Mini Easter Celebration

Rich and I usually take our yearly overseas trip in winter, but this year we've decided to take it in autumn. In fact to save on annual leave (we need to use those four precious weeks so carefully!) we've decided to take our holiday during Easter (also Qantas had a sale on at this time....so....).

I've been excited about the trip for a while, but I recently realised how bummed I was about not being home during Easter as it often feels like the last "holiday" before the months get colder - also bunnies and chocolate are both awesome. So I decided to have a wee get together with friends to celebrate Easter.

We went to the Sweet Cakery and Bakery in Karori - I've wanted to go here for the longest time. This place really works in with my general world view which is "everything cute always".

This place really is solely a cakery and bakery as one of my friends was hoping to get something for breakfast here. You'll only be able to get breakfast if you're ok with cake for breakfast - some people are probably ok with that though.

There were a lot of different sweet treats on offer, but only one gluten free option, which was the salted popcorn cupcake so that's what I went with.

The cupcake may look tiny, but with that much icing on top it was plenty of cupcake for me and the tea was also delicious.

They also make some speciality cakes, my niece would have lost her mind if she saw this Frozen one.

 My sweet friend Joy spoiled us all again with lovely Easter packages, she created all the packaging herself with her crafty magic and filled them with Easter eggs!

I still feel a bit sad about missing out on Easter, but at least I got to eat cupcakes and hang out with some cool people.

Also yes I'm home from overseas and my trip was amazing and full on and I have many photos and stories to share -eventually!

Ria's Birthday - Pink Flamingo

I'm pretty proud of myself - I'm actually working on my New Years Goals! One of which was to cross stitch more. When I realised that Ria's birthday coming up soon, I decided I needed to make her a cross stitch. The question was - WHAT to make? When I was on Esty I seen SO MANY things Ria would love.

I finally settled on this cute flamingo pattern from  Daily Cross Stitch who have a lot of other cute patterns, I really like this t-rex one.

When I went to Made on Marion I found this amazing sparkly Aida fabric! I used to buy this stuff in Korea, but this is the first time I have seen it in New Zealand. There is going to be a whole lot more sparkly cross stitching in 2015.

Here's a close up of our flamingo friend! Initially I tried to "make it work" with the colours I had in my cross-stitch thread stash. But after taking advice from my "stitch expert" (Rich) I decided it was best to buy the actual colours instead of making it up. I think this guy is pretty great.

Here's an extreme close up of the stitching and all of the sparkles - in real life you can kind of even see the sparkles through the stitching.

Here's the finished project - complete with a pretty ribbon for hanging up the cross-stitch.

We met up for lunch today as today is Ria's birthday! We had some Vietnamese food in the park and I gave her the cross-stitch and she was happy. Yah! I always love it when friends are happy I made them things.

Also Ria has started a really fun channel on you tube and you guys should check it out - its adorable and hilarious!


I hope you guys all have a wonderful weekend! It's Wellington Anniversary this weekend - so I get a long weekend. Hurrah!

Christmas Decoration Swap!

If you have read my blog for a while, you'll know I'm hardly the queen of Christmas. But I do love crafts and my friends so when there were discussions at our Halloween get together for a Christmas decoration swap I was totally keen! In the end another friend Shell joined in the swap which meant we each needed to make four decorations - they could either be all the same or all different, depending on what the maker wanted to do.

I decided to make Christmas baubles - but I made each one slightly different depending on each persons tastes.

Please excuse the windows AND the scaffolding in these photos - our building is having yet MORE work done. This time is being cleaned and repainted. I really feel like there have been workmen at our apartment all year!

Christmas Decoration One - Shell

The second time I met Shell I was wearing a dinosaur ring and she thought it was super awesome, so when I was making her decoration I knew dinosaurs must be involved! This is a double sided T-Rex Christmas bauble. I love the tiny T-Rex so much!

Christmas Decoration Two - Jo

My friend Jo and I have a lot of things in common - a love for flower Crowns, sewing and salt and vinegar chips to name only a few. We also love super cute Kawaaii things - when I was making her decoration I went to a local import store called Japan City. I bought this totally cute wrapping paper and a rabbit charm keyring decoration.

Christmas Decoration Three - Ria

I had so many ideas floating around my head of what I could make for Ria - but when I found these tiny sea horses and flamingo I knew it was gong to be a tropical/sea themed decoration! I really loved how this one turned out. I should also say both Shell and Jo's decorations are also two sided - but I only photographed one side as they are the same on both sides.

Decoration Four - Joy

For Jo I made the most traditional decoration - when I found this cute chubby Santa and snowman at Japan City I knew they would be just perfect for her decoration. How cute are they? Seriously?

Last Thursday night we met to exchange gifts, have dinner and talk - A LOT! Here's all the decorations!

First Round - Christmas Decorations from Ria

We decided to open our Christmas decorations one by one so everybody could see them - first up we all opened the decorations that Ria had made. 

First up was Joy - who is a huge Doctor Who fan - she received a glittery, snowy tardis!

Now I have to plead ignorance guys - Shell was super happy with her decoration, and I know its some kind of symbol from Harry Potter, but I know NOTHING about Harry Potter so I don't know what it is! It was pretty and sparkly though.

Next up it was my turn to open Ria's decoration - as you MAY have guessed, Nightmare Before Christmas is my favourite Christmas movie. That's because its the only Christmas movie with stuff I like - including Jack Skellingtion the Pumpkin King. Guess what Ria made me?

This guy is going to be an all year decoration - he's not just for Christmas because he's too incredible!

Finally Jo's decoration from Ria - Jo is a master knitter so Ria made her this cute little knitting themed decoration.

Second Round - Christmas Decorations from Me!

You guys already know what I made - so lets just see everyone open their decorations!

Second Round - Christmas Decorations from Jo

You guys may already know that Jo can  sew and knit beautifully - she can also crochet the most amazing things. For her Christmas decorations she made us all the most beautiful, dainty heart shaped crochet decorations. They are super pretty.

Third Round - Christmas Decorations from Shell

Shell made us these perfect sparkly stars that smell amazing - they are baked decorations, which are made with applesauce! Also Shell's glitter game is so on point! Best glitter in the universe.

 

Final Round - Christmas Decorations from Joy

The final round of decorations was from Joy who made different decorations for each person and she also gave us each a pencil.

Jo opened her decoration first and it was a perfect pink sequined bauble!

Next it was my turn - I have to show you just how perfectly she wrapped my present - so beautiful.

Each pencil had something different written on it - this was my pencil - "I'd rather be op shopping", it's pretty accurate.

What decoration did Joy make me? A zombie gingerbread man! Which is completely relevant to my interests. I love this little guy.

Next to open her decoration was Ria - Joy had made her a perfect woodland scene for her tree!

 The final person to open the final decoration was Shell and she got this amazing snitch (even I know what a snitch is!)

So that was our swap - we also had a delicious dinner and dessert at Southern Cross - Ria even had this cute cookie and I had a spider (or ice cream float - depending where you come from!).

This year has not been the best - but one good thing has been hanging out with Ria and doing all kinds of fun stuff. It's also been a blast getting to know Joy and Jo better and spend afternoons crafting and hanging out. I've met Shell more recently, but she's my kind of girl! I'm looking forward to more fun times with these girls next year!

I hope your guys lead up to Christmas is going well - the big day is nearly here!