.special day.

Today is a very special day for our family.
My (big) little brother is getting married to his sweetheart.
And sweetheart she is!
The girls in my family are all married off - and to great guys, if I do say so myself!
When your brother gets married though, he is bringing a new girl into the family...girls have to get on or the whole dynamics change drastically.
We all held our breath in anticipation when Ty and Sam were dating and breathed a big sigh of relief when she said YES!
She is perfect (for Ty and us!)...loves our children, is patient, kind and caring. And shares many of our hobbies...crafting, reading, writing.

Congratulations Ty and Sam! I hope your special day is everything you dreamed of and more and am so happy to be sharing it with you!

.Inquizitive Giveaway Winner.

Thanks to Inquizitive for a great giveaway and congratulations to rachandcarl!  You have won a copy of The Amazing Race game.

I'll be in contact to get your details :)

.Pre-Christmas...Family Photo Shoot.

Hi again!  I am trying to be back and have a long list of things I want to blog about.  Lots happening here at the moment though...We have just said goodbye to our extended family after a fun and busy holiday together...Trying to get the house organised and finish necessary bits and pieces before we head to Sydney for a special wedding on Friday...Putting the final touches on our Stake Young Womens Camp preparations that happens the day after I get home from Sydney...Thinking about what I need to do for the wedding reception at the end of January...And there has been a teeny, weeny bit of sewing although not nearly enough and I can't wait for things to settle down again so that I can get back into it!

I'll try and schedule some blog posts to happen automatically while I'm away - at the rate I'm going, I've got enough stuff to blog about to last me a month!!!

A few weeks before Christmas, Fiona met with us and took some family photos.  I am very ashamed to admit that we have never had family photos taken.  At least, nothing more than the quick pose at an event with children with food-covered faces.  My children are not the most obliging models and Lil was in a particularly bad mood this day.  Fiona still managed to work her magic and get some lovely shots.  I'm looking forward to filling some of the frames on our photo wall (will share that soon too!) with these pics...

I really love the natural "playing" photos

The cutest boy EVER

 

After a few jumping photos, Oscar was ready to smile for the camera...

And he was in desperate need of a haircut, oh well...these are "real life" memories!

Lil getting grumpier...

This one made our Christmas photo card

Kind of awkward pose, but I really like the pic.

 

Love this one :)

.2010 - a BIG crafty roundup.

JANUARY:

New pattern - Fab Frocks

LOADS of fabric for book sewing

FEBRUARY:

New pattern - Shearwater Kaftan

MARCH:

Oishii Zippered Pouch

New pattern - About A Boy

APRIL:

Saffron Skirt

Sunday Dresses

Easter Slumber Party Jammies

MAY:

Opening of Citrus pOp

Oscar's Coin Quilt

Zippered Pouch Tutorial

New pattern - Sprout

JUNE:

Peek-A-Boo Toy Sack Tutorial

Sprout

New pattern - Sweet Dreams

JULY:

New pattern - Big Uptown Girl

Homemade Playsilks

AUGUST:

Big Uptown Girl

The Princess and the Pea

SEPTEMBER:

Lego Sack Tutorial

 OCTOBER:

New pattern - A+ Skirts

Make It Perfect BOOK released

Cosmo Bag

NOVEMBER:

New pattern - Coastal Breeze

New pattern - Afterglow

New pattern - Playtime Skort

DECEMBER:

Funky Yarn Christmas Wreath

The new Versatile Wrap cover pic

PHEW!!! What a year!  Hope you've enjoyed taking a look back at some of my favourite crafty projects and achievements from 2010. 

.January Cool Shops! INQUIZITIVE.

Welcome 2011 :)  My blogging break has been lovely, I've been tempted to hop on a share bits and pieces but have made myself step away from all things blog for the last week.  I'm itching to get back online and have lots to share though so you will hear more from me soon.

For now - it's Cool Shops! time.  I'm excited to share a very awesome shop with you today, Inquizitive...

Louise is the owner of Inquizitive, which is located in King Meadows, Tasmania.  Inquizitive can also be found online and is full of a fantastic range of educational toys, games, puzzles and more.

If you are a local, you must pop into Inquizitive.  You will easily find a unique and useful present for a birthday or special occasion and heaps of fun things to keep your children busy.  Another local-bonus...Inquizitive offers a FREE School Holiday Activity Program in store between 10am and 4pm on weekdays.  I am so excited about this program, it is such a great idea and a perfect to get out of the house during the school holidays - plus,  your kids get to learn how to do heaps of cool stuff from origami to making friendship bracelets to learning how to juggle!

As part of her review, Louise was so generous and sent me a whole box full of goodies to share with you.  I sneakily held onto all of the cool toys and games until the school holidays set in and the kids have had a great time playing with them lately.

Tommy has loved playing with this really cute Vehicles Mini Puzzle.  I love the way this set of four wooden puzzles is packaged, with slide out trays and in a compact case.  I'm a fan of any toys that are easy to keep together!

Oscar and his cousins are really enjoying playing this very fun kids card game, Mimiq.  We do have quite a few games that we play with the kids, but this is by far one of the most enjoyable and easy for them to grasp and have fun with.  The game is similar to "Go Fish" only instead of asking for a card you make the facial expression of the card you are looking for - if you opponent doesn't have the card you are asking for they let you know by sticking their tongue out at them!  

When I saw this pack of EnviroBlox in the parcel I knew that my kids would love it, but I knew that my niece Maya would love it even more as we call her "Miss Maker".  She is with us on holidays at the moment and has already come up with a whole range of cool creations using this amazing product which can be shaped, cut and moulded into any design.

Louise also sent us My First Brain Box.  We haven't had a chance to really play this game properly yet but Oscar uses the Brain Box games at school and is always telling us how much fun it is so I know we will get lots of use out of this fun 10-minute memory game.

I have to admit that I am pretty sick of most of the toys that are hanging around our house and we are always having big toy clean ups, however I really love toys that have an educational purpose or promote creativity like all of the products that are sold at Inquizitive.

Each year, Inquizitive holds a competition called "Exercise Your Mind Challenge Competition" where kids in Tasmania are encouraged to design and make a brain teaser.  Last year the winning entry was from four girls from a local school, Riverside Primary School.  Their entry was turned into a game called "Race Around the World" and is now being sold in 1 languages and in 28 countries around the world - how cool is that?  

As part of her Cool Shops! review, Louise is kindly giving away a copy of Race Around the World to one lucky reader!  All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post to be in the running.  Make sure you have an email address linked to your profile or type it in with your comment so that I can contact you if you are the winner.  Giveaway will close on Wednesday 5th January and winner will be drawn randomly.

Important INQUIZITIVE links:

OnlineStore

Facebook