Winter Happiness

Hubs and I are back from holidays and are feeling relaxed and refreshed! We had a low key holiday this time around and loved every minute. We basked in the sun, caught up with family up and down the coast, shopped, explored local antiques and second hand bookshops, drank coffee, slept late and generally just relaxed. I took lots of pics but have too many things to show you so I will just post one of one of my favourite late afternoon walking tracks...Walking near the water is always relaxing, especially in the late afternoon sun!

Now, some mega cute new little friends for you to want to rush out and buy immediately! My aunty is one of those creative people you love but hate at the same time. How can one person be so talented, creative and just make the most beautiful things????  She has been making lots of lovely items from the mega lovely Jean Greenhowe Designs based in the UK. The good news is that these lovely items are now available at Sew Beautiful, where my other creations are also available. Also, if you love the items and can't get into the shop if you don't live locally or just want something special made, then you can also order custom orders. Ok, enough talking, here are the cuties so far currently available:

                                           Aren't they all so cute!!!!! I sat them on my windowsill...

                                           A gorgeous little mechanic!!! Complete with his own spare tyre!

                         One of my favourites. A family of elephants, complete with mum, dad and kids.
                                          Perfect for kids who love to role play (which is nearly all!)

                                                          Love this doll with her little baby.

                                 This little character is Daphne Dabble. An artist complete with her own
                                        brush, palette and hoop earrings! For a budding little Picasso!

                                                      A cute little maid...in her work uniform!

                                                        Complete with ties at the back!

                                  Lastly, a cute little pig!!! This one is great and totally sized for little hands!

There is also a family of puppies which I didn't get a picture of, but I can assure you it's cute!!! Some of these items can also be turned into mobiles which I love. Aren't they all sooo cute!!! I want one of each for the kids I will have one of these days!.

On holidays I also was able to come across the BEST vintage buttons ever. Some I bought from an antique shop and some I raided from my nan's button tin (which also had buttons from my great grandmother!!! - yikes!) I will post those in the next day or two, I know you will love them!

Hope you have a brilliant Friday (what's not to love, it's the weekend soon!!)

Ciao
Bella
xx

See you soon!!!!

I am a tad disorganised today...no..make that BUSY!!! I have been flat out all day and sadly, my blog entry for this week has fallen to the wayside. What has made me extra busy is the fact that hubs and I leave for holidays tomorrow morning for 2 weeks so I will be away from my blog. However, I have packed a few projects to attempt while we travel (do you ever do any knitting or crochet while on holidays?) I am dreaming of a quiet place in the sun to work up these new projects I have tucked away and been wanting to start for ever!!!

Hopefully...this will be what the next 2 weeks might entail...

Lots of relaxing...no bikinis I fear cause it's winter here!!!

Maybe some of this....

One for me and one for the hubs...relaxing in front of a warm fire..

Pic source

or maybe more of this...

Pic source

Either way....it's going to be a fab next 2 weeks. I will be back with more great projects (hopefully finished!!!) and a big, relaxed smile on my face.

Have a great 2 weeks...whatever you are up to!!!

Ciao

Bella

xxx

Alphabet Stones

This week has been one of those roller coaster, crappy but ok in the end type of weeks. Hubs and I are facing a bit of a challenge when it comes to starting our family and have had a bit of an up and down week. We had a half good news, half bad news week but all is ok in the end and we are more committed than ever to our goal.
It is funny how tough times grow you though. Hubs and I are closer than ever, and where alot of relationships struggle, ours continues to go from strength to strength. We are hoping for really good news at the end of next month, so whether you are a praying, finger crossing or star wishing person, keep us in your thoughts. Life certainly throws us challenges in different areas and this is one where we are prepared to meet head on. We are happy, blessed and life is good.

Ok enough of that. During the last couple of weeks at work I had been doing different activities with the preschoolers around learning to identify letters and learning to write their own names. We have these boring, black and white "alphabet tiles" that the kids can play with and mix around the form words. They are very useful, but a tad boring for me. So, I decided to make my own. Take some smooth river stones, acrylic paint, varnish and a permanent marker and wa-lah! You have some colourful, bright alphabet stones.

Aren't they lovely? So much more inviting for kids to learn with. 

Really simple to make. I actually bought the stones from a $2 shop but they are in plenty at the local rivers around here and probably wouldn't hurt to pick some up when I am down there next..

I am a word junkie. I love to read and explore different texts and love the richness it adds to my life. I am hoping my own future kids will be the same!!!

I used acrylic paint and time will tell if it is the best paint to use for the chip factor! Hopefully the lacquer I used will be enough to stop them from being chipped. 

For older kids, different games can be added for further challenge. What words can you make out of only the green letters? etc. I also thought about painting all the consonants one colour etc. Maybe the next set!

Do you like? Would love your feedback, especially those that either work with kids or have kids. Am thinking of making sets for my shop - to include both upper case and lower case. 

Hubs and I also went to Taronga Zoo yesterday. We had such a lovely day, despite how cold it was. We decided to catch the ferry all the way in from Parramatta. Definitely a good move, our harbour is beautiful! 

We caught the Rivercat from Parramatta to Circular Quay and then the ferry over to the Zoo. Lovely!

Despite all the exotic, interesting animals on display at the zoo, this little guy was one of my favourites. I love them!

They have a really cool "outback farm" area set up where ducks, chickens and bush turkeys roam wildly and the rest of the farm animals live in cool, outback pens. They also have a big tribute to the Aussie shearers. Very cool for a patriotic aussie girl like myself. 

Ok, that's it for today...have yourself an excellent week!

Bella

xx

Hands up for Warmth and Fun!!!

It is officially winter (yuck!!!!) I am a bit of a season-whinger. At the start of summer, I am loving it, happy to be warm and without lots of layers and love everything the summer season has to offer. By the end of summer though, all I do is whinge about the heat, the constant sweat and the cost of running the air con. I long for winter where there is no humidity and I can sleep all rugged up. Now that it is winter, I am already hating it. Hating being cold. Hating getting out of a warm bed for work...you know the deal. So, with this post, I am attempting to get myself out of the winter blues (which are totally self imposed!!).
Here goes...

What winter bub would be complete without the cutest leg warmers!!!! I made these for my niece Macie and I must admit, she looks pretty darn cute! (excuse the poor photos, I actually left my camera, which I took all the photos on, at my sister's!!. These are off my phone, which is a bit so-so with photos, so I am sure you will get the gist!)

Crochet in 100% wool, with of course a ruffled flower for added effect. How cute are little baby feet!!

Complete with little ruffled nappy pants, they are so cute!!!

The colours really "pop" when teamed with something white

Excuse all the "back shots", all the other ones that include her sweet little face are on my camera :(

By the way...these are excellent for crawling babies (especially when crawling on wooden floors)..soft and warm padding!

I often read blogs from people all around the world. I get so inspired by the different ideas and thoughts from people who live millions of miles across the ocean. One of these blogs is Design Mom..she is a mother of 6 (yikes!) but looks like a mother of none. She has so many great ideas, is creative and a awesome mum to boot. She actually did one post about tree houses which I loved...who doesn't want their kid swinging around and playing in a tree house? I want one! She did a guest post on another site, here are some pics for you to check out! (go have a look yourself at Design Mom - Tree Houses)

Aren't they awesome!! (the one just above is actually in the backyard of her home in France..sigh...)

That's it for me now...gotta go, hubs is bugging me for the laptop!

Have a great week!

Ciao

Bella

xx

Something for Me!!

Since I began knitting/sewing/crocheting I have barely made anything for myself. Most of my creations tend to go to loved ones, in particular, the special little people in my life and the life of others through my orders. I have only really made myself a crochet blanket (which is my staunch companion on afternoon snoozes on the lounge..) and am nearly finished a huge blanket for our bed that will go on the foot of our bed and can pulled up for some good old woolly warmth. To this end, I decided I needed a quick project for myself to put some balance back.
This is what I came up with...

A cute crochet headband! It took my barely anytime to write it up and put it together..

I wanted some warm colours and I love this colour palette together...

I love the band part of the design...nice and simple, yet it looks so pretty!

I just made two really simple little flowers to embellish, I didn't want them to be too big

It ties simply at the base of the head and can be any length or tightness you desire. It won't get tangled, knotted or stuck. Perfect for someone like me with stacks of hair!

I quickly worked it up while watching Grey's Anatomy the other night. Easy peasy!

I also wanted to share with you how beautiful our front yard looks at the moment. It is full of red autumn leaves as our front maple tree has started to drop it's leaves. During the late afternoon, when the sun shines in, it is just so relaxing to sit and look with a nice hot cup of tea...

The leaves are the perfect amount of "crunchy" and I love walking through them!!! (I know I know, it's a childish pastime but it's still fun!)

That's it for now...enjoy your week and don't forgot to stop and look at the Autumn beauty!

Ciao

Bella

xx

A Fun Type of Weekend...

Hellooooooo dear friends! It has been a whirlwind weekend full of birthday parties, lovely family time, afternoon siestas and food, food and more food!
To begin with, we celebrated my niece's 2nd birthday party. It was a lovely warm afternoon and we sat and basked in the sun and chatted, ate, watched the kids play and generally caught up with family. It was soooo good. You might remember that I made a Babushka for her birthday...it went down well!

Cuddles!!

I also decided to make her a little "dress up" necklace.. it was made in a hurry but I thought it was mega cute. I am writing a couple of patterns at the moment for both little and big girl crochet bead necklaces. They are going to be so nice!!

so easy to make..a braided wool cord, two cute little strawberries, and some round balls filled with toy stuffing and you are done! Add two sweet little ribbons for extra cute effect.

strawberry!

The necklace is so too big for her but thats what dress ups are for. I will try to get some up here next week that are the right size for little ones.

My sister's brother in law welcomed a new little one into the world this week so she asked me if I could whip up a special little hat. Here is what I came up with...

Considering the weather is getting really cold I added cute little ear flaps to keep little ears nice and warm..

Added a ruffled flower for fun..

Crochet cords finish it off to tie under a little chin..

I have been having fun playing around with my photos this afternoon, adding different effects and what not. I am thinking that I need to get photoshop so I can delve a little deeper! The website I used is: Photo Effects

It was also husband's 35th birthday today! We went out for a lovely dinner last night , breakfast this morning with family and we are about to have a roast dinner tonight. I think I need to not eat for the next week!

Hope you have a fab week and can find some time to be creative somewhere in your week..

Ciao

Bella

xxx

Babushka Love

Hi friends! This week has flown by awfully quick (probably all the shivering we have done with the recent cold snap!) I feel like I haven't been able to get warm all week unless I set up camp directly in front of the heater (thank goodness for gas heating so I don't have to worry too much about the cost!) We have had quite the lazy weekend this weekend, just catching up with odd jobs around the house, sleeping in, gardening and me catching up on some sewing and crochet projects that had fallen by the wayside.

My finished project to show this week is a birthday gift for my soon to be 2 year old niece Marlee (aka Moose).. here she is...

This is me and here when she was a little bubba...

and this is her at Christmas...

I wanted to make her something for her birthday rather than give her something so I decided to make her a Babushka doll...

Isn't she cute!!! I decided to make her more "handled" than round edges (easier for little hands to pick up and hold onto) I did her in a combination of reds and greens (although half way through the project I did stop and wonder if the colours were too "Christmasy" but I had already cut her out so I continued on)

I think her face is really sweet...

A scarf tied around the neck for a little "old granny" feel

Ta-dah! finished!

I hope she likes it! It is quite a big pattern so I do envisage it may be more decoration in her room than an everyday play thing but i also thought it would be good for little heads to use as a pillow...

In an effort to convince myself that the cold weather can be good...here is a picture of a beautiful winter scene I found. Pity it doesn't get that winter beautiful here....

image source

That's it for now...hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend wherever you are..

Ciao

Bella

xx