Bottle top magnets (Tutorial)

Mr gasket loves his craft beer. I mean really L.O.V.E.S loves it. He is always on the look out for new craft beer, imported beer, and when the occasion calls for it, we hit the road and travel to regional micro breweries. So it comes as no surprise that after a weekend, I can usually find a couple of bottle tops lying around.

 

 

 

During our last visit to Hawaii, we visited the Kona Brewery and mr gasket got this as a souvenir:

 

 

 

I didn’t notice he purchased this memento until after we returned home, and as soon as I saw it I told mr gasket that we can finally get rid of all the advertising magents (a major pet peeve for mr gasket) and I could make more bottle top magnets. Mr gasket L.O.V.E.D this idea, and so over the last six months he began to carefully twist/pop off the bottle tops of his drinks so that I can make cool magnets for our fridge.

 

And so I bring you the Bottle top magnet tutorial.

 

 

Materials

Bottle tops
Magnets, I used 20mm round magnets, but you could use square as long as they fit inside the bottle top
Glue gun
Glue sticks
Light coloured pencil (optional)

 

Step 1: Using your hot glue gun, squeeze enough glue inside the bottle top until it is approximately half way full. Put bottle top aside and allow to cool for a minute.

 

 

Step 2: Identify the one side of the magnet that is magnetised. Only one side of the magnet will attach to the fridge, my pack of magnets were marked with a white dot to represent the non-magnetic side.

 

 

 

If your magnets are not marked, work out which side is the non-magnetic side and mark with a light coloured pencil.

 

Step 3: Carefully place the magnet, non-magnetic side down, into the middle of the bottle top, and lightly press down. I didn’t want the edges of the bottle top to scratch the fridge, so the magnet sits slightly higher than the edges of the bottle top.

 

 

 

Allow the glue to cool completely with the magnet, and you’re done.

 

 

 

These magnets are a quick, cheap and easy gift to make. I gifted these to mr gasket for his very first Father’s Day, and he, you guessed it, L.O.V.E.D them.

 

I’d love to get my hands on some American soda bottle tops so I can get a bit more colour , so if you know where I can buy bottled American soda in Australia (or where I can buy American soda bottle tops online), leave me a comment below.

 

xoxo Bronwyn

#9 Watch the entire Harry Potter movie series

So two things happened this week. The first is obvious (as the blog title indicates) I watched all of the Harry Potter movies. And I must say I enjoyed every single one. I’ll admit I didn’t really know much about the books/movies, and I thought the movies were going to be childish. But by the time I got to the third movie, I realised how wrong I was, which allowed me to enjoy the magic, enjoy the characters (especially Hermione), as well as question whether Hogwarts really does exist. I know it doesn’t, but I think it would be really cool if it did :)

 

And with that #9 can be crossed off:

 

9) Watch the entire Harry Potter movie series

 

The second thing that happened to me this week is … I’m dirty … I mean thirty!

 

I turned thirty on Monday and what a great day it was! It all started with a good morning kiss from mr gasket (awwww) followed by early bird birthday calls, SMS’s and Facebook messages. One of the  morning phone calls I got was from my mum, where she sang Happy Birthday, and told me she was going to call me thirty times, to which my first thought was

 

 maybe I’ll leave my mobile phone at home today… just kidding mum!

 

I was then off to morning tea with another brand new mama and a third time mama-to-be. It was a lovely morning tea with peppermint hot chocolate (yummers – got to find out how to make-it-myself), and a deliciously creamy strawberry tart. While we sipped and chatted, Froggie surprised me the most, and slept in the pram (best birthday present ever!)

 

After morning tea, Froggie and I did some window shopping, then picked up some groceries for my Mexican dinner, followed by my birthday ritual for the last five years, collecting my free (yes I said free) birthday Boost Juice. Thanks Boost Juice!

 

In the evening my immediate family arrived for the Mexican feast, bringing more singing and presents! We ended the evening with a four layer chocolate cake, sent Froggie to bed, and declared this birthday over.

 

 

Thanks again to everyone for their birthday well wishes!

 

xoxo Bronwyn

The retirement of 0000

Last week I retired all of Froggie’s 0000 clothes.

:(

Although he has only outgrown a few items, it didn’t seem right to continue to wear the rest of the 0000 clothes, so I decided to retire them all.

:(

I’ve been in denial about his clothing size for about 2 weeks, so I continued to squeeze convince his little legs into his clothes. But when the little buttons look like they’re about to burst open, even I know that’s not a good look. So we’re a little sad that he’s growing so fast.

(No more Froggie in his froggie onesie)

But on the upside, Froggie gets to wear all the new 000 clothes, including his ‘going home’ outfit (which he never wore because it was too big). The red and navy stripes are just darling, don’t cha think?

I also did some clothing retirement of my own too. I retired my Mavi maternity jeans. These are by far the most comfiest, best fitting, perfect length jeans I’ve ever worn. When I first heard that Mavi makes designer maternity jeans, I raced to my closest David Jones to buy a pair. Sure the $169 price tag was NOT appealing, so I decided to ‘just check them out,’ with no intention of purchasing a pair.

To my relief shock surprise, the Mavi maternity jeans were on clearance/sale and I got them for $49! Bargain! I also wasn’t expecting to wear them for very long, as I got them when I was 5 months pregnant, but again to my surprise, I continued to wear them for the rest of the pregnancy. But since I’m not pregnant any more (and haven’t been for the last 10 weeks) I thought it’s time to retire put them on sabbatical until my next pregnancy. See you later soon Mavi maternity jeans!

So since I have a denim deficit in my wardrobe, I need to make everything equal in the world again (yes, this is how a rationalise buying new clothes). I’m just loving all of the coloured denim that is available right now, the brights, the pastels and the earth tones, so this morning I went out and purchased my first pair of coloured denim, in bright blue. I love them!

As soon as I got home, I tried them on for mr gasket, and he liked them too, and said that I should go get another pair in a different colour. Yes please, no need to tell me twice!

Have you got a pair of coloured denim? What colour do you have, and what colour should I buy next?

xoxo Bronwyn

Pattern Review – Easy peasy baby jacket

Late last year my grandmother came to visit for the arrival of my cousin’s first baby. I was so happy to have her visit, as I hadn’t seen her in three years, and since I was a few weeks pregnant, I was excited to be able to share the news with her in person. Once we announced the pregnancy, my grandmother wasted no time in sourcing needles and wool, and began making a variety of beautiful cardigans/jackets, a pullover, a jumpsuit, and even a teddy bear for Froggie. During her stay, my grandmother and I would sit, knit (I would crochet), and chat, and for the first time in my adult life, I got to have some real special one-on-one time with a grandparent. I loved spending this quality time with her, and look forward to the day that I can do it again. So it was while I watched my grandmother make these woollen items, I decided that I needed to knit something more substantial than just the bubba booties.

I’d read about the Bendigo Woollen Mills on this blog, so I went to their website and bought this awesome baby wool:

And here is what I made:

The pattern is from Patons Quick & Easy Baby Knits #6000 (the only knitting book I own!), and as the title suggests, was very easy. It wasn’t a quick knit for me, but that’s because I am not yet a super fast knitter, but I’m sure I will get there. I just love the stone colour of the wool, and I love how it feels. I added orange buttons to the jacket, as that’s all I had on hand, and I think they look great, adding a pop of colour to the jacket. Here are the details on ravelry. I can’t wait for Froggie to get bigger so that he can wear it, he will be gorgeous in it I’m sure!

When I was at my parent’s house recently, I noticed that one of Mum’s gossip magazines came with a knitting booklet, so I think I’ve found inspiration for my next knitting project!

xoxo Bronwyn

I *heart* mail

I can’t believe Froggie is almost seven weeks old.

The time has flown by so fast that I’m already feeling the first (of many I’m sure) guilt pangs when it comes to my baby.

My first feelings of guilt come from photos.

I feel like maybe I haven’t taken any good enough photos. And I’ve been feeling really guilty about it, especially since I was on a six week c-section healing house arrest. Yes, I do have a digital camera (non dSLR), but these photos just don't seem to be good enough, *sigh*. But with Froggie growing bigger everyday, and losing his newborn features at en exponential rate, this tells me I need to make taking photos a priority, pronto!

One thing that I have been doing (while not taking photos of my baby), in between feeding, sleeping, changing nappies and play time, is waiting for the door to knock. Or even better, the unexpected door knock. Yes, I have had a lot of lovely visitors (thank you friends!), but the door knocking I’m referring to is the postman. Specifically, the postman who HAS TO knock on your door because he wants to deliver something that won’t fit into the letterbox *smiley face*.

I’ve said it before, but golly, I do love getting parcels in the mail. Check out this stash that came last week:

I haven’t received anything (so far)  in the mail this week *sad face* but I have been waiting for something for a few months now (but I can’t say what it is because he/she might look at this blog post) so I’m hoping it arrives before the end of the week.

Do you like getting parcels too? Leave me a comment on the best thing that has arrived in the mail at your house.

xoxo Bronwyn

P.S. the postman delivered the parcel I've been waiting for, my Mother's Day gift for my mum! Yes, I know Mother's Day was two months ago, and no, I'm not forgetful or slack. I ordered my mum some personalised jewellery at the beginning of April, and after waiting patiently, then not-so-patiently, and then sending some email rage, the parcel(s) finally arrive, and to my surprise, the jewellery company sends me two! (It must be their way of an apology!)

#1 Have a Baby

IT'S A BOY!

Yes, my little man arrived one day after his due date, weighing in at 3.74kg, and 53cm long:

We call him Froggie. Because when he lies on your chest in his green onsie with his arms and legs are tucked up into his body, well, he looks like a frog. See?

My labour/delivery didn’t go as expected, (but then everyone told me not to have any expectations), but it also was not as bad as I thought it would be. Yes I was in labour for 12 hours, and yes it hurt (a lot!), but most importantly we came out the other side an instant family.

The midwives and the doctors at the hospital were great. And I mean really great. A few of my friends have had babies and they have all told me stories of not-so-nice midwives, and doctors whose faces they would not remember as they only got to see them very briefly. So I was very glad that when all the hospital staff, (six days in the hospital x three shift changes = 18 different midwives during my stay) were supportive of my needs, pleasant to be around, and didn’t give too much conflicting opposing information. I would definitely go back there to have my future babies.

Motherhood is exactly what people say, you’re sleep deprived, you never have enough time for anything, and in the first days home, family and friends make, bring and buy you dinner. I’ve been home from the hospital for a week and a half and today is the first time I’ve been able to get onto my laptop, which I think is scary. In my digital world, there are over 500 emails waiting to be deleted opened, and 80+ blog posts to read in my reading list. But in my physical world there is a load of washing to hang out, a load of washing to put in the machine and a baby to feed (which can happen anytime between now and the next 90 minutes.)

So I can mark off  #1 on my Mrs Bucket list:

#1 Have a Baby

That makes three items marked off my Mrs Bucket list.

I’m still committed to the list, but realistically, I may not get to all of them before I turn thirty. So I’ve decided that rather than try to complete the remaining twenty-seven items in the next twelve weeks, I have decided to extend my Mrs Bucket list time frame to the end of the year, with the aim of completing half the list before I’m thirty. When I was paid employment, extending deadlines was not something I was ever allowed liked to do, but since I’m now doing home duties, I’m going to throw myself a bone.

Ahh, there’s the baby crying, it must be feeding time, at least I got to finish writing this blog post. If you’re a mama, leave me a comment on time management tips that worked for you with your new baby.

xoxo Bronwyn

The waiting game and the considerate baby

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It’s becoming clearer as every day passes that this baby is in no hurry to make an appearance. As soon as 1 May arrived, I said to my belly:

It’s ok to come out now!

*silence*

I like to consider myself to be a pretty patient person, and by no means am I over being pregnant, I’ve just been hoping that the baby might have wanted to come and say hi a little bit earlier. I know that on average, first babies are notorious for being overdue. But recently I’ve heard of a few friends of friends, whose babies have arrived early (one of these girlies even had a due date after me!) I feel calm, relaxed, good and ready, which is why I am confused curious banging my head against the wall wondering why the baby is staying quiet.

Hello?

*silence*

Everyday I give myself a reason why the baby hasn’t arrived yet.

Yesterday the baby didn’t arrive because I still hadn’t finished picking up the last minute items needed for my hospital bag.

On the weekend the baby didn’t arrive because I HAD to go to the NKOTBSB concert was in town.

And last week the baby didn’t arrive because Maxi and Ralphi decided to do some last minute house renovations and smash crash through remove a window for some unknown reason.

Rather than feel bummed that the baby hasn’t arrived, I really should be more glass half full.

It was rather considerate that the baby didn’t arrive yesterday; otherwise I could not confidently say that I am finally packed. It was considerate that the baby didn’t arrive before the weekend otherwise I would not have been able to go to the NKOTBSB concert (and go back to being the high school groupie in me who LOVES the Backstreet Boys). And it was considerate that the baby didn’t arrive last week so that I could tend to the Maxi and Ralphi’s attempts at DIY.

So today, instead of thinking of a reason why the baby may or may not arrive today, I’m just going to sit back, relax and take in some sun (it’s 17 degrees today, but at least it’s not raining!)

xoxo Bronwyn