minted for crafters

As you all know, I don't tend to do a lot of posts like these because I'm quite choosy about who I work with. But I couldn't turn down the opportunity to do a post with Minted, because I really do love what they do. In their own words,

Minted is the world's premier marketplace for independent design. Our mission is to find exceptional artists and designers all over the world and bring their work to consumers who appreciate great design.

Each time a product is sold, the artists receives a commission. How cool is that? 

Minted is well known for their stationary, and they seriously have a card for every occasion. I love their holiday photo cards, and will probably use this one for our own Christmas cards this year. But did you know that they also have fabric? And it is some of the most unique that I've ever come across. Inspired by their beautiful fabrics, I've put together this list of things I think would be perfect to give to the crafters in your life. Or to give to yourself, because who doesn't need want to make a dress with whales on it?!?

1. A sweet print to decorate your studio, or the corner where you sew.

2. If knitting is more your thing, an art print titled 'Knit One Purl Two.'

3. Bicycle fabric! Available in cotton or a linen-cotton blend. I'm imagining a sweet little dress for Clementine…

4. If you've been around here for a while, you'll know I have a thing for whales so I literally swooned when I came across this fabric. I love the design so much; I think it would look great stapled over a canvas and hung in our living room.

5. Now that I'm knitting more complicated patterns, I find myself needing to keep track of exactly what I'm doing, row by row. A dedicated notebook would be perfect, and would make such a nice Christmas present for your knitting friends, personalised with their name on the cover of course.

This post is in partnership with Minted. All thoughts are my own. 

celebrating

This year, I had the most wonderful BirthdayChristmas. As always, I missed my family, but knowing that would be the case, my husband really tried to make it special. I don't normally do anything to celebrate my birthday, but my good friend (who also organised my blessingway) insisted that I do something. And so, a last minute email was sent inviting people to a vegetarian picnic in the park, and what do you know? People came. There were old friends, new friends, babies, babies in bellies, a puppy and a gaggle of kids. It was chaos, of the best kind.

A couple of days later, on my actual birthday, I slept in and was treated to pancakes and tea in bed. It's always been a tradition in my family for the birthday person to open their gifts in bed, and that's just what I did. I was spoiled with everything I asked for and more. My husband somehow tracked down The Horse watch I asked for (it was the only one in Sydney!), and a pair of sunglasses while my mom sent me clothes from my favourite Vancouver shops. My husband and I also received an iPad as a Christmas gift from his mum and step-dad, and boy oh boy, we are loving it!

In the afternoon we had Christmas lunch at my in laws' home. This year, for the first time, there were two babies there: Clementine and her second cousin. It really is true that children make Christmas magical, even when the children in question have no idea what's going on. Clementine was just happy that there were piles and piles of wrapping paper to play with. The first Christmas... what a milestone!

nesting: for christmas

It's no surprise that this month is usually a hard one for me. I miss my family, and I long for the traditions that make me feel like Christmas is coming. Traditions that are so seasonally based that they just don't work here; it seems odd, but I really do miss the cold and all of the indoor activities that come with it (like baking, drinking egg nog, watching movies, and knitting). Other years I've just let myself wallow, but this time I decided to get in the spirit of things. Or at least try my best.

We opted not to get a Christmas tree (maybe next year) so I emptied a little red bookcase and used it as our Christmas corner. I hung a wreath over it, filled the shelves with gifts and decorated with red and green bits and pieces like this beautiful bird that my friend Katrina made. My mother in law also made the three of us beautiful stockings, using this tutorial from the purl bee.

This month I also managed to do some baking and sewing. My friend Katie and I made the Chocolate Banana Birthday Cake from My New Roots, which was delicious and well worth the effort. Right before Christmas I made up a double batch of my favourite olive oil granola, which, packed into jars and decorated with fabric scraps made a perfect homemade gift for family and friends. Lastly, I sewed up another doll (I know, enough with the dolls already!) which was sent to baby Tallow, in honour of her first Christmas.

Now that we're in these wonderfully lazy post-Christmas days, I can honestly say that I very much enjoyed this year. I had a wonderful BirthdayChristmas and I'm glad that I made the effort to celebrate properly.

nesting: the beginnings
nesting: summertime
nesting: from summer to autumn

merry christmas

I just wanted to pop in to wish all of you a merry Christmas. Tomorrow is also my birthday, and I've requested a sleep in, followed by pancakes and presents in bed. Then it's off to Christmas lunch with the family (and probably a swim too!). I hope you and yours have a wonderful day!

lots of love,
Gaby, husband + Clementine

my creative space: christmas mittens

 This Christmas I didn't get around to making many gifts, so I was pleased when I whipped up these re-purposed mittens for a friend of mine. Luckily, she was about to go New York which means that she'll actually get to use them, because otherwise, getting mittens in the middle of an Australian summer is pretty lame.

But back to the project - the mittens are made using an old sweater and they come together quickly so they're the perfect last-minute gift. That said, it took me 2 pairs to get these right. I made the first pair using instructions found in The Crafty Minx. Most of the projects in that book are seriously great, but this one is a dud. Naturally, I turned to the internet and used this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess. They turned out great, if I do say so myself!

linking up here today

festivities

Whew, I'm finally getting around to posting about our christmas/birthday/new year's week. It was busy; there were parties, gifts to unwrap, christmas lunch with family, and best of all, breakfast in bed on my birthday. I also managed to score numbers 1 and 6 from my wish list (thanks husband). I was a bit homesick this birthday/christmas (maybe I should starting calling it my birthmas, does that work?) so I skyped with my family a lot and took it easy with husband. 

The taking it easy was actually my favourite part. Hanging out at home after the festivities, playing with our new toys and pottering around. I've had a lot of free time to read and have gotten through: Mother Rising, Shakespeare by Bill Bryson, The Bean Trees, The Philosopher and the Wolf and I'm currently reading Cloudstreet. The Philosopher and the Wolf was my favourite, hands down. I hope you all had wonderful, relaxing holidays!

birthday/christmas wishlist 2012

A few things I'm coveting this birthday/Christmas:

1. What Katie Ate - Just like my mother, I am fast becoming a cookbook-aholic.

2. Mr. Boddington's Penguin classics from Anthropologie - I would choose Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Little Woman.

3. All for Everyone toque - Because that'll be handy this summer ;)

4. Vitamix - With its $1000 price tag, this is firmly on the keep-on-dreamin! list, but one day, one day, it'll be mine...

5. Fern oxfords from The Horse - I will love them until my feet are too fat and swollen for laces.

6. Stockholm clutch from Elk - I have been pining over these bags ever since I moved to Australia. They've always felt like too much of a splurge, but if it's for my birthday/Christmas...

7. Not pictured because I forgot about it until now, but ever since this post, I have been longing for this whale print. I would put it in our bedroom, so I could wake up to it every day.

What's on your list?

merry

Yesterday I put on some Christmas tunes, tied on my apron and got to work making something that's been on my list to try for a long time: the pioneer woman's cinnamon rolls. Since I don't have an industrial kitchen, or the wherewithal to make the bazillion buns the normal recipe does, I used the quantities I found here. It was the perfect amount.

In between the making, while I waited for dough to rise, I got myself organized to finally send out some christmas cards. Beautiful stationary always helps, so I picked up some Rifle cards and excitedly got to use my custom address stamp from Oh My Deer for the first time. Seeing as how I'm just gettting around to this, it's safe to say that no one will actually receive said cards before christmas, but it's the thought that counts, right?

By the end of the morning I was mailing off a few cards and going to visit a friend's brand new baby with a plate of cinnamon rolls in my hands. And people, holy crap, they are good! Almost as good as my beloved Grounds for Coffee (Vancouverites you know what I mean, right?).

seasonal envy disorder

via

Being a blogger, and an expat living in a country where the seasons are reversed, I seem to suffer from seasonal envy pretty much all year. But it gets so much worse in December! Every time December rolls around I feel like Dylan Moran talking about Ireland and the war: "What? What? There's a what on? Oh really? What I'm not dressed... Oh, oh, it's all over... oh well!"

I blame it on the weather. I find it nearly impossible to get in the spirit, and you know... buy gifts, put up a tree, decorate, bake gingerbread cookies etc, when it's 35 degrees outside and I'm heading to the beach. Christmas in Australia is, to me, as out of place as an elephant in Antarctica.

I also happen to be a Christmas baby, so this is the one time of year where all my celebrations are packed into a 12 hour period. Yet, I find myself wishing I was home listening to Sufjan Stevens Christmas carols, baking with my mom and watching the snow fall. And your blogs are not helping ;)

The funny thing is that based on your comments, I know that you have a bit of the same envy when you visit this space. I so often hear: "I wish I could go for a swim right now!" or "I want to see the sun!" So I don't really have a solution, I just felt like rambling. I suppose the solution would be to embrace Australian Christmas/my birthday for all of its quirkiness and stop wishing I was somewhere else. All I can do is try...

red & green

I just realized while putting together photos for this post, that I unwittingly spent the weekend taking photos of red and green, wherever I found it. Must be my attempt at feeling festive during an Australian December. 

This weekend we stayed close to home, only leaving to go for swims. During one of those outings, husband's mum gave us this awesome advent calender. It really is the only sign of Christmas in our home, though I'm hoping to either put up some branches with decorations like this OR this fabric from Ikea. How are you celebrating the arrival of December?

New Zealand: part 2, my birthday/Christmas

As you read in this post, normally my birthday is spent at family Christmas events. But this year husband and I were in New Zealand, just the two of us, and he decided to forfeit his Christmas in order to celebrate my birthday. He's a good man. And celebrate we did.

On the day I turned 25 on the 25th I...

Woke up in Wanaka, NZ, and slept in.

Ate berry pancakes that husband made.

Chatted with my mom and my grandma on the phone.

Wandered around the lake.

Kayaked to Ruby Island where we had a picnic and went for a swim.

{kayaking pics by husband}

Went for another swim in this crazy cool swimming hole where we met awesome Frenchies and did an "obstacle course" of sorts that involved walking upstream and then chucking ourselves into the cold, cold water and letting it carry us downstream, only stopping occasionally to jump off cliffs. Wish I had taken photos!

Came back to our hotel where I practiced yoga by myself on the grass while husband made this yummy vegetarian dinner for me.

He even made me a chocolate cake! And that man is NOT a baker and has no sweet tooth whatsoever.

And finally, we went for a walk at sunset back down to the lake. This photo of me on the right is pretty funny. There were all of these trees shedding little white fluffy bits all over the grass, and I got excited and pretended we were having a white Christmas. In the southern hemisphere. Not so much...

{last 2 photos by husband}

Went to sleep, happy and grateful for the best birthday I've had in a very long time.

p.s. New Zealand posts will continue next week, so many photos!

Beautiful things that come in the mail

I just got my husband to snap this photo of my toque and when I looked at it, I exclaimed, "Wow, I look completely deranged!" His answer: "Yeah, cause you're a crazy canuck. Duh."

I've said it before and I'll say it again: one of the best things about living overseas is that I get mail. Especially around my birthday/Christmas every time I go to the post office I'm filled with excitement, hoping that maybe there'll be another little card or box with my name written on the front.

This year was no exception; I got lots of beautiful cards, clothing from my mom, this awesome deer from my mom, amazing fabric from a family friend (pictured above), the most awesome toque ever and a fab top, and other things I'm sure I'm forgetting...