Camping Holiday - Raglan - New Zealand

Got back on the weekend from our camping holiday. Raglan is a surfing hot spot in New Zealand. My husband had a go at surfing on the last day and we even saw four of the All Blacks having a go at surfing on one of the beaches. Beautiful weather all week, one day of rain. We came back from a lovely lunch to find our tents living area was a pond. Luckily nothing was ruined.

One day we hired some double kayaks and went to the other side of the peninsula. Lots of caves and lush greenery. It was so peaceful and beautiful. My sister-in-law and I left some of the rowing to the men. My son was on his own in our kayak. It was our wedding anniversary on the 16th (17 years) so we left the children with the family and went our for a romantic dinner. After dinner we had a walk along Whale Bay.

Back home and lots of washing and finding homes again for our camping gear. Sam and Holly start school next week, so we bought my daughters uniform this week (ouch) She starts High School. My son is starting year 11. Here in New Zealand we have to buy all the books as well as stationary.

I haven't really got into the swing of sewing again yet. I'll wait till the kids are back at school. I want to make some more boxes of chocolates and sushi. Here is a cake i've just finished for Swap-Bot. I left it the the last minute to finish (it has to be sent by the 30th)

Natural Living - Part 2

First my Princess Nimble Thimble dolls came today and they are adorable, even better in real life. My daughter squealed in delight when she saw her doll

Early this morning my dog took fright to the smoke alarm beeping and ran in our bedroom and had a wee in fright. I looked up in my book and sprinkled baking soda on the mess. This should remove the odour and moisture . I'll clean it up later and see how it goes.

The shower gel worked out well. The only problem is its quite runny, so we have to be careful and not squirt out too much!

I had a go at washing my hair with baking soda and rinsing with white vinegar. It actually was much better than i thought and makes your hair feel really clean. The smell of vinegar didn't last too long. My husband and daughter had a go too. Its meant to work really well for dandruff.

We have a really musty cupboard which stores shoes and tents etc. I've had a few items go mouldy. On a programme on the Living Channel called Lush House they suggested hanging up sticks of chalks in the cupboard and airing them outside once a week. The chalks should soak up the moisture in the air. They can be used indefinately.
I cleared everything out of the cupboard and sprinkled a mixture of equal parts of wheat bran and baking soda onto the carpet. After a while i vacuumed it up. Since then the cupboard doesn't seem as musty as it was. Just looks wierd with chalks hanging up in it!

We found another use for baking soda. My daughter made some toffee and it was stuck fast to the saucepan. We heated up some water in the pan with some baking soda, after a while tipped out the water and the saucepan was left lovely and clean.

I've been trying to find a way to soften my towels in the washing machine without having to use fabric softener. So far the best option has been doing a final rinse with white vinegar. I still have a couple of towels that are very hard still though.

We're going camping next week, when i get back home i'm going to have a go at making laundry detergent. I'll let you know how it goes.

Princess Nimble Thimble - Bendy Dolls

I came across this gorgeous etsy shop Princess Nimble Thimble a while ago. Dannielle makes such a wonderful selection of dolls that are perfect for little ones and adults. I decided to order six of these dolls. One for my daughter, one for my mum and auntie and three for me. As Dannielle accepts custom orders i had a great time checking out her facebook fan page and working out my favourite dolls. It was actually quite hard to make a choice as there were a lot I really liked. These are the ones I chose in the end.

My daughter loved the toadstool little girl and I wanted the little pink fairy and one of the pirates. The young lady in the middle is for my antique shop that my husband has been making for me. I'm waiting for him to finish it (its been three years now!)
My auntie has a crush on Captian Jack Sparrow so I had to get her a pirate and the little lilac fairy is for my mum. My mum and auntie live on the other side of the world so i'm collecting together seven little presents each one to open every day of the week.

Here are a few gorgeous little dolls that are available in Dannielles shop now.

My Sons Artwork

My son, Sam loves to draw and has been very busy lately. My husband made a long L shaped table in the craft room and there are lots of windows that are perfect for doing some drawing and painting. He prefers to draw in pencil and has been busy drawing mechanical animals. We're trying to get him to try some new techniques, as you can see from the picture of the mountain. I promised him I would include some of his artwork on my blog. If you want to check out more of his work here is his facebook fan page. He'll be starting his senior year in February and will be taking Graphics and Art Design, which he's really looking forward too.

Mustang

Mt Taranaki, New Zealand

Mechanical Bird