feeling like christmas..

yesterday i finished wrapping all my presents and i'm so happy at how they turned out. I get excited and just love looking at them all placed together under the tree, with it's lights on sparkling all matching and such. i'm really the only one in my family who understands this need for decorative presents and the joy I get from them. mostly they just go along with my crazy ideas, and even let me strategically place their mismatched wrapped presents to the back of the tree. I’m always very grateful when I receive a present from them that is ‘specially wrapped’ with a home made gift tag. Their effort means more to me than the present itself, just knowing they care that much to make it special for me.

so here are a few favourite pictures of this years presents:


I know the pink ‘P’ gift tag Paige doesn’t really match the rest of the presents, when there all grouped together. But I just couldn’t resist the pretty pink flowered tissue paper and the way that it matches the gift inside and it just seemed very appropriate for Morgan's sister Paige...


the idea for the round gift tags with initials on them came from Nicole over at making it lovely, you should check out her amazingly wrapped gifts. I had three gift tags left to make and thought this would be nice and simple idea AND give me an excuse to buy those exciting decorative craft scissors I have been wanting for awhile! (and of course lead me to buy 2 and put some others on my future wish list hehe!)

i guess for some running around both spotlight AND lincraft with me and watching me wrap is just too exhausting! but i love you for coming and helping me my sweet morgan!

baby Fletcher..

Keara Leonie Fletcher

born 12th December 2007..
8 pounds 11 ounces..
20.5"
10 days late...

photos to come soon..(when aunty karen works out how to download them!)

we finally have a baby Fletcher and i am so excited to meet and cuddle her! i don't have any photos yet..but here are some photos of her middle namesake Leonie - my (and Keara's mummy's) nanna, who passed away a little over 2 years from cancer. the first is when she was little in the late 1920's and later as a first time mum. This would of been our nanna's first great grandchild and i can just see how cute and proud she would of been to have this name carried on. the namesake is fitting because even though she was born today, she was due on Nanna's 83rd birthday..but just kept us all waiting..

nanna we love and miss you!
keara welcome to our crazy and loving family. we love you already! :)

loving fabric!

today i found this great fabric store while browsing on ebay.http://stores.ebay.com.au/Funky-Fabrix and it's based in Brisbane - finally a great Australian shop where you don't have to pay ridicolous amounts to get the fabric posted overseas! although they do also ship international. im so excited! FunkyFabrix sells vintage and fun printed fabric (mainly broadcloth cotton and some which are out of print) and at great prices. plus they have a store in Ashgrove, so on my list of things to do next queensland holiday! i actually brought the top fabric, with the bird print (and it was on sale yay!) and am currently bidding on the black and white printed number fabric - which i am going to make into some throw cushions for morgan's new bedroom, which we are doing a fun retro theme!

and the bottom two fabrics are from purlsoho. well i just liked them! :)

i made lamb last night..

he is finished.. my first sock animal from my book sock and glove (see previous post) is finished!

and baby Fletcher is a week late. but thats ok..because i only finished Mr lamb today (well sewing his head onto his body!) isnt he so cute!

i'm so inspired by these cute sock animals that the next on the list is an elephant from some cute pink stripey socks i found.

yay!

now all he needs is a name..

mmm...

mmm these are todays finds from urban outfitters. i just like them. alot! i like looking at them and imagining them in my own little house..

we finished it!!

I am so excited to announce that we finished the dress the Wednesday morning of the formal (we still had to attach the skirt to the bodice, insert the zip and hook and eye) and those minor adjustments - being the ribbon around the waist which mummy lightly tacked on so it wouldn't slide around were completed about 15 mins before we left, while i was all dressed!!! although we did cheat abit and had the zipper professionally put in. it was just too scary after all the effort we put in and fiddling around with the lace (making sure all the scallops matched) to put in an inviable zip -which neither of us had put in before. also we do have the proper plastic foot, which is supposed to attach to your zipper foot - goodness knows how!? and have used it once before on a formal dress my grandmama made for me 2 years ago. so we even borrowed her machine (as it doesn't fit our older Bernina), but couldn't work out how to attach it, let alone work out her machine and as we were steadily running out of time we decided it was in our best interest to get someone who knew what they were doing to insert the zip. so i phoned 'Alterations Express' at 9am that morning and they had it completed and ready to wear at 2.30pm! phew!

of course i was happy that no-one had anything similar and i got many compliments on it and one set of parents even said it was there 2nd favourite dress (after their daughters, which they spent $400 on of course)

overall i was extremely happy with the result, i think it happens to be my favourite formal dress i own and i can't wait till the next wedding/function so i can wear it again! :) it's greta because the material and the process of making the dress has such a story to it.. thanks mamma for helping me sew, and dad for helping us lay out the material to make sure we got the scallops write and even morgan for helping to trace the patterns!

heres to loving sewing things that just work out!

steal of the week!

I brought my friends Leesa and Sam a fondue set as a wedding present . Kmart we're having a big sale on thursday so i thought ohh its defiently the day to buy! so i got into the store found what i was looking for and was abit dissapointed that it was still marked at $35.00 and was one of the only things in that asile not marked down (but oh well thats not too bad a price right??!) so then i got to the counter (with a few other items of course, hello did someone say sale!) and it scanned through at $11.90!! being the nice and truthful person i am, i asked if this was correct and was ensured that 'the scanner never lies!' so i ended up with a complete fondue set with a lazy susan for a bargain price of $11.90!!! (it's a stainless steel set, and is not the one pictured above) so now i've got quite a few extra monies to get something nice to go with it! i'm thinking a nice fondue recipe book or a platter or something.

Anna (our receptionist) also gave me this cheese and tomato recipe, which she says is a family favourite. so i've eagerly put it on the list of things to try! (after the next two busy weeks of formals, weddings and busy sewing bees!) i think it's pretty similiar to our family recipe one, just with the tomato and garlic..which i am excited to try.

Cheddar Tomato Fondue

2/3 cup finely chopped drained canned tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed

2 tablespoons unslated butter

3 tablespoons dry white wine

1 tablespoom cornstartch

12 ounces of Cheddar, coarsley grated (3 cups)

Accompainment: cubes of French Bread

Cook tomatoes and garlic in butter in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderatley low heat, stiring occasionally unti most of the liquid is evaporated (about 5 mins). Stir together wine and cornstartch in a small bowl, then stir in tomatoes and simmer gently, stirring for 1 min. Discard garlic. Add cheddar by the handfuls, stirring until completly melted. serve in a fondue pot and set over flame.

YUMMY!

p.s: this little elephant tea set is my 'find of the day' *grin* it's the 'Kimba Teaset' from Freedom and is AU $39.95. isn't he cute!? i think he would look very cute in my glory box..*wink wink, hint hint ughm* morgan, daddy, mummy!? or put somewhere in my room till i have my own house!

travelling pants..

I am currently reading the third book in this series and am absoluetly loving it! (the fourth book is currently sitting patiently on my shelving unit waiting for me to dig in). I have decided that although i did enjoy the movie quite alot, i am in love with the books so much more! although im quite excited that they are doing a movie sequel too! *grin*

this book was just so great because it made me cry (happy and sad tears), made me happy and made me angry and sad and pulled out all the emotions that a great book should . i definetly recommend it as a great read!

on the sewing front.. the news is good (although i'm steadily running out of time before the formal). the lace arrived last Tuesday (which was early!! which i was quite pleased about!)

we (and i say we because my mummy has pitched in and helped me sew and cut and work out measurements, and fit our little mock pattern once it's on me, thankyou mummy! i love yoU!!!!) have to make a new lace overlay for the skirt (we cut it on the wrong angle due to the trickyness of the scallops! but luckily i had an abundance of material to play with)!, attatch the bodice lace to the bodice, attatch the skirt lace to the skirt, sew the bodice and skirt together and put the zip in. and theres theres just a little hand sewing. so fingers crossed i will be able to wear it wednesday night! it's been fun sewing with my mummy, talking eating chocolate and having some great mummy and daughter time! :) heres to our next sewing adventure!

i will post photos of the dress soon!

inspired

that is what i am feeling lately. and my pile of things to sew... & do... & make &... create...is steadily growing bigger. almost bigger than the pile of elizabeth's books to read :)

first up is a dress i'm making for morgan's formal. well HOPEFULLY for morgan's formal, which is next wednesday. i'm still waiting for the lace which i purchased for an absoluete steal of ebay! i actually spent more on postage than i did for the actual lace, but i think it was defiently worth it! so im eagerly waiting my little package all the way from Oklahoma, USA! which should come within the next 2 days. it looks like this:

it was the cheapest scollaped lace i could find anywhere..even with the postage price (had to have it express posted)! I'm using a mcall's evening elegance pattern M5001 (i recommend this pattern as it's simple and very easy to follow, i've had absoluetly no problems with it so far!). Although i've changed it due to the fact that i won't have enough lace to overlay over the whole of the dress. i used the bodice and changed the skirt to an a-line. I'm putting the lace overlay with a scalloped edge all over the dress and the neckline is sweetheart neckline. the underlay is black at the bodice and light blue for the skirt (this is to match morgie's shirt, which i also picked up from sale at Kmart, it is light blue and has a fancy design embroidered into the fabric...kinda like a 'man's lace' and ties in quite well, now that i think about it). so this afternoon's job is to finish putting the boneing into the lining (i already have half sewn into it), create the pattern for the a-line skirt (as i've changed it from a gore skirt to a simple a-line) and sew a trial skirt onto my trial top.

also in my list of crafts to try is a sock softie from my new amazing and cute book (i also highly recommend it!!) sock and glove by miyako kanamori, which i purchased of amazon for about $7 plus postage. i was so so excited when i recieved this in the mail. and the book is better than i expected. the pictures are gorgeous and the start of the book tells a story of the little sock characters with amazing photography. i'm currently tossing up between the elephant and the lamb..for a chrissy pressie for baby fletcher who is due in 2 weeks! yay!

weddings and such..

Leah & Ryan

Here are some pictures of a wedding Morgan and I went to a couple of weekends ago..

I especially love this shot above!...morgan just happened to have the camera ready to snap it and the look on Ryan's face is just beautiful! Definetly a 'love' look!

Leah had the dress made, after she designed it and it was amazing and so different! the photos seriously don't so it much justice... it had little jewels stuck to the folds of the fabric and a little jewel at the end of the sash. The train looked amazing...and I'm guessing rather heavy with all that beautiful fabric..there was no way she was going to be a runaway bride. But why would she want to? with such a perfect wedding and her sweet groom who gave her one of the best wedding kisses i've ever seen!

Little Brayden (the groom's son) was so cute... but much too shy for photos. this was the best shot we could get off him. and how cute is it that his pink ball matches Leah's Bouquet?!

all the best Ryan & Leah, thankyou for letting us share this special moment with you!

chocoholic!

on friday, we went with the youth on a 'regressive' dinner. starting with dessert and finishing with mains. Morgan and I had a car full of girls all singing "Hey there Deliah' and other fun songs.. sadly none of us could match morgan's falceto or quite hit the high notes like he can!

so we took the camera, but i ended up taking more photos of the shop than any people! here are some of my favourites...



oh Max Brenner's how i love thee!

also i had lunch with my friend, Elizabeth on friday and she brought me a whole BIG bag of books to read! some of them i've been wanting to read for ages!
isn't it so great to have friends who just know what you like and can make your day by just the simplest gestures :)

Lizabeth i love you!

i love..

i've been looking for a special present for my cousin's bub who is due in a couple of weeks!!! yipee and i am loving this pink birdy mini minky blanket from my retro baby. it says it is perfect for stroller, crib, car seat and snuggling...although i wouldn't mind it in my room aswell! they also come in some great other patterns, but i'm thinking this one is definately my favourite! I'm thinking i might even have a go at making one myself, if i can find some cute fabric like this..I think i'll just have to wait till we know the sex of 'baby fletcher'!

picture perfect..

today i spent my lunchtime & a little bit of work time too... (yay!) blissfully browsing the net for some much needed prints and artworks for my room. almost 2 years with one set of prints & a mirror on my walls is really quite enough... i also had some ideas for some collages ..which i'm hoping i might be able to pull off!


Here are some of my favourite findings today:

the sellers are dazeychic, Birdie London and theblackapple, all from my new favourite website etsy, which is an amazing website which you can buy and sell handmade goodies. from artworks, to papercraft, textiles, ceramics and pottery etc etc! defiantly, defiantly a new found love!of course..most people already know about this amazing site of sites..im just a little slow sometimes :)

the only problem with the prints is that i can't decide which ones i like the best! i am seriously contemplating the green birdie one above (by birdie, london) and the top 'telephone girl' (by theblackapple). they also seem to be the ones that match the colours of my room the best! (colours being a light 'musty' pink, dark 'fushiaish pink' and light limeish/oliveish green)

it would be truly lovely to have something up on the walls *grin*

let's start at the beginning..

Hello and welcome to my very first post!
So today wasn't the most exciting day.. and i've hardly got anything exciting for a first post..but i've definetly been busy!
and my bedroom is so clean as a result. ok so it was mostly upturned in the hope of finding my plate, who's whereabouts is still a mystery... but it's clean none-the-less.
And i mean completely dusted and furniture moved and vacumed. i know! which only left time for an afternoon curl up with morgan, a good book and my wooden tea tray with tea and choclate..aren't i a lucky girl??
my little tea tray looked so good i really wanted to take a photo of it too, but my camera is broken so this post will just have to do with these old photos of morgan and i. I especially am loving the top photo and the way the camera focused in on the knit of my jumper :)

well goodnight, off to bed as tonight is day light savings and i'm about to loose an hour of sleep!
hopefully tomorrow i will have something more exciting to post..