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Its a wonderful place that shares high quality information, to assist and support members in their crafting endeavours; including the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, packaging and selling of their products, as well as the use of social media, online tools and industry networking.



I've just contributed a little article I wrote about Packaging your way to success!




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Hope your having a sunshiny weekend!

oh my!



Thanks to Sarah @ a beach cottage 
I am now an admirer of another amazing blog 
full of gorgeous dreamy images 




enjoy!

This Saturday I'm grateful for... smeary petroleum jelly.


Here in Maxabellaland, Saturday is traditionally a sport, shop, sort the clothes, sweep the floors, strangle the Tsunamis (insert other 's' words here - no pun intended) kinda day. But on Maxabella loves... I thought it would be grounding to make Saturday my 'grateful' day.


This Saturday I'm grateful for...

1. My colleagues. They make me laugh. We have more 'in jokes' than an episode of Desperate Housewives. We probably have more metaphorical serial killers to dodge as well.

2. Vaseline. It's such a good old fashioned staple and I don't know how anyone gets kids through cold, windy weather without it. It just smears so well and little faces shine with love and happiness (note: this could just be the Vaseline.)

3. The A4 page that accompanied Maxi-Taxi's school report and explained, mostly, what the hell was going on with all those ticks and all those boxes and all those woooords. We think he's doing okay. We think.

What are you grateful for today?

Clarke & Clarke

Athena fabric by Clarke & Clarke

Bird trail fabric by Clarke & Clarke

Bird trail fabric by Clarke & Clarke

Bird trail fabric by Clarke & Clarke







Beach huts fabric by Clarke & Clarke





In my recent post pretty fabrics and finds for outdoor living I featured the lovely Bird Trail fabric from Clarke & Clarke. I adore the pretty birds and butterflies adorning the delicate floral print and I am also loving their cute coastal style print, Beach Huts. So, I thought I would share some more lovely images from them and a little bit about them.



Clarke & Clarke is a British family-run business based in Lancashire and is internationally recognized as one of the leaders in the world of home fashion. Their style ranges from classic to contemporary and they do a range of high quality fabrics and wall coverings.



Have a sweet day!

Friday Favorites

While I still nibble on bunny cookies from Indi's party last weekend here are my Friday Favorites for this week - a collection of things that seem appropriate in my life at the moment!

Cozy Feet by the fireplace (we have had a cold week!)

A perfect outdoor dessert table

Say no more ...

My three dolls


More macaroons

Warm flat bread straight from the oven

Layered jelly
Tutorial here via JaeBellz

Beautiful flowers similar to the ones from the wedding we attended last week

Striped back drops (I am still searching)

Pretty Baby Girl Dresses

Love for all around

Have a wonderful weekend everyone

Leanne

Things I learnt this week including how to raise a graffiti artist

I've just had one of those weeks that fly by in a haze of 'what tha?' Out of that haze, comes my learnings for the week that was...

1. No matter how meticulously you plan, something will always go wrong.

2. Learning to write letters correctly is easier on a vertical surface. Let your children practice with their index finger on frosted morning windows or in the shower after wiping shaving foam on the glass. It's loads of fun and it's easier to see the way they are forming the letters and help them get it right (especially if they are writing on your bedroom window on Sunday morning and you are still conveniently lying in bed.) Please note, I take no responsibility if your cherub runs with this idea and starts tagging your neighbourhood.

3. A colonoscopy is performed while the patient lies on their left side.

4. The lyrics to Nancy Sinatra's Sugar Town begin "I got some troubles but they won't last / I'm gonna lay right down here in the grass / And pretty soon all my troubles will pass / 'cause I'm in shoo-shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo-shoo / Shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo Sugar Town." Or, if you're Cappers, "shoe-shoe, shoe-shoe, shoe-shoe Booger down."

An aside: this reminds me of The Badoo earlier in the week. She had a little something on her nose which I reached over to brush off. She said "No, I get it" and promptly stuck the finger in, pulled out a glob of snot and handed it to me. Ah, The Badoo.

5. "Childhood is that wonderful time of life when all you need to do to lose weight is take a bath." Richard Zera. I know this quotable quote isn't strictly a learning, but I just love it.

6. OCD* affects 2 to 3 per cent of people in Australia at some time in their lives.

7. Roses not only need a sunny spot and lots of food, they need air flow to survive. This is why my roses never really 'took off' (read: dropped all their leaves, glared accusingly at me and started to shrivel.) Darren, our new gardener (that sounds so Maxabella of the Manor - really, he's popping in for a few hours each month because I have no idea what I'm doing despite telling everyone I meet that I love gardening and am an excellent gardener) has moved the roses to a new airflowy spot. I'll keep you posted.

8. If you break one of the ten commandments you need to give God a lamb. A "nice, big, juicy lamb." (Thank you, Maxi-Taxi)

9. Most kitchens have more germs on the counter tops than in the average toilet. This is due to failure to sanitise the dish rag after every clean, resulting in the spreading of harmful bacteria from one end of the kitchen to the other. You can sanitise the dish rag either by using disinfectant or by wetting it and microwaving it on high for two minutes. Allow to cool before picking it up (the article didn't actually say that, but I thought I should add it after an incident that occurred in Maxabellaland on Tuesday evening at approximately 8 o'clock.)

10. If you don't like clutter, don't buy it in the first place.


* Disclaimer: this learning is in no way related to my own bed leaping antics or other random behaviours as confessed shared by commenters on my post earlier in the week. However, if at any time you feel you need help, please go here. We won't look.

[Image by Banksy]

It's Flog your Blog Friyay!

Thanks to Brenda at Mummy-time, we all get the opportunity to check out each others' blogs and give a little love. You know what a blog junkie I am - FYBF is my fix!