A Little Laundry Decorating

Renovating our laundry a couple of years ago was such a fabulous investment of our time and money.  The room is functional and organised, and after a few years of it being like this, I can promise you that it was worth being so thorough with everything, as the systems in place all work like a dream!

Something that I always wanted to do was to decorate the laundry, to make it a little more visually appealing.  It looked lovely - very clean and sleek with the white cupboards and taupe bench tops, but it just needed some personality.

What Should I Do With This Bowl?

I have had this bowl for years!  When I lived at the beach, it was my table centrepiece, filled with sand and some shells.  However,  it has now been sitting in my cupboard for years, and I don't quite know what to do with it...

A Lime Green, Black & Silver Graduation

At the end of the school year, I had the pleasure of being involved in decorating our school hall for the year 7 graduation.  We have a beautiful hall (it is not at all like a sports shed!), so it was a lovely space to work with.  The main issue we had was that there was 200+ people for a sit-down meal, so making such a large space look good was our challenge!

My Red and Gold Christmas Theme - 2012

Here is a little peek at how things are looking around here this Christmas!

We love our new Christmas tree...

Christmas in the Kitchen - 2012

This is how I have brought the festive spirit into my kitchen this year...

My Study - The Colour Scheme

It has been quite a while since I wrote about my study make-over....  I guess I kind of lost momentum with it, partly due to lots else happening in my life recently, but also because of my indecisiveness.  I am notorious for not being a confident decision-maker, so I procrastinate making a choice, for fear of it not being 'perfect'.  This is something that I have been working on getting over in recent years, but my study is the prime example of this side of my perfectionist personality rearing its ugly head! 

A big part of my reluctance to proceed with the study make-over has been the fact that I couldn't decide on a colour theme.  I knew I wanted white furniture, but the colours of everything else in there has been playing on my mind.

You have probably noticed that I have lots of red in my house.  I love the colour red!  It was the colour of my year 12 formal dress, I had a red car for 4 years, it was the colour of my bridesmaids dresses and roses at my wedding, and it also happens to be the main color of the Danish flag - which I am proud to have as my heritage.  Red is such a powerful colour, I know when I wear red I am going to have a great day!

Given that most of my house already has red accents, and the fact that I have so many red storage boxes and accessories already in red, I was pretty keen to stay with red as the key colour of my study, but I knew I wanted another colour to compliment it.  Sometimes red can be quite bold, and I wanted a pastel colour to help calm the 'boldness' down.

The answer to my dilemma came when my sister recently was travelling to America and offered to bring home some goodies.  To my delight, I came across these divine file folders by Martha Stewart, and knew that my problem had been solved!

Father's Day 2011

Since Father's Day is just around the corner, I thought I would post some pictures of our 2011 Father's Day.  I found these great free printables online here, and got a bit creative with them...

How to Make a Balloon Bunch

I learnt how to make these balloon bunches for my 21st birthday, and I have made them many times over the years, as they are so easy and look so fabulous at a party! 

Bargain Party Supplies

I was very excited yesterday to find that one of my local variety stores had a new line of partyware in!  Perfect timing, as we celebrated my Mum's birthday today, and these little treasures added a fun touch :)

Easter Decorating (At Work)

So, everyone knows I love to decorate!  Special occasions are a great excuse to 'change the scenery'!  My office buddy and I decided to dress up our office with some delightful Easter decorations!

We popped window stickers onto the window that faces the hallway outside our office.

An 80's Hens Party

It's time to share more party photos!  My lovely sister requested an 80's theme hen's party at her home.  We were given the challenge of decorating 'the man cave' and turning it into a pink party haven! 

Busy Times

My goodness it has been a while since I have blogged!  I have seriously not had time to even think about blogging... Life has been somewhat chaotic (in a good kind of way) for the past 7 weeks!

It all started with going back to work after my lovely Christmas holidays, and dealing with the implementation of our wonderful new Australian Curriculum.  Anyone who thinks a teacher has an easy job is dreaming, and I admire all of my amazing teachers who have embraced the new curriculum and ploughed on through the ups and downs of the implementation roller coaster that has been our reality so far this term!  So, this is one reason why I haven't been blogging... I am doing ridiculous hours at school (and at home), but that is all part of the job, and at the end of the day I always tell myself that it is worth it - for the kids!  Those gorgeous kids who are going to be our future someday soon :)

Oh, I should mention that I also moved office this year, and I have managed to find some time to decorate my new workspace...  And make it a bit more fun!

DIY Home Decor - Placemat Wall Art

This is a quicky, easy idea that I came up with many years ago now.  I wanted to decorate my house, but money was tight, so I had to be creative!

I decided to make my own artwork by gluing cork-backed placemats onto painted sheets of MDF - a really easy thing to do (with the help of my handy hubby), which have hung proudly in my home for the past few years.  I don't have step-by-step pictures, as I did it so long ago, but hopefully with my instructions and the measurements provided, you can have a go at making some yourself, if you like the idea!

Pink Tea Party Decorations

Today I thought I would share with you some really simple decorations I used for a little Pink Tea Party that I had with some girlfriends recently...

Decorating the Home Entrance

A person's first impression of your home is at the front entrance.   A few months back I decided that I needed a little something to meet and greet us (and our visitors) each time we come in the front door.

This is what I came up with!

A Silver & White Engagement Party

My sister and her fiance recently got engaged.  They decided not to have a big engagement party, rather they opted to have 3 smaller gatherings, with just close family and/or friends on their new deck.  They really wanted to have the party at home to show everyone their renovations, but they knew that having 100 people would be a BIG effort, and then they would have to worry about where to fit everyone and trying to get around to chat with all of the guests.  So, they decided to split the large group into smaller groups, so that they would be able to spend quality time with their closest friends and family AND enjoy their new deck three times as much!  Great idea, I thought!  Their wedding is going to be in March, so they will celebrate with the extended group before we know it anyway :)

So, the first of their parties was 'The Family'.  Even though it was just immediate family, I wanted to make sure that it still had an engagement party feel, despite Nicky's attempts to keep things simple and easy... Good try!  She decided on a Silver and White theme, to match in nicely with their new grey and white exterior walls of the deck.  So, I took it upon myself to decorate - what fun!

My Laundry - Part #1

A few months back, I did a bit of research on my favourite blogs around Laundry Organisation.  I wanted to 'spruce up' my laundry, since it somewhere that I have to spend time in each day.  As always, the prettier the area, the more likely I am to use it, and also keep it looking pretty!  Inspired by this quote, I set out on my mission...

How To Make Tissue Paper Flowers

It was my beautiful Mum's birthday yesterday and I decided to make something special to decorate her day...  I just love the tissue paper pom poms and flowers that are around for parties, and really wanted to learn to make them myself.  They look so pretty, and you can colour coordinate them to match absolutely anything.  I remember making flowers out of tissues when I was in about grade 2, so I thought it couldn't be too hard...

My First Post

Welcome to the wonderful world of Cassadiva!

Firstly, I will tell you a little about myself.  Family is so very important to me - I am a doting wife, daughter, sister and aunty to my very special family.  My home is my special place, and I love cooking, cleaning, organising, sewing, scrapbooking and more.  I also love spending time hand-making presents, planning parties and generally adding 'prettiness' to everything that I do!  My home is set on two acres, so I also enjoy getting outdoors and gardening.

So, why do I blog?  Over the years, I have enjoyed giving tips and ideas to friends and family on home organisation.  While I am certainly no expert in the field, I do love sharing the little things that I do which make my life simpler, just from having a system that works for me.  Which brings me to my brand new blog, Cassadiva...  the platform for me to share lots of ideas for home organisation, recipes, printable templates and much more with you all.