some things for the bathroom.....

wow - it's been a whole week since last I posted!
yes - it's been one of those weeks.
mad I tell you.
completely mad.

so today during my lunch-break at work - I spent some money - cause I can (it's so nice to finally be earning that little extra that can be spent on decorating & fun things) - and I thought I'd share what I done/did!!!

I found this great chunky bath mat - in the perfect colour. it's like a 'seafoam' colour (greenish/blue/grey) - usually hard to find - but it's the perfect fit for the blues that are in our bathrooms. both our main and en suite bathroom were fitted out identically the same by the previous owner - house build circa 2000.

over the last two years we have spruced things up quite a bit - but I didn't blog back then - so sadly we don't have any real 'before' photos.

I'm not going to show you the whole bathroom yet - it needs a clean (I have 3 messy daughters!) - and I'm a tease like that!!

but to get an idea of the before - think blue tiles, white vanity & bath tub - then yellow-ish walls and - wait for it - gold taps!!!!!

oh - I wish I had photos. the main fit-out really wasn't that bad - it just needed some tweaks to make it all come together. I will show more soon - I promise.

however - for now - I will show you the main object of my shopping expedition today.
(well I say shopping expedition - but I just stepped out to get some lunch - and you know - I just had to walk into a shop that sold homewares - and it all went crazy from there!!)

first I present the 'before' space that was lacking that something special.......(be warned - there are feature tiles in this space!....).....

with 3 daughters and a small vanity in this bathroom - some extra storage solutions were needed - and thanks to a little trip to freedom - this space now looks like this.....

cute yes?!
I was umming and ahhhhing about trying to make one - I'm positive it wouldn't be too hard - but it just wasn't going to happen soon enough for me.

it comes in a pack with just a few screws - very easy to put together - it's narrow enough to not be in the way - and it fills the empty spot.

lovely I say!!

here's a side view for your entertainment.......

and some shots of things - you know - close-ups - just in case you wanted to poke around a little.....

some rocks found on various holidays at the coast

although I would love some fancy glass containers - with lots of tiles and kids this lovely plastic container will do the job well. plus some fragrance sticks for sweet smelling goodness!! both plus baskets from freedom.

a basket to store some of the hair paraphernalia!!

and a basket for the hand towels - so they're closer at hand than the linen closet down the hall...

love me some plastic plant loveliness!!! cause I can't kill it!!!! (freedom buy years ago on special)

no - I'm not sponsored by freedom - it's just that we haven't got much else in canberra - and it's close to work!!

I long for an ikea I tell you. please please please ikea - open a store down here soon.

and that's the fun I've had today......

I'm sure I'll tinker some more when I get the chance.

still no progress on the projects I hinted at last week - we really have had a crazy mad week. it annoys me more than you - trust me on this one!

but the amazing news I must share - is that my two oldest lovelies made it into their state volleyball teams - and they're both heading to nationals - eky in the u15's in April - and goob in the u17's in July.
super super exciting. I'm so so so proud of all the work they have done over these past weeks.

so in between all the driving to the various practices (we are racking up the kms on both our cars..), and the helping with school work, working and trying to run this mad house - I do hope to post again soon - when I can - and hopefully it will be something good - or interesting - or - I just hope some of you lovely readers stick around to walk beside me - whenever I do get the chance to share the goings on in this house.....

I do appreciate every single comment - no matter how small. thank you so much for dropping in and taking the time to say hello.
you all make me smile & put sunshine in my day.

loads of hugz from here - and I hope that a beautiful weekend is coming your way.
cheryl xox.

linking up here this week.......

itching to make....

hello lovelies!

does anyone else have this problem??

too many things I want to make/rearrange/tweek......yet no huge motivation to start and/or finish - nor not knowing exactly where to start!!??

today - apart from spending far too long around the interwebs and trolling pinterest - I mucked around with this........

......embroidery hoops, washy tape and a tv cabinet that I'm attempting to pretty up!! there will be more paint and mirrors involved - it's taking a long time to get this one done - but it needed time to evolve from in-my-head concept to hopefully a great outcome.

will keep you posted on this one.


then some of this........

.....I need me some more cushions in the lounge room - and I'm trying to use some of the vast stash that is lurking in various rooms in this house.

again - I'll keep you posted as this one progresses also.

oh - and I just used the new picmonkey - online photo editing software - very similar to the soon to be defunct pinik. I found it super easy - and I'm very happy with the results. (these photos were just snappy camera shots - just fyi)

we're in for a super busy sport weekend for my two oldest girls. a volleyball day-camp / first netball games of the season (grading time) / trials for netball rep teams.

hopefully we'll also find out if the girls have made the state volleyball team for nationals.

fingers and toes all crossed and double crossed here!!

hope you're weekend is quieter than mine!

loads of hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

16th b'day party - photo booth fun

I'm finally back to post about the photo booth we had at goob's 16th b'day bonanza!!

if you missed the yumminess of the candy bar/dessert table/complete overload of sugar - you can see more in the previous party post - here.

so, as it was previously booked as a 'pool party' - and the weather did not wish to cooperate on the day (nor the week beforehand - nor the whole of summer really.......I digress.......) we decided to set up a photo booth to keep the teenagers busy for a few hours of indoor fun!!

there were lots and lots of photos - and I promise not to post them all on here.
however I will share some of the fun - as it really was a hoot - and something I'd recommend for anyone.

here's the lovely birthday girl - miss goob - just before the guests started to arrive.....

....and my three girls.....

yeah - I'm pretty fond of them!!!! :)

.....here's how the photo booth looked in our lounge room.....

we pulled out the trusty box of dress-ups; hung some streamers from some string; added in a couple of tissue paper pom-poms; placed in a couple of lights; had various stools on standby for height variations when needed; used some little white-boards for messaging fun; re-purposed a lovely gold frame from a picture that was never going to hang on my walls (the pic was my mums - and it was always stashed away in the cupboard - so it was time for it to have a new life as a photo booth prop!!); and we stuck the new camera on a tri-pod.

for those that don't have loads of dress-ups like we do in this family - check out any cheap dollar-discount store and you're sure to find some props for the occasion. I also have more ideas pinned onto my pinterest board - party ideas here.

I thought of a few different ideas for the backdrop - however the great thing about the streamers (as opposed to a sheet/fabric) - it was able to be attached to the underside of the cornice with a couple of pins - and removed without barely a mark.

the girls actually stuck all the streamers together - they just taped them over the string - taping at the back. they decided that a couple of streamers in each colour made a better colour block than just alternating every streamer.

clever my girls are!!!!

edited to add: as for the logistics of actually shooting the photos - the girls kept putting the camera on self timer - and snapped away when they were ready. 

anyhoo - I decided all along that I wanted to photo edit the shots (post party) into photo strips - just like out of an old photo booth - so I played around a little in picnik - and these are some of the shots I came up with.....

to give you an idea of the difference from the original photos - here's a direct comparison.....

 the photos on the right were given a black outline (as opposed to white on the left) - then under picnik 'effects' I hit on 'gritty' - changing the darkness to only about 20-25%. (it usually defaults to around 40%)

here is some more fun from my eky and triple j.....

and as I said - I won't share all the photos here - but here's just a small taste of the fun had by the party girls.....

I've made up lots of photo strips (with 3 pics) of all the photos for goob to share with her friends - as well as another two mega collages like the one above. she can share the digital photo files - and they can print them off themselves if they choose.

everyone had a great time - no one is ever too old to dress up and have photo fun!!!

one hint that I must share - have another charged up battery on hand - as ours ran down and we didn't have another. (eeekkk!!) we'll definitely have two batteries next time.......because you know we have to now have photo booths at everyone's parties here in house-o-nefotlak.......I have been told!!!!!

oh - and for those that don't know - the wonderful photo editing site picnik is closing down on april 19 - however there is a new photo editing site just starting up that I was introduced to via the blog - the real housewives of bucks country - the site is called picmonkey - put together by some of the makers of picnik - and the lovelies from the fore mentioned blog have a great intro post to picmonkey - do go and have a read here.

picmonkey has not yet got the collage photo making abilities just yet - but they hint that it will be coming soon.

anyhoo - hope you enjoyed our photo booth fun.
we did!!

hope your week has started off well.

loads of hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

linking to these lovely blogs this week.....please do go and check them out......

sunny days, family, rugby & bike rides

happy weekend lovely peoples!

we actually had sun shining on both saturday and sunday!!
oh happy days!!!
it's been a very long time between sunbeams around canberra of late.

on saturday we headed to an afternoon of family fun at a rugby match - watching our favourite team - brumbies - versus a south african team - cheetahs. it's also the only place that we get to regularly catch up with my brother - so we love our season tickets to spend some great times with him.

it was a nail biter finish - with our team scoring the final points just as the hooter blew for the end of the game.

a win. (that's two from two so far). final score 24-23. very nice way to finish off a lovely afternoon.

that's me and my brother (plus two monsters eating icecreams!!)

 .....and once again the team members were more than happy to come past after the game and sign hats and flags for their fans.....

then sunday saw us loading up all the bikes and heading to lake burley griffin for a family ride in the sunshine.....

we managed 12.2 kms (with a few drink breaks here and there) - then it was time to stack up the car again and head home.....

good times.
we're super lucky here in canberra - tomorrow's a public holiday - so another day at home.

woo hoo hoo!!

hope all is well where ever you are spending this lovely weekend.

loads of hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

16th b'day party - candy bar / dessert table

warning - loads of photos! (scroll near the end for all the details).....

  

glass jars = from dollar discount type store and freedom - found them in the vase section. would have loved fancy jars with lids - however plain jars were by far the least expensive option.

jar labels & lolly bag tags = free download of cath holden labels printed on white card - then cut out and added onto red card. blue ribbons and red & white bakers twine ordered online from sweet style.

lolly bags = blue spotty bags purchased online from the party people.  

cake platters (x3) = donna hay.

straw flags = blue straws from dollar discount store - flags made from white washi tape (ordered online from inky co.) - on the night a marker was used to write on girl's initials to keep track of drinks!

16 numbers = paper mache numbers from spotlight - painted red / then painted white / then rubbed back lightly with sandpaper. red & white bakers twine ordered online from sweet style.

lollies / candy = blue jellybeans (ordered online from sweet style) / jaffas and strawberry creams (purchased at woolies) / blue sugar almonds and cool mints and blue choc wedding hearts (ordered online from lollyworld) / choc kisses and freddo frogs (purchased at cosco) / blue sour straps and  milk bottles (ordered online from the professors online lolly shop) / cup cakes (made from cosco cup cake mix & betty crocker icing from woolies - super yum!)

cookie pops - made from crushing tim tams with cream cheese - then adding sticks & dipping in melted white chocolate - the favourite item by far (recipe kindly shared on the blog of mrs a. in the cove - owner of sweet style - recipe and great tips found here)

paper lanterns & balloons = from dollar discount store.

paper pom poms = made by me from tissue paper purchased at woolies.

napkins / plastic bowls / paper cups = dollar discount type store.

little tongs = purchased from provincial home living.

this party was all put together in under two weeks - and all the online shopping mentioned above was really convenient and it all arrived super fast. I would recommend any of the above online suppliers.
(if I've forgotten anything - of if you have any questions - please don't hesitate to drop me a message either on this post - or via email)

must again mention the amazing inspiration from Leanne from the blog mrs a in the cove and owner of the online shop sweet style. she does this stuff for a living - and her style is amazing. thank you so much Leanne for sharing your wonderful talent with the world. you make parties o - so - beautiful.

make sure you go have a visit -

I leave you with a picture of my beautiful (now) 16 year old - goob - who had a wonderful party - despite the torrential rain that came down that day!!!!

and I promise to be back soon to show you some of the fun of the photo booth we set up for the party.
(sneak peek seen at the end of this post here)

hope all's well in your part of the world.

loads of hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

linking to these lovely blogs this week.....please do go and check them out......