A Day At The Beach

What better thing to do on a cold but sunny day than visit the beach?

 

The kids just LOVE the beach so I thought I'd share some of our photos with you. This particular trip was extra special as it was our Miss Z's first real time. I dont think I'll write about our day, I think the photos can speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 





Life's a Hoot!!!

Good afternoon!!

I know I've been a bit quiet with blogging recently, despite all the blogging I do in my head- getting to the computer is a bit of a challenge sometimes! And you know how it is... the words in your head are fantastic and you have that 'if only I'd actually written that down I'd win awards'!!

But the reason for my absent-ness is I've been busy at my sewing machine. I've been building up some stock for some upcoming markets and for my Etsy store - House of Nicnax. 

 

My Etsy store has been on my mind a little bit recently. I haven't been able to devote as much attention to it as I would like. I was pretty much ready to shut up shop for a bit and maybe re open at Christmas time - when - as I sign from the crafting universe - I made two more sales! (yes only two but that's huge for me!) So then I starting thinking -

I was thinking back to a time about 5 years ago when I had to return back to work after having my second bub. I remember thinking "if I could do anything what would it be?" I thought ultimately I would love to just craft and sell my craft whilst spending time at home with my family.

Well here I am, 5 years later and I'm at home and I have an Etsy store!

Obviously sales don't anywhere near equal a second wage, but I have what I want now I just have to make it work!!

So back to my original point....I have been busy sewing and listing in my store!

 Here's a sneak peak of my latest additions!

 

Feel free to pop by and have a look at my store! You can find it HERE

 

Do you own an Esty store or have a favourite store you visit? Pop a link in the comments - I'd love to come see!

WA Day Long Weekend

 

 

Who doesn't love a long weekend!!!???

By the time the weekend comes around each week there's so much stuff to do, but so little time to do it!! That's why long weekends are so cool! A whole extra day to do stuff! Agree?

Well something we like to do on long weekends is go for a day trip to the little country town of York. Long weekends are the best time to go as the drive is quite exhausting and we need the extra day off to recover!

My hubby has family there, so our visits are normally filled with catch-ups more than 'touristy' stuff. But this weekend when we visited, we stopped in at a local Collectors Market.

 

 

It was held in a lovely old hall with squeaky floor boards and high ceilings. There were tables running the length of the hall filled with all sorts of old bric-a-brac.

Each item was clearly old, and I'm sure each had a fantastic story behind it.

 

 

I think I circled the room about 4 or 5 times. Each time a different item would catch my eye! I think I found little boxes and tins the most interesting. Not sure why. There was just something lovely about them.

 

These little ones were my favourite. The little red tin on top was from a typewriter ribbon. So cute!

 

Of course seeing family was a nice part of this long weekend, but I think the treasure discovery of the the collectors market was a little bit more special (don't tell them I said that!!).

Handmade Mother's Day

 

Happy Mothers day to all the wonderful mummies out there!!

I thought I would share my Mothers Day with you. It was definitely a busy one - that's for sure!

So we kind of had a "Hand Made Mothers Day" theme.

 

I always think that the gifts that are handmade are so much more special. They are the ones that real thought has gone into - and it's not something that you could just go out and get for yourself at the shop.

 

So for my mum this year, I made her a bottle of home made chilli sauce (find the recipe here).

 

 

I also made her a little pillow. This has got the hand prints of my three kids on it. I made it with all recycled materials and stuffed it with an old pillow of ours.

 

 

So my day started with a little sleep in and a yummo breakfast in bed! Hubby and the boys put together a huge plate of pancakes and maple syrup for me! Then we had the mad dash "clean-up the house" before the family all came round. We had an awesome homemade lunch with some delicious sandwiches, sausage rolls, sponge cake and of course my chilli sauce for lunch!!  It was so good!!

 

 

 

And now to end the day the kids and hubby are watching TV and I'm blogging! So it's been a pretty good day!

Hope you all have enjoyed your day too!



  

 

Chillies, chillies, chillies!!!!

Chillies, chillies, chillies indeed!!! I have so many chillies growing in my veggie patch that I honestly don't know what to do with them all!! Part of this delema is due to the fact that I dont really eat -or like- chillies!!!

So the majority of what has grown I have been giving away - school mums, family friends, relatives..... I dont want them to go to waste so I prefer them to be eaten by people who will enjoy them!

 

 

 

So with Mothers Day approaching, I thought I would try and do something with some chillies myself. I decided to make some sweet chilli sauce! And it turned out to be a HUGE sucess!! Whoo Hoo!! (and this is something chilli that I can eat)

 

 

 

I also thought it would make a great Mothers day gift too!

I used the recipe from www.taste.com.au . Since making it i've been told that this is the best recipe to use - so I chose a good one to follow for my first attempt!!

 

Heres the recipe if you want to give it a go too.

 

Ingredients:

500g fresh chillies

3 cloves garlic

750ml (3 cups) white vinegar

645g (3 cups) caster sugar

 

Method

 - Cut approximately 100g of the chillies in half and place in food processor.

 - De-seed the remaining chillies and add them to food processor

 - Add garlic

 - Coarsely chop the chillies and garlic

 - Add 250ml of vinegar and process until finely chopped

 - Place chilli mixture, remaining vinegar and caster sugar into saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring until the sugar disolves

 - Increase the heat to high to bring the mixture to the boil

 - Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occassionally, for 35 - 40 minutes.

 - The sauce should thicken.

 - Pour into steralized airtight bottles and seal.

 

Enjoy!!!

 

I gave one bottle of this to mum, and served some on Mothers Day to accompany the home made sausage rolls! Yummo!!

 

 

Busy busy....

So I have been neglecting my blogging duties a little bit this week..... but I've got a good reason! I decided as I don't have any markets booked for May I would hold a Facebook Market just in time for Mothers Day!

So I have been busy finishing off some owls, babushkas, nappy bag pouches and a few other bits and pieces.

So if you've got a few minutes spare, pop over and have a look at my newly listed items.

Oh and I nearly forgot my exciting news ........ I have hit 100 'likes' on Facebook!! YAY!!

www.facebook.com/houseofnicnax

Broken Bones and Pretty Trees!

Well what a week we have had here at the House! Mr 5 very cleverly snapped 2 of the bones in his arm whist playing at school last week! That resulted in me having to rush to school to pick him up and take him to the hospital emergency. He broke it so badly that we had to be transferred to Fremantle hospital to have an operation. NOT how I had planned my week to end and NOT how I had planned school holidays to start!

But despite the fact that he must be in pain, and is restricted with what he can do - (he has an above elbow cast that goes right down to his wrist) he is managing REALLY well. I love how kids can just "get on with it". He hasn't complained once about it!

And so after our little stay overnight in the hospital, on our drive out - something caught my eye. It was an awesome yarn bombed tree!

We had to have his arm checked again on Friday, so this time we took a little walk around the corner to look at the tree properly!

I must admit - I was a tad bit excited! I have never seen a "real-life" yarn bombing before.
(other than my little yarn bombed project earlier in the year).

I stood there for ages just admiring it. The time and love that had gone into beautifying this tree was amazing. And the fact that it was pretty much outside the hospital, where so much doom and gloom is. This tree must put a smile on many faces, and just add a bit of colour to what may be a bad day for many.

This tree has made me definitely want to properly yarn bomb something. I just need to learn how to knit. But I WILL do it!