Just Like Martha

My Christmas Decoration Swap arrives - yay

The girls were excited when they went to the post box yesterday..you see its always exciting when you arrive and there is  'blue slip' inside your box it means there is something BIG and exciting waiting to be collected that won't quite fit in your tiny post box! Now usually it is of course for the girls...but this time it was from my Christmas Decoration Swap Partner - Trish Goodfield - yay me!

Trish specialises in hand dyed fabrics and threads and makes some amazing stuff, check out her Etsy shop www.trishalandesigns.etsy.com. Just have a look at these gorgeous decorations for my Christmas tree...

 

Aren't they just amazing, love the colours, love the thread, love the beading and detail - just love them - thank you very much Trish. Here is another close up with more detailing..

 

Ok enough bragging about my swap, had better go lots to do today...until later xxx

Cute Gift Tags

Happy Wednesday everyone 29 sleeps until Christmas yay!

These are the cute mini gift tags I made as part of Kim's "Jingle Bells" class, they were so quick and easy and would make a great gift for a crafty friend or store them up and use them throughout the year..

  

   

I attended another wonderful class at Paper Possibilities this morning with my buddy the very talented Annette! We made a set of amazing Christmas cards (watch out they could be yours!)...I had to race off before the class finished to attend Lilly's speech presentation so I have a few touch-ups to finish then I can do 'show and tell'...until then xx

Holiday packing, a Farewell Party, Netball Grand Final and more Christmas gift ideas...

Be warned LONG catch up blog ahead!!!!!

Well it has been a very busy few days...and only a few days left of school! It has been VERY sticky and hot up here the past few days, perfect weather for the girls to try on their winter clothes for our long awaited holiday in a few weeks - NOT! It is very hard to pack for somewhere super cold when its 38' in your bedroom, the jeans, jumpers etc have a habit of sticking to you - yuk!

Anyway we persevered and our bags are packed ready - Shanghai here we come! Now we just have to pack every thing else and get it back to Sydney!!!??!

Taylor had her Farewell Party with her class last Sunday, nice bunch of kids and they were happy with just playing in the pool (perfect weather for it)..its Lilly's turn this Friday the last day of school!

The girls and I made these for some 'special friends' that they will miss when we move..we just went to Office Works and bought covered notebooks in bulk then used scraps and embelishments to cover them finishing with a groovy pencil all wrapped up in an organza bag - perfect!

Netball grand final time and Taylor's team played their arch rivals and won - its was pretty close and there were moments when we thought they wouldn't make it - you would have thought we were playing for 'sheep stations' rather than it being an Under 12 netball final - its definitely stressful being a spectator! We had the team and parents back to our place for a sausage sizzle and a swim to celebrate. The girls walked away with a certificate and trophy as the seson winners and the biggest smiles you've ever seen!!

I made the yummiest chocolate cake ever for them to celebrate win or loose.... not sure where I found the recipe, one of those that you tear out of a magazine and attempt to cook months later (does anyone else do that or just me??)  It was super easy and quick and very moist...forgot to take a photo last night and this is all that was left this morning, the girls are polishing the rest off as I type...

 

Here is the recipe if anyone is interested:

EASY CHOCOLATE CAKE

125g butter, roughly chopped

1/2 cup golden syrup

2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup cocoa

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180'C, grease and line a 20cm square cake pan with baking paper. Melt butter in a saucepan, remove from heat and add golden syrup, combine well then set aside to cool.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb. over butter mixture. Combine sugar, milk, eggs and vanilla in a large jug. Add to mixture and using a small whisk, gentky whisk until all ingredients are well combined. Pour mixture into prepared baking pan. Bake 50-60 minutes or until cake is cooked when tested. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Ice with cholcoate icing or leave plain and sprinkle with icing sugar just before serving.

ENJOY XX

I have more pics from Kim's JINGLE BELLS workshop (www.kimarcher.com.au) to share with you but might make you wait until tomorrow...until then, bye for now xx

A Recycled Christmas Tree by Lilly...

Hello my name is Lilly and the other day I made this Christmas tree at school using recycled materials...mum thought it was pretty cool and asked me to share with everyone how it was made...it's really easy and lots of fun!

 

   

Okay, so first you need a magazine, make sure its an old one and not one that your mum is reading.

The size of your tree will depend on the thickness and size of your magazine, mum said a small one made from an old Readers Digest (whatever that is) would work really well too.

 

Open the cover then take the first page and fold it over like this.... make sure you press the crease really well.

Then just fold it over again like this...your first 'tree fold' is nearly finished..

Then just fold the bottom bit up..

Then turn the page and start all over again.  You have to do this for every page of the magazine, then at the end get your mum or dad to rip off the outside cover of the magazine and there you have it your very own recycled Christmas tree!

You could spray paint the tree if you like and even add its very own decorations or star but I like it just the way it is - what do you think??

Have fun creating your very own tree and don't forget to leave my mum a message or send a photo I'd love to see what you have created.

Merry Christmas everyone, Lilly

Another Christmas Present idea

If you haven't already head over to the fabulous KIM ARCHER and her WORKSHOPS @ HOME site where you will find some fabulous present ideas that are quick and easy to create - www.kimarcher.com.au

Her JINGLE BELLS WORKSHOP is currently running with over 14 days of Christmas projects to create, its lots of fun and the projects are fantastic!

This is the "Calico Envelope Cuff"...pretty cute huh! Inside the cuff is a decorated envelope (or two in my case) filled with mounted photos of highlights of the girls year and each one has then been journalled...a fantastic keepsake for them to keep...you could also include special work from school, artwork etc, the possibilities are endless. They would also make wonderful presents for grandparents (sorry nana and gramps we have all your presents already - maybe next year!)

 

 

 

There are some very cute other projects that I am in the middle of so keep checking back for updates and remember only 36 sleeps until Santa visits - have you written your letter to Santa yet???

Dinner for Friends

The weekend already...wow doesn't time fly at this time of year...38 days until Christmas!!

We started the weekend with a Dinner Party..those who know me know we LOVE to entertain...we have started our round of goodbyes for its not long now until we pack up and head back south so this was a special dinner with 'new found friends', a sort of Christmas catch up and farewell rolled into one.

 

 

The table looked simple but elegant...and a little Christmassy...we gave them a gift to take home to remember us...just something simple, a Christmas decoration made of bells inside an organza bag (and of course some candy canes for their kids to enjoy)...now every Christmas that they see/hear the decoration they will hopefully remember us and the time we spend together...

 

Ahh the end of the weekend approaches, time for another swim I think before I think about dinner - Happy sunday evening to all!

Revealed - Christmas decoration swap!

Well the lovely Sandi from www.alegacyofstitches.blogspot.com has received my Chrissy decoration swap so I can now reveal what was inside the package I sent...

 

Must admit this Chrssiy decoration swap organised by the lovely Em from www.embelish.blogspot.com turned out to be a little scarier than I first thought, turns out my swap partner Sandi describes herself as "always stitching something" - eek! Now sewing is not my thing but I'll give anything a go and must admit I was really happy with the results....Sandi sent me the lovliest email thanking me, I am so thrilled she enjoyed her 'parcel'.

 

The 'star' decoration idea came from Christmas issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I thought they were really cute and would great 'en mass' in a glass bowl or you could of course thread them and hang them...

 

Another cute cupcake...made this one up as I went along, pretty cute I must admit, everyone LOVES a cupcake and they look great in the traditional Christmas colours..then last of all there was this.....

 

These little guys are just too cute..found the idea over at www.moonstitches.typepad.com and just couldn't resist, they would also look great with a childs name as a room decoration of for a new baby or a birthday banner ....oooh the ideas are endless!

 

So there you go, my Christmas decoration swap revealed - enjoy!

Tuesday already and only 43 sleeps until Santa!!!

A Weather Report...and some scrapbooking

Lilly came home from school the other day with a project (actually it was just homework I think but Lilly turned it into a project!)...she had to write a weather report...quite ironic since the weather up here in FNQ has started to heat up...the last few days have had tops of 32-33' and the humidity has been over the top (I forgot how hot and sticky it becomes in the rainy season)...anyway Lilly came downstairs dressed as a "weather reporter" and we took a photo to attach to her project...pretty cute I thought, oh and VERY professional don't you think!

 

This week has flown by..I think from now on all the weeks seem to fly by in the lead up to Christmas...I have been busy catching up on scrapbooking and finishing off some Christmas projects (more later)...I am almost up to date with our Cairns album, a huge album dedicated to memories of our time in this wonderful part of the world...trips we've done, visitors etc..it kinda became a little bigger than I first thought..anyway, thought I'd share this simple page with you - The Lighthouse in Cooktown.

 

Oh and just in case anyone was wondering - there are now 47 days until Christmas - he, he that will make your weekend!!

More goodies and a Christmas card class

Lucky me, I won!! At the beginning of October I left a comment on a post about some beautiful cards made by my friend Annette (www.annettehanigan.typepad.com) and I was randomly selected to win them...for the un-initiated its known as a RAK or Random Act of Kindness - isn't that cute! I was so thrilled, look at them why wouldn't you be...

 

Not sure anyone will be receiving these as a Christmas card don't think I can bear to part with them.  On Saturday I managed some more inspiration from my lovely friend and attended a Christmas card class at Paper Possibilities, now if you live in the far north and haven't already done one of these classes do yourself a favour..there are a few more scrummy ones coming up take a look www.paperpossibilities.com.au .

Look what I made....

 

Ok enough bragging, enjoy the rest of your Monday and remember only 51 days until Santa makes an appearance - scary huh!

Birthday and Halloween Treats

Well I am officially another year younger....yep another Birthday has come and gone and boy was I spoilt rotten! My day began with a swim in the ocean (probably our last for the year the singer nets go out on Monday - those pesky little jellyfish will be back in the tropical waters of North QLD, no swimming Nov-May)...then a yummy breakky and a day filled with greetings and pressies from my nearest and dearest...and then I finished the day enjoying dinner with friends and a yummy Birthday cake baked by Taylor (I am so proud of her cooking efforts of late).  Have a look at this bit of yummyness that arrived in a parcel from my parents...quite ironic given one of my previous posts and hand-made Christmas cupcakes don't you think?

   

And I cannot wait to get some 'baking time' in with this pressie - yum scrum!

 

Then the following day was of course Halloween... now I know a lot of people see this as an unnecessary holiday celebrated by Americans and should be left in America, but...when you think about it there is no real harm in getting a little dressed up and 'trick or treating' close to where you live, after all its a great way to share some neighbourhood spirit.  We were invited to a party, the people had gone all out and their house looked fantastic, everywhere you tuned there were more spiderwebs, headless creatures and even a rat in a cage (my favourite once I found out of course it was pretend - amazing what you can buy at trick shops these days). Even the food was themed, "fingers" for the kids (sausages with tomato sauce and radish as the nail), green pasta, blood in our champagne..you get the picture...a few 'repsonsible adults' took the kids 'trick or treating' (not sure how responsible a witch, Elvis and Ghoulish monster looked with about 15 kids in costumes ranging from cats to draculas)!!! Lots of fun, this is what we took along, they are 'ghost' cupcakes in case you were wondering (www.marthastewart.com - of course!)

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone xx