Thursday 25 July 2013

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! A prince has been born!

It's a BOY! A little prince! 

How exciting for Catherine and Will for the safe arrival of their sweet little boy. Nothing is more special than the arrival of a wee little bundle of joy. 

Seeing the baby cradled in his mummy's arms on the steps of the hospital a short day after his arrival reminded me of the day we brought little man home. Seeing that shot and how carefully Catherine handed him over to Will, really brought home that they are just another new mummy and daddy who, just like the rest of us, have no idea what to do with that small person! Just imagine how much the three of them are going to learn over the next few months (weeks, years, lifetime!) and how their life will have to adjust. Clearly as part of the royal family they will have a slightly different access to help, specialists and pretty much anything that money can buy for their little guy. But just like the rest of us, they know that all he needs are safe arms and lots of love.

Due to the time difference (here in Sydney, Australia) we heard of the little guy's arrival at 5.30 am. For the whole day on Tuesday I was wondering how her first night as mum was going. How much sleep did she get? How was the feeding going? Did the little boy settle overnight for some rest. I bet she hardly slept, and I know she would have spent hours just gazing at that little man just as I did on that first night with my Little Man. 

My family are royalist from way back. My gorgeous Gran, who passed away late last year at the grand age of 103, LOVED everything to do with the Royal family. Everything that happened with the family and most conversations with her would include her opinion on the events or in the least the Queens latest outfit! When Hubby and I took our honeymoon to Europe we saw Buckingham Palace and toured the Mews and saw Kensington Palace. They are seriously gorgeous buildings and I found it so amazing that they are the home for the Royal Family. Now they are home for this sweet little boy. 

My hope is that the media leave them alone enough to learn how to become parents, enjoy their sweet boy's first days and settle into their new jobs. Pfft! Duke and Duchess no longer, mummy and daddy forever! The most important job of all.

Thanks to the fabulous Jodie Vickers Pinterest page for the photos! Fully sourced and referenced below. 

Sources left to right, top to bottom 12, 3 , 45


xx Tess

Friday 12 July 2013

DIY: Thrift store frame to mini chalkboard


When I was planning a few things for my sister in law’s baby shower this weekend I decided I wanted to have a mini chalkboard for the ‘wear your guess’ table. I have a mini chalkboard but it is currently hanging from Little Man’s play tent and looks super cute there. 

The options were either go to Typo and buy a new one or make one. Since I already had chalkboard paint all I needed was something to make into a chalkboard. Thrift store frames are so perfect for so many DIY jobs and this was a good one!

I scored this frame for just $5 at my local St Vincent de Paul’s shop. The opening is an 8 x 10 inch photo, perfect for this project.





After a quick clean (and removal of the glass) I used my ‘chalk paint’ mix to cover the frame with two coats of Taubmans flat white (special chalk paint mix by me). For more info about chalk paint see my earlier post HERE.

The particle board backing is a perfect smooth surface to make a chalkboard out of. I took it out and gave it two good coats of black chalkboard paint and set it outside to dry.




Whilst it was drying I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration and tutorials of how to do the design bit. I found LOADS of gorgeous fonts but the one I ended up using was Simon Script (available for free at www.dafont.com).

I hand drew what I wanted on a piece of paper and then covered the entire back with chalk from a standard piece of pavement chalk.



I tacked it on to my mini chalkboard using Blu-tack and traced over my design using a pencil. It really worked!



Any imperfections were easily erased using a fine tip paintbrush and water. Perfect!





Here is my finished product. I will add a photo with it styled at the baby shower tomorrow. For now you just get the final product!



Everyone loves a before and after!


xx Tess

DIY: Cheveron Painted Basket

I picked up another of these really cheap, very versatile baskets with faux leather handles from Kmart for a whopping $10. Little Man's clothes hamper in his room has been one of these baskets since he was born, I also painted one for our 'drop zone' at our old house for our Ergo baby carrier to live in.

HSF confession: embarrassingly I have 99.9% of a post regarding that drop zone and a different painted basket finished, without one last picture of the completed drop zone. Since I know I now have said picture, I will aim to get that up ASAP!

Back to basket. I wanted to paint this one for my Sister in law who is about to have her first hub. So, so excited! I have spent the last few week planning her shower with her and creating LOADS of prints, invites, bunting, drink tags, thank you tags and EVERYTHING for the shower which is tomorrow. I have absolutely loved every minute of it and am now scheming how I can somehow make a meager living out of it.

The theme for the baby shower is pale lemon yellow chevron with white, elephant grey chevron with white and some sweet little elephants. The baby's room is planned to be along these colours too so I used white and grey and chevron as my guide.

Before we get started, taping off chevron is hard. Well I always find it hard anyway! Is there a secret to the whole thing? If so, fill me in. The whole thing may have been made harder as the basket is neither flat nor cylindrical...






I then taped off the chevron pattern i wanted, four times. No kidding, I did it, and re did it, and re did it and finally the last time the chevron managed to match up and work. Shesh! I almost threw in the towel (almost people, I battled on). 




Then I used some sample pot paint (white and Stormcloud Gray both from Taubmans) and ta da!


I am really really happy with it!

xx Tess