Something that brightened my day

Look at what brightened my day this morning!
My beautifully gift wrapped purchase from McCarthy Designs!

Isn't it gorgeous! If you don't know Nellie and her blog then you must go check it out, along with the shop that she and her husband have started selling beautiful cards with their stunning photography on them.
This is the card I chose.

I thought 'The Old Bakery' was very cool seeing as we are Bakers (surname that is, not occupation). The card is signed and dated on the back by Nellie and she attached a beautiful little card - just so sweet!!!

So thank you so much Nellie! You've made my day and I don't want to use the card as it's too special. I think I will have it on display for a while :)

I may not be blogging for the rest of the week so have a lovely week and weekend everyone!

Odd topic

Ok, this is far from the usual blog topics I post on, but I just wanted to ask/share an interesting question...

What do you think of Men dying/colouring their hair - more specifically to look younger?

I have been thinking about this over the last week or so and I'll set the scene as to why...

I went into a local cafe, which I frequent, last week and noticed the cafe owner, a 40 something guy, slim build, charismatic etc had coloured his hair from his usual salt and pepper to a VERY dark brown. Now if I had never seen him before in my life then I probably wouldn't have thought twice (except that it was a tad too dark) but having seen him with his light silvery hair for the last 2 years I was quite shocked and tried not to stare.

Going into the cafe today what did I see??? He'd shaved his hair completely - no more dark colouring to be seen!

So it got me thinking about men colouring their hair and I thought if women do it, why shouldn't men?
How would I react if Glen came home with a packet of hair colour?
With the rising trends of botox, plastic surgery and the like, are the pension lines of the future going to be occupied by those with hair 'a tad too dark' rather than the purple rinse/grey brigade?

Had the cafe owner been teased or stared at so much that he took the drastic measure of shaving his hair? Why did he do it in the first place? (me thinks that being surrounded by the young waiters and waitresses could have been a factor).

All these difficult questions :-)

So please tell me your thoughts... I'd love to know?!?!?

21st century Victorian

I was reading the March 2010 issue of Living Etc yesterday. Take a look at the cover of this gorgeous mag. I don't usually like tonnes of colour but this cover and it's related article really apealled to me.

The article was called '21st Century Victorian' and they put together a great fusion of Modern and Vintage (a look I love).

Check out some more rooms which have that 21st Century Victorian look.

Above two images via Living Etc

Above three images via Decorpad

Hmmm... some nice bedroom makeover inspiration. (Yes that bedroom makeover I've been procrastinating about).

What do you think? Do you like this look or do you find it too bold and ornate?

Have a great Tuesday.

Will's Birthday Party

Here are some photos from Will's Safari Birthday party yesterday. We all had a great time and the weather held out for the 50 odd people we had for the party. William had a great time crawling around and getting into everything!


Two tiered Carrot cake with cream cheese and fondant icing.

African sign post at our front door.

Binoculars for each of the children on the entrance hall table.
The kids had a great time looking through their binoculars.

Happy Birthday Screensaver for the TV which I made to match the invitations.

Jungle streamers over the open french doors. I also had animal noises of Elephant, hippo, lion and gorilla playing over my ipod dock in the lounge room as people came in.
Some of the children came up to me a bit concerned saying they could hear a lion! So cute!

'Will's 1st Year' wall of photos.

Safari themed bunting I made on the sewing machine to decorate the deck.
We also had safari animal stickers on the posts.
Party packs for each of the children with Tiny Teddies, lollies, bubbles and animals.

Personalised chocolate bars made by Louise from Illume Design were a big hit!

Will having fun before the party guests arrived in his Safari Tour jeep.

All the children playing Pass the Parcel to African Children's music.

My happy bubba enjoy the fun.

Cutting of the cake

After the party, Will chilled out with his friends... Aleksandar (Louise's gorgeous little boy) and Will's 'fiance' Isabella.

It was such a great day and I think everyone enjoyed themselves but particularly William who didn't want to have a midday sleep because of all the fun to be had.

We are off to the Aquarium this afternoon as our little family birthday outing which should be fun. Have a great ANZAC day long weekend.

Ohdeedoh

Click image to visit site

My 'Keep Quiet the Baby's Sleeping' print has been featured on Ohdeedoh.com today!

When I wake up to discover one of my prints featured, like this one, I do a little dance and sing 'Yeah Baby, Yeah Baby' to William who thinks it's quite funny and does a big smile at me.
I guess I should enjoy his encouraging smiles now because in a few years I'll just get 'Stop it Mum, you're being embarrassing'.

Two milestones today:

• This is my 101 post!
• This is the last day, of the first year with our little bubba Will... Please feel free to roll your eyes as I know, I'm a complete sook.

I hope you're day is as good as mine has started out!

My crash course in cake decorating

Here is the cake so far. My friend Oli is making two carrot cakes and tomorrow she is coming over and we are icing the two layers and putting them together and decorating the cake in the safari theme. Here are the little icing figures I've made so far. I have also made lots of leaves big and small like the ones in the bottom photo.

I've never done cake decorating before but it's really quite easy. You have these thick icing colourings which you mix into the white icing and then it's just like playdough!

It's been fun making the little icing characters. We've got a lot to get through tomorrow though... Mum and Dad are coming over to look after Will while Oli and I finish the cake.

Anway, back to it, I think I'll make a Rhino now :)
Have a great evening everyone.

Before and After - dining room chair makeover by my Dad

My parents decided to reupholster their 1970's Parker dining room chairs.

The chairs had a very 70's gold/brown striped pattern on them which (when you look back on photos from the 70/early 80's) really suited the rest of the space which had a feature wall, in the adjoining lounge room, of a gold floral wallpaper and the brown velvet lounges my parents got rid of years ago.

Here is the before with the gold and brown fabric.

Mum and Dad went out and looked at fabric swatch after fabric swatch for a good replacement and decided on a denim blue coloured fabric which ties into their lounge room furniture and their decorative pieces.

And my Dad set to work on reupholstering all six dining chairs himself (something he'd never done before). I asked Dad to take some before, during and after pics for my blog. He forgot to keep taking photos after a while but you can see some of the progress and the final product of his handy work.

Makita, would you like to pay for sponsorship? :)

Removing the old fabric which a heavy duty staple remover

Dad even removed and tightened up the seat straps (or whatever they're called)

There was a lot of sewing and stapling in the whole process which Dad did himself. (Dad knows how to use the sewing machine probably better than I do!)

And tad daaaaaah here is the finished product!

AfterMum and Dad are now thinking of getting some new art for around the dining room.

So what do you think? Is he clever or what! The new fabric has really brought out the richness of the wood and has a beautiful texture to it. (The dining table extends out to seat 6-8). And I seriously don't think a professional could have done a better job! Well done Dad!

Have a great Thursday,



P.S. I might post pics of the birthday cake progress tonight (the party is on Will's actual birthday which is Sat, 24th for those who were asking).

French Provincial Style

Here is some French Provincial items which I think are gorgeous.
Do you like French Provincial? I have a classic and modern mix in my home.

Click to view larger

Check out Am0r Designs for more great cushions, their designs are gorgeous!

Have a great Wednesday, I'm party prepping today - Will's party is Saturday!