Last minute things in the Burns household

Mr Leroy was born very early in the new year, so not only is this a busy time for us as it is for everyone, but we also have a party and birthday to organise too! I try to make it special for him. One way of doing that is I make a fun cake for him each year. From scratch. Myself. Not bought. Can you believe it?

One thing I remember from my childhood is that my Mum used to make me a cake every year and it was always a special one. Like the upright piano, basket of flowers, hickory dickory dock clock with prune mice, swimming pool and more... so I wanted to be able to create memories and a tradition since we don't have many other traditions.

So here's a tour of the cakes so far.... I really enjoy them! This year's challenge is a tractor cake. My old Women's Weekly Children's Cake magazines don't have one so I will have to invent one using their car ones as a guideline. Should be interesting....

First year he had a crown cake and colourful cupcakes. His name means 'The King', so I thought a crown was appropriate! He has lots of cousins and they have this tradition of each having a go at blowing out a candle on the cake. Well I didn't want icky spit on the cake so they each got their own cupcake with their own candle. Then we could all eat the cake!

His 2nd birthday cake was a pool cake. Love that they make blue jelly (jell-o). My pool when I was a kid was green as they didn't have blue back then, I got the slimy pool!

I used marbles as beach balls and little dolls I covered in sprinkles swimming hats. Oh and I made the little floaties out of coloured snakes. And sugared rings. This was one of my faves. Leroy hated it! He cried and cried. The jelly freaked him out for some reason. To this day he won't go near the stuff!!

Last year's was a hit! He doesn't like to eat cake (yes, a kid who doesn't like cake????), but he loves lollies (candies), so I made sure there were lots on this one. It's supposed to be a train, looks a bit truck-like at the front but it was still a hit!

And I made my own 30th cake. It's an island in case you can't tell. I had a Polynesian themed party. I couldn't get all the candles to fit on the cake so I made little islands out of polystyrene foam and spiked them in it. Covered them with icing. My cousin was cutting the cake up to give out and couldn't work out why it was so hard! The trees on top are made from straws that I covered with beads and I made my own little beaded flowers too.

Leroy's party this year is Cowboys and Cowgirls/On The Farm themed. We're having it at a local farm that has a big barn and lots of places for the kids to run around. Now I need to think of games, party favour bags etc. But this is fun, it's what I love to do!!!

And some last minute things I've been working on, going out in the mail today. A sparkly dress painting for Amelia (can't see the sparkles here but it's full of them!)
And a painting for her grandson for his birthday.
Take time to smell the roses!!! I'll be trying!

We've got my cousin house-sitting while we're away, I don't think she'll blog on my behalf unfortunately!!! LOL! We're heading off for a month. I'll try to stop by an internet cafe and update you when I can.

Wishing everyone a wonderful warm Christmas with your loved ones. Stay safe, have a happy New Year.

Until then, Buon Natale, Sretan Bozic, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas

There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, but the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day in David's town your Saviour was born - Christ the Lord!'
Luke 2:8-11

PS. Thank you wonderful blogging friends for making this year memorable, fun and such a pleasure to get on the computer! I cherish the warm and wonderful friendships I have been so fortunate to have made!!! xo

Priscilla and pressies!

Thank you to all the wonderful people out there who left comments to help out my friend with her hair loss problem. Today she went and bought every thing she heard of at the pharmacy, lol she is now joking that she'll have hair growing all over! She passes on her thanks and can't get over how generous and helpful people are! So thank you!!! And for those who asked, she isn't pregnant or with a baby (she is a grandmother now)!!

I mentioned a few posts ago that Jenn & Jacqui and I went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical last week. To say we loved it is an understatement! So much fun! We want to go back again! I've seen lots of musicals and this is right up there at the top!!! We laughed so hard, and clapped, danced and smiled. The costumes were utterly amazing, the props awesome, the singing was fantastic and the dancing was fun! Soooooooooooo much better than the movie and I really liked the movie too. Go see it if you have the opportunity, I hear it's possible it's touring NZ and the US....

It was performed at the Regent Theatre in the city in Melbourne. Beautiful old building with so much detail in every corner! Inside they had the biggest chandelier I've ever seen. I stopped counting the light bulbs at 100, it was enormous. Jacqui has a pic on their blog that she snuck in!


Here's a clip showing highlights of the show on You Tube. Be sure to pause the music on my sidebar first.

While the show was on, these cupcake gowned ladies came out and twirled around, I really did gasp out loud and scrambled for my little notebook & pen in my bag, and totally in the dark sketched the costume, not seeing anything I was doing and hoping things were remotely in the right places! Turns out J & J have a copy of the music clip with these costumes on their blog!
I did want to share a pic of the ping pong ball I managed to get but I somehow lost it 10 minutes ago, I've put it down somewhere and forgotten where! Check out Jenn & Jacqui's blog for more info on the whole show and the theatre, they always have info on everything, they are like little Wikipedias! If I ever want to know something I just ask them! LOL!

An old friend came back from interstate to visit and collect some pieces she ordered from me for her two nieces today. They're jewellery boxes for two sweet girls.

And Jenn & Jacqui came for the afternoon today! We ate and talked and laughed! They collected this mixed media painting I did for Jacqui of her favourite vintage barbie dress. It's painted in acrylics and then I added pure silver glitter on top. The actual dress has spotted silver tulle ruffles and a pink/silver lamé bodice (remember that stuff?!).

Here's Jacqui's photo of it with her actual barbie gown I painted

And they spoiled me!!! They brought over gifts for Leroy and I! Jacqui made the cards and tags, so cute! They added gorgeous gingerbread biscuits to the wrapping, so lovely!

The girls made these divine pine cones for me that are decorated with silver and glass glitters, vintage trims and vintage ribbons, in my favourite colours! I love love love hand made gifts!!! Thank you girls, these are adorable!
And they know I love chandelier ornaments..... I've never seen this one before though!!! Can you believe it has mini chandelier shades on it? Gorgeous!!!
But wait there's more! An EXQUISITE AB crystal heart pendant on ball chain. Oh my girls....I wore it immediately. You know how much I love it!!!
And check out the colours!!! These are a new range of chocolates from Rocher..... absolutely delicious, they taste as good as they look! I believe there is only half a box left.... maybe the elves have stolen them???

Then this lovely creation arrived in the mail. It's from Susan of Ilka's Attic. Boy is this girl talented. She's an amazing painter, graphic artist, and maker of sweet things like this beautiful bird box!!!! Thank you Susan, you're so sweet, I love it!!!

Tonight I had more fun! Leroy was being babysat while I did my bridesmaid duty and we went shoe hunting in the city for our bridesmaid shoes! Check out Melbourne Central, I haven't been in there for years. It used to have an incredibly huge Christmas tree in the big tower, I wonder where that went? Now it looks like a nightclub! At 9pm they turned down the lights, put on spotlights moving around, that smokey stuff to make the air all foggy and blaring loud music.... it was weird!!! But fun... Melbourne city had a real buzz of life tonight. It has been raining like mad the past couple of days, still hot though, and it felt like I was in a big metropolitain exciting city in Europe, or Hong Kong. The city at night is fabulous. And it is in the day too, as Jacqui shows on her blog post! We live in a beautiful part of the world.

And we found the right shoes!!! Yay! How beautiful are these? Our dresses are really simple, peacock greenish blue knee length, tiny bit flared, fitted strapless with a diamante buckle on a skinny belt at the waist. So these are just perfect. Elegant, not too strappy, not too closed in and sturdy enough so we don't fall wearing them! Plus any shoe with a bow gets my approval!
And I know I said I need to stop buying stuff but these ornaments were already on sale, they are made of glass and I love them. Oh and the beaded apples at the back are so cute!

And more gift shopping to give to Greg to give to me. Have you ever been inside a L'Occitane shop????? AMAZING stuff. They gift wrapped beautifully. It's now under the tree!

Oh what fun I found these cute crown candles!!!
And a sneaky peek of some things I'll be able to offer next year on my site, lots of crowns! Different to the ones I have had before, but just as beautiful!!!


I also bought a whole bunch of cute gift with purchase goodies to add to each outgoing parcel I send next year. I'll leave that as a surprise and if you do get something from me I do hope you like your GWP, I sure do!!!

It's 3am, another late one. Only this time I am not up until 4.30am like last night. And I can sleep in with Leroy at mum's. And I have one tiny order to finish then that is it for the year! I might actually get a chance to paint one of my village houses??? Will keep you posted if I do!!!

Enjoy your weekend~ I've got to start getting into thinking about Leroy's birthday which unfortunately for him falls just into the New Year when people are away! I'm making a tractor cake this year by special request.... more on that next time!

Take care,

Fun stuff - and does anyone have info on something?

Hi everyone!!!

A mixed bag today. I did start this post last night at midnight and found myself asleep sitting up at the computer at 12.45am!!! Oops~ lucky I didn't hit 'publish' or it wouldn't have made any sense!

• Firstly, a friend of mine needs your help with information if you can. She has been losing her hair in big handfuls for a couple of months... hairdresser says it's healthy, doc says all is OK after doing blood tests and she should see a dermatologist which she doesn't really want to do. Anyone had this problem before? Can anyone recommend what to do? Maybe some natural remedies or the right kind of specialist to see? Or a product? She will be checking my comments box to see if there are responses. Thanks!

• Secondly my friend Jo is having a giveaway! Check it out here!!!

• This is so funny, Brenda is having a giveaway but you'll laugh your socks off at what you need to do to enter! FUN!!! Visit her blog here!

Yesterday I took Leroy to the Melbourne Zoo. He loves it, I do too. We're members there so we can go as often as we want, and with it being less than 15 mins from my house, it's easy to just go there for an hour.

I love the meerkats. They have got to be my favourite. They're so curious!!!

And these stinky baboons are a hoot. They have such 'unique' behaviour...

Check out these two baboons - they are always combing each other for fleas!!! EEEK!!! You're lucky your monitor does not have 'smellivision'!

But how funny is this, look closely at the baboon's face! He's loving it! I think that face is hilarious!!

And a beautiful mummy peacock was roaming the grounds with her babies. I had to get this shot with the magnificent coloured flowers. I adore peacocks. Their feathers are magnificent, even the females though the males are spectacular. I'm a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding in March and our dresses are so beautiful, they are peacock in colour!!!

Maybe this is daddy peacock...

And we love the little frog enclosure. I have always loved froggies, ever since Kermit!

An Aussie Kookaburra! Love the blue feathers on their wings

When we got home a surprise package was waiting for me! Amazingly talented Laurie sent me some birdies I ordered from her!!! One is supposed to be a gift, but I think I'll keep both spoons.... Laurie your cupcakes are on their way tomorrow!!! These are so precious, photos don't do them justice. In real life they are even BETTER than the pics!!

And I'm catching up on some pressie wrapping. Yesterday I had two boxes to mail out for people we can't see or who are interstate. I thought I'd get creative and make little candy cane bows, little sparkly pipe cleaner leaves and top them with holly berries. I usually try to do something different with my wrapping and thought it would be sweet to use brown paper, tied with string and letting the feature be the decoration. "These are a few of my favourite things"

And I made the tags as stickers this year, using one of my ornament photos.

Now, I haven't forgotten!!! Mel, who I had the huge pleasure of actually meeting a few weeks ago, awarded me the Fifi "So Nice" award, how long ago? So sorry Mel, I keep forgetting and then I remember after I have done a very long post and figure it's better where people can see it for me to pass it on! So I'm passing along this award to Jenn & Jacqui of The Bowerbird's Nest. Because they are SO NICE! Those two words sum them up perfectly.

Diana of Chloe's Chic Boutique gave me the Rockin' Girl Blogger award! Thanks Diana! I'm passing this one on to Karla of Sugar Bear Designs, she is just fabulous in every way!!!

And Di of Petticoat Junction gave me the You Make Me Smile award! Thank you Di, this is an award I would have given to you! So I will pass this one on to my friend in Kansas, Karla of Karla's Cottage. Everything she says or does makes me smile! And her sweet little grandbaby Sugarwings is so gorgeous!

And now I'll leave you with a question seeing this is such a random post!!!

What's with upside down Christmas trees???? I don't understand the reason or the point.... is there a special purpose like, are they supposed to be lucky or do you kiss someone under them, or do you hide the presents up top of it? Do people poke their eyes out walking past them seeing the top juts out??? Just curious! I noticed last year Kmart couldn't sell them even at sale time and this year they didn't carry them so I was just wondering if there's more to them than a tree that is upside down?

Enjoy your day!!