And the Winner is......

This week's giveaway of 3 handmade "Happy Day" cards goes to Elise from 'Inspiration Surrounds Creativity Abounds'. Elise, please email me a postal address at pauleastment@bigpond.com so I can mail them out to you. Congratulations and enjoy!

* We had two entries for the giveaway. Both names were put in a hat and one name drawn out.

Swap Party - The Party's Over

The Swap Party on Tuesday was loads of fun. I had three beautiful friends and kids turn up carrying their items to swap. Once the goods were laid out on the table for each of us to see we began looking through everything. There were books in beautiful condition, vases, some kitchen goods, homemade cards bundled up with ribbon, children's clothes, shoes and lots of exquisite women's clothes. This was going to be a great swap!

Immediately we each found things we wanted to take home with us. I swapped for some cat slippers for Miss M which she absolutely loves and wears even on these hot hot days. I got a Flightpath book for my father who has a keen interest in planes and then my favourite was a beautiful temp red and black dress which had never been worn.

For the kids I set up magazine bunting decorations, a mat full of things from our recycling (boxes, egg cartons etc) to see where their imagination would take them but we found the most fun in making beautiful snow globes out of baby food jars. It was a great way to reuse them. Here's how they were made....

Snow Globes

* NB Lots of parental assistance is needed with this activity, from handling glass jars to using the super glue.

You will need...

Baby food jars

Water

Glitter

Strong glue like Super Glue - water resistant

Figurine - we used tiny My Little Pony figures

• Super Glue the figurine to the inside of the lid, making sure you have enough room to put it back on the jar. I did this process the night before so they were ready to go.
• Add about a teaspoon of glitter to the inside of the jar.
• Fill the jar almost to the top with water.
• Put Super Glue around the top of the jar and return the lid, screwing it on tightly. Be careful not to spill the glue!
• Keep the jar upright until the glue dries.

There you have it. One very simple but beautiful snow globe.

Hosting a swap party was a lot of fun and it felt good to be reusing items that might otherwise be thrown away or left sitting in a cupboard. I also found it a great way to teach the girls about the three R's - reduce, reuse, recycle. If you're interested in hosting a swap party go to http://www.recyclingweek.planetark.org/ for all the details.

Have you entered the BusyBrissyMum card giveaway? Entries close and winner will be drawn tomorrow, Friday, November 27 @ 9pm. Let me know what item you would choose to giveaway at a swap. Please make sure your name is clearly on your comment.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - It's a Giveaway!

This Tuesday I am hosting a Swap Party and am getting very excited about it! It was Planet Arks' National Recycling Week two weeks ago. For a bit of fun and to create a continued awareness of the necessity of recycling they were encouraging people to either go to an organised swap party or host one. Since I couldn't find one nearby and since I love to organise dos I thought it could be fun to host a swap party and invite some of my friends around to swap their unwanted groovy goods.

I've spent this evening rummaging through boxes and cupboards at home to find the items I want to put out to swap and the list is quite long and the goods are well.....unwanted. In the spirit of recycling I thought I would also host my very first giveaway on BusyBrissyMum and give away some cards I made. There are certainly plenty of them to go around. I'll have some for the party and some for the giveaway!

If you've read my 'About Me' section of the blog you will know that I am into creative things but I do a bit of this and a bit of that. Sometimes I will go crazy focusing on one particular craft. These cards are from a card making spree I had about a year ago. I made them with the best intentions of doing something with them but then didn't end up doing a thing. (and it's a bit rude to give your sister-in-law the same card over and over again!!)

These packaged cards are a gift design (hard to see by the photo) and are left blank inside for your own special message. To win three homemade "Happy Day" cards all you need to do is leave a short blurb in the comment box telling me what item you'd give away at a swap party if you could - let's have some fun! Not being completely up on all things computer I will draw a name out of the hat on Friday, November 27 and announce the winner. Please make sure your name is clearly with your comment. The cards will be posted out on Monday, November 30, once I have the winner's postal details.

Look out for the Swap Party blog after Tuesday.

Special Delivery

These were for a special friend who wanted some

sweet girlie cupcakes for a High Tea. I love baking!

A Visit to a Construction Site

Ipswich Art Gallery has their new children's display happening right now so we went along to check it out yesterday. This is always quite a car ride for us but I consider it very worthwhile because of everything the girls (and I) learn and enjoy while we are there and we do love a good adventure.

Construction Site is the name of the latest display. It's hands-on fun for both kids and parents. Foam block are strewn everywhere allowing you to build whatever you like together....before it gets knocked down! We managed to build a small cubby house before Miss M saw the other activities available.

There are remote controlled diggers for moving dirt and a big magnetic wall for building drains. Miss H and I had a great time constructing a drain for the ping pong balls to go down. She absolutely loved posting them to see what would happen.

Another great display! You will find the Art Gallery at ...

d'Arcy Doyle Place

Nicholas St, Ipswich

Parking around town has meters in place so take your coins OR

we park in the Ipswich City Square Car Park which is found by taking a right turn into East St, turning left before the bridge down onto Bremmer St and going left on the round-a-bout. You'll see a ramp ahead but turn left before it and go down into the car park.

Walk up the mall and the Gallery is across the road and directly on the left.

If you live in Brisbane, Ipswich or a suburb nearby, be sure to check out what's on at the Gallery. http://www.ipswichartgallery.qld.gov.au/ You can also get on the mailing list so you don't miss a thing.

Now back to my own construction site - the reno!

Ruby Red Party

Our little baby girl turned one on Sunday so it seemed fitting to have a ruby red party to celebrate. (Her second name is Ruby!) We did a pink party for Miss M on her first birthday so we kept the colour theme going.

Our children's first birthdays are celebrated with family but we still like to have party games and other fun for the cousins to enjoy. We had a great time on Sunday playing bobbing for apples. This was hilarious to watch! We did a red snake eating competition which was also lots of fun and the kids could play with the tea set and make red lady beetles from paper plates at their leisure. There was lots of yummy red party food and the girls had their faces painted. We just had to play pass the parcel which is Miss M's favourite. It's become a regular birthday game. Everyone got involved on Sunday which was a hoot!

I spent last week baking the cake. It took five goes before I actually had a sponge cake that cooked all the way through (old oven!) but the final result was a red lady beetle cake. Just check out the look on Miss H's face when she saw her cake - it was delightful to see. That made all those baking efforts worth while.

Everyone who wore red received a prize bag before they went home. It really was a great day with our little girl. Happy Birthday Miss H - you brighten up our lives!

Excuses Excuses Excuses...

I am going through a period of not posting as much as I have been - sorry! We have recently bought a house which was marketed as 'Renovator's Delight' so as you might imagine we have lots and lots of renovating to do - painting, demolition, floors being ripped up and floorboards being sanded and polished, bathroom going in and a DIY kitchen. The house is almost 100 years old! This is all going on while the rest of life is still happening so it's a crazy time. Posts will still happen (like the one I'm about to write) but they may not be as regular.

A "Beary Special" Morning

If you went into the woods (Wendouree Park) yesterday you would have been sure of a big surprise because yesterday was the annual Teddy Bear's Picnic for our mums group. I wish you had been there to see it! Our cute little bunch of kidlets and their teddies (rabbits and dollies too!) came to the park to enjoy a "beary special" morning together.

We had a morning tea filled with "beary yummy" teddy bear treats including the teddy bear cupcakes pictured above. I found this idea in the Woman's Weekly Kids Party Cakes book - how could we not have cupcakes! We did all the favourite bear songs and rhymes like 'Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear', 'Rock-a-bye Your Bear', 'Round and Round the Garden' and 'I Know a Hairy Bear' followed by the "beary scary" story 'Where's My Teddy?'. (It's not really that scary but it's is a favourite in our house!)

Together we all went on a huge bear hunt singing our way round the park to which afterwards one little girl told me that she was scared. It was a lot of fun.....and a little bit scary!

To end our "beary special" morning each teddy who came along went home with a prize and Miss M's "Jessie Teddy" received the Sweetest Smelling Bear award since she smells just like strawberries. I'm sure many little teddies and kidlets went home for a lovely big sleep after their big day out and they may even talk about this "beary fun" morning 'till the next Teddy Bear's Picnic comes around next year! Look out for my blog on Wendouree Park coming up.

Celebrating a Happy Beginning

Six years ago today our happy little family began! My husband and I were married in beautiful Byron Bay (Ewingsdale) and had our reception in Bangalow. Last night we celebrated with a dinner out but not by ourselves, we took the girls too as a happy birthday to our family celebration - how could Miss M miss out on such an occasion! Special times! Here are some memories of our wedding day.







There are many more special family memories to come. The fun just doesn't stop with our little family that has grown since November 8, 2003. Miss M and Miss H, you bring more joy than you will ever know. Happy Eastment Family Day!

Cotton Bud Painting

Here's an activity your kids can enjoy. It's easy to set up and pack up and doesn't usually make a huge mess. This is one that can be done again and again.

Cotton Bud Painting

You will need...

• Paint - acrylic, Cel Mix or water paint all work well. Just remember however to change over the cotton buds often if you use water paint.
• Cotton buds
• Paint tray or containers - you could use yoghurt containers, egg cartons or ice-cube trays.
• Paper - any kind will be good. We like to do this activity often so I try to vary the size and texture of the paper each time that we do.

Set out paint in trays or containers and add a cotton bud to each colour.

Let your child's creativity go as they experiment with using the cotton buds to paint.

This activity can work for many ages and is great for fine motor skills building. Miss H who is nearly one tried this activity yesterday and was able to do some painting with a little bit of assistance to dip the cotton buds in the paint.

Why not try using the cotton buds to....

• paint white on black card
• paint on aluminium foil
• paint on long strips of paper or card
• paint on shapes
• paint on easel size paper

When the activity is finished simply throw the cotton buds away.

Got That Sinking (and Floating) Feeling

I am definitely not a scientist but an experiment in sinking and floating with a 3 year old is something that I can do. It's amazing the way this little theme has come together just at the same time that we happened to borrow the book 'Who Sank the Boat?' from the library. Pamela Allen is a current favourite children's author for Daddy.

Last night in the bath Miss M had some bath characters and was trying to put them in the coloured plastic boats. With the toys added some boats stayed afloat and some sank immediately. This brought about the conversation of sinking and floating which seemed to capture Miss M's little mind. I could see it ticking over so I planned a little something for today's activities to extend that conversation further.

This morning in our play downstairs we had some water play but instead of putting bottles, cups and funnels in the water I asked Miss M to collect some things from around the yard so we could see if they would sink or float. As you can see from the picture we had quite an experiment on our hands. Miss M was able to work out from observation that the heavier items sank while the lighter items floated. She discovered that....

these items floated

• a stick
• a flower
• a blade of grass
• a leaf

and these items sank

• a pebble
• a rock
• a lemon
• a small handful of sand

Our play time outdoors finished with a story time on the mat so we just had to read 'Who Sank the Boat?' by Pamela Allen.