This Christmas I tried to do a few more handmade gifts and I managed to get them all completed on time. However it certainly wasn’t time saving or cost saving. I did however avoid the malls in the last week or so of Christmas so that was a bonus. The handmade gifts have gone down well so I will be doing more next year but might start earlier and be more organised.

I made some gift hampers for friends with homemade food items in them. First some cookies for Santa, a jar of dry ingredients that you just add a few things to and get great cookies. Then some divine chocolate sauce that a friend gave me last year for Christmas, I just had to pass some more on! Lemon cordial has been a hit this year too with us, I’ve made quite a few bottles and have shared it with friends. Click on the photos to get the recipes.

Then as wee gifts for Grace’s preschool friends and kids we know Craig and I made these cute as Reindeer lollies. Marshmallows dipped in chocolate with pebbles for a nose all wrapped up with pipe cleaners for antlers.

Reindeer making in progress. I did make them all with the stick in the wrong end of the marshmallow but thankfully we were able to fix that wee mistake.

Then for the preschool teachers I made these cute wee bird houses and filled them with after dinner mints. I even got to use some of my new fave product, fabric tape! I added wee tags to wish them a merry Christmas and voila, some great gifts.

A wee village of bird houses.

Last but not least I came across the idea of Christmas play dough and since the pink sparkly play dough at Grace’s third birthday was such a hit i decided to make some more as wee gifts. Originally I was going to make gingerbread play dough but decided brown play dough was boring and not much fun to play with. I finally decided on peppermint red and green dough and layered in container.

Before we started our Christmas/Summer holidays I made this list with lots of things we could and should do during the warmer summer. I saw the idea on this blog, it’s written by and American mum of three kids who is into organisation, decor and raising her kids. I enjoy reading her blog. Anyhow she made one of these and I thought it was cool so had to share it, I’ve put it on the fridge so we didn’t miss any Summer fun.

We’ve ticked off a few of the things on the list but with sickness and our latest DIY project (painting our new garage addition) we’ve still got some fun things to do in the last weeks of our holiday.

Getting back to our DIY project. When we moved into our home one of the bonus’s was the huge garage, it was a 3-4 car space. However we’ve never used it for cars really, it got filled with stuff so we’ve decided to frame up the back space to use instead of fill with junk. We’ve spent the past two days priming, painting and cutting in, I’m well and truly over painting and we still have another coat and skirting boards to go before the carpet is being laid next week. It’s really starting to take shape now though. Will share a few photos once it’s finished and the carpet laid.

Another thing I’ve got sorted during the holidays is our bedroom. I finally got the bed linen all coordinated to match the newly painted walls etc. Ever since we had Fletcher’s complete earthquake repairs I’ve been making over the bedroom, we replaced our bedroom furniture and tried to work the colour scheme around the curtains we got last year. Now all I need is a occasional armchair for where the Christmas tree is standing.

We decided to have a Christmas tree in our room this year as we upgraded our family one to a 7ft instead of this smaller one and didn’t see the point of just leaving the smaller one in the garage. I then came across a silver pack of decorations at Kmart for $12 and thought a silver tree with clear lights would fill the space where the chair should go and voila it looked fab!

I’ve also finally framed up the three photos I took last year in Wanaka and have put them in our hall way. They look so striking!

Anyhow before I bore you all with decor and DIY I better sign off, we’re taking a break from painting tomorrow to tick a few more things off that Summer to-do list. Hope you’re enjoying your Summer holidays!

The new year is fast approaching and I can’t say I’m to sad to see the end of 2011, it’s felt like a year where I’m constantly trying to catch up. Every time we’ve got life back to normal we’ve had another quake, snow or something else to knock us off course.

The goal for 2012 is to slow down, right down and spend a lot more  quality time with Grace.

Funnily enough our plans for new years have been slowed right down, well even cancelled due to our colds. We had great plans to celebrate new years eve with a party, fireworks and bubbles but it’s all been called off so we’re bringing in the new year with a quiet night together. Even Grace enjoyed a wee cocktail tonight to celebrate, some cranberry juice in a special glass.

So far we’ve enjoyed a delicious dinner, a few drinks and Miranda on TV, such a laugh!

I hope you’re enjoying your new years eve! May 2012 bring you and your families much happiness, health and all that you dream of!

About time I caught up on what has been a crazy week. We’ve been busy with Christmas prep, a handful of earthquakes, Christmas day, Boxing Day and now a sick wee girl. Hmm.. where to start.

Last week we enjoyed the beginning of our holidays with Craig being off work although we probably shouldn’t call it a holiday as the week before Christmas is never slow paced. Although this year I did feel a lot calmer with having done my shopping and planning much earlier.

We were able to enjoy catching up with friends, getting some jobs done around the house, doing some fun Christmas activities and  Craig and I spent some time together whilst Grace had her last days of preschool for the year.

We indulged in some super pretty Christmas cupcakes from The Cupcake Collection. I was a little bit disappointed in the flavours but how cute are the decorations!

We had two visits to the Christmas Grotto. It was fantastic this year with some of the rooms changing from previous years. It’s put together by a local church and they go all out, must take months to organise and set up! After going the first time we just knew Grandad would  be into it, totally right about that as he loved it. They had a north pole room with polar bears and huskies, the history of the candy cane, Santa’s workshop and wrapping station, the toy shop with story teller, Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and the wise men end even beautiful white angel bears bringing good news to all.

I finally got our two Christmas cakes iced for our family and extended family. They have been well cut into now and the reviews are that they taste great, phew!

Dumpty the elf did a few more things, nothing to mischievous though.

He was found napping in a Santa hat one morning.

Then having a chat with Care bear that had been left out in the living room, he always normally gets taken to bed with Grace.

Then after several days with no movement Dumpty was found on Christmas morning perched on Grace’s Santa sack surrounded by balloons that he had blown up.

As I’m sure you’ve all heard we had some more nasty aftershocks here on Friday, a Christmas present we all could have happily lived without. Craig and I were out and about delivering Christmas goodies on the other side of town when the first struck, we were parked beside an old stone church that got badly damaged in the first few quakes and boy did that church sway. We made a dash back to our side of town to get Grace whom we had just dropped off at preschool. Thankfully by the time we had the second big one we were home, another sleepless night though with rumbles almost every hour. The numbness that comes over you is awful, just like shock after a car accident. Even though I don’t get really scared by them you still get a massive emotional rush and when we spoke to our friends that night about it I wasn’t alone in bursting into tears several times that afternoon. I really do wonder how much more we can all take, I fear these may go on for a long time yet.

Anyway on to brighter things. Grace is at an age this year where she has fully got into Christmas, Santa and all the traditions.

She loved setting everything up on Christmas eve so Santa would come and enjoy the treats she left for him. One of her reindeer cookies, a glass of homemade lemon cordial, a carrot left outside with a bowl of water for the reindeer and she sprinkled reindeer food all about the garden. She worked on a beautiful card for Santa with a Christmas tree and stickers on the front. She got to open her Christmas eve present of new PJ’s to wear, cute jammies with wee owls on.

Christmas day arrived and she loved finding her sack of pressies and special letter from Santa himself.

We visited grandparents on Christmas morning who couldn’t share Christmas lunch with us and then enjoyed a delicious lunch outside in the warm sunshine with family.

Grace, Maddi and Georgia had a blast playing with Grace’s Christmas present, a Slip n Slide during the afternoon. Great fun!

Boxing day was relaxing and quiet, we headed out for a long walk and got some lunch which we enjoyed at the park. Then the next day Grace and I came down with a cold so the rest of this week has been spent at home on the couch, we’ve watched a lot of movies! She got a worse dose than me and was very hot with fevers but we are both feeling a lot better today so fingers crossed we are over the worst and can get on with our holidays.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and spent it with family and friends. May 2012 bring you all much happiness and hope.

I’ve been doing some fun little craft things with Miss Grace, there are so many cool ideas to do with kids. I found this idea in the latest Treasures magazine and loved it! I got some brightly coloured ice cream sticks  from The Warehouse and with my hot glue gun we set about creating little Christmas tree ornaments. Grace has fun adding bling and stickers to them, she defiantly my daughter!  hehe They’ve turned out much better than I thought so we may have to make some more.

Then last weekend we got out the paints which Grace has wanted to do for ages and we painted her hands and feet and made reindeer. This idea was care of Pinterest, so many things you can create with a bit of paint and some hands and feet. I’ve also seen Christmas angels created this way too, might give that a try.

Then I came across this great wreath on Pinterest. Click the photo for the link to full instructions on how to make one.

Mine didn’t turn out so well, the colours on mine are all wrong for my liking but I’m happy to have it finished. I’ll maybe try again next year, the stars were super easy to make and could be used on all sorts of crafts.

Last year I made a Christmas tree with Hersey kisses then had the foam tree left after the kisses all got eaten so I painted it red and have hot glued red and green buttons all over it. Love my button tree!  Thanks to my sister for the idea.

I  saw a bauble wreath on Pinterest and really wanted one so bought some glass baubles at K-mart and got painting a polystyrene wreath red then with my hot glue gun I glued them all on. I also came across the red glittery “Noel” at Ballentynes and thought it would look fab on my wreath so I cut off the bit to hang it on the tree and glued it on too. I love my new wreath and it really brightens up my kitchen sitting up on the range hood. Check out my new tiles too that we’ve just had done, the last owners never felt the need to install a splash back when they installed the new kitchen which equalled the wallpaper getting really yucky. It’s the small things that make me happy lol. Also the beautiful tin sitting beside the wreath has been kindly made for me by my friend Megan, she’s so clever with her OTP projects! It had the most stunning glass bell Christmas tree ornament in it. Hope she doesn’t mind but I had to share a close up photo.

Just a quick share to show off these fab Christmas paintings Grace and I did. We did some stamping with her feet and hands to create Reindeer, such a cute idea and easy too. Grace loved getting all mucky with the paint too, normally a preschool only activity! lol

We’ve spent the morning at home today getting a few more things ticked off the list, the heartfelt and handmade idea is fab but takes a lot of preparation. At least in the most part I’ve been able to avoid the malls which I’m happy about, they are absolutely CRAZY!

This morning Grace’s advent calendar said to so a Christmas craft with me so we made some cute Christmas fridge magnet. I picked up this little kit at Spotlight last week and we’ve both enjoyed colouring them in and glittering them up, now just to wait for them to dry.

The other thing we’ve been working on it these cookie trees, Maddi and Georgia came to visit and they decorated their own small trees. We made some bigger ones too as gifts.We used this kit that I picked up at the supermarket.

I think the girls did brilliantly, check out this one Maddi made! Even Georgia who’s only just turned two had a ball decorating her very own tree.

I also purchased this gingerbread house kit from The Warehouse a few weeks back, it’s got all the cookie cutters and piping bags you need to whip up a little cookie house. Last year I didn’t have this and had to measure out the walls and roof etc., what a hassle! Might whip one up for New Years eve, at this point I think we have the sugar levels covered for Christmas hehe.

Whilst I was in the kitchen baking I made these wee rice crackle  Christmas puddings, I saw this idea in the latest Treasures magazine. Easy peasy, rice crackle cake pushed into mini muffin tins, chilled in the fridge then I drizzled the leftover white icing  over them and added some Christmas sprinkles. Voila!

About time I updated on the life of our wee elf named “Dumpty”, turns out he is a cheeky wee thing. Almost every night he causes some sort of havoc and is caught out by Miss Grace in the morning.

One evening he felt like some marshmallows so climbed up into the pantry, filled a mug with mini marshmallows and had a feast but got one caught on his pointy elf nose! lol

Then the next evening he decided he would be nice to us bake some muffins. He got out all of the ingredients and my recipe book however he couldn’t stop being naughty and Miss Grace awoke to find him making snow angels in the flour!!

Another night he got into a bag of chocolate buttons and was in Miss Grace’s playroom sitting at her craft table enjoying them, he’d also left a trail of them. What a naughty wee thing!

The next night he climbed up to the top of the Christmas tree and had a chocolate bauble for Grace, it took her awhile to find him this morning.

Then we found him hanging from the light in the living room, he must have been having a swing and got stuck upside down.

He was really naughty yesterday and was found in Grace’s room in her drawers with knickers on his head. She totally missed that he was in her room and was wondering where he had got too. lol

Then Nana brought some grapes for Grace and Dumpty just had to try some when we’d all gone to bed.

As you can see we’ve been having great fun with our little elf, I think January might be a bit dull around here after elf travels home to the North pole to see Santa.

Each year I add different Christmas movies to our collection, just like I add Christmas books to our collection too. I love to watch all the old favourites over the Christmas season to get in the mood for festive fun. Thought I’d share some of our favourites.

Yesterday as I said Grace’s advent calendar said to choose a Christmas movie, some treats and spend some family time relaxing and enjoying a movie together.  Together we chose “The Santa Clause”, I added this and “The Santa Clause 2 and 3” to our movie collection this year.

Another movie with Tim Allen in it that is on our must see list is “Christmas with the Kranks”. I think we all have moments where we think it would be great to ditch Christmas and go spend it on a tropical island but something always keeps us going through the traditions and in the end we love it!  I’ve just watched this tonight while finishing off some crafty Christmas gifts, I’ll share them soon.

Another movie added to our collection this year is this “Mickey – Twice upon a Christmas” dvd, it’s a range of mini Disney stories with Mickey and the gang. Grace has enjoyed it a few times so far, a good classic with morals and goodwill in most of the stories in true Disney style.

Ever since I was a kid each and every Christmas I’ve always watched “Home Alone” and “Home Alone – Lost in New York”, I guess I was just the right age when these movies came out to leave a memory imprinted.

Then lately Grace has been very taken with “The Grinch who stole Christmas”. She started watching in back in November and i thought she’d get a bit scared but she thinks it’s great and I’ve just found the book for our collection too.

I enjoyed watching “Four Holidays” last night, complete crazy family antics but funny

One from my childhood that I loved and really made me believe in Santa was “The night they saved Christmas” about a family that get taken to the north pole to meet Santa so they can convince their father to stop drilling for oil very close by Santa’s home.

It wouldn’t be Christmas day without each of these movies being on TV. “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and on Christmas morning you have to watch the old classic “Rudolph the red nosed reindeer”.

This year we’ve added these to the list of must sees, I’ve never seen either but I’ve heard great things about “The Polar Express” and with out little house guest Dumpty I sure the “Elf” movie will go down well with Grace.

I’m sure there are many more that I’ve missed. What are your favourite Christmas movies?

Little Dumpty the elf has been having a load of fun at night when all is quiet and still. Each morning Grace has been waking up to find what he’s been up too each evening and she gets so excited.

On his first morning she awoke to find that he had climbed up to the top of our TV and was peering over holding a chocolate Christmas bauble.

Day two found him stuck head first in the cookie jar, he’d been caught in the act but must have got a cookie or two first as there were crumbs!

Then this morning she had to really search to find him, he had cuddled up with the Santa bears and was giving a little teddy a big hug.

Gosh knows what mischief he will get up too this evening?!

The other excitement in our house in the morning it the opening of advent calendars, Grace is very lucky this year and has two! The first is a traditional chocolate one and she is a chocolate nut so that goes down well. Then this year I have made a range of little notes with Christmas activities, experiences and some let her chose a little gift from under the tree.

So far she has selected two gifts, a Santa hat headband and also a reindeer cushion. On Friday she got to decorate this little tree for her bedroom complete with twinkle lights, bargain of the century, the tree cost $1.99 at the Warehouse!

Then this morning the advent calendar said to enjoy a family Christmas movie complete with treats, so when Craig and Grace were shopping this morning some popcorn and Jaffa’s got thrown in the trolley and this afternoon we enjoyed watching “The Santa Clause”. It was a relaxing end to a busy weekend. Today we enjoyed a picnic at a local park which had fab wee model trains that you could ride on, it was the preschools Christmas party and even Santa made an appearance. I can’t believe that I’d never been to see the trains before, it’s only in the next suburb and was great fun, the only downer was all three of us ended up with hay fever. We’ll defiantly be heading back over Summer though!

Grace, Maddi and Georgia enjoying a ride on the trains.