Merry (early) Christmas!

Tomorrow morning we're off to Toowoomba for Christmas with John's family, followed by Coffs Harbour next week with my grandparents. I doubt there will be much blogging taking place during that time, and I'm certainly not organised enough to have scheduled posts in advance.

So, instead of my posts, how about reading some of these Christmassy blogs instead?!

Tracey at Quiet Paws has been posting a few Christmas-related treats this week (including an adorable washi tape bow tutorial and pictures of her handmade cards).

Images: Quiet Paws

Charlotte over at Lottie Loves has been profiling very pretty gift wrap and cards as well as other Christmas goodies.

Image: Country Living via Lottie Loves

Image: Nice Package Gift Tags via Lottie Loves

And, finally, Julie from Olive & Joy has just launched her online pop-up store in preparation for the 'real' thing coming soon! It might be a little late to buy something in time for Christmas, but there are some fabulous gift ideas nevertheless. I am hiding my credit card from myself... now.

Image: Olive & Joy

Happy Christmas to all my lovely Flying Ducks readers!

How I went with my 2010 goals

Some of you may remember that at the beginning of 2010 I wrote a list of six goals for the year. I thought I should revisit and see how I went with them.

Goal number 1: Learn how to sew
Success! This is the goal that I most wanted to conquer. I started off with a short course at a local school, as well as some help from my friend Shilo. I haven't yet tackled the cushions I want to make with my Florence Broadhurst fabric, but that's because I want to tackle more difficult things like clothes first. Then the cushions will seem super easy! Here are a couple of my creations from throughout the year.

Goal number 2: Get plantation shutters installed

Thanks to a very generous wedding gift from my parents, we got our plantation shutters in March. There were some slight problems with them (the mechanism on the living room ones was a little loose, and there was a large scratch on the bedroom ones). But, Cosmopolitan Shutters were kind enough to replace the whole lot for us, so now they're perfect!

Goal number three: Have some art works framed

Although this goal hasn't quite been completed, I took some steps towards achieving it! At work they were auctioning off some high-quality frames used for art works, so I picked up a couple of big ones for some of our prints. I'll just need to take them to the framer for correct mounting sometime in the new year.

Goal number four: Finish the bathroom

Again, this has been partially done. We repainted the week after our wedding, but haven't quite finished off the second coat of the edges. We didn't install towel rails, but instead got a much more aesthetically pleasing stand-alone rack. We've decided to have a bit more work done on the bathroom, such as replacing the vanity and shower curtain rail, and installing the shower head and tiles a bit higher (as with the height of the new bath the shower head is far too low for John!). Here's what we've done so far.

Goal number five: Paint the cupboard doors

Ok, we didn't do this one. Maybe next year.

Goal number six: Learn to take better photos

I think I did ok with this one. I didn't get myself a better camera, but just practised a lot more. I think my main success was photographing food, but I think I also did ok with photographing our home as well. How do you think I went?

I also achieved success with a couple of other goals that weren't listed in my original list. I got married, but I also learnt to drive, and in a manual car! I started taking lessons at the beginning of my long-service leave, and finally got my licence in early October. Now all I need to do is build up the confidence to drive alone!

I already have a pretty big list of goals for 2011, so I'll do a post about those in the coming weeks.

Winner of the final Christmas giveaway!

Thanks to everyone who left comments for my three Christmas giveaways! The winner of the gorgeous rubber duck is... Tracey!

Tracey will get her prize when we meet for pre-Christmas lunch next week!

Relocated damask lamp

Last weekend I moved our damask lamp into the bedroom (a housewarming gift from a few years ago from my best friend Rebecca). It used to sit in the living room where our new Kartell lamp now resides.

Here it is in its new home, in the reading area of the bedroom.

With the largely black and white theme we have going in this room, I think it works rather well here. What do you think?

Final Christmas giveaway!

I’m a little bit slack today, aren’t I?!

Ok, it’s time for the final Christmas giveaway from Flying Ducks — and what better to celebrate this occasion with than a duck?! I have this very regal rubber duck from Bud. He comes packaged in a very fancy-looking box. He’s black and white, so should suit any décor. I like him so much that I have one of my own sitting on the bathroom windowsill!

Image: Bud by designroom

This giveaway is open to everyone — just leave a comment here before next midday Thursday (Brisbane time), and I’ll get him in the post to the lucky winner before Christmas.

Good luck!

Please note: This is not a sponsored post, and I have received no payment or goods for running this giveaway. All items have been purchased independently by me.

And the winners are...

The winners of Christmas giveaway #2 are:

Lantern Studios tub
Jess

Typo mini notebook and pen
Jane
Liesa

I’ll email you all to arrange delivery of your little packages!

Stay tuned for the final giveaway starting tomorrow!

Kartell 'Cindy' table lamp

Yesterday, armed with the gift voucher we received from Irene for our wedding present, as well as the money we were given by our friend Jeni (who'd instructed us to buy something nice for our home), we finally made our way to Space Furniture. Of course, we could only actually afford a very small percentage of what is in the store , but we managed to narrow our few options down to a couple of Kartell lamps.

We could afford to buy two 'Take' lamps, designed by Ferruccio Laviani (we liked it in black, and thought they'd make nice bedside lamps). I think this particular lamp is the cheapest item in the Kartell range.

Image: Kartell

The other option was to buy a platinum-coloured 'Cindy' lamp by the same designer. This particular lamp was $60 cheaper than its usual retail price.

Image: Kartell

After much deliberation, we decided on the 'Cindy' lamp. The lamp now takes pride of place in the living room, and I must say it looks very classy. Apologies for the grainy photographs - they were the best I could do in this miserable weather!

The damask lamp that was previously here now sits in next to the Barcelona chair in the bedroom. I'll add photos of its new location on a sunnier day!

Christmas giveaway #2

Welcome to my second week of Christmas giveaways!

This week I have two more tiny A7 buffalo leather notebooks and pens from Typo.

As well as this tub of white paperclips and bulldog clips from Lantern Studios.

Anyone worldwide can enter to win the notebooks, but the tub will need to go to an Australian resident for postage reasons. Just leave a comment to be in the running! A winner will be drawn next Thursday at midday Brisbane time.

Please note: This is not a sponsored post, and I have received no payment or goods for running this giveaway. All items have been purchased independently by me.

And the winners are...

The winners of Christmas giveaway #1 are:

Lantern Studios clips
designed to a T (Terese)
Fizzle Out (Jasmine)

Typo mini notebook and pen
Raine and Sage (Sonia)
Riini (Irene)

I’ll email you all to arrange delivery of your little packages!

Stay tuned for giveaway #2 starting tomorrow!

The Christmas decorations are up!

I spent last night carefully punching out my recycled paper Polli decorations and tying them to our recycled timber Christmas tree. I had so many left over that I also strung them up above the shutters (and I STILL have about six left!).

Aren't they pretty?! For those who missed my posts last year, John and our tree from scrap timber we found at Reverse Garbage, and then I decorated it with leftover paint in the garage. With our added eco decorations from Polli, we now have an environmentally friendly decorated home for Christmas!

There's less than a day left in my Christmas giveaway for this week, but there will be another one up on Friday!

Caribou footwear?

I decided that the white concrete frame in the living room was well overdue for an image change, so I trawled through my records for something suitable. I found this inside the Rolling Stones' Tattoo You album as an insert.

It appears to be the leg of some sort of deer or caribou, with the hoof replaced with a lovely patent high-heeled shoe. Isn't it lovely?

A reminder to enter the first of my Christmas giveaways if you haven't already. This one is open to everyone worldwide, and all you have to do is leave a comment over here. 

Christmas giveaway #1

Welcome to week one of the Flying Ducks Christmas giveaway!

This week, we have four prizes. First up, there's two packets of cute red and white bulldog clips from Lantern Studios.

I also have two teeny-tiny A7 buffalo leather notebooks from Typo, including some equally tiny pens to go with them.

To enter, just leave a comment and an email address (if you don't have a blog where I can reach you) on this post before midday next Thursday 2 December (Brisbane time). This giveaway is open to everyone, including those overseas. Good luck!

Please note: This is not a sponsored post, and I have received no payment or goods for running this giveaway. All items have been purchased independently by me.

Project 18 Christmas party

If you’re in the Brisbane/Sunshine Coast area and looking for something to do next weekend, think about supporting the Project 18 Christmas party and raising money for this wonderful organisation.

Run by the lovely Cate Bolt, ‘Project 18 prides itself in the fact that we aren't here to offer band-aid solutions to broken lives. Our mission is to increase the quality of life for underprivileged and orphaned children but we go further than just providing shelter, food and the basics in life.’

The Christmas party will be happening on Steve Irwin’s Whale One, and includes a three-hour cruise and delicious banquet lunch. A full bar will also be operational.

Please visit the Project 18 website for more info or to buy tickets. Or, if you can’t make it, check out the other items in the Project 18 shop (including Cocolo fair trade chocolate, which contributes ‘bricks’ to building a classroom in Indonesia).

It’s almost Christmas giveaway time!

This year I’ve decided to be super festive and hold a Christmas giveaway. For the next three Fridays, I’ll launch a little competition with some cute little goodies on offer.

There will be some pretty little stationery items from Lantern Studios…

Images: Lantern Studios

…as well as this very regal-looking Décor Luxury Duck from Bud (you may have spotted his twin brother in our bathroom already).

Image: Bud by designroom

I may add a few other goodies into the mix as well.

To enter, all you’ll need to do is leave a comment with your details on each of the giveaway posts. Each winner will be drawn on the following Thursday before the new giveaway starts the next day, and I’ll do my absolute best to get all the prizes in the post before Christmas!

Please note: This is not a sponsored post, and I have received no payment or goods for running this giveaway. All items have been purchased independently by me.

Shopping up a storm

One rainy day last week I made a lunchtime trek into the city with the intention on buying one or two extra Christmas presents for John from Typo. My mission was a success! But, I also successfully spent a whole heap more money on stuff for myself. Some of it was stuff that I 'needed', like this stainless steel water bottle.

 

And then there was the stuff I'd intended to buy for myself at some stage anyway, like the matching measuring spoons to accompany my matryoshka measuring cups.

And then there was super-expensive washi tape, which is 'essential' for the wrapping of Christmas presents. As you can see, I've already commenced this process. Mr bunny is looking on in horror.

I also found these cute little Scrabble tile canvases and couldn't resist. John doesn't know about these yet. Surprise!

It's no wonder that Typo don't have an online store. Much like Ikea, they rely on suckers like me to walk in with the intention of buying one thing and walk out with half the store...

New impromptu top

This morning John went out on his bike for a few hours, so I decided to use my time constructively and finally sew the top I'd been meaning make for ages. The pieces have been all nicely cut out for more than a month, but I haven't found the time (or patience) to tackle it.

I used the same pattern that I did for my last top. At the last minute, I decided to do away with the plain black sleeves and instead use some vintage checked fabric that I picked up from Lifeline in Toowoomba recently for 30 cents (yes, 30 cents - and I only used about a quarter of it). Everything went quite smoothly today, and I only needed to unpick a couple of times.

And look! I even took some close-up shots without having to be asked by my readers! The brooch is from That Vintage, and was a treasured birthday present from Shilo earlier this year.