A couple of things to share!

Just a quick post today! Our family is so excited about a gorgeous online Advent Calendar that we will be "opening" December 1st that I just had to share it!

Have you seen the Jacquie Lawson online Advent Calendar?

My dear friend from Ohio, "T", ordered one of these for our family and we cannot wait to start using it! Just click here to be taken to the website and have a look at the demo. I am sure you will love it too!

Also, in case you didn't read an earlier post I did about Santa being online and sending personalized video messages to your children, just click here to go to the post because the Portable North Pole is now back up and running for Christmas, 2010.

Go check it out-It's brilliant!

Linking up to








Thanks for having me!

Blessings and best wishes always,

The Scents of Christmas~ Home Made Winter Potpourri Recipe.

There are so many ways that I can tell that Christmas is coming. Decorations are up, trees are being lit and there is a certain fragrance in the air that says...

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!

Image from here

Christmas, well for me anyway, is very much about beautiful smells.  The minute November arrives I bring out my scented candles and instantly our house smells like the most wonderful time of the year!

Crabtree and Evelyn

Marlowe Candle Company

Dusk Australia

Yankee Candles

It is so easy to give your home a Festive feel with Christmassy fragrances. Whether you bring in some pine from the garden, bake some gingerbread or mull some wine, the scents of Christmas will add a whole new dimension to your holiday decorating.

Try arranging clove and orange pomanders, pinecones and fragrant holiday greens on a

vintage transferware plate in a bowl or on a wreath! Score patterns on oranges with a citrus striper or knife, make  holes with a small nail, then stud the oranges along the pattern with whole cloves. (Directions courtesy of Martha Stewart Living.)

Country Living

BHG

Photos: Country Living

It is so easy to make a Winter Potpourri to make your home smell like the Holidays!

All you need to do is mix all of the following goodies together and sprinkle with 10 drops of cinnamon essential oil and 5 drops of clove essential oil. 

Present it in a beautiful vintage bowl.

Dry rose petals

1⁄4 cup whole cloves

1 cup whole allspice

10 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces

8 small bay leaves

4 whole nutmeg

3 Tbsp star anise

2 Tbsp whole cardamom pods

Woman's Day

Imagine how delicious this would smell! Fresh fruits like pomegranates look so pretty against the evergreen garland and mini conifers.Sprigs of red crystals tucked into the evergreens repeat the color of the pomegranates on a smaller scale and add some sparkle.

BHG

I've seen this picture a lot in blogland but I still love the way those cute little trees look in that chippy enamel bowl surrounded by juicy red apples!

So why not capture the spirit of this blessed Christmas season with beautiful fragrances. As Proust stated, smell has the power to vividly bring back memories of people, places and special times with loved ones. I can't think of a better time of year to think about happy memories and special moments that we have shared with our family and friends!

Best Christmas wishes,

Natasha

Please join me each weekend for the Say G'day Saturday Linky Party!

You can also visit me at PINTEREST, TWITTER, GOOGLE+

INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!

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Have you noticed how many Bird Christmas decorations are out this year?

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There are pink birds,

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Red Birds,

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Purple Birds,

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Silver Birds

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and Brown Birds

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I am particularly fond of the blue birds....

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There is one other Blue Bird that I am loving at the moment...

I guess my love of blue birds is the reason why I decided to join the ranks of other Blue-bird watchers out there in blogland and I am a now a Tweeter on Twitter!
 I like the idea of constructing short snappy messages and that sweet little Blue bird was just so darn cute I couldn't resist joining!

So if you are a tweeter, chirper or blue-bird watcher too, please tweet me and say hi! 

Linking with Tammy's Deck the Halls Friday party.

Tweet tweet and best wishes,

I am featured in the DIY club's Holiday E-zine and some more free E-zines!

Welcome friends! I hope that you have had a great start to the week. I sure have and am so exited to tell you that I have found 4 more beautiful online magazines and they are all  free!

The first one, which is very exciting to me personally, is this one, The DIY Life!

The magazine is the product of the fabulous DIY club!

The DIY Club, has been working really hard over the last few months putting together The FREE DIY Life eZine. It is full of so many inspirational ideas, recipes, and crafts. I just love this special Holiday issue and I am so excited as my recipe for Eggnog cookies that I posted here is featured on page 48.

Thank you so much for featuring me and thank you especially to Holly for inviting me to be part of this issue!

Just click here to launch the full edition in a new window-you are going to LOVE it!

The second free e-zine is called Hviit Jul and it is gorgeous!  It can be found here.

The 3rd free on-line shelter magazine is called Ivy and Piper and it can be found here. It is the creation of Aussie Designers Melanie Parker and Elizabeth Raptis and it is wonderful!

The last one is new to me but I am sure many people have seen it already. It is called Nesting Newbies and I am totally addicted to it! It is another shelter magazine but I love it because it has online cooking segments, and informational blogs aimed at showing all of us "Nesters"  how to cook, entertain, and decorate.

Click here to read the magazine and click here to visit the Nesting newbies site.

Thank you so much to the wonderful people who put these wonderful free online resources together for us- You are all Brilliant!

Best wishes and happy reading,

It's a Wrap: Interesting ways to wrap your Christmas and Holiday gifts (part 1)

Are you looking for some new and interesting ways to wrap your Christmas and Holiday gifts this year? If so, have a look at some of these gorgeous suggestions from all around the world!

Country Living

In Japan there is a tradition to present gifts in a wrapping cloth called “Furoshiki”.

This is such an important part of life and culture in Japan that the Ministry of the Environment Government of Japan has even posted a PDF guide on using cloth for wrapping gifts. This is such an environmentally friendly way to wrap gifts as you will be cutting down on the paper that is used for gift wrapping and the cloth that is used can then be re-purposed! How nifty and thrifty is that!?

Country Living

Lena Corwin 

Martha Stewart has a great idea to use vintage Christmas linens to wrap unusually-shaped items.  Try to find inexpensive sets of napkins and handkerchiefs at yard sales, estate sales, and markets.

Martha Stewart

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Apartment Therapy

Some Aussie Bloggers have some great gift wrapping ideas. Have you wrapped using aluminium foil or baking paper before? Have a look at these ideas from Mondo Cherry!

Mondo Cherry

You can't wrong using the good old brown paper! Look at these ideas from Sania Pell of The Homemade Home

The Martha Stewart Website has these great ideas for wrapping with craft paper.

This is a beautiful idea from another Aussie, Adelle.com.au

My American friends I'm sure already know that Country Living is always full of fabulous ideas-just look at these!

And here is some more Christmas inspiration from the Martha Stewart Website .

These gift tags have been made with recycled Christmas cards.

These gifts have been wrapped in artwork created by the kids and they have been decorated with pipe cleaners, string and ribbon.

I particularly love this idea. As Martha says,
Biodegradable stuffing cushions small, fragile items just as well as plastic bubble wrap or Styrofoam peanuts, a recycler's worst nightmare.

Finally, here are some other beautiful ideas that I found from online!

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Google Images

So, whether your beautifully wrapped gifts are stacked under your Christmas tree, mailed to your loved ones or hand delivered to your family and friends on Christmas day, I hope you find some of these Christmas wrapping ideas might help to make your Christmas gift exchange extra-special and memorable this year!



Best Christmas wishes,

Natasha

Please join me each weekend for the Say G'day Saturday Linky Party!

You can also visit me at PINTEREST, TWITTER, GOOGLE+

INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!