Happy Birthday Andy

Last weekend was Andy's fourth birthday. He's such a big boy now. 

Yeah, I electively bought my baby some broken bones... I mean a skateboard. 

We decided on a Lego themed party, but I was quite disorganised, and their were hail storms, which really put a dampener on things (pun intended). 

After setting up outside, the wind whipped through and blew down 90% of the decorations so we had to move inside to our dining room. It was so gloomy and dark, but the effect was pretty good in the end, and he had a lovely day, which is all that matters.

 

I did a fair bit of work before the day, making a great banner. You can sort of see it in the blurry, poor quality pictures. In the middle of the Lego man shirts, it read H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y. I created, then//printed and laminated them and will be able to use them for birthdays to come. I simply sticky taped the heads onto piece of string. You can DOWNLOAD the banner here. You will have access to my Google Share Drive. Download each letter, and print. Please don't make any changes to the share drive. I don't know if this is possible, but I'm doing this on good will, and I've never used the system before. You will get the best quality downloading it there, as opposed to saving images from blogger.

Print Copy Amounts

H x 2

A x 2 

P x 2

Y x 2 

B x 1

I x 1 

R x 1

T x 1

D x 1

Cut around each Lego man, and laminate. You could also print on cardboard if you don't want to use the banner again. I have three boys, so this will be a popular decoration. 

                                                

I have also added a Lego man cupcake topper. I realise it has an A in the middle, but it will be easy enough to change if you open it in paint (or paint.net) and erase the A and add the letter of your son. 

Then, cut each circle and hot glue gun it onto a toothpick. They were really effective, and some of the kids even took them home! 

I've had a couple of questions on how I did the ceiling decorations, which is what blew down in the wind. They were just plastic table cloths draped and blue tacked up, with balloons in the middle. Very effective, but my very tall brothers kept getting tangled in them! Oops! 

Sew Inspiring

I used so many different tutorials, that all links I've used, can be found here on my Pinterest board "Sew Inspiring".

I'm 27 now. At 22 I had a freak out, about getting old. I cried most of the day, and didn't want to celebrate. I've just turned 27, which I realise isn't old, but I've learned a lot since 22. Maybe it's the tribe of children we've had, maybe it's actually listening to my Mum, realising that she knows what she talks about, and following her guidance, but whatever it may be, I feel like I'm happy, really happy, with my life.

For my birthday  mum and dad bought me my first sewing machine, and I'm a bit in love. It's a Brother, with 27 stitches, and came with all sorts of feet, and needles, and bobbins and things to play with.

I'm obsessed. I like to just sit and stare at it until I feel confident  inspired enough to start sewing.

My babies have chunky legs. Yep, I know that was a bit of jump in conversation there, but I feel I need to tell you about their beautiful roly deliciousness. Sophie doesn't really even have knees, she has two fat rolls with a line in the middle. Even Ryan's toes are chubby. Every time I look at them, I'm so happy that they are healthy and plump babies. Looking back at their newborn photographs, while they were beautiful, they were so thin, and malnourished looking. It makes me cry to look at their gaunt cheeks, and stick legs. So helpless and sick looking (not that they were).

Now, they are beautiful seven month olds, chubby and beautifully roly. It's coming into Summer, and it's already nappy and a t-shirt weather so I set about making Some nappy covers.

I went to Spotlight and bought all sorts of awesome fabric, and set about making my own pattern, by stretching out Ryan's bought diaper cover, and attempting to add on a seam allowance and working out the crotch length- and failed. Sophie's cover was far too tight, and had too much going on up the top, so folded under and it was a bit of a fail. But, below is a picture of it... cute, but not right. 

Then I happened upon a fantastic free pattern for The Perfect Dipper Cover (which I hate calling it, because in Australia we call dippers, nappies). 

So, take two was a great success, it really IS the perfect pattern. I made the 6-12 month size, and it's a little big, but they aren't getting any smaller! I chose to use bias binding with teddy bears on it, around the top and leg holes, and I love the finish. I'm so happy that it turned out well... and would you look that those edible legs! 

I've also just finished making Sophie a ruffle bum cover and matching headband. I learnt a lot of new skills doing this one, and I'm so excited with the result. I loved making the ruffles and flowers, and the cover doesn't have bias binding on the leg, just encased elastic, and I was apprehensive about how it would look, but it's still lovely. I can't wait to make some Christmas covers- and maybe even a tutu! 

Lemon Cordial- The old fashioned way.

"We have a lot of lemons" is an understatement. I've tried about as many lemon cakes and I can take. Lemon on fish, lemon cookies, lemon cheesecake, lemonade. I've tried to sell them, give them away and now, I'm trying lemon cordial.

This is a very basic recipe. It's tangy, but sweet. The tartaric acid and the citric acid have a great bite, and it's definitely more of a grown up drink. You can mix it with vodka or white rum or tequila and some soda water and you'd have a pretty epic cocktail. You could mix it with just soda water and you'd have a nice fizzy lemonade. Or, you could, like me, mix it with a bit some water and you'll be sipping lemony greatness.

Lemon Cordial- The Old Fashioned Way

Ingredients

2kg White Sugar (4.4pounds)
1 L Water (4.5cups)
30g Tartaric Acid (1oz)
30g Citric Acid (1oz)
500mL Lemon Juice (2cups)

Method

1) Put sugar and water into a large pot, on high. Stir until all of the sugar is dissolved.
2) Add the acids.
3) Take off the heat, and cool to room temperature. This takes a while.
4) Stain and add the lemon juice. Stir well.
5) Decant into some bottles. This makes about 1.5L of cordial.

I hope you enjoy making it... or getting rid of that abundance of lemons! 

xxx

Favourite Facebook Business Pages

Over one billion people like and comment an average of 3.2 billion times every day. When you have a strong presence on Facebook, your business is part of these conversations and has access to the most powerful kind of word-of- mouth marketing — recommendations between friends."                                                 Facebook for Business

There have been many times, over the last two years especially, when I've been browsing on Facebook, and come across a local business who has such great and unique products, that I just have to shout about them. Whether this is a simple "like" or a "share" or a status update. 

They are more often than not, Aussie Mums who either import, or craft their own products, or have a trade that they can share. They put their passions to good use, and make a bit of cash folding out of doing what they love.

The go above and beyond when building relationships, and follow it up with great customer service and good quality products.

I personally love the ones, that post user questions, funny quotes and pictures. I love the interactions of an evening, that normally wouldn't happen with a business which makes Facebook businesses seem like friends.

Supporting local people is also a bonus, and when I say local, in this global society, I mean in Australia. Most offer very reasonable postage, or free postage Australia wide. 

So, without further ado, here are Hands Are Full, Heart Is Full's Favourite Facebook Businesses.

HANDMADE 

Dummy Spit- Home made dummy chains 

Miche's Knits And Crochet  

Tokens Of Love - Hand Stamped Jewellery 

SECOND HAND STOCKISTS 

Susie's Threads For Kids 

UNIQUE SUPPLIERS 

Little Creek Fashions 

BabyBumbinos - both hand made and supplied stock

That Book You Like- lovely gifts for everyone- check out their wrapping section!

Finlee And Me

SERVICES (Gold Coast) 

Bedazzled 

PHOTOGRAPHY (Gold Coast) 

Amy De Klerk Photography 

(Yes, you would be right in thinking the second picture in this line up is my darling Ryan)


SPECIAL ASSISTANCE 

Sign Language Classes 

Digital Parents Australia 

So there you have it. My list of MUST likes on Facebook. Are there any pages that I should like, that I haven't? I'm sure there are thousands of great Facebook business out there. If you have one, leave a comment below and I'll pop on over!