To Heat or Not To Heat

Image via Purl Soho

With soaring electricity bills now a fact of life I have become one of those people who sits with a hot water bottle on my lap on the couch and a scarf around my neck before I turn on the heater. Have you become one of those people too? But I have questioned my penny pinching when it came to heating the kids room. For whatever reason I intially thought the kids rooms needed to be nice and toasty all night and so we used to have the oil heater on low all night long in my son's room. But then we received a bill (!) and had to re-think. So next we put the oil heater on a timer so that it was toasty when he went to bed, then switched itself one and off a few times during the night to reheat the room. When the next electricity bill came around - it was manageable. But with two kids rooms to now heat I have had to re-eveulate my way of thinking for fear of the next bill. So now I am going down the flannel sheets, lots of blankets and toasty PJ's route and only heating the room for 30 mins before bed time to get it nice and toasty. As long as the kids don't get colds or wake up at 3/4 am (apparently the coldest part of the night) I think this is the way we will go. What do you do at your house and for your kids? (on a side note our bedroom is like a freezer at night as I like fresh air so the window is open and my hubbie can't sleep without a fan on!)

The Ultimate Hostess Gift - Little of This, Little of That

I am thinking you could combine this

Image and details from Sinnen Rausch)

with this

Image via Laura Parke

to make the ultimate hostess gift. And if you added a little something in the inside bottom of the mug like this

Image and work by Mrs Petterson Pottery (found via Mon Carnet)

 it would be that extra special surprise when the herbs are all gone and they use the mug for tea!

Even more cheer for your kitchen

Did you catch my blog a few weeks ago about painted serving utensils. Well why not go one step further and colour block your wooden cutlery for your next event or dinner party.

(images via Studio DIY)

Check out the full how to over at Studio DIY

Yes Please Thank You - One of Everything

Book shelf, bunting, book organiser, clean white floors, oven, pram, pocket shelf..... I'll take one of everything please

Image via dejligheder blog

Bunting, Mobiles & Embroidery Hoops

Loving the combination of the bunting, cloud mobile and embroidery hoop artwork in this nursury.

Photos by  Simple Bloom Photography via Spearmint Baby

The Play Room is Out of Control

The toys have well and truely overtaken our combined playroom / dining room and  I think it would be fair to say it is no longer a dining room. This is what it looks like on a tidy day (i.e. before my son gets up):

A quick look around pinterest though leaves me insanely jealous - why doesn't my playroom look like these beautiful ones:

Image via Design Sponge - love the big stripey bags in this one

Image via Baby Deco

image via the Fickle Pickle

Do you think these rooms actually ever look like this except for when being photographed? What does your play room / area look like? How do you store your toys - particularly the big ones? Also if anyone knows where i can get large bags like the ones in the Design Sponge image above - please let me know!

Dino World in a Box

Now that I am a full time SAHM, I am trying to make more of an effort to organise some activities for my son for the 2 days during the week he is not at little school. As much as I try and get him out of the house as much as possible (at the moment we are going to the park twice a day) - there are of course times when you just can't leave the house and the toddler needs entertaining (particularly when breastfeeding!). So of course i turned to the multitude of ideas I have pinned on Pinterest for inspiration. The idea of a sensory bin is in no ways new - but it was the dinosaurs which caught my eye (not least because we have exactly the same dino's) in this one created by Play Create Explore

Image via Play Create Explore

So a quick scan of the house had me come up with an old fruit box, some old fish tank stones, landscaping stones and toilet rolls and here is the end result. I probably could do with some more stones but it was the best I could come up with at 10pm the night before.

Come the 3.00pm feed, I pulled it from it's hiding place in the laundry and set it down on the living room floor - and the smile (which of course i didn't catch on camera) went from ear to ear on my son, and best of all kept him entertained during the feed.
The next morning he pulled it out again, removed all the dino's and made it an undersea world with all his fish and sea creatures. I have visions of creating a whole bunch of worlds including farms, towns, under the sea, and train world for future feeding times. Will let you all know how i go. In the meantime i have a huge assortment of ideas pinned on my Pinterst board DIY - Kids Stuff and Activities to keep me going for the next 50 years. Feel free to check it out and try some out yourself. Be sure to come back and let me know how you went.

The Babies Room

I know I said I wasn't going to blog for a bit - but before I take my break, I thought I would quickly share the babies new room with you all. As we are not finding out whether we are having a boy or a girl I have had to go neutral for now, and then once bubs arrives, I have my eye on a whole bunch of prints for the main wall.

 First off is a cloud mobile made from some fabric I bought over a year ago with no particular project in mind, and a branch that i found washed up on the beach at Copa when I was away on a girls weekend last year. The plan is to hang it from a eye hook in the ceiling, but as that requires husbands assistance it is taking a little time!

My inspiration for this mobile came from Jolie Momes Factory blog.

Next up is the family photo wall above the cot

And lastly an ABC gardland to fill the main wall until I decide on some prints

(This garland will be available to buy in my etsy store as a DIY kit in the next month or so - keep an eye out).

So there you have it - if you want to see what the room looked like when it was my son's first room - you can check out my post on it here. I also have a pinterest board dedicated to my fav kids room ideas - I have so many ideas and things i want to try.

My One New Years Resolution for 2012

2012 Resolution Notebook by iloveitall on etsy

First post of 2012 - best make it a resolutions one. I am not a huge one for resolutions- not sure why - just never really got into it. But last year I did make some (see the post here) - and I would say I did pretty well at getting through them. As expected the "exercise once a week" never got off the ground (unless running after after a one year old some counts - surely it does), but I would say I did achieve the "spend more time outside as a family".

So what's up for 2012 - well I am not going to make a list this year (as much as i love ticking things off lists) - but I will make one:

To be the best mum I can be to my son and our soon (very very soon) to join us second child. And above all - to be honest about it.

What do I mean be honest about it? Recently I had a very close friend comment that I make pregnancy look easy and I appear to breeze through it. Yes i have been very lucky in that my pregnancy has had no complications and having small babies also helps particularly in the last few months. That is not to say it has been easy though - most days I would come home so exhausted from work, I was hanging for my 5pm nap whenever possible, I had some serious moments of irrational bitchiness to my husband, tears for no reason more often than I care to remember, short patience with the world and did I mention I have been exhausted for the last 9 months. So why did i hide this side of my pregnancy from my closest friends. I honestly don't know. So - hence 2012 is going to be a year about being honest in my role as a mother. When someone asks how I am, I am not going to breeze over it and say - good thanks, how are you.

So that's my resolution. Any you care to share?

PS - i will be awol for the next couple of weeks - due to baby stuff (as in having it and surviving the first few weeks), but promise to be back soon! In the meantime I will be hanging out on facebook - so make sure to stop by for any baby annoucements and to say hello.

Yes Please Thank You - Lanterns and Elastics

Couple of quick "yes please thank you"'s that caught my eye yesterday:

Jumping Elastics (oh the memories!) from Poppet in the Post - only $5.00 (great stocking stuffer)

Paper Lantern - Carnival Stripe Pack of 6 - 25cm dia lanterns from Sweet Style - $14.95
25cm dia

 

 

The lanterns have inspired me to give these DIY paper lanterns a go to add some interest to my sons new big boy room's ceiling - off to raid my paper stock.

Image and DIY via The Creative Place

Kids Room Inspiration

My son's room is now all but done (except for the towels and fabric over the windows because we realised at the last minute we really needed block out blinds not shear) and he has moved in to his new abode. However... that has not stopped me collecting kids room inspiration on pinterest. Some of my highlights from the last week.

Car Wall decal by Love Mae on Etsy

Chalkboard Wall Treatment via Project Nursury

Hacking the IKEA Lack table for ikea via Apartment Therapy

Mini window treatment bunting via Kick Can and Bonkers

and Robot cushion from Tiges and Weince on Etsy

Full pics and details of my sons room coming soon - just need to find the time to take photos in the daylight when he is not trying to steal my camera! In the meantime you can check out my Pinterest board dedicated to Kids Room Inspirations

Etsy Love - Little Lion Studio

I am loving these over sized vinyl wall decals for kids room by Little Lion Studio- nothing like a statement piece to make a room

And while you are there - make sure you check out these great print sets too!

My Creative Space - Big Boy Room Sneak Peak

The last week has largely been spent pulling together my sons new big boy room - and whilst it is not all complete I thought I would share some sneak peaks of what I have been up to.

(inspiration via here and here)

Inspiration for a quilt cover which hopefully I will get done on the weekend (inspiration via My Poppet where you can purchase these gorgeous little houses)

For more Creative Spaces - head over to Our Creative Spaces

Two Big Announcements for Another Donkey Design

Today I have two big announcements for Another Donkey Design - one a little bit more life changing than the other - but both exciting nonetheless!

Firstly - the life changing news.... we are expecting another baby.

(My baby bump in Fiji in September)

Confession time - this is not actually new news. In fact I am more than just a little bit pregnant, I am actually 29 weeks pregnant today. Apologies for not sharing sooner, but for whatever reason, I have been putting off this announcement (except for those who I saw at the ABCD Sydney event last month - there was no hiding the secret there and not just because i was not drinking!) So that is the reason my little man is moving to a new Big Boy Room in the coming weeks - and on a side note the room is almost finished and i promise to share the photos when it is done. And before you ask - we are not finding out the sex beforehand - we are going to keep it a surprise like we did with our son.

Second announcement for the day (seems a little minor in comparison)- with only 2 months till Christmas - Another Donkey Design is having it's first ever facebook sale for Christmas gift tags, twine and other excess stock (the nesting is kicking in and i need to clear out the cupboards!). Sale will kick off at 8pm Wednesday 26th October 2011 (AEST) and will finish 8pm Friday 28th October 2011 (or until stocks last)
Some of the goodies on offer include:

Hope to see you all there!

Etsy Love - Subliminal Baby Messages

Some Etsy love for this lovely Friday morning (lovely because it is Friday). These great 11x14 prints are produced by Sycamore Street Press and would look great individually or all lined up along a bedroom wall because who can really say when babies start to read!

Check out Sycamore Street Press on etsy or the web for multiple orders and other great prints

My Sweet Prints - Birthday Sale

I have said it before, and I will say it again - I am a huge fan of My Sweet Prints and well, her sweet prints! They are great additions to any family home and have that perfect blend of cute - but not cute if you follow me. So why I am going on about them AGAIN - well Janette is celebrating My Sweet Prints 2nd birthday and but offering discounts on a selection of her prints (which also means a discount on postage for some prints). Get it quick though - the sale ends Friday 14th October at 5pm. (PS - these make great christmas presents too.

(I bought this one!)

Also - don't forget to follow My Sweet Prints on Facebook