It's almost Easter...

Here's something sweet to make with the kiddos this Easter!

There are step-by-step instructions (with photos) at Spoonful.

I should think this would work with flowers & stencils too... xo

A belated welcome...

to the year Twenty Thirteen: Year of the Snake

cute calendar by one of my favourite designers,  Misako Mimoko

Ah,  it has been a rather busy year already, many a change is a foot.

At home, in the studio, in the garden. No time to dilly-dally. Onward

and upward and forward and in fact that's my new year's resolution. 

To  keep moving  forward. 

To stop looking backward. 

Like everyone, there are aspects of my life that I wish I could change, 

decisions I wish I could reverse, opportunities I wish I hadn't forgone... 

I spend a lot of time in this country of the past. It's a land of memories, 

but not all those memories are correct.  Over time our re-collection can 

become distorted by our emotions and by our present-day experiences. 

Looking back can be more of a visit to the imagination, than a trip back 

in time and it can hinder our journey forward if we choose to spend too

much time looking back. Wise words? They are words of Walt Disney.

"Around here,  however,  we 

don't look back for very long.

We keep moving forward,  opening new doors,
and doing new things,  because we're curious
and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

One of our favourite movies of recent times is 'Meet the Robinsons'.

Based on the book 'A Day with Wilbur Robinson' by William Joyce.

It tells us the sweet story of Lewis, an orphan, who dreams of seeing his

mother again... if only once. Subsequently, he is taken on a wild ride to 

the future, where he encounters a world beyond his wildest imaginings

and in the end he realises- all he has to do to bring that world to life is  

'keep moving forward'

... classic Disney stuff, but the message never grows old for me 

or for Ari, and whenever we watch it it brings tears to our eyes. 

xox

Snippets

We had a rather lovely Christmas Day.

Ari rose at the crack of dawn to a stocking filled with toys.

His big gift from Santa was a set of Automoblox hot rod cars.

I love their designs, but I must say it was rather disappointing 

when the one of the wheels snapped off first play.  Dear me.

I think we shall be asking the elves to send us a replacement...

From Mama and Dada he received a Maxi Micro Scooter!

He outgrew his Mini Micro this year and we decided it was

time for an upgrade and it was love at the first sight! It's already 

taken a trip into town and it's bound to get a lot of loving over

the school holidays. It's beautifully warm here lately, Summer's

definitely reared her head, at last! I'm hoping we'll get down to 

the seaside and give our new swimsuits a bit of a whirl too.

Ah, lovely food, lots of sweets, family and friends...

I hope you had a lovely Christmas too and have something 

equally wonderful planned for New Year's Eve? xox

wreath

Wow it's been a busy, busy December!

Not long till Christmas now and Ari's crafted up a storm
of paper snowmen and colourful garlands this past week.

No wreath yet! But plenty of ideas to choose from....

I love this cute hand made wreath from Bloesem Kids

and there are three more wonderful wreath ideas here
if, like us, you are up for a little last minute crafting.

the christmas play

I orchestrated a lot of the costumes for Ari's school play again.

Little elves, christmas rockers, a marvellous toy and Ari's PJs.

Yes, all those years of costume making and millinery training

definitely come in handy at times. It was exhausting, but fun! 

Ari helped me choose this lovely fabric for his polka dot pyjamas

and looked mighty swell as he recited 'A Night Before Christmas'.

I made his slippers and nightcap too and managed to snap a quick 

picture or two before we raced out the door to oversee the dressing 

and make-up pre-concert. I think a rather fun night was had by all!

sweet and simple christmas ideas

A round-up of some sweet and simple DIY paper decorations...

1.trees  2.village  3.snowflakes  4.garland  5.ornament

...and more wonderful project ideas here and here on Pinterest.

cute spooks

There is a colourised version... but I love the old B +W classic!

We saw some rather cute spooks out Trick or Treating last night. 

 I love that Halloween is finally starting to gain momentum,  here 

in OZ. The kids had so much fun terrorising the neighbourhood!

little ghost

The little ghost and I

Ari's school puts on the best Halloween Disco

for the kids.  Friday night was an absolute blast!

Last week, I was at the school working on the end of year 

school play, again, and we were discussing costumes...

Ari's teacher  "Wow Ari!  You're so lucky to have a Mum who's 

a costume maker.  So, what are you going to come as on Friday?"

Ari  "A ghost.  We can make my costume out of paper! 

Or maybe I'll just wear a sheet!!!"

Me and Ari's teacher  "Really?!"

Ari  "Yep!  Ghosts are great!!!"

Me, later on  "Or, what about Edward Scissorhands? 

I saw a great costume online!" (I showed him this great costume)

Ari  "Edward Scissorhands isn't very Halloween, Anna. 

Nope.  I'm wearing a sheet.  Ghosts are great.  They can't die"

The little ghost and I plan to go trick or treating

with some of our favourite little spooks tonight.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

We hope you all have a wonderfully ghoulish night...

 *instuctions for Edward Scissorhands costume here

A trip to the Zoo

Ari turned seven last week....

He had an appointment at The Royal Children's Hospital
that morning & as a birthday treat we visited the Zoo after.

Ari has a heart condition and has regularly check ups at RCH.

The new hospital opened last year (it's next to the old site) and it's
pretty amazing... there's an aquarium, a meerkat enclosure, a wall-
sized interactive game screen, a beanbag cinema, a fantastic land-
scaped courtyard, huge sculptural works (even a robot butterfly),
not to mention fantastic new wards, foyers and operating theatres.

You can take a virtual tour here.

But a trip to the Zoo was still atop of Ari's birthday wish list.

the music maker

We've been having a lot of fun with my birthday present.

It's been a while since I've had a turntable and Ari's never

enjoyed the experience of listening to records play before!

I have bit of a collection of kid's recordings, though none 

quite so wonderful as the records pictured here. Perhaps we'll 

have to start a collection of 1940s and 1950s kid's records.

Some of the records pictured here come from this great site.

The sweet collectors there have uploaded their collection for
your free personal enjoyment. So lovely! Take a peek. x

lei li la loo

Today, I turn Thirty-five!  WOW.  Ha?
It's a rather grey and gloomy sort of birthday day.
Typical for early June (and the beginning of Winter).

We're planning to brave the miserable cold front

and take a little trip into town, though. Yay!

I thought I'd write about this lovely maker's blog today,

my very first Etsy discovery and my birthday gift to you... 

The white rabbit, or rather... very cute and colourful bunny...

that I followed into the wonderland of Etsy.

You can visit the LeiLiLaLoo shop here.

A beautiful place to find inspiration

and glimpse an artist and mother at work.

If you're feeling grey, visiting this blog

is just like dancing in a rainbow ♥

Happy (belated) Mother's Day

...to all the beautiful mothers of this world.

Thank-you for being the strong, loving, 

wise and inspiring women that you are.

Image: photographed by Eric Lafforgue  here

Mumuhuila mother with her albino baby. Angola.

happy bunny day!

Funny Little Bunnies: A Walt Disney Silly Symphony 1934

spooky rumpus

I made Ari this skeleton costume to wear to his little friend
Marlon's Spooky 5th Birthday Party last week.

It was hot, windy and uncomfortable costume-wearing weather
(hence the grimacing photo face... ah, you thought it was part of the spooky skeleton act, didn't you?) Ari insisted on dressing up though,
and he had a blast wreaking havoc with the other little frights.

He does make a rather cute little ghoul (despite the grimacing),
wouldn't you agree?

Update: J pointed out that there's a marked
resemblance to Beetlejuice going on here ↓

We are HUGE Tim Burton fans around here.

I think we may have Ari's Halloween costume.

Lunar New Year

Last week, we headed down to the festivites in Victoria Street. 

It was fun... but really hot!  Summer has finally arrived here.

We stopped for cool drinks (and a cupcake) on the way there. 

Ari's super cute cap is from Australian label Rock Your Baby.
It was a birthday gift from my brother. Thank-you Uncle Karl!

My sweet skirt is by another Australian label  High Tea With Mrs Woo

It was a rare and extravagant purchase for me. I bought it when I found
out that I was pregnant with Ari (while working as a costume maker.)

It's made from a combination of cotton and vintage silks. I love it to bits.

There was so much wonderful colour and oh, the food... 

sweet sticky rice, cane sugar juice, vegetarian egg pancakes, 

rice paper rolls, icy watermelon juice, vegie dumplings. Yum!

Ari went on a couple of rides and bought a beautiful new blue 

butterfly kite. What a wonderful day we all had in Richmond.

It's New Year in Chinatown this Sunday.  

We're looking forward to seeing that beautiful dragon once more.

 Festivities run from 10am till late. The dragon awakes at 12.30 pm.

Maybe we'll see you there... xoxo