A day off school = craft time!

School was closed yesterday so I had my big girl at home with me and my boy (it was little girl's preschool day). I took them on my errands for the morning and along the way we popped in to a local thrift shop for a peek and had one one those rare lucky days where everyone found something they loved:
• paper weaving kit for big girl
• Eric Carle ABC book for little boy (with a bit of help from mama ;-),
• sparkly bracelet for little girl in her absence (can't leave her out!)
• pair of jeans for me, an old favourite style - Lee Rider low rise flares
• and a huge length of heavy cream cotton, perfect for screen printing practice and making tea towels - yay!
The morning was off to a good start. We then dropped in to a local cafe for a milkshake and coffee and finished the chores before the boy's tiredness set in and ended in a tantrum!

When I'd asked big girl if there was anything she wanted to do for the day she did a little jump and said "craft!" of course! She mentioned this cute project that I'd had pinned for a while, so we set to...

She drew and painted...



and I did the cutting...



...and we got there in the end.



I'll admit that there was a bit of angst and frustration on my part. I don't seem to be able to complete a single craft project with the kids without getting a little frustrated or stressed at some point. Is it just me or do you too? Come on, make me feel better and say you do ;-)



Anyway, she was pretty happy with the outcome. If we made it again I'd make a few structural modifications, but still, a nice crafty afternoon regardless.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Thrifty shoes, big & small

We're having a freakishly warm day here today (for winter) in Sydney - the Mr's weather station gadget tells me that it's 23.5c.

So I thought I'd take the opportunity to wear for the first time some 'new to me' shoes. I bought these silver ballet slipper style shoes by Witchery from my local op shop recently for $15. There's lots of wear left in them and so far they're proving to be really comfy, being put to use on our morning out - the walk to school, over to the toddler sing-along, across to the park for a long play session, over to the supermarket and back home again.

And my little girl has been enjoying her silver shoes too lately, passed on from her sister, a bit big but still her favourites. To see her dedication in persevering with them is interesting from the nature/nurture perspective - she's a girl through and through, with no (conscious) coaching from me. They were given to us originally by a good friend who is an amazing op-shopper and generously passes lots of things to us, as she has both a boy and girl older than mine. I in turn have a friend with a younger girl, who I pass things on to, and another due to have a baby boy, who I've passed my baby boy things on to (with a little bit of emotion!).

Do you have people who you pass things on to? I find it feels good to both give and receive pre-loved things, good for the environment, the hip pocket, and the storage situation at home.

Last week two friends and I got together to have a clothes swap, and this week reported back that we'd all enjoyed wearing our swapped items (or our kids had!). Mine were a fab pair of patterned leggings. An interesting aside is that I wouldn't know in which shop to look for them as they're very individual, and thrifting/clothes swaps also save me having to go on a shopping trip, which is difficult to say the least, with small children, as anyone with kids knows.



All this thrifting, passing on and receiving made me think recently about the whole waste/landfill/cheap labour issues that we think and talk about these days. It all makes a lot of sense to me and I'm enjoying trying to be more mindful of whether I need new things or not.

I find interesting all the 'challenges' around lately, from reducing household waste to reducing expenditure and waste on food through to clothing challenges were you don't buy any new clothes for yourself for a year apart from underwear and shoes. This is an interesting blog on ecco-savvy and simple living and describes one family's clothes challenge. And in this one this person's challenge is to not buy anything new for a year - started in 2007 and still going! Now that's dedication.

There's even a blog where someone makes all her own clothes for a year, including shoes and underwear, and documents her outfit daily, which is interesting in several ways from fashion to resourcefulness and craftiness (sadly I can't seem to find the blog again after searching - if someone knows it please let me know the address).

Now I'd better make use of all that sun and get some of the mountains of washing on the line!