ebabee likes:December 2014

Entries from December 2014

Merry Merry and Happy happy!

December 24, 2014

Dear readers,

Wishing you and your families a happy and joyful Christmas full of love and laughter. I hope you are all surrounded by your loved ones and have a warm and happy festive break.

Thank you all for your wonderful support this year. Not just with the blog but with my new shop too. Personally for me, this year has had some ups and downs but it has also been a big year in many ways – new shop and new home. I hope to grow my shop in 2015 and of course continue with this blog with new ideas, collaborations and inspiration.

Once again thank you for coming here everyday and for all your likes, comments and love on facebook too. I will be taking a break to spend some time with my family and will see you back here on January 5th. But there will be some exciting shop news in between so keep a look out for that.

Happy, happy 2015 to you all!

– nomita xx

A very simple Christmas DIY: Tree garland

December 23, 2014

Do you remember my DIY mini forest advent calendar? Well, I had all those mini origami trees floating around so I had to do something with them. With our recent house move, I knew there would be no tree this year but I did have 24 of these mini trees which I wasn’t ready to get rid of just yet. So I decided to simply make a little mini tree garland.

If you’re starting from scratch you’ll have to make the origami tree’s first of course. But after that it’s really simple. All you need is a needle and thread and just string the trees together at the top. Super easy, peasy! I had the green trees from my advent calendar but you could easily make the garland in any colour you like – perhaps a black and white one or even a gold one. Alternatively these little trees could also become tree ornaments – again just thread from the top and hang from your big tree.

What else would you use these little trees for? Name place holders? Table decorations? Anything else?

{all photos by ebabee}

Four easy Christmas crafts for kids

December 19, 2014

Christmas is the perfect time for crafting. It’s cold outside, the holidays are on and so it’s a great way to keep the kids entertained. My preference is always for quick and easy crafts. Anything too involved and I find that the kids patience wears thin and the crafts don’t get finished. So with that in mind I’ve picked four fun and colourful crafts most of which come with free printables too.

1. How cute are those printable Christmas crackers? The printable templates also come as blank ones so they’re great to give to the kids and let them decorate as they wish.

2. I’m loving these playful DIY birch Christmas tree ornaments. For these you will need to buy the birch rounds or improvise with something else like thick cardboard. And then decorate as you wish – with stickers or drawings or both.

3. These printable tree and gingerbread pouches come undecorated so you can print on to colourful paper or plain paper and decorate. These shapes can be used for so many things – storing little treats, making hanging ornaments, gift tags and so much more.

4. A cute little printable geometric snowman that even comes with a hat. This little snowman can be used on it’s own as a decoration or if you print quite a few, it would make a super cute table decoration on Christmas day. You could even use it for place names – just write each persons name on the hat.

Have a great weekend all! Enjoy the happy, cheerful, festive atmosphere which is the thing I love the most about Christmas.

P.S. Today is the last day for UK Christmas orders from our kids clothing shop.

Stunning simplicity

December 18, 2014

Everywhere you turn, it’s all about Christmas. So today I wanted to take a break from all the festive chatter and share these gorgeous dresses for girls. Clean, understated pieces that can be worn for any occasion. From one of my favourite high street stores, these dresses could not be simpler or more stunning. Anya has last years version of the orange and pink block dress (the skirt part was black last year) and whenever she wears it the compliments don’t stop coming. This year I’ve got my eye on the bright blue bubble dress although the black dress with the pink collar is so striking in it’s simplicity. Styles like this really speak to me because I’m not a fan of too much fuss and embellishment but more importantly I think dresses like this really allow the child wearing them to shine rather than detracting from the child. What do you think? Too simple or simply stunning?

Free printable Chrismas gift tags

December 17, 2014

Every year I share some of the best free printable Christmas gift tags from around the web. This year I had every intention of designing my own but I didn’t plan on moving house, celebrating Anya’s birthday, launching a new venture and having Christmas all so close together! I guess my own designs will have to wait until next year but there are some amazing free gift tags to be had out there so I’ve picked my favorites. If you’re one of the last minute types like me (still to buy Christmas gifts!) then these labels will come in handy next week as you can just print at the very last minute and they’re way cooler and so much more unique then standard shop bought ones.

Store those toys in style!

December 15, 2014

With Anya’s birthday in December and then Christmas, the build-up of toys, games and gifts is endless in this house. We gather more stuff in December than the rest of the year combined! So I’m always looking for ways to store all her ~~junk~~ new belongings. I am partial to toy storage sacks as not only do they look stylish but it’s oh so easy to tidy up – just throw all the toys and mess in to them and you’ve tidied up in minutes. Here are a few toy storage sacks I’m loving at the moment and having a hard time choosing between. Many of them come in different designs and colours so just check out the links to see more. And any of them would be great to store all the new Christmas goodies:

Ebabee Christmas Gift Guide 2014: Kids Books

December 12, 2014

We are complete bookworms in this house. I would go so far as saying almost more then adult books, I adore kids books and get excited every time we get a new one. Christmas is the perfect excuse for me to go a bit over the top buying new books for Anya. Last week I shared some great activity books for kids so today I wanted to share some story books. Most of these books are suitable for around ages 4-7 years but of course can be read out loud to younger kids too. Some of them are old classics like Puss in Boots and Aesops Fables but I’ve picked new and exciting editions which bring something different. We already own some of these books and love them and the rest are on our wish list:

Whimsical art

December 11, 2014

With our recent house move I’ve got a million decor ideas floating around in my head. There are so many things and styles I like that I know it’s going to be hard to narrow it down and choose one particular style of decor. With Anya’s room too I keep flitting from a vintage style to something more modern. Then of course there is the art for her walls. I’ve been collecting all the kids art I like on a pinterest board but when it comes down to choosing just one or two pieces for her room, I really don’t know how I will manage. My latest find are these quirky water colour style prints that I’m loving. I love their expressions and the whimsical style of the characters too. This collection is by Mrs Mighetto and you’ll find most of the range at Mokkasin. One more fab art collection to add to my ever increasing choices! How will I ever choose?!

Beautiful baby essentials

December 10, 2014

Once in a while a new line of baby clothing comes along that literally takes my breath away. It makes me wish for another baby simply because the clothes are that beautiful. This is one of those times. Brand new from California is Rylee & Cru created and designed by Kelli Murray who is mum to Rylee and Cru and an artist/designer. I have come across Kelli’s work before and have admired her simple, understated style that really stood out for me. The same style is now on these clothes – that swan print onesie, or the bunny print one – how beautiful are they? Playful and cute for babies yet so sophisticated to appeal to parents too. All the prints are hand illustrated or painted by Kelli and the subtle colour palette makes a beautiful backdrop for these drawings. I love the off-white, grey and blush tones in the collection – in fact I love it all. If only I had a baby to put it on… sigh!

*via pinterest

The best DIY Christmas trees

December 9, 2014

The weather’s turned freezing, we are well in to December, lights and decorations are popping up everywhere; that can only mean one thing – Christmas is coming! As I’ve been busy moving house, I haven’t really gotten in to the Christmas spirit but now I fully intend to.

With the chaos that a house move brings and moving to a home that needs complete refurbishing getting a Christmas tree isn’t going to work out this year. Anya looks forward to decorating the tree each year so I don’t want to disappoint her and besides I want to have a little festive corner so that we all feel a bit more Chrismassy. I thought instead of a real tree we can make our own alternative tree which Anya can help with. That’s my plan for the coming weekend so I’ve been collecting ideas for alternate Christmas trees which are also great if you have limited space or some of these ideas are perfect for creating a little Christmas corner in your kids rooms too. I especially love the simple washi tape Christmas tree (no. 2) which you can create so easily in any room of your home. And aren’t those brush trees (no. 7) a great idea too?

Here’s where more about each tree: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8