Win a framed FallDownTree Print...

As promised as part of our birthday celebrations I have a few goodies to give away :)

I've just posted on Facebook a fun little question prompted by my daughers revelation this week that when she grows up she wants to be Wolverine! I have other thoughts about Wolverine, but considering she only knows the cartoon version, I'm guessing she wants one of those hot yellow suits!

I used to want to be Mikhail Baryshnikov. I thought that the boy ballet dancer were better than the girls cause they could jump higher and didn't have to wear tutu's! My husband had recurring Superman/Greatest American Hero/ET fantasies (probably still does).

So my question to all our facebook BFF's is .... What did you want to be when you grew up? Or are you still holding onto your fantasies Peter Pan style in the hope that you can still reach your dream?

This fab framed FallDownTree print is yours to the fan with the comment that makes us all wish to be young again! You can leave a comment here if you like if your not on Facebook

Kids Movies....

This is hardly a hump day suggestion, as most of us probably do this everyday anyway, but I was feeling a little rant like about the movies on at the cinemas lately, this seemed like the next best thing.

I really wanted to take the girls to a movie and have been hanging for the school holidays in the hope that something suitable would make it to the cinemas. But everything these days seems to be too violent, or has "scary themes" (whatever that's supposed to mean) or is a story about how two best friends/parents and children/you fill in the gap, get separated and are very sad and upset and have to go on a quest to find each other during which there is much danger..... blah, blah, blah! does that sound familiar to you or it is just me?

My girls are still too young for these kinds of movies and the ones we've attempted to watch in the past that appeared suitable on the posters and in reviews and have a G rating, left us with endless questions on why the characters where so distraught and why did their friends leave... it goes on and on and on.

So as we don't have a home theatre, we are making a makeshift one for ourselves today. I'm all stocked up on popcorn, have some special cups with straws just like at the movies and I've thrown a couple of sheets up over the glass doors to block out as much light as possible. We've dragged out loads of comfy cushions and a rug or two and we're all set for the show to begin.

Today's screening is Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses. Just between you and me, if I have to watch this again, I'm going to poke myself in the eye. But Abby's really into the whole evil stepmother figure at the moment (the lesser of the evils according to her) and after the intermission we will be screening a Care Bears anthology to keep all members of the audience appeased.

At least there's coffee on tap at this theatre and they probably won't notice if I go downstairs and hang out the washing either!

Knitted dissection...

This was on the Etsy homepage this afternoon...

Its a knitted biology frog from The Crafty Hedgehog and I think it's pretty cool. I also love her knitted fetal pig, which I can think of a few people for whom this would be an appropriate gift (I do move in some unusual circles ;-)

Made me smile anyway!

Hump Day Helper #7: Happy Birthday Wheel

Yay!!! Monkeytail & Wellington is 1 today! Just 12 short months ago my hair brained scheme became reality and I can't believe how fast the time has flown! My children still think that Mummy's "Shop" is a figment of my imagination (and sometimes I wonder that myself), but I'm fairly sure I'm not hallucinating, just extremely sleep deprived!

Now that the financial year is over and there is just the counting left to do, I can start looking for some delicious new things to bring to the store! I've already got my eye on some very lovely tid bits I can't wait to show everyone, but for now, I'm off to eat a birthday cupcake (or 3 cause no ones watching) and a much needed cup of coffee!


I think that today's hump day helper is a stellar idea. I am terrible for remembering birthday's! I like to ignore my own, but other than my immediate family I have a huge problem remembering. even if I write it down in my diary, you can put money on it that I will forget to look... must be a subconscious metal block... I've got no other explanation.

But today I'm going to have a crack at making myself a Birthday Wheel! This idea is courtesy of Enchanted Learning.

What do you need?

Cardboard or stiff paper
A compass or something to help you draw a circle
Scissors
A brass paper fastener
A pencil to mark the circle
Crayons etc to decorate

How to do it

Cut out two circles of equal size. Divide one circle into 12 equal segments, then draw a series of concentric circles.On the second circle, cut out a shape equal to 1/12th of the circle
Write the name of each month around the edge of the first circle in each segment.
Place the second circle over the first and secure with the paper fastener. Then write the birthdays of your family and friends on the wheel and decorate! No more forgetfulness!!

Hump Day Helper #6: Space Explorers

OK, so this week it's not something crafty, but rather a great site for kids who are into the final frontier... Space!

This is a long story, but my almost 4 yr old Abby has her own version of the Why question that toddlers seem to love to much, particularly when she's in the car. She either asks where everything comes from, or how old everything is .... where do traffic lights come from? how old is fly spray? and every answer you give her prompts another.... the fact that i always answer her questions often gets me into a lot of strife and a 20 minute Q&A session that I usually get out of by saying, we'll look it up when we get home! My favorite is when she argues point blank that I do know the answer, I'm just being difficult by telling her I don't know. As flattering as it is that she thinks I'm the all seeing oracle, I just don't have answers that roll off my tongue about where gravity comes from!

Until now that is! Abs was absolutely fascinated by the recent space shuttle trip to Hubble and because I didn't have the answers or quick wit to answer her many, many, many, many space questions i followed through on my promise to look it up!

Thank the stars for the NASA website. It is very cool and has lots of interactive games and activities that appeal to even the youngest of space explorers. We are a big fan of the Buzz Lightyear Game and Space your Face gets a few giggles too! But the depth of info and images on here is just amazing. Who knew you could watch live NASA TV? Well worth a look and there are some colouring in pages to download too!

Moss Fairies

All week i have been promising myself that I'd be more consistent with my blogging, and I keep falling off the promise wagon! This time i can blame it on the fact I've had my nose in a book I can't put down. I've finally succumbed to curiosity and am reading Twilight to see what all the fuss is about. I'm about 3/4 done, saving the last little bit for my hair dressers appointment in the morning. I must say, even through it is a little predictable and the whole irresistible vampire lover thing has been done to death (pun intended), I'm quite enjoying reading a book I can whiz through and doesn't make me think to much. I tend to get hooked on series's once I've read the first (note the stash of Janet Evanovich books under my bed), so no doubt I'll be off to get the sequel sometime tomorrow too!

On a completely different note, I found the most adorable Fairy terrariums on Etsy yesterday.

This is by Doodle Bird Designs and I need one soooo much. I can't believe how adorable these are! Not to sure how I'd go finding moss growing here in Townsville though?


Gnome washing day! I'm speechless....

Find Doodle Bird Designs here on Etsy!

New Prints from Fall Down Tree

My apologies for being a bit slack in the blogging department as of late. We've had a bit of a busy run with Nannie and Grandad visiting, everyone having colds and a crazy number of birthday parties to attend! I actually forgot completely that it was Hump Day as we were so busy today with swim classes and jetting about town getting jobs done, we didn't even get a hump day to worry about this week. So.... hand over heart.... I promise to try harder next time!

During all this busy-ness, I did manage to get some fab new products loaded up into the store which have been sitting next to my desk begging to be given my attention.

Firstly, some delicious new prints from very talented Adam Record of Fall Down Tree. It is really, really hard to find great stuff for boys out there. I find it especially hard being a Mum of two little girls, so I'm never exactly sure that what I think is pretty great, is what boys will think is pretty great too! Luckily Adam's prints seem to do the trick.

There are 10 prints in stock and here are a few of my personal fav's....

The 3 prints in the To the Moon series... There's a bit of a space obsession happening at home thanks to the recent space shuttle launch and discovery of the awesome NASA website. More on that later....


and this one called Bird Band. It makes me think of that Paul Kelly song, Band on Every Corner (probably not very kid-propriate, but its what springs to mind).

See more great Fall Down Tree prints in stock now!