Finding joy in the everyday

Firstly, thankyou to everyone who participated in this giveaway — it was excellent to see so many enthusiastic people.  I know you are all waiting to see who won . ..   Congratulations to Theresa   who requested the lovely pencil case.  If you are still interested in any of the options I listed, please contact Clara as she loves custom orders, her work is lovely and the costs are affordable. I particular like those tea towels, they really do jazz up the kitchen, especially when you can personalise them to suite your colour scheme and style.  A special thankyou to Clara for making this giveaway happen. She is a busy mum, wife and homeschooler but still has the time and energy to sew. 

FINAL REMINDER . . . FINAL REMINDER. .. FINAL REMINDER Don't forget the fabulous giveaway I have running this week — if you have (O'dear I hope you haven't), click on  LINK  and go check it out.  You don't want to miss out.  Open to the entire world!!! Yes, everyone, in every corner of this planet — including the penguins in the Antarctic, the polar bears in the arctic, lions and tigers in Africa and the sloths of Costa Rica and you too :) * Closing date: 18th April  * (Aust. time)  

Don't forget the fabulous giveaway I have running this week — if you have (O'dear I hope you haven't), click on LINK and go check it out.  You don't want to miss out.  Open to the entire world!!! Yes, everyone, in every corner of this planet — including the penguins in the Antarctic    and the polar bears in the arctic. * Closing date: 18th April  * (Aust. time)  

To celebrate Autumn its time to do another  GIVEAWAY  and this one is cool!!! My dear cousin Clara, a stay-at-home mum, homeschooler and a brilliant seamstress will be making the winning giveaway and I think you will love the options!!! Instructions: 1.  In this giveaway you will be selecting one of the options below (and there are five to select from) and a custom order will be made just for you. 2. You will be able to talk directly with Clara and she will make the item to your specifications (within reason). 3. You will be able to choose your own fabric and colour and for some options, the particular style you would like.  4. You must leave a comment on my blog (with contact details - blog or email) with a nice friendly comment and which option you would like to win. 5. AND you need to pop over to Clara's page and LIKE her Facebook page too: LINK   (her Ad is on my sidebar "Claradan and Co") 6. This giveaway to open to everyon...

THE WINNERS OF THE ANIMAL BLANKIE GIVE-AWAY ARE Katy from " The Country Blossom " and Kgate And to make it even more exciting, Katy wanted Harriet the Happy Hippo and Kgate wanted Daisy Dog!! Couldn't have worked out better.  CONGRAULATIONS Thankyou so much for entering, I do hope your new friend brings many hours of enjoyment! Thankyou so much for participating in this giveaway and for taking the time to visit Bet's boutique. I might run another giveaway a little closer to Christmas.  *****

I love supporting home-based businesses and over the next few months I will be doing just that! Did you know that in the UK, craft contributes A$6.5 billion to the economy and Etsy.com has exceeded US$2 billion in transactions. Handicrafts are big-business.  I am a big supporter of women who have set up home-based businesses, turning their hobbies into a cottage industry. Working from home and making money from your business is hard work and can have many pitfalls and discouraging moments.  Even harder when you are home-schooling, caring for children, husband and home.  I am certainly not talented enough to run my own business — however, I do have one very clever cousin (Bets) who is doing just that and I wanted to promote her cute creations by doing a giveaway. This giveaway is open to all, no matter where you live. Be quick as this giveaway closes on:  Today's giveaway are two animal blankies — perfect for a baby but woul...

Before I could annouce the Cookbook Giveaway I had to wake Ruby up.  She was very comfortable on her bed looking at the birds outside.  This is what she does every day all day. Perhaps I have made her bed far too comfortable. Once I got her out of bed, she was more interested in looking out the front door.  Doesn't she look good against our purple door!! The pile of names are sitting in front of her. The action shot . . . after some "washing" and scratching on the mat, she decided to selected a name.  First she tried to eat it (missed that shot) and then she flicked about and it landed in her tail. And the winner is . . . BETS . . .  my dear cousin not that Ruby knew that you and I were related in any way. Bets, the cookbooks will be in the post tomorrow for you to enjoy later in the week:) Thankyou to all of you who participated . . . as I can't send everyone something, here is a bunch of flowers and a big smile. PS...

I t is Saturday afternoon - the weather is grey, cold and wet and I am all snuggled up in my warm house. I love this sort of weather as there is nothing nicer than being indoors on a wet winters day doing wintry things like reading, listening to music, making jam (yes, I made some more quince jelly), talking to my cat, watching a movie, blogging to my friends (yes, thats you!) or just lying on the couch dozing (I will be doing this in a moment).  It is days like this that I feel all happy and joyful.  Just a quick reminder of my cookbook give away ( LINK ), it closes (oops) tonight tomorrow night .  Did I mention that my dear son shared his cold with me and now I am all snuffly and sneezing all the time.  They are precious things, sons, not colds, who love to share even thing with their mothers!!  He has a little trail next week at a cafe, for part-time work. I pray that he gets the job as it will keep him busy. He is also returning to study ...

I have decided to do a GIVE AWAY. Why, because it is cold, wet and grey in my small corner of the world and a give away will brighten everything up!!  You don't need to do anything but leave a comment. How easy is that! So what am I giving away . . . 2 cookbooks The Women's Weekly "Cheap Eats"  and The Women's Weekly "Family Favourites" Both are full of great recipes such as: vegetable soup chicken leek and mushroom pies caramelised chicken cutlets spaghetti and meatballs apple pie slice pavlova toffee date and ginger puddings etc.... I use quite a few of the Women's Weekly cookbooks, they are easy to follow and most of the ingredients are already in my pantry.  Not like some recipes that require a trip to the store.  If you wish to participate, leave a comment and an email address. Ruby (my cat) will select the name out of the hat! I will post these cookbooks to one lovely person in any corner of t...

Dear ladies Thank you so much for your lovely comments in regards to my handmade tissue holders, I am so glad you liked them. AND (drum roll) to the TWO lovely ladies who were randomly picked via random.org (I didn't use Ruby this time as she has a habit off eating or running of with the winning paper) the WINNERS ARE: Ruby from Mumma's Place and  Rosemary from Joyfulmum I will contact you shortly for details on posting your gift and to confirm which ones you would like. And dear blogging friends and family, do have a lovely week. Do you have any plans for the week? I return to work on Tuesday after a relaxing and productive break.

A friend of mine is having a birthday soon and I wanted to make her something special and thanks to my new (secondhand) craft book, I found a pattern to make a "tissue holder" - the sort you carry in your handbag.  To my surprise (as I am not a great sewer) the first one I made (pink) turned out really nicely.  So I thought I would make some more. Four in total. Now that I have made these I thought I would like to give away two tissue holders (with tissues!!) to two special people . Yes - I want to find two people who would like to have a tissue holder for their handbag (or perhaps to give to someone else) - so if you are interested, please let me know.  I have numbered each of the 4 so you can tell me which one you would like. I do hope you like them.  1. The holder fit these little packets of tissues ( I'm not promoting Kleenex in particular, all I had in the house! ) - I have found they hold 7 tissues once removed from the plastic. 2. This one is my favourit...

Ruby was very excited to be able to select a name for the  BOOK GIVEAWAY She thought it was heaps of fun grabbing at the paper and making a mess! Once Ruby selected a name she thought she might "eat" it. Quite a few ended up on the floor! Job well done.  A hard days work. And  once I had picked up all the pieces of paper and  retrieved the one in her mouth the  giveaway  goes  to Well done Bethany:) Thankyou for those interested in this giveaway. I would have loved to give you all a book, perhaps next time. I might have to do another one day. ~oOo~

Book giveaway Dear friends, A few weeks ago I ordered the book " Oranges and Sunshine " from the Book Depository in the UK.  However due to a poor memory, last weekend I was browsing in a secondhand bookstore and bought "Oranges and Sunshine".  Guess what - I now own two copies and I don't need two copies and I would like to give away the brand new book that arrived today.   Below is the Amazon description - it is a very sad book about the deportation of 1000s of children from Britain.   For those in Australia, this is a story you will be familiar with, but for those in the USA, you may have never heard of this tragic part of modern British/Australian history.  It is a a true story, but it would not be classified as Christian literature. Please note: I am yet to read my copy, but from all that I have heard I believe that it is a suitable book. It may not be flattering towards the Catholic Church as their behaviour towards these young boys was u...