Christmas Loot

I wore my green wig on Christmas day

I have had a lovely time these past couple of days! Christmas day was lovely, we had Grandpa & Grandma over and we had our usual Christmas lunch, with prawns and cocktails to start with, special as always, after Christmas lunch Grandpa always gives us a 'silly' present, something cheap but always useful...it is one of my favourite traditions. I have a photo on another camera of him handing out brown paper bags with our faces on them, very cute, Ill pop it up when I find it!
My sister, my boyfriend Darren and I then went up to Dad's Christmas party, which was kind of weird cause we didn't know half the people there, but it was ok, good desserts!
Boxing day was a super hot day, Darren and I had a lazy morning, then headed over to our friends Danny & Sarah, were we exchanged presents, Darren and I were totally spoiled!
Darren and I then went on to pick up his sister Megan, and we came home and decorated gingerbread cookies together. Oh we also played Cranium-Wow!, if you want a really fun game, go out and buy it!

Darren did this Patrick one

Elton John one by my sister

I received some awesome presents this year from my friends & family, I feel very loved! Thank you to everyone! Here is a picture of my favourite Christmas loot:

From left to right Clockwise: Awesome ice cream cookie jar, handmade pillow from Rose, cupcake placemat set, Sex & city movie, Twilight book & CD, cupcake napkins, pansy cupcake tier, cupcake patty pans, cupcake sugar jar, and a Wreck this Journal!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!
Tomorrow is my favourite day of the year!
The best part of the day is Christmas lunch...prawns, then a big roast, then pudding!
And of course spending time with my lovely family.
Hope your Christmas is a happy day too!

Ikea gingerbread house assembled with my Sister

It's Christmas in my Room too!

I have had this tree in my room for Christmas for the last few years, the soft glow the feather lights create seem to send me off to sleep immediately. I had a huge drama with my feather lights not working initially this year...thankfully after much frustration it turned out to be a slightly touchy cord, I taped it in place and hurrah it worked. I went all out this year and added a few cute extra touches underneath.
Its kind of funny that there is all this cuteness in my room, considering I share it with a boy who is very much into metal and black!
One more day till Christmas...I am off to get last minute presents and supplies...very brave really considering the crowds in the shops have been worse than ever this year!

This is my most favourite ornament of all, she is the cutest little angel, with a sparkly blue dress and the sweetest face!

It's beggining to smell a lot like Christmas...

Christmas for me, ever since I was born, has always involved at real Christmas tree. Until we get the tree into our house and it infuses it with its beautiful pine smell, I really cant get into the Christmas vibe. Now we have the tree, and I am in the Christmas mood!!

I had my last shift for the year yesterday, and I baked Christmas cupcakes for all my fellow nurses and our reception staff. I made two different flavours, Ginger Bread Cupcakes from here, and Milk & Cookies (Santa's Fave!) Cupcakes from my recipe book Crazy About Cupcakes.

The Ginger bread ones had cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and the Milk & Cookies one had Choc-Vanilla Frosting. Both flavours were very popular. Pity it was such a crazy busy shift to finish up on, but now I have two precious weeks off...and with my shiny new sewing machine sitting under the tree, I cant wait to start some new projects!

I will post a photo of our beautiful Christmas tree once all the presents are wrapped and sitting underneith it! I will be baking gingerbread cookies soon!

Sleep Masks

This is the one I sent

Another past project from Swap-bot. Make a sleep mask for your partner...sounded simple enough! YEAH RIGHT! I had forgotten I would be using my 50 million year old sewing machine, with the hand wheel, the project took a lot of patience and several attempts to get right.
I have asked for a new sewing machine for Christmas...and I cant wait...I am brimming with excitement of all the things I will be able to make without getting carpal tunnel in my right hand!

One I made for myself!

If you like Pina Coladas...

Yep, I do, and getting caught in the rain too ;) I made these cupcakes, adding pineapple to a banana coconut recipe, when I tasted them I realised they tasted exactly like a Pina Colada...then came the cream cheese frosting and umbrellas!

Funnily enough, it hardly feels like summer here at the moment, we finally received the rain we have been hoping for for a long time...we have been in a pretty serious drought for the past couple of years here in South Australia. I had forgotten how exquisite the smell is...so fresh and clean, it made me feel really energised. And now I swear after just two days of rain we have a little bit of green showing up in our dry brown lawns. It is amazingly beautiful.

Bottle Cap Magnets

I think I first saw these on Martha Stewart's website, as soon as I saw them I really wanted to try them...but was a little nervous about using resin. After much research on the internet, I felt confident enough to use it, being a nurse was handy as I was able to have access to gloves/protective eye wear/ measuring cups. Everything I used was disposable because you cant wash anything in the sink unless you want it clogged!

So after collecting lots of bottle caps, I looked through magazines to find some cool pictures, then I sealed the pictures with white glue so the resin wouldn't sink though and ruin them. The resin is pretty easy to use once I worked it all out. I learnt the hard way I have to let them dry in a box or something with a lid so little bits of dust don't set on the surface. I also have made a few brooches, which turned out pretty cute, I'll blog about them another day!