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

the calm, after the storm . . .

Greetings all,

Quite the tumultuous week & now the calm.  I'm a talker, my husband is not, he used to say "you don't have to externalise every single thought" but it's how i roll.  Blogger beware!!  Saves a lot of baggage too.  I tell him exactly how i feel, no games, no faking, just raw honesty.  90% of the time i'm coping brilliantly but with end-of-school children who are tired & emotional, i'm exhausted & my aching hands are plain annoying, we're not ourselves.   

After a teary late night phone call from Afghanistan, talking about Christmas apart, selling an investment property & buying a farm . . . i came home from Athletics this morning to this on my door step. 

 Eric from DesignABunch (the stunningly good florist next door to Shop Handmade in Canberra City) called to say he had just left flowers & i passed him in my street, big waves & smiles!!

 The card was so beautiful, to think a tough soldier can phone in from a war zone, such beautiful words for a florist to relay . . . i truly married a special, thoughtful guy.  I don't like mushy romance, to have my husband sitting with me beats all the views in Paris, dinners in Italy & resorts in Singapore.

 Christmas flower arrangments are now sorted, look at those glorious long stem roses.

 Look at that red velvety goodness, i'm so lucky!!

So here is to cruising into the last week before Christmas with rested happy children & mother.  I close my Shop in 5 days, some huge savings in there people, up to 60% off including Christmas table accessories & stocking fillers.  I've removed all the 'sold out' items weekly to make it even easier to shop.  It's a serious sale, i'm closing my entire business down (after 11 years) in Easter 2012, with a massive remnant sale in February when school resumes.   

Don't miss out on the Donna Hay & IKEA GIVEAWAYS on my side bar, both close tomorrow night. Good luck folks, i hope you're as lucky as me, love Posie

IKEA Christmas niceness & GIVEAWAY

Greetings all,

While you're wrapping up your toy Christmas shopping this silly season . . . did you know IKEA is 'giving twice' this Christmas??    

 These IKEA colourful & quirky soft toys help make a difference to children in need - they are the perfect stocking filler & every toy purchased between 1st November to Christmas Eve - the IKEA Foundation will donate $1.40 to UNICEF & Save the Children in underprivileged countries, access to vaccinations, clean water, sanitation, education & protection. 

This season they have released a CIRKUS themed collection of finger puppets clowns, animal softies & musical mice, who are fond of play & mischief.  They are safe, colourful & easy to wash.  Since 2003 Ikea's annual Soft Toys for Education campaign has raised over €35.2million, helping more than 8 million children in over 40 countries.

This year's target is €12million, to empower children in need.  Log onto IKEA FB page fans can send virtual toys with Christmas messages. 

Want to win all the toys pictured on this post??  Keep them for your children, share them with family, neighbours, friends or donate them to your favourite charity, just enjoy the happiness they will bring!!  Valued at over $25, just follow this blog & leave a comment at this post, winner randomly drawn on Sunday 18th December at 9p.m.  Good luck!!  Happy shopping & Allen key twirling with IKEA this Christmas.  Love Posie
Disclaimer: i wasn't paid in toys, favours or cash for this post, just happily spreading good news i believe in.

our creative space . . . 'simple & effective bauble strings'

Greetings all,
Simple & effective is how i'm rolling this week.  I'm living on the edge with my laptop, it's hanging in there but i'm all set to transfer to the children's fancier laptop at any moment.  Just in case i suddenly fall of the blogosphere, i'm busy 'moving' & swearing.  Sorry for the sudden halt of blog love, visits & comments!!  

So here's a quick little Christmas decoration idea for you - i picked up these cute coloured felt baubles at Lincraft this week, half price = $2.50 for a set of 16.  I thought they'd look cute on twine, hanging around the house this season.

 I snipped off the silver strings & measured out a length of twine.  Then from the centre , i started tying the baubles at even spaces in each direction towards the ends, to create this bauble string.  They look like a rainbow of lights.

 I was catching up with a friend last night - she likes quirky crafty cool things, so i made her one & popped it in a shallow box (paper bag cut down).  Took all of 5 minutes, yay!!

I met up her between 4-back-to-back-children's-dentist-appointments & my son's junior choir concert. Deep breath, i was chanting my 'simple & effective' mantra. It was a Christmas Carol concert with audience percussion participation (i was on the triangle).  It was really was sweet but we were home late & i still had to pack the car for today's market. Naturally while i'm waving arms around ushering children into showers & jammies, of COURSE they were hungry again, even though they had post-dentist sushi, then sausages & snacks at the concert . . . my husband rang SO i'm juggling baskets of market goods over the bike rack & tail gate with one arm (& you know my hand issues!!) Simple & effective, i'll get there, maybe Monday??
Want more crafty goodness, check out Our Creative Space, love Posie
Stay tuned folks, next week i have some cool PR + giveaways for Donna Hay & IKEA!!  Follow the blog so you don't miss out, they will both be quick drawes, so they can be shipped in time for Christmas.