maybe i'm a little twi-hard . . .

Greetings all,

Ok, so i've had a headache for a couple of days & no amount of water, rest or head massaging (read: drilling my knuckles into my temples) is helping . . . so i took to a dark cool cinema this morning to see the first release of the new Twilight movie.  You can call me keen, i don't mind.  I discovered a must-be-used free ticket & after a few goes with lighting, playing the movie & getting the sound on (in a coordinated fashion) the movie was finally running.  I had made brownies before school & packed myself a lunch box with cashews, a turkey sandwich & bottle of water too.  Throw in validated parking & my Twilight experience . . . was free!!     

Look, i haven't read the Twilight books or taken a side for Team Edward/ Jacob, i don't even think Kristen Stewart is a half decent actress . . . i just find the movies entertaining.  I'm not after an intellectual brain drain.  I especially love the stylish decor, gorgeous actors (Vampires not Voltaire) & fashionable clothes as the back drop to the movies.  The scenes filmed in Canada were breathtaking & the wolves were more . . . believable . . . if you know what i mean - they weren't doing that awkward wolf talking like the other movies.  Jacob even acted 'happy' which suits him better than broody.  

I was expecting a bunch of school girls giggling in the cinema, nope, it was me, 4 housewives & a husband.  We chatted on the way out (complete strangers - bonded by the fact we're all at a Twilight movie at 9.30a.m.) & we liked how ALL the characters from each movie, were listed at the end.  

So the verdict . . . i really enjoyed Breaking Dawn Part 2.  I'd take my daughters & see it again.  It was much better than Part 1 & i would happily watch any spin off movies from the characters.  This finale in the saga had heads rolling (literally) & the girls were totally kick arse (Alice, Rosalie, Bella.)  I'm still trying to stomach the baby being named Renesme, i wonder how they kept a straight face calling her that??  Truly!!  She's a beautiful young actress though. 

I treated myself to a little Christmas decorating shopping (after my movie savings) . . . i love rustic, wooden, red & white themed ornaments i would use all year round.  I think the stars are a bit witchy wicker.  

I took the children swimming on Monday & realised six of our beach towels are at my husband's bachelor pad in Brisbane, so best i top up the collection here in Canberra.  As i said on Instagram tonight, "i've never met a tassel fringed towel i didn't like" & at 25% off Country Road VIP sale, i couldn't resist these four. 

A lovely day, good movie, great shopping & delicious lunch.  Off to bed to see if i can have another 9 hour nap like last night, it was bliss, even if i wasn't well.  Love Posie

i've got Christmas totally wrapped up

Greetings all,

Phew, marathon wrapping session yesterday, all the nieces & nephews, our parents & those pesky people who also have birthdays in December & January too, now i can post them off to 3 main family focal points later this week. 

Armed with some brown paper, twine, tags, tape & feature wrap, i got busy.  The children were out on their bikes so i managed to wrap most of their gifts too!!

 Don't the gifts look sweet??

 While my eldest daughter was out with her boy-who-is-a-friend, the other children decorated the Christmas tree & i continued to wrap on the kitchen counter.  It took a few goes, they didn't follow the golden rules of: check the lights work, then add evenly to tree; add tinsel, green is great on a cheap & nasty plastic tree, bulks it up; then decorations & finally add the special angel 

 It's just not Christmas when handsome soldier is away, so we didn't do a real tree, sigh.

 However, the same quantity of decorations we'd apply to an 8' real tree, we slathered onto our 3' plastic wonder.  I kind of like it.

 I helped fill in some gaps the children left.

 The love birds made me miss my husband even more.

 I love my fabric, glittery & fluffy birds too!!

 It looked so lovely last night, one child fell asleep on the lounge so i tucked her in & left the lights on.  It was so dreamy.  I stayed up waiting for my first born to be returned, at almost midnight, must have been a good date??!!  They are great mates & i adore the whole family, it's so lovely that my girl has such a nice 'introduction' to boys, which isn't always smooth, especially when you're at an all girls school & mostly all girls family.  The mummy (she has 4 boys also welcomes our families mixing) said they talked non stop for 12 hours, swimming, at a BBQ, a Christmas party & just hanging out!!

Thanks to forward planning & minimal events in December, i can glide into Christmas with ease now, all pressure lifted.  A big hello to my handsome soldier too, i know he's missing all this & as much as it upsets him, here are the photos . . . he was home last Christmas, it was fantastic, crazy but in the past 2 years he's been home with us for only a few weeks, ditto for the next 2 years THEN he's all ours, we'll have our home & yikes, 3 girls in high school.  Love Posie

test driving Lego Creator for Christmas

Greetings all,

I have dedicated my adult life to handmade affairs & raising well rounded children.  I was raised on handmade too + a happy childhood filled with Lego (it was my first love over Barbie/ My Little Pony/ Care Bear/ Strawberry Shortcake) & i love re-living this with my 4 children who are all Lego mad too!!  The friendly people at One Green Bean sent some Lego Creator to test drive, ahhh, the building blocks of handmade from Danish plastic fantastic. My son leapt at the chance to make the snowman . . .

 . . . check out that focus & attention & tan . . .

 i know, can you believe it, a man reading instructions!!

. . . um, he made the broom, couldn't resist step 13 first . . .

 he loves his new bed, it's a great play platform

 . . . he had to fend of 3 nosey big sisters . . .

 excuse the goofy face, this really was the best of 6 shots!! 

Da dah, now pride & place with our handmade Christmas decorations including an untouched GingerBreadHouse # 2 . . . sits my son's proud Lego Creator snowman.  I wonder if the Lego will breed as quickly as those Allana C giraffes did??  I'm a sucker for Lego, of course it will.  Great activity for a gloomy weather day, he's already broken the snowman down, built the him back up again & added extra 'Christmas lights' to the snowman's hat.  Love creative children.
Now back to my post market coma, ok, so we've been clothes shopping today . . .  but oh my aching thighs from bobbing up & down all day to get change behind my stall yesterday, i used over 150 paper carry bags, so that was a lot of lunges & thigh blasting!!  Love Posie

handmade from the pages of a magazine . . .

Greetings all,
Running early & carefree this morning, i almost left a face print on the glass door of the Post Office as i vigorously attempted to push it open, not seeing the "sorry we're closed" sign on said door at 9.05a.m.  Hmmm . . . i wasted some time at the bakery & newsagency before attempting the Post Office again.  So glad i did as i treated myself to the Inside Out magazine Christmas issue.  I really want to nail a good handmade Christmas wreath for the front door this year, voila, inspiration (read: styles i can totally copy).

 the beautiful cover didn't disappoint

 ahhh, whimiscal version of an advent calendar

 pretty garlands, i'm working on my own style

 & the wreaths!!

Did you read the words on that first page "if you make your own decorations they have soul & meaning & can become family treasures" . . . lovely sentiment.  I've been making these fabric penny wheels with a silver jingle bell for Shop Handmade & markets, tie to a tree with red & white twine.  Even my handsome soldier muttered "are you making these for our tree too??"  He likes!!  & yes, i will, plus birds of course!!

 I've not answered many magazine shoot call outs this year, kind of busy without a husband for 9 months so just not a priority.  But when Shop 4 Kids was doing a handmade child feature, i couldn't resist.  So i'm sending some bird bunting & a mix match baby wrap, lined with Tshirt jersey for a pram blanket.

As a mathematician & spatial person, i find it unnatural to piece patchwork together that isn't lined up precisely & completely orderly, planned, um . . . perfect, so this was a little experiment into a direction i'd like to try over Summer for next Autumn's quilts . . . it was liberating!!
Ok, after making this wrap last night (machine pieced with hand stitched edges) i got an order for a robot one at Shop Handmade today!!  So finishing that one off right now.  Love Posie