Have a beautiful New Year

Via Tumblr

I hope you have wonderful New Year full of new opportunity, beauty and wonder.

I'm having a quiet night in with Jason and some family. I will need to do a proper catch up post next time. And best part of my year was my wedding in January (24th) :)

Have a truly fantastic and blessed New Year!

Little red nose says Merry Christmas

My little red nose reindeer wants to wish everyone a wonderful and beautiful Christmas!

♥ We have dinner at Jason's mum's tonight

♥ On Christmas day we are going to the Sunshine Coast to have lunch at my brother's house with my family. Hope it doesn't rain. I really want to go to the beach. 

♥ After Christmas I have a 40+ work week and 6 days in a row :(

♥ Oh well I'm celebrating Christ's birth and I'm alive!

Have an absolutely fantastic and blessed Christmas!

The time I saw the filming of the Dawn Treader

My Narnia pop up book on the Dawn Treader page

I know this is a bit late because I saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader a few weeks ago when it came out here in Aus. We saw it a week earlier than most people. As I've mentioned before, they filmed the majority of the film here in Australia. Mainly in my state of Queensland and even better, a lot of the filming took place in Cleveland which is only about 20 minutes away from where I used to live.

I enjoyed the movie. It still held the wonder I had for the books when I first read them. They changed the story by adding a few things and changed the order of the events in the book, but it worked well.

Plus I was absolutely delighted to see the scenes in the movie that Jason and I saw being filmed. We went there about twice and each time was utterly fascinating. 

What I was proud of was that so many of the extras are Aussie. Drinian who is Caspian's captain of the ship is Gary Sweet an Aussie actor. I got to see him and Georgie Henley (Lucy). Unfortunately I never got to see Ben Barnes, though I know he was there often.

Since I don't remember if I ever shared some photos from set, here they are.

I kind of like that you can see the cranes and other bit of equipment. I really felt like I was on set. 

The guys who played the minotaurs and one of the dwarfs. They came and talked to people through the fence. 

Gary Sweet talking. 

You can just make out Lucy :) 

A horrid pic of me. I worn a strapless dress because last time I tanned fast and was left with strap marks :p

A bit of a close up.

The guy in the hat is Douglas Gresham, who is CS Lewis' step son. I love that he's always involved with the film. 

 

One of my fave pics. 

I had a whole lot more photos and some video footage too but this is probably enough for now. It was definitely a great experience. These photos were from our second trip out there and we brought a fancy camera that belonged to Jason's brother Brodie. This is why we had better close up pics. 

Anyway, I have to work until midnight tomorrow (bleh). And the lovely Illy is having a giveaway for $25 credit for my shop on her blog. Check out this post :) I have answered some interview questions too!

Enjoy!

Brown paper packages

Thank you for all your comments about the ornament swap. It was truly a wonderful experience.

Last night I want to our church Christmas carols. It was amazing! But it was also pouring down with rain. It's a good thing we had ours indoors. I had a few videos but they aren't playing on my comp for some reason. There was another random video I wanted to share but not working :(

Anyway, most of my gifts are wrapped and it's pretty much all wrapped with brown paper. I really love the look of it. So here's a few photos.

The gifts under the tree. The one in front with red string is one of my gifts from Jason. I have an inkling of what it is :p (and finally some beautiful sunlight!)

A bit of a close up. The one on the left in the front is from my lovely Laura. 

My packaging for the gifts for some of my girls. 

And I just had to add this YouTube video.

These guys are from my church and they won a competition to open for Bon Jovi at the Brisbane concert a few days ago. This song is awesome! Definitely take the time to listen to them, The Smart. (I hate that YouTube videos always get cut off on my blog). 

Have a wonderful week! The countdown to Christmas begins :) 

Ornament Swap

Hello hello! I participated in Micaela's ornament swap. I love getting involved because you make some really great friends!

This is the ornament I sent...

An aqua blue/teal/turquoise chandelier. I think the colour was definitely Bethany. I also added a Frankie 2011 diary and one of my heart headbands. 

This is what I received from Bethany! Some beautiful vintage baubles. She said she hopes that I enjoy the romance of ornaments that have hung on trees for years. And it's true! It's hard not to think of the background story of who owned them and whether they were given as gifts or bought for the prettiness.

It was such a great swap and I know that I will be participating in next year's one!

Oh and I got this ornament made with Snapfish. Just something I wanted for fun. I do like how it turned out. 

Well it's the last weekend before Christmas and there is so much to do. Lots of cleaning, finishing up with gift wrapping (thank God I've pretty much finished buying all my gifts - but still waiting for some to arrive from overseas, slightly panicking now!!) 

We have Jason's brother's uni graduation tonight. Well he's graduating his Honours year (Wow I was at his highschool graduation too! Time flies). And Sunday night is our church Christmas carols which is always fun.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Baby Pearl Bracelet

Hello lovelies! It seems as though you all love pretty sparkly/glittery shoes. So I'm definitely keeping them in mind. I will see if I can even get those glitter TOMS here. 

I received my gift for baby Layla-Rose in the mail yesterday. It is utterly adorable! 

Her first pearl bracelet. It's tiny because she has a teeny wrist. (I measured it!) I bought this from Dutchpearl etsy shop. 

To show how small it is! I can't wait for her to wear it. 

My nephews Caeleb and Isaiah with their baby sister Layla-Rose. (In case you're wondering my oldest brother is divorced, hence why I don't call Layla my niece. And it's a bit too complicated to really get into all the family changes)

And just to show my friendship bracelet progress for the Friendship Bracelet project. Those four on the bottom were the first ones I made and decided to venture into using three colours. I'm really getting into it :) 

Ahh pretty glitter

Hey lovely people! I hope you're weekend was good. I didn't get to make my glittery star wands but it's on the agenda for this week.

Speaking of glitter, I have a few glittery items on my wishlist...

Via TOMS

Gold glitter TOMS! I was thinking about these but I'm not sure if they are too out there??

Or maybe silver.

Black perhaps. It would be a more subtle glitter. 

I wouldn't mind some pink ones but I couldn't use them for everyday.

What do you think? What would you choose??

And would love to own these.

Via Ban.do

These sequin heart shoe clips. I simply adore them! But shipping is too expensive (I would mind these glitter shoes either). 

At the moment though, I wouldn't mind a pair of glittery ballet flats for this season. I almost bought a black glittery pair from Target. I wish I did now. 

Do you like glitter/sparkly shoes? 

Friday Happy List

Via Searching Hearts Flickr

This is my happy list for the week!

♥ Eating cold watermelon on a hot day

♥ Relaxing with a good book as I get over my cold

♥ Buying string to make friendship bracelets

♥ Wrapping gifts with brown paper

♥ Wrapping Jason's present 

♥ My Tabidesigns birdcage ornament

♥ My butterfly tree topper (I probably should have gotten a star)

♥  The little wedding couple Jason made for a work mate fun gift (I helped with ideas and he made it)

♥ My little white tree with pastel decos

♥ My little star wand supplies (I plan to decorate them this weekend!)

I have so many things I need to catch up on, but I really want to be creative just because this weekend. That's why I bought those star wands and glitter. I think we all need a little childish fun in our lives. I used to love making Christmas crafts as a child. It always made me so much more excited about the day. 

Have a beautiful weekend!!

Friendship bracelet Project

Via Tumblr

Friendship bracelets. I remember making them when I was in year 8 and getting some from my friends. I  have some of them still packed away in boxes. 

Well, I first read about Nicole's Friendship Bracelet Project via her twitter then went to her blog to check out the post. This project is to make some friendship bracelets and they will be sent away to orphans in Uganda. She was inspired by her friend who went over there to help out with some orphans. This simple item can brighten up their lives and to own something that is theirs and made with love :) 

I've decided to become involved by making some friendship bracelets which will be sent off to Nicole who will give them to her friend who will send them to Uganda. 

I've bought my string and I hope to get started on this very soon!

Nicole's lovely post really made me think about going to Cambodia next year to help out in my church's SHE rescue home. I've had a desire to help out for awhile now and I think I just have to do it! 

Lately, I've been so inspired by those who give so much of their time and so selfless, with a real heart for other people. And I think it's time I finally went on one of those missions trips. Any encouragement would be most welcome :)

I do urge you to check out Nicole's post and contact her if you want to get involved with this lovely project. 

P.S. If you are a member of Project You, we have something quite exciting in the works! And there is still 20% off in the shop with the coupon code: HAPPYSEASON 

Pretty Paper Christmas packaging

As I mentioned in my last post, I want to use brown paper to wrap my gifts with lot of pretty ribbon, butterflies, baubles etc....Here is some inspiration.

Via Polkadotandplaid flickr

Paper butterflies would be sweet. 

Via Giverslog

I love the lace and pegs. I might use some plain coloured paper too. 

Via Style Me Pretty

This is just utterly gorgeous! So many pretty things here. 

Via Katydiddy flickr

A glitter letter tag would be a nice touch. 

Via Rubyellen flickr

Little mushrooms!! 

Via Ohhellofriend

Danni has the prettiest packaging ideas. Japanese washi tape, lace and hearts. Ahhh! 

Via Ohhellofriend

*Eyes popping* 

Via Ohhellofriend

YESSS! 

If I received packaging like this I would jump with glee! And take a whole lot of photos :)

And remember there is 20% off my shop with code: HAPPYSEASON