Giveaway: Gorgeous Polli Christmas Wreath

Is your front door looking a little bare? Are you needing a little Christmas Spirit boost for the holiday season?

Well if you saw the feature on the gorgeous Christmas decorations from Australian jewellery and homewares designers Polli a few weeks ago you will have noticed this stunning red wreath. And lucky for us, the very generous Tess and Maja from Polli are offering one amazing red Christmas wreath worth AUD $69.95 to a Bondville subscriber.

The laser-cut acrylic wreath measures 297x303x6mm and will look gorgeous hung from a door, window or mantle, as is, or decorated with ribbons, flowers or berries.

AND, just for entering, you will be eligible for a 10% discount in the Polli online store until 15th December 2010. All entrants will be notified with a special discount code after the competition closes.

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is to subscribe to Bondville (either daily Bondville headlines through Feedburner here, or the monthly Bondville newsletter here), and comment below stating your favourite Polli jewellery piece. So easy! Entries close at midnight (AEST) on Tuesday 7th December 2010.

Rules:
1. One comment per person allowed.
2. Open to all current and new subscribers of the Feedburner Bondville headlines or monthly Bondville newsletter.
3. To enter, comment on this post with your favourite Polli jewellery piece.

4. Two extra entries given for sharing this giveaway with a link on Facebook (note in your comment)
5. One extra entry given for tweeting this giveaway with a link on Twitter (use hashtag #Bondville-giveaway)
6. Please include your email address or a link to your website where I can comment or find your email address.
7. This competition is open to entrants with an Australian postal address only.
8. Entries close 11:59pm AEST, Tuesday 7th December 2010.
9. Winner will be drawn using random.or and notified by email and via post on Bondville on Wednesday 8th December 2010.
10. All entrants will receive a code by email after the competition close date providing 10% discount in the Polli online store until 15th December 2010.

Have fun and good luck!

Images: Polli

Australian Christmas 2010: lemon tree lane

lemon tree lane is the beautiful stationery brand of graphic designer and blogger extraordinaire Amanda Fuller. Based in Sydney, Amanda has created a great range of greeting cards and gift tags for Christmas 2010 in a cool retro-inspired palette of chartreuse, mustard, teal and raspberry. The bauble gift tags could even double as ornaments!

And the cherry on top? Amanda's carbon neutral stationery is printed on 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper manufactured with non-polluting wind power in a chlorine free environment. Cards are paired with recycled kraft (brown) paper envelopes.

You can find lemon tree lane paper goods in the etsy store (today only - Cyber Monday! - you'll find 10% off all lemon tree lane products) and madeit (Australia) online. And whatever you do, you must must must check out Amanda's fantastic blog Calico & Co. She has a wonderful eye for beauty in everything.

Check out more Australian Christmas 2010 ideas here on Bondville.

Images: lemon tree lane

Weekend Wishes: Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend. Our trip to the Hunter Valley was fantastic and we've got quite the collection of Semillon going on now (if you can call 6 bottles a collection...). This weekend is all about celebrating Thanksgiving the best we can (we're an Australian-American household). It doesn't feel exactly like Thanksgiving with this glorious warm weather and the native trees all in bloom, so we're going to swap out the turkey for ribs and have a BBQ. And maybe a mango salsa (aren't the mangoes incredible right now!). But there will still be pie. Oh yes there will.

We made our tree this week in under an hour (some pics to come). I hope you've been picking up lots of great Christmas ideas from Aussie designers in my Australian Christmas 2010 series. More to come in the next few weeks.

Thanks also to Bee from Beehive Designs for her kind words about Bondville on her blog Honey Jumble this week. Oh and I just got news that my dear friend Leon's amazing laptop desk is featured in the latest issue of Real Living magazine. Congratulations Leon! Read about the Leonhard Pfeifer laptop desk here on Bondville. Take it easy this weekend. And to all my American family and friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

Steph
x

Image: Steph Bond

Stylish Kids: Kaftan Kids

My friend Carmen knows what I like and was spot-on when she sent me the link to Sydney-based Kaftan Kids. These colourful kaftans for 1-5 year olds are sun-savvy, easy-wearing and super super cute to boot.

The kaftans are made from 100% cotton and cotton voile with embroidery, ribbon and beadwork - each one handcrafted. Naturally they are perfect for the beach, but I think they are gorgeous for special occasions too. I'd like one for my girls in every colour thank you very much (and one for me too with my fair skin). Which is your favourite?

You can find Kaftan Kids kaftans in the online store and at markets around Sydney and Canberra (keep an eye on the website for details).

For more great Australian-designed clothes for kids, check out Bondville Kids.

Images: Kaftan Kids

Australian Christmas 2010: Kim Wallace

My Brisbane-based friend Kim Wallace from Udessi has created gorgeous ceramic ornaments in a sophisticated palette of dusky hues and snowy white for Christmas 2010. Each decoration is handmade and imprinted with vintage lace; no two are exactly alike. Simply beautiful.

Choose from coloured stoneware or white porcelain strung with delicate ribbon. But you may have to get in quick; the ornaments are selling out quickly (especially as they were featured in the latest issues of Home Beautiful and Australian House and Garden!).

You can find Kim Wallace ceramic ornaments in the Udessi online store and at stockists around Australia. and if you're in Brisbane, stop by the Christmas Pop-Up Markets in Woolloongabba on 11 December 2010 for a chance to buy Kim's ornaments and ceramics as well as goodies from some of my favourite local designers including Red Seed Studio, Edward & Lilly and Renee Treml.

Find out more about Kim Wallace and Udessi on Bondville. And check out more Australian Christmas 2010 ideas here on Bondville.

Images: Kim Wallace

Australian Christmas 2010: Katy Jane Designs

Some more great Australian-designed, printed and produced holiday cards for you this week, this time from KatyJane Designs. The clever advent calendar is my favourite piece from the range this year. The limited edition set includes 25 numbered badges, boxes or brown paper bags and twine packed in a small white case. You can hang them on the tree, or string them on the twine, or simply rest them in a row across a mantle. A really fun idea.

KatyJane Design cards, advent calendars, ornaments and other stationery goodies can be found in the online store and at stockists across Australia and online. And for a limited time, receive 10% off and a FREE pack of 10 Christmas gift tags (valued at $4.95) with every order until Friday 3rd December 2010. Simply enter the code BONDVILLE at the checkout.

You can read more about KatyJane Design on Bondville here and here. Check out more Australian-designed Christmas goodies for 2010 here.

Images: KatyJane Designs

Hip Products: Noosh modular sofas for kids

My eyes just about popped out of my head when I saw these amazing Noosh modular sofas for kids while I was checking out one of my favourite new blogs Table Tonic recently .

I mean, come ON, right? They are so so so amazing. We've had our own slightly painful search for a couch recently - wouldn't these be great for adults too?! The Frankie furniture collection consists of a corner, an ottoman and an armless chair that can be mixed, matched, stacked, configured and climbed to your childrens' delight. The pieces are covered in eight different gorgeous Amy Butler fabric patterns in 100% cotton.

Created by Tina Hutton and Sheridan Helft (who met at a mother's group in Sydney's inner west), the Noosh range includes the killer Frankie modular sofa, wall art, cushions and stickers.

Noosh cares about corporate responsibility and the environment too. Frankie sofas are manufactured locally in Sydney using new Variable Pressure Foam technology which is the most environmentally-friendly process for the manufacture of polyurethane foams, reducing air emissions, removing CFC's and VOC's and exceeding Australian and global environmental regulations. Three cheers for that.

You can find Noosh sofas in the online store. Check out the Noosh blog for new product developments and fun ideas. Thanks so much Louise for the heads-up. And congratulations Tina and Sheridan on your collaboration and great products. So inspiring for other Mums out there - you never know who you might meet at your mother's group...

Images: Noosh

Australian Christmas 2010: Little Beehive

If you like folky/retro/nostalgic/children's book-style illustration as much as I do, then you'll love these whimsical Christmas and holiday cards from Melbourne illustrator Belinda Strong (aka Bee) under the Little Beehive label.

There are four kicking designs to choose from that you can buy individually or in packs of eight or twelve. Season's Tweetings might be perfect for your blog friends, Peace On Earth for the non-denominational set, but I think they are all pretty fab.

You can find Little Beehive cards and artwork in the online shop, on Etsy and at Lark. Check out the Honey Jumble blog for lots of behind-the-scenes action. More about Little Beehive coming to you here on Bondville soon.

Check out more Australian-designed Christmas goodies for 2010 here.

Images: Little Beehive

Weekend Wishes: New Chairs & Prizes

This week I've been enjoying our new chairs which I showed off on my personal site - they are so fab and were worth the wait. I also won the fantastic Paper + Craft book, thanks to Amanda on her lovely Calico & Co. blog. We've also started working on Christmas craftiness and gearing up for Thanksgiving next week (we're an Australian-American household). I hope you've picked up some good ideas from the Australian Christmas 2010 series. More to come over the next few weeks.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend where ever you are. We'll be heading to the wine country with another family and a friend visiting from the US which should be lovely. What are your plans?

Images: Steph Bond and Chronicle Books

Australian Christmas 2010: kikki.K

Australian uber-brand kikki.K has some gorgeous Christmas paper goodies this year under the "Christmas - Tomtenisse" label. Stationery maven Kristina Karlsson imparts her covetable Swedish style upon a great new range, including cards, wrapping paper, gift tags, ribbon, twine, rubber stamps, pegs, and snowy white ornaments. The red, white and blue palette is my favourite combo this year.

You can find kikk.K stationery at kikki.K stores across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Check out more Australian-designed Christmas goodies for 2010 here.

Images: kikki.K

The big reveal - our new chairs

It has literally taken us months to work out a seating solution for our living room.

With 2 little ones and frequent guests, we have outgrown our old 2.5 seat couch that we bought in NYC as a newly married couple. We were tossing up a new L-shaped couch, leather, fabric, occasional chairs... with the restrictions that we have another 2-3 years of toilet training to go and an aging dog. I knew I wasn't alone when I read about Louise's predicament on Table Tonic .

I tried eBay, I thought about a cheap couch, we looked at custom-made, and finally, after much talking through between ourselves and with friends (thanks Julie, Estelle, Paul, Linda, Mal, Geordie and Mellissa!), we decided to keep the old couch until toilet training is through, and get 2 special occasional chairs from a pre-loved source.

And so I found them. These two gorgeous Walter Knoll/EOOS 'Scoop 443' armchairs from a like-minded soul that needed a good home. And I couldn't be more thrilled. And I feel just a little bit more grown-up now!

Image: Steph Bond-Hutkin

Australian Christmas 2010: wall decals

I don't like cutting down trees, so I'm always looking for Christmas tree solutions that are easy on the environment and stylish as well. Well you all loved the 2009 post that I put together on Christmas wall decals, so I thought I would update the list with all the new designs out there.

Mae
This year Mae has some lovely limited edition Christmas wall decals that I know you will love. Find them here.

Bosco Bear
Bosco Bear has a large range of Christmas-themed decals this year. Check them out here.

For Walls
for walls has the same tree design as 2009 as well as lots of baubles and decorations for walls and windows. (note, 20% off until 17th Dec 2010 for Christmas delivery). View the range here.

Vinyl Wall Design
Vinyl Wall Design has the same 2009 tree as well as some baubles and snowflakes to decorate your room. Check them out here.

The Wall Sticker Company
There is a great range of wall decals for the holidays from The Wall Sticker Company including decals from collaborations with other Australian designers (like this cool tree from Jane Reiseger above). Check them all out here.

Mooo
The tree design is the same as last year, but there are some other cute holiday decal designs from Mooo.com.au this year. Check them all out here.

My Munchkin Home also has some lovely tree decals that could pass as Christmas trees here. Did I miss out any other Australian wall decal companies? Let me know.

If you missed the post last year, check out Australian Christmas wall decals on Bondville here.

What are you thinking of doing this year? I went with the Mae tree last year without the baubles - my daughter pulled them off and lost them - (see pics here) but I might pop some sticks in a vase this year as I have some gorgeous ornaments that need a home.

Images: attributed to their companies except bottom image by Steph Bond.