One more sleep!

The elves have been busy in our house this Christmas. We have made some lovely handmade decorations from a couple of great tutorials I've found around blog land recently.

This wreath was really simple to make. All you need is a wire coat hanger and quite a few baubles plus I added a bit of tinsel and to finish a gold ribbon bow. It is now hanging in our front bay window looking very festive. Here's the tutorial that I followed here.

Next the girls and I made these easy paper globes with some inexpensive scrapbook paper and some brads. The tutorial for these is here.

There were a few other tutorials I wanted to try but they will have to wait till next year. Time just seems to run out at this time of the year for some reason?!?

Last year we made these angels from a "Klutz" kit set. There is 8 included in the box to make up and they were a really fun Christmas craft to do with the girls. Check them out here.

Christmas Angels on our tree.

It wouldn't be a kiwi Christmas without one of these iconic ornaments.

A few years ago now my Mother passed on some of her old ornaments for our tree.

They are quite delicate now but very special to me as they bring back childhood memories.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Black and white Monday on Tuesday.

Yes I'm a little late with this Black and White Monday post but we spent the day in Auckland Christmas shopping while the girls spent the day with friends. Then after we got back and had a quick dinner we went for a drive around town to look at the Christmas lights.

I'm afraid I had a hard time looking for black and white items then I realized what I was wearing!

A black t-shirt with white writing.

Introducing "Boots", Amelia's black and white cat who is now 1 year old. She has really beautiful soft fur, likes her food a lot and loves to snuggle close in bed.

Sunday is brought to you by the colour red...

I had to include this vibrant red rose in today's colour post. It is called "Dublin Bay" and flowers in my garden for over 9 months.

A red handle on a vintage toy iron.

Red "Doctor Seuss" books. Well read in our house.

This very mini set of drawers was a gift from a Japanese student we had staying with us once. We used to have an English language school in our town and we would have students staying with us from mainly Asia and a few from Europe. The Japanese always gave us beautifully wrapped presents when they arrived. These drawers sit on my sewing table and contain little things like spare sewing machine needles and thimbles.

Orange Saturday!

Had to have a bit more of a hunt for orange items in my house today but with my daughters help I did manage to find some things.

A miniature bag made up from a scrapbooking kit.

Amelia's bag that she made a couple of years ago now.

Some flowering succulents in a pot of my deck.

Sunscreen! ( A daily ritual now)

This is an incense stick holder bought in India and made from paper mache.

I acquired this some years ago when a great Uncle died. It is a perfume dispenser. You lift the little green stopper and it has a little spear shaped stick that you use to apply the perfume. Not quite sure what it is made of but the lid is green stone. I think the unusualness of it appeals to me.

See more colour week posts here.

Sew 'n' tell Friday

Finished this swing top just in time for Caitlin to wear to our Christmas street party last night.

She chose the fabric and pattern from Spotlight a few weeks ago and I made some bias binding from some pink polka dot fabric I had originally bought for binding a quilt. I used some pretty pink velvet ribbon that I had already to go around the bodice where it is joined to the skirt piece.

It has a side zipper and I used this great tutorial to get some tips on sewing in a invisible zipper.

Caitlin is really pleased with it so much so that she wanted to wear it again today but I persuaded her to save it for Christmas day.

Now the cute little puppy belongs to a friend of ours. He turned up with it just as I had started to take photos of Caitlin. He turned out to be the perfect prop for our little photo shoot!
You can check out all the other Sew 'n' tell's this week over here on Amy's blog.

Brown Friday

Well the colour brown has proved pretty easy for me too. Who would've thought as it's not really my favourite colour but I do like things made of different woods.

First up are two antique wooden trays that were hand carved by my Grandmother's brother or maybe her Uncle (I should've really checked with my parents first). The one above is carved in a traditional Maori pattern with inlaid 'paua' shell in the handles. There is a lot of intricate carving all over it and it is quite beautiful.

This tray is also beautifully carved with flower motifs and I love the handles on it. I had wanted a tray for quite some time before I rescued these trays from under my parents house. I use them quite a bit for taking meals to my girls and their friends when they are playing outside or serving them meals when they are sick.

Now I had to include my 'box brownie camera' in this post just because of its name! I have used it and it still takes good black and white photos. I just love the 'face' on it and its lovely brown leather case.

And of course chocolate is brown! Now this was my contribution to the supper we had after the prize giving on Monday night at the girls school. From the left we have some rocky road slice, Christmas truffles and some fudge slice. I'm happy to share the recipes of any of these if you are interested. The Christmas truffles are particularly easy!

Check out the other "Brown Friday's" over here.

Blue Thursday

Blue is my all time favourite colour in all of its many shades so finding blue items was pretty easy for me today.

This is a hand blown glass 'obelisk' by New Zealand artist "Gary Nash". I bought it a few years ago before I was married.

A small collection of little blue glass bottles and a mini lamp.

And this is a recycled tin can that I covered with some pretty scrapbook paper for holding pens on my computer desk.

Don't forget to go over to Kendalls blog to look at all the other 'Blue collections'.