start with sun-rise

I was woken at six by the dog this morning and took her outside to see the sky was crimson, so I quickly got the camera, although my eyes were hardly open and took some shots.  I missed the most dramatic minutes, but still bright.

WE went to the beach, but were blown away by a southerly wind which was kind of crazy.

then me and my girls made some christmas angels for my mums friend who wanted some for the church fair, they may not be what she was after, but it kept us happy for a while and my girls quite got into the peg doll thing.

and then we went to the groovy old Geraldine cinema, old couches and blankets and an interval half way through,  and watched "snow-white and the huntsman"  which was fab, Charlize had the best out-fits and was the best evil Queen, I really felt for her and her fading beauty, I spend a lot of time myself looking in the mirror at my wrinkles these days.  I haven't removed anyones heart yet though...  The huntsman was rather swarthy too which is always a winner.  

mehndi

I have been looking at some Mehndi the last couple of days, African and Arabian.  I was trying to get as many components of it together so I could make up some of my own designs up.  I know it's nothing new but I still like the designs. If no link is given it is Henna me or bridal mehndi as on the linked pictures.

I loved the changes in scale and the gaps in this one from henna me

An African one from henna me.

a nice sparse one at bridal mehndi

I like the hands and the plate, one of each please! 

Not exactly mehndi but in the same vein.  Patternity has many photos of patterns in fashion, out on the urban streets and in nature.

bridal henna

not sure I would let my children eat these biscuits but they look pretty at miss indian bride

sweet elephants family fun biscuits

I think this is a cup-cake, I would definately not let my children eat this, and it would seem a crime to do so. found at toxiferous

I like this one best, slightly absurd, at henna me.

diy wrapping paper 2

I ran out of wrapping paper last night so this morning I thought I should do some more.  This was mainly taken from some of Tim-Biskups paintings I found in a book this one is Weirdo deluxe.  I just like a lot of his images.

 and below a mixture of the birds and clouds and polish flowers and some more hearts, I do like hearts.

 the girls took over from painting for me, I find relinquishing control very hard, but reasoned to myself that it was only wrapping paper which would be ripped off presents and have a short life so it didn't matter too much if it wasn't perfect.  breath deeply and walk away.

tried to go for old style colours which doesn't show up so well on here, they are a bit dirgier in real life.  I like it.

DIY christmas wrapping paper

The kids and I have been doing a bit of Christmas shopping today and so I thought I should decorate some paper to wrap the presents in.  We have big rolls of brown paper and big rolls of news print that hang around getting in the way generally but do come in useful.  so I used the news print and a vivid marker pen to start off with.  THe designs come from my sketch book, polish flowers, japanese clouds, folk birds and hearts.

and then I added a bit of colour with some acrylic paint.

 The design got closer together as I went along.

 And then I wrapped some presents and put them under the tree.

We have had some heavy rain this week leading to landslides and peoples having homes and gardens filled with mud.  Lots of homes have been red stickered (I think this means they are no good any more) which is so sad.   We live in the sunniest town in NZ, an easy mild-mannered sort of place, it has all been a bit of a shock.  We are untouched by it but my daughters friend had mud fill the garden up to three feet high, some houses are practically covered and over the hill the main highway has slipped off the hill, photos at stuff nz.

home-made eco christmas tree tutorial.

I have finally managed to finish the tree.  It has taken a while as its construction time has been broken up with taking the girls to the pool, christmas shopping, and possibly other stuff that I can't remember. It is bamboo and has taken on many aspects of images searched over the internet in previous post.  I possibly would have made it like this anyway, but it is hard to say.

 (above) working it out as I go along, and attractive shots of the garage floor, which is actually visible now it has had a tidy up.  I will attempt to write down the process in a coherent manner, if you don't understand it let me know and I will try to remedy this.

Construction:

1. cut bamboo pole for central trunk.  (I got my husband to cut them using a circular saw as bamboo will split if I use my sectres or loppers)

2.   cut lateral branches, work out width of bottom of tree and top of tree and graduate lengths of branches inbetween.  I used 30 laterals (see picture below)

3.  I measured out evenly 30 holes on the trunk of tree, working from between where the top branch and the bottom branch begin.  I placed each hole slightly around the trunk from the previous one so that the branches are well dispersed. Drill through from one side to the other.

4.  drill 2 holes side by side on the centre of each lateral branch.(the distance between the holes is relative to how thick the central trunk is 

(above) bit more like it.  My 9 year old was decidedly unimpressed at this point, and who could blame her?  My 12 year old said "You could just be normal" (she is nearly a teenager)

5.  Using wire, push length about 20cms/4.5inches through trunk holes and then each end through each hole in lateral branch and wrap around branch.  Start at bottom and work way up to top branch.  

 Hooray!  I ran out of wire last night, which was a good thing as the wire we had was a bit thick and hard to bend around.  New wire was quick and easy, my husband drilled a large hole in a macrocarpa sleeper to stand the tree in.  

 It's mimimalist appearance actually worked quite well with our colourful over the top decorations.  The paper chinese lanterns were an experiment by Nine Year Old and at first looked a bit dodge, but I think they work well now it's all finished.

 Its like an explosian went through the pink sparkley decoration department.  I like it.

Need something a bit bigger and shinier for the top of the tree, but that can soon be remedied.

Eco alternatives to the christmas tree

In England I was the proud owner of a fake white six foot christmas tree. I rather loved it, but we couldn't fit it in the container when we moved over.  Last year we had some magnolia branches which were twisty and pretty but cumbersome. So this year we decided that we would make a christmas tree out of some driftwood that had been in the garage for quite some time.  We then realised that I had finally thrown it out when we had the last skip.  Ho hum.  So we then decided that we could use some bamboo that had been hanging around in the garage for, also, quite some time.  A lot of bamboo can be harvested from two small patches of bamboo and it just hangs around waiting to be useful.  We have used it for curtain poles, and I tried to make a lattice fence, but it was time consuming  and pretty bad.
So I have been looking for ideas for bamboo christmas trees.  On my quest I also came across many eco trees which are quite groovey, so I thought they deserved an airing on my blog too.

This tree is a bit large for our needs, but it is a cool idea and bamboo.  We will need tinsel and sparkley things on our tree though

another bamboo tree at 100 christmas trees. It's a rather nice traditional shape.

there are some really great eco-trees at inspiration green.  It is rather bonfire-nighty, but I do like it.

this is glass water bottles found on ecofriend in montreal.  It is really so pretty, especially with the lighting on it.

nice and minimal at silvercocoon.

more from inspiration green

the name of this one is rather sweet possibilitrees.

and I think this is just marvelous, shopping trolleys made into a tree. And I have just noticed the monstrous baubles hanging off it.  I want some of those, I feel a ballon papier mache bauble project coming on.

Well, there is some food for thought, my husband thinks he will be making it, but he is a "Bah Humbug"  about christmas and decorating so I am not sure he is to be let loose on such a project.  He is however in control of the big noisy saws so he may be needed.

recycled christmas lovelyness

I have been given some rather lovely and cool christmas decorations by my lovely friend Clare.  She makes all sorts of beautiful, vintage, recycled things, some of which she has in her etsy shop Stitch and Print.  She also has badges and brooches and paper garlands and is a highly talented printer.

Lovely vintagey, blankety stuff.  I'm quite pleased.