{christmas} sunday sneaky peek

farewell friday

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27888428@N00/ / CC BY 2.0

Farewell to this week and hello weekend. I hope to see you on the other side with pics of my Christmas tree up!

If I DO get a spare five minutes breather I have some more great shopping ideas to share with you all.

Have a great weekend. xo

nearly done

I've been at it again. Shopping that is. And I'm pleased to report that I'm nearly done with all my Christmas shopping. I will probably buy little bits and pieces closer to Christmas, such as photo frames but mostly I'm done! I can't believe it. This would have to be the most organised I have been for Christmas. Ever.

To share with you again, here are some more of the stores I have been supporting in my 'buying online/handmade/small business' venture.

As well as all that, I have already ordered my Christmas cards and stamps too. Since having children I decided to get cards printed as I just find it so difficult to sit and write lots of cards now. This way I can still add a small message if I like but otherwise they can be sent as is. The first year I did a photo card but since having Zoe and Josh becoming a toddler it is impossible for me to get decent photos of the two of them together so I opted for a Christmas design this year instead.

Image: tiny*prints

This year I decided to use tiny*prints  for my cards and I have to say I was VERY impressed with their customer service, reasonable postage, fast delivery from US and outstanding quality of the cards/printing. I will definitely be using them again.

Spring cleaning is going well. Trip to Ikea will happen tomorrow while my mum can look after children. I have been crazy enough to take both kids in the double pram to Ikea before, but not keen to try it again. My aim now is to finish styling our dining room by getting the bookshelves  and the Christmas tree up on the weekend, tidy up my work space corner and then add further Christmas decorations. Phew! And I still have my bedroom to attack after that.

morning and congratulations

Image: Thai Jasmine

Good morning all!

Hello hello hello this fine morning. A lovely comfortable temperature after yesterday's Sydney hot craziness.....phew!

This morning I'd love to announce that the winner of the Piper + Lily giveaway is Smallish! If you could get in touch with me with your details and I will pass them on to Natasha who will post out your gorgeous necklace.

I'm off to entertain a bouncing toddler and put a little bubba to bed for a morning nap. Then I need to attempt to continue my spring/summer clean of my house. We have guests coming for a bbq on the 5 December and my plan is to finish setting up our dining room with Christmas tree up and decorated by that date! I have a lot of work ahead of me, including a trip to Ikea for bookshelves for our burgeoning collection. Hubby and I both come from families of avid readers which means a LOT of books to store (and I've already culled many too!).

Will come back when I manage to resurface from the piles of books surrounding me.

{Product feature} Monstar Kids

Just wanted to share this fantastic Australian childrens label with you that I have just discovered - Monstar Kids. It is designed and handmade in Australia by Fiona Roy. The range is designed for boys and girls aged 6 months to 8 years.

There are some great designs in the collection, including the boys range. Having a boy myself I've always found it hard to find simple, cute clothes for boys and these are perfect!

I love all the red and whites too. There are some great possibilities for Christmas outfits.

Monstar Kids is stocked at many boutiques in Australia including Millie Molly Moo. Go and check it out!

smile

Image: printspace

{giveaway} piper + lily

I've been continuing my online Christmas shopping and wanted to share this store with you too. piper + lily sells gorgeous little handmade wares for little people. When I saw these fabric necklaces I was totally in love and knew my nieces would be too. I have stocked up on some of these necklaces and they will be wrapped and ready for Christmas this week. Aren't they great?

Natasha is the lovely owner of piper + lily and she sells lots of other beautiful things - cotton slippers, skirts, bibs, tag blocks, jewellery - all wonderfully handmade. This week, for one lovely reader of this blog, Natasha is offering  a fabric necklace. Go take a look at Natasha's store and leave a comment below sharing your favourite item and you will go into the draw to win. It might just make a lovely Christmas gift to a special little girl in your life.

Natasha also has a blog you can follow here.

The giveaway will be open all week and I will draw a winner next Monday morning.

Good luck!!

i'm really loving......

...the view from our back balcony at the moment. We haven't been here for a full year yet, and so this is our first spring/summer here. All we see out our back windows are the beautiful bush and our spectacular (though messy!) Illawarra Flame tree. I still marvel at our view and am so thankful every day for it.

I love living in this house. It's peaceful most of the time. And we are woken by kookaburras and serenaded (ie. laughed at) to sleep each night by them too!

zoe will be a softie

Isn't this doll just divine? I'm so glad that I recently stumbled across the nooshka store on Etsy. Casey at nooshka makes the most gorgeous dolls and softies including custom made designs. Her dolls are adored worldwide and are even being sold in boutiques in Switzerland and France now. The detail in these dolls is just amazing - the faces, beautiful outfits, their character.

I have asked Casey to make me a doll for Zoe for Christmas and I'm so excited about it. I've enjoyed every minute of looking through many photos of dolls Casey has made in order to pick and choose the elements I especially like and that will make the perfect Zoe doll.

And I can't wait to share a photo of the final product and the two Zoe's together!

mathilda's market stash

Here a few quick snaps of the two dresses I bought for Zoe at the recent Sydney Mathilda's Market:

This dress is from Loz + Dinny

and this dress (and its matching hair clip) is made by the lovely Jen from Melei who I said hello to but was too shy to tell her who I was....

I've also been fortunate enough to have just won a giveaway at Jen's blog! Thankyou!

I also bought a few little gifts while I was there including:

: three cute little coin purses from alfalfa

: custom name garland from Mel at paperklip

: a print from little envelope

There were so many more things I could have bought, but I did have to restrain myself a little!

Anyone else go to Mathilda's Market in their state?

the things kids do

I was tidying up the lounge room floor the other evening and as I went to pick up the last of the toys I found this......I had a little giggle, took a pic and finished tidying up!

sniff sniff

Image: school room by Rob Shenk

I enrolled my boy into preschool last week. From February next year, after his 3rd birthday he will be attending a local preschool for two days a week. I'm excited about it but I know when the day comes to drop him off I will be so sad. It's a big step for me sending my little boy out into the big wide world. He has been in my care and my mum's care since he was born.

I know he will LOVE preschool though. We have visited already and he didn't want to leave. As much as he is a bit of a mummy's boy, he loves the outdoors and he loves the type of environment with other children that preschool will provide. He will grow so much more next year I'm sure.

Have you had to send your 'big' little person to care and how did you go?

me

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darling_clementine/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

virtually shopping

I'm being pretty organised for me at the moment. I've made a spreadsheet of all the people we have to buy Christmas presents for and am slowly buying gifts......and I haven't even been out to the shops yet!

I'm trying to do all my shopping online...

This year I decided that I want to buy handmade or support small business with my gift giving. I'm tired of giving gifts that you can run down to the local shopping centre to buy. I want gifts that will really surprise people and hopefully bring them joy in receiving something a little different. And I'm happy that my money is going towards creative individuals or people with a passion instead of big, profit-focussed corporations.

I just thought I would share some of the stores with you that I have been buying gifts from:

 

 

 

 

Go and check them out and support them too. I love that all the pressies come straight to my doorway all the way from overseas. I have gifts that no-one will likely have seen before and all I have to do now is wrap and put them under the tree.

busy busy busy

To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else. {Emily Dickinson}

I've been a little busy the last few days and neglected my poor old blog. I have some things I'd like still to blog about but time is not my friend at the moment. I promise I will get around to it eventually. I want to show you the gorgeous things I picked up from Mathilda's Market. Zoe wore one of her new dresses yesterday for Melbourne Cup.

I also have some cute giveaways coming soon just in time for Christmas so please hang around and show me some love even while my blog is on pause. I'll be right back!

Image: floridapfe

would you like ed cullen in your bedroom?

You can have him for for $US60 from vinylfruit. I'm not much of a Twilight fan at all but I know a lot of you out there would love this!

and the winner is.....

The lucky winner of the Buyster rugs giveaway is DarNonymous!! Congratulations. Please email me your postal address, contact number and full name and I will pass on your details to the lovely people at Buyster who will contact you to arrange delivery of your new rug!

Enjoy.

I'll be back later to share pics of my Mathilda's Market buys.

Image: CharlotteSpeaks