RamsdenDesigns

We’re Making A List, Checking It Twice

Wanna find out who’s naughty, not nice.

That’s because we’re already planning our Halloween decorating. Little J has a very long list of decorating ideas in order to create her ideal Halloween. It turns out ‘ideal’ Halloween includes a Goth costume with the full eye makeup and black clothes.

I’ve put a restriction of decorating only one room and a little bit outside, otherwise we’ll have to remortgage the house to pay for it all.

I’ve also put my ‘no-fun’ foot down and am only letting her have one friend over for a sleep over. Decisions like this are purely self interested of course, I’ve got an incredibly busy day planned for October 31st and will not be in the mood for screaming little girls who will no doubt be out of their minds on sugar and spooky movies.

When I want to be, “super organised” is my middle name and I’ve already started up a Halloween folder in my Pictures file where I can collect (and steal) any great ideas I find on the internet.

Some of my favourites include:

Oh how divine are they! How spookily perfect. How monstrously cute!

With only 36 days to go before our toned down Halloween extravaganza I’ve got as lot of work ahead of me.

Careers I Could Have Chosen

Sometimes in life there are way too many choices. There are just so many cool careers out there that I feel like I want to pursue them all, as if I could have a second career on the sideline and it wouldn’t be too much work.

So what would I do if I magically had the time to have a second, third, even fourth career?

Children's Clothing Designer

Baker of Yummy Things

Like Bakerella, who seems to spend her day making cookies and taking cool photos of them.

Hair Adornment Designer

Like Twigs & Honey.

Artist

Especially art like Rebecca Rebouche, who creates the most divine paintings.

Fabric Designer

Like Australian designer Mel Bomba.

Photographer

Just like Kiss the Grooms Elizabeth Messina.

House Renovator

It ‘sounds’ like a great idea, gutting old ugly houses and redecorating them into something beautiful.

Illustrator

Like the very talented Elise Hurst who wrote and illustrated one of our favourite books, The Night Garden.

Book Shop Owner

I could just read all day long. Bliss.

Shoe Designer

Like The Shoe Girl who spends her day dressing up and designing fab shoes for top fashion labels.

Invitation Designer

You design pretty things like Rifle Paper Co, people love them and use them a wedding invitations. Perfect.

Party Planner

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day.

It Girl

With my own reality show of course.

Stay at Home Mum

Where the only thing I do is what I want, when I want…and then I blog about it of course.

Chocolate Shop Owner

No explanation necessary.

I’m Gettin All Sofistikated!!

It must be because I’m getting older (and think I’m super posh now or something) but ornate American style interior decorating is really starting to grow on me. I just really like that it’s all just a little too much.

I mean…really…who has a giant white peacock in their dining room? And I can’t see a single kids toy or some random rubbish they’ve left lying around anywhere.

Not to mention all that pretty easy-to-stain white. They must have live in house keepers.

Despite all that it doesn’t stop me from coveting it all. I think it looks divine, luxurious and all together over the top. All I have to do now is somehow convince Big B to pay for all of it.

Perfect.

Blogs of Delight – My Six Favourite Blogs Right Now

I’ve got almost 200 blogs on my blog reader, some are updated several times a day, others, almost never. But there are always favourites, ones I click on as soon as I see a new post. It’s an ever changing list of favs, however I’m pretty fickle and can go off a blog really quick if they don’t keep me interested.

Some, gasp! even get deleted if they start posting really poor quality work. Shameful I know but it’s competitive out there in blog world and you have to be good to get and keep peoples attention. Survival of the most entertaining.

Here are my six favourite blogs right now…this list could change next week, or later today. But right now, they’re it.

Bakerella. Quite simply the coolest sweets and baking blog on the internet. In it you’ll find the best tutorials for cupcakes, brownies, cookies and every other type of sweet dessert. The photos are always clear, fun and vibrant. It’s an absolute joy to read.

Ish & Chi blogger Viv has flawless decorating sense. she’s stylish, bold and isn’t afraid to mix expensive pieces with cheap and cheerful. She’s also a dab hand at renovating and putting an outfit together.

Little Green Notebook. This was a blog I subscribed to originally thinking it would be good and was very disappointed with. I wasn’t impressed with the posts and it kind of got forgotten about in feed reader, where I’d click on it occasionally and quickly scan the posts. Then suddenly it got really good. Her posts got really exciting with great interior decorating content and the room renovations were just fantastic. Now I love every post and look forward to what’s coming next.

Sweet Fine Day have only recently been on my blog list. Jenna and Mark make fantastic desserts and take really beautiful pictures of their creations. But also they live in New York with their two young children and seem to have an amazing cosmopolitan life of trips to Central Park, the farmers market or their local cafe. All documented with Jenna's relentless snapping away.

The Design Files. Anything interesting and innovative that’s happening in Australia is documented here. The curators have impeccable taste and I especially love the studio and retail interior features.

This is Glamorous are exactly as their name suggests. The blog is chocker block full of glamour, fashion, dreamy interiors and divine photography. There’s no chatting on this blog, it’s all style over substance and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I Wanna Spend Money

It’s time for “Oh my goodness, look at all these awesome things”

I understand I’m probably too old to be saying “awesome” but it’s hard to get any other words out when you’re drooling.

 Black Vintage Tram Roll Menu Tea Towel

Bunnies Set of 3

  Dixy Bull Lamp White

Horse Light

Awesome wallpaper

But what have I bought first?

A replica Eames hanger

On sale no less. Yay!

Thank Goodness I Have Little Girls

Because without them I’d have no excuse to go gaga over all the wonderful things made specially for girls. Like these beautiful and sweet wall decals by Mae.

I’ve been thinking constantly on how to decorate the girls bedrooms. Little J is quickly heading into Tweenager life and will soon be wrapped up in clothes, music and money (which she basically already is). But that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t appreciate something like this on her room walls:

Or this:

And even better. All this:

And I’ve got this in mind for the playroom:

Just love how the names come with them.

Revisiting Some Favourites

Occasionally I’ll go through my Favourites list on Etsy and remind myself why they were favourites in the first place.

Magnum Ice Cream USB Flash Drive, La-Te-Da Ornate Mirror

Plum Poppy Clutch Purse with Silk Lining, necklush

Wing and Petal Strand, I want to rock with you

1 Corinthians 13 - Love is Patient, Lightness

for the other-DRAWING FOR A CURE, Studio Doll – Scarlet

of blossom bells and sultry things, Burkhalter Rose

Things That Surprise Me

1. That designing packaging is an ordeal. Pantone colours, CMYK, embedding images and outlining fonts. The poor design guys from various printing companies are holding my hand every step of the way.
2. That some companies will drive all the way out to your house, show you a piece of paper that you then sign and then drive all the way back into the city. And they’ll do it with a smile on their face.
3. That other companies have forgotten the art of customer service. Like the company I rang today about getting a freight quote and heard “bugger off” down the line instead of “hello”, all before I even got a word in.
4. That no other client has beaten my personal trainer to a pulp yet for being the most evil woman on the planet. Actually it’s no surprise, it’s because they’re all like me, hobbling along like an old person, feeling pain in muscles they never knew they had and unable to lift their arms above their shoulders, let alone take a swing at someone.
5. That I’m always shocked when the kids do a half-hearted job at a chore. I really need to just expect a ‘near enough is good enough’ attitude.

And one thing that doesn’t surprise me…that I really really want a dressing table like this:

And I found something quite similar in IKEA and will be buying it immediately (in the next few months!!).

Deck The Halls With Baldy Positioned Ornaments

Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

But it certainly suits our house at the moment. Our tree is up (and I’m sure Big B is relieved to have not been part of that circus) and the above pic is Little J’s attempt at hanging decorations. Proportion and a sense of space are not her strong points I’ve discovered. While the picture looks nice…and whoa our carpet looks like it’s never seen a 2 year old, the surrounding branches had nary a bauble on them.

And so it went. Bunches of ornaments and then giant spaces of undecorated tree.

Mummy will fix that later.

The best bit about our tree is the two presents already underneath it. Both of which are mine. One from Little J and one from Big B…which I picked out, purchased and wrapped but as we’re both happy about the situation it’s all good. I did balk a bit at the price but justified it by saying it was also a graduation present and an investment piece. And who knows, perhaps Big B will feel it’s worth it as it saved him the torture of shopping for my present and spending time in a place he compares to the depths of hell…a shopping centre.

And he’s totally going to win brownie points with his family for such a thoughtful gift.

While taking pictures of just mentioned gifts Little C saw an opportunity to be a star. I feel compelled to mention she isn’t participating in Movember but rather just indulged in a Tim Tam.

Does she look like my kid or not? She definitely gets her eyebrows from daddy. Poor thing, but not to worry, I’ve started up a ‘eyebrow wax’ trust fund for when she notices and demands they be gone.

Some other rooms in the house got the Xmas treatment as well. Big B wasn’t too impressed however when I told him the master bedroom is now decorated in pink fluffy Christmas lights.

As I’m Running A Day Behind, It Just So Happens…

…that I completely forgot what I did yesterday. I know it involved lunch out with Big B and a quiet day because the kids weren’t around. But thats it really, the rest is a blank.

Things would be greatly improved if I could remember where I put Little J’s swimming form. I think it’s in the bin, which the truck picked up today but I keep looking around the house for it because it’s much cleaner in the house. And you never know.

So how's about a bit of Pottery Barn lust instead? We don’t have Pottery Barn here, so don’t bother Googling it, it’ll just break your heart anyway. But I found this:

It’s a customizable organisation station called ‘Daily System’ and I so want one. Pottery Barn of course doesn’t ship out of America so I have buckley's chance of getting one. But I was wondering what IKEA have and found…nothing remotely like it.

Yay for Australia…not home of the ‘Daily System’.

Sigh.