Potty Reward Jar - For Boys

Hey Guys,

My goodness it has been busy, busy busy, around here. We have entered what I like to refer to as birthday season where 3/4 of the family have birthdays and we seem to do nothing but eat cake.

I am officially another year older and I keep waiting for that promised wisdom but some how I still do some pretty dumb things. Like decide to toilet train Max as we come into Winter!

CityHooks Review

Hi all,

Late last year I was contacted by a company called Choopie who asked if I would review one of their products CityHooks. When I saw what the product was I immediately said yes.

More Water Less Soda - Without a Fight!

Hi guys,

This post was originally shared at the Inspiration Cafe.

 My kids fight me every step of the way when it comes to drinking water and the little ones are the worst. They point blank refuse to drink water from the tap unless it's mixed with cordial, but if it comes from a bottle, they will have anything!

Sew Jereli Pj Pants

I made some PJ's for the babies. My lovely friend Toni from Sew Jereli gave the pattern away for free on her blog. Now I will say the pattern is really easy to follow....if you read it.

These are my second attempt, my first attempt happened around the time I had no hot water, so in my defense, I was a little distracted. I cut all of the legs  the same and to make matter worse I had folded the fabric so one pair had the print upside down.

I was devastated and I had a little whinge to Toni about my mistake, which lets be super clear, was in fact ALL my fault. Anyway god bless her, she talked me round and I managed to sew them up, they might be upside down but at least it wasn't a waste of fabric and hey, they're pj's no one else is really going to see them

I don't have a photo of the messed up pairs because the kids really like them and as soon as they're washed they want to wear them so it was a win after all. Madeleine loves her good pair, she call them her baa baa black sleeps, it's very cute!

When I tried again, in a better frame of mind and remembered to read, these turned out gorgeous and I am so delighted, thanks Toni, for the pattern and for all your help, but mostly for not blatantly laughing at me for being such an idiot!

Go check her out, she makes lots of beautiful things for little boys over at Sew Jereli and she is just a lovely person, also grab your free pattern here!

Thanks for reading

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

Balloon Balls.

Let's be honest we all LOVE Pinterest! Day after day, minute after minute it gives us yet another fantastic idea. As soon as I saw this one from Kiind I knew I would have to make it. They even included a free pattern here although it's written in Dutch it's pretty simple. The only change I made was putting the felt circle where the balloon goes in on the outside instead of the inside. Not on purpose just didn't take a lot of notice when I was doing it.

This is a great scrap busting delight and the kids LOVE them. Also when the balloon breaks it's inside the bag which is a little safer than popping on the floor. I am always paranoid that the kids will put them in their mouths and will choke.

DIY Delight or Disaster? Love this, Delight! One pin down 6000 to go.

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

Expert Parenting Tips From A Mother Of Five!

Recently it's been suggested to me by multiple people that I must know quite a bit about parenting. Yes it's true I have five kids ranging from 15 years down to two so I must have seen it all right!

Here's the list of everything I consider myself to be an expert in and therefore wish to share so that you can be the wonderful parent I am!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

Sesame Street Cans

It's Winter here, and while it's been pretty darn awesome we have had some wet days. I don't know about your kids but mine would much prefer to play with anything around the house...other than their toys. So as you know I am a bit of a hoarder and I had a pile of formula cans and thought I'd make them some stacking cans.

Lets make some!

Supplies:

Empty Cans

Spray paint

Pictures

Sticker maker (You can use modpodge but this thing is just so much easier!)

Sealer (optional but it gives it a bit of gloss and protects your picture)

Spray paint the cans.

Cut your pictures out, I just found random Sesame Street ones on the web.

Ran them through the sticker maker.  (click through to read more)

They come out looking like this.

Stick them on and coat with the sealer.

Then you can:

Stack them

Roll and chase them

Use them as stools

Or and most importantly, fight over one even though there are five more and one of those is exactly the same. As seen in the bottom right picture as Max attempts to pull it out from Madeleine.

DIY Delight or Disaster? Delight! The kids absolutely love these, it kept them entertained for hours on the grey old afternoon I gave them to the kids to play with.


Please no judging the housework it was late afternoon on a Sunday, no point vacuuming when the kids are all home that waits for Monday. Also Max needs a hair cut, I know it, my Mother pointed it out but I just don't want to part with those baby locks yet - Not cutting your kids hair because you want it, hoarding level 2!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

How Not To Plan A Party aka Why Do I Leave Things To The Last Minute?

Morning,

It's been a huge week of getting kids back to school and I was left with 48 hours to get a party ready.

 Here's how it played out.

The Decorations

Paper rosettes and vinyl sign cut out in my cutter. Those roses took no time using the machine rather than hand folding and scoring. Also there were the usual balloons and things

The Food 

 Elmo Heads

Maureen of It's All Connected posted the Elmo Heads, which I copied, that is not the name she gave them and  if you need a belly laugh go check out that post. I didn't have enough red food die so my little guys were a bit anemic and a little wonky but Madeleine thought these were a win!

Abby's Fairy Wands

 Linda at With a Blast, has been busy making Valentine treats, so I used this tutorial for Candied Peanuts and Sea Salt Chocolate and adapted it to make fairy wands. So you can go over there for some Valentine inspiration. and to see how to make the chocolate shapes.

Rubber Ducky Baths

All my idea, it's jelly (Jello) and cream with a little ducky on top - as you can see, I am quite the gourmet.  

The Cake

My sister made this - so of course it's the best thing at the party! Also I forgot to get a photo before putting it on the table. In my defense it was a blooming heavy thing. You'll never guess what is inside Elmo.

Her skirt was made by my fellow Aussie blogger, Ros at Sew Delicious, you'll all know her Peggy skirt.

 It was actually her Christmas outfit but the material is very subtle in it's Christmas look and so pretty, I wanted to get some more wear out of it. Ros did hold it to ransom and I left the mansion to meet her in person, fun!

She also made a matching tie for Max, but by the time I got to taking pictures he had drooled over it so I have included a couple of shots of them alone. Even the Christmas photos were too dark, my house in Summer is like a cave.

 I read Sew Delicious before I started blogging and sent her a message on Facebook saying I wanted to start, she helped me so much, I owe her a huge thanks!! Awesomely it turned out she lives somewhat close by.

Julian's sister and her family bought her a fairy dress, my favorite part of the day was her trying it on. It also made me a little sad because I feel this was the of the end of Sesame Street and being a baby and the beginning of her become a little girl. She twirled and "flew" for us.

The birthday girl loved the cake - it's everyone singing happy birthday she doesn't like so much.

Yes, that is terror, and if you think it's a one off, here is her on her actual birthday. It's not a great shot but trust me when I say she was howling. At my Mum and brother's birthday we all had to sing it in a whisper, which was kind of funny - I have it on video for her 21st.

At the end of the day, she was tired but cake fixes everything.

At the end of the day I was tired but wine fixes everything. (took the picture myself on my phone - awkward!)

Happy 3rd birthday my fairy princess!

DIY Delight or Disaster? Cake terrors aside, she enjoyed herself, also I had set up a couple of games but the little ones just wanted to play with the balloons. While I wouldn't say it was a diy delight, it wasn't a disaster and she certainly is delightful!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!