Princess Watch - What Was Kate Doing This Christmas?

This being her first Christmas as a member of the royal family - Kate had the fans out in force.  

She began the day by attending a church service with the Queen then she joined the Royals for an early morning walk...

The family then gathered for their walk from the Sandringham estate to the local Church.  Prince Charles led the group, traditionally Prince Philip leads the family but unfortunately he is still in hospital.

 

Record crowds were waiting after the service and we can safely assume that the presence of Kate had a lot to do with that.  

After Christmas lunch Will and Harry went to visit Prince Phillip in hospital and Kate hung out with the other Royals.  Not so different to most people's Christmas give or take a few screaming hordes and dozens of photographers.

Princess Watch

Kate and Will paid a visit to Centrepoint in Camberwell (south east London) on Wednesday. As young boys, William and Harry, were regularly taken by Diana on private visits to Centrepoint hostels across London to better understand the lives of those less fortunate than themselves. Kate and Will seem to be honouring this tradition which is nice.

 

Kate wore - a Ralph Lauren Blue Label olive green wool sweater (jersey) dress with suede Aquatalia Rumba boots.

Update

Moondoggie and I decided to do a fly by the house tonight so he could show me his bedroom, and imagine my surprise when I saw that this....

has turned in to this.......

  
We were so excited and couldn't wait to do a tour of the house.  The builders had said that the ground floor framing would be up by Christmas but I must admit that we weren't holding our breath.  I will have to make a mental apology now.

Princess Watch

Will, Kate and  Harry attended the A Night of Heroes military awards ceremony yesterday.

Fashion Deets - Kate is wearing a velvet Alexander McQueen gown paired with stunning jewels that she received for her wedding from a friend.  Apparently her shoes are Jimmy Choos.

Done the Tree - now For the Wreath.......

The Pleated Poppy

from Pinterest

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart

Luxe Finds

Just Call Me Grace (tumblr)

Found on Flickr

Found on Flickr

Country Home

Bees Knees Bungalow Blog

4.BP Blog

The Tree

Here are some of my favourite Christmas trees this year - simple or ornament laden, these all evoke the festive season beautifully....

Martha Stewart

In Decorating Blog

I Like Design Blog

Family Circle

 

BHG

But what could be better than these unadorned beauties - I can almost smell the tang of pine in the air and they hint at the pleasures to come....

CHALK

I rarely post about work but I've made up for it with 3 posts in a week!  I promise this will (probably) be my last for a while.  I've spent the morning opening large boxes of stock which is a little like Christmas as I had no idea what I was going to find.  Turns out they were chock full of fabulous toys, gifts, and fun bits and pieces.  I must say that working in a children's store at this time of year makes the whole Christmas season much more festive.

If you are in Melbourne, pop in and see me or drop in and meet my brother at the Kensington store.

Shop By Night

 Taking photos of one of my stores at 1.30am made me feel a little like a criminal - I felt like I was staking the place out.  It was fun though to see the shop with it's lights on and I've now tabled the front signage for a makeover and illumination as next year's project.

Things I Believe....

We should be able to carry a bouquet every day....

 

 Nikole Ramsay photographs / MOSS bouquets

Style Me Pretty

Tiny White Daisies                                      Style Me Pretty

J.L. Designs                                                     Style Me Pretty

What We Made

 

Here is some of the ridiculously simple yet 'people seem to keep buying it' goodies I crafted for CHALK.  My very, very dear friend Kristine designed and developed the tees we use at CHALK and luckily for me when we ran out of our own she agreed to share her Townmouse stash with us.  This has meant we've been able to play around with some designs for the Christmas season.

 

The apple fabric that I had in my stash was leftover from the window display at one of the stores and just happens to tie in beautifully with Walnut's range of shoes.  A merchandisers dream, and a complete accident.

The boys haven't been left out either - the lovely Lou who works for me has taken home some suits and whipped up the most gorgeous onesies for us.  I'd love to claim them myself but as she reads this blog I'd best tell the truth!

I managed to take some photos of the Yarraville store last night on my new phone (a whole 'nother story) so I'll share those with you later.

Getting My Craft On

Over the last couple of weeks I have been kicking arse in the crafting department as far as work goes - Christmas windows for both shops, a range of tees, and Christmas onesies, CHALK Reindeer Food, Santa Letters, Christmas cards, a plethora of Christmas goodies crafted by moi.

Problem is that I can't seem to find the time or energy to get my craft on at home.  It's pathetic.  As we aren't at home all my usual decorations are in the roof at the 'building site' so we've commandeered Mum and Dad's tree and Gidget has strung up lights out the front but I feel I'm letting the team down.  There are so many fabulous ideas floating around in my head but I'm afraid that is where they are going to stay.  


Maybe the trick is to settle on one project rather than get depressed about the million things I'd love to have the time to do.  That said - I think I will aim to make these this week.....

 pic

Hand made snow domes!  what a great way to use up all those toys we have underfoot.  Anyone want to take bets on whether I'll get them done?

pics from here