messyart

Almost ready....and a DIY

Weve been busy around here getting ready for New Years. I really wanted this year to be able to just relax and celebrate with friends, so we decided to have a small party with just s few friends at our house. We've made room for anyone to be able to stay over, so theyre are no concerns about having to get home after a few drinks. Because so many of our friends have kids, we decided to convert the outdoor study to a kids hangout equipped with lounges, a Wii, DVD's and they're very own food and dessert table and massive bowl of glow sticks, necklaces, bracelets...glow everything, party poppers, party crowns...all your party needs ;) This way they have a place to hang out and give room to the adults to relax and just have fun without a thousand kids running around us! The theme (just because i have to theme everything) was "All That Glitters..." We all had sparkly outfits to wear...even the boys!

I've made sparkly pipecleaner headbands (pics on Insatgram) , new photo props, sparkly cocktail stirrers, glitter bunting, and glittered all my candle votives.

This was an easy little project. I know there's lots of DIY's on the net for this kind of thing, but i just used what i had on hand. I'm not sure if it's the best way to do it, but i was really happy with the result. I had a whole bunch of glass candle holders a friend gave me, but you can always pick them up from the cheap shop for a fair price. 

You'll need some glass candle votives , mod podge , a foam brush , glitter, and a bowl.

1. Wash your votives well and dry completely.

2. Holding your votive in one hand, use the foam brush to paint the mod podge onto the bottom half of your votive. I free-handed it , but if that makes you nervous or you want a more precise finish, you could cover the top half of your votive with masking tape.

3. Quickly sprinkle your glitter generously onto the modge podge. Sprinkle it over a bowl to capture the excess glitter as it falls.

I also did a couple of larger jars to use for flowers and photo props.

**Make sure to tap the top of your votive to shake all the excess glitter off.

4. Once done,  place aside and let dry overnight. Then , if your votive doesn't already have a candle in it, add your tealight candle and your done!

Now just sit back and enjoy the sparkly lights of your Glitter Votives!

 

 

 

 

 

holidays means beach days

And beach days mean fun! I love the holidays! I look forward all year to having the 8 weeks off with my kids so we can hang out together with out all the pressure of homework and crazy routines. I love spending all that time with my family, waking up everyday wondering what adventures we'll go on today. I love lazy days spent in the pool or at the beach. Bliss.

You have to be up really early in the morning to see an empty beach.

 Today was spent at Burliegh Beach, which is always a fave of ours. I didnt get any good pics at the beach as it was just to bright. But i did get this cute one of the kiddies.

This is how busy the beach was by 10am!

Hello my gorgeous girl!

Typical of this guy...always playing with bugs. Mind you, these are only some bug skins he found, but they still managed to keep him entertained.

And just as a treat today, i let them have chips and ice-cream for lunch! Cause thats what you do on the holidays, right?     (ps. i love that little man actually looks like my child in this pic with that crazy dark hair and dark eyes)

Afterwards we went home and spent the day 'racing' in the backyard. Little man sets up the 'cars' for the race, then drags his brothers over and shouts "Rea-deee, set, GOOOO!" in his cute baby voice. He makes them do this over and over again, and they so sweetly ablige. He is so lucky to have such wonderful and loving big brothers.

Afterwards it was naptime for everybody. I make everyone have one hour of "Read or sleep" everyday over the holidays. It's my saving grace. They are all made to either read quietly in thier beds or sleep for one hour, and i usually try and time it with Little mans nap. They are pretty good now, but in the beginning they would be up every ten minutes. So i made the rule that if you got up once before the hour was up, they're time would start again, even if they'd just gottne up to ask, "Has it been an hour yet?". So now they eat, pee, and get water BEFORE they're hour starts, and NO ONE is up until i come tell them when the hours over. Most days they actually look forward to that relax and quiet time.

AS for me, well, i'd love to say i do something creative with that time, but mostly i spend it cleaning. Four kids on holidays = one crazy mess! Sometimes i'll force myself to sit and relax with a coffee and a mag. Those hours are the best, but far and few between. 

Whats the holidays like for you? What kind of thigs do you do over the holidays?

A few more Xmas pics...

Because we had a smaller geathering for Christmas, we didn't go all out. But me being me, i couldn't help but still have a cute Christmas setting :)

I had flowers that i'd picked up from the supermarket, mixed in with flowers from my garden. I placed them in jars wrapped with paper diolies and twine. Simple and effective. The table was scattered with pinecones the kids had collected and painted themselves, and we picked up some DIY cracker kits from spotlight and made our own Christmas Crackers as place settings for everyone.

 Most everything was made from stuff i had lying around the house this year, as i was on a mission to be extremely budget friendly this year and re-use instead of replace where ever i could.

 This is an 'After" photo of our Xmas lunch which was put on by my mother and sister (Mmmmmm....thank-you-very-much!)

 I did the desserts. I tried my hand at making truffles using this recipe here. I also made a delicious gluten free lemon cake, but cheated on the pavlova using a store bought base but covering it with a homemade marscapone and brandy cream and fresh berries and served it with a homemade raspberry coulis.

Now it's time to start getting ready for New Years! 

Ho Ho Ho!

 

Christmas came and went so fast it almost feels like forever ago already! This year was extra fun for us because of 2 reasons. One, because this was our second year to celebrate in our new home, and Two, because this year Little man really got what Xmas was about (well, the gift giving and opening part anyways ;). He was ALL about the opening of presents! All morning all he would say " Mumma, open pwesesnts? ...Yeah! " He says "yeah!" with a definitive nod of the head , as if to say...i'm not waiting for your answer, the answer WILL BE yes!

Really cute, for now.

So we all got alot of enjoyment from watching Little Man have so much fun opening his gifts...and everyone eles! As it was such a lovely morning too, we opened most of the gifts on the back porch.

(pics are a mix of iPhone, slr and instagram picks)

Little man especially loved his stocking :)



The boys were excited for Santa to bring them their Spay Watches :)

My daughter handmade some gifts this year....like this window hanging for my mum.

And this teacup plant for me (The most awesome gift ever!)

I got my sis a couple of surf lessons with me, but fooled her by wrapping the voucher in a big box, where i also had a jar filled with sand (to add wieght to the box) and a tag hanging of it saying " this is not your gift, it is just a jar of sand. Ha ha ha ." I think i'm sooooooo funny ;)

The kids got a Just Dance Wii game....ummm, the most FUN gift EVER! Seriously, we haven't stopped playing it since! And great excercise too....whew!

It was a small family gathering this year as my uncle passed away the day before Xmas and my father and step mother went to Sydney to be with the family. My brother and his family were at my SIL's family this year, so it was really just us, my mum and my sister! But that definitley didn't make it any less wonderful :)

My sister and i made some homemade Sangria, with presevative free wine so i could have some too! It was sooooo yummy!

 Big sister helped me make some personalised Xmas Crackers filled with little surprises for everyone :)

Lunch was followed by dessert and then lots of relaxing by the pool. I couldn't have asked for a better Xmas!

I'll do a post tomorrow with some pics of the table settings, but i didn't want to make this post too photo heavy! I hope you all had a lovely, relaxing, happy Christmas!

 

Twas the night before Xmas

Are you ready? Can you belive Christmas is only one sleep away? Everyone here is pretty excited!

 

We have a Xmas tradition of doing a Secret Santa in our (immidiate) family every year. We all draw names out of a hat and then make or buy (with a $10 limit) our Secvret Santa their gift. As i'm usually the one who needs to take everyone to get their gifts, i usually end up knowing who has who pretty early on ;). On Xmas eve, we open our Secret Santa gifts. I did that on purpose, because i wanted everyone to really savour what they recieved from thier family, and i didn't want the Secret Santa gifts to get lost amoungst all the "bigger" gifts from Santa. This way they have more time to appreciate what they recieved, no matter how small.

Afterwards we relax, have a nice dinner and watch Xmas videos together. I was so organised with all my wrapping, so i don't have to worry about doing anything after the kids were in bed! Such a nice change from Xmas's past when i wouldn't get to bed till some ridiculous hour!

Goodnight everyone!