The end of 2011

I am not quite sure where this year has gone. It has zoomed past me so quickly, I have hardly had time to do the things that would normally make me happy.

• We had another baby, Nicholas
  
• We sold our house
• We made plans to build next to my inlaws (or outlaws)
• We coped with 4 months of a screaming baby until he was diagnosed with reflux
• We coped with another 4 months of shattered sleeping until we went to sleep school
• I started my M. Ed (Teacher Librarianship) .. was I mad? probably
• I have been trying to get back into running as time out and regular exercise.
  

In amoungst this, there wasn't much time for doing what I love .. sewing and crafting.

Next year I return to work and in addition to my two classes of teaching, I am doing one "class worth" in the Library. So excited about this change (giddy like a school girl). As for Konstant Kaos ... I have been doing lots of thinking and planning lately and my first task is to run down my stock levels and then I have a few ideas how to move things along. But it might happen after we move house in April.

via KikkiK

But my New Year's resolution is to take it one month at a time. At the start of the month, set the goals and see how that goes. I found this cute little pad in Kikki K to build good habits which I might use to make sure that I am eating well, exercising well and also getting some sewing time in as well!

My Creative Space: Aunty Cookie

I got this print a while back and it sat on my wall attached with blue tac while I contemplated how to frame it. I liked the fact that the edge of the picture was ripped and that added a sense of authenticity to the original piece of artwork.

I bought a frame from the swedish super store and I looked at the print the mount and I thought, no ... it needs something extra.

So I hunted up some red fabric and mounted it onto that then into the frame. I think that it looks good on my sewing room wall. I managed to pick up another print from Aunty Cookie and I think I will do the same.

If you are looking for any more creative spaces ... hop on over to Our Creative Spaces.

Gift Wrap the Aunty Cookie way

I love the ritual of wrapping gifts for Christmas. This year I bought the Aunty Cookie gift wrap PDF via her etsy shop. Really, really cute!

The PDF is only A3 in size, so ideal for small gifts and I have used it as a wrap accent on large pieces. I love the statements like "of course, yes. I honestly love it."

Go and get yourself some Cookie Christmas Wrap.

Snowflakes

I like to decorate my Christmas Tree's with wooden ornaments with a red/silver/white scheme. I am not much into plastic tree's, I love the smell and look of the real tree.

This year I stumbled across Urban Timber Woodworks on etsy. They do laser cut snowflakes for the Christmas Tree. I thought that they were gorgeous and took a gamble and bought a few sets. When they arrived they were even better than I thought and they had this lovely smell about them as well.

Nice and crisp design.

Here is one of the sets.

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And here is a cute cat photo posting in front of the Christmas Tree!

How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

Link below in comments!

All aboard the Gosling Train ..

I'm a bit slow at the moment. I finally got around to seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love and have discovered Ryan Gosling. The movie was quite enjoyable and Steve Carell did a wonderful job as the middle aged father going through a divorce. I am not a large fan of Julianne Moore, but she did an alright job of the role.

After mentioning that I had discovered Gosling, a friend posted this site, Handmade Ryan Gosling, to Facebook. So for your enjoyment (and mine)...

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*sigh*

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I can imagine Ryan saying .. "Hey Girl, let me sort those fabric scraps into colour groups for you". Or, "Hey Girl, Order as many Jelly Rolls as you want, I will still love you .."

Cushion for Kerri

I'd been wanting to make something from Elizabeth Hartman's book for ages, but study and house preparations have kinda got in the way.

A friend was turning 40 and said "no presents" so I decided to make her a pillow. I got a handful of fabrics from my favourite fabric store.

And I had a go of my favourite pattern of the book.

I had a go at the pattern as a "sampler". The square of fabric that I used was a little smaller than the one that she recommended, but I really enjoyed the process of placement and sewing of the leaves. I cut them in bunches of 4 so that it wouldn't take as long to cut the leaves. The applique was easy and effective to do.

On the back I cut 4 1/2 inch squares and patched them together. If I were to do this one again, I would probably make the pillow larger and sash it.

Elizabeth writes clear and concise instructions with lots of little tips and hints along the way. I also love the way in which she lists "alternative ideas" at the end of the pattern, sparking the imagination even more.

I look foward to making more from this book when I get some time.

10 months

We coming upto the 10 month mark with Nicholas and I am not sure where the year has gone. It is already that time to be talking about returning to part time work next year :(

I haven't gotten half of the crafting done that I wanted to get done. But we have put a house on the market and on Saturday she goes up for Auction. It is amazing how much physical and emotional energy selling a house takes.

At 10 months he is a strong little boy, doing things that his big sister never did. Like standing in the cot and shaking the sides of it, whilst screaming. He has started to try and climb the stairs in the hall and likes to pull himself up on everything; Me, stools, couch, cat ..

His sleeping is so much better since we visited Mitchum Private Mother Baby Unit. We now have the techniques to get us through those horrible days and nights where he is restless.

I have abandoned any plans for a crafty Christmas this year, making minimal gifts. With the lack of sleep and house plans I was just making mistakes all over the place. What I have done is organised a craft box for when I sit in front of the telly. Full of projects that don't require lots of brain matter.

Do you have a crafty box? What is in it?