Butterfly art

Yesterday I went to Myer in search of a box frame for my Paper Tree Design butterfly art work kit. It was just my luck that they had 40 per cent off frames! I found a lovely white one, but before heading to the register found a range made in Australia from Australian materials for the same price. They didn't have white in the size I wanted, so I bought the red instead!

I got to work late afternoon, cutting my card to size and arranging the silhouettes. (I also pedantically drew a grid to ensure they were evenly spaced). Once they were glued down, I just had to wait a little while for them to dry before popping the wings out.

I found the perfect little wall for the frame, right between the office and bathroom.

Christmas presents!

Christmas this year was spent with John's family in Toowoomba, and unfortunately I spent Christmas eve with a stomach bug (which also meant I didn't really feel like indulging much on Christmas day). Nevertheless, we had a lovely time, despite the incessant rain.

After Christmas we made it to Coffs Harbour to visit my grandparents before many of the roads were cut (it's lucky we weren't going to visit my parents and sister in Bundaberg, as we wouldn't have made it!). In Coffs Harbour we had one full day of rain, and two full days of sun! We spent our time reading, walking on the beach, swimming (and getting a little sunburnt - oops) and visiting the Big Banana in order to eat frozen chocolate-and-nut-covered bananas.

Of course, with Christmas time also came present time! My family and friends sent some lovely and very thoughtful gifts my way, including a whole heap of books! Yay for Frankie Spaces!

In addition to the above, I also got Anh Do's The Happiest Refugee, which I read during the rainy periods in Coffs. I also got this super stylish Joseph Joseph colander, which will no doubt be used in conjunction with the recipe books. It hooks onto the side of the sink!

I also got myself some nice new jewellery items from Baba Ganoush, Limedrop and Polli.

These lovely trinkets were courtesy of some good friends - a plaster tree decoration cast from a seed pod from Kuber, an adorable jar of gift cards featuring deer and squirrels from O-Check, and a DIY butterfly art work kit from Paper Tree Design.

And, finally, I got this lovely watering can planter, which I'm going to put some tasty herbs in. There were a couple of World Vision Smiles charity cards inside the planter as well, which I was most grateful for.

So that's Christmas over! Over the coming days I'll be posting my 2011 goals, of which there are quite a few.

I hope that all of my Flying Ducks readers had a happy and safe Christmas and new year!

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!

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!

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.

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...

Christmas decorations ahoy!

I currently have these gorgeous decorations on their way from one of my favourite stores, Polli. They are printed on 100% recycled card, which means no guilt for me!

Image: Polli

I'll be using them to decorate the home-made Christmas tree that John and I fashioned from bits and pieces recycled from Reverse Garbage last year.

I'll be doing little brown paper packages again this year, but instead of the brown twine I'll be using this candycane-inspired twine that was in my awesome package of red things from Cerebral Excrement earlier in the year.

What are you doing to prepare for the festivities in your home?

Screenprinting workshop with Thea & Sami

This Saturday, I am privileged enough to be attending one of the extremely popular screenprinting classes of Thea & Sami! Thea is going to teach me and the four other participants how to print up our own basic designs on natural fabrics, and I’m very excited to have a go!


Over the last few weeks I’ve been browsing some royalty-free stock image website for inspiration, and I’m leaning towards a design in the vein of these vectors of apples and pears. My idea is to have an image of a whole apple with a cross-section sitting next to it, and the same for the pear design. I’ve coerced my lovely husband into drawing up my designs in the size I want so I can take them along with me on Saturday.

Images: Shutterstock

There have been some really great designs produced at previous workshops, and I'm hoping that mine turn out just as good!

In addition to printing on the supplied fabric (and perhaps even a tea towel or two!) in the class, I’m going to take along a whole heap of spare calico tote bags that I have laying around from when I started my hugely successful (sarcasm) Etsy store. Christmas presents ahoy! Perhaps if they turn out ok I’ll even think about having a little giveaway to celebrate…

New on the blogroll - Heart of Light

Thanks to my lovely colleague Megan at the National Gallery of Victoria, I am now familiar with the amazing Heart of Light blog by Rachel of Los Angeles. Rachel's blog entails a combination of food (oh my God, the food is AMAZING!) and inspirational DIY projects. Oh, and the photography is simply STUNNING - it makes me think that I should really consider investing in a digital SLR for my own blogging activities, as it would sure make it look a whole lot better.

How ridiculously delicious does this gingerbread snacking cake look (not to mention the pretty accessories accompanying the baked goods)?!

Images: Heart of Light

This has also inspired me to pursue some baking myself in the not-too-distant future. After all, I was the lucky recipient of a Frankie Afternoon Tea book for Christmas (thanks Rebecca!), not to mention the previously blogged matryoshka measuring cups. Would anyone care to join me for a baking (and eating) session one weekend?

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!

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!