O for awesome in Oamaru

Having started feeling reasonably ambivilant to going down to Oamaru Heritage Week for the long weekend, I finished our getaway with fresh inspiration and a head somewhat distracted by design possibilities. Work/home/life in general has had more than its fair share of stress lately, so going away seemed like just another thing to get through. However leaving Christchurch gave me the opportunity to leave my worries behind as well. And just enjoy myself - have some much needed family time and fun. Andy was in the demonstration team for Bike Polo (which came about in the late Victorian era by the way) - who would have thought?!?!? Except back then they played on rather unforgiving bikes on grass. Its a bit more technical these days. Anyhow, I have taken some pics of my experience of some of the Victorian themed Heritage week. Interspursed are some rather exciting Steampunk costumes - Oamaru being the Steampunk Capital of NZ - that celebration happens in June each year, so that will definetly be on the cards for a visit!

excuse me mister....

i have a bit of a thing for ties...I had over 200 up until 2yrs ago, when i had to make some room for fashion school study to happen in my sewing room...But i did manage to make quite a few bags...Here are some of them

my blue toned 'all tied up' bag

upcycled tie headband

some of my tie bags ready to sell

this one was entered in the Trade Aid upcycled competition

And now, after a bit of a break, I have started looking at ties again - not that i will ever get back to the 200 mark!!!! Only 5 at present! This gorgeously cheesy one I collected for a christmas decoration, for the frock stars christmas challenge...

ooohhh, how christmasy!!!!

And I ended up making a hanging ornament of a christmas tree - with a paisley purple and green tie...Just made 7 so yo-yo's and stitched them together in order from smallest to largest and there you have it - a cute wee tree! I added some ribbon and beads from my stash, and stitched a vintage clip on earring to the top for the star...So many possibilities with this project...

my sideways pic of my christmas tree decoration...

10 years young!

and i'm not sure how we stayed sane packing in all that we have....but I wouldn't swap it for the world! So blessed to have 2 adorable tamariki and a wonderful husband to share life's ups and downs...
So we are off to the movies and out to dinner for Mexican to celebrate, whilst the kiddies are having a sleepover at Grannie and Grandads...

Never did like wearing white, so i went with bronze...

cows behaving themselves for this shot

And here are some of the pics from our gloriously happy day at Mt Hutt Retreat, just 10 short years ago...

ummm....what can i say?!?!?

Rakaia river bed with clouds gathering in the distance

some of our friends and whanau sending happy thoughts our way

A beautiful spot looking up to mt hutt for our ceremony

2 little forest faeries friends..

the start of our journey as Mrs and Mr!

 Awesome to look back 10yrs...Had so much fun creating my wedding dress and the forest faerie outfits.  A perfect, fun filled day - and now 10 crazy, adventurous, challenging, fufilling years on with 2 beautiful, amazing kids along for the ride....

a random pic of fireworks at the pier this week...

father's day fun

lots of creativity happening at present - and fathers day was a great excuse - the kiddies and i made a list of daddies fav foods - one being carrot cake - then we came up with the idea of putting a bonfire on top of the cake with some marshmallows toasting around it...As it is one of our favourite family things to do, especially on the beach up at Kaikoura...We actually lit the candle and toasted the mini marshmallows! Yummy!

the flames are dried apricots and the wood is a flake bar

Tarn added some minifigures to represent us

opshopped books ready for daddy!

Daddy has been getting more into novels lately, so i came up with the idea of getting a pile of opshopped 50cent bargain action/political thrillers (Clive Custler, John Grisham etc) and gift wrapping them...

So after breakfast in bed, we took off to Taylors Mistake beach with a picnic of daddys fav foods, and had a fantastic time exploring, walking, playing on the playground, and paddling (although crazy wee gracie stripped off and had a chilly swim!)  Great, not so consumeristic way to celebrate Father's Day...

Tirohia atu nei ka wheturangitia Matariki, te whetu o te tau!

"Look above beyond the horizon and there you shall witness Pleiades, sign of the New Year Happy New Year!"

Wow - I can't quite believe Matariki is upon us again - the excitement of a new year, and the fun of trying to spot Matariki on the horizon - which is usually done sitting on our rooftop huddled under blankets...Although we are not quite brave enough to venture up to the rooftop tonight, for fear of being blown off!

It is also an excuse to get crafty with nga whetu (stars).  Gracie had lots of fun designing these stars to use as a Matariki table setting.

Matariki is slowly gaining attention in Aotearoa – nowhere else in the world has this unique celebration, so we need to embrace us, and celebrate our uniqueness as Pakeha and Maori living together in Aotearoa.

So tomorrow night’s celebrations will involve gathering with my sisters whanau, having hot soup and bread, decorating more stars, and tucking into a Matariki themed chocolate cake for dessert (which I have yet to create!)  So to you and yours this wintry new year - 

mihi o te Matariki, nga mihi o te Tau Hou

Happy Matariki, happy New Year…

Part 2 of rainbow birthday party cake

this is my second attempt at a rainbow birthday cake - due to gracie having 2 parties - one for family and one for school friends...

rainbow cloud birthday cake

The rainbow is just a paper one with card glued between it to stiffen it.  The fluffy meringue type icing is 3 egg whites beaten till stiff, slowly add sugar syrup (caster sugar dissolved in water and boiled down), and beat till glossy.  Then add whatever food colouring - I used blue for the cake and left the cloud just white.  It works well, but some of the syrup did separate out from the egg white and pool at the edges of the cake.  Also the icing is quite sticky so needs to be stored in cool place, and preferably eaten in one day as it is raw egg.  Found the recipe in a cool DIY kids cake book i got at a local op shop some years ago...Love the effect for clouds and sky!

Gracie dressed up ready for her party

It was rather lovely to see gracie getting dressed up for her family party (she often prefers practical clothes) - but chose her flower girl dress I made her for her Uncle's wedding in England.  And she found the party hat at the local $2 shop to top it off :) Cutie...

rainbow streamers and rainbow coloured balloons