Day to Day

Ho ho ho.

Some festive Santa Claus dress up fun from after school today.  I do love Christmas!

 

 

The house that Bella built.

Filling in a lazy Sunday:

 

 

 

Kyoto General Store - extra special offer.

The lovely Skye and Philippa from Kyoto General Store have another very special offer for you - Nifty November, but first some news from them plus info on their Christmas bundles (in their words):

Fabulous news - many customers will be happy to hear that more 2010 diaries are currently en route from Japan and we expect they will be available by the end of this week. Most of the diaries feature a year planner view, 2 page per month view, detailed 2 page per week view and notes section and are of excellent quality and style with many different designs to choose from. They will make ideal Christmas pressies. Go to www.kyotogeneralstore.com to check them out or you can 'contact us' and say "let me know when the diaries have arrived" and we will email you!

Christmas shopping is a breeze at Kyoto General Store. We are excited to announce that we have 2 beautiful Christmas Bundles for you to choose from.....Christmas shopping made easy! For just $39.95 you can choose the divine Winged Wheel bundle that contains a letter sheet box set, a boxed note card set and a boxed mini card set or for $22.95 you can have fun and buy a Shinzi Katoh bundle that includes a clear file, a letter writing set and a gorgeous pen. We happily gift wrap all parcels and can send gifts directly to the recipient for you. Go to "gift vouchers" to purchase your Christmas Bundle now!

Now for the Nifty November special (which is so, so good):

Make your purchase from Kyoto General Store before midnight Monday 30 November to receive FREE postage AND a surprise gift valued at $10. (Aust residents only) At checkout enter discount code 'nifty november'.

Also, don't forget there is still a teeny bit of time to enter their give away - I will announce both winners here on my blog next week:

Offer 1 - Leave a comment "We love Kyoto General Store" to go into draw to win one of two $25 gift vouchers.

Offer 2- Mention Kyoto General Store on your blog, then 'contact us' to let us know for a second entry in the $25 gift voucher draw.

And now a few photos of some very yummy Kyoto goodness that arrived in my mailbox through the week:

Bella loves her new Shinzi Katoh file folder.  It's being used as I type to store excess stickers.  The house design is super cute.

A peek inside the Shinzi Katoh way home memo book (oh and some extra miffy pen cuteness). 

An apple green note pad - equally as beautiful on the inside as it looks on the outside.

A sweet postcard and some yummy growth happy decorative tape (on the envelope).  I love the deep red shade of the tape with the little people along it - very nice!

And some very beautiful Winged Wheel notecards.  These are really sweet - so tiny and perfect for little notes.

Start shopping at Kyoto HERE.

To fill your Christmas stockings.

More new wraps from the lovely Bianca.  Available in her store HERE.  Just a reminder that there are only a couple of days left until Bianca's opening November special ends - after that all wraps will be $30.

Here are a few of my favourite picks from her store - this first one really kills me, the print is so sweet and I love the pale pink with the red/denim:

 

And some more cuteness:

 

There are loads more new wraps in Bianca's store too - I've only shared a few here.

Christmas cards.

Today Fiona and I are each doing a post on Christmas cards.  Above are some cards that I created recently for the Aussie Scrap Source blog using some yummy Hero Arts stamps (large Christmas circle) and some Cosmo Cricket 'Jolly by Golly' patterned papers and embellishments (how cute is that range?!).  I'm especially fond of the stamps - they come in a pack of four and you can sneak a peek at the other stamps in the set HERE (plus close ups of the individual cards).

 

I also hand stitched a simple Christmas tree onto felt (adding some beads for baubles) to create a few of these:

 

And here are a few of my favourite festive cards from Etsy:

 

Merry & Bright, available HERE.

Merry Christmas, available HERE.

Seasons Greetings, available HERE.

Christmas tree, available HERE.

Christmas happiness, available HERE.

Ho ho ho, available HERE.

Don't forget to check out Fiona's post on her blog HERE.

Calico Christmas trees.

I have a very, very cute post for you today! 

Some divine calico Christmas trees created by the super lovely Jill.  If you'd like to make some too, they're super easy.  Cut two teeny triangles of calico, add some buttons and/or other embellishments on the front and hand stitch the triangles together (adding a little stuffing).  Stitch on a calico loop at the top with a button to hold it in place and you're done.

 

I think the calico and neutral coloured embellishments combined with the aqua stitching just looks so pretty.

You can check out Jill's blog HERE - please do - Jill takes the most gorgeous photographs and shares so many projects on her blog filled with beautiful textures.

Right, I'll see you tomorrow with Fiona and some Christmas cards :)

Cotton Time - November issue.

Here are some lovely images out of the latest Cotton Time magazine (my most favourite Japanese magazine).  Retro Mummy is restocking some more issues of Cotton Time very soon too - so if you'd like a copy keep an eye on the Retro Mummy store over the next day or so.  There is also a fabulous giveaway over on Corrie's blog for 12 fat quarters of the beautiful grandmother's flower garden fabric!!  Go HERE to enter.

 

 

 

 

Advent Calendars.

From now until Christmas Fiona and I will be sharing some inspirational crafty Christmas projects and ideas. We'll be posting every Tuesday and Friday until Christmas.

Fiona and I thought we'd start our festive ideas with a post about Advent Calendars.  I had very good intentions of sewing an advent calendar for the post, but time got away from me!  But, you must check out Fiona's two beautiful calendars.

A very sweet and easy felt advent calendar.  More pics and full tutorial HERE.

 

I love this stocking advent idea too.  It's by Skip To My Lou and the template is available HERE.

 

A lovely paper advent idea.  This would be nice to pop Christmas love notes inside or to slip in a chocolate frog here and there.  Download the cute number templates HERE.

Some little advent drawers that I found HERE on Etsy - a very clever idea for holding December treasures.

 

Another Etsy find - isn't it pretty?!  To peek behind the doors, go HERE.

 

Darling, darling, darling!  24 advent pouches, also from Etsy.  You can choose your own font and ribbon too.  Go HERE to see more detail.

 

From memory I shared this beautiful advent calendar last year - but it's so good that I want to share it again :)  Created by the lovely Lina from Linaloo.

 

And the last one for sharing - simply gorgeous!  Image from Flickr HERE.

Thanks for visiting! I'll actually be back tomorrow to share some very cute images from the latest Christmas issue of Cotton Time.

P.S.  Cotton Time is available from Retro Mummy HERE.

Grandmother's Flower Garden Laminate

I have one word for the new laminate by Rosalie Quinlan (for Lecien Fabrics) - YUM! 

I'm starting work tomorrow (gasp, after 3 years of being a full time stay home Mum) and really wanted something eco-friendly and cute to take my lunch in.  I knew that the laminates would be perfect for the project, but I didn't know just how easy they would be to sew with - they glided through my sewing machine like butter, even through three thicknesses of the fabric at the top hem!! 

Presenting my new lunch bag:

Now that has to be cuter than a brown paper bag or a plastic lunch box....

When the fabric arrived (available HERE at Quilt Fabric Delights) it was slightly creased from being folded in the package.  I gently ironed the reverse of the laminate, which worked perfectly and removed the creases.

I was also impressed at the lovely soft texture of the laminate - I guess I was expecting something quite stiff, but it's definitely not.  I have more projects planned too - I just need to find the time to get them started!

The little walnut girl.

We've been saving our organic walnut shells (have you ever had organic walnuts? They are SO good) and talking about lots of different crafts we could make with them.  Walnut babies have been high on the priority list, but we need to acquire some little wooden beads for their heads first. 

Bella is definitely not patient when it comes to crafting and waiting for new project materials to be purchased, so off she went outside with a couple of balls of wool and came back in 10 or so minutes later with a little woollen girl.  Isn't she sweet?  She made her somehow with the wool between her two big toes - I love this girl so much for her ingenious ways.  She can make anything she sets her mind too on most days.

All good woollen girls need a bed ofcourse and two minutes of cutting into her fabric stash created the essentials:

 

It looks quite comfortable in there:

  

And a doona to keep her warm on chilly nights.

Hooray for walnut shells, wool, fabric and creativity!

See you tomorrow for the first day of some Christmas crafting!