I love lights

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We did a fair bit of cleaning this weekend. Mainly in our backyard. I did some weeding, Jason mowed the lawn. And we're going to have to kill the old grass and weeds, turn the soil and plant grass seeds. I can't wait to have a pretty lawn.

We also went to Ikea to get another bookcase (for me) and two bedside tables, which are gifts from my parents for Christmas. Practical :) I thought I might even wrap them just so we can put it under the tree.

Anyway, I've started decorating our house. The tree is up but not quite decorated. We did put some lights on the tree.

I put a few baubles on but I need to get more decorations. And it's hard to take photos of lights, which is a shame because they are so pretty. 

This is our buffet. I put these star lights on here to make it more festive. There are a few baubles in a bowl and those are little mushroom picks in the vase. 

A better close up of the stars. 

I bought this fluffy light wreath from Myer a few years ago. I think it really brightens up a room.

I still have my little 4 ft white tree to put up and my tiny pink tree. And I need to get a Nativity set too. Oh and I've seen these cute Nutcracker soldiers which would be really sweet. 

In time this house will be filled with Christmas joy and I hope to share photos.

Have a wonderful week!

I'm thankful for...

Via Mademoiselle Robot Flickr

I know we don't have Thanksgiving here in Aus but I think it's always great to be thankful for what you have. So here's my thankful list...

♥ Having Christ in my life
♥ Having a wonderful, beautiful family
♥ My absolute best friend and amazing hubby Jason
♥ My gorgeous friends
♥ Lovely, lovely lovely blog friends/pen pals (who I consider real friends too)
♥ Owning a home
♥ The ability to see, hear, taste, touch, smell and use those to wonder at all the beauty around
♥ Hugs!
♥ Being blessed beyond anything that I could imagine
♥ Being so loved by my Creator, my family and friends and husband

And a less serious list

♥ Books, books, books!

♥ Stationery stores

♥ Etsy and other fantastic online shops

♥ Candle light, fairy lights, star light - soft light

♥ Wonderfully written book characters

♥ Mail and packages (to send and receive yay)

There would be so much more on this list but this is just a brief overview. I hope you all have a wonderful and fantastic weekend!

P.S I bought a 7ft green Christmas tree last night. I can't wait to put it up!! 

Christmas Bon Bon inspiration

Hey lovelies! It's only about a month until Christmas and I realise how much I see need to do. One of my jobs this Christmas is to make the bonbons (of Christmas cracker) for the table. 

I really wanted to personalise each one instead of buying them. So here's a bit of inspiration.

Via The brides cafe

Via Tara Dennis

I made these ones a few years ago for my girls. 

This is what I had put inside

♥ Little Bloom soaps

♥ Pastel gel pens

♥ Tiny handmade envelopes

This year, because I'm making them for the family I was going to try and personalise for each person. So the decorating will depend on who it's for. My ideas on what to put inside...

Via Moncadeau Etsy

♥ Tiny jewellery 

Via Bloom

♥ Little soaps

Via Tabidesigns Etsy

♥ Small brooches

♥ Tiny earrings (made by me)

Via BelleandPeace

♥ Special friendship bracelets

Via Kikki.K

♥ Tiny sticky notes

Via Belle and Boo Etsy

♥ Little button/badges

Via Cupcaketree Etsy

♥ Little hand carved stamps

♥ Lindor chocolate balls

♥ A hand written quote

♥ small pens

♥ Cute stickers

I'm sort of at a loss on what to put in a guys bon bon besides gourmet bits of chocolate. But these ideas are more for my girls and for pen pals etc. 

Anyway, I've bought my bon bon snaps (that make that bang sound) and I'm deciding on paper and other bits to decorate with. I'm looking forward to making them :) 

P.S. Remember to email me gracienne.nancy [at] gmail [dot] com if you would like to get a Christmas card from me! 

Weekend outfits and Christmas Cards

Hello! I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was quite busy. I meant up with two of my girls at Max Brenner, then had a friends birthday at night. On Sunday after church, we went to a housewarming party. It's fun to get out and do things.

I have a few pictures from the weekend.... (and I tried doing outfit photos)

I was trying to show off my little red heart sequin headband. So you can sort of see it.

Outfit

Dress: White Euphoria

Shoes: Windsor Smith from Myer

Bracelet: pearl bracelet with Eiffel Tower charm, gift from Laura

Necklace: My Tiffany necklace from Jason (for 21st bday)

What a wore to Max Brenner and friends birthday at night. It's the White Euphoria dress I bought at Finders Keepers. It's a little see through so I had to wear a really long black singlet underneath :) 

I chose waffles at Max Brenner. It's a bit of dessert overload though because I was dying for some water. 

Me and my girls, Kristina and Laura. This was after eating. We ended up going somewhere else to drink some tea (and it started raining). 

Dress: Mombasa

Shoes: Innu from Myer

Watch: Guess

Necklace: The Meadow etsy shop (it has some lyrics to Rue's lullaby from The Hunger Games in the necklace)

 My outfit for the housewarming party. I can't really wear maxi dresses so I really loved this one when I saw it at Mombasa. For some reason I can't pose. I get all stiff and self conscious. 

via Picnic by Ellie flickr

And my other part of this post is to say is Christmas cards. Last year I sent out Christmas cards and I enjoyed it. So if you want to get a little card email me gracienne.nancy [at] gmail [dot] com. With your full name and address. You can do this until the 1st Dec! 

Have a great week lovelies!

Harry Potter Musings...the evolution of Draco Malfoy

Hello hello! Well, what can I say! I absolutely loved it! I say good call on splitting the film because they were able to keep quite close to the book.

For me, I loved Hermione. She is completely brilliant and it only made me adore her character even more Emma Watson is just completely fabulous!

This movie is definitely darker and more intense. It's almost strange to go back and watch the first few movies and you can see how much they have all matured.

You know who I have become a little obsessed with...Tom Felton who plays Draco Malfoy. I've mentioned it before. I first noticed him in The Half Blood Prince because I thought he had grown up. His character was more serious and he stopped just being Harry Potter's annoying 'enemy.'

He goes from this...

To this...

And he an absolute sweetheart in the interviews I've seen him in. Oh he sings too!

Via last.fm

A few of his songs are available on iTunes. His song, " If you could be anywhere " gets me bopping about :)

Haha, right this turned into a Tom Felton fan girl post more than about how I enjoyed the Deathly Hallows movie. I do want to see it again because it's really awesome and I got pretty emotional in it (Hermione and Dobby)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Frankie 2011 Diary winner

Thanks again to everyone who entered my giveaway! The winner is...

Tink in My Closet

Thanks again for entering and I will be emailing you shortly! 

I'm seeing this...

 

Tonight!! 

It's a little sad that it's the beginning of the end but I'm sure that it will be fantastic!!

 Oh and I had to share this...it's for Krystal from Village. She loves stars lately.

Via Moncadeau etsy

Via Moncadeau Etsy

You can get tiny hearts too! And each one is personalised with an initial. I love how dainty they are. You can get tiny bracelets and rings too! I'm thinking of giving these to my girls for Christmas. In the form of a handmade bonbon :) Good idea??

Anyway, I'm sure there will be a lot of Christmas posts and I think the movie tonight will be amazing!!

Wedding Photobooth

♥ My 'ferret face' taken by Laura 

Hello hello! Thanks so much for entering my quick little giveaway! I really do like the diary but I need it smaller to fit into my life.

Anyway, I found our Wedding Photo booth pictures. It was so much fun to go through. I thought I would share a few here. I also have a copy of some videos of our wedding that one of Jason's cousins did. I will see if I can break it up into smaller clips and post here.

Jason and his step brother Jason (funny I know) and my brother Alvin. This was before the wedding they were testing it out.

My oldest brother Rolf, testing out the camera and sign

Thara and Kristina, funny faces

I'm not sure why I like this photo :) 

Our masks with Melly and Laura

My nephews Isaiah and Caeleb

Lizzy, my matron of honour and me

They were waiting to get their photo taken with their sign ready

Two of my best girls from high school, Kim and Alice

Jason and some of his good mates and brother

Melly and Alvin mucking around

My wonderful parents

I know this is random wedding talk but I thought I would share some of these photos. There were a lot of funny ones too but a lot of them were personal jokes :P

Have a wonderful rest of week!!

P.S. I'm seeing Harry Potter tomorrow with Jason's mum and his brother's gf! Wheeee!