Emma’s Flower Garden Birthday Party (& Devilled Egg recipe)

Flower Garden Birthday Party Theme mypoppet.com.au
Emma’s birthday always sneaks up on me. It’s usually around the same time as Easter so all the chocolate bunny hoopla tends to be quite a distraction. I always have the best intentions for organizing a proper party and actually inviting her little friends, but alas, between school holidays and the Easter break, it never happened.
Luckily for Emma, her aunts, cousins, and grandparents kept calling me to find out ‘what time they should come over for the party?’, so like it or not, I had to throw a party!

So what does a time poor mum do when she needs a little birthday party theme inspiration? Get out the old Women’s Weekly Birthday cake book and hit Pinterest of course!
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My Mexican Fiesta Christmas

Freedom City outdoor setting
You’ve probably noticed that Christmas is just around the corner, it has snuck up again on me this year. It’s my birthday month so I don’t really get into the Christmas spirit until I blow out the candles on my birthday cake. When Freedom gifted me a voucher to help me get ready for Christmas, my mind went straight to our outdoor area. We’ve been desperately in need of an outdoor setting to help extend our entertaining space. I love alfresco dining, and creating an outdoor room for all the festivities in December makes this season feel extra special.

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How To: Sensory Play Coloured Rice Tray

Sensory Play colored rice tray

Sensory play is a valuable part of early childhood development, not only is it fun, but it helps develop fine motor skills and creativity. Emma has been a little unfocused and disruptive at school lately, so her teacher suggested we try some more sensory play activities at home to help her calm her behavior and help her focus. A tray of sand was suggested, but I though coloured rice would be more fun. (We are building her a sandpit this weekend). A rice tray is easy to put together with items you may already have in your kitchen…

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Optus Me TV – A Review

Sponsored by Nuffnang 

It’s not often that Mr Man gets enthusiastic about my blogging, until I was asked to review the new Internet TV service called MeTV by Optus. He is a bit of a TV junkie and had been asking for something like this for ages, so you can imagine how happy he was that I accepted the challenge. He even helped me take these photos, crazy times!!

The courier delivered everything we needed to get started. There was the Fetch Tv box which lets you record, pause and rewind Live TV with a whopping 1TB of storage and a modem router thing which connects everything to your internet so you can use the Optus internet TV service. Oh and of course all the wires and instructions too.

I was really impressed at how clear and easy to follow the instruction booklets were. Every step had detailed pictures with a clear checklist to ensure nothing was missed. It probably took about 20 min all up with no cursing at all. The only disappointment with setting up was that I didn’t have to use these colourful cables.

Initially I thought that MeTV was like a cable service but it’s totally different. Yes you can subscribe to on demand internet channels and movies for a fee, but mainly it allows you to program and record free to air programs.

So now I’ll be having a play to see how it all works, I just need to wrestle the remote off the Mr.

Here is some more info:
• For $9.95 a month, pause, rewind and record all your fave TV shows so there will always have something on – without having to pay for cable or buy box sets
• Download to rent the latest new release movies to keep you and the kids entertained without having to go to the DVD store from $5.95 each
• Plus additional channel packs available for Kids and special interest for $6.95 a month each. You can add and remove these monthly, you aren’t locked in.

We will be giving the MeTV a thorough test run here at My Poppet HQ so tune in shortly for the results.

www.mypoppet.com.au

Sponsored Post – IKEA ‘Get Organised’

This post is RocketFuel sponsored 
It’s pretty safe to say that we are big fans of IKEA here at casa de My Poppet. And I’m probably not alone in saying that there is possibly at least one piece of IKEA in every room.

So when I was asked to share these videos on how a team of IKEA organisers helped De-clutter one families home, I said yes, and secretly wished they’d come to my place. 

 

Click the links below to view the videos:

Check out how the team re-organised this Office Space.
I love the collapsible drying racks in the Laundry Room. 
Three kids in one bedroom – No Problem.

Now I have no excuse not to get organised.

become a RocketFuel Influencer
www.mypoppet.com.au

We Wish you a Merry Christmas…

Wow, it’s been a crazy year! Two overseas trips, 244 blog posts, 34 tutorials, a sassy 2 year old…and I’m spent.
I’ve pushed myself really hard this year, blog wise, mainly to challenge myself and see what can happen if I really put my back into something. I’ve tried lots of new approaches and have learnt so much, hopefully you have enjoyed the journey as well. Now I need a rest.

I’d like to thank you all for reading, liking, following, commenting, especially those of you that have been with us from the start, I hope I’m still relevant. Those of you that have joined us this year, welcome. It’s great to be part of your day.

A really special thanks to all my sponsors and shop customers this year, nothing says ‘I believe in you’ more than handing over your hard earned cash. I don’t really do any of this for the money (or I’d starve), but it’s funny how validating just a little financial reward can be. I hope your My Poppet experiences this year have been amazing, I know you’ve all been really great.

Next year is going to be an interesting one. There are changes afoot! Lots of upheaval here at home (no, I’m not pregnant), so I’m taking all of January off to recharge and re-inspire. I’m excited to see how it all pans out.

So now it’s time for me to sign off.

Have a Safe and Happy Christmas and holiday period. Laugh, eat and enjoy your loved ones.
See you in the new year
xx Cinti

www.mypoppet.com.au

It’s officially time to get festive…

It’s been 12 years since I’ve had a Christmas tree. Yes I’m the original Christmas grinch. I’m a December baby so I’ve always found it a little irritating that my birthday celebrations get lost amongst all the hoopla. I find it hard to put up any decorations till after my birthday. Before Emma was born Christmas used to come an go with just the faintest acknowledgement decor wise. Maybe some branches with an odd bauble or two, sometimes lights. But it seems Emma is now old enough to start to ‘get it’ so I thought it was time to get crazy and go super festive.

I was originally just going to make some pom poms and do the branch thing again this year, but I was stopped in my tracks by this sparkly tree. Then I found these cute flocked baubles and I was sold!
I used my Pom Pom Wreath as a tree skirt, looks great doesn’t it?

No tree topper? No worries. I’ve got a festive pineapple, picked it up in Tokyo.
Oh and did I mention it’s my birthday today? Emma will be super excited when she finds out. The one thing she likes more than Christmas trees is a nice big Birthday cake.

Related Posts – How To: Pom Pom Wreath

www.mypoppet.com.au

Eva’s Christening Day

I wanted to share some of the pretty photos from baby Eva’s Christening last month. My sister hosted the Afternoon Tea Garden Party in her back yard after the church ceremony, and did such a great job of making everything so pretty.
The sweet treats were delish. Emma helped herself to SO many cakes, she was bouncing off the walls!
A great time was had all round.
You can see a close up of the christening dress I made her here.

Thanks to From Genevieve Photography for the lovely photos, there are more photos of the day on her blog here.

www.mypoppet.com.au

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