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

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

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

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 softAFTER : 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!

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

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

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.