It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

There are four things that make me feel really, truly Christmasy and turn me from knackered holiday grinch to femme festive.

The first is choosing the perfect Christmas tree and wrestling it into the car (which then also smells wonderful all month) spending an hour untangling the fairy lights then decorating the tree and sitting back to admire it, with a glass of bubbles and a box of Scorched Almonds.  

The second is making the trip to Franklin Road to wander in wonder at the twinkling villas. There is something about competitive fairy-lighting that makes my heart tingle.

Third, eating my first (then second, third and fourth) Christmas mince pie. Thank god these aren’t available all year around or I would be the size of a Franklin Road villa.

Last of all; the assembly and decoration of my gingerbread house. I adore the simple act of gluing walls and roof together with sugar cement, then going crazy with marshmallows, gummy sweets, candy canes and glitter. As my last ‘chore’ before Christmas, I can literally feel childhood returning to my bones with each wield of the piping bag.

What about you, Beaunz belles? What turns you into a femme festive?

x

Saturday Scrapbook : Smell Belles

DL&Co Pomme Rouge candle

You can't go wrong giving something beautiful and smelly for Christmas. Actual perfume...not so much, unless you know, without a doubt, exactly which one to buy.

Instead, go for genuine perfumed candles that have had fragrance oil worked right through the wax, not the cheap ones that are just dipped in scent. Good candles cost more, for a reason! They smell divine, they usually have a longer burn time (look for something with 40hours plus), if properly cared for they don’t smoke, and they look beautiful too. Once you’ve burned a candle from Jo Malone, or Diptyque, or Cire Trudon, you can't go back to $2 vanilla pillars from Spotlight*. Trust me on this; I’m a candle maniac from way back.

So, today’s Scrapbook is a carefully curated collection of candles (that alliteration came naturally – like it?) that would be a delight to find under the Christmas tree next weekend. Just make sure that whoever the lucky recipient is actually burns it. An unburned candle is…to quote my favourite character from Princess Bride…Inconceeeeevable!

Jo Malone candle (more on Jo Malone next week)

Diptyque Oyedo Candle

Cire Trudon candle from World Beauty Store

Curio Noir ‘Lilith’ candle

Happy weekend Beaunz belles.

X


*Although Spotlight pillar candles are perfect for burning outside when no one can smell them anyway!

Don't forget about your laptop this Christmas

'Falling' Laptop skin by Cassia from Society6

I have this crazy love affair with my MacBook. On the one hand, I have heart palpitations whenever I find myself more than 5metres away from it. This 2kg sliver of gleaming white plastic has my life on it - music, photos, videos, portfolio, scripts...the lot. 

On the other, I frequently drip coffee on it, toss it in my handbag without a second thought, and laugh as my toddler bangs away at the keys 'sending emails'. To be blunt, I'm married to my laptop - I love it to bits and can't imagine life without it, but I'm usually taking it for granted.

So, this Christmas there will be a little present under the tree for Mackie...a beautiful book print laptop skin from Society6. If you haven't seen this website before, prepare to spend money the moment you do. Independent artists upload their works, and Society6 turns them into anything from laptop or iPad or iPhone skins to framed prints to hoodies and t-shirts. Genius! And a great last minute gift option if you still haven't started your Christmas shopping.

Whoops...coffee drip...gotta dash.

x

Saturday Scrapbook : Please feed the book worms

The Flavour Thesaurus

One of my favourite gifts to give (and receive) is a beautiful book. The best ones are a work of art; tactile, heavy tomes that make your book shelf a prettier place as well as expanding the mind. Amazon.com is a dangerous place for me, it always ends with a mad dash to the letterbox each morning to intercept incoming parcels before they are discovered by the husband, who boringly (and rightfully) reminds me that we are in fact trying to save money, not spend it. 


So, I am going to live vicariously through you, Beaunz Belles, and share with you a few of the bookwormy treats I have found lately. Click on the book titles if you want to know more, and if you buy any of them, tell me what you think.

The Elves and the Shoemaker 

Terry Richardson's GAGA 

 Pop-up Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

Irreverent

Book Clutch by Olympia Le-Tan

x

Crafty, Happy People

I'm really excited for this weekend, in fact I've been looking forward to it for weeks!


The Auckland Craft Fair is taking place again, at the Aotea Centre. We ventured out of the house for one of the first times with our new baby to attend last year's fair, and it was so worth it I can't wait to go again.


The number of talented crafties in New Zealand is staggering, and the ACF gives them well-deserved exposure. I'm on the hunt for some cute pictures for our walls, some new pottery, a dress for my daughter to wear to an upcoming wedding and something that blows my mind so much I can't go home without it. Read the ACF blog to find out about some of the designers and get all the details you need.


Hope to see you there! Please come up and say hello.


x

Saturday Scrapbook : Christmas Shopping with heart

Trade Aid Farmyard Finger Puppets $51.99 a set

Until this week, it had been years since I stepped inside a Trade Aid store. Why? I'm not sure. I love their model of paying a fair price to their trading partners (you might think this is standard, but it's not) and facilitating positive change through a combination of direct trading, development work, campaigning, and education. Did you know that Trade Aid supplies more than 70% of fair trade beans to New Zealand’s coffee industry? Me neither, but it sure makes me feel less guilty about the second latte I had this morning. So, today's Saturday Scrapbook is all about the beautiful things I spotted this week at Trade Aid. They have a number of stores throughout New Zealand, but they also have a great online shop too. I'll let the images speak for themselves, click on the links if you want to know more about any of the products.

Trade Aid Felted Floral Tree Design Rug $199.99

Trade Aid Small Stone Chess Set $179.99

Trade Aid Blue Floral Queen Quilt $199.99

Trade Aid Jute Ranu Place Mat $9.99 each

Trade Aid Multicolour Decorative Flags (Bunting) $22.99

Trade Aid Set of 5 Hanging Decorations $12.99

x

The real Happy Feet

Converse Sequin High Top Sneakers

It might be the excitement of Christmas, but I can't get enough sparkle. Sequins, glitter, crystals, rhinestones, diamonds...as long as it reflects daylight, I want it on my person. 

My ultimate summer item (still looking) is a pair of slouchy, sequined pants à la these sparklers to be worn with a white tee, bare face and red lips. I might be a season or two behind the most dedicated fashionistas but I'm happy to be the style tortoise. 

In the meantime, my feet are getting the tinsel treatment thanks to these Converse high tops. Brings new meaning to the term 'twinkle toes'. 

Do a little dance... 

x

Give the gift of life after birth

I promise this won’t get ugly, but if you’re squeamish about babies and birth you may want to skip today’s post altogether.

My experience with childbirth was traumatic to say the least. After a very cruisey pregnancy, I had visions of a natural birth, to the sounds of Bon Iver, as my husband and sister wiped my brow and fed me ice chips. ‘Millions of women have done it before’ everyone assured me, from family, to my Ante Natal teacher, to the checkout operator at New World. ‘Childbirth is a beautiful, natural thing. Just let your body take over; it will know what to do.’

The reality was quite different. My waters broke a week early and showed signs of meconium which meant the baby was potentially in distress. Induction brought on labour quickly and violently, my subsequent epidural fell out (unnoticed), and after two hours of agonising pushing I was raced into theatre for an emergency caesarean that, in the words of my midwife, saved both me and my daughter. It was weeks before I could even think about the whole experience without crying. Over a year later, the memory is just hazy enough to contemplate doing it all again (before you get excited – no, that’s not an announcement, sorry!) and this time around, I have a new appreciation for the medical professionals that take care of us when we need them. At the time when I was the most frightened I have ever been, they reassured me and cared for me, and I owe them my life.

When I read about Oxfam Unwrapped and their wonderful gifts, the one that really stood out was the option to ‘Train a village birth attendant’ in Papua New Guinea. So often these women give birth at home, with no medical assistance, and the risk to both mother and child is high. A $40 donation will help train locals, giving them basic midwifery skills and a ‘Safe Birth Kit’ so that mothers are given the best possible medical help before, during and after childbirth. At a time of year that celebrates the birth of baby Jesus, I can’t think of a better gift for the person who already has everything.

x

Food that sings to your soul

Handmade gingerbread from Kuna's Pure Food

Several years ago, we spent a magical white Christmas with my friend Klara and her family in Klatovy, a storybook town a couple of hours out of Prague. 

Although we couldn't communicate with words, Klara's mother spoke straight to my heart with her intricate, handmade gingerbread decorations. The recipes and designs have been used to decorate trees in Czech for centuries, and they capture the magic of Christmas in a way that $5 a dozen baubles from the Warehouse just can't. On the day we left she presented us with a gingerbread house complete with a tea light candle inside that lit up the windows and blew smoke out the chimney. If it hadn't been so warm, cinnamony and delicious I would have kept it forever. 

Klara recently followed her husband across the world to Australia, and I was so delighted when I learnt that she has started a little business selling handmade gingerbread treats for Christmas. Every item is baked, decorated and wrapped by Klara herself, and the detail is incredible. In a world of fast, furious, cheap and cheerful, her gingerbread is infused with centuries of tradition and love. For those of you based in or around Melbourne, Klara will be at the Geelong Artifact Market (18th November), Piccadilly Market in Geelong (20th November) and at Magnolia Square in Melbourne (1-3rd December). For everyone else, if I get enough comments I will beg Klara for her recipe and post a how-to on Beaunz (bribery, yes, but I want to hear your voice too!) 

Tell me about your beautiful Christmas traditions, Beaunz belles?

x