March 2013Life Love and Hiccups: March 2013
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Friday 29 March 2013

WIN A Gorgeous Citrus Chevron Giveaway From Brown Paper Packages

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**THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENTRIES. THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.**
See the bottom of this post for the winners details.

Don't you love it when you find fabulous shops that stock the cutest things .... well I do! But then I am a total sucker for cute products.

You may recall me shouting all over Facebook a few weeks ago when I first stumbled across Brown Paper Packages. I was more than a little excited and I couldn't help but place an order.

Some gorgeous tape was the first thing to go in my online basket and when it arrived just a day or two later, it was then promptly used to package up Flynn's birthday pressies last weekend.

I was almost tempted to tell him to NOT open them as they looked so cute.
Tempted ... but I am really not that cruel! ;)



I also received some of these gorgeous floral straws which have been making me smile every day since they arrived.

Hey what can I say - its the little things that create the most joy.


This website should seriously come with a warning because once you see all the gorgeous things for sale, you will not be able to control yourself. I'm not kidding - Consider yourself adequately warned!

Here is just a tiny sneak peek at some of the fabulousness you will find at Brown Paper Packages.




Now the lovely Amanda from Brown Paper Packages has put together a bit of an Easter Giveaway. It's a quick one so don't waste any time - the winner will be chosen by Amanda on Tuesday evening. Yep that quick.

The winner will receive a gorgeous citrus-hued goody pack of Chevron Straws, Chevron Paper Bags and a spool of Twine.




All you need to do is follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Like Brown Paper Packages on Facebook Here and leave a comment whilst you are there.
Step 2: Like Life Love and Hiccups on Facebook here (Come on, everyone likes a few new likers)
Step 3: Leave me a comment on this post telling me how you would put these treasures to use.

Easy Peasy - so go for it lovelies and Happy Easter.


TERMS and CONDITIONS
Competition is open to Australian residents only

This is a Game of Skill and the winners will be chosen for their most creative answers.
The Prize will be sent to you direct from Brown Paper Packages.
The winner will be announced on this post right here on my blog and contacted by email. They will have 5 days to contact me to claim their prize. If the winner does not make contact me the prize will be redrawn and a new winner notified by email.
The Competition is open now and closes at 6pm AEST Tuesday 02/04/13. 

CONGRATULATIONS BEV - YOU ARE THE WINNER!


Bev (Guest):

Picture this...Our home filled with fun and laughter, decorated beautifully, lots of vintage bunting & pastel tissue flowers. A photobooth with tons of Etsy props. All finished off with hints of chevron style.
The occasion? My daughters 21st birthday - my little premature baby girl who was born weighing under a kilo & at 28 weeks {quite a miracle 21years ago}. The baby girl that the doctors thought would never be able to quite keep up with her peers because of her health issues...Well the girl did good & it's time to celebrate!
OP1 & studying LLB Law - she did it! My little miracle defied the odds and I'm one extremely proud Mummy that can't wait to celebrate the day she made me the happiest girl on the planet :)

Thursday 28 March 2013

Totally Edible Bunny Poop and a Free Download

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I am such a sop when it comes to kids and Christmas and Easter. I love and I mean LOVE making little gifts for my boys to give to their friends at school.

The problem is I am generally such a sop and end up making a gift for everyone in their whole year because I hate the thought of anyone missing out. Now times that by 3 kids now so 3 years at school and that is a lot of late nights going cross-eyed making little gifts.

I was seriously short on time this year because of a certain little guys birthday party preparation so I pulled the reigns in a little. I gave the older two boys some bags of chocolate eggs to take to school to share with their classmates and they were more than happy with that arrangement.

But with my youngest son's little Kindergarten friends, well just looking at their adorable little faces totally does me in every time and I just couldn't help myself. And so that is why I found myself sitting up until late last night packing up 30 bags of Bunny poop for everyone in his class.

Yes I know I tend to make a lot of poop things for the kids, I think perhaps I am slightly obsessed with the word poop! :)




Actually it really want hard at all because all I did was make some labels in PicMonkey (of course) and filled some little Snap lock bags up with Jelly Beans... I mean brightly coloured bunny poop.

Walah! 30 little bags of Easter treats for 30 seriously cute little munchkins.






After I posted the picture on Facebook and instagram I was asked by some of you if I would mind sharing the labels I made and of course I am only too happy to oblige.

I have removed the personal message from Flynn and just changed it to a generic Happy Easter Message.

You can download the file here or by clicking on the image below. Simply cut the templates out and they are sized to fit the little mini 15cm x 9cm Snap lock bags you get from the grocery store.



So there you go, a little pack of magical Easter bunny poop - a perfect gift for classmates or friends or as little surprises for your own kids on Easter morning.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Well THAT Apple Didn't Fall Too Far!

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My 8 year old munchkin Sam is quite the entrepreneur and is always thinking of ways he can make a buck or two.

It started last year when he saved up enough pocket money to buy the skateboard he had been coveting for like forever, and that moment I watched him hand over his hard earned dosh to the young guy at the skate shop was a very proud moment....

Until I found out he had bought his younger brothers $2 coins off him for a $1 each.

He somehow managed to convince Flynn that since $1 coins were bigger - they were worth more and so Flynn naively handed over all his $2 coins in exchange for half their value while Sammy laughed his way to the Skate Shop.

I was mad, but admittedly I was kind of impressed too.

Talk about selling ice to an Eskimo.

Sam currently has his eye on a new Playstation game and he is determined to earn the cash to buy it for himself.

This ambition has been spurred on by the ease in which he managed to flog the few remaining packets of School Fundraising chocolates to the neighbours (The Turkish delights - the ONLY ones they didn't insist on me buying).

"Easy money" I believe he said as he dusted his hands and winked at me.

Now it was in the Christmas holidays that I first noticed something was a little skewif. I would go to make a Vodka and Lime and Soda, only to find my bottles of Schweppes Soda and Lime were missing.
At one point I even started questioning myself - was I drinking MORE than I thought I was??

No I wasn't.  It turns out that Sammy and some of the boys in the street were pinching my bottles of Soda and had set themselves up the street with a lemonade stand and were selling MY soda for 50 cents a cup.

Oh and did I mention they had raided my party supplies box and were using all my disposable cups too?

I only found this out after one of the neighbours commented on how polite the boys were when they were selling the drinks. hmmmmmmm I wasn't sure whether I was so supposed to be pissed off or proud, so I just let it go without a reaction.

Next to disappear were whole packets of Arnotts Assorted Creme biscuits. You know the ones you say I am sooooo not buying but you kinda do anyway?

Yep them.

I can even recall the moment I had words with the boys about how eating them all in one sitting was being greedy and there were no prizes for finishing the whole packet. The part I recall the most (besides two of the boy's complete confusion as they hadn't touched the biscuits) was thinking to myself "Oh Man I sound just like my own Mother".

Turns out Sammy decided that you could get more coin from a customer if you could offer a snack AND a cold drink. You gotta give him points for lateral thinking.

The final straw came last week when I found him bagging up cashew nuts in little Glad snap lock bags.

"What on earth are you doing with those Sam?" I asked nervously.

"I'm selling them for $2 bucks a bag" was his reply.

I opened the jar and tasted one of the nuts. I was a little wary considering I hadn't actually SEEN that jar of nuts for at least 6 months.

They were beyond stale.

They were the so bad that you need to rinse your mouth out with detergent kind of stale.

"You cant sell them Sam. They are stale!" I exclaimed

"What does that mean?" he innocently enquired.

"It means they are REALLY old huni" I responded.

*cue the fist pump from Sammy* "YES Mature nuts - I can charge more for them" was his reply.

You really have to hand it to the kid, when he wants something he goes for it and at least he is thinking of ways he can make some money .... all be it slightly dubious ways that are COSTING me money.

But the apple really hasn't fallen far from the tree in this case as my brother and I were quite the entrepreneurs ourselves as kids.

I can recall one year at Christmas time, my brother walked me from house to house in our street. He knocked on the door and when the occupant opened it I was instructed to sing Christmas Carols and dance.

While I put on the show he held a St George piggy bank out to the homeowner and collected donations for my singing.

I did actually make a couple of bucks for my humiliation.

He made more.

He told me it was his agents fee.

Another time I walked around the neigbourhood with a jar of peanut brittle that someone had made my mum. I knocked on the doors and invited the neighbours to taste the brittle and when they said it was nice, I sold them some.

Since I didnt actually have any peanut brittle to sell at that moment in time, I took forward orders which were paid for in advance.

I made a motsza and sold loads of jars of peanut brittle.

The only problem was I had no idea how to make the stuff to fill the orders and so my poor Grandmother was roped into making it for me.

I don't think I actually paid her with anything more than my gratitude.

My poor Grandmother.

I even asked the neighbours for the jars back when they had finished their peanut brittle because the jars were actually my mums.

It's looking back on memories like these and then watching my own children follow in my footsteps that I truly realise the truth behind the old saying - Karma is a Bitch!

Were you an entrepreneurial kid?
Do your children like to play shop with your groceries?

Tuesday 26 March 2013

In My Blog Reader - My Morning Cuppa Reads

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My blog reader is overflowing with blogs I love to read and I have had to break them up into categories to work my way through them. I figure it is a bit like a magazine in that I buy home magazines, crafting magazines, cooking mags, mags for the articles etc etc so my reader reflects a similar sort of system.

I have blogs grouped into categories and some of the Categories in my Reader includes;
Getting Crafty,
Home Decorating,
Inspiring PhotoJournals,
Beautiful Words & Interesting Reads,
Inspiring Mamas,
Family Fun,
Morning Cuppa,
Blog Design,
Fashion Fun,
Organising

Oh trust me there are more categories than that. I like things to be categorised so when I get some time to sit down to read some blogs I go to whichever folder tickles my fancy at that particular moment.

Now for ages I have wanted to do a blog roll on my blog. I used to have one, but then I pulled it down because I was always so worried about offending someone who wasn't on it. The reality is with so many blogs in my reader, I couldn't possibly list them all and so there in lies the problem - who do I choose to include on my Blog roll?

Well I had to do something as there are so many gorgeous blogs that give me so much enjoyment and I want everyone to know who they are and if they haven't yet had the pleasure of discovering these blogs themselves, well then I want to introduce them to a fabulous new read. It's also kind of my way of saying thanks to those blogs that give me so much joy.

So I came up with the idea of every week for the next few weeks, sharing with you guys what I am reading through a post on my Blog and after every one of these posts I will add those blogs to a list on my sidebar. Kind of like an ever expanding blog roll.

I will feature the blogs in the categories that I file them under in my reader (by the way I use Feedly to read my blogs).

And so that brings me to today's list of blogs. These blogs are from the folder I call My Morning Cuppa. Some of them actually fall under a few categories in my reader but these are a selection of just some of the blogs I LOVE to read everyday as I drink my morning cuppa.























How do you organise your blog reading?
Do you use a reader?





Monday 25 March 2013

The One Where I Stuffed my Face with Cupcakes and Coronas!

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This post is brought to you by Sure Slim.

I am a little disappointed (aka a LOT disappointed) with myself this week - I caved ... on more than one occasion. 

We ate dinner out one night, I scoffed some lollies when I was making the lolly bags and then there was the birthday party itself .... with Pizza and cake. I resisted all but one bite of pizza, but try as I might I just couldn't resist the Coronas and Cake. 

Not that I tried much .... or really at all.

Somehow I still managed to lose weight, but not as much as I would have liked - only 750grams.

After an hour of feeling all crappy about myself this morning I decided to put it behind me and move forward. I know EXACTLY where I went wrong this past week - I mean obviously apart from the eating Cake and Coronas. 

I fell into to the old "Oh Stuff it, I have already screwed this week so I may as well go to Town" scenario. 

You know the one where you figure since you have already blown the diet this week you may as well eat what you want and write the week of? 

That was so me.

I have learned my lesson though. If you stuff up one day - don't let it ruin a whole weeks worth of effort. Get off my bum, do some exercise to make amends and move on. Don't use it as an excuse to shove a couple of cupcakes in my mouth and cry poor me.

So back to the plan this week. I have just added an extra week to my Lose my Ass Campaign so I really have my work cut out for me now.

I don't have an official photo to share this week, but I did find a blurry photo on my phone that I am assuming was taken by my girlfriends 3 year old son when he was playing with my phone on the weekend. 

My ass does seem a little smaller since we started ... but then it could just be the blur. 

Meh I'm claiming it - cupcakes and all!




A Marvelous Weekend to Turn 6 and Have a PIZZA Party!

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It was the weekend he has been waiting for, for the past 256 sleeps give or take. It was party day and it ended up being the most marvelous weekend to turn 6.

This munchkin decided he wanted a pizza party where he and his guests could make their own pizzas. But it couldn't be any old Pizza, it had to be his favourite pizzas at his Godfathers Pizza Shop Cantina.

Now there is the age old dilemma when your child is in Kindy. Who and how many do you invite to the party? Do you invite the whole class? Just the boys or just the girls? Do you include their teams mates from their sports team? What to do What to do????

Well in our case Flynn wanted EVERY ONE but unfortunately his parents do not have a bottomless bank account so we set the number at 20 kids.

Once he worked through his class list and his soccer team that number grew to 30 because he didn't want to leave any of his new friends out AND he wanted his "Special Girls" as well. And because we are complete suckers for a kid with a good heart we let him have his 30. No judging please - I know we are insane already!

Thank heavens Kindy parties only happen once per child.


I did the invites up on the computer using Pic Monkey and laminated them. The kids worked out the pun with the mustaches quicker than most of the adults did. Go figure ;)


We ordered some paper chefs hats on Ebay and bought a stack of textas, glitter glue and stickers and the kids happily spent the first 30 minutes of the party decorating their hats.

We had some budding artists among the guests and bless them, some of the kids chose to sit out of the other shenanigans and instead painstakingly worked on those hats for the majority of the party.








With the hats mostly done it was time to get down and dirty rolling dough and making the most awesome and unusual Pizza toppings.

I had to laugh when the kids happily topped their pizzas with olives and mushrooms but when it came time to eat them, we spent ages having to pick it all off because they didn't actually LIKE olives and mushrooms. Apparently they just looked good and it was fun so that's why they put them on their pizzas.

Thannkfully I have years of experience picking bits of pizza.






My boys called a truce on all sibling rivalry for the day and they happily went about making sure Flynn had the most awesome time ever. There are moments when those kids of mine just make me totally melt with gooey gushy mother pride and case in point, this was one of those occasions.


Now Flynn actually requested a cake that looked like a Pizza but I totally piked on that one as I had zero desire to sit up all night making little mushrooms and olives and other toppings out of Marzipan.

Luckily he loved the chocolate and vanilla cupcakes I came up with instead and he thought the cake toppers I made were "Sooooo Sick"!

I am hoping "Sick" still means good these days.

Now we all know that according to kids a party is only as good as the lolly bags. Pressure much??

I did order the cutest cookie cutters to go in our lolly bags, but there was a stuff up with the order and they didn't arrive in time and so the lolly bags were filled with nothing other than lollies.

Judging by the ferocity in which they were being shoved into little mouths as our guests waved goodbye, no one seemed to mind.

The little cardboard Treat bags were from Sweet Style and I made up a Thank You sticker (again in Pic Monkey) punched some holes and tied the bags closed with twine, and stamped the bags with a simple Thank you stamp and some polka dots.

(Hint: Use the end of a pencil with a rubber on the tip as a stamp to make polka dots).

By the time I stamped 36 of those little suckers (yes I always like to have some spares for siblings of guests) I was ready to peg that freaking stamp through the window.

But again Flynn though they were "Sick" so it was worth the effort.





All in all we had one very happy and very tired little 6 year old at the end of the day.

A HUGE thank you to our besties Simone and Marlos for putting on such an amazing party for our littlest munchkin.

If you are on the Northern Beaches (Sydney) and you are looking for a a great idea for a kids birthday party, contact Simone and Marlos at Cantina Mona Vale. You can visit their website here.

So tell me - Sick does mean good in Kid Speak right?
What is your protocol on Kindy Kid parties? Do you invite the whole class or just a few?