Four Favorite ETSY Finds #4

Well its my turn again and after some serious thought (OK about 5 mins) I thought I would share with you some of my favorite crocheted patterns from ETSY. Re-teaching myself how to crochet is definitely on my 'to-do' list :)

1. Anton Robot by Design Shop

2. Nichole the Doll by Owlishly’s Shop

3. Set of Nesting Dolls by Anapaulaoli’s Shop

4. Tiny Hedgehog by Amy Gaines Shop

Enjoy, Bel xx

p.s Don't forget to have a look at Em's Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap and join us in the fun!

Shadow Shot Sunday #9

We have just spent the weekend in beautiful Stanthorpe, Qld on my husband's parents farm "Thornlands"

here is a great photo of Grandad,Nette & Lucas taking the pony back to the yard after a ride... if you look closely you can see little lady the dog too!!

Don't forget to sign up for my Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap 2008, see the link to it in the right hand sidebar

Have a great week everyone

xxEm

My little wizard...

Well I have to say finally I feel like I have had a very productive day! I finally got around to making Sax a little superhero cape from a free download that my friend Kate emailed me ages ago, you can download it for FREE here

I have to say as well as feeling very accomplished, (I ended up finishing 3 little capes and also took in some pants for my mum) for the first time ever I actually felt like a pretty crafty mum. Seeing my boy run around with his imagination in over drive made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :) (those red sunglasses just topped off the outfit)

Anyway I am off to add a few little details to each cape to make each one that little bit extra special for the lucky ones who I hope will get hours of fun play wearing them (stay tuned for more pics)

Hope you are all enjoying this lovely warm weather, Bel x

Christmas Ornament Swap Anyone??

I have been looking around for a swap to join with no luck, so here goes... If I get enough people I would like to organise a "down the line" Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap 2008. The value would be $15 plus postage to join in you need to comment on this post and email me your details by October 10th 2008.

the swap list will be posted on 14th of October 2008, All gifts are to be sent so they reach the recipient for an opening day of 1st December 2008.

If you want further information you can email me here

I have "borrowed" these rules from another swap site as I thought they were fair and ensured everyone gets something safely by the opening day....

Ohhhh I am sooo excited!!!!!!!!!

ETA - a few of you have asked if it is ok if you are not in Australia, that is fine, we can post wherever.. I will make sure when the draw is done everyone is happy with where they are posting to.. (international swappers accepted)

ALSO - clarification on what you can make that falls into the category - anything "handmade" that is a christmas ornament or decoration; so it can be for the tree, the wall, the door, the window, the table etc. hope this makes sense.

The countdown is on!!

xEm

SWAP RULES

1.All swapees must give me their snail mail address, Phone number and private email address before the swap list is drawn otherwise they will not be included. This is so you can be contacted quickly if needed.

2. Once the swap list is published you must contact your swap partner within 7 days or you will be left out of the swap and your partner will be allocated another partner.

3. There are two types of swaps a. Down the line swap – this is where you send to the person after you on the list ie you receive from one person but send to a different person

4. MOST IMPORTANT - Through out the swap to keep in contact with your swap partner(s) via private messages or email. If you want to, you can give the person who is sending to you an idea of your likes and dislikes - or you can go for a complete surprise, it's up to you.

5. If for some reason you have to drop out of the swap – please contact your swap partners and me as quickly as possible, as we might be able to arrange a new swap partner for that person. In a down the line swap, if you find late in the swap that you need to drop out and you have already received your gift please send this gift on to the person you are sending to so they don’t miss out.

6. Before sending your parcel, take a photo and remember to include a note with your gift, telling how you decided to make what you did. If possible a personalized label on your gift is a great way for your swap partners to remember you for years to come. Post your pics on your blog after the parcel is received and link back to us!!

7. Please send your parcel allowing enough postage time to ensure your swap partner receives it by the swap opening date. Especially for posting overseas, check with the post office early so you know how long to allow for postage.

8. Once you have opened your gift, ensure you thank you swap partner and post a message on your blog to share a description of your gift for everyone to read.

9. If you find you are having problems with a swap partner: Before posting a message about this publicly please contact me and I will try to resolve it for you.

Please join in the fun

xxEm

The Garlic Twist

I just used my Garlic Twist (from Bel) and thought I should share it with all of you, it is so cool and so easy and mess free...
hmm loving the smell of garlic.
Have just whipped up a yummy marinade for some Lamb Cutlets for tonight's dinner.
(i dont know how I am so organised today either ;-) )
xx Em

Fave Four Finds (on Etsy)

Hi there everyone,
sorry am a bit late in putting up the 4 faves for the week...
Enjoy :-)



Bat Magnet by handmadebytammy, Print "Squeezed" by nutandbee, Nano Monkey by MonkeyTravelClub, Poo Softie by shelikescute

xx Em

Birthday, Birthday, Birthday

Well September has definitely been the month for celebrations for us! We celebrated a Friends wedding last weekend and this week we have had 3 birthday's with 2 more to follow! Whilst having a look on ETSY I could resist buying some of these beautiful little scrabble pendants to include in some of my birthday gifts. If your stuck for gift ideas visit Jesse Jane's shop here

Have a great day!

Bel x

Sunday Shadow Shot #8

Wow! I can't believe we are up to week 8 already (its getting a bit addictive looking for shadows). We have just spent a fabulous weekend away at South Stradbroke Island for one of the mum's in our playgroups wedding and I have to say a fantastic weekend was had by all!

My picture this week is of our VERY Pregnant friend Monica (2 weeks to go)! relaxing in the pool :)

Don't forget to check out all the other great shadow shots at Hey Harriet's Blog here

Enjoy, Bel x

Four Favorite ETSY Faves :)

Jeez! Trying saying that in a rush

Here are my picks for the week, I have to say it was very hard tonarrow it down to just four...



1. Matryoshka Softie...U pick colors...Custom from SewSewSuckurToe’s Shop (I was lucky enough to get a set of of these for Mother's Day this year to add to my Matryoshka collection)

2. Juniper from ProjectGrabBag’s Shop (I would LOVE one of these dolls for myself and that scooter fabric is fantastic!)

3. Red Daisy Sling Bag from Little Mary Moo's Shop (I am very tempted to buy this bag, although if you read my previous post you would know how bad I have already been lately, and with no Birthday, anniversary or anything in sight I may just have to hint at an early Christmas present ;)

4. Little Lion Costume Chunky Earflap Beanie from Babaialainn's Shop (I just had to add this one as it made me smile, I can just imagine a group of little boys all going ROAR!, plus they have a great range of super cute beanies for winter)

Enjoy, Bel x

Fabric...

I have been rather naughty in the last few weeks and have expanded my ever growing fabric collection (see below). Anyone that knows me well knows what a hopeless shopper I am! Up until recently (since our budget was tightened when I finished work) I wouldn't even try clothes on until I got home and then they would sit (tags on) in my wardrobe until I did the next big Spring clean and started all over again. But after the past weeks splurge I have decided that this it, my fabric boxes are overflowing so no more! I am not going to Spotlight for at least the next 6 months! But in the meantime have a look at the beautiful collection below...

I have to say though that ETSY is a very bad influence, whilst 'researching' for my four favorite ETSY finds (see tomorrow's post) I found yet another beautiful fabric supplier care of Little Mary Moo's shop, so I have tucked away this one in my favorites (pipijoe) ready for when the sales come rolling in and I need another fabric fix!!! ;)

Hope your having a lovely sunny day!

Bel xx

P.S If you are as bad as me you can find the above fabrics at the following:

1. Cute Animal Patchwork, Tiny Matroska Dolls, Black and White Elephants and Tiny Robots from LUCKY KAERU FABRIC & SUPPLIES on ETSY

2. Hippo Fabric from IKEA

3. Strawberries, Mini Polka dots and Red and White Stars from SPOTLIGHT

4. Slope Pink Birds, Japanese Navy Owls and Mini Cupcakes from FUNKY-FABRIX on Ebay

Happy Shopping :)

Free Shipping offer from our friends at LittleSparrowNest and gSakura

After featuring the gorgeous Mushroom set from LittleSparrowNest (see below in our four fave finds on Wednesday) they were so happy to be on our blog that they have offered our loyal readership free shipping on any item in either of their stores (LittleSparrowNest) or gSakura.

Thanks for a great offer you guys, your stuff is great

xx
Em & Bel

Shadow Shot Sunday #7

Morning Everyone,

well what an absolutely glorious Spring day (can you tell from the spring in my voice that Lucas has started to come around the corner and is slowly learning to sleep again !! Yay)


My Shadow today is my gorgeous little man playing with his bead maze in our lounge room, we have awesome big triangular windows and the shadows are just devine.





Have a great weekend everyone and a great week


xx Em
p.s. to join in shadow shot sunday or to look at other shadows go Here

Off to Market we go :)

Yep, as Em said below another month has rolled on by and we are getting ready for the monthly market that we attend at St Williams in Keppera. My DH knows to keep out of my way a few days before as I am frantically trying to finish all those half started projects that I had planned to add to our stock collection and my kitchen is full of yummy smells of Lemon Butter and Gingerbread Mums and Bubs. So don't forget for those of you living in the Brisbane area make sure you pop in and say Hi to us tomorrow at St Williams (details in post below)

Bel x

To Market, To Market

I am kinda known by friends, family and sometimes even strangers as the lady that remembers songs/nursery rhymes/jingles etc. Which I am sure is a great quality to have. I am sure though my parents wished I had remembered things like times tables and the periodic table, but instead I remember useless pieces of information!!

I remember one year on my report card a teacher writing something along the lines of "If Emily knew all her subjects as well as the words to the advertisements on television, she would be a straight A student." LOL too funny.

Anyway, keeping to the theme... I have decided to share an oldie but a goodie with you (mind you I did have to look up the subsequent verses to this one)

EmBelISH will be at the St. William's Craft market this Saturday from 8am - 12 noon so come and visit us !! 67 Dawson Parade, Keperra, Brisbane

you can also see Ali from Jellygnite too !

Watch the blog for posts of our yummy treats as they are baked in preparation for this event.

xx Em

To Market, To Market

To market, to market to buy a fat pig;

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

To market, to market, to buy a fat hog;

Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

To market, to market, to buy a plum cake;

Home again, home again, market is late.

To market, to market, to buy a plum bun;

Home again, home again, market is done.

To market, to market, a gallop a trot,

To buy some meat to put in the pot;

Three pence a quarter, a groat a side,

If it hadn't been killed it must have died

If you have gotten this far thanks for reading the whole post... and Bel I know you are rolling on the floor laughing at me knowing this one!! obscure enough for you ;-)

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Well things have been non stop around our house the last week or so. All good though, although an extra couple of hours a day wouldn't go astray. But I have to say we had a very productive weekend, even though it was Father's Day on Sunday my DH gladly gave up his day to help bring the ideas floating around in my head come to life.
Now that Saxon is getting bigger (and LOVES being outside) we have been thinking of making him a space outside (away from the dogs or namely the poo :( ) that can be his own. I wanted to make something that would not only keep him interested but also make him want to go outside and play. We are getting him a swing set for Christmas but I also wanted something that he could interact with on his own (being an only child) so we have fenced off one side of the house and this is going to be 'his area'. To brighten the space up I wanted to make some interactive boards to go on the fence. So on the weekend we started on board number 1 which has a car theme. It still has a far bit of work to be down on it, but I thought I would share a picture of what we have done so far.... I love this one of Sax discovering 'himself' looking back from the car headlights :)

Crafty wise I have been making some fabric covered button bookmarks this week using some extra large paperclips that I got from my brothers stash. No pictures yet but hopefully they will make it into our ETSY shop here soon

Bel x

The all New - Wednesday Etsy Faves !!!

Hi Everyone,

We have decided to feature our fave four finds on Etsy each Wednesday.

And for instalment one see my faves above..

xx Em

p.s. I have a slight fascination with "candy corn" as we have nothing like this that i know of in Australia... it seems a bit odd to me, but from everything I have read is delicious :-)

Sleepless and hoping for light at the end of the tunnel

How on earth can your body function without sleep, I am not really sure, but in my case - not very well.

For the past 5mths now my son has been waking around 5 to 6 times a night (he is not newborn - 20mths) and on the weekend it all came to a head. He has suffered from recurrent ear infections and we saw a specialist who diagnosed glue ear in both of his ears poor baby, so we went into the hospital last week for surgery to have grommets inserted... I think that after so long without sleeping I had somewhere in my mind pinned all my hopes of sleep on 2 tiny little plastic tubes. So the surgery was a success.. until the next morning when one of the grommets decided to explode out of his ear :-( oh the misery.

So after having the worst day of my life yesterday (sorry DH this conincided with Father's Day) I have tracked down a paediatric nurse consultant or I am hoping "baby whisperer" who is going to visit me on Friday with all the answers.

God I hope she has the answers....

To have time to sew, clean, cook, think again would be great (hmm maybe not in that order)

xx
Em (aka sleepless in Wongawallan)

Shadow Shot #6

In keeping with my previous shadows I thought I should include another member of our family, our very old (14 years) and grey staffy named Jessie :) She was quite confused at what I was trying to do and was not complying with the original shot I had in mind of a full body shadow against the fence (plus Sax was trying to ride her like a horse) but I think you will agree she is a beautiful girl!To see more of the SSS shots make sure you visit here

Hope all the Dad's out there had a great Day!
Cheers Bel x

Time to get organised....

OK Well I have enjoyed the first day of my mum arriving, but now its time to get serious :) this is how my work desk is currently looking and I sat down last night and wrote a list longer than my arm of all the jobs I have half started and stuff I would like/need to get done while my #1 babysitter is visiting (Think I am kidding myself, but you have got to have goals) My aim is to make at least one thing a day and anything more would be fantastic ;)
Today's project is to tidy up my desk and make Sax a little hanger/organiser for our new car. Yep in all the madness this week we have sold our car and downsized to something a bit smaller and much to mine and Sax's horror there are no back pockets in the seats for his car toy stash, my DH thinks I am mad, but as I tried to explain to him last night it was great to be able to stuff the collection of 'car' toys including Teddy who has come on every car trip since Sax came home into that little pocket and everything was tidy. SO I am aiming to make a bigger slightly different version of the hairclip holders© with elastic and bigger pockets then loops to go around the headrest in this great little car fabric found at Spotlight yesterday (don't even get me started on that one, I have banned myself for life!)
Well that's enough banter from me for one day, I am off to enjoy a cuppa and research car insurance while our house is still quiet and get onto some of that sewing....
Bel x

EmBelISH Hairclip Holders© - Finally for Sale...

I have finally found the time to sit down and list the EmBelISH hairclip holders© that I have had in the making for the last couple of weeks. In all honesty I have slightly modified a design by my good friend Kate, who with her second baby just weeks away said she would never have time to get some made and thought they would make a great addition to the EmBelISH offerings. So a Huge Thank you goes out to Kate for her super craftiness!!!!



You can purchase them from our ETSY store here

and here is a pic to give you an idea of what I am talking about...

My mum AKA 'Supper Nanny Anne' arrives tomorrow night so I am hoping to have my sewing machine smoking over the next few weeks and have another 10 fabric choices available plus about a million (ok about a dozen) other half finished or need to be started projects finished over the next month. So watch this space! (I have always wanted to say that ;)