shop talk wednesday: tween polka

I had to do an extra post today, even though it is getting close to the end of the day! I am receiving the tween POLKA range tomorrow and it is loaded on Little Pinwheel. Seriously it is hot! The range is from 8-14 year olds and cool enough to make your tween happy with you buying them some winter clothes.

You can buy these pieces now from Little Pinwheel! I am personally into black, grey and white and this range is very much my style..... oh to be a tween again; (back in my day we were known as teens, but now it has this "cool" element to the teenage years)!

shop talk wednesday: three little trees

It has been a very busy week at Little Pinwheel with the launch of the new site and the arrival of Three Little Trees.

Firstly a huge thank you for all the lovely emails and comments on the blog about the new site and the new look blog. I really value all the comments I have received and I am very happy that Little Pinwheel had a makeover.

The Three Little Trees range arrived on monday and with a lot of pre orders it was a very busy day packing and sorting through the winter stock. I am especially in love with the hazel top as it has the cutest bunny print all over it, just perfect for Easter! Layered with the poppy tights it makes for a great outfit this winter.

For the boys I cannot go past the kai tracksuit set. This style was the sell out style last winter with its original and unique zip on the hoodie that does up at the back. Super comfy and very cool for the boys.

Over the weekend Taj did some modeling for the Polka summer 2010 range and I can only tell you that it is fun, bright and very POLKA! I also promised to share some photos of Taj in this seasons Polka, which I ordered especially for him.

Next week's shop talk will be a special one with it being Little Pinwheel's first birthday! Great day for a party!

nursery ideas: the little kidz closet

With a very busy week last week and no time to really stop by and say hi, I decided to do a bit of retail therapy in between deep etching and loading more stock onto the new little pinwheel website.

I am considering, seriously considering putting the little ones in the same room really soon. So off I went surfing for some new linen for both of them. I recently bought the apple print sheet set for Taj from The Little Kidz Closet and I love it. So that is where I started in my search for more decor for their space. I am also thinking I might buy Keely a bunk bed. This will allow her to have her friends stay over and also gives me the "big" bed for Taj when he is ready to move from his cot.

When I went shopping I came up with a whole look that would be fabulous if you were having a new bub. I never knew that they had so many things to help you set up your nursery. I have put some images together of what I would be buying if I had a little one on the way. I am loving the Antons Lane linen, it is organic cotton and this print is fun!

garden grow wall prints, garden grow sheet set, aerial cot, zzzoolight, storytime rocker, awesome book

As I am now looking for the room to be more their space and not a nursery I found the fabulous Zzzoolights, which are cute, but have that funky element too. I could quite easily have one in my space!

Drop by later this week to see other lovely things I have found for their space. I am so determined to do this. The reason why I am a bit slow in putting them in the same room is due to Taj still waking in the night and the fear of him waking Keely. Plus I had Keely wake every night up until she was just over 2, and that is enough to make me feel scared. I know I have to get over the fear and hit this head on. I am someone who likes to be prepared, so setting up in my head what I am going to buy and going out and doing it and then helping them create a safe and fun space is the way I am starting to face my fear! I am also building up the energy to go through nights where I might have to have both of them upset at the same time. Yes, I know I am a chicken, but watch this space as I am going to do it.....plus have no choice now I have told you all that I am "seriously" considering the big move.

craft monday: egg decorating

It is that time of year again where the bunny ears come out, the chocoholics are in heaven, (that's me), the Easter hat parades are on, and out comes the craft ideas for the little ones. This year I thought it would be good if Keely did something that they were not going to do at pre school. They were making Easter baskets, which were completed on Friday. They are big! Seriously last year they were half the size. I am sure a chocoholic came up with this years design for the little ones!

I decided it would be fun to do painted eggs this year. I had memories of painting them as a child and having such fun coloured eggs in our fridge. I looked up a few ways of doing them on the internet and thought I would give the blowing the yolk out method a try. I had 4 eggs to work with. So when I was successfully, well thought I was successfully, blowing out the yolk, it decided to break on me. I was so close to getting all of the yolk out and I was being very gentle. Keely just laughed at me with raw egg all over my hands.

Out came the pot and the water. Yes, I decided to do it the easy way and boil the 3 eggs we had left. This in the end was such an easier method and really why even bother trying to blow out the yolk when you only have 4 eggs to work with. This might be something you can try when you have a dozen up your sleeve!

Once the eggs were boiled and cooled out came the paints and Keely got working on her eggs. She gave me one to paint. But I must admit in the end hers looked so much better then mine and sometimes I think some things just need to be left to the kids to do! Her eggs are colourful and have so much character. One of them even has a happy face!

The whole process of making the painted eggs is fun with the little ones. Keely got to watch the egg cook, paint it and now she gets to play with three colourful eggs. She has the best imagination, so they have been walking around the house for the whole weekend.

This week we will be making Keely's Easter bonnet for her parade at pre school. I cannot wait to share it with you.... I hope our idea works!

la petite e-magazine

La Petite is an e-magazine full of creativity, imagination, and inspiration for the little one’s. Launching this week!

I love everything Rachelle from Kenziepoo does, so I personally cannot wait to have a read. Hop on over to her blog tomorrow to have a look at La Petite.

silent saturday

I hope you all have a lovely weekend planned. I am taking this cheeky girl to our local fair tomorrow along with Taj. Last year we went, but I was unable to take Keely on the big yellow slide as I had a very little Taj then and didn't think it was wise to go down with him in the carrier and her on my lap. Although I am sure it would have been interesting. I know it will be tomorrow with Taj and Keely both on my lap. Oh, how I hope they have the slide there as that is all Keely can talk about! We also have the Polka shoot in the city for their Summer 2010 range and Taj is modeling. Keely is coming along to help him, she is being his agent!

Today we are making our eggs for Easter..... pop back on Monday to see what we did.

enjoy!

the new little pinwheel is live!

Now I am happy! The site is live and I am loving it. I hope you all do too! How could you not with the makeover launch having four Keelys and one very happy Taj holding the new pinwheel. Anyway too excited to write, so pop on over and have a look and let me know what you think.

enjoy!

changes!

Hi all, if you haven't already noticed there are a few changes to the blog! Not many, but it gives you a little idea of what is to come with the new look Little Pinwheel. Come back today as you just might see what has been going on! I cannot wait to share it all with you; it has been a fun ride, lots of late nights, chocolate, wine and square eyes! For now.... here is my lovely new logo designed by the divine Miss S from Style Me Gorgeous.

the happy dance

When I think about happiness and what that means to me, I think about dreams and living them. For me to be happy I need to have dreams and strive towards making them reality. With having little ones I can also have their dreams become my happiness. It is a lovely balance.

I was recently asked why I am so happy. How could I be with a huge life decision. One that has altered my future and my children's future. When you get asked questions like this it really does tap into your heart and make you really think at to why you do wear a smile on your face. Why you do walk around with a little dance in your step. I asked myself this question and the answer I came up with is that I actually like myself. I really enjoy being me. I love all that I am doing in my life; my business brings me so much happiness, my children.....wow don't make me start there as I will just cry; they are a happiness that is beyond any words. How can you write what my love for my children is in happiness?

Have you ever thought about your happiness and if you are really happy? What does make you happy? I know I have simple pleasures in life that make me happy. I am happy when my feet are in the sand and I can go for a swim. The feeling of floating on the water or even just letting yourself be taken with the force of a wave. I am happy when I have my iced coffee in my hand, or a hot coffee after a cool swim. I am happy when I see my children laughing and loving everything that is around them. I am happy when my children come up to me and give me a cuddle, without asking for one. I am happy when I spend time with my friends, even a simple email or phone tag messages from friends that are busy....it makes me happy just to know they are there, even if we don't talk all the time, just to knowing they will always be there. I am happy when I think about my mum, when I have memories of our life together and when she comes and visits me in a dream; it is like she has never left. (How I wish I had the power to dream about her every night)!

Today I am happy for just being me, for all the things around me that make me who I am from my children, to my friends, to my sisters, to my brother who is trying so hard to make a fresh start, to the thought of a father, to my business that is about to finish its makeover and turn one, to the customers that take the time to email me and say hi, (hi!), to the blog for being my outlet to just be open and be me without any fear, to the memory of my mum and the feeling of her being part of me now..... I am happy!

craft monday: drawing hearts

I know I am here again, it is late, but I am here! I told you I might just pop by and to be honest I miss writing and sharing things. I am also a bit sick of loading the stock onto the new website. Although I am excited at the same time as I cannot wait to show it off and also change the blog to match it!

This week as I am doing this post at the last minute, (only 45 minutes left for craft monday), I thought I would share a picture Keely drew during the week at pre school last week. She is excited that she can draw hearts and when she told me this picture was for me I was very happy!

The use of every colour under the rainbow, the love heart wings on her fairy, the big love heart and all the little hearts make this such a beautiful picture. Plus there is nothing like receiving the first picture where they learn how to draw new things.

Goodnight! I am not sure if I will be here tomorrow, you never know! I do have a lot on my mind to share, but also still have a lot of work to do.

silent saturday

I know I cannot help myself, I wasn't meant to be here, but I had to share this beautiful photo of Taj from this morning. He picked me flowers....too cute to not share. I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

one year & a new little pinwheel

Some of you, if not all of you would know that Little Pinwheel is having a makeover and soon to launch a whole new website. The design and logo have been finished and now it is the big job of loading all the stock on to the new site. Due to this being a really big job and there being some outside pressure I am having to put my blog on hold for a few days. I will still be here! I am having to dedicate all my spare time to getting my new site on the air!

I thought while I am away for the next few days you might like to have a look back through the blog. There are some different posts you may never have read. It is interesting how the blog started and it being close to a year you can see how far I have come in the last year as a business, a mother and also a blogger. Enjoy the ride, I know I have for the past 12 months!

I look forward to catching up soon. I may pop in at times, but don't want to promise and then let you all down. Have fun reading some of the old posts! I look forward to showing you the new little pinwheel!

take care!

my ear infection

Last night I was in so much pain with my virus spreading to my ears. It brought back so many childhood nightmares of ear infections and the pain I went through back then. I have found a new respect for my son and what he goes through each time he has an ear infection. To be honest, and I don't know if I am being a really big sook, but I don't know how he does it. I struggled to get through the pain.

I did have antibiotics I was given when I went to see my doctor, but only took them for one day. I know what you might be thinking, deserves me right for not following through with the medicine I was given, but I did have good reason to stop taking them. When I was hit with a truck on friday, not literally, but it felt like it, I went to a local doctor as my doctor was on a conference all week. I am not a fan of this doctor as he was the one I took my mum to see days before she passed away. With this in the back of my head I was not happy with being another number, spending 2 minutes in his office with a script for an antibiotic. He only took the time to look in my throat and tell me I had an infection; I could have told him that, and then he listened to my chest and said I needed asthma medication again. That was it and I was out the door. Maybe if he looked in my ears he would have seen they were red and I was at the beginning of an ear infection. But now I am only speculating as I do not like him.

I do not like him for letting my mum walk out of his office with swelling in her legs and feet, which I was later told in emergency should have made that doctor realise she was having liver problems again. This is a big sign. My mum was unfortunately one of those people that took an antibiotic that had a side effect. She was that one in one million chance of having liver damage. You probably don't even think they exist, but my mum was one of them. She lived with this for a few years until 3 years ago when she caught a gastro bug that was going around at the nursing home she was working at. It didn't take long and my mum was really sick. We lost days just from going to see him, which now I know were precious days and moments. Days that should have been spent with her in hospital getting better. But he missed it, spent the time to send mum off to get blood tests. The tests that he would have known the results for. Why did he waste time?

These are questions I will never know the answers to, unless I push for it to go further, but I don't have the strength and it won't bring mum back. There are many questions I do not know the answers to. This is a passing I will never really understand. All I know is I lost her too quick and it was so unexpected. To find my mum as sick as she was is something I wish I could wipe from my memory. No one should ever have to find their mum like I did.

I have gone completely off my ears! I quite like the way writing from your heart can bring out so many other words that obviously need to come out. The written word is wonderful, made me forget about my pain for a little while! Plus now you know a little more about me and why I go to see a natural doctor.

shop talk wednesday: POLKA is here!

I thought as this blog is about my online store it was time to make a weekly column dedicated to just the shop itself. Every wednesday I will share something to do with Little Pinwheel so you can keep up to date with all the threads for the little people. This week I am kicking it off with Polka and that is because it took over my life yesterday and most of today, but this afternoon I am going to put those feet in the sand and go for a swim! I know there will be a lot of happy customers today opening up their stock that they pre ordered!

Polka has officially entered the building and I am personally very excited! This winter is amazing, the knitwear is colourful and fantastic. We have had the whole unit covered in Polka and Keely has helped me so much with counting the stock, packing all the pre orders and then modeling it all for me. She has a lot of the Polka for herself this winter and so does Taj.... it is easy to see why!

I promise to share some pics of Taj too, but for now you can see his fabulous images from when he was a little one doing the modeling for Polka.

You can order all the winter Polka now in store! There are lovely boy's clothes too!

my sister

Today I would love to share a beautiful photo of my biological sister.....she is beautiful, isn't she! My sister is 12 and has just started high school this year. The first time we met she was only 2, and wow has she grown into a gorgeous young lady; she was a very cute toddler too!

We are just getting to know each other, but I love her so much; I love her as my sister.

craft monday: the colour pink

This week I was going to do some craft that was related to Easter, but I thought I might do that another week, a bit closer to the date. Plus Keely has had chicks at her pre school all week hatching from their eggs, and they have been doing things that relate to Easter. I will share some of their projects that they do over the next week or two and hopefully give you some inspiration for some craft that you can do with your little ones.

The craft this week was all about a colour theme and it all started from a simple cupcake that I bought Keely when I went to the shops. The cupcake was iced in her two favourite colours, pink and purple. When I showed her that I bought her a treat and she could eat it while we did our craft she said she would like to do a picture with all pink and purple in it. Ironically Keely was wearing her pink petti skirt and her pink wing top, so she was already dressed for the theme herself.

Out came the last piece of foam core, our craft box, the pink paint, glue and the sticky tape. Keely was adorable! She was telling me this whole story about her pink picture and how she was going to make it hers and that I could just watch her put it all together. I did help a little, but this was her thing, her love of pink and her imagination.

I find working with a colour to be a fun project, you can do so much with it and use any medium. We didn't venture to the magazines and cut anything out, but I am sure this is something you could do when working with colours. You could even go outside and see what you can find exploring the garden to stick on their colour picture. It could even be as simple as getting out the paint or pencils and drawing what they would like in their chosen colour, or an object or thing that is in that colour.

We have so much in our craft box we were pretty organised with a craft project for the week, even though we only came up with the theme right there and then. I helped show Keely that red was an element of pink and she could use different shades of pink and the red. I found it interesting how her gathered materials had one yellow flower and then her finished piece had one yellow butterfly, but the flower was never used. She said she loved the yellow butterfly and she wanted to have her on her picture.

I already have some ideas for Keely next week, I am thinking the next few weeks will be inspired by Easter to give you all some great ideas for the holidays and for you to have that time to spend with your little ones; craft is a great time to watch your little people.

enjoy!

silent saturday on a friday!

Well I can say this is the first time I have felt so sick to not even be able to put one of my regular blog posts together. So today I am leaving you with an image, a lovely weekend message, and this mumma is going to go and get better for her two little people. See you all again on Monday!

itch throws a party

When I heard Jodi from Itch was planning the best birthday party, I had to put my hand up to have it featured on my blog. Itch is such a fun, creative and graphical brand that I knew Jodi would throw a fabulous 6th birthday party for her daughter, Jali. I asked Jodi to give us a run down on the party, so now I hand it over to Jodi!

Theme:

The theme of Jali's Party was a whimsical garden tea party inspired by alice in wonderland. The decorations were a mixture of polka dot and plain coloured lanterns, colourful streamers, flowers, cones filled with lollies and candy hanging from the trees with brightly coloured ribbons. I handmade poles to stick in the garden beds with teacups, butterflies, ride on horses and curling ribbon. Of course there were lots of multi coloured bunches of balloons with curling ribbon and some balloon garlands to set the theme. Face painting was intended but I just simply was so busy I ran out of time.

The highlight of the event was when I made them all pink fairy floss on sticks - they're little eyes nearly popped out of their heads - very alice in wonderland ;)

The Table:

The table was the highlight of the party decorated meticulously with thing such as 50's style glass ice cream cups filled with coloured marshmallows and jam biscuits and eat me tags tied around them, paper boats filled with musk sticks, paper cones filled with popcorn which spilled onto the table, tea cups and saucers filled with musk drops and caterpillar lollies, playing cards, fabric flowers, colourful curling ribbon bunches and cupcake wrappers filled with lollies, pinwheels and paper fans, little stripey flags stuck into the tops and pink paper dollies. Pastry wrapped hotdogs, mini jam croissants, strawberry shortcake, banana lollies, chuppa chups, pink lemonade. Just to name a few!! It was hard work and lots of planning but I think it was worth it :)

Games:

Pass the parcel

Treasure hunt

Sack Race

Pin the tail on the unicorn

Pinata

Cake:

Handmade by the mummy herself the cake was a giant 3d cupcake in Jali's favourite colours. It had a slight lean but I feel that added to the playfulness of the party overall ;)

The Party Bags:

The white paper bags were filled with goodies such as chocolates, fans, pinwheels, musk sticks, playing cards, novelty erasers, musk drops lipstick lollipops, a coloured pencil, spiderweb cupcake wrappers, a heart dollie, balloons, soft coloured feathers, a camera, bouncy balls and stickers. They were sealed with a section cut out of one of Jali's favourite golden books ('I can fly'), a swingtag with a drawing or a stamp and finished off with a coloured ribbon and curled ribbon.

The kids all had a great time, some of the extraordinarily planned out details went passed their heads LOL but most of them said that it was the best and prettiest party they had ever been too!! Words like fantastic, beautiful, amazing and bizarre were some words thrown around which pleased me immensely :)

people watching wednesday

I have come to the last week of my people watching, I cannot believe it has been 5 weeks! I have decided todays people watching is one that I enjoy the most, one that brings me an incredible amount of joy and love. This is the people watching you do the most when you are a parent, the one that you just cannot help but do.... watching our children.

There is not a moment in the day where I stop watching Keely and Taj. They amaze me with every thing they do. From Keely drawing a mouse in the sand yesterday and how proud she was to show me her mouse, to just watching her be her. The happiness she feels when she does anything creative, when she plays with her barbies, (she has that many and is completely obsessed; they are in bed with her some nights), to watch her play with her brother, to watch her body language and her expressions with everyday life. She does not stop making her mum proud!

Taj is a completely different child to Keely, he is a very "go with the flow" person. I am not sure if this is a second child thing, or if it is just him. I really love watching how he soaks up everything around him. He is the biggest sponge at his age! The best thing about watching Taj is the fact he is a boy and the difference between Keely and him at the same age is amazing. It is something that will always make me wonder; is it to do with him being the second child, the fact he is a boy, or just part of him and the way he is built. Just yesterday he decided that poking his tongue out when I was kissing him goodnight was a fun game. He would then point at my mouth and once I stuck my tongue out he would giggle uncontrollably until he would then poke his tongue out again. This game went on for 5 minutes! Just the simple things are enjoyable to watch and be part of.

For those of you who are parents I am sure if you do not people watch in any other way, which has been discussed in the last 5 weeks, I am sure you do a lot of people watching with your children.

Take the time to sit or stand back and watch them. I am sure you will be the same as I am and be completely in love with everything they are doing, even when they are being naughty! They have to let off their frustrations, it may not be in ways that we agree with, but it is interesting to see how they cope with their anger and fears. Even to watch a newborn baby, a toddler, a little person, a teenager, or an adult is beautiful. I was told a few years ago by a father that he is still amazed at the things his daughter does, she was 21. I know myself that I continued to do things that would make my mum proud of me. I guess it is something that we do. That is why our children are the best people to watch; you never stop being proud.

my inspirational reads.....school is out!

Today marks the final day of my Blogging Your Way Course. So today I am a little sad, but excited at the same time. I know what direction I am taking my blog in and the changes I will be making to have this happen. There are already changes you would have noticed, with regular weekly columns, adding a new about me and also updating my profile image. We are growing up at Little Pinwheel and it will be an exciting year ahead.

So what did Blogging Your Way teach me.... I am not going to tell you, you will have to do the course if you are a blogger or a lover of writing! You will see over time what I have learnt. I know personally I have become a more confident writer, I enjoy it a lot more to put pen to paper while I am also enjoying some me time, and I enjoy knowing that there are so many of you coming along for the ride. I know it is a little different to have a blog connected to an online store that is so open, but it is what I have wanted all along. I like the feeling of my customers buying from me and not their computers. Plus I think it is nice to share my life as a mum, and show you how someone else might live...people watching me!

What can I share from my 7 weeks at my desk and working hard? I can share with you my five new blogs I like to now read. These 5 blogs are an inspiration and most of all are a great place to sit and enjoy your cup of tea.

My first read and one blog I have to make a very special introduction is Frau Heuberg, a blog about a mother, writer, lover of art and craft and one of the lovely creative heads behind frauheuberg. It is a blog with several creatives working on the construction of their own small label for handmade treasure.

A blog full of inspiration....what more could you need! So why am I adding Ines's blog to my list of reads, because she is the kindest, most encouraging lady that was in our class room. There is always one person in your class that just shines and she was that person to me. Her blog reflects so much of her..... it is interesting, fun and amazing! I love creative things and Frau Heuberg is all that and more. Go say hi to Ines, have a cup of tea with her and check out her fun Swap posts; you never know you might be the person who would like to Swap!

I adore this image Ines has on her blog!

My 4 other blogs I am reading and being inspired by are;

simple blue print - creative, inspiring and lovely discoveries

life through a lens - mother, newbie photographer, sharer of beautiful things

mamutopia - obsessed with clouds (living on one), creative and fun!

big print little - illustrator, beautiful writer and inspiring

I hope you will find inspiration and new discoveries within these blogs. They are all inspirational and are 5 of my new reads. I have many more of course, and I will share these with you during the next few months. There is always new places to visit and this is why I love the blogging world so much. You can connect with so many people and collect inspiration and get lost within the wonders of other writers.

enjoy!