Save our Rhinos

colourgiggles — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:38:06 +0000

I have to be honest, I’ve tried to ignore the fact that our Rhino population is rapidly declining due to dumb ass poachers who take their horns for cures to every illness in the world. Here’s a heads up… Rhino horn doesn’t cure cancer, it doesn’t cure AIDS, it’s not going to have the same effect as viagra… 2011 has come and gone, leaving in its wake 448 known rhino carcasses despite the best efforts of so many. According to acclaimed rhino scientists, if poaching continues at its current rate South Africa’s rhino herd will go into population decline by mid-2012. So far this year alone, 64 Rhinos in South Africa have been poached… it’s just unacceptable…

If you’re like me and want not only your kids, but their kids too, to be able to view these magnificent animals in the wild next time you spend a weekend in the bush, (or visit Africa for the first time) well, let’s all do something about it.. whether it’s raising awareness of this massive problem, donating to saving them, or teaching our children all about these beautiful beasts, let’s not keep our heads in the sand (ostriches don’t need our support for now), let’s stand up for the Rhino’s and actually do something to stop their elimination!

Cute nursery art from Etsy

For the mom, don’t you like this Rhino Journal, also from Etsy

The perfect way to record each month of your baby’s first year (and let’s hope not the number of rhino’s poached!)

(Available from Etsy)

And this guy might be my favourite…. love the picture of him with the dinosaur – a good reminder to us on how close we are to reading story books to our grandkids on how Rhino’s used to roam Africa, just like the T-Rex!

We also love these cute little soft and cuddly Rhinos from the Crazy Aunt Company. What we love even more though is that 25% from every sale of these rhino’s is donated to the World Wildlife Fund and their efforts to save Africa’s rhinos.

Balloon fun fun fun

colourgiggles — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:57:57 +0000

How much fun is this idea – so simple, but I can only imagine sooo much fun! Pop over to Play at Home Mom for the complete tutorial on how they made these paint bombs from scratch!

And how’s this for a photo shoot back drop, from Mom Tog, busy even I’d agree, but got to love the colour and balloons!

The picture’s not the greatest, but I do like the idea of putting glow sticks into balloons before blowing them up for a night time party.. (image from Pinterest)

And here’s a picture…. featured just because it makes me happy just looking at it…

(Image source: Tumblr)

Bright and fun nurserys

colourgiggles — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:19:44 +0000

So you may have seen our very special news on Twitter that we are expecting a little sister or brother for our little monkey. Our 12 week scan yesterday went well and the little baba looks happy, healthy and growing perfectly. So, with this news my stomach is all a flutter with excitement and dreams for what lies ahead..

So, bear with me if the next few months are quite ‘new baby’ focused… Starting off today with some ideas for a nursery… We won’t find out whether this little bump is a boy or a girl so we’ll be putting a ‘gender neutral’ room together, but as you know me – it’s probably going to be bright and fun, nothing ‘neutral’ about it… here are a few ideas I came across so far… I’m sure there will be plenty to follow!

I’ve never been able to get my bunting hanging quite right, but more than anything I’m convinced I need some bright and colourful bunting for the new nursery… always loved bunting, now just need to get it right! (so many beautiful nursery inspirations from The Boo and the Boy, including this one.

I do kind of love this colour combination of the yellow and the blue… and even though it’s blue it doesn’t scream boy at you I don’t think? You should check out the post with every detail of this beautiful nursery from Kerry’s Craft Blog.

I’m also quite a fan of this green (and the yellow of course) nursery that I saw on Spearmint Baby… Decisions decisions decisions!

Something just grabbed me in this picture from Pinterest of this nursery. It’s not really my normal style, but I still really like it – perhaps it’s that beautiful crochet blanket, filled with bright and beautiful colours. Going to get my crocheting out and start a project I think… 6 months and counting.

Happy Valentine’s Day

colourgiggles — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:15:37 +0000

Wishing all our preggy moms, new moms, tired moms, single moms, working moms, stay at home moms, and all the mom’s out there today a very happy Valentine’s day. Hope you’re spoilt rotten and your day and year is filled with love love love.

The perfect gift for Dad!

colourgiggles — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:33:56 +0000

I’m in love with this idea for the Dad in our family – he loves nothing more than his back tickled and I’m quite frankly not the worlds best back tickler… Our little pink monkey isn’t that into her cars and trucks at the moment (I’m giving her time cause I remember growing up one of my favourite toys was my brown suitcase full of cars and trucks that I played in the sand / mud with). I’m thinking she’s going to be seriously encouraged to start playing with some cars though, either that or pressure to produce a boy baby next time

You can find the full post on how this is made (together with a template to copy if you’re artistically challenged like me) over at The Blue Basket

Cool pressie idea though, don’t you agree?

1st Birthday parties

colourgiggles — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:09:25 +0000

How many times have you heard mom’s ask the question around the little one’s first birthday parties – the big question? Do we go big or not? So many different views, some go completely overboard, some don’t do anything and some I guess take the middle road. For me it was more about celebrating our monkey’s first year with our friends who had been through many of the ups and downs with us. Of course she won’t remember it, but we made sure we took some good photos, and most importantly for me, it was a day spent with loved ones and day spent reflecting on what a blessing she had been in our lives at that point. (4 months to go till her 2nd birthday now can you believe it!)

Anyway, I saw this awesome idea on On To Baby and thought I’d share it. Something as simple as using baby’s clothes from the year as bunting, together with photos from the year – perfect decor for some awesome reminders of how far you’ve come and how special the first year has been.

Anyone else got some cute, simple ideas for celebrating 1st Birthday’s?

The cow jumped over the moon

colourgiggles — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:54:33 +0000

How cute is this idea for your kiddies lunch from Meet the Dubiens

Aeroplane Party

colourgiggles — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:51:38 +0000

One of the funny thing about all our little creatures is the ability they have to change their minds even quicker than their moms. One such change of mind was one little dude being completely digger crazy to now totally aeroplane crazy – there goes that awesome idea of a digger cake for his digger party

How cool are these aeroplane propellor pops (marshmallows dipped in chocolate)!

And when serving food, don’t forget to make it look authentic like when you’re on a real aeroplane trip! (Ok, the ones where you still get the free meals and not the budget flights that we’re always on!)

Paint (or use masking tape I reckon) down the middle of the table cloth and park aeroplanes down the middle to turn the party table into a landing strip…

All the above ideas are from a post on Frost Me Blog – be sure to check the post out with a heap more stunning ideas for an aeroplane themed party!

Here’s another blog post on a plane theme – I loved this party pack the best! (pop over to Milk Tea and Polka Dots for the full post and more gorgeous pics)

And last but not least, how totally cool is this invitation from Design Dazzle

Camping update

colourgiggles — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:53:01 +0000

I’ve been scarce on the blogging front, I promise I’m not gone, just battling to get my posts up! Anyway, I got heaps of advice from my last post when we were about to set off on our big camping adventure and so wanted to share a few moments from our weekend!

Here are some of the highlights

1) Arrived in the dark after missing the turn, directions weren’t great and we actually first arrived at a camp site (with the name that was on the booking) with no on at the site… we did for a few minutes think our mates were playing a practical joke on us, but no… we were just at the wrong place

2) When we did get there, it had just started to drizzle. I left ‘putting up the tent’ to Gav and the rest of the guys while I bathed the monkey. (Having even taken a bath plug with me in case the facilities didn’t have.. I’m happy to report that they did have one, but was also quite impressed that I had brought my own (Thanks to Cat from Juggling Act of Life blog post on camping with kids). Anyway, I’m getting distracted. The actual point here is that the guys realized that we hadn’t brought the tent poles with the tent (can you tell it’s been years since we’ve used the tent, and yes we should have checked. Lesson learned.

3) Checked into luxury chalet 15 minutes away from our camping friends and spent half our salary on the night (without really speaking to each other) …not ideal on all levels

4) Ended up going back to the camping ground the next morning and joining up with all the mates who had driven down from Joburg and up from Durban and took some mates up on their offer to take one of their rooms in their tents (love have mates from Joburg

5) Spent lovely morning at rock pools, splashing in waterfalls, having a picnic with the little girls, and a great walk there and back.

6) Got back to the campsite just in the nic of time before one almighty thunder, rain and hail storm tore the campsite apart (together with the gazebo we were using as our communal area). Half the party were still up the mountain on walks, some with little kids. I was very happy that we were safely in our car while the storm passed (and that our camping friends were able to take control of the camp site after the storm with uber MacGuyver moves and problem solving.

7) All in all, it was a great weekend, we learnt that we still need to get a lot more organized, but it was amazing to have the little ones tear around the camp site, to spend most of the weekend outdoors, for sweet coffee out of a tin cup at the break of dawn and if I’m honest, to get back and fall asleep in our bed on the Sunday night!

Here’s two pics, taken by the uber talented photographer mamma to my monkey’s best mate, sharing a special moment in the campsite…

(swapping juice bottles)

(yum, thanks mom’s, we quite like this camping thing)

Bathroom envy

colourgiggles — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:11:32 +0000

I saw these awesome pics on Rattle & Mum yesterday and you can obviously see why I immediately fell in love them them. Seeing these gave me some inspiration to find some other bathroom ideas and accessories!

(Pop over to Rattle & Hum for more pics!)

And if the kids can have a cool bathroom, then the big people could have something like this

Here’s an idea for the kids bathroom (or if you’re having a lego party!) – fill the liquid soap up with some lego pieces… very cool idea from Simply Sara

And while we’re at it, if you’re looking for some craft activities to make with the kids – aren’t these handmade bath crayons from Kiboomu perfect for today’s post