Farewell 2009, bring on 2010!

Well, it's been an interesting year. I started this blog only six months ago, and a lot has happened in that time (most notably, the Brisbane city guide I had the pleasure of writing for Design*Sponge).

Thanks to everyone who has followed me thus far, and a special thanks to those lovely people I've come to know via internet land (including some in person - you know who you are). 2010 will bring many exciting things - a wedding, two months off work, and learning fabulous new skills like sewing and driving. And, of course, more blog-o-rama!

Until next year...

And even more cute Christmas presents!

One of the items on my Christmas wishlist for 2009 was this set of Russian matryoshka measuring cups by Fred. My parents delivered, and I got my wish!Now I just need to go home and do some baking! Anyone want to come and help me make a cake this week?

More awesome Christmas presents

This one comes courtesy of a lovely work colleague - thanks JB!

He's a black QUALY nest sparrow, and his nest is made out of paperclips. The super strong magnets on the base of his nest hold the clips in place.He also came packaged in this adorable little recycled bird house! The sparrow and his nest are also made from completely recyclable materials.

The first of the awesome Christmas presents

We went to Toowoomba over the weekend for a pre-Christmas visit to John's parents. In addition to finding a few excellent pieces whilst scouring the thrift stores (details to come in a later post), we also exchanged Christmas gifts a week early.

John and his parents bought me this set of Luyesa Design hand bookends. We've been trying to find some great bookends for a while, and John found this set at Mod Cons, one of my favourite Brisbane stores.

The 'hands' are now propping up part of my record collection, with the Camille Rose Garcia-designed cover of a Sympathy Records all-girl compilation sitting at the front.

More Christmas presents to come!

Salt and pepper shakers

Recently my lovely friend Jeni returned from her trip to Paris with these red and white salt and pepper shakers - perfect for my decor! I've done a bit of online research, and the design appears to be inspired by the 'Hug' salt and pepper shakers designed by Alberto Mantilla (from the design collective MINT Inc.).

I'm still in the process of working out where these little guys will live (somewhere in the kitchen, of course), but I'll take another photo when they find their permanent home!

...and some Christmas gifts for myself!

I visited Biome in the city today to buy some final Christmas gifts, and I couldn't help but buy one for myself as well!

I got this gorgeous parkland ivory bowling bag from eco-friendly Australian company Apple & Bee. I also got a little Apple & Bee gift for someone else, but it's already wrapped in brown paper and string so no pictures of that one!

Brown paper packages...

...tied up with string (and a little sticky tape!). Christmas shopping (at least for me!) is now complete! I know John still has a little more to do tomorrow, though.

This year I wanted to go for the minimalist look of brown paper and twine, which I think looks great. As you can see, my silver star on the tree has also changed yet again (since John decided to steal the other one for his work tree - but I think this one looks better anyway!).

I can't wait to play Santa and give everyone their little treats!

Christmas tree update

I just changed the star. Even though it's not perfect, I think this one looks slightly (ok, a lot!) less amateurish!

Our Christmas tree

After many discussions, we decided that John would make our Christmas tree out of some wood from Reverse Garbage. Last Saturday he got to work drilling bits and pieces, and then I followed up with some white and red paint left over from other things we've done.

We've re-used some old decorations that were in the cupboard from last year, so our new 'tree' only cost us a couple of dollars.