sunny days...

... are just perfect for being outside in the garden!

Even if it does involve hanging out the laundry.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy new year! xx

short + sweet

Just popping in to say hello and show you the results of about 6 hours of cracker making on Christmas Eve....

The crackers were a huge hit, particularly with the kids (and the young at heart!). My favourite part.... the handwritten jokes one of the girls did for me to include. A lovely personal touch.

xx

today's project + merry christmas!

Christmas Eve! For the first time in a long time (having worked retail for many, many years) I have today free to do what I please. Did I take advantage of this to sleep in? No. I woke up early and was too excited to stay in bed : )

In a few moments I am going to pack up the car, close the laptop, and head south for a few days with R and his family. There will be projects to do, food to make and eat, and time spent together. Weather permitting, there will be Christmas dinner on the beach. I have my bathers packed.

Today's project is to construct 20+ Christmas crackers for everyone. Yesterday N and I had a ball in the local variety shop picking out treasures (can you call a plastic trinket a treasure?) to go inside. We found spinning tops, kaleidoscopes, mini harmonicas and some old fashioned card games like Snap and Old Maid. Fun! I'm now trying to decide if I should include some cheesy jokes as well. I will need to ask R about those, he has quite a repertoire hehe.

I also wanted to take this time to say thank you to you all for a wonderful year. It has been my first full year of Rabbit & the Duck since leaving my full-time job, and while it's certainly been a learning curve it has also been a lot of fun and very rewarding. I look forward to the year ahead - there will be new things to make and new adventures to pursue. I hope you'll join me : )

Have a wonderful Christmas however you choose to spend it, and see you soon!

xx

Things that happened today...

1. I had a lovely brunch with two good friends. We ate bircher muesli with blueberries, date and chocolate chip muffins, and drank lots and lots of tea.

2. I took some photographs of cute things at my friends house, including these two robots.

3. I have been loaned a sari to wear to an event I'm going to on the weekend. I have been practicing how to wear it all afternoon and still haven't figured it out properly.

4. I decided to 'pop in' to Savers on my way home..... an hour later I was still filling my basket with lots of lovely things including 2 vintage dresses, 16 pairs of coloured plastic knitting needles and 3 cute aprons.

5. I thought about baking gingerbread. It was meant to happen this afternoon about the same time I was in Savers. Oops!

6. I ate way too much for dinner and now feel like a nap on the sofa, rather than starting the Christmas present sewing I need to do.

Only 4 more sleeps until Christmas day - how did it come up so quickly?!?

say hello to...

Sherman + Betty are one of our brand new stockists, and I do mean brand new, they have just opened their doors this week (hooray!). Perfect timing for those of us who still have a few Christmas presents to check off the list. 

Where to find them:

Shop 9, Town Centre Arcade

81-83 Katoomba Street

Katoomba NSW

And for those in Melbourne who still have some Christmas shopping to do, the Sisters Market is on again this Saturday from 10-4. You'll find Rabbit & the Duck just inside the Brunswick Town Hall, next to Hamb and opposite Kids with Crayons. It's our last event of the year so do stop by and say hello if you can! 

two to go

Find us this weekend at the St Kilda Town Hall for the Sisters' Market - it's going to be a huge event with over 100 fabulous stalls stocked full of handmade things. It is my aim to get a final few gifts ticked off my Christmas list.

The following weekend we will be back at the Brunswick Town Hall for our final event of the year - I can't believe 2010 is almost at an end! 

shop update!

With only a few weeks to go until Christmas I thought it was time for a shop update. Both our Made It and Etsy stores have lots of new goodies just added, with more to come in the next few days (weather permitting for photography!).

And in other shop news - you can now shop in Australian dollars at our Etsy store. Hooray! 

Here's a sneak peek of new things in the shop:

Babushka Snap to it! Wallet

Picnic Phone Pouch

wrap me up

Today is catch up day after a busy 4 days at Magnolia Square. There are groceries to buy, laundry to be washed, and right now I am also looking at an IKEA bookcase that needs to be assembled. I'm getting quite the pro at pulling apart and putting back together my IKEA, except that every time I do so I manage to snap another dowel or two in half. Oops.

I made a good dent in my Christmas shopping over the past few days, including these pretty rolls of gift wrap from the Mae stand. Theirs are the cute red pin spot and the lovely red and blue floral. Perhaps today I will start to wrap some presents - Christmas is definitely in the air!

up up and away

Yesterday I was inspired to create some new linen patchwork journals:

I love this hot air balloon print - definitely a favourite!
And Alice in Wonderland is always a winner.

These will be with me at Magnolia Square this weekend and if I get my act into gear also available online in the not-to-distant future.