Goodbye and goodluck...Miss Emma & Matt

You may recall my post from last week about everything going pear shaped at AnK Headquarters - you can read about it here - PEAR SHAPED POST

At the time I warned you of some more pear shaped news.  This is the blog post I have been delaying writing as it makes me very sad.  Remember Miss Emma ?  Her and her husband Matt joined the Malden family at the end of February 2012.  Miss Emma as our governess (aka twin tamer extraordinnaire) to the Year 5 terrors - Mr T and Miss M and Matt as part of our mustering team.  Matt and Emma are on their honeymoon around Australia and we feel privledged that they have stopped and experienced life with us for the last 4 months.  You can read about their travels here - The Happy Campers - An Outback Honeymoon Adventure.

Miss Emma & Matt's wedding.  Image by Sunny + Scout.
You can read about their fabulous wedding
as featured on the Style Me Pretty Blog

Matt and Emma have been an amazing asset to our team.  Miss Emma has delivered a breath of fresh air into our school room and I'm sure the kids are much happier with her presence in there than mine !
I wonder if Matt and Emma realised when they turned down this road,

and crossed this footbridge,

and settled into life in this donga...

of the experiences they would have whilst being part of our life at Malden ?

For Matt it hasn't all been about relaxing in the hammock ;) There's been motorbike mustering, branding, fencing, preg. testing, horse riding, space cowboying, negotiating flooded creeks....

 and a spot of coat hanger stacker building for AnK ;)

 Miss Emma has survived 3 units of Year 5, athletics carnival, recipe book editing, swimming carnival, home tutor workshop, cluster day, on air lessons, netball, mud driving,hat rack upholstering, boating flooded creeks, grocery shopping, dogs in the school room, pony club, tulle explosions, minischool and mini school room meltdowns (plus loads more !).

 She has taught me to instagram, given me some photography tips, taught Miss M to sew and watched her vehicle make a dramatic entrance into Malden whilst continuously tidying the exploding mess in the school room.

Emma and Matt will be sadly missed, they have been more than we could have ever hoped for when employing a young couple.  We wish them well on the rest of their honeymoon adventures and hope they look back fondly on their time spent at Malden with us. Goodbyes are always difficult, so until we meet again.........

keep chasing that perfect sunset.

P.S Thanks to Emma Steendam Photography for the majority of photos in this blog ;)

Madeit Monday - Beautiful Bows

As we head into the show season, naplan tests, minischool, end of a financial year and mustering I find myself with limited time to spare. Unfortunately blogging is one of the first things I find myself bypassing on the way to TRY to complete the never ending Job List. I managed to grab a few minutes yesterday whilst the kids were at Pony Club (under the watchful eye of Miss Emma). This weeks Madeit Monday blog post is all about bows - beautiful, big and little bows. Hope you find something you like :)

oopsidaisi Vintage Bow Singlet $26

Simple Wrap Bow Party Bags $2

Baboom Newborn Bow Knot Beanie $29.50

Pussy's Bowtique Sailor Bow Shoe Clips $8.00

Aussie Arte Canvas Bow Bag $69

The Bear and The Whale Jersey Winter Dress $35

Little Peanut Bow Earrings $8.00

Happy madeit shopping....do you have a favourite madeit seller, we'd love to know so we can feature them in some future Madeit monday blogs.

Malden Makeover

After attending a Shannon Fricke workshop with Angie last year, I have been keen to makeover my lounge room and dining area. Faced with a collection of timber overload (floorboard look lino, timber blinds, timber furniture, timber french doors etc) I set about trying to 'lighten' our living area. We purchased a cream leather lounge (Oh No !! I hear you say, so far so good and the lounge has survived the 10 year old twins !!) and some Providore Furniture from Freedom.  Although I am far from finished (insert gasp here from Mr AnK...what do you mean you haven't finished !!), I am well on my way to creating my own style.  A few weeks ago whilst shopping in Emerald (the big smoke) I picked up this hat rack from Kennedy and Grace (lovely new store with loads to offer emeraldites...must visit !!).

I had big plans for this hat rack, which I shared with Miss Emma (aka Malden Governess extraordinare).  Since finding some fab fabric at Shannon's gorgeous attic workshop abode I had been on the hunt for something similar.  Last year I purchased some fabric samples from ebay store The Persian Bazaar

It is the most beautiful, soft fabric which I instantly fell in love with.  Only problem is, when I went to purchase more (with the aim of upholstering some chairs and getting some cushions made) ....the ebay store was closed !! I'd appreciate any leads ANYONE has on sourcing the same fabric (yes I have tried to contact the store) - it is an upholstery fabric that has been treated with a mould inhibitor and scotchguard and is so very soft.  There is no name on the fabric but I'm almost certain the seller mentioned the fabric was from overseas - China or Japan maybe !!

Anyway after trapsing all over the internet to no avail trying to find something similar, I decided to go with what little fabric we had.  We upholstered the hat rack (envisage The Block style challenge, with the addition of 2 not so helpful children and a spilt glass of water !).  Here is the end product......

VERY impressed with how this turned out...what do you think ?? I was pleased to see my idea actually came to fruition and with the help of Matt (Miss Emma's husband) is now hanging on our wall, directly above our new piece from Freedom.

Miss Emma was also able to whip up some cushions with the remaining fabric (it's all gone now ...oh no ! ).  She is certainly a whiz on the sewing machine (thanks Mum for the lend of the machine and Angie for sending over the wadding used in the hat rack.)

Next project...curtains !!  Apologies for the photos (I need to master inside shots !!), I did learn a few tricks from Emma Steendam Photography in the process ;)  Hope you all had a relaxing Mothers Day, I enjoyed lunch with a friend whilst admiring the new touches to our living room and some flowers from our garden :)