a very quick chilli decor option

hi everyone,

i trust you all had a wonderful Christmas?!

i was busy in the kitchen for most of Christmas morning preparing a nice hot lunch of turkey, ham, mashed potato, sweet potato, brussels sprouts and gravy.  i had the vegetarian alternative for the turkey and ham, of course.  the kids were all here and we had a great time despite the rain.   oh the rain! 

you may remember the horrendous swamp-like conditions we had to put up with in the past and, in particular, at the beginning of the year? you can refresh your memory here, here, and here. you may also remember how the bushland directly behind our back fence was cleared to make way for a new housing development back in august? you can refresh you memory on that score here. well, i thank my lucky stars that the home owner had a better drainage system installed back in June because we've had A LOT of rain over this past week and, no thanks to the new housing development behind us, we've also had this (pictured below) pouring into our backyard during the rain periods.  the land developers obviously sloped the land and now their rainwater run-off heads straight for our backyard!   NOT happy, Jan!!!! 

UPDATE - I have since found out that our neighbours suffered the same problem during the constant rain periods.  We will let our property manager know because you would think the developers could be forced to rectify the issue being that they are the ones responsible.

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on a brighter note, here is a pic i snapped of Mikayla fast asleep on Christmas day.

i am so in love with this little baby girl.

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okay, now to my chilli decor.....

i adore hot, spicy foods....the hotter, the better....so it's understandable that my kitchen decor is based on a mexican/chilli theme. a couple of days ago, i moved the chalkboard over to the pantry door making it easier to access, however, this left a blank wall space where the chalkboard had been and it was begging for some attention.   i remembered having some chilli-themed calendars i bought years ago in my supplies and, as i didn't have time to create a painting from scratch, i decided to use a couple of the pictures. i glued them onto 12"x12" gallery-wrapped canvas frames.

i then painted the canvas edges in an olive green which i mixed using Matisse Australian Olive Green and Matisse Naples Yellow acrylic paints.   the green makes a lovely compliment to the red chillies.

i then varnished the edges with gloss varnish

and ta-da! here they are all finished and in place

not bad for a quick fix to fill a blank wall, eh?

i'm hoping to post again tomorrow to talk about my word for 2011 so stay tuned, my friends....

~ love, light and peace ~

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Thank you all for the support and encouragement you have offered me this past year. I wish you a safe and happy holiday season.

It's Christmas Day here and I was hoping for nice weather but instead we're getting drenched! It's been raining constantly since yesterday and forecasts say the rain is here to stay for the coming week too. I pray that everyone stays safe on the wet roads.

~ Love, Light and Peace to All ~

How to make a simple but decorative box....

Mikayla's ornament was completed on schedule and, after reading the latest Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine yesterday, I was inspired to make a simple box to hold the ornament. I started with a sheet of scrapbooking paper and a sheet of cardboard, cut as shown below.  A square shape was used for the lid. The green on the print paper is actually a lime green but it didn't show up well in the photos.

For sturdiness, I joined the cardboard and scrapping paper together by using zigzag stitch around all the edges.

The lid was attached with double-sided tape and the join zigzagged for reinforcement. This is how the box looked after sewing.  

I then used the double-sided tape with contrast paper on the inside of the box to hold the sides in position.

For added support, I again used the double-sided tape to place two contrast borders on the top and bottom edges of the box.

To secure the lid, I simply punched a hole in it and the top front of the box so I could thread the satin ribbon through and tie a bow.  And there we have it.... 
...a very simple but pretty box for Mikayla's ornament!

I then nestled the ornament inside on a bed of tissue paper in a matching colour.

Michelle and Alex loved the ornament and the box!

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Yesterday was Aaron's 12th birthday so I had the kids all here in the afternoon to celebrate with cheesecake and munchies.  Michelle and Alex also stayed for dinner.  I just can't get enough of little Mikayla!!

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My brother, Billy, and his lovely wife, Debbie, along with their youngest son, Daniel, called in yesterday evening to catch up for Christmas.  We had a lovely time and it was so nice to see them as we don't get to catch up all that often.  I didn't get any pics yesterday but here I am (centre) with Debbie and Bill at Michelle and Alex's wedding in October.  Daniel is in the background to the left of Debbie.

It's Christmas Eve DownUnder!!!

I'm pretty much all organised....I just need to duck out for potatoes later on this morning. The kids will be here for Christmas lunch tomorrow so I'll try to get pics.

What are your plans for Christmas Day??

~ Love, light and peace to all ~