All The Good Stuff Happens In December

December is such an exciting month 'round here. Each year we look forward to celebrating Christmas with our families, eating an abundance of great home cooked food, lazing about on the beach, playing slip and slide in the back yard and watching the steam rise from freshly opened beer before taking that first magical sip. It's also the month that Dave and I celebrate our wedding anniversary- it'll be 9 years this year and that means that we have pretty much been married forever. 

In addition to these highly anticipated events we will also be heading off for Dave's work christmas party at the end of the week. We always look forward to this annual gathering as food, wine and fun flow freely while pre paid 5 star accommodation completes the deal perfectly. As a bonus, i'll have a wonderful friend to compare fake tans with on the night.

Sounds like a pretty flippin excellent month, I agree.

But possibly most excitingly- guess who's coming to town?? No, not santa. THIS DUDE! Yep, Awesome.

What A Day

You know those days when from the moment you wake up (at 5 am in this case) you are dreaming of the time that you can rest in the warm embrace of slumber once again? Today was one of those days. After giving the lady baby a 5 am feed I rolled out of bed and got dressed for my personal training session. I was exhausted but the pilates, beach run and sweat made me feel good. I came home to a handsome husband, two dressed and fed kids and a hot cup of coffee. excellent.

We headed out to play group, patted some sweet baby animals, had our faces painted and ate fresh fruit. all good.

We went to the shops and had a smoothie. flippin excellent.

We came home, had lunch and a little play. great. wonderful. fabulous.

The Lady Baby put herself to sleep in her cot while I gave the Young Man a cup of milk and tucked him into bed. All was quiet. I was ready for the pillow, baby. all. ready.

'mum, mummy, mummmmm- come and have a look. I'm playing a little game'

You know what I found don't you!? Mmm yes, you're right. Every parents worst nightmare. The poo smear. The bloody poo smear. You know, it was the one thing I thought Zeph would never do. How very wrong I was. He smeared that sucker good.

I totally lost my cool. Totally.

Today, I have felt a little less that proud of my parenting prowess than I would have liked. 

Sitting Duck

We've had ducks for a little while now, they are delightful creatures with their big bottoms and rhythmic waddle. Great pleasure has been taken in feeding them our kitchen scraps, rolled oats and stale bread and they have rewarded us with fresh eggs most days. That is until the eggs stopped coming and the ducks went walk about. 

For a few days they were M.I.A, no eggs and infrequent waddle bottom sightings. After discussing their whereabouts with our neighbour she had a quick look around her property only to find one lady duck underneath her back steps... sitting on 8 eggs. You know what that means- Ducklings for Christmas.

Thats if the python lingering around doesn't get to them first. I really hope not, ducklings would be SO magical. Any advice on how to keep the snakes away from the eggs would be appreciated. 

Urban Road - GIVEAWAY- Winner

Okay peeps, tonight is your last chance to use your 50% off on the fabulous Ikat Urban Road print. Why not check out the full range while you're there, there are so many to chose from and I can confirm that they are excellent quality!

The winner is Lou from Little Green Shed. 

Well done lady, you will love it. Hit me on the email with your address.

School Chairs

On our way back from my new favourite place on earth, I saw these old school chairs at a vintage store. At ten bucks a pop I didn't feel it was right to leave them there. 

So I gave them a new home amongst the noise and grime of The Beetle Shack, I think they're right at home here. The perfect treatment for my new dining chairs that don't match anything. Geez, i'm just so stylish- i can't help it.

Linking up with Her Library Adventures

p.s I did take your advice and remove those old fantastic furniture numbers. Just 4 chairs at the table works perfectly, i'll post some pics later.

The Glass Onion Society

You know when a new cafe opens and you just know you are going to spend a stack of time drinking coffee there, slowly working your way through the range of cakes they have on offer? For me, that place is The Glass Onion Society -a brand spankin' new cafe/vintage boutique run by some of my favourite people who also happen to be totally preve worthy. Vintage threads, great coffee and hot owners, winning combination. Check them out on facebook  or find 'glassonionsociety' on instagram for a peek at the excellence.

Well worth a day trip.

Linen Loving- Screen Printing Tutorial

Last weekend saw me enjoying some alone time in our studio while the kids slept. I was all enthused at the thought of customising some linen for Zephie and had just made this stencil. I decided that screen printing would be the prefect medium. If you don't have screen printing supplies, sponging or spray painting would work well.

I have used this sweet little deer from Stencil 101 for the tutorial. Images of the almost completed linen are below.

You will need:

•  stencil (use this tutorial to cut your own). 
•  screen (you can buy these from any art supplier, A4 should be big enough for most things) 
•  squeegee
•  plain sheet set
•  fabric paint

Step 1

use masking tape to attach your stencil to the screen. Attach paper to cover any exposed screen around the stencil, making sure that there are no gaps or holes.

Step 2

Place the screen onto your surface with the stencil making contact with your fabric. Apply fabric ink evenly along the top inside of your screen. 

step 3

Using a downward motion, apply pressure as you drag the squeegee towards yourself *. Repeat until paint  has covered the entire stencil. *You should be applying enough pressure so that all of the paint is dragged to the bottom of the screen, use a palette knife or spoon to scoop it back up and squeegee again if you need to.

Step 4

Carefully lift your screen and admire your handiwork. This Print was slightly flooded (see left hand side) due to the rough nature of the hessian and the thickness of the stencil used. The deer stencil below is straight from the Stencil 101 book, I find the cardboard on these ready made stencils too thick, a better result is achieved with acetate (as per my tutorial).

All Done!

Wash your supplies with warm soapy water and dry them with a soft towel before going printing crazy. 

...

Once I start screen printing I can't stop, printing everything in sight. The little deer will be turned into a Christmas stocking for Pippi (i'll post a tutorial for that later), being the perfect match for the one I made for Zeph last year.

More colour will be added to this linen and maybe a smaller balloon too - Its just not quite right yet? 

 When Zeph excitedly jumped into bed to sleep under his new sheets, I lifted them above his head and said 'look, they will float around you while you are sleeping'. He replied with a dumbfounded look on his innocent face - 'umm. no they won't mum- they're stuck'. Giving them them a little wipe over, he repeated 'see mum, they're stuck'.

Okay friends get your screen printing on. Don't go to the crowded shops and buy. Stay home, get messy and get creative.

TODAY IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO GET 50% OFF

Duck At Breakfast

'Mumma, I need some water for my duck'

This little glass duck enjoys the true goodness of life, fresh water for drinking, honey pops for eating, plastic mega trucks for viewing and the warm sweaty embrace of a 2.5 year old.

I have some very exciting new to share with you about our real ducks too.

have you used your 50% off yet?

Exodus

We have been spending some time with our plants lately, you know, out in the garden. Tending to them, fluffing their leaves and adding nutrients to their beds. It's all rather peace loving, earth mumma, soul sister stuff. Until the leaves of my radishes disappear almost overnight, while teeny tiny green caterpillars grow fat on their goodness. Drastic action must be taken, how will I ever beat my rival if I don't get this sorted?! 

Picking off individual caterpillars quickly became tiresome and I knew there had to be an easier way. 0.23 seconds later, Google provided me with the answers I needed. 

Put a whole garlic bulb through a garlic press and let it sit in a glass jar with several ounces of mineral or salad oil. Mix a few spoonfuls with dishwashing liquid, hot pepper sauce and water in a spray bottle.  (source)

Caterpillar exodus complete.

Are you gardening at the moment?

p.s we've lost Internet connection at home, major pest. I'm missing your blogs. Posting this from the car that I have parked outside my folks place. Im thieving their wifi. ;)

Unleash Your Inner Stylist...

.... and give me a hand.

I just collected these chairs after a winning bid on eBay last week. I have been dreaming of beauties just like these for ages but when I got them home and put them around the table, I was... underwhelmed. They seem to dwarf our table and make the already cramped dining area even more squishy.

 Naturally, I immediately contacted my personal stylist who suggested a large pendant light from the ceiling or potted orchids in the centre of the table. Castors could be added to the legs of the table to lift it up.... or....umm....i'm not sure... ideas guys. What do you think?

Should I try and work with them ore just go for something stock standard like this?

These are the big issues friends, consult wisely.

and hit this up, you know you won't regret it.

Urban Road - GIVEAWAY + 50% Off

There is nothing quite like a brightly coloured print to liven up your life. This peach from Urban Road was good enough for House & Garden and it is most defiantly good enough for us here at The Beetle Shack. The belief that gorgeous art should be both affordable and accessible lead blogger and mumma of three to launch Urban Road- her own range of canvas art prints. Each art work is printed onto 100% cotton canvas and gallery wrapped over a 3cm kiln dried stretcher, ready to hang. 

Yum, I tell you. 

I totally understand if you're having a hard time resisting the temptation to make a little purchase, so Suzie and I thought we would help you out. All readers of The Beetle Shack and Urban Road are being offered a 50% discount on the Ikat Flair 40x50 cm canvas print (pictured) and FREE SHIPPING Australia wide (and only $20 for our international friends) for 7 days only. That makes this stunning print $60, down from $120 (but you could have worked that simple math out, right?) Betta head over and add that sucker to your cart. If not for yourself, for someone you love as a Christmas gift. 

And then, enter the giveaway below!

To enter this super fun giveaway

simply do the following;

1.Become a follower of The Beetle Shack and Urban Road via Google Friend Connect

2. Like Urban Road on Facebook. While you're at it, 'like' The Beetle Shack on Facebook (or don't, whatevs)

(do the above for ONE entry)

For extra chances to win:

 Write your own post about this giveaway, tweet about it, facebook it or knock on your neighbours door and tell them about it before 

leaving me a comment (for each) telling me that you have.