Winner!

December 10, 2012 | Miscellaneous

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who entered our recent 24 Merry Days Giveaway!! I’m completely astounded by the amazing support, and now that the giveaway is closed it’s time to draw a winner! And that lucky person is….

Kristen from Summer Sets In!! Congratulations Kristen!

If you missed out this time, don’t dispair! There are still loads of other giveaways on now, or coming up that you can enter! Go to the 24 Merry Days website to see who’s coming up next!

Weekend that was (08-09.12.12)

December 10, 2012 | Weekend that was

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a relaxed weekend.. I certainly did!

Along with spending a good amount of quiet time around the house, I got started on a flowery project I’ve been meaning to do for weeks, we took a trip into Little India to do some shopping and have a walk around, and on our way home we passed through the Thieves Market where Dave bought an old camera. Nothing strenuous or stressful, just a lovely quiet weekend. Oh, and we did a load of baking yesterday.. testing some recipes for Christmas. I’m one of the official taste-testers, so I’d better get back to it ;)

Loving… Ferm Living

December 7, 2012 | Loving...

Argh, this store is killing me with it’s amazingness..

I’m sure Ferm Living is by no means new to most of you (especially if you live in the US), but I just can’t help but share my adoration for everything they do!

After looking through their shop for the billionth time, it would seem that I have a rather large soft spot for products shaped like houses.. and I’m squirming around on my chair because their shop is full of them! I’m in cute house product heaven! Not to mention everything else.. which is all going on future wish lists for like, the rest of my life.

Find more Ferm Living at the Shop and Blog. I don’t know of anywhere in Singapore that sells their products yet, but if you’re lucky enough to live in Germany a lot of their products are also available at Amazon.de :)

And don’t forget that the next Newsletter comes out tomorrow, so if you haven’t signed up you can do so here.

DIY Christmas Tree Gift Toppers

December 6, 2012 | DIY

With Christmas looming, I’m sure there are more than a few gifts that need to be wrapped in the coming weeks! I had some sticks leftover from the wreath DIY last week, so put together these really cute little trees that make the perfect toppers for a gift, don’t you think?

You’ll need:
- A stick or two, not too thick
- Strong scissors
- A hot glue gun (or glue more suitable for wood if you have it)
- Regular craft glue
- Embroidery thread in any colours you choose

Step 1.
Using the scissors, cut your stick into smaller parts – 2 the same size, one slightly smaller, and a very small piece for the trunk. Lay them out to make sure the tree ratio is to your liking :)

Step 2.
If your stick still has some bark on it, I found that cutting it away in the areas I was going to glue helped the glue to stick better. If you have a better glue for wood than hot glue, feel free to use it instead. Place your sticks on a piece of scrap paper and, using the hot glue (very carefully!) stick the pieces of your tree together one-by-one and press tightly until they’re dried. Be very careful with your little trees, they’re quite fragile.

Step 3.
Once the glue is set, take the embroidery thread and glue one end to the tree (wherever you like) using the craft glue. Once it’s dried, wind the thread around the tree in any style you like. Once you’re happy with it, secure the end with craft glue.

Step 4.
Now all that’s left to do is to cut out a little star from cardboard, and glue it all to your package!

And as always, if you’d like to see more DIYs, feel free to head to the DIY Archive! :)

 

Perth & Margaret River II

December 4, 2012 | Miscellaneous, Personal, Photography, Travel

Good morning! I thought I’d share part two of our trip to Margaret River with you this morning, just to change it up from all the Christmas stuff that’s been going on!

Most of these photos were taken in and around various wineries we went to. Actually now that I look at it – there are just 2 of the wineries here.. we visited many many more, trust me. But these two wineries were probably two of my favourites for completely different reasons.

The first one was a very small, privately run vineyard called Carpe Diem. We had to make an appointment to go and taste their wines, and their cellar door consisted of a shed in which we sat surrounded by all the wine making equipment. Even though it didn’t have all the bells and whistles of some of the other wineries, it was a fantastic experience being served and given the story of each wine by the wine-maker himself. It also helps that the wines were amazing!

On the other end of the spectrum was Voyager Estate (above), which was spectacular if only for the grounds alone (check out the homepage of their website!!). Sprawling green lawns, manicured gardens, roses, and of course fantastic food and wine. It was magnificent and well worth a visit.

On the way back to Perth we stopped by the Margaret River Berry Farm for some morning tea scones with jam and cream… oohhh yum. They also had a beautiful cottage garden full of the most beautiful, tiny birds! They gave us sugar so we could try feeding some, and we managed to attract some of these little honey eaters (well, I guess they’re honey eaters – they had a seriously long tongue!).

Oh what a great time we had. Just one more Perth post coming up in a couple of weeks.. I need to space them out so you don’t get tired of seeing all my photos! :)

Pins 03.12.12

December 3, 2012 | Pins

Woo, Monday! I woke up to 198 unread emails this morning (which is the most I think I’ve ever had in one night!), most of which were from all of you lovely people commenting on the giveaway yesterday! What a great response we’ve had, and there are still 6 more days to go :)

I’ll be back a little later with today’s Giveaway on another fabulous blog, so make sure you check back!

And now, some pins…

1. Night Windows Art Print by Aesthetic Apparatus from Poster Cabaret (via)
2. Dawning Lark Bed by Anthropologie (via)
3. Gypset Chevron Satchel by Cleobella from Anthropologie (via)
4. Petite Dauphine Snake Clutch from Jonathan Adler (via Vane Broussard)
5. Swedish Star Lantern from Terrain (via Ally Amos)
6. Lena Round Glasses from Fossil (via)