Whilst out shopping last weekend we stumbled across these little foam chairs for children. Munchkin immediately fell in love with them. It was just her size! And light enough that she can push it around on the floor easily. As we’d been discussing seating options for her for a while (bean bags and big cushions) we decided to get one.
Just after purchasing it, Munchkin decided it would make a fantastic walking aid. And so with her teddy and dolly sitting comfortably, she commenced doing laps of the living, dining and kitchen areas.
There was only one problem. It was a twitch inducing colour, with a dreadful print on the front and was covered in exceedingly poor quality cotton. It needed to be rectified, and as quickly as possible!
The very next day, as soon as Munchkin went down for her nap, I attacked that thing! Pulling the cover off and using my stitch ripper with glee (I had absolutely no intention of re-using the fabric so very little care was taken).
I then laid out the pieces roughly to make sure I had enough fabric, ironed them all and laid them out to use as a pattern for the new cover. I had some gorgeous fabric by Japanese brand Kokka in my stash that I’d been planning to use for a different project, but this was an emergency!
I had to work quickly, as Munchkin woke from her nap and was most unhappy to have lost use of her little chair. And so after just a few hours of cutting, pinning and sewing I had this.
I only had a minute to photograph it though! After just a handful of shots, little Miss M decided I’d had it quite long enough, thank you very much. And over my protestations (and a giggle or two) made off with it!
I love the result, and so does Munchkin. It’s getting loads of use daily!
I’ve kept the old pattern pieces, I wonder what cover I should make up next?
It’s been a couple of months since Munchkin’s first birthday and I’m finally getting around to sharing with you the Invitation Suite I designed for it. I created an Invitation and Thank You Notelet with matching envelopes and a Wrapping Paper/ Envelope Insert. The Geometric Bee Gift Box I created can be found here.
They’d make a really cute invite for many events, not just a first birthday. Or as personalised stationery.
It’s exceedingly easy to do. I’ve included both PDF and JPG files of all of the items. So you can either print off all the PDF files and write your text in by hand, or pull the JPG files into your favourite editing software to add your preferred text. Then print and cut them out, do a little assembly work and your done!
I decorated both the inside of my envelopes and my invitations with faux gold leaf to add a little something special.
I also printed the Wrapping paper/ Envelope Insert print on the reverse of my Thank you Envelope so it had the honeycomb print on the inside.
And whilst I ran out of time to make all of my Invitation Envelopes, I’ve included them in the suite for you. They’re lined with the Wrapping paper/ Envelope Insert print and also decorated with a little faux gold leaf.
Spending a little time adding the gold leaf really make the invites sparkle! The little bees were the most fiddly and time consuming, but I’m really happy with how they turned out. Read more
I hope you’re having a splendid weekend? Mine has been gorgeous and full of festivities. It started Friday with DM’s and my wedding anniversary. DM has been at a conference in Dublin all week and only arrived home on Friday, so we didn’t do much on the actual day, we were both too tired. But we belatedly celebrated today when we went for a gorgeous brunch at one of our favourite hotels and then watched a Wes Andersen film whilst Munchkin napped.
The festivities continued yesterday afternoon when we attended Munchkin’s friends first birthday party. His mother and I had arranged a skills swap, she decorated the amazing cookies for Munchkin’s birthday and in return, I decorated her little boys first birthday cake.
I made the decorations out of modelling chocolate and placed them on a buttercream frosting base. Both the cake and the buttercream were made by Nikki. I was unable to sample it as it contained gluten, but both DM and Munchkin thought it delicious! Munchkin loved it so much she polished off an entire piece and, only with extreme reluctance, shared with one of their cute but very eager dogs.
Nikki had purchased a really cute suite of decorations called Animal Parade from Meri Meri, and made up really sweet cookies with the giraffe and zebra patterns. I took the designs of the animals and incorporated them into the cake.
I very rarely decorate cakes (though it appears I’ll be getting more and more practice in future! ;)) and so I’m pretty rusty. I’m really happy with how the animals turned out but not quite so happy with the top of the carousel, I made the panels smaller than the bunting surrounding it to allow the frosting to show through. But in hindsight I should have made larger panels and covered the top completely. I wanted to remake it but I ran out of time (and energy).
Finally, we’ve a little celebration for my birthday tomorrow. I’ve been banished from the studio and I’m blogging in the lounge whilst trying very hard not to listen to DM and Munchkin make me a birthday surprise. It sounds perfectly splendid. It seems to involve quite a lot of chatting from Munchkin, laughter from DM and a fair bit of bashing. I’m trying very hard not to guess at what it is! I kind of want to join in the fun, but it would mean spoiling the surprise.
After the long weekend of festivities, I’m preparing for a severe case of Tuesday-itis and so am planning on sewing up yet another cute birthday present for another of Munchkin’s friends celebrating her first birthday next week. November is a popular month!
I very rarely do product posts. But I just received our first Polabox in the mail and I love it!
There’s something just so satisfying about holding physical copies of my Instagram photographs. We ordered a test box of thirty, containing photos of Munchkin’s first year to send to her Great-Grandmother in Australia. We’re so happy with the result, we’re in the process of ordering a whole heap more for her Nana, other Great-Grandmother, Aunt who struggles with things technical, Nono and a copy for us.
You can either download the app to your phone or select your photos etc online. You’re not limited to Instagram, any photo you can access on your device can be used.
Thirty photo’s in a cute and very sturdy box are 16.95 euro. They’re created in Paris and shipped toute de suite. Ours took just 5 days to arrive (over a weekend).
The box they arrive in is sturdy and wrapped in a bubble wrap package. But you could easily tape the box shut, add a shipping label and a stamp and send it on. The contents would be perfectly safe. And as the box is just 2cm high, this is a great option for those of us who live in Switzerland and are trying to cut down on shipping charges, 2cm is classified as a letter, not a parcel.
For those of you who want to try the service – here’s a promocode that will give you 5 euros off – NICPRN
I’m now looking at printing photobooks. I really love the look of My Little Photobook, have you tried them? If so what do you think of the results?
In the interest of full disclosure, when you use this code, I also receive a credit on my next order. Otherwise this post is unsponsored.
Note; this blog mainly consists of ramblings about the past year with Munchkin and motherhood. The photos are a sneak peek of our recent celebration of Munchkin’s first birthday. I’ll have more photos, templates, recipes and tutorials to share in the coming weeks.
I can’t believe that at this time just last year I was desperately trying to sleep and failing. I was due to be induced the following morning. After 12 very long days of regular contractions that just weren’t strong enough, the doctor decided enough was enough. Munchkin was coming out, one way or the other.
Late that night, DM and I had a discussion about what we hoped our bundle, of what then felt like all elbows and knees doing the hokey pokey in a very confined space, would be like.
A year in, and I can say she’s everything we hoped for and a little bit more. She’s generous, loving, independent, strong, social, gentle but no pushover, scarily intelligent and just because she’s ours, perfect.
It hasn’t been an easy year. My fitness, sanity and health has taken something of a beating due to iron deficiency, sleep deprivation and adjusting my life expectations to my new reality.
Breastfeeding and getting our little one to thrive took about four stressful weeks to work out. There were what seemed like endless days as my butt became one with the couch as Munchkin fed every hour threatening my dwindling sanity.
Our marriage feels stronger, as it feels it has now been forged by fire. The fire of months of colic and walking paths around the dining table, our hearts breaking as we tried anything and everything to soothe our tiny, sweet bundle.
But it’s also been the most amazing year of my life.
I never dreamed I could want to do nothing but stare at my baby for days on end… and I did. I’ve experienced the seemingly indescribable joy of seeing my little one accomplish something and look at me with pride as she’s just learned to roll over, clap her hands, say “Mum”, stand up, bottom shuffle or get a spoon into her mouth and not her nose, ear or forehead.
I’ve loved living in this little nest we’ve made. My priorities and goals have shifted in ways I never dreamed would be possible. I thought Motherhood and I would be a tough fit and avoided it for as long as possible. It turns out I’m not as terrible at it as I feared. I love it.
And through all of this DM has worked tirelessly, both at his job and then when he got home. He’s perfected cooking and has made dinner more times than I. He can cook some of “my recipes” better than I can now! He’s been home most of the time to give Munchkin her bath (and me a few quiet moments alone). He’s rocked, soothed, fed, bathed, read, played, chatted and revelled in fatherhood. He’s done an excellent job. Frequently, in the early days, he’d arrive home, take the screaming Munchkin, soothe some of my frazzled feathers, make me a cup of tea and take over. Definitely not the easiest year!
And, in amongst all of this, he’s almost completed a thesis.
I have no idea how he has done it. My admiration, pride in and love for DM is limitless.
All of this needed to be celebrated. So we invited our nearest and dearest in Lausanne and threw a party to celebrate the amazing miracle that is Munchkin’s first year.
I got to making, designing, baking, crocheting, adding faux gold foil to invites, making packaging, trying my hand at floristry and stocking up on champagne.
I’ll share patterns, templates, recipes and the rest with you in the upcoming weeks.
I’m so happy with the result! It seems worthy of what feels to us, and I’m sure to all parents, the gorgeous accomplishment of a lifetime. And we’ve only just begun!
All the amazing photography in this post is by the fantastically talented Hayley Hay
