Upcycled Top

One oversized shirt bought at Kmart for $5

Self drafted pattern using the raglan Shirt tutorial here

With a few mods involving my rotary cutter and creative license!!

= ONE HAPPY GIRL xoxo

Success is not final

Love Winston Churchill's following statement...

Success is not final
Failure is not fatal
It's the courage to continue that counts

So true

Things that made me smile today

Listening to the Tui's singing in the back yard - thanks to my neighbours with their garden  dedicated to native plants. Makes me feel like I'm in a rural setting and not nestled in amongst the hustle and bustle of the city.

Enjoying the flowers on my peace lily. It a bit of reciprocated love...a case of monitoring the situation.
Now my green thumb does not come naturally. a wise friend once told me, that we need to slow down and enjoy the little moments in life and take notice of the little things. Case in point, know your subject... A plant that enjoys low filtered light in a calm spot will not enjoy living in a pseudo glass house ie directly under a corner full of windows subjected to the afternoon sun for several hours. It will not enjoy long periods of drought with little nourishment. Change three little things and it flowers in abundance and brings joy to those around it.
Simple little changes that take only moments in my day.

We need to enjoy the little moments in life - let go, let go, let go and go with the flow.
Enjoy today
Be "present" and delight in the little moments. Forget the housework and to-do lists. The little moments are the things our children will remember. Not the things that money can buy, but the important stuff, spending quality time together, playing, laughing and sharing. Is so easy to get wound up in the busyness of life, that we forget that each day is a gift, never to be repeated and we can choose to live today - happy and free from anger, frustration and stress.
Be thankful for the little hiccups , from them amazing things can happen if you are willing to take notice and listen.
It's not going to be perfect and certainly won't be easy, but with a mind dedicated to changing the way we choose to look at things then...
It's up to me how I choose to handle them, pray believe and act.

It's up to me to choose how to handle them.

Holiday Fun

Enjoying the saucer swing - Dad's got a heavy hand.

You gotta love Taupo!!  We took the kids out of school for a week before the holidays and it was bliss.
There was no agenda, schedules or expensive plans.
Our mission was to have plain simple fun on a budget and to enjoy spending uninterrupted time together as a family.
Taupo is our favourite place and this time around the weather was fab - u- lous. We stayed at our regular timeshare destination and as usual the complex facilities managed to keep everyone nicely entertained.
Mum and Dad even managed to get a couple of sleep in's - those older and wiser than us are not wrong when they tell us to enjoy our kids while they are young, and that it will get easier.
It was only a few short years ago that holidays were a frenetic time, and the holiday was not so much a holiday but a change of scenery.
It was also the first holiday that Matthew has had with us in Taupo for several years. It was wonderful to have him 100% to ourselves free from work.
He had a blast.

Taking the kayaks out for the first time - ever

Getting organised

Hannah had a blast with her Dad

Spa pool time always a favourite

A new sculpture just outside Taupo.

We spent a couple of afternoons over at Kinloch,  just love this place. We discovered it about 5 years ago - after nearly 25 years of holidaying in Taupo, I didn't know it existed. We stumbled across it one day when touring around in the boat.

Is is like another stepping inside another world. Whangamata bay is a sheltered spot and from the shores of Kinloch looking across the water, you feel like you're the only ones on earth.

Each time we went over, the kids were compelled to strip down to their undies and dive into the COOL   ( Daina's dictionary definition -  freezing!!) lake - they weren't bothered and had a blast.

Such simple pleasures and one of our most memorable holidays.

Inspiration for the day

The story behind Upbow Sewdown...

My wee label for homemade goodies

So...about 18 months ago I stumbled across the amazing world of bloggers. Since then I have invested way. too. much. time browsing creative blogs. And now, I want to be an active part of it, rather than just observing...although that will still continue!!

My earliest memory of exercising my creativity was learning to knit (at 6 years old) while staying with my Grandparents in Gore. It was Great Aunt Julia that holiday who sat with me and encouraged me, I can still remember feeling quite despondent that mine didn't look much like hers.
One of the biggest handbrakes for me over the years has been my need for perfection and the disappointment that results when my project didn't turn out how I had imagined. This would generally result in said project being 'shelved' for an indefinite period because  I thought it wasn't any good.
Any yet, I keep yearning to try out different crafts.
I have always loved sewing, but not coming from a sewing background and with my skills limited to Manual classes in Form 1 and 2, I never believed in myself.

I have always had an idea of what I want, and could never quite find it in the stores. But never in my wildest dreams did I think that I should/ could make that.
When J was born, I did revisit my need to create with my hands, and did knit and sew him a number of items, but was very disappointed by the limitations of patterns that  were available in the stores. This is way before blog land and the amazing depth of knowledge and tutorials that are out there.

Then Miss H was born in 2005. There was no time for crafting/sewing etc, with 3 pre schoolers to juggle and a very busy husband, my 'passion' was put on hold or more specifically 'forgotten' about. It was a time of 'just' coping and getting through the everyday.

Miss H is very creative, and so spontaneous. She is not so much a perfectionist, she does love to do things well but if she makes a mistake she turns it into a positive.
I delighted in watching my wee girl exercising her innate ability , drawing, and creating and enjoying her mistakes. At preschool, they invested in a sewing machine, because they wanted to give her an outlet and at 4 years old she made her own skirt.

So she has been my inspiration to get my 'passion' back on track.

So why UPBOW SEWDOWN?

Her other favourite thing to do at preschool other than art/ sewing etc was to hung upside down on the jungle gym. Whenever she was outside in the playground thats where she would be.

Each afternoon when I would collect her she would greet me with
" Look at me Mummy I'm up bow sew down" And so a seed was planted...instead of just writing that cute wee saying in her journal, I have dedicated my wee label to her, for re sparking my creativity and encouraging me to take risks and embrace the mistakes. Isn't it amazing how much we can learn from our kids.
The wee upside down girl on the label is her... the pink heart - two things I love.

The blog roll on my blog is the other list of inspiration and encouragement that I needed, thanks to all those amazing people out there, happy to share their knowledge and skills. Without them I would still be sitting on the side of the pool, wanting to join in the fun , but not having the courage to jump in.

A quick collection of things I have recently created both from new and upcycled materials

Getting started

Yay...it's finally underway. After months of browsing all the amazing creative blogs out there, I have finally decided to leap in and give it a go.
It's certainly going to be a journey... a learn as I go process, requiring a fast tracked up skilling of techno ability!
 Thank goodness I have computer savvy kiddo's who can help their 'techno challenged' Mum venture into the exciting cyber space community.