clay garland + merry chrismis + see ya later

We've tried salt dough ornaments in the past, but this year I wanted that super white porcelain look and was really happy with this recipe, found through Pinterest (duh, of course).

Using just baking soda, corn flour and water this couldn't have been easier. Some advice I'll add to her very clear instructions though would be to just roll and cut small bits at a time, keeping the rest in a bowl covered with a damp cloth. Also keep a cup of water on hand to moisten the dough with your fingertips as you re-roll the scraps to cut again. This stuff dries fast!

I baked the ornaments for about 45 min a side at 80 degrees Celsius. And had to sand off a couple of rough patchs after they'd baked, but that might not be necessary if you use sharper metal shape-cutters.

Of course a fair number of them had to be painted and be-glitter-rated.

And then strung on ribbons and festooned about the house!

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, enjoy your hols etc. I'll be back here sometime in the New Year. For the next while (like my 'pic a day' project, ahem), I hope to be completely inconsistent, unreliable and uttery spontaneous.
Isn't that what the summer holidays are all about?

xmas tree craft

We made these a few weeks back. It was an overcast day and the girls mostly insisted on completing them stark naked. Not ideal photographic conditions.

But never-the-less, behold the egg box Christmas tree!

Sunday prepped the egg boxes a few days before. Fully clothed and under the close scrutiny of a baby doll.

Friday cut them up. Semi-clothed, if a plastic raffia hula-skirt counts at all.

Constructed (in the nude) by lacing pieces onto a wooden skewer, random bit of polystyrene holding it upright.

Topped off with an angel and some glitter be-spattering. Sunday's angel's facial expression is unreadable, Friday's skewer out the top of the head (first pic) was non-negotiable. Wings their own design.

Fun.

16 Dec

Christmas carols on the water. With bag-piper under the new, new moon. Magic.

15 Dec

Rudolph, the red-nosed vlei-deer.

10 Dec

I like to have a presence, as it were, on my own Christmas tree. A little reminder that Mummy's watching ...

wall tree

The previous owners of our house had a Very Serious Home Office. All wood paneled and cork floored and harsh lighting.
This is the room which has temporarily become our 'Art Room' - as in the room in which we can toss glitter and splatter paint and hammer nails into things without being precious about the decor. It's rapidly becoming my favourite room in the house.

I've come across lots of pins (as in, on Pinterest) lately of play-play Christmas trees for littlies to decorate - ones made of fuzzy felt and cardboard etc - all of which sparked the idea for this: a wall tree for endless redecorating.

Masking tape tree onto wood paneling ...

... thumb tacks hammered in a little to make sure they're pretty secure ...

... and a basket of old or mismatched Christmas decorations.

Endless fun.

And especially popular with my smallest Christmas elf.

Now hopefully they'll leave our 'proper' Christmas tree alone!

lovely people making lovely things

It's that time of year and as I'm lucky enough to know lots of lovely people who make and do lovely things, I thought I'd share some links here ... you know, for Christmas present purposes.

Blossom Creations ~
Lots of simply gorgeous products for babies and mums, Jan's selection of fabrics is heavenly.

I have one of the very lovely cellphone wallets - perfect for your phone, Driver's Licence, debit card and an emergency R20 note when you're just popping to the shop or gym etc.

Make. Believe ~
Beautifully folded origami beauties ... these strings of birds,

... and Wendy's now famous exquisitely balanced and delicate mobiles, as featured in the latest House and Leisure magazine.

Lemon & Lilac ~
Specialising in paint techniques, reinventing old furniture and some gorgeous home decor, Lisa has a shop in Chenoweth St, Durbanville, an exquisite home in Observatory, a talented eye for spotting a treasure and lots and lots of energy!

Little Fire Company ~
Sponsor of my recent giveaway, the Little Fire Company has oodles of goodness for the babies and kidlets in your life, all of which can be purchased online.

Go shopping!

*All photos shamelessly lifted from their respective websites and facebook pages!*

2 Dec

And to continue a theme ...

My first favourite thing about Christmas (the list gets longer as the season goes on), is feeling justified in making frivolous crafty things and festooning the house with them. Not sure why I need any justification to do that at all, but I seem to think I do!

1 Dec

Despite their Ouma giving the girls 'real' advent calendars this year, I'm determined to re-use my matchboxes. 

I got this little guy in the post-Christmas sales at Checkers last December and thought I'd have some fun hiding him around the house with each day's matchbox.

(The first person to say 'Elf on a Shelf' gets a punch in the throat okay?)

P.S. Where have I been you ask? Two words: Downton Abbey. I refuse to apologise.

P.P.S. We have a winner! Thanks to everyone who participated, and to the Little Fire Company for a gorgeous prize.

help the rural child

I grew up a rural child going on holiday in rural places, and remember too well the snotty-nosed, barefoot kids we'd see everywhere. Walking impossibly long miles to school and wearing ragged school shorts year in and out, these kids were far more tangible evidence of our privilege than the 'starving children of Ethiopia' which parents liked to tote in front of their children during the '80's.

And tragically, not much has changed. Under-privileged children in rural areas are still as poor, as barefoot, as snotty-nosed as they were 30+ years ago. They still live in derelict labourers cottages on farms and tiny hamlets, they still walk long miles with hungry tummies to schools shamefully under-staffed and under-equipped.
They're not as evident to us city-dwellers as street kids and strollers, street-wise and stroppy. But the rural child is out there, and they need our help.

Which brings me to one of our favourite places. Help the Rural Child.

This is the Mowbray shop - clothing and bric-a-brac downstairs, books upstairs on many levels of winding, intriguing wooden floors. The children's room right at the top, a tiny attic room reminiscent of many a fairy tale - the perfect place to house a wealth of stories.

We spent lots of time here when we were living in Observatory, and bought many a treasure home. From the bookshop, old favourites from my youth and copies of adult novels I'd read and loved but didn't really want to pay full bookstore price for. Many an afternoon was spent reading there.
In the bric-a-brac shop I found shot glasses to match a random pair we'd had for ever (What? Doesn't everyone have shot glasses?), little heart-shaped candle holders to brighten a birthday table. Board games and baskets and antique linens.
And when we were sorting through our stuff while packing, the Rural Child was the recipient of many a black bag - the staff there humbling me with their gratitude for what I regarded as random crap!

So imagine how pleased we are to find a branch near our new home!

On Main Road, Kirstenhof, (the bric-a-brac shop is down the road in Retreat, I've not yet been - can't wait!), we've already spent many a happy hour there. The girls love to sit and read, I love to browse, the staff are welcoming and friendly, the air is calm and delightfully bookish. We like it there.
And we shop, one book each for the girls and a slowly growing collection of books for gifts - Christmas, birthdays, I love giving books and quite honestly, I'm finding nicer ones here then in commercial book stores.

I know some people feel iffy about second-hand. But if the book, or story, is beautiful, the price is right, the lesson is the sustainability of giving something a new life, and the beneficiary is a child who needs so much, then I can't think of a gift which ticks all the spirit-of-Christmas boxes better.

AND all books are 20% off until this Saturday!

Help the Rural Child, support these stores (there's another branch in Sea Point), and visit the website to find all the other ways you can help too.