Afternoon colour and light

 The other day I was rather exhausted by the end of the day and decided some colour would most certanly make me feel better. I had a play with our new water colours

 The afternoon sun came streaming through the window lighting up the the glass jars and indeed I did feel much better

 Were loving the new paints. This cheeky boy thinks their rather tasty (why oh why does blogger sometimes pictures to turn back around when ive saved them the right way up?!)


What could possibly be sweeter than two brothers napping together. Except of course the silence after a rather teary morning. Ah yes, silence is sweet also!

Right now im loving

Knitting light airy cotton

Crunching cool crisp cucumbers

Feet in the kids little pool (and recycling its water after use by bucketing it onto my plants)

My good friend the air conditioner 

Sweet sounds of our new wind chime dancing in the warm breeze
Ice in drinks. Crunching ice. Water 'icy poles'. Kids playing with ice. Did I mention that we like ice over here?
The promise of a day off on Sunday (by then I will have worked 13 long days straight. Really must learn to say no occasionally...)
On Sunday I plan to sit in my hammock chair with my feet in a bucket of water and do nothing all day long

Mmm, fresh fruit from our little corner shop. In case your wondering yes that is an icy pole cooling my drink, like I said ice disappears around here!

Oh yes, summer I can tell your near. This mug is from the opp shop, the back is a winter even cuter

A week of bargains

Last night I found some merino cashmere yarn on sale for $2 a ball!
Perfect for this poor doll who has been a little lacking in the hair department since I made him weeks ago.
I decided to try a crochet wig this time as the girl dolls hair is stitched on and she still has bald spots as i got sick of sewing the hair on!
You can spot my days progress (in between playing with 4 kidlets) in the pics down below

 Yesterday we had some messy play with mud. Mud pies+mud boat rivers=fun!

 I bought this doll house off ebay and it came with ...

 A high chair,

A rocking cradle, and a matching ironing board and iron which didn't make it into the pic. I got it all for $35 which I thought was fantastic.

 I only wanted the doll house and thought Id opp shop the rest as we wouldn't fit it anywhere but when I went to pic it up it all looked much nicer than it had in the photos so I shifted things around and managed to fit it all in!

 The kids love it all! All day they took care of the dolls and re-arranged the couple of pieces of doll house furniture that came with it.

The varnish on it all is quite worn out so I polished the doll house with beeswax polish and it came up beautifully. I think ill leave a basket of sandpaper in the play area so that we can slowly sand off the old varnish an paint as we go.

Beach wondering with some of my favourite people!

Sunday morning I made it to my happy place... the beach! 

Its right where i needed to be, the cool salty water.
Mum and I had fun getting stranded at the end of a sand bar! The water suddenly got oh so deep!
We walked down the beach and had fruit smoothies

Two of our favourite shops were open so we browsed through the Moonta craft co op and the antiques and salvage shop. After a Sunday like this I was almost ready for another busy week. almost...

Guess what finally landed in my mail box this morning? A $350 cheque, the grant money for my day care that I was offered months ago!
 The $350 that inspired me to think about what I wanted for my day care. It was because of this money that I took the plunge to fill our days with natural toys, crafts and experiences.
I am so thankful for this cheque, it helped so much before it even got here. It made me feel like this change that i wanted was possible. I feel so much more forfiled in my work because of these changes. Truly the actual money is just a bonus.  

I love warmth in the garden

 I love getting outside in the early morning and now that the weathers heating up im enjoying the weekly meditation that is watering my garden. Its even more fun during spring and early summer when all the flowers are happily blooming.
 My garden has come a long way since weve lived here ( I enjoy clicking on the 'garden' label to see how much its all changed!)
Slowly with much mulch, compost and manure the clay is becoming easily diggable soil in my garden beds and some things are beginning to thrive!


 Most of the garden beds didnt exist when we mored in so the soil was solid and rocky and the back yard was all dirt and barkchips. They planted some plants just before we moved in in a u shape around the clothes line (in the middle of a hot summer!) and the rest I have slowly added

  A 'before shot' of my day cares going green with outside toys (I havent done anything much yet). We have lots of metal and wooden baking toys in the sandpit that ive thrifted over the years but id love some other ideas for 'green' outdoor toys.

Our grass isnt quite that dead looking but I always have that little transition time between my cool weather watering and warm weather watering.
During cool weather I do it all with my watering can using rain water while our tank is being regularly filled. during this time I only need to water pots and veggie plants.
Then warm weather comes back and the lawn starts looking like the picture above! I figure it needs a regular soaking with the hose! All the natives that our landlord planted are now well established and tolerate little water but they grow like crazy when they get their occasional drink

Happy Tuesday!

 Just a few things that are happening over here on this sunny Tuesday-
Ive finished this rather adorable rainbow cardi for our dolly using the cotton I dyed here (I think I need to make some more, its so happy looking:)

 The blanket pictured is almost ready for the shop (just the binding to go) I'm loving making things for dolls, Its like making things for people but oh so much faster!
 On the shop note I came up with an idea that I'm digging.
Now that I'm getting plenty of daycare work I dont need the money for myself  so all the money that I make in my shop is going to go towards natural day care supplies!
I cant wait to get us some water colour paints (the ones you put in jars) and kite paper to make window stars. Ive been eying off a few ostheimer toys that id love to get too.
I'm excited about this as I'm really passionate about buying quality over quantity (a value drumbed into me throughout my childhood by my dad. OK Dad, job done I'm thoroughly brain washed:)
I feel like this a great way to not have to feel guilty for spending more than 'necissary' on special things, as its bonus money.
Seems I do lots of my crafting with the kids about and they like to help with bits and pieces this seems like a perfect idea. So now I have new crafty motivation ill be adding a few more shop items here and there.
Oh and Ive discovered that I can get toys at 15% off from a great natural toy shop as I get a schools and child cares discount (yipe!) Its on orders over $200 so it will take a while to save up but I cant wait ($30 in the kitty so far)
 
 Each time Hansi comes she notices straight away whats new and sais 'Karen I luuv that!' (so adorable:) Id had a go at some star lanterns (just with regular paper to try them ) and she of course loved them so we made some together

 Mine look nice up here (on top of the book shelf)

And Hansi's are here as shell bowls

my nature/waldorf inspired day care playroom so far...

 Heres the progress of my daycare going green so far. I thought I had a before photo but cant seem to find it (just think a whole lot of plastic)
Ive been buisy making, sorting, taking things to opp shops, buyng other things from opp shops

 Today I put up the dress ups hooks. So far it has some play silks and wool felt crowns and I plan to make and search opp shops for dress ups

 From left- wooden wave stacker, beach finds in the felt bowl I made recently, wooden puzzle, basket full of rice filled bean bags, wooden musical instruments, felted balls etc., rainbow stacker, bowls of animals and people, big basket of blocks and train track (their are a few plastic toys, combis and a little vintage ladybug toy that the kids love)

 This week I knitted the little boy doll a cardi. It was a fun little project, ill make the girl one soon too. On Tuesday I just had Hansi, a 4 year old so together we made the girl dolls skirt and the boys stripey pants (hanging over the cots side) The white doll dress I made years ago for another doll.

I also made this pencil holder. The kids havent seen it yet so im looking forward to showing it to them on Monday.

 Some activities weve been doing this week- Teaching Hansi to sew, baking oat biscuits, planting tomatoe seeds in egg cartons, finding worms , making pictures of faries with pressed flower petal hats and skirts and leaf wings (hung under the photo board in first pic)

Everyday beautiful and a present for me!

 I am loving how pretty my breakfast bar is looking at the moment, beautiful roses given to me by Bennys mum, a poppy from my garden and various pretty flowers from walks around town. The three metal leaf dishes were thrifted long ago and hold pretty shells, nature finds and crystals. Of course there are a few kombis (where in my house isnt there?)

Ive been very buisy lately, soon after starting my etsy shop I got quite a bit more day care work. I was still enthusiastic about getting things made for the etsy but Id been getting a bit stressed about when orders would come and if I would have time to make them so ive taken down my made to order items for the time being and will still add bits and pieces as I finish them but probably not much until after Christmas. I feel relaxed in my choice, my house is a little cleaner and I feel like I have time to make toys for my day care again, which id almost forgotten was my reason for toy making in the first place!
To celebrate my new found happiness I made myself a beautiful wooden leaf chopping board, something id wanted to do since before I started getting into wood working. Ahh, my last plastic chopping board is in a bag ready to be opp shopped!
Id been wondering for a while if chopping boards could be polished with bees wax polish and read that apparently you can but you should never use olive oil on them as it can go rancid. How funny, thats what ive always used!

I gave it a polish and of course searched the fridge for some thing to chop right away!

I also gave my other chopping boards a bees wax coating. The Jarah (dark) board was present from my parents last christmas, bought at our favourite craft co-op in Kadina. The little 'round' one was thrifted. (I still refer to it as round even though it got left in water which caused the sides to snap off. Its not so pretty but its the perfect size for chopping some fruit)

I realy do love my wooden chopping boards, they are some thing so ordinary but I enjoy using them every day