Chelsea's first hair tie

I am sure this is just the first of MANY hair ties we will go through! This is the first hair tie she's actually properly worn for more than 30 seconds. It makes her look so much like a little lady...

The Onion Skin Twins

So, i finally got these two done!

Photos were taken at my mum's place today. Chelsea and I had our fortnightly visit. It rained all day, so while Chelsea had her SUPER short micro lunchtime sleep of about 20mins, i ducked downstairs and found one of the few dry (but still well lit enough) spots to take some happy snaps!

I've named them after real onion varieties - Molly and Cuthbert. The names have been altered slightly to work, but I still think that's pretty cool!

I am loving Blog Givaways - so here is one of my own!

I am the most tired, and exhausted, and aching, and sore than I have been in a LONG time! My husband, Mother-in-law and bubba Chelsea have been busily clearing out my husband's Grandad's property after his passing last December. It is a huge job, but I think between the three (and a half) of us, we're really getting there with it all.

So that is why there haven't been many posts over this last weekend.

BUT - I have been thinking about doing this for a while. And have seen some amazing give-a-ways happen on other blogs... check this one out for instance by Silkie Sue, so figured now is as good a time as any to try my first! It just seems like such an amazing, fun and generous thing for people to do.




So, the VERY FIRST EMMA'S BEARS GIVEAWAY BEAR will be..... (internet drum-roll please....) The Ever Lovely Pumpkin Pie!


She is 18" of scrumptious hand-dyed Pumpkin tipped curly mohair beary goodness! (If this is as seriously bad of a description as it sounds to me click HERE for her full listing, and some more sweet photos).

All you need to do to be in the draw for Miss Pumpkin Pie is either FOLLOW this Blog (if you're not already! :P), and/or post a link back to this give-away on your own Blog or website or facebook page. Just pop a little message under comments to let me know that you've done this, and i'll stick your name in the 'hat' (which may or may not look more like a shoe box).


I will draw the random winner on the 1st June 2010 at 9:30pm eastern standard time (Local Brisbane, Australia time). Good Luck guys!!!

A little bit of sparkle

Spent the better part of the last 5-6hrs beading earrings tonight.

With every bear that I sell and post, I like to include a little 'extra' in the parcel. The usual crowd pleasers are handmade genuine Swarovski crystal earrings. (though some of this batch have foil glass beads, and cats-eye beads and semi precious stones...)

With the very last pair of earrings packed up with a bear this afternoon, I figured it was time to sit down and do some more. These are the fruits of my labour, and should keep me going for a few more months (unless bear sales suddenly boom! :P)

Bears, cows and escaping

A very condensed version of my day...

* Wake at 5:30am. Say goodbye to Mark (hubby) who has recently decided to start a walking exercise regime in the mornings before work.

* 7:30am wake again (after falling back asleep), Mark is leaving for work. Chelsea is awake. He brings her in to me and i feed her in bed.

* By 8:30am both Chels and I have had breaky, i've showered and dressed, Chels is dressed. Nappy bag packed. Food organised for her lunch and for contribution to playgroup. Leave for playgroup (other side of the city).

* arrive at playgroup at 9:30am. Chelsea was very cooperative and had a 30min sleep on the way!

* between 9:30-1pm deal with a wingey, clingy baby as Chelsea refuses to play with the other kids (despite driving almost an hour to get there! - she doesn't care about petrol cost though!).

*1pm give her lunch. Change her. Set up porta cot. Get her to sleep.

* By 1:30pm Relax with other mum and have our own lunch.

* 2pm Chelsea wakes grumpy. Deal with grumpy, clingy baby for the rest of the afternoon. Take photos of the 'pet' cow at the other mum's house. (She will be dinner in a few months...)



* leave at 3:30pm. Chelsea has another uneventful car sleep (i love these. Where she just slowly drifts off to sleep. No screaming or fussing or wriggling!)

* Home at 4:30pm. Take photos of the new bear Orli. Take photos of Chelsea trying to escape while i take photos of the bear.



* 5:30pm Mark gets home. Chelsea just about 'runs' to him as he walks through the door (she's definitely a daddy's girl!)

* 6pm give Chelsea her dinner. Mark gives her a bath and i cook dinner.




* 7pm-8:30pm Chelsea and Mark and I play around in the lounge room. Chelsea gets her last feed, then gets put to bed. (again, no crying or fussing. Just straight into her cot, thumb in the mouth and off to sleep! I love nights like this. Makes the crappy days worthwhile!)


* 8:30pm onwards = Mummy Daddy time. :)

Postcrossing

This gorgeous little postcard arrived last week from Finland (and it got lost under all the STUFF on my desk!). How sweet is this! And look at how awesome the stamp is!

RED onion skin dying this time

After the success of dying mohair with brown onion skins, i thought it was only natural that i try red onion skins! I hadn't read much at all about this, so wasn't sure if it would work. But as you can see in the pics, it worked pretty well.

This is the fur and onion skins about a min after i put them in the water.


This is after about 10mins of simmering. The colour is a brilliant crimson red at this stage. A little like red wine.


This is after it simmered for about 30-40mins, and a bit of salt was added. Then it was left to sit for another hour.


This is the fur washed, and wrung out. There is no smell again (quite amazing really), and the colour is probably more brown then red though. Reminds me of red clay earth...