Crafting 2013

Sadly I didn't do a lot of crafting in 2013.  All my creativity went into my teaching, which wasn't that creative either! It's hard to be a creative teacher when you are just starting out.  I did create a bag for my sister in law which I blogged about here and earlier in the year I made a big cushion for the Cowboy's birthday.

The Princess and her friend made salt dough cookies for Christmas gifts with quite a bit of guidance from me.
We used this recipe which was step by step easy to follow and super successful.
What I liked about this project was minimal ingredients, flour, salt and water and minimal equipment, baking trays, baking paper, cookie cutter and a chopstick for punching a hole in the head!

Pre Cooking

We used a stencil and a metal skewer to initial each 'cookie' as they were for family members.
I painted the initials with black food colouring before baking in a cool oven, for hours!

Cooked and ready to be glazed.

The following day we glazed the 'cookies' with a watered down mixture I concocted using ochre and black acrylic paint and put them outside to dry in the hot sun.

Glazed and drying in the sun

We threaded garden twine through the holes and attached them to each family members Christmas gifts.  Unfortunately in the scramble to get Christmas together I didn't photograph them tied to the gifts, trust me they looked so cute.

Brown paper wrapping looked cute with the 'cookies'

This was a great child friendly crafting project, one I think the Princess and I will make a tradition of and do each year using a different shape.

Thanks for visiting.
Rachaelxo

One

My New Years resolution is...

1hour per night free of doing school work
1day per weekend free of doing school work
1weekend per month free of doing school work

Do you make resolutions?

Thanks for visiting
Rachaelxo

Happy New Year

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From me to you,

wishing you the happiest New Year.

May your dreams come true!

Rachaelxo

2013 in Gratitude

It's good to look back on a year just as it is ending.

2013 was a fabulous year for me.
To sum it up:

• We celebrated the New Year in Australia with family.
• The Cowboy and his son moved into the castle with me and the Princess.
• I finished my degree and graduated.
• The Cowboy changed jobs.
• The Princess turned 10.
• I got my first teaching job and became financially independent.
• We left the castle and moved to the new house (with insulation).
• I no longer have to go back for checkups related to my accident.
• The Cowboy and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary.
• We celebrated Christmas with both our families at the new house.

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I have so much to be grateful for.

Thanks for visiting.
Rachaelxo

Christmas 2013

Traditional cookies.  Princess's new decoration. Chalkboard.  Snow globe card (Andi). 

Has been and gone.

I have loved every moment of it. The shopping, baking, cleaning, wrapping, decorating, cooking and the sharing with family and friends.

The tree.  New spinning top decoration (Amah).  New handmade decoration (Princess's teacher).

Front door.  Cross-stitch verse (Mum).  Piano top.

We kept our old traditions and created some new ones.

We had some firsts as well.  For the first time on Christmas Eve the Princess was too excited to go to sleep, I think it was about 1.30am. This was the first Christmas morning she woke super early, 5.30am is when she opened her stocking.  This is the first Christmas she didn't 'believe'.  It made me a little sad that another part of her childhood has slipped away.  But in saying that, the magic of Christmas was still the same.

Inside garden ornament ;-)  Tree at night.

We had Christmas's before and after the actual day.  One at my Mums the week before with my gorgeous sister in law and nephews. One on Boxing Day with the Wasband's grandmother and Aunty who are very much family.

The Cowboy and I hosted Christmas Day for our families at the new house.  Both our parents stayed on Christmas Eve which was fun, the usual pre Christmas Day cooking prep, wrapping baking into gift baskets and boxes, last minute gift wrapping, finding a present I had stashed and lost!  And finally, putting all the parcels under the tree, all ready to be opened in the morning.  I love it!

Table decoration.  Gift wrapping theme this year.

I was a lucky girl, lots of gifts including cookbooks, sleepwear, napkin rings, the cutest little heart ornament made by the Princess, a shawl and necklace, vintage china, homemade gifts (will show in another post) and the most amazing chopping board handcrafted by the Cowboys son and much to beautiful to chop on.

Chopping board (Cowboy's son).

The Princess's gifts are too vast to list! She will be busy reading, crafting and playing for years to come!

Princess opening gifts (Leif).

We had a mid afternoon meal.  Everyone contributed.  We had our traditional roast turkey with  my granny's stuffing recipe, lamb cooked on the new barbecue, lots of salads and two pavlovas.  Delish.

Gingerbread house (Cowboy's neices).  Pavlova (me and Cowboy's sister).

The day was filled with love and laughter, families enjoying being together and new memories created.  All the reasons why I adore Christmas.

Thanks for visiting
Rachaelxo

Christmas Crafting

It's been a few years since I have made one of these.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy making them.   This one was a Christmas gift for my sister in law.

Orders taken ;-)

Thanks for visiting
Rachaelxo

Summer livin'...

good food going on here!

Thanks for visiting.
Rachaelxo