Spoiled for Christmas!

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

I over-indulged in lots of delicious food, including fresh fruit, croissants and prawns for breakfast (prawns have become a Christmas morning tradition at our house), and Mum's roasted goodies for lunch, for which we were joined by my Nanna & Poppa.

Pictured below are just a few of the gorgeous gifts I was spoiled with! - A beautiful scarf and a cute button necklace, handmade by my Nanna, and the beautiful book Food Fashion Friends by designer Fleur Wood from my mum, which I have been hanging out for!

 

Boxing day we headed to Hindmarsh Island to see my Nanny & Pop for Christmas. Above are a couple photo's taken in the salt scrub. In the photo on the right, you can just see the back of the shack in the background.

Pretty Christmas Baubles

These are a sample of some of the pretty baubles I collected for this years Christmas, after deciding on a white, silver and cream colour scheme.

The wooden box, found at home, originally held bottles of wine, but has worked out perfectly for storing delicate decorations.

Tip: The more beautiful Christmas decorations tend to be sold as separates and can often get a little expensive, however, if you purchase your decorations just before, or just after Christmas, you may able be able to score your self some baubles on special. Currently Target has 40% off some Christmas decorations and Myer has 35% off all Christmas decorations. 

Gawler Community Gallery Shop

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Yesterday my Mum and I went into The Gawler Community Gallery to drop off some pieces of work for the Members Exhibition and the Christmas Shop opening on the 10th of November.

I brought my trusty camera along so I could take some photos of the gallery shop to share here with you all.

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you may have noticed I mention (shamelessly plug) The Gawler Community Gallery quite a lot in my posts. I love the gallery because it is a fantastic way to not only share local art with the community, but it also gives everyone a chance to exhibit their work (especially with the cheap room hire) - No matter the level of their artistic talent. My Nanna, Joanne Hughes, is one of the founding members of the gallery and it is run solely on volunteers (I've been a member since it was first opened and been volunteering for a couple years now). 

Their are 4 rooms in which to exhibit work (3 upstairs, 1 downstairs), but there is also a gallery shop, in which members (anyone can join) can display their work for sale.

Every year at Christmas, the shop is extended to the downstairs room, with a display of Christmas creations and gift ideas. This year I have made an effort to put in a few pieces.

So if you get the chance, please come and visit the gallery. Come and show your support for local artistic talent, and get back to the heart and spirit of Christmas with handmade gifts. If your creative yourself, why not become a member and have a go at selling some of your own creations.

1. The Gawler Community Gallery - Station Master's House, Gawler Railway Station, Twenty Third St, Gawler South - Opened 10am-4pm, Thursday through to Sunday. (The term 'Railway Station' is used rather loosely - It's more of a 'bus' station at the moment, as they're re-doing the tracks and there's not actually any trains running.)

2. Gorgeous hand painted Christmas cards by Ellen Steyn - Original art work, a bargain at $5.

3. Display case in the Gallery Shop. A range of jewellery, bags, paintings, textile hangings, even drums, by local artists.

4. Just an example of some the work, hanging in the entrance hall.

5. Large assortment of handmade gift cards for sale.

6. Gallery Shop paintings, jewellery, scarfes.

Handmade Christmas Cards

The above reindeer blank Christmas cards are designed and handmade by moi.

The reindeer was hand-carved into rubber then hand stamped with quality white letterpress ink onto each hand-cut piece of card stock. I then individually sewed a border onto each piece of card with white stitching.

The end result is a simple, yet effective and somewhat elegant Christmas card (I'm selling myself a bit here).

Each card is just that little bit different due to the printing and sewing process, making each one unique.

For the amount of time and effort that has been put into them, not to mention that it's a one of a kind design, these babies are a bargain at $3!

If you're interested, they will be sold at the Christmas shop at The Gawler Community Gallery held from the 10th of November until the 18th of December. Or you can contact me here.

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas

So it's that time of year again. The shops are filling with tinsel, the pageant is only around the corner - Christmas will be here before we know it.

Although I no longer have trouble sleeping Christmas Eve as I did a child, with excited anticipation at Santa's arrival, the magic of Christmas isn't completely lost on me.

I love that Christmas is just one giant excuse to decorate. It's the only time that it's considered completely acceptable, if not mandatory, that you adorn you entire house with over the top decorations - Including your front yard and roof.

Every year, I buy every single home decor magazine that has a Christmas special - I even have a Christmas folder especially for Christmas decoration ideas that I've kept.

Although I love Christmas decorations, I have an absolute hate of red, green and tinsel.

The traditional 'red & green' is a horrible match of colours, and tinsel is tacky and messy and every year I refuse to have any in the house, (although, I'm told it's not Christmas without tinsel, and mum always sneaks some on the tree when I'm not looking).

I'm always looking for new Christmas decorating ideas that involve anything but.

This year I have decided on the theme of simply white.

White is simple & pure. All the best things are white: Lace, pearls, the moon, stars, snow flakes, whipped cream, angel wings. All the prettiest and most beautiful smelling flowers are white: Roses, Gardenias, Jasmine, Cherry Blossom, Freesias, Hydranges, Ranunculas, Peonies, Anemones ...And I've only just realised how racists this post might be coming across... Trust me - There's nothing beautiful about Anemia. The darker my skin is, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, moving on - I've decided not only on a theme of white for our home decorations, but I've also decided that I'm going to try and do a 'White Christmas' styling shoot. So watch this space.

Top Left Photo: Each year the Gawler Community Gallery puts on a 'Christmas Shop'. This year I am putting in some of my creations: Lace gift-tags, and hand carved, hand stamped Christmas cards.

The shop will be held in the down stairs room of the gallery from the 10th of November.

Top Right Photo: Part of my 'white Christmas' theme, one of my new creations - a beautiful white wreath adorned in roses.

For years I have been searching for plain wreaths to work with and they for some reason have been near impossible to find (that weren't ridiculously expensive). This wreath, that I managed to find to decorate, was purchased at a beautiful store in Paddington, Brisbane called Blake & Taylor (Which both happen to be dream names for my possible future children).

Bottom Photo: Hehe, bottom... No, no 'bottoms' here, just a childish sense of humour and a cute little nook of our house - Wooden letters spelling out 'home', draped with gorgeous handmade, white flower fairy lights (I looooove fairy lights) which I purchased in Thailand some years back.