Pacey

Check out this cutie-patootie I'm holding!  Don't 

you just want to squeeze her?  This is our neice, Matt & Jade's dear little Pacey.  

She’s such a doll!  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make her some headbands when they visited us down in Sydney this month.  Jade sent me some cute pictures of her modeling them and I had to put them up.

This is my favorite picture of her.  She's SO cute!

Such a good model. :)

All the headbands had the same basic design.  I bought plain headbands and added homemade flowers.  The yellow one was a single flower and this one above is a small one on top of the big one.  I loved the cute buttons at the store and they were perfect for the center.

For the third one I just did two little flowers right next to each other.  Really simple yet really cute!

...her smiley face really helps too I think. :)

And that's our (well Matt & Jade's) cute Pacey-girl...

Miss you Matt, Jade & Pacey!

xoxo

Laugh

Halloween is coming and so are these monsters...

LOOK OUT!

and in light of the season, I've decided to be 'Wicked-ified'.  It's the new look for the season, okay maybe just the Halloween season.

That’s all. 

Go laugh today folks-it's healthy.

xoxo

Spoiled & 23

Oh look at this guy.  He’s 23.

(this is his Jocelyn pose)

We had a grand old time celebrating this old geezer’s special day.  It started off with a lovely day at work for the both of us (blah), but then afterwards the real fun started!

We were lucky enough that Phil’s parents and Rachael were in town so we had them over for a little dinner of ribs and mash and birthday love complete with Aussie "hip-hip horays".

Surprises came next with presents from America-thanks Perucca fam-, presents from me and from his parents & Rach.  

Here he is with his spread. 

(I just fixed the guitar, not a new one)  

Phil is one spoiled boy!

His family knows him soooo well.  Check out his candy spread.  Phil definitely has a sweet tooth.  

The next night we gathered the clan together at Outback Steakhouse for the family birthday dinner.  YUM!  It reminded me of America and Phil’s family loved the bottom-less drinks.  It’s rare in Australia.

(sorry Jade, at least we know your hand was present)

Phil loves donuts.  He was in heaven when I told him his cake would be donuts.  It was so yummy, and easy! :)

Here's a few photos of our night.

How sweet...

It was so much fun to have all of Phil’s family there, all 16 of us!  Whew!

Happy Birthday Phil!

It's Only Spring

I wish weekends lasted forever. This one was the best.  Who can complain about a picnic with their hubby on a Sunday afternoon? I submit: no-one.  But then it gets better-  

.the beach. 

MMMM- a Sunday afternoon sitting and listening to the waves and exploring the shore.  It was ideal.

We found a nice spot to plunker down that overlooked the whole beach.  With our picnic basket full of goodies we relaxed and did some classic people watching.

(ps- I love people watching)

Yes we took some timer photos of ourselves.  Don’t judge.

Then came the exploring.  

Nature is the prettiest thing in the world.  

Makes me grateful for the small things in life.

We even made some time to take a gander at the local Baha’i Temple.  It was so beautiful yet so simple.  Plus, they let us walk right in!

Oh thanks Whale Beach.  You were fab.  We’ll be back...

...it’s only spring!

mixed up

I'm mixed up.  Heart says its Fall/Harvest time, outside says its spring.  House says its Fall/Harvest time, blog says its spring.  Don't worry-we just have the best of both worlds I guess. Holla!  Yes, I have done it.  It's not even October yet and I've done it.  Decorating for Halloween = finished.  It was actually a realy fast process thanks to our newly-wed sized abode.  I'm not complaining!  Have you ever shopped for Halloween decor/items in Australia?  Prices are crazy mister!  But I didn't let that stop me.

Of course, we have lovely Mom to thank for some of our holiday spirit.  Thank you dollar tree and USPS!  We recieved a spooky package and you'd better believe that we decorated that night.

Here is our Halloween-ified bookshelf.  Not over the top, but the orange definitely stands out and gives it an October feel.  The second pic is a zoomed shot of the candle near the top of the bookshelf.  Dollar tree container + black candle = easy decor.

Our ghost banner was a tricky one. It was hard to find a place for it, but we made it work.  I like the texture it gives the wall.  And also, our lovely pumpkins (yes, that is the Amazing Race).  Three is the perfect decorating number. 

Maybe our decorating is low budget, but we still love it and gives us the Halloween feel.  My favorite of all are my TP Pumpkins though!

They are so simple and cheap!  I got the idea from this blog.  Easy Peasy!

I put them just about everywhere in our flat.

Ha-and because they're toilet paper, they work in the bathroom too! Woot!

I made five total, although I probably would've made heaps if there was room in the house!  They turned out perfect. Voila!

(I love my orange fattie)

~Bring on the holidays!~

Mission Accomplished

Sometimes I get crafty.  I know, its surprising that Kaylee Jo is crafty but believe it!  My most recent project has been our couch.  I didn't take any before photos but when we we inherited this couch/fouton (thanks Mum & Dad B!) it had a blue and cream cover that didn't really match the decor of our home. (black, white and plum purple)  Never fear!-that can be changed!  We bought a simple black fouton cover for $30.  Perfect way to spruce up something old.

That was the easy part.  Then we wanted some pillows to make the couch comfy and to give it a home-y feel.  After searching for the right colors, designs and sizes that we wanted, my crafy-mind took over and decided to make pillows.  I'm SO happy with how they all turned out!

This first one was a cheap pillow we bought that had a bright pink cover on it.After some tricky measuring by my math-man of a husband, I whipped this pillow cover up.  Goodbye bright pink!  I added a little detail with a cute flower hair accessory by removing the clip on the back and sewed it on.

 

 I used an envelope style back because I didn't want any hand sewing involved.  I worked out well and was super easy!  I didn't like to stay lined up though, so I just added a cute button to hold it in place.

The next pillow is one of my faves.  I just bought a simple pillow insert at the craft store (SPOTLIGHT!) and made this cover to fit.  The ties add the perfect amount of simple detail.

Our lucky finds were these two plum purple coushions from K-mart for only $5 each!

I left one plain and added these two little flowers that I made to the other one to give it some character.

A simple touch up to match our home!

We bought two of the bright pink coushions from the shops.  This is the new look I gave the second one. 

At first I just sewed the black and white pillow-cover, but it was too plain for me so I added a home-made gathered flower for some style.

It was simple but gave it a personal touch. 

Put those five pillows together with our ot two purchased from the shops...

...we declare our couch complete!

I’m so happy with the way it turned out.  I love looking at our finished project.  It's personalized and no-one else has pillows just like ours. 

Mission accomplished!