i HEART decorating the Christmas tree

Decorating the tree HANDMADE style.

We have had a little set back or two today while decorating the tree! You know how you get an idea and you just can't get what you need locally to get the job done? Well I really wanted just red lights on the tree this year and do you think I could find them anywhere! They are now on there way from Sydney thanks to Mr. EBay. 

You've already had a little peek at the felt doves we had been making and with 6 now done and one more to finish off that's one job nearly out of the way. Miss Emily and I spent some of the morning cutting out snowflakes from the pages of an old vintage book we found a the local secondhand store. Emily had said her favourite bit was unfolding the snowflake because it was exciting- like unwrapping a present, just don't know what you are going to get! Bless her little cotton socks. 

Decoration number three was even easier again. Using the same book we ran the pages through the printer with words and phrases such as "Merry Christmas", "Jingle Bells" "JOY" and images like our love heart onto them and simply tied them onto the tree with red ribbon. I love the effect. But as we were busy finishing off the paper side of the decorations minor disaster struck. Our Feed bin filled with tree, gravel and A LOT of water, sprung a leak!  There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza! There is not much I can do at the moment except keep on mopping up water until it has drained out enough for me to be able to budge it. I can barely lift the tree on it's own as it is. Let alone with 3 buckets of gravel and 20 litres of water too. So here are the pictures of what we have done so far...

Home printed vintage messages in "Stencil" and "Claudia Jean" Font

In this picture hand cut snow flake vintage messages prints no. 15 advent rusty bucket, felt dove

"No. 15" advent calendar rusty bucket from The Upholstery Gallery- Ballarat

Hand cut snowflake from vintage book. Little Felt Bird hand stitched in the background.

Home printed message on vintage book page. "Heart"

Hand cut snowflake again.

This is as far as we got before the leak won!

Shout Out Time for...

My Favourite Little Coffee Shop.

When I'm stranded in town in between appointments I can often be found working away in my fave little coffee shop in Ballarat "The Upholstery Gallery" 528 Mair Street, Ballarat. I love it in here!
So eclectic, colourful and friendly. Owner, the lovely Liz Green has put the store though it's paces again and undergone just one more renovation expanding the shop by another third! Making so much more room for coffee tables and scrumptious decorative, textural delights. I just adore that the floor boards are all original sloped and  that there are hidden details around every corner like the original window that was uncovered during renovations and had been walled in for about 40 years and is now an included feature in the new renovation. There are so many great stories the girls could tell you about some of the fixtures here too. Liz's interior decorator eye for detail is just right for my taste, stocking brands such as Jasper Organic Coffee, T2, Mesop, Body, Designed in Brunswick, Cloth. Now if ONLY I could just pick up the whole store and plonk it in my home.  Here are some photo's to tempt and tease you. Open Tuesday to Friday 10am-5 pm and Saturdays 10am- 4pm. Ph: 03 53314192

Ta Daa! The new renovation is open...

 Love the boxes on the wall...

Some of the great looking designed in Brunswick products...

and the rest of the store...

just gorgeous....

A Party Peek In

Just A Little Sneeky Peek !

Though I'd let you have a look at a quick snap shot of the party almost set up. It just had all the consumables to finish setting up. Sorry about the quality of the picture as it was snapped on the iphone in a hurry. I am so looking forward to viewing the edited snaps that Celeste Vermeend (from www.ourgirlyworld.blogspot.com ) took for me then I'm sure you will really have something to drool over! The start to the day while setting up was extremely windy and blustery and chilly but, all in all the afternoon could not have been more perfect weather wise with sunny 18 deg celsius. I know the girls little and grown up had a ball!

A Sneek Peek @ Party Preparations

One Week To Go!
We have been VERY busy here with new spring/ summer dress style on their way and party preparations in full swing! Here is a little bit of a sneek peek at some of the labels we have been making here at Myrtle & Grace H.Q (aka the kitchen table) The Gorgeous sabby, vintage themed graphics were sourced from http://www.shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com/   and are just perfect for our Spring Garden, Vintage, Shabby Themed Party. Shabbyblogspot have a tuck load of free images to download, your imagination is your only limit with what you can do with them!I've also added some of my scrapbook stash into the mix. The papers I have used are Emma's Fabric Shoppe from Crete Paper.

 Looking good so far...

 Name place cards for the table

 Little nectar bottles reused with new labels. Old fashioned Vintage Paper straws have been sourced from Cake Bake Shoppe, 30 Main Road Ballarat and from Twiggi- www.twiggi.com.au

 Some little labels for the cakes and biscuits.

The full little nectar bottles re labelled to co ordinate with our theme. I can't beleive there is only a week before the party! This week will be very very busy finishing the vintage fabric swags, buying food, and finishing the birthday cake.

Super Easy Christmas or Party Bunting

SUPER EASY CRAFT!

Ok this bunting is so very super quick and easy. You can used ANY Chritsmas gift wrap or as I've done these paper doilies. If using gift wrap just cut isosolies triangles to the size you require. I like them to be about 20cm long, to get it done even quicker layer the paper to cut multiples out at once. For the doilies cut the top few inches off to create a straight edge. I have used 2 different sized ones and alternated them along the ribbon. Any ribbon can be used and even the metallic curling ribbon runs through the machine fine. Leave yourself a tail of about 30 to 40cm for tying off. layer your doilies or paper under the edge of the ribbon as in the first picture and just straight stitch keeping the ribbon lined up with the edge of the paper. As i'd mentioned I've alternated different size doilies along the way leaving a gap of about 4 cm between each doilie. You don't even need to cut the thread just stitch along the ribbon for an extra 4cm then carefully feed the next doilie or bunting under the ribbon an keep going until you run out. Don't forget to leave a tail at the other end to tie up. It's really cheap to make and super easy to make.You can make this as long or as short as you like and can also be done in birthday wrapping paper or scrapbooking paper. Time this one took me 20 mins and cost-  ribbon $2.50, Doilies 2 packets $4.00 total $6.50 for a super effective decoration.
The last photo is my next little project. I've made heaps before and though for Christmas I 'd make a long string of small tissue paper pompon flowers. This is just the start so I'll pop on another picture once finished. Just as cost effective but a little more time consuming.