Free Patterns (the best type of pattern!)

Yeah that's right I said FREE...BIES!
A trip to Spotlight to get this pattern to make for baby Keara for her birthday which is fast approaching (I think it will end up being one of those late gifts)

and McCalls had a buy one get one free special on. I had no idea what I wanted to get and poured through the pattern books until this caught my eye.

McCalls M5618.

A Hilary Duff pattern too. Morgan thinks Hilary is "so hot" and I think that dress is. I am just loving the neckline! I also never ever make clothes for myself so I am quite excited to try this pattern out. I am hoping to make this dress to wear on Christmas Day.
So that means adding to the growing list of 'to do' projects... at least I have a whole shelf to put them on now ;)

I also wanted to share this amazing pattern for a tote handbag found over at Oh Fransson!:
it is so lovely! and the tutorial .. yeah totally free! woohoo! Thanks Elizabeth :)
oh and if you have time be sure to check out her blog and tutorial section.

I just LOVE free patterns :)

missing.

I was browsing through old photos on my computer and came across pictures from a day spend down in Sydney visiting my Cousin Lar, Brant and Keke. Then I came to the realization of just how much I am missing this little girl and her mumma and dadda and our time together and just how long three years is!

Here's a video for you to enjoy from that day. We were shopping and I think Morgan was getting a bit bored, and he tends to do some strange things when this happens...check out her face as is spinning around, so cute! and can you hear her mimicking Morgan's "whoaa whoaaa"s?


And is it just me or is Morgan totally mouth-watering when he's wearing a bjorn and a baby? ;)

catching up (again)..

phew! it's been quite a busy time over here. Here's a little update on whats happened over the weekend and past few days in my world:

- In the spirit of getting myself organized (especially as we head into this somewhat crazy and busy season) I had a quick play around with photoshop and created this picture for my desktop . One of my many lists! I just figured that with the amount of time I spend on my computer and the amount of time this machine is on, it seemed only fitting to create a 2 do list that will stare me in the face. Plus I can make it look really pretty and easily add and subtract 'things' as they come along. Ingenious ;)
now...can someone remember to remind me about my car rego ;)

- getting organized and having a DEEP spring clean. It's no joke when I say deep...
Every drawer.
every surface.
windows were washed, everything was dusted including drawers. things were thrown out. reshuffled. re-organised.
9.5 hours total!
But I am feeling so much better for it. More calm and in control AND so far it's stayed that way ;)

- Organizing my craft room. This too was a deep clean. I actually ironed and folded all my fabric and sorted them into piles!! designer. fat quarters. 1/2 yard/1/2 metre, yard/metre, larger pieces, scraps. And now it all actually fits into the cupboard! and it totally made room for some more ;) I also now have a free shelf to put current projects on, which is great cause I found a few that I had forgotten about and now they are within eyesight. I also plan on putting some sort of board inside the cupboard so I can, yeah you guessed it... keep a list of projects to finish and projects I want to try :)

- Had a For Sale sign put in our yard.

- finished up these little bags to sell at our Youth event. I love each of these fabrics and honestly couldn't pick a favourite. The pattern is the 'Artsy Clutch' from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing book.

- Attended said youth event. 'Blend' , this is the second year we have hosted this combined youth event for all the churches on the Peninsula and boy in one year has it grown... We had stalls, op shops, yummy food, live bands, chill out acoustic sections, skate park set up with jumps and some professional skaters in and didn't the girls do a great job with the stage:

the night also included 5 salvations with one of the guys coming to church on Sunday getting planted and eager to learn - awesome. And I know it would of been all worth it even if it was just for him!

- making a sock monkey. Inspired by Amanda's bright and colourful sock monkeys and these amazing ones. This is an order from a lady from work, so great to be enjoying making something AND making a little profit on the side too ;) I will post a pic when he is done.

- browsing through all your blog updates and seeing what everyone is up to :)

- Plodding along with my scrappy swap items. Sorry that it's taking me so long girls and that they will be late. But I promise they will be worth it. almost done!

- Finding this fabric on sale at Spotlight for $1.99 a metre! and buying up! 5 metres isn't too excessive, is it ;) Amy Butler eat your heart out:

- Organising and planning my Handmade Christmas gift swap we are having with dear family friends. We have become their family away from home (they are originally from South Africa and Germany) and we have shared many holidays and Christmases together as a large extended family, not to mention laughs. This year Nikki (she is so crafty and very into blogs and swaps) decided that we should all draw a name from a hat and make that person a gift. I couldn't believe even my dad and brother were so into the idea. We're having fun so far. And mum is planning to make one of the ladies a skirt from the above fabric. It's been too long since I saw her last on a sewing machine :)

- Receiving an email that made me smile again and again. Thank you girl you know who you are and I love our 'talks' too. Know that you are an awesome women and I love you!

- Loving this blog that Jess posted about. Eye candy heaven.

-Twittering away. You guys should join. it's like mini blogging ;)

- enjoying time with my boy. a good movie. a good snuggle!

And thanks for all your comments on my last post. How loved I felt to log on and see that you care and I was missed. Even that I was threatened to never stop blogging (in the nicest possible way of course) I am feeling so much better... not letting work get to me, not letting the daily grind get me down and focusing on the year to come, the blessings I have and the friendships I have in you all.
:)

Getting back into it..

So I seemed to have lost my blogging voice for a little while lately. Is it ok if I am really real for a moment. Is it ok to tell you that I was over everything lately and have been feeling a bit down. And not really motivated to blog. The 'process' of my life at the moment, I am hating. it goes: work. eat. do what is needed to be done. run here. run there. please this person. work (in a job I hate). small amount of craft if there is any. sleep. repeat. wake up tired again. gaaah! Hello, life I also need to breathe and I need time to just be me! How I am so looking forward to the holidays coming up! This week Morgan and I have also been sick. I had a very strange episode on Saturday where all of a sudden my muscles got really sore and then I felt so sick and hot and had a pounding headache. I went to bed early. It was not very fun. I guess it also doesn't help that my room and craft room are so messy and upside down as we are getting the carpet repaired and cleaned ready for the house to go up for sale - yes so very soon. It's busy over here. Girls, I promise your scrappy swaps are coming and Aminta your prize too, there's just been a bit of a delay.
But here I am picking myself up, smiling and knowing that I am blessed beyond blessed That I have a life that many less fortunate than I would love to live.
And thank you Fairlight for dropping by and just letting me know you were 'thinking of me' I had been quite down this week and to know someone far far away was thinking of me made my day!
so...I am back AND picking myself up AND... I missed you all!

In other news it is Miss Keara's 1st birthday in a few weeks and I also wanted to get her one of these little amazing creations from Leslie's shop 'One girl Design Works'. Leslie lives in Melbourne and also does Australian pricing for her Australian customers, excellent seeings our dollar is so bad at the moment! The only problem I can't decide which one I like better...

a Windsee:

An Oobee:

A well-dressed Oobee:or a oobbee blanket:
(not sure this one will be so practical in Dubai! ah, Dubai *sniff* I was in denial over that!)
the newer style:The older style:

so what is your favourite?

A Lazy Sunday

On Tuesday my cousin Larissa, her husband Brant and baby Keara fly out of Sydney and head off to Dubai were they will spend the next 3 years due to Brant's work *sniff sniff*. So today we headed down to Sydney to soak up every last moment with them that we could possibly fit in. It was a lot of fun (as spending time with family often is!). We had a picnic at Creymorne Point - this area is so pretty. Very upperclass Sydney suburb with amazing huge 1920's style mansion houses and apartments, long windy roads and amazing views of the harbour. It was a perfect spring day, all the boats were out on the harbour and we soaked up the sun and played frisbee and nibbled on cheeses - going to work tomorrow is going to be so hard!
My mum and I also tried some serious baby snatching:

check out my mummas little 'snatching walk' hehe

we got in lots of kisses...
and lots of cuddles.. this shot melts my heart...
we lazed around with the family...

And were just plain silly... the woolly one above is my baby brother ;)

And did I mention we got to drive this cute car down and zip around the city in it?! And the weather couldn't have been more perfect for it!
This car belongs to a family friend who dad has also down some work for them over the years. He has just recently brought a house near where we live but because he spends his time living in New Zealand, San Fransisco and Sydney he has asked dad to keep up the maintenance and that he can use it whenever he likes (not a bad job perk ;) Oh how the other half live! we had fun living it up for an afternoon...

this totally called for myspace photos.. you know the ones where you 'accidentally' cut your face off...

that's better..

The boys overwrote me and mum and made us keep the roof down on the way home too. The night air was pretty chilly and we had to drive the express way for about 40 mins which was definitely an experience. Mum and I were toasty in the front with our heated seats (yes I am serious) and the boys sat in the back with their hoodies up freezing but having a good time none-the-less. It was fun to sit up in our seats and feel the wind on our faces mum didn't seem to keen on trying it, but later we caught her checking that no one was looking and then putting her arm in the air to see what it felt like - shes a crazy fun lady my mumma!

I hope everyone else had a great weekend. And thanks for your great and funny comments on my last post, I was seriously nervous about posting a video of just us talking but your comments have brought constant smiles to my face and giggles to my lips - there may just be another video post sometime in the future :)

& the winner is...!

Now.. for the post you've all been waiting for. The drawing of the 'I don't know what I'm giving away giveaway' (although now I know who's won I have a better idea ;)

I tried to think of something exciting to do for this post and really liked when Wendi did her 'Now you see what I'm saying' video blog post & I thought I'd give it ago too.. plus i thought it would be fun for you to get to see us draw out the winner.
ooh and in front of us with candle intact is a profiterole. I was going to go with a cupcake.. because that's what I felt like for afternoon tea but the profiteroles won Morgan over (they are his favourite) and they were on special.. and you know how I love a special ;)
and yes I did let Morgan eat it after wards for helping me out and all, actually I think he ate about 3!
ooh and I have been told I do usually let Morgan get a word in ... which is good to know...phew!

ok so now to quickly publish this post before I totally loose my nerve :)

And to the dear sweet winner would you be able to send me your address via email to ktbearxox@hotmail.com so I can get your little package off to you!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

And Jacy, you poor thing! Praying that wrist of yours heals quickly and all goes well with Ryder's birthday party on Sunday. I'm sure you will make it a total success, one handed and all :)

*edit note: I forgot to say Thanks to my morgan for putting this video together. For getting it all set up on his little tripod and editing it like a pro (it really didn't take him that long) and the 'bahahaing' and pics and music are his doing.

And also.. I think I said Shannon and Jacy's names weren't in the draw... sorry girls you were in there just not twice. I don't think I phrased that quite well :)

Flashback Friday...

I picked these specially for you!

my mumma on a family picnic. circa 1961?
isn't she super cute?!

So... I have not done a flashback post in far too long and I decided it was time to get back in the swing of it. And Morgan sent me an email that read "sscuse me, but I am waiting flashback Friday!"

I'm afraid that's all I can muster up right now, it's just been one of those days...a looong one. Here's to the weekend I hope you all enjoy yourselves so very much and tune in soon as tomorrow we will be drawing the 'I don't know what I'm giving away give away' (yeah I still don't know)

kt x

Sweetness overload (but in a really good way!)

Lately I have been waiting for a few packages to arrive and have been running to the letterbox each day to check. One of these was a package from this amazingly giving and sweet lady, which seemed to take forever to arrive (like alot of my packages lately hmm..). I also received lots of little emails and comments from Chelle wondering whether it had arrived yet (seems I wasn't the only one totally excited!) And now that it has arrived I completely understand. It truly is that exciting!! And very worth sharing with you ladies...

I was only expecting some fabric scraps (for the Domestic Bliss Swap) and my banner which I won from Leslie's baby shower. So I was very surprised when this HUGE envelope appeared in the mail and I had absolutely no idea what could possibly be inside.

When I opened it up I found a beautiful home made card and equally beautiful little note which made me smile, lots of yummy little choccies, a yummy assortment of tea, a passionfruit lip gloss (smells so good!), a domino magazine, some handmade scrapbooking goodies, fabric scraps and my banner - which is stunning. For your next event you should definitely head over here and buy one for yourself :)

I picked out a green, blue and cream coloured theme and the words 'So Blessed' because that's what I feel I have been through this process of blogging and getting to know all you lovely ladies. I also wanted the words so be similiar to 'Showers of Blessings' as a momento from the shower and a reminder of the beautiful friendships found during that time. I plan on hanging it up at special events, events that each of you lovely ladies would be invited to if possible and hopefully one day my own baby shower :)

Chelle,
Thank you Thank you.
I loved my package. Everything about it was so very me and it was wrapped so amazingly. I simply devoured up all those yummy details, the little notes, the random goodies, the ribbons etc. My dad actually made a comment on the packaging and how you are so much like me! I was like Dad, it's a blog friend thing - they just completely understand you. And how true that is!
I had a ball opening it up. Exclaiming over the goodies inside, Getting excited. Sqeualing. Dancing. and repeating the process all over again :)

Seriously wishing I could just jump on a plane and give this lady a hug (and possibly stop by a few US states on the way too. You know seeings I have travelled all that way and all ;)

oh and sorry the pictures (especially the banner photo) doesn't do these lovely items any justice... I dropped my camera, pretty much the only time I wasn't wearing it around my neck! and I seem to have broken the aperture ring. It has to go to the doctors and is sounding expensive I nearly cried and feel like something is desperately missing already!

So they call it 'Candy'

We don't do Halloween over here in Australia, so I've only ever been to two Halloween parties. One was a class party in primary school (as my teacher was from the states) we both wore fake eyelashes and told everyone they were real and we grew them overnight. I was in year 2 and remember thinking that was pretty cool & that Mrs McHugh was the best! I also remember one year we had some trick or treaters come to our door and were totally unprepared so dad gave them some of the butterscotch I had made and was savouring - I was pretty mad at him.

Anyhoo...

for you ladies who do enjoy this holiday I came across this blog post in my blog browsing today and I thought it was worthy of being shared around. It's about re purposing your leftover Halloween 'candy' (aka lollies :P) - that is if there is any left over ;) and turning them into:

A christmas advent calender:Thanksgiving holiday decorations:

Thanksgiving pinata:
I'm seriously contemplating making that advent calender this year after seeing this cute design, actually my brain is currently swimming with possibilities right about now...
I also think I need an excuse to make a turkey pinata! Maybe I could make it for Christmas and make sure we broke it in front of 'The Stalking Bushturkey' who lives near us. This bird likes to waltz into our house, eat our dogs food, chases me up the stairs, run towards you as soon as he sees you and has left me trapped in my car on numerous occasions - i really dislike that bird!

ps. Is anyone else suddenly startled that we are already a few days into November!!