Have you signed up? I have!

You may have noticed the new addition over on the right column, that's right its Blogtoberfest time!

What is blogtoberfest? It's where for every day in the month of October (get it blogtober ;)) you commit to posting on your blog! That's right just one post a day for 31 days starting TOMORROW!

Blogtoberfest is a great way to discover new creative peeps, meet new friends and be jealous of their abilities to do what they do!

To sign up and find some new blogs to follow, stalk, be jealous of their talents head over to Tinnie Girl and add your name to the list! 

I'm number 21!

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P.S. Don't forget to grab a button for your blog from the Tinnie Girl blog!

P.P.S. Don't forget to have fun!

P.P.P.S. I can't think of a P.P.P.S so bye!

Crafting, my birthday and a fish or two.

Well what a busy little bee I’ve been, well busy doing a whole lot of nothing!

Where should I begin, oh yes my birthday which fell on the same day/night as the Eastside Crafters first ever crafty catch up being held at the community room at Lilydale lake. I was so nervous leading up to the night, I went and bought my refreshments, made some yummy (packet) cupcakes and made my way down to the rooms.

My sister/assistant and I got there about 1/2 hr early to prepare everything, when we arrived I saw a gathering of 6 or so people waiting out the front, I started to get all excited that they had actually came and early, ha how wrong was I (they were actually a local fitness group using the lights on the veranda to do their sit ups!) we went inside after the first disappointment for the night, set out the tables, we only set out a few saying to ourselves if there are more we’ll just have to get more tables out (ha!).

So the we acclimated ourselves with our new temporary digs, which I might say are pretty damn awesome! Sound system, digital projector setup, fully equipped kitchen with coffee, tea and sugar! The urn was boiling, the name labels and sign up sheet was all set out at the door every thing was ready! We sat down to await our new crafty friends arrival. 7.45pm came no one arrived, that’s cool, no one likes to be on time, 7.50pm flew past still just us two nigel's, 8pm finally the awesome Lynda from Stoked Creations arrived, knitting in hand and we started chatting about everything from babies, to partners and everything in between. 8.30pm arrived it was still us. Time went on and once it reached about 9.20 I resigned myself to the fact no one was going to show.

I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed and something about it being my birthday just made it that little bit more pathetic. Ahh well pity party over with, my mind is now onto next months meet up which will be held on Tue 18th @ 7.45pm You can check out the Eastside crafters page for more info.
I did however take a before and after pic, the before taken as we were setting up…I challenge you to spot the difference!

BEFORE….




AFTER…



Next month will be better (I hope).

This week we also headed back down to Lilydale lake to take the kids for a spot of fishing! The Yarra Valley Fly Fishers group run this free event every year which allows kids to try fishing. They net of a small part of the lake (closest to the dock) stock it with rainbow trout and supply instruction as well as a baited rod for the kids. Each child gets 30 minutes to try their luck, we were out of it I think, we had a couple of nibbles, but nothing caught. I think Mr 4 was more excited to just reel the line in without bothering to wait for the fish! It was fun non the less and we will for sure going back next year, some one might even get a his very own fishing rod from Santa this year if he plays his cards right!





Of course rolling down the hill was much more fun than boring old fishing!

Now to the crafty stuff, I’ve finally mastered knitting, well when I say mastered knitting I mean I can knit and pearl and cast on and off and make it look somewhat like it supposed to! I might look like a bit of a nufty doing it but hey, it’s taken me years to finally figure it out. I am off to get myself some smaller needles (only have huge 10mm one at the moment) and some nicer wool to play around with. I really want to make myself a chevron (I know big surprise) blanket or scarf so we shall see how that turns out! I will share with you the YouTube videos I used to teach me, yes they are aimed at teenagers, yes they are a bit dorky (sitting on a chair backwards does not make you cool or assist you to relate to teens, just sayin!). That is tomorrow post and hopefully I can show you a sneak peak of what I am working on for a good cause. Oh and also some exciting news!

Before I go I just wanted to announce the winner (and the only entry) of the button magnet competition. Congratulations to Bec! I will be in touch!

Style, I’ve got none!

This is what someone who has style, polyvour looks like… (this is from Katrina from the block)

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This is mine…

ho hum

Chevron Baby! & Wee Giveaway!

I have a new obsession, no it hasn’t replaced my button one (as you will see later in the post)! If you haven’t already guessed what it is take a look at my new background, have you seen this around on pinterst or the design blogs lately? Most of you will call it zigzag but apparently the posh way to call it is Chevron… I’m not sure why it appeals to me, perhaps the clean and neat lines or the over all pattern, either way I resisted getting on the band wagon for ages but not any longer, so much so that I spend all of yesterday afternoon creating my very own chevron piece. You wouldn’t believe how freaking complicated making the pattern was, it doesn’t look confusing well I’m here to tell you it was, I so should have paid more attention in math at high school! Oh and I still stuffed the pattern up, yep only I could make a mistake when painting straight lines….
So here is what I made, what was once a humble pin board from Ikea (vaggis, for those playing at home), which has been through a life already (being covered in freaky bird fabric also from Ikea) is now my very pretty and stylish chevron pin board!

Isn’t she pretty! Don’t look too closely as may have made some of the lines a little fatter than others but hey you live you learn!
Now onto my other obsession…BUTTONS! I’ve been wanting to do this for ages and the stars finally aligned so here are my cute button magnets, aren’t they so cute! I can’t wait to make heaps, they are soooooo easy to do. I found magnets from my local $2 shop for $2.50 (not sure how that works!), the glue I used was Tarzan’s grip, I was going to use araldite but a) I’m a tight ass and don’t want to pay $11 for glue and b) well there is no b, I’m just a tight ass. I also contemplated using the wiz bang glue E6000 but again the tight ass thing came into effect! So Tarzan’s grip it was.

Now because I’m awesome I’m going to giveaway these cute button magnets, so if you would like to win them leave a comment below, and for every person you bring to the blog you will receive another entry! All they need to do is leave a comment saying who recommended them to Musings. A winner will be picked by random next Sunday 25th Sept.

:: This giveaway is now closed::

 

Also don’t forget that this Tuesday along with being my birthday (presents welcomed) will be the first crafty catch up with Eastside Crafters! I’m kind of nervous but mostly excited about it, I just hope people turn up as it will be a lonely couple of hours for me!
Until next time, keep crafting!

Good bye little man.

As you may have read in this post, a beautiful friend of mine lost her beautiful baby boy, Sebastian Levi, he suffered from Trisomy 18 which in very basic terms is where an extra or partial chromosome is present on the 18th chromosome. Most babies do not survive the pregnancy and those that are born, do not survive long after. If you would like to learn more about the condition check out this website. If you would like to read about Natalie's & Seb's story you can by reading their blog .

His service yes yesterday in his home town of Brisbane. Unfortunately I and a few others from The Sewing Sisterhood (the sewing group we are all members of including Seb's Mummy) we'ren't able to make it up so instead we all met at our local park, which is full of the laughter of children, and big wide open spaces to release red balloons in honor of this precious little man.

As the balloons gently floated away we all said our little goodbyes to Seb and our thoughts were all about our 'sister' at this utterly devastating time.


All over Facebook red balloons decorated walls, people also chose to wear something red. It is amazing how much a community can come together even an online one!

I would like to share with you two songs that we used at our daughters funeral, they mean so much to me and express so many different emotions I had during our short time with our beautiful angel.

Giveaway!

I thought it might be fun to do a wee giveaway! This giveaway is to celebrate the up coming crafty catch up with the Eastside Crafters!

What you win is a free pass to the first crafty catch up (Tuesday 20th September 2011 @ 7.45pm)!

To be in the running, all you have to do is leave a comment below telling me a craft you would love to learn possibly at the crafty catch up.

A winner will be picked at random using random.org generator.

Entries close Next thur @ 5pm AEST.

NB: Please make sure you have a current email address so if you're the lucky winner I can contact you.

Good Luck!

Buttons! Buttons! Buttons!

I have a confession, please don't judge me, but I have to let it out....

I love buttons... It doesn't matter it's colour, shape, age, I am a button whore!

Ahhh that feels so much better!

I think the humble little button doesn't get the respect and acknowledgement it deserves! Just think if there were no buttons, pants out be around our ankles, shirts and blouses a gape, not to mention you wouldn't have a witty way to tell someone to be quiet!

In honor of my coming out of the button closet I thought I would share some buttony creations I've come across in my crafty travels, some of which I've created myself, some I've found...

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EDIBLE BUTTONS!!!!

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I could keep going and going and going but I won't!

If you have come across any great button projects or tutorials I would love to see them!

Have a beautifully crafty day!

Fly High little man, fly high.

Such a sad day today, well it's been a sad weekend to be truthful. A gorgeous friend of mine has lost her beautiful son :( It was expected he would pass before his time due to a serious medical condition but it has taken us all by shock now that has finally happened.

Having been through the loss of a child (not in the same way but a loss) my heart is aching knowing the emotions this family are going through right now. I know when I was dealing with it all I felt like I was having an out of body experience. I just felt like I was watching someone elses life from the inside. It didn't feel real. I just went along, being strong and stoic but breaking into a million pieces inside.

My heart goes out to N and her gorgeous family.

Fly high little man, fly high.