Six months in

Six months! Six whole months! We have been living in the new place for six months! And what have we done in that time....not a whole lot! 

I have plans. Oh, do I have plans! But I don't have a lot of time. Or available funds. Or a clear path of how I should tackle all these plans.

Im doing the whole 'do a little bit in every room at the same time so the whole house looks in renovation stage for a really, unnecessarily long time' thing.

I just get an idea, and instantly feel inspired to try it out regardless if the 5 year old's bedroom is still covered in paint swatches and pictures waiting to be hung on freshly painted walls. 

case in point.

more paint swatches and trim work

even the pergola is covered in swatches!

I started the pergola first. Ten days after we moved in I felt compelled to paint it a sultry shade of charcoal. The bits that I have done look uh-mazing!But then it got hot-waaaay hot. Then I just wasn't motivated. And now it is cold, waaaay cold. And I look out there wistfully every day imagining how awesome it will look once its finished. And I think to myself 'today I will just go out there and start painting'. But then I do something else.  

But little lady is the clear winner in this here 'battle of the rooms'. Her room is actually, very nearly DONE! I'm not even joking. She had a very clear brief. Pink. 'Pink walls Mummy'. I protested. I tried persuading her my way. I had a vision of her room and pink walls were not in that vision. But how could I resist? She is very persuasive! In the end, we have compromised. She got her pink walls, but I chose the shade and got to stick gold polka dots over them.

MY original vision for her bedroom. Vintage yellow wallpaper, reclaimed furniture, mismatched decor and bedding...

sneek peak of her actual bedroom

I  must apologise for the sh*t quality of photos. A little photography course is on my to-do list but until then, its iPhone photos all the way. 

I still need to paint the trim in her room and now that I have finally decided on which shade that will be (Dulux Vanilla Quake) , I just need a day where she doesn't mind being kicked out of her own room all day again. 

Until then, ill keep chipping away at every single room in our house, a little bit at a time, just enough to drive the husbot completely insane. 

Lisa 

A 'Lila' Loopsy 3rd birthday party

So Lila turned 3 a few days ago. My sweet little baby girl. No longer a baby and barely a toddler. She is heading in to 'preschooler' territory. 

And for this past year, she has been obsessed with the idea of having a 'la la loopsy party'. It is all she has talked about-for a whole year! The funny thing is, she had never even seen a la la loopsy episode. We dont have pay tv. She just happened to see the toys at a friends house one day and has not stopped talking about them ever since. 

DIY La La Loopsy invitations

our sweet little 'crumbs sugar cookie'

complete with 'only-for-the-birthday-girl' headband

and just because Lila was dressing up, Marley had to as well. 

Really getting in to character...

viola! I cant tell if it's creepy or cute. Either way, would of made a great Halloween costume had it not been her birthday party

Pink, orange and yellow were the colours of the party. Complete with lots of clashing patterns!

DIY 'Crumbs Sugar Cookie' cake 

Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing and sugar buttons

cloud  sugar cookies with blue 'stitching' detail

pink and yellow striped paper straws in DIY washi taped jar

thank you bags

self serve drink station with colourful dotty paper cups

 We had the party at home and it was so nice to have our friends and family here for one last soiree in the little house........wait, whaaaaaat!?!! 

Yes, you read that right..... More on that to come!

I wont bore you with all the itty bitty decorating details but if you have any questions about what, why or how I did something, or where I sourced something, please feel free to add your questions in to the comments section. 

 Lisa xx

Teddy Bears Picnic Party

Before Marley's 1st birthday party, I had already decided on the theme for his second birthday. 

This was back in the day when I was convinced I was destined to be a mother of only boys. I just knew our next child was going to be another boy and a third was completely out of the question. 

So I figured my only chance to throw a teddy bears picnic, was going to be for Marley's 2nd birthday, while he was still little and cute and loved his teddy bear and was too young to care about batman or Ben 10. 

I went into a lot of effort for the party, like a crazy amount of DIY was happening all over the place. I partly blame it on the pregnancy hormones but the reality is, im just crazy like that. 

Party table

A couple of months before the party, I set about making and gathering decorations. The first thing I did was make this tree back-drop out of brown and green card. Took me back to my primary school days! And you can't beat cheap-as-chips for budget decorations like this red-gingham table cloth. I think it was about $2. seriously! 

Teddy Bears Picnic party cake with matching cupcakes

The cake took FOREVER! All those little fondant decorations, and that picnic blanket was certainly no picnic to make. And you wouldn't believe how bad my hands cramped up piping all that grass BUT the cake turned out alright in the end and the buttercream grass tasted so yummy and not like grass at all. 

teddy bears lolly bags

The lolly bags were brown paper bags, filled with lollies of course. Red and blue personalised labels with a teddy bear cut out and red gingham bows to finish.

Teddy Bear racers

Beehive pinata

My first and only attempt so far at a DIY pinata. This thing took waaaay longer than I expected! I buy them pre-made these days....

the teddy bears picnic

Picnic for the teddy bears....they must be running late!

Pin the bow-tie on the teddy bear game

DIY pin the bow-tie on the teddy bear. This was a bit cute!

My beautiful blonde boy (left) back when he still had a hint of curls

So that was Marley's 2nd birthday. Now, he is a big 4 year old! And the batman and transformers and lego talk has been going on awhile now. We've done Under the Sea, a Teddy Bears Picnic, a train party and a beach party. I have managed to avoid a character themed party so far, but im sure ive got one coming for the big 5 party this year.


 Lisa xx

Lila's whimsical nursery

Lila's eclectic, whimsical nursery

This was my little girls nursery. 

When we found out we were expecting a girl, well to say I was overjoyed would be a serious, serious understatement. I think I kind of went into shock a little! I wanted a little girl so desperately but I had myself convinced that the baby was another boy. I had been buying extra little boys clothes, designing a boys nursery and even referring to my bump as 'Max' our choice for a boys name at the time. And I was so looking forward to having another little boy, and for Marley to have a little brother. 

I remember the moment the sonographer told us it was a girl. I didn't believe her. I asked her to check again. I asked her what chances she had of being wrong. I asked her if she had gotten it wrong before. Thankfully Paul was there to give me a gentle 'shut-up-I-think-you-are-offending-her-nudge'. I sat in the waiting room afterwards in complete and utter bewilderment. I just couldn't believe we could be so lucky. One of each, it seemed too good to be true!! 

I had so many different ideas for what to do for her nursery. I initially started going for a really vintage look but my taste is so eclectic and I knew it would be hard for me to stick to one era or theme. 

Lila's nursery was a real mix of modern pieces, vintage finds and DIY. 

Her cot and change table were both sourced locally via ebay. 

The replica eames rocker I bought online.

The vintage dressing table was purchased from a second-hand antiques dealer. 

The bedding, cushions, bunting, fabric pom-poms, and fabric-covered boxes were all DIY projects of mine. 

Expedit unit from Ikea

Lila's room evolved as she grew older. When she learned how to climb out of her cot and kamikaze it to the floor, we thought we had better move her into a big girl bed. 

Lila's big girl bed with bedding from Spotlight

This gorgeous vintage iron bed was sourced from Gumtree. I love this bed! It is such a divine bed for a little girl. The doona cover set was a bargain at Spotlight for only $29.95!  However, I have bundles and bundles of fabric ready and waiting for me to get started on her rag quilt. Hopefully it will be ready by next winter....

Sadly, this gorgeous little room exists no more. A few months ago we made the decision to move both of our children into Lila's room so that Marley's room could be used as a shared playroom and office space.

 

I'm hoping to finish both rooms over the summer....hoping!

Lisa xx

Lila's 1st Birthday-Wizard of Oz

Our little girl turned one in December last year. Now, I'm a lady that likes my themes. When I say like, I mean LOVE and I tend to go a little overboard. Lila's 1st birthday was no exception! 

I am however, a lady on a budget and really cant justify paying money to someone to do something for me that I could easily make/bake/create/decorate myself!

I love DIY. I love getting creative. I don't love the hours and hours and constant stream of late nights leading up to these parties but I just.cant.help.myself!

So, for Lila's first birthday I went all out...within a budget.

The invitation really set the theme

Wizard of Oz 1st Birthday Invitation

From there, I had to cull the millions of ideas I had running around inside my head into just a few. That was hard. VERY hard!

I knew I wanted Lila to be dressed as Dorothy so I set to work designing and making her costume. 

The birthday girl in her DIY Dorothy costume

I'm only a beginner sewer so the quality is probably terrible, but she looked cute on the day and that was the main thing!

Dorothy Costume from the back

For Lila's costume I made her a little apron out of some gingham fabric I bought at Spotlight.
I loosely followed this tutorial from The Dating Divas I then added a little white trim to the edges and a red sequinned letter 'L' to the front. 
I also made her a little blue tutu to go under the apron from this tutorial I found at 
The Idea Room.
 Her 'ruby red slippers' were from Pumpkin Patch and the little red hair bow I think from Big W? 

Unfortunately on the day she wasn't feeling very well so we didn't get many pictures of her smiling. Poor little poppet. 

PARTY DETAILS

THEME

Wizard of Oz

INVITATIONS

little house inspired.

as pictured above.

VENUE

Our house

DECORATIONS

'Somewhere over the rainbow' balloon backdrop with DIY birthday bunting made from doilies, blue card and red cut-out letters

DIY witches legs decoration-red shoes from op shop, and children's striped tights stuffed
with newspaper and placed under the the kids cubby house

We also had a 'follow the yellow brick road'. We made this from yellow A3 card which we taped to the floor in our house leading guests from the front door through to the back deck where the party was. BUT we forgot to take a photo of it. 

PARTY FOOD

CAKE

Wizard of Oz Birthday Cake

Handmade fondant Wizard of Oz characters

CUPCAKES

Red velvet 'Ruby Slipper' cupcakes

Rainbow cupcakes with DIY cupcake toppers to match the bunting

COOKIES

Sparkly ruby red number 1 sugar cookies

Toto sugar cookies

OTHER SWEET TREATS

Tin Man's heart chocolates

Sparkly red cake pops

I am yet to find a nice looking way to display my cake pops without them having to lay down or knock each other over.....

PARTY GAMES/ACTIVITIES

DIY Pin-the-heart on the tin man game.

Somewhere over the rainbow...number 1 pinata

We also had a face painter for all the kids. However, instead of ending up with 'lions and tigers and bears oh my' we ended up with 'skeletons, and spider-mans and fairies oh my'!?! Still, very cute and lots of fun though.

LOLLY BAGS

lolly bags with DIY thank you tags, string and sparkly
 red bows for the girls bags and gingham bows for the boys.

So, that was Lila's first birthday. As I mentioned in my previous post on Marleys 3rd birthday train party , this year we are having a joint birthday party for the kids. I figure this is probably the only year we will get away with doing it. They are still young enough to let me choose the theme, although Marley required quite alot of persuasion and compromise this year, Lila really has no idea. She loves playing with her dolls but that is all she is really into. She doesnt really watch TV so I have so far escaped anything 'Dora' or 'Disney Princess' themed. I am going to enjoy that while it lasts!

Until then, my plan is to keep updating this blog with a few more parties we have already had including Marley's Under the Sea 1st birthday party, his Teddy Bear's Picnic 2nd birthday party and my husbands Wild West 30th. 

Lisa xx