...now to employ some of these ideas in my day to day life!
How about you?

+ Sleepy Atticus in one of his favourite spots. He is such a lovely cat and brings me so much joy. He is so affectionate and isn't bothered by the way you hold him or if you play with his tail or touch his paws. You can pick him up and cuddle him for hours on end. Of course, on the other end of the spectrum he is a ball of energy and runs amok a lot.


+ This week I bought this set of drawers from an opshop and painted their handles. I think it will end up being our change table (with a change mat affixed to the top). In that opshopping trip, I became the quintessential forgetful pregnant woman and locked my keys in my car in a suburb well out of the city. C was at work and thankfully the lovely opshop staff drove me into his work and back to collect his spare key. I hope this is my one and only experience of doing this! Curse having no central locking!


+ I made this little embroidery for the nursery last week and put it in a frame from the opshop that I painted. The quote is from one of my favourite Paul Kelly (and Kev Carmody) songs. The song itself is really beautiful and tells a really important part of Australian history about the fight for indigenous land rights. I thought that the quote by itself is quite sweet. I always think that if I was ever out of Australia for a long period of time I'd listen to Paul Kelly songs to remind me of home - all of the place names and cultural references in his songs and his accent and melodies are so undeniably Australian.


+ C and I went to a cat show on the weekend (they're pretty much C's favourite thing ever) and saw these very cute Siamese kittens.


+ C had to massage my hands last night before bed because they were so sore from rolling felt balls. They're pretty fun to make but do give you a bit of a work out. If you're keen to make some of your own this video is very helpful (though my method is slightly different).


+ Some of my little succulent collection. I may be one of the few people on earth who has a bad time growing succulents - mine just never seem to be very happy. They don't get too much water or too much sun - any tips?


+ We found a new print for our 'wall of sad children' in our lounge room. It had no signature on it so I uploaded a photo of it into Google and discovered that it's a Picasso print based on a painting he did of his son Paul. Even cooler!


+ An extremely sweet anonymous blog reader sent 'Squid Jagoe' a little package of lovely baby items last week. If you're reading - we are so grateful! Thank you so much!


+ Some pages from the pregnancy journal I've been adding bits to over the last few months.


+ C and I had breakfast at a new cafe in town this morning called Inside. It was pretty fantastic. A good atmosphere and lovely service and most importantly, great food and coffee.


+ Last week we came home after being out for a couple of hours and found Dexter (the black and white kitty) in one of his favourite sunny spots, looking like he was peacefully sleeping, but in fact, passed away. We have no idea what happened to him and feel especially sad because he was only a year old (and we just lost Morrissey a few months ago). He was a very sweet, quiet cat. We buried him next to Morrissey's grave in our backyard (becoming a bit of a kitty cemetery). This photo is the last I'd taken of him. He and Atticus were just warming to each other. Sad times.

What's this? Another post about decorating the baby's room? I did say I'd become a bit obsessed. I promise this won't be all I post about. I wanted to share a couple of little projects I've been working on. I found a childrens table and chairs set at the opshop a week or two ago for $10 with the hope of sprucing them up.

See 'before'...



And after...



C and I brought them home, sanded them back by hand (they were actually real wood!), primed them and painted them within 24 hours. The legs are a white gloss and the purple and green is some acrylic house paint I had left over. I'd like to give them a coat of clear gloss over the top to make them a bit hardier. If the before photo is anything to go by, kids are rough with their furniture! I'm not sure if they're totally done yet, I was considering adding some dots or something to make it a bit less matchy-matchy with the other things in the room. I should also point out that I am aware that the baby won't be using these for quite a long time yet, ha.



After seeing this really cute print (and deciding that it was out of my price range - and not knowing how to check-out on the German site) I decided to track down a hi-resolution photograph of the moon to get printed into a poster. I found an image that was free to use for non-commercial use, popped it into Photoshop and gave it poster dimensions. I thought about adding some fun things to it in Photoshop, but I think it's so beautiful as it is. I took the file to Officeworks and they printed it in black and white onto matte A1 sized paper for about $5. Here's a link to the photo I used if you'd like to get your own moon printed.




I've also been making some hand-stamped fabric to make cushions. I added a fabric fixative to acrylic paint, cut some little circle, triangle and raindrop shaped stamps out of lino and stamped onto some fat flats from Spotlight. Fabric fixative is pretty great because it means you don't have to buy expensive fabric paint in all the colours you want - you just mix it with your acrylic paint and then iron the fabric once it has dried and it won't chip/wash out.



I painted this old print frame to turn it into a blackboard with some green blackboard paint I'd had in an unopened tub for ages (I think green blackboard paint is under-appreciated!).




I have been toying with the idea of making my own alphabet flash cards and am trying to better my skills using paths in Photoshop (I'm sure this task would be simpler if I had experience with Illustrator). I'm sure it will take me until the baby is born to make all 26, but it's a fun learning experience. I'd like to  print them onto card, laminate them and peg them up on string in the room when they're done. Here are two I was working on late one night last week.



Some other things on my nursery DIY to-do list:
+ Making a rainbow felt ball rug (A massive undertaking! I've been wet felting ball after ball of roving late at night while I watch Twin Peaks the last few nights)
+ Sewing cloud shaped cushions from the printed fabric I made.
+ Making little embroideries to go inside frames I've painted (I'm halfway through one).
+ Painting a set of white drawers that will become a change table (considering one colour for each drawer).

I've been spending a lot of time in the baby's room lately arranging things and working on little projects and have been finding Pinterest a great source of inspiration. There are so many fun, practical DIYs and colourful arrangements. I am not really a fan of themed nurseries, I think they can look kind of tacky and don't necessarily take into account the ongoing tastes of the person who will be living in the room. I much prefer nice combinations of textures and colours and patterns - things that can adapt with time. My aim is to create a comfortable space that is practical, easy to change around (to suit the age and tastes of my child), with lots of storage and fun bits of colour. Where I (frustratingly) couldn't find the original source to some of the images below I've linked back to the pin.


+ a + b + c + d


+ e + f + g + h


+ i + j + k + l


+ m + n + o + p