Jikana Damaru

My Christmas wrapping

This year I am wrapping my presents in paper to match my decorations.

Above pic from left to right:
Torie Jayne-designed paper for small gifts
Red/white spot paper from M&S
Blue/white spotty paper from Tesco
Shooting star paper from Cath Kidston
Christmas print paper from Cath Kidston

Have a sweet day!

The 11th Day of Christmas

Well the 11th day of Christmas sees me busily wrapping Christmas presents and thinking, boy I have gone overboard again!!! Obviously still a lesson I need to learn and not taught in 2009 - but then again, while I can give I love doing so.

So what else can I share on this 11th day of Christmas? Well, 2009 saw me start this 2nd blog as a way to try and inspire others with my life philosophy. I had hoped that other bloggers might send me inspirational stories of their own that they would like to share. Initially I was a little disappointed that it didn't happen that way. But then I realised that it was unfair of me to have expectations of strangers and I should be happy that people come and visit and read and hopefully go away with something to think about, something that might help them in their life journey - and really that is enough.

And so I blog when I have time and have something to share, I no longer feel guilty if that is not every day or every week, for there should be no expectation by me on me either.

So I hope that you have found the odd thing here and there that has helped. 2010 may bring more, but only time will tell.

~ Great Jars ~

As a lover of the inspiring Amy Atlas I have always been keen to try and recreate one of her gorgeous dessert tables! While I am not quite there yet today I did however find two perfect jars that will look wonderful when I do eventually recreate one. What was even better was that they were on sale (at Freedom Furniture)!! Now all I need is about 10 more to make the table look as stunning as one of her tables. In the meantime they will look lovely on the centre of my Christmas Table.

This small one was a gift from a wonderful friend - it will look lovely with Santa's cookie on top before we add it to the table on Christmas Day.

~ Getting the table ready ~

We are having Christmas Day at our house with Mr A's family this year - 21 people for lunch.

I have been busy working out how to make the table look lovely and have gone with a black, white and silver theme this year. Here is a peak at the placecards - still working on it all coming together.

Birthday Bunting

Is it me, or has the craft world gone totally bunting craaazy? Not sure what I'm on about? Here are a few of my favourite (because of COURSE I've jumped onto the bandwagon!) recent finds on Etsy:

Bunting from Giggleberry

Bunting sugar bowl and milk pitcher from Ninainvorm

Bunting magnets from Vickeh

Bunting by Paperfish

Bunting card from Winifred Studios

See? So, inspired by the bunting-mania of late, I decided to make a bunting of my very own for Fern's birthday. There will be two strings of bunting, actually, one that says "Happy Birthday" and the other, simply "Fern". I like the idea of bringing out the bunting every year until my daughter deems it way too uncool, and by keeping her name separate I can also use it for any subsequent children I might have!

Fern's nanny and I set to work this afternoon, as Fern's birthday party is looming closer... but by the MILLIONTH little triangle cutout I wondered how anyone would choose to do this for a living?! I drew and cut out the letters super quickly as I have no patience for that type of thing, but I was sure to inject plenty of love into the colour design! Anyway, no pics of my work in progress as yet, but I'll post next week (which is my deadline!).

Have a great rest-of-the-week.

Handmade Christmas pastel chocolates

The chocolate skulls I made at Halloween seemed to go down well with my family, and with one of my sisters in particular. For Christmas I wanted to make her some suitably themed chocolates.

I was in Selfridges looking at the silicone chocolate moulds, which were rather expensive, when I saw they had silicone ice cube trays at a third of the price! I could see no real difference between them so went for the cheaper ice cube trays. I love how they turned out! Now to sort out some pretty packaging...

To make these chocolates, I tempered the chocolate, coloured it using natural pink and green food colouring, poured the mix into the trays, and left them to set in the fridge.

Have a sweet day!

escaping on the seas

after a crazy time getting organised for Christmas & making a last trip to the nearest shopping centre - aggghhh - we decided to escape - the sun was shining & we enjoyed a leisurely sail across the seas - enjoyed lunch under umbrellas - a stroll along the street & delicious ice-creams with sprinkle coated waffle cones!! How are you going with the Christmas craziness?