Daylight savings - Save me!

Daylight Savings ended last night.. a whole extra hour to stay snuggled in bed snoozing. Bliss!

Except that The Man I Married missed the teenage lesson on how to sleep in, so at 6.30am - which today became 5.30am , he woke up and decided to get up. 

Woke the dogs up and had a loud chat with them, banged around in the kitchen, turned on the TV and flicked channels.
Grrrrrrr.

GRRRRRR!

I don't know about you, but once I'm awake and disturbed I can't go back to sleep so there we both were, awake, nursing cups of coffee at 5.30am. 

I retreated into Computer land, mostly because I wasn't sure I could speak in pleasant sentences to the overgrown two year bouncing around on the couch.

I understand you are possibly sick of me raving about my refound designing mojo, but once you get something back that you loved, it's hard to squish that kind of Happy down. 
So here's what I made yesterday afternoon, and what you can feel free to download.

How cute is that ? This makes up into a little Easter Bunny Treasure box about 6.5cm high, perfect for a few Cadbury Eggs as a sweet little gift for someone.

You can grab the PDF to print it out HERE 

Don't just click and save this little picture as you box will be too tiny :-)

You basically cut around the outside edge, score all the solid lines with the back of a butter knife and a ruler and fold into the box shape, adding a lick of glue along the tab line to hold it together.

The bottom interweaves which gives it a little extra strength, and you can secure it with a bit of tape if you are loading the box with heavier items.

This mornings ridiculously EARLY start gave me time and head space to play a little more, so I made a second box... just in case you aren't into bunnies - although I don't even know how that is possible because :

Back to Box Making :

So this morning I made this:

Same deal, different pictures, a little brighter and funkier...

You can grab the PDF to print it out HERE

In case you can't tell, I'm having alot of fun!

What time did your little or big treasures get out of bed this morning?

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Would you like some chocolate with that?

One thing the USA is famous for is doing everything to the extreme.
They do Extreme Fishing, Extreme Mining, Extreme Cars, Extreme Abseiling..Extreme Cake Decorating,  Extreme Weddings, Extreme Piercings, Extreme Tattoos, Extreme Makeovers, Extreme Birth Stories... you name it, the USA has it covered.

So in my Pinterest Frenzy this week I started on a bit of an Easter binge.

Because there are so many awesome pins from people waaaaaaay more dedicated than me to:

Easter decorating

Easter making

And Easter Baking

\

Seriously ????

But time and time again I came across USA links to Easter Bunny Bark.


What Is That?

First of all, the bunny in my house doesn't eat bark - He prefers some short cut alfalfa sprouts, green tips only, a quarter of a freshly harvested carrot and the Spanish dried, late harvested, $35 a pound gooseberries from the island of Rabbit-Nirvana .

Secondly, the Easter Bunny at my house does not qualify for a stop over snack
(I thought that was Santa . Milk and cookies or in our case Beer and some peanuts please)

Thirdly.. .... ... ... umm ...  seriously, you make this stuff for imaginary characters???

But as it happens, and it happens often, I got converted, sucked in and won over...

so tonight before ballet....

Miss 9 and me made Easter Bunny Bark.

Basically you chop up some toppings (read : what ever Mum could find leftover on the back of the "saving it for Christmas" cupboard):

You melt some white chocolate into liquid form:

You sprinkle the goodies over the good stuff:

And smash it all down.

Cool in the fridge til firm and chop into manageable pieces:

Happy Days!!!

We are so freakin' ready for the Easter Bunny, It's not even funny right now,

( **  Also I might have Type 2 diabetes from all the sugar I have consumed today. Seriously. ** )

What have you made that makes your head and blood sugar level spin?

Loving the creative process - Easter Swag Printable

Once upon a time, I made timber buttons for the crafting world. hundreds and thousands of buttons. I designed them, cut them out with my laser machine and then handpainted them.

My favouritest thing of all was the design process. Getting a spark of an idea, planning and drawing, and tweaking it until I had a final product that I loved. I would get butterflies in my tummy, be so very excited and do little happy dances when a new idea worked out into something really cool.

Last year, for several reasons, I closed down my little Button world. 

I don't miss the marketing, the advertising or the demands for MORE! I don't miss the pressure to stay 'on-trend' or to stay one step ahead of my competition. I don't miss the mess, the paints, the smell of burning timber. I don't miss customers who wanted to pay $1 for an intricately handpainted angel, and then complained that they could have gone to Spotlight ( for a cheap, mass produced plastic something).

What I miss is the design process. Time playing with my art program. Fine tuning a design until it is good or even great.

I miss giving stuff away, I love that feeling. I loved saying "Take it, have it, I want you to have this".

So today I am very thankful to have rediscovered that spark. The fun.

In a very basic way, I get to have all the fun of designing with none of the pressure. My art program is run off its feet and my brain is once again swirling with ideas.

On Monday I made a Printable, as a bit of a personal challenge. A little Easter holiday plan, for anyone who might like to plan some fun times over these school holidays. 

You can download it here for free - Yay!

On Tuesday I made an Easter Egg swag with Miss 9, pretty simple but also PRETTY!

So I made that into a printable. Because I can.

It's cute, prints out on A4 paper and is a super simple project to do with your little kiddly-winks over the school holidays.

Click here to for the free Swag printable with simple instructions :-)

(Super simple = print and cut out, punch some holes, thread them on and hang !)

Yesterday, I had more fun with my designing... that idea needs a little fine tuning but stay tuned... I sense a storm of printables is on it's way.

I have that buzz back. The butterflies are dancing. I am feeling the happy. Yay 

Thankful Thursday xx with Lovely Rhi

World Autism Day - The Carnival Ride

Today Is World Autism Awareness Day.

Not only do we want to raise awareness amongst the greater community about the challenges of living with Autism, we also want to take today to reflect on the joy and wonder that Autism brings to our world.

A couple of years ago I wrote a post about how it feels to find yourself parenting a child with ASD.
I am re-posting it today, for Autism Awareness.

Like so many young romantic couples, we bought tickets to go on the Carousel.

Many of our friends had already gone on it and said it was great. It looked like fun and we could afford it. We had to wait in line, but we had friends waiting too, so it was a good, gossipy wait, talking about what it would be like.

When we finally got through the gates, none of our friends were near us.The ride started and almost immediately, we realised that we were on the wrong ride.

Our seats didn't look like the other seats, and the cars banged and crashed and made weird noises. The seat belts pinched and I felt the first tentacles of fear sneaking into my heart.

A man popped out in a white coat and told us we were on the Monster Crash Roller Coaster. He smiled in a detached way and sent us through the big swinging doors.

  ***************

The Roller Coaster is not at all like the Carousel. It is unpredictable, frightening and fast. There are exhilarating highs and stomach churning free-fall drops. There is always a jagged corner hurtling towards you and you never really know where you will go next. You can't hear anyone else because there is so much other noise, and sometimes you actually scream in true fear.

Even with someone sitting right next to you, there are moments when you feel totally and desperately alone. 

You can see the carousel in the distance, with it's pretty lights and gentle well groomed ponies.

Your friends are watching you, as you fly through the air, hair tangled, clothes askew. You can't explain to them why you aren't sitting nicely or why you need to hang on so tight. You know from where they sit, you look wild eyed and out of control. You wish you were sitting on a happy little pony, not this monster ride. 

You start to worry that you will not make it to the end. You worry the safety rail will fly open, that your car will derail. You forget to breath. Your stomach churns and your fingers ache with the effort of holding on.You close your eyes and wish for it to be over, to be different.

But then... you stop and really concentrate.  Your heart is leaping, not only in fear but also in the most incredible joy. You are starting to anticipate the climb and then the drop. You learn to hang on tight in the scary bits, and you open your eyes and really look at the world from the very peak of the steep climbs.

The world looks so different up here, and none of those people on the Carousel can possibly see the world from this angle. 

They have no idea how beautiful it can be up here. 

At the last climb and free fall, you are grinning, eyes wide open. 

As you reach the peak, you let go of the safety bar and raise your hands over your head and welcome the rush.

  ***************

　
The ride slows down and we turn to each other, grinning from ear to ear. No, it wasn't the Merry-go-round ride we anticipated. It was so, so much more.

We have since then ridden on the Carousel. It is fun and wonderful too. But there is always a special place in our hearts for the Roller Coaster... what a ride.

I love a Challenge - Easter Holiday Planner Printable

All over Blogland and Pinterest there are squillions of printables. Downloadable printable templates to fulfill your every need from organising your home, your grocery list or your home budget, to calenders, baby shower gift tags, cookie jar labels and everything in between.

As you may have figured out, I love a challenge so yesterday I decided to have a go and make my very first Button Brain Printable.

As the Easter school holidays are hurtling towards us and I have Zip-Zero-Zilch planned as yet, I thought it would be fun ( and terrifically organised of me) if I made up a an Easter holiday planner for Miss 9.

It took some work & several hours of 'research' online, before I finally went back to the art program I know and understand.

I made up some little Easter Egg graphics, added some text, played around with the layout, played around with the layout some more... and more and more and more.....

But finally, I think I got something that someone out there might like to print.

 So If you would like to download my very first Button Brain Printable Click Below:

Easter Holiday Planner Printable Link

Just download the PDF to your computer and print away.

So how do you think I did?