Public apologies, thermomixes puberty and more....

We would like to start this blog post with a public apology - We (well mainly me, Josie, chief blog writter) are sorry! We are sorry that whilst we have maintained our love of all things handmade, all things The Owl and the Elephant and all things Pinterest we have neglected our blog. So we ask you faithful followers (if there are any of you still lurking in the shadows!) do you forgive us? Our mid year resolution is to get back on top of this blogging business and provide you with far more tutorials, awesome pics, lovely links and occasional hilarity! Starting..............

not yet.....
not yet....

NOW!!

In the past couple of days *cough*months*cough* since our last blog post ALOT has happened!!! You all met Baby Scarlett when she was just a weeeeee little thing - well look at her now!

We just love this kid!!!

Now because Nat hasn't got enough on her plate with 3 gorgeous girls, a house to run AND The Owl and the Elephant, her love of all things Thermomix has led her to become a consultant! You can check out her OTHER blog (this blog has gotten over the jealousy factor and decided to up the anti!!) here and also follow her on facebook here .

I myself have been busy dealing with a pre-pubescent boy  - no one told me what THAT would be like.... hold on to the terrible two's people - you aint seen nothing yet!!! As well as gearing up for birthday MONTHS in our house. Place into that the wedding of a sister, some volunteer work with premmie babies that is... well.. in the works, my obvious need to procrastinate about EVERYTHING and my love of moving furniture around and you have the story of my life to date! But I will throw in a wee recent photo of my brood just to make it seem more exciting!

They do keep me busy but how cute are they? Hmmm... they must come from an AMAZING gene pool.....


Now The Owl and the Elephant whilst being absent from the land of Blog has been busy busy busy re-designing our market stall:

So tell us... what do you think? We cannot help but look at the ruffles and *sigh*

So as you can see dear neglected followers dispite our bad behaviour and lack of blog posts life has continued on! We have some awesomely awesome new products in the works which we CANNOT wait to show you but for the moment we shall leave you with this......

A photo of our lovely lovely luffly vintage inspired printed canvas art. Love them so much you NEEEEEED to have one at your place? Or perhaps you know somebody who would want nothing more than a moustache on their side table? These are available for purchase here - we can't wait to see which one you choose!




Thought of the moment:

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  (we hope!!) 

Thomas Haynes Bayley 

Ladder Love

I (Mrs Owl) have an addiction. Ok ok I have MANY addictions, doilies, owls, turkish delight chocolate, that little bit of froth in the bottom of the coffee cup, throw cushions, sarcasm (pretty sure that counts as an addiction) and many more but today... today's addiction is brought to you by the letter AWESOME and is all about these.....

The ever lovely never outdated wooden ladder! Infact I am SO in love we have a Pinterest board dedicated to them!


When I first met Mrs Elephant I told her of my ladder love (hey nothing to be ashamed of - ladder lovers unite!!) and how desperately I wanted one to put in my loungeroom  and she told me about this gorgeous wooden ladder her mum used to have. Her mum gave it to her (so much better than any other form of love!) and get this - when Elephant demolished her house SHE LEFT IT BEHIND!!!!  Like a little abandoned puppy, void of love, out in the cold. Her father-in-law went and got it (love a man with heart) then 6 years later when they moved THEY left it behind at their old house aswell!! What is with these people?? Ladders have feelings too!!  I was GUTTED!

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. The Elephant clan decided to do a drive by of the inlaws old house on the way to school and guess what was out for roadside pick up (hard rubbish, garbage collection whatevs!! Elephant laughs at me when I call it hard rubbish - is that an eastern-stater thing??) MY LADDER!!! Well... their unloved ladder... NOW its MY ladder!!

It was waaaaay too tall to stand up in my loungeroom so needed the bottom chopped off. Mr Owl was away (which is always the best time to raid his power tools) but I could not for the life of me work out how to use the damn power saw. Reverting to the good ol fashion hand saw I got so excited I actually set the ladder on fire. True story. Gave up and called on my hire a hubby (Mr Elephant) to come and finish the job and well... look at it now!!!!

*sigh* Archibald my Owl ladder LOVES his new home. How great does he look? All he needed was a lil love..... don't we all???


Thought of the moment is brought to you by the fact I am one of those weird people who gets songs stuck in their head constantly triggered by a single word!:

All you need is love.... do do do do do

Sweet Dreams | Shabby Chic Bedhead

Ever since buying our new ensemble bed almost a year ago I have been searching high and low for the "perfect" bedhead, one that suited my "style" and was not going to cost me an arm and a leg.
After months of frustration I turned to Pinterest. Why on earth did I not do that sooner? I dont need to hunt down a bedhead - I can make one!! (with a little bit of help from Mr Owl!)
I am so in love with it! Made with repurposed recycled wood, white washed and laquered and shabbied within an inch of its life, I love how rustic it is! Heck i just plain LOVE it!! Everytime I walk past my bedroom with its perfectly arranged throw cushions (an ocd habit I learnt off Mrs Elephant) I cannot help but *sigh* its just so damn lubly..... So tell me - what do you think?

If you love it as much as we do - we would love to make you one! Stay tuned to our website as we will be listing them for sale very soon.

Thought of the moment:

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me.

Steve Jobs

The Owl & the Elephant ❤'s Pinterest

Where else would we find such inspiring images as these?

Things to do with the kids like these:

Light hearted laughter:

Clever ideas like these :

FREE printables:

and all round crafty goodness like this:

What has been your favourite Pinterest find? Have you actually made anything yet? Mrs Elephant did! 

SEE HERE

And NOW you can actually follow The Owl & the Elephant on Pinterest! We know...we are getting all geeky-fied on you now. Check us out.

Thought of the moment:

who'd have thunk it?

Today was just the darndest day. One of those who would have thunk it days when random strange things happen. It all began with a distinct lack of caffeine.

Yesterday my coffee machine ran out of coffee - I KNOW!!! I can hear you gasp from here. To top it all off? I was stuck at home!!! I honestly wondered if the world was going to end. How was I to get through the day!!!!

Fast forward to today. Standing in the kitchen still hrumphing because I had been silly enough ( probably in my caffeine free cloud) to forget to send hubby for coffee on his way home! When little Miss 4 walks into the kitchen, bag of coffee beans in hand "here you go mum"and walks off.

What the?

On further questioning all I could get was a "they where just here"out of her and an "It wasnt me" from Mr owl. Random or what? whoever you are mystery coffee bean provider - I love you in ways I cannot explain!!

Having enjoyed not one but two delicious freshly ground coffees ( I know I know but i had to make up for yesterday!!) I loaded all 4 children into the car to take them to my brilliant sister in law for their haircuts ( Dani at Tryst for all those playing at home in Perth in need of an awesomely awesome hair stylist!!) When Master 2 who has been slightly backwards in coming forwards when it comes to the spoken word pipes up from the backseat "Scuse me my mum, my have my haircut today to"  I almost crashed the car!!! WHere did that come from?? I KNEW he had it in him!!! little sneaky talker!! and at such a random moment!!


Then to top off my day of weird random events comes my final little quirky story. I have been an avid "pinner" for a while now over at Pinterest ( thankyou for introducing me Mrs Elephant!!) and have to date "pinned" 398 pins on 16 boards. Every so often I get a little email notification - "joe blog has repinned your pin" or "mary whosit has liked your pin" - It excites me a little. I feel a moment of fame - someone liked my pin!!!! yes, I admit - someone ELSE pinned it first but still. THIS IS MY MOMENT!!! it doesnt happen all that often so you can imagine my surprise this afternoon when I logged into my email and had FIVE PAGES of notifications - 162 people ( and counting)  have repinned my pin!!! what the??? What on earth could I possibly have pinned that 162 other people would pin as well?

wanna see?

Yep!!! random or what?? I have pinned so many cool tutprials, crafty things, awesome pictures, inspirational quotes, laughs - you name it! and what do 162 other people choose to pin? How to grow an avocado tree!!

who'd have thunk it?

Thought of the moment: ( a just for fun! )

I actually made something I pinned on Pinterest! | Nursing Cover Tutorial

Here is one of the best (and simplest) nursing cover sewing tutorials we found (and used) on the wonderful world of Pinterest. It comes courtesy of Sew Much Ado who has a gorgeous blog with some wonderful patterns and tutorials.

Now we aren't ones to re-invent the wheel...so for the full instructions and tutorial, click here

I have been feeling the nesting/sewing urge rather strongly as these last few weeks pass by before the next girl-child arrives, and have pinned numerous sewing projects that can (hopefully) be completed in an hour or during Miss Almost 2's naptime! I can honestly say, from start to finish including cutting out and a 'no, naptime is NOT over its only been 40 minutes...back you go!' style interruption, it took 1 hour.

Here is my finished nursing cover.

I used the gorgeous Michael Miller Delovely Damask fabric purchased from the lovely Sandy at Wrapped in Fabric

And if this baby comes a week early, you may even see me wearing it behind our stall at Perth Upmarket!!

What do you think? Now I can say...

See? It's NOT just a time waster to make you feel more creative than you really are ;o)

Thought of the moment:

Breast Feeding should not be attempted by fathers with hairy chests, since they can make the baby sneeze and give it wind.  ~Mike Harding

Today we love.....

 Posters that answer the important questions.....

Elephants swimming...

Owls that wear glasses....

And awesome blogs with catchy names.......

What are you loving today?

Thought of the moment.....

What do Nat & Josie talk about?

Here at The Owl and the Elephant we pride ourselves on our great work ethic -

 A typical TOATE internet "business" meeting goes a little like this:


Nat says
i feel a massive urge to chuck stuff out!

Josie h says
LOL what are you going to chuck?

Nat says
vases, twiggy stick thingys, i dunno...whatever else i find! clothes, stuff

Josie h says
LOL im going to do the playroom... again! but not today. Alex bella and annalise are currently trashing it

Nat says
glasses, want to get rid of that glass cabinet in the corner near the back door i think

Josie h says
oh really? i think it looks good

Nat says
i think i just want to start my house again!

Josie h says
LOL yeah that will be easy! 

Nat says
where should i nest next?? my phone area or the work room?
i've done 3 areas 

Josie h says
phone area
you do the work room alll the time lol

Nat says
i might get that memo board off the wall.....hmmmmm
don't knw what to do there

Josie h says
oh gees you are going to do yourself an injury!

Nat says
i think i need a silver ikea cupboard with the pull down roller door
i already tried to pull the white lounge apart and just about broke my back!

Josie h says
oh you dag. YOU'RE PREGNANT! stop doing stoopid stuff!
I printed out pics of the kids and decorated my fridge
you will hate it

Nat says
decorated the fridge? what does THAT mean?? lol
i am going to undecorate my fridge, you inspired me!!! hahahahha

Josie h says
I know you like a clean fridge! mine is now covered with pics LOL

Nat says
i might need a pinterest break for inspiration on organising my phone area and making a kids artwork display in the toy room. hmmmm...maybe like this

Josie h says
just stick them around the house!
 
Nat says
ew
pinterest is down,  i could cry

Nat says
ahh...i have vacuumed, washed cushion covers, sorted my wardrobe, sorted my front lounge and dusted everything and taken stuff out, sorted my craft supplies in toy room wardrobe and chucked stuff out...feels good but now my back hurts

Josie h says
possibly becuase you SHOULDNT DO ALL THAT STUFF lol

Nat says
nah, its because i have no abs
anymore
i USED to have a 4 pack

Josie h says
you just need to pretend to be me for a day - washing? meh it will still be there later, vaccuming - meh it will still be there latter, tidying? - meh 4 kids whats the point. chocolate and tea - yes please!

Nat says
nah i did that yesterday!

Josie h says
I have a six pack, I just hide it under all the extra layers of loveableness

Nat says
going to sort lunch out, got a major crafting session planned with evie after lunch!!

Josie h says
is that just so you can hang pics on the wall?

Nat says
no!!

Josie h says
uhuh


You can see why we get so much done! We are like a well oiled machine. Lucky enough to love what we do and who we do it with!

Thought of the moment:

The dishes will still be there later. Go hug someone

find of the moment...

Love it when your researching *cough* wasting time on the net *cough* and you come across something that just makes your heart smile!

I (Josie) have been desperately searching for ways to calm master 6's night time terrors and through the wonders of Pinterest (don't know what that is? Google it... now!!) I found this.....

Isn't it cute? And just a incy bit brilliant? I am off to buy a spray bottle tomorrow fo shizzle!! I would love to hear of your favourite internet finds. Leave us a comment with a link so we can go take a gander too!


Whilst speaking of things I love I thought I would chuck in just a couple more.....

Our local shopping centre has a little public noticeboard and I think I am going to post one of these on it:

and this.... well my exercise routine is sorted!!!

Nat having just become the proud mother of a BEAUTIFUL little SLR camera is imagining this on her wall....

and in light of her OBSESSION (yes Nat ... we both know you have a problem!) can also imagine this hanging somewhere...

What have you found online lately that you just love love love? We would love you to leave us a link!!!

Meanwhile, Mr Owl is complaining he has no clean socks so I'm off to ...

 *sigh*


Thought of the moment:


Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks only when driven to speech by something outsider himself - like, for instance, he can't find any clean socks.

Jean Kerr

STOP.. Hammertime!

So you know those days when someone just has to say a word or you just have to see a picture and thats IT! Its stuck... that annoying little song that just goes round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round in your head - even MORE anoying when you only know two words and the rest is all " da da da da dum dum de de da da" .
This did it for me today.....

Now all I can do is - stop! Hammertime! Lucky its such a cool picture hey? (and a cool song *blush* ).
What song gets stuck in your head?

Our kids have been doing a bit of the same to each other - Bella Owl has such an obsession with Michael Jackson she has totally terrified Evie Elephant with Zombies from Thriller and Evie Elephant has such an obsession with The wizard of Oz she has totally terrifed Bella Owl with talk of cyclones and being "swept away" lucky they are so damn cute hey? Do your kids have any fears (irrational or otherwise!) that have been passed on by others?

Anyway fluff and fancy aside - we are VERY super dooper oupper exited to be attending not only Market Girl but also Perth Upmarket  where we will be showcasing our awesomely awesome (orse even!) range of homewares, handcrafted goodies and delectable delightful range of beautiful fabric covered light switch covers, baby wipes cases, chalk mats, fabric baskets, serving trays, glass dishes, screens and more!!!
We so hope to see you there!!! What will you be keeping your eye out for?