Christmas light hunting!

Last night we took Milla and Harris out to hunt for Christmas lights. There are a handful of AMAZING homes close by where we were able to get out of the car and walk around the displays (please excuse the terrible quality photos - my iPhone isn't the best camera at night)



We saw Santa sleigh, the elves making toys in a workshop, reindeer and one house had a snow machine going too!!


While we were walking around Santa himself arrived and had lollipops in his sack for all the kids!




The kids had a ball and didn't want to come home even though it was waaaaay past their bedtime.... needless to say we all got a sleep in this morning.

Donated fabrics and ribbon turn into 83m of bunting for The Wayside Chapel

Every Thursday I receive the 'Inner Circle' email from Graham Long of The Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross, Sydney. In this email Graham tells a bit of his experiences working at The Wayside Chapel and my Thursday's aren't complete without reading these emails (if you want to get these emails as well, join the mailing list HERE) Anyway about 4 weeks ago the email had a 'call out' in it for anyone who could donate goods, supplies and services for the annual Wayside Christmas Day Street Party where the Wayside staff close down the main street of Kings Cross and feed over 1000 people who would have otherwise be alone and hungry on Christmas day.


Instantly I checked out the 'wish list' to see if there was anything I could donate and when I saw the word DECORATIONS on the list I knew that was something I could do... BUNTING - lots and lots and lots of Christmas bunting!!

I raided my fabric stash for anything green, red, white or Christmas-y and had a small stash to start with but I had visions of ALLOT of bunting that Wayside could use at their Street Party year after year. So it was my turn to make a 'call out'. I contacted some wonderful friends, colleges, family and businesses and asked for fabrics for my little idea.

Bundle after bundle of fabric & ribbon arrived over the next few days and a HUGE thanks goes out to these AWESOME businesses who donated: The Oz Material Girls, Ribbons Galore, Wrapped In Fabric, The Habby Goddess, Em & Femme Designs, Baby Galah, Tea for Evie & Little Sew & Sews (I so hope I haven't forgotten anyone - so so so sorry if I have).

I got cutting and sewing and just this Monday gone I finally finished it all - a whopping 83 metres (the longest amount I've ever sewn for one 'order') of handmade bunting for 100% donated supplies!! Check it out:






Folding it all up and popping it into a box was an effort in itself but I got it posted off to Wayside ready for the Christmas Day Street Party and I reckon it's going to be looking pretty swish :)

Thanks again to all who donated - Mwahh!!

A cheeky quest for votes *wink, wink*

Louisa from The Little Big Company is currently running a competition through the Little Big Company blog.


Entrants send in a photo of anything Creative for Christmas - ornaments, dessert tables, decorations etc etc. There are a bunch of fun ideas coming in that can be seen on the blog HERE and yesterday it hit me that I could join in.... I sent in a before and after photo of the plastic ball pits ball 'baubles' on our row of trees along our driveway (see HERE). Louisa has now added it to the entrants and it's voting time - this is where my quest for votes comes in - The Creative Christmas photo with the most votes wins a $100 gift voucher to spend at The Little Big Company's online store (Oh how I could do that in 30 seconds!!)


Soooooooo, do you have a spare moment and feel like popping over to the blog post HERE pretty please? All you need to do is leave a comment saying you vote for the Giggleberry Creations row of trees pic (or something similar) - easy!

The competition ends Dec 15th and I have my fingers and toes crossed :)

Decorating our outdoor 'Christmas trees'

Just a little over 12 months ago we moved into our home so this year will be our second Christmas here and the perfect time to start getting fancy in the front yard with Christmas decorations!
Last year I just strung up a few lights, hung some Christmas bunting up and had a wreath on our front door - looked great but I like the idea of having a bit more fun ;)

We have a row of Pencil Pine trees along our driveway so this morning Harris, Milla and I took our big box of 'baubles' out the front and decorated our 'Christmas trees'...

BEFORE:

Over the past few months I have been stalking eBay for second hand cheap plastic ball pit balls (the colourful little balls kids play in at IKEA). I ended up with 300 for a bargain! Next step was to attach string to each and everyone of them - a big job that was a little time consuming but not a hard job at all. I just thread thick cotton through them and created a loop with a normal sewing needle. The balls are made of a nice and soft plastic so it's not tricky to do.

AFTER:

There were lots of giggles as we dropped a few and I had to chase them down the street but it only took about half an hour and we were done. What do you think??


Next up is a HUGE wreath I also scored for a bargain on eBay then a few little elf character cutouts to go around the garden... I'll share pics as we go :)