Tutorials

Photo Credit: Peter Hellberg — Photo Credit: Peter Hellberg

Zip Pouch Tutorial

Over at Move Fuel Love I wrote a Zippered Pouch Tutorial. Loads of pictures and even a little video. Lucky you!

Photo Credit: Mitya Ku — Photo Credit: Mitya Ku

Scrap Busting Bean Bag Tutorial

I busted out my enormous scrap basket of fabric and whipped up a pile of beanbags for my small people to play with.

Photo Credit: dimnikolov — Photo Credit: dimnikolov

Wheat Bag Fun Times

I needed some new wheat bags for various gifts and to make our beds warm. Easy as pie! Check it out here.

Mrs Smyth Made This

amybiopic

Positivity and creativity are my passions. I'm here to share how I live my life with happiness and simplicity as my goals.

You can find me making soap, exercising, baking & cooking, organising cupboards, crafting up a messy messy storm, digging in the garden or sewing the latest quilt. Everyone always needs more quilts, right?

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Monday: a dull morning and a decidedly un-dull walk up a mountain with my new boots and @smythphotos. Life in balance right there. More rainbow cross stitch. Pies! Pies! Pies! for dinner. Car making from cardboard boxes by the girls. Thank you, I&rsq

One day I will have to dismantle my home work office, which will make doing my non work uni assignments much less fun. #moscreens #lessproblems

Today’s achievement : unlocked. ✅ #thisfriesmybrain #chemistry #middleagedstudent

Well, those sideways thunderstorms did a number on our fence rainbow. Should we wash it off and start again? #heartfelthuonvalley #joymail #rainbows

I could have bought my children Swim Parkas for $100 each. Or, I could make them. 🤦&zwj;♀️ ($45 fabric, $6 zip, $4 pattern, $100+ of my time... each.) #swimparka #ihaveachemistryassignmentduesoon @ellieandmac_patterns #patternhack

Thursday: Lovely Things - just a bit with his Charlene emu and kong toy, trying desperately to not bite the humans, FaceTiming with my sister who talks to me like this, ice on my boots after my -1 degree C Walk this morning and the paddock during sai

This week: #everyfuckingnight meal plan: lots of recipes from the @taste_team magazine (my apple news+ subscription is worth every cent), leftovers (quiche and lamb dishes), an easy chicken taco recipe from the @woolworths_au website and my last pack

Left the Valley for the first time in 12 weeks and appear to have purchased everything in Spotlight and Target. 🤷🏻&zwj;♀️ also arrived home to closed gate. Never fear! @smythphotos and his convertible two way gate to the rescue. You can open it out

Monday: Every fucking night. Meal plan and weekly shop ordered. Spent time with my chief handyman @smythphotos and ordered some shelving for my sewing and soap room. Kids and I to the park whilst he went to Mitre 10 for the longest half hour I’

Sunday: one kid to a birthday party, the other with a super snotty nose in bed next to me. We’re each watching our own devices with our own headphones on. Cat under the covers, cup of coffee. Later I plan to indoor ride my bike as the sick kid

Friday: short ride with @smythphotos to @summerkitchenbakery this morning. Shifted some firewood, tidied the house and have had a perfectly lovely afternoon by the fire working on my Rainbow Stitch cross stitch. Have now set an alarm for the school b

Thursday: have finally discovered I can do file disposal and destruction jobs sitting on the floor by the fire. (Never fear, the files go back to the office for secure disposal) Second @gozwiftausnz ride in two days to help get my bike fitness back o

Tuesday: Schnitzel burgers with salad for dinner. Kids back at school, I am working fully from home. It’s lonely, and is mentally difficult - I am however enjoying the view (we have two pairs of nesting Wedge Tailed Eagles on the hill behind us

Sunday: went to Billy Brown Falls yesterday, pizza for dinner, early night. The track to the falls is a very ridiculous low range 4wd track. To help keep M and myself freaking the fork out I chatted non stop with her about the books she’s readi

Saturday: have paved for a short hike with family and trying to sneak in some quilting before we leave. This twist in thread has made spooling bobbins a much more tedious affair than necessary. I bought this @guetermann_creativ_au thread in lockdown

Thursday: WFH, walking, online physio appointments with @pelvicphysiotas (🙌🏻), one kid home from school, big kid chats on the walk back from school, putting up a shelf under the sink (I am most definitely not a natural handywoman, thank goodness I

Wednesday: walked the kids to school in 1 degree weather. Home and work. Woollies and Shiploads where the lack of social distancing and freaking people everywhere freaked ME out. Picked the kids up on foot, carried their stuff and made them snack as

Sunday: sitting by the fire, crosswords, more sitting by the fire, taking a long walk to buy a capsicum and our first hot chips in nearly three months (!), walking in the misty rain, getting kids ready for school tomorrow. M’s teacher mentioned

Friday: cold start as fire had to be out for New Fire Day, it was a sunny 14 degrees in the house at 7am. Wondered if we’d actually ordered the right wood heater and were not enlightened by the invoice. Went walking with @nillyjohnson, I was ed

Thursday: last day of working from home vs home learning. New wood heater will be installed tomorrow, dinner is burbling away. Adults: @tiffhall_xo Hearty Beef Casserole, kids: home made Mac and cheese because I didn’t see how long the casserol

Previously...