The Sandpit Project.

The Sandpit Project is almost complete :)

After contemplating the idea for quite some time, for Christmas 2008 we decided that it would be a great idea to build our boys a sandpit. As with any DIY project, time become a contributing factor in getting things done! Construction didn't start until almost a year later, but two trailer loads of sand were finally dumped into the pit just in time for Christmas 2009. With a few final touches to go, it is almost complete. A large blackboard lines one side of the wall, and a bright blue wall on the other which we are hoping to get some outdoor artwork for, though not sure what yet. Maybe some funky wrought iron pieces or paintings or we might get the kids to do some canvas paintings themselves. I love the handpainted designs at Colour Rush but they are not quite large enough for our space even if we had 3 of them.


Construction started..


Sand going in...


Evidence of playtime fun...


Now with the walls painted.

Today should've been the day.

Today should have been my due date. Today should've bee the day that we welcomed our third child into the world. Today should've been the day that my boys were cuddling their baby brother or sister. Today should've been different. It wasn't meant to be. Who's darned idea were these missed miscarriages anyway? Cause it sure as hell wasn't mine. Life goes on. I cherish my boys everyday. I embrace their smile, their love, their laughs. Their tantrums still bug me though! I spent some time to myself today, I went and got my hair cut and then walked around the supermarket just to kill time. The day is nearly over, only 2mins to go. I look forward to tomorrow. It is now tomorrow, a new day. Love, Laugh, Cherish, Hope.

2010 is here! Happy New Year!

I hope that you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season and saw in the New Year in style! We celebrated Christmas with our lovely families and saw the New Year in with some awesome friends and bucket loads of rain! We also celebrated our youngest son's 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago which included a trip to the zoo.



I love this pic of our son and his cousin, they are looking through the glass of the enclosure to spot the Meerkats.



This is the cake we had at the zoo, a "bear" to tie in with going to the zoo.



And the cake for his actual birthday at home. I made both cakes, once with vanilla cake mix and the other with butter cake mix, yummo!


For my Christmas craft, I ended up making two Christmas trees, in time for the celebrations. I purchased the fabric from my local spotlight. The bases of the trees are filled with rice to help keep them stable and I also used a cardboard roll from a cling film box for the tree trunk for extra stability (cut it in half and used half in each tree). The stars on the top of each tree were purchased from a lovely local wooden toy shop called Great Western Wooden Toys. My youngest son (2yo) claimed one as his and the other one was used as part of the table centre piece for our Christmas day lunch. I was going to sew on some small beads onto the second tree for decorations but didn't get around to it.




I completed the "Merry Christmas sign" using acrylic paint for the backboard and different Christmas themed scrapping paper for the letters. The materials were from Kaiser Craft, except some of the scrapping paper, and the paint which was from Lincraft.






I also helped my eldest son (5yo) to paint a Santa in a sleigh and a reindeer, which turned out great and took pride of place on top of our tv unit.




Now onto new creations for the New Year!

So much on the go!

Coming up to the end of the year is always a busy time, never seems enough time in the day for everything! I have been trying to finish off one project but then will get side tracked with another project I have started! I love that Christmas is coming up, it is one of my favourite times of year. I have just finished a Merry Christmas sign, and a Christmas Tree, as well as helping to complete a recipe book for kinder that we have made as a fundraiser. I will take some pics and post them up soon. My eldest boy is starting school next year so we have been getting all of his gear organised too, such an exciting time!

Bec

Another project I have now completed was using some fabric I had stored in the linen cupboard for the about the past 15yrs! When I was at secondary school one of our art classes involved drawing a picture on a piece of fabric and then painting it using a wax technique, though it was so long ago I can't remember what the technique was actually called! I have kept that piece of fabric for years, thinking that one day I would make something with it, so decided I finally would! I backed it with some bamboo wadding and and then sewed some lovely soft aqua fleece onto the back, so it has become a pram/car seat blanket, a much better use than sitting on the shelf in my linen closet for another 15yrs!

I wanted to make a nice blanket for my youngest son. He sleeps in a toddler bed but it's larger than standard size so I have found it hard to find suitable bedding for him, cot size blankets and quilts are too small and single bed size is way too big! I have absolutely no idea how to go about quilting so decided that I would make a blanket instead. I was happy with how it turned out, a stripe drill fabric on one side and a star pattern fleece on the other. I made a matching pillow case too.

My first blog post!

So I have finally taken the plunge into the world of blogging, so here I go, no idea what I'm doing but there is a first time for everything hey!

I am starting this blog to keep myself motivated in my craft pursuits. Recently I got out my mums old sewing machine that she kindly gave to me a little while ago. Somehow the cotton reel holders had fallen into the body of the sewing machine and at $100 for a service I decided to pull the thing apart myself and try and fix it! I found some bits of the cotton reel holders had disintegrated and fallen inside the machine, one was salvageable so it's in working order again, thank goodness, because my mr fix it skills could've ended up in sewing machine disaster!

At the moment my novice sewing is consisting of a few bits and pieces I have had been procrastinating about for a long time!

Bec :)