2012

2012 could only be described as an amazing year for my family and I .....There were of course some tough times, I don't think I would be honest if I pretended there weren't .. however the good has certainly outweighed the bad and I will end 2012 extremely grateful for the beautiful family that I have and start the new year full hope and anticipation for lots more good things and fun times ahead..

 

 

 

For this little blog I hope the keep sharing some inspiration and a little glimpse into my family life ... try much harder to use the spell checker and as my husband always tells me- read the paper, read the paper, read the paper , because what makes sense in my head does not always translate well when I write !

 

Wishing you a very Happy and Healthy New Year wherever you might be..

 

 

 

 



 image source

 

 

Simone xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wait for it for so long, count down the days , shop till we drop, wrap, cook, eat, celebrate and then the actual day is over in a flash..

 

This is how my Christmas went..

 

The annual Christmas eve photo on your Santa sack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We played host to my family and I tried to keep it simple this year, the crackers I made, the cutlery is mismatched vintage, I have finally ( sort of) mastered the Martha Stewart tissue pom pom,hydrangeas in the table centre , a sprig of rosemary on each plate- which amused my husband, are we suppose to smoke it when we have finished our meal he announced ?

 

 

 

 

My Christmas haul- earrings from my mum , more books to add to the collection..

 

 

It was quiet , it was perfect and Conor was totally right when he assured Tadhg that even if you are on the naughty list Santa still comes-he should know because that kid is not looking like coming off that particular list for a very long time and he still unwrapped plenty ..

 

 

 

Lastly a photo of my gorgeous girl for no other reason than its my blog and  I reserve the right to bore you all with random pictures of my offspring!

 

 

 

Simone xx

 

 



Step away from the wrapping paper..

Its been an epic effort for present wrapping this year.. I guess the more kids you have, and your friends and family also have, the more work you have to do..Every time I think I am finished another present is bought or found hiding somewhere.. I do enjoy making my parcels look pretty though...





I have also surprisingly managed get a little Christmas craft on here.. A Santa sack for Lulu..

 

A bonds top given a little makeover for a friends baby ..

 

 

A cute little brown package for another friends new baby- I love this vintage elephant stamp..



That's not even where it ends- I have managed to make some linen napkins, working on some tissue paper poms poms and even some diy Christmas crackers....


Lastly in amongst all that - I squeezed in a night in the city for some festive fun with my boys..



Now time to kick back, relax and enjoy some fun time with my family..

 

Merry Christmas !!

 

Simone x

Up way too early

Its 6.30 am Monday morning.. I am certain I should be asleep,but after a 4am feed for Luella I decided to jump online quickly... and well here I still am online, wrapping presents and making mess..

 

 

 Also I felt I had to share a post from one of my favourite kids blogs B.kids, it is a round up of some of the cutest free printable gift tags.. I downloaded these one below and also felt inspired to make some *spotty kraft paper

 

 

you can check out all of the free downloads over here..

 

I am off to the city today for a bit of Christmas fun with my two boys , and I cant wait - perhaps that's the real reason I am up , I never really grew out of the excitement of a trip to the city !

 

* Spotty Kraft paper- so easy ... Grab a pencil with the rubber on the end, any colour ink pad you like ( i used white) , some Kraft paper , put the rubber end of the stamp into the ink and start dotting away randomly.. this one above took me a minute..

 

That's it from me , 6.48am and time is running out - the noisy little mess makers will soon rise and the daily chaos will begin..

 

Simone xx

 

 



Instagram



Do you Instagram?

 

I signed up a long time ago, couldn't really figure it out- so put it in the very full 'too hard basket'..

 

I then realised it is actually a lot of fun.. So as if ..blog reading, blog writing, 'pinning' & facebook are not enough and also the fact that I have never met a bandwagon that I didn't want to throw myself at ! I am now a fully fledged instagram addict..

 

Whats not to love- a lot of my favourite blogs are doing it, talented creative people like, Megan Morton, Rachel Castle, Beci Orpin, Sibella Court, Jason Grant, Jane Frosh just to name a few are all there giving little insights into their daily life and creative endevours..

 

My user name is vintagehomelife and I love capturing little snippets of my  life,kids,baby,home anything really..

 

Being a big brother rocks ..

A little sneak peak of Lulus room

 

 

My first gift wrapped for 2012

 

My gorgeous girl- getting so big..

 

Exciting times- I have managed to get my hydrangea to flower for the second year running !

 

 

A little chalkboard art in progress for Lulus room..

 

 

t

a new addition to the coffee table from the red hill market



That's whats been happening around here when I am not chasing around after three kids on the verge of insanity, I can be found checking out instagram- hiding it from my husband who I constantly nag for his twitter addiction!

Have you heard about the new market on in Balnarring this coming weekend? I am excited to go - my mum and I love a good market and this one sounds like its going to be fantastic..check out all the details here  Emu plains market  I may even have to instagram it !

Simone xx




 



MY CHRISTMAS

Not long now till we pull out the Christmas tree for another year,.. the kids and I decorate it.. I wait till they go to bed and re-decorate it ! I am sure it comes as no surprise that I love a little festive decorating, even a little bit of crafting and don't even get me started on the table and food set up- I drove everybody mad last year, they wanted to eat and I was trying to photograph my beautiful table !

 

This was how it went in 2011...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

handmade garlands, brown paper wrapping, fresh flowers & herbs from my mums garden, lots of red and white, an overdose of fairy lights, yummy food and wine... that's what its all about at our house..

 

Let the fun begin for another year..

 

Simone xx

 

 

 



No time for words..

A while back I blogged about being the happiest I have ever been, and this is still true, but I forgot to add that I have also never been so tired in my life ! 8 weeks of very little sleep, a few sick days here and there,   have finally caught up with me.. some days I still manage to clean, cook ,wash,play , do all the things that good mums do but there have been a lot of days I have done none of the above , fed my kids 2 minute noodles, let them play their Wii /watch tv /do whatever the hell they want for more hours than I am willing to admit to... so lately I blog sometimes in my head about the things I want to share here, but there really is just no time to get the words onto to this little blog..

 

So today lots of photos from some happenings of late, a trip to the races which included a ferry ride, lots of silly business from two very busy boys, a trip to market for Lulu and I ..

 

 

Harriet the class mascot home for the weekend

 

Tadhgy..

 

Lulu and I taking it all in on the big boat..

hitting the high seas..

 

monkey business at the races..

 

vintage treasures, some art by Sally and peonies- perfect

 

 

 more vintage girl treasure..

the idyllic surrounds of the studio..

 

the best of friends already..

 

 

 

a very busy day..

 Christmas at the studio as always was fantastic, more photos to come of some of my favourite stalls and a little peek at a few of my purchases..

 

Have a great week..

 

Simone xx



MY WEEKEND..

It was a busy weekend in our house..

 

 

On Friday my husband and I celebrated 10 years of marriage- he at the races for work and me at the school fete..and by the way who know that the school fete would rock? 

 

Happy Anniversary to me .. I picked up these gorgeous peonies, and these no idea what they are called sweet little flowers below..



One clever Mum at the school had whipped up these gorgous flower pom poms made from Vintage pattern paper.. Now in Luella's room



 

On Sunday my Mum and I headed to the local craft market and the boys and Lulu came along.. boys + craft market= big mistake, they cost me a bomb in food.. pies , ice cream, cupcakes and then demanded to be taken home..New rule , no boys to the craft market

 

 

 Spent lots of time with my Gorgeous girl- no explanation needed

 



 

Caught these two mid waterfight, told them off and then ran to grab the camera..

 

 

 

Got everyone to bed early last night and got out my pen and paper to plan out our meals for the week, determined to start this week off organised and get some things done.. great idea in theory , but the world had other plans for me-

Lulu for the first time decided after her 3am feed that she really didn't feel like going back to sleep ,

 

5 am and still up I was then greeted by Conor making a dash for the bathroom ( I won't go into to detail)

 

 Finally got Lulu to sleep, was then greeted by Tadhg who did something very similar to Conor..

 

Lulu woke up again and  I fed her pretty much in my sleep, called Robbie told him I cant cope ..

 

Put Lulu back to bed and told the boys- no school, Mummy needs to rest and headed off leaving a 7 year old in charge ( mum of the year I know)

 

And bless them, they showed great initiative for breakfast it appears Tadhg swigged a bottle of flat coke , Conor skipped breakfast and instead decided to hook up his Wii to the 'big' tv and knocked over pretty much everything else in the playroom while relocating his equipment..

 

Stay with me, it gets better.. I decided to embrace the chaos- forget about the mess that was rapidly growing around me- even managed a stroll to pick up a copy of the latest real living and pinch flowers from someones garden along the way..

 

 I then noticed Conor itching took a look at his face was blowing up before my eyes, while he told me his lips where tingling and it was a little hard to swallow..First let me tell if you ever have a crisis- I am not the person you want right next to you that is for sure.. I hit panic stations ran screaming to my lovely neighbour to mind Lulu who was as per usual asleep, left a bewildered Tadhg in the driveway shouting Mummys in a hurry go find Helyn, sped off to the local doctor , ran into to a packed waiting room with a barefoot and flannette pj dressed Conor...

 

In my overactive mind there were adrenalin shots, sirens, how was I going to feed Lulu from hospital, in actual fact we saw a lovely doctor who sent us home to get a bottle of phenegran and a refferal to see an allergy specialist..

 

 It seems we have discovered that Conor has a nut allergy? Thats what you get for trying to make a healthy snack for your kids full of fibre and protein never again, Tiny teddys from here on in!

 

Phew, now I must sleep and try and forget that today ever happened ..

 

Simone xx

 

note- I wrote this yesterday but forgot to publish? Happy to report today is going a lot better !

 

 

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS AT THE STUDIO

Last year I was lucky enough to be a stallholder at the once a year 'christmas at the studio' market. We had the most fantastic two days , even taking into account that we nearly got washed away on the Saturday- and I mean literally washed away! All stallholders are hand selected by Leisa and Flick - with a great mixture of handmade gifts,children's clothing,home wares, artwork, Christmas decorations and much much more.. and of course the studio is open for you to check out all of the fabulous work that goes on in this little slice of paradise. My biggest problem last year was not spending any of my hard earned profits at all the other stalls!

 

I will be there again with Bec this year selling a selection of Vintage and handmade home wares, if you haven't been before then you should really check it out..

 

Here is a few snapshots from last year..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope to see you there !

Simone xx