the house has been emptied for earthquake repairs and we are off to a bach at waikuku beach for 3 weeks

funded by the insurance company-yay! with no internet access-yikes! in principal it's my ideal holiday though i am a little nervous about the closeness of the boy-baby due date, but i'll do anything to get the earthquake commission out of our lives ASAP, even birth at a beach shack endure a long drive to womens hospital.

i do hope to do the Op-Shop Show-Off as usual, but otherwise i imagine i will be absent from blog reading, commenting and posting for the most part unless i can find the right combo of tree climbing, arm waving and breath holding that may enable me to pick up the 3g signal here!


wish you were here x div>

the winner takes it all

i'm feeling rather bloated. not from too much christmas pud, or even the heat plus advancing pregnancy. it's the best kind of bloat (yes there is a good kind), gift bloat! presents are falling from the sky like confetti around here.

hot on the heels of the 'a present a day for 25' days advent swap and claudine's 3rd birthday, and later interspersed by christmas presents,  i had the good fortune to win the Baby Space (blog featuring "...whimsical, quirky and beautiful interior spaces for wee ones...which  features real children's bedrooms and play areas as well as products and crafts for babies and children") christmas give-away, and have had a parcel in the mail almost everyday since from the various prize givers (with more to come!). 

three years into single income parenthood, the saving evaporated, i had struggled a bit with not buying all brand new-organic-locally made (ie the in-walking distance Cariboo)-baby-everything for the impending boy baby as we did for claudine. i had got there, especially as we've saved everything of hers and didn't ever do pink in those early years, and as i've taught myself to knit. but it is wonderful to have some beautiful new things to give him, especially since they are of just the kind, environment kindly organic and handmade, i would have bought myself; with some lovely wee things for myself and the girl too. how lucky am i?!!

beautiful biodegradable bamboo dinner set from LoveMae
(plus an underwater themed version for when the boy baby comes of baby led weaning age)




organic cotton newborn kit set, of fantastic non-tacky boy design (hurrah!).
from New Zealand's company-most-likely-to-lure me-from-frugality Nature Baby.




handmade baby toy and a worry doll from Once I Was



modern kiwiana tea towel by 326 and platypus toy from two little banshees both via the cool-stuff-from-down-under online store Antipodean Love.

more to LoveMae for. merry christmas bunting and modern snowflake reusable wall decals. 

the hat i can only dream of making for the boy baby at this early stage in my knitting education, 

 from Typically Red who's blog is as lovely as her knitting and well worth a 'follow' button press!

Fable, Melbourne, via down that little lane. organic cotton newborn trousers (chosen from a great range, if you have a girl tell me you resisted buying one of those cardigans and i won't believe you!)

Burp!

(pardon me!)

            have you ever got lucky like this?     what did you win?      which is your favourite thing here?

p.s no resolutions here as usual. i'm more of a spontaneous i'll give-that-interesting-idea-a-go-anytime-of-the year kinda gal, plus i'll have a newborn soon and that's all i can worry think about (wheres that dolly...)

Happy birthday, erm, "princess"

a couple of day before christmas claudine turned three! three! THREE! 

we gave her the much longed for bunny. claud christened her "princess ballerina". at three parental taste and advice is outgrown. we call her princess for short. we are all in love (though a little alarmed at the rapid eating of her hutch?!)

she had a tea party with all her pals, inside at the last minute due to the sudden onset of drizzle, drinking pink fizz from teacups and eating pink cake. my finest cake moment to date (it tasted wonderful!).

pin the pom pom on the bunny was a hit-and i love that i have a birthday commemorating tea towel to use as we wrote all the kids guesses and names on in fabric pen.

claud gave us a present the next day, and we are still all astonishment. she announced she wanted to wear knickers and refused nappies point blank. 

thanks claud x

linking up at show and tell

the advent swap completed...wow!

just briefly popping in from my christmas hibernation to say a big thank you to stella for my wonderful advent swap gifts numbers of which, numbers13-25 you can see here. hope your all feeling as relaxed and content as i am. see you in the new year x

       13.cool notepad and a very pretty, flowery pen.

16. D.I.Y mini bunting and decorative kite kits-on-a-post card-these are so rad!
(pretty sure stella designed and sells these, along with some of my other beautiful gifts which proceeded and follow, so if your insanely jealous of me go to her blog shop and buy some)

18. an ikea pine scented christmas candle. 

15. a darling little vintage pepper pot, a vintage wooden toy train (claud has claimed this hence it's can't be found to photograph, but the plan was to hang it on the tree) and a packet of nostalgia-inducing mini retro french postcards. 

14. a pack of great wee 'label/stickers

17. adorable christmas card fridge magnet and beautiful gold washi tape 

19. circus stamp kit

20. cool handmade retro envelopes

21. pretty magnetic fridge bunting

22. gothic script washi tape

23. stripy paper straws. claud calls these "happy straws"-so true!

24. sweet kids version of the night before christmas 

(we love this story and the illustrations in this version are delightful)

25. exquisite a-z fridge magnets; excellently named award winning kiwi coffee, the tiniest buttons i ever saw in my life (i so have to find the tiniest jar in the world to make a button jar for my doll house craft room!), beautiful stickers, gorgeous fabric...an absolute delight to open on the big day!

and thank you too cat for organising x

are you an Op-Shop Show-Off?

this sweet festive, rorstrand of sweden porcelain cup-or-sugar-bowl, and a trio of deer (i know nothing of  nana-nick-nacks, beswick maybe?) complete my christmas mantel this year, alongside clauds homemade advent calender and a sleeping elf. 
i'd dearly love a greened up up mantel but that soon to be replaced icky mustard wall paper makes green look bleurg so white was the only way. i'm looking to replace the mustard with a grey. it's very hard to find a grey that doesn't look either blue or purple or too light or too dark for this sunny room. but once it's done the white cup will join these other thrifted "whiteys" up there (from left: 'made in china': Arabia, Finland: Thomas, Germany) currently doing service in the craft room.

are you an op-shop show-off? or more modest about your superior thrifting abilities and luck? either way not everyone appreciates your skill, dedication or indeed finds. but we do here, and i'd be thrilled if you linked up and showed-off your second hand finds, new or old, here. (we'll be here every tuesday in the new year).

to link up just click on the blue click here message and follow the 3 simple steps to link up your blog post, and leave me a comment to let me know your here!
then if your keen grab the Op-Shop Show-Off Button from my sidebar to decorate yours (paste the code into a HTML gadget under the 'add a gadget' part of the layout section in blogger and save)

play along with us

play along with us

latest doll house makings-an adirondack chair

a lolly stick adirondack chair. the arms are from magnums. the others just random lemonade ice blocks (my preggy crave this time around). the leg bits are a split oversize crafters lollystick. tarted up with a little humbrol paint. a bit of a fail in doll house terms as they are not child resistant at all, but pretty to look at and in this context-a little scene for my mini-loving advent swap partner stella-very evocative of a southern hemisphere christmas to my mind.

the mini drinks were from op-shopped cocktail stirrers.
the tree is a from an overlocker thread tube also op-ed
the flower buttons were snipped from a stained cardigan of clauds

 the latter picture is my inspiration. i want these retro beauties in my back garden now!

my creative space this week and my Ta-Dah Tuesday too, and the all new super-doopah SHOW AND TELL!

oh i do love a miniature christmas scene

i finally found some mini christmas trees, at the bakery. and so we've been playing, with sea salt, op-shopped jars and claud and the husbands toys (the tractor he got when he was 4) this morning. i think we all know that we'll be going with the rabbit winter scene this year!