Happy 2017!

Wishing all my family, friends and followers a very happy 2017!

Do you make new years resolutions?  I don't usually but this year I have decided to concentrate on bringing more meaning into my life by looking at what I can do for others.  I have always tried to be helpful to my circle, but I am talking about going beyond that, to the community.  It's something valuable that can continue waaay beyond 2017, I think.  You never know how kind actions can ripple out into the bigger picture of things, you know?

I am starting this immediately by making some granny squares which I will be sending off to be created into blankets which will go to families in need of some handmade warmth and love.  This project comes courtesy of Full Tilt Nanna via Instagram and helps out St Kilda Mums.

Perhaps you would like to help too? You just need to be able to make some granny squares and post them off.  If you don't know how, maybe you can learn!  THESE are the tutes I used to learn how to granny.  Grannying is great!  And so is helping!  You don't even have to join the squares, just make 'em and send 'em away!  Give it a go!

If you'd like to join in, please click here to sign up via Instagram and get the details.

Hooray, Crochet! I Started A New Project!

My first project since forever is up and running.   I am making a blanket from a lovely variegated acrylic yarn that I spotted in Lincraft a little while ago.  It's beautifully soft.  and the colours!  It's a lovely mix of fluorescent rainbow and grey storm clouds, I think.  Like someone took the sky after the rain and threw it in a blender.

See? Rainbows and storm clouds

I have not ever used variegated yarn before and there was nothing in the same weight to mix it with so I am going for a plainly stitched blanket and letting the lovely colours do all the talking as they mottle and pool.  It should be about single bed size when I'm finished - I have chained 120 and I'm just using triple crochet stitch, for those who want to get technical.   

Only scarf size so far!

If it doesn't end up on our lounge come next winter, I'm thinking it would work for my youngest who just might be in a big bed by that time.  She seems to attract bright colours just like these.  Of course, this has resulted in cries of "I need a blanket too!" From my eldest.  Her granny square throw which I made a number of years back, is suddenly a bit too small for someone who seems to be growing taller by the day.   I think she might have lined me up for my next project already!

Taking Stock...after almost 5 years!

Well, HELLO!

Long time no see, right?

I have been super busy raising some small children, who, funnily enough, are not particularly interested in raising themselves and hence, have not left me much time for blogging, or crafting or anything else in the spare-time-department, really.

BUT.

I think I am finally on the other side of those intense first years and it's time to start doing a little blogging and crafting again!  Hooray!

I am starting slowly with a post in tribute to one of my favorite bloggers, Pip Lincolne of Meet Me At Mikes.  Pip regularly does a post called "Taking Stock" and invites others to do the same.    The idea is to copy and paste her list of words and fill in the blanks, relevant to what is going on in your life right now.  Lots of people do it!  It's the perfect post, I think, to launch myself back into blogging again.

So, here it is!



Making :  A new window-box full of succulents to hang on my kids cubbyhouse.  We've grown lots of marigolds in it already and the kids have loved them, but they always end up looking like they belong outside the Addams Family house - i.e. very dead!  The amount of time the kids remember to water them would probably suit succulents much better and I'll feel much nicer when I spy them across the yard from my kitchen window.  Dead flowers don't give quite that same feeling, I don't think.

Cooking :  This yummy, summery Hawaiian pasta salad.  My eldest has loved taking it to school for lunch.  She is not too keen on salads smothered in mayonnaise, but she loves this one, as I adjust the dressing to taste more of sour cream so it has a much lighter flavour instead of being mayonaisse-y.  I love the tangy pineapple pieces and the fact that my eldest is eating capsicum without really noticing!  I also get to use my home-grown shallots.  It's a big win all round.

Drinking : Loads and loads of water cause the weather is warming up!

Reading: Next year's school book lists, uniform lists, stationery lists and school handbooks. Soon to have two at school! High school AND primary school ...PHEW!

Trawling: Instagram, which I have recently joined. Why did I not do this earlier?  Possibly no time for anything except kids and because I KNEW I would get sucked into the vortex.  I am a very visual person and oh my goodness, the beautiful arty, crafty, flowery images just don't stop.  If you'd like to follow me, I am here.

Wanting:  To be organised for Christmas already.  There is so much to do between all the birthdays we have coming up, Christmas and being prepared for school next year that I just want at least part of it done so I can enjoy the school holidays when they hit! We usually have the big family celebration at our place so it definitely requires a bit of preparation, but the actual day is so fun that I really don't mind.

Looking: At all the lovely Christmas editions of the home-decor magazines.Those  glossy covers lined up on the supermarket shelves, just waiting for me to choose.  I do my best to resist them throughout the year and get my home decor fix from Pinterest instead.  But beach visits during the summer holidays require casual reading material and I love the Christmas inspiration those mags bring me!

Deciding:  What to put on the menu for Christmas Day.  Must be something that's easy to prepare in advance, feeds a crowd and is a bit festive!  Maybe I should be trawling the recipe sites instead of Insta?

Wishing:  There were more hours in the day!

Enjoying:  The cooler hours in the evening after the hot sun has sunk down. Perfect for sitting on our deck and enjoying an icy drink while the kids jump on the trampoline and squeal at each other. 

Waiting: For the weekend so I can go to the lovely fruit and veg markets nearby.

Liking:  The apple stall there. So many different apples!  Pie anyone?

Wondering: When our first beach visit will be.  I love the beach!  Not swimming though, just the beach.  Does that even make sense?!

Loving: Our air-con! It's hot outside. I don't think I need to explain further.

Pondering: If I should turn the mince in the fridge into cottage pie or spaghetti bolognaise...or something else?

Listening: To 80's tunes coming through my Bush digital radio. My big bro gifted me this for one of my birthdays. I love it.

Flashback to all the right eras

Considering: What my next crafty project should be? I spotted some interesting yarn at Lincraft the other day...

Buying: This lovely nailpolish, so bright and cheery!  It's not often I buy something for myself but I couldn't resist the colour.

Watching: Jason Bateman on Yo Gabba Gabba.  Actually, my smallest is watching it, I am just enjoying the fact that there is Jason Batemen!  Do you remember the TV show "Valerie" in the mid 80's?  I watched it religiously! 

Hoping: That the coriander seeds I planted will sprout. I didn't have much luck with the last lot.

Marvelling: At the lovely hearts developing in the cos lettuce in my garden.  I have been remembering to replant seedlings every few weeks as we are eating our lettuces so we will have a good supply over the next few months.  Usually I forget and we have a big glut, then nothing.

Crispy and delicious!

Cringing: At the fact that Trump got in.  YUK.

Needing: To switch off from the news for a while

Questioning:  American politics.

Smelling:  The scent of fresh strawberries every time I go to the shops.  And the mangoes have just come in too! YUM. 

Wearing:  A striped, airy, sleeveless dress from Kmart.  Cool enough for the heat and nice enough to do the school run in, without feeling like a complete dag.

Following:  Lots of lovely local crafty people on Insta.  Like Aqua door Designs, Made In Lisa Land and Two Warm Hands.  Brisbane, you're so talented!

Noticing: All the stunning jacaranda trees in full bloom around Brisbane at the moment!  Lots of people say jacarandas remind them of exams because of the time of year they flower, but I don't find that at all - in fact, I think it's a bit of a downer to associate something so lovely with something that's often a bit stressful!  Instead, the lovely, light scent that drifts on the breeze under a flowering jacaranda, smells to me of summer and the long languid days during the end of year break when you don't have to be anywhere or do anything in particular if you don't feel like it.  SO nice.

Purple flowery goodness

Knowing:  That those holidays are just around the corner.

Thinking: About going for a walk.  There's a jacaranda in the street at the bottom of mine.  Do you think the neighbours would notice me stopping under it and sniffing?

Admiring: The lovely Christmas displays which are starting to pop up in all the stores.  Not the shopping centre displays so much, but the lovely, stand alone stores and local markets which sell unique and handmade things.

Getting: Out all my old cookbooks and browsing for forgotten favorites.  My eldest was in hysterics at the photo of young Jamie Oliver on the front of "The Naked Chef". 

Jamie then...and Jamie now!

Bookmarking: Nothing, I'm too busy exploring Insta. 

Disliking:  Trump.

Opening:  The pantry and fridge doors, constantly ...why are small children so hungry?

Giggling: At my youngest who has the most mischievous, contagious laugh I've ever heard.  When I hear her giggling in another room I literally drop what I'm doing and run like the wind to see what happening ...it usually means she (and her brother) are up to something they shouldn't be!

Feeling: Accomplished.  I have actually managed to fit in some creativity this week, which is saying a lot as there's so much other stuff going on.

Helping: By contributing to the local food bank when we do the groceries.

Hearing:  The storm bird calling late, late at night. Summer's here!

Celebrating: That all our family is here to share our special days with us.  We are lucky that we all live in the same city and as both sets of our children's grandparents get older, it makes these celebrations more and more precious as each year passes.

Pretending: That it's really, really NOT almost the end of another year.

Embracing: The fact that it will be Christmas in only six weeks.  Eeeek! Better get on with that organizing.


If you'd like to play along, here's Pip's most recent Taking Stock post and you can copy and paste her list of words for some inspiration of your own.

And that's it!  I promise it won't be another 5 years until you hear from me again.
 

More Button Love!

I'm in LOVE with buttons at the moment.  The possibilities are endless!  Here's some inspiration for you...

Lots of ideas for buttons on cards...

Via

Beautiful button embroidery to swoon over...

Via

 Button bobby-pins...I'm definately making some of these!

Via

Button bracelets...yep, I've gotta make these too!

Via

 Button paperclips...CUTE.

Via

Button Initials

Remember the white buttons and pink paper from last post?  I used them to make a button initial for friends who are having their baby girl's naming day ceremony soon.

I arranged the buttons and then stuck them down with clear glue onto heavy scrapbooking paper before whacking the lot into a frame.  The button-sticking part was completely painful but the end result was worth it.  I don't have a photo, but I also printed out a card with the event, the baby's name and the date which I mounted onto matching patterned paper and stuck onto the back.  Some of the buttons are newish ones of mine but most are from the big stash of old buttons from the button drawers that used to belong to my hubby's grandma. 

There are some lovely button letters out there in internet-land.  Inspiration from here, here and here.

Button Stash!

Check out my button stash...

This set of drawers originally belonged to my hubby's grandma.  When they came to me, the casing around the drawers was a funny brown colour with big marks all over it from where other things had been sitting.  I sanded it all back and resprayed it with red enamel.  I sorted all the buttons into colour groups - there are some amazing old buttons in there!

I love my button drawers!  I sorted some of my own buttons into them too but unfortunately (or not!) I have waaaay too many buttons to fit them all in.  I shall need to find some other way of storing my extra buttons - I am thinking, a big glass jar!

Also, do you see the white buttons and the pink paper in the first picture?  I am doing something with those.  Stay tuned!

Onion skin dyed eggs for Easter

Miss Seven and I had a fab time last night dying blown eggs with onion skins.  I have been wanting to try this technique for years.  We stayed up a bit late (which was very exciting for Miss Seven), ate delicious choccy eggs and watched movies while we worked!  I only had six eggs to blow and one broke so we ended up with five.  I'm glad I didn't have more than that 'cause I just about blew the top of my head off trying to get the eggs out of their shells through the tiny holes!

For the dying -  collect as many onion skins (the dry brown part) as you can and lay them on a piece of cloth (we used the cheap homebrand version of chux superwipes), then lay leaves, flowers, fern fronds etc on the skins THEN lay your egg (blown or not) on top.  Wrap the whole thing so the flowers and leaves are closest to the egg's shell and the onion skins wrap around the shell entirely and then your cloth wraps around THAT....yes?  Secure it all with rubber bands then  your eggs need to spend half an hour in water at boiling point.  Take them out, allow them to cool and then unwrap and marvel at the beautiful patterns left on your eggs!

You can rub a little oil into them to really bring out the colour and make them shine.  Here are ours:

This is my fave one...it has a clover flower straight out of our lawn on it.

Then you can do what we did...and have scrambled eggs for brekky the next day :)  YUM!

Hooray, crochet! Cute knotted headband...

This very clever, pretty-haired lady made an awesome knotted headband from simple crochet chain stitch!  Look!

via

She has an excellent tutorial you should check out.  In fact, she has quite a few!  I'm going to see if I can make one like this as well.  (It's an excellent excuse to purchase a hot glue gun, yes?)

Are you going to make one too?

via

Good one, Cami, I think you started a trend.

Family Rules

I got a new printer...hooray!  I've been without one for so long that it's really quite a novelty to have one now.


To celebrate I did a print to display in our living area..."Family Rules".  Miss Seven helped lots - we looked on etsy at all the beautiful family rules prints and wrote down the "rules" we liked the best.  We changed some and added others, then had some fun arranging fonts and colours...printed, threw it in a frame and voila!  Miss Seven styled the final product with melty-bead shapes.  Nice.

Lovely Links

There is a lot of lovely stuff out there in internetland..isn't there?

Here are some lovely things I've found lately...

 
Beautiful vintagey goodness and pretty crochet at MemeRose

 
Divine paper projects, scrap-happiness and photospiration at Dear Lizzy

Lots and lots of swedish prettiness in a language I can't read (Google Translate is so much fun to use) at Mokkasin

I hope you enjoy discovering them for yourself!

Xx

Paradise

I love hearing a song and imagining what the clip will be like.  I always get a certain idea about how it will be and then I'll actually watch the clip and my ideas will get totally blown out of the water!  This clip was no exception.



I mean...elephant suits?  Who'd have thought?

New Crochet Project

Here's my latest crochet project...a blankie for the Little Mister!  I think it looks suitably boy-ish (rather than baby-ish) and I can't wait til it's complete!  I'm finding it much easier to crochet row after row than it was to join squares like I did for Miss Seven's (Six at the time) beautiful granny square blanket.

This one is the Larksfoot pattern by Pip from Meet Me At Mikes.  Thanks, Pip!  You're clever!!

It's an exceptionally easy pattern to follow and seems to be making up as quick as a wink.  Which is lucky because I only seem to have winks of time to myself lately.  The yarn came from Spotlight's sale last year - and also lucky for me, the colours match the vintage train wallpaper prints which hang in the Little Mister's room.  Nice!

Who would you invite?

Are you up for a game?

If you could invite five people (living or dead, real or fictional) to dinner, who would they be?

The Dinner Party by Jules Alexandre Grun

I would choose...

Sir David Attenborough He would have so many interesting stories to tell!  Plus I know my daughter would drag out all her wildlife books and ask him dozens of questions...I hope he likes kids as much as animals!

Diana, Princess of Wales I just know she'd be lovely, don't you think?  And just imagine her stories!

Jamie Oliver He always seems to be up for a get-together...perhaps I could rope him into helping with dinner?  I hope he brings some free range meat and eggs to use - they'll go well with my garden fresh veg.

the fourth Doctor Who He holds a special spot in my heart seeing as he's the first Doctor I ever remember watching...plus, he'd bring the TARDIS and K-9!  What's not to love about that?

and last, but definately not at all least, my best friend Jo, because it simply just wouldn't be the same without her.  I can't link to her, you'll just have to trust me that she's ace.

Who would you invite?  And why?  DO tell!

A Little Bit of Orange

I've been all about blue and green lately.

But a bit of orange snuck into my home via my cooking today.

Pumpkin Soup...

and Mango Icecream...

I'm in love with my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker which I got for Christmas - it's wonderful to be able to share ice cream with Miss Seven, who can't have the shop bought stuff due to her peanut allergy.  I couldn't find a good mango ice cream recipe so I just winged it and it turned out absolutely delicious...though I forgot to write down how much of everything I put in, so unfortunately I don't have a recipe for you.  I will probably never make mango icecream as nicely again...oh well.  Also, those that know the extra fattening divineness that goes into making good homemade icecream will know that one scoop is enough and I definately didn't eat all three of the scoops that you see in my photo.  Maybe.

I can share my pumpkin soup recipe though,  I've been making it forever so I have no idea where it's from but it's super (souper? ha ha) simple and Miss Seven (who refuses to eat pumpkin in it's whole form) actually asks for me to make it.

Lillabilly's Delicious Pumpkin Soup 

Ingredients

1kg Pumpkin - get some nice golden orange stuff!

1 Onion

4 cups of chicken stock (you can use vegetable stock if you want to make a vegetarian version)

1 tblspn sugar

Fresh fine ground pepper to taste

1 cup of single cream

Salt (perhaps)

Method

Dice up the pumpkin and onion  and add them, the sugar, pepper and the stock to a saucepan.  Bring to boil, then simmer until everything is nice and soft.  (I leave it for a couple of hours)  Switch off and allow to cool, then puree completely in a blender or food processer.  Pour back into saucepan, add cream and mix through.  Reheat (taste and add salt only if necessary) and serve!

Extra nice with some sort of toasty bread to dip!

You should also head on over here to How About Orange which is a nice place to go when you are keen on some extra orangey lovliness amongst all sorts of other interesting things.

Hello Again!

I've been having a blogging break while getting to know the newest addition to our household.  It's a bit exhausting, this baby business - especially since I havn't done it all for a while.  But lovely at the same time.  Things are beginning to settle into kind-of-a, sort-of-a, somehow routine now, so hopefully I will be able to get back to blogging a little more!  I've missed it.

Here, by the way, are some pretty poppies that Miss Seven grew (yes, she's been a Miss "Seven" for a while now...just shows how slack my blogging has been!).  Poppies are by far her favourite flower to grow, though unfortunately we had a bit of a heatwave that killed many seedlings and we only ended up with a few adult plants.  They still put on a pretty display for us though and it was extra exciting to come down into the garden in the early morning each day to see whether any new poppies had burst open at first light.

 

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

How do you feel about 2011?  I generally have mixed feelings about every year, but this one in particular seemed to be falling on the not so good side of life.  So much so, that I was pretty well wishing it away.

But then, at the last minute, here came this little fella - to remind me that there is always a fresh start, that nothing is ever all bad and things can always be redeemed, even at the last minute.

 

Happy New Year, everyone.

Here's to new beginnings.

Muesli Squares

Have you ever made your own muesli bars?  If not, you should try!  It's super easy and you can put in whatever grains, seeds, nuts or fruit you like!  Or leave them out if you don't like.  It's really versatile and the combinations are as limited as your imagination and taste buds will allow.

I found my recipe here, but I changed it to suit my own ingredients because while I was cleaning out my pantry recently, I discovered this...

I think I may have bought it at the beginning of the year with lots of good intentions to start eating a nice healthy breakfast (it is awesomely delicious mixed with greek yoghurt and fresh blueberries), but somehow it got pushed to the back of the cupboard and forgotton.  Since the best before date is the end of the month, I figured there was no way I could slog through a whole box of muesli  in a few weeks, so muesli bars (or squares, in my case) would be perfect!

Instead of including a whole heap of seperate dry ingredients, I simply added up the amount needed in the original recipe (five cups), used the muesli (which came to four cups) and topped it up with the last of Miss Six's cornflakes, the last of a packet of craisins (dried cranberries) and some extra sultanas to make the five cups.  Not only did I get some yummy muesli treats, but I got more space in my pantry too!

So here's my recipe...

Homemade Muesli Squares

Ingredients

5 cups of dry ingredients (cereal, grains, dried fruits, seeds, nuts, whatever you like)
125g unsalted butter
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Grease and line a 3cm deep, 16cm x 28cm (base) baking pan with baking paper. Cook your dry ingredients (without fruit, although I didn't bother seperating the stuff that was already in the muesli) in a frying pan over medium heat, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.

Transfer to a bowl. Set aside to cool. Stir in dried fruit if you are adding extra.

 

2. Cook butter, honey and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until sugar dissolves. 

Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, without stirring, for 7 minutes or until mixture forms a soft ball when a little is dropped into ice-cold water. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until combined

3. Spoon mixture into pan. Use a large metal spoon to press down firmly.

Cook in oven for 5-7 minutes.  Allow to cool. Cut into squares - it may still be quite soft but will harden up a bit on refridgeration. Store in an airtight container (I put baking paper between layers to stop the pieces sticking together)  in the fridge.

Obviously these are designated snackage for myself and the hubby as the muesli I used is not nut-allergy friendly for Miss Six (it has almonds, which she is actually not allergic to, but just in case) so I am working on a nut free version for her to take in her lunchbox to school.

Here's the finished product with a little more blue/green love and a sneek peak of my latest crochet project.

 

Yum!  If you'd like some more baking inspiration, head on over to the girls at A Spoonful Of Sugar for some yummy ideas and links to which you can add your own delicious treats!
Happy baking!