Sports Day

We are almost on school holidays....phew!

This week was Sports Day.

Meg was a lot disappointed after the highs three weeks ago, she was sidelined to help hand out the ribbons due to an ongoing injury....

But Fraser was very excited .....

After all the bad weather we were blessed with a great day for having a run.....

How funny to see him excel in the "washing line" game.....

I was so proud of him  throughout the day.......

There is always a lot of waiting around in between big moments ......

He listened and waited very patiently and then tried hard when it was his moment.....

( these are all big deal things for little guys!!)

I can't believe I am now watching my baby compete and there are not the distractions of extra little ones to keep my eyes on......

Although I am sad my little guy is growing up so fast I was really pleased to see him in action with his friends and team.

My Creative Space

Not too much on the crafting front this last week...
But I do have a yummy recipe to share ...hope that counts?


DATE AND APPLE CAKE


Ingredients
2 green apples, peeled and cubed
1 cup dates, chopped
1 tspn bi-carb soda
1 cup boiling water
125g butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tspn vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups flour, sifted


Place apples, dates and soda in a  bowl, pour over boiling water, stand until cool.
Beat butter and sugar, blend in egg and vanilla, fold in flour and apple/date mix.
Spread into greased and lined 23cm spring form tin. Bake in 180C oven for 45 min


Topping


60 g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup shredded coconut
2 tblspn milk


Combine topping mixture in saucepan, heat, stirring, until butter is melted and sugar dissolved.
Spread cake evenly with topping, bake for further 15 minutes.

Cool in tin. 


Really moist and very yummy.


Other slightly more crafty creative spaces here.

Labels

I made my first bag to give as a present 3 1/2 years ago.

Since then I have made so many different projects either given them away for gifts or I have been fortunate enough that people have actually wanted to buy 

A Bron Creation.

I started with a basic custom printed iron on label that has served me well....

I have wanted to try some sew on labels but have been "bamboozled "as to where to begin looking.

After completely running out of labels I decided to just go for it and take my chances on Etsy....

These arrived yesterday ....

I am really pleased with them...simple and clear....and a great price which  is important especially when you are running a bit blind on what the product will look like.

So I got my labels from here.

Now to get and attach them to all my label -less " Bron Creations".

Shopping Solo

Over the weekend we got the great idea to update our Lounge room....firstly we tried moving furniture from around our home....this resulted in a lot of moving and a less than ideal situation.

Next up we reached for the IKEA catalogue......

HMMMM dangerous

So after  lots of researching and measuring we had a new game plan......

...this game plan involved me volunteering to head to IKEA this morning...

unable to enlist any shopping buddies at such late notice I ventured on my own......

...it would  be fine...I had the clear shopping list and knew exactly what I was getting.....

so only three calls to my hubbie at work - just to clarify! I finally enlisted the help of  a lovely salesperson to help me with the heaviest load I have have ever purchased there.

Some quick mental picturing of how I was going to load it all in the car, I talked myself into having it delivered....hmmm I think if I had taken a deep breath I could have managed  and saved on the cost but not the way I went.

I learnt something today .

that as much as I love Ikea and the ease at which you can spend money there and the inspiration that you can come away with......

It is no fun to be there on a mission by yourself!

No -one to chatter too, discuss colours,shape, form or function with 

and no-one to encourage you to try and get it all in the car.

Bonfire Night

At the end of fire burning season we are invited to friends property for Bonfire Night....

Over the years the kids have had varying reactions to the whole concept of The Bonfire.

This year we added a new dimension.......

A Scarecrow or Guy Fawkes.....

Fraser was nominated the face drawer...while Meg and hubbie took care of the stuffing.......

Our friends were a little concerned that Fraser may have been a bit frightened by the whole concept....ha !!! He is a boy after all and it couldn't have hit the spot more!

While it was still light we headed down to place the subjects in just the right place for the biggest effect.....

It is such a lovely property with some friendly props for added fun......

(click to enlarge)

With Guy Fawkes (Plural)  in place we headed back for dinner and to wait for the darkness.....

Each of the families were given some matches and the dads began the lighting......

A bit gruesome looking but what a fire we made........

It was a perfectly still and quiet night... perfect for watching with anticipation as it grew before our eyes......

Of course the night was not complete without the toasting of marshmallows on the end of

VERY long sticks.......

Something spectacular and mesmerising about a controlled Bonfire. 

 

My Creative Space

My Creative Space is about babies......

Not my own sadly , 

But the next best thing ...a baby for  my sister and a baby for my sister in law both to arrive before  Christmas.....

I find sewing and creating so much more rewarding when there is a tangible purpose or someone to sew for......

so going along to the market on the weekend gave me the opportunity to make some bibs that I needed  in my stash.....

I made a mixture of boys and girls  using some new fabrics and some of my vintage stash....

Now it's off to help plan a baby shower for the first of the babies.

Other creative spaces here.

Where in the world?

There  was a very welcome Fathers Day gift this year, 
a world globe.....

not just any globe but it had to be a Topography Globe-

one that had all the raised surfaces depicting mountains and the like.

Well we found just the perfect one and it has been in constant use ever since......

We have had Grandparents travelling around Europe and have followed their travels.......

Excitedly we have family migrating from one side of our Continent to our side,holidaying along the way....{insert squeal with delight}

and finally we are now beginning to find out a little about a big event being held here in our own state next month.

CHOGOM

This includes heads of almost every Commonwealth country - 53 in total converging on our state of Western Australia.

I thought it may be a good idea to bring ourselves up to speed with some of these countries and where they might be in this world of ours....

So tonight over dinner the globe was placed back on the table ( where most of our looking is done)

and we spun it around and around trying to locate as many as we could find.

I am thinking that maybe a little "googling" will be in order to find out some fun facts about each country too.

How about you ...do you love to travel the world even if it is only at the family dinner table?

This Little Piggy....

...went to market.....

This little piggy went with some friends.....

Let me clarify ....my friends are not really piggies!

But we did go to market yesterday.......

Although we had threatening dark clouds all day not a drop of rain  or wind in sight that made for very pleasant day out with these girls.

We set up and not really being experts at this game we realised very quickly that we were surrounded by others who had done this many times before....

The no gazebo to erect probably gave it away!

I enjoyed the people watching and chatting the day away....a few sales were made but overall a quiet day out ... but a great exercise in stepping out and testing the waters.

We were a little concerned about our position under the speakers as they were in constant use all day.......

but a plentiful stash of chocolate in many forms was enough to take away any environmental concerns we had.

I found this chap in the car park looking none to pleased about the invasion of so many people riding mountain bikes through the mud.

( the market was hooking itself onto a large national event)

It was such a lovely spot to spend the day...a little country town , a little distance from home......

after all the fun of the day what else was there to do but stop and nosy around in some antique shops that were  just begging to be stopped at.......

no treasures were taken home other than the ones that we had so lovingly made......

at least I now have a lovely stash of gifts ready to give away!

My Creative Space

Not very much glamour about my creative space this week.....

Just trying to make sense of the mess I have created around the house in preparations for a market  on Saturday......

It is deceiving how much work goes into having a stall at any kind of event...

there's the sewing, tagging, pricing and packaging.....

sourcing tables ,organising floats, promotional bits, signage....

display props...and that's all before the day arrives.
Sadly my new sew in labels are somewhere between there and here and will not arrive in time. Swing tags will have to suffice...at least that is one less job that I feel the need to do.

I admire anyone that does this kind of thing regularly.....

maybe it is easier of you do it often so that you know how best to be organised.

Anyway I am joining with a couple of friends and our motto is really just to have fun......

Right girls?

For more glamorous spaces than mine check in here.

The Alarm Clock

While out on the look for Father's Day presents the other weekend, we stumbled across a Typo Shop......lured in by all the lovely things to look at ,we spyed an Alarm Clock.

Now we have had a digital CD playing Alarm clock for ages by our bed....but it was so bright it lit up the whole room besides I am also a little "thingy" about electrical devices so close to the head while sleeping....

Anyway I found this "McFly Alarm" clock in Typo and thought it the perfect substitute for our digital one.

Why not gift dad with it ( along with other wanted gifts of course)

It was well received and we moved the old one into the little guys room so he could listen to Cd's at bedtime.

The batteries were placed in it, the time set and more importantly the alarm set.

Monday morning came and  we were so RUDELY awaken by the most horrendous alarm ...

we both almost had  massive heart attacks as we struggled  to silence it....

So a word to the wise:

Try out the alarm first to check it's suitability of going off in the early hours of the morning 

and 

know how to turn off an alarm while fully awake so as to know how to do it when half asleep!!

(We have kept it as a time keeper due to the fact that the little guy won't let us have our old one back!)

Around Our Garden

Truly Spring is shining on our patch of this world today...so much colour popping it's head up to soak in the sun.

Grateful

I'm grateful for the privilege I had  to be amongst some great women today at our Church's Annual Women's Conference.....

A day of being motivated and encouraged to take what God has already given us and use it to charge ahead and make a difference in the lives of those around us....

Despite the pitfalls that life deals along the way...pushing ahead to make the difference in the world in which we live...

This lady delivered a  powerful and challenging word, and this lady a moving challenge through song.

I am grateful to have shared this day with some special and inspiring friends and family members....

Also having a daughter who is old enough to come and sit and be a part of such a fantastic day...

Linking with other grateful  moments here