DIY

After the huge amount of interest my kids were showing our beloved fiddle leaf fig trees that lived in the play room, their leaves rapidly began to droop in fear every time the troops entered the room with their light sabres and raucous enthusiasm. But I missed the greenery and freshness the plants (safely relocated to another area in the house) added to the room. Which brought me to a little craft project over the weekend. I’ve been super keen to try this out on a larger scale for my own plants, so thought why not test run first and create a rainbow succulent garden for the kids play room.

And would you just look! I am THAT happy with the results. Check that out! Super affordable, and a really fun project that the kids could also get involved in. I did use spray paint so that part was obviously left to me, but the digging, planting, and pebble laying were something the girls really got into, and of course the watering is going to be left up to them (hence succulents being my plant of choice! ;))

Here’s how I did it:

I read mixed reviews on whether or not I should seal the terracotta pots before I painted them. Some blogs suggested sealing before painting, some suggested after, some said it wasn’t necessary at all. So being lazy, and always in a rush to see my end results, I skipped that step, so far so good the plants have been watered twice with no change to the paint at all. If you do choose to seal your pots it is suggested to leave a few spots unsealed, so that excess water can still drain away from the plants. If you’re unsure if you should or shouldn’t, I normally read a bunch of house and garden style DIY’s before embarking on a project, take an average and go with that. So far so good!

I decided I wanted the inside of my pots to be white, probably un necessary but the effect is nice. So to start with I sprayed the inside of the pots white and let them dry.

I then sprayed the pots in my colour choices. On reflection this would have been a super cheap exercise had I just chosen two colours, painted the pots white and decorated with one pop colour (or even a metallic, imagine!) but I of course wanted a rainbow for the kids and at $8 per can of paint and $3  per terracotta pot it wasn’t an overly expensive exercise at all.

I then left the pots to dry for 24 hours before painting my white details. Some of them I did free hand. And the angles I did quickly and easily using painters tape. Just make sure you’ve let the first coat dry sufficiently before applying and removing tape. I learnt that the hard way (again, impatient) .

And that’s it! We placed white gravel on the top layer of soil to create a nice effect for indoors. And there you have it, a gorgeous little rainbow mantel of succulents for the play room. and a very eager 20 month old begging to get them down to water! Speaking of Miss Ruby, she wears my latest kids label crush, the gorgeous Oishi M. Stay tuned I will be bringing you more on them really soon!

xx Claire

My gorgeous wee Second Cousin Miss Olive turned four recently, and to celebrate her parents threw her the most immaculate fun-filled backyard carnival I have ever laid eyes on! The styling, the colours, the whole aesthetic I think you’ll agree is just next level GORGEOUS! All the happiness in the world just radiates from these pictures, the adults looking just as pleased as the children with the festivities! The games, the food, the vintage and pastel tones, I can’t get enough! I asked Mum Pip how she came up with this creative idea, “A visiting circus was in town, and after a bit of Pinterest stalking, a carnival theme quickly became a great idea. A long time black, grey and neutrals fan, I didn’t want to completely let loose on bright colours – so I settled on a ‘Vintage Carnival’. With gorgeous costumes, decorations and spread of activities, we had a fun-filled day of carnival chaos!” says Pip. The tightrope walker costumes for birthday girl Miss O, and her baby sister, were the best I’ve seen, complete with a stunning DIY feather-head band made by clever Pip herself, and teamed with Tutu Du Monde sparkly ‘show stopper’ shorts. The games were a hit! “Bobbing for apples quickly became lets throw the apples in and see them splash” says Pip. “But the chaos was surprisingly all part of the fun.” The classic clown piñata was adapted from Pips own piñata making tutorial : You can read more on how to make one HERE. Other activities and details included:

• Popcorn for sale at the Carnival stand.
• Party hat making with all the trims.
• Bringing back the 80’s childhood hoola-hooping expertise!
• Balloon making
• Party bags – a tassel wand, gold dusted seal biscuit, animal pencil and a clown nose

And as for that eloquent cake… The Carnival Cake – based on Sweetapolita’s birthday medley, was constructed with raspberry jam between layers of blue funfetti stars, pink amarena cherry and rich chocolate. Fondant icing was decorated with hand painted green, blue and gold and finished with handmade flowers and elephant cake topper. Other tasty carnival treats included:

• Pip’s favourite Nigella biscuits finished two ways – Elephants and stars dipped in coloured melted chocolate sprinkled with pearlescent drops and seals in gold dusting.
• Freshly cut watermelon stars and blueberries
• Strawberry jelly with blue chocolate shooting stars
• Mini hot dogs with mustard
• Sausage rolls with homemade tomato sauce
• Medley of candied and buttered popcorn

Pip and her sister Lex have a  gorgeous blog, you can follow their beautiful families, their recipes, activities, and styling over at Two Houses blog : http://www.twohouses.com.au/

Photography credit: Oliver Bain Photography