It's looking like Christmas

It felt like Christmas here yesterday.  We opened our third advent envelope and our activity to do to get us in the Christmas spirit was, paint our toenails Christmas colours.  The girls love to have their toenails painted it's a bit of a treat of ours during the school holidays. I also noticed how big my girls are getting, Miss 13's feet are almost the same size as mine now, sigh they grow so fast.

There was also a lovely parcel sitting in my letterbox too, my ornament arrived from Christina's swap.  I was like a little child eagerly opening up the present to see who had created something just for me and what delightful decoration was I to receive.  So I took a couple of photos before opening up my parcel and there inside was the sweetest linen bunting I've seen.  Nicole made it so beautifully, the small detail on the trees is so neat and precise, I really love it thank you it's now got a spot on my craft door so I can admire it each time I go in to do some crafting. She was also so kind and sent a little something for each of the girls, they love their hair ties and are enjoying wearing them today, thank you so much.

Many thanks again to Christina for organising the swap it was such a great idea and so much fun.

♥

Just Enough

It was one of those weekends where there was just enough going on in our days to keep us busy but not too much to feel overwhelmed.  We felt satisfied and happy with the things that we got achieved, there was a bit of couple time, some family time and some crafty time too, I like having that balance.  

There is just one more week of school left for my girls (where did this year go!) so on Friday night Miss 8 had her carols night, the first at her new school.  It's always a special time seeing your child up on stage singing their hearts out and smiling with delight as she does it, it was such a proud Mum moment for me.

Sunday was quite a productive day for me, I really need more of these with Christmas coming up lets hope so. I managed to finish off my ornament swap, I've been procrastinating on the finishing off of it but it's all done now.  It's just waiting to be wrapped and put into the post to my recipient. I also made some spoon stakes to give to my Nan for her birthday present, it's always fun doing a bit of hammering and banging of the constructive kind.

We then finished off the weekend with a walk together to explore a new park in our local council, it was good to get outside together.  

How was your weekend?  Was it a busy one?  I hope it was a good one.♥

I started off the weekend on a happy note buying myself a couple of bunches of flowers, a simple little treat that always make me smile. This weekend we were blessed to have had some rain, it was gratefully received. Our water tank is now full and the garden has been watered and is glowing green. We spent much time inside on Saturday just going out to visit the dvd store, the library and the shop picking up some reading material, needing our umbrellas that have spent a while packed away. I did some work on my ornament swap, there was a few bits of unpicking along the way, it's almost finished now.  And keeping the oldest busy was an afternoon spent baking in the kitchen, filling out bellies with her chocolate cupcake delights. The cooking continued on Sunday with Miss 13 making some honeycomb to give to her Year 12 buddy who finishes high school this week, they have developed a lovely friendship over the year.  Miss Molly was given her weekly wash, she doesn't like it one bit but we love her when she looks white instead of grey and she smells a whole lot better too. The sun reappeared on Sunday and I got the urge to go somewhere to take photos so we headed just a short drive to our local Japanese gardens.  It would seem that lots of other photographers also had the same idea, it was very popular with many families having their portraits taken. Miss 8 also had lots of fun taking photos with my phone, around 500 I think she took, isn't the digital age wonderful. It wasn't much of an exciting weekend in terms of outings but I think with the end of school only weeks away and Christmas creeping upon us soon, these types of weekends are just what we need to charge our batteries ready to face the busy season around the corner.  How was your weekend?
♥

A bit of activity in the craft room

The sweet little dress I started making for my niece for Christmas has been hanging over my office chair for way too long and I felt it was about time that I got myself into gear and stopped the procrastinating and just finished it.  Because I don't sew often I think I get intimidated by the little things like sewing button holes, why I don't know because with just a little bit of practice and a bit of thinking they were done just like that!!  Well I am happy to say that the dress is finished and a teeny tiny one it is.  To go along with the dress I'm going to sew up some little fabric shoes using a pattern from Meet Me At Mikes, will show you those when I tackle that project soon but there are a couple of others that are in line first.  

The next project on the to do list is my Christmas Ornament Swap.  After much inspiration and hints as to what my partner likes I've come up with my idea, here's a little peek at what I'm working on. I'm crossing my fingers it comes together like I have imagined, I'll keep you posted.

I hope you're enjoying your Wednesday.

♥

It would seem that I have lost some of my blogging mojo, my inbox has more emails in there than I would like and I have fallen behind in visiting all of you lovely ladies, I'm sorry I haven't been around much but I hope to soon catch up. 

With Christmas not too far away and with a swap over at Christina's blog I am to create a decoration for, I have been doing some searching the web to find some creative inspiration.  Here is some of what I found on my search.

Look at this sweet Gingerbread house decoration, link to the pdf found here.

Or if you enjoy doing some crochet, Lucy from Attic 24 has some beautiful decorations you can create.

I love the effect that has been created by folding fabric and pinning it onto styrofoam balls. Tutorial here.

Maybe you prefer to create a star ornament?

These would make sweet ornaments too.

And who doesn't love doilies?  I like the simplicity of the red and white of these ornaments.

Which one is your favourite?