Hearts and apples.

Do you like my new oven gloves?

They were a Christmas present from my grandmother - she clearly has good taste!

I really like the Orla-like retro pattern and the colours obviously match the ground floor of my house perfectly (red and green seem to be rapidly seeping from our living room and dining room into our kitchen at the moment)!

They're made by Typhoon too, so should last for a good while!

This year, my Christmas list seemed to consist of almost entirely very practical things that we absolutely needed (tea-towels, socks etc.) so it is great that these oven gloves are practical but very stylish!

Do you have something that's very practical, but also pretty?

Beautiful Square Feet is 1!

I realised late last night that I began writing this little blog a whole year ago! 

Over the past year, I've really enjoyed putting posts together for you, documenting the decoration of my house, finding beautiful objects to share with you, and being inspired by the things you have to say.

A huge thank you to every one of you who has left a comment this year - I really appreciate your input and kind words. A massive thank you to those of you who are following me - it's really lovely to see who is reading!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all! 

Image from here.

Yesterday, we got back from a lovely time in Kent - we stayed with my parents over Christmas and New Year, and had a brilliant time seeing them and visiting friends and other family members. We had such a relaxing time; now we're back in Cardiff and I've really got to get my head around how to look after two children! While we're talking about them, you'll be pleased to know that Astrid's still doing really well - she's put on 2 pounds since she was born, and is even pretty much sleeping through the night! Torin's making a lovely older brother - he calls Astrid "sweetheart" and "darling" and wants to hold her all the time.

This year is a biggie for us - Torin will start going to nursery school when he turns 3 in May, I turn 30 in July, and Astrid will change so so much over the coming months. We're going to be busy!

Projects for this year include finally finishing the big clear up of the spare room and turning it into Torin's room. We'll also be turning what is currently Torin's room, into Astrid's room. After that, I'm going to finally get around to painting the bathroom; then in the summer, there are a few projects to tackle in the front and back gardens. I'm feeling positive about it all, I just need to as usual, find a few more hours in the day to get it all done!

I hope you had a good holiday and that 2012 brings you happiness!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree . . .

We put our Christmas tree up this weekend, and I'm rather pleased with it! It's only tiny (3ft), and it's not real, but it's a Christmas tree all the same. 

Torin helped me decorate it, and he was squealing with excitement as we got all of the baubles out of their storage bags. He did get a little carried away with the beads (which were decorations left over from our wedding), and kept trying to throw them onto the tree, so he was then given the job of hanging the baubles on the back!

One day we'll have a big living room with a big tree, and it'll be real (sigh), but for now, our little one will suffice.

All wrapped up . . .

In an attempt to get a bit organised for Christmas this year, I wrapped the gifts shown in the picture below and took the picture a couple of weeks ago. Knowing that Astrid was going to turn up at any minute, I thought it would be a good idea if I didn't leave all of my Christmas shopping until after she was born!

Having said this, and despite all of my best intentions, I still have quite a few gifts to decide upon and buy!

Anyway, I really just wanted to share with you this picture of how I've wrapped my gifts this year. I bought the pale blue wrapping paper from IKEA - I tend to look there first every year as it is so reasonably priced, and they tend to produce at least some gift wrap that isn't shiny and gaudy. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with shiny gift wrap, but I think you can probably imagine what I'm seeing in my head!

I already had the red curling ribbon and the red shiny card (see, there's nothing wrong with shiny!) and the picture on the tag was made from part of an old Christmas card that I cut up last year and stored for this year.

I really like gifts to be wrapped quite simply, and I'm pleased with the Scandi feel that I've ended up with here! What do you think - do you like what I've done? Do you stick to a particular colourscheme at Christmas? What are you planning for this year?