Cotton Tip Flowers

So... I like to craft alot with my kids.

But I don't like to spend alot of money on it, or go to much effort!

Sounds bad huh?

But at least I do it yeah?

This little crafty session was quite impomptu,as I had seen the picture on Pinterest this morning and knew it was super easy.And I had everything on hand.

Actually I do believe everyone would have the stuff on hand.

source

Cotton Tip Flowers

You will need;

A handful of cotton tips per child

A button for the centre

A cotton ball for the centre

Pipe cleaner in a green colour

A piece of cardstock

Craft glue

Optional; glitter

Now here is where I say I changed my mind. Today I used the glue, I had two 2 year olds, having them in charge of the glue is like tempting fate and I was not that brave today. Anyhoo.... I tried to glue the pipe cleaner down and it wouldn't stay. I knew it was going to take too long to dry so I decided to cut some green card for a stem and flowers instead. Just as effective and probably even better for storing in their craft folders.

I glued on the stem, leaf and then put little rows of glue around a centre blob and let the kids go for it and stick the cotton tips on.

Do not be afraid if it doesn't look too good, it is a kids craft activity after all, and I have to keep reminding myself , they are only just 2!! But that is also the beauty of glue, it dries clear!! Win!!
All that unsightly mess, vanishes with a bit of drying time!

Once all the cotton tips were stuck around the edge and the cotton ball was glued to the centre, we then put a little dob of glue on the top of it.

I let them sprinkle some fine glitter to the top and put there button on for a flower centre.

They look super gorgeous up on their art display canvas, and actually match perfectly with the toilet roll craft we did the other day too!!

I love how proud Max and Lacey get of their finished artworks, showing so much joy when they get hung up for all to see!

Such a quick and clean craft session, but with super cute results!!

This would also look fantastic in a smaller version , with the cotton tips cut up, on a card or small canvas as a gift.

To see more cotton tip craft, remember we painted Boomerangs for Australia Day ? POST HERE

The next craft session I will be posting about, we finished today. We used those paper plates we painted red the other day! If you want to craft with us, it would be a good idea to paint your plates soon too, so they are dry for the fun creating to happen! 

Big Girl Routines

With Stella starting Kindy this year, it has brought quite a few more jobs to be done for me in the morning and afternoons. To encourage independence (and to help me out a little) we have assigned a few chores to Stella. I was finding that some days she would do them, other days she would forget, get to caught up in playing with Max and Lacey or would just get bitten by the lazy bug!

So.... I created these charts, to be placed in a good position for her, so that she had something to inspire her , and look to when she didn't know what to do next.

I really wanted wording and pictures, as she is not up to the reading stage yet and couldn't find anything on the WWW or even Pinterest. The ones I did find, did not have the chores in the right order and often called the toilet "The Potty" which is obviouly American , but it just doesn't feel right to be using it.

I also found that alot of the charts had the children getting dressed first, in the morning, and then eating breakfast!! Gee, if we did it this way, Stella would be heading to school with Jam smeared all over her top or Milk dropped on her pants from her cereal!

They are very jobs, and ones that she does day in and day out, with a few exceptions of a school bag and lunch box but its nice to have it formalised in some way!

We placed it here, on the end of the kitchen bench as it is at Stella's height, wasn't going to ruin any walls or fall off the fridge etc and is a thorough fare for everyone! Plus her main jobs are bringing her cooler bag to the kitchen to be emptied, etc so it made sense.

So far, so good, but its only early days. The charts in themselves are proving to be quite popular, with Max and Lacey standing there and saying what they think each picture is! SO cute, and great for speech practice (not that they need any, they don't stop talking all day!)
Do you use a chart or flashcards for your morning and evening rituals? Do you do your chores in the same order as we do? I am always curious about that!


If you are interested in using these charts for yourself and your kiddies,  I have made these Charts available as a free printable. They are nothing fancy , but are just what we needed and may be right for you too!

MORNING ROUTINE

AFTERNOON/NIGHT ROUTINE

I hope you like them, and if you do end up using them, I would love to see where you have put them!

Roll Painting

If there is one thing that most kids love to do, is paint!! And in my experience (and a daily occurrence in our house) they also seem to be interested in Toilet Paper and toilet rolls!! Hmmm nice

Whilst Stella was at Kindy the other day, and my DH was sick in bed, I decided we needed to do something rather fun and a bit special. I usually like to reserve our craft and painting time to when Stella is at home, but as Max and Lacey are getting growing up, and Stella is bringing home lots of beautiful artwork from school, I figure its OK to do a few activities without her.

I saw this cool idea on Pinterest and seeing as though the kids enjoyed when we did it for a Valentines Day activity, I knew they would like doing it again.

Toilet Roll Paint Stamping

All you need is;

 a few toilet rolls

 ( Weird to say but I try and buy the ones that when empty, leave a clean roll , not with some paper still stuck to the glue!! ewwww!!)

Water based paints in a few colours of your choice

Plain paper or card stock

Art Smocks

Optional- Wipes or a flannel on hand for the little messes!! Ohh they will happen alright!

Simply cut the ends of the toilet roll in a pattern or design of your choice and even bend a few in a shape (like the love heart) . As above

I even left one just as a plain circle.

I put a few different colours on a paper plain for each child. I like using plates as they make for an easy paint clean up when you just chuck them!

And let them stamp away

And our Finished artworks;

When they were finished, I also let them stamp a large piece of brown paper each, off a roll I have in the cupboard. To use as pretty wrapping paper in the near future.

Why not put your paintings to good use and share the love?!

Once they had completed their stamping paintings, the area was quite clean and not much mess had been made, until.....................

I thought it was a good idea to paint a few plates red, for an activity we will be doing next week.

There was red paint for miles!! Thankfully its water based paint!

Sheesh

Shopping for Bargains...

After the post on our Wardrobe tidy up, I had a request for a post on some of my favourite online shopping haunts!!

Well the reason we have a 94L storage tub at the top of our wardrobe that is nearly full, ready and organised for Christmas and birthdays next year, is because I like to purchase things when they are on sale.
Let it be known I am a scrooge. I hardly ever buy something full price, and like to wait until something comes on special or super sale before I buy it! Call it money savvy , call it tight, either way, it has meant that we have been able to cloth our kids in name brand clothes we probably wouldn't have been able to afford normally, have bought some bargains for around the home and all from the comfort of my lounge or bed!! Can't argue with that!

Now I mentioned in the wardrobe post , that I buy a bit from Ozsale!! I really LOVE Ozsale! I love it so much, I don't know whether I should be telling you all about it!
Ozsale is an online, members online shopping site. When you sign up as a member, you are signing up to receive emails everyday , alerting you of new brands and products that have commenced sale that day. The sales quite a few days or so , and over this time, you purchase straight from Ozsale. You can save up to 80% off the RRP of Designer labels. Anything and everything goes, baby and kids clothing, shoes, home wares, linen, Manchester, furniture, electrical goods. You name it.
I have pretty much clothed Angus is all Pure Baby or Max and Tilly for his short little 7 month life, all for a fraction of the cost, off Ozsale and the other subscription sites.
These are Buy Invite, Brands Exclusive, Catch of the Day .

Some other sites I use are Deals Direct- for absolutely everything and anything.
Ezi Buy- for Homewares, Manchester and clothing.

There are also the obvious ones like Ebay, Made it , Etsy etc.

But my biggest advice if you are in for a bargain, and have a love of the good quality, yet high priced brands? Sign up to their mailing lists.
Receive their emails. It might be another few emails in your Inbox (that make you feel totally loved) but if it means you are going to be notified of a sale ahead of everyone else, or given a codeword to use at the check out to redeem your discount, isn't it worth it?

Just lately I have been lucky enough to purchase for myself ( to be put away as a Christmas present of course) a new Oroton leather handbag. This bag is usually $700!! But I scored it for $200!!! Yes, that's still A LOT (or alot depending on how picky you are!) of money. But for a designer leather handbag?! So cheap, and all because I am signed up to their newsletter and was alerted of the sale, if I had not have got the email, perhaps I wouldn't have known about it!

Or I was able to buy a few things from Bambini Pronto because they had a massive sale too!! 40% off!! Whats not to like about buying something at nearly cost price?

I hope I have helped, other than the places I have listed, I just purchase off the websites and baby/kids boutiques that I am subscribed to , and only during a sale.
The thing about living in the country, even though where I live is actually a city, we still don't have much choice in the way of shopping. We have one department store, which is Target and that's it. This means that when we do get a break and head south to Perth, we shop til we drop, and nab some bargains then at Harbour Town etc, but we don't have the liberty to do this all the time, in fact about twice a year!! But sometimes that is just enough to satisfy the shopping bug, yet keep the finances under control!!

Speaking of sales and finances, Kikki K is having 25% off their Blue products until Sunday, using a codeword!! So why wouldn't you want to subscribe?!

If anyone would like invitations to the above companies, please email me or leave a message and I will send one out!!

Simplicity Cake

I like to bake. Alot. And my kids and husband like to eat what I bake.  Alot

Favourites around my home are Choc Chip cookies, cupcakes and the good old chocolate cake.

We were lucky enough, when we got married, to receive a hand written Recipe book from my sister , with alot of the recipes to meals and sweets that I have been eating since I was a child.

One of the recipes is this 'Simplicity Cake'

Called Simplicity cake because it is just that, a very simple and easy cake to make, but when this cake pictured, was baked and tasted, my husband assured me it was the best cake he had eaten. Hmmm I think he liked it!!

So you may have lots of cake recipes, especially chocolate cake ones, but for a really nice, simple recipe, try this.

Simplicity Cake

Ingredients

1 cup SR Flour

1 cup Sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tpn Vanilla essence

2 tbsp drinking chocolate

 ( can use cocoa but drinking chocolate gives a MUCH better flavour!)

3 tbsp butter

Method

Melt the butter and mix into the other ingredients.

Beath for 3 mins (I use my Mixer and tend to beat until the mixture turns a lighter colourand fluffy)

Pour into a well greased and lined 20cm cake pan and bake for 25-35mins or until cooked through

Ice with buttercream icing ( butter, icing sugar and dash milk)

For variety, try omitting the drinking chocolate and adding grated orange rind for a noice moist orange cake etc.

It doesn't look the best, but oh was it yummy!! I was trying to take a photo while Max screamed for cake!

Enjoy!

A Post of Questions...... and Answers

As mentioned a few days ago, I am a little behind on emails from readers with questions and queries of different things they have seen on the blog, so I thought I would try and address a few all in the one post.
I love being able to help you guys out, answer any questions you have or give as much information as I can, and I just love hearing from you. So please, feel free to email me whenever you like , and I will try and reply as soon as I can.

Some recent questions have been regarding my handmade products, as originally I had started a home based hobby business of sewing children's items, and this is how my blog originated. Unfortunately I don't have the time to sew much anymore and don't take custom orders for anything either.

Where did you get the babushka softie in Stella's room from?
My clever sister hand sews and creates gorgeous items for kids and she has a Facebook business called Bread n Butter Factory ,you can find her HERE.

Could you please let me know the website of where I can get the printables for letters (eg, S for Snake- a picture of a snake shaped as the letter S) that you used for your Theme weeks.
As seen our Educational weeks in these posts HERE and HERE , I like to use printables and one of the best sites I have found is HERE

You did a post on cleaning and it had pictures of your Linen cupboard with little white baskets, I can't seem to find the post anywhere though. I'd like to do a make over similar.
Well HERE you go, I searched and found the post myself. Love those baskets, they are so cheap and handy for anything!

The little print in the laundry, where is that from?
Wash, Dry, Fold, Repeat poster from HERE

Where did you get your big beautiful bookshelves and TV unit from?
That would be our lovely Liatorp unit from IKEA. I did a blogpost on it HERE and I must say, we still love this unit today as much as we did the day we bought it. We get so many comments on it and it has completed the room and provided so much storage for us.
Details of the range are on the IKEA website HERE

You have mentioned in the past that your kids go to bed early, how do you achieve this with so many kids? I just never seem to have the time in the afternoons and its chaotic.
Oh believe me, the afternoons are chaos here too! But in all seriousness, its all about organisation and routine. Dinner is ready most days by 4:30-5pm and we sit down to eat anytime between 5pm-5:45, so not long after my husband comes home from work. Its early, I know , but the kids are cactus and ready to eat and get to bed. They go straight from the dinner table to the bath, teeth, dressed, book and bed. Most days they are in bed by 6-6:30pm.
I know a lot of people may feel that is too early, or not achievable , but it is.
Its a proven fact that kids require 12 hrs of sleep per night as a minimum and if yours are anything like mine, they are up early, so to bed early it is too.
To get them there at that time is all about organisation. If you work , it would be harder, but I am lucky enough to be at home. Perhaps for working parents, you could cook up dinners on weekends so they were ready? Use the slow cooker, Or feed the kids something different that what you are having yourself.
During this time, nothing else matters but getting them to bed at a good time. If you are busy cleaning, organising , playing , on the computer etc. Nothing matters, it all can wait until after bed time. Just focus on what needs to be done and do it.
We have never had an issue with them not wanting to go to sleep because of how light it is outside. Its routine, its bedtime , regardless of the sun.
This routine suits us, its great to be able to replenish and recoup at night with the kids in bed and spend some quality time together.

My question would be on routine. How do you stay motivated to keep on top of things?
Well my answer to that is that I am anal!! No seriously!! My hubby calls me OCD but I just think I am fussy. I often wonder myself but figure , my life is so crazy busy all the time, and so many elements are out of my control daily, the one thing I can control, is my home. I function better when everything is clean and tidy, I can think straight and feel more at ease.
The motivating factor for me is that if I don't keep on top of it, the next day it will just be twice as bad, take twice as long to clean or put away and I just don't have that time to spare. I do lots of little things , all day , and it doesn't seem so bad.
However, I don't watch much TV, don't sit down, read mags, watch TV (unless feeding Angus) during the day. Its just go go go.
And my reasoning with hubby? Our home is my place of work. He likes his workplace and area to be neat and tidy and so do I!

Continue on from same query
Do you write a to do list everyday? Do you do things on certain days? Eg clean, budget, groceries, organise.
I don't write lists for the little things, or rather the things that I do on a daily basis as part of my normal routine. Like making beds, dishes, doing laundry, putting it away etc. I do them all the time so no need to remind myself about them. If you want a sense of accomplishment then maybe so you can check things off your list ! haha
All beds are made, dishes are done and the toy room is tidy, and usually a load of washing is on , before we leave in the morning for school drop off. It makes the mornings busier, if that is possible, but I really hate returning to a house that looks untidy with lots of work to do!
I write lists for the bigger jobs I have to do. Say "Organise the Walk In robe" and try and make suitable time to do it. Or I might just plug away at something over a few days while Max and Lacey are sleeping. While the kids are awake, I do undertake in any organising, cupboard cleaning etc. Its not that fair on them and its too stressful for me ;) haha
I clean my house on a Monday, as in dusting, bathrooms, toilets, vacuuming , mopping. Everything. I also wash the towels on this day and generally change the sheets on a Sunday.
My washing is done everyday to stay on top of things and usually gets put away on the same day.
I have an ironing lady and she is a godsend!!
We are really bad with our groceries, and I don't shop on the same day every week. In fact I only shop every 3 weeks or so, when we need to. My husband brings home fresh bread and milk from work and I usually touch up on fruit and veg about half way through but we usually spend about $350ish and it last for 3 weeks or longer, buying in bulk saves money and time/stress.


Have you always been organised if so do you think there is help for those that haven't and want to be?
You know what? I haven't always been organised. Or at least I don't think I have been!
I am not an untidy person, and like to clean as I go. And I have heard plenty of stories about when I was little and I would be neurotic and change my clothes millions of times a day, but I don't think I was an extremely neat child.
My cleaning and organising obsession has definitely been enhanced with having our kids, especially since having the twins. Like I said, I felt so out of control about so many things, that our home was one thing I could organise and control and it was almost like therapy.
There is hope for everyone. But please remember, I am no guru, I just do things I like to my home and like to share them with you.
And there is no overnight cure , and nothing is a quick fix. Generally , once you start organising and culling one area, it stems and overflows to another like a domino effect. But... make a list, establish what you will need to organise the area and free up some time to do it. Even if you steal 20 mins a day when hubby first comes home from work and the kids are excited to see him and occupied, to duck off and get to work.
I really feel, to be an organised person and have an organised home, you need to see a problem or mess, dislike it and want to make it better. Simple

Ok just a random question how did you meet your hubby?
This is a nice different one!! I met my husband when I was 17, a hairdressing apprentice and living life to its fullest!! He was friends with a girl I went to Tafe with and she spoke about him a bit. We swapped numbers, text back and forth hundreds of times a day, spent hours on the phone to each other then decided to go on a 'Date'. And  I am talking a real date, which even 9 years ago, was a rarity! No one goes on proper dates anymore. But he asked for my address, and came and picked me up. Even got out of the car and met my parents before leaving.
It only took 3 months before I knew he was the one for me and I wasn't even 18 yet!!
Its safe to say , we are soul mates. Our paths were meant to cross and thankfully they did!!
We have grown up from teenagers to adults with each other, battled with a family that was not approving of our relationship and had our ups and downs, but I could not imagine my life without my darling big man. (and he is big alright, 6ft 9 inches!!)

And one of the questions I have had on my Facebook page  and I thought I would share as it may be helpful to some people;

How do you go about finishing up your craft sessions with your kids? My daughter always throws a tantrum when its time to pack away.
Hmm I am not saying our crafting sessions have been without tantrums, that would be a huge lie! However our kids are usually very good when finishing up a session but I think its because when we do craft, we make 'something'. We set out with a finished product in mind and always have something to show for our efforts in the end. The kids love nothing more than clipping their new artworks up on the fridge or in the Toy Room, and are very proud of themselves. I think if we were to have a free craft session where they cut and paste or paint just for the fun of it, and there was no finish line, then we would have hissy fits!


I hope by answering these questions all at once, it has been convenient for everyone and satisfies their queries, if not , please do not hesitate to contact me. I love feedback, I love messages and comments so fire away!
And a huge thank you to those special ladies who did take the time out to email and message me! xo

The DIY Laundry

This post has been a long time coming, as our new laundry has been in for some time now (like wellllll over 6 months, probably more like 9 months!!). I guess it has never "felt" finished to me, as its not. Perhaps this post will give a little encouragement to the man of the house to complete the finishing touches. (Not so subtle hint there love!)

Anyhooo, since whipping up the last piece of wall art, I have felt compelled to share.

I wish I had before pics of our laundry, I would have them somewhere but not handy , and I am not patient enough to find them or wait  ( DH is nodding his head in agreeance).

Picture a very basic laundry. Just a big space for a washing machine, the standard trough and not much else. It needed help.

We purchased our house as a Spec home, directly off the building company and all in all, I am happy with most things. I do love it.  There are only a few things about our home I would change (other than adding a few extra rooms) and the laundry was definitely one of them.

We bath our babies and sometimes older children in the laundry, so we needed somewhere to be able to change them etc. I wanted more storage. And of course, to look prettier. I am a girl after all.

If money was no object ( a girl can only dream) , there would have been more that I would have loved to do. Including floor tiles and moving the power and water taps from the wall (again, so it would look prettier) but we were on a budget and it just didn't stretch that far.

Without further ado, our new laundry space;

Links to where items were purchased are listed also, or as close to them as I can find. Most items are from Ikea, Bunnings or Target.

We had already put the drying rack and hooks on the wall, but have recently added the 2 frames prints. The basket hanging from the hook has a roll of toilet paper , strange I know but Max and Lacey's pottys are underneath so this is a convenient spot for us.

Hook Rack
Similar Drying rack

I didn't want to spend any money on the wall art, so I found this FREE Wash, Dry, Fold, Repeat  printable on Pinterest and just popped it in an Ikea Frame, as with the home made art next to it.

I made that using some cardstock, letters and glued on a peg.

There are plenty of gorgeous prints on Etsy, and I found a few that would have suited my colour scheme etc but it depends on whether you want to spend the money, and I didn't. (scrooge!)

Printable from HERE

 The washing basket is from Ikea also ( I am sorry I can't find it on the site but I know its still there!) and divided into 2. I don't tend to sort , just throw anything in. Crazy but it works. We wash everyday so it has never bothered me.  But this basket is perfect as its narrow. The white trug you can see is my laundry basket and they are on Clearance in Target for $10 at the moment ( I also used one for storing my boots etc in yesterdays Wardrobe post)

The hanging bag is a peg bag, perfect

I framed a Stain Removal Chair by Martha Stewart , in a cheap yet pretty Big W frame for easy access and quick action. The basket has a box of wipes etc.

We replaced the trough with a lovely ceramic one from Ikea, and put in overhead and base cabinets. The best part of the makeover would have to be the benchtop. Also an Ikea buy and Hubby just cut it to size and finished the pipe area with a cord cap (the type you would use on an office desk).

All the gorgeous tags are from the very cool printable by Bianca at A Little Delightful available HERE , and I just laminated them, punched a hole and tied with some cute Bakers Twine. I orginally bought the Washing powder tin in the gorgeous blue, so that set the colour scheme for the room, and these labels and tags suited perfectly, like a match made in label heaven!!

Jar with Silver lid
Washing Powder tin from Target

All the important and well used products are stored here for easy access. The Stain removal supplies are in the cute white bucket, which is hanging from the rail by an S hook.
The wire rack stores anti-bac gel, baby bath etc, and the little basket hanging at the end holds plugs.

Silver rail
S Hooks on Rail
Wire Basket on rail

The cupboards are all from Bunnings and are part of the Flatpax range. We used the kitchen range, as there were more choices for cupboard sizes and they fit our space better. Plus I liked the idea of being able to choose different doors for the front, whereas the laundry cupboards, although a cheaper option, only came with the basic white door.
The website is great, and allowed us to plan and measure at home and just go into Bunnings to purchase the items.
Bunnings also do benchtops, as seen on the Flatpax website, but I liked the choices of laminate better from Ikea and the sizes too! Plus the Ikea ones come with extra laminate for redoing the ends if you need to trim them, and Bunnings ones don't, FYI.

The kickboard is still to go on (the part that needs to be finished) but its a matter of Noel having the time to cut them to size and fit them. Time is always an issue!!

The cupboard on the left stores baby towels, as this is where Angus gets bathed. We put a blow up change mat (which gets stored down the end of the bench against the window) purchased from HERE, on the bench and it quickly becomes a change station.
The white tub on the bottom shelf is for Noel's work clothes, I like to seperate them incase they are quite dirty and this is nice and tucked away.

Under the trough I store my cleaning products ( with a child locks on the doors) and Enjo mits etc.
All our doors on the base don't have handles, they are yet to be fitted but we are in no rush. No handles means the kids can't open them, we know how to but they can't . Smart eh?

And the little potty's sit neatly inside the door, although they aren't getting used that much anymore, they just take themselves off to the toilet.

Completed , this reno would have cost about $1000 and has made a huge impact on our life. Still not super duper cheap but its such a functional , easy to use space now, and just a fraction of the cost it would have been to get the pros in! The cupboards, bench top and trough all went in in a matter of a few hours , as DH had built them over the course of a few nights when the kids were in bed to save time on construction day.

The little bits and pieces to decorate and finish were super cheap too, but they make the space look pretty and that's what counts really, doesn't it ? ;)