Counting buttons

Our favourite math manipulatives... not the cuisenaire rods... my Nanna's old jar of buttons. First you sort them, then you count them, then group them...


So many favourites. Nice that they can play with the same buttons that kept me entertained so many years ago. Hours of fun there!!

I gained a new project on the weekend. I posted on freecycle asking for an old wooden dolls house I could do up for Xan's birthday... and someone replied!!! So its top secret, but I suppose I'll be spending time in the shed sanding and painting this enormous old dolls house. The dolls are going to look teeny tiny in it and Xan won't even reach the top rooms, but I don't think she'll mind. I'm imagining lovely things!

My musical family

Its been a weekend of log fires and camping out in the loungeroom watching Myazaki films (the owlets favourite), and old Family Ties episodes... In between hot chocolates there was time for music making...

Little Owlet belting out the Alphabet Blues:



Audrey singing a completely improvised song about Mermaids:



Have a little look around on that Youtube channel and you'll come across Swayer's stuff. He's a musician by night and by weekend, usually serenading me while I post here. Have a look a little further and you might come across another family member belting out a tune... My darling Dad! Sorry Dad, wasn't going to post this but this video has been pretty big news around here this week. Its the first time we've seen Paree singing (or talking for that matter) as a young man. My sister and I have always held the belief that the pop star we heard on records couldn't possibly be him, but this confirms it I suppose. The next obstacle I'm facing is convincing the owlets that the man singing in the video is actually Paree. The 2yo won't hear a word of it. But, its most definitely Paree's voice and face and the mannerisms are familiar and the dimples and even the legs... but fortunately not the pants!!

My Creative Space

Time for some loungeroom craft this week...

This is my great-grandmother's octagonal table which has my nanna's blue glass vase and awesome retro lamp on it. It sits next to the couch. My favorite spot. Right now it also has:

* the last hot cross bun
* a cuppa
* Audrey's knitting
* some buttons and fabric for making more hairclips for a rather large order
* a pile of mags for when my hands get tired and
* a baby name book for when my mind wanders...

Other spaces here

Golden Afternoons

Its been a big week! My littlest owlet managed to scratch my eyeball before the weekend so I've been feeling a bit out of action. We still managed a trawl of garage sales and tip shops, some house painting and afternoon relaxing by the fire. The wather has ben just gorgeous so far this week. Lots of sun and a beautiful golden light, so we've spent the afternoons outdoors... In the garden, or the park - rolling down hills, through leaves, picking flowers, climbing the ladder to look at the view, watching lizards lounge on rocks, building cubbies and playing dressups... Today we bathed the bath toys (gave them a good scrub too)...


...and explored the garden patch, looking for hidden pumpkins in amongst the wild weedy mess of it all. We also found zucchinis, tomatoes, loads of herbs, lemons, carrots and potatoes going for a second round. The chooks are back to scratching up the place where the cabbages grew.


Yep, there's lots to do before the weather turns cold and we tuck the garden in for winter, but at the moment we are making the most of these golden afternoons...

Spoiled

A knock on the door yesterday signified the end of my birthday festival. A birthday is only complete when the last birthday-ish thing happens, you know... So the postie brought me a lovely box filled with treats. My family have been away for the past month in New York, so these are birthday treats from afar...


Teatowels, a teacup, some pretty door knobs, some pretty undies and a book on baking cupcakes! I've not ventured into the world of little cake making too much, so this will be fun to play with. The teatowels are almost to pretty to use, but how could one not? Two of the knobs have found their home on our art cupboard and I can see the teacup getting a daily workout over the coming wintery months...

Later, Xan and I made some noise in the kitchen with the pots, making honeycomb...


And playing with dye and silk.

Fungi Fossick

Autumn is a brilliant time to look for fungi and we have some beautiful rainforests not far from home. We took advantage of the public holiday and headed out with Swayer and some friends to see what we could find at the Hartz Mountains...





It wasn't all fungi though!! There were mountains, rock formations forged by glaciers, waterfalls and beautiful lakes. Did I mention we were lucky?!!

Mini Mei Tai Tutorial

Ok, my first go at a tutorial... This mini mei tai is so easy though... lets have a go. If you are feeling craft or time challenged, you can also find a mini mei tai or two in the owlet shop...

Start with four pieces of fabric:

Body of mei tai - 30cm x 64cm
Straps of mei tai (x2)- 14cm x 112cm (length of fabric between selvages)
Waistband of mei tai - 26cm x 112cm (length of fabric between selvages). Make the waistband longer by adding extra fabric to the ends if you feel your owlet will need extra length.

1. Take each piece of strap fabric and fold in half along the length of the fabric so that the two printed sides are together. Iron and sew along the length and one end of the strap.


2. Turn the strap right side out. Iron flat.


3. Place the piece of fabric that will become the body of the mei tai down on the table, right side up. Place the two straps down so that the unfinished end is lying diagonally across each top corner of the larger piece of fabric.


4. Fold the bottom half of the large pice of fabric up and lay it over the top of the straps. Join the corners and pin together. The wrong side of the fabric is now showing.


5. Sew around the edges of the large piece of fabric. When you get to the corners where the straps are, sew diagonally, following the line of the strap fabric. Leave a little gap before you finish sewing. Turn the body of the mei tai right side out.


6. Topstitch around the edges of the body of the mei tai, excluding the bottom edge.


7. Take the waistband fabric and lie it down wrong side up. Fold the edges over and iron them flat.


8. Place the mei tai body in the centre of the waistband fabric, but just inside the top edge. Fold the wasitband fabric along its length so that the right side of the fabric is now facing you and the mei tai body is sandwiched in between it.


9. Topstitch along the top and sides of the waistband.


Attach to owlet like so...




*****

Please feel free to make this for your loved ones as gifts, but refrain from making for monetary gain at markets, online or in shops. I hope you and the owlets in your life enjoy many happy mini mei tai hours! x

Easter fun

Treasure hunts are almost a weekly occurrence here, so we figured why not? We've been explaining the origins of easter traditions and myths, so the easter bunny made sense in a funny sort of way. No one was disappointed.

Autumn things we love - part 2

Birthday picnics with apple cake and hot cross buns (Xan calls them "hoss" buns)...


"Faerie droplets" on autumn leaves...


Crumbling (Audrey's word for crunching through leaves)...


Enormous pumpkins...

Other Autumn things we love include sleeping in and reading the paper in the sunshine, birthday dinners with dear friends and Eastern Barred Bandicoots in the back garden after dark. We are so lucky.

Oh, Easter Tree!

We have one every year. This year's branch was pruned from our brave little apricot tree who decided to let this particular branch die in hope of saving future crops... It still has some dead leaves, so its perfect for the easter/autumn mash up that happens here.

What egg hunt would be complete without baskets decorated in anticipation?

And another way to use up those old beeswax candle bits... eggshell candles!

Autumn things we love...

Our nature table... toadstools, those walnut candles, nuts, pinecones, grass seeds, yarn, apples from next door, leaves and our little autumn people...


...Window crayons - these will be popular in winter too, I can tell!


And my favorite autumn cake - Yoghurt and Apple... mmmmmmmm

My creative space

There it is!! I found the floor and the table and found a lovely space to sit and gaze out the window thinking of creative things. I also found the things I was working on... some silk to dye for some new play capes, felt for more owlet craft, those buttons to make more hair clips and the wool for the new baby's twosuh... Ahh, new beginnings.


More creative spaces here.

Autumn

Autumn is well and truly in full swing this week. Oooh I just love Autumn!! Warm, sunny afternoons, chilly, clear nights, colour all around. Apples, nuts, candles, wood fires, books, knitting... the smells, the sounds, the tastes...

So we made toffee apples...



...candles using the tiny walnut shells from our tree and some left over beeswax...


...and dried fruit using our latest garage sale find - a dehydrator!!

Easter/autumn craft bonanza begins...

I think this is my favorite time of year. We've lit the first fire and begun our snuggly autumn craft and in the middle of all that we add easter and my birthday!! Its going to be a fun week. Here's the first of our easter craft. Making some window eggs to brighten things up a bit.

We grew this!

We managed to grow three of the most beautiful golden delicious apples. They didn't last long. I snapped this one while chopping it up for the owlets to munch on... Here's hoping for more next year!!

my creative space...

... is under there somewhere.

Guess what my weekend project is? I'm finishing the crown on top and trying to locate the floor and table. Yup, its been one of those weeks... Pop over here to see some much more orderly creative spaces.

Autumn faeries - part 2

We decided with all the faerie action around here, we might just need to build the faeries a little sanctuary indoors. Audrey thought she might try to wake up and have a midnight tea party with the faeries, but sadly sleeps all night and wakes rather disappointed. We are sure they have had a lovely time as there are usually sparkles around the place in the morning.


Audrey has been doing the most wonderful drawings lately. This is the "fluffy eyelash woman with a snail game". Lots of linework. Not so much colour these days... perhaps a precursor to writing... I'm loving the characters that are coming through.