Scarf Swap

One of my favourite bloggers (Mardi Winen) is hosting a Scarf swap!

I am in LOVE with scarves at the moment... my collection is growing, they are such a lovely way to instantly dress up an outfit!

I was excited when I saw her post :)

So go on over and join in the fun!

Book week Parade

Last week our kids had book week at school, with a parade dressed as their favourite characters on Friday.

I'm all for the kids dressing up, but struggle with the idea of buying or hiring expensive costumes.

There was absolutely no doubt that B would be Harry Potter... he is Harry Potter mad. It's not my cup of tea, but him and his friends love it. He even grew his hair for the occasion (lol).

I made his costume and one for his friend while I was at it. The robe took about 10 minutes (seriously) and I'm sure saved us a lot of money. The scarf is made from joining rectangles of red and yellow polar fleece. The t-shirt was a $4 KMart one and the wand and glasses 30% off at Spotlight...total costume : $15-18 (and he will use it again. for sure)

I did something that is pretty much unheard of around here - I made it three weeks AHEAD of time! shock horror.

E wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood.  I had seen capes at Best & Less over winter and was pretty happy to pick one up for half price in the sales.
I add a polar fleece hood, picked up a $2 basket from the op shop.. made an apron from an old sheet and a bit of lace and ribbon... Total cost : $15 max.

She doesn't have shoes on in this photo... but wore her converse sneakers...haha, love my girl.

K had two ideas... first she wanted to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz... and then we ending up choosing Pippi Longstocking.
This costume cost a little bit more for the socks and wig (which was a last minute find at Spotlight and not too expensive). The dress was an op shop find a while ago. Total cost $30 (but she will wear the socks again and has a netball disco coming up and they have to dress up in something starting with N or P)

This dress-up suited her personality perfectly!

She even kept the wig on all day.

Yes. these are the crazies I live with.

Does your school do bookweek? What are your favourite character dress ups?
Are your kids like mine and never grow out of dressing up???

Grateful stuff

Having had a crappity crap crap day I decided I had to end it on a positive (and no.. the laundry flooding was not that positive!!)

So here's a bit of loving around these parts...

the awesomely good taste my girls and I have in shoes...

My daughters lovely bright painting for the entrance way.

My son, on a very much anticipated day out with Dad to the v8s!

A cat, totally unimpressed with her collar (to prevent her pulling out her stitches). The staff at our vet clinic fell in love with this beauty and won't believe me when I tell them how naughty she has been since her speying. Fortunately tomorrow those stitches are coming out!

So despite a crap day, there is something that I can be grateful for.

Arty (not a party) Party

A couple of weekend's ago,  Miss K had a 'non' party.. it was an Arty Party (but not really a party, because parties have been banned in this house this year... *sigh* I am such a pushover)

You've all seen these on Pinterest I'm sure... and I just had to make one too... (tip: use your hairdryer on a sllllooooowww setting)

The Arty (not a party) Party was powered by the amazing benefits of 'creative juice'

The guests each had their own placemat....

and their name card on a little easel

The place setting

The girls decorated $3 tee shirts from Big W... they drew on sandpaper then we ironed it on to the t-shirts. The girls got very creative adding buttons and beads...

then they made button and bead monograms to put in frames....

but it IS an Arty (non) Party so the letters had to be rearranged to spell something...because that's how we roll around here...

Perhaps we should have had a competition to see how many words could be made from the letters???

There was plenty of (non) party junk food...

Rice Krispie 'paint brushes'

And of course there was a cake(s) ...

And a special one with a candle to blow out...

I still can't believe this fabulous child of mine is 11 years old!

** edited to add... when I say its 'not a party' I only say it tongue in cheek because we told Keeley she couldn't have a party.. it had to be an afternoon tea with no games and no party bags... it was also supposed to only be a couple of friends... but it kind of grew...but I stuck to no games and no party bags **