Guest Post: Allana of High Maintenance Hippy

Many of you already know Allana, but for those of you who don't, she is one of the sweetest friends I've made since I began this blog.  My list of wonderful bloggy friends has stretched and grown since then, but Allana has been here from the very humble beginnings.  I asked Allana to share a post with you that reflected some of the everyday adventures she shares with her young daughter whom she teaches from home.  I love the way Allana weaves magic around the 'everyday', and I'm so stoked to have her sharing some parenting insights (and a gorgeous giveaway) here at GA.  Once you've finished reading here, do go and visit her at High Maintenance Hippy, for some home and lifestyle inspiration!

Enjoy!

The sound of music... 

When I was growing up my Nan always had an Organ set up to play on as she played herself. It was never treated as though it was off limits and there were no strict "rules" it was just there and I was able to use it whenever I visited. At some stage Nan added stickers with the notes in different colours and wrote songs out in the co-ordinated colours for me to follow. I don't remember a time when I couldn't read music so I guess that came next in early primary school. We participated in music at my Primary School and I chose to undertake formal Organ lessons also (yeah I know... I was cool!) In High School I played Flute in the Junior then Senior Concert Bands then did basically nothing until now that The Munchkin is around to share my knowledge with. It has been like riding a bike and everything is coming flooding back.

Rather than showing off about my (basic) musical abilities,  what I am getting at is that by being surrounded by the means to play music, and by being given the opportunity to play music it just became part of my understanding of life. As we offer our children the opportunity to read, run and play the gift of music appreciation can walk hand in hand also.

There are so many musical instruments available to children in all shapes and forms.  The instruments do not have to be expensive. We have probably all made shakers with rice/beans in plastic drink bottles for our children and most children would have made "music" with pots and pans with wooden spoons at some point of their childhood! We have dreams of gorgeous tribal drums and bamboo xlyophones but none of that is really necessary to get rhythm and melody happening at home. 

I must admit that growing up I always wished I knew how to play something cool like a guitar. I mean who whips out a flute at your average high school party? Now though I am happy that I even HAD a musical beginning. One day The Munchkin may choose to pursue an instrument of her choice and we will provide the tools to help her but for now it's just something fun we do during our days that makes us happy, and isn't that what childhood is about after all? 

As a little thankyou for having me over to share at Stella's inspiring corner of blog land (isn't she one amazing lady!) while she is away enjoying the sunshine at Hervey Bay, I have a little giveaway for you! My talented friend Sandra of Grace of Autumn has offering a Little Grace "Inside out and back to front" dress to one reader. 

Thanks so much for having me,

Allana xxx

If you would like to enter Allana's giveaway, just leave a comment telling us what (if anything) music means to you and we will pick a winner.  For extra entries, follow Allana's gorgeous blog (you probably do anyway), and become a fan of the Grace of Autumn facebook page.  The winner will be drawn at the end of August.  x

Guest Post: Dee of Dee*Construction

It brings me so much pleasure to introduce this next blogger!  You all know and love her (and if you haven't come across her gorgeous blog yet, you may in fact be living under a rock), and this blogging superstar has been so amaze-pants as to share an ace project with us all (me included!  Can't wait to try this out, might even call it an 'on holiday' project and have a go while I'm away...).  Without further ado, Miss Dee*Construction! 

Hello Dark Horse friends and happy blogiversary Stella!

i (along with my little family) have been hanging out in Stella's neck of the woods for the last 2 months and a few weeks ago we were able to catch up at her local cafe. she's a real gem and i'm so honoured to be a guest poster on her fabulous blog today. my kids have been wearing the same few clothes on heavy rotation for the last 8 weeks and i have gone without my craft cupboard for the same amount of time.  so i wanted to show you a way to be creative and change up your clothes while holidaying or travelling without needing too many supplies. having said that, it is TOTALLY addictive to do at home too!

you will need:

how to:
1. draw your image onto your top with chalk or similar (i used a pencil)
2. begin painting with bleach - make sure your brush isn't too loaded with bleach, you really don't need much at all.
3. if parts are pale go back and touch up.
4. allow bleach to fade to desired colour (see 'tips' below) and rinse in cold water before washing and wearing. i liked the stag a little pink so rinsed it fairly quickly after painting.

see? easy, right? it really is limited only by your imagination.
and so, so totally addictive.

tips:
>use clothing that says "do not bleach" on the care label (rebellious, i know!)
>use 'fabric safe' bleach
>to stall bleaching process (ie, if you like the colour and don't want it to fade further), rinse well in cold water.
>using newspaper between layers seems to absorbs more bleach, and prevents the bleach bleeding.
>be aware that it is difficult to fill in block colour (bleach) evenly
>for further info on bleach painting, see here: http://abeautifulmess.typepad.

com/my_weblog/2012/03/bleach-painting-on-textiles-diy.html

Thanks so much for having me here Stella, hope you're having a wonderful break with your gorgeous family!
Dee xo

Thank you Dee!  For those few of you that haven't visited her blog, drop in here and say hi (though it's probably safe to say that she's one of your daily reads already, right?) x

Guest Post: Jenny of Mend and Make New

It's pretty exciting to be hosting some Guest Bloggers here at GA.  I have a superb bunch of ladies who have kindly offered to share a piece here, starting with the lovely Jenny of Mend and Make New.  If you haven't already come across Jenny's blog, I suggest you pop over and say hi!  She is one clever lady - who makes the most delightful kiddy clothes, and knows how to throw a great party too!

First of all, thanks so much for letting me be part of your awesome 'Party Month', Stella! Being asked to guest post about parties by the supreme queen of parties is definitely an honour!

We held a combined Princess and Pirate party to celebrate Isabelle's  1st and Noah's 3rd birthdays last November, and I have to say it was a roaring success! 

Here are a few factors to consider (along with some tips), so that you can work out whether a combined party would suit your family  - and so you can make it lovely and memorable occasion ! ...

•  Closeness of birthdays : One reason a combined party really suited is is because our kids' birthdays are really close. Isabelle's birthday is 19 November and Noah's 13 December. We hosted the party in the middle of those dates. 

• Age gap :   Because our kids are young and only 2 years apart, they pretty much had the same group of friends (mainly just their little buddies from church and family.) For me, holding a combined party is all about reducing stress (by not having to hold 2 parties), so if the age gap is much larger it would have meant more guests and possibly more stress. Age gap may also be a consideration when planning games for your party. We were pretty relaxed and the kids had more free play at our party than anything else, but we did do a treasure hunt. We told the kids to work as a team , with the older kids helping the younger ones. This worked well.

•  Your children : Another factor to consider is how your child may take to having to share their birthday with their brother or sister. I personally found it lovely to see our kids sharing their special day and we tried to make a big fuss of both of them equally, and also did a little something special on their individual birthdays. Noah at age 3 did see a little bemused that not all the presents were for him, but soon got over that with all the excitement of the party. Having said that, I don't want to do a combined party every year, as they might get sick of it and it's nice to make it 'all about them' sometimes. You, as the parent are best to judge whether a combined party would work for you and your situation.

• Presents : This was really a bit of an after-thought for me, but you may want to consider the possible pressure on guests of feeling that they have to buy two presents, one for each of your kids. Our guests were really creative and we ended up with a few board games that our kids are able to play together. If we do it again I think I will put a little something like this in the invitation: "Please don't obliged to buy gifts, your presence at the party is enough, but if you do want to a small combined present that our kids can enjoy together would be lovely." (Or something similar!) 

•  Theme (?) :  Obviously a party does not need to have a theme to be a rockingly awesome affair, but if want to do the theme thing (as a grown-up who hasn't really 'grown-up' I just love themed parties), there are many great theme ideas for combined parties, even if your kids are poles apart in terms of taste and what they like. I just took 2 themes and stuck them together - Pirate and Princess (with the added magic of a bit of alliteration!) Food was pretty easy... make a cupcake, stick a pirate flag on it = pirate themed, put a marshmallow/ strawberry etc on it = princess. If you're interested this was how we did the invitations and see here for more about our party prep. I think the key to any theme is to fully commit to it and get your kids excited about it too! 

• Two final pros in favour of a combined party: We had some out of town family travel up for the party. It was nice that they only had to come up once and could celebrate both Noah and Isabelle's parties in one. ....And ... the final thing I enjoyed about the party we hosted was how it was so family friendly. Because it was for both Noah and Isabelle we basically ended up inviting whole families rather than just and individual kids. It was great to see younger siblings included and adults chatting in our backyard.

I hope those ideas and tips are helpful to you! All the best with your next party you host, I'm sure it will be wonderful!

Jenny x