who boxes a lounge???

Last Wednesday saw the arrival of our new, much longed for, gorgeous lounge suite. My old one I hated from the day we bought it. I had envisioned a beautiful low lying couch full of plump cushions. My hubby wasn't sold on that idea and was looking at recliners. The sales assistant was so pushy, I really did want to slap her lol .. every time I tried to draw my hubby's eye towards what I liked she would intervene and point out that my hubby is very tall and would need neck support blah, blah, blah .. too bad she never took into consideration that I am not so tall and the stupid head rest would push my head forwards ensuring I could never sit comfortably on the hideous thing!! 


Anyways, after 5 years of hating the lounge that filled up my living room, reminding me on a daily basis how much I loathed it, I finally got my way and we bought a new lounge (insert a pleased, somewhat evil chuckle hehehe). It is beautiful. Low lying, leather base, full of plush, squishy cushions that I could lay on all day (or would if I didn't have a billion and one things to do every day lol)


There was a slight hiccup in the arrival of the new lounge however. The delivery guys rocked up and brought it inside... in boxes. Yes, boxes. 3 giant lounge sized boxes. Do you know how hard it is to try and get a chaise lounge and the 2 seat component out of giant lounge size boxes that fill up the room? By yourself? With 3 excited mini monsters wanting to help (because of course hubby was away at work when it arrived and wasn't going to be home for a couple more days!!) Bloody hard I tell you!! lol. After much maneuvering, a lot of cursing of the delivery guys (who wished me luck as they made a speedy exit!!) I finally had the new lounge out of their giant, pain in the butt, boxes. Phew lol. 


It looks so nice, and I am so glad that we got it... Now I just need to find the time to paint the lounge room! I'm thinking a feature wall of deep amethyst purple to match my dining chairs.. Oooh, I can't wait :)

Bring On Term 1!!!

6 more days until school goes back!! Did I get that right? I think so lol. 

That means only 6 more days until I am a ball of blubbering mummy mess as I kiss my baby girl goodbye and leave her at kindy for her official first day.

It also means I will be child free for the first time in 10years.. yes, 10 years!!! It is going to feel so very weird, but I am sure I will adapt lol

That is not to say I'm not going to miss my mini monsters. I love school holidays and would keep them home with me forever if I could, but there will definitely be a few benefits to having 2 full days with no children at home!! 

For one thing, my food shopping will be cheaper and quicker... I swear my grocery bill has tripled over the holidays!! Having two growing boys aged 8 & 10yrs is soooo expensive!! We were going through so much milk and cheese it probably would have been cheaper to just go buy a cow!!! Then there are all the "extras" that seem to magically appear in the trolley... K-Zone magazines, play-doh (that would be my miss 4yo) kinder surprise eggs, colouring books, reading books (I made the mistake of saying within their hearing that I don't mind buying them books as they are educational.. they use it against me every time!! lol)

There will also be far less dishes to do... for the last six weeks the words "put your dirty glass on the sink" has probably come out of my mouth a dozen times a day!! My darling mini monsters are just like their dad, they don't seem to understand the concept of rinsing and re using a glass.. It drives me nuts lol. Oh and maybe, just maybe, I wont sit on a plate of vegemite toast that got left on the couch under one of my beautiful faux fur throw rugs!! I was so unimpressed with that episode of school holidays, though I can laugh about it now lol  

My house will stay cleaner... well I hope so anyways :P lol... Oh, who am I kidding, that is not going to happen until they have left home!!! LOL

I will have more time to sew Berry Girl dolls!! That one I am rather excited about lol. I might finally have time to experiment with a few designs I have drawn but not turned into anything as of yet. So many ideas tumbling around inside my head, I can't wait to bring them to life and share with you. 


Two full days to myself, with no children, sounds so heavenly right now, and while I know I will miss my mini monsters like crazy, I really must say Bring On Term 1!!!

CottonBerry Vs Husband...

Husbands, we have to love them .. don't we? I adore my husband, we have been together for 13 years, he is my best friend, my everything. But omg!! He is sooo disruptive to my routine and plans!! lol 

I started cutting the sweetest little Berry Girl a couple of days ago, but she is still sitting on my work table awaiting detail stitching... I'm sure I have watched Toy Story way too many times because I actually feel guilty for leaving her there in pieces.   

Then there is the kids routine... I am positive they haven't gotten to bed before 9:00pm in the past few days, and by the time they go to sleep it would have to be at least 10pm. Way later than the normal 7:30pm bedtime I enforce when dads away at work!! Thank goodness it's still school holidays!!

I should explain that my husband works away a fair bit of the time, so when we have him home the whole house goes into holiday mode. We have movie days, and shopping trips, we catch up with family and friends, we just try to spend as much time being a family as we can (housework goes out the window too.. I currently have half a cubby house built in my lounge room, and haven't done a load of washing in 4 days.. please dont knock on my door right now!! lol) 

So, even though I love him to pieces, miss him like mad when he is away, and love spending every moment I can with him while he is home, it doesn't mean I wouldn't love to hit my darling husband over the head with my quilters ruler every now and then for throwing all my well laid plans into chaos!! lol

Current Score: CottonBerry - 0 Husband - 1 ...

Its Alive !!!

Ok, so writing a blog is a bit weirder than I had thought it would be. I even spent a week practicing, writing what I thought would make a good blog and sending it to my friend to read. And now I have "stage fright" lol.

I guess I should start with who I am.

My name is Dannielle, and I am a craft addict. Ok, that sounds like I am in some sort of therapy group, and while I don't deny that I possibly should be, what with the amount of supplies I am currently surrounded by, I think I wanted to tell you a bit about who I am lol 

Take Two!!

I am the superbly brilliant, magnificently talented Dannielle, creator of gorgeousness at CottonBerry - Designs for Kids. Hmmm, possibly a tad overboard, but at least I'm honest hehe ;)

Seriously though, I am the person behind CottonBerry - Designs for Kids, though I think for my blog I will just refer to it as CottonBerry. 

I started CottonBerry officially 4 months ago, though I had been planning for it since the start of 2011. I researched the business side, I spoke to my accountant, I bored my husband and friends to death with business talk and all the ideas I wanted to see come to life (they are now experts in all things "doll" and "CottonBerry", much to their disgust lol)

My Berry Girl dolls are the current stars of my business, and I now have 3 collections, which I am so excited about. Perfecting my design, having something that was unique in an environment that is overwhelmed with doll makers, was all important to me. I hope to expand on my range in the future, but it will have to wait for a little while yet :)

I am so proud of what I have been able to accomplish in the months since I started. I have met some other wonderful ladies in facebook world, and am continuously inspired to present the very best of myself to my "likers". The future of CottonBerry is definitely bright!!