Mad Hatters Tea Party

I finally found some time to do some 'making'! Here are the final four cards for my Alice in Wonderland card sets. I know I've used the theme Mad Hatters Tea Party before, but I'm going to change the title of that earlier set to A Very Merry Unbirthday, because they were all about cake! This set is definitely about tea, so they win the title of Mad Hatters Tea Party. I'm loving all the little teapots and teacup stickers! They came all the way from Washington, from Jolly Good Tea & Gifts.




Now I just have to organise some packaging and stuff, and the cards will be ready to sell!

Alien Invasion!

But seriously... On Friday night we watched The Day the Earth Stood Still, with the gorgeous Keanu, the wonderful Jennifer Connelly, and the cute Jaden Smith (Will's son).

On Saturday we went to the cinema to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

And this week I've been reading War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

Very similar themes, with similar outcomes. All spectacular, and make you THINK. Well, not so much Transformers (the main thing I was thinking through that movie was, this must have cost millions to make!!) Love Shia LaBeouf though - he is a fantastic actor! There were some annoying gratuitous girly butt moments which all the boys in the audience swooned over, and the movie was a tad too long, but it was still impressive.

The Day the Earth Stood Still had some important messages for the human race, not unlike the messages we've been getting over the past few years about improving our way of life to help the environment. Still, poignant and scary. (Besides, check out the house that John Cleese's character lives in - I want to live there!)

And War of the Worlds, well that book cost me $2 and has sat on my shelf for about 5 years, waiting for me to read it. Last week, I finally had the urge to get into it and I'm glad. So scary. It is a fast-paced panic, nearly the whole way through, and leaves you so thankful that it didn't really happen. Highly, highly recommended.

Weird that all these alien things happened in the one week. (Insert Twilight Zone music here.)

Have a good week!

100th Post Giveaway - yay!!!!!!!!!

I haven't had much time to post lately, so it has taken longer to get here than I thought it would!

I have something very special as a Giveaway for my 100th post: a bottle of Ambrosia Essence from the miessence range of skin care products!

Okay, I didn't invent the range, but I believe miessence is the most beautiful and effective range of organic products on the market!

Ambrosia Essence is the most expensive product in the range because of its AMAZING qualities. It is an extremely potent combination of eight highly effective herbal and flower extracts to soothe, tone and renew the skin. The organic ingredients are Tamanu nut oil, rosehip seed oil, helichrysum flower oil, neroli flower oil, patchouli leaf oil, calendula flower extract, carrot seed extract, and rosemary leaf extract.

You can use it to heal cuts, scrapes, burns, insect bites and stings, abrasions, acne, acne scars, psoriasis, diabetic sores, sunburn, dry or scaly skin, blisters, and eczema. It can also be used to reduce the appearance of scars and facial lines and prevents signs of premature aging. Also, it can improve the appearance of scars, dermatitis, stretch marks, irritated skin, redness, boils and abcesses.

Phew! Have I found the Fountain of Youth or what?? I cannot rave enough about it!

Leave a comment and a link (to you) at the end of this post, and I will choose a winner (randomly) on Saturday 4th July. Good luck!!

End of an era

How I will remember him. At his best.


In 1984 I was in a dance troupe that performed Thriller at a Halloween Ball. In 2009, my 10 year old son's class performed Thriller for his school assembly item. That's 25 years.

Whatever people say, (and I'm not sure what I think about much of the controversy he created), it cannot be denied that Michael Jackson was a brilliant, dancer, performer, musician, and his influence will be felt for many generations to come.

Brazilian Solidarity Dolls

The World Vision Family Challenge asks every family in Australia to sponsor a child. By sponsoring a child through World Vision by 30/07/09 you will receive a Brazilian Solidarity Doll keyring as a thank you for your support. They are too cute!



The real reward of sponsoring a child is knowing that someone else's child, living in an impoverished environment, can be empowered to attend school, and wear appropriate clothes, just like your own children.

We have been sponsoring a child, Yonela Ncobela, in South Africa, for the past few years. It has been thrilling to see him go to school, write us letters, and to send him birthday cards and Christmas cards.





Maybe one day we will even meet him. It is amazing to bless someone's life by doing so little. And it can bring you much joy! Find out how to sponsor by visiting here.

More Foxtel Favourites

Cycle 5 (that's Season 5, in normal TV speak), of Australia's Next Top Model is on FOX8 on Tuesday nights.

For me, this programme is not so much about who is the best model, but about seeing interesting locations, quirky settings and stunning photos.

It is nearly the end of the season - four girls are left. Which of the models appeals to you?

Clare Venema

Adele Thiel

Cassi Van Den Dungen

Tahnee Atkinson

My choice for winner is Tahnee: she is just gorgeous and a nice person as well.

You can find more info about the show here.

On ebay, you can bid for six STUNNING photos, in one frame, of the girls looking like fairies.

The money raised goes to Breast Cancer research and the auction closes Friday June 19.

My heroes on Foxtel

You'd call it something different where you are, but our six months affair with pay tv has been blissful! We pretty much only watch the Lifestyle, How To, Fox8, Disney and Movie channels, but that's more than enough, and normal tv has gone out the window!

In case you don't go there yourselves, I wanted to introduce you to a few Foxtel stars that have all the know how and personality to go with it.

This is Mary Portas from Mary Queen of Shops.

Each week she finds a clothes store that is not making money, and transforms it and it's owners, managers and assistants until it has a booming trade. The show has the same appeal for me as the Ramsey Kitchen Nightmares had, minus the swearing. Mary tells it like it is and she really knows her stuff. I am into overhauls, and possibly if I had the luxury of it I would do it all the time! Mary transforms people's worklives and inspires passion. I love it!

This is Kristian Digby from Open House, and To Buy or Not to Buy (he's been in other shows too.)

Camp as a row of tents, but funny, adorable and great eye candy! In this new show, Open House, he stages a house for someone, has an open house for one day, and tries to get people to put in an offer on the day. Power selling! Doesn't always get an offer, but he has fantastic tips for staging a house and what to say when you take people through it.

And this is Shannon Lush from Lush House.

Shannon originally restored paintings and has accumulated a wealth of knowledge over the years of ways to remove stains, and fix house 'problems'. Each week she goes to a different house, teaches the family how to declutter, clean, manage, store, rearrange and make their house squeaky clean with natural products, mainly bi-carb soda and white vinegar! I am learning so much from her!

A place for jewellery

Thanks everyone, for your encouraging comments about my organising. Every now and then (like weekends) I have impressive moments, but mostly I live in chaos! (Hope that doesn't spoil the facade too much!) I've been watching Lush House on Foxtel and she's SO got it going on in the organising and cleaning department!

One organisational problem I had for years was knowing what to do with all my jewellery. People buy jewellery for me as gifts, and I like to buy it for myself. Most of it is not expensive, but it stills needs to be stored effectively. At the beginning of this year I had 40 necklaces, and all the systems for storing them that I had tried had been outgrown. So, off I went to Howards Storage, and, while I had set out to buy something like a jewellery drawer, I came away with this little beauty for around $35!

There are so many pockets, 44, all of a good size, back and front, and it slides into your wardrobe like another piece of clothing. My jewellery ended up being too heavy for it, and the hanger broke on the first day, but my clever hubby took the clips off a skirt hanger, slid the hook and bar into the top of the jewellry hanger and clipped it with little bulldog clips. The perfect solution!

I have a pretty 'dumping' basket for when I can't be bothered putting my jewellery away properly, but when I do, there is a spot for everything! I highly recommend getting one! (Or two, if you're particularly into jewellery!)

Sunday, Sunday

Sunday is the day that I finally see the bottom of the washing basket in the laundry. I just wash and wash and wash until I'm there. And then the rest of the day is spent hanging it out, bringing it in, listening to the drier spin round and round, warming the house. And then I fold things, iron them, and hang them in the wardrobe. I'm happy with my wardrobe. It's rainbow like. Although you'll pretty much never see any red, orange or yellow - they are SO not my colours.



Also today, I was able to put away some new clothes that I bought yesterday. I had to go to Whitfords for a haircut and to get new glasses, so I thought I'd do my winter shopping while I was there. Oh my gosh, it was straight back to my shopaholic days in one fell swoop. I finally found the brown boots I've been looking for for a couple of years, I found a gorgeous, warm, black winter coat, some knitted vests, a teal top, a necklace and bracelet (2 for $15 from Just Jeans - amazing saving of $22!!!), a floral dress, grey pants with silver fleck, a top and hoody for Jack, and Converse shoes for Jack. Jonathon missed out this time, but he has heaps of clothes anyway. Phew! It was fun!

A Fashion-y post

I was reading The Cherry Blossom Girl blog today, which then led me to the Julia blog, and both of these girls had posts about what's in their bags. I've always loved this in magazines, so I thought I'd contribute my own version. Here are the usual contents of my bag, (minus, of course, some stray crumbs, coins and scrunched up peppermint teabags that were also there):

Umbrella

Purse

Notebook

Comb

Jewelled scrunchie

Hairclip

miessence pen

miessence intensive body cream (for Jack's eczema)

miessence aroma-free deodorant

miessence rose petal hydration mist

miessence jaffa lipbalm (cannot survive a day without it)

miessence lipcreme in plum

Eluysion lipgloss (another organic makeup brand)

Mobile phone (I know it is ancient but it is cute and has a mirror!!!)

Camera

Thumb drive

Herron (paracetamol)

(It probably looks like I staged this photo to promote miessence products, but I really do use them constantly!)

The main bags/totes I use at the moment to carry all this stuff include this black one:

that I bought recently from Target,

this purple one,

with the best tartan lining,

that my sister got me for my birthday,

and another purple one,

that my Mum gave me for Christmas.

These are my favourite bags at the moment!

What do you have in your tote bag?

Wise Owl Books

If you LOVE reading books, take a look at my new Wise Owl Books link.



One of these days I might start a shop to sell my books, but for now I am listing a bunch of favourites that you may be inspired to borrow from your library or buy from a bookshop. Visit the link at my blog sidebar to read my reviews.

Attack of the Furballs

No, this isn't a post about my cat. Well, only slightly. Mostly, it is a post about my computer keyboard. It's a nasty story, but has a happy ending.

I was typing away at said keyboard when I thought it looked a bit scungy. So I wiped it over with a sponge and some disinfectant. Then I noticed the edges of the keys were also a bit scungy, and then I looked DEEP into my keyboard, and realised what I had secretly and shamefully known for some time -that my keyboard was full of grit and dustballs (aforementioned furballs). Filled with disgust, and shuddering at the same time, I scribbled a quick map of the keyboard,

and then proceeded to de-key the board, one by one. Oh, me! What squalor I found beneath.

So I grabbed a variety of cleaning weapons from my office supplies, first aid cabinet, and new sewing kit on the kitchen windowsill,

and spent about THREE slow, but particular hours on cleaning the keyboard, every angle of the individual keys,and replacing them all in the correct positions. The word tedious can only describe the half of it. Dirty, dirty, dirty, describes the rest.

But, like all good stories, after using about 40 cotton tips, my keyboard is now shiny and new again (it's been awhile),

and it has suffered no ill effects other than to the space bar, which now sticks every time, and will probably never be the same again. However, I can rest assured that I can front up to do my blogging, without preparing myself for a dark glare or a sneezing onslaught, brought on by hiding furballs. I'll just have to be sure to keep my cat and my cornflakes at a respectable distance from the keyboard in future!

What we got up to at camp

So... we're back home again. Jonathon and Richard literally braved the storm for an extra night at camp. We had perfect weather all Saturday and most of Sunday, until Jonathon dropped us home, and then it hailed on his way back to camp! They spent Sunday night watching the rain drip from the canvas, and now, Monday night, the storm is in full swing, with thunder, lightning and rain.

Anyway, Friday we set up camp. This time we hired a camper trailer, because they only take five minutes to set up and take down, and have stronger canvas than our tent. I HIGHLY recommend it for your camping adventures.

I loved the bed-on-a-platform idea!

And there was an awning too, to give you that patio feel.

We camped right next to this beautiful gnarly tree.
And then we went exploring.



And did some sitting.


Then the boys went to watch Harry, the owner of Willowbrook Farm, light the campfire for the night's festivities.




Around 5, the musician, Dave, started singing his tunes, folk and country favourites from all over the world.

As the sun went down, his Mum and Dad took turns at reciting Aussie bush poems, and we had our bush stew and fruit crumble feast.

Dave's wife played the flute, (freaky photo moment).

And, at one stage, even their cuter-than-a-button son, Ollie, shared the limelight.

The next day, after the traditional scones for breakfast, Jack and Jonathon did some adventuring.

We did a lot of lazing around, and Jack rode his bike everywhere. So relaxing. And a refreshing breeze to keep the air cool in the warm sun.

This guy zoomed overhead just before we left. It's like a go-cart with a parachute. Crazy stuff.
We'll be back.