I'm still working out what I'm going to make my nephews. I'm thinking either chalkboard placemats or appliqué t-shirts & shorts pj's. If you have any other ideas I'd love to hear about them. :-)
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Handmade Love
Well here is my first attempt at making my nieces dresses for Christmas, pattern free. I'm pretty chuffed at how they turned out. I'm going to add little beaded bracelets to them in matching colors (photo's once their done).
I'm still working out what I'm going to make my nephews. I'm thinking either chalkboard placemats or appliqué t-shirts & shorts pj's. If you have any other ideas I'd love to hear about them. :-)
I'm still working out what I'm going to make my nephews. I'm thinking either chalkboard placemats or appliqué t-shirts & shorts pj's. If you have any other ideas I'd love to hear about them. :-)
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
A Handmade Christmas
I'm setting myself a challenge. This year I'm going to attempt to hand make all the nieces, nephews and extended family Christmas presents. We bought Miss Ones presents earlier in the year but I'm sure I can add some handmade to the bike hidden in the shed and the Little People School Bus under the bed in the spare room.
I have three nieces and two nephews, and I usually do hampers for each of my siblings and my parents.
I'm almost finished a dress for niece aged 6 and will make the same dress but in a different fabric for niece aged 7. I also have some handmade bracelets for them. That means I just have to figure out what to make nephews 3 and 5 and niece aged 1.
For the hampers I think I'll definitely make my strawberry and grand marnier jam, Christmas tree shortbread, and some home made chocolates. I'd like to include something useful and non-edible but I'm having trouble thinking of something. I scouring Etzy.com and madeit.com for inspiration so I'll let you know what I come up with!
I have three nieces and two nephews, and I usually do hampers for each of my siblings and my parents.
I'm almost finished a dress for niece aged 6 and will make the same dress but in a different fabric for niece aged 7. I also have some handmade bracelets for them. That means I just have to figure out what to make nephews 3 and 5 and niece aged 1.
For the hampers I think I'll definitely make my strawberry and grand marnier jam, Christmas tree shortbread, and some home made chocolates. I'd like to include something useful and non-edible but I'm having trouble thinking of something. I scouring Etzy.com and madeit.com for inspiration so I'll let you know what I come up with!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Warning! May be Carcinogenic.....
I've just had my third friend diagnosed with breast cancer in a year. At 35-ish the last thing that should be on your mind is "could I have cancer?". Like many women my age (and my recently diagnosed friend) I occasionally check my breasts and it's usually a quick exam every couple of months, if I remember.
When I think about my lifestyle and look back I smoked and took the pill in my twenties, but come the thirties I became more health conscious and began eating healthy, quit smoking, exercised more and tried to relax as much as possible. Mostly this was because I was trying to improve my reproductive health and give my baby the best possible start in life.
So hears something I recently discovered. You may already know this, but many do not. The vast majority of skincare, haircare and cosmetic products contain something called Parabens. Parabens are a class of chemicals used as a preservative in cosmetic products.
Parabens are effective and cheap to manufacture which is why they are so widely used. The problem is they have been found in small numbers in breast cancer tumours. They've also been known to cause dermatitis and skin allergies, not to mention eczema.
How many times have you heard someone say that every time they use Palmolive they get a rash? This cheap and popular brand contains parebens and mineral oils and both are carcinogenic. So why are we still buying these products?
Part of the problem is that so little is known about the exact effects of parabens and not enough research has been done to ban them or even justify warning labels. This research could take years or even decades to complete. In the meantime we are moisturising, washing our hair, even brushing our teethe with these carcinogens every day.
Tell your family, tell your friends.......read the label and if you see the word paraben, don't buy it!
When I think about my lifestyle and look back I smoked and took the pill in my twenties, but come the thirties I became more health conscious and began eating healthy, quit smoking, exercised more and tried to relax as much as possible. Mostly this was because I was trying to improve my reproductive health and give my baby the best possible start in life.
So hears something I recently discovered. You may already know this, but many do not. The vast majority of skincare, haircare and cosmetic products contain something called Parabens. Parabens are a class of chemicals used as a preservative in cosmetic products.
Parabens are effective and cheap to manufacture which is why they are so widely used. The problem is they have been found in small numbers in breast cancer tumours. They've also been known to cause dermatitis and skin allergies, not to mention eczema.
How many times have you heard someone say that every time they use Palmolive they get a rash? This cheap and popular brand contains parebens and mineral oils and both are carcinogenic. So why are we still buying these products?
Part of the problem is that so little is known about the exact effects of parabens and not enough research has been done to ban them or even justify warning labels. This research could take years or even decades to complete. In the meantime we are moisturising, washing our hair, even brushing our teethe with these carcinogens every day.
Tell your family, tell your friends.......read the label and if you see the word paraben, don't buy it!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Girls Night Out
So I'm in Melbourne for two days to do some buying for my store and a little bit of shopping and relaxation for me. I organised with my an old friend to meet up for dinner and drinks last night, a bit of a girls night out without the worry of kiddies and hubby's. We decided to start with some entrees at a Chapel Street well known Italian restaurant, move on to St Kilda for our mains and finish with drinks at a nearby bar.
My first dilemma was what to wear. When you've been a Mummy for the last year and preggers for 9 months before that, you don't exactly have the cool Chappel st killer outfit or body for that matter. I did my best with an oversized T-shirt with sequin trim and a pair of skinny black jeans and heels. My girlfriend turned up as usual looking stunning. She wore a gorgeous Aztec print dress that came just above the knee and brown cowboy boots. Did I mention she's Italian, long black hair to her waist, about a size 8, stunning! So feeling slightly frumpy I followed her into the restaurant where we enjoyed the best plate of Olives I've ever had, and polished of a lovely glass of wine. My favourite part was when we were leaving and the waiter took her hand and said "chow Bella" and then just looked at me as we walked out the door.
Heading to St Kilda we ended up at another Italian restaurant for our mains and we decided on a mixture of seafood entrees to share. This time we had a young female waitress who seemed to think we'd ordered too much food and was determined to stare us down with a "yes you should feel guilty about eating all that" look. After we paid and used their bathroom to freshen up she seemed almost glad and she cheerily waived us out the door. My friend and I do tend to talk a lot and we did stay for a long time after we finished out meals, but she could have come and offered us more drinks or even a desert menu rather than her looks of distaste.
Final stop was a little bar two doors up from the restaurant where we intended on enjoying a drink. My friend has been there before and said it was great. The age group was around 25-30 so better than going to a bar filled with 18 year olds. There were a lot of men on mobile phones and a lot of women trying to look disinterested but who were clearly there to find a mate. It got me thinking, the last time I went out to meet a man you used to have to beg the barman for a pen and took down there number on a piece of paper. Now we just whip out our iPhone or Galaxy and not only can we put their number in but we can snap a photo and save it against the number and name just in case we have a few too many and can't remember if he was worth calling the next day.
Still an overall enjoyable night but by the time I got back to the hotel at the very early hour of 10:30pm I was so glad to see my bed and hit the pillow that I didn't bat my eyelids until 6:30am the next morning. Why is it when your baby free you still can't sleep in? Now that's another blog all together.....
My first dilemma was what to wear. When you've been a Mummy for the last year and preggers for 9 months before that, you don't exactly have the cool Chappel st killer outfit or body for that matter. I did my best with an oversized T-shirt with sequin trim and a pair of skinny black jeans and heels. My girlfriend turned up as usual looking stunning. She wore a gorgeous Aztec print dress that came just above the knee and brown cowboy boots. Did I mention she's Italian, long black hair to her waist, about a size 8, stunning! So feeling slightly frumpy I followed her into the restaurant where we enjoyed the best plate of Olives I've ever had, and polished of a lovely glass of wine. My favourite part was when we were leaving and the waiter took her hand and said "chow Bella" and then just looked at me as we walked out the door.
Heading to St Kilda we ended up at another Italian restaurant for our mains and we decided on a mixture of seafood entrees to share. This time we had a young female waitress who seemed to think we'd ordered too much food and was determined to stare us down with a "yes you should feel guilty about eating all that" look. After we paid and used their bathroom to freshen up she seemed almost glad and she cheerily waived us out the door. My friend and I do tend to talk a lot and we did stay for a long time after we finished out meals, but she could have come and offered us more drinks or even a desert menu rather than her looks of distaste.
Final stop was a little bar two doors up from the restaurant where we intended on enjoying a drink. My friend has been there before and said it was great. The age group was around 25-30 so better than going to a bar filled with 18 year olds. There were a lot of men on mobile phones and a lot of women trying to look disinterested but who were clearly there to find a mate. It got me thinking, the last time I went out to meet a man you used to have to beg the barman for a pen and took down there number on a piece of paper. Now we just whip out our iPhone or Galaxy and not only can we put their number in but we can snap a photo and save it against the number and name just in case we have a few too many and can't remember if he was worth calling the next day.
Still an overall enjoyable night but by the time I got back to the hotel at the very early hour of 10:30pm I was so glad to see my bed and hit the pillow that I didn't bat my eyelids until 6:30am the next morning. Why is it when your baby free you still can't sleep in? Now that's another blog all together.....
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sometimes I Just Love My Job!
The thing I find the hardest about working in fashion and having a gorgeous 1 year old daughter is to NOT raid my stock. It would be so easy for me to say "hey I'll just take that pair of Walnut ballet flats and that Eeni Meeni dress". Taking all the good stock means that customers only see your worst and won't bother coming back.
So now I have a rule, it stays on the shelf for at least a month, and if it hasn't sold I can buy it for my little fashionista!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
The Food Maize
It's my last Monday off work and I'm toddler free, so I decided after two loads of washing, dropping Miss 1 off at day care and a gym work out I would get some grocery shopping done.
Trying to be healthy is not easy these days. Whole food, wholegrain, organic, biodynamic, free-range, raw, spelt, chia, amarynth, un-homogenised, gluten-free, dairy-free, lactose-free, sugar free, high fat, low fat, no fat...... Uuuggghhhh I'm exhausted already.
I thought I'd make it easy for myself and go back to basics and just eat wholesome, organic food and that way I was being a good Mum and a healthy person. Well it's not that easy. Sure there's loads of organic products on the market but it's an expensive excercise to shop almost all organic. Plus you have the added hassle of having to source your groceries from several different places as yor health food shop might have some of the items you need, and the supermarket may have the other items. I'm yet to find a butcher that sells organic meat so we buy whatever we can get from the supermarket and our local health food shop.
Today I bought 250g of bacon ($13) and some cream ($6 for 200g). I'm nearly at $20 and have only purchase 2 items! Organic cornflakes were $5.97 for 350g and the 500g box of non-organic cornflakes is$1.99. It's making it very hard to stick to organic.
On the up-side, buying eco-friendly and non-petroleum/mineral oil based cleaning products is a little easier on the budget. The Eco Store brand of washing powder is cheaper than Omo and the Earth brand of floor cleaner and all-purpose spays are cheaper than Nifti and Pine-o-Clean.
I don't know how long I'll stick to this Organic food thing. My doctor told me the other day that there was no scientific evidence to show it made you healthier. I figure that you have to believe in something and I choose to believe that this makes us healthier and therefore happier. I want, like most Mums, to give my daughter the best possible start in life and there is no way this could be doing her any harm, but the possiblilty of it doing her good is too high not to give it a go.
Trying to be healthy is not easy these days. Whole food, wholegrain, organic, biodynamic, free-range, raw, spelt, chia, amarynth, un-homogenised, gluten-free, dairy-free, lactose-free, sugar free, high fat, low fat, no fat...... Uuuggghhhh I'm exhausted already.
I thought I'd make it easy for myself and go back to basics and just eat wholesome, organic food and that way I was being a good Mum and a healthy person. Well it's not that easy. Sure there's loads of organic products on the market but it's an expensive excercise to shop almost all organic. Plus you have the added hassle of having to source your groceries from several different places as yor health food shop might have some of the items you need, and the supermarket may have the other items. I'm yet to find a butcher that sells organic meat so we buy whatever we can get from the supermarket and our local health food shop.
Today I bought 250g of bacon ($13) and some cream ($6 for 200g). I'm nearly at $20 and have only purchase 2 items! Organic cornflakes were $5.97 for 350g and the 500g box of non-organic cornflakes is$1.99. It's making it very hard to stick to organic.
On the up-side, buying eco-friendly and non-petroleum/mineral oil based cleaning products is a little easier on the budget. The Eco Store brand of washing powder is cheaper than Omo and the Earth brand of floor cleaner and all-purpose spays are cheaper than Nifti and Pine-o-Clean.
I don't know how long I'll stick to this Organic food thing. My doctor told me the other day that there was no scientific evidence to show it made you healthier. I figure that you have to believe in something and I choose to believe that this makes us healthier and therefore happier. I want, like most Mums, to give my daughter the best possible start in life and there is no way this could be doing her any harm, but the possiblilty of it doing her good is too high not to give it a go.
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