I'm leaving, on a jet plane!

But I know I'll be gone a whole four weeks! I will be without my gorgeous partner and children too :( I am having all kinds of feelings, since I found out (last MONDAY!!) that I am going to Finland.

See, my dear grandmother, which I called Mummu (my father's mother) had been ill for a few years and without going into any detail here, she passed away a week and a half ago, at the age of 89. My dad has hurt his back recently and can't travel (or is that an excuse??) so he is sending my brother and me over there for the funeral. Neither of us were really excited about that at first... because, you see, we can't stand each other I don't really get along with my brother. It's not a hate thing - more of a we are just way too different, and oh well that's life. We can be civil even though deep down I wish I could rip him a new one we wish were could be anywhere but in each others  company at the time.  Dad's 'last ditch effort' to get us to 'kiss and make up' so to speak. hahaha yea. we'll either come back best mates or worse than ever. Either way I am not going to over react about it.

I have to say I feel a certain level of guilt that I am going away for soooooo long without all my babies. I wish they could all come! But I have been told to embrace the excitement, the other feeling that is pushing through. EVERYONE I am related to lives there (or rests there) in Finland, so we kind of need four weeks to have time to visit as many family members as possible. I cannot drive over there, and my brother hopefully will be able to hack driving on the cold wet slippery roads!!

I will be taking lots of photos and if I am able to I will update my blog. Otherwise... SEE Y'ALL IN ABOUT FOUR WEEKS

I crocheted for a change!

Well it's been too long since I updated so I thought I would share what I made today. I wanted to make a crocheted hat for the Spring, and found this adorable hat Mixin it up with DaPerfectMix 
Here is my attempt. 

*******

  Not too bad and it looks super cute on my eldest daughter who was happy to pose for me lol

 I'm thinking the next one I make won't have as many increases :-/ think I might have done too many but it's still something I love very much!! 
Credit goes to the pattern creator, thank you so so much for sharing!! 

Ok well, the boys are in the back yard camping (wed have ten acres and at least 7 of it is bush, so they have set up camp near the dam LOL so cute! ) 
so us girls are watching movies - we all love horror movies but somehow we are all secretly scared to watch them at night without a man in the house HAHA!!
till next time!!

My glass cutting jig, some woodwork and two new items !!

First I wanna say, if you can't see any photos here can you PLEASE let me know. I'm not uploading from my computer or phone this time, and I'm not sure if because my photobucket account is private they will work or not. Thank you!

Well now I should probably show you why I will never try the string thing to cut another bottle - EVER!

Muz helped me build this jig!!

It works brilliantly!

OK, so anyways,
I have been making signs for the property. And I have seen many signs for the laundry that has three pegs (3? pfft!!) on it and writing that says "lost Socks" well here is mine for our laundry...

LMAO! Three pegs. We have five people in this house that need socks (if I'm not working I don't wear them... I have a pet hate for socks and I hate that in this hot climate of ours the kids still have to wear socks and sneakers for school! When I was in primary school we were allowed to wear thongs in Summer! But I guess that was when the focus was on education not fashion *rolleyes* don't even get me started!

We got a new kettle yesterday and I just love it!! $40 at K-Mart. And I found a new coffee and it's simply amazing! Vanilla Moccona NOMNOMNOM!!!


there is a bit more to go here but I will do it later - off to have coffee with my mama :)

My very own Pinstrosity!

I found this blog Pinstrosity On Pinterest funnily enough. And haven't laughed so much for a while! And then I realised, I had my own Pinstrosity. Unfortunately I can't find the original Pin though, It has been removed... But anyways, it was a video of two girls cutting a bottle to make a drinking glass using just string, nail polish remover and lighting it up, then plunging it into cold water VOILA! Then obviously you need to sand the sharp edges etc. OK I can do this I thought... yeh right! I will admit I was too impatient to wait to get the remover - I didn't have any, and now that I have I haven't tried it... and probably won't either!  Later in this post you'll fin out why. But because we didn't have nail polish remover I used kerosene... that burns hot but slow right? hmmm....
Here was our very first attempt...


 that's tops!! BAHAHAHAAAA
ok try again...and again... and again...


OMG!!!
So then I found another video of an old man who uses a jig to score a line on glass then heats over a candle then uses ice to crack the glass along the score line. OK I can definitely do this!!

Yay! success!! LOL.


 Jut a shame I wasted so many Corona bottles on the stupid string thing!! We don't drink beer often so I need to tell my friends that do drink it to save me some bottles! The green bottle was a wine bottle, and my partner reckons it feels like drinking out of a jam jar haha so maybe that will live it's life as a small vase LOL

I will make a new post for my other recent goings on.

Gnome doors!!!

Just a very quick one today.

I have been sanding, painting and re-sanding pieces of old pallets to make signs. LOVE the yellow and blue together! Then I made a stencil by printing the letters (actually, BUSH on one A4 sheet and WALK on another, was sufficient sizing) stuck it (with stupid glue that either sticks permanently or not at all! Grrr I couldn't find the glue that has a 'temporary' stick option :( *sigh* ) not to worry - then sprayed on the black spray paint! Am so so happy with the result! Not a very bushy colour - more like a beachy one BUT I care not!! I have four more signs waiting to have words painted on them, we will put these up through the bush along the pathways... and maybe pointing to the gnome homes...

I built a door!!!

Ain't it cute?! This is what I used for the handle...

Remember the cabinet that was broken, and I took all those beautiful hinges off the broken doors?? well I KNEW I could use them somehow!!! LOL

I am excited for this weekend, when I build the gardens surrounding the trees. Plural, yes... because I found this too, and have seen online (apologies I do not remember where exactly, but I searched for 'gnome homes' and saw it - it's a no brainer - glue on a draw handle (or small door handle) and hang a name sign, or nail on some gold letter box numbers!! so cute!!

I started a fairy garden a while ago also but haven't taken any recent photos yet ...
So that's it for now :)
Take care!! Have fun!!

EDITED to add a better photo of the Dolfroli's door (that was a name generator name we chose LOL)

Productive time behind the house

What a great day :)

First my boys went to play in the bush! HURRAH!! Really happy with that. All they have wanted to do was sit inside playing Halo UGH!! NO!  We have ten acres - go! explore! watch out for snakes! :-/ Yep - they will be coming out now it's getting warmer.

 They have already actually! a couple of weeks ago I nearly stood on this little fella. EEK!! Muz came and picked it up and put it in the garden out further away from the house.... we assumed because it was yellow underneath and greenish on top that it was just a tree snake. Well I showed the photo to my boss (who also lives in a bushy area) and she said it was a Whip snake (they have a family of them on their property) O_O a what now??? LOL. Aren't they poisonous?? Well yes - they can do a great deal of damage to pets and children. Adults can deal with a bite a bit better. Still an 'eek' moment haha.

I woke early this morning - I went to bed early because I was ill yesterday :( yea yea poor me. Would rather have been at work but what are ya gonna do? Didn't wanna spread it to everyone!
I decided to get into sorting out a new look for the other area out behind the house... this was part of the progress (had some tidying to do on the pavers)... see, i was sick of stepping over the garden (because I was too lazy to go around most of the time! *sigh*) so I decided to take out some of the stone edging, and re-arrange it and add some recycled road stuff to make a path!! problem solved!

And I made a little here too. Where the hammock is used to be a fully fenced area for the dogs (if you have seen my blog since last year You would have seen our puppy in the cage not looking so impressed!) I didn't take before photos (typical!) but it was full of weeds!! CACK!!

The hammock is a much better look ;)

 So now this is more what it looks like...

We have also done more in the BBQ area to make it nicer for this summer  Bring on the good times!!
This time last year we had a small wading pool so we couldn't really sit out here and enjoy the view...

Muz made a lovely dinner - chicken schnitzel, bacon and egg MMMM yummo!!!

Teamed with a nice glass of Jim Beam and coke in my newly made Corona glass!!
Yep - I have discovered yet another craft - glass cutting!!! I am going to blog a seperate entry for this because I am going to send it in to Pinstrosity ... should be good for a laugh!! This blog is HILARIOUS and just about as addictive as Pinterest itself! Check it out!

One more photo for today. This little guy was in our driveway when I left for work on Thursday morning and I had to take a pic - so cute!

Have a great weekend - till next time!

Lookie - Paper wasp nest!!

Well it's been about a week - my apologies for not updating :/
I have nothing really exciting craft wise to sahre but a bush find that I thought was amazing!!

Now, I had seen this 'thing' that I thought was a piece of old wood. I'd seen it everyday for the past few months and thought everytime 'I really have to get that out of there and put it in the garden' it looked really lovely! But when I finally went to get it today, I found it was light as a feather!! WHAT THE?!

this is what is looked like all over...

See? Just like a piece of wood 'scuse my unenthusiastic face LOL my ten yearold son was taking the photo with my phone ;) 

I pulled some of the 'paper' off the other side and revealed something amazing...

WOW!!! Despite my face, I was excited! LOL
I took a close up, and decided it must be bees... I mean bees make the perfect hexagonal shape right??

But apparently so do paper wasps! So that's my share for the day.

Have a good one! till next time!

Well so much for it

GRRR So i didn't finish the project I started today, and I really wanted to share it! I have taken progress pics, but I won't share more than this one as a teaser... It's only been primed here, and it's not put together. I can't wait for it to be finished - I just hope it turns out the way I imagine it! Any ideas what I'm doing?? Feel free to comment! I will post the rest of the photos once it is finished.

I wanted also to share the HOME project I posted about a couple of days ago.
When Painting letters I found it very helpful to put push pins on the underside like so...

This way you piece won't stick to the paper (or drop sheet or whatever you are using) when it dries. It makes it a bit easier also if you like to hold your letter in your hand - you can hold the pins if they are in enough (I had to use a hammer to get them in - but GENTLY!! I did break a couple OOPS!)
Then I put two of these on the back, about 10cm form each side...

Anyways, here is is finished...

So this has ben a bit of an uneventful post, photo wise, sorry about that. We have been in and out today - to the shops, and to wash the dogs. They have a dog wash at the BP servo and the dogs LOVE it! not quite as much as they love Vanessa, our usual dog wash lady that comes to us! Oh well, they now smell fabulous!!! WOOHOO!!

OK, so I will cut it short now, and HOPEFULLY I will have finished my frame project by tomorrow night, but I'm not promising as I have to go to work tomorrow also.... I will try to fit it in!!

Till next time!!

Stoned! and tomorrow's plans

Not in the drug way...ew.

Today we went to Bunnings - two weekends in a row WOOHOO!! I needed... NEEDED!... unsanded grout...to make chalkboard paint. Pinterest again! I am going to make a lovely board for the front of our house tomorrow. The chalkboard paint thing actually works - not that I had doubts, but it is always nice to do it yourself and have it WORK!

So of course I had to do some 'brrrrraaaaazing' (anyone who watches Kath&Kim will know I mean 'browsing' LOL!) and my 8 yearold son is into building things from wood lately as well, so he scored this...

He was onto it as soon as we got home, and I reckon he has done so very well. He didn't need a great deal of help either! So proud of him! His Pappa (my dad) helped a little tiny bit at the start and then his dad helped a wee bit later on... but mostly he wanted to do it himself. He is painting bits and pieces but not all of it he said - it looks 'cooler' awwww. $15 is not a bad price to pay for something like this. And my guess is it will be looked after better because he built it. YAY it's a win-win here!

I scored a bag of clear 'stones' which are just glass obviously, but I KNEW i could do SOMETHING with them...

I am not good with wire really (even though I bought some in the hopes to make a rain chain - yes I'm still thinking about it LOL) and besides that, my pliers seem to have taken a walk to god knows where!  So I decided I'd try painting the 'flat' side of the stones... just to see the effect...and WOW! I think they look pretty cool!

Not sure where their final resting place will be yet BUT for now they are in a bowl with other rocks...

So tonight I am very hyperactive and wanna craft... but I have this awful toothache! I have taken painkillers which will no doubt keep me up and hyper!
Till tomorrow when I post the pics of tomorrow's craft adventures!! Be happy and get your craft on!!

Nearly finished and starting a new project!!

OK, So Here is my craft room, as it is now, all
finished .

Ok, so then I felt compelled to buy a jigsaw. Inspired (obviously!) by Pinterest! I wanted to cut out something from MDF. So off to Bunnings - got a jigsaw - $34, and two pieces of MDF for around $7 each. I have started... I printed out the letters H O M E and transferred them to the MDF... then went and made a messy noise in Muz's shed!

Not perfect but neither am I so, meh!

Painted the letters first with gesso (not sure if that's a 'normal' thing to do but it felt right LOL)  Then painted the letters orange...

Murray cut the backboard for me with his little circular saw (I'm too scared to use it yet) The back board was painted grey (same grey as another project we started today!) The edges of the letters I have painted silver. Hopefully it all looks good once I stick it all together.

The new project we have started is this...

This is the 'sleep out'. It currently houses a whole bunch of stuff - my cutting table, my sewing machines, and a couple of cabinets and tables. Then thee is a lot of junk too. This however is half of it in the photo. My 15 year old daughter wants to have her own room in our place (she is living with her bio-dad at the moment) . She originally waned to kick  her sister out of her own room to have the big room. Not an option and not fair to our 13 year old daughter! And the small room at the back of the house (the only 'spare' room we have) is not big enough and doesn't have a door to the outside world like the three rooms along the front of the house. OK so we decided we would transform the sleep out/ Half for me because I am not getting rid of my machines and tables for anyone! And the other half for her. We will be putting in a new wall and a proper ceiling - as you can see in the photo it is not lined with gyprock, and so is more like a 'shed' than a room. The floor has been painted - that's the first step of the project. My dad is going to help us build it in. My daughter reckons it's still too small for her, I told her to chill out and just wait till it's finished THEN decide what she wants to do. She is like me though - when it was full of junk (we have already done one dump run - an old couch and other 'dead' unusable furniture in there taking up space unnecessarily! ) It certainly seemed small to me too, now it is HUGE! MUCH bigger than her sister's room for sure. She has to see it before she makes that call that she doesn't want the room... because if she doesn't want it - it will be transformed into a nice area for entertaining (and a built in bar... MAYBE - I want it to be a guest house.... we'll see who wins that 'conversation' hehe....)

NOTE to self - if using a 'hurricane lantern' with plastic not glass windows in it... make sure that the tea light candle is sitting straight!!! Or this may happen...

THE PLASTIC MELTS! HELLO!!!! oh well - it actually looks pretty cool now...like curtains LOL - see even accidentally I can make art!!! HAHAHA!!!!!

One last thing before I leave you, I painted this Welcome onto a planter we have at the front of the house. 

My mum didn't believe I painted it but I did I really did! I printed the word, then used carbon paper to transfer it onto the planter then sat in the dirt, in my PJs to paint it! That's how hyperactive I am - I don't even have time to get dressed in the morning before I start on my ideas! *sigh* oh well - there is a washing machine I can use *pokes tongue* 

Till next time!!