Weekend projects

The sight of Christmas decorations in the shops has started to scare me a little. Not to mention that today is November, which means I have Grace's 4th birthday creeping up too fast and then to organise the loot for the big red guy in December. Gosh where do the months disappear too?

I've decided to try my hardest to have a mainly handmade Christmas. I've already got a few small things for my kids, but have a few ideas for other things I can make for them. I'm making some special little things for all the kids I normally buy for, which I excitedly got started on Saturday.

Making presents takes so much time and patience, much harder than just popping into a shop, grabbing something and wrapping it up, but I really love giving someone something that I have made especially for them. My main motivation though is trying to avoid the over-consumerism that often comes around this time of the year. It's so hard not to get caught up in the rush of it all, which for me just ends up buying for the sake of buying. I set out with all good intentions and short lists, but soon enough I spot things that would just be "perfect" for so and so, only to get home and realise that their present was already sitting in the cupboard. I also find that buying for kids tends to end up being plastic junk that gets played with a few times and then tossed to the side. So much waste and "stuff" filling up out houses, when it's not really needed.

Anyway, that's what I'm doing to ease my guilt. I figure if I start now and do a little every few days, I wont have to do crash the midnight sales for the presents I didn't get around to doing!

So Saturday was spent sewing and crafting. My Mil came up and the lovely women has cut a pattern of my favourite Maxi dress and has been busy sewing up another one out of some beautiful material I bought from spotlight. She's ironing out the kinks in the pattern, getting it perfect and then I'm going to do have a go at making a few by myself! So for $50 for material and a bit of time, I'm going to have 4 new dresses. I've also bought a bit extra material to make matching mini-me dresses for Grace. A little Naff, but I'm sure this is the only time in my life that I'll be able to pull off the same dress as my daughter!

Today we spent the day in the yard and also checking out some nurseries for 2 little projects we have going.

Firstly, we really want to screen off our back fence. It's ugly and if you catch it on the right angle, you can see through to the neighbours, which means that if they catch it at the right angle, they could potentially see me taking a nudie run to the clothesline. Not something I should be subjecting people too. We only want a plant or hedge that comes out about half a metre, but grows to about 2 mtrs. Seems bamboo might be the way to go, and very quick growing so that will appease the impatient side of me that needs things now, now, now!!

Our second project is part of Grace's birthday present. I've been waiting for years to build her a fairy garden, so we have allocated a section of the back yard that is going to be converted into a pretty little flowering garden for all the fairy's to congregate. She's going to have a Fairy Garden party for her 4th birthday coming up, so to avoid crazy amounts of presents we are asking everyone to buy a special plant or something for the garden. Grace is so excited about it being finished, even telling me tonight that's what she dreams about of a night - her special Fairy garden. I have big plans for it, so stay tuned for plenty of pics of the work in progress.

Well it's 9.30pm and my little Grace just stumbled out of bed all bleary eyed. She has asked me to come hop in bed with her for a cuddle and the lure of sleeping all snuggly with my little girl is enough to drag me away from the laptop.

Goodnight.