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

snuggle down with this IKEA G I V E A W A Y

Greetings all,

It's IKEA G I V E A W A Y time again!!  Yahoo.  As Australia starts to get chilly in Autumn, it's snuggle time.  What better way to embrace the looming Winter months than with some pretty new bedlinen??

 Remember that really fun IKEA sleepover i was lucky enough to attend a few weeks back, sleeping over night in the bedding department at the Sydney IKEA store . . . well i can assure you the bedlinen is beautiful, comfortable & well priced too.

 The good PR people at One Green Bean & IKEA would love to offer 3 sets of ALVINE KVIST percale bedlinen sets to my followers.  Each set includes a queen 200x200cm Quilt Cover & 4 Pillow Slips, valued at $89.  Yes 3 to GIVEAWAY.

Make sure you're a follower of this blog & leave a comment at this post, simple!! 
Extra entries if you advertise this giveaway on your Blog, FB or Twitter too. 
Lucky winners - all 3 of you - to be drawn 9p.m. on Sunday 8th May (Mother's Day) - a nice back up gift just in case you don't fair well in the Mother's Day gift stakes!! 

I'd love to know which room in your home this beautiful bedlinen will liven up & who will be snuggling down under it.  How do you stay cosy in Winter - under a doona, next to a roasting fire, hot chocolates . . . I can assure you, i miss my husband more than ever in our brrrr Canberra Winter, he's my giant hot water bottle & chief hot chocolate brewer.  Good luck, love Posie

i'm grateful for 'bloggie friends IN REAL LIFE'

Greetings all,
Wow, what a trip to Queensland i had.  To meet your bloggie friends for real & for true is just a blast.  First up was Thea from Thea&Sami blog screen printing in Capalaba, i love her, we had so much fun & boy is she a great teacher.

 We had a delicious lunch by the water too, oh yum, thank Thea.  Had to drag myself away, then drove back to my family in the rain & pitch black, dreaming of my boot load of remnants. 

 I took brownies & a bunch of organic goodies from Canberra.

Then off Bulimba, a lovely high end part of Brisbane on the river, to meet lovely Simone from Beach Vintage blog, at her delicious Just Plain Gorgeous store.  I had the image of Simone with her long blonde hair from her blog in my mind & found her in a stunning blue floral dress behind the counter. 

 I couldn't get all the things i didn't buy the first time out of my mind, so we went returned.

 Yes, this was my oilcloth emergency on Easter Sunday!!  Thanks Simone, gorgeous to meet you & i love your store, first place i'm going next time i'm in Brisbane.

Ah, Kylie from Mealy&i blog, a dear Army wife i've been friends with for many years, we caught up in March in Sydney at Sew It Together & again last week on ANZAC Day in South Bank Brisbane.  I forgot to take new photos of us, Kylie always looks fabulous.

True to form & just after Kylie's husband asked which child is the accident prone one . . . we glanced over to find the child in question getting medical assistance from the Life Guard.  She'd taken a chunk out of her knee.  Kylie did a great post about ANZAC day, her soldier & meeting up with us here.

 On my way back to Canberra, i took the New England Highway home & had tee'd up to meet Brenda from Hoo Are You Lookin' At blog as i'm a huge fan & collector of her gorgeous products from Red Stitch Designs.

 We met in a park in Tamworth, ha, sounds like some cyber date meeting in a public place, just in case.  We hit it off immediately & our children just ran off & played together.  So easy, ah, Brenda, i adore you.

 So glad i'm not the only one with children who have to play in water at any opportunity.  Look at the beautiful blue bird i was given, oh Brenda, you are too adorable!!

 Now the only way i could drag myself away from Brenda . . . i was off to Plain English in Scone.  I went there 6 years ago.  I did the Sydney to Brisbane round trip to spend 3 days with my husband while he had a long weekend on course, with 4 children under 6 . . . i found this divine store.  I should mention my children travel really well & long trips driving solo doesn't bother me.  I took the Pacific Highway up & allowed 5 driving days for this 3000km trip.

 OMG, a car space right out the front, how lucky!!??

 As the girls put their shoes on, my son ran ahead & delivered the bad news "Mum, the door is locked" followed up with "Mum, the sign says it's closed on Wednesdays" & the cruel blow "Mum, the shop couldn't be MORE closed". 

 So maybe next time & i'm dragging Tina Rubie from Rubies' Place blog to meet me there, as we couldn't catch up this trip but we're both totally in love with this particular country decor store.

On the final leg, from Sydney to Canberra, i caught up with my best bloggie friend Corrie from Retro Mummy.  We chatted twins, life with 4 children, schools, fabric, blogs, design, houses & living down in this part of the world (she's a Canberra girl living in Sydney wanting to move to Bowral, which is kind of in between).  Small little fact - our fathers were in the Navy together, so Corrie & i have probably known each other for more than 30 years, reunited by blogs!! 

Look at Miss Elodie, now 6 months, she's going to be tall like her Retro Daddy.
So i'm very grateful this week to be able to meet all these amazing bloggers in real life.  My handmade world of design & motherhood allows me to meet many bloggers at markets & Shop Handmade, i'm super lucky (see the list on the right side bar) & my Queensland holiday was very relaxing, only made better by meeting my favourite bloggers who are now new friends.  Love Posie

is it really over, Sew It Together 2012 in Sydney was a blast!!

Greetings all,

Well if you can believe it - the IKEA sleepover was actually squeezed inbetween two massive Sew It Together events on my weekend away in Sydney. I can go months with little interstate excitement & pow, it all happens in the space of 48 hours!!  I had to restrict my photos, blogger couldn't cope, i had so many fantastic images to show off!!

So . . . to commence my journey to Sydney with last minute change of plans to go on my own . . . i took a coach, a cab, a hire car, a train & a plane.  On the Friday morning school run i was dropped at the bus station, driver Charlie announced that the bus was leaving 20 minutes early, yahoo, i was on my way to SIT Sydney!!  I was set for coach craft, in leather comfort.  

As part of the name badge swap, i ignored the size & colour rules, i scored Susie & hand delivered it Friday.  She liked it.  It was posted weeks earlier but 'returned to sender' not by Susie & as a hex on me, my name badge from Kelly never arrived either!!
Delivered to Central Station, i jumped off the Canberra Coach into a cab to Kings Cross Thrifty to collect my car rental.  Cab driver Bruce (from London) chatted away about his 25 years at the Dunlop shoe factory.  He had no idea Dunlop Volley sneakers were back in style & cool again.

 First stop . . . a flying visit with my parents - they were off to the wedding of their Godaughter in Elizabeth Bay - her father is the governor of South Australia so you can only imagine the glamour.  

Then onto Calico & Ivy in Balmain (my father was born & raised here, so i knew the 'hood). I purchased 2 Liberty sampler packs, glorious!! When i handed over my card, the lovely Sarah said "OMG, you're Posie, with that wall of fabric" which made me giggle & think, yes, wall of fabric, my addiction is public, thus me containing myself to samplers now!!

 Then off to find Prints Charming in Annandale, very close to Sydney Uni so i knew that 'hood too. 

I met up with the Sew It Together tour girls here.  Wow, like walking into some kind of crazed Boxing Day sale, fabric flying everywhere, hype & hugs!!  Finally met Sheridan who organised this incredible event & found a seat for the Stitching Session between Becky from Becky et al & Renae from Pink Fish Blue fish.  We chatted about Kingaroy's famous Lady Flo scones, country life & children, really loved these two ladies.

 RightyO, stitching on screen printed panels with brightly coloured embroidery threads & learning a few neat tricks about stitch combinations - excellent for self taught types like me.

 After dashing away to IKEA for the night, blink & i was heading back to SIT proceedings.  After fueling & returning the hire car, i jumped into Khalid's cab where he had passionate opinions on NSW politics ('twas election day, so i let him go for it) . . . i arrived back at the SIT Saturday Session at the Menzies Hotel.

 Yay, got this huge bag of sponsored SIT goodies, filled with patterns & fabrics. 

We had some little stalls througout the day, including Craft Schmaft - so excited to meet Claire & listen to her tales about raising boys.  Very happy with my new owl mobile pattern, so giving that a go in the school holidays.

 There is Christy from Little Betty & Kylie from MealyBugCreations, love you two!!

 A 'sweeping shots' of Sew It Together, i met SO many amazing new friends here.

 After farewells & a quick exit out of SIT, i boarded the train to the airport.  As i have no shame, i asked these zombies, who joined us from Hyde Park, if they'd mind a photo - extra kudos for the fact they struck poses too!!  Ah, Sydney, thank you!!

 After dragging luggage & sewing gear around for 2 days, i was happy to relax on the plane & let Captain Pete fly me home.  Very overcast, it matched my mood, sorry the fun was over.  It was nice to be the one coming home & greeted by my family!!

 Home by 7.30p.m. & tucked into bed an hour later, after talking at lightening speed about 'what happened at craft camp' & handing out gifts to the children.

Oh, if you're wondering how i got all the IKEA bedlinen & freebies home . . . i didn't, i swung by the inner city home of my father-in-law.  Back to reality . . . my husband is back in Brisbane, tomorrow i have a P&C function to feed 250 children during the Athletics carnival, 2 markets in the next 5 days & playing full time mother again.
Had a ball at SIT, thanks Sheridan, an awesome weekend & very much looking forward to the next one. Encouraging all crafty types, new or uber experienced to attend SIT, it's the nicest bloggie meet up opportunity.  Extra thanks to all the ladies who went home with a copy of Handmade Living too, so sweet of you to purchase a copy of the book.  Love Posie
PS my bank called today to tell me my EFTPOS card was skimmed in Sydney (i literally used it for 3 x $9 cab, fuel & cab transactions, you tell me which was the dodgy one??)

Some of my favourites from Clare's Craft Room, Rebecca's Chasing Cottons, Lisa's The Red Thread & Jodie's Ric Rac, yippee!!

the FIRST IKEA Sydney sleepover

Greetings all,
Well what can i say, this was SO MUCH FUN!!  Thank you One Green Bean for inviting me & IKEA for the awesome hospitality at the sleepover last night in Sydney.  10000 ladies across Australia entered & 25 lucky girls were chosen to attend the party with their best friend, for the ultimate sleepover party in everybody's favourite furniture department store. 

 After changing into pyjamas & gowns, we were invited into Smalland where we got to play up like our children in the ball pit, see saws & just go nuts, it was a blast.

 I might mention now we had male models to wait on us all night & play with us too!!

 The night was filled with television cameras & interviews, IKEA will be making a movie & the Today Show will televise it on Sunday morning (channel 9) - their sweet reporter was very brave in the ball pit in that dress!! 

 Then we went on a treasure hunt to find the bedding we'd be sleeping in (& get to keep in an Oprah style "you get a doona" kind of fashion) so a haul of sheets, quilt cover set + doona of our choice (warm for Canberra) & pillow to suit how you sleep (i'm a side/ belly sleeper - i slept like a baby with my new pillow).

 While my bedding was being delivered to bed number 11 . . . we dined at pretty tables with flowers & heard from the volunteer manager of Bear Cottage (the hospice for terminally ill children which IKEA Family supports - they donated $5000 to them on the night, $100 for every lady at the sleepover).

 I was behind a queue of hungry meat ball lovers, but i went for salmon & vegetables, oh & a muffin & a chocolate mousse & a bread roll & a slice of cake & an organic juice - no, i didn't eat it all at once!!

 After dinner we were escourted to the bedding department which was about to be transformed into a massive sleepover party by making up all the beds!!

 Check it out, Johnsons&Johnsons bags filled with incredible products . . . i'm sharing my bounty with my daughters (my son has already taken the toothbrush) & my darling Shop Handmade girls!!  Thank you J&J - loving it all.

 Now where are these guys when i'm making up all the beds at my home??  They seriously took love & care with my hospital corners (they found out my husband was military & knew i'd have standards) & even turned down my bed like seasoned housekeepers at the Intercontinental.

 Oh yes, really, sleeping in the bedding department!!

 It was very well organised, we felt very welcome, thanks ladies!!

 I was bam smack in the middle of all the beds, so guess where the cameraman on the ladder was . . . RIGHT above me, taking all the shots of us ALL in bed at the same time.  I was thinking about the most flattering chin angle i could pose while fake sleeping!!

 Complimentary slippers, check.

 There were activities all night . . . this fortune teller was hilarious.

 Oh heavenly, massages for everyone.

 Manicures were very popular late into the night.

 There were best friends having a great girlie catch up.  Lots of pyjama chat too - i went into Peter Alexander in Chatswood at lunchtime to pick out a new set of jammies & a robe, only to find another lucky IKEA sleepover lady doing the same thing - what are the chances??  So we made sure we chose different sets & caught up at the event - turns out, she teaches as my old school!!

  Girls giving midnight DIY a go, as you do!!

 These lucky ladies had a full room set up as their bedroom for the night, ah serenity (these mummies have 9 children between, a tranquil night off indeed).

 We were all settling in & making new friends, talking late into the night.

 The male models brought around chilled bottles of water & sparkling apple cidar. 

 Mmmm midnight snacks.

 It's not a girlie sleepover without chick flicks - first up "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" & "Valentine's Day" which amazingly are girlie movies i was happy to watch.

 This chill out zone was popular, what better way to spend a Friday night, flopped out with girlfriends in front of big screens - i had a neat view of both from my bed!!  Look at this lovely lady in her pretty night gown, she was gorgeous, truly a night for girls of all ages.

 Oh, more food . . . a full breakfast & no, couldn't finish all this either!!

 Oh yes, we all ROLLED out of IKEA in the morning, so well looked after, filled bellies, whole new range of bedlinen & every possible toiletry a girl could ever want for + new friends. 

 This was how i left my hire car at sunset on Friday night, told you i hired the smallest car possible!!

So there you have it, the first ever sleepover at IKEA in Australia, a huge night of fun & freebies . . . rumour has it Melbourne is next??!!  Stay tuned, love Posie
EDIT: yes, i did get some sleep, about 2-6a.m. - i can't watch Valentine's Day with the soldier reunion part without crying my eyes out so i went to sleep early & . . . yes, i was on my own, i was the only solo girl there, my gal pal Abi couldn't come at the last minute (some excuse about not leaving an 8y.o. home alone, her husband was working, & responsible parenting, whatever) but there will be a GIVEAWAY of lots of IKEA goodies!!