Art and Craft - Project Nursery.

Coming up with ideas on how to decorate a nursery can be tricky - there are so many things you can do! But as we are not finding out the sex of Baby V until he/she is born, I had to do something that would be suitable for either a little boy or girl while still being bright and cheerful.

So I set out to make my own artwork to decorate the baby's room. I did some research online and found that lots of people used the paint colour cards that you can get from any hardware store and transformed them into gorgeous, framed pieces.

So one weekend I took myself down to my local Bunnings and loaded up on a bundle of paint swatches. I decided I wanted to concentrate on four colour families - blues, greens, purples and yellows.

Paint swatches from Bunnings

Then I went and got myself a 3cm round hole punch from Spotlight. This set me back around $10 (if you are hunting for one go to the scrapbooking area or buy one online). I chose a circle shape, but you can get any shaped hole punch you like.

$10 Fiskars hole punch from Spotlight.

The next step was simply to punch out the paint swatches and categorise the circles into their colour families. Make sure that when you are selecting your colours, that you get at least a dozen different hues from each colour family.

Next I had to ready my frames. I bought four Ribba shadow box frames for $10 each at Ikea (they are 23cm x 23cm). You can get them in either black or white. For this project, I am using the black frame as I liked the contrast it has with nursery wall colour.

Ribba frames from Ikea - set me back $10 each.

The next stage was simply putting everything together. I already had some some glue tape in an applicator (you can get this from Spotlight or any craft store) to apply to the back of each circle cut out and simply overlayed each of the cirles in random colour order on a piece of white paper which I had traced the size of the frame window (the Ribba frames have a white mat around the edge of the window as you can see from the above pic).

Once I had finished gluing I put the paper with the cutouts face down on top of the mat and attached the backing - voila!

The finished product - yellow, green, blue and purple framed artwork.

All together it cost me about $12.50 per frame to complete this craft project, which is great. Now they just need to be mounted on the wall ready to be admired by our little one. It only took about 1/2 an hour to finish each artwork, so it was a pretty efficient project as well.

National Bandanna Day - Oct 26

Today is National Bandanna Day which helps raise important funds for young people with cancer. Please help Canteen raise funds and awareness through the purchase and wearing of a bandanna!

Wearing a bandanna sends the message to young people with cancer that they are not fighting it alone.

If you would like to buy a bandanna please visit Woolworths, Woolworths Petrol, Wendys, Super Cheap Auto, BCF, Goldcross Cycles, Amart, Ray’s Outdoors, Rebel Sport, Newslink, and GNC Live Well or street stalls nationally today.

Your support means that CanTeen can continue to run vital counselling and support programs as well as work to establish special youth cancer centres and services to help young people rebel against cancer.

Model mum Miranda in RUSSH Magazine

Homegrown super model Miranda Kerr poses for a sexy new photo shoot in RUSSH Magazine out today. Since the arrival of her son Flynn less than two years ago, Miranda has put in the hard yards to get back to her catwalk-worthy figure (hey, it's her job to look good, she basically gets paid to work out!). She has always promoted a healthy body image and her book Treasure Yourself is all about being kind to your body and mind - she is a great role model for young women.

I admire Miranda's commitment to healthy eating (she has a certificate in nutrition and sticks to organic produce where possible) and living, making exercise part of her daily ritual of looking after her mind and body. I loved her back when she won the Dolly Magazine model comp and I still do - she has done a lot to put Australia and Australian fashion on the map.  

Check out her pics from October's RUSSH Mag and grab a copy at your local newsagent.
 

 

All images are owned by RUSSH Magazine.

Love you long time

Photograph by Lauren Joy Photography

Today is our second wedding anniversary! Just wanting to let my wonderful husband know that I love him more than anything and that I love our life together. We are celebrating two years today, but have been together for 12 and I am so lucky to have spent that time with him by my side xxx

SHE Magazine Body Beautiful feature - October 2

SHE Magazine's October edition came out today (published in the Gold Coast Bulletin) and I was lucky enough to participate in the mag's Body Beautiful feature!

I was joined by mummy and blogger Carly Electric and ex-Big Brother housemate Charne White where we talked body image, confidence and dealing with our body 'issues'. Since falling pregnant I have seen my body change dramatically and it was great to be able to discuss how my body has changed over the years and how I have grown to love my imperfections and be happy in my own skin. I feel like it was important for me to participate in this as I haven't always loved my body and growing up I did feel the pressure to look a certain way.

I just want to thank Liz, Lauren and Chantay and everyone at SHE Magazine for making this such a fantastic, positive experience to be part of.

Here are a couple of snaps from the publication : )

2012 Emmy Red Carpet looks

Some of my fave looks from today's Emmy Awards.

 

 

Julianne Hough looked in a stunning Georges Hobieka Couture strapless gown.

 

There's that colour again - Heidi Klum in a beautiful Alexandre Vauthier designed gown.

 

Kelly Osbourne matched her lilac-coloured hair to her Zac Posen dress - love her fearless wardrobe choices!

 

Mummy-to-be Claire Danes looked ravishing in yellow. Dress by Jeanne Lanvin.  



 

Homeland actress Morena Baccarin looked flawless.

 

 

New mum, Giuliana Ranci in Romona Keveza.

This is something different - I don't totally love this look, but I don't hate it either (maybe it's her hair/makeup). January Jones in Zac Posen. 

Ellen Degeneres looks sharp! Love her gorgeous pant suit. Not sure about Portia's choice of outfit however...

 

 

Sarah Hyland from Modern Family looked beautiful and age-appropriate.



 Kat Dennings dressing for her curves - love this dress on her.

 

Alec Baldwin and his new wife Hilaria Thomas made a handsome couple on the red carpet. 

Happy to help

I feel like I have the words ‘fragile pregnant lady’ scrawled across my forehead and have come to accept that that’s not such a bad thing.   

Since my belly has ‘popped’ and it is obvious to everyone that I am expecting, I have had people falling over themselves to help me out.

Last week, I had the feral job of doing a mass office supplies shop at OfficeWorks. I had three bags and a box to wrangle to the car. Unfortunately one of the bags I had fell to the ground, the contents spilling out everywhere.

Immediately a helpful young lad who was walking into the store stopped and helped me pick up my wares and asked me if he could help take my bags to the car for me. I politely declined but thanked him very much for stopping and for the offer.

I don’t know why but even though I know I am pregnant and I know people want to help me, I feel bad accepting their offer.

So I decided to get over it and accept some kindness!

A few days after the OfficeWorks incident, I did some grocery shopping at Ferry Rd Markets. I had 4 bags and a carton of sparkling water and no trolley (because my baby brain forgot to get one as I walked in).

The check-out chick looked at me and said “I’ll get one of our guys to help take your bags to your car for you” and as much as I wanted to say “no, it’s okay” I told her thank you very much. Quick as a flash, she commissioned one of her male co-workers to be my pack-horse and we were on our way.

He even made small talk about when I was due and was I finding out the sex? He then told me about his nine-month old daughter who had changed his life and how he couldn’t remember anything about life before she was born. Very sweet!

This morning was another example – I had our refurbished nursery furniture delivered to our house. I would usually have helped unload the pieces out of the van, but I just sat back and watched as they were unloaded and taken into our house by the painter and her assistant.

So all in all, I have found that I am actually pretty happy to be ‘fragile pregnant lady’ and grateful for the assistance I’ve been given to date. I know I can only milk it for so long, so I may as well make the most of it hey!?