Retro Christmas- Last one!

Here's a final retro pic of me and my brother David at a Christmas Party when we were about 4 years old. He's dressed as Mr Wrong from the Mr Men books, and I'm Tinkerbell the fairy!

I hope you all have a wonderful festive holiday season, spending time with those that you love.

xxx

Cate

Things I love today:

Photo by Dean Kaufman (I think it would give me anxiety in the loo):

Awesome crochet decorations on Craftgrrl (inspire me to learn to crochet):




Argh! Another crafty book to admire and be too intimidated to make anything from! I think I might buy it anyway as a present from Santa Cate:

Retro Christmas: 1967

It's a key party inside a bauble!

mmmm:

View finders rock:

pretty!

Awesome dress:

Dresses or dressing gowns?:

This makes me laugh

As featured on Steph's blog and in the book 'Porn for Women'...hehe

Retro Christmas 1966

That's style:

Snow and a rocket, why not?

Too cool:

I think this is charming:

For my darling:

Retro Christmas 1965

I want to be a cool old lady like this when I'm old:


Flinstones Christmas!

Twins are ace:

Fairy:

Like pom poms but worse:

More recycled goodness

I like this tutorial for making a gift box from a Christmas card -good for little fiddly things that need a bit of protection:

Using newspaper...

Magazines...you can see the tutorial here:

And if you like using bits of fabric like me, there's always Furoshiki:

http://vimeo.com/2321507

Retro Christmas: 1964

Awesome decor: Not so awesome:

It's amazing what you can do with some egg cartons:

All in ones!:

Retro Christmas: 1963

Beehives are the bomb:

Very cute:

Nothing like handmade:

Cate and Chris retro style:

Recycled Christmas tutorial: Gift Bags

I must confess, I've been known to wrap christmas presents in newspaper, reused fabric or a plain old plastic bag. Despite being a crafty person, it's just not really my forte, especially when it's done the day before gift giving...

Gretchen from Junk Mail Gems really places it up a notch with these wonderful gift bags made from recycled junk mail (No junk mail at home? Try your work place recycle bin):

You can view her tutorial here

9/11 Craft-what do you think?

Predictably, this work from Jenny and Johnny Ryan has caused some controversy...what do you think? I like it because I see it as a memorial using a particular form of craft (felt plush) and style (cutesy craft) and I don't think it should be seen as less sincere than high end Art, comics, illustrations etc.

You can read more about it here on Boin Boing....

Retro Christmas: 1962

It's a bike!:

I want this dress (and the matching shoes):

Look at this all you people who think skinny jeans are cool:

It's almost a pony!:

Asking for upskirting:

DIY Christmas decorating for the lazy/time poor

I have been trying to decorate the living room for some time. I had a few challenges:

• Keeping it as a secret from my noisy husband. (Even shopping for the bits and pieces was tricky as he kept wanting to come with me!)
• The living room is small, with no storage and I have lots of stuff as it is!
• Finding an Australian native for a Christmas tree (I trekked to Bunnings after K-Mart was no joy)
• 
  Time- it's a busy time of year for us all, hey?
• 
  I like to make things. I made some newspaper and recycled paper ornaments at work but they got rather squashed by the time I managed to smuggle them home. I may make some more depending on time...
  
• Enviro-friendly- I was delighted to find some solar Christmas lights but am yet to charge them after the rainiest weekend in 2.5 years! I didn't want to buy a lot of clutter so I worked with the materials I had and got a few decorations.
  

Some pics:

Red and green above the bookcase:
The room is usually alot sunnier I assure you!:

Pinecones on top of the telly in a vintage bowl. I put tartan ribbon down for frou-frou:

This tree is a native Grevillia which will be planted out front after Christmas. It's not a brilliant pic, and the tree looks a bit miserable but the thought counts!

My tin robots decided to join in on the festivities:

Poinsettias and bon-bons:

I made some softie gingerbread men, picked up some christmas candles and placed these over some tartan ribbon:

Holly (from Olinda the weekend before) and vintage tablecloth:

So, you don't have to be Martha Stewart or have alot of time and money :-) . My husband loved the surprise and the thought that went into it....

Christmas shortbread!

I recently had to come up with a cheap gift (under $5 per person) for a large group of international students. I was reluctant to purchase some cheap, imported tacky Australiana as suggested by my colleagues, and decided to make shortbread:
Shortbread recipe: ( I doubled this recipe)Ingredients:
225g plain flour
Pinch of salt
115g rice flour
115g castor sugar
225 g nuttlex
Directions:
- Sieve flour, rice flour and sugar into a bolw.
- Rub in nuttlex and knead until a smooth paste forms
- Turn onto a floured board and make desired shape of biscuits. Prick biscuits with a fork
- Place on greased baking tray and cook in slow oven for 45 - 60mins, until pale brown.

McKenzie's Rice Flour Gluten Free 375g $1.38
Caster Sugar 500g $0.97
Plain Flour 1kg $1.04
Butter 500g $2.61
Tinsel $1.48
Brown Paper $2.61
__________________________________
TOTAL: $10.09

Bargain!!!

Wrapped and waiting:
In front of the tree waiting for Santa: