DIY Printable Valentine Cupid's Arrow Card

Shot through the heart and you're to blame...

I made these for my young men last year and ended up making a heap for my friends and family too, they were such a hit I wanted to share the link with you again.

These were created by Sweet Muffin Suite - they are super cool and very easy to make.

Here's a link to my original post which also includes a sweet recipe for a spicy black pepper chocolate valentine brownie, perfect for gifts too!

Perfect, if slightly damp, Sunday

Poor old Brisbane and in fact much of Queensland has been drenched! It continued to be torrential all day and the wind has thrown it's two cents in as well. I have never heard it actually whistle and howl so loudly before! Every window and door in my house is rattling and the branches of the trees next to the house are rapping on the windows in a very agitated way.
We've got sideways rain and the water-catchments and nearby creeks are looking scarily full. The house is damp, my pile of laundry grows unrelentingly larger but from the sounds of things I could be a lot worse off, other people have lost power and are watching waters rise across their backyards. People in northern cities of Queensland are facing hurricanes. Hopefully it will be nothing like the floods of this time two years ago...

Little "Bow Tie Killer" is keeping watch for me

We barricaded ourselves in and admittedly it was good to have the excuse to relax and catch up on some reading {of the blog and books-from-the-library variety}. Of course I did have a pile of back to school books to cover awaiting me on the dinning table but I just gave those an occasional cold stare and otherwise ignored them for today. Tomorrow!

a couple of the new collection of zakka books from the library - I love them!

I did lots of other things to prep us all for the back to school performance that will begin on
Tuesday morning - or may not... I have heard a rumor school may not open because of the weather
{I don't believe it though}. Either way I have clean socks, ironed uniforms, frozen sandwiches
{thanks Michelle and Ben for the hot tip} and bags and lunchboxes ready to go!

It was so dark inside the house today. The lamp light cast some pretty shadows.

And in much happier news... "The Jungle Giants" came in at number 83 with their song "She's A Riot" in the Triple J Hottest 100 2012!! And no wonder, they have been working their butts off, playing heaps of gigs and festivals, making radio appearances,  touring with some amazing bands and just being so brilliant and fun to watch live. I love their music!

I was super happy and have never been so tensely awaiting the countdown. My friend Cesira who is their amazing and beautiful guitarist was so excited. They have produced two Eps and are now recording their first album which I can't wait for. Here are some links to two of their latest filmclips if you'd like to hear and see more. 

"She's A Riot" and one of my absolute faves "You've Got Something"

coming to you from dampened circumstances but not spirits, Ains xx

It's Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day!
It's a bit of an outrage the rain is coming down in buckets on our barbecues across Brisbane today but I'm just happy to have a precious day off work to spend time with my boys.
Obviously we're going to be celebrating that Australia is the best country in the world, I should know, I've been to cities that never close down...
We'll still be having that barbecue with my fam, I'll be listening to Triple J's Hottest 100, I'll be very excited if my favourite Brisbane band, The Jungle Giants make an appearance with this song.
We won't be going to the cockroach races or meat pie eating contests at our local pub {although I do think it's important to occasionally embrace your inner bogan}.

What will you be doing??

Photos from our trip to the Brisbane bayside suburb of Wynnum last weekend - one of the boys and my favourite places.

Have a great day!

Owl be downloading you again this year!

Have you got your calendar for 2013 yet? If not you will have to swoop down on this one. I've downloaded these for the last two years and am very happy to be able to do it again this year.
My Owl Barn has compiled, once again, a gorgeous collection of owl illustrations for you to download as a calendar. You get to pick your favourite for each month - so hard to choose!! Here are just a few examples below.

Thank you, thank you, I will treasure it all year long... you can never have too many owls, seriously.

So either click on my link button to the side or go here to get yours!