My aunties beautiful home in byron bay.

I  have been wanting to share this amazing day for quite some time now.  Look at this stunning house.  It is like some enchanted whimisical home found some where in the province of france....but no, its my lovely aunties home situated in byron bay, NSW.  Approx 30 mins from where we live.  Here lives my aunty, her husband, my cousin and her husband, her daughter & son.  Along with the array of animals.... 3 dogs, 4 horses, roosters, chickens, ducks...its all just a bit too beautiful and amazing.

Let me share the day that we all went down in June this year.  Our little family as well as my mum, nanna, sister and her husband, my brother and his wife and all our kids.  It was such a fun day.

Check out the ponytail tree....

As you drive down the loooong driveway you are welcomed by this amazing reddy coloured home with lots of trees and an amazing water feature...

the view from inside the front door...stunning.

once inside its a split level home that is very open plan.  You can pretty much see the whole house from the top level.

This is the main bedroom, fireplace and all.

there is a balcony running around most of the 2nd level.  You can see the whole coast line of Bryon bay...you can see the sea.

This is the very top room.  Its a spare room in a loft style, with these gorgeouse arch shape windows around the entire room to capture the amazing views.

bathroom. {im loving the floor tiles}

Loungroom...fireplace, of course!

Before lunch, we went out to visit the rooster, chickens and ducks....

This rooster is HUGE!!...

Look at him next to miss Mimi...

Dont ya love the green house?  Sooo Cute!...

So many fun, interesting things to find...

Pinecones...

After this, my aunty, who is the most amazing cook EVER called us in for lunch.....mmmmmm, Im drooloing thing about it. So we headed back in...

We had sloow cooked, beef bourguignon with mashed potato and other yummy veges.

We sat down a looooong huge table under a chandelier.  It was noisy, happy, yummy, warm and it smelt good.

after lunch the kids were treated to HOME-MADE sweets...

YUMMMM....

After we lunch settle a little we went out the back of the home to see the horses, one of the high lights of the day.

This here is a beautiful outdoor day bed out the back...

Just look atthe view these horses have of the byron bay hinterland...

Miss mimi wanted to take this one home...

The boys {mine is the one on the right, in the grey shirt}

I love this random shot of miss mimi, she found a patch of wild daisies in the horse paddock.  She couldnt resist but pick a bunch.  She's truly my little Earth child...

"for you mum..."

As the day went on the weather turned and we got a storm.  It was actually the purfect way to finish the day.  The fireplace went on and we got stuck into homemade dessert with coffee...

Us girls were happy!

{My sister in law, my sister and I}

Little T with one of the friendly lil' dogs.

Another random spot that you discover around this amazing house...{I just adore the kumquat tree growing here}

It was truly a lovely day.  We all went home in the dark, very tired full and satisfied.  We were relaxed and had just the most fabulouse day.

cooking with kyla. Friday night pizza

This is a video of Kyla, a weight watchers consultant, but also an old friend of mine.  She has just started making video's on you tube for recipes to weight watchers.  Alot of help.  check it out.
I will post new ones as she does them.  Enjoy...

project catch-up. DIY table runner and cushion

Oh how I LOVE Thunderstorms in the morning.  Yes, Its a dark thundery morning here this morning.  Thankgoodness its a saturday.  We got to stay in bed just that bit longer and listen to the rain and thunder outside.  Pancakes and cinnamon apples for breakfast and hot coffee...mmmm.
So anyway, on my snuggly morning as the kids get stuck into saturday Disney on tv I thought i would do another catch up blog (3 in 3 days...Im doing good arent I?).
Today Im going to show you a simple idea my lovely friend has done at her home...and I lovingly borrowed her idea for mine {she doesnt mind...honest}.  Its a very, very simple lacey table runner.  Very effective.
In my thrift shop, shopping trips I always seem to get sucked in to those beautiful vintage doyles.  You know the ones that are REAL lace.  Not the cheap manafactured ones.  The sort that you can just see some lovely old grandma making with her bare hands 40 years ago.
I seem to have too many to know what to do.  This is a fantastic idea.  It looks just so nice.

Gather up your doyles and arrange them in a long line, overlapping slightly to match the length of your table.  Arrange them in an arty fashion {big ones with small ones etc} This may take a few goes to get it right. The different shade of white and beige, shapes and patterns just complement each other so nicely.

place a smal stitch in between each one so stay together on your table. 

The next project I did a few months back. 

Its a DIY printed cushion cover.  It is very easy to do.  All you need is...

*a plain cushion cover

*a Printer

*a sheet of stencil plastic

*a black sharpie

*fabric paint

*stanly knife

This is the first time ive ever done this.  I think I could do better but this was just an experiment but over all I was pretty happy with the outcome but I want to play around some more with some other prints etc.

Find your design on the computer.

Get the right size, shape and then print it out onto a sheet of white plain paper.
I then trace the shape on to the stencil sheet with my sharpie and carefully cut it out with a stanly knife.  This is tricky especially if its a detailed design.  Realy think about this.  This where you need to cut BEFORE you cut.  Its kind if an inside out cut as its a stencil.

Once this is done its time to place it on your cushion cover.  I lightly sprayed the stencil with glue just to keep it in place while I paint it.  I also place a few strips of tape just to be sure.
PLACE SOME CARDBOARD INSIDE THE COVER TO PREVENT THE PAINT FROM BLEEDING THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE!!
Dab the fabric paint onto the stencil/cushion cover.
Leave the stencil on the cover for a few hours to dry completly.  Taking it off too soon could smudge the wet paint.

One off and all dry, I went around the shape with my black sharpie pen, just to define the outline of the shape and it looks more finished.

Like I said, I am realy happy with how it turned out.  I think I could do better but not bad for a first attempt, i think.