Homemade Bon Bons..

Not sure why I make so much work for myself sometimes but once I get an idea stuck in my head I just have to make a way to do it! So here is my project for Christmas week...

I think homemade Bon Bons are such a great idea cos you can put personalised gifts in them for each person and they are so much nicer than the shop bought ones!

I started with some plain silver shiney paper for the "case" of the bon.... heres how you cut them...

I decided some cute plain white and silver chrissy material would top them off so I just did a simple hem down both sides and then glued the material in before rolling them up... probably the most time consuming!

Heres an example of some of the gifts I included...

Keyrings for the boys
Little Avon sample of makeup and perfume for the ladies
Christian Christmas stickers and a balloon for kids
Plus a cute little texta with a roll on stamp...not pictured
Chrissy hats, jokes and a snapper of course in everyones!
Plus assorted choccies!

So they become a gift in themselves basically!

I finished them off with some red organza ribbon and found some printable name tags online that I printed and attached with some gorgeous silver tie...

I'll take a pic on Christmas Day of the table all set up....hopefully these will just make it!

Bless the Teacher!

Sitting around yesterday I thought I would do up some little gifts for Aimee's teachers who have been such beautiful teachers for Aimee, especially since this year has been a struggle for her. I just wanted to say how much I truly appreciated their patience & understanding so here's a little snapshot of what I did...

I've been buying the Better Homes & Gardens mag's lately - such good ideas in them & this issue I found some really cute free chrissy paper which I used to theme the gifts.

I also keep little bits & pieces in a gift box incase you have that unexpected birthday you need a gift for... so all I had left in my box were 2 little bottles of AVON hand & body cream so I wrapped them first in the pretty paper.. and then went ahead with making two matching cards with just some paper and bits & pieces I found in my scrapbooking box! Aimee wrote inside and drew some pictures & I wrote a little heartfelt message to her teachers...

To finish off the gifts the kids and I made some simple biscuits which the kids cut out cute chrissy shapes... I burnt the first lot so lucky I'd made a double batch!! I ended up even having enough left for the playgroup chrissy party today!

So I then wrapped them in some pretty silver celeophane, attached the little hand cream with ribbon at the back & then finished them off with a cute little flower which matched the cards....

I love how they were all matching and I didn't even use red & green, the purple just looked sweet with the green :) Thanks Better Homes!

Aimee was so proud giving her pressy's to her teachers this morning :)

Heres Aimee all ready for her last day of year one with her new dress I made her! Cute as!

THE Pram..

I was so excited today to be picking up my pram! After being on lay-by for 5 months I have been waiting patiently :) So thought I'd pop some pics up of the putting together fun I had this arvo!

The pram is a Steelcraft Cruiser Travel system pram but I haven't bothered getting the carset attachment since it only suits kids up to 9kgs...waste of time, I would've had to buy another carseat 4 months down the track!
 



Lovely big box of goodies...

It all came in bits...fun fun! Should've seen me trying to follow instructions...blah!

So then there is the actual seat attachment which can be put on anyway you want... rearward facing or forward facing, depending if you want to see bub or bub wants to see the world... I like how easy it is to recline the whole thing too!

And thanks to Jenny Clow who has so kindly given me the exact bassinet attachment, bub can have a nice comfy little bed to sleep in the first 3 months or so.... looks so cute and cosy....



Yes so then I had to try my new baby bag out I bought from the Midwest Kids Market on the adjustable handle with of course "Molly" the dolly as my test run baby, haha!!... I like the whole pram alot!!

Oh and here is my new carseat too, its a HiPod brand..... I love the little Toy bar it has..... very handy!

So its all coming together.... 7 weeks to go today! Can't wait to use all my new things..feels like I'm having my first baby all over again!

"The Deck"

Well its a hive of activity at our house atm, all i can hear is sawing, drilling and banging! Greg is building us the most beautiful Deck I have seen, I can't wait to see it all finished and oiled! Its been a pretty big thing for Greg cos he's never built anything so elaborate before and he's learnt so much! Its good for him...... & my patience ;)

Jayden has helped Greg the whole way through....its so cute! I took so photos yesterday, he was being so patient waiting for Greg to finish predrilling all the holes and then all he did was hand him the screws but he was so pround and excited to be helping Daddy!

I think its so important to let our kids help us when we're doing something....even if it feels like their gettting in the way! Just a simple task (such as the other day Jayden was cutting the thread for me when I finished sewing on the machine) makes them feel important and a part of our grown up world.

So here is the deck so far....

First Blog!

Well this is my very first blog I have ever done!! So who know how its gonna go haha!
I guess I just love reading other peoples blogs and thought its such a great way for us all to share about things in our lives that matter to us and even share inspirations and ideas to help each other out in this journey of life!

I guess I'll share a little bit about our little family with a quick snapshot of the years gone by..... I am sorry if its a bit long...but so much has happened I couldn't shorten it lol!

Greg and I are have been married almost 10 years (in April) and soooo much has happened in that 10 years I am truly amazed at the goodness of God on our lives!

We started out in a caravan when we first got married and lived there 9 months saving up for our first home for both of us... a quaint little fibro 3 bed home in town! It was here that we really got to know each other and develop our marriage into the beautiful thing it is now.... Aimee came along 2 and 1/2 years into our time there and we truly loved being parents.... I thought it was the best thing ever to happen to me.... being a full time mum was just the best!!

Our block on Polwarth Pde...we got the shed up pretty quick...

We decided to sell when Aimee was 12 months as the market in Gero had just skyrocketed....so we put up the FOR SALE sign sadly and our little house sold in just 4 days and bringing with it a large profit! We found a block of land 10 mins out of town near the airport, Gregs dream of 2 and half acres!! But the titles for the land took another year to come through so we moved in with Gregs best friend Brett Jackson up in Greenough where we paid no rent & just supplied Brett with good tucker ;) This made it incredibly easy to save for our future house we were going to build..... I really struggled living so far out of town tho and up 2 kms of dirt road, I rarely had any visitors and Aimee and I virtually lived in town, trying to get away from the place! The titles dragged on and then eventually came through.... so we organised for the house to start when took ages!!
Meanwhile I'd got pregnant with Jayden and 6 weeks before I was due we had a man knock on the door saying we had 2 weeks to move out of the place cos they were going to be using the house for further land developments in the area! Great now I had to get the house packed and look for somewhere to live all the while being 34 weeks pregnant! Not a nice time!

We found a unit just in time for Jayden to come into the world!

 I felt pretty overwhelmed having 2 kids...it was quite an adjustment for me. The place where we were renting was the hottest house I have ever lived in so poor lil Jay sweltered through the summer while we waited (now 2 years from buying the block) for our new house to be finished!

In July 07 we finally could move into our beautiful new little home!
 It was bliss and the next few years we did the house up outside. Meanwhile I had started some casual work at McCafe and Greg had gotton a new job working for the Water Corp which more than doubled our income - praise Jesus! Aimee had started kindy in 08 and life was just going sweet!

We decided that our little house would not be big enough much longer (it was a 3x1) & decided to take the plunge (a big risk really) and try and sell and build again.... so that we were set up for the future. Within 3 months our house sold! We hadn't even thought about exactly where we were going to build next but my dream was always to live in Strathalbyn near the kids school and Mum & Dad! Greg loved the large lot of land but it was not really very practical to maintain and the 10 mins out of town was getting to us! (us Country folk haha!). We looked and looked but all the blocks in Strath were always $20 grand out of our reach! Annoying.... we knew Mum and Dad had a block for sale in Strath so we eventually had the guts to ask them if we could buy it for a discounted amount and they agreed!! Yay it was the perfect spot, 2 mins walk to the school and in such a lovely position near the school!! We were excited!

Our land in Strath...ready to build on!

Doing our house plans was so much fun...I guess I designed the whole plan myself knowing exactly how I wanted the house set up! Thanks to Jess picking the colours/tiles etc. made it so much easier!!

We found a rental just in time in Spalding, not far from our block in Strath which was good..... the rent was so high tho making us really have to knuckle down with our budget!
While we there I fell preggers again.....which was such a shock cos we were only going to have 2 kids!! The way it happened was such a God thing I truly believe it was not an accident...God ordained this baby!! So luckily I had time to change the "office" into more of a baby room...

And thats where we are now...our home is just beautiful and I feel so blessed to be living here with such a bright future ahead of us!!

Gods blessings and timing of how things have happened truly amaze me..... 10 years ago I never would've thought I'd be living in such a lovely house in my dream place in Gero with almost 3 beautiful perfect kids! Wow, a testimony of his goodness!!

So thats us and where we're at in a nutshell!

Hopefully I will be able to blog every now and then about something interesting!

 

Thanks for reading!!

Baby Room update!

It took me 27 weeks to finally find out I was having a boy! I have been so excited to do up the baby room for our little bub soon to be in our world!! Especially since Jayden never had a nice baby room as we were in a rental and his room doubled up as the junk/ironing room too... so I was determined this time to make it beautiful ;)

Since this baby was a "surprise" I got rid of ALL of my baby stuff over the last 2 years!! So we have had to start from scratch again...cot, changetable, pram, carseat...the works...which I don't mind so much! Its nice having some things new! I really wanted to stick to Jarrah look furniture and so far I have a lovely cot which I scored off Gumtree and a gorgz change table I picked up for just $100!

I started with a gorgeous Decal that I saw online.... I think it really makes the room....

I always wanted to go with birds and the squirrels are just too cute too!
The red keeps the room bright and fun!

My next project was to make a mobile to match...I am so happy how it turned out! Its amazing how far a little creativity can go! The sticks I found acrross the road under a tree and  everything else cost less than $20!

I have'nt got my draws yet but I wanted something to hang somewhere in the room above the draws....will post a pic bit later of where the draws are going...but this bunting I made was perfect to fill up some more colour in the room and create a fun space!

My wipe box I had covered by Kristy from Wipeout in the same matching material... you can find her here: http://www.facebook.com/uniqueasu?ref=profile#!/wipeoutbabywipes

I still want to get some simple curtains and I'd like to cover a plain lampshade in the same materials as the bunting, maybe get a cute round mat for the floor.... I'm not sure of the bedding for the cot yet but have got a few ideas in store ;)

Still a few ideas yet but will keep you posted on how it goes....

So fun having a baby!!