That time I Ripped Up Pride & Prejudice

I came across this tutorial and loved the quirky wreath style and thought it would be a perfect Christmas decoration for our house.

I would have loved to use the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens because in my mind that would have been perfection, however I couldn't find it in the particular op shop I was looking in on the day I decided that I wanted to do it....and well we all know I am nothing if not headstrong and impatient at times...and this was one of those times *ahem* character flaw, moving right along... I did come across a copy of Pride and Prejudice and in my version of logic it was ok to buy it only to rip it to pieces because I already own it and have read it a few times. Problem solved. If you are not as pedantic as me when it comes to literature you could always use any book you don't like the look of, but personally I wanted to be sure I wasn't investing a lot of time into hanging tripe on my wall.

I'll be honest, I did squirm a bit when ripping out the first few pages, it just seemed so wrong. I suppose the fact that I majored in English literature didn't help either, but after I got over the initial uneasyness it was actually quite relaxing to rip a book to shreds. You should try it sometime, it had almost a cathartic effect.

I ran out of glue so will need to buy some more before it is totally finished but here it is so far:

I burned myself countless times with the glue gun, I even have a blister to prove it, but don't let that deter you from giving it a go. I just don't have any idea what I'm doing but jumped in and did it anyway...hmm impatience seems to be a theme, should probably work on that.

Happy Christmas :)

My Must-Watch Chrismas Movies

1. The Muppet Christmas Carol

I can't remember a Christmas where we haven't watched this movie, so suffice to say that its pretty much ingrained in the Christmas culture of our family. Who doesn't love a bit of Charles Dickens retold by frogs and pigs? Such a good movie and the songs always get stuck in my head. Definitely a good Christmas activity to watch this as a family over the school holidays.


2. Elf

 

One word: hilarous! Will Ferrell at his best, all of his comedy with none of the crude storyline. We like the movie so much that we went out and bought it again the last Christmas we spent in Ireland, because it wouldn't feel like Christmas till we had our Elf fix :)

3. The Holiday

Romance, travel, and Christmas all intertwined in a lovely chick flick. This might be one reserved for watching with your best girl friend as I do think chick flicks are best enjoyed in the company of another girl with a steady supply of snackfood. I've already watched this one but I love it so much that I'll probably watch it while making my next Christmas decoration project (its has to do with ripping a book to shreds, which normally I would hate but I think this will be so worth it!)

Special Mention: Robbie the Reindeer, not technically a Christmas movie but more like a Christmas version of Wallace and Grommit. We stumbled upon an episode of it on ABC back when we had TV and we thought it was hilarious, and of course the Irish accents and humor helps to sweeten the deal. Definitely worth fitting in amongst your Christmas viewing.

So what am I missing out on? Do you have any recommendations to add to my Christmas viewing?

It is Christmastime for sure

Last night we did one of our family traditions and made the Christmas pudding. We're not always this organised but Ash heads away to China in a few days so we wanted to do some Christmas things before she leaves :) We will miss her muchly but know that she will have a great time away and hopefully come back with lots of stories to tell and photos for us to see.

Everyone had to have a stir, even our little baby boy, although he was more interested in trying to get what was inside the bowl...

This will be our first Christmas as a family of three and it has made me think about what I would like to instigate as our traditions, so I'd love to know what YOUR Christmas traditions are? What do you do, where do you go, what are your essential things to make it feel 'Christmassy' to you? I might steal some of them if you don't mind?

One thing I would love to do is to make Tavi a Christmas stocking, we always had them growing up and I'd love to make a quilted one for him. Even though some Christmas Eves I was sure that us kids had stayed awake the majority of the night, there would always be a stocking totally stuffed full of goodies that mam and dad had somehow filled without us seeing. It also satiated our desire to get up and open presents on Christmas day for probably at least another half hour, so as a parent now I like the sound of that too :)

5 Weeks People!!

I always think that I am going to be so much more organized each Christmas than the previous year but I never am!

My friend informed me this week that there are only 5 weeks to go till Christmas and I have some serious sewing to do. I have all my presents planned but now I need to actually make them, and I'd also like to make our Christmas decorations too (I'm kind of an all or nothing person if you hadn't guessed).

So since the decorations are easier I thought I'd start on them to make the house feel nice and festive. I picked up the styrofoam baubles in a pack of 4 for 50 cents and then you can use any scrap fabric and ribbon to decorate so they work out to be pretty cheap. Nice and brain-numbing, I mean relaxing too!

I have wanted to make bunting for the longest time and now I finally have! Bias tape and all, I'm quite proud :) Need to do a trip to Spotlight for some more supplies though, and also does anyone know where you can get a real Christmas tree in Australia?

Looking forward to the first Christmas with our little man. I've decided he is getting a goat...well not technically for him, but I'll go into that another day since he has just decided to wake up and doesn't sound too happy. Until then you may marvel at my sewing abilities, most of which were gleaned from the internet so if I can do it then you definitely can!

My first sugar hangover

WARNING: The following post is entirely contradictory to anything and everything in line with full on 100% healthy eating...and if you are a total health nut, I salute you! But if you eat healthy most of the time, leaving wiggle room for experiences that may not be technically the healthiest but allow much needed chill out time to grow healthy relationships then join the club :)

Last night was a real treat, I spent some good quality girl time with some ladies that I adore, making gingerbread houses for our families. I'll have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive. Yes, I sew and take photos and whatnot but I definitely do not think of myself as being 'crafty' whatsoever and I wasn't too sure how it would all turn out, but then again I was coming home with a big box of sugary treats for my husband so either way I knew he'd be happy.

So after baby boy had his bath, I got dressed up, kissed them both goodbye and promised to return a few hours later with sugar galore for Chris. Maybe next year you can have some Tavi, till then you're a milk man with some avocado, banana, cucumber and broccoli on the side. Oh and the duck you do love to chomp so much.

We were actually early which was amazing and the place was packed! But soon enough we got stuck into constructing our houses. Thankfully there was no baking involved, just decorating with copious amounts of icing sugar and lollies.

 

I think the key to this is packing as many lollies on as possible, which I think we all succeeded in doing in various ways.

 

Here are the lovely ladies...

and their equally lovely gingerbread houses :) 

 

I think we got a bit carried away because soon enough everyone else had packed up and gone so we quickly went over to get our little babies wrapped up and add a dash of icing sugar and red ribbon. Speaking of babies... hello baby Yarrow! 

 

As you can see Chantal looks ridiculously amazing for being pregnant, although she is also ridiculously lovely so you can't really hold it against her...well not too much ;)

 

Short blondies to the front!

Thanks Chan for inviting us, it will be a cherished memory and even though I did wake up with a sugar hangover I'll definitely be back again next year, I might even rope in a few other ladies to come, anyone keen...?

(Gingerbread house kits were purchased from here, and oh my goodness they taste so yum!)