Here come the clowns... Part Two

Ari  'the sad little clown'

The school concert was really wonderful! Everyone did a great job.

Ari was practising his sad clown face and routine for weeks! 

I made ruffles, bow-ties and hats for the boys. They looked super cute 

but it was so very hot that night, that we had a hard time keeping them on. Ari, however, was so pleased with his costume and face-paint that I had a hard time getting them off and he ended up sleeping with the paint still on.

I think we may be looking into theatre classes in the New Year :)

MORE wonderful images from Messy Fish Dot Com
...this time fabulous card collections.

Love this shop.

The Silly Season

Phew! Another Christmas over... time to relax.

I hope everyone enjoyed the festive weekend. 

HAPPY HOLIDAZE

xoxox

The Online Market

I did a lot of Christmas shopping online this year... mostly at
Etsy (for handmade and vintage) and Amazon (for books)↓

If you still need to find a few gifts, Amazon offers super-fast shipping 

(you can still make it!) and you won't have to combat the crowds.

It seems that Santa is going shopping there too this year.  I believe 

that he may be bringing Ari one of these wonderful pop-up books...

(click on images to view details)

We love, love, love the ones we already have.

And they are so brilliantly constructed
...sure to become Modern Classics.

Last year, I was often in and out of this little shop, so most
of the presents I gifted were local, sustainable and handmade.

And the previous year I handmade almost every gift I gave. 

So in keeping with tradition, this year I'm also giving homemade 

jams, chutneys, pickles, sauces, fruit pastes and biscuits.

We've had an abundance of fruit in the garden, so the pantry is a well 

stocked little store at the moment. And I love making festive baked goods. 

If you fancy making some home baked goodies yourself, 

this gingerbread recipe NEVER FAILS to delight the taste buds.

And here's a wonderfully easy recipe for Apple and Pear Jam. Enjoy xo

The Littlest Elf

I put this cute little treasury together last week, 

just click on the images to go through to the shops.

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

The Little Elf

Ari outgrew his little elf suit sometime ago, but he managed 

to squeeze into it for a trip to the local plaza the other day. 

This weekend past, as well as the market, we made a trip to the

North Pole to buy a Christmas tree and baked some gingerbread.

I haven't got out the decorations yet... we are hoping Grandad 

might take some time out from his busy work schedule to help 

us trim the tree.  Ari's Nanna's staying up here at the moment. 

Mum kindly offered her assistance for the mammoth sewing 

task that I have at hand... making costumes for the end of year 

school play. I volunteered to stitch up ruffs and make hats for 

25 little 6 year old clowns. Plus costumes for a queen and two 

little princess dresses, and a bevy of crowns and tiaras. Yikes!

And just as I got started, my overlocker threw a tantrum and

had to be sent to our local sewing machine centre to be fixed.

This is turning out to be an equally fun and stress-filled week.

We're hoping to fit in a visit to town to see Santa Claus though. 

And that ought to bring more fun-filled adventure our way! 

On another note...

 The end of year has been so hectic with work, school and home

that I've decided to delay the shop opening for the time being. 

I've been planning my online shop for such a long time now, 

that I don't want to rush it, before I'm ready to operate it.

SO, stay tuned...   Grand Shop Opening in 2012. Hopefully!

    xox

the stuffings

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

some cute stuffing ideas from my favourites list. Take a peek.

Project 2# the stockings

Aren't these delightful?

wonderful free downloadable tutorial here

Warm December

click on the pictures to view items on Etsy

Summer is just about here and it's a balmy 28℃ today.

How do you fancy the idea of Christmas at the beach?

Treasury by Welcome to the Dollhaus

                  (my other shop and blog)

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.