Outside art

We have been trying to detox from the tv in our house lately.  While I was not feeling well, the little people became a little to accustomed to getting to have it on when ever they wanted which was pretty regularly.

The weather here in Perth is absolutely fantastic now.  Though I love summer, I was very ready for the cooler days and nights to arrive.  Autumn and Spring are my favourite times of year in Perth.  The sky is crystal clear and you want to be outside basking in it's glory whenever possible.   This kind of weather really helps with the cutting down on tv.

To encourage more creative outside time I have once again been cruising around pinterest and the web looking for projects we can make and do together.  That is when I came across this sidewalk paint.

I just love it!!!!  

It is amazingly simple to make!

1 cup corn starch (or corn flour here in Oz)

1 cup water

food colouring

It entertained the little people for a LONG time, encouraging their creativity.

It comes off the sidewalk/patio so easily, ours washed out in the rain but easy washes away with the hose.  (I don't make any promises about it coming out of clothes as the food colouring may stain.)

It is so cheap to make, contains things I always have around the kitchen, and it is non-toxic so no worries about it going in their months (which is always a concern around our home.)

 This is definitely a keeper around our house!!  Go make some up today and let the little people get a little messy :)

DIY Pallet Herb Garden

Now that I am feeling much better, we are trying to tick a few things off our to-do list.  One such thing is revamping our back patio/garden area.  I have been combing the web for a while now looking for inspirational and affordable ideas we could adapt to our outside space.   I saw beautiful outdoor areas, but most are not at all feasible for our space or our budget.

It was recently on one of our trips down to my favourite markets in Fremantle I came across an herb garden I loved and wanted to recreate for our back patio.

Ed and I both love to recycle materials, and the more 'free' things we can use the better, so this was the perfect project for us.

Gathering things you need:
-1-2 pallets (while we only used one for the herb garden I did use several boards off the second pallet to make the shelves for the herbs to sit in) Lots of businesses give these away (if you are in Australia there are always some available on gumtree)
-If you have it an a electric drill and saw would be handy (we luckily have an amazing neighbour that is stocked with handy tools and allows us to borrow them)  but if you dont have these a hand saw and hammer would work, you just might need a little more muscle behind it.
-Nails or screws
-We used burlap (of hessian) sacks to hold the herbs
-dirt mixture
-herbs of your choice


-We decided not to hang our pallet as the one we were given was HUGE and super heavy, instead we stood it up and leaned it against the wall.

- I used a crow bar to pry 2 more planks off the second pallet so that the shelves would match the rustic weathered look of the other pallet.

- measure and cut the planks to fit the cross pieces of the pallet.

-Screw these in slightly higher than the lower shelf to form more of a box

-Cut the hessian/burlap bags in half.  The bottom should be ready to hold the dirt and herbs, I used a stapler and folded the other side up a couple times and stapled it to make the top section into a bag to hold each of the herbs.

-Roll the bags down and fit them to your shelves, then fill each bag with dirt and slow release fertiliser.

-We chose a mixture of herbs that I use regularly and also a couple strawberry plants as these tend to grow well in planters here.

and. . . .

Waa Laa

A beautiful herb garden that is cheap to recreate, doesn't take up much space and gives you that rustic recycled look that is popular right now.  This could even be used for apartment goers who don't have any green space of their own to have a great way to grow a few things.

Hope you enjoy.  Go create something beautiful.

Resurrecting the blog

It's been a while to say the least.  The long and short of it is to say that during my first trimester when I was feeling so terrible, it was all I could do to get the basics done around the house and be there for the kids.  Now that things are doing better, and I am feeling more like myself again and able to get things done, I have a laundry list of to-do's that seem to take precedent over blogging.

But I am back, with the hope and desire to be a bit more regular.

First things first:

We are now 16 weeks along with our little beanie baby (as Tilly refers to it.)

We met with our doctor this week about our 12 week scans and so far everything is looking just as it should be.  The heartbeat is strong and and my blood work came back great.  

Seeing these scans bring a smile to my face every time.  It is so amazing how much happens so fast and how amazing God's creation is.  Tilly loved getting to go to this appointment and seeing how much the baby has grown and developed.  

The bump is starting to show but I haven't taken a picture of that yet :)  

I think this round we will wait to the little bub is born to find out what we are having.  I know with both Tils and Nate what they were going to be and loved knowing, but figured since we have both already, and this is all likelihood is our last, it would be fun to wait.  

So did you wait to find our what you were having, or did you find out early?