Sew..a needle pulling thread! The GREAT FABRIC GIVEAWAY!

Oh how I wish I was a sewer!
Every time I stumble across the gorgeous handmade products on made it.com,
I once again get the urge to borrow the sewing machine, buy some gorgeous fabric and create!
If only that didn't also involve, struggling to thread the needle,  having the cotton get caught around the bobbin, and eventually adding it to the pile of other half started projects.
I have the best of intentions, just not the patience!
But this is my year!
I will create!
 I have started simply and created a.....

Sheet Bag for Master O to take to Kindy!


Here are some of the gorgeous and clever ideas that others are creating with their fabric!




Phoebe Eloise on madeit.com.au
$42
Gorgeous shabby chic dresses!

AngelLea Designs - Tie and Skirt Pattern
Need a pattern?

Two Smitten - Cushion and Pinboard Set
Love it!  Two smitten also has framed fabric and cushion sets!

Little Eve - Cupcake Napkins

Cupcake Fabric Napkins, perfect for a tea party!

The Black Sheep - Distract Mat

A wipeable mat for the kids!  What a great idea for dinners out.

BUBBAMIA - Fabric Covered A5 Diary

Want your diary to be different?

Inspired yet?

Forget Spotlight, if you are looking for some gorgeous fabrics, available online you have to check out

Two Monkeys Fabric Shop.

Aren't they divine!  

 "twomonkeys is a world of designer fabrics including Riley Blake, Michael Miller, Robert Kaufman, Alexander Henry just to name a few. We sell our fabrics by the metre and at a price everyone can afford so you too can add that designer touch to your handmade creations"

So......because we are so sure that you will love twomonkeys as much as we do...

WE ARE HAVING A GIVEAWAY!

You could win some fabric from "twomonkeys" worth $18, to create your own masterpiece!

Simply

1. "Like" My Pigeon Pair's Facebook Page

2. "Like" twomonkey's Facebook Page - Let them know who sent you!

3. Visit the two monkeys website

4. Comment on this blog post, letting us know which twomonkeys fabric you would love to purchase if you win!

Competition Opens - Midday Monday 31st January

Competition Closes - 7pm Thursday 3rd February

Winner chosen via random.org

Open to Australian residents only

I'm grateful for...... Childhood Birthday Memories

CHILDHOOD BIRTHDAY MEMORIES

Today I am joining in Maxabella's "I'm grateful for"

January is coming to an end....

At long last, the tedious month of returning to work and school preparations is over.

Now, I am filled with excitement, anxiousness and a touch of insanity as

February and March

are the 

BIRTHDAY MONTHS

in our house!

Master O will turn 4 in February (I can't believe I will have a four year old!)

AND Little Miss A will turn 1 in March!

I LOVE BIRTHDAY PARTIES!

Well actually I just LOVE Birthdays AND Parties, 

so the two combined places me in party planning heaven!

Birthday's ARE A BIG DEAL in our family.

Growing up, my Mum always insured that we had Birthday Party every year! 

 No fast food chain Birthday Parties for us!

Only the at home, decorated with balloons and streamers, 

hand made cake, playing games in the back yard variety!

Mum even created birthday parties for my Cabbage Patch dolls, including a cake!

So, now you know where I am coming from, I can not escape the party planning gene, it's inherited!

I always took our Birthday parties for granted, 

now as a mother I finally realise how much work Mum put in each year.

But Mum, it was sooo worth it!

So many of my favourite childhood memories and traditions are associated with my Birthday Parties!

The Australian Cake Choosing Tradition

The preparations for the upcoming Birthday would begin months in advance as we drooled over the cake creations in the Womens Weekly Birthday Cake book.

I had a rabbit, a butterfly, a "Hickory Dickory Clock" BUT 

I always wanted the swimming pool!  

You know the one filled with blue jelly?!

Lucky us, we usually chose two cakes one for the party and one for Mum to bring up to school!!!

Planning who to invite

With the best of intentions we had the rule you could invite as many people as the age you were turning - For example 8 people for your 8th Birthday. Fortunately for us this rule was easily bended!

To this day I still hear the 5 year olds in my class bartering with each other over a birthday party invite

"I'll give you the pink crayon if you invite me to your birthday party!"

The outfits

There are two most memorable Birthday outfits for me.

Before you read, be kind, it was the 80's!!!

A handmade balloon skirt,  that was actually made out of fabric with balloons on it!

and a pink and green tracksuit type outfit reminiscent of Nicole Kidman in BMX Bandits, I even frizzed my hair Nicole Kidman style for the occasion!

The Decorations

There was nothing more exciting than having a pre party nanna nap to awake to the house decorated.

Think foil, Happy Birthday Banner, pink balloons and the mandatory intertwined streamers that were wrapped around everything!

The Games

Pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, freeze and one of my favourites the pass the ballon and pop it when the music stops.  Inside the balloon was a small piece of paper on which was written something you had to do.  

Sing "Twinkle Twinkle" or "I'm a Little Tea Pot" or dance the "Macarena"

 Oh the fun and the embarrassment!

The Food

Oh how the food nazi's would cringe over our typical 1980's food!

What was a Birthday Party without Fairy Bread, Cheerios and RED Cordial!!!

  As I prepare for my children's birthdays,  I can only hope, that amidst the cupcake toppers, gluten/dairy everything free food that I will remember the simplicity and old fashioned fun of those childhood birthday's.   I am sure there were late nights, ruined icing and sore fingers from tying balloons but those birthday memories, created for me by a loving Mum....for them,  I am truly grateful.

Thoughtful Thursday - Spread the love...with some lunch box notes!

It may not be Valentine's Day just yet but
you don't need to wait for a special occasion to start spreading some love!

How about a cute lunchbox note in your child's lunch box today!
It may be a simple smiley face on a post it note (thanks Mum!)
or a crazy joke 
or if you really have some time and want to get creative how about these 
GORGEOUS FREE PRINTABLES!

What a lovely way to brighten your child's day!

OR

Why not surprise some work colleagues with an anonymous cheery note on their lunch!

Alpha Mom

Tweedle D Designs

Classic Play

Mariah DeMarco

oliebollen

Tip Junkie

living weelife

how does she?

So what's your favourite?

Wordless Wednesday - Sleeping Beauty

Oh to sleep like a baby....
Sleeping Beauty

Playing along with "Wordless Wednesday" 

with

faith hope and a whole lotta love

THE WINNER IS.....

THE tilly & otto WINNER IS.....

CONGRATULATIONS.....

Teresa from "Amelie in Wonderland"

You have won a pair of statement "little man" shorts AND

a Josie skirt!!!!

Kavala from tilly & otto will be in touch!!!

Thank you so much to 

Kavala from tilly & otto 

for this amazing giveaway! 

Can't wait to check out the 

tilly & otto stall at the upcoming markets!

Kid You'll Move Mountains

So how did the first day of school go?

Or is today the day?

Yesterday my big boy started Kindergarten!

He was literally jumping at the gate!

He ran in, put everything in its place and excitedly told everyone he had his own lunchbox! 

(clearly this is the most exciting part of going to Kindergarten!)

Tonight to celebrate I gave him a special book.

I love to give him books to mark momentous occasions!

I still have books given to be my mother with a note scrawled in the front about why I received the book!

The day I lost my first tooth, the chicken pox, winning an award.

I just love to look back and reminisce!

This one is not necessarily about starting school, but it is THE BEST BOOK for any special occasion in anyones life.  

I have been waiting for the right moment to give this to my Master O and yesterday was the day. 

 His first day at Kindergarten was a brilliant success!

"KID YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

You're off to great places,

Today is your day

Your mountain is waiting

so...get on your way!"

This is just one of those books...every time I read it I cry!

So jam packed with advice for EVERY moment in your life!

He may only be close to 4 but I can already tell (like all Mothers) that this child,

WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

(Or at least scale them in his true stunt man meets spiderman style!)

Mini Monet's - Storing and Displaying Children's Artwork

Today is the day my baby boy starts Kindergarten.  

This time 4 years ago I was heavily pregnant with a 9 pounder baby 

and now he is off to Kindy for the first time :-(   

Where does the time go?

He is ALL BOY

Rough, tumble, fast, determined, outdoorsy, stubborn, hilarious, friendly and a chatterbox!

(not sure where he gets that last one from)

However, unlike most boys he HATES getting messy!

I can count on one hand the number of paintings he has created!

BUT.....just incase this year is different.....I have been searching for ways to store his artwork (pirate maps, letters to his dogs, collage spaceship/flying car/helicopter)

Fiona Kate Art Folder

The one and only Fiona Kate.

I discovered Fiona Kate years ago when I read about her gorgeous home in a magazine.

Her storage products are brilliant!

A3 Art folder tied with gorgeous grossgrain ribbon

Can be personalised with alphabet stickers also available from Fiona Kate

Sturdy and wipeable

$21.95

Bobble Art Storage Boxes

 $17.95 comes in 3 different sizes and various designs for both boys and girls.

The largest box will fit a piece of A3 paper.

Memory Box

Designed to keep all kinds of items but would be useful for artwork as well!

cox and cox

Ok so these are not Australian, but aren't they divine!

Little Miss A's colours, pink and green!

I am sure you could find something similar here in OZ.

Fiona Kate

Ok so it's Fiona Kate again, but this is ingenious!

Monster Storage box that can also be used as a table, talk about multifunctional!

another version of the "Monster" storage box by Fiona Kate.

This box would be great for storing those craft projects or collage creations that would not fit in small flat boxes.

You know the spaceship/train/flying car creation made out of cereal boxes and toilet rolls!

Martha Stewart

This is what many preschool/kindergarten teachers do!  Make this very easy cardboard picture saver.

Instructions from Martha Stewart.

 But some pieces of art are just too gorgeous to have put away in a box,

especially the ones where your little one draws a picture of the family or a mothers/fathers day card!

So there are a few options .....

OPTION 1

FRAME IT

Art Eater

Love, Love, Love it!

Frame mini versions of your childs artwork!

Art Eater can frame your children's prints (above) or even create custom art picture albums.

OPTION 2

CANVAS IT

Simply take a photo of the artwork or scan it and have it printed onto canvas.

This also makes a great personalised and inexpensive gift!

You can do this online or through many department stores like KMART and BIG W!

OPTION 3

BOOK IT

Have too many pictures to frame them all.  How about creating an artwork photo book each year?Any photo book company can use your scanned or photographed childrens art and turn it into a photo book.  The best thing about this is that you can insert custom text onto each page describing the picture, or what prompted the child to create that piece.  You can also create the book in any order you choose, by month,  by type of art etc

Their are many companies around I personally have used click on print and memento which have both been easy to use and quite affordable but once again you can do this instore most large department store.

OPTION 4

HANG IT

 

If you look on the right hand wall above the art table, you will see how we display pictures in our house!

I got this idea straight out of the ikea catalogue!

It is a metal curtain wire, mounted on to the wall.

You can also buy little metal peg/clips to attach the art to the wire.

Ikea also have plastic pockets that can hang off the wire to display bulkier pictures!

Maybe this will be the year when Master O takes to painting with full gusto?

I have my tissues packed, I am sure Mr Sociable will be fine as he starts this new adventure

but what about me!!!!!!

Study Spaces

Just a quick post today as I log off the screen and into life -(Thanks Sunny Mummy!)

Off to Ikea this morning in an attempt to get the house a little more organised before school and kindy starts next week!!

So if you have some time this weekend how about transforming or creating a space in your house for learning!!

 Pottery Barn Kids

When you look closely, it is a simple white desk, but what makes it gorgeous is the way in which it  has been "accessorised" so beautifully.  

I know this from Pottery Barn Kids but I would LOVE a space like this!

 Pottery Barn Kids
This idea had may so excited that I once again attempted to find out how I could get in Australia.
Alas...not a chance the postage would be astronomical.
It is basically a lazy susan for the study!  

Ok so it's more Pottery Barn but they are just so amazing!  This is my idea of a study for "My Pigeon Pair" one day we could convert the playroom.  I love that you would be able to see the kids instead of having a desk in their room.  Check out the pinboards behind the desks! What a simple but effective idea to help organise your week!  LOVE LOVE the giant pencil!

{via}


This is a simple and stylish idea that you could do in a study or playroom.
Painted MDF numbers or you could even use letters!

Small space? You need IKEA!
I am seriously thinking of trying the containers on the rod idea!
It would keep those crayons and pencils out of reach of Little Miss A's Artistic hands!

{via}


Hmmm...I wonder how hard this would be for me, the man of the house, to make!
What an adorable reading/storage space!


Can't afford to transform the whole space?
How about a refresh of the decor?

Bright Star Kids


Something for the smaller kids!  
Chalkboard dots that you can stick onto your playroom walls!

But my pick of the day is.....

Love this Personalised Alphabet Print
from
scissors paper rock designs
An easy effective way to brighten up a study space is with a unique print.
This personalised design, is from Clare at Scissor Paper Rock Designs.
It would make a great first day of school gift!
Clare should know..she is also a teacher!


In case you don't have the time for room makeovers this weekend....
you can drool or dream over these play spaces.....

casasugar

Not sure if this one is for the kids benefit or for the adults!

twiningdesign.com

Every boys dream!

Luxury Ideas

One for Master O!  


What would your dream study space look like?