celebrate the 31

where did 31 days go?

how great it is to look back & see!

 today was all

squiggle drawings &

fresh & silky home made green play dough

isabella @ play group discovering 

that you make a fabric impression in play dough!!

look carefully at the front panel of her dress ... snap

playing postman

running through the sprinkler with a certain little friend

& squirting each other with a hose ... yay for simpler water restrictions!

& buzzing bees ...

sneezing & more sneezing ... tis the season!

planning & ideas

looking back on the last 31 days

... yes there are 31 posts 

... not quite all posted one per day but pretty close!

yay for blogtoberfest!

looking back

 so back at easter this year

we went as a family to the Indonesian island of Ambon

for one part of this journey we traveled by boat to
another larger, yet far less inhabited island called Seram

earlier today i was reminiscing about traveling with our little boy

i enJOYed reliving the moments
thought i'd share some of them with you

here are a few from the brass band serenade on our group arrival

the serene moments on the remote white sands of a far flung beach

accidental time spent singing simple songs & nursery rhymes with 

the children at the village at the end of the road

this singing was one of my absolute highlights

we sang they sang we all sang

& danced & clapped 

.... wonderful pure simple honest humanness

 i said back then it is a slice of heaven on earth

 my parents on the other long boat

.... the bright orange makes for some visual drama hey!

 Oscar with Willie our cook 

.... its because of her, he will eat fried eggs!

 swimming in the warm sea waters

watch out for stone fish

 here's our Lawamena mission team

an amazing adventure

would you like to know how to get there?

details are back here (towards the end of the post)

if you'd like to hear what it was all about

then check this out

the gateway ...

the gateway to the kingdom of heaven is everywhere

in every moment of every day

every where you are

every conversation

every opportunity

we're human & we fail

but we can make the choice to choose

to walk through the gateway to the kingdom

in every moment

there are moments when someone says or does something

that i have been witness to, heard about or have been subject to personally

moments that leave me dumb-founded

reeling from someone's extreme choice to turn away

turning away from the very simple opportunity 

that Christ put right in front of all of us

a choice to say something appropriate

something kind

something up lifting

to be joyful

to have grace

to be caring

to be gentle

to be patient

to find peace

to have faith

to be good

to have self control

perhaps bite your tongue

or say nothing at all?

all of this 

in one moment 

sounds tricky to do

but really .... c'mon .... choose one & it will be easy when you think it through

 then step by step work at it

to add to this ... we being 

the adults 

... we're the role models remember

perhaps to our own children ... & also to the others in our villages

you set the scene to influence them for life

work on it ... if not for yourself ... for them

& then maybe you will find it for you also

think people think 

... think how it might be 

to be on the other side of that comment or action?

i like to think that most of the time i choose to walk through that gateway by choice

i hope i choose the way that is best in most moments

 i know certainly fail plenty.... i know instantly when i do

when i'm grumpy or frustrated or stressed

i have to remind myself to try & to always be working at it

we are each a work in progress of course!

so ... chin up make the best of that moment

& work on the next one to make that even better

so that you choose to walk through the gateway of heaven

by your words & actions

enJOY your journey

Galatians: Chapter 5 verses 22-23

treasure the moments

 there was some new hair styling to be done

songs to be sung

people to chat to

running some ideas past
friends to see

planning a riBer trip

who when & how

then sunshine in the park .... our local

 a family birthday with cake & candles

(what child picks the lollies off &then refuses to eat them as they were covered in icing??)

two aunties played i spy with a nearly 1 year old niece

she was quite taken with the yellow school bus

 there was cricket to be played

was actually a first for our boy

he watched & then joined in

he bowled ... over arm i tell you ... 

1st bowl ... a wicket!!

you should have heard the crowd cheer!!

yay

lovely day

hope you enJOYed your journey today

pop up feista ...

 had a wonderful day hanging out with

Anna, Cam & Felicity

 photos above & below are shots of works

made by these creative ladies

 we decided that the individual 'look' each of us has ...

.... complemented the others as a great collection

for our successful 1st ever Pop Up Shop

Thanks so much Anna ... we love your Polly Pratt Studio

 adore this guy

made by Felicity ... he's a jumbo ... yep he's a biggie

check again ... the 2nd pic ... see is he is big hey!

 so i've had a great time this week

getting it all together as you have seen

was very satisfying to have it all on display again

& even better to have people come on by

who like your work ... excellent

thank you people!

 was also fabulous to catch up with lots of crafty minded bloggy people

yay for blogs ....

little ikea expedition last week

led me to find just the right way to display my new clip collection

great little drawer system ... love the customer interaction

 so there is more to come

with this collection of hand made or hand selected

..... hARTylittlepeaces .... that shop ... it's coming soon!!

pssttt .... i adore these dolls ... do you?

daisy chain crochet flower tutorial ...

 so now & then i make up a few of these sweet

spring flower crochet garlands

... x12 flowers all in a daisy chain

 did you ever try that as a child?

split the stem of one picked daisy flower

so you could link up the next one?

well these are the perennial type ...

... they won't wilt on you or fall apart

they come in some lovely colours

& can be worn like a funky scarf / neck piece

or hung up as a sweet garland decoration

you can find them all neatly packaged & ready to go

here

isn't he the spunky helper hey!!

but if you'd like to make your own

I've written a little tutorial for you!

yep ... i'm sharing the love here .... 

& you're welcome to also check out my little Christmas Bauble Tutorial

Daisy Chain Crochet Flower Tutorial

here's a little "how to"

what means what ... or what i understand it to mean ....

chain = ch = one loop on hook, yarn over & pull through first chain

slip stitch = slst = insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the loop on your hook.

single crochet = sc = insert hook, yarn over, pull through the loop through the stitch = 2 loops on the hook, yarn over & pull through both loops on the hook

double crochet = dc = yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (3 loops on hook), yarn over & pull through the first 2 loops on the hook (2 loops remaining on hook), yarn over & pull through last 2 loops.

half double crochet = hdc = yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (3 loops on hook), yarn over & pull through all 3 loops on hook

what to do ...

choose a lovely yarn & colour ....

chain stitch 4 & join into a ring

first round is worked into the ring

round 1 - chain (ch) 2, then double crochet (dc) x11 times

then join with a slip stitch (slst) = 12 spokes on the wheel

round 2 - now you're working into the gaps between the  stitches

chain 4, miss a stitch then single crochet (sc) into the next stitch, chain 3, miss a stitch then single crochet (sc) into the next .... continue so that you have x6 chain loops around the wheel ... these are the foundations for the x6 petals ...

round 3 - now you're working into the chain loops around the center .... to make the petal shapes...

slst, sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, slst

repeat this into each loop to create each petal

then chain as long as you like in-between each flower & repeat ... i make mine 20 chain stitches
hope that's all as clear as mud!! ....

magnetic scrabble letters

 i've had fun making up these

cute scrabble letter magnets

the magnets themselves are super strong

they look great & would make for hours of play

but just one or two .... 

your initials or someone else's

or a fun favourite word

an acronym ... yay! 'post-able' too

a cute gift hey ...

 all a go go on my magnet board

ready for a certain Pop Up Shop

20m+ & an archaeological find ....

apparently there were no pipes of any substance

nothing was doing the job .... t'was letting down the whole system

so the whole water actually running in the gutters & down the down pipes idea

should work like the romans thought it up from now

there was even some ancient treasure found during the exavation

completely intact ... i wonder who used it for what & why & when???

when i finished school i thought at first that i might like to study

archaeology .... i was talked 'around' ... still have a soft spot for the idea of it!

so yeah .... one more glass bottle unearthed in our local history ...

(thought i'd give you a break from the topic of the week!)

shop handmade & pop up bundles ...

some lovely hand stitched embellished bundles

for Shop Handmade Canberra

new baby singlets & body suits

& ready to go for the pop up shop on saturday

... sweet little spunky skirts for little girls

these have been so much fun to make

love mixing up the fabrics combos

some are well 'matched' & some are a little 'out there'

 loads more great colour combos

with these crochet flower barrettes / brooches 

.... yes they can be worn both ways!

& more spunky colour with lots of kids

long & short sleeve tops

 ... most have a little something on the back as well

i'm sure sometime earlier this week i mentioned it would be all about 

the pop up popping up .... yep .... more to come

hope you're enjoying my show n'tell?

lots of what you are seeing will be headed into my

on-line shop that will soon be .... stay tuned ... it will happen ...