Christmas Swap - What I Sent.

 I was lucky enough to participate in the Natural Suburbia Handmade Christmas Swap.  Since I think the 'surprise' aspect of it will be well and truly over, (in case my recipient came across my blog at the time) I'm sharing what I made.

Very very simple (but not too simple I hope, for my recipient who is a big-time crafter) and hopefully went with whatever other Christmas things the recipient has at their house.  I made 12, for the 'Twelve Days of Christmas'.

Fruit Christmas Trees to Eat

Following on from the All-Fruit Birthday cake #1, #2 and #3 and the Festive Fruit Stacks, comes the Fruit Christmas trees.  Just requires a couple of star shape cutters and a round and you're off.  Cut, toothpick and place on tray.  Cover with tea towel and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Something the kids can really get involved with as well, if you wanted to.  If you have no stars for the top, you can use cherries, or grapes or whatever you like.

This From A Class One Child...

I know I'm his Mum but I think this is pretty special art work by my Class 1 son, Zeke ...I am so pleased the children have the opportunity to draw and write like this.  I would like the Aussie version of the Christmas Carol lol but it doesn't change how chuffed I am for Zeke that he can create like this... and that it's how they create and learn at his school...

girl dove at the bottom, boy dove at the top

Gingerbread Stars, Dudes and Stained Glass

Stars, Stained-Glass biscuits and Buttons Buttons Buttons!
These are a basic gingerbread recipe, rolled out and then variations

Swap Surprises...

I participated in the swap over at Natural Suburbia, thankyou Linda! I am thinking that even with overseas post, the parcel to the person I am swapping with, should arrive soon to them.  I am a bit nervous - will the swapper like what I made for them..? will it arrive before Christmas, will it even arrive!?  I wanted to add an 'Aussie' touch to it but I didn't know what wouldn't make it through customs so I didn't.

Anyway, clearly I can't post pics of the finished item because then the swapper, if she clicks over here, will know.  So this is just a hint.  Once I know the parcel has arrived safe and sound, then I'll post some pics proper. 

It's also the first Christmas ornament swap I've done and the person I am swapping with is a very expert and skilled crafter so I don't know if my simple composition will be 'enough'... I hope so!  I chose a simple idea so I knew I could get it finished and that it would work, and be able to 'work' with whatever their household consisted of... so fingers crossed!

Simple Advent Calendar - yippee!

Finally. An advent idea I know I'll actually DO! This one, from 'Little Eco Footprints' blog is one we're going to do this Christmas. Better still we can make it together, collect up the leaves, string them up and the older kids can put the numbers on...

photo credit: Little Eco Footprints

simple. no 'consumer' outlay and no 'consumerism' focus. recyclable at the end. yet still catches the excitement of the countdown. brilliant!

now... the big question.

Christmas making ...Yes

I know it's September but we all know Christmas comes along faster every year and all our good intentions of a 'made' Christmas gets quished into small amounts of time or get watered down and end up not quite as we had wished.

I am liking the seed cards from Ash N Juls and I like the herb card from Biome. I've decided to do my own version of those for the teachers at school. I have a minimum of five cards to do and I want to make my own paper and disperse the seeds within it (from the bumper tomato crop we got this year!).

More free printables

I've been hunting round blog land for a few things here and there and came across quite a few more free printables, so thought I'd share.

'Day to Day' clothes tags (for organising the night/week before) by Living Locurto
Back to School, calendars, organisey things, holidays card etc
Back to School - labels, cake toppers, for the teacher etc (lots)
Teacher 'thankyou' tags (I'm so fortunate to have you as a teacher)
Mini cake bunting printable and tutorial
MASSIVE amount of free printables

Always up for a good free printable - thanks to those who create them and set them free!

Personalised note book for Jake

Christmas 2010 and one of the things I made was a notebook for Jake. Started out with some Footy scrapbooking paper I had bought ages ago (with the intention of making his Birthday party invitations), a recycled paper etc notebook and a few other bits and pieces.

Today's images

Usually the light in the kitchen through the skylight lights up Brenna's name across the top of the tall cabinets... even though at the moment the skylight is covered to keep the heat out, still this picture is the light shining on her name where it found a gap between the cover...




and this morning for breakfast... a silly idea, really, in hindsight because the children had their Christmas stockings of course in the morning so they were really NOT that hungry when I made breakfast... at least Father Christmas here puts some 'good' food (tiny multi pack cereals which they love) in their stocking *wink* so they get a reasonable start to the day on Christmas morning...


So I made pancakes with apple - I saw on a blog somewhere just the slices of apple, and then I followed my shaped fruit theme and did some apple stars, some banana circles etc you could do anything you like with them really... they do tend to want to try and stick a little more, the fruit down side so just keep an eye on them and the fine film of olive oil in the pan.



and 'OTT chocolate fudge brownies' - it's a microwaveable recipe from Tupperware (thanks A!) but I did mine in the oven and the second time round, with the oven slightly lower and taking them out earlier than the recipe suggested for oven, they worked quite well. Fresh cherries and cream. Treat. Also a substitute-cross since I intended to use our fresh chook eggs and make pavlova... but in the end this was a one-less-thing-to-make and a lot less eggs - because the pavlova uses the white I would have then made a quiche with the yolks so two things to bake and the pavlova was a 1.5hr cook time... maybe that can be dessert later in the week... don't have to have everything on the one day, right?

Best wishes for the year ahead, staying safe and making memories.

A little something...

for a good friend and her Family

The little biscotti we made today, the downloaded Christmas 'free printables' from here and some self seal cello bags and there you go.

Christmas biscuit baking - children decorating

Today we began the Christmas biscuits... the recipe is 'biscotti' recipe from a friend many years ago. It's a recipe that makes a lot (5 cups of plain flour for a start) which works in this house as we generally double or triple standard recipe batches... but it doesn't use a heap of butter... which works just as well because otherwise you can go through a lot with baking.

Simple-thinking purposeful Christmas table...

We have a little bit of a tradition emerging with two families and us (this is our third year now, I think) of a Christmas bbq/get-together. The deal is no one goes over the top, no blowing budgets or slaving for days. The idea being we all have to eat dinner anyway, we're just eating it together - so bring whatever you might normally bring for dinner/bbq and we put it all on the table and share. Someone usually does dessert etc

There's just three families, with 9 children between us (4, 3, and 2), and 6 adults. This year we were privileged enough to have two Mums (Grandma/Nanna's) with us too!


Well, it wouldn't make sense to have that as our background for our get-together and then go OTT with the table, right? Last year I bought a massive length of calico for the 'table cloth' then I've used it in sewing projects through the year (and still have plenty left). I used fresh herbs in decorated pots on the table and then planted them in the garden after (with some still going a year later) etc

This year was a slightly different take but I wanted to show/share that it's entirely possible to do a nice table (not a perfect one) without remortgaging the house. I chose silver/green/white as the colour theme. The wrought iron-look candle holders we already had, the glasses we already had and because we didn't have a full set of either, I had four sundae glasses at one end, and four wine glasses at the other - not technically matching but with the same colour folded serviettes in (the huge ones from IKEA), it worked. The silver tumblers (Ecococoon from Tribe store) are the children's cups that DH sandblasted some weeks ago, because the colour was coming off. Tribe replaced the ones we had where the colour was coming off, however I much prefer the silver and it works well for Christmas, birthday parties etc so sandblasted the lot.

I used a clean white queen bed sheet (two tables end to end) on the table on the diagonal, with the long edges tied together under the table. Over the top of that are two flannel back (circle) table cloths from Cost Plus (as are the little star table sprinkles), which can be used again for as long as they manage, then as a splashmat for art making or painting when they've seen their days out.

The little candle holders on the table are salsa jars with a bit of water in, tea light candle and silver or silver/gold stripe tissue paper wrapped round and tied with sheerish ribbon. Two Milo tins with the paper removed, and the same tissue paper and ribbon applied, part filled with rice and then tall candles in, went by the steps. For cutlery, a Tupperware container again with the same tissue paper/ribbon applied. At the front door, IKEA lanterns that we bought ages ago (and that we take camping for the children) with tea light candles and the same little star sprinkles that look great in the moon/sunset light. Two IKEA jars with silver lids, one with shell nuts and the other with Minties.

We didn't have a massive amount of matching chairs so we used the white high back dining chairs (lawn shopping find!), the wrought/wicker look out door chairs, and our 'older' dining chairs (that I got for my 21st). Between the lot alternated round the table, we had enough. Not 'perfect', but they worked :)

Also a little pyrex bowl, with white napkin laid in and some bubble blowers, party poppers that were in the cupboard from a party we went to earlier in the year. Not the most eco thing although I guess at least using them up and not just discarding them because there was 'only a few' left. In a jar as a mix they make up a 'full' amount. Serviettes can go in the worm farm after and almost everything else has been reused and/or can be used again somehow. Always proper cutlery and plates etc. In the eco sense I guess last year's table was better... I'll work on it for next year.

Mum also found a whole bunch of the white fairy lights at a garage sale, enough to do our entire back patio area, for a teeny price (way to go Mum!). I've always wanted to try fairy lights out and these ones are awesome with several different 'settings' so they flash or dance or just twinkle. So between the fairy lights, all the candles it was a lovely atmosphere outside with great company and great shared food. Thanks everyone for making it work so well!

As an aside, Quinn (who turns two in Feb) is now putting together three and four word sentences... it surprises me each time (with each child) and I really enjoy it :)

for our wonderful Teachers...

We have such wonderful teachers... the amount of time, the care, the thought... the ~everything~ (because really the list could go on endlessly) that they give our children and our Families... so while the class as a whole chooses something special at the end of the year to show our thanks, people also like to do something individual/from their family. This year this is what I chose...


Hand made gingerbread (in Christmas tree shape) or oat biscuits, in self seal cello bags, with a 'thankyou' tag downloaded from here. Thanks to people out there in blog land who share such great free printables and thanks to biscuit-cutter-sharers for sharing your lovely Christmas shapes :)

Christmas Cupcake Toppers

Thanks to this link (and to Super Organiser Mum for posting it), I didn't have to print out on plain paper, cut out using a twenty cent piece as a template for the circle, draw on borders then punch out the scallop, then attach... for each cupcake topper lol and buying cupcake toppers wasn't an option so thanks to Eighteen 25 blog for the great free printable. *thumbs up*

Excuse the little finger prints in one of the cupcakes! Master Q was just too quick!


The cake stand is the same as the one I used for Jake's Birthday Party, and the glass dome is the top half of the IKEA glass set that came to our house last year... pardon the unfinished unpainted walls in the background... our place is in constant slow renovation stage lol The baking cups we also had already.

Also my Mum sent me a cute 'Tooth Fairy' pic found via the net, which I shrunk, printed and scallop punched, put backing card on and using wide tape, 'sealed' it. Now it can be attached to the front of a glass holding a recently-lost-tooth, to (a) enable the Tooth Fairy to better time manage [read, not FORGET... several nights in a row once - shhhh - she had her reasons!] and (b) so that a precious tooth doesn't unkowingly get tipped down the sink when the dishes are being done!

The Tooth Fairy reminder lives in our tub on the bench. It's not the best pic but I realised at the last minute that my mail was in it lol with address. The 'Tooth Fairy' reminder is just out of picture on the left - you can just see the edge of it.

I have never been one for tubs really... I like things 'up' and off the bench (on a pin board, side of the fridge, clip board) BUT I saw this tub on Thursday this week... and after arguing with myself, then persuaded myself... and I know I can really make it work for us. It's to be somewhere for paperwork/incoming to (temporarily) go that stays neat, visible and doesn't get lost in the abyss that can become the computer desk/sewing table, at times... and because it's not a deep tub, stuff is less likely to get lost in it. She says... hmm we'll see how that all pans out in a few weeks eh! *wink*

Christmas by the 1st Dec...

before that, here's this morning's bread. Dough done in the breadmaker (I used to do by hand but 'cheat' these days most of the time!), then not feeling too flash I was lucky enough to go to bed for a few hours. Doesn't happen often but am pleased I did. Woke up, kneaded out the dough, formed and into the tin and oven. Here 'tis. Wholemeal. mmm



Thankfully, poor Jake is almost over his nasty bout of (confirmed via swab) Chicken pox that had us twice up at PMH (before we knew what it was) bc he had other symptoms that were worrying. The vacc wasn't on the schedule when he was younger. Brooke has had them a year or two ago, and the two smaller boys have had the cpox vacc... what puzzles us is that when cpox went through school 4 odd weeks ago, we thought all three boys got a mild dose of it... yay for healing up well, Jake and adious to those nasty blisters!

Now... to Christmas. FLYlady's 'Cruisn' Through the Holidays' is something I did... a couple of Christmases ago. By the 1st Dec everything except the last minute perishables was ready. Brilliant. I'm not one usually to get worked up and stressed out anyway but boy was it a smooth sailing Holiday season that year. Loved it. So I pulled out the Holiday CJ today and had a flick through. I wrote last time in pencil, so most of it I can keep (traditions, menu that was a success etc) the rest (things we want to do differently, gift lists etc) I can just rub out and write the new ones in :) Think it's too early to start planning Christmas? Well just imagine being 'done' with all your planning and most of the practical stuff, by the 1st Dec... how good does that sound? ;)

I found this

I found this late one night down at the chemist... I must have looked like a real dope because I don't know how long I stood and looked at it. Brenna would have had dark hair (as she did when I 'saw' her) and this little face has glimpses of her silbings... the picture just 'caught' me... it's a platter, I bought it for Christmas 2009, for when we do Brenna's birthday cupcakes... even taking the pcitures I found myself staring at the pic for ages...



Christmas wishes to you, Brenna xo

A re-purposing Christmas table...

well mostly! We have already had our 'Christmas bbq'. Funnily enough I didn't get any proper pics of the table setup. So you'll have to make do with some cropped down pics and a description:
Tablecloth - 10m length of heavy duty calico which was enough to do both tables in one length (two dining size tables end to end) with a little extra to tuck back on itself. Bought 10m paid fo r7m on sale. Because it was intended to be sewn into 'rod-covers' (like long socks for the fishing rods so the runners and line/hooks don't get tangled in their compartment when we drive) it didn't matter if beetroot, wine or whatever else was spilt on it. Turns out nothing was spilt lol so I've been using the fabric in my Christmas sewing.
Centrepieces - there were 6 of them, pots of herbs - parsely, basil, spring onions etc so guests could garnish their own plates and of course, once the night is done, the herbs go in the garden. These were sat three on each table, 'wrapped' in Christmas paper with a silver gauzy bow round the middle.
Central to those was the wicker basket with hand made bon bons that A, Z, B1 and I made one afternoon. These were done with a brown paper outer, ribbon to tie, and gumleaf/saying/cutout from red/silver wrapping paper in the centre. Dumb joke and edible treat inside.
Then there were red tiny stars sprinkled down the length of the table and bubble pots for the kids along the way. The theme being red and silver, cream/white and a touch of green with the plants. Casual but nice, I thought. A lovely relaxed night topped with a great ending!

One done... and a few more to go + gingerbread!

Here's the (what's slowly becoming) traditional IKEA gingerbread house. This year we did it with Smarties (no artificial colours/flav) but I think next year we'll go back to M&Ms (upside down so you can't see the MMs LOL), just coz. And nope, we aint got snow here but the kids just like the icing. I managed to not burn myself big time this year with the toffee, as I have the years before! Bonus :) As you may note, it was quite warm... as the icing and the Smarties kept wanting to slide right off the roof... still tastes good though!


And one Christmas apron gift... ready to go. I have an (again) IKEA apron here, adults one, and they have run a casing for the 'string' to go through so that it makes the neck loop longer or shorter depending on your size. This is a great idea so I've made the kids aprons the same. The right side is stitched into the casing so the ribbon doesn't go anywhere, the left side is in a casing with open ends. Works really well... of course, you would need to supervise as I guess there is a chance of it tightening round a little person's neck - then again, you'd hope you'd be supervising little kids anyway, with baking.

Bag for Brooke for Christmas

Okay so you can call it 'work smarter not harder' or you can call it 'cheating' or you can call it... 're-assigning' LOL call-it-what-you-will but here it is. I wanted to do Brooke a new bag for school, but didn't think I could quite 'do' the backpack that I originally planned. So I got a good quality calico bag (Target sell these ones, they're really sturdy) and some Hungry Caterpillar fabric and here it is, before and after. The outer pocket holds her Super Tanka that she takes to school on one side with room for other things on the right.

The pocket is calico with the Caterpillar print outer (right sides together, overlocked, straight stitched, turn right way out, topstitched). All corners have been reinforced stitched. The request was politely made, could I add backpack straps to the bag... LOL so now I have to figure that one out!

Pics below are (1) original bag (2) inner of the finished bag showing the added on pocket (3) finished bag showing the pocket that was added. So I really didn't do that much to it, just added an outer pocket ... and the Hungry Caterpillar fabric will make anything look good !