Christmas wrap up, gosh i love the festive puns!!

Greetings all,

Christmas Day has been & gone again.  The house is ship shape & i'm already home from the Boxing Day Sales.  The children are in their rooms happily playing with new gifts & my husband is flicking between Ashes Cricket, Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race & some fantastic documentaries on the television.  As my Grandfather Christian always said "Christmas is as far away as it will ever be".  Sigh.
We had possibly the most peaceful & relaxing day of the year here, at home, just the 6 of us.  Sure there was the “oh no, someone chipped the Nigella platter” moment when pulling out the large bowls from the cupboard; handsome soldier melted my counter spray bottle while baking pancakes for breakfast; & we calculated that we wouldn’t be eating oven roasted pork until early afternoon . . . lucky i'm not one to panic or worry!!  Just gave me more time to take snaps of the children having fun . . . 

 The ultimate girlie girl gift, a tutu, shame Santa got the credit!!

  I can't imagine what it's like to be a twin, other than admire from the outside that it's something incredibly special!!

 Perfect gifts for boys . . . a bed of nails & a GiggleSpotDesigns robot, our son is pretty chuffed!!

 Note books & pjamas never fail as stocking fillers for children of all ages.  The Ivy Designs cushion was a gift which i'm thrilled our eldest loves as much i do.  It's perfect on her red Arne Jacobsen egg chair.

 . . . tut tut, those reindeer . . .

Check out the Mediterranean & Euro styled Christmas Day menu . . .

anti pasto & olives

cheese & crackers
beetroot, hummus & eggplant dips

smoked leg of ham & mustards

zesty herb & lemon marinade octopus

green garden salad

smoked turkey breast & cranberry

BBQ roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, snowpeas & mushrooms

roast pork with homemade apple sauce

gelato panettone & fresh berries

 . . . free up space in your oven, BBQ the vegetables & cheat on the dishes with disposable trays (shhh but i was & reuse them a couple of times) . . .

 Our 3rd daughter was so excited that we were having dessert at lunch time, she called it 'lussert'!!

 What else can I say other than full belly, lots of phone calls to our siblings & extended families, gorgeous handmade gifts & a couple of Wii games (Lego Star Wars & Harry Potter) to see out the evening.  I spent the afternoon lounging about with a child drawing & naming her dream farm animals, names like Lavender, Ginger & Daisy . . . while I was engrossed with Lisa Johnson’s ‘Covetables’ book filled with snippets of her ‘sabatical’ in the South of France with her husband.  She has a range of gift cards too, I can imagine them framed in my homestead kitchen in sets of 4.  This Christmas, at home, I can almost taste our farm life, the barn, the animals, the produce – I’m so carried away with the idea of some olive trees & patient enough to plant avocado too!!   
My in-laws got together at my husband’s childhood home for Christmas, one nephew started off the school holidays like many – with a broken arm!!  My siblings all did the solo thing like us & all sounded extremely relaxed too.  We’re meeting up in Sydney in January while my country doctor brother & family house sit in Balmoral, pool & beachfront.  We’ll trip between Summer Hill & St Ives, ticking off all the parents for various events + catch up with old friends from Seaforth to Rozelle. 

Wishing everyone a delicious festive time of year, I’m stealing one of the children’s gifts now – The MasterChef Junior Official Cookbook – it’s pitched at my level of cooking & like my fondess & success with The Silver Spoon for Children . . . my cooking the evening meal can only get better from here!!  Love Posie

a bit of everything for the weekend . . .

Greetings all,
Seeing the weekend is a bit of everything (sports, parties, snowy mountains) i thought i'd make a post that reflects my scatty about-to-do-a-market brain.  So here goes . . .

My darling children made an awful mess in my studio last night but i woke to find gifts to the GingerBread Gods . . . how cute is this, they made some paper gingerbread men for the house (still in tact)!!  Plus my darling 3rd daughter, my deep thinking bohemian dreamy one, made a daisy chain at school (as you do during sports class on the oval) for the GingerBread House too.  These handmade GingerBread Houses are available in Shop Handmade Canberra NOW, plus $2.50 GingerBread Men, Trees, Snow Men . . . seriously delicious treats!!

Tonight i have a little twilight market & with only one trestle for stall space, i'm taking retro toys & vintage Tshirts, seeing all of my handmade stock is at Shop Handmade.  Yes, i used to import vintage Ts & sell them at the markets but now i'm more a handmade purest (read: do strictly handmade only markets) so this is a great way to move some stock!!  My husband will bring the children for a BBQ dinner & fingers crossed, help me load the car, yippee!! 

Ivy Designs is in Shop Handmade, check out her sweet accessories for children.  Love Wynona, she's really cool & her style, well, gorgeous, i have that necklace on the stand in my collection.  Wyn sent beautiful props & how about that branding display, so beautiful, just like her!!  Many more new designers starting in November too along with more stock from that Posie girl.
I'll just take this opportunity here in a mixed post to say my eldest daughter came top 4 in the ACT athletics for high jump!!  My super star, 4th in the state!!  She's not very tall yet, so when she gets the traditional McClelland long legs, the sky will be the limit!!

Finally, to make this post completely bitsy . . . just watching The Circle (shhhh, i should be at school watching my middle girl at midday assembly hand chosen to do a Japanese dance, but i'm also packing the car for tonight's market so my husband is the chosen parent to go armed with fancy SLR Nikon to capture her performance) . . . they discussed this cool site about childhood photos (usually horrific with bad hair) compared with ones taken now.  If you like Cake Wrecks, Regretsy & What Not To Knit . . . check this out . . . YoungMeNow!!
Have lovely weekends, love Posie

Happy Easter handmade style from Allie's Attic in Mosman NSW

Greetings all,
I've taken the children to Sydney to see their grandparents for the Easter long weekend.  Just so happens that my parents are in the same area as an Allie's Attic market today, brilliant, what a happy coincidence!!  So for once, i get to be a SHOPPER at a beautiful handmade market & shop i did!!  Must admit, it's like catching up with old friends as many of us blog, email, collaborate & are just in the same market circle.  So Allie put on a lovely show with beautiful hand picked stalls. 
First up, Happy Easter with some gifts from Plushka & Retro Mummy for my children, thanks girls!!

. . . 3 of my children pouring over Giggle Spot Designs & this bunny came home with us . . .

. . . lots of lovely things at Ivy Designs who was busy with people (thus lack of long shots of the stall, where you only saw people) & these necklaces came home with me, hi Wynona!!

I sold some fabric to Bloss Dolls at Handmade last weekend, so happy to become a customer.  I loved the cupcake style one on the left, however, my blue loving eldest girl wanted the turtles, both adorable!!

Summer Blossom is the daughter of Bloss Dolls & talent runs in the genes.  Love Rochelle & her beautiful soft girlie designs.  Even my son wanted a headband, bless him.  So we came home with these two beauties, Babushkas & a Kaffe Fassett print, love love.

Oh, big time fan of Plushka, her embroideries are adorable.  You might remember ALL the beautiful things i bought from Katia at the February Canberra Mathilda's were stolen, so this was my chance to replace some pieces. 

This gorgeous collection came home with us, i think i'll pop the triple set on a shepherd's crook pin as a pretty brooche.  Perfect for when i'm at Shop Handmade don't you think??

Also met Lisa from the Red Thread at Handmade last weekend in Canberra.  Again, my turn to be HER customer at her beautiful stall. 

& these little Sweeties came home with us.  One is called MiMi, like one of my girls & Freedie is not a fox, but a squirrel, however, Lisa was too kind to correct me when i kept telling my son he was an adorable fox!!  Der, there are acorns everywhere.

My favourite, Retro Mummy, busy as always, actually looking pregnant in this shot too!!

Fabric mania, ahhhh . . . some to replace the ones stolen from Mathilda's, no i refuse to get over it!!

Can you believe, Swedish prints with writing, the lot!!  All available at Retro Mummy's Shop, go now, before i take it ALL, or another 30 odd metres!! 

So my 4 had a ball, Allie was fabulous, the stalls looked beautiful, there was balloon making, gifts, fun & great parking (on the other side of Allen Border Oval, no parking tickets for me).  A few stalls are thinking of joining in Handmade Market in Canberra plus Shop Handmade, yes!!  I drove home via the old suspension bridge in North Bridge, love that area!!  It's so pretty, stone pillars & lanterns, i imagine horse drawn carts trotting over it 100 years ago.  There are even old buildings which my grandfather & his brothers built still standing since 1914.  Memories . . . Happy Easter lovely readers, hope you have a great time with family & remember our soldiers serving overseas during our 'holiday' they don't get a break, like my handsome soldier.  Love Posie