Artful table Ideas: For a beautifully thankful Christmas.
December 17, 2013
As I have mentioned before on this blog, I am very sad that we don’t celebrate thanksgiving in Australia. This however gives me the opportunity to think thankfully at Christmas time.
Here are some simple ideas from around the blog world, that can be incorporated in your Christmas celebrations particularly in regards to the table.
Some are beautifully quirky, some ingenious, some worthy of a yearly repeat, some child friendly and some all of the above. Let me know if you get inspired and use some, it’s great to hear from you.

Gold Spray painted animals (or possibly nativity characters) with paper luggage tags attached. Image from Style Me Pretty.
What’s so Pinteresting about…… Advent?
November 29, 2013
Meredith’s got a fabulous idea for fantasticly simple bible content here. Love it especially this close to Dec 1.
Cathy gives insightful day by day content here.
Nicole….shares some great ideas here.
If you know what you want each day to hold, but need a little visual inspiration, have a look at my pinterest board here.
This year I have an unusual plan which focus’s on letters….. we will see how that goes.
To see what we have done in previous years look here and here and here.
I just realised that our advent events for 2012 are not collated….. so I will get onto that.
Enjoy, and let me know if you come across anything inspiring.
Fabulous!
November 26, 2013
Hello hello hello….. yes I am still alive and I am slowly coming up for air. Crazy busy last couple of months. I will share with you over the next few weeks some of the highlights and a few other things I have been slowly saving for you over those months.
But for now….. something fabulous. Poppytalk calls it ‘What happen’s when you give kids thousands of stickers. Take it as a pre-Christmas warning….. or Encouragement …. if you like.
- Hat-tip Poppytalk, stuart addelsee, sccart, and heybubbles and colossal). Via The New Domestic. …. so apologies if you have seen it before.
- I think it appeals to me because it’s how the last half of the year has felt like, but makes it look so much more joyful than it was some days.
- Though out it all Tim was fabulous and the kids were great. I am hoping and praying that in the next month leading up to Christmas I can embrace the joy in the chaos….. and get to take the opportunity to serve them, and others, like they have been serving me.
Save the date…..
June 17, 2013
Exciting news in the last couple of days for me.
Some of my new work has been selected for a miniatures exhibition on the 7th of August.
This exhibition is the key Sydney College of the Arts event in the Sydney Design program….. so it’s kind of a biggish deal. It’s a big deal to me as this is my first ever public exhibition as an artist. I have only ever previously shown my work here!
….anyway…. I would love to have you all come to the opening on Wednesday the 7th of August. I know it’s a long way off, but I also know lots of you are busy, so put it in your calendar if exhibitions are your thing.
More info as I get it.
I’m inspired by: Belinda Von Mengersen.
June 14, 2013
One a week for the past two years I have had the delightful pleasure of working for the lovely Belinda Von Mengersen….. she is also my lovely friend. Lucky me!
Well, now it’s lucky you too because Belinda’s work is part of the collection of textile art currently showing at Manly Art Gallery and Museum until the 21st of July.
Every three years the Tamworth Textile Triennale collects together textile artists under a simgle theme. This time it is Sensorial Loop. The shows aim is to showcase to a public the changing ideas and professional craftsmanship associated with contemporary textile practice in Australia.
Belinda’s work as you can see is beautiful….. and according to her ‘photographs badly’, so I can’t wait to see it for real….finished.
From the studio….
June 9, 2013
Henry IV
May 2, 2013
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of seeing my first Bell Shakespeare production.
It was an early birthday present for me and a late birthday present for 13 year old.
Thank you Grani Jan and Fa Fa.
I think we are hooked now……
Who’s up for ‘A Comedy of Errors’ in November?
I’m inspired by: William Morris
April 10, 2013
Lately I have been working on an assignment for uni that gave me a chance to revisit and enjoy one of my favourite artists of all time, William Morris.
William Morris was an arts and crafts master….along with Architect Philip Webb. He worked extensively with fabric, wallpaper, furniture and ceramics.
Here is how his official website describes him….
‘William Morris was the single most influential designer of the nineteenth century, and remains today one of the best known of all British designers. This is due to his extraordinary talent as a pattern designer, his colourful and inspiring life story and to his forceful intellect and personality. Morris was much more than a designer; he was a fervent socialist, scholar, translator and publisher, an environmental campaigner, writer and poet.’
Most of you will know his work even of you don’t know his name…. he was that good. His work is still available world wide, and is so beautifully designed it holds it own 150 years later.
Here’s some more for your enjoyment.
Holiday doona cover.
April 4, 2013
Over the holidays, while her sisters were doing drama and aerialize weeklong workshops, 9 year old and I had sewing camp together. She is the most keen daughter when it comes to sewing. 14 year old will do some, 13 year old runs a mile, and 6 year old …well I’m not sure about her yet.
9 year old was given a little Ikea sewing machine for Christmas, so we thought it was an excellent opportunity to give it a run. I am planning to review this little machine now we have given it a run.
We decided together to make a doona cover from my stash of fabrics and old clothing in the cupboard.
Many of the fabrics are significant to her as they are from different parts of her life and ours lives as a family.
This close-up shows fabrics from a baby dress of hers (lace), a shirt she wore when she was a toddler (heart print) and the blue and white spotty left overs from her Alice in wonderland dress I made for her for her 7th birthday.
We tried as much as we could to keep labels too.
Here you can see fabrics from a shirt of Tim’s (light blue stripe), lace-edging I bought at a garage sale (with my Mum) when I first moved to Sydney about 25 years ago….. so I guess that makes it vintage ….., and a shirt of mine (blue flowers).
We tried to keep the garments detailing as much as we could….. like the sleeve tabs. 9 year old then hand-sewed buttons (taken from the shirts we had used) opposite the tabs so treasured toys could be held by them.
We finished it off by using a flat white sheet to form the back of the cover.
Every single thing….including thread…. we got from the stash!!
It is not quite a standard size 😉 and I did help a lot, but she was amazing and now is planning her next project!
Can’t wait to share it when she does.
….a tradition continues…..
April 1, 2013
Keeping with tradition, we got up early on Easter Sunday and headed out to see the sun rise.
It’s a quiet little family ritual we do each year now.
I love the intimateness of it.
Reminds me of the few going to the tomb and discovering it empty.
He has Risen!