Meet 'Brambles'

 

Anyone who knows me, knows that sewing is definitely not my strong point.

I've always admired people who seem to be able to whip up some incredible creation using needle and thread and decorate their homes, or gift to friends and family the treasures they've made.

 

I've always been a person who loves creating characters. Whether that be through a pencil sketch, a story I write, or our pet cats that I've taken great pleasure in naming! So when I found myself craving the feel of fabric in my hands and actually wanting to sew something, it was only natural for me to lean towards creating a character.

 

I sat down and sketched out my pattern, then gathered my felts and other materials to begin creating this little character. It took me sooo long! But, I found it relaxing because I made up my mind to just let it take as long as it would take and enjoy the process.

 

I really, really love making characters!

 

So, let me introduce to you, my first ever completed little doll ... sweet little 'Brambles' ... she enjoys long bike rides in the country, reading and hot cups of tea.

 

 

 

I can see a lot of rough bits when I look at her,

but I'm happy with her for my first ever attempt! 

 

This is also my first ever attempt at a satin stitch for the eyes and nose

... not as hard as I thought it would be (thank goodness!).

 

I think the only thing that I would change about her, is making her face more three dimensional. I have no idea how to do that however, so it'll be another skill to learn!

If any of you have tips or tricks to help with this, I'd be so grateful!

 

Using our hands to create things of beauty is such a wonderful gift that God has given us.

I've been looking through my scrap fabrics and I've been inspired by the beautiful colours and hope to make some more bunny dolls soon!

 

What is it that you like to sew? Happy creating friends!


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Linking up with Share your cup

 



Our Little Chef!

Our oldest daughter (13) absolutely loves to cook! 

So much so that she's collecting cooking books, creating her own recipes, and forever asking to be in the kitchen!

As her parents, we obviously are wanting to support her in her interest (that doesn't show any signs of changing!) and give her opportunity for growth and the chance to learn from her sometimes not so edible creations! 

We're so thankful that homeschooling allows these extra opportunities.

But ...

We seemed to be always clashing with when we were both wanting to be in the kitchen!

So my husband and I came up with this plan ...

... We would give our eager little Chef one night per week that is hers for her cooking night. (She can cook as many or as few dishes as she likes; entree, main, dessert, drink, etc.)

Thursday night works best for us all, so Thursday night it is! 

When we shared this with our daughter, she was thrilled to pieces!

There are, of course, some 'non-negotiable' rules that she has to follow ...

#1.  Plan your menu BEFORE mum goes shopping (usually Monday or Tuesday)

#2.  Write out your own list of ingredients needed when shopping 

(I use grocery money that I would normally use for that meal)

#3.  Please keep it budget friendly and healthy

(I can still 'rule-out' any meals too expensive, unhealthy, or difficult etc.)

#4.  Start with a clean kitchen, end with a clean kitchen 

#5.  Read and re-read all methods carefully BEFORE cooking

#6.  Try (as best as possible) to have the meal on the table before 6pm

#7.  Keep going, and never give up

#8.  Have fun!

We've found that this is such an easy way to support her love of cooking! 

It really works well (and I really enjoy the night off too!) 

As an extra addition to her cooking 'education', she keeps her own recipe journal as well (her own idea!) It contains recipes that she's tried and are now favourites, and recipes that she's developed herself over time. I can just see her cooking for her own family from this lovely book full of delicious meals, cakes, biscuits, desserts and everything in between! 

When time permits, I allow her to bake at other times as well, so she's not restricted to only Thursday nights.

And, as you can see ... my younger children have no problem with dressing up for the occasion and being our happy little waiters! They are sooooo cute! 

(Look at that tie and those braces, and those gloves and pearls! They melt my heart!)

The last meal that our daughter cooked, she asked if she could create her own menu too (we said yes), so that was designed and printed from Word, and placed on the table at each setting. We've also said that she can have fun with the decorating of the table, and again, the younger kids enjoy helping with this as well! 

Tonight her meal (as in pictures above) was an Asian Mince, with mashed potato (we 'judge' her meals, like she's asked us to, and all said that veggies would have been nice in it too, but it was sooo yummy!) and then mini apple pies (that she made from scratch!) with custard for dessert, delicious!

This is fast becoming a fun family night together and we're so very proud of our little Chef!

I think this quote says things quite perfectly ...

Have a truly blessed week!

A Sneak Peek Into Our Home!

A little peek inside some changes around our home ... some of my favourite spots!

My second-hand hutch I brought for a steal, and now it homes my natural health ingredients and is the perfect display for my collection of jugs, and other tid-bits!

I recently brought this table second-hand for only $30! My husband helped to replace the top with fresh new pieces of Cyprus for only $3! It now holds all of our 'nature treasures' ...

... beautiful natural objects we've found through the years.

I love bringing nature into the home for my children to explore (& me too!)

I'll be posting more sneak peeks into our home soon! 

See you all then!

A Weekend at Home

I love those weekends that you have where you've got very little on by way of events to leave home for. A weekend with no time constraints, no agendas or to-do lists; just to be and enjoy (rare, I know). This weekend was one of those for myself and my family. 

I spent a leisurely Saturday morning in town birthday present shopping for my youngest daughter (didn't have to be done, but I thought, why not!) and enjoying some fantastic op-shopping. We played board games, sketched together, mowed the grass, cleaned windows, scrubbed old bottles that we dug out like buried treasure from out in one of our paddocks, printed out beautiful inspirational illustrations for a little journal book that I made (another post on that one), cleaned and shined op-shop finds, re-positioned furniture to make way for a beautiful cabinet that belonged to my Great Grand-parents, and just had a lovely time being together and being home.

It was a few weeks ago that we dug out the above mentioned bottles, and I've only just had the time to really try and get them scrubbed and as clean as possible. It took around 6 hours (in two separate time frames) to actually finish this ... felt like mission impossible at times! They went from looking like this ...

To this ...

To finally (and I mean finally) this ...

I think it adds a nice bit of old-fashioned charm to the kitchen. They still aren't spotlessly clean, but if soaking them for one week, putting them through the dishwasher, then filling them with rice (for abrasion), vinegar and bi-carb and attacking them with wire bottle brushes in hot soapy water can't get all of it off ... then who knows what will? I think I'll just be happy with them like this! 

This year I intend to sketch a lot more than I have in the previous couple of years. It's one of my personal goals in my new bullet journal. I find it very relaxing to sit after doing chores or preparing dinner or whatever it may be, to sit and create with pencil in hand. 

This gorgeous fox is a copy from another artist, it is not my original work (only for personal use). I really enjoyed creating the different texture in this piece with the fur of the fox and the grain in the wood. 

This is my original piece that I sketched from a photograph that I took of our lovely little rag doll kitten 'Aslan' ... I just can't resist him and had to capture him in a drawing as well.

Another copied sketch (personal use only) that I just loved. It's actually from a piece titled 'Little House on the Prairie' and I really like how it speaks of such simple, beautiful, wholesome times. 

I hope to be able to carve out more snippets of time here and there to sketch more lovely images, I'd like to have my journal full of them by the end of the year.

My great grandparents were such an amazing Godly influence in my life. I have many fond memories of them and I believe that their character and example is what has helped me form my own in some ways. They're very special to me and so having this piece of furniture (even with the timber veneer strips chipping off) in my home is very important to me (I hope to replace the veneer soon).

While at the op-shop I purchased a beautiful set of four 'Peter Pan' series plates in perfect condition for only $4.00 each, and a gorgeous cat and bunny rabbit one for the same price, along with a lovely butterfly one for only $2.00. I couldn't believe it. I also found a lovely little deer ornament that was only 50c ... it's pretty cute!

Here's my beautiful display cabinet that belonged to my Great-Grandparents ...

Well, I think that's about it. I'm going to tuck myself snuggly into bed giving thanks to my God who I love for all the blessings He gives. 

Life's never perfect, but it's still beautiful.

Good night friends xo

Taking The Stress Out Of Meal Times

Can anyone relate when I say that sometimes meal times with a large family can feel more like 'feeding time at the zoo' then it does a nice quiet family meal time?!

Kids up and down getting water, getting knives and forks etc and the whole process of getting ready for dinner taking about half an hour with mum wanting to pull out her hair before the meal even begins?! Well honestly, that's what was beginning to happen around here and far out, it just wasn't pleasant! So I knew that I had to change things up and get back to a simple system that actually works. Meal time rosters don't work for us, and I was wanting something that would foster 'co-operation' and working together as a team. Something that would hopefully lessen the 'but I set the table last night' response that I'm sure most of us have heard!

Enter the 'Dinner Servery' ... 

... this is not my original idea! I 'borrowed' it from a very good friend of mine who also has a large family and has one set up in her home! I knew that it would work so well for us, so I came home from time at her house and immediately set one up in our kitchen! Let me tell you, for something so simple, it's just made things so much easier and calmer at dinner time!

I also love that it gave me a reason to visit the op-shops again (does anyone really need a reason though!) so that I could find some glass jugs for our water. I already owned the one with the orange flowers, but I picked up the two clear ones for just $3.00 each. Now the kids just grab the jugs, fill them with water, and carry them to the table, along with everything else that's on the dinner servery!

Underneath the dinner servery is the cupboard for all of our plates and bowls etc. We have trivets permanently down the centre of our dining table with place mats out as well, so once everything is brought over from the servery, and the food is on the trivets, we grab our plates and sit down to our meal! Everyone does it all together and it's very quick and very enjoyable!

As the dishes get done (either by us or the kids), we need to make sure that we 're-stock' the servery with enough cutlery for the family, fill the napkin holder ($1.50 at op-shop), sometimes top up the salt and pepper, and wash and put the jugs back for the next meal. 

This really isn't anything fancy, and it's certainly nothing that's been expensive, but I would really recommend it to you if you are finding meals times a bit of a stress as well! 

Honestly, feeding the hungry hoard here has just gotten so much easier! 

Have a great week!

Preparing For Busy Times

At the moment, our family is in the process of moving house. You know, that process where things are all over the place and your home is turned upside down as you see a wall of boxes grow before your very eyes?! Yep, it's full-on around here.

There's something though, that I've been wanting to invest in for a few months now, and yesterday, I was finally able to do so. It's a second slow-cooker (or crock pot for my American friends!) This morning I woke up and gave our home a thorough cleaning, with the help of our children, and then set to work putting meals in the slow cooker.

I've been wanting a second slow-cooker for so many reasons; one of them being so that I can be cooking two meals at once. One for that night, and one for the freezer. This is what we plan on doing over the next couple of weeks. Making meals in the slow-cooker for freezing to enjoy when we're in the thick of moving house in a couple of weeks time. Hopefully this will make things so much easier and we will still be enjoying healthy meals as a family.

Obviously, I had to think through the financial side of things and figure out if investing in another appliance is worth it. We have a page on FaceBook where we can buy and sell things and I was able to purchase my second slow-cooker (although smaller than my first one), at just $25.00 with a recipe book as well! That's an investment I can afford!

Why do I love my slow cookers so much? ...

• the time I gain back
• knowing that the meals are healthy
• leaving the house is fine as my meals are still cooking!
• no rushing at the end of the day
• more time to spend with my family
• stockpiling meals in the freezer!
• less washing up!
• I can make this delicious breakfast!
• I feel very organised! (although, lately not so much!)
• cooking two meals at once
• there are so many things I can cook in them!
• they're easy for my children to use should they want to cook a meal
• the house smells amazing!
• I have a sense of satisfaction knowing my family will be well fed




My second slow-cooker. It has tomato, honey, potato and sausages
(and a whole pile of veggies!)



But this second slow-cooker wasn't just purchased for the benefit of my family alone. Here's the other ways I hope to bless others with my small investment ...
 

My first slow-cooker. It's currently cooking honey mustard chicken legs
(also with a whole pile of veggies!)

• sharing pot-luck meals with Church family on Sundays
• meals for sick families
• meals for others who are very busy too
• meals for families struggling financially
• meals for our elderly neighbours (especially in winter)
• larger sized meals for get-togethers with friends and family

I'm really thankful that I could make this little investment!

Is this something that you would consider doing?

 

I hope you're having a beautiful week!

 

Journaling Bible - A Way To Relax

So much has been happening around here since I last posted. We've been very busy together! In between normal housework and shopping, dropping my eldest off to his first job, going to basketball and music practice etc; we've also been preparing for our neighboring towns local monthly markets. 

In among all this crazy busy, I've somehow managed to squeeze some time in to relax by doing some 'decorating' of my Bible.  I've also been playing with dollies (but that's for tomorrow's post!) 

Also, we officially began home schooling this week! ... 

 

Even though I fall into bed exhausted at the end of each day, I am so grateful (although in all honesty, there are days were I find it hard to be). Grateful for the opportunity to home school, to have more time with our precious kids, to have the time to teach them the things that my husband and I desire to see in their hearts and lives.

It is important though as home schooling Mothers, that we do take care of ourselves. We spend so much time, round the clock, taking care of those we love and assisting them with so many different things, that sometimes we can forget to look after us too. Sometimes, we even feel guilty for doing it. We shouldn't feel guilt though; if the needs of our family are met and we are not just sitting down all day doing our own thing and neglecting our families, then we can take time for us. Even fifteen minutes allows us to rest and refresh ourselves. 

Beautiful Mother, don't feel guilty for taking some time out; it makes us much better wives and mothers when we do. 

 I first brought this Journaling Bible back in 2009, and have only just figured out how I want to go about using it! I love photographs, and I love word art ... oh and washi tape! In my old Bible I had a pile of loose photos in between the pages that were always falling out and making it hard to turn the pages. 

Until I had a brainwave! ...

My new Bible is designed to have all the text written on the left page, and the right side page is left completely blank for journalling, notes etc.It's just fantastic and so much fun! I'll show you what I've been doing with mine ...

All supplies out and ready to go! Bible, photographs, pens, washi tape, scissors, double-sided tape and trimmer!

The two laminated verses are ones that I had on my wall at our old house in my craft room. I've just had them lying around since we've moved, and I'm glad I thought of adding them to my Bible!

I've added HEAPS of photographs (these are only some) onto the pages, just by sticking them down first with double-sided tape, and then adding washi tape to the edges to give it some colour and design! I may go back and write some details about the photos at a later date, I still haven't decided yet. These are memories that I just didn't want to forget, and these pictures make me smile every time I look at them!

I love scripture art, and words! So, I just sketched these using a normal blue Biro pen (so that the ink wouldn't seep through the pages) and added washi tape as well. These are some of my favourite scriptures that I want to remember and live by.

One of the best things that I love about this Bible is that it's a work in progress (just like me!) and it allows me to grab bits of time here and there to relax! I have many more verses to write out, and maybe some quotes or poems too. 

Is this something you do to relax too? 
I hope you find some time to relax this week ...