Wrapping Presents

Yesterday's task on the advent calendar was to wrap presents.  We have a big family on Corey's side so wrapping is a big task.  We only buy for the kids, Corey's parents and his little sister and her fiance (as they don't have kids) but that still gives us 16 people just on Corey's side.  We have done quite well this year with only 4 presents left to buy.  Usually we shop for Corey's family all in one big hit the week before Christmas because Corey hates Christmas shopping.  This year though I started while I was on maternity leave so we have made good progress.

This year I decided to put a bit more effort into my wrapping.  I went with brown paper wrapping with doilies and red and white ribbons to match in with the colours on our tree.  I actually had a lot of fun wrapping these presents.  The little one at the front with the pom pom on it is my favourite.  Who doesn't love pom poms!

Unfortunately, I didn't buy enough ribbon so not all the presents are wrapped just yet so this advent task will have to be "to be continued"....

Homemade Ornaments

Day 4 on our advent calendar tasks was to make ornaments for our Christmas tree.  I decided to make some super simple air dry clay ornaments because they were quick and easy and could be done during Imogen's nap times.

They are seriously super duper simple!  Just roll out your clay and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.  I then used a small piping tip to poke holes in the top of each shape.  I left mine to dry overnight and they were perfect in the morning.  Keep in mind we are in the middle of a heat wave on the Gold Coast so f you are in a cooler climate they may take a little while longer to dry out.

This morning I cut my lengths of ribbon and threaded them through the holes and popped them onto the tree.  So simple it's ridiculous!  There are so many things you could do with these too. I chose to leave mine plain but you could paint yours or emboss them before cutting out the shapes.  Little Paper Lane used hers as gift tags on her present.  Use your imagination and have fun with them!

Christmas Wishlist

I thought it might be fun to share a few things that are on my wishlist this christmas.  Also I know Corey hates christmas shopping so hopefully this will make his life a little easier.

1 - Nigella Cookbooks - I have one but I would love to add more to my recipe book collection.  I can read Nigella cookbooks like novels.  She has an awesome way of writing.

2 - Sophia Bustier Maillot by Seafolly - I need some new swimmers and I am loving this vintage style one piece.  Plus who can go past a bit of gingham.

3 - Rococo Rose Vintage Maillot by Seafolly - another gorgeous one piece.  I love the blue and the floral.

4 - The Mat - this is a food grade plastic mat that you use to roll out fondant and cover cakes.  My friend lent me hers once and it makes life so much easier.  I would love one of my own.

5 - Wittner Peppermint Heels - Are these not the most perfect heels you have ever seen?  They are to celebrate 100 years of Wittner and they would be perfect to wear with my vintage dresses.  The only problem is I can't choose between these two colours.

6 - Marianne of Maui Coral Hawaiian Fabric - I want to make a vintage style playsuit and this fabric would be perfect.  Such a gorgeous colour for summer!  I am think a circle skirt and top kind of like this.

7 - Bernie Dexter Capri Pants - I have wanted these pants forever!  They are like my dream pair of jeans.

8 - Glass Drink Dispensers - I have visions of parties with glass drink dispensers full of pink lemonade and glasses with striped straws.  I need these in my life!

9 - Wilton Ribbon Cutter & Embosser - this would have made my life so much easier when making Corey's pacman cake.  It's not easy to cut straight strips of fondant with a knife.

So what are you wishing for this christmas?

  

Tis The Season

The first item on our advent calendar was to put up our tree and decorations.  We managed to get the majority of the house decorated on Saturday but I am just needing to finish up our stockings so we can hang them.

I am so in love with our Christmas tree.  Growing up I always wanted a colour coordinated tree and I love our red, white and silver theme.

I feel like we need a few more decorations for the rest of the house though.  We only have a few little things and I want more.  I also have never really been into outdoor lights before because they just seem like so much effort but a few houses in our street are all decorated and now I wish we had some lights.  I think we might need to pick a few things up but I worry about them getting stolen.

I can't wait till Imogen is old enough to help us decorate.  This year she sat in her bouncer and watched us with her santa hat on.  This one is obviously way too big for her.  I think I might need to make her her own little hat to wear when we go to carols next weekend.

Have you finished decorating your houses for Christmas?  Do you do outdoor lights?

November Reading List

After a lame effort in October I got back into the swing of things with my reading for November.  I find that feeding time gives me a lot of time for reading.  This month I managed to read 7 books which brings me up to a total of 43 for the year.  That means if I want to reach my goal of 52 books I need to read another 9 in December.  I am not too confident that will happen but I will give it a shot.  This month I read

I continued on with my obsession with the Stephanie Plum series.  I have 4 more of these books on my ereader and then there are another 2 in the series that I need to get although one hasn't be released yet.  I have said basically everything I can about this series the past few months.  They are great and I am still loving the series!

Flea Market Chic is a new book I bought the other week.  I could basically live in this book.  It is all about making and decorating your home with items sourced from flea markets and op shops and secondhand.  I have found so much inspiration in this book I really can't wait until we are able to buy a house.  So many times while reading this book I said to Corey "ooh I want one of these".  I think he is dreading us buying a house now!

So now to finish of my year with a bang (hopefully!).  Fingers crossed I can get a bit of reading in during December.

Advent Calendar

 

 I am a little bit excited that it is December!!!  I am so pumped for this Christmas.  I have so much planned for December and I really hope we get to do it all.  I want to make Imogen's first Christmas as special as I can.  The first project I did was to make an advent calendar.

We have an advent calendar that we hang with chocolates but I wanted to make one with activities for us to do each day in the lead up to Christmas.  There are things like write christmas cards and wrap christmas presents and then simple ones like watching The Grinch as well as little outings like to get Santa photos and see the Christmas lights.

After I decided on all the activities it was a bit of a jigsaw figuring out which ones to do on each day.  There are some that need to be done on a weekend and with limited weekends between now and Christmas as well as us having some other plans already in place it took me a little while to get everything in the right spot.

So our first activity for today is to put up our Christmas decorations.  I put the tree up yesterday but it has no decorations on it yet.  As soon as Corey gets home from work we will start decorating.  I am so excited!!!

 

Photo A Day November

If you follow me on instagram you will know that I have been playing along with Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge for November.  It was a lot of fun but I got a bit slack towards the end and had to do a couple of catch up days.  For those not on instagram here are my photos for the month.

Main Photo - something beginning with C.  Small photos clockwise from top right - colour, breakfast, tv, 5pm, a favourite thing, reflection, something you do everyday, small, can't live without.

Main Photo - in your bag.  Small photos clockwise from top right - night, drink, where you slept, man-made, the view from your window, the last thing you bought, happened on the weekend, something awesome, work/play.



Main Photo - tree.  Small photos clockwise from top right - what you wore, grateful, black, a sound you heard, sky,  in the cupboard, vehicle, big, on the wall.

Chantelle has also released the list for the December photo a day so if you would like to play along pop over here to grab the list.  I am still tossing up whether to play or not.  December is going to be super busy for us so there may not be time.  I guess I will see how I feel tomorrow.