My favourite Birdies do Christmas

My favourite birdies from the wonderful blog Little Doodles are celebrating the 12 days of Christmas. Here are a few of my favourites so far. I hope you all had a great weekend! Hard to believe that the week before Christmas is here!

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five golden riiiings

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me, seven birds a slimming

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, six birds crocheting

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, eight birds a milking

Top o Tree

We will be setting up our Christmas tree in the next couple of days and I realized that we don't have anything for the top of the tree. I thought of making an owl or critter for the top but I think I will go with an Angel. I took a photo of this guy in Homesense a couple of weeks ago and I think that I am going to use him as inspiration for the angel.

I will have a few posts next week but I am going to be wrapping things up [haha] here at Half Sweet for a couple of weeks to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. The new year will see Half Sweet get a make over which I am very excited to share. Happy Friday!!

Holly Jolly

A couple snaps of our exterior decorations. We were very lucky to have been left a beautiful holly bush in our back yard so although the garland is fake I think that the real twigs of holly nestled in with some pinecones make it feel quite real. We are adding some nice white lights tonight!

Even Princesses Goof Around

I hope you had a great weekend! Ours was one of those weekends that was jam packed but still felt relaxing. I came across this print and couldn't help but laugh. Great for a chilly Monday morning. Found here.

Whooo! It's Friday

This little guy has been a big inspiration for a few of my projects. I also just love everything about the photograph. Happy Friday everyone. I hope you have a fabulous weekend.

Inspired by The Paper Wall

While my crafting projects are in full swing I realized that I can't share what I am working on as it will ruin the surprise for certain recipients. I will do a recap of my creations after Christmas but in the meantime I thought I'd share some shots of a few things that really inspired me this year. These are snippets from the paper wall at Deserres Art Store. Some of the paper is frame-worthy! I was inspired by the homemade/hand stamped feel of a few of the designs.

In the Bag

If you are a reader of Half Sweet you know that I love sneak peaks into design processes. This is a great one from J.Crews blog [Their blog is fantastic!]. A look at how their 2011 holiday shopping bags were designed.

A Must Read

From winter storm tips to drool worthy cranberry themed recipes, the new issue of East Coast Living Magazine is full of great winter themed articles. I had the opportunity to work with the wonderful ECL team on a festive table setting story that appears in this issue!

Enjoying a cup of Kicking Horse and the latest issue of ECL magazine in Mahone Bay.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

It was a great weekend [aside from a stubborn plumbing problem]. Lots of crafting, running and time spent with good friends. A highlight was spending Saturday in one of my favourite places, Mahone Bay, with my Mom and Grandmother. The town was bustling with Christmas spirit as the Annual Father Christmas Festival was taking place. Between the shops that were decorated to perfection and the Enchanted Villages in the beautiful old Suttles and Seawinds barn, I was totally inspiring and wanted to rush home and decorate the whole house from top to bottom. Before heading home we refuelled with delicious soup and scones at The Biscuit Eater. In all the years I have been going to Mahone Bay I can't believe I had never been there. It has officially been added to the "must stops" on all trips there in the future. I hope you all had a great week as well!

Soup at the Biscuit Eater, A woodland fairy themed enchanted village, Beautiful display at Zack & Nemo's,
The whole town was decorated!

Masters of the Window Display

I have been wondering what Anthropologie would be creating for their Holiday window displays and they shared a few photos just the other day. Gorgeous and clever as usual.

Wooly Landscapes

I came across the work of Scottish textile artist Aileen Clarke while doing some research to get inspired to tackle another wet felting project. You don't have to be a felt fan to be instantly captured by her landscapes made of various fibres. I especially love how she incorporates her sewing machine to add an extra layer of texture.

Mid November Goodies is Right

I have posted about Katie Quinn Davies before. She is one of my favourite photographer/stylist/foodies. Her most recent blog post was titled Mid November Goodies and Goodies is right! Click here to see the post and get the recipes that go with these amazing photos! 

That's a Wrap

With all the snow we received this week I am officially in holiday mode. This means that this weekend I will be setting up my holiday craft workshop, i.e. taking over a large section of the house for various home made projects... sorry Dave! If you happen to feel the same way but aren't sure what to create why not make your own stamps or wrapping paper? Click here for a tutorial I did for hgtv.ca.

New from Mumford & Sons

I am a huge fan of Mumford and Sons [Thanks KH]. I still listen to their first album frequently and I am so excited to get their new album that will be coming out in early 2012. If this new track is any indication of what that new album will be like then it's going to be fantastic. This is Ghosts That We Knew. Enjoy!

Felt Ball Tutorial

I know, I know, another felting post. Well this time it's a tutorial on how to make your own felt balls! Head over to hgtv.ca to see how simple it is and to get inspired to make some wonderful holiday decorations with them!

Hot Ham Water and Other Treats

Oh I just love these. I saw these on one of my daily reads, Design Work Life, last week and have been meaning to share. Designed Misty Manley.

Master Minder

There are a few blogs I follow that make a point of highlighting or capturing moments that are just... well.. wonderful. They are catagorized into posts titled Simple Things or Small Joys for example. I always love these posts and have wanted to start doing them myself. In the next couple of weeks Halfsweet vanilla is going to go through a bit of a makeover and this will be one of the additions.

In an attempt to turn off the darn tv and use our noggins more. Dave and I have been enjoying Master Mind. Such a great game! So far, I am the Master Minder.

Letterpress Workshop

This weekend I took part in a NSCAD Extended Studies Letterpress workshop. Two days of type, card making, letterpressing glory! It was absolutely wonderful to spend two days making things with my hands [no computer in sight] and using these beautiful presses.

Anatomy of a Good Hike

Great company, beautiful day, yummy snacks. Exactly what we had when we hiked Cape Split last weekend.

Bride & Wolfe

How beautiful are these wood cuts? Found Here.