Make My Week #22 - Cupcake Cushion

Joining in here again - oh so inspiring to see what people make in their creative lives
 
This week it is another birthday party present for a very sweet little lady.

I like the colour combo and the way her name turned out - I free motion stitched it on the machine. Flip assured me after the party she loved it and didn't want to let it go.

I do like green and pink together in these sort of projects.

What is your favourite colour combo?

Wardrobe Wednesday - The Final Remix

It's been great seeing how people remix a garment different ways But I have found it a bit commitment to actively wear the same thing once a week - I am a variety lover after all.

It's not to say I don't wear a lot of things over and over but when I have to wear something it feels like a 'uniform' - I know I am strange.

So here is my final remix styled up with some tights I was given by a friend who bought them and then didn't like them on herself and a wee cardi thingy I picked up with a voucher I had - from Farmers - it was half of the on special price - whoop!

Here's the months line-up - What is your fav?

I quite like the first one I think - I'm so in love with that belt!

Other lovelies over here
 

B.M.W.B - In Reality

Blogging is really good for me because it makes me accountable - if I had said to myself this year 'I want to make my boys my biggest project this year, I'll make time to do one really intentional focussed thing with them at least once a week' and not told you - it would have fallen by the wayside.

I am what you'd call an enthusiastic starter, full of ideas, a person with really good intentions - notice there is no mention of follow through or finishing?? Yup - not so good at this.

So I want you to know that this week our special, fun, wonderful park-time - playing, swinging, chasing, chatting - came out of my need to have something for BMWB. Flip suggested it and I was going to say no because I had some bread half-risen, (that I would later ruin- see yesterdays post!!) but instead I got out with my boys in the warm wind and had a wonderful time at the local park - so I had something to blog about.... yes ,this week you were a reason for prioritizing my boys - not proud of that but I want to be honest and encouraging here - not perfect!

Truth is I adore spending time with my boys. I am ALWAYS glad when I do. They are my favourite people to hang with and BMWB has been the best thing I've decided to do this year.
When we got home I also arranged a 'mighty pillow war'... for fun and Ma'n'Pop turned up by surprise and joined in too - super fun. Mummy and Daddy lost!!

And Bounce and I had a great time earlier in the week playing with buttons and sorting them into colours.

So thanks for giving me the incentive and accountability I need to ENJOY and celebrate the awesome role of parenting the 2 cutest people I know.

This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be)  is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.

Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.

When Good Bread Goes Bad

For the past year or so I  have made all our bread by hand -2 loaves at a time - without a bread maker, the old-fashioned way
Which I love to do except when my cooking spray runs out....

hmmm yeah - kind of resent it when it doesn't turn out of the pan like a dream (which I did my best to grease!)
What kitchen mishap do you take personally??

Oh Happy Friday

Hello Lovelies
What's been making you smile this week?

I've been loving seeing my boys meet their beautiful little cousin

Watching my big boy's class assembly

Looking forward to having some lovely Christchurch bloggers over tomorrow night - if you are a Chch blogger and I don't have you on my list please leave a comment and let me know - we are very inclusive!

and giveaways - my one and this one which is an opportunity to get some beautiful songs from an amazing NZ talent and right on NZ Music Month too! enter them - it makes a blogger very excited to have lots of people entering their giveaways - I promise!!

and getting my first year of blogging back as a hardcover 180 page book! Whoop - cost a bit and took a lot of hours but such a great record of our lives and my creative journey

Pop over and see what other people are grateful for

Make My Week #21 - Lego Man Cushion

Another six-year-old birthday and another personalised cushion.
This little guy is a LEGO lover and so I thought I'd make him a little cushion with the iconic LEGO man on it.

I free-hand copied it and then stitched it on in felt.
Pretty pleased with it and I think the birthday boy was too.

Other creative spaces here
 

Wardrobe Wednesday - Remix May

So here is version 3 of my re-mixing efforts.

Version one:

Version two:

I pushed the boat out this week and wore a skirt over the dress - this is a big deal for me. I'm quite pleased with the results.

Now I need to get my thinking cap on for my remix next week. It has been a lot of fun seeing people's remixers - some real transformations.

This week I am wearing - shoes $30 on sale about 5 years ago, skirt - The Atlas bought me when we were in Pisa, Italy, necklace - 50c from an op-shop held together with a badge also 50, earrings - handmade,

and wearing one of my very favourite rings bought for me by 2 very special friends about 8 years ago.

Check out the others here

B.M.W.B #21 - Stitching and Learning From My Boys

Sometimes I think my blog must be a little confusing - sure I could probably gain a stronger following if I just focussed on one of the things I blog about - parenting, clothing, crafting, sewing, food, my faith journey - but the point for me is that this is my journey. It is my voice, and random and 'squiggly' as it may seem this is reflective of the person that I am.
I go a million miles an hour, when I am not being lazy(which I am quite often)! I think other people can feel a bit like I needn't try so hard or put in so much effort and I am learning to hear that not as a 'rejection', or as a 'tone yourself down please', or even as a 'you're embarrassing because you try-too-hard' but just to hear it as 'we love you as you are'. I LOVE heaps of things and I ADORE loads of people. I like being alive and I like doing, talking, making, performing, entertaining, achieving. I could definitely do a bit more reflective thinking, my house could be a lot cleaner and tidier,  I could certainly be a better listener..... but this is my journey and I find it fascinating that people choose to read my journey and come along for the ride...whatever part of that ride you like.
I like all of it :-)

This week I have finally done some sewing with my boys, following Juliet's example recently. I was doing some sewing myself one night just before Flip went to bed and I said I would do some with him one night and he was so keen. Initially I said no because it was 10 minutes until bedtime and then I realised it doesn't matter we could have 10 lovely minutes together if I just got him some things too. And we did have 10 lovely minutes together (or maybe 12 but that's what it is about!) and the next day he took it on himself to very carefully show Bounce the way.

They loved it and they really worked in such a focussed way. I love that kids are interested in the things that interest us. They want to be involved and they don't have the barriers of judgement or fear of getting it wrong. They just get in.
I so want to preserve that self-belief for as long as I can in my boys. That thing that says 'I haven't tried it before but I'll probably enjoy it and I might learn something new''. That's a skill I need more in me too. Too often I don't because I might not be good at it immediately or I have already decided it is too hard, requires too much effort or I won't like it.
What is something you are trying to learn from your children?

This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be)  is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.

Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.

and because I love that learning is a reciprocal arrangement, joining in here

Happy Mystery Party Big 6 Year Old!

My wee man is 6 today!! So we had a mystery party. Being that all the invited guests were 6 or younger I didn't think we were quite ready for murder mystery (and neither am I!)

But we did do a great old mystery party - one sweet guest said to me, 'Mrs F********* (they call me this because I do parent help at school) this is the best party I've ever been too.' Bless him - it was a lovely bunch of friends he invited.

I had rather a tight schedule for the party we missed a couple of games entirely but we had FUN!

When the guest arrived they did a Mystery Person sheet - a self-portrait with some extra info afterwards. The intention was to use these to guest who was who at the end of party but we ran out of time.

All the guests received a pack with a magnifying glass, a clues notebook, a clues pencil, a name sticker, a little envelope with colour swatches in it and they added their prizes to it as they went

We played -

The Mystery box - feel it, shake it and write-up your guess in box 1 then I gave them 3 clues - I am metal, I am found in the kitchen and you use me to eat with. Then they wrote their second guess.

Guess the Guest - each guest rsvp'd by email with month of birth, no. of siblings, favourite - food, colour and animal. They put their name stickers on (so people could write their names without having to guess spelling etc) and I read out the information about each person and they wrote the names next to the spaces.

What's My Colour - time was ticking along so I did this instead of getting the kids up and giving them a go. Each child had 7 colour swatches and I gave them a clue and they had to be the first to hold up the colour e.g- I am the colour of grass.

What is My Number - 9 different number sentences and the children wrote which number they thought was the mystery number for each sentence. E.g - I am less than 10, I am even and I rhyme with 4

Then we had a mystery treasure hunt each clue was written on white paper with white crayon so they had to paint dye over each clue after they found it to expose its message

Food - we had mystery food bags. I showed them some very cute 'food pictures' then gave them a mystery bag filled with foodie bits which they had to make into a picture on a white serviette and then tell everyone what they made.

I also provided some extra bits, including plain bread which a few of them used and then ate!

Cake - a big question mark made from cupcakes - easy!!!

Mystery Box Punch - I saw this idea on pinterest a while ago and it was a neat way to give the kids a small prize to take home.I forgot to take a final before pic!!!

They picked a number out of a hat which determined their order. (Flip and I had already discussed he would go last) and then they punched through the tissue to get their prize.

The party was great fun the 1.5hours disappeared and we didn't get to the Mystery Bag - put your hand in a bag and guess the item before pulling it out, Reverse Hide and Seek, or finish the Mystery Person Pages. I probably could have done 2 hours but I always like to keep things short and sweet before there are tears and tantrums!!

A great day, a simple easy themed party, all good! What is your best birthday party tip??

The other thing that worked well was a list of jobs that needed to be done today so that everyone could help with the jobs to get the party ready and I didn't have to give jobs out constantly.

And because I love reading about other people's birthday parties I'm linking in with Simone's favourite blog posts