Melbourne shop love (& some delightful opshops too!!!)

Ok so I'm not much of a shopper anymore due to the kids usually playing up at the shops (one time forever etched in my brain, I lost Kobe for a few minutes as he was playing hide & seek & didn't tell me we were playing; enter mini breakdown, hysterical tears & some fellow lovely mum's who helped me find him in his hiding spot minutes later) & a house bursting at the seams with stuff.
However I did mark down a couple shops I just had to visit whilst in Melbourne & found some more interesting ones along the way & thought to share.

Let's start with the opshops, oh the thrill of the chase of a bargain!!!

City centre
*Shag- a mix of new edgy gear & retro vintage. I was left speechless at the window display & ready to move on in. (There are 2 in Melbourne the photo is of the window display at Shop 20, Centreway Arcade).
**Hunter gatherers- located upstairs in the Royal arcade. It's tiny but all the good stuff is on show & at decent prices. It's style is eclectic. I got a gorgeous block puzzle for Kobe for Christmas for $4. It's the sister shop to Brotherhood of St Laurence.
*Brotherhood of St Laurence- these op shops are gems & 20 shops are located across Melbourne. So worth any track down!!! I only had time to go the one in the basement of The Royal arcade.
*The Conscious closet- I found out about this preloved women's clothes shop upon return. Sniff sniff I didn't get there as it looks amazing! Plus they at offering 10% off this week as part of national op shop week, check out their Facebook page as to how to get 10% off.

Prahran
1.**Redcross  - hands down the best op shop I have been in all year. It's a tiny shop but full of designer boutique labels. I walked out with mint condition Witchery overalls (the ones in the header photo, love love. I wear them atleast 3 times a week) for $30. Located across the road from Prahran markets. The staff are so lovely too!!!
*Chapel street Bazaar- a curated treasure trove of vintage loveliness. You pay top price for top pieces. (Don't bring the kids as too many breakables).
*Uniting care mission- your typical opshop. 211 Chapel Street.


General shop love 
Prahran

3.*Shop neutral- my favourite Eco store ever!!! Located in the Prahran markets, it's filled with everything you need to live a life less of plastic. I bought a bamboo bottle brush scrubber, a bamboo veggie brush, Sienna nail polish & a stainless steel straw brush cleaner.
*Little Sweethearts (also located in Prahran markets)- lots of cutesy stuff for the kidlets.
*The nomad society- where all the beautiful homewares live.
Prahran is full of delightful shops & if we had more than a couple hours (Dylan needed a nap) I could of browsed happily in all of them.

City Centre
2. *Funkis- This shop which specialises in Swedish style clogs has been on my hitlist for years. I have always wanted a pair of clogs that will never outdate & it's an added bonus they use vegetable dye. I bought the classic low clog which is the comfiest shoes I own & I got zero blisters from walking in them (mostly pushing a pram) all day everyday.
*Jasper junior- it's slogan is "toy suppliers to Santa" & you better believe that as its true the moment you walk in the shop! All the best kids products in one shop. The girls costumes upstairs are oh so lovely. And I heart the educational DIY products like the mini power house science kit . I have bookmarked this for when Kobe is old enough.
*Rap- a boutique shop, I only took notice of the gorgeous baby & kids products. They do sell other things too.

I only bought a few things as much as I like browsing, Im careful to only buy things that I deem "forever items".

Happy Wednesday friends!
Grace

**I have numbered my top 3 shops to visit; Prahan Redcross, Funkis & Shop Neutral.

What I learnt from "Plastic free July" while travelling with kids

My household is not zero waste but we do try to limit as much wastage as possible. Unless you shop at a bulk store, it feels like everything in the supermarket is wrapped in plastic. I decided to do "plastic free July" as best as I could. We as a family actually snuck away to Melbourne for a few days in July while undertaking this challenge.

What I learnt while travelling
* I knew there was going to be slip ups. I preordered our meals on the plane when I booked in June & they came out wrapped in plastic. I kept the plastic cutlery (one way & refused for trip home) which I cleaned & can be used for the next kids party. Next time I'm flying on a trip 4 hours & under, I will eat at the airport & prepack some bakery snacks in a paper bag or cut fruit in a reusable container.
*I did pack some bribes for Kobe which were store bought cookies & chocolate with the plastic recycled at Coles (via their Redcycle program). I need bribes & can not avoid this until I can make chocolate as good as Cadbury.
*I forgot to ask for no straw in my drink at one eatery so I binned a straw. I did pack my stainless steel straw but didn't end up using it.
*Being away for so long, I couldn't puréed any food for Dylan (as we stayed in a hotel) so I bought a stack of baby food in glass which I washed & recycled in one of many recycle bins dotted around Melbourne. I underestimated how much I needed & bought 2 plastic wrapped baby food (Woolworth metros where I shopped, stocked only the plastic wrapped pouches).
*Although I packed 2 Camelbak drink bottles for Kobe & I, which I filled up at Cafes who offered free jugs of water,  street water fountains or from boiled kettle water which cooled overnight. I still had to buy 6 large single use water bottles. We were on our feet walking most the day & I did not want anyone passing out from thirst. Plus Dylan needed water for his formula drink. I recycled these in the recycle bins. In future I will pack 4 large reuseable drink bottles.
*I didn't pack a keepcup & I really needed a coffee so I binned one polystyrene cup my coffee was in. In hindsight I should of asked what sort of cup my coffee was coming in & refuse. I did keep & reuse a cardboard cup to be used for growing micro herbs.

*Perth & Melbourne airports have recycling bins so if you have stuff to recycle which had foodstuff in, you can do a quick trip to the toilets sink to wash then recycle in the recycle bins. Which is exactly what this weirdo did lol.

Other Wins during Plastic Free July
*I found a shampoo bar which replaces my bottled shampoo (which I have a bit left to use). I'm on the lookout for a decent conditioner or recipe for one to make. I have been using apple cider vinegar but my hair is quite dry & needs more moisture.
*I pack a cutlery kit when I'm out & about now. Which is basically a couple forks, spoons and stainless straws wrapped in a tea towel. Now I won't be trapped getting plastic cutlery. I still have to make a massive point of asking for "no straw" when ordering a drink.
*That standalone bakeries are ok with you bringing a large container to take home pies in but when you pull out a cloth bag (aka a clean pillowcase) to cart bread home they still try to wrap it in plastic first?!? I explained my plastic free mantra & since that first time, the bakery staff happily place my bread in my pillowcase without weird looks (they must be use to me- winner!).
*Deli departments at the large supermarket were A ok putting sliced meat into plastic reuseable containers brought from home (apart from one incident).  I just have to remember to take the price sticker off when I go back.
*I use plastic grocery bags I get from family who would just throw them out which I use as bin liners but now have discovered that large brown paper bags are super handy as a bin liner (compostable too). These are usually from boutiques & fast food chains (I have lovely people who offload their old brown bags or paper gift bags to me). I only put dry rubbish into these or the paper will tear.
*Baked my own crackers which aren't as good as the store bought ones but they will do.
*No more plastic wrapped laundry powder for me as I have gone back to making my own laundry powder which is 1 grated soap, 1 cup borax, 2 cups washing soda crystals & a few drops of lavender essential oil. I use half of one laundry scoop per load.

Other Failures during Plastic free July
*I can not bring myself (yet) to live without the following plastic wrapped goodies; Panko breadcrumbs, Cadbury, toothpaste, wraps, baby corn puffs (they come in foil), yoghurt & cheese (I can't find blocks of it in any deli/market unwrapped). I was able to recycle most of the plastic except for the toothpaste, cheese & foil wrappers. And every now & then I forget my cloth pillowcase bag at the bakery so I get a plastic wrapped bread.
*I won't deny my boys a balloon or their loot bag full of plastic wrapped lollies & chocolate at parties. It's too much for me to expect my 5 year old to be accepting of being the only child going without these at a party. He is however a champion recycler at home.
*I did accept strawberries as gifts which came in plastic containers (which I use to sort craft bits & bobs).

I made a vast improvement upon last year & hope to keep this up as well as I can throughout the year.

Happy Monday friends!
Grace

Theme cakes

 

July is a month full of birthdays. So why not dedicate a post to delicious cake, Theme cakes. Kobe is a mad fan of search & find books so I made him a "Where's Wally" cake for his birthday. It turned out really good considering it was my first time using royal icing. I did stain my hands from using food dye to colour white royal icing which washed off after a few days.  

 

 

We recently watched & enjoyed "The Lorax" (I now want the catchy soundtrack lol) so I made these cupcakes for Poppy's birthday.

 

 

 

Not to exclude some talented mummies I know, my friend Kira aced another birthday cake with this doll cake dotted with fluffy marshmallows.

 

 

And what little girl wouldn't wont a Frozen cake? My friend Nicole made this for her daughters birthday last year. The snowflakes were divine!

 

 



Happy Wednesday friends!

Grace

 

**I apologise if your on a diet while viewing these delicious cakes...

27/52

 

"A portrait of my children, whenever I can in 2016".

 

Catching big brother Kobe jumping in with Dylan to entertain him while I ran around getting a couple chores done.

 

Kobe: obsessed with activity books & Where's Wally books.

Dylan: cut his first tooth.

 

Its been a while here in blogland but hopefully I can get back to a somewhat regular posting soon.

 

Happy Wednesday friends!

Grace

*Joining in with The 52 Project.

City farm community garden

Tomorrow is "Botanics garden open day" so in the theme of embracing nature & gardens, this post is to celebrate community gardens. To me there is nothing more refreshing than going outdoors & wandering thru greenery & being inspired by what others can grow. So when City farm community gardens had an open day as part of an eco festival I jumped at the chance to wander thru the gardens.

I love the vertical wall planter, made up of multiple pots of herbs slotted into the wall. I just wish I wasn't so hopeless with gardening. I try try try then turn my back for a day or too & the damn snails have buffeted on the seedlings. I still have hope for my beetroot & corn & Im excited for the broccoli that my 4 year old is attempting to grow in an upcycled water table come pot.

 

 

 

Im so intrigued by these insect hotels like the one in the photo above.

 

City farm community gardens is a Men of trees iniative & produce grown is supplied to the City farm café. On occasion they host workshops covering gardening, compost, worm farms, even healthy food cooking for kids. On Saturdays they have stalls of artisans who sell local produce & art.

If your ever near the city its definitely worth a stop.
Happy Saturday friends!
Grace ox

The cloth nappy debate

It can be overwhelming to be mindful of every factor when it comes to environmental issues.
I have read online that disposable nappies take between 200-500 years to break down. And that in Australia alone we dispose of more than 5 million a year?!? An alternative is cloth nappies which ultimately save a disposable nappy from landfill but use other resources such as energy & water to clean them.
With this in mind, I use half & half disposable/cloth nappies with Dylan saving about 21 nappies from landfill a week. I did the same with Kobe until he was fully toilet trained. Cloth nappies is definitely not the easy road but its not hard fete either (though I have thrown out some nasty soiled cloth nappies that I gagged & could not bring myself to wash). I prefer cloth nappies at home (but not overnight sleep) & use disposables when out.
20 years ago when my sister had her babies she diapered them with the old school square towel nappies & a pin to secure them. I'm so lucky nowadays there are more variety in cloth nappies. I either use the all in one nappy with a mioliner (sort of like a paper liner that catches the poop making it easy to clean) which can be composted (but I bin them) or the nappy covers & line them with a bamboo or polyester/nylon (sadly a sythetic fabric) cloth liner which I wash with the cloth nappies.

*Bumgenius is my number one choice for cloth nappies. Available in velcro or snap button fasteners in a range of colours. I find it fits best to both my boys bottoms. Layered with organic cotton inserts. The snap button front allows you to shorten the nappy to fit a smaller baby however I leave it like a harry highpants.
*Bambino Mio. Love these. I use the Miosoft nappy cover with velcro fastening (with a liner). Covered by a thick layer of plastic so quite absorbent & easy to wipe. Liners are a mix of polyester & nylon which are both synthetics sadly. The Miosolo all in one nappy come in a range of patterns & the one size (adjustable snap buttons) fit from birth onwards. When Dylan starts potty training in a couple years, I will be getting him the potty training nappy.
*Peapods are so easy to use (Dylan is wearing the green one in the photo below). I use the one size nappy. The bamboo inserts go inside & can wash separately. Every now & then, these are soiled heavily (because I didn't put the extra nappy liner in) & the plastic coating inside even survived an overnight soak in hot water. They do attract a fair bit of fluff from the microfleece inside which seems to help keep the moisture in.
*Eenee designs. I use the pouch nappy pants which have a thin stretchy outer with a plastic clip on inside. I always insert a cloth liner. Its the least bulkiest cloth nappy which is great under pants. Easy to wipe & wash. I think it's great that their website has a section devoted to preloved nappies.
*Bambooty . I was baby gifted to Kobe & reused on Dylan the newborn easy nights all in one cloth nappy. So bright & comfortable. The inserts are sewn in & fold up. The only downer was both boys grew too fast for the smallest size. I definitely will be investing in more of these but in the larger size.
*Baby beehinds.  I use the bamboo fitted which comes with 2 bamboo clip in liners. This nappy did harden when I soaked it overnight in hot water. I found it quite bulky so I usually let Dylan wear it without pants or a nappy cover. Baby beehinds do sell water resistant & wool nappy covers but I haven't use them.

On another environmental note, did anyone else stumble across this article about over 1000kgs of wet wipes being cleaned (by a crane & also buckets) from a Queensland sewerage. I'm left scratching my head why anyone would flush a wet wipe?

** I sourced most of the cloth nappies I use from markets.
** To prevent mould, I try to airdry dirty nappies before I wash them, I dry them in the sun (as the sun is a natural bleacher) & I spritz some lavender oil on them while drying.
**Although I stand by using cloth nappies, my partner Luke & sister Annie dont like them. Their complaint is Dylan has leaked thru on a couple occasions while wearing a cloth nappy (thru to their clothes) but he has also done that wearing a disposable nappy.
** By using cloth nappies, I have an extra laundry load a week & I wash them with socks & underwear.

Happy Saturday friends!
Grace

Clean up Australia day & encouraging children to care for the environment

Last Sunday was "Clean up Australia Day" where once a year likeminded people gather in groups to pick up rubbish & do their part in keeping this earth clean. I took Kobe along to help clean up across from an amusement park (where 80% of the rubbish we picked up came from, yet there were ZERO volunteers from that amusement park which was a BIG letdown).
Most of the rubbish collected was the amusement park wristbands which customers casually discarded once they exit the amusement park. Every time we picked one up, I would remind Kobe we just saved a wild animal from accidentally swallowing one.
It is so important to me to instill values to Kobe so that he doesn't take this earth for granted. That we should all give back to maintain it. He loves picking up rubbish so he really didn't need convincing to help out.
As a thank you, us volunteers received an Onya cloth bag (made from 51% recycled bottles per cloth bag which is awesome considering around 65% of plastic bottles are left in landfill per year taking up to 1000 years to decompose). These bags are so durable, lightweight, can roll up into the tiniest bag & can easily clip onto your handbag. I am madly inlove with them.

If you want to encourage your child into picking up rubbish then look no further than these rubbish pick up tools (they are seriously fun for everyone you just cant stop picking up rubbish with them, plus they are great for picking up sharp objects). And these Little Pope gardener gardening gloves are delightful & come in the sweetest patterns like ladybugs, dragonflys, flowers (& more). I have about 4 pairs for Kobe. The only downer is handwash is recommended & I hate handwashing.

Interested in being more sustainable? (**Most of these are Western Australia based)
*Recycle Australia you can list items you either want to swap or giveaway.
*Recycle right website (& they even have an app) is a useful tool if you want to learn more about what can be recycled. You can even go on a tour of a recycling centre (I'm waiting til Kobe is a few years older until we go).
*Living smart has courses on wormfarms, compost, growing your own food & cutting down on your energy bills.
*Subiaco has a series of nature play themed activities during March for the kiddies.
*Rockingham regional environmental centre  is a non for profit centre with a strong focus on educating everyone on environmental issues. They do charge a small entry fee.
*Canning River eco education centre offers an extensive list of "Nearer to nature" activities (in Mundaring) to encourage kids into nature based activities for a fee.
*Cockburn council has worm farm workshops, bokashi compost bin work shops, city chooks & green gardening work shops to name a few.
*Perth city farm (which Im frequent because I love it so) is hosting an Eco fair on April 3.
*Join in with earth hour at Hilton Harvest community gardens annual twilight fair on March 19.

Happy Wednesday friends!
Grace