Another gorgeous ornament has made it here

Wow,

I am so lucky. My 2nd ornament has arrived from the swap. It is this beautiful antique spoon from Meryl from mybitofearth.

Thanks Meryl what a lovely decoration

xx Em

Tis' the season for giving :)

Hi All

Well Em and I had a lovely time on Saturday catching up with lots of the BrisStyle girls at our end of year catch up. I have to say I felt very spoilt as I ended up receiving some beautiful gifts...

From my Secret Santa (Teneale from Wicked Child Designs) I got a lovely 'Belly Burping Belinda' softie. I have to say Teneale's toys in real life are more beautiful than on the net and so well made.

I also got a couple of surprises, one being a bag that I commissioned Bec from where'sbeckybean to make for me from some fabric I recently brought and wasn't sure what to do with and the second being a little surprise from Helen at RubyredStudios that she actually purchased from Ali from Jellygnite (we are a supportive bunch us BrisStylers)

And the Lovely Louise from Made by Miffy brought along something I ordered for my little man from her amazing new website. He loved his new outfit so much we actually had a fight getting the clothes back off him so that they could be put away with his Christmas pressies
Lastly I got a lovely surprise in the mail yesterday when I received my Handmade present swap gift from Jacqui.


Em will also be happy to know that I got organised (finally) and sent off my present for Bobbi in the USA, hopefully now I wont be black band from future swaps and Bobbi's present will hopefully have a speedy delivery and not arrive to much past the 1st.
Happy Christmas everyone, still cant believe how quickly it is coming around

Bel xx

Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap - RECEIVED - yay

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share with you the absolutely beautiful hand stitched christmas ornament I received from my swap partner Rachel , and the equally lovely bag with a hand stitched santa on the front.


Lucas just loves the postman, and was so excited and thought the parcel was for him, I humoured him for some cute pics to share, but then quickly snapped my goodies back up for safe keeping until my christmas deckies come out.


Thanks to everyone who has been part of the swap, you should all be posting in the next week and receiving by the first week of December.


xx Em

Fun & Fabrics

Hi All,

Lucas and I headed up to Brisbane's State Library today for Music & Toddler Play time, wow did he have a great time, I wish that the libraries on the Gold Coast were set up like this.

This is Lucas inside the giant Monster puppet (playing peekaboo of course)

and this is him 'Painting the town Red'

and... here are the lovely fabrics just waiting to be created into something special for my back-tack and handmade ornament swap partners.

(oh and that little reindeer just thought he would pop into the pic, I am making them for our next craft stall - excuse his runny nose ;-) )

xx Em

Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap RESULTS

Hi Ladies,
Here is the official list, I will send you more details via email of your swappee

The way this works is it is a down the line swap, so number one makes for number two and number two for number three and so on, until the end of the list where number twenty-four makes for number one (i will detail further in your email)
I have run the list through the random generator, so I havent "fluked" any matchings.

1. Selina
2. Joanne
3. Lisa
4. Ali
5. Marcia
6. Ann-Maree
7. Maree
8. Ruth
9. Katy
10. Katie
11. Vivi
12. Ngaire
13. Melissa
14. Rachel
15. Em
16. Jacqui
17. Belinda
18. Bobbi
19. Diana
20. Trish
21. Lee
22. Sandi
23. Rosemary
24. Leah
25. Ali T.

please let me know if you have a blog that I havent listed or your link isnt working. Ok emails should reach you some time in the next couple of days

xxEm

Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap 2008 & black cockatoos

Morning Everyone !!

Today is the last day to join in (10/10/08) depending on your time zone !!

So if you would like to participate in the Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap, and we would love you to!! then please go to the original link and check out the rules.. here

It is open to anyone around the world.

It has been quite rainy where I live, last night we had around 60mm of rain, oh it was beautiful to hear the loud sound of the pitter patter on our tin roof and the sound of the water wooshing through the gutters and into the water tanks.. Yay for rain!!

The black cockatoos are certainly happy this morning too as they came in a huge group (around 30 of them) and started picking at all the bark in the trees. If you have ever heard black cockies they have a really earie cry type call and they are actually quite distructive, but these ones were a welcome sight this morning as Lucas and I watched them soar in and out of the trees. Wow is all he could say ;-)

xx Em

More Ear Problems

My Little Helper wearing his special apron from Robyn at Hot Fudge

Hi All,

Well there is yet again no sleep happening in our home, poor Lucas has developed another infection in the ear that still has the grommet and glue ear in the one that lost its grommet!! so more antibiotics. It is making for a very tired, grumpy family at the moment.

So after reading Maree's post yesterday about having whingy kids and baking cookies, we did the same at 7.15 this morning!! LOL

Here are the finished product.

Yummmoo

xxEm

Chocolate Chip Cookies


125g Butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cups SR flour
1/2 tsp salt
125g choccie chips
60g chopped apricots


Cream together butter, sugars and vanilla. Add lightly beaten egg gradually, beating well after each addition. Mix in sifted flour and salt. Add chocolate chips and apricots and mix well Shape teaspoonfuls of mix into small balls, place on lightly greased oven trays, allow room for spreading. Bake in moderate oven for 10-12mins.


from The Australian Women's Weekly 'The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits'

Don't Forget about the Christmas Ornament Swap, signup until 10th of October,
click the star in the sidebar to read about it !!

Shadow Shot Sunday #9

We have just spent the weekend in beautiful Stanthorpe, Qld on my husband's parents farm "Thornlands"

here is a great photo of Grandad,Nette & Lucas taking the pony back to the yard after a ride... if you look closely you can see little lady the dog too!!

Don't forget to sign up for my Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap 2008, see the link to it in the right hand sidebar

Have a great week everyone

xxEm

Christmas Ornament Swap Anyone??

I have been looking around for a swap to join with no luck, so here goes... If I get enough people I would like to organise a "down the line" Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap 2008. The value would be $15 plus postage to join in you need to comment on this post and email me your details by October 10th 2008.

the swap list will be posted on 14th of October 2008, All gifts are to be sent so they reach the recipient for an opening day of 1st December 2008.

If you want further information you can email me here

I have "borrowed" these rules from another swap site as I thought they were fair and ensured everyone gets something safely by the opening day....

Ohhhh I am sooo excited!!!!!!!!!

ETA - a few of you have asked if it is ok if you are not in Australia, that is fine, we can post wherever.. I will make sure when the draw is done everyone is happy with where they are posting to.. (international swappers accepted)

ALSO - clarification on what you can make that falls into the category - anything "handmade" that is a christmas ornament or decoration; so it can be for the tree, the wall, the door, the window, the table etc. hope this makes sense.

The countdown is on!!

xEm

SWAP RULES

1.All swapees must give me their snail mail address, Phone number and private email address before the swap list is drawn otherwise they will not be included. This is so you can be contacted quickly if needed.

2. Once the swap list is published you must contact your swap partner within 7 days or you will be left out of the swap and your partner will be allocated another partner.

3. There are two types of swaps a. Down the line swap – this is where you send to the person after you on the list ie you receive from one person but send to a different person

4. MOST IMPORTANT - Through out the swap to keep in contact with your swap partner(s) via private messages or email. If you want to, you can give the person who is sending to you an idea of your likes and dislikes - or you can go for a complete surprise, it's up to you.

5. If for some reason you have to drop out of the swap – please contact your swap partners and me as quickly as possible, as we might be able to arrange a new swap partner for that person. In a down the line swap, if you find late in the swap that you need to drop out and you have already received your gift please send this gift on to the person you are sending to so they don’t miss out.

6. Before sending your parcel, take a photo and remember to include a note with your gift, telling how you decided to make what you did. If possible a personalized label on your gift is a great way for your swap partners to remember you for years to come. Post your pics on your blog after the parcel is received and link back to us!!

7. Please send your parcel allowing enough postage time to ensure your swap partner receives it by the swap opening date. Especially for posting overseas, check with the post office early so you know how long to allow for postage.

8. Once you have opened your gift, ensure you thank you swap partner and post a message on your blog to share a description of your gift for everyone to read.

9. If you find you are having problems with a swap partner: Before posting a message about this publicly please contact me and I will try to resolve it for you.

Please join in the fun

xxEm