William's Nursery Tour

Today I thought I'd take you on a little tour of William's Nursery.

Here's a little background:

• I decided to decorate Will's nursery with an African Animal/Safari theme because his Daddy is South African so I thought it would be nice to have that connection.
• I set myself the challenge that I didn't want to spend too much on decorating his room and I wanted to make as much of the decor as possible myself.
• I found 'Alexander Henry - Juicy Jungle' fabric which I fell in love with instantly. Not only because it fitted the theme but because it was cute enough to suit a baby's room to a more grown up child. So I ordered the fabric in both the ivory and the blue background from the US.
• We were lucky enough to be given the cot from my sister-in-law which my nephew had recently grown out of, and the feeding chair which rocks and swivels was my mum's which she used to feed my sister and I! The bookcase and tall boy we already had. The Change table is a funny story I will get to later.

It was my first time making a quilt so I was quite nervous but I'm happy with the way it turned out. The white teddy is 'Woofie', Will's favourite teddy that he cuddles to sleep every night.

We painted the one wall in a light blue so that the cot and three pictures would stand out.

To make the artworks I scanned in the fabric and played around with it in Photoshop to make up little scenes, putting them on a blue background to match the wall behind.

White wicker toy box I bought for around $30.

I made the blue curtains to hang in front of our existing sheer curtains and bought the nappy holder from Spotlight for $3!! and appliqued the lion on.

Will's African Animals on top of the Tall Boy which I had planned to paint white but I don't know if I can be bothered now. What do you think? Leave it or paint it?

The wall sticker was $39 and the white wicker laundry hamper was $29 I used the blue fabric to make a liner for it and it matches the toy box. The change mat was from my Sister-in-law.

I couldn't find a change table that I liked and that wasn't quite a few hundred so when I saw a little white cupboard on the side of the road which had been put out for council clean up I asked my Dad and hubby to go collect it for me. G (hubby) thought I was a bit crazy when I told him it was going to be our change table but then I explained that I planned to get sheets of melamine cut to size and screw them onto the existing cupboard and attach a top which I would also get cut to size. I went to Bunnings and got all the bits and pieces for it and I was working on it but found it quite hard getting down and into the cupboard to screw the bits together with my big pregnant tummy getting in the way, anyway with William's early arrival my Dad had to come and finish it for me while I was in hospital, just in time for Will's big home coming! It's not that pretty but it's sooooo practical. You can see on the shelf where the original cupboard came up to.

The lamp on the book case was a lamp we'd had for years which I recovered in the Alexander Henry fabric.

And here is a pic of the wall with the bunting and Eye Chart which you might remember from this post.

So I think I spent about $250 on the nursery all up! But you know it wasn't so much about the money, I just felt it would be so special for my little darling bubby to know that his Mummy made it all especially for him!

Have a lovely day,

Seven

The very lovely Engracia from Lynwood Musings tagged me this afternoon to take part in a 'tell 7 things about yourself' post. It's perfect timing actually because the post I had prepared disappeared from blogger this afternoon, so here we go:

1. I love history
I really love history. I find books set in this day and age boring, I love period dramas, I have put together my family history going back around 7 generations, I came in the top 10% in NSW for Ancient History in my HSC, my sister has become a High School history teacher so it runs in the family, I can't get enough of Antiques Roadshow, when going through Europe together my husband would say 'Oh not another old church' I would say 'bring it on!'.

via me :)

2. I used to work as a designer in magazine advertising
You know all the advertorials, and the booklets that come on the back or inside of the mag. I used to work on real living magazine as their designer/art director but I've also worked on House & Garden, Belle, Burkes backyard, Gourmet traveller, worked on the launch of BBC Good Food in Australia, rolling stone, aust geographic, Gourmet wine, and small stints on Cleo, cosmo, cosmo bride, foxtel and qantas mags, grazia.
I really enjoyed it but if I had to go back I would want to work in editorial - I'm sick of advertising.

via here

3. I had a very fast labor with William
I was booked in for a c-section in the coming week at 38 weeks because he was breach but went into labour a week early. Woke at 4am will funny tummy feelings but went back to bed till 6.30am where I knew something 'wasn't right?!?' by the time we got into the hospital at 8.45am I was 8cm dilated and they had to rush to get the operating suite ready for a Caesar which happened at 10am (by this stage I felt like I wanted to push and was holding my belly afraid he would come out). My Obstetrician has warned me that I'll need to be very snappy in getting to the hospital for any subsequent births!!! :)

via me :)

4. I love diamonds
Ooooo yes, I completely believe that Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
I know it isn't the most ethical thing to crave what with the whole Blood Diamond black market thing, world resources etc, but I can't help it, really! If I won the Lottery I think the first thing I would do, would be go buy some more diamonds.

via here

5. I'm afraid of heights
Need I say more?

via here

6. Favourite Holiday Destinations
My favourite country is Switzerland and my favourite city is Edinburgh, Paris is a close second. My favourite holiday spot in Australia is Noosa in Queensland.

Noosa via here

7. I recently learnt to step up and be more brave
When I say brave I mean getting the guts to just do things instead of sitting back and weighing up every risk under the sun and procrastinating. I figure that you only live once and if you don't do the things you want to do in life then you may live with regret but if you give things a try then at least you've grown, even if you do fail.

via here

I now have to tag a few people. Over to you Amanda, Mel and Hillary if you feel like it tell us seven things about yourself!

See you next week and wishing you a very lovely weekend,

More thank you's and a DIY before and after!

Firstly I wanted to say thanks to two bloggers who have featured my work today.

The first one is the lovely Belinda from Nest Design Studio. Belinda is an Interior Designer, specialising in Nurseries & Children's rooms. And a mum to a gorgeous baby boy Hugh, for whom I had the pleasure of making one of my 'Made with Love' prints.

Belinda is truly a gifted Interior Designer, just take a look at Hugh's nursery, it is stunning! And with her interior design business you could get a nursery or child's room just as spectacular as her business specialises in email & phone consultations for baby & children's rooms! It's so simple....all you do is contact her and she sends out a form to fill in about things you would like to see in the room and then she will provide you with a concept board and list for on-line shopping, you don't need to even move from your chair! Now that's a great idea!

So please pop by and say Hello!

The other blogger I wanted to say thanks to is Mel Bombardiere she is a new mum and featured my Bedtime Bus Roll poster today. Thanks Mel!

I also wanted to show you a little DIY project I did a few weeks back...
We were given this wooden Balinese bird cage as an engagement present, so that would have been nearly 7 years ago now, which was probably the height of the 'Bali' decor theme era (if there was such a thing).

I've had the bird cage in the garage since we moved to this house and have been planning on painting it white for soooo long. I was inspired by India Hick's birdcage in her Bahamas home, seen here...

Image via here

So anyway, my bird cage is no where near as extravagant as India's but I like the change in colour (my old 'paint it white' motto) and I'm thinking of hanging it up in our deck. What do you think?

Before

after

Anyway, I better get inside, I'm sitting out here at the table you can see above getting eaten by mozzies. Ah!

Have a lovely day,

My home office

The third bedroom in our house is the study, with a big book case/cabinet that used to be my Grandfathers (it's nothing pretty but very functional) and at the other end is the desk and printer and all the stationery bits and pieces for my business and just things for our general family use.

This space had always been very practical but not at all pretty or attractive. So I decided about two weeks ago that I needed to pretty it up and make it a more inspirational area for me to work.

So here are a few pictures of my little home office. I wish I had taken before shots... but simply imagine the same desk and printer and light with just a plastic Tupperware container to hold our pens and a stack of untidy paperwork in one corner.

The large pink box holds my stock, labels etc.

My inspiration board

The 'new' pen holder is the first mug I was given as a girl and the tea cup which was my grandma's holds my Air Mail stickers. The little pin plate behind it was my other grandma's. The round pink tin is one of Will's old formula tins which I covered in pink paper and holds Customs Declaration forms and business cards. And the roses are from our garden.

If anyone has any rose advice for me I'd really appreciate it as I have no clue. I just cut the heads of the dead roses and that's about it. I don't know what I'm doing! :)

Anyway, that's my little home office tour.
I hope you are having a great day!

Thank you!

Image via here

I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to Tina of Rubies Place for writing the nicest blog post about the print I made for her daughter Olivia yesterday. Tina is just the nicest blogger around and her craft and home decorating projects are so inspiring. I really want to learn to crochet now and her embroidery is stunning too.

So please go check out her blog if you haven't already and you will become an instant fan like me.

Have a great day,



P.S. I will try and post pic of my little home office space which I am in the process of prettying up!

New Print - Hometown and City

Here is my latest print called 'Hometown & City'. You can customize this modern and funky design with your hometown name included along with the great cities of the world... Paris, New York, London, Tokyo. It's a great way to brighten up a corner of your home with a special, personal piece of art. The print measures 8 x 10 inches and can be made in any colour scheme, but here are a few other versions...

I hope you are having a great week so far, I went to aqua aerobics last night and then slept like a baby, I didn't even hear William stirring or the neighbours leaving home early!
William is starting to take tiny shuffling steps when holding onto furniture, my baby is growing up!!!

Take care,

Yellow finds

I must say I'm not a huge fan of the colour yellow, I think because I look hideous in it ...

(pale skin & blonde hair + yellow = washed out, sick looking)

But I like a little pop of yellow used in interiors to add a sunny, happy atmosphere. So take a look at these pics and finds which I think would achieve that bright sunny spark for your Monday morning!

Image via here.

Hermione plush puppy dachshund in mustard and royal purple.
From Tinkering Textiles.

AZTEC Cotton Cushion Cover 45 x 45 cm. From Be Still.

1-2-3 Adhesive Notes. From Kikki K

Set of 4 sweet little vintage tea plates with yellow roses. From CRISTALINAic.

Image via here.

Hope you have a happy, sunny day,

Wish you were here...

I thought I'd send you all a virtual postcard, as this is how we spent our morning today...
At the very beautiful, Little Manly Cove. It was perfect beach going weather today not too hot, but warm enough for a dip. William had a wonderful time splashing in the water and crawling towards the little mini waves until we had to grab him out before he got a mouthful of salt water.

Little Manly Cove is a great kids beach as it is netted off and being on the harbour side there are no big ferocious waves. There is also a little cafe which is very popular for lunch or for your takeaway coffee to sip on the sand.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend,

I'm sorry but since when were these Uggs?

It's an outrage! It's just not cricket! Fair dinkum that ain't true blue!

These are apparently the latest Uggs! PLEEEEAAASE! They're not Uggs, I'll show you uggs, they're the pink fluffy slipper boots that spend all of winter either on my feet or at the end of the bed (by the way I am strictly a 'no Uggs outside of the house' person) but I was shocked to see this... take a look fellow Australians.



Yep, check them out at www.uggaustralia.com. I found the first image above when flicking through the latest issue of US Glamour magazine which was my replacement mag that Conde Nast has been sending me since Domino Mag folded last year *sniff sniff, boo hoo* as my subscription is still going.

I guess it shows the power of branding doesn't it. It just doesn't seem right to me.
Ok, I'll get off my soap box now... just had to share!

Take care,