The Easter wrap up

There are no hot cross buns left, the supplies of chocolate are dwindling and it seems overdue to take our decorations down, but Easter was only here less than a week ago.

It was wonderful here. No camping trips or long journeys. Just a blissful four days spent as a little family without the interruption of work. O and I made salt dough decorations for our Easter tree (formerly a box that some shirts arrived in). We baked hot cross buns. We had a lovely morning at the nearby beach on the kayak. We ate pork belly (not Easter-y but definitely yummy!). We let O stay up late (till 8pm!) and watch Disney movies. I made apple pie with pastry from scratch.

And on the big morning we were delighted to see that the Easter bunny had been, nibbled his carrot, drank his milk and left 34 eggs in our garden. Now if only O would stop asking to go out and check the garden again to see if there are any more eggs in there!!!

Have yourself a handmade little Christmas

The hottest trend for Christmas 2011 seems to be buying handmade.

For a number of reasons, including financial and environmental (two of the best ones!), people are turning their backs on mass produced plastic crap in favour of handcrafted, personal and unique gifts for their loved ones this Christmas.

No I'm not talking about knitting your Aunty Rita a tea cosy or making your Dad a clay ashtray (seriously, can you believe we made ashtrays at school??). I'm talking about tapping into the wealth of artists and talented craft-persons on online markets like madeit.com.au and etsy.com, at collective stores and at weekend markets.

An added bonus to these types of presents is managing to avoid those hideous pre-Christmas crowds at the giant shopping centres, especially battling thousands of others for carparks - that activity sends my blood pressure sky high on my own, never mind if I had a kidlet or two in tow. (Deep breaths, vodka, happy place).

This year why not get your shopping done from the comfort of your own home at any time of day that you have to spare (maybe in your jammies, maybe with a glass of vino - whatever works for you).

Of course I realise that a beautiful handcrafted item will not satisfy the kidlet's wishes for a bike or a DS, but why not consider picking them up a beautiful dress or shirt to wear on Christmas day? And the grown ups on your list will surely appreciate something you've actually put some thought into purchasing instead of a roll of 'word of the day' toilet paper.

So check out some crafty present options and have yourself a handmade little Christmas.