Hand-stamped Christmas wrapping paper
There’s nothing more festive than seeing a pile of beautifully wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree. To add a personal touch to your gift-giving, why not make your own themed wrapping paper? For this project, you’ll need a roll of Kraft paper and one of white paper, and some craft paint. I used white,… Read more
60 Christmas Activities to do as a Family (with FREE Advent printables!)
This time of year is all about togetherness, and what better way to get in the Christmas spirit than by planning meaningful and fun activities with your kids? I’ve put together a bumper list of 60 awesome activities to do as a family this Christmas season. Take it up a notch and choose your favourite… Read more
{We have news!} A story of wonder and grace
Once there was a girl. She had always dreamed of a big family. A house full of love and laughter. 4 or 5 kids, she told anyone who asked. That girl had no idea how difficult it would prove to have even one child. After being diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, she embarked on a… Read more
How to decorate a sweet high tea table with fresh flowers
This post has been kindly sponsored by Fresh Flowers. There are certain occasions that call for a feminine decorating touch at the table. Maybe you’re throwing a bridal shower or getting the girls together for high tea. Perhaps there’s a special birthday you’d like to celebrate, or you just want to spoil your Mum. It’s… Read more
Easy DIY filigree butterfly napkin rings
I have a sweet little spring DIY for you today – these pretty filigree butterfly napkin rings. Perfect for decorating the table for a girl’s tea party, bridal shower, or spring luncheon. Aren’t they sweet?! Best of all, they’re super easy to make. You’ll need: – Wooden napkin rings (I repurposed some old ones that… Read more
How to make DIY “wallpaper” with a gold paint pen
If you saw the recent pictures of my study makeover, you’ll know that I promised you a tutorial on how I made that show-stoppingly simple gold paint pen wall. Seriously, it was the easiest wall treatment I have ever done. Period. It was also the cheapest. Actually, it cost me $6. Yep. For reals. The… Read more
Study makeover with gold paint pen wall
You may remember that when we moved into our beach house last year, it looked like this: After months of using the end of the dining table to perch my laptop, I added a simple white desk beneath the mirror to create a makeshift study nook off the dining room. With the big table pulled… Read more
On Finding Balance: a personal update – my journey through PMDD
When I chose “Balance” as my One Word for this year, I had no idea how apt it would turn out to be. And totally not in the way I expected. One of the definitions of “balance”, according to Merriam-Webster, is “mental and emotional steadiness.” If I’m honest, I’ve always prided myself on my steadiness…. Read more
School memory boxes
I’m over at iHeart Organizing today sharing my brand new school memory-box filing system. Come on over and find out how I dug my way out from beneath the chaos of school paperwork! If you’re visiting from iHeart Organizing, welcome! Download the memory box cover sheets here. I’d love you to follow along with… Read more
How to refinish a mirror (and an Entryway makeover!)
The entry to your home gives a greeting every time you or a guest walks in your door. For ages my home gave a pretty lacklustre sort of greeting, kind of equivalent to a bored teenager grunting an inaudible “hello”. Things started looking a little happier when I indulged my cushion obsession and added a… Read more
Colour-blocked bathroom storage caddies
Hey friends! I’m over at IHeart Organizing today sharing a sweet little DIY storage solution – geometric colour-blocked bathroom caddies. Can you guess what I repurposed to make them? You can find the simple how-to here. Pssst, did you hear? My home is being featured this month in IKEA Live Family Magazine. A print copy… Read more
Marbled Mother’s Day cards (that a kid can make!)
I’ve always loved the look of marbling, but for years I put it in the “too hard” basket. Here’s a method that needs no special equipment and is easy enough for a child to make! Apart from cutting out the hearts, my two year old made these pretty cards herself. We made ours for Mother’s… Read more
Packing for kids – with FREE printable and a giveaway!
Thank you so much to EzPacking for providing product for this post. All opinions, bad jokes and packing faux-pas are 100% my own. Packing and me have had issues for a long time now. I procrastinate about it like crazy. It takes me forever. There’s too much to remember with three kids to pack for, and I always… Read more
20 organising hacks for a happy home! (and a magazine feature!)
Psst – Exciting news!! My river house is being featured this month in Ikea Live Family Magazine. You can see the feature here. For me, a happy home is an organised home. Clutter and chaos in my everyday surroundings makes me feel overwhelmed and kinda stressed out. Did I mention that I often feel overwhelmed and… Read more
DIY Upholstered window seat
I have a quick and easy tutorial for you today that will save you loads of money if you’re after an upholstered window seat (or bench seat) without the price tag. This little nook might just be the space I miss the most from our River House, which we recently moved out of…. Read more
Gratitude journal with washi tape cover
Gratitude is powerful. I’m beginning to think it may even be essential to happiness. Lately I’ve been taking some steps to pull myself out of the low place I’ve been in this year and bring some positivity back to my life. Ever since reading Ann Voskamp’s beautiful book “One Thousand Gifts“, I’ve known there is… Read more
Fragile: an Easter story
I’m sitting here simply breathtaken by the absolute beauty of an egg. And I need to talk about it. If you came here for a tutorial on how to make these speckled eggs, that is coming up at the end of this post. But first… can I tell you a story? It’s to do with… Read more
I am not okay
I’ve been putting off writing this post forever. The longer a silence goes on, the harder it is to break it. I’m conscious of the fact that we have hundreds of new subscribers on board since the last time I posted (thank you for being here!!)… and this is not exactly the way I would… Read more
Chalkboard pantry makeover… and an announcement I Heart like crazy!
I could not be more thrilled to make today’s announcement. In fact, I’m still pinching myself. When I first started blogging, I stumbled across a fabulous site called IHeart Organizing. It was love at first sight – I spent hours combing through project galleries, reading posts and related posts and favourite posts and pretty much… Read more
Peacock blue and hot pink mid-century-modern mood board
This week I’ve been busy finalising a client’s mood boards for their brand new living space. It’s been an exciting project that has involved choosing colours from the ground up for a new build – exterior colours, paint, tiles, carpets, kitchen, bathrooms and lighting. The last step: to fill the newly-finished home with furniture and… Read more
Unique gift ideas for your man
So…. you know how I wrote that blog post about Balance? Well, a big priority for me this year is to focus on my marriage. One of my big love languages is gift giving, but if I’m to be honest, I’ve really let that slide recently where my husband is concerned. I was so stressed-out… Read more
On blogging, burnout and finding balance
In my last post I talked about the concept of choosing One Word for the year. Only I haven’t told you yet what my word is. It’s kind of funny how many words are needed to explain just One Word. Let me try. Just before Christmas, I did something a good blogger is never supposed to… Read more
How to ditch the resolutions and achieve MORE this year
I have a secret. I’m anti-New-Year’s-Resolutions. Which is kinda funny, because for years we’ve done this thing with our friends on New Year’s Eve where we share our resolutions and invent silly ones for each other. It’s fun and it’s become something of a tradition. I even did it myself for years, quite seriously, sitting… Read more
Driftwood & watercolour advent wall hanging
Thank you to Etsy shop Salt & Wood for sponsoring this post. My borderline obsession with said shop and all gorgeous products therein is entirely my own. Use the code SUNSHINE30 to get 30% off printables used in this post – valid worldwide until Dec 31st. Ever since our kids have been old enough to count down… Read more
An Australian beach Christmas
Welcome! Today I’m part of A Very Merry Christmas Home Tour. We’ve just moved into our beach house rental, so in keeping with the mood of our home, I kept my Christmas decorating casual and beachy. If you’re new here, I live in Australia, where Christmas falls at summertime. The cons of this? We don’t… Read more
Welcome to our beach house!
Who’s ready for another room reveal…?? They’ve been coming thick and fast lately. I’ve been decorating my little heart out this year! If you’re new here, we’ve just moved out of our River House and relocated to the beach. (You can read more about our move here.) Come on in to our new abode and… Read more
Our beach house…. a modern coastal mood board
So last week I filled you in on our crazy news… we’ve just moved house.We’re looking around at the moment for our dream block of land… the one we’d love to settle down on and NOT MOVE AGAIN. Like, ever. (Says the girl who just finished moving house for the third time in three years.)… Read more
One year Blogiversary! (and a cash giveaway!)
It all began one year ago today. Actually, it’s kind of hard to pinpoint when exactly this blog started, because it went like this: I got this crazy whim to start a blog – kind of as an online journal of what I was doing with my kiddos at home: a way to motivate me… Read more
Some seriously crazy news… and a complete home tour: our river house!
So anyway…. I have a confession to make. We have just moved house. It seems crazy, I know. Didn’t we only just move in? YES!! Less than one year ago, in fact. We moved in two weeks before Christmas last year. When we built our last home, we always knew we’d be there short-term. We… Read more
A Planes movie party
My two little boys were completely obsessed with Disney’s Cars movie for a really long time, and then of course Planes. So no prizes for guessing who was super excited when the newest Planes movie released to DVD last week! They got to stay up really late (for them) and watch it on the big screen at the… Read more
Guest feature – how to paint a striped wall!
Hey guys! I just wanted to stop past really quickly to let you know I’m guest posting over at Just a Girl and her blog today. If you loved Jaxon’s navy striped bedroom reveal last week and wanted some more deets about that show-stopper striped feature wall – I’m sharing a tutorial about how I… Read more
A little girl’s gallery wall… and a room reveal!
We’ve been in our house for almost a year, and I’ve still never shown you any pictures of Allegra’s room… until today! (Hooray!) It’s been almost finished practically forever. The bones were there: the beauty of building new is that a lot of decorating decisions are made at the plan stage. I’d asked the builder… Read more
Jaxon’s big boy bedroom – room reveal!
I love a good room reveal. And what’s more fun than doing up a kid’s bedroom? Last time I showed you Jaxon’s room, it looked like this: So inspiring, right? (Bleh.) This bedroom was actually used as guest quarters for some time after we moved in, while Jaxon shared another room with his little brother…. Read more
Rainbow Frilly Fish Craft
I told you I had something special planned for the bubble wrap prints we made. And here it is! We used the prints as an ocean background for our frilly fish craft. All you’ll need is a fish template printed on white paper, and some brightly coloured cupcake liners. Start by snipping the cupcake liners into… Read more
Bubble Day! A sensory and printmaking adventure
Why is playing with bubble wrap so addictive? There’s something about those squishy little bubbles of air. They just beg to be popped. When we received a postal delivery encased in metres of pristine bubble wrap, I couldn’t bring myself to bundle the packaging straight in the bin. There had to be a way we… Read more
Kids art gallery wall with chalkboard frames
If you took my home tour a couple of weeks back, you’ll already know that I promised tutorials, and lots of ’em. And today I’m kicking things off with one of my favourite little DIY projects to date. But first things first… I really need to say THANK YOU. I was completely blown away by… Read more
It’s….. book launch day! (And I’m giving it away for free!)
Today, I’m launching my book… the book I’ve been planning and dreaming about and writing for nearly a year. Yes, I’m a slow writer. Lots of words have gone into the making of this book. So it’s kind of strange that tonight, as I sit here in front of my computer trying to dream up… Read more
My secret project… revealed!
Things have been quiet around here lately. You’d be forgiven for thinking I was on vacay somewhere hot and sunny, swinging in a hammock with a cute little umbrella drink. Truth is, I’ve been working like a crazy person behind the scenes. Soooo….. you know that secret project I’ve been hinting about mysteriously for months?… Read more
Fall home tour…. downunder!
Welcome, friends! I have a treat in store for you today! I was invited to be part of a Fall home tour this week. And of course, I said yes, because well – home tour, right?! I’ve always wanted to be one of the cool kids doing a home tour. So then I started looking… Read more
Doll’s House makeover
This post first appeared on Practically Functional, where I’m a monthly contributor. Now it’s my turn to share it with you guys! I’ve been looking forward to this. 🙂 It all started when I purchased this second-hand doll’s house as a birthday present for my daughter. I loved the classic lines and the solid wood construction. I wasn’t… Read more
