a very belated merry xmas and happy happy new year !

greetings from the house of nefotlak!!

I do hope that I still have some interested followers - it's been a long time between posts! (eek!)
starting back at work - xmas - camping holidays - having fun......it was time for me to take some time away from the blog. (hope you don't mind)

I'm back at work again this week - and I'll be working 4 days per week until the beginning of Feb. not ideal (as it's our summer holidays) - but the extra money has been a welcome addition to this household.

job/study plans are still a little in limbo - but for now I've enrolled in Uni full-time for 2012 (which starts back in early Feb) and we'll see where the year takes me.

for right now - I wanted to share the last of our xmas decoration photos from around the house.
the girls and I were very busy decorating and making over the weeks leading up to xmas - and I wanted to document that here as we had loads of fun. (other posts in the lead up to xmas can be found here)

here's our entrance table - (decorations collected over the years).....

 

 

.....and here's a little display in our lounge room.....

.....more lights in the family room.....(being summer down here - there's no worry of melting the lighting cables on the chimney!!).....

.....and some makings......loads and loads of snowflake cutouts on the windows.....

.....and awesome handmade 3D card balls.....(free templates found at this site - just print them out on card - cut them out - and put them together - fiddly - but gorgeous!!! great blog - do go visit - How About Orange).....

.....more decorating in the lounge room.....

.....and here.....

.....and most probably the worst xmas craft fail - in that it didn't get finished in time to use this year - in fact I still need to hunt down some magents to use it next year......but here's our 2012 tin advent calender (idea originally found here).....

(we also made some air-dry clay tree ornaments one day - but they never made it onto the tree. better luck next year I say!!!)

so with all the crafting - and decorating - and me working - there just wasn't time for blogging!!! sorry!!

we had to pack up and leave on 23rd December - as we spent this xmas camping with 6 other families in Victoria. I'm hoping to get some photos together for a big post on those adventures ASAP!!

I will leave you with one photo of our little holiday tree inside our pop-up caravan - a very sad and sorry version of our home tree - with a very oversized star up on top - but it was all chosen and decorated by the kids - and it fit perfectly in amoungst all the mess!!!!

I do hope you had a safe and happy xmas where ever you were.
here's to a fabulous 2012 ahead for us all.

loads of hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

paper filled baubles

more christmas makings from the weekend - paper filled baubles.....

 

here's how it all went down - in pictures (thanks mostly to the lovely goob).....

got it?!

baubles = spotlight
scissors = probably spotlight (I've had mine for ages!)
paper = unused encyclopedia pages.

any questions - shoot me an email or leave me a message.
would love to hear from you.
(I do hope I'm not alone in here!!)

hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

christmas tree 2011

(didn't mean to publish this until tomorrow - but hit publish by mistake!!! - what a goose I am!)

here is our christmas tree for 2011.....(warning - loads of pics ahead!).....

it's very much similar to last year....and the many years before that......we like to stick with the blue/silver & white theme for our lounge room.

we bought the tree for our first-born's first christmas (this is it's 15th outing!) - and it's been a brilliant tree ever since. 

the colour choice came from the room coming with blue carpet when we bought it - and we've never had a chance to change it since!
besides - when we do finally change the floor - the kids have made me promise that the decorations stay the same - there's just too many memories and years of crafting in this tree now - and it just has to stay.

apart from the photo I posted on sunday - in this post - here's another two of my santa helpers that are so so so good at tree trimming now. (I've got them very well trained!!).....

we have set jobs - the girls put the tree together - then mr w. adds in the lights. then I add the tinsel - then we all add the millions of decorations.
it's an absolute hoot.....

all the decorations above in the little squares have been hand made by all of us girls over the last few years.

and we always try to make something - however small - to add every year.
(I'll post tomorrow about our latest additions so far - we did a little making on the weekend)

here's some night time magic.....as it's my favourite time to sit and enjoy the sights of the decorations.....

so - thanks for popping by. I do hope you enjoy our tree.

oh - and p.s. - I got the call about the job - I start tomorrow for a 2-3 month contract - YIPPEEEE.
very very pleased to be able to earn a little cash over the coming holiday season.

hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

paper garlands

more decorating from the weekend.....

after seeing oodles of home-made garlands on pinterest and various blogs - I knew it was time to break out the paper punches and sewing machine for some garland fun.

no tutorial here - it's really rather simple - just punch out circles and stars - and sew them together.

I used a variety of white/off white cards and papers - some plain, some textured & some pages from an old encyclopedia that I had on hand! I think having a little variety in the garland (even subtle) makes it more interesting.

I just sewed them together - then hung them over the mirror......super fun, wonderfully inexpensive & it provides instant christmas cheer!

as I mentioned in this post - the yellow has been painted out of the little mirror - and we've gone all white in the accessorizing department in the loungeroom (apart from some blue in the tree decorations)!!!

the room feels so much better - we're all liking the changes. (plus I love christmas time - and all the lights and decorations - so I'm loving this room right now.
I adore sitting here in the evenings - contemplating the world outside. it's so so calming......

reflections of the christmas tree.....which I'll post about tomorrow.....

here's to a fabulous week for everyone.

cheryl xox.

linking up here this week.....