What do you consider 'family friendly'?

So excited!! Thismorning I have coffee with two very special ladies and guess what we're going to be organising? It has something to do with lots of lace, feather boas, fans and red lipstick and we can't wait! Vintage photoshoot here we come!! But that brings me to a question I've been mulling over in my mind and I want to put it to you, my readers, for your opinions.

I myself am very firm on the belief that inappropriate images and content consists of nudity and swearing and other crude language and things that may cause offence to your readers due to age, location, religion or gender; obviously you are not going to attract the right kind of attention towards your blog with that sort of media and I would never of course condone those things in a public domain let alone in my day to day life. But then it is also up to your own personal opinion to decide whether you consider something to be innappropriate.

I believe that women with curves are so feminine and why should we have to hide them? Society gives us too many images of what we SHOULD look like and not that we should be happy with who we are and love ourselves from the inside out. My plan is to create a blog post with tips and tricks to DIY a vintage style or pin up style photoshoot at home with your girlfriends. It focuses on loving your curves and being proud of who you are and showing yourself off to the best advantage! This is something I have always wanted to do, anything vintage is a passion on mine! If you have curves you are a beautiful creature and you should love yourself for them! As someone who has struggled with her self esteem for many years, I do not see the problem with any woman, thin or curvy, tall or short, being able to have the confidence to stand in front a camera and truly feel not only beautiful, but empowered, strong and sexy and most importantly feel confident in your own skin! I want to be able to say that I have done that and shared the result with you, and give you the tricks and tips and the confidence to have a go yourself!

So my question for you today is, what do you consider to be family friendly? I would honestly like to know...Will I be posting pictures on the internet of naked women? NO are you crazy!? Will I be posting pictures as part of my post of women who are over-sexualised? No!! Will I be sharing photos of everyday women like you and me with vintage hair, makeup and clothing in fun pin-up style poses feeling sensual and artistic? That's exactly right :o) You see, I'm not going out of my way to offend anyone on purpose, I don't want that at all! But I would like to know your opinions before I go ahead with it.

 I will still be going ahead with my plans for this photoshoot either way, it's a passion of mine and it's who I am. You shouldn't stifle who you truly are for the sake of someone else... ever! One one hand I've made more of a deal out of myself with this post than I should have, but the on the other hand I want to know what you think! It is truly important to me!

You know something that I haven't even considered having been too caught up in the 'right and wrongs' of it? Are you looking forward to this? Is it something you are interested in seeing and reading about? I sure am!! Feel free to check out my inspiration board on Pinterest!


*Please be considerate in your opinions guys, I will not stand for any abusive and overly negative talk. Any comments posted under 'anonymous' will be treated as spam and deleted.

Unisex Crochet Baby Hat ~ Puff Stitch

Just a little project I started earlier this evening, and by little I mean newborn sized :o) As you may know I've recently been working on some little crochet delights for a baby box I'm putting together for when the time comes! There are so many things new and expecting parents need to buy these days, and clothing can be very expensive. So for the cost of a $4 ball of wool I can make a baby hat and few pairs of booties! Much more cost effective and means when we are expecting in the near future, we'll be a tinsy bit more prepared and have a little extra cash for the expensive necessities. Ever since I learnt the puff stitch I fell in love and just had to make an itty bitty hat with it. It's made with 4 ply yarn and a 4.5mm size hook and just two increasing rows, 8 rounds of puff stitches, 1 round of half double crochet and decrease half double crochet around the rim of the hat. Very easy, very quick and very very cute! 

Home again, home again jiggity jig!

It was so lovely going to visit the family this weekend! It was my sister's 19th birthday so we were able to catch up with everyone and have a beer and BBQ in the backyard down in Port Macquarie (the best and only way to catch up, the Aussie way of course!) The cupcakes I made for her went down an absolute treat, everyone loved them! I was so proud of myself when they came out looking edible ;o) I'd never really worked with fondant before! Good thing I had insomnia last Thursday night and stayed up making these... no sleep can sometimes be useful. Sometimes... most of the time I'd prefer to be sleeping though.

 The dogs had a great time too playing with mums dog, A.J in the wet mud-soaked ground after all the rain they've had down in Port recently. You will notice this photo was taken on arrival as they are still CLEAN.

Meet A.J ...he's just one big ball of playful furry friendly Labradoodle! He always looks like he's smiling...sooo cute!

 I can tell you the 3 hour drive to and from never gets any better! For some reason I have NEVER had car sickness but over the past year I seem to have magically developed it!! The trip to Port is of course over about and hour and a halfs worth of terribly wind-y roads so my enjoyment factor was at 0 for the most part of the trip there (and back...much worse on the way back! had to pull over a few times) I forgot to buy Travel Calm so had to settle with Ginger Beer but it only helped a little. Luckily I discovered that crocheting worked wonders in controlling my desire to hurl the whole way (charming isn't it?) so I got to work on the baby blanket I started a few days ago with all that glorious wool I bought! And nooo I am not expecting (yet...although with all that sickness! HAHA no just kidding), I just thought it would be nice to have some things ready in my Baby-Box for when the time comes in the not too distant future :o) So I got into my 'car-crocheting'! And suprisingly I didn't drop and lose my darning needle in the process!! Wooohoo!!

The beginnings of car-crochet baby blanket...all on my lap of course! Good thing I have plenty of leg to use as a work bench!

Nice straight-ish road at the beginning of the trip

Not feeling so flash hot at this stage!! It only gets worse after this point

Nope, not a mirror image of the above photo...just more darn HORRID twists and turns!

Our poor Toby not feeling too great either... we had to pull over TWICE as apparantly the dogs get car sick too. That was not a pleasant experience I can tell you!

Car-crochet baby blanket squares began to multiply!

FINALLY coming out of the mountains! What a view right?!

The weekend was just go-go-go the whole time, I couldn't believe how fast it went by! Time DOES fly when you're having fun though...and there was a lot of fun had! I don't remember the last time I had a few beers and a decent BBQ and just chilled out, pure bliss really! I also managed to pick up a few photo props before we had to head back home for a photo shoot I'm doing soon, that one is a suprise though, I'll fill you in later ;o)

My blanket squares on the way back to Armidale today! :o)

Every time I head home I am always amazed at all the new little things I find in and around the house!

I adore my parents' backyard, it's just so interesting! You really do have to keep your eyes peeled, there is something to find almost everywhere!

For instance, check out this funky bathtub goldfish pond! When mum and dad renno'd the bathroom and turned the linen closet into a seperate toilet, they were left with a purple bathtub (yes it was purple, as was the toilet and the sink) so mum being the creative person that she is made it into this:

Rather large and very inquisitive goldfish!

 It's my favourite part of the yard! Oh...well, that and The Happy Hippy Henhouse of course!

There is something wonderfully calming and special about heading home to visit your mum and dad and siblings, I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend :o) What do you love most about visiting your parents? Do they live in the same town as you? Do you visit regularly or just for special occassions or do your parents live so far away you only go once away? I'd love to know! :o)

Oh by the way... take a look at these two photos... look a bit different to you? The car sickness really did shake me up!

Just after we left Armidale on the way to Port

And just coming back IN to Armidale on the way home....I was definately not a well Bean AT ALL