Christmas! (part 1)

Yay! its been too long between posts, but nothing is more inspiring to get creative than Christmas!!

Especially with children in the house....I know my girls LOVE getting involved, its so contagious seeing them excited. One thing we love to do is decorate, (I may have created a couple of little monsters too). So nice doing it together...Although I am still finding I have to stand back and not let my urge to control  take over, working on it...things dont have to be perfect to look great and the satisfaction in seeing the girls take so much pride and enjoyment in their own way is so much more rewarding.)

Pinterest always gives me ideas and inspiration, I love seeing what people do in their own homes all over the world and then bring alot of ideas into our little humble home here in Australia.

 It is easy to get caught up in the whole superficial and commercialism of Christmas, but I think finding that balance is possible. Love the festivites of celebrating this wonderful time, the birth of Jesus! Afterall he is the reason for the season.

Anyway, some snippets from our own home at Christmas to share. Our favourite time of the year!

(Still more decorating to do, ie picking this years real Christmas tree (one of our most fave things to do) & our outdoor lights....but will add these when we get to them)

Happy Christmas 2013!!....wherever you are in the world and enjoy this season.

Little Beaus first Christmas (2012)

The girls made some simple paper chains last night....we just use pretty wrapping paper cut into strips and stick together with a little sticky tape.

Can be hung anywhere, on the tree or like we did, looped along our ceiling.

Another DIY we have done was painting some branches we found in our backyard. Then I found some gorgeous little baubles from Myer and placed them on the branches. The Twigs stayed in place in the glass vase/jar using sea salt. (I have heard you can use epsom salt too). The pic below is from last Christmas. But I have put it out again on our dining table.

Christmas in Australia just isn't Christmas without beautiful Agapanthus (so I brought some inside)

Our home has alot of Australian as well as Dutch influences (Both my parents are originally from Holland). But because we are in Summer I try to keep it true to our Aussie Christmas, so there isn't alot of "white" Christmas things in our home....but of course there are still some European touches.


Here are some pics from another favourite thing of the girls in particular...the baking and gingerbread house decorating! (most lollies dont always make it on....hehe, and I am happy to let the girls decorate however they like) afterall the fun is in the deco! (We buy the gingerbread kits from Aldi...I did try making my own gingerbread last year but it was to soft and my walls collapsed...boo, maybe I will give it another go, but in the meantime these kits are great! I just add more lolly faves like freckles, musk sticks, m&m's etc....)

Here is my first effort of my own gingerbread...so sad....(disguised it in LOADS of iceing snow hehe)

And here are this years pics below....first day of school hols (13/12/13)

gingerbread house 2013

Having lots of blackboard space in my kitchen made it easy to add little Christmas touches there too...
(again I found these ideas from Pinterest) If you havent already, it really is worth checking out...heres the link to my pinterest page. dee brigden on pinterest (Can start up your own Pin boards easily)

(The girls love when Chris is under this....)

Well, this is the end of Part 1 of my Christmas posts...will add more as we go...hope you like so far. So easy to add a little Christmas cheer.

Back soon!

Deahne xx

Dressing up

Its been a little while, cant say I've been really busy....just pre-occupied these last couple months I guess. Thought I would add a few recent photos of the kiddies seeing as we have had a couple of fun events lately.

One was our annual book week parade held last week at the girls school. Always a highlight! They think about what they would love to go as very early on. Which is good for me because I get plenty of notice....not that that helps really because I always manage to leave it to last minute anyway. Dont ask me why...I am very good at that, but I always seem to pull something together.

I have to say, if I had my way they would be dressed up as Laura Ingalls, or maybe Anne of Green Gables....but then I figure its just a bit of fun and why cant they go as a favourite character, whatever that character is. Its lovely to see them so excited.

Anyway, so they decided to go as two sisters from Monster High....(They have been so into Monster High for a few years now). I love seeing them with a mutual interest and I think its such a special time in their lives where they are still playing dolls together and playing dressups/make overs etc. Its all a part of growing up. (Im just stoked they are still into dolls too)

Here they are all dressed up on Tuesday 20/8.

Hayley as Clawdeen Wolf (Little Dead Riding Wolf)

Ash as her little sister Howleen Wolf

It was easy this year to get their costumes together....a little bit of faux fur stuck onto cardboard worked for the little fury wolf ears, then handsewn onto a headband.
A lovely pink wig from Spotlight and a bit of white face-paint to add some little teeth.
(We were lucky enough to borrow Hayleys beautiful cape and basket), so all I had to do was customise one of her red/pink dresses which I did with a little black tape and ribbon. Wahlah.

They are easily pleased.

Another day at school we had was a crazy hair and sock day, the school did this as a fundraiser to raise funds for our sister school in Uganda. The kids had a ball. Hayley had some twisty braids then coloured them in hair chalk for some colour.

And Ash we used a toilet roll for support for a crazy "out there" do. Plus hairspray and hair chalk of course. I did the top of her hair in her favourite "hair bow".
Easy peasy but still a little crazy too!

And of course I cant put pics up of our gorgeous girls and not include our little man....

He is one and half this month, (so I took a few pics of him in a fave outfit I have of his, before he grows out of it completely.) I think he looks very dapper.

His pants were from Myer (by Sprout) and his shirt and vest from Gymboree. I made his bow-tie.

They are growing up fast...
Till next time, will be soon....working on something at the mo....

Deahne xo

Colour drawing.

Here is another doodle art but in colour....I framed this one in white to contrast with the black ones.

Placed up on our kitchen blackboard wall for now, till I find their next place....

Deahne xo

More "doodling" x 2 (with a touch of neon)

.....A couple more doodle art drawings I did today. A few quiet hours (while Daddy and the kids are out), three cups of tea, two rows of chocky, A3 size paper, black artline marker and neon yellow highlighter....done. Amazing how quick the time goes once you get started though!

Going to try some coloured ones next time...

Deahne xo.

on the wall (had to angle because of the reflection)

"doodle art"

A little bit of doodling....

Yes, the title had my girls in stiches....kids hey hahahaha.

What are you going to do on a cold, rainy Winters day, well I got one of my artline markers out and started to do abit of drawing (or in this case "doodling"). Just random patterns, lines, shapes etc. Didnt take long for one of my little artists, Ash to join me.
So relaxing and peaceful, especially when little bubby is in bed taking a nap and big sis is away at a friends place, Daddy is pottering in his shed...so Ashley and I got busy. Love sharing time like this together.
A big roll of plain paper (from Ikea of course, about $7) and the possibilities are endless....I did actually buy it for the girls, but hey, they didnt mind hehehe.

Ash jammie day working on her "self"

I traced around Ash while she lay on the paper, she was surprised how tall she was! (Self portrait in her jammies)

(our notice board fabric gave me the inspiration in the first place)

 Little bits and snippets from the finished product....I just kept on going....Title "Whimsy" (whimsy by name, whimsy by nature.)

We thought it looked good enough to display, so I decided on the kitchen.

 I had this bit of empty wall over a section of the kitchen, I still wasnt sure what to put up there, was thinking maybe plates or something...then believe it or not my artwork was pretty much the exact length and width. So Chris sprayed the wall with some spray adhesive and together we lined it up and stuck it on. (I was hesitant to use any glue or wall-paper adhesive incase it made the paper swell). The adhesive seemed to do the trick!

looking left

.....right

The lighting wasnt the best, was early evening, but the angle of this wall has the natural light behind it from the window. And because there was enough colour going on in the kitchen already, I thought it was good enough for my drawing to stay black and white...

Job done, well no, it wasnt a job, was pure enjoyment and I am happy enough with the finished product. All you need is a marker and some paper and a little time, all up it took me two days coming and going (between meals/kiddy time etc). But its nice to walk away from and come back with fresh eyes anyway.
Bye for today!

Deahne xo

going a tad geometric...

A tad of a geometric fad....
Hiho! here are some geo pics I have found online that got me inspired to do a little easy DIY for our own home. Lots of ideas to add a little geometric design into yours....

a geometric cushion

cushion link-konstruktivedesign.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/geometri-cushions.html

a couple more from Stephanie Says & Claudia Soria of Kimsa

    cushion link-mintstylestudio.com/design-find-textiles-from-envelop/

watercolour by Jennifer Allevato (on Etsy)

artwork by Vasare Nar

So many cool ways to add this look without having to over-do anything. It has been around for a little while now, but seems to be getting more and more popular.

 It is a pretty mod look, but if you know me I love mixing new with old, I am mostly into vintage styles with little modern touches, this look really suits our old home. And hey, its def a great way to add colour/revamp/update any decor.

Below is my own little spin, geometric touch to our hall. So easy, but effective.

(Painting acrylic on canvas)

Btw, the old dresser...which I am thinking about also "revamping" we originally found under our house when we bought it 8 years ago. A bit of white gloss paint and it came up good as new... I loved the legs on it the most. And the mirror we salvaged from the side of the road off another old dresser. My lovely, helpful husband Chris attached it to this dresser. They were meant to be together.

a closer look.

If your interested, here is a link to some other geometric designs/ideas that I found online from another blog. There are alot of other great sites, but this was another fave.

geometric dreams...

.....a couple more inspiring pics to share, looks great in black and white!

 above-from Marcia Margolius loves it blog (in geometric dreams link above. lannamobler.se)

bonnie and neil wooden tiles.

above-Melbourne based bonnieandneil.com.au

well bye for now, go get your geo on? till next time....hopefully sooner than later!

Deahne