Crazy Combinations

There is something about those old ladies with purple hair and blue eye-shadow up to their eyebrows that appeals to me. I mean I know I should be saying something awful about the crazy 'purple rinse brigade' and mutton dressed as dragon.... or some such thing.

But I like their attitude. I like the thought that they get up and don their crazy ensemble and while they make their choices it's about joy - it's not about 'being appropriate' or fading into the background or being something society expects of them - it's about celebrating - life, colour, matching tracksuits made out of weird plasticy stuff, or 'African-inspired' jewellry.... or whatever.

I like the attitude, the sense of adventure, the implied mischief when dressing is a little crazy.

Maybe I'm reading more into it than a year 13 poetry assignment, but it's my take and I'm sticking to it.

This ensemble is a bit of all that. I like it but I get that it's a bit too much wrong green on blue, ruffled ankle socks with dry legs, op-shopped with glassons, with hand-made, with trade me and a ring I got at high school.....

I like it  - it makes me feel like a lady whose about to buy a supersized box of aqua eye-shadow.

Joining in with WW (button on the right)

Little model also showing his crafty work from the craft class we are going to on a Tuesday morning at the Make Cafe

Love you more than a pair of ruffled ankle socks, don't knock 'em till you've bought me a pair xxx

Cake For Granddad

So my 'bake a new recipe every week' has rotted like a forgotten tub of baked beans at the back of the fridge.

It doesn't mean I'm not baking - but it probably means I'm making chocolate chip cookies every week because they are quick and I have everything, and I don't need to look at a recipe.....

However, it was a special birthday for Granddad and I am a great believer in birthday cake. Mainly birthday cake with a lot of chocolate and frilly bits.....but I reigned in my desires and recalled the beeline Granddad made to the school fair cake stand and the sultana cake he chose when we stayed with him last.

(As a side note I was very surprised to discover someone might choose the sultana cake over the other more exciting desirable cakes..... sultana cake was always a reliable, tasty, beige tracksuit in the clothes shop of cake stands for me. I mean sure, I'll eat, and love, 13 slices of it before afternoon tea - but I'd never actually choose it over something gooey, shiny, chocolatey...)

So I rocked out my Edmonds cookbook - which is of course the place you go for beige-coloured recipes and anything your nana once made and you are feeling nostalgic about - and I found sultana cake. Being short on sultanas and lacking in almond or lemon essence I half and halfed sultanas and raisins and added lemon zest.

Granddad was pleased.

I made him another one to take home on the plane. (It would appear that it's easier to transport sultana cake that something covered in 25cm of buttercream icing)

Love me, love my baking.

Joining in with Ange

Love you more than a school-fair cake stand xx

B.M.W.B - Marshmallow Men

I saw this super cute activity in a friend's Christmas cookbook.

Somehow it seems equally appropriate for winter

We made them

We laughed as they toppled over

We ate them for afternoon tea - it is the simple things don't you think?

In the great marshmallow circle of life it doesn't matter if you're pink or white and nobody thinks it's strange to have yellow eyes and several mouths. The marshmallow circle is a safe place - just as home, and crafting with your babes should be.

Becoming the Mama I want to be is about taking time to enjoy the journey of parenting, to honour it's value and to hopefully inspire and encourage each other. 

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

Button code on the right if you want it

love you more than a pink pascall's marshmallow (which are the only kind, in my opinion) xxx

31/52

Reading with Granddad

Granddad is very precious to us - he came down this weekend to share his 70th birthday with us. We love him.

On the Bedside Table

So.... you know how they always ask people in magazines 'what's on your bedside table?'

and they always answer some wonderful, high brow something..... (I always think: oh I'd have to quickly put something impressive on my bedside table before they came to photograph my home, ....does anyone else think that? just me then?)

anyway I digress (as usual)

we have some new books in our book bucket - and being that I love picture books, think of these as my current bedtime reading

Eat Up, Little Donkey

- such a cute book. Super simple illustrations, think of it as a parenting book whilst being empathetic, funny and engaging all at the same time. Thing is little donkey (read your average 2 year old) will not eat his dinner..... Mama donkey tries all her best strategies and then she brings in (or takes out) the big guns. I asked Bounce (4 and 3/4s!) what he liked best and he said 'when little donkey changes his mind'.

Perfect for any little Donkey who sometimes needs encouragement to eat up or a little Donkey who has a strong sense of the rules. The humour is perfectly pitched for preschoolers.

The Story Blanket

- I picked this up (actually I bought 2 copies - 1 for a gift) recently because I do judge a picture book by it's cover! It's a story of generosity, of community story telling, of noticing others. It's a story for crafters (there's a lot of knitting in the book), a story for little people who like mysteries and kindness and stories. I love the pictures too

 - this is how I'd like to be able to draw, kind of.

Hannah's Night

- The author/illustrator of this book used to work as a kimono textile designer and you can tell. The colours are beautiful and though the illustrations are not typical of the stylised Japanese images you see in kimono and prints, they have an amazing quality to them that feels true to (although very different from) the 'Japanese aesthetic'.

This is a gentle story, a story that aligns itself with the mystical stuff of childhood - waking to a sleeping house and eating cherries from the fridge without asking. It's beautiful and night-timey without being scary. It has a slow narrative and would be perfect for the child whose imagination is full of gentle wonder.

Links for Eat Up Little Donkey and Hannah's Night will take you to the Gecko Press (who publish awesome books) website where you can pre-order your copies (and then you can feel smug and ahead of the game!).

love you more than a brown paper package tied up with string xxxx

What Really Matters

When you read about a child intentionally starved and abused by parents it all gains a little perspective don't you think? (that, and it makes you breathless with grief for that little precious person so let down by the people around them....oh, let that never be us who don't dig deep enough for someone vulnerable)

so this week I am grateful for growing up loved, for not being abused, for food on the table and in the cupboards and for my beautiful little boys who have no concept of being denied food (except the odd biscuit when they've already had 2!)

I'm grateful for the love I get to express to them daily

for the huge delight of sharing life with people who are loving

for knowing that my boys have never been intentionally hurt by someone

boys who have no concept or framework for abuse

and I feel especially upset about children who are currently let down by people supposed to love them and let down by people who won't ask the hard questions and speak up

and I feel especially challenged to open up my life, to invest in a world where we get brave about asking the hard questions, and passionate about loving and serving the little ones

I'm not providing a link to the article I read - honestly I'm so upset I don't want to make others read it too. It was on the front section of the international part of the paper today if you want to go hunting and I'm sure it will be all over the internet too.

Make My Week - Makeover

take one $20 Sallies set of drawers

add 4 test pots in varying shades

use an afternoon in the sunshine

result

love you more than a wall of colour charts - oh the possibilities! xxx

joining in with the great creatives here