300 Giveaway!

Hey Guys,

My friend Dara has reached an awesome milestone in 300 GFC fans and she is celebrating with a huge giveaway. So jump on over say g'day and maybe win some really cool stuff.

Take it away Dara


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I told myself that when my blog reached 300 followers via GFC I would hold a giveaway. That was obviously before everyone started switching over to following on bloglovin! However, I’ve declared it close enough. Today 14 of my closest blogger friends and helping me celebrate. First, check out what we’re giving away. Then, use the form below to enter!

Avery / Hot Pink Satchel (Purse) with Gold and Rhinestone Accents from her store, Bloom
Annie / Cookbook: “101 Things to do with Canned Biscuits”

Breanna / 1 month VIP ad space and $5 Starbucks Gift Card
Breenah / Blog header and three blog buttons

Kerry / Large ad space
Kimberly / Biggest of the Big ad space

Kristyn / Large ad space and $25 Etsy Gift Card
Lanaya / Sponsors ad space

Leslie / $10 Amazon e-gift card
Mallory / Blog ad space

Mel / Glitter Washer Pendant
Melissa / Medium ad space

Kera / Handmade headband and set of hair clips
Shoshanah / Blog ad space and $5 Starbucks Gift Card

A bag, a cookbook, ad space on 8 blogs, $25 to Etsy, $10 to Starbucks, $10 to Amazon, a blog header and buttons, a necklace, and a headband and hair clips! Aren’t my blog friends generous? I couldn’t decide what to offer up from me to match their generosity. So you get to choose.

Dara / $10 gift card to store of your choice or handknit item

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to everyone!



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Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Food From Our Heritage - Inspiration Cafe

We're excited to bring you a new series at the Inspiration Cafe.  For the next 5 Mondays, the girls are going to be sharing a food dish from our heritage, culture or that has special meaning to us.  At the end of this series, we're going to have our first link party and ask YOU to link up a dish that is special to your culture or heritage.
Natalie from NorthShore Days is kicking this series off with Durban Beef Bunny Chow as she grew up in Durban in South Africa. (Did you know that?)

 Looks delicious doesn't it?  Just click on the global door to the Inspiration Cafe and we'll take you there to see what this delicious Beef dish is all about. 

Do you have a dish from your heritage that you would be willing to share at our link party?  If so, write a post about it sometime during the next 5 weeks and then come back here the last week of April and link it up!  Should be some global fun!

Polymer Clay Football Bangles

Autumn is here and in Australia that means one thing, FOOTY!!!!! Or for those of you not from these parts Australian Rules Football.

We love our footy in this house and the first game of the season sees our team, The Essendon Bombers play and I wanted a little something to cheer the team on.

Enter the awesome folk at Wholeport who sent me their wonderful polymer clay to play with. So I twisted up some clay in my team colors and shaped it into a bangle. Look at those colours!

Then Elizabeth decided she wanted something pretty in blue so she made a lovely plaited bangle.

This is one craft supply that will have the imagination working and the kids quiet while kneading their clay.

Then I thought I would try one of those clay covered pens in my team colors..sadly this did not work out

First Attempt was the red and black, I used the recommended pens I have seen all over the internet and it melted.

Second attempt was the green and yellow, I tried lowering the oven and the pen melted again.

Third Attempt I tried a different style of plastic pen with the lower oven temp, this worked much better but the pen still warped.

I gave up with the oven and tried the steam method. Wholeport's clay does not have to be baked, it can be steamed or boiled. Attempt number 4 was steamed, sadly then pen melted again. On the plus side the steam method did cure the clay and I think going forward this will be the method I will use. I actually used the baby bottle steamer and it worked great and since it normally has plastic in it, it's made me certain is has something to do with the pens.

I didn't try the boiling method because I have teflon pots and I am unsure if it is safe to use with them and (fingers crossed) I'll never use the baby bottle steamer for bottles again so it is not going to matter how it gets used.

If you're entertaining kids over the Easter period grab yourself some polymer clay and have some fun. I will have more projects to share with this clay after the holidays.

Thanks for reading

Mel xo

I Spy With My Little Eye....A Quilt

You know those projects that just never seems to get finished? Well this was mine and I finally finished it.

I had been obsessed with Ispy quilts since I first saw them over at A Girl and a Glue Gun and then she mentioned she was selling them in her etsy store (December 2011). Kim was actually really great to buy from, she was concerned about the postage charges to Australia and I had to say that it was still cheaper than here and I was happy to pay. Also the shipping worked out cheaper than she had thought and she refunded me the difference.

When I received the squares, I left a note on her Facebook page saying that I'd probably have it done by July. So I took a little longer, in my defensive I was still working full time oh and had a newborn plus four other kids (Have I convinced you yet that it wasn't all laziness?).

Anyways I have worked on it in spurts and this weekend I finally sewed in all the threads and I love it. Technically it's for Madeleine and I will make Max one down the track, however the older kids have been "playing" with Madeleine, even when she's not there!

DIY Delight or Disaster? Delight! First "proper" quilt with real batting and I even used the walking foot, it made me feel all professional and stuff. Shhh but my Mum helped (by help I mean I watched as she did it)  baste and pinned the layers together. Done and dusted!

Oh and thanks to Jack for holding the quilt till his arms hurt while I took pictures, he was officially my favorite  child that day.

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Game Changer - Gamer Keyhooks

Morning All,

After the bunks fiasco there have been a few changes to what I was going to do in the boys room. Also just an FYI they did send someone out to repair the bunks, however we still aren't convinced it will never happen again so they are now separated. Problem with that is, it's pretty much taken all the floor space so this room is going to end very soon, and yay, because it's been a nightmare from the get go.

Anyways, here is the next item for the room, key hooks. Are you aware that kids don't have those massive bags to carry around? My boys use ebooks and online homework, for the most part which means their bags are usually empty. Everything is on a USB stick!

 Good for their backs but I can't tell you how many times we have been out with a torch looking for a USB stick in the dark that's fallen from a pocket while playing out in the street. So I thought I would give them a hook rack each for their keys, usb sticks and their jackets.

Let's make one

Supplies:
MDF Place mat
Paint
Vinyl
Clear Hooks.

1. Paint

2. Cut the vinyl

3.Place the vinyl on and then I super glued the hooks on and here we are.

DIY Delight or Disaster? Well hopefully they'll be more organised, but truly the Nintendo look about them makes me happy, so delight.

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Menu Planner

Morning All, 

You know that feeling when you start a project that is amazing then it all comes crumbling down, well here is my most recent one.

My friend Ros from Sew Delicious  recently posted her menu planning tips, I had been using my iPad but just found that it really wasn't keeping me on track and I wanted something in the kitchen.

So I cut my vinyl and stuck it on the fridge.

Then I literally spent hours designing these little menu items, printed them, and the printer ran out of ink!

I decided it was a minor set back and carried on.

Made the magnets using my Xyron Sticker maker with the magnetic cartridge and started taking pictures, the weather has become cold and dark this week and for the life of me, I could not get a decent picture.

I carried on, and took a picture anyway and low and behold I chose the only one with a spelling mistake, which I did not notice until I had finished writing the post.

Here are many of the others all with correct spelling, I checked!

If you want to make one grab your supplies below and get a cookin'

Supplies

Vinyl - with cutting machine

Xyron Sticker Maker
Xyron Laminate/Magnet
Paper and Printer


DIY Delight or Disaster?

The Menu Planner is a delight! I am using it and it is helping keep me organised and on track. I am disappointed about the printing side of it (and the mistake) so the magnets are a disaster. But they can be fixed as soon as I get to the office supplies place and get some ink so all in all, no biggie.


Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Organizing Buckets - Inspiration Cafe

Hey Everyone,

Mel from Mellywood's Mansion is at the cafe today sharing a fun craft to help you get rid of the clutter monster at your place.

So grab a cuppa and head over to the Inspiration Cafe by clicking on the door

 If you would like to guest post at the Inspiration Cafe, we'd love for you to let one of us know, or go HERE to our submissions page.
If you've never written a guest post before, that's OK, we're happy to teach you how with this easy step-by-step tutorial HERE.  It's easier than you might think and a great way to get exposure for your blog! 

Kids Toy Train Table - Upcycled Coffee Table

Morning All,

I've been working on a fun thing for my two smallest kiddos. We have had these Thomas the Tank trains since the boys were little and as much as they loved them they usually looked like this.

Then this and it really bugs me.

So when I found this on the side of the road I decided to make it into a train table

 Painted and glued the tracks.

Then added all sorts of fun details.

I think it needs more but the little ones need to get their hands around it so for now I am leaving it as is. I may add to it in a year or two.

DIY Delight or Disaster? Well I had visions of those hobby train set ups when I first started, but there is a reason that they are for adults to play with and not for kids.

It's fun, clean and tidy so I think we'll go with delight.

What do you think?


Thanks for reading

Mel xo

Tongue in Cheek Tuesday - Junk in our trunk

Morning all,

Welcome to Tongue in Cheek Tuesday. Since its about junk in our trunk and the only reason we have junk is because we are too lazy busy to deal with it, I though I'd be super efficient and video it for you.

Be warned there is a bit of dead air, I must have had my finger over the mic but I do move it and hey you wouldn't want to miss all my junk.

For more fun visit the other ladies at

Kirb Appeal

Bliss Ranch

Silo Hill Farm

Mellywood's Mansion

Simply Vintageous....by Suzan

Now it's time for you to link up - the party is starting in a different time zone to mine so it might not be available right away.                

Inspiration Cafe - Easter Cloche

Easter's on it's way to the Inspiration Cafe and it's my turn to share! I've got an awesome tutorial for making a seasonal cloche that you can tweak using whatever little decor items you have in your own craft stash.

So put your Easter bonnet on and head on over to the Inspiration Cafe where we're always serving up something wonderful!  Just click on the door and we'll take you there!

 If you would like to guest post at the Inspiration Cafe, we'd love for you to let one of us know, or go HERE to our submissions page.
If you've never written a guest post before, that's OK, we're happy to teach you how with this easy step-by-step tutorial HERE.  It's easier than you might think and a great way to get exposure for your blog! 

Where I am today!

Hey guys if you want to know why I am wearing these shoes come on over to The Thrifty Rebel.

I also have the definitive answer relating to the chicken and the egg, plus a fun craft for the kids to play with.


See you there,


Mel xo

Pretty Paper Earrings

Howdy All,

These earrings came about from a happy accident. So as you know I jumped on board the washer pendant bandwagon and am now totally in love with them. Well I I knocked one off from a high shelf and it caught on the side of a wooden box and became loose.

I carefully peeled it off, trying to save the washer to reuse (because saving 38 cents is a must) and it came off perfectly , almost like it had been used as a mold and was left with this.

So I stared at it for a while and thought hmmm, I think I could make something with this so I punched a couple of holes in them added a jump ring and the earring finding.

Well what do you know, matching earrings to my washer necklace.

I tried to get a picture of myself wearing them at 10 pm, hot tired and a mess - why??? Then I discover a pimple...of course! I did it anyway because you have to see how lightly these hang from your ears - I should have had Elizabeth model. 

Make no mistake, I see more of these in my future. 

DIY Delight or Disaster? Well finally something good comes from being a big old klutz - Delight!

Let me know you have any happy accident crafting stories??

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Inspiration Cafe - How to avoid the Pinch this St. Patrick's...Rosette Tutorial

Heather from The Beating Hearth has a St. Patrick's Day trifecta to avoid being pinched on the 17th.  She also has the cutest little red-headed lass to help show them off!

 Just click on the door of the Cafe below and you'll be inside where Heather will serve you up an awesome tuturial on these great projects!

If you would like to guest post at the Inspiration Cafe, we'd love for you to let one of us know, or go HERE to our submissions page.
If you've never written a guest post before, that's OK, we're happy to teach you how with this easy step-by-step tutorial HERE.  It's easier than you might think and a great way to get exposure for your blog!