Hello Friends!! With less than a week to go before Christmas I hope that we’re all getting into the spirit!! Most folk in South Africa are on leave now (we just had a long-weekend that traditionally signals the beginning of annual leave) and so everyone is beginning to relax and get into a holiday mood. Families are packing up and heading for the coast and roads are busy.

We’re not going away this year as my hubby is working through until the 30th (luckily he is off on Christmas Day!!) – so my family will all be joining us for the day. That means meal planning with my Mom and sister – which I still need to get to!! With just a few last gifts to buy, make and wrap I am on the downhill now…..

I had great fun wrapping gifts for friends and family this weekend – in red and aqua! I had already printed gift tags in this colourway, and was further inspired by Leslie Shewring’s Colour Me Pretty: Holiday Edition - and I agree with her – this is a happy and joyous colour combination!! So here’s my take on this theme….

I also got around to decorating the tree this weekend and it looks so pretty (and yes – I found myself keeping the snowmen and reindeer decorations in the box this year). I have purchased some lovely decorations from Country Road that I have used – mostly red and silver. Will post some pictures of the tree soon!

Well – that’s me for now. Have a lovely day!!

Cath xx

Hello Everyone. We’ve had a cold and rainy day here in Stellenbosch, which has been rather nice! This time of the year is usually quite hot, so the reprieve is welcome. Which gets me onto a topic rather close to my heart…..summertime Christmas in Africa. Beach holidays, summer salads, braaivleis (barbeque in afrikaans), sundowners on the beach, casual summer clothes (cozzies and slip-slops…..). So WHY, do I ask you, do we decorate our homes and wrap our gifts in snowflakes and reindeer and sleighs when its 30degrees outside?? Why can’t Father Christmas travel in his baggies and a T-shirt, being pulled by some funky zebras?? We seem to have this blinkered attitude of following the traditions of the Northern Hemisphere. Don’t get me wrong – I love a white Christmas, and all the cozy traditions, crunchy snow, candles on the windowsill……. But I feel we should celebrate our own traditions and “culture” with more pride and OWN our summer Christmas!! Think beautiful beadwork, locally printed fabrics and giftwrap, “african” christmas trees, wooden and ceramic decorations made by local artisans -  there is such scope for our amazing local designers to showcase their talents!! I would be interested to know if you share my feelings – how are things done in Australia??

So – I steer away from all the novelties of winter in my own home and gift-wrapping and try to be more inventive. This year, in my Paperpeony studio, I created Christmas cards and gift-tags using simple graphics and a variety of fonts – emphasizing family, peace and love (after all that’s really what Christmas is all about!!). I made a special effort to produce cards in both English and Afrikaans, as I feel that my Afrikaans friends are really side-lined by the plethora of imported Christmas goods, which are obviously all in English. I still have a dream of designing a truly “African” range for Christmas – watch this space next year!!

Following on with my red theme, I have been busy wrapping some of our gifts for the family. I challenged myself to be creative and inventive with textures and embellishments, and used some of my gift-tags too. Here is the fruit of my labour…

I am going to take the gift-wrapping challenge further – but in other colours (my christmas range includes grey, chartreuse, aqua and purple too!). So – pop back soon to see what else I have up my sleeve!!

Enjoy these last 10 days before Christmas!!

Cath xx