Interior Design

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With the New Year looming, I've been searching the Internet for a couple of free printable 2013 calendars to share. The first is from artist Amy Kirkpatrick, Amy is a professional watercolour artist living in San Diego, California who has designed a delightful calendar with a cross range of her watercolour images.  Amy is kindly offering her calendar free to download. Visit Amy Kirkpatrick Fine Art to download this pretty calendar. You could also visit  Amy's Etsy Shop where her fine art prints and digital craft sheets are available to purchase. NOTE: The first link is for the free calendar. The second calendar is a simple black and white image of the Eiffel Tower which I thought would suit most decor styles. This vintage style calendar was designed by "Call Me Victorian", where you can find lots of free printables. Visit Call Me Victorian to download this calendar. Personally I have downloaded both, Amy's for my studio and the Eiffel Tower for my kitchen. Hope ...

Where does time go? Christmas day came and went, and I've suddenly realised its only a few days until New Years eve. I made a quick, but fruitful dash around the Internet today to gather some inspiration for your New Years Eve party. Decor, food and even some free printable's to download. Invitations, gift tags and a New Years Eve banner to download from  Catch My Party   Decor Idea - source via Image via Image via You can't have a New Years eve without Champagne - Champagne & pomegranate punch -  from  Wedding TV Add  sprigs of lavender to your champagne glasses for a pretty effect. Photography by Jihan Cerda Photography  image via Style Me Pretty Copy this simple drinks bar idea via Loveliest Day on Tumblr . Great inspiration for the patio or deck if your having a Summer New Years Eve. If it's snowing outside then perfect for a barn party. spray paint some plastic animals  from the $2 shop to create some up cycled swizzle sticks by dri...

Well, its finally here, Christmas day in New Zealand, one day ahead of most of you. The aroma of my roast Turkey with cranberries and walnuts fills the air, my  mini Christmas mince pies are ready, and the table is set with some of my mothers beautiful vintage silver and china. This will be my first Christmas without my mother, I miss her terribly but I'm sure she's watching over. So, while I'm waiting  for my guests to arrive I thought my readers might like a quick tour of my living room on Christmas day... Oh and Poppy wants to wish all my readers a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. I'll be  having a break for a few days but will be back later this week. You can still catch up with snippets on my Face Book page.

Each Christmas I make my own Christmas crackers/bon bons, this year, however, I was fast running out of time so decided to re-invent some cheap ones from the $2 shop.  What you will need: Cheap Christmas crackers (I got 6 for $2 total) 1 sheet of wrapping paper of your own choice (I chose cream with gold cherubs) (1 metre sheet does 6 crackers easily). Scissors Narrow double sided tape Ribbon of your choice (I used some black organza) Embellishments (ideas here), this year I used old broken vintage jewellery and some faux pearls. Hot glue gun if using embellishments. Token fillings such as chocolates (Hershey's kisses are good en mass, or they hold around 3 Ferrero Rocher chocolates). Little key rings, earrings, pens whatever you can find that will fit in. Usually they contain a folded paper hat, joke and token gift. Often you can find little things in the $2 shop at the same time. 1. Snip off the original ties and open the cracker to empty the contents if you are replaci...

English mince pies (the Christmas ones) have had a long tradition in New Zealand as well as England and, I'm  hoping now to persuade my worldwide audience to give them a try, I'm sure you will love them and hopefully make it part of your Christmas tradition.   My mince pies are mini bite size versions and I'm totally cheating today by using some store bought frozen pre-rolled pastry and of course some ready made fruit mince. I am not sure if it's available in the USA, if not, there is a great recipe for fruit mince at   Delia On Line  but it is so much easier to buy and it's a "rare" cook that doesn't use the store bought mince (Delia exempt of course). I did find jars of my favourite,  Robertson's Classic Mincemeat  to purchase on line. My guests this year are going to have a little parcel of these tarts on the Christmas dinner table. My two sons love them and usually I'm having to top up the platter every few minutes. I normally make around 4...