i'm grateful for . . . 'the goodies of wrapping up the year'

Greetings all,

Maxabella Loves last I'm Grateful For the year . . . so it's a Christmas cracker of a finale!!
Lovely goodies sent to me this week (my postmistress Anna calls it 'fan mail').  A little house of love Christmas ornament from Leonie at Kiwi At Heart blog & this delightful red bird ornament from Ally at Everyday Miracles blog.  Thanks ladies, big smile on my face & warmth in my heart.

 Canberra locals know & LOVE Erica Soy Candles.  Erica offers half price refills & lives arond the corner (home delivery) yay!!  My latest refills will make our home smell fresh (lime & sandalwood, lemon grass, Victorian rose, pink grapefruit, 'relaxation') & festive this Summer . . .10 tins of Christmassy smelling candles for teacher's gifts: gingerbread, spiced orange, mistletoe, frankincense & myrrh + more.  Wish this was a scratch'n'sniff blog!!

 I read on Tania McCartney's blog a neat review of Lotta magazine, produced in Australia & aimed at school holiday craft projects, delightful.  Better yet, $10 & ad free!!  I've been hanging out for the Christmas edition of Mollie Makes magazine.  Found myself with time to kill in the car the other day, so grabbed New Idea, i don't think i've ever bought a copy but i'd like to know how Rebecca Gibney lost the weight too!! 

 Thursday's Brindabella market was delightful . . . Mel from Canberra Airport organises the marquee, trestles, linen tablecloths & we just display our goods & sell, awesome deal right??  Thanks Mel!!  This time, after nagging Tania for 2 years, planets aligned & she was available to have a stall.  She had baked each of my children personalised GingerBreadMen.  They were exactly the kind of gingerbread we like (soft & chewy) & so cute!!  Thanks Tania!!

 My children's Christmas bikes have been the gift that keeps on giving - especially when they return with a bounty of flowers from the neighbourhood.  I expect their 'wanted' descriptions up on posters shortly, they promise they only pick flowers from the nature strips & paths!!

 Stacey from Cheeky Textiles blog had a 'shopping event' at her place on Friday, it was really great & we're all keen to do it again.  Inbetween the morning & evening sessions, i had a delicious P&C Thank You lunch & collected the children from school.  Jam packed day.  Rachelle from Orange Whisk was selling her incredible gingerbread & vanilla biscuits (you can find them at the Essential Ingredient in Manuka too).  She bought SO many things from my stall, the 3rd time she came around i insisted "take what you want & pay me in food".  Mmmm, so glad she did.  Thanks for having us Stacey!!

 My high schooler has wrapped up year 7 with a bang: parties, discos, gifts, sports ribbons, dancing with their teachers & she lost her last baby tooth (parceled up by a teacher with quite the demand to the tooth fairy).  Her much adored maths & science teacher "Mr B" is returning to Canada with his wife & 4 daughters, after a year long exchange.  He gave her a Canadian twoney ($2 coin) & i promised we'll go to Alberta one day & hunt him down.  My husband went to Canada on an adventure training exercise with the Army 12 years ago & i'm still jealous!!   

 I'll admit, Saturday started off with nibbling gingerbread on the way to athletics, then the Farmer's Market.  Picked up double of my regular purchases of fruit, foccacia, chocolates, sausages, dips & breads.  My fruit bowl is overflowing with apples & pears.  Should survive the first week of high school holidays, my little ones are stuck at school until Wednesday week.  They have 2 days off before the Christmas weekend??!!

 Yay, can you believe this bounty from Donna Hay??  She's offering very generous specials in the lead up to Christmas on line & at her General Store in Sydney.  Next week i'll have 4 prizes in a Donna Hay giveaway, stay tuned, i just have to bake first & we're spending the rest of the weekend in Bowral.

Sending you great festive vibes people.  Love to you all, lots of gratefulness for following me & supporting me this year, love you all & thanks Bronwyn from Maxabella Loves blog for hosting mucho appreciation this year!!  Love Posie

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.

silly season antics & Christmas market messages

Greetings all,

Living on the edge here with my computer flashing the blue-screen-of-death on Sunday night, constantly freezing, shutting down & s.u.p.e.r.s.l.o.w.  My long distance IT lover (husband) talked me through backing up vital data, then deleting gigs of data.  I hold my breath, fingers cross, knock on wood - this laptop is barely 14 months old.  I'm frequently interviewed about small business & i always add in my 'top tips' that "unless you are highly computer literate, you should sleep with an IT guy" . . . never makes it to print!!  Can't imagine how much it would cost to pay my husband for his knowledge.

NOW, I'm selling off all of my vintage toys, party goodies & decorations on my website & at these little markets:
Brindabella Market (BBP Town Square near Canberra Airport) on Thursday &
 Christmas Party Market (private residence in Watson ACT) on Friday morning & night. 
Ask me for details if you live in Canberra & would like to come.

Now my shopping for family is all sorted, i treated myself to some goodies from Bison.

If i could swing a hammer, i'd be making a wooden tree from pallets too.

Cutest nativity display EVER, nothing says 3 wise men like ceramic jugs!!

Now my milk bottle trio collection is complete!!

See the vase holding the magnolia branches, got me one of those too.

Spent a slow Sunday making wreaths & decorations with the children.  Holy cow, those polystyrene cones & circular forms were like $5-9 each, someone is getting rich this Christmas, Spotlight??!! 

 Picked up the very last gift for a nephew.  LOVE globes, but geesh, the service was horrid, i told the boys behind the counter off & will complain formally.  I left with a parting "i regret having made a purchase in this store today" & their faces went pale.  Just really wanted that globe - i'm seeing this nephew on the weekend in Bowral, gift size doesn't matter!!   

Thanks folks, also have an extra surprise in my on line Shop right now - with any order over $200 you'll receive a complimentary autographed copy of Handmade Living + a fabric bonus, value over $50.  Get shopping people, thanks for your support, love Posie
EDIT: Just updated my website with more discounts & new products at great prices too!!

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

i'm grateful for . . . 'medical advice'

Greetings all,

Thank you so very much for the kind thoughts & comments about my hand issues over recent months.  Story goes: i was diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands while pregnant with my son, i used splints instead of surgery & now, 8 years later, with hands getting worse, i sought out a confirmation diagnosis so i could have surgery.  I'm not taking drugs, it's a dull throb not pill-popping-agony.  I saw the neurlogist on Thursday.  I was so excited - reconfirm the CTS & book me in for surgery, end my days of useless, clumsy hands & sleeping in metal hand splints . . . only . . . I don't have CTS.  What??  Seriously?? 
So, back to square one.  I am numb & disappointed.  Was my initial diagnosis wrong??  I probably did have CTS, typical while pregnant, but why all the persistent symptoms since then??  RSI maybe??  Friday my hands were quite good, i started to wonder if i had hysterical CTS or was it psychosomatic??  Trying not to dwell, i'll keep resting my hands in the meantime.  I was frustrated that the neurologist was there to confirm CTS ONLY, nothing else, fine point of the needle specialist attitude, no consultation or advice, just my $275 for 15 minutes in his office, thank you very much. 

This week i took each of my children to the optometrist.  My son gets headaches & last year was squinting, so he had a thorough check (all good) & my 2 eldest girls were fine, then my 3rd girl had her appointment on Friday morning . . . cut a long story short, she is super far sighted & requires low script glasses. 
Just to refresh your memory, this is my sensitive soul, my Nina, who skips through life & curls up on toadstools, she loathes that she has mild asthma & eczema, she likes her fashion style to be left of centre, not her health.  When the sweet optometrist gently said she'll need glasses for 'reading & computer work' my daughter mouthed to me "i'll just stop reading", i could feel her freeze up.  She held it together, we chose some cool blue Converse frames, $598 later (phew $280 back from private health insurance) we left & then the tears started rolling.  I suggested her long distance eye sight was too good & made Six Million Dollar Man sound affects, she was not impressed.

 I distracted her with a mini shopping spree at Seed.  Ok, she won't wear fabulous designer frames which will benefit her eyes, but she'll wear cow glasses??

 So i bought her a plastic gelato fan too, plus mini paint set, piggie bank, headband, sticky notes & bird whistle - you know, stocking fillers!!

My little lamb, or calf, she's certainly made my hand worries melt away.  She's 10 years old, getting glasses is a HUGE deal.  When i took her to school after her appointment i bumped into her cool-young-guitar-playing-gorgeous-maths-teacher who said she had to wear glasses as a child & she tried to forget/ lose/ leave them behind but soon reaslied glasses helped her & there was no escaping them.  Then my son's pro-ice-hockey-teacher said his youngest daughter needs glasses & she can't wait to wear them.  Of course i wear glasses but i don't count!!  I saw all her friends crowd around her, saying how lovely she'll look in glasses, they are beautiful friends & she has many.  Tania McCartney, the fantastic children's author, offered to write her a letter (email) & confessed that she too needed glasses when she was 10, she was nervous, then realised wearing glasses was special, made her feel smart & helped with her work.  Then Tania said cute things like "if anyone can rock a quirky pair of glasses, it's you!!"  She even attached images of celebrities who wear glasses, yay!!
So she's calmer now, still demanding she won't wear her glasses but also asking questions of how she'll care for them between classes.  I smell a breakthrough, absolutely thanks to all the instant positive feedback.  The glasses might only be required for a year, to prevent future eye issues & she has asked if she can bury them in the garden after 364 days (yes, one day shy of a year, that's my girl!!)  She'll have them for the last week of school, then holiday light reading to get used to them.  It's all about how you approach this situation, the atmosphere, the wording - i said "oh reading, & you know, craft, stitching, drawing & art" all the things she holds dear, or i would have lost her!!  Last thing she heard as she fell asleep tonight was "i'm so proud of you".  Bless her heart, i love how she always lets me know how she's feeling, internalise & implode otherwise.
Thanks Maxabella Loves, i'm grateful for medical advice, in all it's forms, love Posie

things i'm loving . . . 'the stocking fillers of my week'

Greetings all,

'twas a week filled with pockets of joy, the stocking fillers of my life, so for PaisleyJade's Things I'm Loving this week, it's lots of things!!
My little fella has been doing the old 'can i just fall asleep in your room' routine, why yes almost 8 year old, while i'm still your hero, you can spend as much time with me as you wish (his Peter Alexander eye mask is new, he said girlie would be Ok) . . . 

 our school did a fundraiser with mangoes, gosh they smell great . . .

 goodness this is cute, my son has a collection of felt acorns & wanted to put them in a basket, we found a mini trolley - note the tiny baby felt acorns (navy & brown) in the child seat!! 

 We have our fair share of sulphur crested cockatoos in Canberra (they changed the spelling to sulfur when i was at Uni, but i'm still confused!!)

 Oh how lovely is this clip on glass mushroom, perfect for my toadstool loving 3rd girl.

 Treated myself to a new white ceramic love heart (large one) for about $3 . . .

 moment of weakness at the supermarket, these two DVDs for $30, after what seemed like 40 days & nights of rain . . . not a Jim Carrey fan but this was a really sweet family movie - penguins, what's not to love??  Ice Age 400 or something, who cares, it was practically free & it's a bit Christmassy.

 Oh how neat are these pears - i have a vision for how my house will look when i'm 50 & it will include pears.  Lots of them.  Never too early to start a collection . . .

 blame Brenda from Red Stitch Designs & her delicious linen pears, of which i have many!!

Are you gliding into the Christmas spirit??  I just love this time of year as school wraps up, it's Summer, we're swimming, the shopping + i love wrapping & sending off gifts to those i love, ahhh . . . can you tell i'm well ahead of schedule & can laugh at the chaos??  Love Posie

our creative space . . . 'creative children'

Greetings all,

Today i meet with the neurologist for a nerve conduction test to confirm i have carpal tunnel syndrome & send me off for surgery.  My CTS was diagnosed with this electric-pulse-down-my-arms in 2003, i was 28, pregnant with my 4th baby, hanging out with the other 70 year olds in the waiting room.  Good times.  They might have been factory workers doing repetitive hand actions for 50 years, me - a few years of hand quilting, stitching, changing nappies & carrying twins around (why make 2 trips when 1 will do??!!)  This time i'm prepared to have the surgery!!

So i'm handing over Our Creative Space this week to my children . . .

first up my first born & her origami handywork!!

 I love that my children learn to speak Japanese at their school (until they speak to each other in Japanese, plotting against me) my eldest has continued into high school & is very good.  Mind you, this time of year, they do more origami than hiragana.

 My middle daughter has been channelling Rapunzel for about 5 years now, with waist length platinum blonde glory. 

 I love how adventurous she is with twisting & twirling it up & down, not bad for 10!!

 I had to duck to the supermarket after school one afternoon & called out if anyone wanted to come - sure, girl child number 3 wonderwoman-spun out of her school uniform & into this ensemble. 

 That's my Alannah Hill sequin cardigan but how cute is her styling??  I think the silver belt makes it.  Anyone who can pull of triple layers of lace & flares, with yellow patent Mary Janes??  She's my Nina!!

 Now the boy: to wrap up the 2nd grade he had to create a rainforest.  Chatter about emergence layers & leaf litter, supplies from my paper & felt stash + a trip around the front garden . . .

 he made a multi-textured rainforest, with trees, moss, a rock, real leaves, a felt sun & hobby-fill-clouds suspended with bobby pins . . . 

 tip for young players: use a carving fork to punch holes in the side of a box & poke through a bobby pin or 5, to make things stand up, stick out or hang down!!

Poof, busy times in my studio, shame it's not me!!  Just watch me soar next year with new hands, oh i can't wait.  Love Posie