Bondville Does "USA: Seattle 2016

It's been kisses and cuddles all week visiting my new 4.5 month-old niece in Seattle. We've been to Seattle a few times before and ticked off some of the touristy activities, so this trip we were happy to stay fairly close to home in Redmond, WA with the bub. Here are some of the fun things we got up to with our 6.5 and 8.5 year-olds girls...

Bondville does Canberra

We're in Canberra this weekend! It's our first time here as a family (and my first since I was about 19) and we're having a ball seeing all the national buildings. 

So far we have had an amazing lunch at wholefood cafe Local Press, an afternoon  at the National Gallery of Art and sculpture garden, and Mr Papa Peruvian food truck for dinner. We're planning on the Arboretum and Questacon. See all our pics over on Instagram - @sbond.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! We're enjoying the warmth and beach life at the Sunshine Coast at my parents' place. We've been to Carols by Candlelight at Peregian Beach, made a gingerbread house, drove around to look at all the house Christmas lights, the girls designed and printed certificates to award to the best lights, sneaked in a date night and Star Wars (yay!!!), and spent as much time as possible on the beach. (Few pics up on Instagram).

Today we've opened pressies, feasted for breakfast, walked to the local park, and now we're getting ready for our P lunch/dinner (pork, peaches, prawns, pudding). I'm pretty sure that we'll crack out Apples to Apples for a family game and that's all we have on the agenda. I hope your Christmas is just as relaxing and that you get to spend it with loved ones.

See you here tomorrow for the low-down on the Boxing Day sales!

Merry Christmas!

Steph xxx

My top picks for living rooms for Supa Centa Moore Park

I recently had the fantastic experience of writing a piece for the Supa Centa Moore Park website, choosing my top 3 picks for lamps, coffee tables, side tables, shelving, artworks and rugs from the Supa Centa stores. Here are a few of my favourites from my shopping excursion in my own living room:

Cheap and easy DIY Alice in Wonderland costumes for kids

It's Book Week - that week that sends dread into many a non-crafty-parent's heart, and joy for the rest of us. Our school celebrates every second year, and this year the theme was Alice in Wonderland, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the book's publication. My girls were very specific about the their characters - the Queen of Hearts, and the White Rabbit (during the croquet game, which is apparently important to note).

The Blue Mountains hiking with kids

I've been to the Blue Mountains several times before having kids, eating at cosy cafes and making the obligatory pit stop at Echo Point to jostle with the thousands of tourists to take a quick snap of The Three Sisters. This time, we went with family friends (four adults and four kids 5-8 years in total) and had the kids' interests firmly in mind. The plan was child-friendly hiking and good, casual food.

Freedom and Real Living magazine eiderdown

I thought you'd like a peek at the sweet eiderdown from the Real Living magazine and Freedom collaborative homewares and bedding collection that has just been launched. I'm sharing all the photos from the sumptuous lunch tomorrow here on Bondville, but in the meantime, here is the Sunny Heart quilt that I received at the launch. My 7-year-old adores it on her bed:

Pillowcase from Kip & Co. | Eiderdown from Freedom | Zedd mini chair from Freedom | my old Enid Blyton books that my daughter now loves.

Image: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Easter Egg Hunt 2015

I hope you all had a fantastic, relaxing Easter. Our girls had a ball making their own hats for the Easter Hat Parade at school on Thursday, and then of course hunting for eggs on Sunday. I had a great, relaxing break spending time cuddled up on the couch with my loved ones in our new pyjamas (our Easter tradition) from eeni meeni miini moh and Four In The Bed, cleaning up around the house, trying out new bike paths, catching up with friends, making banana split sundaes, enjoying a special Passover Seder meal and trekking to the Royal Easter Show. Here are a few shots from our Easter Egg hunt - so much excitement!

Four great movies for kids this Summer

We're one of those movie families. We love going to the movies together, eating popcorn, gripping each other's arms, and snuggling in the dark. This Summer has been particularly good for kids' movies, and I thought I'd share the four movies that we have seen (and loved) over the last month. My girls (age 5 and 7 years) wanted to weigh in with their critiques too!

Paper Planes
Website
Rating: G
Running Time: 96 min

Bondville 2014 favourite interiors, fashion and parties for kids

2014 was the year of the cool kid's room here at Bondville. You all loved the real room tours and kids' interiors products. Want to see the most popular?

Your favourite kids' room in 2014 was all about the colour - Georgia's pink, mint and gold bedroom by Little Dwellings.

Maisyn's lovely room by Maisy Dee came in at number 2 - very boho-cool:

A Very Bondville Christmas 2014

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you are enjoying the silly season and relaxing with family and friends. We are enjoying the sunshine and warm weather on the Sunshine Coast with family - lots of beach time, catching up with friends, and a massage from the very best (my Mum!).

Come and follow along on Instagram, if you can stand looking at lots of photos of the beach and sunshine. Here's beautiful Peregian Beach where we spent Christmas Eve today:

Sun Smart beach getaway + WIN Australian beach shade and bags!

In my third Paint The Town Ford challenge as part of the Kidspot Voice Of 2014 program, our family of four drove up to Avoca Beach for a weekend getaway in my borrowed Ford EcoSport Titanium. We had glorious weather and spent lots of time on the beach with a cast of thousands.

We're always conscious of being Sun Smart, and covered up in style with great Australian products. Read more for details on our weekend, my favourite Australian-designed kids' swimwear, and how you could win the amazing Hollie & Harrie Sombrilla beach tent and stylish-and-practical waterproof beach bags from Project Ten.

Our DIY bathroom renovation before and after pics

Well, renovation is a bit of an overstatement, it's more of a bathroom makeover. And bathroom is also a bit of an overstatement - it's actually a tiny loo and sink, but as reno newbies, we thought it was a perfect first project to tackle by ourselves. Here's the dark and dingy before pic:

Ugh - that poly S trap and down pipe was the worst. We live in an amazing 1973 Pettit and Sevitt home right on the edge of Lane Cove National Park; and although we love the wood cabin feel, there is plenty of room for improvement - to lighten things up a little, and add our own more modern stamp while staying true to the intent of the style and keeping as much wood as possible.

Rather than spend a lot of money on plumbing, we decided to keep the position of the sink plumbing, and the toilet. The quarry tiles are original to the home, and we decided to keep them too. Everything else had to go!

Bondville Does USA: Seattle Part II

There's something about the crispness in the air in Seattle that seems to make colours seem more vibrant. We were so lucky to have gorgeous blue skies and mild weather for our second pit-stop in Seattle, this time to spend a few days with my sister and parents who happened to be visiting at the same time. It's been non-stop family reunions for the past two weeks - how lucky!

Bondville Does USA: Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke, Virginia used to be called Big Lick when it was a major rail hub, but now it's a cute southern town in Southwest Virginia, close to the border of West Virginia. It's a great place to spend time with family, and we always make sure we embrace the true down-home Virginia-ness when we visit.

Small business advertising on Bondville

Just a little housekeeping. I'm so proud to offer an affordable advertising option for small businesses that opens up twice a year. I'm taking new listings until 30th June, so if you know an Australian small business with an online presence that sells/stocks/makes fabulous products for kids/mum/home, please send them my way. Oh, and how gorgeous is this mint colour! Inspired by this cute Milk & Soda kids' bag from Skip To My Lou.

Sydney Vivid Festival of Ideas

Last weekend I spoke on a panel at the Blog Society event "The Retreat: A Crash Course In The Creative Business Of Blogging" at Vivid Sydney. Want to see a pic?

Thansk Mrs D plus 3 for the great pic! It was an amazing morning with a fantastic selection of speakers and panelists. I'm chatting above with moderator Alice Nicholls from The Whole Daily, and panelists Petina Watkins from Etsy, Rachel MacDonald from In Spaces Between and Christina from Hair Romance. We all approach our work in different ways but had a common theme of working from the heart, and being passionate about what we do. I also really meeting attendees and chatting after the event - so many interesting people doing interesting things.

Vivid Sydney runs through until the 9th June 2014. Get all the info on the lights, ideas and music right here.

Image: Mrs D plus 3

Bondville Workshops

I just finished running an amazing workshop in my studio in Beecroft today. Michelle from MeWe, Kendall from Rainbow Lantern and Karen from Evocartv photography shared, chatted, connected, ate cupcakes, drank tea and listened to me preach the word about Blogging for Business. So great!

Happy Easter

Hope you've all had a very happy Easter! My friend Tanya made this lovely Easter cake that I thought you'd love.

Today is also the last day of the giveaway to win $75 to spend on Etsy - head here for more details. Don't forget that KatyJane Designs is also clearing out all their stock of gorgeous stationery right here. Also, gorgeous Melbourne kids' online retailers Habitots have a pop-up shop in Albert Park for a limited time with lots of goodies and kids' workshops too. All the details right here.

We've just a few days at Avoca Beach with friends and now off to the Sunshine Coast to enjoy this glorious weather with our family. Stay tuned as I'll be sharing lots of great local products for Mum, Kids and Home. If you're in NSW, hope you're having a great school holidays and hooray for a short week. Enjoy!
Steph

Image: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Bondville Charity Auction donation to the Children's Cancer Institute Australia

Well the paperwork is finally done and the numbers are in. The Bondville Charity Auction raised $4,713.33 for the Children's Cancer Institute Australia!!! I couldn't be more thrilled.

Thank you so much to the seventy-six Australian designers and online stores that donated product for the auction. One-hundred-and-two products were shipped off to happy buyers all over the country and I'm so grateful for your support and participation.

If you have ever wanted to run a charity auction online, I just wrote a How To piece for eBay's Mum's Business website with all my learnings - head here for the down-low.

I will be keeping the Bondville Charity Auction page with all the product images and links on the website as a permanent visual shopping guide that you can visit anytime for gift inspiration. Please head over and check out all the local businesses, designers and entrepreneurs. They deserve our support!

Thank you again everyone for participating, sharing, commenting, clicking and being a part of an amazing 10th blogging anniversary. It was the best possible way to celebrate.

Steph xxx