Christmas craftiness

Such a busy time of year with concerts,Christmas preparations and impromptu sunset cocktail parties creates the need for unexpected gifts for guests,or thankyou presents to gracious hosts, and it's great to have done things on hand ready to go,beyond the usual bottle of bubbly

My silk and paper flower hair clips are an easy solution for the girls,everyone loves to wear flowers in their hair🌸

Attached to pretty cards I made from photos of vintage doilies,they are ready to adorn their new owner

Nevada asked me to make her a flower crown too,easy done...love my glue gun!

Sadly cooking is not my friend,

we struggle most days to compromise but I rarely win,so sweet treats are not a likely favour!

I also love to make these for the little girls in my life!Lots of hair clip holders ready for those pretty clips.

 This year I've been making lots of paper craft flowers and patakis(Portuguese paper chandelier)and we are actually having one for our Christmas tree in our holiday cabin!

Recently I was able to go to Hudson's Kindy for the day and make a pataki with all the kids,

I love ❤️4 year olds,they are fun,clever and very honest!!

We made a Christmas one for their end of year concert,

I loved using all the different straws and the kids colour choices for the flowers were so inspiring,and we added some bells for extra magic✨

Sadly I didn't manage to get a photo with the kids as I was so busy teaching them,the few progress shots were taken during morning tea time.

It was a lovely thing to do,

I think I enjoyed myself even more than the kids

So nice to do nothing but chatter to little folk and craft away for a few hours on a sunny day

Does Christmas bring out the craftiness in you?

Love and rainbows,

Gypsygirl x

Swing into paradise

Have you ever seen a more perfect swing location?

Whale beach park,

set right in the sand,

Under the shade of giant Norfolk pines,

Nevada is the latest member of our family to absolutely love this place,

Always the first beach/park suggested in my house and I am very grateful it is so accessible to us,

We are very fortunate.

Nevada decided that she wanted to be "pwetty"today and dressed herself in a lovely combination of a little miss doily dress(mine) and a fun tulle spotty skirt underneath

She even added her special pearl bracelets and let me put her hair up

Big sigh,she is not my baby anymore...she is a beautiful little girly girl

And a cheeky one too!!!

Look who discovered my hidden diet coke while I was packing up!!!

Love and rainbows,

Gypsy girl x

Polish paper chandeliers

Inspired by beautiful images of petaki's from around the world I enrolled with a girlfriend to do a one day course @the school.com @Megan Morton

It was a great day learning a new skill,drinking herbal teas and munching on homemade brownies and lamingtons

step 1:

was making flowers,

 concertina  folding  4 layers of  paper and tieing in a bow in the middle,

you need 16 flowers altogether

step2:

was covering our metal ring with crepe paper and tieing 8  strings evenly around the outside of the ring

It didn't take long for our table to look like colourful chaos!!

Everyone's flowers were so beautiful,I loved them all. 

Step 3:

When all the flowers had been made we

Strung up the 8 strings with cut straws and mini concertina folded paper bows,tied them together and attached a ring for hanging,

Step 4:

After this we hung the mobiles from giant hooks on racks 

and attached the final layer of hanging flowers and straws around the base

The final step was hot glue gunning the remaining flowers on all the joins around the circumference

I was really happy with my finished pataki,

the gelato colours suit my house 

and it was a happy fun item to make

 and I loved doing the class with my lovely girlfriend Libby,

it just made the day even more fun 😊

       

Love and rainbows,

Gypsygirl x

Stakes day Melbourne racing carnival

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend "stakes"day

In Melbourne,for the Victorian spring racing carnival, 

as a guest of Mumm champagne.

The theme this year was inspired by the famous French dance club the "Moulin Rouge."

The dancers were flown in from Paris to perform their show on a stage built especially for them,

inside a Moulin Rouge style marquee,

complete with the signature windmill

 and all the French styling inside

The marquee looked so chic and fresh even when it was pumping with 120+ people inside.

There was a great dj/singer,Kristy Lee,

a betting area,stages,tasting areas and a fantastic area for "sabrage"on the upper terrace

I'm especially proud because my hubby put it all together,

he's a very clever man!

Sabrage is an old French custom from Napoleon times,

When his soldiers won a battle they would celebrate by shearing off the whole head of a champagne bottle with a single clean stroke of their blade,

One of the nice momentos of my day was receiving my sabrage champagne bottle top in a small red velvet pouch with an official sabrage certificate,

(it looks especially lovely with a bunch of fragrant roses

 I couldn't resist pinching on the way in to the birdcage area)

A leopard doesn't change his spots!!!!

Our friends Lou and Jeff were guests as well,

which made it even more fun to have a girlfriend to giggle and dance with as we sipped on French champagne all day,

We lost all our money on horses with ridiculous names, and nibbled on very yummy French cuisine,

too spoilt!!

Too much fun!!

Love and rainbows

Gypsy girl x