Almost Done!

Wow it's been busy! But I'm almost done. So far I have dresses with matching bracelets for my two nieces and pajama sets for the boys.

I've made apricot jam & grand marnier jam for the hampers, and one lot of Christmas Tree Shortbread Biscuits which was enough to cover two hampers.

So on tomorrows list is grocery shopping & then a night of cooking more shortbread & chunky white rocky road.

Best Handmade Christmas Gift Ideas

Scouring madeit, etsy and various other handmade websites for ideas for Christmas presents, there were so many great ones and I just don't have enough people to give to. So I've decided to list some here so that others might have the opportunity to use them.

What little girls don't love a set of hair baubles. These ones are personalised with the girls initials and they're so easy to make. Just hand cover some buttons and thread through some hair elastic.

How easy are these peg angels to make! How gorgeous would they look on your tree? Just take a peg and hot glue your feathers and wings on. Add some string to attach to your tree and viola!

Another great idea using pegs is to pattern one side using paper or pen and put a magnet on the other side . They're great for holding kids artwork or paperwork on your fridge.

Who doesn't love shortbread? This idea takes the humble Christmas Tree shortbread and makes it into a great gift idea. Soak bamboo skewers overnight and add then to your shortbread trees before baking. Wrap individual trees in cellophane and then pop a bunch into a coffee mug. What Dad wouldn't one of these!

Handmade Love

Well here is my first attempt at making my nieces dresses for Christmas, pattern free. I'm pretty chuffed at how they turned out. I'm going to add little beaded bracelets to them in matching colors (photo's once their done).

I'm still working out what I'm going to make my nephews. I'm thinking either chalkboard placemats or appliqué t-shirts & shorts pj's. If you have any other ideas I'd love to hear about them. :-)

A Handmade Christmas

I'm setting myself a challenge. This year I'm going to attempt to hand make all the nieces, nephews and extended family Christmas presents. We bought Miss Ones presents earlier in the year but I'm sure I can add some handmade to the bike hidden in the shed and the Little People School Bus under the bed in the spare room.

I have three nieces and two nephews, and I usually do hampers for each of my siblings and my parents.

I'm almost finished a dress for niece aged 6 and will make the same dress but in a different fabric for niece aged 7. I also have some handmade bracelets for them. That means I just have to figure out what to make nephews 3 and 5 and niece aged 1.

For the hampers I think I'll definitely make my strawberry and grand marnier jam, Christmas tree shortbread, and some home made chocolates. I'd like to include something useful and non-edible but I'm having trouble thinking of something. I scouring Etzy.com and madeit.com for inspiration so I'll let you know what I come up with!

Warning! May be Carcinogenic.....

I've just had my third friend diagnosed with breast cancer in a year. At 35-ish the last thing that should be on your mind is "could I have cancer?". Like many women my age (and my recently diagnosed friend) I occasionally check my breasts and it's usually a quick exam every couple of months, if I remember.

When I think about my lifestyle and look back I smoked and took the pill in my twenties, but come the thirties I became more health conscious and began eating healthy, quit smoking, exercised more and tried to relax as much as possible. Mostly this was because I was trying to improve my reproductive health and give my baby the best possible start in life.

So hears something I recently discovered. You may already know this, but many do not. The vast majority of skincare, haircare and cosmetic products contain something called Parabens. Parabens are a class of chemicals used as a preservative in cosmetic products.

Parabens are effective and cheap to manufacture which is why they are so widely used. The problem is they have been found in small numbers in breast cancer tumours. They've also been known to cause dermatitis and skin allergies, not to mention eczema.

How many times have you heard someone say that every time they use Palmolive they get a rash? This cheap and popular brand contains parebens and mineral oils and both are carcinogenic. So why are we still buying these products?

Part of the problem is that so little is known about the exact effects of parabens and not enough research has been done to ban them or even justify warning labels. This research could take years or even decades to complete. In the meantime we are moisturising, washing our hair, even brushing our teethe with these carcinogens every day.

Tell your family, tell your friends.......read the label and if you see the word paraben, don't buy it!

Girls Night Out

So I'm in Melbourne for two days to do some buying for my store and a little bit of shopping and relaxation for me. I organised with my an old friend to meet up for dinner and drinks last night, a bit of a girls night out without the worry of kiddies and hubby's. We decided to start with some entrees at a Chapel Street well known Italian restaurant, move on to St Kilda for our mains and finish with drinks at a nearby bar.

My first dilemma  was what to wear. When you've been a Mummy for the last year and preggers for 9 months before that, you don't exactly have the cool Chappel st killer outfit or body for that matter. I did my best with an oversized T-shirt with sequin trim and a pair of skinny black jeans and heels. My girlfriend turned up as usual looking stunning. She wore a gorgeous Aztec print dress that came just above the knee and brown cowboy boots. Did I mention she's Italian, long black hair to her waist, about a size 8, stunning! So feeling slightly frumpy I followed her into the restaurant where we enjoyed the best plate of Olives I've ever had, and polished of a lovely glass of wine. My favourite part was when we were leaving and the waiter took her hand and said "chow Bella" and then just looked at me as we walked out the door.

Heading to St Kilda we ended up at another Italian restaurant for our mains and we decided on a mixture of seafood entrees to share. This time we had a young female waitress who seemed to think we'd ordered too much food and was determined to stare us down with a "yes you should feel guilty about eating all that" look. After we paid and used their bathroom to freshen up she seemed almost glad and she cheerily waived us out the door. My friend and I do tend to talk a lot and we did stay for a long time after we finished out meals, but she could have come and offered us more drinks or even a desert menu rather than her looks of distaste.

Final stop was a little bar two doors up from the restaurant where we intended on enjoying a drink. My friend has been there before and said it was great. The age group was around 25-30 so better than going to a bar filled with 18 year olds. There were a lot of men on mobile phones and a lot of women trying to look disinterested but who were clearly there to find a mate. It got me thinking, the last time I went out to meet a man you used to have to beg the barman for a pen and took down there number on a piece of paper. Now we just whip out our iPhone or Galaxy and not only can we put their number in but we can snap a photo and save it against the number and name just in case we have a few too many and can't remember if he was worth calling the next day.

Still an overall enjoyable night but by the time I got back to the hotel at the very early hour of 10:30pm I was so glad to see my bed and hit the pillow that I didn't bat my eyelids until 6:30am the next morning. Why is it when your baby free you still can't sleep in? Now that's another blog all together.....

Sometimes I Just Love My Job!

Sometimes I just love my job! This morning I opened up a box of stock and it was like Christmas! All the shoes...... I may have a bit of a fetish for shoes......

The thing I find the hardest about working in fashion and having a gorgeous 1 year old daughter is to NOT raid my stock. It would be so easy for me to say "hey I'll just take that pair of Walnut ballet flats and that Eeni Meeni dress". Taking all the good stock means that customers only see your worst and won't bother coming back.

So now I have a rule, it stays on the shelf for at least a month, and if it hasn't sold I can buy it for my little fashionista!