day 103: a thank you to my mum

just to let you know how much i love you mum
xxxxxx

day 103 and its time to say thanks to my sweet mum ... we live together and she is wonderful to me and my children, my children adore her. as we are so close both in a literal sense and as friends, i sometimes forget to take the time to tell her how wonderful she is, so today i am going to leave her a wee token on her bed so she knows.

this is the saying i found on pinterest and immediately added to my 'likes'

the only thing better than having you for a MOM

is my children having you for a GRANDMA

if you like this saying, you can buy it on etsy from piccadilly peddler who has it on a wooden plaque which looks really cute ... i'll have to see whether it comes with a 'mum' instead of a 'mom', would be a neat little gift for mother's day next year :)

today i am going to print it off on some lightly patterned paper, give it some bling, and wrap it around a chocolate bar, then leave it on her bed to find when she arrives home from work!  the only things i changed to personalise the saying for my mother was the mom to mum and the grandma to granny (what my kids call her).

buy chocolate, add a wrapper, and you are
good to go and make someone's day :)

happiness in acknowledging my mum today :)

outcome:  totally the desired effect! my mum loves it because it wasn't expected and she knows how much i appreciate and adore her ... awesome :)

thanks to piccadilly peddler for giving such a lovely saying a home on something permanent ... it's a fantastic idea!

day 102: roald dahl inspiration

the quote that is framed and now sits
next to her bed ... 

day 102 and today's quote comes from one of my favourite authors ... roald dahl ... love his books and so do my peeps, i mean, really, what's not to love about the bfg :)  i repinned the quote below onto my kids bedrooms board and the original pin was from jen fernie's blog.  the quote is from the minpins book written by roald dahl and published posthumously and i think it is so inspiring especially in today's world where we need to find a little more magic in the everyday given how fast we now live our lives.

the quote is:

And above all watch with glittering

eyes the whole world around you because

the greatest secrets are always 

hidden in the most unlikely places.

Those who don’t believe in magic

will never find it.

Roald Dahl

my daughter is as passionate about fairies as ben is about books.  for pollyanna the world is perfect, there are fairies and rainbows, sugared candy and ribbons, there are princes and princesses, and most definitely happily ever afters.  she sees the cup as always full, even when its full of air, and the world is most definitely full of fairies and elves doing wonderful things.  it could be her age, it could be her beliefs, it could be she sees things i don't see, but whatever it is i hope she never loses it.  so i have chosen to put this in her room to remind us all life doesn't have to be without magic, you just have to make the choice to believe in it and find it :)

i typeset the quote in powerpoint and printed it at home on photo paper ... i like the glossy look for something like this!  i then framed it and put it next to her bed.

i hope i spend more time with glittering eyes watching the
world's magic now ;)

outcome: my little girl peep has always inspired me to see things with open eyes and while this is in her bedroom i think it will do more for me seeing it each night when i tuck her in and kiss her goodnight than it will for her.  but if she ever needs reminding it will be there for her too :)

day 101: reading is dreaming with open eyes :)

for ben with love

day 101 and some of my favourite time spent on pinterest is reading the inspirational, challenging, fun, thought provoking, and/or endearing quotes and sayings pinned to peoples boards.  i have many that are pinned to my boards that resonate with me for one reason or another.  this week i am going to spend a whole week dedicated to these quotes and sayings and use them in different ways, shapes, and forms!

today's creation uses this saying:

reading is dreaming with open eyes

it can be found on my kids bedrooms board and was originally pinned from the piccsy website and i loved it as soon as i saw it because it reminds me of my son ... my son reads and that's an understatement. he reads with passion like no one i know.  his best friends are books, once he finished hockey practice yesterday his best friend was a famous five omnibus.  he reads really fast, faster than his mum or dad because he needs to know the story once it has started and i love that.  even though he reads fast he never misses the details because that's what best friends do.  i dream when i listen to sport, for him it is books.

for that reason this saying is being made into a pillow for his bed ... just in case anyone forgets what books mean to him and why they are so important to him ... like me when i find him sitting by his door with his pillow using the hall light to finish reading a book at 9pm ... his aunt was just the same and luckily she turned out awesome (i'm not biased at all)!

the actual creation is really easy, i typed it up in word and then printed it out on fabric, sewed it into a cushion, and threw it on his bed!  if you haven't printed on fabric before, YOU SHOULD ... it's just so cool and the tutorial i did on day 28 from the pickled pepper patch gives you all the info you need to do it yourself :)

the printed saying on fabric

it's resting place :)

outcome:  a neat pillow with something special on it that reminds me how ben sees the world through books ... now that's a cool creation and what's more he loves it too :)

day 100 ... we made it this far so lets make some halloween neighbour gift's :)

the halloween neighbour presents :)

day 100 and we have made it to the three digit milestone, only 265 days left in this adventure!  today we are making some quick and easy halloween gifts for the neighbours :)  halloween is always a busy time around here with birthday's and everything else that goes along with that time of the year.  i decided this year i would pop something in our neighbours letterboxes for fun for halloween.

i am going to use jen from a thousand words idea of giving gifts in wrapped pringles can's ... but instead of cookies i am going to give them pringles because it will mean they can be made and organised today :)  i pinned this jen's idea to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.  i would prefer to give them home baking but it can't be made in advance so that will have to wait for another occasion!

i am also using some free printables, happy halloween tags i found on eighteen25, and two halloween printables, this one from craftily ever after and this one from mrs. adventure.  all of these are pinned to my holiday goodness board :)

materials and printables needed

i went for the traditional colours of orange, black, and white for this creation.  i used scrapbooking paper to cover the cans and glued it down nice and firm.  the round halloween labels were stuck to the top and the other printables i used to adorn the sides of the canisters.  they were then wrapped in ribbon and ready to sneak into letter boxes later next month!

the covered pringles canister

the labelled and ribboned canisters

with happy halloween tags under the bows

outcome:  what's not to like, it's over a month away from halloween and i have gifts all ready to give.  actually these pringles cans are so easy to cover i will have to buy more just so i can wrap them ... they look so pretty when done :)

my thanks to a thousand words, eighteen25, craftily ever after, and mrs. adventure for all the wonderful inspiration and free printables that made my 100th creation possible :)

day ninety nine: reusable fabric wrapping sacks

present one wrapped and ready to send :)

day ninety nine and i took a second to wonder whether it was too early to think about christmas wrapping ... then realised NO it's never to early to think about christmas or the wrapping that will need to be done :)  if you are not a christmas addict, i am really sorry for bringing christmas into your year so early.

the other week my sweet mum and i went and did some early christmas shopping.  i try and spread mine christmas shopping out over the last half of the year to ease the financial pressure of my spending!  i thought i would also start my christmas wrapping early as well because i have found some much wonderful wrapping inspiration on pinterest and i want to make sure i have time to give lots of it a go.  i know if i leave it all until december the wrapping will take backstage due to time running out :)  all the wrapping ideas including today's are pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.

today's christmas wrapping idea comes from keana who was a guest writer on the kanu hawaii website.  keana is an eco graphic designer and has written about ways to use less paper and more reusable wrapping ideas when it comes to christmas.  if you like the sound on fabric wrapping and don't have access to a sewing machine you can buy ready made reusable wrapping from here at lucky crow.

if you do have a sewing machine, i think its worth a go and that's just what i did today!  first i gathered my material, you need two co-ordinating fabric's for each gift sack. the next step is to measure the height of the present and the circumference.  once you have these measurements add 4" to the circumference and 6" to the height of the present, these new measurements give you the dimensions you need to cut out for the main fabric of your sack.  the second fabric is to line the top of the bag with so it adds some interest to the wrapping sack!  this piece needs to be the same width of the first fabric but only 6" in depth. some simple steps for creating these bags are below with photos :)

the two pieces of fabric cut and ready to sew

with right sides facing each other, pin and sew along what
is the top of the sack

iron this seam flat

with wrong sides facing iron the seam flat from this side now

now moving to the side of the sack pin together the side
seam with the right sides facing out to you (we are going
to do a french seam :) ... then sew with a 1/4" seam

now turn the sack so it is inside out and iron it flat, then
sew down the same side seam but with a 1/2" seam. turn
sack so it is now right side out ... isn't that a cool seam,
i love how it hides all the mess!

now turn to the the bottom of your sack and pin the end
closed then sew along this seam with a 1/4" seam (we are
also going to close the bottom with a french seam!)
then turn the sack inside out and sew along the bottom
seam again this time with a 1/2" seam.

turn the sack in the right way and its ready..

fill with the presents you measured earlier ....

tie the top with a ribbon and you can consider the present
wrapped!

i just need one of jen's awesome cards to adorn my package now ... hint hint ;)

outcome:  such a great idea ... i absolutely love that one of my sister's children will receive this gift for christmas and she will be able to use the wrapping the following year!  i plan to do some for my peeps gifts and will just stash the reusable wrapping in with the xmas decorations for next year ... COOL! they are really easy to make and don't take that long to finish ... pleased that i have started this early with my wrapping though, as i can't imagine taking this much care on christmas eve with everything else going on!

my thanks today goes to keana who has enlightened me in terms of reusable packing, it doesn't just need to be newspaper to make wrapping environmentally friendly ... get the sewing machine out and start making some gift sacks that can carry on giving long after the gift has been exchanged :)

day ninety eight: emergency preparedness kit

the start of the emergency kit with a 52 week plan to
complete :) such a great idea

day ninety eight and embarrassingly i must admit to the fact we do not have an emergency survival kit.  i have thought about doing one many times, especially after christchurch's terrible earthquakes and realising that no matter how well organised your country is for a major disaster you need to be able to survive on your own for 72 hours. the major reasons for not doing it have always been the overwhelming amount of things to organise for it and the cost that goes along with that.

fear not any more as the very sweet stefanie from the blog lovely little snippets has given you a week by week guide to putting one together over a year .... for me this alleviates that sense of overwhelming i get every time i see a disaster on the news and realise my family is not prepared.  so today's p365 creation is the start of our own emergency disaster survival kit.  i knew i would get a lot out of doing 365 days of pinterest creations but this is one of those days when you realise its also having a really positive effect on your life!

i started with stefanie's list and then adapted it according to the information i found here on parents.com and then also made some small adjustments to the list with the information i found here for new zealand emergency preparedness.  my final week-by-week guide for putting together my emergency survival kit is pictured below.  if you would like me to email you the word document just drop me a note here.

my 52 week plan of attack to complete
the emergency kit

i then found a storage container to house the kit and laminated a refresh list and stuck it to the top.  this refresh list is such a great idea as it makes sure your emergency kit things get renewed according to expiry dates of items in the box ... how organised is that! i also laminated a list of all the important phone numbers and stuck that inside the box.

the refresh list glued to the top

some of the items we did have so i could start adding
straight away ... a seven week head start!

some of the items (not many) we did have around the house so i added those things to the container ... with  seven 'bonus' items in the container, i'm only 45 weeks from completing the kit ... COOL!

i am SO excited to have this weight lifting off my shoulders
and to have a positive plan to solve the problem :)

outcome: pending ... we will see if i am ready in 365 days time! while it might not be completely ready for a year i now know each week i will be getting closer to being prepared for a disaster and that is better to me than not being ready at all!  i hope never to activate this emergency kit but i will rest easier knowing i am on my way to being organised if one did occur and that is awesome!

i can't thank stefanie at lovely little snippets enough for putting this post up on her blog, it has given me the ability to prepare my family in case of emergency without being overwhelmed by it ... thank you so much stefanie from the bottom of my heart :)

day ninety seven: chunky twix cookies

the chunky twix cookies ... honestly so very very good :)

day ninety seven and the cupboards are bare mother hubbard so its time to get baking.  just as well i have the best recipe book on hand thanks to the fine pinning that goes on pinterest ...  today's recipe from sprinkled with flour for chunky twix cookies is another winner.  this recipe was pinned to my recipe must do's board and was featured on the lovin the oven blog.

the star ingredient

as this recipe calls for two cups of diced up twix bars, i'm not even going to try and defend this recipe as healthy ... this recipe just looks far too delicious!  you will need the heavy machinery out for the creaming of sugar and butter but apart from that, the recipe looks fairly straight forward :)

my chopped up twix bars

these smell as good as they taste .... mmmmm

outcome:  go MAKE them today ... these are SO good, better than chocolate chip cookies and really easy to make.  they are my favourite cookie so far, absolutely delicious.  i can't tell you whether its the chewy caramel bits or the actual cookie recipe that does it, it's just a scrummo combination :)

big thanks to sprinkled with flour for trying new combinations and then sharing them with us, these cookies made my day and it was a day when i needed something sweet to happen and these were it!  it's no wonder your partner thought these were worth more than just a grunt!