Have you asked yourself this question....

 With Christmas just around the corner, it's time you asked yourself this question. Are you a Christmas style tyrant?

If you are unsure then take this quick survey.

1. Do you limit the colour palette of decorations?
a) yes. Every year I colour theme Christmas
b) I do like traditional red and white but happy to have whatever is around
c) It's an all in together mish mash of colour.


2. When your small children bring home a wonkey and rather crazy decorations  they have made do you...
a) Smile sweetly and when they are not looking throw it in the bin?
b) fix it up, re paint and re-make and hang on the tree?
c) give it to a grandparent.
d) Hang it proudly on the tree and keep it forever?

3.Do you let other people in your family decorate the tree?
a) only if they follow your instructions.
b) only if they are taller than you and do what they are told.
c) happy to let anyone do the decorating - it's one less job to do.

4. Do you keep decorations given to you by other people?
a) never unless they are to your taste
b) sometimes but you re-gift them
c) always, you love being reminded of that friend when you hang the decoration on the tree

5. Do you gift wrap in...
a) a matching colour theme with trimmings?
b) using double sided sticky tape?
c) a haphazard doesn't matter because it will get ripped off anyway way?

6.Your husband/partner has a penchant for gaudy outside lights and displays. Do you..
a) threaten divorce and not let him put any up
b) he can put them up but only if you choose them
c) only in the back yard
d) let him go for it. The kids love it too. You're looking forward to being the crazy Christmas house.

So. How did you go?

If you answered:
all  a's - It's official. You are a Christmas style tyrant.

mostly a's and b's - you are on the way to becoming a Christmas style tyrant.

mostly c's and d's - relax! Oh you are relaxing anyway.  


I know. You are asking yourself, "How does Julianne know so much about being a Christmas style tyrant?" Well...I have a confession to make. I know these things because once, almost twenty years ago, for one Christmas, I was a Christmas style tyrant.

The two children I had were too young to argue or participate with Christmas. My partner too busy. I dressed the children in home made matching dresses made from Christmas fabric. Yes! I really did! And I decorated the tree all in just brown paper  decorations and gold. Really.
And you know what? It was a hollow style victory. It was boring. And empty. And the kids wrecked the dresses. And I got over myself. 

Our Christmases shouldn't be a shop window display! Our Christmases are not for sale! My children are not Christmas accessories!

The other day I read a blog post from someone who was admitting openly to being a control freak about Christmas. She hadn't let her children participate in the tree decorating or hung up anything they had made. Her tree was more sterile art installation than a central focus of Christmas cheer. It made me sad.

I wondered if it was because she was a blogger and wanted to show her style in everything? (I'm still working on a post entitled "is blogging just bragging?") Or if it is a sign of the times -  that somehow these days everything is posted, flaunted tweeted and on display and has therefore bleached of it's honesty and realness. Or does she just need to express herself in everything and it's all about her?

The kids and I made these salt dough decorations. We coloured them madly with sharpie textas. These are mine....

 And these are what the kids made.........

Baby Joe's (at the top) are scribbled on with such intent and frenzy  - the lines and marks perfectly capture his 3year old self and each year when I get these decorations out of the box, something of little Joe will be there still, present in his handiwork. Pepper's (next row down) are detailed and thoughtful - she has just started thinking about her art and craft in this way, thinking about colour combinations and exploring patterns. Wanda's are practical and industrious. Each surface is completely coloured in, from edge to edge. She didn't do as many as Pepper. She wanted to climb a tree instead.

Christmas is about family, the marking of time, the passing of years, growing and changing and mostly it's about togetherness. It only happens once a year. How can being controlling and exclusive in the activities be any fun?

So beware of the inner Christmas style tyrant and make sure there's some wonkiness and tackiness and reality in your Christmas and celebrate with style but mostly with love for one another.

Keeping Christmas Eco - recycled sushi packet garland and bracelet

Save the little soy sauce fish from take away sushi! They make a lovely window garland or would look great hung individually on the tree. We filled them with water coloured with food colouring and painted the tops with different coloured nail polish.

 And save the packet too. Why? Well, sushi containers are perfect for shrinky dinking. My daughter Mattie made this (Kesha themed) charm bracelet for her sister. The diamond charms are sushi packets (the rest is shrinky dink frosted plastic that you can buy from a craft store.) Mattie drew on the plastic with a sharpie pen and used a hole punch to make the hole. Then into a very slow oven and watch it shrink and thicken. You can place something flat on top when it comes out of the oven to ensure it doesn't curl.

And while we were shrinky dinking, we made these snowflake bauble necklaces for the twins. Blue pencil on frosted shrinky dink.

my creative space- eco ornaments for market

 This week I have been a making machine. After last week at the Kris Kringle market where all the recycled jumper ornaments sold out, I thought I should make some more....and then went a bit overboard. And in the fickle world of market stalls, who knows if they will sell? Here's a selection...

Recycled jumper birds and hearts.....I made heaps of these!

Recycled jumper felt with machine stitching....but now I've run out of red thread....maybe some red with white stitching next?

Only one lucky reindeer....he was a bit fiddly....

And some Mexicana style....
I should note that I have made all of these from thrifted or recycled everything.

In the fickle world of markets, this week I may not sell any. But I'll happily deck my tree out with these Mexican ones.

see what's happening in other creative spaces.

tassel garland how to

A factory around the corner was throwing away rolls of interfacing - we rescued them from the skip and have used it over the years for pattern making and other things. I wanted to make more tassels but in the spirit of keeping it eco I didn't want to got out and buy anything new!
Here's how I made the tassels....same technique for paper but you don't need the wire....

A friends Mum got married in the 1950's and had bridesmaids in rainbow pastel frocks. That's what i think of when I look at these. Swishing frocks and sugared almonds.

Keeping Christmas Eco - tassel garland

I have seen gorgeous tassel garlands around the traps (i.e. on the internet..)and think they look pretty good too.
But in the spirit of keeping it eco, I've made one from recycled materials.

Sewing patterns are just tissue paper, right? So I cut the rectangle I wanted and painted them with watercolour paint. The large tassel in the centre is a chip packet cut lengthwise down the sides. The smaller corn chip tassels are a single packet cut in half.

It did all those tassel-like things you would expect - it swayed inthe breeze, rustled and picked up the light. I should make more tassels and make it longer but I got distracted making something else....I'll show you tomorrow... 

Can you spy the apricots ripening in the tree? Yum!

My Niece Hannah - Keeping Christmas Eco

Have you ever noticed the inside of an envelope? 
This is Hannah - sister outlaw Lynne's daughter. A few year ago she made these gorgeous decorations from envelopes. I love how the delicate blue patterns we disregard are brought to the fore and enhanced by the origami.

So go and open all your bills, ignore them if you must, save the envelopes and get folding. Thanks for the photos Lynne!

Christmas craft - recycled jumper ornaments

One jumper made quite a few little ornaments. I kept it traditional - hearts, doves and reindeer. Still have one sleeve left for some more!! Do you have a festive looking jumper you could cut up? I'm eyeing off my daughters cardigan....

paper elf advent calendar

I can see why it's a good idea to keep advent calendars simple - making 24 or 25 of something is a lot of making! These little elves got wonkier and wonkier as the hour got later and later.
 
I used pre-cut paper dolls for this and paper and paint to decorate. Stickers for the number.And cut many hats, faces, tunics and collars. Call me lazy, but I gave up when it came to making 48 little shoes.

The presents are wish stars from recycled sheet music (my piano playing days are on hold...as there is no piano...) There is a clear tutorial for making these on Creative Chaos Art. They can be made in many sizes. Inside each star  is a message with a Christmas activity or idea.

Next year I'll be keeping it simple. And I'm working on an elf paper doll template...I'll share it when it's ready...

woven baubles - keeping it eco 2

I found out how to make these woven paper balls on the Cheese Thief Blog. 

Go there now! There is a fantastic video tutorial.

These could be made from old packaging, sheet music, wrapping paper... I'm even thinking they could be made from fabric - if I stuck fabric to paper and then cut it? That may require Vliesofix to fix the fabric to the paper - just like in this tutorial on how to make fabric cards from Frog Goose and Bear.

My Creative Space: tassels

It's all about the tassels here in my creative space today.
But now it's time to get ready for the Kris Kringle Night Market at the Northcote Town Hall. Yes.  I know it's VERY hot in Melbourne today. But hopefully some people will still be wandering in later in the evening!
Check out some more creative spaces here. 

Advent calendar ideas

I'm going to make an advent calendar today.
Why? Well I know there is lots to do at Christmas, but I really like advent calendars. 
I like that they build the anticipation. The count down to Christmas. Tick off the days.
And they are great for kids to get their head around how many sleeps until Christmas.
Maybe if I have an advent calendar the kids will stop asking that?

So here are some ideas I've found....

 Get folding -Origami Calendar from
 homemade gifts made easy

Magnetic round tins from Twig and Thistle

 Heaps of ideas with stationary from Omiyage

 And I love this woodland scene calendar from decoideas

 These would take some time to make but they look great and would be fun! Mini pinatas!
From gingerbread snowflakes

Simple series of paper cones - good one for the kids to make!Find out more at ikat bag

This interactive block puzzle one is fantastic! From kidspot New Zealand I love the way a picture appears as it gets closer to Christmas!

And I like how quick this one is! A big lucky dip grab box! From studio diy


So I'd better get making.