Stage Three

I have officially reached all requirements for stage three on my Christmas scale.

Stage 1. Believe in Santa, everything is magic, its all about the presents!
Stage 2. Pretend to believe in Santa, everything is relaxing, it's all about the presents!
Stage 3. Become Santa, everything magic requires your hard work, its all about the food!

This year I am making the Christmas dinner for the extended family. Me. Turkey, gravy, potatoes the whole deal. I am wishing for a perfect juicy turkey {I know it can be done!} golden crunchy potatoes and perfectly done roast vegetables. No need to panic.

Buffet all dressed for deserts. {Although that's a bit of joke as it's woefully inadequate to hold all the deserts my family will have.}

Now thats a party table! Looks like way more fun ... maybe I'll sit with the kids this year.

Joy Joy Joy

What party planning, decorator loving, holiday worshiping, baking mamma doesn't LOVE Christmas? Even in my house where I adore matt finishes and washed out neutral colours everything is a bit glittery and bright. I love the music {though my family thinks October is too early to start playing it, as if} I love the food {I have usually eaten about 2 packs of mince pies by December, no judging} I love the decorations, the family time, the weather, the craft, the treats, the kindess, the cards and being a Christian I love celebrating the birth of Jesus. Love it, love it, love it. 

Featuring my 'new' cake stand

Sadly our Christmas DVD collection had exceeded the Christmas book collection. Will have to fix that.

All these family photos were taken by Deep Grey

That's were the 'sentimental' ornaments hang.

Here is what I used that painted frame for in my playroom to showcase the kids Christmas art and cards. I got these pegs in a Christmas sale last year for $4 they are just stuck to the wall with blutak and the frame with some 3M velcro tabs. 

Is this not the most Australian Christmas picture, mango anyone? 

December Madness

Oh my gosh the year has gone, so many projects left undone. 
No time for delays or excuses don't stall, dash away dash away dash away all.

Sorry, the fist line rhymed by accident and i couldn't help myself. So I have a ton of things I want to finish before Christmas but as always not even half of them will get done. To save time I'm just bunching some of them all together in one big post.

The recipe is the same here:
Cheap second hand finds
Add 1 quick coat of spray primer {because they were all stained}
Add 1 quick coat of paint in your choice of colour
Sand away some of the finish to make it look less 'I did this myself'
And finish with 1 coat of Poly {only if you absolutely have to}


Op Shop Cake Stand $5.
When I got this home I noticed someone had written their New Zealand address on the bottom which made me take a second look at the wood, should I really paint over it, what if it's valuable? It was very high quality and crafted really well. On the other hand I think it's ugly, so yes. 

 

Op Shop Photo Frame $3.50 / Existing Frame Free

On a recent trip to Sydney I ordered two letters for my girls from a market stall for $15 each. I choose the patterns and the colours to go with the girls room though I didn't really know how I would use them. After a bit of thought I came up with an idea, I just needed two pretty frames. I choose Taubmans Green Sisal and Pale Crimson for the colours. 

 

More Frames

I bid about $12 for a frame I wanted at the tender centre and won. When I went to pick it up I found out it was part of a group. Seven {mostly} very crappy plastic frames, I took them all just in case. 

I painted that large green one at the back for something in my playroom with a charcoal metallic spray paint.

A vast improvement.

 

I have had sick kids of late and as a result have been hanging out at the chemist a lot. Spied this gift bag $1.99 I thought it was gorgeous and deserved to be in a frame and because I own a lot of frames I found I had the perfect one. I used the same charcoal spray paint. It's sparkly up close. 

Still so much I want to finish!