A very belated Merry Cheer

Where did December go I hear you ask? It has 11 months before it to warn me it's coming but somehow December always takes me by surprise. With Christmas, a few birthdays, end of year parties, concerts, cooking, shopping and decorating it seems to whir by me and dump me in January in a daze.

With the arrival of a little one of our own in our house this year Christmas was a little more low key than last years neon Christmas effort but I still thought it was bright and cheerful.

It all started when I found a garland of owls - 4 to be precise - and as we became a family of 4 this year it was perfect; daddy, mummy and 2 little baby owls. What's more it was red, my favourite colour and spots and gingham - it was made for me right?

And here is what they sparked off - I found some red and white spot and red and white star ribbons in my op shop stash, I threw up a crochet tablecover over the bookcase as a bback drop, found more red and white decorations at a bargain store, some spotted paper chain at a party supply store, pulled out my santa cross stitches and old red and green tins and voila xmas was a red and white spot, stripe and gingham affair at ours this year.

 

When all was done we realised the tree was still a little bare and we decided to make some himmel style decorations using paper straws and this tutorial From Nalle's House discovered on pinterest. I need to work on technique a little to be neater and more efficient but it wasn't too hard - I may get more elaborate with them next year?

All that was left to do was wrap the presents

And start the festivities. I am hoping December doesn't catch me out this year, I think maybe I will pretend November is the start of the silly season and maybe it will feel a little less silly come December. I hope you had a colourful, bright and fun filled Christmas with your loved ones.

Found Friday

It is no secret here that I love other peoples unfinished craft projects, I have my own as well but they are a frustration rather than a delight. I especially love finding unfinished embroideries and needle points at op-shops and I have no intention of finishing them. It is their incomplete, given up on selves I appreciate so much. The enthusiasm that the project was started with is evident, even in the tiniest areas  of coloured thread, but at some point the maker couldn't make it and here it is right where they finished.

A few weeks ago I found a new favourite in this Paddington Bear 'artist' in the op-shop and I want to frame him just as he is for a children's bedroom wall. (maybe with an iron?) The little speech bubble above the picture of Paddington on the packet says it all "I can't wait to start my Paddington Artist Picture'. I for one am glad they could wait to finish it.

Appreciate or Emulate

Here's how you can climb every Mountain at home, in love, out and about and on your very own

This weeks decorate ideas are all, rightly, for little explorers

I think there is nothing more beautiful than a mountain wedding - it lends itself to some beautiful decorations and a 'running away to the hills' atmosphere. I fantasise often about winning the lotto and flying my family and dear friends all to the Spanish Pyrenees where mine and my mans love flourished in our adventures together around small pockets of the world - here we could have a mountain high celebration of our own. In the meantime I will enjoy these pics from some beautiful mountain weddings - hope you do too.

This wedding on Mountain Side Bride, above, in particular takes my breath away - every little detail including that red dress oh my!

It's all in the detail of this Rocky Mountain Wedding via Style Me Pretty. I especially love these vintage postcard feeling favour bags.

Vintage and intimate is the vibe of this couple for their Colorado Mountain Wedding as seen on Ruffled

Lastly this is not so much a wedding as a Love Festival on a hillside in California from Green Wedding Shoes

Everyone is rocking the mountain look

Him - wearing, among other things, a Mountain Print shirt from Nemis

Her - I love this mountain print scarf from Totokaelo

Them - Uber cute leggings for bambino from Salt City Emporium on Etsy and this clever and cute top by Swallow Return

This could be where I tell you to take a hike but as that is neither polite or in some cases practical I thought instead to show you a little experimental DIY I did today.

I was inspired by this

And by a mother that hails from the Blue Mountains and 2 lovely sisters who when together visiting said Mountains as children were snapped by many a foreign tourist standing in front of the 3 Sisters -
to have a go at making my own rubber stamp.

Trust me when I say this was a very quick and rough first attempt but I am reasonably happy with the results - there may not be an eraser left standing in the house by the end of the weekend as I practice and get stamping.

She'll be comin round the mountain again I suspect as I have loved every minute of this one.

Found Friday

This weeks Found Friday is short and sweet and crafty.

I have a thing for the craft section of Op-shops - all the abandoned projects and scraps of completed ones sing to me. I also love nothing more than a surprise bag of craftyness that you can't quite see inside and only find the treasure, hopefully, when you get to unpack it at home. I think it makes me feel like a kid again in that lucky dip excitement way.

Yesterday, among other things, I bought one such abandoned bag of craftyness - inside these little bead people, some angel wings and buttons. I'm thinking it is an omen for a good weekend ahead.

I hope you get some surprises of the good kind this weekend!

Finding Everywhere

Watercolour has been splashed all over lately. The dreamy effect of colours running into each other is trending in everything from homewares to fashion to full wall treatments - more to follow in this weeks Appreciate or Emulate but for now here is the watery colourfulness I have been finding everywhere

1. The Muse Multi hand painted canvas and suede Clutch available at Down that Little Lane store
2. Beautiful day original illustrated card by Lauren Merrick Illustration also at Down that Little Lane
3. This spectacular Surprise hand dyed tassle necklace from mur Mur via Etsy
4. Bonnie and Neil are amongst my favourite Australian homeware designers, here is their Pink Water Colour Ceramic Plate
5. Scrunch Designs's Watercolour Hand Painted Resin Earrings available from madeit.com.au
6. Bonnie and Neil again - what a bold statement this is for any table - hand screen printed linen watercolour orange table runner 
7. Queen of watercolour splashes - Amy Sia's Ardour Custom Clock for Deny Designs
8. Kavita Kriti Hand painted silk scarf via Etsy
9. Abstract watercolour cushion by Scottish textile designer Fi Douglas through Mildred and Co in New Zealand
10. World Map Watercolors Poster from zazzle.com.au
11. Lily Partoneau Summer Days iphone case from Etsy

Would you splash out on any of these?

Appreciate or Emulate

If you have seen yesterday's Finding Everywhere you will know there are many ways with the Japanese art of Shibori.
Here are just some of my favourite examples of how it can be all tied up in your life too:

There are shibori workshops happening all around
here are just some I have come across
Megan Morton's The School - Sydney, Joanna Fowles Make Your Own Shibori Scarf
Harvest Workroom - Melbourne, Shibori Silk Scarf Hand Dying 
Koskela - Sydney, Shibori Dying with Indigo

I also found these great DIY kits put together by some of the masters
Joanna Fowles make your own shibori scarf kit
Shibori's Dye da Vida - Indigo dye kit with 2 wooden shapes
Noon Design Studio's Indigo kit with shibori wrapper

P.S In case you missed the INXS emulating Bob Dylan reference and thought I may just have gone a little rhyming mad I share it with you here. INXS Mediate

Wishing you a neon bright xmas

I posted this Found Friday back in August. I had found the plastic apple container baubles and they made me think of Christmas. As I mentioned then I had already thought about doing a neon christmas this year inspired by the neon pink ribbons I found attached to trees and fences after a local primary school fun run. That combined with the strong Neon, Natural and Neutral trend that we have seen this year which I also wrote about in February and it was settled - we were having a neon christmas!

As much as I love the traditional christmas colours I am loving this for a bit of Australian summer Christmas brightness. We won't be here for the actual day but there is no reason we can't be festive before then and it is a colour party at our house right now.

I made this 'bauble' garland from cut neon card and jute string. It hangs beautifully against the crisp white walls.

My apple 'baubles' and pink ribbon needed a new branch home so I scoured my local parks after a recent storm and found a lovely selection of branches which I have tied together. I popped them into a street salvaged vintage jar with pebbles topped with lights. Even with all this it just didn't feel christmassy enough then I remembered I had found a bag of tinsel at the Op-shop the other day so made little tinsel nests - festive tree complete.

The same day I found the tinsel at the Op-shop I also found this mini silver tree.  I neon-ed it up with circle cut 'baubles' hole punched through the top and twisted in place. A mini tree would not be complete without a mini present. I think most people who opened it might be disappointed to find it is only full of the neon 'confetti' all that hole punching produced.

The last bit of Christmas bright might be a step too far? I had the idea of making a doily tree for the window, inspired by several I have seen but it had to have a neon twist. To neon it up I splatter painted the paper doilies with fluorescent paint and made a 'tree' in the window. I love it but it is possibly a little too pink for the boys in the house, they do outnumber me 2 to 1 after all. It has received some interesting comments from passers by usually along the lines of 'Pink?!' It really comes into it's own at night though all lit up. I would love to know what you think?

So there it is our neon Christmas - I figure I may never do this again so I went with it - would you do a neon Christmas? Whether you would or not may all your Christmases be bright.

xo
Siobhain

P.S a big thank you to Craig Proudford for the photos (despite his reservations about the pinkness of the tree xo)

I pinned it AND I made it

I have been on pinterest for nearly 2 years now and while I am a self confessed pinaholic I rarely find the time to make the things I pin to make or to take inspiration from. That's the pinning irony isn't it - I'm too busy pinning stuff to make the stuff I pin.

Finally I have done it!

I saw this cute and clever idea for toddlers having their own tree on pinterest earlier this year, here is my felt tree pin originally from the blog johnnyinadress.com

I decided to take inspiration from it and make my own for my little guy. The best thing being when we go on holidays to my parents for Christmas he can take his little tree with him - we will just roll it up.

I didn't follow any instructions but made it up as I went along - happy to share this with anyone who wants to know - it involved making a tree template and printing off outlines of decorations from the internet to also use as templates.

I made it so it is cardboard backed and can be taped or blu-tacked to his door or laid flat on his play table. He has had fun decorating and redecorating it today exclaiming "I made it" each time.

So there you go - I pinned it AND I made it. Now to get to the other thousands of pins - I told you I was addicted.