Beth's pARTy: the finished canvas!

This past weekend I hosted a 5th birthday pARTy for my middle daughter. If its not obvious from the unusual use of upper/lower case it was an ART theme (I posted a pic of the invitation a couple of weeks ago ;)

An art supplies buffet... to cut down on the sugar!

This was the sign we put up at the front of the house

 My 4 favourite aspects of the theme were:

1) The art/craft tables

2) The dessert buffet (minus the dessert ;)

3) Art palette cookies

4) The cake!

1) I had 6 art/craft activities outside: decorated paper mache boxes, cards, foam finger puppets, paper cutouts, foam bracelets and portraits (pictured above are my eldest and her Nanny, getting all creative :)

I had a selection of art smocks as well as a bucket of warm, soapy water and towels, so the kids could wash their hands onsite and not have to traipse through the house with paint or glue on their hands.

2) The art supplies buffet was my favourite feature. Dessert/candy buffets always look amazing, but its just a ridiculous amount of sugar, so I decided on a more parent-friendly option and created a table of colourful art/craft supplies for the kids to fill their party boxes.

Mini water paints: Party Shop (Mornington)
Mini scissors: Reject Shop
Crayon erasers: Reject Shop
Rainbow crayons: Reject Shop
A5 and A6 paper rolls: Reject Shop
White boxes: Pack It In

I also had several lolly options available, but you could easily leave the lollies out all together.


3) I saw these adorable paint palette cookies on a blog (cutest little things) and really wanted to make them, but I couldn't find a palette cookie cutter anywhere. So I took DIY to a whole new level and made my own cookie cutter. I found one in my collection that was the closest to the shape I wanted and used a pair of pliers to bend the metal into the shape. The above photo isn't a great angle, but I was too busy with the party that this one was taken by my 8 year old ;)

4) And of course, for those of us who grew up with the Women's Weekly birthday cake book, the cake is always the most important thing at any party. As a kid, I would spend the weeks and months leading up to my birthday pouring over those pages, choosing the cake with the most lollies/chocolate/biscuits/icing-to-cake ratio.

Now that I am a mum, I am at the other end of the experience, watching as my girls angst over which cake they want- cake is too important to leave until the last minute!

This one was a no-brainer, with an artist's palette cake right there for me to emulate. I added another fun touch by colouring the cake batter and creating a rainbow marbled effect inside the cake.

Beth's mouth was full of food when she blew out the candle. For anyone who knows Beth, this is not at all suprising- that girl LOVES food so much, there's no activity worth interrupting a meal for ;)

Decor was really anything brightly coloured, or vaguely art themed and there was so much available in $2 shops, Reject Shop and party supplies websites- I could have spent a small large fortune on party favours and crafts.

But for Beth, as it should be for all 5 year olds, my efforts paled into comparison to spending the morning with friends and family she loves!

Please post any questions below and I will attempt to answer them as fully as I can.

Love Gubby xo

(Warning: Gratuitous nephew photos)

Beth's pARTy... first sneak peek

Beth is turning 5 in a couple of weeks. A few of her friends had Art Factory parties, so we decided on an ART party at home... so there's still plenty of creating, but Mummy gets to be her usual obsessive party planning self.

It is one of the easiest and most fun themes I have done. Kids craft is so cheap in $2 shops, so there are plenty of different crafts on the day as well as fun, colourful and useful items for the goody bags!

These are the invites and I am so pleased with how they turned out:

Looking forward to sharing more details with you.

Love Gubby xo

Its beginning to look a lot like there's less than 100 days to Christmas

With just over 3 months til Christmas, the time has come to begin making gifts and the mass production of Christmas cards.

I committed to hand-making all my presents this year and have managed it for birthday presents so far. But Christmas might be another story. How am I going to get it all done in less than 100 days!

Here is a sneak preview of supplies for my Christmas cards. At least if all else fails, I'll get the cards done in time!

Do you have any special projects on the go for Christmas this year?

Love Gubby xo

From Paris... With Love

Moving to our new home in Frankston was exciting for so many reasons- its newer and bigger and warmer and close to school and kinder and church and only 4 minutes from my newest nephew :)

It also allowed Francesca to have her own room.
She loves Paris and the Eiffel Tower (her name is FRANCEsca, so you see the connection?)

I desperately wanted to make it a perfect room for her- a comfortable space with personal touches. I saw some beautiful wall decals and thanks to a custom order for some bibs and burp cloths I was able to justify the cost of purchasing them for her:

(not our home, just a generic photo ;)

There were a few other items generously gifted to her from friends and family. And one of my favourite touches was a photo board I made with some lovely fabric I found.

A large canvas with some fabric, ribbon and pretty coloured brads was where I started.

I added a layer of wadding under the fabric to gift it a softer finish. I used spray adhesive and a staple gun to ensure a smooth and firm attachment for the fabric.

I attached the ribbon with a staple gun and then used brads on each cross point to add some more colour and add stronger hold.

 A closer look.

My inspiration was my sister-in-law, who created a lovely board for her new son, Henry
(you can see the incredible nursery she created on her blog, Paper + Ribbons)

So there's another craft project that I hope can inspire you.

Love Gubby xo

Lots of little people

There are so many precious little people in my life at the moment. You know, other than the ones I made myself.

And there are boys everywhere. My first nephew, Leo, and little buddy Tristan are almost 1; my very talented sister-in-law recently produced another nephew for me; and a long-time friend is due in October with another little bundle of blue.

Other than all of the cuddles and smiles, baby boys are a fun excuse for me to use the fabrics that aren't pink or covered in cupcakes :P

This series of bibs was a necessity. I HAD to have this fabric- Humpty Dumpty, what's not to love?! And I just happened to have the coordinating fabric and ribbon lying around.

I made 2 large and 2 small bibs. I have made a lot of bibs lately, so I am getting pretty quick and my top-stitching is pretty neat. I ordered a bunch of coloured press-studs in multi colours, so I should have one to coordinate with any project (I do so love it when things all match).

I just had to share, cause I was so pleased with how they came out- both the sewing and coordinating of fabrics. Very satisfying.

Love Gubby xo

Fathers' Day

My wonderful husband recently traveled for work- he was gone 5 weeks and left me alone with our 3 kids. But he arrived home in time for Fathers' Day... how convenient ;)

We helped my sister move house on the day, so Fathers' Day was pretty low-key, but I wanted to share a couple of ideas that helped make it a special day.

In time for his arrival home from his travels, I framed a gorgeous printable that I found (today's creative blog). I wanted him to know how special he is to us:

I had to prepare a fathers' day related craft for the MOPS group I attend. Cards are a good, simple craft and everyone needs a card at Fathers' Day.

Again, I found an adorable tutorial on The Gold Jelly Bean (seriously, what did we do before Pinterest?) and amended it slightly for a simpler, quicker design. My friend, Janine, used to insist that macaroni is not for grown-up craft, but I think even she would agree that this is an acceptably cute use of uncooked pasta... even for grown-ups!

So its late, but I hope that the ideas are fun, inspiring and useful.

Love Gubby xo

10 years and going strong

This April my husband and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary!

Again, the challeng of hand-making a gift for my most beloved exerted some real pressure on me. I wanted it to be something I had made (obviously), that expressed my love for him, that was significant enough for a 10th Anniversary and that was masculine.

I found this gorgeous idea for an embroidered 'love tree' (from Cat on a Limb). I used hessian and embroidery thread, and picked up the frame for $5 from Spotlight. I was really pleased with the result.

Hanging in the loungeroom- that's a good sign that he liked it :D

We enjoyed a dinner with family and friends on the evening of our anniversary and I surprised everyone by appearing in my wedding dress!!

As you can see, its been a busy 10 years for us ;)

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life- every day I am more aware of just how awesome this is :D

Love Gubby xo