Christmas Goodies

Not alot to read in this post, but plenty of pretties to look at!! Here are some of our Christmas goodies for Twenty13!! 

Have yourself a merry little Christmas Print
Designed by LeegirlPretties

Ho Ho Ho Print
Designed by LeegirlPretties

Reindeer Food tags and Bags
Designed by LeegirlPretties

From our Print&Stitch range, 'believe in the magic of the season'
Designed by LeegirlPretties

Reindeer noses tags and bags
Designed by LeegirlPretties

'Twas the night before Christmas' Print
Designed by LeegirlPretties

From our Print&Stitch range, 'ngiht before Christmas' Print
Designed by LeegirlPretties

From our Print&Stitch range, 'OH deer!' print
Designed by LeegirlPretties

Personalised Wine wrappers
Designed by LeegirlPretties

Feel free to place an order by email or inbox us on Facebook!

Jodie-lee
xx

LeegirlPretties HQ

This morning I shared a photo on my Instagram feed of my 'Creative Space and Happy Wall.' A friend suggested that I share it with all of you, and I thought well what better way to say 'Hello again Blog, I'm sorry you've been neglected for so long, but here's some prettiness to make up for it!' ;)

So this my friends, is my 'Creative Space and Happy Wall.'

This little area makes me happy :)

This is where all the pretties are designed, created and made...I actually take over the kitchen table a lot of the time too...because truth be told I am a messy crafter (really MESSY!), and it is quite rare that it is this clean! I already know it will probably have papers, drawings, material and other crafty bits dumped on it again by the end of the week! Haha!

'My Space' is filled with things that make me happy, it's really that simple.

There are inspiring words about motherhood, love and life, art made by my babies (their handprints front and centre and also a painting that I framed), things that I have made (tassels from a baby shower and my latest crafty creation 'the flowery teapot'), my AMAZING new yellow lamp and a few little decorative bits that I just LOVE...like my new little foxy from TYPO and my bubbly glass paper weigh!

I love that I can add to it and change it any time I like...Christmas is actually slowly making an appearance with one of my HO HO HO prints and a cute little mouse that I picked up half price in Lincraft the other day!
 
So tell me, do you have a creative space or a little happiness wall? Does it stay clean, or are you a messy crafter too?lol!

Jodie-lee
xxx

A Mermaid Splash

My Miss Kirby LOVES celebrating! She has been talking about her 4th birthday party since the day after her 3rd. The theme changed a couple times but in the end we settled on a Memaid party!

I had been planning it all in my head for quite some time; pinning this, googling that and while Facebook-ing one day a pretty little illustation popped up in my newsfeed. It was then that I asked my beautiful friend Gab from Crafty Mumma to be part of the design process ...and I think this custom illustration is just stunning!

Mermaid illustration by Gab from Crafty Mumma
Invitation by LeegirlPretties

I love doing the fun crafty things that come along with organising a party and my favourite craft project from the party would have to have been the sweets buffet back drop! Not only was it cheap to put together, but I thought it was so effective in creating an underwater feel...and the added sparkle and starfish just topped it off. (and to be completely honest, I love it that much it's still currently hanging in the same spot!lol!)

Sweets Buffet styled by LeegirlPretties
Kirby added her own touch by placing the mermaid I made her on the table, I think she looks just perect there! ;)

This year I decided that I wanted to take one less stress away, so I had the birthday cake made by the lovely Crystal from Queen V Cakes. Crystal was amazing to work with and so helpful, and best of all the cake tasted amazing! Kirby and I got to have some glitter crafting fun by making the gold '4' for the top of the cake and also the purple 'reeds'.

Cake made by Queen V Cakes

The other sweet sweet delicious pieces of heaven that I has specially made were from one of my favourite local business, Andre's Macaron. Last year Andre and Gail did an amazing job of creating some little pig macarons for me (see them here), so I knew they wouldn't let me down when I requested another custom order...pretty little oyster shells complete with little pearls!

Custom Oyster Shell macarons by Andre's Macaron.

As well as homemade marshmallow (easy and YUM!), purple jelly slice (as requested by the birthday girl), mini meringues, cupcakes, chocolate bars and lollies, we had some other special sweets that the guests enjoyed.

Jelly with Sea Creature! They were so cute!

Glitter Cookie Stacks!
After seeing some of these at Confetti Fair I was inspired to give them a go and I couldn't have been more happier with how they turned out!

The kids were kept entertainted with some of Kirbys favourite activities; a variety of bubble wands and bubble mixture, a whole heap of home made play doh and cutters, and they also decorated their own starfish cookies!

The birthday girl decorating her starfish cookie!

Each of Kirby's little friends filled their party bags with some lollies and sweets and also took home a little glass jar keepsake. The girls jars were filled with sand and a shell with a pearl on it, as well as a pretty pearl necklace from **CHARMing**. (Michelle also made Kirby and I matching pearl necklaces with our initials on them! They were soo special!!) The boys jars had some burried pirate treasure and a pirate eye patch!

Pearl Necklaces made by Michelle from **CHARMing**

We all had such a wonderful day celebrating our growing girl. I am still trying to get my head around that fact that we now have a 4yr old! Why must they grow so fast?!

Our little birthday girl.
I made Kirby's party outfit; a full length tulle tutu embellished with a satin purple ruffle flower, pearls and some gold sequins, as well as a matching headband!

I'd love to share some other parts of the party prepping with you, so if you'd like to know how to do something, or would the recipe for one of the sweets feel free to comment or email me and I'll get a tutorial up :)

Jodie-Lee
xoxo

** I should mention, it wasn't all sweets and lollies (as much as I think the kids would have loved that!). All the usual party food favourites made an appreance for lunch, and we even made some starfish shaped fairy bread that was a hit with the kids (I didn't managed to get a pic of that :( )

Easter Craft ~ Bunny Art

Here is an easy Easter Craft that is great to hang up around the home or to give as a gift.

You will need:

Part 1.
* Large piece of paper
* Fabric Scraps
* Glue and Paint brush (We used a mixure of PVA with a little water)

Part 2.
* Finished paper with fabric scraps
* Scissors
* Glue Stick
* Pencil
* Bunny Template
* Backing Card
* Photo Frame

This is the part where you can get the kids involved and then transform one art work into another! You don't have to use fabric scraps either; paintings and drawings would work great too and if you've aready started eating some choccies you might have some foil wrappers! (If you've been looking for an excuse to start eating some of those eggs early here it is, hehehe)

Stick fabric scraps to the paper using the glue mixture and brush. Try and make sure that the scraps are glued close together. They don't have to match up, you can even overlap them a little if don't want any gaps at all.

Once the page is all covered let it dry completely. We left it for a few days before starting the second part.

One art work about to be turned into another :)

Once it's all dry you can start the second stage. For this you will need to find a bunny template that you like. I just googled 'bunny template' and searched until I found the one I liked.

Turn the fabric paper over and trace around your bunny shape on to the back. Depending on how big your paper was you may be able to get a few bunny cut outs. We also cut out a few egg shapes too :) Take care when cutting the shapes out and if you are letting your child cut them out please use your judgement and supervise where nessasary.

Now that you have your shapes, cut a piece of coloured card to the size of your photo frame. Using the glue stick, attach the shape the card. Because of how the fabric and glue may have dried it might be a bit bumpy nad hot glue down flat. I found that placing a really heavy book on top of the art work for a little while helped flatten it out :)

Pop it in the frame and ta-da! Bunny art, that can be hung or placed around the house some where for an instant Easter feel! This isn't just for Easter time though, I'm sure it would look great on the wall all year round and the shapes you can make are only limited to your or your childs imagination!!

Ta-Da!

Don't just limit yourself to a bunny in a frame either. We also laminated one and the egg shapes too and made this for sticking on the fridge! A laminated one would also make a great little placemat for breakfast on Easter morning too!! :)

Another master piece for the fridge!

I hope you enjoy this little Easter craft, I'd love to see some pics of your creations!



Jodie-lee
xx

Random Acts of Kindness

oooo I wonder what this is all about...?

Random Act of Kindess....I posted the other day on facebook asking what your thoughts were about them and if you do them. Sometimes they are planned, like giving blood or baking for a friend in need, sometimes they just present themselves in front of you and in the moment that you acted you may have unknowly made someones day just that little bit easier.

I love doing acts of kindness when I can, whether it's by letting someone in front of me at the supermarket, helping someone pick something up off a high shelf in the shops, or watching a friends children so that she can have a bit of time out.

I've also been lucky enough to have people do random acts of kindness for me, like the gentleman who offered to take the baby trolley back to Aldi for me the other day when he saw I was struggling with a screaming newborn and a nagging 3yr old on a hot day. I thanked him over and over as he walked away, little did he know how much that one gesture meant to me.

I have been wanting to return some love to the universe and do my own act of kindness with some Leegirl Pretties. I love the feeling I get when I create something, but what I love even more is sharing that with someone and seeing how much they love it too! Something else I also love is that little buzz you get when an unexpected parcel arrives in the mail, there is nothing like wondering who sent you something and what is it. Seeing a parcel in the mail always makes me smile!

So whats does all this mean and how will it work, I hear you say...?

Will they be hopping to a mail box near you?

There are two parts to my act of kindness.

Firstly, see the pretty jar with the papers in it? On those papers are the names of my lovely customers who have placed orders with me since the start of December last year up until now. I will be drawing out one name and one of the bunnies will be hopping into their letter box! Easy! :)

If the person who recieves the bunny doesn't have a little (or big) someone in their home to love it I would encourage them to perform their own act of kindness and pay it forward. The choice is theirs :)

The second part involves YOU! I want you to tell me who you think deserves a little bunny to hop into their letter box! You can comment here on the blog, under the post that I will pin to the top of the LeegirlPretties facebook page, or you can email me (please rememeber to provide me with your email address so I can contact you).

I will then choose one of the nominees and ask that provide me with their postal address so we can give them the buzz of recieving some unexpected mail that will hopefully brighten their day a little. (This means that you will have to keep the person you nominate a secret! I won't be telling who nominated them either!)

You will need to be quick though! You have until 8pm Thursday (21st March) to nominate someone so that I can get it in the post and hopefully to them before Easter :)

I will not be annoucing who the bunnies are going to because it would ruin the surprise. If that person contacts me and is happy for me to share I will, if not, it will just be my little secret. :)

So 'HOP' to it! ;)

Jodie-Lee 
xx

***please note, this is only open to Australian residents. Any information given is solely for the purpose of our Random Act of Kindness and will not be shared or forwarded on to any 3rd parties.

Bee My Valentine

As soon as one celebration is over the next one is sure not to be too far away....and I have definitely seen that with the whole 'hot cross buns and Easter eggs' out right after Christmas!! (Its just crazy!)

But the celebration I'm taking about here is to celebrate LOVE! Yes, Valentines Day is soon approching and cupids arrow will be going crazy.

It has never been something that we've gone all out on (we have a wedding anniversary for that ;) ), but rather celebrated by having a special home cooked dinner and sharing the time together. Every day should be a day where you tell the people you love that you LOVE them!

I have designed two Valentines Day ranges this year that will be available for purchase via PDF files. As much as I love to design and make ready made products for you all, I have decided to do it this way because of our little bundle of joy that we are STILL waiting for to arrive; and I figure I may be a bit pre-occupied for a little while ;)

Here are the sneak peeks of the two designs....

   

But before I reveal what has been created I thought I would share how much I LOVE all of YOU for supporting me! Yes YOU!! ;)

I have designed a little Valentines Day printable so you can all create some mini chocolate bars for the ones you love! These would also be great for the kids to share with there kindy or school friends...and as you'll see I'm a little in love with the chevron print (as seen above it is part of the V'day range!)

But the best thing about these.... they are a FREEBIE!! :D All you have to do is send me an email (leegirlpretties@hotmail.com) and I will send you the file so you can print, cut and create! :) 

(I recommend using the Aldi mini chocolate bars, but if you prefer Cadbury Furry Friends they should fit the same wrapper)

So will you Bee My Valentine??

Jodie-Lee xx

Alfies Adventures Have Come to an End...for now ;)

I know I am a tad late in this update, but with Christmas and New Year done and dusted I thought I'd share with you all the rest of Alfie Snowflakes adventures.

Taking a ride on the caterpillar;
riding a reindeer while wearing Kirby dancing medal she got the night before;
 raming down the reindeer lego house;
hanging around with the balloons I was given on my last night of work.

Getting ready to make Reindeer food!!

Counting down the sleeps with the babushka twins;
Getting into some mischief with the wrapping supplies;
christmas baking time...yummm!; hanging in the stockings.

Alfie came to Kmart with us to drop off some presents for the Wishing Tree.

MOVIE TIME!

Sneaking some milk and cookies!

Sitting in Kirbys new bike! :)

Alfie was given leave and allowed to stay with us for a special Christmas morning breakfast before going home to the North Pole!

After Christmas Day Kirby had a bit of trouble understanding that Alfie wasn't coming back for a while, so after posting about it on Facebook, I decided to get Alfie to write Kirby a little letter explaining where she had gone and that she would be popping in now and again to keep an eye on her.

Alfie's little card to Kirby.

But Alfie still had one surprise up her sleeve...my wonderful friend Gab from Gabrielle Skye ~ Design & Photography put together this image so that Kirby had a visual aide to help her understand where Alfie had gone. (thank you so much again Gab!! Your too wonderful!!)

She got a wonderful surprise when she turned the ipod on and found Alfie and Santa looking back at her :)

We enjoyed having Alfie stay with us so much that even I have had to adjust to not seeing her pop up here and there. She will definitely be coming back to stay with us next Christmas and she will be popping up around the place through out the year, just to keep Kirby on her toes ;)


Stay Prettie

Jodie-Lee xx