Merry merries to all


In a show of enormous Christmas spirit,  you all overwhelmingly made the decision to send the Gorgeous Giveaway prizes to Jane from My Pear Tree House.* Merry Christmas from us all and Godspeed, dear Jane. We are all thinking of you and wishing you a smooth journey on your challenging road ahead.


This is my final post for Twenty Zen. It's been a great year for me, strengthened by my desire to make it my 'slow down' year. I have practised living in the moment and cherishing the things that I already have, rather than focusing so much on what is to come. I've worked on being less busy with things that aren't important or interesting and taking time out to just be. It's been a lesson in happiness and I will continue to practise these valuable skills all my life.

I'm taking a little blogcation. Not sure how long for... back sometime in early Jan. I'm going to let the Summer Tsunamis wash over me and see where they take me.

Very best wishes to you and yours for a merry Christmas from me and my three little elves** (and LOML too, of course). See you in the bright and sparkly and really-rather-ravishing new year. I am working on what kind of year it will be... I like to theme these things you see. It will be hard to top 20Zen, but I'll do my best!

Enjoy yourself.

x

* I'm sorry if you missed out on having a say...
** If you haven't encountered 'ElfYourself' from OfficeMax before, pop over there now to make your own hysterical Christmas fun. It's free to create and email out to family and friends.


__________________________________
Edited a little later on Monday...

PS - No, wait, there is more of me to love. On Thursday I'm guest posting at Gina's blog Acute Designs. She has asked me what 'five (material) things I can't live without'. I wrote the post only three days ago but already I can't remember what I wrote and definitely won't remember by Thursday. December does that to a person, right? Anyway, check it out as I'm sure it's bloody brilliant and even if it isn't, Gina's a fab, fab gal.

And then again a little bit later... (alright, would you just get off now, Maxabella. You said you were going...)

PPS - Just heard from Jane and she is recovering from surgery. Her spirits seem very high (probably the drugs) and she is overwhelmed by the generosity shown by all of us involved in the Gorgeous Giveaway present. That's you, too, by the way... thanks for giving up your entry to offer a little bit of light in a dark, dark day for Jane. x

Point + Shoot: 35



Sunday 19th Dec 4.30pm


Every year we have a special afternoon tea with some lovely family friends ~ its so nice that our little girls can now enjoy it too. I set up their very own "high tea" table so they could be just like the adults...so cute!!


If you also look closely you can see a sneak peak of Lou's new Big girl room that I have been working hard on - once I get the correct mattress re-delivered (one that actually fits her new bedroom setting) Grrr... I can do a proper tour for you. Its turned out quite pretty
... if you like pink.
I also heard a rumor that a family of fairies are about to move in as well.


How was your weekend.... hopefully not too busy this side of Christmas.
Don't forget to check out everyone else's  Point & Shoot and - Week-a-boo!!

Christmas Week

As I would imagine is the same for most of you life is crazy busy with all the Christmas preparations plus other events I have been working on.  This week I hope to be able to show you some pictures of a lovely wedding candy table I put together last week plus some pictures from a dessert table I put together for our end of year pre-school drinks we hosted in our home last week.

In the meantime here are some pictures of the little gifts we gave out at school and pre-school.  Thank you to Sarah from Style Me Gorgeous for the printables and to Sharnel from Sharnel Dollar Designs for the inspiration for the jars which I put my twist on with lollies, seeing as I am now known as the lolly lady at school!

Gifts for the kids - chocolate marshmallows and jelly beans


Gifts for the teachers and class mums - red fruity lollies - Yum!


Hope your week goes smoothly in the lead up to Christmas.

Leanne

dear santa

I have been very good this year.....so I
have put together a list in case you need some stocking stuffer ideas?! love me XO

The Petal Coin Purse in candy apple red
from here

SOAP set in a coconut shell (10 pieces)
from here

Chalkboard tags
from here

Now I am 16 Weeks...

Today, my little baby boy is 16 weeks old...


Nothing much has changed. Still breathtakingly gorgeous... still making my heart melt like an icecream in the sun... still vomiting all over me at every opportunity... still wanting to use my boob as a dummy before bedtime... still growing at an alarming rate... still gooing and gaahing... still standing firmly on his own feet like he wants to walk... still watching the world incredulously...

oh but there are a few exciting developments this month: swatting at objects overhead. waving his hands around. grabbing at things. sucking his fists like they are a juicy steak. rolling over and contorting himself 360 degrees. blowing raspberries.

But the most pivotal?

Sleeping through the night.

Well, most nights anyway. Yup, he's a keeper, this one. Here's to our first Christmas together. And to loving you like buggery, little boy-o. xo

Winter Woodland treat boxes

Winter Woodland treat boxes by Torie Jayne

Winter Woodland treat boxes

You will need:
Winter Woodland treat box printed out on heavy paper
Double sided tape
Polka dot glassine bags
Ribbon

Equipment
Tim Holtz non-stick micro-serrated multicutter
Mini rotary perforator
Paper punch - medium '1cm ribbon'

Instructions
  1. Open cone print template (see image below) and print it out.
  2. Cut around cone wrapper, (I use the shape mates large circle and cutter to cut out my circles).
  3. Roll perforator along all lines.
  4. Fold all perforated lines away from you.
  5. Place a couple of strips of double sided tape on the unprinted side of the bottom of the box, but do not peel backing off tape yet.
  6. Place a strip of double sided tape on the unprinted side of the long sides of the box, do not peel backing of tape yet.
  7. Place a strip of double sided tape along all four white strips of printed side of box and remove backing.
  8. Assemble box and press together to stick.
  9. Fold over top of cellophane bag by 10cm.
  10. Place fold inside paper ribbon punch and push to end. Punch ribbon holes.
  11. Remove backing from double sided strips on inside of box.
  12. Open glassine bag out and place inside box, pressing against the tape to fix in place.
  13. Fill with treats.
  14. Thread ribbon through holes and tie in a bow.


Winter Woodland treat boxes by Torie Jayne
Home-made Maple Cakelets
Iced squirrel hiding
I filled mine with Maple cakelets in pine cone, walnut and acorn shapes, with a hidden iced squirrel!

Have a sweet day!

Glass marbled snowflakes

Glass marbled snowflake by Torie Jayne
Glass marbled snowflakes

What you will need
Plastic snowflakes
White paint
PVA glue
Tiny glass marbles
Embroidery thread

Instructions
  1. Paint snowflakes, leave to dry
  2. Paint PVA glue onto painted snowflake.
  3. Sprinkle tiny glass marbles over snowflake and leave to dry.
  4. Thread embroidery thread through hole.

I just had to try out my new tiny glass marbles on some of my cheap plastic snowflakes. I love how they turned out!


Plastic Snowflakes
Glass marbling snowflakes
Glass marbled snowflakes
Have a sweet day!

Week-a-Boo

Happy Sunday to you all! One week until Christmas! Can you believe it! 5 working days and then it is on! I just can not believe how fast this year, this month, this day has gone! Time is just flying by so fast I can hardly catch my breath! It's quite scary actually! In 2 weeks time we will be saying goodbye to 2010 and welcoming 2011! WOAH!

On Thursday and Friday leading up to the weekend the kids that I work with came over for a sleep over. It is always so much fun for the kids to come to my house as it is so different to their everyday lives. They are city kids through and through so they love coming and playing with all the animals, collecting the chickens eggs, swimming in the pool, playing in the front yard and going to the local park. This time I thought I would do something different and we went to the local strawberry farm. Strawberries are not in season so we could not pick them but they have a very cute little petting zoo were you can feed the goats, calves and sheep. the kids had a ball and loved playing with the farm animals.

~ We brought our mattress into the lounge room so that the kids and I could camp out beside the Christmas tree and have a Christmas sleepover ~

 ~ The cutest little calf that was so friendly ~


 ~ Delicious Strawberry Jelly with Strawberry pieces throughout and fresh Strawberry jam from the farm ~

On Saturday I slept until ONE THIRTY in the afternoon Oh My Goodness! I couldn't believe it when I woke up and looked at my clock! In my defense I didn't go to sleep until after midnight Friday night and Thursday night when the kids stayed over I didn't sleep much at all as I was waking up every hour just checking on the kids! SO I definitely needed the few extra hours hahah I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and washing and catching up on all the house chores that didn't get done while I was away for work! 

Today - Sunday I had a beautiful celebration with my close friends and Robs and my parents for my birthday. We were suppose to go to the park and have a picnic but last night I made an executive decision and canceled the park and booked a few tables at the local pub. This morning I awoke to rain rain rain so I am glad I made that final decision. 


A beautiful day spent with my very special family and my closest friends! A perfect lunch to end the celebrations of turning 25! What an amazing birthday I have had!!!

Enjoy this week leading up to Christmas! We are almost there :-)
Head over to Claires gorgeous blog and share your weekend with us all!

x S.K.K x

busy




I
have
been busy
baking & wrapping
& singing Christmas
songs & making lists
& flicking through
piles of recipes &
counting the number of
sleeps till Christmas Day
(which is also my youngest
daughters 3rd Birthday!) &
opening happy mail & catching
up with friends & enjoying
meals with loved ones & sending cards
& walking past Santa at the local
shops & hanging the stockings &
enjoying pj mornings & watching carols
on tv & slowing down so that all these good things
can be savoured.
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