a small Lego set several times a year till they are 11 or so (when the membership needs to be renewed annually). All for just under $20. The mum's have all said what a great idea it was and how their children have been enjoying getting something special in the mail every few months. At the time of the gift giving I wrote up a little card saying I'd signed them up and added a wee Lego minifigure. In each case I did speak with the mum before hand to make sure they weren't already signed up!

Have you seen this list? It's sixty gift alternatives to toys for children. I love it! I especially love the section on experiences. Often people with children struggle to fit admission charges into their budgets, a trip to the zoo can be really costly for a family these days. That's where Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles could chip in to buy a pass to the zoo, movie money or paying for swim lessons etc. Putting money towards experiences and creating lifelong memories must be better than toys that might not last until the next Christmas. I remember getting a Whitcoulls voucher (a local book store) when I was young, I loved being able to go in and choose a book that I really wanted for the first time ever.

Is there something you've gifted or been gifted that was "outside the square"? I'd love some more ideas!

memory

Kids have fantastic memories, I don't know if it's because they haven't filled up their memories with experiences yet or just because as adults we stop remembering all the little stuff. What ever the reason my kids remind me of all sorts of things I hoped they had forgotten.

When children have fifth birthdays at preschool they usually give out small gifts to the other children, stickers, a sweet, balloons and pencils are popular. When my daughter left I made a bunch of little notebooks, stitched on my sewing machine and a pencil.

I had quite forgotten about this, but seems the kids had not.  I was recently reminded and told that I had to do the same for my son who is about to start his last week of preschool. A bit of a production line was started up again. The covers cut out on one particularly long car trip. The stitching done in stolen moments and before I knew it they were all done!

I've teamed them with some small pencils that I found on Trademe, I ended up buying a "gross" which is 144 pencils! SO there will probably be more of these popping up in the future. I really hope they like them, I think I might like one to keep in my bag!