A boring wall is now a happy family wall...

In early January my little family had some amazing professional family photos taken at Luna Park, Sydney by Tea & Jam Photography. I couldn't be more thrilled with the photos - so fun, relaxed and vibrant! After the photo shoot we had the tough job of choosing 10 shots from the bunch and when they arrived a few weeks ago in their gorgeous white box I was thrilled and bought 10 simple white frames straight away for the pics to go in.

So as today is a wet and rainy day outside I thought I'd take advantage of being stuck inside and have finally hung all the photos, Hooray!

BEFORE:



It was a bit of a tricky predicament to work out a way to hang all ten frames, because
1. We rent our house so aren't allowed to hammer any hooks/nails etc let alone 10 of them into the walls
2. I wanted all 10 photos grouped together rather than spread out (I think all together they kind of tell a story)
After a little floating the web, flicking through home magazines and books and talking to girlfriends about it I found the perfect solution - A Ribbon Display.
With just a few metres of white upholstery webbing tape, some thumb tacks & 10 drapery hooks I had three lengths of 'ribbon' hanging from our picture rails:


after a little working out the best set up combination of the vertical and horizontal frames our family photos were hanging in no time!

AFTER:

Are you Aware?

As some of my long time regular readers would know, Autism is a cause very close to me and my family as our eldest daughter, Felicity, has a severe form of the condition. Felicity is one very happy little girl who seems to have an effect on all those who meet her - people just want to help her in some way. So without further ado I announce to you all our exciting new fundraising efforts Running The Marathon Of Autism. 5 individual and amazing women have separately pledged to run either the Sydney City 2 Surf, the Sydney 1/2 Marathon or the Melbourne full Marathon all in aid of raising funds to helps us sustain and increasing the effectiveness of Felicity’s intensive full time Son-Rise Program™ that day by day takes us closer to curing her Autism.
We are just blown away at the generosity and determination of these awesome women and are madly setting up a website HERE to help us in our bid to get this cause noticed so we can start the sponsorship donations rolling in.
There are many, many exciting things in the works for this campaign so be sure to follow us on Twitter at HERE at www.twitter.com/Marathon4Autsim and join our Facebook fan page HERE to stay up to date with everything.

April is Autism Awareness Month. In an effort to spread the message of awareness about this still unexplainable condition that effect 1 in every 150 children, on the night of April 1, prominent buildings across the world including the Empire State Building in New York City and the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada will be lit up blue to raise awareness for autism and to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day on Friday, April 2.


In Australia Federation Square, Melbourne, King George Square, Brisbane and The Bell Tower, Perth will all be turning on their lights blue to show their support of world Autism Awareness Day.
The aim is "to light the world blue – city by city, town by town – by taking action to raise awareness about autism in our communities" for more information on the Light It Up Blue campaign check out www.lightitupblue.org

Other things you can do to Light It Up Blue:
* Change your Facebook profile picture to the Light It Up Blue logo and tag at least 10 of your friends.
* Post on your blog about Light It Up Blue to raise autism awareness. You could feature items that are blue you make &/or sell.
* Have an etsy shop? choose any blue items to be your shops 'Featured items' with a little blurb about Light It Up Blue or make a treasury of all blue items with a link back to Light It Up Blue
* Add the Light It Up Blue logo to your e-mail signature … and type your e-mails in blue.
* On April 2 wear blue clothing and ask your co-workers, schools and friends to wear blue too. Take pictures and add them to the Light It Up Blue Flickr gallery HERE.
* Bake puzzle piece shaped cookies and frost them with blue icing, then bring them to your school, work or place of worship to raise autism awareness.


Stay tuned for all the exciting news in regards to Running The Marathon Of Autism.

Hot cross buns, cupcakes and chocolate eggs - all rolled into one!

YUM! When I found this recipe I knew straight away Miss 2 and I would be making these for Easter brunch at my sister-in-laws place on Easter Sunday.
I wish I could remember where I found it originally (sorry) but I do remember it was marked as 'kid friendly' and 'easy' recipe so why not get your kiddies helping and make these for an Easter treat.

Cupcakes:
125g butter, at room temperature
¾ cup icing sugar, sieved
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups self-raising flour, sieved
1/3 cup full-cream milk
12 small solid chocolate eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (160° fan-forced). Line tin with cases.
2. With electric beaters on high speed, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well to incorporate before adding next egg. Add vanilla with last egg. Mix in flour and milk until just combined.
3. Evenly divide mixture between cases. Push chocolate egg into centre of each so it is covered with cake mixture, but not touching bottom of case. Bake for 20 to 25 mins or until cakes have risen and are cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Icing:
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
1½ tbsp golden syrup
50g butter, extra
½ tsp vanilla extract, extra
75g white chocolate

1. Combine sugar, condensed milk, syrup, extra butter and vanilla in saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 5 mins or until sugar has dissolved. Stir regularly. Remove from heat, allow to thicken and cool slightly before spreading over cakes.
2. When icing is cool, melt chocolate in bowl in microwave for 1 to 2 mins on medium heat. Stir every 30 secs with metal spoon. Transfer to piping bag and pipe white cross on top of cakes.

I plan to finish off the Easter look by popping these into some yellow Spring Bunny cupcake wrappers from The Cupcake Wrapper Co - cute hey?!


Happy Easter!

Easter Goodies.... not just chocolate!

If you haven't managed to get all the bits and pieces you need for Easter gifts, baking and decorating then you better hop to it (hehehe)... I'm a chocolate LOVER but my kiddies will be getting so much of it from their grandparents, aunties and uncles that I thought I could find them something non chocolate for this Easter... here are some (Aussie made) goodies that caught my eye.


Felt Easter Bunny - Fiber and Textile


Easter Magnetic Bookmarks - Tiges and Weince


Rag Tag bunnies - Karimu


Vintage Chenille Easter Chick - Vintage Chenille

Cathching up with family and friends over the Easter break? why not take a little plate of goodies with you with a sweet Easter theme?


Spring Bunny cupcake wrappers - The Cupcake Wrapper Co


Easter Bunny Gift Box - Pixels Plus Paper

A splash of Easter for your home


Bunny Stop Here Door Sign - The Paper Tie Affair


Pretty Pastel bunting banner - Giggleberry Creations

And something for you and you Easter sweetheart


His & Hers egg cups - Hundreds of Buttons

Giggleberry is a 'Momtrend'

A huge thanks to Nicole, mum and editor of the US based Momtrends blog, for her gorgeous review of Giggleberry Creations.
You might recall from HERE I made Nicole this custom bunting banner in lilac and mint fabrics for her little girl...


... Well "Most Chic Bunting Banners" is the review title and Nicole writes "I am over the moon for the lavender and mint creations I ordered a few months ago". Take a look for yourself at what else Nicole has to say about Giggleberry HERE and while your there have a poke around this great mum friendly blog.

Make your own bunting decorated birthday cake!

Remember my post (HERE) from just the other day about Birthdays with Bunting? In the post was a great idea for a bunting decorated birthday cake I found over at Little.Lovely. blog. Such a simple yet such an effective way to decorate a cake for your next party, no matter what the theme!
So to make it even easier for us guess what has just popped up onto Little.Lovely. blog.... How to instructions! So you can make your very own - How to make bunting for a child's birthday cake! Yay!

All you need is:
- Ribbon
- Two sheets of patterned paper in coordinating colours
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Double sided tape
Then just by following the super simple steps and photos found HERE you're cake will be looking very festive indeed!


I adore this idea! With a quick stop into the scrapbooking papers section of your local craft shop just imagine the different colours, patterns and themes you could do it for... Red, yellow & blue papers for a circus party, pink floral papers for a girly tea party, bright green patterned papers for a monster party, pink and purple sparkly paper for a fairy party.... I could go on and on!

I had a quick play with some pink and mint coloured papers I had lying around and cut smaller triangles attached to a shorter ribbon to use on cupcakes - cute hey?

Dream work space in a cupboard!

I'm in love!... I want to do this to a cupboard!
Thanks to Sonja from Tied With A Bouw for sharing her find of a gorgeous, amazing and so practical home office. You can check it out on Country Living HERE
This would work so well for little old WAHM me! Our house isn't big enough for me to claim an entire room as a work area but if we were to make use of a cupboard like this I could just close up the doors when not in use and you wouldn't even know it's there - perfect!

BEFORE:


AFTER:



So out of pure lust and for a bit of fun I went floating through the web and became my own interior decorator.... I can wish, can't I?
My dream office cupboard would be decorated in all deep berry purple, silver and white and I just LOVED the idea of a Chandelier in the original one so would absolutely make sure I had one of those too!


Wall paper: Eijffinger Bazaar
Chandelier, desk chair, wall organizer: Ikea
Filing cabinet: Office Furniture
Cushion: Target
Potted plants: zgallerie
Laptop: Apple
Work space inspiration image 'White by Kikki K'

Now to show hubby.....

Birthdays with Bunting

I am in LOVE with party planning at the moment! After planning my boy's 1st birthday Pirate Party (see HERE) I came across so many great party blogs that I just had to start following that are now a daily read (actually a nightly read... after the kids are in bed, sewing is done, emails are answered etc etc etc)
In my floating through party blogs my eyes are always drawn to anything bunting and I just LOVE the many, many ways people use the festive decoration. With all these great idea rolled into one you could have a bunting themed birthday party!


If you are having a party you always need to start with the invites. How about these from Sambellina


This cake is from a fun blue and green dinosaur party by Little Lovely. Such a simple but so effect way to decorate a birthday cake and by changing the colours of the 'flags' you can make it work for what ever your party colour palette is.


Bunting is always a winner hanging behind the cake table just like with this Candy Shoppe Wedding Party by Red Robin Studio


And of course you'll need a party outfit for the birthday boy or girl! (sorry, I totally forgot to keep the link to this item - whoops!... I found it on esty if that's any help...)


With the party all organised you'll need to think about the gifts and cards like this cutie... Check out the DIY instructions HERE

And don't forget the best decoration... some Giggleberry fabric bunting banners! Such a great splash of fun for a party that can be used year after year!

Customer Feedback Photos

I love these photos! So bright, fun and happy!! If I had been at the latest Mathildas Market in Melbourne I absolutely would have been drawn to this cheerful table set up of Just Treasures!!


I was thrilled to be asked to make a custom banner for Athanasia from Just Treasures and loved the finished product using the gorgeous Tweet Tweet fabric from Micheal Miller with hot pink letters!



Looks like there was some gorgeous items up for grabs - I hope the day was a great success for Just Treasures and a BIG thanks for sharing these pics!
You can see more photos and stay up to date with Just Treasures through their facebook page HERE

Giggleberry and dress up parties!

Wow! Giggleberry has been spotted on the HUGE international kids blog - Bloesem Kids!


A big thanks to Jen from the online style network for mums, Mini Stylista, for including Giggleberry's Strawberries and Cream bunting banner in the post HERE about kids birthday party themes.


Jen has quite a handful of party theme ideas including dress ups, decorations and crafty party game ideas... you may even spot a few other familiar 'faces'! Take a look at the great blog post HERE
Happy Monday!

Customer Feedback Photos

I just love the people I get to meet through Giggleberry! One of these gorgeous people is Steph, who I 'met' through Twitter. This weekend Steph and her hubby-to-be had their engagement party, the party was planned around a vintage travel theme in colours yellow and blue so when I was asked to make some bunting for the outdoor party I was thrilled and knew just the fabric to use.


I hunted down some of these gorgeous Good Folks fabrics by Anna Maria Horner and got sewing. The banner turned out great and I got them sent off to Steph in New Zealand ASAP ready for her party.


A HUGE thanks, Steph, for sharing these photos with me! The set up looks fantastic! I hope your night was one full of memories!