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!