I’ve been getting a few similar questions on comments, Twitter and emails so I thought I’d make myself feel all important and celebrity-like and dedicate a post to Q&As. And so… here we go. If you have any more, leave a comment here and I’ll get back to you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Where can I go for party inspiration?”
Everywhere! Wedding sites are great for projects and styling you can adapt for any occasion, then there are the dedicated party blogs, party planners, magazines and things totally unrelated to parties – a colour, pattern, motif, game – that you can use as a starting point. For kids, you’ll find the ideas for decorations and games flow when you come up with a theme. Choose a theme that somehow relates to the birthday child – something they’re interested in or that reflects their personality: I chose a “ball” theme for Zak’s second birthday because he was sooo obsessed with them at the time. This year it was a messy party because, well, they love mess and painting and mud. Layla’s first birthday was a flower theme – she picks a lot of flowers and we’d often stick them in her hair. It’s a little harder for first birthdays as they might not have an interest just yet so anything can go really. I’m not big on themed parties for adults, personally. I’d rather something simple, intimate and pretty - like Alice’s Afternoon Delight (above) she put on for clients for her Printdolls business. I love the mismatched chairs, old-door tables and tealight place settings. I worked with Al at Real Living and have always loved her aesthetic so if you want pretty, I’d look at some of her old shoots for Real Living for ideas. {images from Printdolls}

Other websites you need to know about great for inspiration:
Party Perfect A former Martha Stewart-ite, Sarah Hicks Malone shares parties from around the globe, great ideas and her own cleverness.
Rebecca Thuss – stylist extraordinnaire. Check out some of her portfolio for endless ideas.
P is for Party – I just found this unexpectedly the other day. Some great pics.
Ohdeedoh – Often have great little ideas like a book swap at a children’s birthday party. The children bring a book instead of a gift and then at home time they swap them up and each get to take a different one home too. Saves on thank you gifts, too! Am so doing this next time, I think. Could turn it into a game somehow too…
Imprintables – Nathalie is an Australian stationery and partyware designer. I’ve been in love the apple party she threw for one of her sons for aaaages. Perfect!
Scissors Paper Cake Collaboration between Naomi of Hello Cupcake and Nathalie from Imprintables, these are cute and stylish party themes you’ll be sure to get some ideas from (or heck! hire them to do it all for you!)
Project Wedding Gorgeous DIY ideas that can be adapted to any occasion
Style Me Pretty Weddings galore – great for inspiration.
Brooke Keegan Wedding and event stylist. Love, love what she did at Brooke and Dustin’s wedding.
Amy Atlas For lip-smacking food display ideas. Also check out her blog.
Inchmark Brooke rocks. She always has beautiful – and easy-to-achieve - ideas and projects.
Eat Drink Chic Chantelle just told me about this one – thanks luvvy! GORGEOUS. This ice cream stand idea (link in comments) is perfection.
A Field Journal How could I forget this one? It’s one of my absolute fave reads. Everything is so beautifully done and so beautifully blogged. Jealous.
Polka Dot Bride Gorgeous Aussie wedding site with lots of eye candy.

“Where did you get your poufs?”
After much online surfing, I found the best price was from an eBay seller in the UK. He doesn’t always have them, though, so keep checking back. At the time I bought them, they cost me $150 each  including shipping. They come unstuffed and smelling a whole lot like cow manure, but air them out overnight and then throw in old clothes, doonas, sleeping bags, curtains etc and you’re set. Ours are used every single day by every family member. Love them.

“I’ve noticed you like to use flags, do you make them yourself?”
Yup, paper buntings are the easiest thing ever. Go here for directions on how I did this one (above) or here for instructions on a no-sew fabric one. If you want to buy, I LOVE these ones by Made By Mosey - especially the gold one.

“How can I get my child interested in learning about things other than Thomas the Tank Engine or how to work the TV remote?”
After I posted my birthday message to Zak, a couple of you emailed and commented about ways to get children interested in learning. I did post a little reply, but here is an extended version. Basically, I’m a big nerdy mum. I don’t like a lot of useless toys and I try not to plonk them in front of the television too much (however, there are days I do just that for my sanity and to get things done). I have the luxury of being able to spend all my time with them so I make the day about them – we draw, read, do puzzles, play make believe, go for walks and learn about nature, count everything and anything, look for letters in our surrounds (a tree that looks like a Y), play in the mud and built things with blocks. They help me with chores, with cooking and in the garden. We look for landmarks when we drive and we point out the names of bridges, mountains, buildings etc that we pass. Whatever we’re doing, I tell him why and what we’re doing, what we expect to achieve and why it needs to be done. We’re always talking to him and explaining things. It’s never forced - Zak is  just interested and no doubt Layla is too, because I often see him explaining things to her just as I did to him and she’s sitting quietly nodding along. Whenever he picked up a pen or a bat, we taught him the correct way to hold and use it so there is no unlearning later on. I buy – or have received – educational books that have an interesting spin: a flip-the-flap ABC book by Dr Suess had Zak knowing the whole alphabet before he turned two. We jumped on it – more alphabet items: a poster with his name in it from Made By Girl), magnetic letters, tracing books, alphabet blocks etc. When he showed interest in our globe and started learning about the world, I bought a 3D Atlas from Seed with 3D glasses. When he started asking all about the bust of King Tut on Steve’s desk, we brought out our encyclopedias and a book on Egypt to show him all about it. Grown up, yes, but he asked me to read that darn thing to him every night along with the atlas! If it’s not fun or interesting to them, they won’t want to know about it. So if you make it fun and interesting from the beginning, it will be. Everything has a story: you just need to find a way to tell it that grabs their interest and soaks it all up in their memory.

If you want to get them interested in other things, buy a children’s encyclopedia. We had one that was Steve’s as a child – I’d put it away for when Zak was older, but seeing as he was reading our adult ones, I got it out again so it was more suitable. He loves it and why wouldn’t he? It’s got everything interesting to children in there: dinosaurs, machines, animals, space, the world… Reading is a big thing in our house: interactive books are the best, but even so we’ve been reading to both our kids since the day we brought them home from hospital. We make up stories together too and encourage them to read alone…

I think the key to a great educational and fun childhood is to include your child in everything, make it fun and don’t talk down to them. Don’t ever force things, just follow their lead and take it to the next level if they’re ready. Oh, and reading through all this, don’t think I do this every day. I get just as frustrated and lazy as everyone else and have days where I’m more angry mum than teaching or creative mum!

“Can we see pics of your bedroom?”
Um, no, not in its current state! There is lots to do in there and at the moment it’s a storage room more than anything while works continue around here! But, you can see how it used to look when we first bought Layla home here and above. Or more pics of my whole house can be found on Flickr

“Are you enjoying your work life since leaving Real Living?”
Yes, but it’s pretty hectic. Beforehand i knew exactly what was expected of me and could have done it with my eyes closed. Now I’ve got different deadlines, different styles of work and it’s kind of hard to juggle it. I haven’t even cut the cord yet from the mag – I’ve been contributing mostly to them with huge, time-consuming features, and also doing some work for the lovely Shelley at Galerie Montmartre, but haven’t even really had a chance to pitch articles to other publications. I have a big long list of them though! But I have plans to get my act together for the new year. Am hoping Zak will be in preschool one or two days and Layla with her grandmother which will give me a solid block of a WHOLE day in which to just work. Wow, the novelty!!

“Where do you find the time to work, do all your projects, look after the kids and blog?”
I work mainly at night and during the kids nap times and the rest of the time I create projects or decorate during the day while they’re playing – sometimes they help me – or on weekends. I blog whenever I get a spare moment, I don’t have to concentrate too much on that (hence spelling errors etc!) so can be done while cooking dinner or while they’re playing inside.  Also, I kind of consider this blog work. I don’t earn any money from it (although I’m considering opening it up to advertising if anyone is interested!), but it has led to some brilliant work opportunities – thanks Shelley, Jennifer and Chantal – so I make sure it has some love. Also, I started this blog with a bigger picture in mind – I’m just not sure exactly what that big picture is just yet! I’m also using it as a testing site in a way – I often thought about trying my hand at styling something for Real Living when I was there but just didn’t have the confidence to. But now my friend Natalie has just styled a shoot (on top of her regular crazy-busy workload as deputy ed!)and she’s inspired me all over again to think about it. Not ready now, but it’s something I’d love to try one day, so I can practice here!

“Do you have any advice for starting a blog?”
Do it! it’s so much fun and you (virtually) meet some lovely, interesting, amazingly talented, inspiring and all-round beautiful people. My top five tips are:
1. Try to create as much original content as possible and blog about things that interest you.
2. Practice blogger etiquette: play nice and link when you use an image or an idea and do your best to reply to questions (even if it takes ages and is all in one post!)
3. Let your personality show through your posts
4. Be careful what you post: certain words/phrases and content can get you in trouble in the oddest of ways – think of all the trouble some people have been in because of Facebook. Blogging can be even more open to the nasties.
5. ENJOY it. If you don’t enjoy it, it just becomes a chore that you don’t want to continue on doing which will make you feel guilty. And we all have too much guilt in our lives already!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 3:54 am and is filed under all about me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.