Christmas goodies

 Well it's over for another year!

There is so much preperation that goes into Christmas Day.....presents, food, decorations etc, etc! Each year the day itself seems to go by in a blink of an eye, no sooner are you being woken up by the squeals of 'HE'S BEEN!'',  then your head is hitting the pillow pushing out well needed ZZZZzzzz's. The rest is normally a blur of smiling faces, fast & noisy toys, eating, eating & more EATING, then finally plopping on the lounge for an afternoon siester/rest & a good well earned coffee.

This years Christmas day was great it was rather subdued & gone was the usual hectic 'gotta have lunch by a certain time', over bearing relatives & the rest of the hoo haa that normaly happens around here.

I took photos of my table the night before, it looked much better in the daylight with the crystal glasses sparkling & the twinkle of sunlight on the mercury glass.

Table centre

Some of the napkins I had a go at hand dying

(don't think I will be doing that again!)

Our gorgeous Waterford crystal glasses.

I had a vision of what I wanted for this years table & I feel I got pretty close to it.

All items from Country Accent in Bowral.

'Lunch is served'

Enjoy.....& yes we did!

And now for the presents,

Santa bought the girls Ipod Nano's.

How fun are these little gadgets...? (Lots!)

Cooking is going to be high on the list here in 2010 with a cupcake maker/cooker

& 3 sets of Masterchef Junior. 

Miss Jess wanted a skateboard, so skateboard she got....

from us & a Tony Hawk/Birdhouse one no less!

Miss Amy also got one...

not entirly girly but at least they will be outside in the fresh air,

exercising & having fun.

I gave Adam a gift set of Acqua Di Gio

& he gave me J'adore.

(It's one of my favourite fragrances!)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & enjoyed spending time with your

'smiling faced' loved ones.

We certainly did!

~Sarah~

Christmas Decorating

Welcome to my home,

its Christmas time,

it's chaotic & I LOVE IT!

You know I often used to winge about the newsagency I work in being so BUSY & CHAOTIC at Christmas time, but with age & a small amount of wisdom under my belt I have come to realise I actually LOVE it. It's the same at home too! Stuff everwhere. Things not finished. Mess everywhere. Kids not wanting to co-operated, after all it's school holidays & they are in wind-down-mode. The Christmas shopping is mostly done & I'm not panicing about what I have or haven't bought. It will fall into place, it always does.

Below are some photos of some of my Christmas decorations, none of them are vintage, although they will be by the time my kids get them as hand-me-downs when they are old enough to have their own homes & their own trees.

My theme again for this year is PINK& SILVER with some of my new favourite Mercury glass things thrown in for good measure. I havent photographed what is going on the Christmas table as yet, I am saving it for when the table is completed in full on Christmas eve.

My Christmas wish for everyone Peace, Hope & Joy.

My new Merry Christmas sign from Lucinda at Hume Cottage

The topiary tree that was my table centrepiece for many years

Mercury Glass swag bought from Lucinda's shop Hume Cottage

We got this huge rectangular glass vase from my old boss's when we got engaged some nearly 13 years ago & have never really known what to put in it because of it's sheer size but this year I filled it with baubles & it is sitting on our sofa table & I have to say I love it! The star I got from Bed, Bath & Table when they were selling off their decorations really cheap, problem is it's to heavy for the top of the tree!

A shabby hanging thingy that I bought from the local markets

This bear & clock was a Kris Kringle pressie from my work mate Jules, she knows me so well!

I am selling off some china that belongs to my friend Meaghan, but I couldn't resist this beautiful tea cup & plate, it is a Salisbury & if any of you have the matching saucer let me know & I will buy it off you.

Another find was this gorgeous Shelly pin dish, it has a chip out of it but it is so lovely & who could resist for only $1.00 & a lovely Noritake plate for only $3.00!

Well that's all from me just now.

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas chaos & are not too frazzled just yet!

Cheers!

~Sarah~

Don't forget to enter my 100th post giveaway below!

~GIVEAWAY TIME~

Whoo hoo it's GIVEAWAY time at

Shabby Roses & Pretty Things!

In celebration of reaching my 100th blog post, I am continuing the tradition of hosting a giveaway.

All you need to do is leave me a message on this post & I will put you in the draw. Easy peasy!

Your prize will include a Shabby Cottage Office sign, a teatowel & a keyring, all items made by myself.

~Sarah~

Due to the Christmas/Holiday season I will keep the giveaway open untill midnight Sunday 10th January 2010.

The BIG One & White Paint Magic

Hello my Friends,

Well it was 2 years in the making, but I'm finally doing my 100th Post!

I have been putting off doing this one for the past 3 weeks since it's such a biggie, but I couldn't wait any longer!!! I will put together some goodies & do a giveaway in my next post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

High on my agenda for the past couple of weeks was to catch up on some jobs that I had been going to do but had never got around to doing. The joke at our house at the moment is not to stand aroung too long or you will get painted white!

First to get done was the wooden box that I keep my laundry poweder in. It was the originally the same colour as the bath caddy, I was really over the country coloured stained wood that seemed to be just about everywhere & am now loving the new fresh look of the white.

.

Bath caddy before (Above) & After (Below)

Toilet roll holder Before & After

I am loving last weekends garage sale finds. The stool was only $5.00 & the chest/trunk was an absolute bargain at only $20.00!!!

 Chest/trunk after

I was in seventh heaven when I got my mits on these beautiful mags on Friday

I turned 34 last week & treated myself to these gorgeous sandals, I am now searching for a pair of white wide legged pants to go with them.

So that's about it for me tonight, I hope you are all well & coping with the heat. The weather has done a complete backflip here, 42 deg yesterday & 14 deg today & rain...Go figure!!!
~Sarah~

Sweet Memories

Hi there lovely ladies,

This beautiful posey of sweet peas was given to me by my youngest daughter on Thursday afternoon. They were proudly grown & maintained by the children in my daughters class in the schools Eco Garden.

They smell lovely.....exactly the same as the ones my Grandmother used to grow at her home when I was a child.

The sweet fragrence of sweet peas is one I will always remember, along with the memories of them growing up the side wall of her garage.

I love how certain smells can evoke memories & take you right back to a particular time or event in your life.

I wonder what will be that sweet fragrence that my kids remember me by?

~Sarah~

P.S: I am loving the new look of blogger, doing a post has never been so easy!

Holiday Adventures

Hi Girls,

Well we are back fresh from our little driving holiday down to Victoria. Our main aim was to drive along The Great Ocean Road & see the 12 Apostles before any more of them fall down.

Day 1: We drove from home to Geelong, 8 long hours. These wind turbines are just amazing, they are on the Yass side of Goulburn & so imposing as you drive towards & past them.

The Dog on the Tucker Box at Gundagai. An Australian legend.


Day2: After we left the motel we went down on to the foreshore, the girls had a ride on the big indoor carousel & played around some of the buoys that have been painted up.

Adam spotted the turn off the the iconic Bells Beach, so we went for a look. Unfortunately the surf was non existent but at least we can say we have been there.

Next stop was The Great Ocean Road Arch.

This next picture is looking back from one of the many lookouts back up one of the windiest parts of the road, you can just make out the road about a quarter of the way up from the shore line.

Part of The Great Ocean Road goes inland for a bit & this is where it passes Cape Otway, we drove the 12.2klms out there to see the light house but when we saw that it was $15 per person we didn't go in. But on the way back we found a colony of koala's about 10metres off the road, so we stopped & had a look. It made the kids day to get this close to a koala especially in their natural habitat.

The defining moment of our travels was next, seeing The 12 Apostles. It is just breath taking.

We stayed at Warrnambooll after we did The Great Ocean Road & took the kids to the laser light show that tells the story of the Loch Ard ship wreck. No cameras were allowed so I unfortunately have no pictures of this.
Day 3: Warrnambool to Ballarat. Enjoyed the lazy drive to Ballarat, after many phone calls to find somewhere to stay we found a place that had a heated pool so the kids could have some much earned down time.

Day4: Ballarat: Sovereign Hill, the gold mining town is a tourist park in which you can see what it was like to live way back in the gold rush days....it was such a pity that it rained pretty much the whole time we were there.

The girls gold panning in the creek & yes we found speckles of gold, not enough to keep but it was exciting all the same.

We got to watch them pour 3kgs of melted gold into the bar shaped mold, it's current value is $107,000.00 not bad hey & yes it's in a safe!

Next stop was to the home of one of the most lovely ladies that I have ever met. Mandii's even more lovely in person that she come across in her blog. Mandii's home is filled with the most beautiful creations I have ever seen, her palette is of the softest pinks, blues, yellows & greens. It really is a shabby girls dream! I also got to meet 2 other amazing blog ladies at Mandii's as well, Kirstie & Natasha. I feel truly lucky to have been able to have met them all at once. Kirstie is so funny & full of ideas & inspiration. Natasha shares my sense of wicked, sometime sarcastic humour & I am still in awe of her painting abilities. My only wish was to have been able to have spend more time with these wonderful ladies but with $40 flights between Sydney & Melbourne, I don't think it will be too long before I will hopefully see them again. Thanks Mandii for the beautiful afternoon tea. Tea & coffee served was served in lovely old china & cakes & biscuits & those oh so lovely made from scratch cupcakes with frosting (it's funny all of us share a love of Betty Crocker frosting & no it's not wrong to go to the fridge & eat it by the spoon full!!!!)

L to R: Natasha, Me, Mandii & Kirstie.

Day 5: Ballarat to home, 9 hours drive! My butt felt like a numb block!!!!After such a wonderful trip we arrived home to some not so wonderful news. Some low life had stolen & burnt out our ute. To say that I am gutted in an understatement.

Hope I haven't bored you with all of this but decided to keep it all in 1 post. I am now going to go & do some crafting, not sure yet but I am feeling the urge to be creative so I am going to ride the wave while it lasts!

~Sarah~

Happy Weekend

Good glorious morning to you all!

Hi girls, hope you are all enjoying the start of the weekend. I am for sure, I'm not at work! I have done 6 days a week for the last 3 weeks & am so glad I now get 2 consecutive days off. Happy, hell yeah!

With money so tight for most at the moment, I have been trying to come up with some little newish price competitive things to sell in my web store. Things that chickie's like me can have & enjoy without breaking the bank. So I have now included key rings to my stores offerings. Here are a sample of what sort of things will be available. Size is 4 X 4cm's & price is $4.00 each including postage.

It seems that since I have shrunk the images the quality has also shrunk, will try & upload better pics later this arvo.
Will get these listed hopefully by this afternoon.

Yesterday I was feeling a little creative, so I armed myself with my camera & had some fun.

I can't wait until I can mount this on the wall, would look great with a mirror behind it & some shutters on the side, what do you think?

A beautiful Natasha Burns print, just need to get a picture surround to finish it off.


^This my favourite shot of the day.^

And one with me too.

Enjoy your weekend girls, I know I will be.

I am going to do some changing/moving around today, not even going to think about cleaning windows after the dust storm, as there is proberly going to be another one soon.

Sarah

Vintage clothing

Just had to share with you all a beautiful little shop that is in The Metcalf Arcade at The Rocks in Sydney. We had a look in there on Sunday & unfortunately the dress I really liked was not on the web site but here is a sample of what you will find.

www.rokit.com.au

Hope you are all well & coping with the dust storm that is blanketing us a the moment, it's very odd to look outside & see that after it rained here there are puddles of red mud on the concrete driveway.

Shabby day's to you all.

Sarah

I want one of these, please!

I love Veranda magazine.

This cover is by far my favourite, imagine having a garden pavilion just like this.

Hope you all had a great weekend. We had a lovely day wondering up around The Rocks in Sydney today, will post pics soon.

Sarah

Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Stores Re-Opening!!!

Imagine my delight when I turned on my computer this morning only to discover this fabulous email sitting in my in-box.

Have a superbly shabby day girls!

Sarah

P.S: Don't forget to read my post below & collect your flowers!