Australia (wishing i was back there)

So i had a lovely Christmas spent with family. We opened presents, i did a little photo shoot, had dinner then snoozed in the afternoon (it's really quite tiring not doing much you know!) before going to my Aunt & Uncles to spend the evening with my extended family.


Boxing Day we went to see this and i cried my eyes out. It is beautiful.

This time last year i was there and i had such adventures. i am longing for it lately. i can't stand this cold. We had such an awesome New Years in Sydney. i made an album as an xmas present for each of my besty besties, who came out to share 2 weeks in Oz with me. Here's the cover but you can see the whole album here. i love making mini albums, it's good to accomplish something complete in 1 or two sittings. i'm wishing i made one for myself now.


Got some sale bargains in Lush and Zara which made me happy. i've been catching up with people and trying to make stuff in between, getting lots of sleep in, watching films and eating. And that's just about all i plan to do until i go back to work on the 5th! yay!

Christmas Eve Eve

i know i already said it but i am extremely excited to be spending Christmas at home this year with my family after spending the last one on the other side of the world!

i am very disappointed that i haven't seen this on tv yet (although i rarely watch tv, so that's not surprising!). It's not Christmas until we've seen it so i'm posting it here:


i want to wish you and yours a Very Happy Christmas!

Christmas Crafts

i will try and do a non-crafty post soon to keep you up to date with my goings on (plus give my opinion on the Twilight film), but i wanted to share some of the stuff i've been making recently. Next year i plan to make a lot more home made decorations (if i can start early enough!) and all my own wrapping paper, pom poms and possibly cards!

Firtsly, i saw this which led me to her (surely THE Queen of homemade decs?!) which inspired me to make these wreaths:


This one is a great way of using up all your scraps of paper, i used two different size plates to cut out the circle base for the wreath from cardboard.


Recycle!

i've also made my own gift tags this year, from scraps of card. i stamped and embossed the design and punched a hole through the top, then cliped off the top corners to make a tag shape. i did some in green and some in gold.


And here's a fun stamp i use on the back, incase anyone gets tempted to open their presents before the big day :)


Here is one example of some gift bags i made, they are really simple to add a few touches to, but makes gist giving so much more personal. i actually made a few other designs which were more complex, but i prefer the more basic ones. i collected a load of bags during the summer from the sandwhich shop near work and have been hoarding them for this very purpose.


There are a few more photos here. All the stuff i've used i already had in my stash, and i've recycled a lot of cardboard boxes too (i do a most of my shopping on-line).

i am feeling very Christmassy after wrapping my presents this afternoon. i've handmade a few of my gifts this year, but i can't share them on here yet or they won't be a surprise!

i think in the next few days i will watch The Holiday and Love Actually. Elf is my favourite Christmas film & i've already watched it a few times in the last few weeks, i watch it all year round anyway because it makes me laugh so much!


i have a selection of Christmas hats & have been wearing them at work all week, this one is my mums. It's my favourite & it makes people smile.

i am soooo excited to be spending Christmas at home this year!

k, i have to go as i'm making dinner for some friends tonight. happy weekend!

Baby it's cold outside...

Firstly, apologies for not posting in a while but the flu completly wiped me out (still not fully recovered). i'm back to work which is immensley busy and stressful right now and i've been really busy this week and am already fully booked for next!

This week i saw The Fratellis and managed to miss the first few songs of the gig! oops! Had the most amazing food at Dim T's and was really proud that i managed to eat two entire courses with chopsticks (big achievment). Went bowling and didn't bowl, then attended a house party and watched the comedy genius that is R Kelly's Trapped in the Closet. i really can't believe that this is supposed to be serious!! i urge you to youtube it, you might wanna keep your tena ladies handy though!

It has been so cold the last week or so. We have been doing 3 winter maintenance runs a night at work. i have to say that the frost does look pretty when it sparkles, but i'm bored of scrapping it off my car! i feel the cold really bad and it makes me miserable having to wear so many layers and gloves. The cold just makes me miserable full stop, i am longing for the summer.

OK i have been doing a little crafting but i need to get some pictures taken so i will leave you with some films that i am sooooooooooooooo excited about. Twilight is out Friday and you know how obsessed i am with the books, i am really hoping that i'm not disappointed. At least i can oggle over Robert Pattison if it does, and the scenery looks spectacular. i already know the soundtrack is awesome, cos i got it for my birthday :) (p.s. Robert Pattison actually wrote & sings on one of the tracks). Bring on the vamps!


i was travelling in OZ when they were wrapping up the fliming of Australia, i went to Bowen where they actually filmed some of it, and i have been itching to see it since. It is such a beautiful & unique country and i have some magical memories from my time there. The trailer alone makes me get a bit emotional so i'm sure i'll be blubbing in the cinema, i just know it will be beautiful, Baz Luhrhmann is an amazing director. i hope this film goes someway to telling Australia's history.

26....

i had sooo much fun on my birthday. Thankies for all the messages, phone calls, cards & pressies!! Michaela, She who must not be named & i went to the tenth hole for lunch. This is our favourite place to lunch/eat cake. They do the most amazing cakes, but usually if we have lunch we are too full to manage one, so end up getting them to take-away. Then we went to see our Nan, we loooove to hear her stories, she is so awesome! Then i went out for a night on the tiles with my friends. The deal was that everyone had to wear a hat & they did me proud. It's so fun when everyone plays along! It was such a good night, it's so special when you can get lots of people that you really care about in one place! Here's a little picture of me in my hat, you can't quite see the beautiful feathers coming off the top. Sorry it's the best i have! It's super cute in real life, i promise!


i have been suffering from WO-man flu this week. Ha ha! Actually i'm not quite sure what it is, but i've not been a well girl, so i am not up to much at the moment. Tonight i have been sorting through some of my scrapbook albums as i got a few for my birthday & it's really quite astounding how many pages i have scrapped!! Anyway, it made me realise that i really don't share enough of them on here, so i will endeavour to do that more in the future!

i will leave with you with one of my current favourite tunes (and yes the lyrics are particulalry relevant to my life at the moment):