Families are Forever

Hello Blog World,

First I have to say go check out Danielle’s Blog Blissful and Domestic, her blog is about a homemade year, with thrifty hints and lots of handmade goodness.  Her recent post is 25 wearable fashions and she has featured my Retro Ruffle Apron.  How awesome is that?  Now go send her some love!



Now on to me!  Still busy appliqueing (or not appliqueing as the case may be).  Finding it a bit hard with time and motivation to get some good craft on the last couple of weeks.  Time is the biggest factor but also money.  Got some big bills coming up so can’t go and get the paint I need for my hutch and until I finish this hand applique I can’t go any further with my quilt so today I will show you yet another before blogging craft!

This is one of the first things I ever sewed thanks to the help of my sister in law. I saw it at a craft fair and thought it was the cutest thing!



You can see my sewing is a bit off especially on the binding. But I was/am very proud of my first real effort in creating something. And the rules I think should apply to all families

1. Count your blessings
2. Be kind
3. Be honest
4. Forgive and forget
5. Be proud of each other
6. Keep your promises
7. Love one another
8. Comfort each other
9. Bear each others burdens

Simple but something we try and live by each day.
I also thought the people were very cute



And I had lots of fun with the hand appliqueing and hand embroidery on the words. (you think I would have learned my lesson)

The sad thing is this doesn’t really suit my decor anymore. But I want to keep it. Just need to find a new home for it somewhere. Or I could always redo it in suitable colours (there’s a thought).

So there you go another old project revealed. Hopefully I will be back soon with something new but for now check out Danielle’s Blog Blissful and Domestic

Until then Happy Crafting.

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I Party Here

Cowgirl Cushion

Hello Blog World,

I have been at another athletics carnival yesterday and today, so no time for crafting unfortunately. 

Yesterday I showed you the fuzzy monster cushion I made for my daughter’s bedroom redo to go with her fuzzy monster chair. Well we also bought some gorgeous material recently that we were going to make a laptop cover out of but since then she has been given a laptop with a you beaut case from school so I get her old one and will make a different cover for myself. But I digress, check out the material we bought.



Isn’t it cool! It’s a bit fuzzy but not as fuzzy or fluffy as the fuzzy monster cushion. Again since I wasn’t going to make a laptop cozy from this material we were at a loss on what to do with it. 

Originally we were going to cover the pin board with this but she decided she liked the purple better. So when I was gathering my supplies for the fuzzy monster cushion I found an old cushion form that I had put away for a rainy day and inspiration hit and Tiana agreed! I told you her choices were a bit out there!

Therefore the cowgirl Cushion was born!



This was run up in about 15 minutes not like fuzzy monster.  There were no mistakes as it’s all one piece, overlocked at the short ends, button holed then run up the sides to form the cushion cover.

Button closures are so easy (I am not confident with zippers yet), but I also think they look cool.



This one only has 2 buttons being a much smaller cushion.



So with athletics carnivals, hand sewing, work, exercise classes I probably wont have any new crafts to show you this week, so I will pop by with some before blogging crafts to tantalise your tastebuds so to speak.

I also have my first year bloggingversary coming up. I can’t believe that, it feels like yesterday I ventured into this wonderful world that lives inside my computer. I am trying to think of something special to do but am at a loss, if anyone has any ideas let me know!

Until then Happy Crafting.

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I party here!

Fuzzy Monster Cushion

Hello Blog World,

Wow very busy work personal wise with work, healthy living etc... So I have not been on here as much and the weekend gone was all about my daughter (not that this weekend is much different with a 2 day athletics carnival) and changing her room about. Last post I showed you her pin board redone.

Well she also needed a cushion to go with her chair I did for her about 6 months ago.  Remember the fuzzy monster chair ??



We were just going to do a small cushion but we had so much fabric left over that I would never use on anything again I managed to make a cover for a European Pillow, these are about 35cm square, so quite big.





It was quite hard to get through the machine but with a walking foot I managed, the back isn’t fluffy, I just used a purple cotton drill and button closure. But in general for a cushion cover, it was more difficult than I imagined!

I did however forget to buy specific buttons for this project but luckily I had my handy jar of buttons on hand took out all the black ones the same size and managed to find enough to suit.



Don’t you just love buttons? 

Anyway here is the back of the cushion.



If you are wondering about my decorative trim on the back that was a craft fail fix up. I beautifully cut my material, overlocked (serger) the edges made a nice hem, did my button holes (thankfully I didn’t cut them open at that stage) pinned it all together sewed it up, turned it out and ooops I had pinned it on the wrong way!! The button holes were supposed to be on the top, they weren’t and because I didn’t want to change the cotton on the overlocker and it didn’t really matter because that was supposed to be on the inside I used white cotton, well because I pinned it wrong it is now on the outside.

So I did not want to unpick this and resew it so I just sewed some more button holes and found some contrasting ribbon and sewed it over top of the overlocking so you couldn’t see it anymore.  Wah Lah one craft fail fixed.

So I am still doing a lot of hand appliqueing not really going as fast as I hoped for being a bit slack to be perfectly honest, so I will pop by tomorrow with another item from Tiana’s new room and maybe some before blogging crafts.

Until then Happy Crafting.

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I Party Here

Teenager Pin Board Re-Do

Hello Blog World,

Still doing a lot of hand sewing but got a bit over it on the weekend and decided to do other things.  So the weekend past was all about my daughter, she swapped rooms and is now in my husband’s office and he is in her old room, it actually worked out well for her it seems a bit more roomier.  Now we get the joy of decorating it.

So first thing a teenage girl needs is a pin board.  She had one but it was pink and made for her when we redecorated her room when she was 7 and still liked pink. Now it’s all about black and purple and other weird teenage stuff! So she took the board down and decided she would re-paint the frame black a while ago, and there were a few bits she missed as you can see.





So I took it off again, got her to go through my material stash and we found this fab purple fabric. I fixed up her paint job and before I covered the board in fabric we decided that some pockets would be helpful for her.



So I grabbed some contrasting material and made two pockets, sewed them on and because she is into skulls (don’t ask) I printed out a colouring page of a skull and appliquéd it onto one of the pockets, then attached to pin board.

Wah Lah one new pin board completed for a teenager!




I also made some cushion covers, so I will be back later with those. Wait to you see her choices, she certainly is unique!

Until then happy crafting        

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I PARTY HERE

All You Need Is Love (Free Printable)

Hello Blog World,

Welcome to my 100th Post!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never thought I would make it. It’s been a fun journey and here’s hoping the next 100 are just as good.

So today I am giving something back to you guys, it’s only something little but with Valentine’s Day just around the corner I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and make a free printable for you all.

I was going to do some more subway art as I had so much fun with my Aussie Christmas Printable but then I saw that there were already heaps out there, so I came up with this.


As I said, something little as I am still only just a fiddler when it comes to my graphics program, but because this was so easy I went nuts and made quite a few colours, just click on whatever colour you like to be taken to the download page for an A4 size.


Told you, went a bit nuts!! But there are lots of different colours to choose from and some cool patterns.  If there is a colour that’s missing that you would like let me know I would be more than happy to make for you!

So thank you to everyone for the last 100 posts, I love reading everyone’s comments and getting out in the wonderful crafty blog land, I still can’t believe how many talented people are out there!!!  Cheers to 100 more.



Until then Happy Crafting

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I PARTY HERE

Portrait of my Child

Hello Blog World,

Yes I am still hand appliqueing but I will be taking a break this weekend to make my daughter a pillow and to make a card.

So today I will show you another old drawing of mine. The other day I showed you my green tree frog done with coloured pencils and then my daughter’s art.  Well today is portrait I did of my daughter when she was 6 (she is now 13 1/2) done in sepia pencil.



I had never worked in sepia pencil before and haven’t since, I did like the media but it was very hard to work with, and people portraits are not my thing, I like animals!

Here is the original photo I used as my reference.



What do you think?? I was very please with the result and such a cheeky smile! I didn’t want to do all those stripes so I left her t-shirt blank. This is A4 size again and proudly in a frame in my craft room.

Looking back at my old artwork the last week gets me motivated to do more, unfortunately producing something like this or my frog takes me hours upon hours (a bit like hand appliqueing).  I am currently working on an elephant and have already spent at least 6 hours drawing time for a half finished drawing! I will get my motivation back one day.

Anyway this was my 99th post people, I will be back tomorrow with my 100th and with a little freebie for you all.

Until then Happy Crafting

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I PARTY HERE

Mini Spinach Meatloaves

Hello Blog World,

First I have to say I have been a slacko the past week and have forgotten to give props to two fabulous blogs that have featured me! Yes me!! I was in such awe when I saw their posts.

Firstly to Kelley @ The Grant Life for featuring my Retro Ruffle Apron, she hosts a wonderful party every Friday and she has just posted a recipe for some scrumptious looking oatmeal!



Secondly to Katie @ The Crafty Blog Stalker for featuring my Jar of Nothing, her party is every Thursday, there is a new one up so go over and check it out for some great inspiration.



Thank you ladies for noticing me and thinking I am worthy, I was absolutely thrilled!!

But today I have another healthier recipe for you (yes still hand sewing, hopefully will be finished this weekend and I can actually start piecing my quilt together.  YAY!! And then no more recipes for a while, I promise)

I present to you Mini Spinach Meatloaves

^{(full recipe after the pretty pictures)}

As always grab your fresh ingredients.

Mix all in a bowl and form 4 round balls, make a small hollow in each and stuff with defrosted frozen spinach.



Cover hole, place in baking tray, cover with sauce and bake for 20-30 minutes.


I serve mine with jacket potato, steamed green beans and carrots.

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Mini Spinach Meatloaves (full recipe)

^{(adapted from calorie king)}

What you will need

• 160 g frozen spinach
• 2 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp barbecue sauce
• 500 g lean beef mince
• 1/4 cup oats
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

How to cook it
Preheat oven to 180C.

Defrost spinach. Squeeze out excess liquid ( you can use fresh spinach if on hand, we will often do that)

In a bowl, combine mince, oats, onions, tomato paste, pepper and garlic. Mix well.

Divide mixture into 4 balls. Make a hollow in the centre of each ball and fill with one quarter of the spinach. Shape into round patties to enclose filling. Place in baking dish and spread barbecue sauce over top of loaves.

Cook uncovered in oven for 20 - 30 minutes or until meat is firm.

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This is another family favourite, and very quick to make.  Hubby normally lathers his potatoes in butter or sour cream, and I use salsa as it’s lot healthier.  Using salsa and serving with potatoes, carrots and beans the whole meal weighs in at 363 calories and 7.5g of fat but it doesn’t feel that healthier, it has heaps of taste and flavour and something I like to cook when I feel like having a fatty meal (as it makes me feel like it’s cheating because of how good it is when in fact I’m not).

On that note a quick update on the healthier lifestyle, I have been exercising every day for the past 2 weeks, I had put on 4 kilo’s over December and beginning of January, but happy to report I have lost them again and an extra one. So starting from this year I have now lost 5kg! Yay for me.

Now off to finish this darn hand sewing and don’t forget to check out Kelley @ The Grant Life & Katie @ The Crafty Blog Stalker.


Until then Happy Crafting.

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I PARTY HERE