IKEA & Donna Hay GIVEAWAY winners & showing off

Greetings all,

Is there a blue box sweeter than Tifffany's??  YES, Donna Hay's Royal Doulton range.

 With much Monday excitement, my Donna Hay Royal Doulton pieces arrived.  As we're not moving for a couple of years & storage/ entertaining/ luxury is limited in this house, i'm collecting small pieces.  We plan a full on Butler's Pantry in our homestead to store all my goodies (Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay, Bison, Royal Doulton) & display them properly.

 From Donna's 12 Days of Christmas specials, the footed colander was complimentary!!  Don't say i didn't warn you & spread this good fortune around!!  You were told.

 Worth every cent i spent on these pedestals, they blend nicely with my Nigella blue, non??  I have a vision people: high tea on my homestead with my girls, husband & son can serve!!

 Or if your taste is . . . well you know where, upsidedown for a gaudy chip & dip.  So kidding!!

Oh you want to know who won the Donna Hay Christmas edition magazine & Molten Chocolate Chunk Brownie mix??
Shar from Mum on the Run blog & Alannah from Luv Books blog,
you have each won the magazine & mix
(drew Shar's name 3 times, she's a marathon runner, mum & teacher = total goddess, & Alannah is a gorgeous book loving mummy of 4) yay!!
Jan-Maree from Cherry Red Quilter blog & Amanda from Homely One blog,

you have each won the magazine

(Jan-Maree is a military wife + mummy of twins & Amanda has a sweet new baby) yahoo!!
Jen from Let It Go blog & Jacinta from ModelMumma blog,

you have each won the mix

(Jen has recently given up nursing to focus on her teenagers - i hear you Jen, & Jacinta is pregnant with her 3rd child, do NOT come between her & her brownies) yahoozies!!
Congratulations, happy styling, baking & entertaining with Donna Hay this Summer gals.  Please email me your addresses & i'll ship them to you a.s.a.p. 

Now for the winner of the super cute collection of IKEA Cirkus toys, Big Top drum roll please . . .
congratulations to . . . Ann-Maree from The House A-M Built blog,
you have won all the softies in the post + more!! 
(A-M is an absolute doll, i gasped with joy when the random machine drew #2) yes!!

All randomly selected on line, at Posie HQ & witnessed by people i gave birth to.  Say what you like about me, i know my readers!!  All lucky, worthy & kind hearted winners.  Thanks for your support, love & generocity with my giveaways this year folks, i hope you've been lucky & i've thoroughly enjoyed your company. Love Posie

BEST Father's Day idea EVER at IKEA (i think it's really for the ladies)

Greetings all,

OK, so IKEA are the kings of invention, reinvention & thinking up new brilliant ideas to make shopping with them a bigger & better experience.  They've set up the IKEA Family programme, which in short, gives you easier access to product discounts & specials, free coffee & every swipe of your card donates money to charity, win win.

More recently, they've set up a parent programme, with pamphlets & forums into what parents like/ use/ want from IKEA nursery/ children's furniture & toys. 

 For disclosure i was sent these goodies in the hope i'd tell you about the Children's IKEA focus.  Just saying!!

 I have no issue promoting IKEA, it's budget & child friendly, just like me!!

 Of course, there was the fantastic IKEA SleepOver which i was a lucky attendee.

NOW . . . to celebrate Father's Day . . . the Sydney IKEA store is launching . . . MÄNLAND . . . no kidding, a place for ladies to sign their husbands into a Man Creche for 30 minutes of massages, games, on screen sports, table football, arcade games, drinks & a hot dog!!  Ladies - you'll even get a buzzer to come & pick up your man when his half hour is up.  See why i really think this Father's Day idea is really for the ladies!!

I for one would love this as my husband HATES shopping, he's a total drag & worse than a petulant toddler!!  Statistics have revealed 26% of couples have an argument in public about shopping (tick), 32% of ladies have lost their husbands while shopping (tick), 6% have resorted to simply abandoning their husband in a store (for peace & quiet, TICK).  So head along to IKEA in Homebush & check your husband into MÄNLAND on Thursday 1st September to Sunday 4th September, only 8 men per session!!  So worth the 3 hour drive, if my husband was home.
This all started out as a joke, mums would say they wished there was a creche for men, like the one they check their children into at the store.  Your wish has come true.  Enjoy ladies, love Posie

where are you sleeping on Friday night, me, i'm sleeping over at IKEA

Greetings all,
Wow, what a way to wrap up the week - the first ever IKEA sleep over party - this Friday night at the Sydney store!!  I've been asked to do PR on the IKEA event, telling/ showing off/ gloating about all the amazing things we girls get up to at a huge sleepover, locked down in Swedish furnishing heaven . . . with dinner, massages, freebies, giggles, movies, breakfast . . . also loving the excuse to get me some new jammies for the event!! 

 Seeing i'm in Sydney for Sew It Together anyway, how brilliant is this opportunity??!!

There will be 50 lucky female flat-pack & Allen key loving ladies enjoying back-to-back chick flicks at this exclusive one-night-only experience (should i mention now i've never seen Grease, Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing or Moulin Rouge??)

 I'll be happily distracted with complimentary pampering treatments & waiter service from handsome men (oh, forgot to mention that to my husband!!)  

For one night only, the bedding department of IKEA will be transformed into a girly heaven, taking much-loved elements from teenage slumber parties & injecting some sophisticated grown up fun into proceedings - sounds like perfection to this mummy of many tween girls.

So that's where i'll be between my Prints Charming sewing session on Friday afternoon & craft mania at Sew It Together on Saturday morning . . . yippee.  Stay tuned for a tonne of photos from my big BIG B I G jam packed weekend away in Sydney, love Posie
PS friendly reminder . . . last few days to enter my lucky 300th post hot pink giveaway or

 . . . grab an autographed copy of Handmade Living.

wrapping up Christmas . . . on 'Christmas Eve' Eve

Greetings all,
Today was another super busy day at Shop Handmade & now it's closed for the year.  Big shout out to Rachel & Julie who i love & run the most beautiful Shop in Canberra, no THE WORLD!! 

Last night, in my spare time, i threw a party for a dozen 9 year olds, just a movie kind of thing - we watched Goonies & Gremlins, ah, the 80's!!  Lots of fun, food & Christmas themed party favours, like reindeer food!!  Just to confirm i'm completely nuts, i collected 6 of the party goers on my way home from Shop.  It was actually really lovely, i'm used to having a car load of children & the road kill (mainly kangaroos) on the 25km trip from the city kept them entertained!!

So now it's time to put my feet up (or into a soak) & cruise into Christmas, everything wrapped/ posted/ delivered & purchased, with tonight's Farmer's Market putting the finishing touches on our Christmas long weekend menu.

My last patchwork quilt for the year was collected yesterday, another bohemian style one, truly a favourite colour combination of mine now.

 . . . bad lighting, sorry, i finished at 2a.m. . . .

 clash of colours, patterns & styles in 196 squares of patchworky goodness!!

 Last minute deliveries include a donation of pashimas to HeadsUp, a Breast Cancer charity . . .

 Sue from HeadsUp at Calvery Hospital in Canberra teaches ladies how to style pashminas & silk scarves while dealing with hair loss during chemotherapy.  Love you Sue, you're awesome!!

 Now it's 'Christmas Eve' Eve . . . we might start nibbling on our Handmade Sweet Delights GingerBreadHouse (number 2) . . .

 & decide where to spread the Reindeer Food??

 I have visions of a big family platter of Christmas lunch leftovers on Christmas Night . . .

 so i can enjoy it as much as i do at Poacher's Pantry.

 Tomorrow i'll repot our plants in the Terrariums . . .

 before i collapse on the floor with these reindeer.

So there you have it, we're rolling down the hill into Christmas now.  I'm cracking open the Highland Habitat foot soak now & taking half an hour to myself in the bathroom. 

Hey, don't forget my giveaways - movie tickets to see Tangled & lifestyle books from IKEA.  Love Posie

IKEA book G I V E A W A Y not the catalogue, but a fantastic lifestyle BOOK!!

Greetings all,
This month we were invited by One Green Bean & IKEA to tour the Sydney store & check out their IKEA Family programme.  Yes please, as we move every couple of years & have a large family who quickly outgrow their furniture, we often need quick fixes for different shapes/ size/ style houses & IKEA hits the spot. 
Quick IKEA history lesson . . . the flat pack concept originated from founder Ingvar Kamprad when a customer couldn't fit a new piece of furniture in his car, after opening his first concept store in Älmhult, Sweden in 1953 (which is still in operation today).  Da dah, genius!!  Personally i love swivelling an Allen key & creating furniture, it's fun & empowering!! 

The official word . . . IKEA Family programme - the ultimate flat pack fan club, tee hee!!  It's free to join; member discounts; bottomless coffee; donation to UNICEF or store’s nominated local charity (we chose Bear Cottage) with every swipe of your IKEA FAMILY card; store-to-home insurance; extended 12-month return policy on all purchases; meal offers; quarterly magazine & more like home furnishing seminars and events which will be family gatherings you’ll actually want to attend.
& the book . . . available from mid January in Australia, featuring an assortment of home interiors & design titles, as well as a selection for the little ones . . . which leads to the . . . 

G I V E A W A Y . . . follow this blog & leave a comment here for your chance to win 1 of 10 copies of the gorgeous Beloved Homes books before it's even available in IKEA stores.  Value $29.95 but only $19.95 for IKEA Family members, ah, another benefit!!

 . . . gorgeous colours which you've come to love IKEA for . . .

 for we non Swedes, it is in English

 . . . of the 9 families featured, the couple with twins were my favourite . . .

 whimiscal bedroom for twin girls

 . . . love the painted floorboards . . .

 as we're dreaming up our own home, i love the idea of some black walls, or a chalk board wall, not sure where or why or how, but it seems like so much fun!!

 The homes aren't necessarily full of IKEA furniture, more personal life-style ways with creating a home using vintage, modern & eclectic pieces

 . . . what a lovely outdoor room . . .

 i can imagine this chair in late afternoon sunshine, ahhhhh . . .

 you can tell they had fun making this book!!

 Next time you're in IKEA sign up or join on line!!

 Or like most adults who are happy to hand technology over to their children . . . 

 or let them loose in the tap department??

 After some 'room planning' in store, don't forget to feed them at the cafe . . .

 no, we don't know why our 3rd daughter drinks orange juice from a brandy balloon either??

 We used to live close by to an IKEA when last living in Sydney & the children always knew if we went, it was also for lunch!!

My girls went for fish, meat balls & fruit salads, my boy had pasta & a brownie!!

We could settle quite nicely into a Swedish family, as we very much involve our children into our lives, always dinner together as a family, games & outdoor activities.  Did you know . . . it was really foreign to the Swedes to create a high chair with a table, as they have always pushed a baby in a high chair up to the main table.  I couldn't agree more!!

Thanks to Mark, the Sydney store IKEA Family manager, we really enjoyed the lunch, tour & chatting away to you.  Good luck everyone, the odds of this giveaway are pretty impressive, winners drawn 3rd January.  Love Posie