Sea Turtle Meanderings

I had one thing I did not get done in time for the wedding. It was Scott and my own sea turtle for the wedding table. This was sad, but, with the unsettled lead up due to health it was something I had to let go of. I managed to complete Scott's turtle and I will now ever be known as the one that was late (insert many eye rolls). 

It is 1 month after the wedding (as of tomorrow) and I am celebrating a wonderful first month by posting pics of Scott's turtle pal Percy. We each selected our own fabric and buttons for eyes. Scott has gone for a spotted green shell and latte skin tone with shell buttons for eyes. Which I then hand sewed because my sewing machine hates me. He adores it. I wish you could see the itty bitty tail, so cute. He is 40cm in length, so quite a large project.  I have also almost completed my own turtle, just the shell construction left to go (the hardest part). I hope you all like. Please note the lounge featured is our new chocolate recliner and coach set. SO COMFY!!! Good night blogging world. 

Pattern is from one of my favourite stores, Funky Friends Factory. Check them out when you get a spare moment. Wonderful patterns. 

Simple Reef/Beach Themed Centre Pieces

Okay, I get this question a lot in regards to my wedding. What are you doing for your centre pieces? How are you going to use them? What materials do you need? What is a simple way?

I work with a few rules when planning for my wedding.

Rule 1: KISS- Keep it simple stupid
In anything with a wedding you get to complicated you will increase the chance of it stuffing it up. Simple is key.

Rule 2: Use local supplies or suppliers from your country

Rule 3: When creating or crafting refer to rule 1 constantly.

Rule 4: Plan ahead, because sales are your friend and random things happen (e.g. operation!)

Okay, so using the above rules I have created the following centre piece. I love it! It is simple and matches beautifully with the surrounds at the reception (Reef HQ), when surrounded by ocean aquariums...you just need something simple.

Reef/Beach Centre Pieces

Large mix shells
Small mix shells
Star fish
Coral sand
Taper Candle
Large balloon vase

Steps
1. Ensure marks on bowl are cleaned.
2. Pour in the reef sand filling the base.
3. Place candle in the centre of the bowl.
4. Place 1 starfish and 3 large assorted shells in the bowl (aim for varying kinds)
5. Sprinkle with small shell mix.
6. Store safely in a box with bubble wrap for transport to and from venue.

I used the following local business/chain stores:
- Hired vases from Doug Ede's Marquee and Party Hire
- Coral Sand from Pet HQ
- Candles from Dusk

Online Ordering
-Australian Sea Shells for bulk shells and star fish. This company was brilliant, particularly in regards to maintaining contact and ensuring customer satisfaction.

The Lorax, Tea Ponderings and Cross Stitch

For a birthday catch up I went with a friend to go and see 'The Lorax.' I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. When I was little we had the book and I loved when Mum or Dad read it to us. I did treasure the book so I was a little worried about how they were going to turn it into a movie. But, it was well done. The trees were so FLUFFY! I would love a tree like that in my yard.



I have become addicted to the tea from Absolute Tea (see previous post). I grabbed a sample of their 'Rainforest Magic' because I have always wanted to try but was unsure of the flavour combo. It contains black tea, hibiscus, lemongrass, blackberries and orange. It is beautiful, so fruity. A great morning tea or afternoon tea addition. Plus, the house smells so yummy afterwards.



Finally to finish up, I am so excited about one of the gifts I was lucky enough to get. A good friend got me a copy of Phil Davison's book Twisted Stitches. I LOVE the designs in these. For those who know me, I tend to lean towards the less traditional cross stitch patters. It is so hard to choose a favourite from this book. The patterns seem clear the follow and their are 3 or so I want to do now. I would also recommend checking out the website Urban Cross Stitch if you would like something a little different to flowers, sayings and verses.

Shout Out to LittleMessyMissy

I received a truly amazing swap from LittleMessyMissy on swapbot. She made me 4 beautiful altered dominos for the Christmas Ornament. Hand made/Altered swap. They are proudly hanging on my Christmas Tree. A truly amazing swapper.

Spooktacular!

So I have finally finished one of the crafting projects I have been working on in the past 3 weeks. This little guy is for a friends birthday. She is very much into Halloween and Skeletons. I got the pattern from Dolls and Daydreams Etsy Store. I love her patterns and ideas. I just need to get used to working on them. So many choices so little time.

This weekend may be heading on a ghost tour of my local town. Kinda freaky so will take some pics and let you know how it went. I scare easy so I am sure I will have a great time. Until then...BOO!

Busy Dust bunny Filled Weekend

Congrats to Manly Sea Eagles for taking out the NRL 2011 Grand Finals. I felt bad for the Warriors because they had so much more flair. But, Sea Eagles stayed constant and had some brilliant ball handling skills and bone crunching tackles.

On to my weekend here at home, it has been random. I have been working hard on a new softie for a friend and am almost done. It has been fiddly for me and because I am working with new materials challenging. I am proud of the work so far and hopefully can post completed pics tomorrow or the next day. I have also managed to get hold of some small Christmas Cross Stitch kits (on sale) to make up for my Grandma and my own Christmas Tree decorations. In terms of cooking I have been lazy just my stock standard food and even a few sandwich nights this week. Weather has also turned to the soul destroying heat so motivation to stand near an oven or stove has evaporated. Break out the salads :)

My biggest accomplishment was starting to re order and sort through ALL my stuff in my home office. School stuff, fabric stuff, notecards, paper work EVERYTHING is in the process of being categorised and organised. I had to battle many dust bunnies and had my side kick bravely standing beside me. Sadly though Delenn decided dust bunnies were to be played with and ended up becoming a very grey kitty. So she needed a bath...here are the hilarious pics. I give you RAT CAT! She was soooooooo not happy with me.

Cereal Boxes!

Okay this is going to be a random post. I LOVE cereal boxes. They are just so handy to have. I use them in my classroom all the time to help students create art works, make displays or even in hands on mathematics lesson. However, I use them at home all the time so sometimes I have to eat LOTS of it so I can get my own crafting done on top of what my students need.

As a lot of you know I am newish to the sewing game. In fact I have only been making softies etc. for the past year. It is good fun. I am tired of tracing around baking paper traces of my patterns. So I have begun the process of cereal-fying my crafty patterns which I got as freebies online or from Funky Friends Factory or Dolls and Daydreams. It will be a long enough process but it will make life easier in the end. I managed to get hold of some cheap expandable folders so I was going to put them in order of purchase so I can just whip them out and go. Cut down on the prep time which I find arduous at times. Here is my first pattern I am cereal-fying from Dolls and Daydreams, Skeleton.

Second cross stitch done :)

So I have been trying to get this one done for the past month but have been so busy at work. However, it is finally complete. I give you 'Got Brains?'. It is from the same pattern book as my previous cross stitch. I have a few cute ones to work on now involving kittens and hedgehogs. They are nice and small so hopefully will be more manageable. I am also in the process of finishing off my own personal Ellie the Elephant. I got this pattern from a wonderful website called Funky Friends Factory. Well that is the latest crafting update. Have a great weekend everyone.