messyart

Hello there! Let's go shopping...

I have finally opened my new little Etsy Shoppe ! It's called Lilywillow Designs and is full of handwritten goodness. I have just finish loading the first lot of prints in, but there are plenty more to come. I have some cards going in Very soon, and some "Love Packs" as well as DIY Photo prop kits, so keep popping back to see whats new! 

I know ive been a bit slack (ahem) about posting on this little blog of late. If anyone still drops by to see what i'm up to, sorry for the dissapearance of late! I am definiltley making an effort to post a bit more from now on!

But for now, it's late and im oh so tired, so i will leave you with some pretty pictures of my new prints, all available HERE !

Styled....Mt Burrell Wedding

I had the pleasure of styling a vintage picnic wedding a few weeks back, and thought i'd share some of the pictures here. Most of the pics are from my iPhone, with the exception of a few gorgeous pics from Lyss and Her Camera. 

Signage : Lilywillow designs

Styling: Lilywillow Designs

Flowers: Skeleton Leaf

Dessrt Table : Lilywillow Designs

Good photos : Lyss and her Camera

Easter (in pictures)

Hello dear friends :)

I hope you all had a lovely Easter! Ours was a bit hectic as we also celebrated 4 birthdays that weekend (my mum, the twins and my sisters boyfriend!) For a bit of fun, the kids and i decided to theme our Easter lunch. We went with a Mad Hatters Tea Party theme, and asked everyone to wear a fun hat. It was really awesome to see everyones creations. At the end of the day the adults and kids took turns modelling thier hats in a fashion parade of sorts and then we all voted on a winner. It was really fun, and now im thinking i might have to make this a new easter tradition!

Anyway, here's our Easter in pictures...

(the kids finding thier baskets)

 (the Easter bunny always brings us books, pj's, a new toothbrush a choccie bunnie and a few little choccie eggs)
(little man was excited to find his eggs most of all)
The table was set with mismatched vintage china, and decorated with mismathced diolies, ceramic bunnies of all sizes, spotted egs, little clocks and tea cups. We had crooked frames and an oversized playing card bunting hanging on the wall. Unfortunatley i seemed to have lost some of my photos in the transfer from phone to computer, but you'll get the idea ;)

Of course, there was the Easter egg hunt....

and then there were the hats...

Well, he doesnt have a hat on, but he's still super cute <3

 and the sweet little winner was...

We had a wonderful day filled with family, good food , laughter, and plenty of sugar and silliness! I hope you did too ;) So from our family to yours we wish you a Hoppy Easter!

Happy LOVE day!!!!

Wishing you all the loveliest of days!

A semi-Valentines DIY (of sorts)

Although we are not really doing anything special this year, i thought i'd share a few lovely ideas with you. I have a little DIY to share that will literally take only 10 minutes! Also, someone was kind enought to let me know that my old 'Happy Thoughts' journal was being shared on Tip Junkie as a cute little Valentines idea. You can see it here.

If you want a few party ideas, my dear friend and i styled this simple little last-minute party for the kiddies last Valentines Day. And here and here are a few more ideas for Valentines that i posted last year over at RubyJu!

If i had more time i would make this, this, and these! (oh, how i wish i had more time ).

Anywho....heres my super simple DIY Valentine!

What you need.... 

Paper cups ( I saved my takeaway coffee cups and re-used them)

planting soil

a few small pebbles or rocks

a few small chilli plants

paper or mini tags

twine

pens, scissors and cute tape 

Sharpie pen (any colour)

1. Start by grabbing your sharpie pen and writing a love message onto your cup. I just wrote staight onto the cup with my pen, but i know not everyone can do this. So you could always draw it in pencil first ( so you can erase your mistakes), or print a message onto paper and use cute tape to stick it onto the cup.

2. Once you've donr this turn your cup over and with a sharp object ( i used a pencil),carefully  poke a few holes on the bottom for drainage.

3. Fill the bottom of your cup with loose rocks or pebbles ( i just found mine in the garden) for more drainage.

4. Pot your Chilli plants into the cups, being careful not to spill to much dirt as you don't wantr to dirty up your message . Unless of course, your message is meant to be 'dirty' ;)

5. If you have pre-made tags then go ahead and write your message on them . On the back of my tags i also wrote a message to please re-pot the Chilli as soon as possible ( as they wont live forever in a paper cup).

6. Grab some twine and attach your tags to your Vday Chillies! You could also grab some cute tape and do some cup decorating....because everything always looks better with cute tape on it!

And there you have it.... a really easy DIY and makes a sweet (or in this case , spicy) little gift for someone special. 

ps. if you do make this, please share a link in my comments, i would love to see!

 

 

 

 

 

The Wedding Harvest....in pictures

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day! Judi from Little Gray Station did a fabulous job co-ordinating the event. It was so nice to meet so many creative peolpe, put faces to names, and meet so many like-minded people! Everyones stall was so lovley, and i really enjoyed seeing all the gorgeous talent out there. Heres just a few of the wonderful faces i met...

Kate caddle 

Birds of a Feather 
Venice and Me
Love to Give
Jennifer Gifford Designs
Little Gray station
Elyssium Blooms 

This was our stall ( RubyJu Events) for the day.

Signage was all done by hand by me.

Anyway, im off for a play date with my little man. Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

the little things...

Don't you love those days when you have nothing special planned for your day, but if ends up being filled with lots of little things that end up making it a very lovely day? Well that was today for me. An unplanned coffee catch up with my sis, and a cute little purchase from Small Stall.

Going to Brunswick for the first time ( we were dropping of a cake pop order for RubyJu) and finding lots of little shops to wander through.And some unplanned op-shopping which lead to some cute little finds.

All before heading off to set up for tomorrows Harvest Wedding Event (this was planned).

And now im off to finish writing my signs for tomorrw and finish watching my movie.

If youre in the area come and say Hi! It's going to be an absolutely gorgeous event!

Did you know...

... i have my very own slave?

 The Mr. is not so great at gifts. Birthday gifts, Xmas gifts....any gifts really. I think he gets all flustered at the idea of having to buy a gift and over thinks it and often just cant do it at all. (sorry if your reading this A, but you know it’s true ;). This year, however, he got it so so right! After years of hearing me constantly complain “you know what i REALLY want? I want help! Help catching up on my ridiculous, never -ending to do list! Thats what i want for my birthday!” So on Wednesday ( the day before my birthday) he rang me from work to ‘give’ me my gift early. It was him. He was volunteering himself to me as my slave for 4 days, to help me do, make, clean whatever i wanted! He was telling me a day early so that i had time to get whatever i needed together ,write my lists and plan what we would do.

Best. Birthday. Gift. Ever.

So the first day (my bday) we met friends for coffee and breakfast and spent most of the day at Bunnings. I had thought long and hard about what i wanted to achieve in these four days. In the end, i didn’t choose what needed to be done most, instead i chose to complete all the projects that bugged me not having them done the most. I figured the important projects will get done anyways, because they’re important. But the projects i chose to tackle are the ones that aren’t a necessity and would probably otherwise keep getting pushed to the back burner. So we bought wood, and plants and soil and paint. We didn’t get much done the first day, but that was ok. We enjoyed hanging out together.

Day 2 we acheived alot though.The Mr. worked tirelessly. It was awesome.

Day 3 not so much as we were tired and hungover from my Bday dinner the night before. But we did have a glorious day of lounging about and swimming and eating. And although we didn’t get much done, I didn’t do a thing on Saturday. The Mr. made me and my sista a beautiful breakfast, did all the dishes and daily cleaning up that day. I literally didn’t lift a finger. We ordered takeaway for dinner and watched videos until we fell asleep. Gloriously relaxing.

Sunday after Nippers, we got back to work and finished most of the projects we started. We finally finished my pallet herb garden.

(from this)

(to this)

And we potted and hung vines that we hope will eventually grow to cover our old ricketty fences.

We hung up some wall planters with more wall cover that we also hope will grow to eventually cover our awnings. And he started painting our outdoor areas (we are painting over all the maroon YUK! and painting it white...of course ;)

We finished my birthday weekend with a family dinner at Bennihanna’s, one of my favourite restraunts. Mmmmmm.....sooooo good!

Let me just say it again. Best. Birthday . Ever.

Hope your weekend was as awesome as mine!

A confession....

OK, so i have a little confession to make.

 I hate breakfast in bed.

 Not fond of the idea at all (much to the horror of most people i know). Yet every year my sweet sweet children ever so thoughtfully put together a beautiful little breakfast treat to wake me with. This happens maybe two or three times a year. You know, for birthdays, mothers day and as a random treat. And every time i force myself to eat, swallowing the pieces of toast and egg down with my tea and a great big smile on my face. Every year i tell my partner “pleeeease dont do breakfast for me in bed this year...please!” But i dont think he really believed i didnt love it ( im pretty sure its his idea of bliss). But it’s true...i don’t love it.  I cant stand the idea of eating in bed. Hate it! Or the idea of eating as soon as i wake up. Cant do it. I usually eat breakfast at least an hour after ive been up and gone for a walk.   Tea first thing in the morning i DO love though. And this year, thats just what i got! (Guess the Mr. finally believed me when i said i really dont like breakfast in bed!) So he convinced the kids to make me a cup of tea instead. It came with so many sweet kisses and cuddles, and little gifts that my littlest man couldnt wait to open for me “pwesents mummy, pwesents!!!!!!”

Then the kids did extra morning chores before heading off to school, so i wouldn’t have to clean.

While i do hate breakfast in bed, i do love going out for breakfast! So the day before my birthday i had breakkie with my siser.

And the day of my birthday i have breakfast with these to gals.

I got totally spoilt! A sweet friend dropped round a gorgeous street find for me , followed by a beautiful bunch of flowers from my step-mum (she knows me so well....oh how i love my flowers). I of course re-arranged the flowers into several little jars so i could spread them around the house.

My bff is taking me away for a girls weekend to Sydney and my sister bought me an outdoor rug that i had been wanting FOREVER!

This year we celebrated my birthday with a gorgeous dinner at a new little spanish place in Palmy. I was so thankful to have all my closest friends with me. It’s not often we can all get together with our crazy lives! 

And of course, we had photo props ;)

So yes, it was a pretty awesome Birthday! Probably my best one yet :) So heres to hoping this year will also be my best one yet!

 

A storm's a coming!

Or so it came.

Wow....what a weekend. We had some crazy storms here. So much damage! The wind was crazy and the rain was so heavy! Our house was leaking in 5 places. We had water coming in through sealed windows and through the tops of doorways. Our electricity went out, and we'd used all our towels on our leaks and couldn't do any laundry, so by the end of the weekend i was drying myself off from the shower with a face washer! haha.

They had asked everyone to stay off the streets as they’re were so many reports of falling trees. In fact  just as we were considering walking down to the beach to check out the ocean we got word of a mother and son doing the same thing when a tree fell on them, critacally injuring both. We decided to stay in. So we filled our weekend with craft, and game playing and more craft. When we realised the electricity wasn’t coming back on any time soon, we took out all the ice cream and let the kids eat it straight out of the tub. “This is the BEST DAY EVER!!!!” they kept shouting with mouthfulls of ice cream :). We moved all our meat to familys freezers, put the necesities in an esky and lost the rest.

I did venture out for a quick trip to the shops to get a radio ( so we could hear the news ) and some candles and matches. The shops must have been preparing for more power outages as they had moved all thier fridge/freezer products out of the store. I never thought i'd see this.

But the kids had fun. We got some fabric markers and decorated shoes. I loved what they came up with! 

And when the light faded, We lit candles and made animal shadows on the walls. Then the kids built a big cubby house, and thats where they all slept.

The next day when the storms died down a bit, big sister and I ventured out to see the damage.

This was a tree that feel right across the a playground in Burliegh! You can see the roots on the very right of the photo (after the bench) and the top i couldn't even fit in the photo! So many fallen trees, fences, debris. So much damage. 

But the ocean was amazing! The ferocirty of the waves had created massive amounts of sea foam! It was crazy...words cant describe it well enough and the pictures do it no justice.

Eventually, we got our power back and everything went back to normal. The plus side was i got to give my fridge and freezer an excellent clean! (since it was empty and defrosted anyways ;)

My heart goes out to all those who endured so much worse than we did. We were so lucky compared to alot.

 

Want to hear a funny story?

My sister, my daughter and i were out in Burliegh assesing the damage. Earlier i had stuffed $50 into my pocket ( my bag was in the car) and as i headed back to the car, i pulled my keys out of my pocket. The keys caught on the $50 and it went flying out of my pocket ( the winds were still pretty strong). My daughter chased after it, but everytime she had it within reach another gust of wind would send it flying again! As it headed to a main road, i called for my daughter to leave it. We walked back to the car where my sister was waiting, and we told her what happened. She was like “Are you crazy? Lets go find it!”. I went back and we looked again, but i didnt really think we would find it. The winds were crazy strong and it had flown across a busy road into a park. Plus , there were 3 boys who had seen the whole thing also searching for it! We looked for about 10 minutes and then gave up. As we were walking back i looked down for a second, and there right in front of me stuck in a puddle was my $50!!!

Did anyone eles get stuck in this storm? I hope no one got any serious damage!