the baby has been showered

i would not usually be the 'baby shower' type, but i am the decorating type.

so i threw fancy to the wind when it came to baby girl hutchins' baby shower

my friends were so generous and baby girl has been spoilt with beautiful

outfits and things to play with.

here's a couple of photos from the evening...

post script

this card made my night

making (a) room for a bebe

i have always said i would never be one of those mothers who throws an extravagant party 

for my child's first birthday. the child is one, they have no idea what's going on.

i have nothing against mother's who go to town for first birthdays, all power to them, 

but it's just not me.

now you would think that same logic would extend to the decorating of our baby's room. 

she's a newborn, if the theories are true, she can't even see colours yet!

maybe it's instinctual though, the whole nesting thing,  

because i just couldn't help myself

and who knows, one day i may eat my words about extravagant first birthdays too

her baby quilt is twenty three years old, from when her mumma was a baby!

everything else is hand made or second hand, cos we're thrifty like that

how to make a paint chip mobile - diy

paint chip mobiles are all the rage over at pinterest (where all the cool kids hang out) and

 with a bebeh on the way i finally had an excuse to make one and eat breakfast three times

 daily!

so for those playing along at home, this is how it's done.

1. go to your local hardware store and steal pick up some paint chips (i have repeatedly told my husband, it's not stealing if they're free)

2. cut out your circles. the size and amount of circles you cut is totally dependent on you.

 i used a circle punch (about $15 from a craft store), which saved a lot of time, but you can

 always go old school with scissors. 

3. line up your pattern. remember each circle needs two paint chip circles, one for the front and one for the back

4. stick one strip of double sided tape onto one circle of each pair and then run a length of fishing line down the length of each group of circles. then match up your pair of circles so the double sided tape is holding both the fishing line and the pair of circles together (get it?).

remember to leave lots of fishing line at the top to use to hang the mobile

5.  tie each length of circles onto a metal frame/circle (picked mine up for $1.50 from a craft store)

6. holding all your long pieces of fishing line that are coming out of the top of your mobile, straighten up the mobile, so it hangs properly and then tie a knot. then hang it on a hook from ya ceiling and that's it.

ta da, a paint chip mobile!

how to make fabric bunting: a diy tutorial

i love fabric bunting

making some for myself has been on my to do list for an awfully long time.
it was finally ticked off the list this weekend.

i have made a little diy fabric bunting tutorial in case anyone else is interested.

note: i cut 20cm strips from the fabric. from there i cut triangles with the following
dimensions: 16cm top, 21.5cm sides.

ta da, fabric bunting!

post script

nick answered the door last week

the salesman asked if his parents were home

how to make fabric bunting: a diy tutorial

diy fabric bunting

welcome home

my sister and her husband returned from traveling the globe on wednesday. they had been gone for  over 4 months! i felt it was an occasion worth commemorating with cake (and of course diy cake toppers, because really, what is a cake without a topper?) 

most occasions these days call for cake. 

you got a job? you get a cake! 

it's valentines day? here have some cake! 

you got a high score on fifa? guess what, you get a cake!

you've probably worked out by now that when it comes to cake and i, any excuse will do. i really should be double my size, but like most problems, i'm just not going to ignore that, and hope it goes away.

the cake is just your basic chocolate cake, you know sugar, cocoa, flour, eggs the usual and the icing is whipped chocolate ganache. i know that sounds fancy but chocolate ganache is just cream and chocolate melted together, no lie, google it.

by the way wednesday + diy

this by the way wednesday also comes with a side helping of diy, you know i aim to please.

this diy toilet role art is so simple read "so easy even i could do it without screwing it up" and lovely read "looks dang fine!". i originally found this idea on design sponge, the home of any wanna be blogger's crafty pursuits.

who knew a motherload of toilet roles, a hot glue gun and some white spray paint could produce something so utterly perfect?

oh and also i really like these

aren't they pretty? from twig and thistle

and this

what a steezy birth announcement! you could probably use it for anything. this stupendous idea is by 

fresh baked paper goods, via you are my fave

post script  my spinach leaves are growing 

like gangbusters, it's so exciting, i thought i'd share!

aren't they beautiful?

in a moment of impulse buying (it’s that darn internet, it gets me every time) i bought some beautiful stamps from eat pray create.

they were shipped from the u s of a. so like a puppy waiting for its owner every day i came home and anxiously checked the mail.

after what literally felt like a month, a little package arrived in number eight and there they were.

and aren't they beautiful?

post script i wanted to post this last night but couldn't

because we blew out internet download limit again,
so the internet speed is circa 2002 for a while.
also, i wore tights as pants to the supermarket last night
and nick hates that. it was hilarious

some diy cake toppers and some diy cake

first and foremost, how good is cake? i know, right?

i am 23. the grand milestone happened a couple of weeks ago and nick baked me a cake. this was not your ordinary yellow cake, this walnut and chocolate extravaganza was absolutely delicious and totally looked the part (we're talking double layers here). 

ten husband points to nick.

this inspired me to get my bake on. i took it that one step further and made some cake toppers too. they are so easy to make! i have some stamps, so that helps, but the idea is simple and it just makes a cupcake or cake that little bit better (but yes, it is hard to beat a chocolate cupcake, cake topper or not).

i own a single cup cake stand. it is rather ridiculous how excited i am about this fact. 

thank you cathie!

i've decided it's difficult to not look like a farm animal while eating a cupcake. it's the whole cupcake to mouth ratio, it's way off.

case in point

am i old? it's yet to be determined

the top photo looks strange. like there's junk all over my face, but in fact there's junk all over the mirror. i guess that's less gross, but still not great, i know.

anyway if you can't tell, not one but two whole people must have read my blog, this post in particular (those two people happen to be related to me, so maybe they don't count). not only did they read it but they took it as a call to action and both of them knitted me my very own neck warmer. i shall dream no more.

thank you mumma and heidi!

i would love to learn to knit. that is actually one of the many pieces of evidence that is proving somewhere along the way i became old. poor nick, i was cool and young when we met, ahh the old bait and switch. 

we got in the car late last night and triple j was playing the usual "it's so late no one's listening so we'll fill out death metal/thrash/house quota" and the following ensued

naya "oh triple j, what are you doing?" *goes to turn radio off

naya "oh the quiz!" *quickly switches the station to ABC 702

nick "you are your mother"

that is all for this tuesday night. 

stay classy san diego 

p.s on an unrelated matter, 

found out today our nephew brody 

thinks we live in the computer. 

he points to the laptop and asks for us.

don't know whether to laugh or cry.

oh and i made a new header that i am finally happy with. 

this one is steezy the last one sucked,  i can admit it.

the ultimate kitchen starter pack

for those of you playing at home you will remember here i said i am trying to make/give gifts that are a bit more personal, that show a little extra effort, especially in the presentation department.

a friend of mine recently wed and moved into her first grown up home with her now husband. i put together the 'ultimate kitchen starter pack' for her new place so that when she reaches for a spatula she won't come up empty handed. 

i noticed when we moved into our first new home we were rather lacking in the kitchen utensil department. as it turns out, houses do not come with utensils (or screw drivers, brooms, buckets, cloths, matches, batteries, light bulbs, pegs and a plethora of other things you just thought would be there because they were just always around in your home growing up, word to the wise - they're not)

sometimes growing up can be a steep learning curve. life used to be so simple and run so smoothly, but now there's dust bunnies in the bathroom and my towels won't dry because the house is too cold and there's ants in the kitchen that even an ant genocide hasn't fixed. bit of a tangent i know, shall we move on? yes, lets.

here are some pictures from said ultimate kitchen starter pack. i also included a donna hay cook book because without her my husband and i would be eating cereal for dinner and the box it came in for dessert.