Wednesday 14 December 2011

The Xmas Advent Adventures 2011 Day 10 - 15

Hello world,

On the 10th day of Xmas my advent said to me:

Wrap up some presents


This is a bit boring so I haven't taken any photos but I do love to wrap presents! Mine are pretty simple this year tho which is a bit sad, I might have to get some extra paper to jazz them up a bit when I head to the shops next. Stay tuned for a pic of them all under the tree!

On the 11th day of Xmas my advent said to me:

Buy a gift for the wishing tree

I think this one is such an important tradition and want to keep it up every year! I want Piper to grow knowing the joy of giving at xmas, especially giving when she doesn't get to see the joy that gift has brought to someone. Obviously at 9mo she is way too young to understand this yet but we still have a gift ready for her to place under the giving tree on her first Xmas.

On the 12th day of Xmas my advent said to me:

See the Xmas lights!!!

Now apparently (according to my husband and my brother) this one is all about me BUT in my defence, Piper will love the pretty lights too, its all about the magic of Christmas!!! I decided it'd be best if we had dinner at my folks place and then went to see the lights from there as we'd already be out and have to get in the car and Piper would be awake later than she is at home. So I put her down for a later afternoon nap thinking she might cooperate and therefore not be too exhausted for the lights but co-operation was not her middle name this day (and rightly so, the middle name I chose for her is far nicer than co-operation!) so no sleep was had and after her first spaghetti dinner she was pretty tired when we started.


See, clearly tired! (But how adorable is her new 2fussie
nappy peaking out from behind her seatbelt buckle!)
And thats Julia (can you see her name tag) being dangled
upside down in the bottom corned of the pic!


And here is a blurry picture of some very pretty lights which
I must admit, I appreciated far more than Piper did!
Any tips of getting pics of Xmas lights that aren't blurry??

I did manage one or two not blurry ones - but they are a bit
boring! This was far prettier in person :)

And my Little Pie is clearly not all that interested by the lights.
She actually looks a bit scared in this photo! She was so tired!
Bad Mummy dragging her around to look at lights!!!
But the xmas lights (blurry or not!) are always so pretty!

Tuckered out and ready to go home to bed!

Note: we only drove around 2 streets of lights do I didn't
torture my poor tired girl too much! When it became clear
she wasn't noticing the lights out her window cos she was
just too tried we took her home to bed <3




On the 13th day of Xmas my advent said to me:

Do a xmas craft
We (I) decided to try out an easy crafting clay recipe I found here
so we could make our very own version of this gorgeous ornament.
The clay was super easy to make and very cheap - and made heaps!
As the 'clay' dries its been cracking all over the place and its now
3 days later and its still not dry through!!!! I may have to use the clay
to try and make another ornament and roll it thiner to see if
that works?

I've cut out a xmas tree, 2 little stars and a couple of bigger stars
(for Pie to paintwhen they dry) and I have about 3/4s of the clay
left. Its wrapped up, I'm not sure how long it will last for but don't
know what else to do with it!

Cracks and all its a brilliant craft to do with kids BUT you'll have to be careful during the cooking phase :)




On the 14th day of Xmas my advent said to me:

Make some Christmas Cookies!  BUT I was so inspired by The Zoo Train that I made mini xmas puds instead!!!

Take a store bought fruit cake and smash it to pieces!!!
This was oddly so much fun but I used a spoon rather than
my hands to do it!

Melt dark chocolate bits and mix them with the cake crumbs.
I used cadbury and I think the pack was only 250g - my results
werent nearly as chocolately looking as the Zoo Train ones
so I will try a bigger bag of nestle ones next time around :)

Ta-da! Mini Xmas puddings, made by me - a 29yr old woman
with the kitchen to herself and a sleeping baby BUT mine were
clearly no where near as good as the ones those Zoo Train kidlets
made! I also used mini m&ms cos I don't like glace cherries.




On the 15th day of Xmas my advent said to me:

Go to the beach and have fish and chips!



All dressed up and waiting for Daddy to get home!

Unfortunately a few things stood in the way of todays advent BUT in an attempt to be a glass half full Mum we made the best of our situation! Hubby had to go to work this morning so I did some washing but it quickly became clear the weather wasn't going to play its part! So I decided I'd have to go hang out all the clothes at my Mums and pick them up tomorrow BUT when Kev came home he told me he had to work tonight (booo :( Piper's been missing him so much, she isn't used to not having her Dad home all the time and although Kev finally getting some work is a huge blessing to our family our girl (and my hubby!) are finding the time apart very hard to cope with!) which meant we need to get his uniform that I'd washed, thinking we had til Friday night before it was needed, dry and we wouldn't be going to the beach (to sit in the rain!)

I quickly came up with a plan - we would take our clothes to the laundromat to dry them and have fish and chips at the fish and chip place near it. Atleast then we'd get to have lunch together and spend some time together while the clothes dried!
So I sent bubby and hubby (who finished at 11pm last night and started at 6am this morning!) off for a nap while I did a few things and when they woke up we headed to the fish and chip shop!

Mummy forgot Pie's lunchbox!!! So she got a bottle of pump water insteas
of her cup and a bamboo velour wipe tucked in her shirt!
What a lunch! Tomato slices off Daddy's burger, fish, chips and fruit salad!
Enjoying her fishy!


Jodi xo

Friday 9 December 2011

The Luellabella Kris Kringle

Hello world,

Back in November the lovely Lara from Luellabella set up a facebook Kris Kringle event where the entrants would hand make a present valued between $30 and $50 and send it out to someone else for xmas - a handmade gift exchange! I ummed and ahhhhed and ahhhed and ummmed for a while about this! Should I be involved? Would anyone want something I made? Would I be able to make something lovely enough?? I've only been sewing such a short time and the only thing I'm really good at sewing is bonnets! What grown woman would want a bonnet for Christmas in 2011? But finally with some encouraging words from Luellabella Lara and Bec's Bags Bec I decided to take the plunge! I signed up and a few weeks later I got an email with all the information I needed about a lady who would be getting a handmade Jodi gift this Christmas!

It said things like her fave colours, characters, prints and animals and types of crafts - she mentioned she loved any craft with attention to detail - gulp!!! But I jumped on Pinterest and I got to searching! I couldn't do any of the crafts she really liked so instead I went for something a bit practical/useable yet special - I finally decided to make a hand-made hand-bag kit:

Its a fabric covered diary and address book, handmade reusable
shopping bag (rolled up at the back) key ring/bag tag and key
strap and a coin/coupon pouch.


The awesome tutorials I used from Pinterest were too good not to share so I'm putting them all here together and I'm hoping someone reading my blog one day may decide to make their own hand bag set!!!



 
First we have the fabric covered address book and diary.

I used 2 coordinating quilting fabrics - if u head to your nearest retailer or jump online then you will have no drama finding coordination fabrics in the quilting area AND the fabric is good quality and a bit sturdier which makes it perfect for most of these crafts - I went with something a bit plainer than I would have if I knew the person I was making the gift for. She mentioned liking green, pink and purple which did help me choose the fabrics.

Covering a book in fabric is surprisingly easy, its easier than covering a book in contact paper. Its so easy that I wonder if Pie may end up with fabric covered school books rather than contact when she is older. Perhaps a bit expensive for school books - but I repeat, very easy to do! For all the info on how to go about it I definately recomend you go here!

I wanted the books to have an applique on the front as the fabrics were pretty simple patterns so I stitched them on before covering the book (they are little shabby owls if you can't tell!). I also added some thin ric rac trim to the spine side (also known as the left side) of the covers after covering them before lining the covers with paper - but its pretty hard to see that in the photo.


The bag unrolled and ready to shop!
All tucked away to stash in a handbag!
The next part was a reusable shopping bag BECAUSE all handbags should have one! So should every nappy bag and school bag and glove box too!

I found this tutorial but I didn't really follow it word for word - I did use its measurements but I think I'll make it a bit of a skinnier pouch next time - as you can see in the whole gift photo its quite large BUT as I used thin rayon type fabric theres also enough room in the pouch that the lovely lady who recieves it can add another bag or 2 to it before she rolls them all up neatly in her hand-bag!

Then she needed a little pouch and although I found great tutorials here, here and here I went for the simpler version - right here! Then made a lanyard and a key chain to finish off the set.



 And thats it! I've been working on it for a few weeks, alot of unpicking and doubting myself in that time BUT I'm pretty happy with the final product AND I've bought a few cheap diaries to cover for little xmas gifts and am making my sister (who will be doing her HSC next year) and our niece (who is off to highschool) a school bag set each for Xmas - instead of a pouch I'll make a pencil case, which ofcourse will involve a zipper :) Enjoy, would love to hear about or see your attempts at following any of these tutorials!

Jodi xo

Thursday 8 December 2011

The Xmas Advent Adventures 2011 Day 8 & 9

Hello world!

On the 8th day of xmas my advent said to me....

Do some festive cooking!

I was a bit pressed for time so I made choccie crackles. Whats that I hear you say? "Thats not very festive!!!" ahh but it is when you pour white chocolate on it and top it with a little red m&m - the it looks just like a mini xmas pudding :)

My friend did this last yr with marsbar slice moulded into little pudding shapes ( I presume with an icecream scoop or measuring spoon on smthg similar to create a semi sphere!) and it was so cute I stole the idea but with choccie crackles (cos they are soooo easy to make!) and I repeated it yesterday - I really should have tried it with mars bar slice recipe but forgot! Maybe next year!

On the 9th day of Christmas my advent said to me:

Go to your Mummy's group Xmas party!

Why thank you advent, what a brilliant idea, I think I will!

Chewing on her friend F's lizards tail! She played tug
 of war over the lizard with her bestie Z for a while too!


Best shot I got of her in her outfit - loving her spotty shoes!
Secret santa time -
Pie's first christams present!

Trying to get the card off proved difficult!

Tearing the paper was great!




Theres a gorgeous Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie counting
book in there!
Then enjoying her first bon bon

Clearly it was delicious!

And the crown was a perfect fit ;)

See?

Then she managed to swipe a 2nd bon bon to chew on!

Mummy and Pie - terrible photo taken while she tried to steal
the camera out of my hands :)
Jodi xo

How cloth has changed my life!

Hello world,

As you all know, I love using cloth nappies but I was thinking tonight, it really has changed my life!

Its saved me money - even tho we have bought some nice nappies and have a sizeable stash I've still saved on what I would have paid for sposies. And Pie is only the first of I hope many babies (well probably 3 cos I don't know if I'll have many more pregnancies in me than 3!) so its only the start of the savings.

I feel good about leaving less impact on the environment - I feel good knowing that we are doing our part for a better future for our beautiful girl. I feel good knowing we are raising her to see the importance and ease of reusing, to not be caught in the throw away mentaility that our society has somehow come to.

I love how happy and comfy my Pie is in them, she rarely gets rashes now that we use cloth and she looks adorable in it!

MCN Lovers R Us - what a life changing experience that has been! I feel so proud of having made something that has turned out to be so successful already, I feel good knowing that ppl come to my page for help and they get it! I feel good when I see what a happy community it has become! And I've taken the online cloth adventure one step further and co-founded Unite for Cloth - a group encouraging people to be cloth advocates by providing the information, handouts etc to make it easier to speak up for cloth. Its only 4 days old but I can't wait to see how it grows!

But the way that cloth has changed my life the most is the amazing women I now call my friends - none of whom have I met!

I have 2 Christmas cards hanging on a piece of ribbon strung across my lounge room window - they are both from women I have never met but I call my friends now and our shared love of cloth bought us together!

When I check my email now I'm often emailing back and forth with a wonderful lady who I'll call L - she makes such beautiful nappies and has such a kind heart, she lives in SA. Or it'll be one from C who lives in Melbourne and has such an amazing spirit! She works so hard and gives without any thought of take! Or it'll be comments of my blog from E who is the ultimate Mummy/business woman combo - she really understands and values family and she is also one of the loveliest women I've ever encountered! She lives far far away in WA! When I log onto facebook my notifications are always packed! There is K who is like a soul sister, we send parcels to each other swapping all sorts of little nic-nacs and my baby girl has dollies named after her baby girls! Or A who has the most fun spirit of any person I have ever known and makes awesome Xmas decorations! There are J and J who I can always count on to share the Mummy joy whenever I put up a photo or a post about my girl! And thats just the start!

These new friendships are so wonderful! During my pregnancy with Pie I had to give up my job (at 16wks - so very early!) and my independence and I lost alot of self-confidence and I got somewhat forgotten about by alot of my closest friends - suddenly I was pretty well housebound or needed my husband to drive me to places, get out the wheelchair and push me around - it was a lot of work PLUS we had next to no money and I was in pain so it quickly became too hard for my friends and I to really see each other and 9months on my confidence is still shaky and my friendships are still not the same as they were. BUT meeting these wonderful ppl reminds me that there is a whole big world out there and that things change for a reason!

Cloth has changed my world, how has it changed yours?

Jodi xo

Tuesday 6 December 2011

The Xmas Advent Adventures 2011 Day 3 - 7

Hello World!

Day 3: Put up the outside lights - still need to do that, its been raining!!!

Very simple, we also have a light garland that says
Merry Christmas too. They get the message out
tho - Merry Christmas to you, from us!



Day 4: Add your special decoration to the tree...

Now you will have all seen the baby Piper and the Canberra Raiders decs on our tree - I got a bit eager and added them to the tree when we put it up - wooooops! But we did get some very special ornaments in the post on day 4 so we added them instead:

K is for Kev

J is for Jodi

And P is for Pie :)

thank you Amy for the beautiful gift! You have no idea how much it means to me to get something so special in the mail!

Day 5 : Write and send the Xmas cards:

This is still a work in progress 2 days later!
Cards from vista print, photos of Pie by my sis!
And before we moved on to the next day Pie and I enjoyed 5 minutes under the xmas tree:

Seeing the lights up through the branches of the tree is pretty
magical, you definately should try it! Pie loved it!

Day 6 : Unwrap something special from your stocking!

As unwrapping is a little tricky and I didn't want the something
special to get damaged I just put it in her stocking!

A Mr Men Christmas book - Yay!

Reading the back to see what the books about!

Really enjoying the story!

And finish off with a bit of showing off to the camera!

AND a bit more!

Day 7 : Visit Santa!

Heading towards the Santa circus - how cute are those volleys!
 We couldn't take any photos at the Santa exhibit because apparently the meaning of Christmas is the $17 they want you to spend on a Santa photo and therefore cameras and mobile phones are banned. I didn't want to cause any probs by taking pics of the face she gave Santa but it was a good one! We don't want a Santa photo because a) Piper really doesn't like the guy much - when he waved to her today she wiggled back in her stroller and gave him the stink eye - and he was a good 15 metres away, and b) I'd prefer our christmas photos to be ones of our happy smiling, crazy bub, not of her terrified sitting on the lap of a stranger! So we just went over close, I gave him a wave, she gave him a death stare and we continued on our way. If she's keen to go near Santa I'll certainly do it, but so far, she isn't!!! We did run in to Mrs Clause tho and she gave us....

A Gingerbread man tattoo!!!
Not sure if Pie will be getting a temp tattoo this Xmas tho.



And here are a few more snaps of our day cos I'm in the mood for photos:

Pie wasn't too impressed when I busted her
doing some sort of dance in the backseat today!

But I got a pic from the other side and she
was far less cranky!

And ofcourse, the new crazy smile!!
(how do I rotate photos on here???)

A very tired Mummy and her gorgeous Pie xo

And here is a page from the special photo book
I had made for Piper for Xmas!

Dancing to Aunty Sharni's music on Nanny's
table - this girl loves pop!

Then we got a special parcel from Mary-Beth when we got home

Daisy Duck rocks Xmas!

Straight in the mouth - clearly gets the Piper seal
of approval! Thanks Kel xox

Oh and one from earlier this week - the only time its been hot
enough to rock her xmas dress I made!!!
Jodi xo