messyart

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!

New Years in Pictures

The party was gorgeous! But i was too busy running around drinking and having fun to remember to take pictures :(. So this is all i have. We did have a lovely big breakfast with freinds from the night before, and then spent the rest of our first day of the year having Dance-off battles on the Wii and swimming in the pool. 

Hope you had a lovely new years! All the best for 2013!!!!

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!

 

 

 

 

 

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! 

4 wheel driving and getting my hair done

So this weekend we were invited to stay with my brother and his wife at Bribie Island. They have one girl and one boy, and our kids all adore eachother. So they were very excited to be going up to visit. Plus my brothers the cool crazy uncle with the awesome 4WD and the boat and so many cool gadgets....whats not to love? My kids are great travelers. I found this out early on when i was teaching on a Scrapbooking tour in NZ years ago,where we drove for many many many hours from one venue to the next. So the drive up there went quickly and painlessly. I actually enjoy the long drives with my kids. (The Mr. missed out as he had a work thing on).

This is what we arrived to....

Wow.

We got settled and then all jumped in my brother 4WD and went for a drive along the beach there. The kids had a ball 4WD'n. All that bumping and sliding...so many giggles and squeals!

We drew on this log with burnt embers left behind from someones bonfire.

We played on the beach till the sun started setting and it got too cold.

(look at crazy auntie Nicole)

My brother sat in his hardcore 4WD being very un-hardcore like as he hid from the wind ;)


On Sunday we stumbled across a tiny little craft market. It was nothing much, but the kids liked it because they had a little stall where you would search for gems amoung rocks, and they got to watch the locals woodworking, wood burning and turning wool into thread to knit :)

Afterwards we took the kids down to a local park and enjoyd a picnic lunch and lots of play time.

When we got back the girls set up a hair salon in one of the bedrooms and i got my hair done....for free!

We had a nice sunset dinner before heading back home. The kids had a blast on our super quick little get-a-way. And i enjoyed the long peaceful drive home as they all slept in the car ;)

Hope you had a great weekend too!

 

 

a good good friday and an Easter DIY

family time at the beach....

This is a little Easter DIY project i did, tute poted over on the RubyJu blog.

 Now were off to dye some eggs :) Happy good Friday to you !

Happy Australia Day!

We're watching the surf comp in Burliegh...what are you doing?

Hope your all having a fun, relaxing, awesome day!

Happy New Bears!

or Years, or pears, or hears or just Happy New Ears! I only had one Y, but i did have this blank scrabble chip, so that just had to do....

WE had a low-key New Years....just that way i wanted it. I was too tired after all the Xmas festivities to go crazy for New Years too :) It was just us (me kids and the Mr.) and we went to see the fireworks at Cooly. But first we dressed for the occasion by covering ourselves in glowsticks. Serves as a dual purpose for me really....kids have fun, and i dont loose them in the crowds because they are constantly GLOWING! What's my excuse for wearing them you ask? So my kids can find me of course;) 

(just in case i get distracted by something and runaway....)

After the fireworks we all went for a walk along the beach. There were heaps of parties and a few bonfires along the beach, and it was fun walking past watching everyone celebrating the New Years.

Afterwards we came home and the Mr. and I sipped Mojitos on the balcony while the kids ran around excited to be up so late.

New years Day the bigger kids were at there dads and The Mr, TJ and i headed to byron. I would have loved to have gone with all the kids, but they just don't love Byron as much as i do, and the day always gets spoiled with "muuuuuum, how much longer till we go hoooooommmmmeeee?" and "I'm bored!" (how they can even say that when we are at the byron markets is beyond me!) "My feet hurt" ...you get the idea. So we tend to keep our Byron trips as something we do when the kids are with their dad. Suits everyone to a tee. Still , i do wish they would love it as much as me.....

Luckily, Tj's still too young to protest. Plus we bribed him witha yummy breakfast at the beachside pub in Byron...

and then with some Baskin Robbins icecream...

and kisses....

then beach time...

this boy is so spoilt ;)

 Hope you had a lovely New Years :)