A Crafy Christmas

Our turn again this year to have Christmas celebrations at our place. The first time at our current home, so I wanted to make it extra special. Creating paper decorations has become a bit of a tradition now, and is kind of expected by my family.

So I decided to create an outdoor dining room using spare curtains that were in the cupboard, and made decorations from random 'bits and bobs'!

 

Firstly, handmade Bonbons. Brittany being very creative, designed personalised labels that doubled as place names on the table. I love her style of drawing, unique and so detailed!

The jokes were interesting, and somehow Denis and Brittany managed to come up with 9 without any help from Google! e.g. "Doctor, Doctor, I've got a strawberry stuck up my bottom. And the Doctor says, I've got a cream for that."

 

Using a circle cutter, I cut out a heap of paper circles from an old music book purchased from an Op Shop for $2. Then using red cotton, I stitched two circles together and folded them in opposite directions to create a 3D shape. Each shape was then spaced out along the cotton to create a bunting and this was hung around the side walls of our outdoor dining room. I also made a mini bunting for my stick tree.

 

The table was wrapped in brown paper, then we painted a simple red stripe down the centre using a mini roller. Denis installed some lighting, and jars, bakers twine, fresh pine, candles and wool all came together to make perfect table decorations. 

 

Dessert was also served in jars! Simple, cheap and so so easy to do!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Cheer!

Sending Christmas Cheer to you and your loved ones. Thank you for supporting my little business Messagemark throughout 2012. It's been a hoot! Looking forward to bringing you more papery goodness in 2013.

Toodle-pip,

Make a Mark

A little Polyhedra appearance in yesterday's SA Weekend Mag!

Toodle-pip,

Magazine Photo Shoot

We had the best day yesterday. After 4 months of narrowing down a date we had our photo shoot for a feature spread in interiors magazine Inside Out. There is nothing like having an incentive like this to get a few extra things done around the house!

Actually, it was epic what we achieved in those 4 months. We managed to finish our bedroom, the hallway, the stairs (which took 6 full days), plus 24 hrs before the shoot we decide to pull up the carpet in the Messagemark studio and paint all the window sills. And of course then there was the cleaning along the way.

Denis and I are exhausted but we are feeling rather pleased with ourselves, and had so much fun in the process. So all worth it! (More detailed posts to follow on each room)

Sneaky snap of Jacqui the talented Photographer

All happy with the composition!

So what does a photo shoot involve? Well, a stylist and photographer spend a full day setting up, composing and capturing the best possible angles in the best possible light. Luckily our home has heaps of natural light and lots of 'retro delights' to use as props, so Rebekah and Jacqui were happy with what they had to work with.

An eye for design, Rebekah the Stylist sorting out the props inc. Denis!

Even Hestor our cat had an important role. It was very funny trying to get him to sit in a certain spot, or lie a certain way on the couch while enticing him with cat biscuits!

Hestor our official Model

Then there were the portraits of us standing at our newly painted exterior door, and a couple more pics of us sitting in the lounge sipping empty cups of 'tea'. (Scullery Made of course). Oh, and the one of Denis cutting fruit in the kitchen was rather sweet! It will be interesting to see which photos they end up using.

I now have to do an interview over the phone for the feature story and it is likely to be published in May/June of next year. So a lengthy process overall!

The Team - the Stylist, Tea Maker and Photographer!

I learned so much and thank both Jacqui Way (Jacqui Way Photography) and Rebekah Cichero (of One Small Room) for allowing me to hang out while they wove their magic around our place.

This is going to be the most anticipated magazine in all of history!!!! A big personal design achievement for me too!

Toodle-pip,