Jikana Damaru: 06/30/10

My Creative Space...

is all wrapped up and on its way to the lovely Mandy in Ocean Grove. I finally got my act together and made my swap items for the Contemporary Handmade Alliance Craft Swap!

Have you posted yours off yet?

A BIG thankyou to Mandy who sent me the most perfect swap gift - a stunning Fabric Head wrap (which I'm wearing right now) and a wrist cuff.

Mandy is the talent behind BOB&MABEL - a lovely line filled with unique vintage fabric clothes and accessories - you can see them in here Madeit shop here.

Check out what everyone else is working on today at Kootoyoo!

Maxabella and the Versatile Blogger Award

My lovely blogger friend Jodie at Mummy Mayhem has passed on The Versatile Blogger award to me. Cue happy dance. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I confess, I don't know much about the blog awards that I see here and there. Where did they come from? Who makes the rules? Why are there so many? But, as part of the The Versatile Blogger award, I'm to share 7 things about myself and direct you to 5 wonderful blogs that I love from bloggers who are new to my site.

Let's face it, we're all new to Maxabellaland and I've been enjoying so many fellow blogs that I'm thinking of starting up a chapter of Bloggers Anon. Especially as I'm such a commenter (is that a word? Commentator? Comment maker? Nevermind...) I just can't seem to read some of the fantastic stuff out there and not share. So I apologise that everywhere you go in blogworld, Maxabella seems to have an opinion about it.

But, I digress.

Five blogs I just love and visit every day are:

Not Waving, But Ironing (to be honest, I'm not sure NWBI has actually ever visited my blog, but I'm Number One Stalker on her site)

Life in a Pink Fibro (brilliant writing about things that make you go 'yes, yes, ah, yes')

Pink Patent Mary-Janes (little bit of this, little bit of that, it's like having coffee with your bestie)

Woogsworld (Laugh? I almost broke out an emoticon)

And then there were four (An honest slice of life and MultipleMum has a great turn of phrase)

And seven things you never wanted to know about me but I'm going to tell you anyway are:

1. I never brush my hair. Until my girls came along, I hadn't owned a hairbrush since 1988.

2. I secretly loathe Lady Gaga but pretend to like her so my gay colleagues think I'm cool.

3. I quite liked fashion in my youth, but these days I so can't be bothered that I would love it if everyone on the planet had to wear the same uniform every single day. I feel this approach would also solve the global warming crisis, abolish child labour in the Philippines and possibly end the reign of terror in Afghanistan. I would make the uniform beige corduroy just because I enjoy the thought of smarmy fashionistas being forced to wear beige corduroy (and because couduroy is a rather funny word).

4. I am a compulsive pleaser. For example, from year seven until year twelve I made school lunches for myself and my three siblings (vegemite or pb sandwiches, cheese and an apple, thanks for asking) because I wanted to be a good mother on behalf of my actual mother (who was a great mother but apparently not a great sandwich maker).

5. I think typing BWAHAHAHA makes you look like a (possibly laughing) twit and typing 'nom nom nom' or 'noms' for food appreciation is slightly abhorrent.

6. I often lie awake at night wondering why I am lying awake at night wondering.

7. My pin number is 85921.

Thank you and good night.

Trine Thorsen

I am always looking out for inspirational pics, from cute cakes to gorgeous interiors! On a recent search I came across the wonderful Trine Thorsen, a Norwegian photographer whose beautiful images are exquisite and full of eye candy.

She also has a blog, So mee, where you can find even more of her delightful pics. I could spend hours looking at them all!

Have a sweet day!

A Special Treat

The lovely folks at Kidspot Baby Club sent over a whole boxful of Johnson & Johnson products to test out and tell you all about them.

As you can see my little girl got right into them and had lots of fun opening the bottles and checking out how they smelt.

(After these photos were taken and while I wasn't watching I found her covering her own 'little baby' in one of the creams - Lou said she was making her dolly all pretty)

Now, a couple of the items are already regulars in this household - I have used both their babywipes and bedtime bath ever since Louise was born. The wipes for their texture, smell and size - LOVE THEM and the bedtime bath really does have a wonderfully soothing smell and leaves Lou's skin feeling so soft and clean.

I also have always LOVED the Baby Conditioning Shampoo - its got this nostalgic smell for me - my mum must have used on us, besides Lou HATES getting her hair washed so only having to go through the process once is a big plus for me.

I had never tried any of the soothing naturals range (the green bottles) and I ♥ a good moisturiser. I get dry skin in the Winter so I've kept these ones for me :) Its got a great smell, soaks in well without leaving you with that 'all greased up' feeling. The bottle is a nice size too, so fits into my handbag without feeling like I'm carrying a bowling ball around.

~Lets hope Lou's baby isn't too upset I've borrowed the creams~

Thank you Kidspot Baby Club we have enjoyed your box of goodies and don't forget check them out here or for facebookers here's a quick link to their page.