Carried away by lazy days.

For the last couple of weeks I have been all consumed by Christmas. I love the build up: The baking, the shopping, the gift wrapping, the music, the feeling... It is my favourite time of year. Since Christmas (which was wonderful), we have done nothing but cook, eat, watch movies, read and steal moments together in Be's hammock. The computer has hardly been on – which is strange for me as it is such a huge part of my life. I'm off to wander the garden, cook some more and finish Wuthering Heights. I hope you are lucky enough to be enjoying a holiday as lovely as mine.

Image via We Heart It.

In these days.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, sorry for neglecting you.

Image from the brilliant Rachelle.

Only three more sleeps!

The presents are wrapped, the Christmas baking well underway. Christmas tunes are pumping and there's real excitement in the air. Only three more sleeps...

Image via We Heart It

d a c e lookbook: spring / summer 2010

Loving the d a c e lookbook photographed by Andre Paul Pinces who is fast becoming one of my favourite Editorial photographers.

Candy coloured goodness.

Images via weheartit.

Minimalissimo – Poster series: Popular TV shows.

Minimalissimo is a blog all about minimalist design – including art, architecture, graphic design and industrial design. I love this poster series they blogged about by the awesome Albert Exergian. You can see more here.

Christmas gift ideas: Ken Diamond.

This is on my Christmas wish list. Ken Diamond moccasins...wallet...key chain...anything. I absolutely love Ken Diamonds stuff. Is it wrong that I'm drooling over leather goods? I love the fact that he hand crafts every single piece and that he is dedicated to creating high quality goods. They just look so comfortable and cosy. My dad has an awesome pair of moccasin-ish-ugg boots and he had them for as long as I can remember, so they've lasted him at least 22 years. I'll keep trying to convince myself that these moccasins are a great investment...in the mean time, you should check out Ken's webstore here.

Images by Andre Paul Pinces.

All the pretty little ponies.

Hush-a-bye

Don't you cry

Go to sleepy little baby

When you wake

You shall have

All the pretty little ponies

Blacks and bays

Dapples and greys

All the pretty little ponies

Photo by Lella and Zee.

Christmas gift ideas: Woolly Pockets.

I absolutely love these little Woolly Pockets. They make me want to garden. For real. Anyway, they're made out of recycled bottles and come in all different sizes, whether you want a little plant or a meadow! So good. Buy one here.

Christmas gift idea: Print Society.

I love printed photos. If I could I'd pretty much have my entire walls covered in photos. These are some of my favourite images from Print Society. There are millions (or close to) on the website for a pretty decent price. Check out Print Society for some Christmas print love.

1. West Forty-third Street by Joseph O. Holmes.

2. Larry Gibson's Chair by Daniel Shea.

My future husband.

I don't know how many times I can say this: I love beards. Mostly the Sea Captain style a la Capt. Daniel Gregg from the Ghost and Mrs Muir. This guy is seriously the coolest thing out - very sea captain meets milanese chic. He's completely fascinating. Is it just the beard that has me saying he's made my "Silver Fox Five"? No, I would have to say it is a combination of the impeccable style, the bike, the glasses, the cigar and of course that fine beard. People, I think I have a crush.

Image from The Sartorialist.

2nd Born.

My Husband's Father and Brother are both into brewing their own beer. A little while ago my Father-in-law asked me to design a logo and label for his beer, and to be honest I've been a little stumped. It is of course awesome to have a client that has given you total control, but I just don't know where to start. I have been inspired by the design my Sister-in-law has come up with for Adam's beer which he has named '2nd Born'. The name is funky and the label is clever. As any beer brewers would know, you generally reuse the plastic beer bottles, so coming up with a label is a little tricky. Karrissa has designed a label that is stuck to the lid, so it's easy to remove. I love it!

I'm feeling a little pressure now though...

If I could, I'd grow an awesome beard for you.

Image via ffffound

Sheye Rosemeyer for Wovenplay.

We love Sheye Rosemeyer. Her photos are just delicious, her blog both entertaining and heartbreaking. Sheye is a constant inspiration.

Her photo shoot for Manhattan based Wovenplay is just beautiful – it even has a pony! Wovenplay makes lovely and imaginative play clothes from original textiles, prints and trims.

Make sure you visit Sheye's blog and website. I stumbled across her blog a couple of years ago and was touched by her honest writing and tragic story. If you are like me you will spend hours reading Sheye's posts and admiring her photos.

Five: (umm TEN) of my favourite Christmas tunes.

I love Christmas music. It makes me feel so joyous! I feel like a giddy child when I hear my favourite christmas songs and can't help but dance, or jump up and down! I sneak a listen to a few carols throughout the year, just to get that feeling – what can I say I just love Christmas! So when I came to putting a list of my top five Christmas songs together I just couldn't do it, so here's my top ten.

Do yourself a favour, crank your favourite tune right up, grab your friends and dance dance dance – nothing beats it!

10. Let it Snow, Diana Krall

9. I'll Be Home For Christmas, Bing Crosby

8. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Mariah Carey

7. Sleigh Ride, Diana Krall

6. It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas, Bing Crosby

5. Winter Wonderland, Diana Krall

4. White Christmas, Bing Crosby

3. Last Christmas, Wham

2. Mele Kalikimaka, Bing Crosby

1. All I Want For Christmas is You, Mariah Carey

Image via We Heart It

I'd like to rest my head.

Images via ffffound

Forts.

I love forts. Anooke and I used to build them in the lounge room and play Barbie weddings all day. Then there were the "make a den" days where Zee, Anooke, Be and I would build forts on the clothes line or over chairs and have shops and houses and such. The folks over at Booooooom ran a competition to celebrate the release of Where The Wild Things Are to build your own fort. This is one of my favourites, but you can view more of the fantastic entries over at Booooooom.

Image via Booooooom.

Christmas gift ideas: Cox & Cox.

I am absolutely loving this silver birch candle from Cox & Cox. Made from a section of real silver birch trunk, I think they'd look stunning in a little cluster on your christmas table or just dotted around the room. There's something very whimsical about these little treasures. Available from Cox & Cox.

Do you know me?

It's just the strangest thing
I've seen your face somewhere
An early evening dream, a past life love affair
Do you know me at all?
Do you know me at all?

Lyrics by John Mayer; Image by Donja Pitsch.

Sweet Paul's advent calendar.

I'm loving this advent calendar that Sweet Paul made from match boxes. I think I might try one myself – yes, I have left it a little late, but better late than never! Here's how to make one of your own:

I made this advent calendar for Country Living.
Its made of matchboxes and some scraps of paper.
Just hot glue the tops of empty boxes to one another so you get rows.
The bottom should be 9 and decrease by two until you have a single box.
Cut wrapping paper to cover each row, secure with hot glue.
Then hot glue the rows in a tree shape as shown.
I used small stamps to stamp the numbers on each box.
On top you can hot glue a star or a cut out like I did on this one.
Fill the boxes with candy and trinkets and you are ready to go.

Thank you Sweet Paul!

Fade.

You used to shine so bright

But I watched all of it fade.

Taylor Swift

Image via We Heart It

House envy.

Dan Martensen and Shannan Click have the most beautiful home. They make pickles and have a barn. Jealous much? Yes, yes I am. Check out more of their gorgeous abode at The Selby.

Images by Todd Selby.

The festive season.

Anooke posted this gorgeous illustration and I just had to share it. It combines two of my favourite things: the festive season and beards. Perfection. I love it.

Image via Anooke.

Christmas gift ideas: Commes des Garcons.

One of my favourite perfumes is Play EDT by Commes des Garcons. It's a unisex scent but is quite masculine with notes of bitter orange, black pepper, lime, saffron, thyme, sage, sea notes, oak moss, patchouli and musk. It smells utterly divine. The perfect gift for the person who has everything. Available in Australia from Mecca Cosmetica.

Have you ever felt lost in the world?

Image by Jack Pam.

Tomorrow.

Images via ffffound

Sweet, Sweet Paul.

Now as you can tell, I'm very excited about Christmas, so had to share Sweet Paul's 'Holiday Countdown' with you. One of the things I love most about Sweet Paul is his wonderful Christmas craft and recipe ideas. From now until Christmas, Sweet Paul will share Christmas goodies with us everyday. If you are as crazy about Christmas as we are, make sure you check in with Sweet Paul as often as you can.