These week we made some of these very cute butter biscuit cabins - perfect for getting in the mood for Christmas.  Yashar and I go to an informal weekly playgroup where each of the mothers take it it turn hosting, we each bring some food and the kids get to play while we all have a chance to have a coffee, talk about life and eat some yummy food...a perfect arrangement!  This week's lovely host had organised this little activity and it was great! 

It was quick and easy - perfect for toddlers...although admittedly Yashar did spend most of the time trying to stuff all the decorations in his mouth rather than on the house :)  ...ok I may have eaten some too.

Kat, who writes the blog and finds all the beautiful things on it, is one inspiring woman!   She has struggled with illness for a long time, which you can read about more here, and, it seems to me, is slowly but surely triumphing over it.   As she puts it, she is on a healing journey.

Kat has a very strong aesthetic.  You know that when you visit with her you will find special things that are dreamy, delicate and beautiful.  Her palette is soft and gentle...which you might have guessed is what I am naturally drawn to in my own illustrations.  I have recently found myself wandering over to her site for colour inspiration for an original I am working on.

And now she has a gorgeous book!  The book is a personal project of hers that she very kindly shared.  The book is for 'looking at in moments of quiet reflection'.    The photographs are all her own, taken in and around her house.  I think it looks just beautiful.

So if you have a moment, take a break, and visit her site.  I promise you will leave feeling calmer and inspired.

I was looking through some photos from the past year for a little Christmas present I am working on and it reminded me of so many of the projects I had posted here way back.  Like a nice trip down memory lane without having to see bad hair cuts and long yellow v neck sweaters with tights ;)

The decorations were easy and involved ripping things up and sticking things - a perfect project for toddlers.  This is what we did:

1.  I got some pieces of card and we ripped up scrap pieces of wrapping paper I had.  Then Yashar put some glue over the paper with a glue stick and we stuck the pieces on to the card.

2.  We hung that up to dry then later I cut out some Christmas shapes while we talked about what they were.  Yashar (with very close guidance) punched a hole in the top of each decorations.

3.  I had some spare little pieces of ribbon that I cut into lengths and used the opportunity to teach Yashar how to thread the pieces of ribbon through the hole he punched.

4.  We tied them up together.  It was so much fun!

I love Christmas time!  Spending time with family (I will be missing them so much this Christmas - we will be staying in Istanbul), then there's the food, the decorations, the music...   Christmas time also seems to bring out the inner craftyness in a lot of us - which is great!  What could be nicer than a handmade gift?  I still have and treasure the little decoration my Mum made for me many years ago.  I love pulling it out of the box each year and remembering.

So here are some gorgeous Christmas crafts for those in the mood...




Image above is from the Peoria Art Guild website.  All other images are from the respective sites linked to.

I was going to wait until after Christmas but I couldn't resist designating these as our Making Mondays project this week!  These are made using the pattern in Softies: 22 friends for you to sew, knit and crochet.  I couldn't find the book on amazon, but the new book 'More Softies: 22 New Friends for you to Sew and Crochet' is available on amazon here.  You can also find more about these gorgeous books here and I noticed there is a very very cute free pattern on the site here.

This particular pattern was designed by Sarah Bowe, who also has a quietly beautiful blog Red Felt Flower.  And if you have been around here for a while you might remember I finished off some for Yashar here.  The pattern was inspired by the simplicity of Japanese design and I think the linen and the red and blue fabrics suit this well.  Although I don't think I quite do the pattern justice...some of these look a little more ... hmm... handmade... than others. 

But these are destined for some very cute little people that I don't think will mind!!

It has been a busy week around here!  Here are a couple of exciting bits of news:

The Light Garden matted prints, cards and gift tags are now available at Hello Bluebird the gorgeous brick and mortar store and gallery in the historic business district of West Reading, Pennsylvania.    They hold exhibitions often - there was an opening reception for the latest one 'Sewing Circle: Modern Expressions of Needle and Thread' just last night.  The shop is full of gorgeous and unique goods.  I wish I could visit!  So if you live in the area I definitely recommend stopping in and saying hello to the lovely and inspiring woman behind it all - Alexandra McCarty.  You can also read about the journey leading up to her opening the shop here.  Thank you Hello Bluebird!

And woohoo!  The Light Garden is currently featured on print and pattern!

Ok, I have a confession, I managed to forget my husband's birthday and our anniversary... when he told me it was his birthday that day I even insisted that he was wrong and that it was tomorrow! And our anniversary was on the day of the Christmas Bazaar...he told me on the way home and said that he didn't say anything because he knew I was busy and didn't want me to worry about it!

So I want to find something really special for him for Christmas...the pressure is on.  Here are some of my finds along the way.
Leather ipod sleeve from Squirrellicious $31.50,  wild deer cufflinks from UK based makeit $32, Blok pendant light (olive wood) from Workerman $80.


Grey wool and leather laptop sleeve from Byrd and Belle $72, secret message cufflinks from Smashing $85, Vintage French clock from Sadie Olive $48.

Yikes I had better get organised!

Oops!  I've been so busy lately that I forgot to tell you all that I'm having a pre-Christmas sale of 20% off prints in the Light Garden shop at the moment (not including custom or mounted prints)...I'm thinking of it as a little early Christmas present for all my lovely customers.  The sale ends on December 4 (this Friday!) so that I can make sure they are all sent in good time for Christmas.

1. First collect some pinecones -collecting is such a fun activity with kids - we are lucky to have a tree next door that kindly drops pinecones on our steps - I like it (it drops the pinenuts too!) but my husband worries they are going to drop on Yashar's head!  Yashar had fun collecting up the pinecones...with no head injuries ;)

2.  Make sure the pinecones are nice and dry - we had ours indoors for a while.

3. Spray with white paint.  Make sure you do this in a well ventilated area (we did it outside).  That's it!  Perfect for a white Christmas.

So many holidays going on at the moment.  A happy Thanksgiving to those in the States - and here in Turkey, tomorrow is Kurban Bayrami - The Sacrifice Feast.  I wrote a little about it here last year. Iyi Bayramlar! I hope everyone has a relaxing break.

The Christmas Bazaar went really well!  I'll post about it very, very soon.  Thank you so much for all of your comments, encouragement and kind words in the lead up...they really made me so much less nervous.  It is so amazing to me that I can have my little stall at the bazaar here and be able to connect with all of you around the world about it.  Thank you! 

And some more good things happening with the Light Garden...

And my 'Peace on Earth Angel' also got selected for the front page of Etsy - woohoo!