Proud!

Well, When this mum puts her mind to something.. Look .. Out!

I am pretty darned chuffed right now!

Without spending a single cent today.. And 3 kids 5 and under plus 2 cats tomenting me , within 2 hours using only items from around the house..I had transformed a 'room' In to a chic wonderland for miss Dior.

I will run through it all better tonight, but i am just to excited i just had to upload photos now!

{Before...}



{After}

It started with this.. A $4.00 double doona cover set and a pair of pillow cases for 50c

An old cot blanket..

Hot tip- Line your material up along your tiles or room divider.. Make as a long ruler!

Add one kitten for shits and giggles..

Using the lines on your tiles makes cutting a hell-ov-a-lot easier!

I made sure i kept the buttons so i could take the cover on and off.

I upcycled her cot blanket. Its thick, but not to much as the doona cover is very heavy.

Simpy framed the material. Very effective!

Tah Dah..

One of my best life line buys.. 2 of these gorgeous lamps, full of dust a pair for $5.

Even the globes still worked in them.
Scored these 3 curtain panels from the upholstery remnants section of spotlight for $2 a meter. Cost me $5.30 in total. Also bought another panel to layer for .60c

The embroidery on the curtains

50c thrift score! For a pair!

Made from the same material as her Doona cover and pillow case.

Our bird cage from our wedding.

♥ The Princess' Bed ♥

Miss Dior is a little scared of the dark and will only sleep with her fairy lights on. ♥

A place for everything.

Dad & Tiger Lily were pretty proud..


♥ One happy lady ♥

Master 5's room next..

x N

Hates..

The feeling of waiting for a new inbox message...

For that #1 to pop up.. wondering if you have done the 'right' thing that just feels right?

I am a very patient person.. But not right now.

x N

Networking- Shopping - Spamming

3 totally different reasons for swinging by fan pages.

Ive been reading over Build a Little Biz's recent blog on facebook spamming.

Im not sure if i am a spam-sh person / Business owner / online shopper..

But i personally dont see a problem with how i connect with others.

If you think otherwise, please speak up. I wont be offended.

Facebook WAHPs- It starts with networking. You have to have a good network to promote your product? Correct?

And, Im sorry, but i not going to pay for someone to promote my business when i can spare 10 minutes a day to do it myself.

Tagging is promoting. I love tagging! I love having fun with tagging and showing my love for fellow WAHPs.

If i am tagged i will always send my thanks- Generally through a return shout and or dropping by to comment.

I then proceed to like all the other pages tagged as well.

I dont just crap on there page and leave.

I always state how i found them (Though a mutual tag) Who i am, where im from , if there is something that im interested in (99% of the time there is because im a face-stalk-shop-aholic) i will ask about it or let them know i have emailed.

My email account is not always open as Hubby and i share Gmail and outlook. So if i see ive been email, i will always go check.

And i invite them to drop there name on my page so i can then add them to my list of shouts.

My fans are always looking for new faves, and shout outs are the best and sometimes only way of finding the little pages lurking in the back ground.

I often see they are locals. And if you know me, you know i love my locals.

I always let them know about my fave market The Upper Market , Hoping one day ill see there face around.

My shouts usually go along these lines

' Hi there! Nic here from Buttons Dior. Just found you through ___'s tag this morning and thought i would swing by. (I would here let them know if i was interested in something) Feel free to drop by and leave some love on our page, my customers are always looking for new faves. x " 99.9% of the time it doesn't end there, we will use that as a base to get chatting, realise we know similar businesses and or the same people.

(But i never ever just cut and paste! Thats just lazy )

I think personally.. Thats acceptable networking??

Am i wrong?

xN

Dreams.

About a month ago a posted on my Buttons page about a dream that i had the previous night. It was about a lady.

Im not sure where i had seen her from but i could describe exactly what she looked like.

She wasnt short, but wasnt tall. She had light blonde, even strawberry blonde wavy hair with small curls wisping out the sides.

Mainly where her glasses sat behind her ears. Her glasses were a thick frame.

Not a think metal frame. And they sat a little down her nose.

I felt like my dream was at a market.

It was like she was trying to promote her product.

She spoke fairly fast and wore an apron with a front pocket.

She had her hands tucked in, like she was fiddling with something.

Her laugh and self of humor made me get the feeling she was nervous. Over talking to disguise what she was feeling.

I felt like she lacked confidence in what she was 'selling'.

We ended on a good note, and i felt like we had made friends?

Without so much becoming friends. When i woke up i felt like i needed to befriend her. Liike i had something to tell her..

For the next couple of weeks i kept my eye out at markets wondering if she would be there, just so i could match the faces! It drove me insane.

She became ' That girl' to all my friends. Especially my best friend who had a similar dream, and referred to her as 'That girl'

On Tuesday i was sitting with my best friend Lucy talking about a dream she had.

And we brought up that i still didnt know who she was.

Lucy stayed to look after my eldest while i went to pick the youngest 2 up from daycare.

As i drove in i saw 2 teachers in the play ground. The one to the right.. That was her!!!

The girl in my dreams (eww.. that sounded creepy) Scratch that.. The girls FROM my dreams was my 2 year olds releaf teacher.

And id met her plenty of times before!

The first time i met her was when i picked Miss 2 up from daycare about 2 months ago.

I arrived and secretly watched her play for a while.

When she turned around she had a horrible rash all over her face and neck.

I couldn't help but blurt out 'What the hell happened to her face!'

The teacher, who we will now call 'Pat' ,Not, "that girl' Was stunned!

She didnt know that i hadnt been notified.

I felt awful. Id nearly torn shreds off this teacher who had only been there about 15 minutes. So i piled Miss 2 in the car and took her straight home where i called the home doctor.

He said it was a positive allergic reaction. Her face was swollen and red. Now to find out what it was.. And why i hadn't been called!

The second time i had met 'Pat' was the following week.

Missys face was fine this time, but she was walking funny.. kind of like a cowboy.

I made a joke saying 'Yeehaa!' as we walked to the car. But Miss 2 burst in to tears and stopped.

Screaming 'Hurties!!' I picked up up and carried her to the car, when i took her nappy off, her bottom was so burnt her skin was pealing.

Naked bottom and all, i marched straight back in there and gave the poor girl another mouthful.

Miss 2 is prone to nappy rash due to the acidity in certain foods, so we over pack nappies for 2-3 extra changes through the day to keep her as dry as possible.

Apparently She hadnt been changed for 5 hours. 11.30am was her last change and without fail, She will poop at 12pm on the dot.

Every-Single-Day.

So im gathering she was sitting in that poop for 5 hours.

Poor 'Pat' had only just walked in to take over as i left. Again, she took the brunt of it.

Addison has more reactions at daycare, only on her face. And the same rash. Every Friday. Until last week. I packed her own sheets. WOLAH! No rash. Miss 2 is allergic to there laundry powder.

So, back on track..

here come my questions. Why was she in my dreams? It was more then once.. it would have been a good 5-6 times.

Is it something totally differant to the incidents with Miss 2? I wonder if she is considering a career change (Hopefully not because of a scary mum!) and isnt confident about it?

Because the whole time she was talking in my dream i just wanted to say

'Stop! Slow down! Have a bit of faith in yourself for cheese sake!'

I told Miss 2's teach on Tuesday everything that i have blogged here.

I told her not to think i was a crazy lady.. meh , they didn't need me telling them about some dream for them to know im a crazy lady.. and shes going to suss out whether 'Pat' is looking in to business ventures..ect

That.. I will know tomorrow. (Or not. If i get there and they have an enlarge poster of my face on the front door saying ' NOT ALLOWED' )

Untill then.. Dream readers..Does any of my dream make sense!?

The newest member to our Chaos..

Meet Tiger Lily-

About 2 weeks ago, my soul sister lost her dad for the 2nd time. When she was a teenager she lost her father, then recently she lost her step dad to a rotton cancer.

Before he passed her mum (my other mother) and her Step dad Gary bought a kitten. A gorgeous little kitten which i think secretly sent them insane!

For weeks i constantly heard about the late night and early morning meowing. The scratching at the bathroom door. The sleep deprivation.. All the things you would expect from a newborn. The reasons why we just dont do kittens very well.

We adopted our Jezzabelle from the Animal Welfare League in Coombabah on the Gold Coast about 8 months ago. It was a very unexpected adoption after a school holiday trip with master 5 and i.

I wanted to stress to him the importance of respecting your pets. That animals are not a seasonal thing. Pets are family members.

We lived in a town house before having our 3rd child and after hearing a friend say she was taking her kitten to the pound, we jumped in without thinking and took her in.

She was a gorgeous kitten. We called her Aria.

The kids adored her. We rented privately so we didnt think it would have been an issue. We are fantastic tenants. Rent paid without fail and the house was always immaculate. We even had the owners around weekly allowing them to do maintance.

Then came the 'Notice to leave' .. We had breeched our lease because of our decision to save a kitten.

I fought it and fought it.

The house had a cat door! There must have been pets here before! I fought it untill they notified us we would be evicted.

1 week before Christmas.

I refused to let this kitten go to the pound. So i started looking for other rentals. 2 children under 5 and 5 months pregnant. It just wasnt possible.

I remembered a friend finding a dog needing a home on Freecycle. And after a good hour of typing and retyping a letter of offer with to many tears. I finally advertised our gorgeous Aria, in need of a good home. I had over 20 replies that day. Deleting them one by one untill i reached an amazing email.

I phoned the potential owners to arrange to meet.

I was taking this very seriously.

I spoke to a mother of 2 children. A wife whos husbands car had just died that morning on the hwy and her power steering just gave up as well. 1 week out of Christmas, with now no money to pay the chrissy laybys off. They wanted something for there children, untill after the silly season and they could afford to fix the cars and spoil there kids.

Her husband had only been looking at photos 2 days before of his childhood cat.

This was the perfect family.

On Christmas eve , A friend at the time and i drove her up to them. I met the mum out the front of the house so she could surprise her children. I gave her Aria and watched her wish Merry Christmas to her kids and handed them there kitten.

In the mean time both of us are pregnant, hormonal and blubbering like babies!

From that day we swore we would never get another pet until we were locked in to being allowed animals.

I explained to Jett this is why we no longer had Aria. And off we went to the shelter to see the animals who have been abandoned or lost. With NO wallet, so we couldn't come home with a little surprise.

We walked around and chatted to the cats. Gave them some attention and spoke with the volunteers. I could see the look in Master 5's eye. He was ready for a pet.

That night i had a talk with Hubby. Showed him the AWL website . And he suggested we went back as a whole family. All 5 of us, and take a look.

We met alot of different characters. Gorgeous cats with crazy personalities. Odd looking kittens clutching to the sides of the enclosure.. And cats that just slept and slept..

We were looking for a cat who was looking for us.

We made a promise to not pick one.

We would wait to be chosen. If not that day.. Another day.

There were a few that were just gorgeous! We got a little attached to them.. until they got permanently attached to us! Digging there claws in and hissing.

There was one cat that just followed us. With a tiny little Siamese head and a long sausage dog like body with a droopy saggy belly that nearly rubbed along the ground. Puring and walking between our legs. Miss 2 gave out an all mighty squeal of delight at her ' Jezzabelle responding with a quiet 'Meow' .. Thats our cat.

We decided to 'sleep on it' ..HA yeah right! We drove all the way home, Hubby doing a bit of a detour to delay the eneviatable and then said.. "Do you love her??' And i replied 'I LOVE her!' .. So we phone the shelter which closed in an hour and asked them to get her paper work ready!

We drove all the way back to get our lady...

We raced up to reception and applied to adopt. We had a meeting with the volunteers and signed all the papers.

Best of all, Jezzabelle was 'Pet of the week'

We bought her home and she spent the rest of the night sitting next to me while i cut and stiched.

From that day, shes just been another family member. Taking her place every night on the end of Master 5's bed.

Today we introduced a special little lady to our family.

Tiger Lily.

Adopted from My best friends Mum.

Since losing Gary she has been living with her mum. Lucys babushka. They owned an absolutely stunning self designed 'mansion' up on Mount Tambourine.

But with Julia suffering epilepsy, it was not safe her being up there alone.

With that, And the sadness of losing her husband.

We adopted Tiger.

So far she is settling in well. She spent a week at Lucy's sister so was used to noise and chaos with there 3 kids. I actually think she is enjoying her self here!

So, welcome to our would gorgeous girl! Your very much loved.

x N

Tiger Lily

A Little Faith..

So i realise im not looking at being next in line for a promotion in Santas workshop or a job offer from Matel, but im pretty damn proud of myself right now!

It all started with a conversation between Hubby and I a few weeks back.

For those of you who dont know.. Hubby is the lead singer of a brisbane band The Secret Silence . I asked him if there were any songs he just loved to belt out in the shower or while driving that he just couldnt bring him self to sing in front of a crowd. A song that he wished he could just hit that note or push himself to perfect.. But just couldnt. Hes reply 'Nope. I can sing anything' .... *Sigh*

My reason for asking.

I have been sewing for only 2 years. Id never owned a sewing machine before then. I passed Home economics with flying colours.. Because the teacher knew my nan. Never mind the fact i sew the legs of my home made boxers to the waist.. And snapped 4 needles on my machine.

Its not what you know.. Its who you know.

My mum has always been amazing with a needle and thread. She hand sews everything. And i mean ev-ery-thing! She hand sew a whole couch cover for a 2 peice out door setting. Out of a queen doona cover and patch up a whole in the couch with my brothers old shorts and a needle and thread.

I self taught myself to use a machine and make clothes. I could make clothes every single waking moment of my day. But thats about as far as 'i thought' i could go.

I ventured on to little hoppers for this past easter. Over 80 Hoppers were sold in a matter of weeks. And still reqested now.

Which brings me to my 'Song' The song i love to sing, the song i could sit there for hours perfecting and designing. The finer details and bigger picture. That song i could sing behind closed doors.. But never sing in public.

That song was "Dolls" .. I just couldnt make a doll that looked.. well.. like a doll.

The legs were differant sizes, the arms were different lengths (Like some of the dolls ive seen on facestalk..lol) So i have a ton of half finished bubska and whimsy dolls just sitting there.

A few days ago i thought about when i asked hubby what song he couldn't sing. Then i realised. He would practice and practice until he sang that song perfect. So thats what i did.

I got out my roll of baking paper. I drew up my design and kept in mind that i wanted it to be me. Im loving bunnies at the moment so it wasn't had to decided on that.

I turned the computers off, left my phone in my room and created my own special someone. I needed that something that was more then sewing and stuffing. I wanted something that i could put finishing touches on and perfect.

And with that i introduce Faith.

Faith is what i gave my self. When i thought i just couldn't do it.. I did.

She took me 3 days (Probably working a good 2 hours straight each day on her) to make. But i loved it! Making her was so therapeutic!

Making more Bunnies will be my mission for the creeping-up-way-to-fast Upper Market!

So to the ladies who make dolls.. I STILL dont know how you pump so many out.. Your houses must be in chaos!

I took my time with this lady. She helped me unwind and kick back.

I noted all my steps and faults. And now im more motivated then ever to make a few more.. Given i have some interest on Little Miss Faith.

x N

Thrifting Love ♥

Yesterday i spent a few hours bouncing from Op shop to Op shop with my mum and gorgeous friend Corrinne stocking up on warm winter clothes.

I refuse to pay $3+ for a pair of socks that are destined for holes anyway.. Our first stop was the big place next to the Police station in Tweed Heads. I cant for the life of me remember the name.. But they have all clothing for $1!

$20 later i was stocked up.

We headed over to come more across from Tweed mall the back up the coast to Currumbin.

Op Shopping would have to be mum and i's ultimate favourite pastime. We could start in southport and buy from every 2nd hand store all the way to tweed! Garage saleing would come in at a close 2nd.

Here is the devine Miss Dior in her whole thrift shop get up! Costing a whole $2.50 for everything including the shirt under her hoodie.

Any Gold Coasters have Fave 2nd hand shops?? Share!

♥