Christmas Cheer - Guest Post by Kate

Hello to Liz’s lovely readers! My name is Kate Torrance & I’m very honoured to
be asked to contribute to Liz’s Bizzy Dayz Blog!

                                
I live in the Northern Coastal suburbs of Perth with my lovely husband Alex & 4 kids! Finn age 10, Noah age 7, Ayssa age 4 & Sibella age 3. So just like Liz, I have 4 wonderful kids with a very busy life!!!

I thought I’d share a little bit of Christmas from around our home! We are currently renting as we are about to start building our new home, can’t wait!

                             

                                                

                             

                             

Firstly, so I am a big Ikea fan! Who isn’t really? When I saw their Advent Bags for Christmas I knew I had to grab them! At $12.95 they were such a great price & I knew we could use them year after year!
I decided not to use the number stickers that came with them. I remembered I had some gorgeous Christmas printable numbers pinned on Pinterest. You can find them HERE

                               

So I printed them off, used my 3inch scalloped punch and was so happy with how they looked! Pulled out some wooden pegs from my craft cupboard & used some string I had also picked up Ikea to hang them up! Love those clear 3M removable hooks, come in handy for little jobs like this.

                                

We have had lots of different items in the bags, Christmas pens, pencils & ruler set, colouring in books, bracelets for the girls, ABC & Number flash cards, chocolate Santa’s, a few lollies. Christmas Hair Accessories, Rolls of Christmas sticky tape (huge hit) little notebooks, Stickers etc. Also different Christmas activities we have going on.
We really are enjoying the excitement each morning of our little bags!



When it came to teacher presents this year, I was a little unsure what to get. I normally pick something up throughout the year but nothing had jumped out at me.
I like to buy gifts that the teacher can keep and remember our child when they happen to use it again at a later date, also I like to get something useful if possible…
So whilst wondering around Target a couple of weeks ago, I came across these 2 Tier Cupcake Stands at 50% off!

                             
So normally a cute pretty buy at $15.00 but even better at $7.50 (such a great buy) As I needed to purchase 5 it was a great cost effective gift I thought.
Previous years I have bought Country Road Mugs (usually $9.95) Last year I picked up some Aprons at Typo for $5.00.
So they are all wrapped & ready to give to our teachers on the last day of school.

                            

I hope they like them!!

                           Lastly, I thought I’d share some our Christmas Decorations from around the house.

 

We’ve also started the “Elf on the Shelf” tradition this year in our family, so our little Elf “Toby” makes an appearance each morning & the kids just love him!

                                  

Thanks again to Liz for asking me to share a little bit of Christmas with you today, if you have any questions just pop them in the comments & I’d be happy to help if I can! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

                            

Mini Christmas Keepsakes

After seeing the gorgeous mini canvas' that Bianca from a little delightful made with her kiddos last year (post HERE) I have been busting to make them with our own kids. So they were added to the Christmas crafting list.
I couldn't think of a better keepsake , and definitely NOT one as cute either.

 

I already had the mini canvas' but I think they came in a pack of 3 from a cheapo shop.

I Love the snowman one, and I even added some glittery and pearly snowflakes to the top for a bit of pizazz, I just used a scrap booking product called Stickles. (You can buy a small tube for as little as $3.50 and it comes in lots of colours etc)

And the reindeer one of course!! Such a gorgeous way of documenting their fingerprints and sizes. I plan on doing this every year and displaying them . Cute as!

So have a go with your kids. They don't have to be on a canvas, maybe just some card and you could even frame it. They don't have to be done with paint either, maybe some ink instead?

Too cute not to do yourself!

Last in our lifetime...


Today is one of those repetition days. Only its not just any order one, its the last one we will see in our lifetime.
That in itself , is truly amazing.
I am not much of a believer in "The end of the world as we know it" sort of stuff, actually I DON'T believe it , but that is a matter of personal opinion.
What I do believe in, is that people, around the country, around the world, will be making a difference today.

image source

Lets just say that it could be the end of the world today, which its not, but is there something you want to do before then? Is there something you would like to say to someone? Do you have wrongs you need to right? Amends you need to make ?
Do you have plans that haven't been carried out? Jobs you said you were going to get done? Things you wanted to see and places you wanted to go?
If it were the end of the world, would you want everything to be this way?
Or would you try and make things better? I know I certainly want to!

Today is a day for new beginnings, forgive and forget because in the end, its not really that worth it.
Seize the day, make a change and take a chance on something new and exciting!
THIS is the day to remember for a lifetime. The last we will see of a reoccurring date , and the perfect day to make something better of yourself and your life.
Kiss your loved ones and tell them how you feel. Stop for a few moments and take in your surroundings.
And never stop trying to better yourself.
Make today count and remember it...



Kindy teachers gifts

This is our first year of having a teacher/s to give thankyou presents to. I have trawled the net, stumbled across so many  fab ideas on Pinterest and thought of some cool ones myself over the past few years but then when it came to the organising, time slipped away from me.

After seeing boxes and boxes of chocolates and the like being bought to school and presented to the teachers, I knew I wanted to do something a little different . (No offense to chocolate or the present bearers but sometimes one can only have so much choccie!)

I happened to find some Christmas material in one of my Christmas storage tubs (and I made the Christmas cushion) and also a few cane hearts (bought from Spotlight) that I had intended on creating something for Valentines Day and it didn't eventuate.
Ideas ticked over to make something original and unique for Stella's 3 gorgeous teachers and after seeing THIS POST from the gorgeous Jess at My Heart, Your Home , I thought it would be a lovely gift and keepsake for the teachers.

It was as easy as cutting the material into strips then into pieces to your required length then tying them around the cane heart, I wanted a more random look and so I tied them and left the ends out in different directions.

Finished with a ribbon to hang them with and they were done!

I made the 3 , all with a different colour combination and am now tempted to make one for myself !

We also made the cards for the teachers, and personalised them with a cute thumb print reindeer on the front. Simple and oh so cute!
Inside the card , I wrote the saying "It takes a big heart to shape small minds" and Stella wrote the other parts (again, good writing and copying practice)

The presents were well received and appreciated and now Stella's gorgeous teachers have something to remember her , and the year by.

Bring A Plate- Guest Post

GUEST POST - By a gorgeous cyber friend, fabulous baker, amazing decorator and all round lovely lady - Jane Mayall

(An introductory post on my guest bloggers will tell you all a bit more about Jane, that's coming tomorrow , but for now, ENJOY!)

I am very honoured to be asked by Liz to contribute to her Christmas Series on her gorgeous Blog. A very Happy Christmas to all Bizzy Dayz readers!

This special time of the year requires many whip ups of yummy plates to share at festive tables. Tomorrow we have a Picnic and Christmas Carols at my boys’ school. I have made Malt Surprise Slice to take. I like it because it’s an alternative to the very popular Rocky Road and its super quick and easy.

Malt Surprise Slice

(originally taken from Women’s Weekly)

You’ll need

200g packet Eclair lollies

1 Tablespoon cream

1 cup Rice Bubbles

100g Marsh mellows, chopped coarsely

165g Malteasers



Prepare 8cm x 25cm loaf tin
Place eclairs and cream in saucepan and stir over low heat until smooth.

Remove from heat and stir in Rice bubbles and marsh mellows and finally Malteasers.

Press into prepped pan and pop in fridge until set.

Pass bowl to child…they will happily oblige to clean it!

I also love that this recipe can be make and stored in fridge for up to a week if its hidden!).

Cut with a serrated knife and serve.

Enjoy x



Class treats

This is our first year of organising Christmas cards and treats for a class and Stella was so excited to do it!
Each day she has been getting to school, it has been like a card frenzy.

The kids get so excited and are so proud to hand over a card to their friend.

We used this as a bit of writing exercise, and Stella wrote out all her classmates names and her names inside the card, I just did the words 'To' and 'From'.

I also attached a lollipop with a simple tag  to the the front of the envelopes.
The tags are a free printable from HERE and are punched with a scalloped circle punch (these are a little crumbled as while shooting these photos I had to rescue the lollipops from the little paws of children!!)

Our cards were put in a take home box that gets put out at collection time so that each parent could choose and hand out the lollipops at their discretion.

Something simple, but in my opinion , better than a candy cane for a 4 year old (Stella doesn't like them much) yet still individually wrapped for health reasons.

I am just about finished making the teachers gifts , so hopefully I can share those tomorrow!

Christmas Craft Creations

More Christmas crafting has been happening here and our pin board is starting to look very festive!!

I have been cutting, organising and preparing everything we need for each craft session the night before we intend to do them and it definitely helps with the craft induced stress factor!

After seeing this fantastic idea on Pinterest ( Source from HERE) , I just knew we had to add it to the Christmas 2012 Craft List (and yes, I do have one!)

A few punched circles for a nose and eyes, triangle for hat, doily for hair and beard and some other shapes cut out and everything was set to go.

So darn cute! These would have to be my favourite Christmas craft we have done yet!

Another little craft activity we completed over the week was these cute Christmas trees made out of paper strips. Another fabulous Pinterest idea (source HERE) and something that everyone and anyone can complete.

I simply cut some half in strips in 2 different colour greens, but yours can be as little or big as you like and any colour too!

A glue stick, a pretty star for the top and its a quick, easy and pretty clean sort of crafting session!

You have got to love a craft idea that you can complete in just a few minutes after school or before sleep time etc.

And lets not forget the cute doily tree decos that I organised and we made at Playgroup.
So pretty and effective when finished and something to treasure forever.

These are small doilies that the kids added glue, glitter and little sparkly accents to, then glued together with a loop of ribbon in between. I think they are so gorgeous!

So that is what we have been up to this week.  There are plenty more things on the To Do list , time is the hard factor!

Have you been Christmas crafting? Or using my crafts and posts as inspiration?
I'd love for you to post photos on my Facebook page .