Decorate your home with love

ok. i am back. a little late, but there is still time to decorate and bake a few treats before Christmas is here. so, here we go...

some Christmas decoration ideas:

• mittens from oliver + s
• fabric garland from creature comforts
• bird ornaments from the purl bee, as well as some puzzle ball ornaments, and some lovely snowflake stockings
• lots of decoration ideas from living creatively
• tomorrowland trees from wise craft, and the soft trees pattern here, also the small object's trees, and some gorgeous felt trees here
• some paper christmas trees from martha stewart
• paper flowers that would make a lovely table centrepiece
• quilled paper ornaments tutorial
  
• fabric ball ornament from whipup
• and a range of adorable ornaments here
• christmas embroidery patterns from doe c doe here, here here and here, as well as these lovely stitched elves
  

for the packages!:

• giftcard box pattern from heather bailey
• holiday downloads from a print a day
• as well as gift tag + card goodness from: the black apple, sublime stitching (+ how to stitch them here!), camilla engman, made with love by hannah, angry chicken via handmade hellos, and a link to some lovely ones from martha stewart

and now for some baked goodies!

• chocolate hazelnut biscotti which i made myself the other day. these are not too sweet so they are simply perfection with a cup of tea
  
• macaroons. mmm...
• danish butter cookies
• cherry choclate truffles
• some lovely Christmas cookie and brownie recipes posted over at design sponge
• lots of treats being baked over at the small object
• fudge. fudge. fudge.

ok, friends.
wishing you all a safe and joyous holiday.
see you next year.
much love,
x

oh, Christmas tree

just wanted to point you in the direction of some great gift ideas for making by hand.
i am scarily aware that Christmas is just around the corner but incase anyone is still searching around for the 'right thing' for a loved one, i hope these can, at the very least, give you a few ideas to start from.

some lovely sewed scarf patterns can be found here, here and here

i just adore these flower brooches. i am so in love with brooches now. i was given some from elk for my birthday. they are purely divine

these beautiful knitted handwarmers

this lovely linnet bag pattern from the selvedge magazine site, and this sweet coin purse

smock pattern for a wee little one. also this gorgeous ruffle skirt, these super-adorable baby booties, and these sweet hair barettes

these lovely hat patterns: knitted beret, a crocheted flower cloche, or this awesome crocheted cap. and for those making gifts for a warmer climate these headbands are always a hit in my family

for the home: pretty ruffle pillows, these napkins are so, so simple but so very beautiful they drive me crazy, a lovely tissue box cover, some patchwork kitchen towels, this recipe card holder

these lovely mens shirt or coat pocket hankies

this doll pattern, wee wonderful's bear and bunny dolls, and this cute piggy softie

and if you are not entirely overwhelmed yet there are so many patterns to choose from at amy butler's website for sewing and paper craft projects, living creatively, the purl bee and burda style (including this completely awesome bow-tie pattern)

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also, the purl bee, as well as posting some gift ideas for fabric lovers, also posted some ideas for yarn lovers if you are looking for something special to buy

if you are looking for some decoration or gift wrap ideas i will be back during the week with some great links.
until then, happy gift making and gift hunting to all.

a quarter century younger

i have a bit of news, i just started a new job this week. it couldn't have come at a more convenient time i must say. it took so long for me to be ready to go back to work and took just as long to actually find something suitable. now i am very grateful to be able to cross one more thing off my list.

oh, and now i am 25. how did that happen? i just wrote 24 and then had to correct myself. ooops. these past 12 months have gone by so fast i can't even remember what went on during most of it. seriously.

i am getting super-excited about christmas. we put the tree up on the night of the 5th as is our tradition. we put it up in time for st nick's day on the 6th, we don't give gifts now that we are older but it has always been a special day in our house (and is thankfully still always accompanied by lots of chocolate). i am trying extra-especially hard this year to spread the Christmas 'cheer' around as it has been a difficult year for most everyone in my family, and we could all do with a little extra happiness and a lot less stress. i am sure many others feel the same.

i hope everyone is getting on top of their Christmas to-do list so as not to be overwhelmed the days leading up to Christmas. i will be pulling out the sewing machine this afternoon for that exact purpose. and i will be back in a few days with some lovely gift ideas for making by hand. mostly simple, and quick which can't be beat, really.

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i have just put up some of my earlier issues of interweave knits here if anyone is interested.

new issues of some of my favourite magazines have hit the internet: blanket, mankind mag, design this design that (so sad it is the final issue), living creatively, lmnop (super-super-cute) + a holiday magazine called handmade holiday you may just want to check out for inspiration

if you need to pretty up your desktop these wallpapers at kindred are just what you need. you can also find some cute ones here


have a wonderful weekend, all.