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!

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!

pepper & spice chocolate brownie for valentine's day

I made these by adapting a fantastic recipe that my friend Jamie gave me. 

The original is called "Mother Of The Year Chocolate Brownies".

Unfortunately I'm not sure where the recipe came from but I have added it here with my extras so you can print it out and try it yourself.

It's so quick and easy you can whip up brownies at the drop of a hat. 

Jamie uses this recipe as a base and adds all sorts of ingredients and makes all manner of 

amazing cakes, desserts and cupcakes from it. She's very clever!

I just chose to add black pepper and mixed spice {another idea borrowed from a chocolate spice 

biscuit recipe from a friend!} and made them into cupcakes. 

These will be for the boys for valentines day. Luke did a fantastic job at decorating the top of this 

one with a red candy heart and chopped up musk sticks!

* just to let you know, these brownie cakes taste amazing with the pepper and spice addition!!

here's my adaption...

and look what else...
how cool are these!

I found this free printable project at sweet muffin suite printable valentine's card via creature comforts 
I made these up in about 5 minutes this afternoon using some cute black pencils I found at spotlight.
I think they such a clever idea.

The boys will love them I' sure.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow!

school book labels - free download!

It's that time of the year again... back to school and back to uni which means book covering.
Got to try and make it fun because I do not like covering books!

Did you collect novelty erasers in the 80s?
I did and I still have some.
Me and my boys have been adding to the collection over the years when we find them at
garage sales or markets.

Last year I created some book labels for my kids using erasers from my stash.
You can read about it here
Heaps of people liked them so I have put them up for you to download and print out to use too!

It's really easy.
Go to this link, download, save to your desktop, print them out!

I recommend sticking the downloaded pdf on to a usb {memory stick} and taking it to somewhere
like Officeworks to get it printed on thick card.
That way your labels will be more durable and won't smudge.
*remember to only print out the second page of the document which are the labels themselves.
The ones I did last year lasted great {and with my boys, that's saying something}.

You could print them on to sticker paper or adhere them to your books using sticky tape,
clear contact over the top, put them under those plastic re-usable book covers or,
my favourite - washi tape!
like this...

Last year we printed them out at officeworks then made them into stickers using our xyron machine

this year it's washi tape

use your imagination!

I hope you enjoy these!
Please feel free to share the link to this post with your friends!
Happy wrapping!

Owl Calendar 2012

speaking of owls - My Owl Barn has put together another exceptional calendar for 2012 illustrated beautifully by artists from all over the world! This was an extremely popular project last year and I am so glad it's back. You can choose which illustrations you like and so customise your own calendar and then download it for free! Once again - difficult to choose!

"There's Owl. He hasn't exactly got Brain but he Knows Things"
                                                                                                                                                 A.A. Milne

illustrations by Cally Johnson-Isaacs • Yoon See • Alisa Coburn

I have stuck a link on the side and here's another!

Free Easter Tags Download

I am very pleased to share my very first ever free download! 

I have made up some easter gift tags which you can print out or download via here
There are four variations with two of each on an A4 sheet 

{I recommend using the thickest card that is suitable for your printer}. 

I have left a space to the right of each tag for you to punch a hole and thread your ribbon 

through as pictured below.

♥ Please feel free to share the link via suburbansider - hope you enjoy!