✴ what's hot & what's not...

This is my last Aussie hot/not!!! Can't believe how quickly the time has flown! It is quite a hectic week, packing and sorts so apologies if you have left a comment here and I haven't responded yet. That should also explain my unbelievable lateness in posting this...Sigh........

Anyhoo, pop along to Loobylu  for more lists...

Hot

✴Suzy Ultman. How gorgeous are these prints from Suzy Ultman? I bought these Paper Doll Parade notecards from Seed on sunday and I adore the set of Home Sweet Home prints- Just too cutie pie for words. They'll look so beautiful in frames I think.

✴Sticker Love. I've gone a bit gaga for stickers! It all began in Kikki K  and has just grown from there. But how can you resist a bit of sticker love.... Sticker books are the new big thing I reckon, we're all having a bit of a return to our childhoods, remember when you used to write letters to people? Way back in the good old days? Me and my friend, Miss P used to write to each other all the time, even though we lived a mere stones throw from each other. I found a stash of these letters recently - so funny! All of the letters were covered in different stickers, ballerinas, stars, hologram stickers - Ooooh how big was hologram in the '80's??

Anyway these sticker books are really hitting my sticker-love spot!?

Small Object Labels & Stickers by Sarah Neuburger

Crafty Stickers  by Catherine Head

This Book Belongs To  by Grady Mcferrin

Christmas DIY Sticker Book by Kikki K

✴Amazon Wishlist. Dear Santa, you know how you always say you are stuck for ideas of what to get me for Christmas, well stop your whinging and have peepo at my Amazon Wishlist...!

I'm having a bit of an Amazon revival at the moment, because I haven't been there in a long time! I've bought a lot of books out here and although of course it's always lovely to wander around a bookshop, well, I had a look at all the books I'd bought here, on Amazon, and was shocked to discover how much more I'd paid for the books! Yikes. So I resisted buying anymore and added the ones I'd been coveting into an Amazon wishlist. Well, lets just say I got a bit carried away and the list grew, and grew. I was like a giddy bride writing her wedding gift list, which is kind of what I was like 2 years ago when I actually was that giddy bride writing her wedding gift list...!

Images Amazon

Not

✴Leaving Australia! In three days time we get our flight back to the UK! So instead of writing a list of nots I'm going to stay on the positive and give you my list of aussie hots as encountered by me whilst living Gold Coast side of this fab little (eh?) land.....Ella has put in her favourites too and I also think there maybe a rogue not in there, can you tell which one....?

Mount Tamborine :: Finders Keepers :: Lamingtons :: Byron Bay :: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary  :: Dorothy the Dinosaur  :: Lola's :: Bill Granger :: Schoolies :: Kikki. K :: Humpbacks :: Rafferty's Garden :: Tim Tams :: Dymocks :: Witchery :: Notebook :: Meet Me At Mikes :: Q1 :: MBD Deli :: Poppies For Grace :: Country Road  :: Vegemite  :: Windy Peak :: Earth Choice :: Inside Out :: Donna Hay :: Veronika Maine :: Cinderella :: Mimco :: Max Brenners :: Narnia 

& of course...

All of the fantastic aussie blogs I've discovered while out here, all of whom will be coming back to Blighty with me thanks to the power of t'internet.....Yippeeeeeee!

✴ sunday love...

It's the last sunday before home time, yes it is...Already three months away in Australia has gone 'poof', away! Suddenly we find ourselves saying 'oh one more time at doing that', or 'last time we go there'.....etc...etc...

So we drove up to Mount Tamborine, 'one more time...'. We headed on down to Ceder Creek Falls, like everyone else, and parked in a no parking zone at the side of the road, like everyone else. The idea was to do an quick half hour stroll on the easy route as outlined on the website, because it claimed to be pram friendly, but wasn't, not in the slightest, infact I would say the big warning sign reading 'this path is not suitable for wheelchair users and strollers' to be a big indication that this path was NOT pram friendly....Sigh.....

And it was hot, phewee was it hot. You know that slightly self-conscious feeling when you realise you are totally overdressed for an occasion? Well that feeling happened today, everyone else seemed to be walking around wearing nothing but a headscarf and a smile and I was dressed as Nanook of the North, with a pram.

So Mr H took the pram back to the car to pick up the Baby Bjorn which we had thankfully stashed in the boot and me and Ella took some quiet bottle feeding time sat under a beautiful tree in the picnic area, listening to the birds and hearing the distant trickle of a waterfall and people splashing in the lagoons...Lovely.

I first noticed Mr H returning to us because I was slightly bemused at his hurried nature, and then a little curious at his decision to cut through the bracken and bushes instead of walking around to the clearing, and then I noticed that he wasn't carrying anything, no Baby Bjorn.....Hhhhmmmm......Curiouser and curiouser.....

It turns out that the police were doing a parking check (slow crime day...) and handing out fines and Mr H had got back to the car just in time. What happened next was a speedy pack up of everything and a dash back to the car. All around us people were passing the word and then racing out to get to their car before getting caught! It felt a bit like being at an illegal rave that has been ambushed by the law (I imagine..)!! In reality, it was a bunch of thirtysomethings out for a picnic with their kids! Deary me!

We did eventually get to do the walk and NO it wasn't worth it, but never mind, let's focus on that quiet time sat beneath the tree.

Other sunday love moments...

Splashing about in the ocean.... well, more at the edge of the ocean...

An evening stroll along the beach, skirts billowing in the breeze...

A quick stop at the Beach House for a margarita (and some yoghurt for the baba)...

Looking at the fairy lights in the trees before heading back along the beach to put a sleepy baba to bed.

Nighty night...

✴ it's time...

                                             

It's time to start thinking about Christmas....Bah humbug to all those who say it's too early....
It isn't.....It's time....

This year, I'm dreaming of a handmade, rustic-love type of Christmas...

                                                                                                                         

Images :: Country Living  :: NZ House and Garden :: Martha Stewart :: Notebook :: Inside Out :: Delicious :: Living Etc :: Cox & Cox :: Homes and Gardens 

❄

✴ my collection

I've been loving taking part in My Place and Yours every week from Meet Me At Mikes. I just love those meme's, I do, I really do. I love taking part in something and I especially love scurrying along to other places for a nosy at others beautiful words and gorgeous images. It's inspiring and most importantly it makes me feel I'm popping in at a friends house for a cup of tea and a chat, or a show and tell of what we've all been up to and making that week. Which is especially important when a girl is so far away from home...

And with that in mind I really thought that I may not be able to take part this week with the choice of my collection from Theme Queen Kate of Fox's Lane, which is a pity as she has left some lovely encouraging comments here on my little blog and she has a pretty beautiful blog herself.

As I am still in Australia, but packing to leave in one week, back to the cold, cold rain of London, I can't really show you any images of my collections. I can't show my stash of arty and vintage  postcards, collected along my travels, or my small selection of cookie cutters and glass bottles and my pile of pine cones collected for my wedding two years ago. I guess I don't really collect things that much, especially when I'm away.....So I'd better just tidy up.....

Clear away the magazines....

Wind up the ribbon....

Pile up the craft books....

Sort those shells...

Fold up the fabric...

And tidy the threads...

Yeah, I don't really collect that much....
Now I'm off for a cup of tea and a bun to look at other collections....

✴ simple pleasures

Image here 

When I was nay but knee high to a grasshopper, (or something like that) my absolutely favourite things in the whole wide world  (which is actually quite small to a tiny tot) were eating banana butties and watching playschool.

Even now, the smell and taste of a simple sandwich with slices of banana in the middle conjures up images of childhood. Tiny squares of doughy, squishy bread with the crusts removed, obviously, and  lovely 'nana sandwiched inbetween....Mmmmm....Yum!

Probably with a glass of ice cold milk, and probably while wearing my nightie with my 'never, ever take off' snake belt....But maybe that's too much information....

So imagine my delight, this week when I was able to give tiny, wee banana butties to my Ella, and watch her devour them with the same gusto and delight that I probably did.

Ok so she is only 10 months old and most of it was thrown onto the floor or creatively spread across the tray on the high chair, but it's early days in the whole, 'feed yourself' regime...

I'm also not going to give up on the scrambled egg, which was ceremoniously spat out with sheer disgust this morning.

When I was little my mum used to give me a lovely boiled egg with toast soldiers in a variety of new and vintage egg cups which she still collects to this day ( remind me, I'll show you one day). The eggs were bought from the greengrocers in the village, in the days before supermarkets were the norm, and now sadly long gone. These eggs were special because they came from the local farm which had one particular infamous hen called Molly. Now, the way that the farmer could show which eggs were laid by Molly was to mark the base of each egg with a cross in black ink.

It became quite a ritual at our house, me and my mum checking the base of the boiled egg to see whether it was laid by Molly. Now, I guess, with hindsight I maybe should have questioned the incredible productivity of one hen - I never had a boiled egg that wasn't laid by Molly. Poor thing she must have been exhausted...

Ok, so I like to think of myself as slightly intelligent and a bit worldly wise which makes the revelation, only a few years ago, of Molly's existence, or lack thereof, something of a shock to my rosy little world.

Now, I'm not completely stupid. Even though mum still marks a cross on the bottom of my boiled egg, when the situation arises (sadly not nearly enough), I figured that Molly had died a long time ago and she was just continuing this tradition as a bit of a joke. Oh no, Molly was never even born...She never even existed!! It was all a ruse to get me to eat my eggs and one which, hat's off to you mum, worked a treat!

I know she is probably jumping up and down with complete excitement at the chance of doing it all over again with Ella, of continuing the lie...! But it's a good lie, so that's ok.

A bit like Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny, it's a tiny white lie that makes our childhood that little bit more lovelier, and so it is good!

✴ my creative space

I wasn't going to take part in my creative space from kootooyoo  this week because I thought I had nothing to show.

I thought I had been busy ironing and packing whilst daydreaming of lovely crafty projects and exciting things to make.

But in actual fact I had been cutting and making said lovely things and only thinking about ironing and packing... Oh well...

After a busy thankless day yesterday, running after a very energetic, speed crawling, dvd grabbing, non-napping baba all I wanted to do last night was some relaxing crocheting, which is vastly becoming my new fave thing. The only thing to hand was a ball of chunky mustard wool and the wrong sized crochet hook and thus, I created a large chunky 'what do I do with it?' granny square and an imperfect pom pom! But I was relaxed and contented and that's the main thing, right??

And in between extracting small fingers from the dvd slot on the machine I managed to start the monogram brooches I've been wanting to make, still haven't made my mind up about the backing, petals or rosettes....Hmmmm.....

Oh well, back to the ironing board for me!

✴ What's Hot & What's Not...

Hot

✴Stamping. Not the ground, or my fist, but lovely ink stamping onto paper, fabric or whatever is lying around waiting to be stamped! I bought these letter stamps from Kikki. K at the weekend.

More stamp love at

NoraJane

Rubbertrouble

Anna Griffin

Two Cheese Please 

✴PDF Purchases. I have loved an online shop called Mibo for a while now, such beautiful prints and textiles. I was delighted to discover they now have an etsy store and even more delighted to discover these make-at-home 'Christmas Creatures' available as a PDF file! Fantastic, instant Mibo love. I also have my eye on that print-it-yourself calendar...

Images Mibo 

✴The Water Babies. Or more specifically my water baby. We took Ella swimming properly at the weekend, we've dipped her toe in a few times and it's been met with an instant leg split away from the water so we were not sure how it was going to go. She loved it! Splashed her little heart out, bless.

I do love the book though as well!

The Water Babies image here

Not

✴Farewells. Saying goodbye to friends over here as we all start to leave Australia. It's been fun!

✴Packing. Again, I know, it was last weeks Not...And will most likely be next weeks Not! It has to be done....Sigh......

✴Slighty 'Off'. Waking with a very dry throat on a very grey day...Hmmmm.....Looks like it might be the perfect day to tackle that packing.....Sigh.....

Some lovely peeps have written their Hot/Nots go and have a peek at Loobylu ...

☺☹

✴ Bella Boo Bunny :: Softies For Mirabel

Bella Boo Bunny is a little girl softie, with unusually green hair, rosy posy cheeks and a heartwarming smile. She likes to wear her bunny ears and her bunny tail and hop about the room twitching her cutie pie nose.

She is going on a long journey, to Melbourne, she's never been there before. It's very exciting.

So she puts on her mittens, even though it's probably quite warm there but she has a bit of an English temperament...

She can't wait to play with all of her other friends waiting here . So slips on her ballet flats, she's quite fashionable don't you know...

And with a big bursting heart...

And a farewell cuddle and leg pull...

She promptly marches out of the door...

She can be so stubborn sometimes....I'll have to run after her and put her in a jiffy bag, it's a far safer way for a little girl softie to travel to Melbourne...

Softies For Mirabel is a really good cause and a great way to inspire crafty creativeness.

Meet Me At Mikes is a brilliant mover and shaker of said good cause and crafty creativeness.

Bella Boo Bunny was hand-stitched by me. I would have liked to have made more, I really would, but the other unfinished projects are beginning to give me dirty looks and alas, time is running out.

But...

There's always next year!!!!

Bon Voyage Miss Bella Boo Bunny.

✈

✴ Through the front door...

Another week of My Place and Yours from Meet Me At Mikes. This week the theme is Through The Front Door chosen by Femme de Montmartre.

Pop along to Pip's for more doorways...

This week I've decided to focus on back home. The door to this apartment is decidedly uninspiring and well, apartment like, so after 3 months here, I am looking forward (2 weeks today!) to returning to my 1930's semi in the suburbs of Surrey. Aahhhh....

The photo above was taken just after moving in 2 years ago. It's had a lick of paint since then and a few extra bits and bobs, usually a plant or two on the window sill (probably now dead) and a small pile of letters and junk mail (probably now a mountain) waiting to be sorted and sent to the recycling.

Outside there are brick red steps leading up to the front door and a spotty front door mat from Laura Ashley. Either side of the door sits a bay tree planted in a great big pale green plant pot which is festooned with tiny fairy lights at Christmas time.

But you'll have to imagine that.

Also imagine the Arts & Crafts oak sideboard to the left of the door as you walk in, an Ebay find and the large 1930's oak oval mirror on the wall opposite also from Ebay and which arrived with a large crack in it (eek!) and was only replaced just before we came out to Australia.

On a bright day the sun streams through the stained glass, projecting distorted rose shapes onto the pale walls.

On the wall leading up the stairs is a small assortment of framed family snaps, old and new. This is the beginnings of what I hope will become a striking feature wall, full of happy images and visions of times gone by, but I've only just begun and there are still a lot of photographs to go through...

I love arriving home and walking through my stained glass door. I love that the sound of the key turning in the lock wakes Tabitha and Olive sleeping on the stairs who come running to greet me with a soft miaow and an affectionate head butt against my legs. A gentle reminder that I should probably feed them  first before kicking off my shoes and making myself a cup of tea and slouching in front of the telly!

✴ My Creative Space...

Hooray for magical meme's on an otherwise tongue-tied thursday...
Here is my creative space, head to Kootooyoo for more...

Charming Crochet Craftiness...

{ A new skill learned }

Perfectly Perforated Paper...

{A new paper cutting tool }

Heavenly Haberdashery Haul...

{ New projects in the making }

Pretty Painted Pebbles...

{ Not finished yet }

Annoying Alliterative Answers!!!

I'm done...!