Piquing My Pinterest ~ The Homly craftyness edition.

I am back on board with

Tina Gray {dot} Me

with all the talk about Pinterest and copy right issues
Tina has some new guidelines
hopefully I do this post the right way!

This week I'm going to share some cute little crafty ideas you could make or buy to add some loveliness to your home
All will be linked back to the "creator"

tutorial on how to make these here

available on etsy here

tutorial on how to make this here

 

 

available to buy here

original pillow inspiration available to buy here

DIY tutorial from Wit & Whistle here

 

 

Ok there we go fingers crossed I have done this right to avoid any complications!

Now to fnd time to go through all my boards and delete all the "naughty" pictures ;)

What have you been pinning lately? and dont forget to link with Ms Tina

Making our house a home & capturing memories with photos, lots of photos.

When I started writing this post a few weeks ago I had full intentions of it being a

2012 ~ our year so far post

Somehow it turned more into a

Making our house a home post.

Which I think is just what I was meant to post about in this momment

I do hope to post that 2012 update though, when the time is right.

............................................................

My Family Mission Statement for this year included taking more photos and with the help of

Fat Mum Slims photo a day challenge for the month of January and now February

and the Project 365/366 app I have been taking loads of photos!

I am loving looking back on all the photos I've taken it takes me back to that momment.

I am also really enjoying seeing physical proof that I am working on one of my 2012 goals everyday.

Januarys photos

Another part of the photo goal was to display them some more

whats the point in taking all these photos and only displaying them on facebook?

So I got a little creative and put together a few different photo collages.

the collage in the lounge room

the "love" collage in my room

Another goal on our list was to do with decluttering and organising the house.

I am happy to say I have pretty much decluttered majority of the house there is just a few bits and pieces around to finish doing but overall the main living areas look great!

I now have a study nook 

a work in progress command centre.

I've even had time to decorate with some wooden letters and new lamps.

It really is the small things that make a house a home. ;)

I love coming into our home now, its warm and orgainsed and starting to fill with gorgeous memories in the form of photos.

It feels good knowing I have created a nice little place for me and my babes... well until the end of the year where we'll be packing it all up and re-creating again.

I'm excitied about that though!

Was decluttering and organising on your 2012 to-do list? How are you going with it?

Keeping memories ~ 2012

It's no secret that 2011 was a pretty up & down kind of year for myself and the boys.

So for me 2012 was all about starting a fresh.

I've set a page full of goals, aims & dreams, all acheviable and all exciting.

The motto that seems to cover most of the other goals for our family is:

"Have more fun, take more photos and create more memories"

I love reflecting back on days we've had, remembering the warm fuzzy feeling or the smile on the boys faces 

and now with a new man and his daughter apart of our lives I thought remembering all the fun and adventures we will be having this year we needed a differnt way of documenting these.

Something fun and creative.

Where do you find such inspiration?

Pinterest of course ;)

And what did I find?

Memory Jars

There were so many gorgeous ideas.

This one below was the first one I stumbled across awhile ago

which is a jar full of all the things this ladies children were saying.

I pinned it to my board for things I wanted to do ASAP

and never got around to it!

But I have finally found the perfect time and reason to do it!

link to creator and post

Then when I searched "memory jars" to see what other inspiration I could find 

all sorts of gorgeous creations came up

Which has inspired me to create MORE memory jars ;)

As I love scrapbooking I thought using the scrapbooking ideas would make our jar a little bit more special but base the idea on, what I would say is the "original."

And I did just that, which resulted in...

THIS :)

I used a jar from a cheap shop, scrapbooking paper, removeable scrapbooking stickers, twine and a white luggage tag.

I think it came together beautifully

I decided to pop something inside to give it a little bit more interest.

The letters inside are the first letters of our first names

(all 5 of us)

Now all we have to do is fill it with photos, ticket stubs, bits and pieces and little notes about... well anything really

It can be a short note about our day or a funny thing one of the kids say

or just an emotion from a certain day.

When New Years Eve rolls around again we will sit down and go through our jar

reminising on all the fun and good times and perhaps some of the not so good too.

I would like to think its going to be a family traditon for our "new" blended family.

I can't wait to see what adventures we get up to this year

2012 is going to be a fabulous year!

How will you be keeping your 2012 memories?

Photos, blogging, journals, scrapbooking or maybe some crafty way?

*edited to link up with the Organised Housewifes Love it, Like it, Link it Party

A new Christmas

It's no secret to most that I LOVE Christmas!

Always have always will

I always try and go a little OTT

although with Pinterest and lots more blogging I can see I need to lift my game a little ;)

some of these girls are even more Christmasy then me

which I didn't think was possible hehe

Christmas is just such a magical time of the year.

This year however took on a whole new level of excitement a whole new level of magic

With it now just being me and the boys

I thought Christmas 2011 was the chance to start a new,

create new memories and new traditions

So this year I brought a new tree and new decorations in new colours
The tree and theme

red, green & silver theme

our tree

Christmas Craft & Decorations

I have also created homemade decorations thanks to Pinterest

christmas wreath and christmas candles

We are also going to bake cupcakes with Christmas toppers

Do some Christmas colouring in, Christmas painting on canvas and I re-pinned a really cute Christmas Printable that I think master J will LOVE

All my presents will be wrapped in brown paper with ribbon to match our theme and christmas tag, just for something a little different.

Our actual presents that are under the tree this year

Our New Traditons

I was hoping to get a an Elf on the Shelf but ran out of time

BUT the gorgeous Lisa of Life as we know it - Blog came to my resuce and had a spare "similar" type elf that Is on his way to out little home

I can't wait to get him I think we'll start off small this year as the boys may be a bit young but its goiung to be a fabulous new tradition as they get older!

I'm also taking inspiration from the Elf on the Shelf Breakfast

and doing a North Pole breakfast for the boys

I'm going to take them to the Old Noarlunga light set up and I thought a cool new tradition would be to make some Christmas Pizza and have a Christmasy kind of dinner too

Christmas pizza

I was going to do Christmas cards with a family photo of us 3 but because my photographer is my little cousin and she is busy at school and sport I have decided to just do a Christmas photo shoot.

We also went to the Christmas pageant for the 1st time this year which will now be an on going tradition

Our Old Traditions

We have a few traditions that will stay like

Opening one present and watching the Polar express on Christmas eve

Last year we created the boys hand and footprint decoration for the tree which I'll do again this year

And of course a photo with Santa

I will also be reading them my most favourite Christmas book the week into Christmas just as my mum use to do with my brother and I

I think I just saw Santa

I will also be posting the pages of the book on my Facebook page so you can all read along with us!

We like to leave the tree lights on over night ahang the Santa key outside Santa can find the house and get inside ;)

The boys will also leave out some cookies and milk for Santa and carrotts and water for the reindeer

 

As you can see we are fully into the Christmas spirit in the house and I am LOVING it!

Master J is defiantly at the age where he understands it so much more and I love seeing that and Lil C just gets excitied because we both are hehe

I can't wait for next year when they'll both be right in to it

What kind of traditons do you have in your family?

Are you starting any new ones this year?

Pinterest Make me Challenge

Tuesday is



With the lovely ladies from

Coffee Drinking Mummy to Five and Blossom Heart

This weeks "make me" project is another Christmas craft

I pinned this picture awhile ago onto my Christmas Board and decided it was going to be one of my Christmas crafts.

All you need is "mason jars" or any type of preserving jars

epsom salts and candles

Just pour some epsom salts into a jar and then wiggle in your candle

I finished mine off with a little bit of ribbon around the top of the jar

and there you have simple yet gorgeous Christmas candles

Have you made anything from your Pinterest boards lately?

Dont forget to link up over at Coffee Drinking Mummy to Five if you have

The Pinterest Make Me Challenge - Christmas Wreath

This week I'm linking up with the 2 gorgeous ladies

Blossom Heart & Coffee Drinking Mummy to Five

who are behind the awesome new linky the

Pinterest is awesome for inspiration even more so when you're a wee bit crafty

well even if you're not actually!

So with Christmas not that far away and decorating in full swing in my little house

I made my own version of a Christmas Ribbon Wreath

*image source Pinterest

All you need is a wire coathanger and some christmas ribbon or ribbon in your Christmas Theme

Im doing a red, green and silver/white them this year

All you have to do is undo the hook part and bend the coathanger into a circle of a size you're happy with.

Cut the ribbon into lengths that suit you and then tie in knots or bows around the coathanger circle

Keep adding ribbon until its full and your happy.

and then voila!

One Christmas Wreath in your Christmas theme to hang on the door!

Easy peasy right?

If you dont link the ribbon look why not try Coffee Drinking Mummy to Fives Pinterest inspired Christmas wreaths

or

one of these...

Have you made anything off Pinterest lately?

Dont forget to link up or comment on Blossom Hearts post if you have

Ooh! Thats Pinterest...ing! ~ The things I've done edition

Yewww second week Linking up with the fabulous

Tina Gray {dot} Me 

Linky

This week I thought I would share a few projects I've done around the house

thanks to Pinterest inspiration

If I could create, orgainse or do everything I pin on my boards

I would be extremely happy!

Buuuut thats so un-realistic unfortuantly

That I pick things out every now and then and get busy doing

The first thing I ever did was this...

easy DIY dry erase board

which I blogged about *here

I've also made a few meals that were all so yummy!

healthy baked chicken nuggets

pinterest picture not mine

Slow Cooked Lasagne

pinterest picture not mine

my slow cooked lasagne

Lemon & Rosemary Chicken bake
pinterest picture not mine

This was so yummy

I used breast instead of pieces though and added them later in the cooking cycle

I've also done a few things for me and around the house

a jwellery board and trinket plate

pinterest picture not mine

my very own jewllery board

Laundry powder into glass jars

pinterest picture not mine

mine arent the same jars but still look awesome

As you can see Pinterest is a good kick up the butt for getting creative & finding new recipes

If only I had enough time to do everything I've pinned!

You can follow me on Pinterest here

What have you been Pinning lately?