Everlasting Flowers

Wouldn't it be lovely to receive fresh flowers every second day? (Ah we can keep dreaming). You can with copy this cute idea from Found by James (a guy of course :) I love this idea because my heart breaks every time I have to throw away a bunch of flowers. Sure, fresh flowers are irreplaceable and fake plastic flowers definitely don't cut it but this way with the single flower print is a very thoughtful idea that you can keep.

via swissmiss

DIY Fish Mobile

Hope everyone had a great xmas and enjoying the crazy boxing day sales. If you are looking for a summer wet weather project - have I got one for you! This DIY project is ideal if you have a lot of paint chips or coloured cards to make a fish mobile for baby's nursery.

Best DIY Xmas Decoration

Here is my collection of interesting DIY xmas decoration projects from browsing various craft paper blogs - all low budget but big impact!

1. Book Page Wreath
2. Gift Card Snow Globe - Hmm apparently can't leave card in water for more than a week. 
3. Book of Gratitude - I think this is a great & sentimental idea - to make tiny books and string it together using striped twine or ribbon. It allows people to have a few moments of reflection!
4. Magazine Xmas Tree - recycle old magazines !

Adorable Advent Calendars

This bucket & advent calendar from Pottery barn is great inspiration for DIY advent calendar at home. You can paint numbers or buy numbered stickers from kikki.K or Typo store onto cheap pots from bargain store or even at Spotlight, Bunnings or IKEA.

1 Farmhouse Garland Advent Calendar. 2 Magnetic Advent Calendar 3 Mini Stockings 12 Days of Xmas 4 Starry Trees Downloadable Printables

Noah's Ark 1st Birthday Bash

A simple Noah's Ark party. The gorgeous Noah's Ark cake was made by talented mum of the b'day boy - Kristy using royal icing and sugar animals.

Party Decor/ Tableware

• Party Flags (each triangle is printed on A4 page) held together with twine
• Blue Honeycomb balls and White Paper tissue fans from Mon Tresor
• Party Hats (see previous post)
• Cupcake Toppers (using scallop edge cutter) with Robert Gorden cupcake wrappers on a reusuable cupcake stand
• Wooden Cultery from Mon Tresor with customised 'Noah' stamp from Chantal Vincent Art
• Animal noses from bargain shop

We also had cookies from Cookie Couture with our Thank You cards.


Silly me! I left the blue coloured smarties and Sambellina polka dot cups from Candy Soirees behind.

DIY Party Hats

Last weekend was Noah's 1st Birthday. My present to the little cheeky one was all the party decor :D.  Here is the template for a party hat to help you get started.

Simply print on the A4 card stock (200gsm), punch holes to the side and use hat elastic (often found at $2 shop). Fasten the flap with double-sided tape.

Additional touches could be adding in pom poms or crepe paper to the top for extra volume.

There is also a great tutorial from Prudent Baby.  If ever you need help with creating some graphics for your party you can get in touch with me.

DIY Toddler Friendly Crayons

Wet weather = toddlers getting stir crazy stuck indoors.

So how about gathering all left over crayon bits and creating different and exciting new shapes. Think moustaches, alphabet letters or numbers, hearts, anything available in baking tins. Heat makes a crayon a little loopy; it may melt into a swirl or pool into a whirl.You don't have to stick to just one colour - try different colour combinations like blue and white. They can also make great party favours!!

Tools and Materials

• Kitchen knife
• Old crayons
• Mini-cake tins (that you don't mind getting wax in)

1. Parents can use the knife to chop crayons into pea-size pieces, taking care to keep colors separate so kids can combine them as they like. Use perhaps a cork cutting board - it will be hard to get the wax out and they are quite hard to break!
2. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees while children fill the tin with crayon pieces, arranging them in interesting designs.
3. Bake just until the waxes have melted, 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Remove the shapes after they have cooled. If they stick, place tray in the freezer for an hour, and the crayons will pop out.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Crazy Crayons - Martha Stewart Kids

DIY Cake Stand

You dont have to be a ceramic genius to do this DIY cake stand. Whats great is that you can recycle vintage plates or even grandma like patterned plates and turn it into something 'chic'.

Alternatively you can hire cake stands online at Mon Tresor or puchase them at Sweet Little Birdy (choose from single to three tiers!)

DIY Kid Grocery Store

As you all know I am fascinated by kids stuff :) Especially this DIY Grocery Store for Kids. It is a homemade divine creation!

If you look closely at it, you'll see that this store was created mostly from IKEA items. I see the shoe rack, wooden boxes and woven baskets.

Miniature Fabric Flower Garland

I found this DIY Fabric Flower Garland tutorial from Once Wed. You don't have to be a sewing whizz to create some handmade pieces for your home. Sure, it was intended for a wedding or party but I think it is just as fitting for a romantic and whimsical baby nursery as wall decor or hanging across the room.

DIY Wooden Magnets

Sick and tired of cheap plastic alphabet magnets? Why not make your own crafty alphabet magnets. You need pieces of wood, magnet bits and alphabet letter stickers (buy them at local craft/stationery store or even places like typo & Kikki.K). You can even print your own alphabet letters with an inkjet printer buy some adhesive labels from officeworks and that way you get to choose your own font! This a BRILLIANT tutorial from Aesthetic Outburst. Such handmade creativity that ANYBODY can do.

You'll need:

• paint
• paint brush
• 26 wood pieces (images show 1 inch thick)
• 26 magnets (smaller than diameter of twigs)
• alphabet stickers (make sure letters fit on twigs)
• super glue

1. Find/cut 26 wood pieces from a twig.
2. Get small alphabet stickers and stick them to the twigs.
3. Paint over the stickers (the stickers will act as a resist).
4. Glue a magnet to the back of each twig
5. Let glue dry & then decorate your fridge! 

Sounds super-duper easy. Now just need someone to cut some wood...

Recycled Shoe Boxes

Shoe Boxes + Black Felt Tip Pen = New Playhouse. Pretty chic looking at no cost (except for the pricey shoes that were in there!)

Image via Mother Baby Earth

Cute Pantry Makeover Ideas...

I have been seeing lovely glass jars everywhere lately, especially on party blog sites - so why not give your glass or canister jars a chic makeover? It only needs a simple touch like twine, ribbon or labels. Not only are you recycling, you'll be feeling a bit more like Donna Hay each day :)

Kate Canister Makeover over at Design Sponge is a great DIY project.