finally finished...

well almost, i just have to stitch the bottoms...these little birds are made from another of lyn's lovely tutorials, the girls are gearing up for a big night out on the town...happy new year!

ornament #25

and finally, the angel for the top of our tree, wishing you all a beautiful and blessed christmas with those you hold dear...

song of childhood...

which must be sung upon sighting a christmas tree anywhere, anytime, still...

dumpty-diddley
dumpty-dee
i can see a christmas tree
i'm as happy as i can be
dumpty-diddley dee

the tree is nearly finished, see it over here...

ornament #24

this one arrived a couple of days ago, i forgot to mention when i started this whole ornament thing that it was all an elaborate ruse to get my mum to give me one of these delightful snowman ornaments...we had a box set when i was a little girl and my sister and i just loved them...as i had hoped, mum couldn't resist giving him his five minutes of world wide fame...thanks mum, i'll take very good care of him!

ornament #23

glass and white, such a great combination, a modern take on the classic glass bauble...

ornament #22

angel with heart, a treasured gift from my mum and dad...xxx

ornament #21

another favourite, dear friends sent this decoration from "the conran shop" in london...

ornament #20

beaded angel that i got the same year as my disco ball decoration, which i would have shown in this selection only i seem to have misplaced it...i'll have to put the real one up instead, it's one of my most prized possessions...it even spins!

thankful...

for a quiet afternoon at home...
for my love who sits beside me watching cricket...
for our beautiful baby girl who plays at my feet...
for a nice new flippy haircut that makes me feel snazzy...
for yummy treats...
and for a little bit of time to sew these...

ornaments #14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19...

# 14, more from the gorgeous auntie darling, this is one of what we like to call the "moulin rouge" collection...


#15, beautiful buttons...


#16, little red ceramic bird...mum do you remember the time we saw a real robin red breast?


#17, indian angel...


#18, ceramic star with words, one of my favourites made by miss j...


and #19, more 80's ikea goodness...

ornament #13

ha! i wish...we do however always listen to harry connick jnr "when my heart finds christmas" as we decorate the tree and pretend that it just might...

ornament #12

delicate and sweet, one of those times when i had to break the rule and buy two...

ornament #11

scandanavian chic...eighties ikea wooden decoration...

ornament #10

the princess leah angel...

ornament #9

this bauble always reminds me of a klee painting...

ornament #8

my gorgoeus auntie darling makes beautiful beaded pieces, this is one of the first decorations she made for us...

ornament #7

white dove with red berries, christmas 2001...

ornament #6

a few years ago we spent a wonderful week and half in new york and we just had to bring home a brown bag of bloomindale baubles...

ornament #5

naive reindeer, i fell in love with his simplicity...

ornament #4

first decoration for my true love, christmas 1998...

ornament #3

our daughter's first christmas decoration...

ornament #2

when i was a little girl, my mum worked for a lady who one year decided to have a completely new chrismas tree...she gave us her old tree complete with boxes full of beautiful old glass ornaments, many of them have broken and disintegrated over the years, but a few remain and i love to see them on mum and dad's tree each year...i couldn't resist this silver glass bauble, it reminds me of the christmas tree of my childhood...

ornament #1

over the years i have collected decorations (technically one a year but it usually ends up being more) and as much as i love the idea of a minimal colour themed tree...i just can't go past a tree filled with memories that don't necessarily match and that speak of remembrance and hope, joy and peace...having said that, i've actually decided to make soft decorations for our christmas tree this year because i'm not sure if little hands are quite ready for mummy's treasured (and breakable) ornaments...so along with showing you the new softie decorations (when i've had a chance to make them) i hope to share some of our christmas treasures with you each day in december and decorate a tree over here...these beautiful origami stars were a gift from dear friends who lived in japan for a time...

twenty-five boxes...

when the latest issue of notebook came out a few weeks ago, i too was inspired by their version of the advent calendar...so tomorrow night we are delivering these to someone very special....


they are filled with sweet treats and tiny treasures...

on the subject of advents, the new issue of australian family circle has instructions for a lovely advent tree...

blogkeeping...

lots to catch up on...
here are the other beautiful postcards i received in the postcard swap organised by nicola...
from christina...


from natalie...


from shelly...


and robyn...
(unfortunately customs confiscated robyn's because it had a flower on it, but luckily they sent me a copy so i got to read this lovely poem that was on the back)

thank-you all for your gorgeous cards, and thanks nicola for organizing such a great swap...

i can't believe a week and a bit has already passed since clay paper cloth...it was such a wonderful day, it was a delight to meet jackie from littlest flower, so nice to meet a fellow blogger in person...


it was a great experience to be surrounded by such a talented group of artists and i actually sold quite a few things which was lovely (yesasia here i come!)...special big thanks to the fabulous miss j for all the encouragement and for the space on her stand of amazing work!

three sisters...

kiku...

mimi...

& nono...

the show was wonderful, will be back soon to tell you all about it when i've had a chance to gather my thoughts...
ps...happy birthday mum!

busy busy busy...

just like these squirrels on this gorgeous fabric that fran kindly sent me...thanks fran, i just love it and will be saving it for a special project...
in the meantime i am madly sewing to finish some work for clay paper cloth on the weekend...

eeeek!

how can it possibly be the middle of november already?
hmmm...i'm having a bit of trouble keeping up with everything at the moment, there really should be more hours in the day...
keeping me sane...afternoon tea from nicole and a gorgeous postcard from suzy!
so beautiful...


and just delicious!


thanks girls!

this week's mail...

postmark...a series of cards created for the postcard swap organised by nichola, see the full set here...

more yummy mail...

friday was a bumper day for mail because i got my first postcard from the postcard swap organised by nichola...she made this beautiful postcard with amy butler fabrics...


nichola also sent the yummiest fudge as part of the afternoon tea swap...um, i can only show you the recipe because i couldn't resist eating it as soon as it arrived...


thank-you so much nicola and more importantly congratulations on your wonderful news!

an invitation...

saturday 19th november 2005
at
"numinbah valley school of the arts hall"
from 9.00am - 3.00pm
nerang-murwillumbah road,
numinbah valley

an art and craft pre-christmas fair,
brought to you by a group of artists and friends...
"clay paper cloth" will present an eclectic mix of artists and their wares.
bring along a big old basket to fill up with goodies and
remember to bring plenty of pocket money
as there are no eftpos or credit card facilities at the venue!
country baked refreshments, tea & coffee will be available and
we will feature a lucky door prize with objects of desire from each of the participating artists...

this show was wonderful last year and promises to be so again...
take a trip to the country...be curious...appreciate art...

hooray!

isbn 4579109988, thank-you lyn for reviewing this one and for getting me hooked on yeasasia...


isbn 4579208110, because i'm a paper fiend...


and last but by no means least in fact it's probably my favourite, the wonderful rinen wa ku, isbn 4579209303...thank you alison for posting and recommending this one...i love it's smallness, i've been carrying it around in my handbag serene in the comfort of knowing it is there...

yummy mail...

i love the sound of mail...
stop-start motorbike
or
a motor not quite screeching to a halt...door slamming...one, two, three, four, five...there, it slams again and the motor hastily retreats...hooray, that means mail or maybe even a package...

today it was this lovely parcel of afternoon tea goodness from kath at red current...


the reason for my interest in the mail is that i am anxiously awaiting my first ever delivery from yesasia, so you can understand my excitement when i also discovered this in the mailbox...


off we trot to the post office to collect
a small slim envelope...
that couldn't possibly contain my japanese craft books!
and it doesn't...
it's stamps for you know who and while they are perfectly lovely stamps,
it's not quite the same!
luckily i got to come home to this...


and a nice cup of tea and these yummy biscuits...


thanks ever so much kath... they are delicious and made my day!