A sparkly Etsy treasury to celebrate New Years. I wish you all a wonderful night.

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We had a lovely and simple Christmas day this year, spending lunch with my husband's brother, sister, uncle and granddad — at granddad's house. This was the first Christmas without Grandma so it was special to be able to share the day with him. After a yummy lunch we headed outside for a walk around the garden. Granddad is English and lives in the suburbs of Melbourne, his backyard is super large which suits him perfectly as there is plenty of room for fruit trees and a veggie garden. We scored a little bounty of fresh beans, zucchini, carrots and garlic just before the buckets of rain and hail hit Melbourne.

I hope you've been enjoying the past couple of days and that none of the giant hail landed near you. Wherever else you may be reading this from I hope your days have been safe, fun and relaxing too. 

I'm taking a little break from this space for the next week or so but look forward to catching up again in 2012!

Enjoy x

whatcha doin?

Ok this is it. The last 'whatcha doin?' post. Christmas is finally friggin' here!

Learning you are never to old to be a fashion icon — loving this co-lab between Iris Apfel and MAC.

Reading how to mix the liquid fertiliser I bought for our plants — fingers crossed I don't kill anything

Making greeting cards — including a b'day, congratulation, farewell and a Christmas card or two

Watching BONES. Yes it's sad I know but I can't help it, BONES is Sunday night veg-out TV. My husband hates it!
Listening to some old school Beastie Boys. It never really seems old though does it?!

Eating yummy Simon Johnson, Christmas cake from the bosses lovely mum

Drinking as suspected last Friday, the work Christmas party saw far too much of a good thing was consumed

Wishing every one of you — my gorgeous readers — a very Merry Christmas!!!

flat cat

Or Pancake Kitty as we call her when she cuddles in this way! What a cutie.

the heat is on

photos courtesy of dad

This is an outdoor wood heater my ingenious younger brother built. Re-purposed from on old hot water service tank and truck exhaust!

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image from here

I really love this use of recycled jars for craft supply storage. I also think it would be pretty rad to open up a pantry and find jars similar looking to this! Or perhaps jams with little brightly coloured army men on top?! Hmmm...

whatcha doin?

lisa hannigan by nicholas laclair

This is the second last 'whatcha doin?' post before Christmas. I hope you are all on track for your celebrations or however you are spending this time of the year.

Learning to trust my instinct and listen to that inner voice of wisdom

Reading nothing new but I did manage to finish Conversations with Creative Women

Making cotton crocheted dish clothes like these

Watching Game of Thrones, another outstanding HBO series
Listening M83 and Lisa Hannigan

Eating fresh apricots and strawberriess

Drinking coffee, tea and water seem to be this weeks staples... however my work Christmas party is tonight so I'm sure things are about to change!

Wishing a dear college all the happiness she deserves for the year ahead on her new adventure

What did you learn this week?

learning to veg out!

As previously mentioned I spent last Thursday evening attending, 'Watercolour Food Fun with Dawn Tan' at Harvest Workroom were lots about watercolour painting — Dawn Tan style — was learned. Dawn is a wonderful teacher, passing on encouragement plus lots of tips and tricks that she has acquired over her many years experience. It was not only Dawn's knowledge and generosity which I found inspiring but also the way that she effortlessly and fearlessly marks a blank piece of paper. I love her gusto! And all of that teamed with her cheery disposition makes for a fun and almost playful way to learn. I loved it!

We didn't finish our pieces in class (although Dawn shows you through each step) so above are some pictures of the work I did afterward. Perhaps I got a little carried away and overworked it in the end but I was having such a good time I found it hard to stop?! 

If you do ever get the opportunity to attend a class run by Dawn and you have an interest in learning a bit about watercolour painting, you would be crazy to miss out. Now I can't wait to try some more watercolour.

Thanks Dawn for a wonderful workshop x

bonjour johanna

Another awesome 'present' arrived in my mail box recently — all the way from Berlin. This time it was a colouring zine and a small tote bag, hand painted by Johanna (there is a peek of the bag in the post below) + in this package was an extra little handmade notebook. Inside this notebook was the following sweet message.

"I created this notebook to give it to people I love but can't see. They're far away from me, in other cities.

On these pages they can write all the little things they would tell mi if I could be with them.

Please think about somebody you love when you write in this notebook."

— Johanna Tagada

I'm a fan of Johanna's giant paste-up monsters, 'Copains' and since I do not live near them when I saw that she'd created this mini colouring zine, I couldn't resist!

Also unbeknown to me at the time, I've actually crossed paths with one of Johanna's Copain's in person and if it wasn't for the internet I may never have realised. You can read about our encounter here, if you like.

whatcha doin?

We are getting close now kiddies and big kids at heart — Christmas is just around the corner!

Another week full of blurry snippets. Blurry not because I'm drunk on festivities, but more for the speed it went by in!

Learning from the super cleaver, lovely lady Dawn Tan how to do a foodie water colour painting. So fun and lots learned!

Reading and loving, Conversations with Creative Women (pictured above, under a shady tree on my lunch break)

Making not much craftyness this week, I'm working on design project outside of work which are keeping me busy

Watching Gone Baby Gone I really enjoyed this movie and was surprised to find out it was directed by Ben Affleck
Listening mostly the radio this week — a mix of RRR and JJJ

Eating Almond M&M's — yum! New to Australia but much older elsewhere

Drinking a delicious fruity French Earl Grey from T2 Tea

Wishing I had more sleep this week — I bet I am not the only one!?

I hope your week has been filled with fun and excitement. Any highlights?

to the park

Pics off my phone from my walk to the park on my lunch break yesterday. I take the shortcut to the park which is through the lane-ways. I like the lane-ways there is usually something unusual to discover. Yesterday as I turned the corner down this particular one I was stuck by the amazing scale and beauty of this flowering tree amongst it's grey surrounds and a perfect blue sky backdrop. These pics don't do it justice at all.

presents...

...not really — more like a purchase.

And the purchase was the vintage floral skirt you can see a peek of in the top image, made at The Loved One's Etsy store. You may know of TLO through the blog, Hannah and Landon — the vintage store is part ran by Hannah. Given how dreamy Hannah's blog is there was no surprise this purchase arrived just as beautifully presented!

morris

I finally made the finishing touches to Morris last week. He is my first attempt at amigurumi and I'm pretty happy with the way he turned out. I can also see why this could be a very addictive form of crocheting. Once I figured out decreasing and increasing my imagination started picturing all sorts of wonderful creations. I love that this is such a portable craft too, easy to do on public transport or in the park on lunch breaks!

whatcha doin?

Wowsers its actually December!

Snippets of the week that lead me here;

Learning that I like it better when I do my taxes earlier rather than later

Reading about phobias and anxieties — something which has played a big part in my life this year

Making or rather finishing my version of Morris, which I will show you soon

Watching The First Grader 
Listening to Seeker, Lover, Keeper while driving to work

Eating Green Lentil Soup — another yummy recipe from this great book

Drinking a whole lotta water — straight from the tap, no schmancy designer water here

Wishing I could have magically formed a bridge over an instant river (caused by torrential rain over the weekend) to help the elderly man carrying his freshly baked bread, get to the other side!