Christmas Wreaths

This will be my last post for 2009.

We plan to spend Christmas and New Year in Thailand so the next few days will be very busy.

What better way to end the year and wish everybody a blessed Christmas time than with a collection of wreaths. I love wreaths. It is such a great way to welcome friends, family and good vibes into your home.

Enjoy

A great way to use leftover ribbing or recycled sweaters.

From Betz White

via Craftzine

For those of us in the warmer climates, a wreath that keeps on growing

even after the holiday season is over.

From Kraken Crafts

via Craftster

Fresh radishes! The ideal colour combination for Christmas.
From Sunset

via Craftzine

What to do with all the old magazines lying around the house?
How about a modern rolled paper wreath?
From Ragandbone

via Craftzine

Ideal for a crafter/seamstress/quilter with loads of leftover fabric scraps.

From Lindamade

via Craftzine

We've all seen the little felted balls in the craftshops and wonderded what to do with them.

Well, why not make a colourful wreath?

From Pickles

via OnePrettyThing

For a splash of colour and creativity make a wreath from canvas and buttons>
From Alisa Burke

via OnePrettyThing

My favourite!
From Sappymoosetree
via Craftzine


Felt rosettes - beautiful in white, but multicoloured would by great too...
From domestifluff
via OnePrettyThing

Loads of sweets over from Halloween? Why not make a wreath?
From Skip to my Lou via OnePrettyThing


May you all have a blessed and loving Christmas and holiday.
Have lots of fun and laughter,
but let us not forget what Christmas is really all about:
"Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you:
he is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas!

Images from Italy 3: Craft and colour in Venice

Venice is not only about beautiful buildings and old art, but also about a vibrant, creative and modern population. Here are a few glimpses of crafty and creative things we've seen:



A felted coat...



with embroidered buttons.



An art shop where artists can buy colour pigment in little glass jars





A beautiful handbag and accessory shop...



...all hand-made.



Funky rain boots and...



...some guerilla knitting!



Lovely autumn colours...



...and big chunks of Lindt chocolate - mmm!



Murano glass...



...and Christmas lights

Images from Italy 2:

Everywhere you turn in Venice, you are confronted by a statue of a winged lion.



Apparently the story of the lion goes like this: St. Mark the Apostle died and was buried in Alexandria, Egypt. The symbol for St. Mark is the lion.



In the ninth century two merchants from Venice stole the remains of St. Mark from it's resting place in Alexandria and after and adventurous sea journey presented it to the Doge in Venice.



A Basilica was built on the main piazza to house the remains. The basilica and the piazza was renamed after St. Mark and he became the Patron Saint of Venice.



The lion of St. Mark aquired it's wings as the believe is that he protected the merchants on their journey across the Mediterranean sea.

NEEDLE Magazine Feature

HEN (Hand Embroidery Network) has recently launched their very own online magazine called NEEDLE which covers all things embroidery related. I feel very honoured to have contributed an article for their first issue. The article covers issues I feel strongly about - craft, entrepreneurial skills and dignity, and to meet and support people who can do all three with so much joy, really gave me a lot of joy too!



I am a huge fan of HEN. It is a great source of inspiration and knowledge. It is also a great place to meet fellow embroidery enthusiasts. So if you love needlework and haven't done so already, do yourself a favour and join the network.

Images from Italy 1

Italy

I am off to Italy for a week. A friend of mine, Natasja de Wet, an artist from Cape Town, is one of only two South African artists, invited to exhibit their work at the Florence Biennale 2009. We are meeting up in Venice on sunday and from there we go to Florence to install her work for the Biennale and to emerge ourselves in art for a few days.
See you all next week...

Dubai in Pictures 3

A small shop selling prayer beads and Kufi caps

A boutique selling headscarves

Dubai in Pictures 2

This is the view from the school where the boys go for their swimming lessons. Twice a week as we walk back to the car, this is what we see. This was taken at about 5:30 in the afternoon, just as the sun was going down. The Burj Dubai was glowing pink. All 818m (2683ft) and 162 floors of it.

Anika's room

Our house was very much boy-orientated before Anika's arrival 16 months ago. With 2 boys aged 10 and 11 everything was about sport, cars and Star Wars... then the pink revolution happened. Our house became a lot more girly and soft. I think we all love it...although not all will admit it! For the first year Anika's bed was in our room as we did not have an extra room available. After long discussions about how we will rearrange our home we decided to 'build' an extra room. We have a huge living/tv room upstairs from where all the bedrooms are accesable. We built a temporary dry-wall to devide the room in two and so created an extra small bedroom for Anika. (We live in a rented house so permanent structural changes are not allowed.)


I painted a (pink) tree on one wall and decorated it with leaves and flowers. The tree is now attracting all sorts of creatures and we already have butterflies and birds living in the tree. I am keeping an eye out for frogs and insects... ;-)

The one end of the room is taken up by a changing table, but will be replaced by a play area in a year or so when Anika is potty-trained. Do you recognise some of the fabric in the curtain?

A lampshade from IKEA fits right into the theme of garden creatures...

and so does the cross-stitch sampler, grandma made for Anika.

Since we are plagued by mosquitos in winter (summer is far to hot for them too!) I made a mosquito net to protect the pink one at night..


More on her room to follow...