ONE/ Ombre Tights in Coal / BZR / $40
TWO/ Christmas Coal Soap / Prunella Soap / $6.50
THREE/ Diffusion - Black & White Photography / Ashes / $18
FOUR/ Charcoal Gray Canvas Lunch Bag / Overlap / $48
FIVE/ Geometric Statement Necklace / Julishland / $24
SIX/ Naughty Christmas Card / Branch & Olive Paper / $4.75
Now, I’ve never been super great at decorative icing on cakes. Hell, I only just mastered getting an even, smooth icing! But I found this adorable little fondant Christmas tree at my local supermarket and I couldn’t resist putting together a little scene. The teeny tiny deer is made of glass. I picked him up from some Christmas markets when I was in Paris a couple of years ago. That trip was the closest I’ve ever come to having a white Christmas. It was the beginning of December, so everywhere was in full festive mode in preparation for Christmas. It only snowed briefly but as it is the one and only time I have ever even seen snow, it is a time I will never forget!
For my first attempt at a Christmas Themed cake, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. The cake itself is a delicious vanilla cake, but the butter cream icing makes it that little bit decadent. It certainly didn’t last long in my house (admittedly, I think I ate the most of it though!) My favourite thing about it is that it made me feel like I have a little piece of white Christmas in my house, even if it is 30 degrees outside.
For the Icing -
1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons of softened butter
3½ cups of sifted icing sugar
3 tablespoons of milk
1½ teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Extra icing sugar for decoration
Hey you guys, it’s almost Christmas! My December of Christmas adventures hasn’t really gone according to plan. As always seems to be the way when I’m feeling extra inspired, I have been crazy busy with work over the last week or so. After Blogshop last weekend I have been so extra pumped to work on my posts and layout. Not having time has been so frustrating!
Never mind, this week is my last week at work while we shut down for a couple of weeks over Christmas. I’m finally getting back into the Christmas Spirit. I’m the biggest fan of Christmas so it feels good to be getting excited all over again. We put up our tree recently and decorated the living room. All of my decorations seem to have ended up in shades of white, silver and gold this year. Seems as though, even though there is no chance of snow here in Australia, I’m pining for a white Christmas.
Ever since I went to Japan, I’ve been obsessing over fabric wraps, in particular, for gift wrapping. There are so many different ways to gift wrap presents, but fabric wraps still seems to be one style that doesn’t get used anywhere near as much, which is a shame considering what an art form it can be! Using fabric to wrap your gifts is also a little friendlier for the environment, as they can be used again and again, or even kept to be used as scarfs or linen.
Painting tools – sponges, stamps, brushes etc
What You Do:
You can now wrap your gifts using your super awesome new fabric wrap! There are many great sites out there that can show you how to wrap gifts using material (check out Chewing the Cud) I used a pretty basic method of wrapping a simple box.
What do you think? Will you give gift wraps a try this festive season?
Today is your last chance to sign up for the Christmas Gift Swap! If you would like to take part, drop me an email me ([email protected]) with your Full Name, Postal Address, Email address and if you have a preference for a local or international swap. As a lot of you guys are international, we’re going to keep it small – we are exchanging a Christmas Card and a gift should be small enough to fit in a small to medium sized envelope (for example; a small piece of art/drawing, stickers, small necklace etc)
1. LISTEN
So, this sounds pretty basic, but I know so many people who don’t do this. Listen to the people you care about; what do they like? What are their interests? And I don’t mean just around Christmas or birthdays, I mean all year round. If a loved one mentions that book they’ve been wanting to read or that hobby they’ve been wanting to get into, I open up the notebook app (or even a draft message) make a quick note in my phone. Something like “Tom - Carl Sagan book” and save it for later. The best thing about doing this is that it just looks like you are sending a text message so your target is none the wiser and you have a handy reminder for later.
Speaking of which…
2. Set Up Reminders
In your phone, on your computer, in your calendar. Put a reminder in for the most important people’s birthdays. Not just for the day itself, but a few weeks in advance. This way you will know that birthday is coming up and have ample time to plan what you want to buy for that special someone. Especially if you are like me and you do a lot of your shopping online, you will appreciate the extra time when there is a 2 week wait on shipping!
3. Use Online Searches
And I don’t mean Google; sites like Ebay and Amazon are a veritable treasure chest of items you’ve never even thought of! Whenever I am stuck for gift ideas I head over to Ebay and start searching topics that my recipient might enjoy. Try names of television programs, hobbies, favourite actors or even general items like ‘leather bag’ and see what comes up! I can’t count how many times this has saved me when I was out of inspiration!
No, you wont. You’ll forget and then when it comes time to buy her a gift you’ll be sitting there thinking ‘now what was that thing I saw back in June…?’ Bookmark that shit! And don’t let your bookmarks get lost in between links to funny pictures of cats… I have a ‘Buy’ Folder set up, with sub-folders for each of my family members/housemates/close friends. I save anything cool I see in these folders over the year, so when it approaches Christmas or Birthdays I can just open up the relevant folder and browse a ready made list of gift ideas. Just remember to name your bookmarks as what they actually are, (ie: ‘Owl Measuring cups from Anthropology’) instead of the default name so that if you come across a broken link when you come back, you can Google the item and try to find it elsewhere.
So there you have it. Nothing ground breaking or crazy, just some simple ideas that will hopefully help you get through this festive season.
Guidelines:
To sign up, email me ([email protected]) with your Full Name, Postal Address, Email address and if you have a preference for a local or international swap. I will do my best to match you up accordingly.