Softies for Smiles - UPDATE!

First of all, THANK YOU to all those who have sent softies so far.  They are all AMAZING.  I received two more parcels in the post yesterday from Dianne & Vanessa and I haven't had a chance to thank you yet, but they're all ADORABLE.  The girls at work loved them and we had some of them on our desks for the day to adore their cuteness :)

I have heard back from two groups who are organising fun days in communities that were flooded.  Both are fantastic options to take the softies to and hand them out to the children myself (which I am super eager and excited about doing!)  I am looking into logistics and which date will work best.  One is end of March, the other is beginning of April.  I will let you know within the next week which one is a go and give you ALL the details.  

And lastly I have had some helpers to get more softies made!!  Thanks to my gorgeous nephew & some of the girls at church, and of course to all of you wonderful women out there who have sent in softies, I have got 35 softies in my hot hands ready to give to these wonderful little kiddies!!  

Here are some piccies of some of the softies being made.

Now I need to tell you the story behind this last picture.  Mr Nephew wanted to help his Aunty Christy to "make toys for the kids who don't have toys", in his words.  He proceeded to stuff only about a handful of toy filling in, and then proudly comes and shows me the monster he had just made himself.  I then asked him if he remembered who we were making the toys for.  He promptly responded with "for Spencer!!!!", with glee.  I explained to him that we were making them for the kids who lost their toys in the floods.  Then he asked me if I could make him one because he "lost all of his toys too".  (gotta love how kids minds work).  I told him I could make him one in the upcoming week. 

This is the softie he helped me to make.  When I asked him what he wanted his monster to look like, he was holding this softie, and he goes, "I want it to be stripey blue, with red eyes and a yellow stomach!!!"  Then he looked at me with those eyes.  Needless to say the monster is now part of his softie collection on his bed.  How could I say no???? 

Yay for weekends!  I'll update you soon, and post some piccies of the softies I've received in the post!

Wordless Wednesday

No words, just work - trying to keep up with demand.  Making their way into the shop tonight & tomorrow...

My Creative Space is a Wonderful WIP & an Organised 'Room' Challenge

THREE birds with one stone :)

Well my craft quarters are in transition.  After much complaining, thinking, begging & saving, I have a new set up underway.  I'll talk you through it.  

BEFORE SHOTS:

Yeah, it might be tidy, but it drove me mad.  Most of my things didn't have a home.  They sat stacked up on top of each other, in boxes, in bags, in piles.  I hated it.  So I pleaded with the husby for a new storage solution.  I explained that if he wants me to be successful in creating and selling my goods (which he has always expressed that he does), then I need a work space that doesn't hurt my head.  He understood and we did some shopping around for ideas.  We settled on something and a few weeks later, which was last Friday, I ventured to Ikea after work to buy this...

Husby worked all night Friday so I had to haul the 2 boxes of lead up the stairs myself.  I still have bruises to prove I got them up.  Holy hell, it was like dragging a human up stairs (not that I know, just clarifying).

I didn't bother trying to assemble it that night.  I used the time Friday night to sew up some doily table runners for the shop - but haven't had time since to put them in there of course.  I promise I'll do it soon!!

Next morning, I was reading the instructions, and saw this...

 ...and laughed, and continued to do it myself.  After about 20 mins of banging around, husby gave up on sleeping and came and helped me anyway haha!!

We have no space in our house, so decided to construct the shelf in my craft room.  It was TIGHT.

See how it's pressed right up against my table?  Yeah.. whilst lifting it up, we had a few cm's clearance both sides of the shelf to the two tables in the room.  Twas close!!

Then there was the confusing job of putting together the plastic box inserts... I never did get the hang of it so let husby do them.  I put the felt stickers on the bottoms and opened the boxes ready for him to assemble.

Next was filling the shelf.  We couldn't move anything out of the room unless the stuff in it or on it was moved first.  So we positioned the shelf in the middle of the room and I filled it.  After I while I cleared and removed one of the trussle tables, which allowed me to start moving furniture around.  It took me TWO DAYS to do get it to how it looks now...

But there is still work to be done.  The other trussle table & the wooden desk are yet to go.  I will be inheriting husby's study "L shaped" desk for my work table, and the hutch on my current wooden desk will be mounted on my new desk.  Then I will be 'borrowing' from my parents a bedside table to store all my paper in, until we find a more permanent solution for all my paper/patterned paper/paper scraps.  I also currently have nowhere to store stationery - so another one yet to tackle.  In the meantime, this is the setup...

Ooooh I almost forgot!  I sorted out ALL of my cupboards upstairs.  I will only show you one for now.. the one in my craft room.  I re-arranged all my fabrics to the other side of the wardrobe.  I was tired of trying to fit the vacuum with the hose in there amongst all the long hanging fabric.  

Ahhhh, much better!!  And that's it for now!  Now to work out part 2 of this re-organisation.  I'm so excited!  

To join in go here for My Creative Space, here for Wonderful WIP, and here for Organised Home Challenge.

What's your favourite linky parties?

I have been trying to make an effort to join in with more linky parties, cause they're plain fun!  This is what I've got so far...

Monday:

Tuesday:
- Try It Tuesday

Wednesday:
- Wordless Wednesday
- Linky Love

Thursday:
- My Creative Space

Friday:
- Things I'm Loving

Saturday:
- Blogger Butts

Sunday:
- Sunday Stash
- Flea Market Finds

- My Wonderful WIP


What are some of your favourites that I don't have listed here?  I'd love to join in with more of them!!  Hope you're all having a fab weekend and keeping cool.  It's blistering outside!!!

Blogger Butt - 2 weeks of WW report

Well after 2 official weeks of WW my loss isn't huge.  But I knew it wouldn't be so I'm not terribly disappointed. I lost 0.4kg.  But you know what, IT'S A LOSS!  That is all that matters.  I had sushi on Monday night for Valentine's Day and I knew it would throw off my weight loss.  But I'm now head down "blogger butt" up and have already lost MORE then that at the beginning of my third week.  Here's some of my thoughts from last week.

- I can see my stomach is getting smaller ever so slightly

- my new USA jeans are already slightly too big (which is a love/hate thing)

- I have wanted to eat pizza ALL WEEK LONG and have not

- Everyone tells me I shouldn't weigh myself until actual weigh in days - I disagree, seeing my losses or gains throughout the week motivates me to be better and work harder and stick to my points 100%

- I am about to move down into a lower weight category with WW, which is fantastic, but also means ONE LESS POINT a day - trust me, it will be difficult to manage

- Weighing yourself naked always works better.  Even underwear can weight a few hundred grams

- I have discovered WW amazing range of ice cream sundaes

- I won goggles & a Baker's Delight voucher from Seven Cherubs, which is non related but I'm excited

- I am not sleeping better yet

- I am having trouble working red meat into my meals of an evening.  I'm scared I'll become deficient in iron soon

- Water is starting to actually taste delicious - I always thought people were full of crap when they said that

- On the topic of drinking liquid, I struggle to drink juice and soft drink now, they are FAR too sweet and make me feel sick

- Lean Cuisine/Healthy Choice are my life savers
- I didn't exercise at all last week besides general housework and going shopping and running errands (which is light exercise, seriously).  I don't feel guilty about it at all.  HAHA!

How was your week?

In the shop...

Just popped some more treasures in the shop...

My creative space... in the comfort of my bed :)

First of all, I made it under 100 today!!!! 

Today I'm creating in bed.  Not entirely sure why.  I just felt like laying there today whilst I created.  Busy finishing off softies for my Softies for Smiles Appeal.  I had help from 9 girls at church the other night to get some more made, but we ran out of time and so I'm finishing them all off.  

For more creative spaces go here.

Flea Market Finds

This week I had a chance and some funds to pop into my local Vinnies.  I'm on a new budget and can't go spending up in the Op Shops as I please anymore.  I have 6 within a 5 minute radius of my house - which I am incredibly grateful for!!  In the old days I'd visit them all in one day and come home with giant stashes of goodness.  Now that my visits are less frequent and my funds are reduced, I am finding I am buying only the GOOD stuff.  I actually prefer it this way :)  

Here are my finds:

Not bought for their more obvious reasons.  I have pegs & embellishments in mind.

Not sure what to do with these yet, but I just couldn't leave the behind.

ALWAYS on the hunt for more doily's!

Gorgeous doily runner.

Napkin rings - all different.  Love them!

Having a little fun with reflections :)

 Pop over here to join in!

Relive Romance Challenge

I haven't posted my 'romantic' happenings until now, because I only did them today!!  Of course today is V-Day.  I actually stayed home from work sick, which meant I could do all sorts of things for husby as I slowly pottered around the house today.  We had planned to have sushi for dinner which husby was picking up on the way home from work.  This morning I did my first of three things for husby.  It isn't so much 'romantic', but I knew how appreciative he would be of it, and when I showed him, he was super excited.  

1.  Ironed all his collared shirts - all 50 million of them.  It ONLY took 4 hours

 

2.  I made him a card (and of course wrote a 'romantic' message) and bought him a cute chocolate rose.

3.  And set up our back patio like a cute little cafe.  I cut out hearts in browns and creams and whites, and set the table with a vintage cream linen tableclothe and a cool pillowcase acted as my table runner!  Popped a square doily in the middle and burnt a delicious smelling candle.  Husby loved it.  

So that's what I did.  I hope everyone had an enjoyable V-Day, regardless if you have an other half or not.  I think there is a huge misconception about what V-Day is all about.  It is not about having someone, it's about showing love for those in your life, whoever they are.  So I hope whoever you are, wherever you are, and whatever your situation, that you feel loved and appreciated because I'm pretty sure you're awesome!  

 

Make sure you link in over at The Clip Cafe! 

Bling on love... better late then never.

Maxabella & Gifts of serendipity are hosting a fun linky party where you can show off your favourite bling.  Considering my bling is limited, it made it easy which to share.  

Husby chose well for me.  I love my rings!  Plus I have obese fingers so I needed nice chunky rings so that my fingers didn't drown my bling.  You can link in here if you want to join in!