Moving In

Well everyone the journey continues....... We started to slowly move in last Friday and I must say it is looking pretty nice.....I will post some more images on my shoppe blog.....Will also be doing some posts to update you on what my house looks like now as a lot of my furniture has gone to the shop as props....as you can see......I can't believe it is already December....Kirstie has been on leadership camp this week and my hubby is away as well for the whole week so last night I stayed up till 2 am trying to get my studio room to resemble something nice again lol...Andrew is in the kitchen baking ginger bread cookies for a german break up party tomorrow....I so love that he enjoys cooking ......

More inspiration - so, so beautiful

I have been so lucky while blogging to come across some of the most inspirational people...Vicki Archer is one of those people...Her new book French Essence is so, so beautiful and I think you should all put it on your Christmas list if you haven't already bought it...Here are just a few images that put a smile on my face....

Inside the pages of a book - things that inspire me

Over the next few posts I am going to share with you things that inspire me. These beautiful images are from a new book called New Farmhouse Style by Terry John Woods (first printing already sold out).... I am lucky to call Terry my friend as we have chatted for several years via email about renovating and the beautiful simplicity of white that we both love ....This book will definitely be on my shopping list for all my friends for Christmas and I really hope to be able to get some in for the shop as well...Terry's home has been featured in many American magazines and is truly breath taking!!!!!!!!!!

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. Eliot

Tears of joy!!!!!!!!!!

Well I just had to share with you this beautiful post from a lovely blog called Being Ruby. I just want to thank her so much for her kind words.... She has a wonderful give-away going at the moment so drop by and have a look, I can promise you it is worth it....

sick little girl!!!!!!!!!

Well my little girl got tonsillitis again last Friday and is still very sick....She has so much on at the moment(awards night tomorrow night where she needs to speak) I feel so sorry for her !!! I just wanted to share with you these photos which are part of her major art work for the end of the year.....I think they are truly amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Proud - New School Captain

Well this week has been an emotional roller coaster.... Over the last month or so Kirstie has been in the process of becoming school captain for 2010. I know I am biased but she is an amazing young girl and this week all her dreams come true she became school captain and to make it even better 3 of her dear, dear friends will make up a team of 2 girls and 2 boys....She is a little scared but also so excited.... What a wonderful exciting last year of school she has ahead of her....
I am so, so sorry for the lack of appearance here lately...my head is definitely on fast forward with the shop getting closer and closer.....I want to do a review on a couple of my favourite books in the next couple of days...Just need to take some photos of my favourite pages to share with you.....I must say I miss you all and I hope you get a chance to drop by and say Hi!!!! I can't wait to get a few spare minutes to go and have a look at all your beautiful blogs too.......

Sorry I have been so slack!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well my friends it just feels like so long since I have been here so I must apologise. So much going on and then school break which was so nice to have the kids home. Anyway we are getting pretty close to the shop being opened now and in one of my mad idea moments I decided it would be cool to have Kirstie's sleigh bed in the shop as a display for our gorgeous Petit Coterie cushions which just arrived from the US from dear sweet Michelle... So Kirstie and I went shopping and we fell in love with this bed...I so wish I could get better photos of her room but the light is really hard in there but this will give you an idea....She chose basically everything herself...She has lovely taste.....Hope you like it......Drop by and say hi I would love to hear from you all.....

My little boy turns 13 tomorrow

Well I loved looking back through photos tonight....He was such a cutie...He is now nearly 5 ft 10 inches tall and he turns 13 tomorrow...He was always my cuddly boy and the one who would always talk to anyone when he was tiny...He would make friends with strangers in the park and was such an easy baby.....Loved information books from when he was little and would throw all the hardest questions at us on road trips..... He had a D and M about girls with me this morning - Wow he is growing up so fast....Love you my sweet boy Happy 13th Birthday!!!!!!!

a little spring cleaning

Well this week I had a bit of a decent clean up of my bedroom as I know in about 6 weeks from now there isn't going to be many spare moments while we get settled into the new shop..... So I thought I would share a few photos....Our old club lounge that we got recovered with beautiful raw linen. My powder blue iron bed....and some of my charms that have tarnished a little tied to a sweet little pillow that my friend made sitting on an old ironstone plate on my dressing table.....

Not a exactly a competition!!!!!!!!

Well I was just sitting here thinking of all these ideas for the shop as I do most mornings lately so I thought it would be a cool idea to give away the lastest gorgeous Spring Issue of Country Style (the cover is very pretty and colourful)... Ok all you have to do to be in the draw is to tell me words or short sayings they inspire you....A dear friend Andy used this one the other night when in conversation with me on facebook about our kids "embrace the butterflies". I am going to use it on a new charm.....Apparently it was a quote from a movie!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to hear what inspires everyone else......

Cleaning up and playing around!!!!

Well as you can imagine (and I have told you on numerous occasions before) I often need to have a decent clean up in my little studio room...It is a tiny little sun room at the end of our house were I play all day and all night!!!! Sometimes I have clippings of paper from one end of the room to the other so last night I cleaned up properly (well sort of) and it felt much nicer to walk in here this morning!!!!!!!!! Here are just a few photos I took...I think they came out pretty nice... I must tell you that the gorgeous ear rings in the first photo were made by my dearest friend Paige and I am keeping them to wear on the first day our shop opens because I so wish she was here to share it with me.....

My love of Cloches!!! PLEASE NEED HELP!!!

Well as we slowly try to track down things for the shop some are just sooooooo difficult to find and glass cloches are one of the things we really want and can't seem to find a wholesaler here in Australia....I so want to use them for display and for sale if I can.....Please if there is anyone out there in blogland that could help I would be so, so grateful.... All shapes and sizes would be wonderful lol.....Wish I lived in europe as they have so many over there - just gorgeous!!!!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend....Heading for very high temperatures here in Queensland and Summer is not quite over yet.....We so need rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace comes from feelings of satisfaction when working with joy, living with hope, loving with abandonment...

SO BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well what a hot day we had in Queensland....It is still suppose to be winter and it was in the 30's today!!!! What is going on!!!! Not nice soldering weather but I must say these charms in this photo were one of my all time favourite ranges I have ever created....You can see them at the wonderful store Lily-G in Brisbane!!!! Well it looks like Simple Things Small Joys the Store will be opening at the end of October which is pretty exciting and I have a feeling by then it will have a bit of a christmas theme....YAY can't wait to decorate!!!! I am so sorry I have been so slack with my posts but it is all about the shop at the moment...Please drop by and say Hi I love reading your comments....

Happy 16th my sweetest girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well my little girl turns 16 tomorrow!!!!! What can I truly say about her....The song "a little ray of sunshine has come into the world....a little ray of sunshine in the shape of a girl, really says it all.....She is bright, joyous, loving, someone who notices the small details of life, a loyal friend and girl friend, my best friend and the sweetest girl on earth... Happy Birthday sweetie...xxxxx

And the winner is.....??????

And the WINNER of the latest Country Style magazine is Vosges Paris.............

Well it was a pretty quiet weekend as my boys headed off to our family farm...We had pre-birthday celebrations for my nearly 16 year old.... She went to the movies with friends Friday night then her best friend slept over and then a date night with her boyfriend Saturday night. I took her to our favourite coffee shop for morning tea yesterday and then she went to Corey's soccer game..I wish I could say I got a lot of work done but I will this week....The shop is getting so close now and still so much to do!!!!!! I hope everyone has a great week....

Give Away!!!!

Well it has been a hard and busy couple of weeks and I have been neglecting blogging a little so thought I would do something nice for you all....Drop by and tell me the top 3 things you like to shop for and I will put you in the draw to win the lastest copy of Australian Country Style magazine....I love the front cover image......so nice ......I will draw it this time next week....

In my life!!!

Well Kirstie is back to school now and Andrew is still home with his mum for a few more days...He is in great spirits and enjoying his time at home a bit too much lol!!! Just wanted to let you know I will soon be closing my Cathy Penton Designs Shoppe blog and trying to put heaps of effort into my new Shoppe blog Simple things small joys....I just put a few more charms on there to tempt you with so go and have a look...I have changed my business name now to Simple things small joys so I hope that isn't too confusing for everyone.... The building process still hasn't started but will keep you up to date...My business partners hubby made this gorgeous table for display in the shop and I can't wait to share it with you all..... Might have a give away in the next few days so keep an eye out.....

A bit of a scary week!!!!

Well these are my precious kids and some weeks the universe just reminds you again how quickly things can happen!!!! Late Sunday afternoon my son Andrew was out riding his bike when a car accidentally hit the back of his bike, luckily a friend was driving past and came and got me. He was a little battered and bruised and had a very sore knee and couldn't walk very well but he was OK!!!! so, so lucky....Then the same afternoon Kirstie came home from seeing Harry Potter and had tonsillitis again and then the next day had uncontrollable vomiting which she needed an injection to stop and is still slowly recovering.... and you know what I feel.....I feel grateful to be their mum, grateful to be there for them no matter what, grateful to see their smiles, give them hugs and watch them grow....

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

DETAILS

Well the kids go back to school tomorrow and I always get a little sad as I love having them home and it all seems to go so fast....Yesterday I went to my favourite rose farm and bought 2 gorgeous bunches of roses just to make the house feel a little pretty...I am also starting a collection of white framed photos to put above my blue table in my lounge....I would like to slowly cover the wall with white frames....I noticed today that there has been dirt moved where the shop will be built so I would think maybe the slab this week - maybe !!!! All a little scary really!!!!!!!!!!!! but I can't wait to fit the shop out just need to get a lot of stock made....

Back Home again!!!

Well I am back in my little studio room, which I love....Looking at this gorgeous photo of the ocean ....Kirstie and I spent 2 hours walking yesterday afternoon (about 12 kilometres) and we had so much fun chatting and giggling and taking photos and having our last gelato at our favourite little italian shop... The boys were out fishing and all was good in the world...Back to reality now though and heaps and heaps of charms to be soldered and orders to be filled...I am not ever very motivated when the kids are on school holidays as I just want to spend time with them lol!!!! but only 8 - 12 weeks now till the shop opens so I need to get a little more motivated.....

A few days away!!!

Well we are having a few days at the coast...Walked 10 km this morning and then indulged in a gorgeous gelato - YUMMY!!!!! and I must say I fell in love with the guys italian accent lol!!! Poor Kirstie is sick again but we are hoping it is just a head cold this time..... There is something so beautiful about listening and watching the ocean....Today it is a lovely 20 degrees and sunny..Back in shorts for the walk this morning... The boys are going to do a spot of fishing this afternoon while us girls catch up on a bit of reading. It is so quiet here all you can hear is the sound of the waves crashing down....Hopefully Kirstie will be up to a nice ride on our bikes tomorrow..... So much going on at the moment we all really needed this short break....

Walk in the rain, smell flowers, stop along the way, build sandcastles, go on
field trips, find out how things work, tell stories, say the magic words, trust
the universe.-bruce williamson

Terry John Woods

Well I need to do a post on a very exciting book coming out in the October through Amazon called New Farmhouse Style and I am hoping to get my hands on some copies for the shop....This man has been a true inspiration to me for several years and I have had the pleasure of getting to know him through heaps of emails...Sending each other photos of what we were renovating at the time...Most people would know his name through his gorgeous house featured in such magazines as Country Homes, Country Living, Country Gardener and many, many more....He is an amazing designer, stylist and artist, creating amazing vintage bears that are loved the world over....I was privileged to see a sneak peak of this book before it was published and I promise you it is simply gorgeous!!!! Congratulations Terry can't wait to see it.....

Email troubles...... For some reason I am having some problems with my emails. I put some new charms up on the NEW BLOG the other day and I don't think many of my international customers got their emails so I really do apologise... I will be putting some more up in the next week or so, so please keep checking....There is also a few left from the other day..... Have a fabulous weekend....Only 4 days left till the kids are on break...YAY!!!!!!

Food for thought!!!

Well there is something I had to share...... I had a really nasty and negative comment left yesterday and to be honest I really just don't understand why people would even bother!!! I have found blogging to be an amazing community of like minded inspirational people who each time they blog share a little of themselves...Who would want to share that they are nasty!!!!! Anyway, I emailed the person back and told them to have a nice day because that is who I am!!!! So today I wanted to share a few of my favourite sayings..... To inspire us all to always try and be positive and happy and joyful in this very fragile world that we live in...

When words are both true and kind they can change the world - Buddha

This is my wish for you: comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you are in doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, love to complete your life.
-anonymous (Kirstie gave me this on a card for Mother's Day)

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
-leo buscaglia

Our new blog has begun

Well I just wanted to let you all know that I have just finished the first entry in our new shoppe blog....Please go and take a look....Simple Things Small Joys.....An update of new charms is probably about a week away all going well......

TAGGED

I just got "tagged" by Cynthia at A Shimmy in my Spirit...so this is how it goes....
* List Six Unimportant Things That Make You Happy.
* Mention and link to the person who tagged you.
* Tag six of your favorite bloggers to play along, and comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged.

Well here goes....I am not great at this sort of stuff...
1. Looking at the moon and stars on a beautiful clear night....
2. Walking through my friend Angela's garden as there is definitely magic there.....
3. Watching my kids faces for all the different expressions that make them unique....
4. Rearranging my house constantly lol!!!!
5. Putting on my ipod and dancing around the house!!!!
6. Mowing the lawn....strange I know but I love it!!!!

Well here are 4 that I thought my like to play!!!!

Chelsea Blue Whispers
Marley and Lockyer
Sadie Olive
Shannon Fricke

I'm BACK!!!!!!

Hi my dear friends, it has been sooooooo long!!! I wish I could say I am all up to date but I must say I am getting there....As you can see I have had a little move around at the end of my studio room so I don't get too bored with my environment lol !!!.... The shop still hasn't started being built yet so it looks like September now which is fine with me as I am not at all organised... Kirstie will start exam block tomorrow which always adds a little stress to the household and my gorgeous little boy is just back from 3 fun filled days at school camp.... Angela and I are working on our new blog and charms for the grand opening so PLEASE be patient as it will be worth the wait....I have missed you all so please drop by and say Hi!!!!!!