Christmas 2012

In previous years - especially since having kids we have found Christmas to be pretty stressy, especially since my husband has had major deadlines at work around the same time. So this last festive season in 2012 consisted of us trying to keep it simple whilst trying to stick with the things we love to do.

We like to get a real tree, shop for the kids gifts together, attend carols for children on Christmas Eve, make a few decorations, bake ginger bread with friends and eat some cherries and other summer fruit (we are in Sydney after all). With kids you tend to do lots of fun things, for example we do Christmas craft at a friends house and playgroup Christmas party complete with farm animals!

It was fun to visit the Christmas windows in the city and visit the Swarovski Crystal tree at the Queen Victoria Building. It is totally magical!

We ended up with 17 people in the house on Christmas night and yep, I was cooking. I tried to keep it simple and prepare ahead of time so I could enjoy the day as well.

News from Spring

I thought I would swing by to update you on few things I have been up to lately. After a holiday visiting family in the country, Camping at Wombeyan caves followed by a relaxing few days at the beach, we returned refreshed and ready for the lead up to Christmas... maybe.

I recently joined Illustrators Australia, I'm very excited to be part of this great resource for Illustrators. You can see my little page over here.

I painted a piece of timber for the "9x5 show" for the Illustrators Australia CARNIVALE exhibition. I was inspired by a past trip to Venice and Padua. If you happen to be in Melbourne you can visit the 9X5 Exhibition at SPACE 39, Lvl 2, 39 Little Collins St, Melbourne. Opening night is this Friday the 9th November 6pm-9pm.

Last Saturday I made the long trek into the Blue Mountains to "Pinerolo" Margaret Hamilton's children's book cottage in Blackheath. She runs courses on children's book publishing among other things. It was so lovely to be swept up in her enthusiasm for the books she has created over the years and all the amazing writers and illustrators she has worked with. She was also joined by renowned illustrator Wayne Harris who showed us many of his award winning books and and the original illustrations he created for them.

I enjoyed Margaret's extensive Owl collection, original collections of artwork from many amazing artists including one of my former tutors Tony Oliver. I didn't get a chance to have a good peek at her book collection.

Beach Holiday

Just spent 10 days on a traditional Lloyd summer holiday with extended in-law family; around 30 of us in total this year. By traditional, see patched up beach umbrella which has seen its fair share of beach holidays. The break was much needed after December craziness... Bah humbug (Honestly dislike pre-Christmas more and more each year). Came back home a few days ago feeling refreshed and invigorated, ready to start 2012 with renewed enthuisiasm. Again vowing to think of ways to create a stress free Christmas this year.

Christmas 2011

Christmas wrapping, Pavlova and Nibbles wreath (idea from Pinterest of course).

Kangaroo Valley

A few photos from a trip to the country in Spring. The echidna was crossing the road as we drove along and I stopped to take this photo. He/she ambled down a driveway after letting me take some pictures. It was the first echidna I have ever seen in the wild!


Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I am busy working on a very exciting project!

Happy Easter!!

Easter craft with E. We drew on hard boiled eggs with crayons, mum and I dripped candle wax on some and we dyed them different colours with food colouring. I was reliving fond memories of my childhood. Easter is my favourite holiday.

Gingerbread House

The Mister bought this kit Gingerbread from Ikea for me to put together with E. Several hours later it had collapsed in on itself.

This year has been crazy. The Christmas cards are going to be late, and I'm not making them this year. We do have a real Christmas tree though, so our Christmas traditions aren't completely broken.

Someone throw me a life jacket!

This year is speeding by I tell you. Before I know it I'll have my second baby in my arms. I can't believe I am over 20 weeks pregnant now! These photos are from a few weeks ago when we went to visit family... Anyone would think looking at this blog that we were always at the beach or lake. But thats not really the case, we are mostly painting and renovating the house at snails pace. I should be posting pictures of paint tins and holes in walls.




The scones were made by my neice Gabby. I seem to be eating a lot of scones lately, are they in vogue at the moment and no-one told me?

Paris 2007

I want to live here!


The final photo I posted because it is a little joke. Hubby took the photo because he thinks "Baby on Board" signs are hilarious, particularly in French... but the funny thing for me, is that I am in the background and little did we know that I had a baby on board...

Visiting friends

On the way to and from Queensland we stopped in on our friends in Coffs Harbour. Going by what fun two days we had, I think we should have stayed there the whole time we were on holidays!!


My friend Fi created all these fun things for us to do. Steve and her husband went fishing whilst we took the two boys to look for soldier crabs. We didn't find any crabs, but the kids and us mum's loved splashing in the water! Then we had a little picnic and played on the play equipment. When we got home we filled up their canoe for the boys to splosh around in. We threw in some beach toys and empty squirty bottles for them to play with. Then I decided we should do some painting so the boys did some painting and then hopped back in the canoe pool to clean off. Now that's what I call toddler fun! Fi's husband makes homebrew beer, very good ( a bit like bees knees) so Steve had a couple. Fi made 100% fruit sorbet with mango, banana and peach, it was so yummy and healthy. The boys loved it too.

Fi sent me home with some vegies and some orchids she grows in her garden. While we were there she was sundrying tomatoes on the washing line. I admire Fi's energy and resourcefulness in everything she does.

Back from the beach

Fallen yellow hibiscus lit up by the morning sun.

Corners of my home this week

We have a real Christmas tree this year. I grew up with them and I just love the smell! Do you think someone has bottled the smell of pine tree yet?

From my mother's stash are the heart and apple decorations she gave to me. The pinecones and banksia man I spray painted when I was a kid. I thought they would look nice in a bowl this year.



The tinsel decoration with faux pearl in the centre was my Mum's. Ethan likes to pull that one off the tree, so it will look pretty ratty by the end of the holidays!

Blurry

E in a t-shirt that I decorated with a cute print of ants and flowers. He's been sick this week with a sore throat and he has produced more snot than ever before! I've been chasing him around with tissues for days.

I'm feeling a little bit stressed out about Christmas at present. My mind is cluttered with all this STUFF that I need to do and make and organize.

I am so happy that we have room for a Christmas tree this year! I am also super excited about making a Gingerbread house like this one my Mum made one year.

Hunter Valley Gardens

These gardens are just filled with goodness! They are themed in different sections such as Formal garden, Asian garden, Indian Garden, Italian garden, Storybook land (for children!) etc. These photos are just a small section of these amazing gardens. I was really inspired by the Asian and Indian sections.

This table design reminded me of the tables we saw in the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy.

The Indian Garden and mosaic garden were gorgeous. I had never seen an Indian style formal garden before this.

Indian Mosaic Garden, it smelt like Curry plant, the blue bush in the foreground. I bought some of the curry plants to take home and try in our garden.

Some holiday snaps

We have just returned from our break away. On which we stayed in a cabin for 5 days in the bush.

Coffs Harbour

One of the highlights of the trip for me was a visit to the Butterfly house in Coffs Harbour. I think butterflies are so fascinating. I just love the tropical landscape on the north coast of New South Wales and Queensland.

The next day we visited the little artistic community of Bellingen. We had a delicious lunch at the Gallery Cafe. It is so beautiful in the hills around that area.

back from the beach

Every summer my husband's family get together for a holiday at Burleigh Heads in Queensland. We haven't been for 4 years because we were living far away in Western Australia. But this year we are living closer and managed to spend a week in the sun and surf. We would have liked to stay another week to unwind fully but we had a good time. Ethan had a blast!! He loved the sand and water but he may have eaten some sand! The sun umbrella in the right hand side of the photo is about 60 years old.

Merry Christmas!!