Is it spring already?

Wow I think we might have had near a perfect weekend. We had friends over on Friday night - the 'known you forever, know everything about you' type, great weather and absolutely no plans. 

Smoothies - banana, frozen berries and fruit juice

We have two really old grapefruit trees, but don't really like grapefruit so me and Zach put some out on our front lawn with this sign he made. Our lovely friend from around the corner took some when they left after their visit but I think the rest are still out there! What to do with them?!

Mr Little Artist has been wanting to replace the roofing on our glasshouse for a LONG time so he can grow chilli's and tomatoes. He finally got it done this weekend. Happy husband :)

Debbie xo

Health kick update - fail!

Just a quick update on how the 'health kick' is going. 

So I've managed to do yoga once - yes, once! And as for eating, I did well for a couple of days and then it turned to custard.

 

Example - this morning we went out to get a birthday present for my Mum and because it was so close to Little and Friday we had to pop in for one of their donuts. 

They are so good and if you haven't been to one of their cafes yet, you really should. I went to The Bloc for the first time this morning too and it was amazing. I didn't get to spend as much time there as I could have (two boys in tow), but will head back soon hopefully when I have another excuse to go shopping. 

This weekend I have two birthday parties so that means yummy nibbles and cake! Maybe I'll start again on Monday! 

Debbie xo

 

Room match ups!

I've been having a bit of a play around with some prints in beautiful rooms - love these match ups!

The pop of green on this kitchen bench is so stunning.

Love these blue/green tones and the little bit of bright colour. 
 

It was the print above the couch that I fell in love with this room but the whole thing is pretty cool.

What an awesome bedroom - my favs are the rug and the feature wall with the white linen.

This chair is such a feature - will have to hunt one of those down one day! 

Can't go wrong with black and white - perfect space to add some personality with a collage of your child's art :) 

Debbie xo 

Check out Little Artist.

Health kick

Since I started my new job I've felt like I'm gaining weight. I blame sitting at my desk for 3 days a week instead of running around after two energetic boys. It's also probably the 3'o'clock cravings too!

So, inspired by a post by Style|Life|Home, I'm trying to be more aware of what I'm eating. I'm been beginning my days with a warm glass of lemony water and taking lots of fruit to eat when the sugar cravings start.

The only hiccup so far has been the chocolate fudge slice that my Mum delivered - hard to resist! 

The other changes I'm going to make are to limit wine to the weekends and try to fit yoga in on my days off. Although this morning sequence might be possible before work!?

Will keep you posted! If you have any ideas for keeping motivated over these cold months please share too. 

Debbie xo

Time of change...

 

It's been too long since I was last on this blog. I had an amazing opportunity to take a great job 3 days a week and after mostly being a full time mum for the last 4 years it's been quite an adjustment! 

We're lucky that between my husband and my parents, the boys are taken care of while I'm at work. I honestly give MAJOR credit to families that have to do the day care drop offs/pick-ups and get home to make dinner etc... I seriously don't know how you do it!  

So it's been a positive change - although I miss the boys on the days that I work - but I really appreciate the time I get with them on my days off. 

In amongst all of this we've had some really nice visits to local beaches and parks. These photos were taken at Muriwai a few weeks ago. Love this place - especially when it's one of those crisp winter days.  

Debbie xo

Goodbye Summer

I have to admit, I felt a bit sad saying goodbye to Summer this year! But I'm trying my best to embrace the cooler weather.

This is George & Georgina (our local Wood Pigeons). They come around this time of year to feed on our Guavas

Last night a made a big pot of Lamb and Veggie soup and tried a new bread recipe to go with it. You need to start this one pretty early because it needs 18 HOURS to rise and then a further 2 hours once you shape it! But it's worth it and there's no kneading. The guy who does the video is a bit of a laugh too.

Enjoy and don't skip the butter!

Debbie xo 

 

Font ♥

I'm a bit of a font fan and I love the collections of fonts that you find on Pinterest.

Here are a few of my favourites...

Formal Fringe

A Subtle Revelry

A Subtle Revelry

 

Rylee Blake

 

I have lots more pinned on my Design board here.

Debbie xo

Website refresh

 

Hi! The Little Artist homepage and has been given a bit of refresh. I'm liking these new colours and the simplicity! 

Happy Easter everyone!

Debbie xo

Stopping

Life seems to be super busy for everyone at the moment and it feels like our life stepped up another notch recently too. It's great, but yesterday I needed a day to recover. So we just stopped for the day. 

I pottered around the house and left the boys to their own devices. I could hear them talking and laughing and found this lovely scene when I went to check on them. I think they enjoyed being still for the day too!

Debbie xo

Birthday week!

Cake #1

We've just wrapped up a busy time for our little family with both of my children's birthdays - 4 days apart.

I wanted to do things differently this year. Last year it was my youngests first birthday so we had a big celebration. It felt rushed and I had major guilt afterwards because I didn't get a chance to properly catch up with everyone. 

So this year we had a family BBQ the weekend before and the kids party the weekend after. We got both sides of our family together and had a great catch up with everyone. Same with the kids party - I actually saw my two boys and got to chat with our friends too.

Cake #2

Pirate and spiderman digging in - the inside was yellow, green and blue

So now the four year old is already talking about his next birthday! Phew.  

Debbie xo

Franklin Children's Art Festival

Hi, yesterday was the Franklin Children's Art Festival in Pukekohe. It was my first time to this festival and I'm so glad that I made it out there (leaving at 7am on a Saturday morning was a bit different for me!). They had everything from wearable art, African drumming, story telling to flag making using a turn-table!

Such a great event and free! I helped out at the Chalk Art workshop in the morning and loved seeing how the drawings evolved - there were lots of hearts and rainbows!

Debbie.

Kid's art stations

I've been wanting to create a little art station for our kids for a while now and I've been keeping my eye out for ideas online. Here's a few of my favs...

Land of Nod have loads of great storage products - I love these two for art supplies - just need to be hung at the right height for little people.

Wall Organiser - Land of Nod

Wire Wall Bin - Land of Nod

I love that this art supply station is made from wood and it would make everything so accessible. 

Art Supply Station - 4 Men 1 Lady

Ok this is genius - a re-purposed cot to be used as a workstation. They've even painted an old spice rack for storage!

Re-purposed cot - Apartment Therapy

Another re-purposing idea - spray paint old tins for art supply storage - just the right height. You could even label them with chalk.

Painted cans - Remodelaholic.com

I love this workstation by Handmade Charlotte - especially the rolls of paper and hooks for the scissors (along with sticky tape these are the most misplaced items around our home!). 

Workstation - Handmade Charlotte

Will post some photos of what I do with this soon. Would love to hear your ideas too!

Debbie.

Hand embroidered children's drawings

We've just arrived back home from the beautiful Hokianga. We went up there for a few days to attend a family wedding and the it was just as stunning as the location!

Hokianga Harbour

It was so nice to visit a new place and discover another New Zealand treasure. Being away from home gave me a chance to finish off my latest product - hand embroidered children's drawings. This is one I made of one of Zach's self portraits...

Hand embroidered children's drawings

It was so fun to make! I think the black cotton on the white fabric really makes it stand out and it looks great hung in his room with some of his other keepsakes.

This is a comparison of the original drawing against the embroidered one - pretty close I think!

Check it out in the store here.

Debbie.

Exciting day today...

Wow it has been such an exciting day for Little Artist today. The lovely Vic from Cush & Nooks is running a competition on her blog to win a Little Artist framed print and there has been the most amazing feedback from her readers. 

Win a print of your child's artwork in this design!

I had the idea for Little Artist just a few months ago and I've been using most of my free time to get it to a stage where I feel comfortable to share it with the world. It's so great to finally get it out there and I can't wait to see the artwork of the winner AND the final product. 

Head over to the Cush & Nooks blog or facebook page enter the draw and be inspired by her blog.

Debbie.

Whats for tea... Pad Thai

Happy February and Happy Friday everyone! We needed something quick and easy tonight. This is a recipe I got from the back of a noodle pack a while ago - it's so easy and my two boys love it.

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

1 packet of Phad Thai noodles
300g cooked sliced chicken
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tbsp spring onions, chopped
1-2 tbsps peanut oil
2 tbsp chives, chopped
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 C chopped peanuts
2 tbsp fish sauce
juice of 1 lemon
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C bean sprouts, soaked in water
coriander to garnish

Method:

Place the noodles into boiling water for about 6 minutes then drain. 

Fry garlic and spring onions until transparent. Add all remaining ingredients except the egg and sprouts. 

Add egg slowly and continue to mix. Add sprouts and continue to fry for about 30 seconds. 

Serve garnished with coriander. 

Cheers and happy weekend! 

Debbie.