There have been a LOT of Ikea trips of late ; )

And I want to thank every single one of you for your patience, love, support, kind words and understanding during an interesting time in my life. And that will be all I have to say about that : )

Lately I have no “felt” like writing. A strange concept to me as for 2 years I wanted to write every single day. And even when I did take a break I missed it, this, you the blog terribly. Maybe in a crisis you revaluate what is the MOST important thing to be doing with your time.

If your “time out” is limited to you spend it on your hobby or on blogging about your hobby? It is all about balance right? And I am finding that and as much as this little space in the WWW is not my priority right now I will still be around and back to blogging eventually.

One of the projects I have chosen to work on whilst living with my mum is getting my scrapbooking “up to date”. On the rare night I have “off” I choose to turn of the TV and the laptop and get some scrapbooking done. Let me tell you I have been LOVING it. I was so far behind on the boys albums I cannot even tell you and so I set myself some goals and made a choice to take some time for me. I should have done it a long time ago!!!

I thought I would share with you today just a few of the recent layouts I have done in Flynn’s album and how I have used a mixture of lots and lots of different page protectors and some Project Life stuff to create this snapshot of my sons life as a 4 year old.

Firstly cards have always been an issue for me- where to store them and how. The other day when I was at Officeworks I picked up these great A5 project folders and a little lightbulb went off when I got home. I punched three holes in the side, added a little tag and then placed my cards on the inside. I added it to the front of Flynn’s album as to not bulk up the rest of the album too much. I LOVE this option as the cards are together with the photos and easily viewable.

And a few easter pages, incorporating art, cards and letters etc.

For this look I printed a 8×10 enlargement and then cropped the photo to the same 8×8 size of the page protector- a few Easter stickers and this feature was complete.

I love being able to include some larger versions of my favourite photos in this album : )

I am also using these great flip up page protectors as well to incude a lot of vertical photos in my album.

I just have to say again I am LOVING how easily these albums come together. I am able to get so many pages done super quick and just scrapbook when and where I feel like it.

So along with being mummy, moving house, working, baking, opening bank accounts, getting a PO box and a million other things that is what I have been up to ; )

My first son Flynn,

You came into my life for 4 years ago and taught me just what unconditional love was. It rocked me deep into my core and still does. At the moment I have the privilege of waking up to you every day and seeing you smile and run your little hand along my arm and say good morning mummy, or I love you mummy. The kicks in my back all night are well worth that special moment with you.

You are super smart and savy and have a fantastic vocab beyond your years. You love lego and duplo and cars and your current running obsession is the Army (it changes frequently). You love school, swimming, soccer, the library and the dinosaur museum.

Today you are 4 (finally) you have been counting down for weeks and weeks and I am so happy for you that your special day is finally here. You had a cookie for breakfast and enjoyed riding around on your first bike= terrifying mummy as you are a little speed demon.

I love you to the moon and back again my sweet boy and I look forward to every precious day I get to spend with you watching you grow into the most beautiful little boy.

Much love Mummy.
x

The party? It was last minute (think running around Woolworths like a crazy person the night before), I ran out of wrapping paper, lost my SD card, could not figure out how to set up the Tag reader thingy and felt like it was all falling apart. Cue worst mummy feeling ever, the guilt runneth over. I rang a friend in somewhat hysterics about my dilemas and worst mummy moments late Saturday night before the big day and their wise words calmed me. They said I remember the birthday I got my very first bike, and do you know what else I remember? Nothing they said. The thrill of the bike would outweigh all of the other “stuff” I was so worried about.

And you know what? They were so very right. We had a fabulous, quiet, last minute, store bought birthday and it was one of the best to date. I got to spend so much time watching Flynn enjoying his day nothing else really mattered.

Maybe I love them so very much because I try and get myself organised for a fun holidays free from as many “what are we going to do today” and I’m bored” as possible ; ) How do I do this?

Well when I was a little girl and I had school holidays we would always write up our “wish list” for what we wanted to do for the precious two weeks we had. We worked our way through this little list and never really got “bored”. We did a lot of playing at home, crafts, the movies etc etc.

SO the way I plan out my holidays is about a week before I start a little search www.kidspot.com.au for school holiday activities in my local area. I select a few for Flynn that are local/ cheap/ free and that I think Flynn would really love. If you have to book a place at the activity I also do this the week before to avoid disappointment.

Once I have picked a few activities I pop them into my calendar. Around these I work our home days, baking cookies, craft at home, movies days, library visits, park play time etc. I like to have a balance of a few activities for the week and also a lot of home/ down time.

Last holidays a few of places we visited were-
*Museum
* Art Gallery
*Library
*Miniature village
*Perth Zoo

Fun times were had. And then a lot of time at home in between.

Last school holidays I struggled with the calendar for the holidays, the list was on notepaper carried around everywhere with me etc. So I decided this school holidays Bianca and I would make a little something to make these school holidays a little easier.

First a calendar you can customize to your own school holidays dates and requirements : ) You can pop in your own details and any events you like.

You can edit and then print out the calendar the way you like : )

And a little Notes section at the bottom for things you want to remember to do over the holidays etc.

Then comes the holiday fun list. Again you can edit this to suit your children etc and as you decide on your activities you can add them to the list with any relevant information like opening times, event, cost etc.

You can also check out Bianca’s post HERE and enjoy all of her lovelies.

Calendar

Fun list

I really hope you enjoy getting organised this school holidays and most of all have fun : )

Step 1

Get your file from a talented designer or make your own if you are good like that in Photoshop (I will be sharing the details of my designer soon). This is measured up to the size of my chosen juice pops and milk cartons.

Step 2

Buy yourself some 1Up labels from Oficeworks. This is a pack of 100 and was $28. It is like sticky back paper that you can run through the printer. This will save you a LOT of time not having to cut up double sided tape and you will get a really good stick onto your surface as well.

Step 3

Print your files off on your printer. I get asked a LOT what printer I use so here you are. This is a Brother MFC 990CW and it is a fab little machine. I print a lot and this little power house is always up to the challenge. If I am printing one file I will often also play around with the colours settings to get a more vivid print. But if I am printing a multiple amount over time like a party I leave them as they are.

Step 4

Cut your newly printed sticky labels to size with a cutter/ scissors whatever you have on hand.

You might even be lucky enough to have a special “helper” like me. Who whilst doing all party prep constantly asks for everything on the table to eat now. Sigh… love this boy.

But he gets bored quickly and returns to making Lego boats.

And after just a little bit of love and cutting.

What I love most about this DIY party craft i that you are taking something ordinary and for a little effort and a small cost outlay you get such a great look for your kids party drinks. I did wrapped juice pops at Oliver’s Christening and they were a big hit everyone loved them and people really loved the extra effort.

You could use patterned paper and wrapping paper and get the same effect. For the drinks I used long life chocolate milk cartons and juice popper both found at Coles.

I hope this might give a few of you who I know are party planning an extra little idea for your next get together : )

Next week I will post so much you will want me to stop talking.

So for now I will leave you will the start of our suspended ribbon backdrop for Master Oliver’s 1st Birthday party

Yes my child grew a lot over the weekend….. or maybe he was standing on a stool either way what is he doing?

Moving right along.

After seeing this fabulous dessert table I knew I wanted to do exactly the same for our upcoming celebration. Simple a piece of dowel suspended from the ceiling with fishing line. Simple and very effective.

More to come soon : )

This is my ALL day out bag. We might be going to the zoo or out all day Sat etc whatever the case may be this lives in the car for those days. I also have a smaller nappy clutch type set up I will show you soon for the quicker trips : )

Firstly the bag I use-

This was a gift at my baby shower from my gorgeous group of girlfriends and it was such a nice treat. It has lasted super well and after 12 months it still looks brand new. This particular one is made by Oroton and you can find it HERE. I like it as it’s a great size and fits in everything without being too big.

This is a look at everything laid out.

I do carry a LOT. I am the queen over over packing , being prepared and having everything that I just might need. I am not a “buy at the shop if I need it” kind of girl. The level of pooping through we have had with Oliver it make me nervous to go out of the house without a fulling stocked. Lets just say I have been the mum in the parents room hosing down my child in the sink…..the shame.

If I get stuck without something I need you will find it in my nappy bag the next time.

Here is a slightly closer look from L-R.

Toiletries in a clear case (this is great for seeing what I have also keeping everything else protected from spills or leakages)
Wipes
Bibs
A few small rattles for entertaining
Dummy on a chain
Spare change of clothes- full set including singlet
Muslin wrap
Hat

Keeping in mind this is just a nappy bag I do not carry anything for Flynn or any food or any of my own things in here. I just like to keep things separate. It is easy for my brain and how I organise my life.

And the other side -
More spare clothes
Nappy bags
Socks/booties
Fabric change mat
Nappies in a zip lock bag (I hate scrunchy nappies)

So this is it. This is what stays in the bag on a regular basis and I change this over and Oliver grows and the seasons change- I have just added a pair of jeans, a sleepsuit and a wooly hat since taking these photos as the weather gets cooler.

Now back to that toiletries bag. I love this solution for being able to grab quickly what a need for a nappy change or other situation whilst I am out.

Now this is what is in there-

Hand sanitizer
Nappy rash cream
Moisturiser
Powder
Tissues
Bath wash (see above for said pooping episodes)
Baby sunblock

And here is a look at everything all stacked in there nicely.

The little zip lock bags allow everything to remain together and neat. The sections in the bag also allow me to better organise everything and I usually keep all changing items on one side and spare clothes, bibs, toys etc on the other.

So there you have it.

Is this bag organising going to suit you all ?

No way. I am a working mum and so I keep my own stuff separate as moving it daily would be a nightmare- this may be different to you so you might add a purse, sunglasses etc. The key is though is finding what you need to carry, storing it neatly so that it doesn’t get too messy and making sure you re stock on a regular basis so that you don’t get caught out.

I hopes this helps those who asked and if you have any other great tips of what YOU carry in your nappy bag please feel free to share with everyone : )

Ok not so secret anyone. Water soluable Eucalyptus. Right this stuff is AMAZING. I just used an empty spray bottle- shown on the right and followed the instructions on the bottle to mix up this great spray. And let me tell you we use it on absolutely everything in every room in the house- including mopping the floors. It smells great, it is super cheap and non toxic. PERFECT.

You can find it in the first aid isle at Woolworth and I guarantee you are going to be a convert once you try it ; )

Janine · 1 week ago
I would love to win this ready for my daughter’s 6th birthday party coming up….x

Congratulation Janine : ) I am sure you will LOVE this stand as much as I do. Can you just email through your details at jade@lovelyliving.com.au to claim your prize.