Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Thank you for joining me on my blogging journey, for your encouragement, support and friendship!

Your comments have helped me through a very big year...
From my nerves and excitement of the ACA interview
To turning the big 3-0 and the sadness of my Granny passing
to Minky's brush with death
And for sharing in my joy of motherhood, from:
Will's first steps, to his first day at little school.

You guys have been there with me and your words have meant so much so thank you!

I hope you have a fantastic Christmas with your families and I will be back sometime in the next week or so to show you some little snippets from my Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas,

Christmas Decorating Part 3

Here is the last of my Christmas decorating (well before the actual day that is)...

I decided to give our candlelier on the deck a bit of a Christmas makeover and it will be the centrepiece of our long Christmas table as we have our Christmas lunch with the family on the deck.

Here it is at night, with the bauble bling glistening :)


And a close up during the day... I attached the baubles using beading wire so they wont get tangled. I had so much fun decorating it!!!
And you know, I nearly enrolled in a visual merchandising course after school (basically to become the person who puts together the window displays/installations) and maybe I should have as I enjoyed this so much.


And the piece de resistance is my crochet star garland hanging over the french doors leading out to the deck. I bought it from the super lovely Tina from Rubies Place's etsy shop. Isn't it beautiful and it matches our curtains so well.


I don't think I'm going to take it down after Christmas, I think I'll leave it up for a while because it's so pretty.
Today is my last day of work as tonight the My Sweet Prints shops will be 'closed' well not closed, you can still place orders in my shops but I wont be sending out orders till Monday the 10th January onwards. Ahhhhh... it will be so nice to have a little break and not worry about printing, posting, spread sheeting etc for just a while.

I hope you have a great Wednesday, only three sleeps till Christmas!!!

In the Press: Cosmo Pregnancy, Summer 2011

Good news as my Keep Quiet the Baby's Sleeping print has been included in a feature in the latest issue of Cosmo Pregnancy.


One of my lovely stockists, Julia from Rudy and the Dodo submitted the print to Cosmo Pregnancy and we were excited to see it had been included in such a pretty feature!

When I bought the mag from my little local newsagent (I'm on first name basis with the owners), Lilac and Sam looked at me with cheeky smiles and said 'Is this magazine for YOU Janette???' I had to quickly correct them that it's purely for business purposes and they then proceeded to ask to see my print in the mag (I think to check that I wasn't lying) - cheeky hey!!!

Wishing you a great Tuesday,

Sending some love

Thinking and praying for Jane of My Pear Tree House today...

And as Martha of Jelly Shane has instigated, when you look up at the moon tonight, send a little thought and prayer Jane's way.

I thought this image via here was a perfect symbol of the love and sisterhood out there in blogland. I hope you're feeling all the love and support out there for you Jane, you will get through this!!!

Love,

Christmas Wrapping

I started my Christmas present wrapping yesterday...

I am using red or gold paper with one of my many assortment of paper doilies attached and then tied with either red and white Kikki-K twine or red and white stripe ribbon.

Then I just attached a gift tag to the present, this one above is from my Another Donkey Design collection that the wonderful Kate made!

I love wrapping Christmas presents each year and I hope that the recipients enjoy the little touches on their presents.

Have you started your present wrapping yet? I now have to make sure that the presents are stowed away so that:

a) My 'assistant' doesn't get into them and rip the paper off
b) My other 'assistant' Minky doesn't try to make a bed out of them and lie all over them

I better go, I think William's just made his own 'present' for me - a stinky nappy - ah!

Have a great day everyone,

You are gifted!

Nicole at Bubby Makes Three did a lovely post this week titled 'You are Gifted!' and in the post she said:

I passed a church. Out the front was a large billboard and on it was this message:
"Some of God's greatest gifts are packaged as people..."

And then I thought, wouldn't it be a lovely Christmas gesture to recognise some of the special people in blogland who entertain, enrich, inspire and lighten our lives a little with their words each day?

I was one of the lucky 'recipients' and it was seriously just what I needed, a little bit of encouragement and love, during a less that fantastic day/week. Thank you my dear!!!



I am now passing on the 'gift' to others:

Tina from Rubies Place
You couldn't get a lovelier person in the kind, caring, and creative package which is Tina! She is an amazing Mum and friend who puts everything into her girls, hubby and home and while she's juggling all of that she is studying to become a school teacher, crafting and thrifting to the amazement and inspiration of everyone and running a wonderful etsy shop! Tina is like the big sister I never had and I'm so lucky to have 'met' her! xx

Amanda from Homely One
When your bubs are only a few weeks apart in age there is automatically a special bond you share with someone and I am so glad that Amanda and I share this commonality as she has become such a great friend to me. I only wish we didn't live on opposite sides of the country as playdates, coffee and shopping excursions would be so much fun together! Thank you Amanda for always being there, commenting on my blog and writing back to my 'Is Gracie Girl currently ____ like William is at the moment?' emails. You are truly an awesome friend! xx

Jane from Life on Planet Baby
I love Jane's honesty and I love the passion that she puts into her blog. Her posts are amazing and I always feel like I'm reading an extract from a book when I read her posts. Jane is also my official Media Monitor and My Sweet Prints supporter. Thank you Jane! xx

Sarah B from Molly's Maison
Sarah B always inspires me with her beautiful garden, amazingly stylish renovations of her home, her wearable art is breathtaking and her photography is stunning (see recent post here) and her love for Molly her gorgeous doggy is soooooo sweet!

Kerri from Driftwood Interiors
I wish I could paint like Kerri, but I can't so I just have to keep going back to her blog and drooling :) Kerri also finds the most beautiful homes around the world to share on her blog and her style really resonates with me. Kerri is also such a sweety, always commenting and passing on a bit of wisdom, from an experienced Mum with kids older than my William, I always love hearing her perspective on things.

So thank you Nicole for starting this wonderful Christmas Game. I've nearly been blogging for a year now, it was after getting back from our Christmas/New Year holiday in January that I decided to start blogging and I have just loved every minute of it and it's all because of you guys, readers, bloggers, commenters etc - thank you!!!!

Have a great day everyone,

Christmas Decorating Part2

OK so my tree is pretty low key this year but when you've got a toddler who is on a perpetual search and destroy mission I think this is just about the only tree possible - simple and out of reach :)


I collected branches from our massive gum tree which is in the front yard and sprayed them silver which doesn't show up that well in the pics unfortunately...

I made these lace 'doily' stars last year from lace gathered together with ribbon and tied together and using the rest of the ribbon to make the loop.

My Mum saw the idea of putting baubles in a glass vase which adds a bit of Christmas bling to my 'tree'.

And here is my simple Christmas wreath on the front door.

I bought the round wreath last year and decorated it with gum leaves but this year I used the little pear which was part of my gift bag from the ABCD Meetup and made by the very clever Dandi girls and tied it on with white ribbon.

So very simple this year... I'll look forward to putting up our big 6foot tree next year as I'm kind of missing it.

I've got some more Christmasy decorating to show you in the next few days.

And what about this Oprah hype! I wish I was down at the 'Oprah' house to see her today.

Have a great Tuesday,

My top Lonny pics

Here are my favourite pics from the latest Lonny December issue...

Beautiful tropical setting for a little dinner party!

Quite a unique bathroom with that board on the outside and the picture wall above the bath...

Pink, white and black with a dash of delicious fruit in the middle. It looks like Guinea Fowl feathers as a placemat under the plates or something....?

This is beautiful, love the colour of course and the white chair and ornate pin board with the pretty floral fabric is soooooo me :)

This is my favourite of all the pics, such a happy living room! Look at all the colour and that amazing coffee table which looks to me like pipped white icing... yum!

How was your weekend?
We had the Children's Christmas Service yesterday at Church and Will did his first ever church performance in the junior jivers group. Well you can imagine what he was like... he was right up the front for the first song doing all the actions being very cute then for the next 4 songs he was running everywhere, knocked a microphone stand over, was about to start climbing the stairs into the raised area where the Rector does the sermon - ey yi yi!

He was very cute though and his fan club of Grandma, Grandpa and Aunty Kate (aka Toyota) were there to cheer him on.

How was your weekend, did you have any funny christmas performance stories???

Have a wonderful Monday,

Christmas SALE on now!

For a limited time, selected prints in the My Sweet Prints shop are up to 25% off, including the ever popular Bedtime and Morning Bus Roll Posters and World Map print!

As my shop will be shutting around the Christmas and New Year period I thought I'd hold a Christmas sale now. So if you're looking for a Christmas Gift then get in quick as the sale wont last forever :) The sale is only on my www.MySweetPrints.com.au store.

Please feel free to pass onto family, friends and blog or tweet about it, and feel free to use the above image.

Yay, I love having a sale! I feel a bit like Father Christmas, Ho ho ho!

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Christmas Decorating - Part 1

I haven't quite finished all of my Christmas decorating but as everyone seems to be sharing their beautifully decorated homes I thought I'd show you mine in parts.

The first area is my entrance way mirror which I have decorated with a Polli garland in blue.


My lovely friend Anna (who is my neighbour down the road and you might remember she found the fantastic cane chair for me)? Well last weekend she was up in the Mountains and when shopping, saw the Polli garland set. I had almost bought the set for myself online last week but I resisted the temptation.

Anyway, Anna wanted the red and yellow ones but not the blue but she knew I'd love the blue so she bought them to share with me!!!! Isn't that sweet!

Sorry not a great photo, bit dark...

Here are the red ones

My blue ones...

And the yellow ones!

Aren't they gorgeous! You can buy them here.

The kit contains 30 decorations with 6 meters of red twine to either make a garland, hanging decorations or gift tags.
Printed in Australia on 100% recycled card. Deco size 85mmx90mm.

So there you have my part 1 of my christmas decorating... I'll show you my 'tree' next :)

On another note, we had a lovely afternoon at Will's little school end of year concert.
And in typical William form... as most of the kids were sitting down doing their song and dance with actions, my son was standing up, dancing around, waving his little arms in the air being very funny then after the first song, retired to the sandpit :) I love my funny bubba!

Have a great Friday afternoon!

My Sweet Prints Christmas Party

Yesterday was the My Sweet Prints Christmas Party!

Hehehehe, and no this isn't a photo of the event :) I thought I'd just shock you!

It was a very civilised affair. I took my Mum out for lunch to a wonderful lakeside Italian restaurant. My 'assistant' was minded by my Dad while he had his midday sleep so that Mum and I could zoot out while we had the chance.

You see I kept feeling very ripped off not having a Christmas Party to go to so I decided to have my own and use it as an opportunity to take my Mum out, as a small way of thanking her for all the help and support she has given me over 2010. Whether it be minding Will so I could get all my orders out or sticking the stickers on the back of my orders and just getting excited about my business with me and reading my blog every day etc etc etc... So thanks again Mum, you are the best!!!

It was a very special afternoon!




image via here

My Mini Christmas Gift Guide Mag

I had so much fun whipping up this mini Christmas gift guide emag I hope you like it too and maybe even spot something for your Christmas shopping list!

Click to enlarge each page. Enjoy!






Did you spot anything you'd like? That Polli necklace and earrings set are on my wish list (Santa are you listening?) hehehe...

Have a great day,

Stuck for gift inspiration?

Here is my super quick tips for getting some Christmas shopping inspiration...

1. The December issue of Home Beautiful Mag.
Especially their '150 + gifts for UNDER $150'.
Fantastic finds for every member of the family!


2. The Finders Keepers blog.
Their December Gift Guide: Christmas for Kids!
Which also includes a certain someone's 'Bedtime Bus Roll Poster'.... :)


3. Calico & Co.
Amanda Fuller is one busy bee... I don't know how she does it! But she's put together a fantastic 'Christmas Gift Guide 2010'.

And tomorrow I will post my own mini Christmas gift guide emagazine!

Have a great day everyone!

Happy Monday

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

I thought I'd show you one of my latest etsy purchases from the lovely Sarah B's new shop Molly's Maison. You probably know Sarah from her blog already but here is a little background.

Sarah studied a Bachelor of Fine Art at the University of Tasmania majoring in photography but developed a strong interest in wearable art, fashion and jewellery design. Lately she has re-discovered her love for photography. And has started selling her beautiful photos which have a fantastic vintage style in her new etsy shop which you can visit here.

I purchased a set of her beautiful postcards and had to share... look at how beautifully wrapped they came.

Those are little stickers!!! Yay, I love stickers!

Isn't Sarah's photography gorgeous???

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AND Sarah is holding a GIVEAWAY over at her blog at the moment so you can have the chance to win some of her beautiful photo art! Click here to enter her giveaway.

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How was your weekend? Ours was great catching up with family and friends and we got Will's photo taken with Santa... I've got to go pick up the photos today but here is one I took on my phone. He was a bit wary of Santa and we struggled to get a smile out of him but I think he looks so cute smile or no smile (mummy's bias). Are you getting Santa photos done this year?


Have a great Monday everyone,