Brusselsprouts

Winter 2012.......

2012-01-22T12:46:00.000+08:00

The 2 sprouts are in their pool & I am sitting in the shade of the mulberry tree mixing & matching some gorgeous fabrics that have arrived for the Winter 2012 range. I am really looking forward to bringing out a new range after having taking a break last season... my sewjo is back!

Don't be afraid of the Edge.......

2011-12-29T20:06:00.002+08:00

When I started my business 4 years ago from my lounge room all I had was a hand drawn shorts pattern on Christmas wrapping paper my mother gave me, a $189 sewing machine from Kmart, a $119 overlocker from Aldi & an old laptop. It was then up to me to find out how to buy fabric, where to buy it, how to source wholesalers, how to register for a business name, how to sew etc etc. My one big set back was that I lived in Kalgoorlie which meant no Spotlight, all my fabric purchases were from the local craft shop at $24-$30 metre for a fabric, scary to practice on & my fabric cost more than some of the things I was making but I didn't care as I loved to sew.

I searched forums & websites for hours on end trying to find resources, I emailed people & asked questions & was either never replied to or fobbed off with "I paid my dues you have to pay yours". This frustrated me at the time because I didnt want to copy what designers were doing, I respected them greatly & was genuinely trying to find materials as there were none where I lived. Luckily I stumbled upon someone who mentioned Etsy, thankyou Lord for Etsy! I was finally able to buy fabric that was not available where I lived, it also helped me to research the Australian distributors of fabric & from there on I haven't looked back.

Since then I have made it a point that if ever I am asked about suppliers or resources I have always been more than willing to supply to them any knowledge I have no matter how small or insignificant & I love to see & support other small businesses like myself blossom & grow.

Unfortunately my sharing, as I have been told, became an issue today when I posted a link on my facebook page to a pattern that is for sale to anyone all over the world. I have always been positive on my page & have never had a reason to post anything negative however after I received numerous personal messages that another persons facebook's page nasty update was referring to me I was shocked. I found the update disturbing both in its agressiveness & the fact that children were mentioned. I decided to post this update in the hope that if it was meant for me that this person would be ashamed of what they wrote & even if it wasn't meant for me they still should be ashamed & others out there that have been bullied shouldn't accept this type of behaviour.

I am saddened that after coming so far personally there would be such haters out there, I am not hurt by the comments as they are ridiculous but I do think they are disturbing & sad. I refuse to become a business that does not pass on information because at the end of the day I am but a small fish in a big pond & there is plenty of business to go around.

Stop your Flippin' Whingeing............

2011-11-01T20:03:00.000+08:00

We have just driven back today from a great night up at Hoover House in Gwalia, it is actually our third visit because we love staying at this B&B. Not only does it have a fantastic museum that you can walk around, after 4pm the gate is locked & you have the whole place to yourselves.

My favourite part of the area is the ghost town of the miners houses that the local residents have restored themselves.

It is a grounding & humbling experience to walk through these homes, the stoves that needed wood to cook, the toilets that were non existent, the sewing machines that needed a foot to get them going. By visiting these places it makes me stop & think the next time something miniscule annoys me in my modern life to say to myself...'Victoria Stop your Flippin' Whingeing!'

I was once told that my attitude of being grateful & thankful of what I have will not help me be successful in business as I am too nice to succeed & I should care if others are trying to belittle me or compete. Well if being grateful or thankful for what I have rather than spending my time & headspace caught up with what other businesses are doing will make me a failure then I am more than happy not to succeed.

Slow & Steady Wins the Race.......

2011-10-26T22:02:00.000+08:00

It's been a busy time at work & at home for the past 10 weeks. The store has now been re-located over to 77 Hannan St, it has been a bit of a mission moving as I had no idea how busy I would be in the new store & I am so happy to have had such a positive response, thankyou Kalgoorlie :)

Also on the agenda has been the new Boutique Candy Buffets so Deb & I have been spending alot of time collaborating with other local & out of state businesses with cross promotions.

On the home front Mr Sprout & I have been getting the spare bedroom ready in anticipation of becoming foster parents for our local community, something we are both very excited about.

Please excuse me if I am a little slow to see any facebook messages/comments or emails, my daily internet time is now very short due to my store/community/family commitments & I do appreciate all comments & likes.

I have chosen to be a slow & steady turtle for 4years now & though my ideal finish line is quite a way off I know that I am on the path to winning not only my buisness but my personal race..............

Chocolate on a spoon?....mmmm yummy!

2011-10-15T16:39:00.001+08:00

So in my intrepid travels around the www for my new venture Brusselsprouts Boutique Candy Buffets I came across a photo of chocolate on a spoon with loads of yummy goodness stuck to it.....unfortunately because I am an intrepid traveller I cannot give you the link to the page or give the person who blogged about it the praise & respect they deserve & for that I am sorry.

However what it boils down to is this, chocolate on a spoon is the bees knees.....I know because Mr 4 & 2 told me so. These are the same Mr's 4 & 2 who refuse to eat anything that looks non yellow or non red meaning they only like strawberries, spaghetti, toast & bananas everything else is "ukky".

My telling them it was 'chocolate' which is a magical word they hear once a year as I am a terrible mother that only hands it out on special occasions piqued their interest somewhat & once they got over the fact that it was pink they were keen to consume it......& like it.

All you have to do is melt some chocolate, I did mine in the microwave it took 30 seconds, add some food colouring, pour it onto a plastic spoon & then add whatever decoration you like. Just a quick note though, dont fill the spoon up all the way before you add the other items as it will overflow.....yes I am an overfiller.

A few small Changes......

2011-09-30T15:50:00.000+08:00

are happening at Brusselsprouts. Firstly the Porter St store is moving.....around the corner onto the main st of Kalgoorlie, Hannan St. It is a cute little space & with the different size & shape of the store will come a new layout & some new products.

Handmade will still be available in store, with 12 labels from the eastern states & 5 local there is a great selection. Some small run international labels will also soon be gracing the racks along with the likes of Noah & Belles and the larger mainstream will slowly be phased out.

And most exciting is a new venture that I am in the stages of developing now which will take Brusselsprouts in a whole new direction....I will divulge more when closer to release date :)

It has been a fantastic time at Porter St & I have enjoyed every minute. I have been very lucky to have had such wonderful support from so many handmade labels who encouraged me from day one 3.5yrs ago when I started out & continue to do so today. I have also found the larger suppliers to be very helpful to such a newbie as myself, if it wasnt for their items I would have had an empty store on many occasions & would not be in business today. I know firsthand that when it comes to handmade, stock doesnt & can't get made overnight, we have children, husbands & many have other jobs, which makes it all the more special & why it sells so quickly. I love to sew & won't ever stop.

Tomorrow will be the last trading day at Porter St....sob....but onwards & upwards with the next step in the journey of Brusselsprouts, a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a woman who had a dream & made it a reality, thankyou to each & all of you xx

Wordless Wednesday........

2011-09-28T10:56:00.000+08:00

Naughty Naughty Brusselsprouts.....

2011-09-23T22:09:00.001+08:00

My sense of humour has finally got me into trouble....its taken 38years but yes I am officially in trouble. I have been told by facebook that a post of mine was 'offensive' & I have been 'reported'. I suppose I should be feeling chastised by this but I dont really as I posted a photo of a fully clothed person that has been circulating on the internet for quite awhile & my intent was only to lighten the mood of facebooks recent changes which had started a mild mass hysteria amongst business pages.

Obviously not everyone was offended by it as I received the most likes,comments & shared pics I have ever received, a total of approx 310 combined in the space of 2hours. I dont think this is a massive achievement in facebook interaction as some pages put up a 'ballot' for something & get 200 comments in 10 minutes.

Here is the extremely offensive picture & please feel free to avert your gaze, or unlike my business page or not follow this blog................

yes folks it is a person whose identity is not shown & they are wearing leggings........arrrrgggghhh! the indignity how dare I??? Facebook is a business/networking tool & not a popularity contest & I would hate small businesses or wahms to give up on their dreams because they felt invisible on this one marketing avenue because of all posts saying you need likes, you don't you are all fabulous xx

Things that make you go Hhhmmmm #13......

2011-09-09T17:33:00.001+08:00

I would think that is the bike seat but then I look at her expression & it makes me go Hhhmmmmmmmmm.....

Dear Dad, Happy Fathers Day, Sorry about the Banana's........

2011-09-04T14:45:00.000+08:00

Being Fathers Day I decided to buy Mr Sprout a rare treat to take to work today.......a banana.

Still costing $12 a kilo it is a rare treat indeed to have them in the house. Unfortunatley I forgot to tell my husband I had purchased them, a whole 4 of them which totalled $10.97, so he went to work without one.

I thought it might be wise to move them to a higher shelf before they were discovered by the boys ......obviously I was too late.

Cheat Sheet for Men.....

2011-08-20T10:27:00.001+08:00

Shop 4 Kids Spring

2011-08-11T17:41:00.000+08:00

A gorgeous handmade product that I stock has been featured in the latest issue of Shop 4 Kids - Spring 2011 the vintage print kewpie onesie!

Shop the Shoot Pg 146

I love these retro prints & have many more designs available online & instore in either the onesie or t-shirt version.

Thankyou Shop 4 Kids x

Business upfront..........& a party in the back.

2011-07-14T07:33:00.000+08:00

This morning I have to be all about business for a few minutes in regards to pre-ordered & sale items. I would just like to re-iterate that I only hold these items for 1 week after they arrive.

Listing & sorting & emailing & messaging regarding this stock is time consuming & though most customers are fantastic & either pay within this timeframe or make other arrangements with me there are many that dont & then complain weeks later when their items are no longer available. As of today I will also no longer be accepting direct deposit for orders, payments can be made with a debit card via my website.

I am but one woman who has a store to run, stock to sew, children to care for & a husband who I like to hang out with sometimes. With that off my chest I can now get to the party bit, next week the Porter St store will be closed as I will be hanging out with my two little sprouts.

Thankyou Facebook Likers......

2011-07-06T16:29:00.000+08:00

Today I listed my 2000th custom sale, not from the Porter St store or the website or made it or etsy, all 2000 from Facebook!

I was very hesitant about signing up to facebook & had no idea if anyone would want to know what I was making or read my ramblings but I jumped in and gave it a go. If someone had of told me that I would have achieved this many sales in 16months just from one source I would have never believed it.

I would like to say a massive thankyou to everyone who follows my page, to all my awesome customers, & a big special thankyou to the customers that have been with me from the start & still buy from me. I think a big glass of champagne is in order xxx

The Future Looks Bright..........

2011-07-01T14:06:00.000+08:00

Over the last 3 years in the back of my mind there has always been something I have wanted to do & events of the last month have brought it to a reality.

While plans for moving the store to larger premises were underway there seemed to be many obstacles, just when one thing was sorted out another issue would arise postponing the moving date. I was getting frustrated & rang my mother to tell her where things were at & she made a comment that just stopped me in my tracks. She said that maybe these obstacles kept getting in the way for a reason, maybe the universe was telling me that I should be re-assessing what I really want to do.

So that is exactly what I did & she was right. My husband & I have applied to become foster parents. As for how this will effect the future of Brusselsprouts......well lets just see where the universe takes us.

Changes..........& 3 Goldfish.

2011-06-12T13:06:00.000+08:00

These last few weeks have had alot of ups & downs, the shop being robbed was a down, our family trip to Perth was an up, my fathers stroke last night a definate down. Amongst all these happenings I have been working harder than I ever have & it is time to make some changes. I cannot continue to sew full time, run a shop with 3 staff & myself working, keep on top of website sales, source new products & be a present wife & mother.

I absolutely love what I do and my motives have never been money oriented, if they were I would have given up years ago. So changes there must be, what they will be are yet to be ironed out but I can say that I will no longer be making a Brusselsprouts range each season that will be available for wholesale. I will continue to sew but it will purely be to sell myself. It got to the point where I was sewing 120 dresses a week just to make deadlines & I was a walking zombie. I do have some leads into outsourcing & manufacturing overseas but if I want to go down this road & continue to have the shopfront is yet another decision I need to make.

So for now I am enjoying my boys & waiting for hubby to come home from the mine.....today we went to the petshop & bought new goldfish. Benjamin (4) has called his fish Bubbles, Joshua (2) has called his fish Bubbles & the boys decided to call my fish .....wait for it....Bubbles.

Robbed.........

2011-05-23T19:28:00.000+08:00

Last week I got the phone call I had been waiting for, the one where the caller tells me my windows have been smashed in & I have been robbed. Unfortunately there has been alot of vandalism happening in Kalgoorlie lately & with all the other businesses around me being targeted it was only a matter of time until it was my turn. What disappoints me the most about being robbed is the fact that I support & stock 8 local wahms, I am a small business woman working my butt off trying to bring something different to a small town & have to encounter such stupidity as this.

I will not be deterred & these sorts of incidences just reinforce my decisions & give me the energy & drive to succeed. It is but a small bump in the road!

Giveaway Winner..........

2011-05-02T08:07:00.000+08:00

Eldest Sprout has been given the honour of drawing the name from his fedora.........

here he is with the winning slip

& the winner is Nicole!

Congratulations Nicole & heres hoping you get a dishwasher this year instead of washing up gloves :)

Thankyou Peeps............

2011-05-01T16:37:00.001+08:00

Things have been a little hectic in the house of sprout the last 2 months so I would like to apologise if I have taken a few days to answer any questions/emails/enquiries etc. At the moment I average 100-150 emails a day which I try to answer on that day however sometimes I can't so I am very sorry if it does take me a couple of days to get back to you.

The shop is going great guns & the response has been so positive in Kalgoorlie I am just so happy! Lots of new handmade suppliers have come on board, a few overseas labels & ofcourse I am still sewing alot of the stock myself. I now have 3 other staff in store besides myself & I am looking at larger premises to lease later in the year & a new venture with a girlfriend of mine.

I would like to say a big thankyou to everyone who supports me online as well as in store. If anyone had of asked me 3 years ago if I thought I would be where I am today I would have scoffed. It is truly the online community that has helped me open my own bricks & mortar store & the trust & generosity of other handmade producers & I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. From my first sale of a little hand knitted beanie I made to now stocking 15 retailers plus my own store I truly thankyou.

It warms my heart to see the same customers buying from me & that inspires me to be a good business woman. I like to post up funny pics on my facebook page & love all your comments which inpsires me to be a good person. And lastly I thankyou for your understanding emails & well wishes if things are a little delayed because I am busy with my children, which inspires me to be a good mother.

Thankyou xxx

The night I met Prince Harry & the Media fallout after...........

2011-04-29T19:09:00.002+08:00

About 8 years ago while I was still living in Qld I met Prince Harry in a very obscure way. At the time I was working as a night manager of a surf club and one of the bar staff who I supervised was turning 18, Prince Harry attended his party & I was also invited to the party. It was a very low key casual affair at the young mans parents house & very hush hush. Some of the other staff also knew so we all arrived together.........to a nightmare!

Poor Harry was holed up in the bathroom of the house hiding while half the female teenage population of Noosa sat outside the door giggling & squealing. I felt so sorry for him & after being given access to the bathroom discovered him to be a very nice & handsome young man. I left that evening after a few drinks & chats & didnt think anything more until the next issue of Womans Day magazine hit the shelves.

Supposedly one of the girls I went to the party with & left with & spent all her time in my company with, had hung out with Harry taking drugs & having you know what on the front lawn. She even made the front cover. I was disgusted that someone would make this up just to try and get a bit of fame & that a magazine would pay her thousands for an untrue & unsubstantiated story.

The next thing I know I have reporters calling me & putting my photo in the Brisbane papers purely because I was there & they thought I was her boss. Aaarrggghhh!

Todays royal wedding was lovely & I must admit I would love to be a princess in the sense of no cooking or cleaning but I think I can take a bit of work and dirt to have privacy in my life. Best of luck to you Kate :)

Mothers Day Giveaway..........

2011-04-28T18:19:00.001+08:00

I think its fair to say that sometimes in life we are gifted things that are bad & in my experience this usually happens at birthdays or mothers day so to celebrate Mothers Day & hopefully ease the pain of a bad gift I will be giving away two gorgeous, yummy, scrummy handmade soaps from Inner Earth Soaps.

I adore these soaps and for your chance to win all you have to do is tell me what was your worst Mothers Day present ever. The winner will be drawn at random on Monday 2nd May 9am (aest). To make it easy for people to comment you can either leave a comment here on my blog or you can go to my facebook page and leave your comment under this photo. I can post internationally you just may not recieve the soap before Mothers Day :)

Mr Sprout goes 5 star Camping.........

2011-04-27T19:10:00.000+08:00

Mr Sprout has been sent off to work at a mine north of Kalgoorlie for a week. He made a few obligatory grumblings about missing the children & myself but deep down I know he loves these little jaunts. He has his own private airconditioned, ensuited accommodation (okay its a donger but its still his own), 3 meals a day (hot breakfast, packed lunch, smorgasboard dinner), free phone calls nationwide & internet access.
Last time he went he gained 8 kilos, came back critiquing my food & knew all sorts of gossip from chatting to friends back east. I'm really looking forward to him coming home next week ;)

NB: I am a huge Bear Grylls fan but this photo is just too funny!

Ending Facebook Friendships..........

2011-04-15T06:37:00.000+08:00

Last night I made the decision to delete my facebook friends. When I joined up to facebook it was for two reasons, the first so my relatives over East & in other countries could easily view photos of my children, house reno etc. The second reason was to launch a business page so customers could view new & upcoming products & see how the business grows.

I did not know that facebook would start to take over my life! The amount of time spent chatting, pm'ing, tagging, being tagged, answering posts was astounding & when you times it by two it became overwhelming. Hence my decision to virtually cancel everyone on my personal page & just go back to the good ol days when friends used to ring me or drop by for a coffee.

So if you find that you are no longer on my friend list please dont take it personally,I am still your friend but I prefer to be your friend riding rollercoasters in the real world not online.

Cupcakes & Clowns........

2011-03-28T18:32:00.000+08:00

Only a few more days to go until my Cupcakes & Clown day happening on Saturday 2nd April!

Lots of gorgeous yummy cupcakes are being supplied by local business Cupcake Crazee & a fantastic clown will be in store to paint faces, play games & make balloon animals.

Pop on down between 10am &12noon

20 Porter St

Kalgoorlie

SALE 30% off Storewide...........

2011-03-15T09:04:00.000+08:00

30% off storewide today

with the discount code FBOOK30

ends midnight 15th March aest

Monday Meanderings......

2011-03-07T07:11:00.000+08:00

Its a public holiday in WA today & the sun is shining so I decided to clean up the back yard & prune back the roses. To encourage the boys to get involved I gave them the car wash n wax to clean up their dump trucks.

Junior sprout seemed to think it also had some great shampooing benefits.....

Pssttt!....Look over there -->

2011-03-04T08:04:00.000+08:00

Yes over there, I have a new button....a Li'l Magoolie quake button....click on it...go on...have a look and if you see something you like place a bid.....I have donated one of the very cool & very popular pilot hats.

Wordless Wednesday.......

2011-03-02T18:11:00.000+08:00

Autumn/Winter '11 Photo Shoot

2011-02-01T11:46:00.000+08:00

Date Nights.....reality or just bad TV??

2011-01-05T19:11:00.000+08:00

Three weeks before Christmas I answered the door to the Foxtel salesman, this happens every year & I am always able to ward him off however this year Mr Sprout happened to be working night shift & the knock at the door woke him up....meaning we now have Foxtel.

I have come to the conclusion that Foxtel is more boring than bats**t. It is full of reality tv shows that are so far from reality it pains me. For years I have flicked through magazines at the checkout not knowing who the hell any of the 'celebs' were, I now know they are all from reality shows!

I have also discovered that alot of people in these reality shows who are married, have children & are somehow ridiculously wealthy without seeming to have any type of employment make sure they have a date night each week....each week?? So I posed the question to my husband...'when do we have date nights?'

After some consideration we decided that we were actually on our date night, he had just finished his 2week mine shift, the boys were in bed, I was in my pj's, we were drinking wine & a pizza was about to be delivered. This is our treat once a month which is now officially known as our 'date night'. However instead of rekindling romance ours usually ends up with both of us falling asleep on opposite couches .....yeah I like date night :)

3 days........

2010-12-22T18:17:00.000+08:00

thats it only 3 days to go and I still have no food in the house & am yet to buy my children presents,

Mr Sprout doesnt get paid till Christmas Eve so it will be a fight to the death over the last turkeys at Woolies, he is working all of Christmas the mines shut for no one but he was able to scrounge Christmas day off thankfully. So I am now off to make a list and practice my tackling technique....Woolies can get quite fierce in Kalgoorlie.

Help! I think I have created a Monster.....

2010-12-10T19:22:00.000+08:00

My husband loves a beer so in my infinite wisdom I thought I would buy him a home brew kit which has sat in the laundry for the past year collecting dust, that is until we had friends over for a bbq. I know that men can be competitive so it was not a surprise that after our male guest informed us that he is an avid brewer my husband might blow the dust off the kit & try his hand at brewing., little did I know how much this would affect my life.

It all started 2 weeks ago when Mr Sprout attempted his first brew, he read the instructions on the can wrong and added twice the amount of water. Ofcourse being a man he refused to take any responsibility for his error & blamed everyone from me to the children to the dog...we obviously put him off his concentration. Nevertheless he forged on and sat watching his brew for a week until I suggested he might want to start again, this advice was only taken on board when I threw in that he didnt want to have a failure on his hands. I mean how embarrassing would that be to tell your mates? So down the sink it went & I thought that was the end of things for awhile but I was wrong.

I popped out to do a bit of shopping & came home to find husband dearest running through the house with something warm wrapped in a towel shouting 'quick get out of the way!'...seriously I thought someone had just given birth in our kitchen but it was the hot can of whateveryoucallit which needed to be added to the other beermakingstuff. I was then roped into writing down temperatures while he did something with a test tube & thermometer all the while checking & rechecking the instructions.

This should have been the end of it for me but alas he is on nightshift & likes to call me constantly to check on the temperature of his beloved brew, I am given instructions of how I am to wrap the brew in a towel if it gets too cold or to wet the towel & rewrap if it gets too hot. If I dont answer the phone because I am doing something ridiculous like bathing our children or putting them to bed I get sent text messages.

After last nights instructions I politely suggested what he could go & do with his brew, he looked a tad worried & tried to lighten the mood with a joke...something along the lines of tucking it in & giving it a kiss goodnight....it didnt go down well....needless to say I have received no instructions tonight...........yet.

Its Official I am the Grinch

2010-12-08T06:38:00.000+08:00

Yes it's true I am the Grinch, with so much happening in the last few weeks with the shop opening, big wholesale orders to complete, designing Winter etc etc Christmas has taken the back seat. If you remember last year I was all prepared & in the spirit & had bought the most ridiculous sized turkey in the world. This year the Christmas spirit is missing and in all honesty I hadn't even noticed until last week when Mr 3 asked me a question.

We were standing in the newsagency waiting to be served when a little voice says
'Excuse me Mummy who is that?' so I turn & look to see a 4ft tall life like Santa
Me 'Thats Santa mate'
Mr 3 'He looks nice'
Me 'Yes he is now lets go buy bananas'
Mr 3 'Okay'

This is the extent of my childrens knowledge of Christmas, was that an audible gasp I just heard?? lame I know but for the first two Christmases I got all excited & tried to explain the whole process which went right over a 1& 2 yr olds head. Now I am at the 3yr stage & I know as soon as I mention the word 'present' the explanation of the birth of Jesus will be forgotten & I will be nagged for the next 2 weeks for one.

Its been said that we all turn into our mothers at some point & I can predict the moment it will happen to me, I will be in a shop, it will be December, my children will be playing up & before I know it I'll be saying 'if you dont behave yourself Santa wont bring any presents' AAARGGHHHHH!!!

Christmas will come to the Sprout house I am just putting it off for a week or so...........selfish? maybe but hey I am the Grinch.

Brusselsprouts Boutique is Open!

2010-11-28T07:58:00.000+08:00

Hello! How are you today? so glad you could drop by

Would you like a glass of champagne?? maybe a biscuit for your little sprouts???

Thanks for stopping by...come back soon xx

Final Preparations

2010-11-21T18:45:00.000+08:00

I have been very slack in blogging & I really miss it!

BUT

things have progressed with the shop preparations and I hope to open this week.

I am waiting on my cash register to arrive and then its all systems go.....

Eeeekkkkkk! I am a little scared........

Getting There....slowly

2010-11-03T15:46:00.000+08:00

Slowly but surely things are coming together....

Mr Sprouts is now on holidays and has been given a rather large list which we have until Sunday to complete....

no worries ...

right?....

Things that make you go Hhhmmm......#12

2010-10-28T19:08:00.000+08:00

Today I looked up sign writers for the new store, one of the local sign writers is called 'Awsome' signs...........are we missing a vowel??? I thought it was a typo but after visiting the store it is not.... would I trust this company to spell my sign correctly...Hhhmmmm

Look Out! A new store you say??

2010-10-19T18:01:00.000+08:00

Yes I do say, a new store, a real life, in the flesh, bricks and mortar shop, right here in Kalgoorlie...woohoo!!
I have smashed down walls and pulled up lino and am now in the process of filling holes in the walls ready for painting.

Today I went to buy some racks and after a minor heart attack at the cost of your traditional retail shelving I came up with a brilliant solution and ended up in the gardening section of Bunnings........what you say?? Oh ye of little faith....I will reveal all soon....if it works orcourse........ if it all goes pear shape well .....hmmmm

Master Ex a new pitch to the Networks........

2010-10-05T20:33:00.000+08:00

Last night I was watching tv and heard an announcement that had me reeling........ an Australian version of 'Iron Chef" is about to hit our screens. I'm sorry but what the hell??? I love a good episode of Iron Chef.... usually after a few glasses of wine as it does give me the giggles, but mainly I love it for all the weird and wonderful food that is cooked which just doesnt tally for me with Australian cuisine. However it got me to thinking that there are a ridiculous amount of cooking/chef/reality kitchen shows on at the moment so I too have come up with my own idea of a show 'Master Ex' where one can reflect on what your ex/exe's cooked you for the first time and if it impressed or set the basis for your entire relationship.

Looking back for myself Ex #1 cooked macaroni and cheese with bacon and pineapple, he knew I did not like cooked pineapple but as he was the 'chef' it was his decision............mmmm yep 7 years later I realised his wants and pineapple would always come first.

Moving on to Ex #2 the first meal of spaghetti wasnt cooked by him but by his housemate (he took the credit), after I found this out I thought he was trying not to make a mistake with that first meal but it turns out he was a great cook when he did actually cook, unfortunately he was just very lazy. Unfortunately it took me 5 years to figure this out.

Lastly we have possibly the worst presented meal ever....A massive steak bleeding on my plate with a salad of lettuce, tomato and huge heart attack size blocks of cheese. On the table three open cans, one each of corn, beetroot and asparagus nestled up against a tub of meadow lea margarine and a Tip Top loaf of white bread. Condiments consisted of a bottle of tomato sauce and an industrial sized Saxa salt dispenser.

Looking at this spread before me I knew then and there I would marry this man, born and bred on a cattle farm, no pretentions, no pretending and he gentlemanly offered me the fork to spoon out the cans with first (he no longer eats from cans since I explained the effects of salmonella).

Okay so maybe not a show that people might tune in to every week like it is but throw in a few challenges a few around the world destinations and a contestant or two that you love to hate and yeah I think this can work...............:)

At My House

2010-10-04T07:49:00.000+08:00

Today I am playing along with Button By Lou Lous at my house. In my house we have a large number of matchbox cars which you will find lined up in all manner of places

The reason we have so many cars is that I dont allow my boys to eat chocolate very often.....I know I know I am the worst mother on earth! so every fortnight when we go grocery shopping and they salivate over the chocolate and lollies on display I let them choose one treat either a car or a chuppa chupp (yes I am cheap too) Most times the car wins out and hence they are everywhere in our house.

Every six months I do a big clean out and send a bag full to the Salvation Army and at the rate that Mr Sprout has been stepping on them in the night and cursing I think its time to say goodbye to a few more.

When Honesty is not Always the Best Policy

2010-10-03T07:52:00.000+08:00

With the time to Christmas fast approaching I have been seeing a few decorating ideas on blogs with tips on how to dress up your mantle and it got me to thinking about what is on the mantle in my bedroom............

This wooden sculpture was an anniversary gift from my husband and to be honest I hate it. He bought it while in Noosa at a friends wedding last year so I am thinking the romanticism of the occassion may have inspired him?? He went to a shop that I used to buy from alot while living there to be certain that what he bought I would definately like, this is what he told me before I opened the gift. Very clever dear husband because now I must like it, you know there is trouble ahead when you get an explanation before you open gifts.

With money being tight we had decided on no gifts, also the fact that a girlfriend of mine had received a dolphin lamp that glowed and blew smoke from her husband really scared me. Though my husband has good intentions he buys awful gifts, hence I thought I was being clever using the budget as a no gift reasoning. Maybe some tinsel could hide it for a few months.....say November to March?? followed by an Easter theme..........

Things that make you go Hhhmmmm #11

2010-10-01T18:59:00.000+08:00

So I received this email tonight and it made me go Hhhmmmmmm............

HELLO.

How are you today, Hope all is well with you and your family? My name is Miss Happiness However it really pleases me to write you for a lovely and sincere friendship even if we haven’t met or seen each other before. I will be so much appreciate to see your reply soon so that we can share pictures and know more about ourselves.

I shall appreciate an urgent response from you.

With lots of love from your new friend Happiness.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T06:50:00.000+08:00

When Telstra Comes a Knocking

2010-09-09T18:15:00.000+08:00

image courtesy notesondesign.net

Last week a water main burst somewhere our street and ever since our home phone has been dying a slow death. A few crackles here, a warbely ring there and now just constant static. So I had the painful job of ringing Telstra to inform them of the fault, after many minutes of being on hold, giving up and then calling back I finally got through and have a technician coming to my house to resolve the problem.

I have been given the standard tradesmen trick of a 4hr period where they may or may not deem to visit so to make this less painful for myself I have decided upon a guessing game. All you need to do is visit my facebook page and leave a comment as to what time you think the technician will arrive and the closest to the time will win a 50% off storewide voucher!

Things that get my Goat aka things that give me the.......

2010-09-07T17:58:00.000+08:00

Today I ran into a friends husband whom I havent seen for a couple of months while out shopping which was very nice, we had a little chat and off I went. I came home and told my husband who I had bumped into and what was said and I have been chewing over the exchange ever since. You see I was asked how business was going to which I replied I was very busy, he then told me I looked very tired which I had to agree to because I am! Trust a man to point out the obvious.

It was the next couple of statements that have got my goat, firstly that my husband and I dont have a life. Oh really and how is it we dont have a life, well its because Brennan works 2 weeks straight and then on his week off he looks after the children for a few days while I sew. That equals no life.

Secondly because I work I dont go to all the morning teas, tupperware parties, make up parties, adult parties, candle parties etc etc to which I am invited to, whereas he informs me that because of this the women who invite me will keep 'bitching' about me.

Where is the respect for the work at home mothers??? Yes I am home but that doesnt mean I can drop everything to make up numbers for your 'party' and help you get a free gift. Yes my husband helps out on his week off and you know what if I didnt work I would still expect that of him he is the boys father. And lastly I dont want anything to do with a bunch of women that put you down when you aren't there.

I love my job and I love that my husband is supportive of me and yes we may seem boring to some or up ourselves to others but you know what we dont care :)

Yeehawww!

2010-09-05T09:20:00.000+08:00

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there...........................

Turning Old into New

2010-08-29T11:43:00.000+08:00

Everytime I travel overseas I always bring back something that I hope will last a lifetime, mainly art or sculptures or wood carvings. I ofcourse buy all the obligatory items like shoes and clothes and accessories which now either dont fit, have been worn to death or lost in my many moves. While I was in Thailand I bought these cute little elephants which my boys love to play with, however they are losing all their little sparkly bits so I thought I would spruce them up a bit ..............

While spring cleaning this weekend I found some box picture frames in a cupboard so I cut some leftover fabric and popped it inside then sat the elephants on the inside edge of the frames.

My old elephants look like new again and they are now out of reach of little fingers ...............

Flying with Jetstar - A near death Experience

2010-08-22T08:25:00.000+08:00

Image via myspace.com

Last week I flew from Qld to Melbourne with Jetstar. Travelling with me was Junior Sprout 18mths and Elder Sprout 3yrs along with all the normal paraphanalia that goes with travelling with children, the backpack for Elder, mummys handbag and laptop bag and Junior's monkey backpack with the harness tail. Now this harness has been viewed by a few fellow travellers as unnecessary and a few dont mind telling me. Well let me just say that the horrible and cruel and demeaning harness saved Junior sprouts life, literally!

If you have flown Jetstar you will know that you need to climb down a set of stairs onto the tarmac to unboard the plane, while the flight attendants are very friendly when you board the plane some are not so nice when it is time to unboard. As 3 flight attendants stood at the doorway saying goodbye and talking about what they were up to that weekend I was struggling away trying to lift down Mr 3 while Mr 18mth stood on the plane. While I did this Junior decided to try the step down himself and promptly fell between the plane and the staircase and was dangling in the air tethered to me by the harness strap I had hold of. To put it plainly it was freaking scary as I pulled him to safety.

Meanwhile one of the flight attendants had noticed this and calmly asks 'oh did he just fall?' where I responded 'Yes I just saved him that is a very dangerous step!' and what response did I get do you think?? Nothing just a 'Yes it is high isnt it' and back to what they were wearing out that night. Gee you think!! Maybe she would like to fall headfirst onto a concrete tarmac from the height of a plane but I dont think she would be alive for very long let alone a small child.

Jetstar you suck!

image via jethag.com

Missing Kalgoorlie

2010-08-18T09:38:00.000+08:00

Well here I am back in Kalgoorlie after being away for 5 weeks. I truly missed being in my little house with my husband and the boys missed their father terribly.

I am also very happy to find out today that our Red Check 3/4's are in the latest issue of Shop 4 Kids...yay!!

And lastly I am very excited to find that my Winter '11 fabric arrived while I was away and I love it, expect something very different from me next year :)

Missing in Action

2010-07-31T05:42:00.000+08:00

My poor blog has taken a back seat lately as there are big changes happening at Brusselsprouts! I am currently in Qld working, catching up with friends and doing a spot of shopping. Back with details of the changes we have in store soon x

Things that Make you go Hhhmmmm #10

2010-07-09T17:45:00.001+08:00

Are all of these gals ladies???........

I have my suspicions.

Boys............

2010-06-30T07:04:00.000+08:00

Yes I know we have toys mum, yes we have a sandpit and yes we have bikes and even a mini trampoline but those are soooooo boring. All we ever wanted was a bucket full of cold ash and our dumptruck. Yes I know you locked us out of daddys area of the backyard, but really some twisted wire?? thats the best you could do?? I thought even you could come up with something better than that. There are heaps of cool things back here, the wood pile, the trailer, the pile of ash and it all sits on top of this fantastic red dirt that never washes out. I'm sorry mum but its just a boys paradise :)

At Our House...

2010-06-28T08:07:00.000+08:00

It is freezing cold this morning and the backyard is blanketed in white ice so the boys are reading today.... until outside defrosts

what is happening in your house today?

to find out what is happening elsewhere pop over to Buttons by Lou Lou's blog and go for a wander :)

Back off Ladies He's all Mine!

2010-06-25T08:03:00.000+08:00

A couple of weeks ago my husband took eldest sprout to the circus, a simple task you say? Not in my husbands world! It all started when my husband came running through the back door in a panic, you see he has this one pair of jeans which are his favourites, he refers to them as his 'good' jeans and likes to wear them everywhere. Well that day he was wearing his 'good' jeans while unloading a trailer full of firewood, hence his jeans were filthy and he was devastated that he would be unable to wear his 'good' jeans in a dark circus tent where no one would see him.. .go figure.

He came up with a brilliant idea, I would wash them on a fast cycle and dry them in the late afternoon winter sun.....I saw problems with that but he didn't. So being the dutiful wife that I am I washed his jeans while in the meantime he rigged up a rope and pully system across the backyard where he thought he would capture the most amount of sun.

With only one hour to go the 'good' jeans were still wet so I suggested a hair dryer, he liked this idea and set off to get the dryer while I went off to sew. I never heard him return from outside with the jeans so I looked out the window to see what was going on.

Well there he was in the backyard wearing a blue singlet, rubber ducky boxers, black socks and double pluggers with the industrial length extension cord and the hair dryer blowing away for all its worth. Yep he's a keeper my husband, a pure gold moment!

I bolted for the video camera and now have many amusing minutes of screen time. We also now have a new clothes dryer :)

Guessing Game Giveaway

2010-06-22T17:14:00.001+08:00

Woohoo!! we have reached 500 fans or likes.. whichever you prefer.. on our facebook page and to celebrate we will be having a giveaway. Now its not going to be an ordinary random number giveaway, no siree we will be having a guessing game which will be loads more fun.

I will take some close up photos of random items that I have blogged about in the past, post them on my facebook page at 8pm Wednesday 23rd June (tomorrow night) and whomever comments with the correct answer first will win a prize. There will be 3 items up for grabs. So for all my blog followers you might have a little advantage over some people who dont read my blog but I wont make it too hard for anyone :)

Babyology - A Review

2010-06-21T14:37:00.000+08:00

I just discovered today that we have been reviewed on Babyology !!!

June has been a hell month of sickness in our house and I have been offline quite a bit so I was super excited to see this lovely write up.

Thanks Babyology!

A New Addition............

2010-06-11T14:04:00.000+08:00

Say hello to our new little friend! I won this little cutie from the very talented Bugalugs Handmade I love knitted and crocheted toys and am slowly getting a few together

I'm not sure its politically correct to have a golliwog anymore but I love him, I think our little bugalug looks very happy and can be made in the colours of your choice!!

Thankyou Bugalugs :)

At My House

2010-06-07T08:38:00.000+08:00

We are playing along with Buttons by Lou Lou's at my house again this week. Junior sprout has a new chalkboard and things started out well so I happily went off to make toast.....

On my return ( I was gone a whopping 3mins) I discovered this............

I wasnt worried as I thought it was only chalk and would wipe off, but no this is crayon added to the chalk bucket by the ever helpful Eldest sprout............

Whats happening at your house??

Things That make You Go Hhhmmmmm #9 (Warning X Rated)

2010-06-06T08:37:00.000+08:00

This Hhhmmm was kindly emailed to me by Michelle an Aussie blog follower living in South Africa, thanks Michelle! What I find most hhhmmmming is that 25 of these have been sold.............................

A Prayer to the Apple God

2010-05-27T11:36:00.001+08:00

I am so excited, there are apples on my apple tree! The apple tree that my 6ft5 husband has to duck under to get to our front door, the apple tree that he wants to cut down, the apple tree that he said would bear no fruit. Well ha dee ha ha Mr Brusselsprouts cos I spy me some apples, now comes the hard part how to keep them on the tree long enough to get big and fat and edible?? so my argument for not cutting down the tree has some merit..............

At My House

2010-05-24T08:37:00.000+08:00

Today I am playing along with Buttons By Lou Lou's what's happening at your house. We bought little Sprout his first bed and here he is having his first sleep in a big bed. My 2 sprouts now share a room which we call the 3 bears room as all in a row there is a single bed, a cot and then the new junior bed. I'm expecting Goldilocks to show up soon...............

A Bad Mother Throws a Party - The Finale

2010-05-23T19:28:00.000+08:00

Well here it is the party table. I ended up being very slack and bought mini cupcakes and a mudcake, not wanting to battle with my oven I thought this would be the easiest way to go and the kids did not mind at all.

The lolly jars I picked up at Kmart and pirate themed them with Kit Kats as planks and Maltesers as Canon Balls, I got some white paper bags from the local craft shop for free (thankyou ladies) and used little wooden pegs to close them. The little wrapped boxes were a thank you gift of chocolates for the parents.

The goodie bags were a big hit with bubbles, slinkys, bat & balls and stickers. I made treasure maps and hid some treasure chests in the backyard with chocolate gold coins in them which had the children running all over the place. And finally I served the fish shaped crumbed fish and chips in newspaper cones, easy for the kids to walk around with and no cleaning up later!

A Bad Mother Throws a Party Part 2

2010-05-20T17:59:00.000+08:00

Well the date of the party looms closer (this Saturday!) and I think I have it pretty much organised and pretty cheap too :) In keeping with the pirate theme I have made treasure maps, thankyou free clipart! and will be serving fish and chips. I have been to the local red dot store and bought a heap of goody bag items, matchbox cars, crayons, bubbles, stickers etc which totalled a whopping $20. Tomorrow I bake cupcakes buy some nibbles and balloons and I am done. I will post photos of my scrooge party soon.........

Cheap Party Themes

2010-05-18T14:19:00.001+08:00

Following on from my last post I surfed the net (etsy!) and found this awesome seller 'The Moo' where for $7 dollars yes thats right $7 dollars I got sent a PDF file containing
• Personalized invitations
• Matching envelope
• Round gift tags
• Folder square gift tags
• Party flags
• Pirate hat
• Eye patches
• Gift bag
What an absolute bargain! And the lovely Kim from The Moo even personalises the invites before she emails the file. All I have to do is print it all out easy peasy :) A pirate party is in the making..................

A Bad Mother throws a Party

2010-05-16T18:16:00.000+08:00

image courtesy mommypoppins.com

Thats me the bad mother, it is official I have been labelled that by another mother and who says the sisterhood is dead?! Why am I a bad mother you ask, well its because I didnt throw lavish parties for my firstborn sprout at ages 1 & 2. Was that an audible gasp I just heard?? Shocking arent I!! Yep we had a store bought cake and only bought him one present too.
I mean its quite understandable my child will grow up knowing that I obviously dont love him as I didnt see the point in spending ridiculous amounts of money on an event that he wont remember and that was attended only by his father and myself. I really should have asked our relatives to all fly 3000klm to Kal and hosted a big event but hey thats just the selfish kind of b***h that I am.
However now that he is turning 3,understands what a party is and has made some friends here in Kal we are definately having a party, ofcourse the aforementioned 'mother' is now off the invite list. Will keep you all posted with the party preparations and before you ask yes I am cheap so dont expect any photos of jumping castles and pony rides.

An Embarrassing Crush or 3

2010-05-15T18:41:00.000+08:00

While reading through my blog list I saw that someone else besides myself has a tv crush on James May but I will now put it out there that I also have two other dalliances going on....

Jimmy Giggle who makes me love him every night at 5pm while my boys sit and eat and

Doc Martin whose lack of any sort of bedside manner cracks me up.

I just hope my husband will forgive me.

New Magazine - By Fryd

2010-05-14T10:17:00.000+08:00

I received a lovely email the other day from Jeanette of Fry Dog Design who has released a new emagazine By Fryd. This gorgeous magazine from Norway is soon to be released in an English version and is packed full of stunning photography, fashion and design. Jeanette has included our Mermaids Dress in her favourite things on pages 42-43 so pop on over and check out this fantastic new magazine and her beautiful blog too!
Thanks Jeanette x

A Little Celebration

2010-05-12T10:07:00.000+08:00

We have reached over 300 'likes' on facebook and to celebrate I am giving away an Alice in Wonderland Hair Tie to 3 people......drum roll please....

Susan Wallis

Jenny Summers

Tania Conroy

Please email your postal address to brusselsprouts@live.com.au and I will pop your Hair Tie in the post and thankyou so much everyone for supporting an Australian Made Label!

Bad Mothers Day Presents

2010-05-09T07:41:00.000+08:00

After receiving some awful presents in previous years (all from my husband though he does try!) this year I decided to take matters into my own hands and buy myself my mothers day present.

So I have bought a drawing done by a Ugandan child by the name of Bukenya from the super awesome project "What would you buy with $50".A project where Ugandan children were asked to draw what they would buy with $50, the pictures are truly humbling some drew shoes, a cup, pens, a house and one orphan girl drew a mother which ofcourse made me burst into tears.

I hope that everyone has a lovely Mothers Day, I am off to give my boys a big hug and a kiss :)

Babiekins Magazine

2010-05-03T18:00:00.000+08:00

Have you seen the new online magazine Babiekins?? It is the brain child of Priscila from Little Miss Heirlooms and we were lucky enough to be included!! Thankyou Priscila and I look forward to the next issue...........

Alice In Wonderland Pinny

2010-05-02T17:11:00.001+08:00

Just listed in my Made It store is the new Alice in Wonderland Pinny made from some gorgeouse Japanese cotton. I only have a few yards (sob... sob ) so will be taking custom orders.

I Love You but We Need a Break......

2010-04-27T09:06:00.000+08:00

Let me start by saying its not You its Me. Its just time we had a little break, it won't be forever I just need some space, seriously and literally I need space and you dear Japanese fabric keep filling up my sewing room so its time to say goodbye for awhile. We have had some great times together, with the children in bed, a nice bottle of wine, scrolling around your categories. Just when I thought I had seen it all you go and surprise me again and the next thing I know I am waiting impatiently for the postman, listening out for the squeak of the front gate, the knock on the door and when it doesn't come I am forlorn. Long weekends are the worst 3 whole days without the possibility of mail, well this is where I draw the line in the sand, enough is enough, farewell dear friend, until we meet again.............

Does anyone get Served anymore?

2010-04-23T11:19:00.000+08:00

So I have had one of those days where I mistakenly adorned my cloak of invisibility when I left the house, next time I will make sure I wear something a little more noticeable.........
this is my list of "lets ignore a customer" shops of today

1. Muffin Break - 6 staff, 1 other customer, totally ignored by all staff as they huddled round the ovens
2. Jesters - 3 staff, no other customers, staff were having a chat behind the counter totally ignored once again
3. Deli Section Woolworths - 4 staff, no other customers, took my number and waited, totally ignored yet again but all the meat is now very prettily laid out, obviously not for sale though.

The end result I left all stores with no purchases, morning tea was not bought, a treat for the boys was not purchased and my husband has to have tinned tuna on his sandwiches yet again.

Summer 10 Photo Shoot

2010-04-21T18:56:00.000+08:00

There were the best of times....

and there were the worst of times....

but in the end it was okay............

Things that Make you go Hhhmmm #8

2010-04-20T18:06:00.000+08:00

A little something for the special lady in your life...............................

Calamity Bolt - Gorgeous Handmade

2010-04-18T18:02:00.001+08:00

Last week I had my very first facebook sale and to my delight some of my customers were fantastic creative people themselves, one such person is Elke who has a made it store Calamity Bolt where she sells the most amazing Hobby Horses like the one pictured above.

Elke also makes hair accessories, clips and bands and her very cute logo was drawn by her daughter when she was 4.

Nice to meet you Elke!!

How to Scare the Crap out of Me Update

2010-04-17T17:25:00.000+08:00

A small update on my previous post

my father is okay thankyou for your lovely comments

my husband is to be insured heavily

my children are now chained up
I am nursing a mild hangover

Time to kick back, put on some tunes and enjoy the weekend

Take care Everyone

How to Scare the Crap out of Me

2010-04-16T08:11:00.000+08:00

Step 1. Chase your 14mth old as he opens the front gate and runs up your very busy car speeding road
Step 2. Your husband calls to say he nearly ran the fully loaded 170ton truck he is driving off the road
Step 3. Pick up your children from daycare and be told one had escaped during the day
Step 4. Call your mother to have a good cry and be told your father is having a minor heart attack

What a Day!

Trust me Darling It will taste Great...

2010-04-13T19:10:00.001+08:00

I am really bad at shopping with a list, if on the rare occassion I do make a list I always forget to take it. So invariably I am left wandering around the supermarket trying to visualise my fridge and pantry while going over what the last few meals were that I cooked.
I hate cooking with a passion, I have been told I am a good cook but I get no enjoyment from it, it is a chore that I despise. I think its not the cooking so much but the what to cook. I stand in front of the pantry for so long trying to think of new and wonderful things to make and in the end I cook the same thing as I did last week. Knowing this when I do the shopping I end up buying the same ingredients over and over and the pantry fills with tins of tomatoes and jars of spaghetti sauce. Then there are the really obscure items that I buy when I am pretending that I will cook something different but dont and then those start to double up.
So for the past two weeks I have been cooking what is in the pantry and not buying groceries. It amazes me that all that food was sitting there just wasting away. However in my determination to empty the pantry we are getting down to a few strange combinations, a mixing of continents and condiments not likely to be seen on the next Master Chef (oh and I hate those cooking shows too).
Now I must be off there is a pan of turkey sausages with dukkah seasoning, tinned tomatoes and water chestnuts waiting to be served.

An Innate Fear

2010-04-11T14:57:00.000+08:00

I am terrified of heights, I cant even make it to the top of the ladder. Its ridiculous, all my logic tells me that I wont fall but I still start to sweat and my knees wobble. This photo always makes me feel ill, just looking at it now I am having a minor panic attack and I'm sitting in a chair on the ground not 69 stories up in the air. I have to go now I am seriously having chest pains.............

Face Book SALE

2010-04-07T18:15:00.000+08:00

Rather than send the boys to the mines to earn a few dollars I have decided to hold a Facebook End of Season Sale. I am quite new to facebook and have pretty much no idea what I am doing but will give it go anyway! So if you would like to grab a couple of ... dare I say Bargains head on over for my sale tomorrow (Thurs) night at 6.30pm AEST. There will be some end of season stock, some one offs and for the crafty mummas some fabrics and bits and bobs.

New Stockist Hip Babes

2010-04-06T10:17:00.000+08:00

We have a new stockist Hip Babes. Hip Babes is a great website for parents of children with Hip Dysplasia, my niece had this condition and was in a brace for 12 months. They are now stocking our cowgirl skirts which are perfect for fitting over a brace!

Things that make you go Hhhmmm #7

2010-04-05T17:46:00.000+08:00

Was walking past the tv when I saw this

I nearly tripped over the couch

but suddenly realised

it was actually this

I love you ABC

Police Hunt the "Midnight Knitter"

2010-04-03T18:33:00.000+08:00

tree cozies courtesy Salty Knits

Have you heard of 'Salty Knits' ???

Well it is a person or persons who is covering trees, posts, stop signs and the like under the cover of darkness with knitted jumpers, cozies etc.

I love this person/persons, what dedication!! I would be lucky to finish a twig sized garment.

Salty Knits has a facebook fanpage and are on myspace .

Where do they find the time to knit........

Happy Easter

2010-04-02T12:30:00.001+08:00

Have a safe and happy Easter everyone!

He's Watching while I Sleep

2010-03-30T07:12:00.000+08:00

In my bedroom I have a fireplace, when I woke this morning the fireplace had a mouse sitting on the mantel looking at me, there is now a mousetrap in the middle of the mantel.
Its not that I dont like mice, I have had them as pets I just dont like the thought of this particular little mouse scampering around my bedroom at night.
Also the boys are going through a sultana phase which they spill all over the house and I shudder at the thought of a little mouse remnant being mistaken for a sultana and being eaten.

The Perils of Purchasing via the Web

2010-03-28T16:31:00.000+08:00

So I just received my RED strawberry fabric from Japan however it is PINK, cute but not RED!!

Label Love

2010-03-24T12:03:00.000+08:00

My new labels arrived today all the way from the South of France and I am madly in love with them!!

Am off to create..................

Things that Make you go Hhhmmmm #6

2010-03-23T19:51:00.000+08:00

I take no credit in finding this Hhhmmm, I saw it at Chunky Chooky a fellow blogger who I love to follow so please click on the link if you dare.

And yes the title does read semen based recipes.......

I think I have just become a vegetarian.....

New Stockist Babys Got Style

2010-03-19T19:21:00.000+08:00

Things are a little hectic in the Brusselsprout house as we have a new stockist. Babys Got Style is a fantastic online store catering for babies, children and mummys! Not only will you find fashion but they sell books, decor, bath products and all sorts of yummy things so have a little wander and check them out. We will be over there soon :)

A Weekend in Pyjamas

2010-03-14T18:43:00.001+08:00

The boys and I have been in our pj's since Friday night, no not the same pj's! we have just been swapping them for different pairs. I dont know how it started but let me assure you it is very comfortable and I highly recommend it. However if the day ever comes where I head off to the corner shop in my polka dot flannels for milk and bread somebody please intervene........

Things that Make you go Hhhmmmm #5

2010-03-12T16:45:00.001+08:00

If a headless bear is not your thing there is always the headless deer

Now I just need to decide what would suit the nursery best????

Available from here

Studio Bambini Interview

2010-03-10T19:03:00.000+08:00

One of my favourite magazines asked me for an interview! yes thats right little 'ol me! They wanted my opinion! So if you would like to read my opinion and others on "How Safe is too Safe?" head on down to the newsagency and turn to pages 76/77.

NB. It may be best to purchase the magazine rather than run the risk of being told you aren't in a library :(

40? Bring It On!

2010-03-09T08:01:00.000+08:00

I turned 37 on Saturday which didn't bother me at all. I am not one of those women who states their age as 30 something, I am 37 and thats a fact. I have never been bothered about age or getting older until.....
the text message.
This message was a joke from a girlfriend saying happy 21st ha ha which I found funny until I sent a response. My brothers favourite joke when he turned 40 was that he was 30 with 10 years experience, so I thought I would steal that and wrote that I was 21 with 16 years experience......
16 years....
was it that long ago that I was 21??....
it doesnt feel that long......
So now I cant wait till I am 40 because being 30 with 10years experience doesn't sound nearly as bad!

Toys from Grandad

2010-03-05T14:20:00.000+08:00

My father has heart disease and had to give up work a long time ago so he started making toys with unused and left over timber from the building company I used to work for. Above is a plane that he has made and below a bulldozer (excuse the sand and dirt but it is one of the boys favourites)

My dad sells these toys at the Peregian Beach Markets for $5 or $10 and 2years on they still look good and still work unlike all the expensive plastic crap toys my boys destroy within 5minutes of receiving them. He also makes trains and trucks but the aeroplanes are a firm favourite, especially with girls!

So I just wanted to say thankyou Dad and keep up the good work x

Style Collective Feature

2010-03-02T07:55:00.000+08:00

We have been reviewed by Style Collective! If you have not been to the Style Collective sight I urge you to have a wander over there. They are an online style magazine and fashion community with all the up to date styles in fashion, children, bridal and home. A one stop style shop! Thankyou Style Collective x

Things that make you go Hhhmmm #4

2010-03-01T19:34:00.001+08:00

So there I was meandering around the net looking for some new summer fabric and came across this.... that is part of the bike right???

Kid Independent Feature

2010-02-28T15:57:00.001+08:00

Brusselsprouts has been featured on the new blog Kid Independent. If you have not seen this site yet you are in for a treat, here is a snippet of who they are;

"We’re basically a bunch of arty types with a love of all things handmade, vintage, sustainable, limited edition and independent. We crave products that are born from the hands of an artist, the heart of a loving mother, the mind of a talented designer, or the soul of an interesting character…"

So go on and have a look around and you will find some gorgeous products, I cant wait to see what more they have in store for us. Also we are sponsoring a competition for them and you could win something from our Winter Range you can check out the competition here!

YeeeeeHaawwwww!

2010-02-27T18:32:00.000+08:00

Last night we threw a Wild West themed Murder/Mystery Dinner Party, here we are pictured with the murdered Sheriff . Brennan played the Deputy Sheriff Whyatt Twerp and I was Lily White Dodgy Towns Saloon Owner. It was loads of fun and everyone got into the dressing up with gusto. We carried the theme through the meal with Tater's, Slaw & Chilli finished off with Apple Pie.

I turned the dining room into a Saloon with this great wall banner, we had peanuts in the shell and jerky for nibbles while we sat at the bar. Marie McCousin and Chief Squatting Calf had very good motives for the murder and were watched closely all evening.

Poor Miss Scarlett OohLaLa my overworked and underpaid Saloon Dancer was very tired and had a little nap with the dead Sheriff! The evening was finished off with blackjack and chocolates. Lots of fun but I'm a bit sluggish today and Brennan was glad to shave the moustache off this morning........

The Dishes Can Wait...

2010-02-24T09:47:00.000+08:00

Because this arrived!!

Way too cute not to attack it with my scissors :)