Will's First Drawing

Will did his first drawing with crayons today in his high chair. Look at that masterpiece!
You can see he's still sick from his poor little pale face. But he still managed to turn out a beautiful piece of art... he'll be having his own etsy shop soon :)

We're both still on the road to recovery but will hopefully be back blogging and blog visiting soon!

Take care,
Janette & Master William Van Gogh

p.s. I don't know if Van Gogh took to eating his crayons too, as William did today, but I'm just putting it down to creative expression :)

Little Giveaway WINNER

Thank you to everyone who entered my little giveaway of six hair clips made by me :)

I used Random.org but my stupid screen shot taking function isn't working but anyway.....
the winner is - KATHERINE of THE OLD BOAT HOUSE !!!

Congratulations Katherine, I'll send you an email shortly.

Wishing everyone a very happy weekend!
See you back here next week,

There's a fire in the kitchen...

I'd love to be hanging out in this gorgeous white, bright kitchen today, all warm and toasty with a fire going.
My cold/flu has given me a very sore croaky throat today, so I sound like a cross between a frog and Darth Vader :)

I'm thinking of putting on the slow cooker, as right now I've still got the energy to think about dinner, and I am dreaming of a cozy fireplace to warm me up!

Have a great day everyone & thanks so much again for all the lovely comments and new blog visitors. I'll try and get around to saying Hi to everyone soon :)

ACA Interview Online

Just letting you know that you can view the ACA interview online here: ACA Video

And I know I'm a biased mother but how cute was my little bub, definitely the star of the show in his Mothers eyes :)

Have a lovely evening,

ACA Interview

So the interview was aired this evening!
I think I've almost gotten over the shock of seeing myself in wide screen, high definition. :)

I'm just a bit disappointed that they didn't mention (the main reason why I did the interview)... www.Madeit.com.au! I had practised my whole spiel about how easy it is to open a Made It shop, and you've got nothing loose and it's great to be apart of the Made It community but they more just wanted to show Mums and Bubs working at home.

It's a real pity as websites like www.Madit.com.au are the reason why Mums like me can start up our own little business. They have a link to Made It on the ACA site and they also have the transcript of the interview here: http://www.aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1058498

Thank you to everyone for your lovely comments and support, it means a lot to me!!!

ACA interview on tonight 6.30pm Channel 9

Ek, just heard that the ACA interview is going to be on tonight!

6.30pm
Channel 9

If I never blog again then it means I've died of embarrassment :)

A Little Giveaway

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today with a cold/flu brewing so I thought I'd cheer myself up by holding a little (and when I say little, I mean little) GIVEAWAY.

I'm giving away three sets of hair clips I've made/am making.
That is, two hair clips in pink gingham, two in the green and two in the blue, total of six.

I bought this little "Yo Yo Maker" at Spotlight on the weekend so I could make little flowers and attach them to hair clips. I figured they'd make great present fillers for all the birthday parties of our friend's little girls coming up.

So here's how to enter...

1. Leave a comment on this post - include your email if you don't have it listed on your blog.
2. Become a follower and leave a comment letting me know you are!

****GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED****

And that's it.... Ummmm.... I think I will draw the winner on Friday night 28th May, so the giveaway closes at 5pm AEST and I'll post the winner later that night.
Overseas entries welcome : )

Have a great day,

Lovin the added bling

Ok, you're probably sick of my bedroom light by now but I just had to post an update!

Thanks to you lovely ladies encoragement, I went and got more crystals and added them to the lamp.


I'm really liking the additional bling.

Thank you for all your generous comments today. It means a lot to me.

I hope you've all had a great start to the week.

My DIY light...

Drum shade please.... whoops I mean drum roll...

I gave it a go ladies, I thought nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So while Glen was at Bunnings on Saturday my little niece Meg, Will and I scoured Spotlight, Lincraft and lighting shops together at the homemaker centre for our big project.

We also went to check out the Beacon Lighting version (remember from post here, priced at $369) so we could analyse it's composition.

On close inspection, the Beacon Lighting shade is basically just organza ribbon wound round and round the lamp shade. So I bought 18mts of black organza ribbon at Spotlight and I also bought the crystals for the chandelier looking part of the light.

I couldn't find an uncovered drum shaped lamp shade frame and the cheapest shade at the Homemaker centre was $49 - hmmm... not happy to pay that much.

So later on that day I went to trusty old Target and 'Voila' there was the right size drum shade in black for only $19.95 - what a win!

All my bits and pieces ready as well as a cup of tea :)

My glass beads threaded onto the thread. I put sticky tape above them so they wouldn't come off while working with them. Then I made a wire hoop in the diameter that I wanted them to hang.

The tricky part was getting them all at the right length on the hoop and then attaching the hoop to the lamp shade. But it took about an hour and a half to make.

I was going to rip the lamp shade cover off and do the organza ribbon then but then I didn't have the guts to demolish a perfectly good shade so solid satin black it will be for the time being. It looks very modern with the solid black, which I'm fine with.
Do you think I need to add more crystals?

Here it is at a different angle without the light on.

Materials
Beads $19.45
Lamp shade from Target $19.95
Beading thread $1

Wire & sticky tape we already had...
Black organza ribbon I bought for $5.99 but didn't use.

So total cost was $40.40

So there you go, I hope you have a wonderful Monday,

New website for My Sweet Prints

I have been thinking for a little while about getting the domain name www.MySweetPrints.com.au and I bought it earlier this week and have just finished working on the website.

I would LOVE you feedback and comments on it. What do you think of it, please be honest as I really respect my bloggy friend's feedback.

Down the track I plan to put a shop and shopping cart on the website but at the moment the 'Shop' part just points to my etsy & madeit stores.

Thank you my lovelies & have a great weekend,

Bone Inlay Furniture

I've been seeing a lot of Bone Inlay furniture springing up everywhere lately and it has such character and vibrancy to it. It really suits the whole Ikat, Moroccan thing going on too.

Take a look at some examples...Via www.housetohome.co.uk

Via decorpad

Really nice pieces aren't they!
But I think it is REAL BONE (did I just sound really blond then?) but you know what I mean... who's bones are they? That creeps me out a bit.

I think I'll stick with my octagonal Indian tea table.
She says whilst lying on her leather lounge - oh dear... it's hard to be a socially responsible decorator isn't it!

Have a great Friday everyone,

Wood, wood, wood, wood, wood, wood...

What do you think about wood in decor?

Now I know we've got it everywhere, floors, tables, chairs but looking at this feature in the latest issue of real living mag got me thinking about where I stand on wood. Check it out...

Hmmm.... to be honest I really don't love it. Maybe if I had a modern mountain cabin I would decorate like this with warm tones and textures.

Do you want to see the reason for my aversion to wood....

This is my kitchen....
(pics taken at home inspection prior to purchasing)

Wooden panelling and cork on the walls.... yep, you heard and saw right...

Don't worry, the tin of white paint surfaced soon after we moved in and I will have to post before and after pics sometime soon (I still hate my kitchen but not as much as before).


Ok, ok, you can stop screaming now...

So you can now probably understand why I shuddered over the real living feature but I'd love to know what you think of this style of decorating?

Now can I suggest you go walk into your kitchen right now and take a deep breath and be thankful that it doesn't look as hideous as mine did/does ;)

I hope you have a great day,

Not bad for $19

I ran into Kmart today whilst at the shops and as I walked in I spotted this grey knit cardi on the rack. I'd been looking to get something like this as the weather has suddenly become quite chilly this last week. When I turned over the price tag which read $19 down from $39 I just grabbed it and kept going, didn't try it on as I thought even if it's just for home you can't go wrong with 19 bucks.

So getting home, I tried it on for the first time and I'm impressed, what do you think???
Quite nice isn't it, and it's very warm and cozy.

Someone else is enjoying it's warm and cozy factor already...

Oh Minky, white fur on black jeans isn't a good look!

I hope you're having a great day,

More bedroom

Thank you lovely ladies for all your help with my bedroom lighting post yesterday! I knew you would all be a fountain of knowledge - don't you just love blogging!
I'm going to go check out the Bunnings one and I've had a look at the Buysterlighting one too and then I'll see which option I go with... I'll keep you posted :)

Image via decorpad

Here are so more details on my bedroom makeover plans. The above pic is some inspiration which has had the OK from hubby.

I don't like our wooden bed so I'm going to make a white slip cover to go over the bedhead... hmmm we'll see how that one works out.

Now I'm trying to decide if we'll do this light grey/lavender colour on the wall behind the bed OR if I go for something darker like a charcoal grey with a hint of purple. Glen isn't keen on the dark but I want to give it a go.

I have a beautiful baroque mirror which was my Grandma's which is gold and I want to paint it either white or black, again Glen's not keen on black.

Can you picture it already? We have a white bed spread, white bedside lamps and a lavender coloured throw already so I'm wanting to just add to what we have.

Anyway, have a lovely Tuesday everyone.
Thanks again for all the advice and encouragement!

Should I attempt this?

Do you think I should try and make my own more basic version of this pendant light???

I would really like one for our bedroom but at $369 I'm thinking I might get crafty and try and make it myself.

The light fitting in our bedroom, and most of the house for that matter, are just light globes hanging down from their cord about two foot. And when we bought the house they had small drum shape lime green shades on them. We replaced the lounge, dining and entry lime green shades soon after we moved in but the bedroom one I decided to just recover over with some white fabric I had... and it's done the trick for the last two years.

But now that I'm planning our bedroom mini makeover I would like something a bit nicer.

So I'm thinking this is what I'll need...

A drum shape lampshade frame
Black sheer fabric to cover it
Either buy chandelier crystals (I'm currently watching some on eBay)
or get a broken chandelier from Vinnies and restring them onto the arms of the frame.

What do you think??? Should I give it a go?

I hope you're having a great Monday.

Hula Hoops & Skipping Ropes

I spent a very energetic afternoon yesterday, playing with my niece and two nephews.

They have been trying to learn how to Hula Hoop and although I wasn't bad back in the day, boy oh boy was it hard work. After much practice I could keep the hula hoop going for about 7 turns but then... down it rolled.

So then we played with the skipping rope. VERY fun, I wasn't brave enough to run into the twirling rope, but managed to do a few rounds of 'Teddy bear, Teddy bear, turn around....'

Then we set up an obstacle course in the front yard using the hoops, balls, chairs etc and timed ourselves jumping over, crawling through, limboing under. It was so much fun.

It's nice to re-live your childhood games for a few hours. I'm looking forward to when William's old enough to play along with his cousins too.

I hope you're having a great weekend too.
Take care,



Images via getty & Jill Freedman

A Star is Born

Thank you everyone for your well wishes for the ACA interview yesterday, it means so much to me and I think it went well. But the star of the show was definitely one 12month old boy by the name of William!

'Talk to my agent'

'I'm thinking Vegemite commercial... can you get your people to talk to my people?'

So anyway, the crew and the lovely interviewer Emily were meant to come at 3.30pm but then she rang me at just before 11am and said that they were ahead of schedule and would I mind if they came in 30mins? EKKKK! 'Yeah sure' I said with my wet hair wrapped in a towel, no makeup on, house still in need of a final tidy. So I ran around like a mad woman blow drying, mascara applying and quick tidying before they arrived.

They set up at the dining table and I was very nervous at first and found myself a little tongue twisted to begin with as Emily started interviewing me but they did quite a few takes of the same sort of questions and I relaxed more and so they will probably edit it to get the best bits. I hope they can make it sound more coherent that the way it all came out :)

Then they did footage of the little star William playing with his toys and me on the laptop next to him. They shot my laptop with my Madeit shop up on screen. And Will and I playing together on the floor. Then we pretended I was putting Will to bed (as I'd told them that's when I do my work) then they showed me packaging my prints in my little office and then Emily asked me more questions at the dining room table and we looked at some of my designs. (She actually bought one of my Bedtime Bus Roll Posters)!

They were so lovely and made me feel at ease and Will was very enthralled by the equipment and was showing off to the camera and sound men! Emily said she'd phone me when they find out what day it's going to be aired so I'll let you know when she phones.

In the middle of the interview part you might hear William saying his favourite word 'HOT' and hopefully they include the part where he is playing with his teddy on the floor and cuddling it. As we walked them out the sound guy was waving goodbye and saying 'Bye Will!' and then once they'd gone Will kept crawling around to the front door to see where his new fan club of people with great equipment went.

I think I'm going to be cringing when I see myself on TV but I'm just looking forward to seeing how it all looks and what they do and don't include and most of all seeing my little child star!

I hope I've been a good Madeit.com.au representative and done all my fellow store holders proud... we'll have to wait and see I guess.

Thanks again for all your lovely words of encouragement yesterday!
Have a great Friday,

Lights, camera, action...

I have some very exciting news to share!

This afternoon A Current Affair are coming over to my little home to film and interview me (& Will) about having a Madeit.com.au shop and about starting your own little business!
I know..... scary, exciting isn't it!


I probably should have waited to share this until it's all happened, (just in case it gets cancelled or something for some reason) but I just had to share with my bloggy friends as I'm feeling a bit nervous this morning and had to get it out there. Ahhhh...

It's all happened very quickly... as the super lovely Madeit Founder Bec, emailed me yesterday to see if I was interested. Then ACA phoned yesterday afternoon to set up the time and brief me a bit about it. The story is being put on because author Sonia Williams has written a book called 'Start Me Up' about starting your own business, and that's all I really know!

I am excited that my little William will be on national television (I'm just blocking out the fact that that means me too) and I'm trying to stay cool, calm and collected.

So wish me luck for this afternoon and I'll let you know what happens and when it's meant to go on-air,

Slumber, sleep, snooze...

Just saying these words makes my eye lids heavy today... *yawn*

I have a question for you? Why is it that even when you have a full, uninterrupted night's sleep that you wake up feeling more tired that you did when you went to bed?

Hmmm.... well I'll just wait for this cup of coffee I'm sipping to kick in, and in the meantime dream about this bedroom.

via decorpad

I love this bedroom, it's so perfect to me. The white ruffled bedding, the blue Ikat pillow, the white tray with... is that a bowl of figs? The Ghost chair, the gorgeous bedside table, the cow hide rug which 'looks' great but they freak me out in real life (not a fan of dead animals in the house). The colour of the door is great, oh and can you throw in those sandals too please?

Me thinks this is an over styled studio photo. But who cares, I could jump into that bed right now and sleep for hours! Now, photographer, stylist, lighting guys, please ignore me while I curl up under this beautiful ruffled bedding, carry on with your photo shoot, I'm just going to sleeeeee....p.....