I love party crafting and rambling

Well...good morning from the wet old coast of Australia!

My *I love you Autumn* ramblings the other day, got the season into full swing it seems!

I meant cooler weather... not wet weather!

At football last night, inland away from the beaches, I was in full scarf and coat by 9pm.

That's my fashion thing three nights a week whilst I'm taxi-ing a particular sports boy around- all boots and scarves and novels.

I bought myself a very cool boat light for my sitting, and waiting, and reading on football nights.

Apparently I can drop it in the ocean, and it will still hum along providing enough light to indulge in magazines, etsy on my phone, and the pile of novels ready for Autumn's early darker evenings in my car, for a good 10 hours.

Small things like that make my afternoon! ;-)

Anyway...

The school holidays are almost upon us- in this little house that means two weeks of birthday party's and wetsuits for cooler surf days, gallery visits and ferry trips to the city.

The kids are school holiday planning- they're in dire need of a break from school commitments- as is their mother!

One more day of packed lunches...then it's fend for yourself here kids!

Are you a school holiday planner?
When we lived in England- we always had a school holiday to do list...something I picked up from the American gal bloggers I love.

Back home here, I seem to get to the holidays and just want to stop for the first week and then wing the second.
Well it seems the kids have now taken to compiling some sort of plans for us...you know scribbling on the kitchen chalk board ideas & things we can't miss out on this holidays...that sort of stuff.

Perhaps I'll just pour myself a drink and let them take over!

Crafting here for Miss Audrey's 9th Easter party is in full swing.

Whilst the husband is in New York, I figure it's good to surround the kids will all things hoarded, bought new and found that involve glue, tissue paper, paint, dye and wahsi tape  totally cool and arty on every flat surface, until he's back and life has to have a little more order to it!

It's kinda controlled chaos- at a stretch!

HAPPY THURSDAY FROM ME TO YOU....

Melissa xx

Get ya Easter Craft On- Day 2

Everyone needs a Floral Easter crown...

This Easter craft is super quick...and CRAZY cute, once you have all your *bits* together.

We are making this at Audrey's 9th Birthday with her *bestie gang* from school.

I'm going to have each place sorted, and set up with all they'll each need to make their own.

I can't wait to see how they put their's together...undoubtedly I'll be sitting on my *helping hands*!!

I'll be thinking balance and they'll be thinking *go-for-it-fun*!

The girls sweet-as crowns will have a creative energy, that as party-planner,  mine will not!

What you need:

-fabric flowers...all sorts, go as simple or indulgent as you like!

-craft wire for the actual head piece {I found some in our fabric store covered in soft white fluff stuff!}

-garden ties

What to do- building that crown!

-remove all the fabric flower heads from their stems, leaving a small green end to tie onto the crown keeping the flower in firmly in place.

-measure your craft wire for the head to be crowned...

-cut to size and join so all the sharp ends are covered and tied. Lay on the table with all your inspiration {flowers, vine leaves...etc etc}

-using the green garden ties, firstly tie your vine leaves as the base and build up using your larger then smaller flowers to fill the spaces in between.

-be sure to tuck all the garden tie ends in upon themselves, so there are no sharp ends!

Put on head in your dressing gown...giggle and enjoy!

This is one of the simples, prettiest easter/birthday crafts we've done.

It's super inexpensive and almost built from what you may already have around your home!

Enjoy!

Melissa & Audrey 

xox

Get ya Easter Craft On - Day 1

OK...Easter Crafting...

If you were around here at Christmas, you'll know that I love me a good month of crafting before a holiday!

Easter, being late this year...gives us all plenty of time to share ideas and a little *Cool Craft* together.

I'm blessed with two of my kids having birthdays around Easter- my eldest was born on Easter Monday and we remind her each year that she's *even better than eggs* !

So...I get to share *Cool Crafts* for Easter and birthday's!

Yep...happy days here!

Righto...

*Cool Craft For Easter- Day 1*

These little gift jars are *da bomb* for all ages!

They are simple, inexpensive and soooo flipping cute!

They take no more than an hour or two to sort, glue and spray paint...and then you get to fill them- the really fun part...and just stand and look and love them!

I've seen them on a few pinterest boards- and decided to give it a go with my girls at home- we winged it, and they were super easy on the wallet and the skill level...but were soo divine when we finished!

Bits & Bobs- what you need:

-clean, dry jars- {we used Mason jars, but up-cycling from your fridge/ pantry is an awesome idea!}

-a packet of plastic animals {we bought both woodland animals and african animals...both The Lion King and Frankie Magazine are in high rotation here!}

-a hot glue gun

-Rust-oleum Ultra Cover Paint & Primer {I tried to use the no-name spray paint brands here and they just didn't cover like they needed to...but you may have more luck!}

The Fun Bit- what to do:

1. Remove all the lids and put your clean, dry jars to one side. On each lid sit an animal ready to be glued.

2. Glue the feet of each animal in the centre of each lid, and allow to dry for a half hour if you can- I'm pretty sure you can give it ten minutes if you're on a roll and cannot wait to spray!

3. In an open space, with lots of fresh air, {we do ours on our covered balcony- outdoors but not weather dependent} lay out a plastic drop cloth/ craft cloth, and lay out the lids in small groups if you are painting them in a few colours {we do this to avoid spray spots of colour on them all}.

4. Spray the entire jar lid and animal in your chosen colour- you may need to come back when they are a little dryer and spray the underneath of the animals if you missed any spots {our monkey had a brown butt for a while, whilst the rest of him was pristine white!}

5. Leave to dry overnight - the smell of the Rust-oleum also needs to subside before you fill your jars with goodies- especially edible Easter goodies!

6. Fill jars and tag with a little message...we made brown tags and used washi tape in Easter colours, {I'll be blogging Easter tags another day}, as these will be the take-home party jars/ sweet bags for Audrey's Easter birthday party in a few weeks.

7. Stand and stare for as long as it takes- as these are crazy super cute!!

I'd love you to join me here in the weeks leading up to Easter!

There will be plenty of pretty cool Easter crafts 

&

a heap of fab birthday ideas as well...

If home-schooling was like this all the time,

I'd be soooo onto it!

Pinch & a punch for the First of the Month!

Melissa 

xox

happy easter...& simple decorating...

happy easter

from the Australian coast...

from out little beach house 

to you...

where ever you are...

*have a good one* 

{as they say Down our way}

decorating for the weekend

as easy as old school rulers

wooden pegs

a ball of string

&

paper cut out eggs

from our family to yours

from my three kiddos to yours

hope your holidays are full of love blessings & eggs

~~~~~

melissa

xoxox

*Make-It-Monday*-Vintage egg styling...

morning all from the gorgeous Australian coast...

we're bathing in almost Easter sunshine here...Autumn at it's coastal best...clear, blue & warm...

as it's nearly Easter, i thought to day we could share a some of the *Make-It-Monday* goings on 

in our little beach house...

an Easter-Make-It-Monday that is sweet enough to have in the house over this holiday whether you have bambino's or not...

a bit of egg styling...

this is a little idea we came across via Martha- some times she strikes on a bit of lovely that is right up my doily-loving alley...

lace-printed eggs for Easter...

they are stylish enough for the mama's in the house & bright enough for the kiddos in the house...

thank you Miss.Stewart...

with simple pantry ingredients & a carton of fresh eggs- this was an after HW project in our house...

  
tools of the Egg styling trade here are:

carton of eggs hard boiled
food colouring
white wine vinegar
doilies or old lace off cuts
elastic bands
egg carton to hold the dyed eggs till they dried

{Martha actually suggested a piece of wedding gown if, you know,...it hadn't quite worked out as
 you expected!}  

 ok...this is the simplest, most satisfying of little projects!

wrap the hard boiled eggs in small doilies or scraps of lace {or your wedding dress!}...& secure at back of the egg with an elastic band...

it is essential that this is done as snuggly as possible- the tighter the lace, the clearer the pattern on the
finished egg... 

dunk the eggs in a ceramic bowl consisting of the food colouring, a good dash of white wine vinegar & water to cover the egg...

we left ours for a good 15 minutes to play with the dog...turn on the bath...unpack the school bags blah blah blah....

& we returned- we simply snipped off the elastic bands...gently unwrapped the eggs...


& just sat back looking at these...



gorgeous doily printed Easter eggs...


i'm not sure who was more delighted Miss.Audrey at 6...or me!

a little bit of country inspiration by the coast...

what d'ya think?

beats store bought run of the mill decorations for us...

~~~~

today i'm sharing over at 

the *Decorating Forum*

~~~

for more creative idea's on virtually anything 

head on over, you will love this site...

~~~

happy egg styling at yours...

melissa

xoxox