Next!

The next holiday on my list is Easter. Only 6 weeks or so and its time to get started.

I was thrilled yesterday when I picked up a silver tree at the Salvos for $5.

I decorated it with some hanging eggs and a pretty Easter Egg ribbon:

I have some pretty little handmade birds to hang next and a gorgeous piece of subway art ready to go!

Hooray! I love Easter.

Love Gubby xo

Love letters

I spent this afternoon with my daughters writing Valentines Day notes to eachother.

I bought some red sparkly gift bags from a $2 store and personalised them for each member of the family.

The girls added some embellishments of their own this morning- little punched hearts. Obviously, not enough love hearts for little girls!

I also found another lovely quote for my wall of love.

I can't wait to read all of the notes tomorrow morning. The girls had such lovely things to say about eachother.

Love Gubby xo

I {heart} Valentines Day

Never. NEVER been a fan of Valentines Day.

It always seemed to forced and commercial and I hated the idea that expressions of love needed a spot on the calendar and a Hallmark card.

But I recently came across a very cool concept- essentially, that anything- a holiday, a concept, an opinion- can be received, rejected or redeemed.

There are obviously plenty of people willing to buy into the commercial aspect of Valentines Day- just like Christmas, Easter, Mothers/Fathers' day. But that doesn't mean there is no good to them at all.

There are those who choose to completely reject those holidays simply because there are those who have moved the focus from their true meaning. But that is throwing the baby out with the bath water.

I have decided to redeem Valentines Day for my family. To use this opportunity to take a little extra time and effort to remind each other of why we do love eachother.

Most importantly, we love because God loved us first.

And with that in mind, I have put up a little reminder in our house, so that even as we make cupcakes and cute little love notes for each other, we won't lose our focus.

Thanks to The Girl Creative's gorgeous website for the printable

Love Gubby xo

Confessions of a sewing addict!

Well, its official. I am heavily addicted to sewing.

I love it. I love choosing fabric. I love finding fun patterns. I love when I make something for the first time and it works... perfectly!

My most recent feat is burp cloths for my cousin's baby shower. She doesn't know the sex of the baby, so I went with generic, colourful fabric.

I purchased the terry towelling at Spotlight off the roll and pre-washed it all- didn't want flecks of white towel all over my sewing room.

They are all straight lines (my preference in sewing ;) but they look really effective and, of course, they are super-practical- when it comes to babies, there is always an excess of fluids!

I was going to post this a few days ago before I remembered that it was a SURPRISE baby shower (it was her last trip over from Perth for my uncle's 60th- Happy Birthday Uncle Kevin- before bubs arrives, so we had to make the most of the opportunity ;)

She was most impressed, as were her crafty friends- one of whom makes modern cloth nappies for a living- so I felt pretty chuffed :))

Back to the sewing machine.
Love Gubby xo

Time for some lovin'

Welcome to February. The month in which school goes back in Victoria (yay!) and Valentines Day happens.

Valentines Day is not huge in Australia. There are cards, choccies and flowers around, but nothing like some of the traditions in the US surrounding this day that's all about love.

My hubby and I have  never celebrated Valentines Day, although I think I have made him a card for the past couple of years- its a good opportunity to remind him in writing just how much I love him *aww*

But I decided this year that Valentines Day is a perfect opportunity for us as a family to tell eachother why we love eachother. We should be doing this every day- and I often see my girls sharing a special moment- a hug, kiss, apology, sharing a toy or making room on the couch when 'Octonauts' is on. But I like the idea of having a special day to celebrate that together.

So I have made and hung my first ever Valentines Day decoration (made with a piece of dowling, ribbon and paper hearts). Its just a simple wall hanging in the entrance of our home, letting visitors know that there's plenty of love in this house.

As the day draws closer I will be making little pouches for each of them to decorate and then will be encouraging each of them to write a note to each member of the family to let them know what they love about them (in the case of the little 2, I will sit with them and scribe, of course ;)

So, brace yourselves for plenty of Norris lovin' this February :)

Love Gubby xo

A little something for my special someones

I found this sweet little purse tutorial online. The description said it was easy and I was looking for something I could make for my sisters and girlfriends for birthdays this year. I wanted it to be pretty, but still practical- I am a pragmatic girl when it comes down to it!

Turns out, it wasn't quite AS easy as I had hoped (though to be fair I have only been sewing for about 3 weeks ;), but after my 3rd try I am happy with the result (the other 2 are usable, but there are some small issues with stitching not being straight or edges not lining up). And I can make 2 purses in an evening, so that makes for an effective gift :)

Thanks to my many crafty friends for their help and advice- this sewing gig really is still so new and there is so much for me to learn. But I am having a lot of fun doing it.

Here's the result:

The coolest thing is that the mouth of the purse is made from pieces of metal measuring tape, so it closes over, but is easy to open.

See the original tutorial (and about a million other gorgeous sewing projects) at:

Now I just have the tragic task of going to Spotlight to choose more gorgeous matching fabrics ;)

Wish me luck!
Love Gubby xo

Sew much to blog about

I recently wrote about my foray into sewing (the sewing puns will end soon, I promise). My first attempt was the dinosaur playmat.

This is my next major project. I will be making these for the 1st birthdays (the many many 1st birthdays) that we will be celebrating this year.

Its a simple drawstring bag, but I am getting a little fancy with the casing (also learning new words, thanks to my amazing MIL) and hoping to get a little fancier with the letters and other detailing as I learn more.

At the moment, I am mostly trying things that involve straight lines and then I might move onto more adventurous projects.

Love Gubby xo