Friday 25 November 2011

diy candle holders



























How beautiful are these? They're made with simple discount store tea light candle holders and pretty coloured paper. Check out how to make them over at How About Orange. It's still pouring with rain outside so we're going to make some with our own designs this weekend. Thank you Jessica for yet another lovely diy.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

advent calendar



















I love hiding little treats for the Babes each day in the lead up to Christmas. This advent calendar over at Oh Happy Day! is beautiful. You'll just need some little bags and iron-on transfer paper. Check out the downloads and instructions here.

Saturday 19 November 2011

christmas is coming


...and we've already starting celebrating with some tiny decorations around the place.

Red felt tree - IKEA
Sweet white bone china reindeer - Papaya


Friday 18 November 2011

back to nature

Our poor old garden has been a bit neglected this last year. The first 6 months of 2011 I was deeply entrenched - and enjoying - long days in my studio and then the last 6 months have been preoccupied with renovations... so whilst I've kept up with basic maintenance, it's been in need of love and affection.

So today marked the beginning of a few weeks of focussed gardening for me.
Had a great day tidying and sorting and all the new plants arrived for around the pool so I'll be preparing the garden beds this weekend. I'm enjoying being back in the thick of it again very much - and I'm realising how much I've missed it.

Thursday 17 November 2011

a scrap of paper


Loving this. Babe2 was busy as a bee with the newspaper the other day and created these beautiful birds. She went through the newspaper and selected coloured sections and then tore them into tiny pieces, grouping them by colour. Then she drew these little birds and selected coloured paper as feathers and glued them on. So beautiful, we're going to attach some ribbon and hang them as Christmas decorations... she thought the Lorikeets in our garden would like them.


Wednesday 16 November 2011

packed corners


I have just realised that I have neglected my posts on 'a corner of home' and soon enough all the corners will be packed away and relocated to their new rooms. So here are some elements of our current dining room which will be converted to Babe1's bedroom next year.

Timber swallows - Design for Use
'home' timber letters - David Met Nicole
White porcelain flowers - a gift from my big sister for my birthday
White bone china origami bird hanging in cage - Have You Met Miss Jones
Bird cages - Berry markets (country NSW)
Marimekko fabric canvas that I made about 8 years ago for the kitchen in our Surry Hills terrace (and I still love it) - Chee Soon & Fitzgerald

Tuesday 15 November 2011

festive season


I love everything that they create over at SHIMTOKK and thought you might be interested in these gorgeous gift tag downloads that they've created with Meant To Be Calligraphy. Enjoy.

swimming


It's been a long time between posts and that's certainly a reflection of progress. The Certifier has signed off the pool and the hose went in yesterday! So assuming the sun returns, the girls will be swimming in the new pool on Saturday (still too cold for me). It ended up being a 12 week build which includes the great big granite terrace so I'm really pleased with timeframes. There are of course a few details that I'm slightly less than happy with (all of which only Lovely One, my family and I will ever really notice) but overall I think it's been a huge success. No detailing yet... pots, chairs, lighting etc... so whilst the bones are solid... it doesn't yet fit the picture in my head. I will photograph when it's finished and hopefully rave then!

Part of the reason for my slightly tempered excitement is that the footings for the new extension were also poured yesterday so we open the backdoor to mountains of dirt and rock again (this is the 3rd set of excavations so far) and need to clamber over fields of mud before we get to the pool terrace (all of which gets brought inside each day with Audrey and the girls).

I'm also deep in logistics again (bricklayers, plumbers, concreters, roofing quotes etc) but I know that when it's got a concrete slab over it all in a few weeks I'll be feeling a bit more "yee-ha".