The Suitcase Series.

Yay what a lovely Christmas! Well I just got back from a lovely get away with the famdamily the last couple of days and back for a few days over New Years before we head off into the wilderness again to go camping! I must say, I am still stuffed from Christmas and it's only just starting!

Now this has brought me great joy...I just discovered that Dottie Angel is releasing her second book! Everyone must be familiar now with the lovely crafts and interiors featured on her blog and flickr, but I only just found out about her book! The Suitcase Series will be released in 2011 and can be pre-ordered from here. Joy! I have a birthday coming up early next year, so expect this little one on my list :)

Happy holidays everyone!

The Christmas List.

(Pepper Sprouts)

Had the best night EVER! Seriously, I love Christmas! Amanda and I, along with the husbands had a Christmas night out, filled with yummy dinner, Christmas drinks, walks and talks along the neighborehood covered in amazing Christmas lights and decorations. One thing that came up in our crazy conversations, was the list. The list is made of things you would have to tick off to officially finish off Christmas. We came to the conclusion that ours would have to be:

- Bake gingerbread cookies
- Make decorations and decorate the Christmas tree
- Make a Christmas CD
- Watch Christmas movies
- Buy seasonal drinks (Toffee Nut latte from Starbucks)
- Take a walk down Harrowfield, which is a street renowned for having the most amazing Christmas lights.
- Buy all our pressies
- Wrap all our pressies
- Sings Christmas songs (or in Amanda's case, whisper them)
- Do the river float (on Christmas eve at 11.30pm float down the river in anything floatable with a group of friends)
- Feast, feast and feast!

Done most of them, just still need to wrap the pressies, float down the river (buying our little paddling pool tomorrow as our floating device!) and FEAST!

Does anyone else have anything to add to the list of things to do before Christmas?

I. LOVE. CHRISTMAS!

Yeo, Ashley.

Just stumbled across this amazing artist Ashley Yeo through The Artist and His Model. I adore her work! There are some amazing paper clipping works too which is stunning! A bit of inspiration for you all today :)

Almost Christmas time!!! I am getting waaay to excited!!

Cute as a button.

How sweet are these fine prints by Eva Juliet? I love the sweet simplicity of the last print especially. Oh how I would love to fill my little home with so many prints!

Well only FIVE more sleeps till Christmas! I've managed to pull myself together and get the hubby's gift done yesterday, but still have quite a few left to go! Eeep! Fingers crossed I can get some done tomorrow :) Fun times!

Crease + Fold.

(Crease + Fold via Craft Zine)

I've always been a fan of origami creations, so when I saw these amazing creations I couldn't help but share! Crease + Fold is a gorgeous book by Sok Song full of origami creations that gives you instructions for making these. Very tempted to order this book now so that I have something to do while on holiday in the new year.

Thrifting finds.

These are some gorgeous thrifting finds by Thuisavontuur. Oh gosh how I am going to miss this for a while! The busyness of working in retail during Christmas time doesn't leave you with much spare time. But I can wait till next year :)

AND I have still only done three gifts! Inspiration, please come my way!

Happy weekend everyone :)

x

Everything will be alright.

Absolutely adore this print by Jackie Lehmann. So sweet and simple, and sometimes that is just all you need to hear :)

Stitch my heart.

How's this for unique! What an incredible necklace idea by Vector Cloud to create a "make your own design" within a necklace! This cross stitch heart comes with a handy manual of ways you can cross stitch your heart, as well as providing you with the alphabet in cross stitch so you can create your own words and phrases.

I love your blog.

(Rory Cole)
I really, really, really would like a bunny like this for Christmas. Thank you very much.

So sweet, Laura from See Hear Say has tagged me in her "I love your blog" prize and I have to say I am completely flattered and honoured! So here we go, I am going to attempt to answer these questions for you :)

the rules of the prize are:

- do an entry with the prize.

- answer the questions.

- give the prize to 10 blogs.

1. why did you create the blog?

I won't lie, it took me a while to get into blogging. Amanda initially got me into it, but I gave up after a few months as life just got busy. Then when things slowed down again and inspiration started to stir, I needed some way to "scrapbook" all the ideas I was getting and blogging seemed to be the easiest and most convenient way to store all my ideas and inspirations. It's fascinating then to find that in return, these inspire others.

2. what kind of blogs do you follow?

Oh dear, I follow blogs that have similar taste as mine I suppose. There are so many incredible ones out there, but the ones that display the best originality and are unique capture me the most.

3. favorite makeup brand?

I am not particular about brands. Give me anything that looks good and I will be fine with it :)

4. favorite clothing brand?

Again, I don't really stick to brands too much. I must say, my favourite, most worn dress is an $5 op shop find with no label.

5. your indispensable makeup product:

Mascara!! Oh what would I do without my mascara :)

6. your favorite color:

I'm trying to venture out and try new colours, as I have been stuck in black and white for so long. My favourites change with the seasons, so at the moment they are peach, mint and a dusty pink. Loving the pastels.

7. your perfume:

My favourite is Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker.

8. your favorite film:

Okay, I am a bit of a kid and a cheeseball but Beauty & the Beast will always be one of my ultimate favourites!

9. what country would you like to visit and why?

Too many for so many reasons. The Greek Islands - I've always wanted to use a donkey as transportation up those hills on the cobbled streets and sleep with the windows wide open overlooking the ocean. Israel - the history of this place is just spectacular, I cannot imagine the emotions that would well up walking along the paths and streets that are forever written in history. And this is just silly, but one day I would love to spend Christmas in New York and share in on the fun of white Christmas!

10. make the last question and answer to yourself: how would you describe your perfect saturday?

Sleeping in. Having breakfast at this cute little French cafe. Off to a day at the beach/snow (depending which season it is) and documenting the trip with the Diana. Returning home to make our traditional braai (bbq) with all of our close ones. And to top it off, share around the fire with cigar and whiskey (as the boys would do it) but my preference being Baileys. Ah the perfect Saturday!

and the 10 blogs i give the prize to:

but honestly//here comes the sun//polli//kelli murray//tornadoes and tigers//andrew & carissa//pugly pixel//eat drink chic//i art you//that unreliable girl

Loving Christmas time.

(Myan Print Shop)

Okay, so I've been terrible the last couple of months at consistently doing my Much Love Monday posts! But never fear because another one is here :) These last few weeks have been some of the busiest, but in saying that also some of the best!

Right now these are the things I love about Christmas:

CHRISTMAS. family (my brother is engaged and is getting married in fiji next year! YAY!). friends. beach trips. patting bellies with babies in them. baking christmas cookies. a very little christmas cd (free download). christmas movies. planning our getaway. working in our cute little store. seeing people with joy (why can't this be throughout the year too?). driving around looking at the houses with decorations. almost being married three years. candy canes. christmas carols. and did I mention family time?

Owl Calender.

When it comes to this time of the year, I suppose everyone starts looking out for some new calenders for the new year. And just in time I spotted this adorable owl calender byShop Gingiber. I want, I want! I would keep them and put the little illustrations in frames :)

Oh my!

Say how you really feel with this adorable brooches by Amy Blasco. I could think of plenty more phrases through would be appropriate (or maybe not so much?) to put on these, how cute. Such handy phrases to use in so many different situations, such as:

"Woah! Looking forward to this weekend!"
"Oh my! You mean I get to wear all this jewellery?"
"Goodness, baking Christmas gingerbread men is going to be exciting!"

See? Handy! And all of these statements being so true! Will be off, off and away this weekend to my brother's engagement party tomorrow night then off to Cathedral Cove for my dear friendie poo's birthday (psssst Emma's birthday is Saturday, say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!).

Happy weekend x

Holli Illustrations

Aren't these illustrations by Holli just absolutely gorgeous? I adore the soft strokes and pastel colours she uses to create a dreamy and imaginative world. This is exactly the kind of prints and colours I would use in my baby's room one day instead of the bold and bright colours. Not that it's happening anytime soon, but still, good to start getting ideas :)

All that is true and beautiful.

As some of you would've seen on my most recent Flickr Faves Friday, I shared a photo by Parker Fitzgerald. However, the last few days I have been enjoying his work so much, I thought I need to dedicate a post to share more of his inspiring photography and quotes. His photography combined with such thoughtful quotes are truelly inspiring, and he is just one of those websites I need to check daily for any new updates!

Also, I just had to share my love for this song at the moment and see if there are any other people that appreciate this song as much as I do? It just made me really happy today, so here you go, be happy with me! :)

Handmade Joy.

Oh it's always such a joy to come across sweet little handmade items like Pilli Pilli handmade. Her Christmas embroidery hoops are just absolutely gorgeous. Just makes me all the more excited about Christmas (and I say that whilst listening to Mariah Carey's Christmas album!) and all the joy it brings :)

Freedom.

(Auroille)

Simple and short :)

Flickr Faves Friday

1. Doreen Kilfeather
2. Parker Fitzgerald
3. Lesley Kerr
4. Stacey Winters
5. Vanessa
6. Decorology

Another week gone! Days seem to be going by so quickly these days that I cannot believe it's Friday already! Well hey, that means it's Flickr Faves Friday again :) So lovely to be able to share my favourites from this week with you, hope that gives you some inspiration for the weekend. I will be sleeping in, catching up on design work, attend an engagement party and then Sunday...will be going to see Bon Jovi! Cannot wait! It's going to be legend...dary!! :)

Hope you all have an amazing weekend x

The Honey Press.

What gorgeous handmade pieces I found in this cute little store, The Honey Press. I don't know about you guys, but I always seem to buy socks, undies and handkerchiefs for all the boys and dads for Christmas, and I thought to myself, now THIS is a nice improvement to the typical hankies you seem to find in stores! Okay, so I've officially started getting ideas for presents, oh joy! :)

Hello December.

Oh hello there December, how lovely it is to see you again!

YAY! I feel I can finally share some Christmas goodies with you since it is officially Christmas time now! Wow, this year has gone by WAY TOO FAST, but I can atleast say that it has been a stunner of a year :) Okay, okay, I won't bore you with my excitement of Christmas time, but I do want to share these incredibly adorable doily decorations with you from I Wanna Be. How can you resist these? I adore the bunny and deer and would get them just to leave around my house and look pretty and cute.