little book characters I happen to know...

I have mentioned before our all time fave kids book has to be The Gruffalo and The Gruffalos Child by Julia Donaldson & illustrated by Axel Scheffler. (Gruffalo official website is www.GRUFFALO.com)

We have created our own little artworks taken straight from the books, inspired by Axel Schefflers work. The girls have often wanted to dress up as the characters too, (as I have shown earlier Ash did actually go as The Gruffalos child to her book parade last year for school)....Anyhoo, I came up with the idea of "dressing them up" but in a slightly different way hehehe, below is the finished result of a little fiddling with the illustrations and a few photos I had.

                                      The girls especially loved them, there were lots of giggles....

Daddy makes a great Gruffalo, hehe.

Even Chris got a laugh out of this one, next best thing to an actual costume anyhoo....
Thinking of framing these and adding them to our Gruffalo wall in Beaus room.

 Well, thats all for today, hope to get stuck into some more art sooner than later.....Thanks for stopping by!
Deahne

lounge/family room

Our favourite spot has to be our loungeroom/family room, its great because we can be doing seperate things but still be together, I love open plan. I can be in the kitchen, Chris on the lounge, girls at their nook and Beau playing on his mat and we are in full view of each other. (Also means I can keep an eye on the girls while they are on the computer &/or homeworking).

(I do tend to move/change things up from time to time, mainly to see where things ie artworks/cushions/lamps etc look best...)

Again, I have tried to keep it colourful, bright and happy....afterall kiddies live here! But I still think it is a nice relaxing adult space too. (Looking forward to Winter to have the combustion fire going too, always love the atmosphere and warmth from a fire.)

I deliberatley left out a coffee table, only so the girls and Beau could have more space to play, which considering our house is on the small side, they need....(The ottoman is easily moved too if need be.) Not only that, I hate clutter! love to feel like I have space around to completley relax.

Kids Wii games and consoles plus blu-ray player, cds, etc are all stored in the tv unit (from Harvey Norman) I like everything to have a place, makes it easier to pack away too!

enough space to get your game grove on too

pretty much all you see is from IKEA, (except my replica Eames rocker)

the girls little nook area.

perfect place to relax/play with our boy...

Cushions, throws and artworks are such an easy way to add colour (or not....) I kept our basics black, white and grey so I can always change the colour scheme, depending on my mood &/or the season. Plus colour always looks so much better against black and white or grey!

(I like changing things up, especially moving artworks etc, this painting stayed here originally, now I have my DIY deer here) Drives Chris a little crazy at times, but hes happy if Im happy....hehe.

 This is another abstract of
 mine, but I was thinking      
 there was a little too much red for my liking, so I tweaked it a little....left is the finished result.


   till next time.....
  bye for now!

pompom pimping

I have a lovely chandelier over our dining table, but I have been wondering how to change it up a little...was considering painting it a lovely bright, bold colour....but in the meantime I decided to throw a   little handmade pompom garland onto it.

Its funny because I am seeing pompoms pop up all over the place, huge ones and tiny! so colourful and cute with that childish charm about them too. I figured it was an easy fix to adding some MORE colour, because as you may (or may not) know I LOVE colour!!

Before I stick my pic in...found a great article in this months Summer Entertaining special edition of INSIDE OUT magazine (a fave of mine...) Its on a fellow blogger Alenka von Engelhardt, she has done some beautifully creative things with simple pompoms (as well as other objects), worth having a look! her blog is called yellowpaperkite.

Anyhoo, heres my chandelier pimped with my pom pom garland. (Made by simply threading little pom poms straight onto some coloured cotton). Think I will be making some more, but longer! would look cute in the kids room too....till next time...thanks for stopping by!

sketches

Sorting through old books and papers I stumbled across these drawings I had done years ago....I love drawing, its been ages! these were a few of my faves.

I remember spending hours at a time on one sketch, such a peaceful and relaxing hobby. Definatley would love to get back into it....

These were done in the 1990's when I was a teen.

using watercolour pencils for the first time...

I had a thing for babies, even back then....this was from an Anne Geddes photograph, (so a real baby.)

Both my parents were born in The Netherlands, so sometimes I have little Dutch influences....the little minature houses below were a gift from my Opa (Mums Dad), I have always thought they were sweet and remind me so much of Amsterdam in particular.

And below is a collage I did....I think I was bored that day hehehe...I have always loved womens fashion mags so I always had some on hand.

Really have to sit down with my girls and keep drawing, such a nice thing to share together...

Birthday Baby Boy Beau!

Our little man Beau turned One today! still cant believe it....

We had a little birthday bash at our home for him on Sunday 3rd Feb. So the girls and I had a little fun preparing some decorations (or deecreations....hehee). We had the usual things ie some balloons and streamers but also made some more paper bunting, some bright colourful tablecloths, a birthday hat for our birthday boy (we got the idea from etsy on Pinterest) and Hayley had the idea to make some "Beau ties" too, which the girls had fun handing out to the children.
(Well, the girls had "hair Beaus"......) Our theme colours were blue, red and yellow...nice and bright.

Had a lovely day, so blessed with good weather and so blessed with loving family and friends who made the effort to come and celebrate with us!

The girls painting over an old picture frame, turned it into a blackboard...

Birthday Boy Beau Brigden

(I was a little concerened about the pom poms on his hat for safety reasons, but I made sure they were stuck fast so he couldnt pull any off....thankfully he was happy to wear the hat and didnt fuss at all, I think he may not have even noticed! we think he looked pretty dang cute too.)


Below are my "no sew bow (or rather Beau) ties"

this is the middle strip to hold the bow in place...

folding all sides into middle so no hems visible

folding over middle strip

hand sewn in place (can put elastic neck piece underneath this )

finished tie.

 I tacked on different lengths of elastic to go around the neck for the boys bow ties and also for the hair bows, so they could find one that was most comfy and fit well. Easy peasy!

I also made a photo wall of Beaus first 12 months, just favourite pics of him month by month and then printed onto A4 paper. I added little milestones under the pics for interest.
Little wooden pegs kept them on the string...

A few pics from his celebration, shared with close family and friends....

A little Moet to toast Beaus big day!

The girls had fun decorating the cake, I let them do whatever...

I think they did a great job too!

Hayley made and decorated all the chocolate and vanillla cupcakes too! So proud of her. Such a big helper.

A very Happy First Birthday to our little boy Beau, so blessed to have him in our lives!