Rosy Inspiration

Spring Garden Collages

2011-11-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

Today I've got some collages of my Spring garden for you, my dear readers.

Spring is undoubtedly a beatiful season, also a very busy one for me as well.

I enjoy being in the garden, it's sheer bliss especially with the gentle refreshing breeze bringing the heavenly scents of roses to my nose.

I hope you enjoyed these collages, have a lovely week, everyone. Catch you later.

Spring Tablescape

2011-11-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

G'day, dear readers and friends, how are you all doing? Hope everyone is well and enjoying your season. I want to say thanks to those of you who e-mailed me and wanted to know if I'm alright. You really are a lovely bunch. Yes, I am well, I've just been really busy. Thank you so much for your concern and care.
Spring is here and has been here for a while for us, here are some photos of the Spring tablesetting I did a while back.

I picked some flowers and herbs from our garden and used them as napkin rings for the natural linen napkins. I also added a personalised/initial lettered placecard which I made.

Looking from different angles

This wire basket came out for photo opportunities as well .........

Hope you enjoy your season wherever you are. I'd better go and ~~fertilize and tidy up my garden~~ enjoy my day. The garden is calling my name. Till next time.
P.S. This is the dining table we've been waiting for, right size, right style! It's been with us for a while now. Yay!

Small Transformation on the Kitchen Counter

2011-09-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

Oh, it's been such a long time since I posted anything here, I've been on another planet doing this and that. Life has been so busy and time has been limited. I apologise to you all my lovely readers, please forgive my absence.
Well, today I've got some photos to show you. It's just a little change I made on my kitchen counter. I enjoyed making the clay tags ( I used Magic Clay) and transforming the chalk board from a tin board I've had for a while. I simply painted it with black chalk board paint.
The black and white really pop in this space!

I also got an inexpensive glass jar and filled it with rolled oats.
I took more photos while playing with bits and pieces from the linen closet.

I white-washed the basket which I got for a few dollars.
It looks much better now.

I pulled out a whole lot of linen napkins and filled the basket with them, I love the way they look.

The bread box that's been hidden in the pantry came out as well.

When that was done, I got the persimmons out to pose for me, they are a kind of delicious fruit in case you don't know what they are. Apparently the new variety is crunchy and sweet, and they are the improved variety, I love munching on them for a healthy snack. Don't they look beautiful?

Alrighty, I hope you'll have a wonderful rest of the week.
It was good to be here again. Ciao for now!

Roses in Winter

2011-07-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hi, how are you all doing? Hope you are having a good week.
Some ladies have asked me why I still have roses in the middle of winter.
The reason is our winter is reasonably mild and there's been sunshine even though there has been dark and cloudy rainy days.
I think the combination of sunshine and water is a pretty good recipe for flowers.

I have been bringing them in for the vases.

Things are still green outside, not as many flowers though.

I've been blessed with all these roses. This one below is called China Doll, I have it as a Tree Rose. It always has multiple blooms on each single branch , never just single flower or two.

You can see it clearer here.

Some more photos, hope you like them.........

Till next time! Have a great week!

Anzac Biscuits

2011-07-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

I've been baking Anzac (stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corp) biscuits numerous times this last month.
My kids simply love them and consume them at lightning speed.
Fortunately they are so easy to make.
So I thought I would share the recipe here,
this recipe is taken out of one of the Women's Weekly's mini cookbooks named "Biscuits and Slices".

Anzac Biscuits

For better result, use traditional rolled oats rather than quick-cook rolled oats.

1 cup (90g) rolled oats
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1/2 cup (110g) sugar
3/4 cup (65g) desiccated coconut (I don't use this as someone in my family doesn't like it)
125 g butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 tablespoon boiling water

Combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut (if using) in large bowl.
Combine butter and golder syrup in a small saucepan, stir over heat until butter is melted.
Combine soda and water, add to butter mixture; stir into dry ingredients while mixture is still warm.
Place heaped tablespoons of mixture on oven tray lined with baking paper, 5cm apart, press down lightly.
Bake in a slow oven (160C) for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Stand biscuits 5 minutes to cool on tray to give time for biscuits to solidify.

Enjoy!

A bouquet for a family

2011-05-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

It's been raining cats and dogs here, it's really good because we need the rain so much.
Yesterday there was a break from the rain and I gathered these roses from the garden as part of our gifts for a family as we were invited over for dinner.
The Perfumed Perfections (purply/mauve ones) are showing off their colour and fragrance to the fullest at the moment, and since the lady of that family loves purple, I thought they would be perfect for her.
I mixed in peach and pink roses to make the bouquet more interesting and here are some photos to show you.
The joint forces of fragrances nearly knocked me out!

There's something special about the colour purple, especially on roses.

Here's the more peachy side..................

And here's the more purply side..............

I pulled out my little collection of heirloom doilies from my mum and started looking through them.

I keep them in those round boxes which used to be for cup and saucer sets.

Look, a purple crocheted doily, perfect!

It's still raining now as I write, I'd better go get some more roses in before the rain damages them.

We have company tonight.

Have a lovely lovely weekend, won't you? Bye for now.

Befores and Afters

2011-05-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hi, dear readers, how are you doing? Hope you have a great start to the week.
Blogger was down from time to time last week and when it was back up, I lost some of your comments on the last post, even though I could still read them in my inbox. So if you left a comment and they are not in the last post, thanks for taking your precious time to leave the comments, it's always a pleasure for me to read them.
Today I want to share some BEFORE and AFTER photos from my file. We've been living in our house for 10 years now and over the years the decor has gone through quite a bit of tweaking and changes. There have been significant changes just in the living room alone. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The upholstery was dark when the kids were little.

Before

After 1

After 2

Before

After 1

After 2

After 1

After 2

Before

After

Before (I couldn't find a before photo without Christmas decorations)

After 1

After 2

Now

Wow! We've come a long way. I think everything looks and feels so much fresher and better after white paint, don't you?

Have a fantastic week, everyone.

Autumn Roses and some small changes

2011-05-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

Autumn is a fantastic time of the year, I'm definitely enjoying it.
The English Roses in my garden have been giving me larger and better flowers that don't fade so quickly and beautiful heavenly scents that stay forever.(even when the petals are dried)

Whenever I see pictures of English Roses on other people's blogs, my heart still skips a beat!
Must be the old rose look, the beauty is so amazing.

These next three photos below were taken with the manual settings on my camera, I was experimenting.

I'm happy with all the different moods they display.

I made some small changes to the display on the little console table in our casual dining area, can you tell?

You probably won't rememeber, here's a BEFORE photo,

And here's the AFTER.

I painted the picture frame antique white, it was gold before, I added two ornate spoons which I got years ago and made a 3D framed art. I moved my French grey wire cloche and cake stand from another part of the room and placed a white teacup and saucer with some teaspoons in it. I used some old books to make the Patisserie sign I painted stand taller. The candlestick remains, you can't see clearly in the pictures, but it lends height to this little decor.

I also decorated this picture frame with four pate knives, it adds a punch of colours to the top of my kitchen bench.

Random Photos

2011-04-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

Today I have photos of this and that, here and there around our home.

Some linen on the hutch........

A beautiful hanging sign..........I love vintage skeleton keys!

I have several of these books and stands scattered here and there around the house, especially books on The Art of Tea and Friendship by Sandy Lynam Clogh and Emilie Barnes and Susan Rios........

I've had this one below for twenty years, but I re-covered it last year with my Scrapbooking bits and bobs.........

It's sitting on my kitchen bench and this is the back.......

Some pages on the inside...........It's an old scrapbook for some of my rosy and foodie photos, it also has recipes that I've collected here and there, thus the title on the cover-- "Of Roses and Recipes".

And some of my drawings from 20 years ago....... a bit childish, I know.

Now for more random pictures..........
Some fruit on the kitchen bench.......... I love love love fresh figs.

My flip flops when I first bought them............I love the black with white texts on them.

Some pitchers and jugs on a chest of drawers in the master bedroom...........

In the living room on a side table..........I love Frenchy stuff.

Some freshly picked roses from the garden..........

I told you they would be random, wink**

Have a great Easter dear friends, if I don't catch you over the weekend, enjoy your holidays. Please stay safe.

Roses in the Kitchen

2011-04-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of our kitchen where lots of cooking (and cleaning) takes place everyday.
It's mostly white(with blue), it's simple, but I do like cooking in it.
I also love the fact that it's always bright in my kitchen, even on cloudy days.

These roses are a delight. I smile everytime I pass by them, they smell divine.

These below are not roses, they are a climber, I can't remember their name.

Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friends.

Roses and a Laugh!

2011-04-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hi, dear friends, would you like more roses today?
I'm so glad our roses season are quite long here and they flower 9-10 months of the year!
I've had this pitcher and bowl set for ten years, I bought them seperately and thought they would look great together, they are pretty and rosy. You can click on the pictures to see them more clearly.

Please pardon me, I'm playing with my camera again.

On another note, I go here when I want a laugh. (I've added it to my "Other Lovely Inspiration" sidebar) I get so inspired by the beautiful pictures as well. Hope you'll enjoy the site if you don't already know about it.
Enjoy the rest of your week, till next time, dear kindred spirit.

Bucket of Roses

2011-04-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hi, Happy Monday.
Just some photos I took over the weekend.

Roses are Tamora (Peach David Austin) and Sir Edward Elgar (Hot pink David Austin)

Have a good week!

Dinner Tablescape

2011-04-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hi, dear friends, how are you all? Have you had a good week?
It's Thursday already, this week has flown by so quickly.
We had company for dinner last Friday, and so I snapped some photos in the afternoon-before everyone got here-to show you the tablescape. I also cut some roses from my garden to adorn the table. They were a rave as they were divinely scented, as many of the David Austin roses are. We're so blessed to have them.
The pink bud roses are not David Austin though, they are a Floribunda called Pink Simplicity, I especially like their buds.
Well, simplicity was to be the theme for my tablescape as well!

I made those personalised napkin ring tags. The napkin rings are ceramic with lace pattern, I simply cut up some white cardstock paper and free-handedly wrote the guests' first initials with a black texter and did the finer parts with an art-liner. I stuck the tags on with Blu-Tak (a sticky putty). The napkin was folded in the shape of a candle. Oops, I forgot the bread plates at that stage.
If you look closely, I used different sets of cutlery and dinnerplates for ladies and gents, simply because I didn't have enough of either set for the total number of people (odd number 9). It worked quite well for me to mix and match them because the dishes are all white. The ladies got the more ornate dinnerplates and and the gents more plain ones. (not meaning to stereotype here!)

Rosa Pink Simplicity-- and the following photo when they bloomed a bit more the next day or two.

Some guests asked to take their tags home with them for a momento, I think I'm honoured that they would even want to do that.

We had a ball, we also celebrated two birthdays!
Alrighty, that's all from me for today, I hope you'll enjoy the rest of your week. Take care.
I'm linking up with Susan's (Between Naps on the Porch) "Thursday Tablescape" today, this is my very first time! Be sure to go to Susan's blog and check out many more lovely tablescapes.

Roses with a Victorian air

2011-03-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's been so sunny here that my roses photos out in the garden all end up with that glare, can you see?

I'm not complaining though, I love sunny days.

However, in I came after a morning out there,

I wanted to create a Victorian air with these roses, here are what I came up with.

Something vintage looking.......

I think these St.Cecilia roses are just right for that.

They are such a pretty pink.

May your weekend be fabulous!

Roses in Lettered Coffee Mugs

2011-03-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Lettered coffee mugs are not only good for drinking coffee from, they also make lovely "vases" for my roses!
The first time I brought them in the limelight was here, in 2009,

a lot of water has gone under the bridge, or in my case, a lot of water has gone in the mugs since then.

Now give me a "T"........

Give me an "E"........

Give me an "A"........

What does that spell?

Now, seriously, that's seriously corny.

Anyhow, I'll just leave you to look at my "album"- aka many photos.

Have a fantastic day, luvlies! Ciao!

Mango Tango

2011-03-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Mango is no doubt one of my favourite tropical fruit.

The juicy sweetness of its flesh just makes my mouth water every time I think of it.

I love it in ice cream and desserts just as much as on its own.

This is an Ice Cream I made,

it has mango pieces, canned pineapple pieces, unsalted pistachios and dried cranberries in an ice cream made with strawberry puree, whipping cream and sweetened condensed milk,

I love the sensation of every mouthful you get hit with different ingredients,

the fruit and nut combo always appeal to me.

Now dig in, shall we?

This cheesecake is delicious,

even if you think you can't make cheesecake,

you'll have to try this.

It's not as hard as you think.

Recipe from here: Mango Nectar Cheesecake
Only change the fruit to whichever you fancy.
It was originally Apricot Nectar Cheesecake,
I also added mango pieces to the topping.

See the little guys standing up with a letter pegged to them with a mini peg?
They are cute, aren't they?

I just love the idea of them standing around in front of every placesetting at the table to show the guests where their seats are.
I've been combining work with enjoying and eating, in this case Mango Cheesecake,

been twisting wires making these for placecards,

You can't see it clearly, but there's actually a little hook that I twisted for the letter card to sit on.
The top of the stand is like the shape of the top end of a shepherd's staff.

I think they are handy especially when different guests with different names come over,

I can just swap the letters over to suit the initial of their first name.

Or I could make up some name cards with their first name on,

or make the card white and the names black so they look more distinctive.

Now if you would excuse me,

I would like to go back to work......... and the yummy cheesecake and tea.

Have a fabulous weekend, won't you?

Today I'm linking up with My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday.

Anne Boelyn Roses

2011-03-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

There are lots of flowers on the Anne Boelyn bush in my garden at the moment,

so I gathered some and had a bunch of fun with them.Anne Boelyn is a David Austin (English) Rose which is said to have only a mild scent compared to most other English Roses which are much stronger in scent.

But for some reason their scent really stood out to me today,

which I totally welcomed.

I stationed the pitcher on my bedside table.

Ahhh! It's a lovely tea-rosy scent.........

From here you can also see my monogram-painted pillow which I did a while ago,

I guess for me painting the letters is much easier than stitching them,

so that was exactly what I did with a fabric paint in grey;

since I also had spare linen and white fabric and pillow inserts lying around.I hope you are having a wonderful day,

have a lovely Tuesday, my dear friends.

BIG HELLO to everyone and Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T23:11:00.000-08:00

Hiya! How are you all?

Happy Valentine's Day to you.

Just wanted to wish you a very lovely and memorable day,

Apart from the beautifully wrapped chocolate hearts I gave them this morning,

I also baked some special treats for my dearest hubby and family,

I think it's a wonderful way to express my love for them.

May your day be blessed!

And oh! I'm so glad,

I'm finally back!

I have missed you all,

sorry for my long absence and having been such a bad blogger,

it was just so hard trying to blog while the kids were on Summer holidays.

Thanks for all your patience, and yes, I'm finally back again!

What better day to be back than today, eh?

Preparing for Christmas

2010-12-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hi, everyone, my recent long absence from here has been due to busy-ness round this time of the year- I've also been busy preparing to host a cookie swap at my humble abode; I'm glad to report that a wonderful time was had by all. So here's just a short post to say that everything is fine here, I hope that you are too.

Baking French Morsels

2010-11-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

I've been enjoying baking French morsels lately, French Macaroons and Madeleines in particular. They are really scrumptious treats indeed; I have to stop myself from eating too much of them. Have you tried to bake those? Do you like them? I found the process of making the macaroons a bit more time-consuming and fiddly and they are rather sweet to eat, they were supposed to be pink (strawberry flavour), but I didn't add enough pink food colouring ( I must've been too well conditioned not to have food colouring in food) to make them turn out pink enough. Good thing is my kids still absolutely loved them whether they were pink or not. (Let's see, their colour made them look more like Caramel or Coffee Macaroons, we could just call them any of those? Non?) The Madeleines were simple and easy-peasy to make but disappeared extremely quickly as soon as they were out of the oven. If you asked me if I would bake them again, I would say I would. (Next time I want to make Mint Green Macaroons and make sure I get them to look mint green!!!) Thanks for coming by here, have a lovely weekend; Till next time.

Spring Garden Update

2010-11-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

I have finally organised my recent Spring garden pictures and here are a portion that I compiled for you to see. So let's go for a stroll in the garden, shall we? I'll let the pictures take the lead. So there you have it, the tour of my little garden, hope you didn't get bored. I have to say after staring at the mostly white and green of the climbers growing on the fence for the whole winter while the roses were pruned, I'm now quite glad to see colours everywhere when I look out the windows. Have a colourful week, everyone.

When Burlap Meets Roses

2010-11-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

On a hot day, I like to cut some of the roses' blooms and bring them inside to enjoy, I figure it's better than them getting dried up out in the sun. However, before I brought these blooms in, I set them up for a little photo session outside, and these are some of the pictures for you my dear bloggers and friends. I love the way the texture of the burlap shows in pictures, I think burlap looks just oh-so-fine with roses, don't you? I hope you are enjoying your week, I want to thank you lovely ladies who sent me very encouraging e-mails recently, I will reply to your requests and questions as soon as I can, you ladies are a wonderful bunch. Did I tell you I love hearing from you? Roses used here are Jude the Obscure (yellow, peachy, David Austin), Jubilee Celebration (pink, David Austin) and Radio Times (pink, David Austin)

It's Spring in My Garden

2010-10-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

Springtime is lovely. (Yes, it's Springtime in Australia!) I for one am not fond of the winter, so I'm always glad when Spring comes. My roses in the front garden are blooming earlier than the back ones as usual. The back garden's roses are budding. Some others are starting to bloom. Gertrude Jekyl (a David Austin rose) Heritage (also David Austin) Gold Bunny (a Floribunda) Another Gertrude Jekyl I can tell the bees, butterflies and the ladybirds are having so much fun, they always come and keep me company when I'm in the garden. Everytime I've done some gardening, I would think I should do it more often or do it everyday, but the busy-ness of life often keeps me away from the garden. Today I'm joining Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.

Tea Time Strawberry Gateau

2010-10-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Hi, there, how are you all? Last Friday was a windy day here, and since gardening was not a practical thing to do then; I decided to stay indoors and do something I would enjoy doing. This spot where I look out of my kitchen window kept saying "Strawberries" to me. Strawberries have been in season and they are everywhere, including in my fridge. So why not make a strawberry cake. I remembered seeing this recipe in a British Country Homes and Interiors magazine, I found it in the May 2008 issue, yay! I checked the ingredients, yes, I had all of them on hand except the hazelnuts. However, I had flaked almonds in the freezer, so I would use them instead. This recipe is super easy to make, but looks impressive. I think the most fiddly and time consuming part was to stick those flaked almonds on the cream on the side of the cake, and even that was honestly not really that difficult! So there you go, everything else was simply easy as pie.
STRAWBERRY GATEAU serves 8-10
Ingredients: 225g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
225g caster sugar (fine baker's sugar)
225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk 20 strawberries
5 tbsp strawberry jam
300 ml whipping cream Flaked almonds, toasted
Icing sugar, to dust
"Flake" chocolate broken up or flowers to decorate.
(1) Preheat oven to 190C. Lightly grease and flour two 20cm sandwich tins. (2) Put the butter, caster sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla and milk into a bowl and beat until smooth. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 20 minutes untio the sponge is golden and springs back to the touch. (3) Reserve 10 (I used 12) strawberries and roughly chop the rest. Invert one cake on a plate, spread with jam and scatter with chopped fruit. (I stewed my chopped strawberries in a saucepan for a few minutes with some sugar) Top with the second cake.(4) Whip the cream until stiff and thinly coat the sides of the cake, press nuts into sides. (5) Pipe rosettes over the top of the cake and top with reserved strawberries. (In order to give it a more casual look, I didn't pipe the rosettes, I simply made 12 mounds of cream using a tablespoon) Place a whole straberry in the centre of the mounds of cream and sprinkle broken up "Flake" chocolate in the middle. Dust straberries with icing sugar. Voila, Strawberry Gateau! I rested the glass cake plate on top of a glass drink goblet and made it an elegant pedestal cake stand. Now let's serve the cake with some tea or coffee. Here, do not be in a haste, one slice at a time please. All gobbled up in three minutes! Mmm! So superb and moist!!!! Another one please.............. Another window outlook Have a lovely week with a wonderful outlook.

Spring Buzz In My Garden

2010-10-11T00:35:00.001-07:00

Many have asked me how it could be Springtime here when their world is all Fall and Winter approaching. The answer is we live on a globe that has two hemispheres, that's why. So it's Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, and Autumn in the N0rth. Australia where I live happens to be in the Southern Hemisphere. These pictures of my garden (below) were taken last week. And these below were taken today. It's amazing how much difference one week makes. Spring really brings buzzing new life, doesn't it? Hope you enjoyed these garden pictures, enjoy your season, wherever you are.

Today I love..............

2010-09-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hi, dear friends, hope your week has been splendid. The weather here for us has been absolutely fantabulous, Spring has sprung, the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing and soon roses will be a-bloomin. Even though Alyssums are not Queen of Flowers like roses, I love them for their simplicity and loveliness. They look gorgeous (and innocent) casually placed in glass jars. I love the scent of lavender plants wafting in the breeze in my garden, can't get enough of it. Remember this chair? Maybe you don't. I have two of those randomly placed in our home. They were given to us, we use them for extra guests when we need them, or I use them for styling a lot of the times. I painted and upholstered them years ago, but they've started to look a bit tired, so I gave them a makeover, with a coat of new paint. Ta da, here it is........... ............in its grey glory, with navy ticking fabric for its seat. I think it's given it a breath of fresh and smart air, don't you think? I got that blue "Keep Calm and Carry On" tea towel for free........ It came with the latest issue of Country Style magazine, which is full of eye-candies as usual. I also got the Women's Weekly Afternoon Tea cookbook. For someone who loves baking and lovely pictures, it was simply too hard to resist the page after page of loveliness. I've included a few sneak peeks, I'm sure you'll love them. It was not only food for the tummy, It was a feast for the eyes, all the vessels used for the yummies were downright awesome. I was pretty inspired to have an afternoon tea after all that for sure. It was hard to do what the following tea towel says to do. (wink)

Easy Scrummy Orange Cake

2010-09-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted any yummy recipes for a while. So I thought you might like this. I've always loved orange cakes, this is an extremely easy-peasy mix-all-in-one-bowl, then beat and bake type recipe. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
2 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar (baker's fine sugar)
1 and 1/2 cups sifted self-raising flour
1 tablespoon finely chopped orange zest a handful orange zest thinly sliced for garnish
Orange Icing
1 cup icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons orange juice (add more if needed, mix to semi-runny consistency)

(1) Combine all cake ingredients and beat thoroughly for 3 minutes.
(2) Pour mixture into a greased 20cmx10cm loaf or 20cm ring tin.
(3) Bake in 180 degrees C oven for 30-40 minutes or until cooked.
(4) Turn onto wire rack and allow to cool.
(5) Ice with Orange Icing. Alternatively, you could ice with Cream Cheese Icing, which I personally like better because of its tang. Simply beat 100g of softened cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice until smooth. I even add 2 tablespoons of sour cream sometimes. Now why don't you enjoy a cuppa and some orange cake with me?These flowers are from my garden, they are winter flowering plants and so they give me a lot of joy in winter when my roses are pruned and resting. It's officially Spring here now that it's September, I'm excited and anticipating the coming back of my roses. I'm also amazed by these flowers, they look like they have nature's tassels on them! One of my children has also started a vegie "patch" by using pots, we've been enjoying her labour of love as a result. Everyday we get a beautiful bounty of her harvest, and needless to say, I'm more than happy. Home-grown vegies ARE definitely better and DO taste so much better. She has many things growing, brocolli, choy sum, strawberries, assorted fancy lettuces, spinach and spring onions; just to name a few. She still has carrot seeds she needs to plant out. Okay, I wish you all a great week, eat more vegies.

Changes in the Reading Nook

2010-08-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hi, dear friends, happy Friday.
Have you had a good week?
Today I'll show you some changes I made to our reading nook in our home.
This space has become a nook that my family and I often read and chat in,
it's a space that runs off the informal dining area,
so it seems to function as the area where we often hang around.
These below are the "BEFORE" photos,
Not that there was anything wrong with the "BEFORE",
but I've always thought I'd like to tweak the display on the buffet when I get time to,
and with what I've already got on hand.
I finally did,
and I made some inexpensive changes with some of the forgotten things and craft projects I already had hidden away in the cupboards.
It was good clean out day as well!

BEFORE: Mostly white, more mellow and soft AFTER : Add black, more character, accent and definition

I like the way the black pops in this scheme,
I got the letter "E" from a craft store for a few dollars,
it was papier macher and I painted it with black satin acrylic paint.
The picture frame was an old wood coloured one,
I painted the frame black as well.
The random alphabets in the frame is like the eyechart at the optometrist.
My children's eyes were quick and they very quickly read what it said,
I was slow and thought they were just random alphabets put together.
It actually said " Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance".
What? That means don't work hard?
Ah well, it's supposed to be humorous, right?
The print of the silhouette is stuck onto a block of wood which I've had for ages,
which I also painted black.
The numbers "2" and "8" are wood and painted black,
also bought from a craft store.
I added some old books which I covered with coffee stained papers to match the colour of the clock,
and black and white papers,
I like the stacked-up-books-look.
Some I left them in their original covers for contrast.
The glass jar with shells is from my son's room,
he was cleaning out and he didn't want that anymore.
The two candlesticks are old ones that I painted and distressed,
moved from the living room.

So there you have it,
a little transformation in the reading nook,
which I enjoyed putting together.
I think it fits with the overall look of this space too,
don't you think?Alrighty, I will leave you here,
have a great weekend,
till next time.

I'm back, finally!

2010-08-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hi, friends, how are you all doing? I hope you are all well and having a good day. I know I've been away for way too long, I've missed you all. The last thing I posted was about the juniour bridesmaids' night dresses I was making. I'm glad to say that I ended up finishing them two weeks before the wedding, which was a relief. I included a little snippet of a photo here to show you one of the dresses. I ended up doing A-line dresses instead of pleated round the waist simply because the style suited better. The sash was a satin ribbon. The fabric flower brooches were white when I bought them, I couldn't find the right size and right look in that light mauve colour, so I decided to paint them myself, seeing that those white ones were just right in shape and size. I simply used an acrylic craft paint and it worked fine. I don't know what it will do if I wash it, but it hasn't needed a wash yet, and the wedding is over now. Oh, talking about the wedding, it was a beautiful wedding, we had a great time.No, I don't have any roses now because we are in the middle of winter and they have all been pruned. But these were the roses I put in jars ready to give to my friends a while back. I just thought I'd share them with you. Have a wonderful weekend, my dear friends.

Juniour Bridesmaids' Dresses

2010-05-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

Today I just want to quickly show you what I've been busy with. I've been surrounded by pearls and satin. I've been making pearl necklaces and one of the four Juniour Bridesmaids' night dresses for the wedding of someone very dear to me. I've been enjoying the sewing very much, believe it or not. Mind you, I can only sew simple dresses though. The first dress is just about done, but I still have three more to go, so this is just a quick post to say hi and let you know I'm still here. I hope you are doing well and are enjoying your week. Have a good one!

Little things that count

2010-05-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

There seems to be less time in 24 hours a day for me these days. They say time doesn't wait for anybody; I think it's definitely proving true in my case. However to defy that, I made myself make time for this and that around the house the other day. Didn't someone say "It's the little things that count"? I made a centrepiece for our dining table by using English roses from my garden and lettuce I bought from a supermarket! This beautiful fresh lime green lettuce is called Salanova Green Coral Lettuce, quite a mouthful and fancy, huh?! I love its colour and texture, and from far it looks almost like moss that the roses are sitting on. I know the table looks a bit bare without a table-runner, (even though I also like the clean-cut fuss-free look) all my runners are too short for the table, I'm intending to make one in the near future. I also made some tea and coffee and all sorts of yummy treats for a morning high tea with some ladies. We had such a fabulous time taking time chatting and enjoying each other's company. Yes, it's the little things that count.Would you like to take a walk with me in the garden? Well, my garden is a little overgrown at the moment, it's a time when my roses say they want to stretch, and stretch they are doing no doubt. I've been letting them stretch till I give them a complete winter pruning in July. So you'll have to be careful to dodge the thorny canes that hook onto you and won't let go, the thorns sure have a way of making sure you get a "scratch" or two before you leave. But then the flowers are worth the pain and the risk. I guess thorns are no big deal when your reward is absolutely intoxicating fragrant lovely plump roses, don't you agree? Okay, luvlies, have yourselves a lovely day, remember to take time for small things.

Awesome Autumn

2010-04-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

Hi, everybody, I hope you are all doing well. I know I've been missing in action from here for quite some time, life just gets so busy especially during the two-week school holidays. I'm thrilled to be back. During the term break we went away for a few days, we went to see these beauties. I must say it was very invigorating. Gorgeous coastal gorges and rocks that resemble chocolate and vanilla swirl cake (or marble cake). We're truly blessed here with these lovely clean natural beauties. The shadow of my legs on the rocks. Apart from gorges and rocks we also visited these lovelies, the ones which talked would also bite if you put your fingers through the cage, even though they showed themselves oh-so-friendly. Just like roses with thorns? Haha! The colours of their feathers are just so amazing, God's creativity is awesome. Talking about roses with thorns, this is a good time for them in my garden. I get so many flowers in sizes that are generally larger than what they would be any other seasons. And while you're here, I thought I'd show you some of the photos. Let me introduce them to you one by one out of that heap. Here are Jude the Obscure. These are Abraham Darby. They are both English Roses (David Austin Roses with very strong perfumes) These are Perfumed Perfection. China Doll. These two are both Floribundas. These are St. Cecilia. Jubilee Celebration, and The Dark Lady. All three are English Roses as well. Now these pink and cream beauties are Pierre de Ronsard, which is also known as Eden Rose. It's a climbing rose. And last but not least these are shy Anne Boelyn, not totally open. Now put them all together, ta da! Can you tell I like fiddling with roses just a bit? Not only that, I also like fiddling with their pictures. I like them in that "washed out" appearance so much that I left some of them in that mode just for fun. I hope you'll enjoy them just as much as I did playing with them. Have a great weekend, folks. Till next time.

Garden Bliss and Happy Easter

2010-03-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

I realise I haven't taken pictures in my garden for quite some time, for one thing, I'm not too keen when the glare of the summer's sunshine is strong; and it seems like I always get busy at dusk when the lighting is better. There have been more overcast days, so here are some random garden pictures.
If you remember, I talked about waiting for my dining table to come in a previous post, here. it's still not here yet. This table here is the one which they made too small, the lady at the shop is letting me use it until the RIGHT one gets here, which might be the end of April. You can see it is too small for eight chairs and the feet should have balls on them like the chairs. The curves on the tabletop and the carved motifs (which I ordered) are gorgeous though. Ooh! Maybe I'll need a table runner so it doesn't look so bare on the tabletop and yet doesn't completely cover its good looks.These pink roses are St. Cecilia and Radio Times. They are so gorgeous I took ten million pictures of them! The right pinks, the right scents and the right forms, ahhhhh!!!

And last but not least, I want to say Happy Easter and wish everyone of you a very beautiful, safe and meaningful Easter season. These speckled eggs are my favourite, I buy them every year and they are sugar-coated chocolate eggs, honestly they are so cute that I can't get myself to eat them. Take care everyone, till next time.

To All Rose Lovers

2010-03-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, folks, here we go, this is to all of you who love roses, especially David Austin's English Roses. First I brought the roses in from the garden, I laid them out on the kitchen bench, sometimes they are just so gorgeous that I have to get my camera out before I do anything else with them, and this was one of those times. I think they're oozing with a certain beauty simply stacked on top of one another............ Take a closer look............ I even took them to our bedroom for a bit of a photo session. I especially like the pink ones. (Radio Times is their name) First up, on my dressing table.......... I finally changed the pictures in those mini picture frames to coffee-stained papers with numbers on them, love love love....... Also, on my bedside table........... Their colour and the formation of their many petals (which make them look like old roses) are simply superb. Then, finally, I put them in vases as they were extremely thirsty by then. With a cup of tea, I sat down and inhaled, ahhhhhh! The fragrances from the roses were "killing" me. One day, you might be able to smell them through your computer, maybe one day............... For now, you will have to just enjoy their good looks. Enjoy the rest of your week. Ciao.

The Joys of Scented Roses

2010-03-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

One of the most enjoyable things about growing roses is to be able to pick their flowers-- heavenly scented flowers!!! I'm having a lot of fun playing with roses at the moment; and can you tell I really enjoy them? As autumn approaches, I'm sure I will have even more glorious blooms to enjoy. I keep putting my nose up to them, it's become a habit when I get near roses; I make sure there's no bees in them before I do that, I promise. Happy Monday to you, I wish you a joyous week. Take time to smell the roses...........

Fabulous Floribundas

2010-02-15T20:33:00.000-08:00

These roses are both floribundas, the mauve ones are Perfumed Perfection and the cream and pink ones are Seduction. The Perfumed Perfection is very heavily and heavenly perfumed, whereas the Seduction is only lightly perfumed. I grow floribundas for the abundance of flowers they produce, and they look spectacular on the bush, which is why they are named floribundas--flora abundance!Quite a few of you asked me how I faded the photos in the last post, so I thought I would share it here so you could go and try it out yourself! It was actually very simple, I simply hit the HSL (hue saturation lightness) button on my photo edit programme which came with my camera, then it gave me the choice of those three things, I reduced only the saturation to the point I was happy with and saved it and that was all. It might take you a bit of exploring to find the same function on your photo-edit programme, but I'm pretty sure it should be there and it should be quite common. Have fun! Have a fantabulous week, my dear friends.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

No doubt I really enjoy creating vignettes with my roses and taking pictures of them.
During our kids' school holidays,
I didn't have the luxury and the time to do all these,
so I've been hanging out to do it again.
This time I manipulated (edited) some of the photos just for fun,
they look so much dreamier and more romantic with their colours all washed-out, don't you think?
Roses to brighten up the home, here?Here?...........
Or here?...................

And last but not least,
I also took these photos below to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day.
These popsticks have the names of songs written on them,
they are my children's playlist of songs they have learnt on the piano.
They draw out some sticks each day like a lucky dip and play those songs for practice so they won't forget them.
I just think they look good for my photos!
The little white sachet with the pink heart on is my daughter's handiwork,
she made it for me when she was learning to use the sewing machine;
as well as hand-stitching some parts.
It's a sweet little thing that has become a decoration in my home,
and one I'll keep forever.
Alrighty, I wish you the most beautiful and blissful Valentine's Day, my dear friends,
till next time!

Bread of Life

2010-02-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

Breakfast. What do you have for breakfast?
How do you have it?
Do you gulp it all down in haste?
Or do you sit and slowly savour it?
Or do you have it at all?
Is it an important meal for you?
Would love to hear from YOU!
I enjoy breakfast,
I'm usually very hungry in the morning.
Raspberries in natural yoghurt-- one of my favourite food for breakfast.
Some food for thought:

John 6:51 Jesus said,"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

Job 23:12 ........ I have treasured the words of His mouth, more than my necessary food.
Wow! I love the Word of God.
In other things, here is the space I made ready for the dining table, which I mentioned in the last post.
The dining chairs are so arranged that they are out of the way for the time being.Have a fantastic weekend everyone.

Time Flies

2010-01-24T21:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday, everyone! I have been MIA lately, and how time flies! I have missed you all. With our kids on summer holidays, I've hardly had time to squeeze in blogging. This timepiece (i.e. clock; above and below) finally got hung up on our "nook" wall, it looks bigger in real life, apart from its beauty and vintage charm, it keeps reminding me of the time, and also to do the right thing while I have time. The time we've been gifted here on earth is precious and is a privilege. I've also painted some cushions, here they are sitting on our sofa. One says "Rejoice always" and the other "The wise shall inherit glory" in French. I'm happy with the way they look. The dining table is still not here yet, But I have moved some furniture to make a space ready for it. Hope it's not going to be too long, will show photos later. Have a wonderful week, folks.

Dining Chairs and Happy New Year

2009-12-30T21:45:00.000-08:00

Our custom-made French-style dining chairs have finally arrived! I thought I'd give you a little look-see of them. Unfortunately the table is still getting made due to a mistake they made in size. I'm very pleased with the way the chairs have turned out. I drew the design for the chairs and they have translated my design into carving very well. The upholstery I picked is "Classic Ticking" in blue and white. There are eight chairs altogether, including two carvers (with arms). We would have ten if we could, but the space we are having the dining suite is not spacious enough for a ten-seater. Will have more photos with the chairs against the table when it arrives, hopefully soon. One thing I know is they will go well with everything in our house, wink** In the mean time, I want to say Happy New Year to all of you kind bloggers and readers, may you have joy, peace, blessings and all good things in the year 2010.

Rosy Picture

2009-12-22T22:38:00.000-08:00

What is this? You might ask. One of my rosy pictures? Yes, you're right. With roses out of my garden? Yes, right again. But hang on, what's that behind the roses? (I'd better stop teasing you) Let's zoom out a little. Its a canvas. Yes, a canvas. Not just any canvas, but a canvas of my very own photo! I think it is so cool. I decided to have mine propped up against the wall on a hallway stool so everybody that enters our house can see it. It suits the stool so well.You can have one of these made from your favourite photo as well. Just go here (or Discover Personal Gifts under Lovely Websites in my sidebar) and you'll find all sorts of things that can be made from a digital copy of your photos. I'm very happy with mine and their service was wonderful, fast and fuss-free too. Have fun. This probably will be my last post before Christmas, So, I want to wish all of you lovely people a most lovely and blessed Christmas and I pray your 2010 will be fantabulous as well. Don't eat too much over the holidays, see you all soon.

Breeze-ful Christmas Decorating

2009-12-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

My Christmas decoration has been kept simple this year, but after a bit of tweaking, this (below) became........... ......... this (below). I'm finally happy with it.Is it time to reflect on the year 2009? In the music room/ office, still a work-in-progress In the hallway, wreaths and bows oh-so-delightful! Added Christmasy charm to my laundry by hanging a stocking-ed pegged clothesline with pretty bows and sachet a-drying. It's really truly in the laundry (look at the taps)........Don't know about you, but I like to breeze through Christmas. Have a blissful week, my dear friends.

Christmas, oh Christmas

2009-12-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

It has been a thrill for me to get e-mails from you ladies telling me how much you appreciate this blog, I want to express my gratitude for that here and let you know how much your e-mails have encrouraged and touched me. You ladies are a great bunch. I also wonder how everyone is faring as you prepare for this special Christmas season, I hope you're not too stressed out trying to pick the perfect gifts for your loved ones. I love Christmas, except when I have to do the last minute shopping of course; I really don't like it when the shops get too crowded and the check-out lines are loooong. So the key for me is to get in early and do the shopping in January or June, right? But I know someone who likes that-- the rush, the buying presents with tinsels hanging in her hair, the crowd, the loooong check-out lines and the whole not-so-appealing-to-me scene ............ Mmm! Some people!

At dusk

Daylight At dusk Daylight

This year I opted for "no-tree-topper" for the tree! I can't believe it myself, I guess I thought it wasn't me. (The traditional girl at heart) But I actually really like the look! (After I tried it!) It's oh-so-natural and......... and ........... so chic, like a good hair-cut! Lol! Now you've seen the tree from all different angles, let's change the scene. Don't forget to take some time out for a sit down and a little break from all the busy-ness. and oh, roses too........... I haven't forgotten them! They are always so therapeutic, no doubt. Do you like my chalkboard creation? I painted a $2 canvas board. You know, the sort you get from the Two-buck shop. Then I put it on a $2 metal stand, and there you have it-- Your very important Message for the Season! Our bed needs a bit of Christmas "dress-up" too! And the kitchen/dining area. Simplicity is the key.Have a lovely lovely weekend everyone.

What? December already?

2009-12-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month! Wow! It's the first day of December already, which means Christmas is going to be here before I know it. I've barely started decorating, although traditionally we don't start decorating until the first day of December. I've pulled out a few things from their boxes in the shed just to set the scene to celebrate Christmas early with some of my family who visited us two weeks ago, as they can't be here with us for Christmas. The Christmas tree won't be in the lounge room this year, the picture above and below show what a part of the lounge room looks like so far. It's going to be our office (quiet) and music room(noisy), with piano and electric drum kit, and PC and desk. (See the contrast? But we need music to stimulate work and study, right?) The walls have been painted "Coffee Cake" by Taubmans to replace the pink. I love love love that paint colour, it looks delicious enough to eat. Can you see the lampshade? (Read last post) I've also finally written words on one of these metal plaques I got ages ago, which I painted white and antiqued. I just love the word "Patisserie", the thought of cakes, pastries, puffs, tarts and things like that makes my mouth water. I told you the Christmas decoration has barely started. Often when my kids give me a pinch and a punch for the first day of the month, it will be followed by "a step on the toe for being so slow", and only ocassionally "a flick and a kick for being so quick", which means no matter what I do, I never win. But on this first day of December, I want to give you a big smile and send my regards your way to wish you all the best, have a beaut week.

Lampshade Tutorial

2009-11-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

Some of you have e-mailed me to ask me to do a lampshade tutorial. Well, it just so happens that I had another lampshade I wanted to do for our music room/office, so I made sure to remember to take step-by-step pictures when I finally got time to tackle it. You'll need: 1 lampshade frame fabric craft glue, or hot glue gun braid, trim or fringing according to your liking paper for making a swatch First up, you'd want to cut out swatches of fabric for the divisions on the frame. Make sure you leave 1cm extra along the sides for glueing and folding. You can trace the shape on a piece of paper and use it repeatedly to cut the swatches out, this way all your pieces will be nice and even. Then you'd glue the swatches onto the frame, piece by piece, making sure the fabric is pulled tight on all sides. This is what it looks like when all the pieces are glued on.Then to make it look better, glue on braid or fringing of your choice. I used dark brown biased binding for this one, (below) and off-white pom-pom fringing for the bottom and top and braid for the sides for this one. (below) Here it is, all finished and lit up at night. Easy peasy, right?

Touches here and there

2009-11-15T22:48:00.000-08:00

Life has been hectic around here with many guests visiting and in my limited spare time after doing all that is needed to be done for daily living, I managed to squeeze in a few small projects and touches here and there. This linen cushion cover (the middle one)I made which I adorned with French words really creates an atmosphere that I like, I think I'd like to do a few more of those when I can. I also made a few more cushion covers for cushions on our super comfy new couches. These new couches are in an oatmeal or white sand colour which is the hue of vintage linens. I think it's a light enough colour if you don't really want white. Any colour scheme can go with this colour. They remind me of the beach when paired with blue and white. They are much larger in real life than in photos for some reason. In the hallway, I've finally decided to decorate with chalkboards made out of old picture frames. I really enjoyed making them. The two on each side look like menu boards, but I didn't write any menus on them, the writings are two French Bible verses from Psalms. One says: "Blessed are those whose trangression is forgiven and whose sin is pardoned" taken from Psalms 32:1 and the other one says " Your word is the lamp unto my feet and light unto my path". Psalms 119:105. The one in the middle says, "Pray without ceasing" in French. In the laundry, I've added a few chalkboard pieces as well-- again, digging out old picture frames-- On the shelf............ On top of the cupboard.............. "Washed clean, white as snow." No puns intended! Lol. And........you'd be right to say I've been very fond of chalkboards............wink!

Pierre de Ronsard Tree Rose

2009-11-09T12:31:00.000-08:00

This is what my Pierre de Ronsard (Eden Rose) Weeping Standard (Cascading Tree Rose) looks like on a sunny day. One thing I noticed is that its flowering power is getting stronger every year. I can just see the flowers cascading down more and more as it gets older and stronger each year; or at least I'm excited and expectant of that happening. This is what it looks like against a cloudy sky, on a different day. Thank you all for your lovely comments in my last post, I appreciate and read each one of them. I have been so very busy deadheading, fertilising and putting manure down in the garden. I'll try and visit you as soon as I can. Have a good week, everyone.

I'm so in Perfume Heaven!

2009-10-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

I'm not exaggerating, just the Jude the Obscure (the yellowy peach David Austin roses) alone are enough to fill the whole room with this amazingly strong and yet absolutely lovely perfume. I'm really in Perfume Heaven inhaling all these roses' perfumes combined. Some of you mentioned time and time again you wish there was "blog-a-scent", yes, same here! Heritage ( David Austin, pink) are really photogenic, don't you think? I think our living room loves all the roses too. This photo below is of a bouquet of Pierre de Ronsard (Eden Rose) that everybody seems to love so much. They look great, not so much in the scent department though. They are gorgeous nonetheless. More of everything.Jubilee Celebrations are beautiful and a delightful bush to grow. Now looking out through the kitchen windows. Don't worry, I still have lots of Jude-s in the garden. When I'm through playing with roses, I play with alphabets, or words, for that matter. Still wish you could smell them all.................. I mean the roses. Have a cup of tea instead, have a lovely scented one like Earl Grey or Lady Grey, have a heaven-scent day!

Blessed with abundance..............

2009-10-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

.......... of roses, I am! Hi, girls, how was your weekend? Hope you had a good one. I'm afraid here are more garden pictures, I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do. Enjoy your week!

Current Garden Pictures

2009-10-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

These pictures of my garden are hot-off-the-press, enjoy and have a fantastic day!

Spring the Sweetly Scented Spectacular Season................

2009-10-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

.......... and I love it, even though I have a blocked nose due to a bad cold and cough, I can still 'S'mell the roses. Yesterday while looking at them, I couldn't help but had to cut some to bring inside the house. The blooms are huge this Spring. Here they are, ATTENTION! They are all lined up neat and straight. The pinks together. What would it be like to lie in this 'S'oft, 'S'cented bed of rose petals? Out in the garden, the lavenders are also sending out their 'S'ensational 'S'cents, Lavenders do so well here, they can almost be like weeds if we're not careful. Have a 'S'upa-dupa weekend, everyone!

Fresh as...............

2009-10-11T03:16:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I last posted here, I have been away in a foreign country with my dear hubby, we had a great time seeing friends and catching up.While away a friend of mine asked me how my garden was going to cope, I optimistically said it would be fine as we'd had lots of rain. However, I did have a dream one night in which I saw my roses all withered and turned black. I'm so glad to report that reality is not as bad as that dream, and that in fact sometimes reality is totally different to dreams! I thought I would also miss the first flush of Spring roses, but they welcomed me home with their fresh fresh blooms. Ahhh! It's good to be amongst these thorny friends again. And it's definitely great to be with YOU once again, I sure enjoy your company.

French Accent

2009-09-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

For a bit of French accent, whimsy and fun in the passage way.............. I love antique skeleton keys. These are only paper images stuck down with Blu-Tack-- a putty-like pressure sensitive adhesive which can be taken off whenever I like to, until I'm ready to commit them to something more permanent. I like the bulletin board look and the details on the wood.The French words say: "Pray without ceasing" taken from 1 Thessalonians 5:17, one of the shortest verses in the Bible.

Silhouettes and more

2009-09-12T01:57:00.000-07:00

I love silhouettes of all kinds, I hand-painted these on these wooden boards.
I forgot to get the Before photos, there were roses painted on them when I bought them,

I didn't like the roses, but the details on the wood were good.
So I painted all over them with Coffee Cake by Taubmans and then rubbed a Folk Art Acrylic (Nutmeg) on with my fingers, before painting the silhouettes with Black Acrylic.

Both my hutch and buffet have been distressed, I love the results.

Also added these keys and hung them on the door knobs, love the look.

Laundry Shelf

2009-09-07T22:37:00.000-07:00

This shelf is in our laundry room. It's functional, and yet decorative. It changes all the time.Introducing Louise Odier, the pink strongly perfumed Old Rose. It's my very first rose this Spring, while the rest of the roses are not ready yet. I hadn't been out in the back garden due to the continuous wet weather these few days. Today the sun came out and I found Louise had been out for a few days, sitting quietly on its branch, waiting to be picked!I asked my French friend what a laundry room is called in French, she told me there's no such word; because they don't have a seperate room for laundry in France. Why the numbers 3 and 5, you might ask, well, I don't know, they just look nice together, I suppose. Our laundry walls are painted Greenlandic by Taubmans, a soft mint green (looks darker in the photos) - a good colour to perk me up while doing the not so exciting chores.

Lampshade Metamorphosis

2009-09-04T01:14:00.000-07:00

My lampshade in the living room has been going through a bit of a metamorphosis through the years. When it was first given to me, it was this hideous bright orange papery thing with gold trims which didn't fit with my decor at all no matter where I placed it. So as soon as it came home, I quickly tore off the orange papery material and hung a piece of lace on its frame temporarily until I worked out how to go about re-covering it. Unfortunately I don't have photos of it being bright orange. I accepted it knowing fully I would re-cover it, I saw that it had good bones. I ended up getting a new frame for it though, as I wasn't completely happy with the old one. This was the first proper re-covering I did............ Then came time for a change, I put a piece of material on to temporarily cover it to see how it looked............ Then this............ also not to stay for too long.............. Now, it looks like this below............. Do you like it? The fabric looks cream in the photo, but it's more of a sandy colour in real life, it also has these grainy textured look up close. You can also see in this picture I painted some of the other things grey, I like the effect, hopefully will have some pictures to show you the fuller view later. Thanks for your visit, my dear friends, hope you enjoyed it; have a great weekend! The stand is painted an off-white colour now, it was like this before.........

Spring is in the air............

2009-08-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

.........when my eyes get a bit watery and my throat iches, You know Spring is on its way when pollen is in the air, the not so pleasant price for some to pay in Spring............ Do you get hay fever? What have you found effective to reduce the symptoms? Hope to hear from you. These photos were taken in Springtime Oct 2007, this bouquet from my garden has all the lovely colours I like; so I thought I'd share them with you while I'm waiting for my roses to bud and flower, there are lots of fresh little leaves on them at the moment.Seduction (Floribunda, cream and pink, light fragrance), Perfumed Perfection (Floribunda, mauve, strong fragrance), Simplicity (Floribunda, pink, light fragrance) So girls, have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are, whatever season you're in, have a good one.

Being random...............

2009-08-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

G'day dear bloggers and readers, hope your week has been great. Today I felt like being random, so I shot a few random photos around our home. This bench is where I love to sit to soak up the precious winter's sun............. The chair is where my feet go. I love topiary plants............... they are the best, these will live forever without any watering! They will always look good without any trimming! Shhhh! Don't tell anyone, they are not alive.............. **wink wink** Strawberries are so juicy and yummy........... Turkish delight is also my favourite............. Just thought to randomly share the lovely day with you, you like? Have a fantabulous weekend, won't you?

Old photos and "New" Picture Frames

2009-08-09T23:24:00.000-07:00

I dug out some of the old photos I took in my earliest days (only 3-4 years ago) of possessing a digital camera, before I ventured into the world of blogging. Some of them show wall, furniture and furnishing colours different to what they are now. It's fun to look back and see the difference, which I've almost forgotten. I don't even have that camera anymore, the only thing that was the same was roses were my subjects from the beginning, lol. These are old picture frames painted and repurposed as chalkboards. Simply paint chalkboard paint on the inserts and group them together for that look. Can you see what theme we have going here?

Pleasant Surprises

2009-08-04T01:07:00.000-07:00

Hiya, hope everyone is enjoying your week. Remember I said in a previous post that all my rose bushes had been pruned and so there would be no roses to harvest till Spring time? Well, sometimes life is full of surprises. I cut some rosebuds and put them in water when I was doing the winter pruning; I really didn't expect much from them, but lo and behold, they bloomed, and they really brightened my day. I have some lavender bushes, some of them were getting big and needed some trimming, so I used some of the leaves and made a wreath; if you know lavender, the foliage is scented as well, I love the scent so much. It will look fresh as a wreath for quite some time too. Roses here are: Gold Bunny (Floribunda, lemon yellow), China Doll (Tree Rose, Hot pink), Perfumed Perfection buds (Floribunda, mauve), Wreath (lavender leaves)

Peanut Butter Cookies and Kids Boutique

2009-07-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

G'day, lovely readers and bloggers, The weather here has been simply Perfect!! Yes, Perfect with a Capital P. We're fortunate our living room has ceiling to floor windows on two sides of the walls, so even when I sit inside, I can open all those curtains and let the sunshine in. Love it. It would be hard for me to live in a dark place. Sometimes my children would think of something I've cooked or made in the past and haven't made for a while and would remind me it's time I did again. These Peanut Butter Cookies were one of those things. They are extremely easy to make. The recipe I use does not use any flour, you can either use crunchy or smooth peanut butter. I used smooth here. Hope you'll try them and enjoy them as much as I did. Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup (260g) peanut butter
3/4 cup caster sugar (or a bit less would be fine)
1 egg, beaten lightly

(1) Combine ingredients in medium bowl.
(2) Roll rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls. (Go ahead, use your fingers!) Place cookies about 5cm apart on baking paper lined oven trays, flatten slightly with a fork.
(3) Bake in moderate oven (180 degrees C) about 15 minutes or until browned lightly. Stand cookies 5 minutes before lifting onto wire racks to cool.
**Remember, the longer you bake them, the crunchier they get. So if you like them softer and more chewy, it's alright to bring them out of the oven just before they brown. They will look a bit too soft to handle at first, but give them some time they will harden up.These cookies are so yummy, especially if you like peanut butter. I know at our house, we do! Now I'd better treat myself to a couple of them with a pot of tea before they get completely devoured by ravenous members of the family, wink** I also want to mention how a lady from The Vintage Village. com blessed me by aknowledging my blog in one of her posts. You can read it here. She has an online boutique called Cameo Kids Boutique which sells children's clothing, accessories and unique gifts items made from recycled vintage linens. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you go and check it out, here . Absolutely gorgeous things! To Felicity Anderson: Sorry for my oversight and haven't answered your question till now. The answer to your question is in the Comments part of that post. Thanks.