Christmas Eve

 

  

This year the Christmas prep was a bit (as in, a lot) last minute for me.  But thanks to Felt Foxes (garland), the husbo (tree) and Graham & Brown (the wallpaper used for the gift wrapping and taped in a strip on the wall to hold xmas cards within its gilded frames) - I got there in the end. Oh and I used a Kikki K stamp set to add names to gifts which hopefully saves the-gift tag-fell-of-confusion on the day.

It's Christmas Time

If you follow me on Instagram, you will be familiar (i.e. sick to death) with my Christmas colours for 2013, but I though I might give you a few more details.  

The plywood tree:: Mr made the tree from a sheet of ply from the hardware store. We cut a triangle from the centre of the sheet and screwed a metal channel at the joins to secure the two remaining pieces. If we (he) made it again we would buy 2 pieces of ply and cut a strip through the centre of one and the base of the other and sit one leaf between the other.

The Christmas decorations:: The origami decorations were from Papaya last year. I stitched a dots garland for the tree and the angel made from felt with newspaper wings was a gift from my mum, I think she bought it at Donna Hay. 

The sacks:: A pillowcase, (a gift to myself from the Design Files Open House, along with the lemon cushion) and one I made from an old fabric shower curtain with lots of ribbons (from my wedding bouquet) strung through it.

The wrapping::  Much of it is sourced from the local newsagent..all the sticker dots and the lovely 3D glitter bauble card. The porcelain bell is by Marley & Lockyer. The ribbons and gold elastic were from Lincraft and my ribbon box. I cut the feathers out from coloured card stock.  I don't like bows (or hearts for that matter) so I either used knots or wrapped in reverse so only the twist was showing, then tucked under a feather and a Murobond paint chip (the circle) but you could easily punch one out in a coordinating colour.

The cake:: This is a tiny ginger and roasted macadamia cake I baked and topped with chocolate icing, a little deer figurine and sprinkled in desiccated coconut to look like snow. I added a little bit of icing to the deer's back, nose and ears so the coconut would stick and the deer would looked snowed upon.

The card::  The black Christmas card with a photo of our baby girl is from Minted and the words "joy" are foiled in gold. Minted even prints the envelope addresses for free. We'll be using them next year, their designs are gorgeous.

The Gift of Wrapping

The weekend after we brought baby home, it was Fathers Day for Mr and this is the gift I wrapped for my dad. It got me thinking about 'man wrapping' and gift wrapping in general,  especially after receiving this amazing gift. The wrapping was gift enough.  I would love to create a book called 'the gift of wrapping'.

If anyone has images of a beautiful, cool, unique wrapping, please email them through to and I'll post a collection of them here.

The Virtual Family

We received so many beautiful messages and gifts when our little one was born, but the one I was most touched by was the exquisite hand made gift from fellow blogger Squeak & Squirrel.  I opened it so slowly and photographed every step of the way - from the wrapping to the beautifully stitched contents.  My parents were there when opened it and mum was trying to explain to dad the family that is the blogging and instragram world.  For all the negative press social media gets, there is a lot of beauty about it in the safe, kind and encouraging world of the blogosphere and IG. She makes the most beautiful baby clothes and floral neckpieces, her shop is here.