A gift made by hand, is a gift from the Heart!

I know its been a little while since I said hello on here, its been a little bit of a bumpy start to the year! But we are on track and I thought that Valentines was the perfect time to say hello!!
So i know a lot of people consider Valentines day just a huge rip off that Hallmark created to boost sales and blah blah, Saint Valentines day was named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established in 500AD and was to celebrate the love and affection between two intimate companions...a tad bit earlier than Hallmark I must say ;)
Obviously in 2011 we celebrate Valentines day as not only the love between two people but the love people have for a child or for a Grandparent or a friend.
We are lucky that people are becoming more understanding that love happens between all sorts of humans! and i think That Valentines is a perfect way to show someone you appreciate them, even if u are not in a committed intimate relationship with them!
I remember growing up, on Valentines Day, not only would my Mum get Flowers from my dad, but he would always buy me flowers as well, this was not just for Valentines day but for surprises 'just for'.......or maybe he was in the bad books with Mum and perhaps giving me flowers as well was a clever way of getting in the good books haha. Whatever the reason though, I always ALWAYS will remember how special it made me feel that my dad would think of me as well as my Mum and I hope I can be that type of parent with my children!
Now obviously I am a shop owner and would LOVE for you to come and get your cards from me, but I am also a huge believer that a gift made by hand is a gift from the heart, and I know you that you don't need to be ridiculous when it comes to Valentines gifts!
Whilst on my little 'research' journey on google images I found a few very wonderful idea's that you can make for your loved ones!
These beautiful heart garland was discovered on the amazing blog Dottie Angel and if u can sew a straight line then this will be simple!
Just cut out 3 different sizes of hearts and sew them in random orders of size..eg small small large, medium, large small etc etc and attach them to wall or above a window with coloured Washi Tape and enjoy :)



The cute little jars would be a wonderful gift that the kids could also help make!
Simply find some old Jars and using either coloured paper or even glass paint, colour each jar in pink and red and simply attached white fabric or paper cut into 'hearts' and 'x' and glue on!
U could use fairy lights in the top like the picture but i think just simple tea lights could work as well!
If u use tea lights don't leave them unattended and never let the kids light them ;)





So no matter who you love or even just like a lot, even if u don't want to spend squillions on extravagant gifts, be sure to take the opportunity to tell the people that are special in your life that you think they are rad!
We should try and do this with our friends and family each and ever day of coarse but if u don't, then make this Valentines day a special day to let them all know you think they are just swell ;) haha

A beautiful cubby....that i would like my house to look like

WOW, have a look at this gorgeous cubby!! I want to live in it! The multi talented Belinda from The Happy Home Blog has just shared with us the beautiful cubby house they created for their kids! If u have a little look above the door you will see the wonderful deer head we sell in the shop. Of coarse the deer head here has been prettied up to fit with the cubby theme, ours come natural and ready for you to do whatever you what with or to be left natural!

Make sure you check out Belinda's Blog The Happy Home Blog

Happy New Year :)

Happy 2011 everyone!! I hope u all had a great Xmas and a safe and fun New Years eve! We were very very busy leading up to Xmas so I was a little negligent on the old blog....plus I am still getting used to it. 2011 will be a big year for Little Paper Lane. We have lots of exciting things coming into the shop so keep an eye on our Facebook page for new products and updates and of coarse lovely facebook only discounts :)

We will also be launching our website this year which will be very handy for all our lovely customers that cant get to Mona Vale. And there are lots of other exciting things happening that we will let you know as soon as we can!!

So i just wanted to share some very beautiful little paper arts of work from a wonderfully talented designer Helen Musselwhite and I thought it may just brighten your day or night(depending on your time zone) so enjoy and be sure to go and check out more of her amazing creations Helen Musselwhite

u can visit Helen's website HERE

Paper Doily Xmas Wreath

Another very cute Christmas wreath for you to make yourself!! I was having a little browse through one of my favourite blogs The Red Thread and stumbled upon yet another wonderful DIY project!

This Paper Doily wreath is perfect for Xmas this year, it is just stunning! Please have a go and make sure you put a pic up our Facebook Page. We love seeing your projects! Thanks Lisa for showing us yet another wonderful Xmas project :)



Tutorial is on The Red Thread.

A Mon Tresor Xmas

Wow wow wow! This beautiful Xmas dessert table has just made the start of this day so happy! Its so nice having the business that i do, because being on facebook means meeting all sorts of wonderful and creative people! One very talented Suzanna from Mon Tresor a beautiful online Boutique, created all of this lushness! A lovely lovely gal with a lovely lovely eye for all things lovely!

This is just stunning!

Handmade Heaven

Pip Lincolne the superhero of the handmade world and crafty creator of Meet Me at Mikes, the very super awesome cool shop and blog, has come out with a book so rad, I almost want to keep the copies I have in the shop all to myself! I am pretty sure at least a copy is coming home with me ;)

I was extremely impressed when I got Meet Me at Mikes first in the shop and people have loved all the beautiful projects inside!!

Sew La Tea DO seems to be packed with wonderful projects to sew!!

Now......i just need to learn how to sew a little more than a straight line!
Check out more wonderful projects and interesting things that Pip is so famous for on her Meet Me at Mikes Blog

Pretty little birdy

I was having a little look through The Red Thread blog today for more wonderful idea's to make and came across these gorgeous bird mobiles! My brother and his partner just had a baby girl and I think it would be so beautiful above her cot. I was also thinking that if you used your Xmas colours, then you could make your Xmas a little bit more special. maybe even try to make an angel or star instead of the bird for a different twist. Its such a beautiful mobile and relatively easy to make. I cant wait to get started! you can find instructions here!!!!

My New Favourite

I was very excited to see that one of our very favourite suppliers Alarna from Little Jane St got hitched over the weekend. The few photo's we have seen are just blissful and looks like the day was just so gorgeous and full of Alarna's unique sense of style! I highly recommend you take a very big browse through my new favourite photographer Jonas Petterson website and look at the amazing photos's that seem to almost make you cry they are so lovely!!

Congratulations Alarna and Dave we wish you all the very happiness,smiles and sunshine in your future together :)

Paper Snowflakes

I have been getting the shop ready for Xmas, starting to make little paper decorations and I put my mum on a mission to make these beautiful snowflakes thinking it would be too complicated for my brain to handle! When I saw the first few my mum had made i was busting to try and make them! In about 3 minutes my very talented mum showed myself and Rocky(my wonderful shop assistant) how to make them! They really are simple and I went home that night and made two straight away!

I have been busily making more in our shop Xmas colours today and I thought it would be nice to share with you all how to make them so u can give your own homes a touch of papery goodness!!

Try and use paper from old magazines or newspapers that would normally go in the recycling bin(i hope). U can find the instructions Here at Cut Out and Keep I would suggest you use a hot glue gun though as it makes it so much quicker to dry and hold the paper!

Once our Xmas window is in full bloom I will show u the snowflakes we have made! Feel free to put your pictures of your own snowflakes up on my facebook page! I love seeing every ones creations!

Beautiful Toilet rolls

I was completely blown away by these beautiful little pieces of art. They are made from toilet rolls and are so so cute!

The artist Anastassia Elias is one talented gal....and has fantastic eye's and hands to be able to work with making cut outs so small and perfect!

You can see more of her work Here!

Xmas with a beautiful twist

My Little Jedi always has the very best blog posts and I so love reading everything Vesna(My Little Jedi creator) has on her beautiful blog. But today I was so excited to see XMAS!!! Ahhhh I love Xmas so much and if u know me, u know I am obsessed with my Xmas wrapping! So u can imagine how excited I was to see the beautiful pictures of the red and teal Xmas Vesna had put up on her blog!!!

My house is SOOOOO getting worked over with these colours this Xmas season! so exciting!!!

Thanks Vesna for sharing with us, and you can see more pictures on Vesna's blog My Little Jedi

Paper Christmas

Yay another fun Xmas project! This cute little Wall Paper Xmas tree is so simple I think it would be a fun project to do with the kids! I think the little fan's by themselves hung everywhere at Xmas will add to all the Xmas fun!!

You can find the instructions on how to make this at Craft projects, as well as other fantastic idea's!

Oldschool New

I have been sooo wanting to use my Polaroid lately and although i am not a tight ass at all, each time i take a photo with my camera it cost $3 per shot! Now that we are part of a new digital world, our photo taking seems to not be as careful as we did in the day. We can just delete pic's that are not the most attractive, but when it comes to that Polaroid, once u hit that shutter button, then its forever!!! Which I love, but when you take a dodgy pic and it cost you $3 then its not so awesome!!!

I was trawling through my millions of mags over the weekend trying to find inspiration and came across a feature in Real Living Magazine,(not too sure which issue sorry) but they had displayed a wall with Polaroids, or what i thought was Polaroids. It was actually a down loadable Polaroid that you simply drop your own digital pic onto and it turns it into a Polaroid for you!! I printed one up to text it and its amazing!!! I am in love and I thought you all might want to share in the joy!!!

You can download free here at Polaroid and make your own little bits of fun!!

Christmas wreath

Christmas is just around the corner and it got me thinking about how i would be decorating not only the shop but my own house!! I generally don't go for the traditional colours at Christmas and I always do some sort of theme, but i am loving the red's and natural colours that are around this year and I am pretty sure this is the year for me to do a somewhat natural Christmas! Every year i tend to start thinking about Christmas in September, and along my journey i stumbled upon the most wonderful blog called the red thread! What a wonderful blog with so many fantastic 'do it yourself' projects!! There is step by step guide of how to make this beautiful Christmas wreath and I am pretty sure i am going to have to give it a go!! make sure you go check it out!!

Images and instructions are from the red thread make sure you check it out!