What the.......?

Already a quarter of the way through 2013 and obviously my blog posts are not as frequent as intended!!!!

Over recent months I have been changing the way I think about my attempts at making some sort of foray into the world of a WAHM (work at home mum), my role as a mother and wife, and the way I view the world and life in general.  And I have to say it is quite amazing what a difference small changes in your thinking can make to your overall sense of fulfilment and happiness.

The biggest and most important change has been in trusting that Life will take care of me.  And why wouldn't I trust it, it has got me through 36 years, even though many times I've thought 'this is the end, there is no way I can come out the other side of this', and yet, here I am.

So I now no longer worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, what bills might come in, what the next 'disaster' will be and what on earth we would do if 'this or that' happened but rather simply enjoy the fact that right this minute everything is fine, good, even wonderful, that I don't want for anything that is actually vital to my existence, that I am, dare I say it, OK.

I don't think many of us really appreciate this very moment because we are always looking forward, to where we want to be or what we want to accomplish or backwards, to what we used to be or used to have.  The only thing that really makes any difference is who we are this very second and as time is moving so quickly now it would be sad to let this moment pass without acknowledging it.

Here are some things I am thankful for right this minute:

I am thankful for life.

I am thankful for being blessed with my beautiful children and the husband who chose me, out of all the women out there, he chose me.

I am thankful for the roof over my head, I may no longer own it but it is there just the same.

I am thankful for the ability to connect with people who understand me and my passion for craft, via this incredible anomaly we call technology.

And there are a million more things I can think of to be thankful for.  Please feel free to share your own gratitudes for life in a comment below.

I would like over the next little while to integrate my Facebook business page with this blog a little more and so will be sharing my latest creations and holding a competition or two as the time allows so please keep following.

Meanwhile, I'm quite taken with my latest knitted doll and she will be available tomorrow night in my Hand-Made.com.au store.

 https://www.hand-made.com.au/listing/30904/ms_adelia_peacocke_knitted_doll


Until next time,

Kazza xx

Beautiful Things

Wow 2013 is off to a flying start!!  The school holidays seem to have knocked me for six, along with plenty of other Mum's I'm sure but as they are now very much at the end I am just a little bit sad.  Still I am excited to get into my creating again and being far more productive than I have been over the last two months, when nothing much at all seemed to be accomplished creatively speaking :)

I would like 2013 to be about all things good in the world, about making changes that give me inspiration and joy and that teach my children what is really important and meaningful in this crazy, fast-paced, consumer-driven world.

So while I have a few minutes before the next round of 'I'm hungry' 'I'm thirsty' 'I'm bored' begins, I just wanted to share with you a small business run by a beautiful lady and hope that you might take a minute to check out the loveliness she creates. 

https://www.facebook.com/OhSewBonnie

I am about to become the proud owner of one of these beautiful creations and I feel truly blessed.  It's not silly for a grown woman to have what might be seen as 'a child's toy' and a 'pointless, dust collector', we all can have beautiful things to cherish, whatever they might be.   And this particular doll means a lot to me.

Thank you Amy, I truly appreciate your talent, creativity and craftsmanship.

Until next time,

Kazza xx

Christmas Greetings

The days of this month of the year seem to have less hours in them than any other.
I love Christmas, anything Christmassy but particularly handmade Christmas, there is nothing more satisfying to me than knowing I have made something from scratch with my own two hands, be it food, decorations, cards or presents.  My problem is, no matter how much I plan and prepare, I never get through the list of Christmas Things to Do.  My husband tells me it is my own fault, if I just relented and went to the shop for a pack of beautiful cards, that would free up about 15 - 20 hours and I might get some of the cooking underway sooner.

  I know he is right and I don't know why it is that I can't bring myself to do it, there are beautiful cards available that I would be more than happy to give, or receive for that matter, but it's just not quite the same for me.  And so I stress myself to the limit trying to get the cards done and posted so that they will actually be received before the big day.

I not only make the cards but I make each card individual and a little bit different from the rest, meaning no time saving with a production line.  This year I did get my son involved in making some origami embellishments for some of the cards and I think he will be employed next year too, in some form or other to speed up the process.

I don't know if any of the recipients know just how much time or energy goes into their card and that's not the point, I know and it makes me feel good.
I did outsource the little gifts for my daughter's class mates this year - handmade by a wonderful lady I have befriended via Facebook (you can find her at Cards by Cassy on Facebook).  And they went down a treat.

Speaking of treats I have managed to make a start on some yummy treats for our tummies too, these are always a hit at Christmas gatherings.

And here is our advent calendar, I made this one three Christmases ago with the idea that would fill each box with a little handmade something, that plan came to fruition the first year but these last two I have had to fly out in a mad rush on the 1st of Dec to find 24 little somethings that will have the children oohing and ahhing each morning.

I still have so much unticked on my To Do list this year and there is no doubt I will get to 10pm Christmas Eve and once again say to myself  'Oh well, there is always next year' and the list will be mentally folded and put into the little box in my brain labelled Things to Do next Christmas.

There must be others out there like me, let's band together and spread the homemade, handmade Christmas spirit, in the hope that we may learn to cherish these things again.  Not enough is cherished these days, or kept, in order that future generations might have something to hold and feel made by the hands of an ancestor.

And on that nostalgic note, 

Until next time,

Kazza.

Fire!.... no wait...... I've got it covered.

Well we are all settled in to our new house and are absolutely loving it, though the garden is very neglected and with the current bushfire risk I do get very nervous about it all going up in flames.  On that note here is what happened in my kitchen earlier this afternoon (written minutes later crying and laughing at the same time). The oven just caught on fire, in the back where the fan is, like real proper orange flames and smoke. I stand there going through the checklist in my head: fire - extinguisher (used to have one, left it in the last house we sold, FLUCK (tempered for parents/grandparents) water (no it's an electrical f

ire) blanket (what the hell do you need blankets for in 35 degree days, no idea where they are, FLUCK) Shut the door it might suffocate (Holy Flucking Shit the gas lines run right behind there for the stove (I know nothing about gas and whether the pipe will catch alight or not but I saw the big red digital 10 on the second clock flash in front of my eyes and knew I was a gonna, Dear Lord just save the children, just save the children..... oh and the cat) BLOODY HELL SCOTT WHY ARE YOU NEVER HERE WHEN I REALLY REALLY NEED YOU TO TELL ME TO CALM DOWN YOU STUPID WOMAN!! ok think, think, think.... Casey arrives, I'm running around in circles repeating the ovens on fire, the ovens on fire, the ovens on fire. My darling sane Casey, I'll call triple zero. Yes good, you do that and get me some towels. Nek Minit (there must be some common sense left in this addled brain somewhere) wet towels, smothering back inside of oven, lots of sizzle and hiss and no more flames. Case ends 000 call before it's answered and I sit on the floor staring at the inside of the oven wondering if it's still going to explode in my face. Phone Scott, 'honey the oven was on fire' Scott 'what! hang up and ring me back on the other phone' What if that was the last 5 seconds of my life and you want me to call back????????????? :) All good, I'm still sitting here so guessing no explosion, no dinner either however as I'm not going near the bloody thing anytime soon!!

Please forgive the language, it just erupts out of me in stressful situations!

On a lighter note my sewing room is coming together nicely and I hope to be back behind the machine very soon.

Till next time,

Kazza.

A Favourite Thing!

It is all go here in the KwozzieGirl household.  Not only is it a crazy time of year with happenings at school, trying to get just a little bit organised with the overseas Christmas cards and presents this year (not a hope), trying to get just a little bit organised with our own Christmas this year (no show) and just trying to get a little bit organised in general (yeah right), but we are in the middle of moving house too.  This is not an uncommon occurrence for my little family, in fact this will be the seventh move in seven and a half years of marriage and three of those moves were across the Tasman - sigh.   As I have made clear to anyone who will listen for the last two moves at least - this WILL be our last move for a LONG time - the problem is a LONG time in our world seems to be approx. 18 months.  Anyway, while we are quite practised at packing, cleaning, cleaning, unpacking, this move seems to be particularly mind-boggling for me.  I really don't know whether I'm coming or going, head up or bum up, fully-alert or fully-have-left-this-world-and-am-travelling-on-some-other-plane but somehow (mainly thanks to a husband who understands the concept of just getting on with it) our house has been boxed up and we are living on the barest of essentials for the next week until the truck arrives.  In amongst all of this chaos I have continued to try to complete some items that have been on my to-do list for a few weeks now and which I have decided must be out the door before that truck arrives.  It is while completing one of these projects that I have discovered what is currently My Favourite Thing!  and I just could not wait to share it with the world.

Please let me introduce you to the Crop-A-Dile.  A tool well known to paper crafters and now my new best friend for setting eyelets in fabric.  

For years I have battled with the piddly little tool included in the packet of eyelets and a heavy unwieldy hammer (pink of course).  Today I extricated my long-time owned but previously unused toy from it's prison of plastic and minutes later I had a line of perfectly set eyelets. 

I can not describe the satisfaction of knowing that this was a task I no longer had to look on with the memory of well-hammered fingers and black fingernails. 

I am looking forward to creating more of these beautiful pages for my Busy Books with much glee!!

Love Kazza. 


From one crafter to another, please respect the time and effort I have put into my designs and refrain from replicating any or all parts. If you are interested in purchasing a pattern please contact me at heplayedone@gmail.com

Let the good times roll..........

Hello out there,
I blinked and suddenly we are into November, do not ask me where the last 10 months went between the last post and this one, I have no idea!!
Life just seems to get busier and busier and I think it might be time to chill out and smell some roses.  I have been thinking I will take this blog in another direction, the trouble is my mind wanders so aimlessly I don't know which idea to settle on.
I think I'm just going to keep it free and easy and let the posts wander where they will so expect to see a lot of craft (have I mentioned it is the love of my life closely followed by children and husband?), a lot of celebrating the good in the world (we can all use a lot more of the good and a lot less of the doom and gloom), a little bit of this (cooking, kids and fun things) a little bit of that (my life in general, including that dragon in the closet, my multiple sclerosis and how I cope or don't).
So just know that I am full of good intentions and hope to get this blog back on track with updates more frequently than once every 10 months.
And as I have left this post laying out my plan of attack until minutes before my bed starts calling seductively, I will sign off for now with a pic of my latest work in progress.

Kazza xxx

Hot Hot Hot!!!

Tonight, at least, I have a reasonable excuse for not being asleep at 2.39am it is HOT - 26 degrees Celsius in fact according to the weather website.  Half of Queensland (those without air conditioning anyway) must also be awake probably tossing and turning and cursing every so often.

How typical is it that, on the day before the hottest day of the summer so far, the air conditioning starts blowing only hot air out and not the icy cold that keeps me sane?

Ironically I am one of those Kiwi's who, when asked how I cope with the heat, says 'Oh the heat doesn't bother me, I love the heat' when what I should really say is 'I look forward to 30 degree days with no humidity and a light breeze' so all Aussies can smirk at my naievity.

One thing heard and said by many a wannabe Aussie contemplating a permanent move across the Tasman is 'it's a different kind of heat over there', well all I can say is Hot is Hot and if you have difficulty coping with the rare 28 to 30 degree day of a New Zealand summer then you've got no show of enjoying the 34 degree plus days of an Australian summer.  

Some hot days are easier to cope with than others, I agree, for example, my husband (less crazy than myself but also less sensible) spent one 42 degree day chain sawing logs on our rural property (an hour south-west of Brisbane) during our first inhabitation of Australia and coped quite alright because there was far less humidity that far from the coast.  Admittedly he did dive into the pool clothes and all when he'd had enough.

On a positive note, it is actually warm enough for me to swim at the moment, I've even contemplated moving into the pool area on a more permanent basis these last few days.  I can't remember submerging in anything other than a hot pool in NZ since I was a wayward teenager, when it was more important that my bikini looked fabulous than how many goose bumps covered my body.  Hot pools, as in swimming pools heated until steam rises, are one of the few things still unique to New Zealand, as far as I'm aware.

I do feel for the tradies (that's trades people or blue collar workers for you Kiwis), the builders, road workers etc who don't have a choice but to be out in the heat all day.  My tradie at least has an air-conditioned lunch room and a swimming pool at the workshop to escape to.

I also feel for the mother's with grumpy and bored children, I'm sure there are plenty thanking God for movie theatres, ice skating rinks, bowling alleys and shopping malls during these school holidays - some shopping centres are so big that you can easily waste a day there revelling in the modern wonder of air conditioning and still not get around all of the toy aisles in every chain store. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure I would still far rather cope with an Aussie summer than a New Zealand winter as long as I have the necessary survival tools on hand, that being a working and large air conditioning unit, a large unoccupied swimming pool, ice cold water, a large hat, sunnies and the all important cabana boy to lather sunscreen on my back - just kidding, I must be heading for dream land again.

Until next time......