Craftykin

Hi

2012-01-23T16:02:00.000+13:00

Hi everyone, were getting back into a routine here, Aaron is back at work, and summer seems to finally have arrived (we have had a very wet start to it this year!). We are breaking in our new floors (which I will show you soon), enjoying our summer garden, and getting to the beach as often as possible - that kind of sums things up really.will be back again soon, hope you are all well.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T10:54:00.000+13:00

Hi! I meant to do a post on Christmas day wishing you all a merry Christmas, but didn't quite make it sorry. I hope you all had a lovely celebration and welcome to the new year.
We have been busy doing all sorts of things and Aaron still has another week of holiday so we are getting stuck into working on the house, lots of painting happening and hopefully in a few days I will be able to show you our beautiful oak floors all finished! Must go and get back into it.

Gingerbread houses and Pepperkake

2011-12-21T17:54:00.000+13:00

Well we're nearly there, it's nearly Christmas! The kids are getting so excited, opening their advent calendar first thing each morning to see what little picture is behind the door. All my Christmas shopping is done, bought the last present today. So I've got some wrapping to do tonight, and also some more sanding and painting - I'm making the kids little wooden trees and houses to go with their train set, I didn't plan on being all crafty and making them myself, but I had something particular in mind and just couldn't find anything I liked. I wish I had started earlier as the project is kind of dragging on seeing as the only time I can do them is in evening when they are both (eventually grrr)tucked up in bed.

We've been eating our pepperkake and trying to resist cutting into the Christmas cake, I'd like to save it till Christmas day. I popped out today to get ingredients to make some fruit mince tarts which will hopefully fulfill the craving for something spiced and fruity and keep the Christmas cake safe for a few more days. The kids made gingerbread houses at our homeschool playgroup, so much fun! And just as much fun to eat, but hmm, too many lollies for my liking, I stretched the eating of it over as many days as I could. I would have liked to have made another bigger one but I don't think we will have time now - and use more dried fruit and nuts for decoration and less lollies. My sister is making one so I'm looking forward to seeing what hers looks like. I found this amazing one which I've saved for inspiration for next year.

Here is the Pepperkake recipe if anyone wants to make it. You can see the original recipe here on Tiny Happy, (I've basically just changed the type of flour/sugar and how I form the biscuits).

:: Pepperkake ::

- 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
- 1 cup white spelt flour
- 1 cup barley flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp finely ground pepper
- 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- 90 grams softened butter
- 3/4 cup rapadura sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Grated rind of one lemon
- Icing sugar and lemon juice for decoration.

Mix the first group of dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and egg until smooth. Then add the molasses, vanilla and lemon rind and beat well. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients. Divide the dough in half and put each half on a large piece of baking paper or glad wrap. Form a log with each piece using the paper to stop getting your hands all sticky. Fold the paper right over the dough and roll it into smooth log. Chill for at least 2 hours. Take the logs out and slice them up so that you have circles of about 1/2 cm thick. The circles will get slightly flattened as you cut them so just reshape them slightly and put onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for about 10 minutes, or until nicely browned.
To make the white icing for decorating, mix some icing sugar with some lemon juice to make a smooth paste. Pipe decorations onto the biscuits once they are cooled.

More Christmas crafting - with Martha Stewart

2011-12-20T13:41:00.000+13:00

I find the Martha Stewart website always has lots of neat ideas for crafts to do with kids. We have made the candy cane mice and the doorbells so far. I love the pinecone elves and the paper plate angels too. I told my sister Frith we were doing some crafts from Martha Stewart and when I spoke to her this morning she had made the paper plate angels and gumdrop snowmen.
If you feel the urge for some last minute Christmas creating I highly recommend you check out Martha Stewart's website.

Christmas decorating and crafting

2011-12-19T16:58:00.000+13:00

We've been having heaps of fun decorating the house and doing Christmas crafts. It's nice this year with the kids being just a little bit older, they understand more what's going on and are more able to join in on the crafting!
Check out my huge christmas cake in the last photo. It's the first time I have made one, I've meant to every year and never quite got around to it. I didn't really have a tin big enough so I made my paper lining come up past the sides to give it some more height - fortunately I did as it rose quite a lot! I'm looking forward to seeing what it tastes like.

Christmas is coming

2011-12-16T08:29:00.000+13:00

Well I think I'm all caught up now on things that have been going on - and can you believe Christmas is so soon! So tomorrow, I'll share some photos of the Christmas crafting and decorating we've been having fun with.
One more Christmas present to buy today, some Christmas cards to post, a good ham to find, and some more baking to do (Pepperkake from Tiny Happy - I make it every year and it's delicious!).
I hope your Christmas preparations are going well xx.

Isla's Birthday

2011-12-15T16:10:00.002+13:00

Yes indeed, so much to catch up on, we celebrated a very special birthday while I was away too. Isla turned four! And with Aaron off to Bangkok on the day of her birthday and with one thing and another she managed to somehow get two birthday celebrations. They were small celebrations, but you know, two small celebrations, in my opinion is better than one big one, don't you think, especially when it means two cakes.

(Spot the birthday bunny rabbit at the ukulele festival)

Australia

2011-12-14T08:20:00.004+13:00

Few more photos :)
We had a trip to Australia to visit family during my little blogging break.

A few more

2011-12-02T22:28:00.001+13:00

A few more random photos from the last two months that I have been away from here.
It's good to be back. Thankyou for your kind comments and for not giving up on me :)

Some photos

2011-12-02T22:01:00.001+13:00

as promised, to get back into the swing of things.

Hello

2011-11-30T08:12:00.001+13:00

Well here I am, finally! Sorry, I truly didn't mean to be gone for so long. There's probably nobody here to read this anymore. What can I say, life has been busy. Sad things, trips away, happy things, work, play, learning, growing.
And then there's just the fact of getting out of the routine of being here. So to get back into it, I'm thinking I might just post photos for a while, from the last almost two months that I've been away.
I hope you are all well, those of you who are still here to read this :)
xx
Hanna

Fresh air does wonders

2011-10-07T11:50:00.000+13:00

We're a bit sick here, bit of a tummy bug going around it seems, Liam's fine of course, he has an iron constitution that boy. Isla has just fallen asleep on the couch. She was sick on Tuesday night and then Wednesday and Thursday kind of bounced back. But yesterday afternoon she went down again and is now having trouble keeping anything in.

I took these photos yesterday morning, the sun was shining, it was one of those perfect Spring days that I love, where the world just seem to be alive and buzzing. Fresh air, warm sun, the hum of bees, monarch butterflies, spring flowers, new growth.

All the fresh air did wonders for a gloomy girl, even her make-believe bunnies came out to play.
(Showing me where her bunny is eating his snack, and showing me how high her bunny hops).

She had enough energy to argue with her brother. And even enough for some trampoline bouncing. Hard to believe now seeing her curled up and washed out asleep on the couch.

Hopefully this will pass quickly and we will be back out there again soon.

Changing rooms

2011-10-05T17:42:00.000+13:00

Way back in July (what! it's October already!) when we shifted into our new finished bedroom, the kids moved into our old room, and their old room got a bit of a spruce up. It was a bit slap dash really, I wasn't too fussed with the paint job as these rooms will have to be completely re-done at some stage. Which meant that I didn't mind that the kids helped out. They loved it! We've been doing so much painting over the last few months and they're always dying to grab a paintbrush and help out. They couldn't quite believe that I said that I needed their help!

We had set the room up as a spare room for guests, but just recently, sorry guests, the sewing table and machines and fabric have claimed the spot. I couldn't take it any longer, it's been such a long time since I've sewed anything, all my fabric is away in storage above our wardrobe in our new room, which means getting out a ladder and a flashlight, which in turn quite quickly dulls any new sewing inspirations. Not good I tell you.

So yay, I've finally done some sewing! And it feels so good.

And it seems that these newly coloured walls are having quite an influence on me, I didn't even realise what I was doing. It wasn't until I finished the dress that it stuck me, hey, what's with all the green.

The top is for Isla, made from a merino top of mine that had a couple of holes in it, the little smock top is for a little friend called Ruby who just turned 1 :) and the dress for me. (Sorry, should have cleaned the children's finger prints off the mirror!).

Outdoor kitchen

2011-09-13T20:24:00.000+12:00

I have had grand plans for a while of making a little outdoor kitchen for the kids so they can make up mud pies etc and food for their make-believe rabbits and horses. A nice little wooden bench with a sink and shelves, and perhaps even a little tap hooked up to the hose for some running water. Some old pots and pans collected from the opp shop, some wooden spoons and such things.

But really, they're quite happy with the piece of old plywood on some concrete blocks that I made the other day. I may make something more permanent later, but for now, as far as they're concerned, it's just perfect.

Full weekend

2011-09-13T07:57:00.002+12:00

Started Friday night with the start of the rugby world cup. We decided to stay home and watch it on tv rather than venturing into town, which in hindsight was a good plan, the amount of people in there was quite rediculous. An amazing opening ceremony and fireworks, which was interesting to view with mr 5 year old Liam next to me on the couch, he hardly took a breath between questions, he didn't quite understand what everybody was doing, and all for just a game, and a cup.
-
Then saturday morning I ventured into town with my sister-in-law Hendrina, and I must say they did a jolly good job of cleaning things up from the night before, there was just the odd straggler around who quite obviously had not yet gone to bed, and some who had decided to just have a wee sleep where they were. We had a lovely morning shopping and wandering and lunching, and the city is feeling so festive with lots of extra visitors in town and everyone wearing their colours. But the highlight, and the main purpose for our visit, was finishing with a fantastic haircut for us both with all the trimmings. It was so good, I've never been one to spend a whole lot of money on my hair but I must say I am very much tempted to return there when I'm due for my next trim!

And then Aaron and the kids picked me up from town and we were off down country a bit for a noisy family reunion next to the racetrack to watch my dad racing. We met up with my sister Frith and family, and the grandchildren had a ball! See that one there below with the helmet on, Saxon, the youngest grandchild, he kept trying to convince Dada he was really quite old now and so should therefore be allowed to race also.
-

Frith and I both had a turn, Frith has been out before but it was my first time, I said I'd only go if he didn't drive too fast! It was rather exhilarating, for the first few corners I was thinking - ok, you can stop accelerating now, there is a corner fast approaching! I think my dad was quite pleased he got me to squeal. But really, I was quite sure that at any moment, those tires were going to let go of the track and we were going to tumble roly-poly over and end up upside down on the grass.

And then sunday it was church in the morning and then the afternoon was filled with friends and lots of rugby and far too many donuts, far, far too many, we're talking hundreds, shared between a disproportionate amount of people - which is the result of having a friend who owns a hot mini donut caravan. And I have to say, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for those hot little sugar and cinnamon covered rings, but yes, you can have too much of a good thing!

I hope you also had a lovely weekend, and wishing you a good week ahead.

I'm a guest today

2011-09-08T15:20:00.003+12:00

over at Smallwoods Studios.
I feel quite flattered! Tamara asked me to compile a list of some of my favourite things, it was quite a nice thing to sit down and think about :)
Pop on over and visit Tamara and say hi from me!

(And because I didn't want to do a post with no photos, here are some photos of silly children.)

Making clay pots

2011-09-07T14:54:00.003+12:00

Liam discovered some clay the other day when we were out doing our gardening - ah yes awful clay soil, the nasty stuff that get's stuck to your gumboots in winter and turns hard as rock in summer, the stuff that veges won't grow in. I'm on a continual quest to get rid of it. But Liam, he loves it, he thinks it's just wonderful. He found a good patch of particularly sticky gluggy stuff that he spent all afternoon shaping into pots, and other such assortments of things.
And then very patiently waited for two days, checking often, to see if they were dry. And then Isla and him spent ages painting them all. Great fun!

New garden beds and strawberries

2011-09-02T12:14:00.005+12:00

:: My garden diary ::

This past week in the garden we have been building a new garden bed. I've bought all my seeds now for this coming season and I have grand plans as you know, but we need more room! My strawberries are kind of taking over my vege garden now so I decided it was time to move them to a new home, under the fruit trees.

We laid scrap paper and cardboard over the lawn and topped with compost and mulch. (Isla got sidetracked browsing women's clothing catalogues).

We picked up a trailer load of mulch from a nearby stable, a lovely mixture of sawdust, hay and horse manure which has been just fantastic, we've covered most of the garden in it and will be going back for more.

We've also planted one lot of peas along the fence now, and will be planting more every few weeks, I'm hoping to be able to have enough to freeze some for later eating. The fruit trees, an apple and a nashi pear will be espaliered along the fence. My job for this coming week is to get some wires attached to the fence to shape my trees onto, and then these wires will be used also to support the peas.

We will also be planting borage and nasturiums in this bed as companion plants, (borage for the strawberries, nasturtium for the trees) and I must collect some pine needles from the park next door to mulch around the strawberries, they seem to love them and apparently it improves their flavour.

Matching necklaces

2011-08-26T15:20:00.007+12:00

While we're on the subject of necklaces purchased from the wonderful world of Etsy...
You might remember the pretty necklace I bought a while back from nz green buttons.

Well I also bought one for my sister Adde, for Christmas last year, and meant to show you and didn't get around to it, and then my other sister Frith has just recently purchased one also. So now all three sisters have matching necklaces.

Adde's is the top one (they come in pretty little bags too!) and Frith's is the bottom one.

I highly reccommend you go and visit nz green button's etsy shop, as she has some other lovely things for sale. I especially have my eye on that crochet floor rug!

Blue hooked bowl.

Vintage Orchid upcycled cards.

Pair of little zip purses.

Treat for the feet.

Spring-time floral cards.

My new necklace

2011-08-24T08:05:00.007+12:00

I love it! It's from Urban Legend, one of my favourite Etsy shops. My sweet older sister Adde, looked in my Etsy favourites list to find my birthday present, sneaky good thinking from her aye! (My birthday was in June before you go wishing me happy birthday by the way - just a belated present:)

Isla loves it too. And loves looking at herself in the mirror.

Sowing tomatoes and making fertiliser

2011-08-23T08:14:00.009+12:00

:: My garden diary ::

This is a catch up post on the gardening diary front, from last week.
It's tomato seedling planting time, it seems so early to be thinking about tomatoes, but I really want to hit the ground running this year. Last year my dream of bottled, dried, sauced tomatoes faded quickly as I got my seedlings in the ground far too late, those weeks just rush by so quickly and before you know it it's Christmas time!

So I've sowed my seeds and they'll be living indoors and being lovingly cared for until the weather is warm enough outside. I've planted a mixture of heirloom varieties and cherry toms.
We also sowed borage, onions and gooseberries to get going indoors.

Second thing that needs to be talked about from last week is liquid fertiliser. If you plan on having a summer garden then get your liquid fertiliser going now!
Go to the oppshop and get yourself an old pillowcase, and fill it with good things. In ours is: sheep manure, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, weeds, comfrey leaves, seaweed, and a little bit of lime (I think that's all). If you look online there are lots of specific recipies and ideas of things you can throw in there.

Then tie up the top of the pillowcase and put it in a big barrel or old rubbish bin or something and fill it with water, make sure it's something with a lid because it's a bit stinky! And then just leave it to do it's thing and by time this new growing season is underway you will have a whole barrel full of wonderful wholesome food for your hungry plants. and it will last you for ages too as it needs to be watered down, put about half a litre into your watering can and top up with water. Your plants will thank you :)

My garden diary

2011-08-22T07:36:00.008+12:00

I seem to have become a little preoccupied with my vege garden just of late. It all started with being determined to be organised this year, which got me thinking, and planning and opening up my books and magazines, which led to trips to the library and the discovery of this book, which I have been carrying with me probably far too much, I'm going to wear the pages out, I'm going to have to buy my own copy. And then it just so happened that I was sent an email invitation to attend a talk by this lovely lady, which has got me even more inspired.

I'm sitting here this morning with a rather sore back from too much enthusiastic gardening, hoping that it will ease shortly so we can get out there again. We have had some beautiful sunny days, it's actually hot out there! And the kids have been enjoying being out there as much as I have, they will quite happily spend the whole day out there, with just the odd toilet break and stopping for food to keep up the energy levels.

So, I thought I would start a garden diary sort of thing on here. Just posting updates now and again of things we've been doing in the garden. For two reasons - it will be helpful for me to look back on next year. And also it may be helpful for you, I'm doing so much research and discovering so many wonderful things, that may help you in your gardening adventures, or perhaps inspire you to start!

The print is from a painting by a local Waihi artist, Helen McCulloch who my sister Frith took some art classes with. Helen had some of her paintings on display at a street fair a while ago and I saw this one and loved it so much. Frith remembered and asked Helen to make a print of it for my birthday :) I have it on the dresser in my bedroom and look at it often, I would love some more of her artwork actually. I couldn't find any of her work online to show you, Frith do you know if she has a website or anything?

The hunt for fabric - with a strange twist

2011-08-18T17:35:00.007+12:00

Ok, so I mentioned in the last post that I've been searching for some fabric to make myself a bedcover. I have something quite specific in mind really, and so of course, I just can't find anything I like, I always do this!
So I thought I'd put it out there, just in case any of you have seen something similar somewhere, and so can help me in my quest :)

Ok, so this is the fabric that is playing on my mind, the fabric on this couch, I just love it so much. I saw this image here on Pinterest (which is a wonderful discovery by the way, I'm warning you, if you visit, it can be quite a time waster, but just full of inspiration). It doesn't have to be exactly like this, but just something similar, big bold green flora of some sort (could be kind of like this).

So I've been thinking about this fabric as I've been searching for something for my bedspread and then, I remembered, I'd seen something similar years ago, it was a chair, covered in a very similar style of fabric. I'd cut the picture out and put it in my scrapbook, this was years ago, like well before Liam was born, so maybe seven years ago. But I remembered it very well and knew exactly where the scrapbook was, so I pulled it out just now, thinking I'll take a picture of it also and put it on here to give you more of an idea of what I'm after, and then
WEIRD! Super strange amazing!
You wouldn't believe it. It's the same fabric. exactly. the. same.
Freaky.

I'm sorry, but that's just really weird. There must be something about me and this fabric. I wonder if I'll ever be able to find it.

House update - we've moved into our bedroom

2011-08-17T07:39:00.002+12:00

This is kind of oldish news, we finished it about a month ago, but for those who don't get to visit often, or ever :), here are some photos.

This is when we first had the carpet laid, this photo reminds me of this one and this one and this one, :) seems they like to celebrate the addition of a new space by racing around on it!

And now with furniture.

We still need to get some side tables, or Aaron might make some, you know with all that spare time he has on his hands :) and I'm on the search for some fabric to make a new bedspread. I have some quite specific fabric in mind and just can't seem to be able to find it.

Ah, it feels so nice to have one room that is all finished, it's a safe haven from the 'building site' out there. Just have to finish the rest of the house out there now :)

Almost Spring in the garden

2011-08-11T08:00:00.006+12:00

Ahhh, it's almost Spring in the garden, and very much feeling so. We have been having some lovely Spring-like days and have been getting out there as much as possible. Dreaming and planning and preparing for the coming season.

Isla making rabbit food. Liam making a worm farm.

My first Iris to flower, in memory of my grandma Iris who passed away this year.

We are looking forward to those broadbeans on the way, the kids love them. And they love searching out ripe guavas!

Finally got my garlic into the ground.

Mum came to stay last week and was a great help in the garden (thanks mum). We have now added another blueberry, a grapefruit, a nashi pear, two grapes, a bay tree, some pretty ornamental plants, sweet peas - and a bird feeder :) to the garden.

Some small heads of brocolli are emerging from my jungle of self-seeded plants :)

Lots of planning happening. Lots of time spent searching through seed catalogues trying to make decisions! My next task is to try and decide what tomatoes I want to plant, there are so many amazing varieties to choose from. Anyone have some favourites they can recommend?

Breaking through from the old to the new

2011-08-02T08:26:00.004+12:00

This was a real milestone moment in the story of our house extension. Breaking the wall down between our little old lounge and our new (almost completed) extension.
Our house has been transformed from a little pokey batch where you had to move about in single file to an open spacious light filled home.

But agh, what a lot of mess! I'm sure you can imagine the mess and dust to clean up afterwards, we did this a few weeks ago and there are still traces of dust hiding here and there.
There is still a lot to do before it is finished, but it's feeling now like we are really truly nearing completion. Next job is to finish oiling the ceilings and painting the ceiling beams and then we can lay the oak floors, can't wait!
And, we have also moved into our new bedroom, another milestone moment, but that can be another post.

And just an update on the whooping cough - we are coming out of the fog, finally. We're rather tired but feeling a little more relaxed that we are over the worst of it. Liam has pretty much stopped coughing and Isla is only having a few bad coughs at night, but it's not scarey anymore. We had three nights of scarey with Isla, when I was just willing her to take another breath! I have done a lot of research on remedies for fighting whooping cough, and we have been taking all sorts of vitamins and herbal teas and concoctions. I could write a book!

Photos by Liam

2011-07-22T08:31:00.005+12:00

Thanks for all your birthday wishes for Liam. He still on a birthday high. Especially since his camera arrived in the post yesterday.

He got up one morning about a month ago and decided that I needed to teach him how to use my camera.

And so I obliged, showed him how to be very careful with it, always put the strap around his neck, which buttons to press, he learnt how to check the photos he'd taken, how to use the zoom, how to re-charge the batteries and put them back in the camera.

I thought the novelty might wear off after a few days, but no.

He was very careful with my camera, but it did make me a bit nervous.

So I thought I would check if I could get him a little second-hand digital camera for his birthday.

And yes, I found cheap little second-hand cameras in abundance on Trade Me. I managed to get a very tidy little Nikon point-and-shoot for only $20.

He has probably taken more than fifty photos since it arrived yesterday afternoon, it hasn't left his side, in fact I am having photos taken of me while I write this.

I now need to teach him how to have a critical eye and assess the photos he's taken or we will be having storage issues soon :)

And as a side note, sorry I've been so absent here of late. The little people have a nasty nasty cough that has been going on and on. It is looking rather a lot like whooping cough. We have all had quite enough, so I've been doing a lot of research and I now have them on an intensive regime of remedies and therapies :) that hopefully will do the trick.

(All photos by Liam)

Happy Birthday Liam!

2011-07-19T20:48:00.006+12:00

Our little boy turned 5 today! Wow! Not so little anymore.

He was so excitied about turning five, oh yes, he's been counting down for about 3 months. It's been marked on the calendar and the days have been crossed off. High expectations for this day, and long present wish-lists.

I have been told, that when you turn five your teeth fall out and then that means you can drive a car. Also that when you turn five you can read, and write, instantly, he's been practising his writing on and off all day (a collection of letters he know's how to draw in different orders and then I have to tell him what they say).

GG came to stay from Australia so of course Liam was thoroughly spoiled by his adoring grandmother :) who helped to make all his birthday wishes and expectations come true :).
(Including and most importantly the requested quad bike shirt which she had to have custom made after searching for about three months for one).

He decided about a month ago that we were going to go go-karting for his birthday, we had to write it down so that we would not forget. (We drove smaller ones than this but unfortunately I didn't get any photos as I had to be Isla's driver lady, she was just a little bit scared). Liam couldn't get enough, it was quite hard to get him to leave.

Cake is a must, of course, for birthdays, and somehow this boy managed to get two this time around. And jelly, for dinner tonight, apparently you have to have jelly on your birthday.

So he's gone to bed tonight tired, and full, and happy and surrounded by special new things and birthday love and wishes.

Happy birthday our dear sweet Liam boy.
xx

Winter wool coat

2011-06-23T20:33:00.009+12:00

The majority of the sewing I seem to do these days is kind of rushed and simple - a quick pair of pants for the kids or a shirt for one of them made out of an old shirt of mine. So it was quite nice for a change to slow down a bit and do something 'properly' following a pattern and all that jazz. Basting and pressing and clipping and topstitching, and all that jazz.

This coat was made for someone else, little Campbel from Lil Knight Lights. Stacey was after a nice warm winter coat for Cam and couldn't find one that she liked so asked if I would sew one up for her.

I was pleased with how it all came together, and that curved yoke wasn't as tricky as I thought it might have been, I will definately be making one for Isla for next year. The pattern goes up to size 6, so I may just be making a few.

I used this pattern purchased from Etsy. I changed it a bit by adding a hood, changing how the buttons fastened, and adding extra length to the arms as Stacey wanted rolled up cuffs.

I also added a little pocket to the inside for holding treasures.

The apple picking fabric is a vintage cotton that I have had for ages, I love it so much, it has been used for many projects, there's only a few scraps left now.

As you can see it fitted Isla perfectly! Kind of tempting to keep it :)
But no, it has been sent on it's merry way, and Stacey, you must send me a picture of Cam wearing it :)

Sunny winter day

2011-06-22T20:48:00.004+12:00

What a beautiful winter's day it was today. We made the most of it and went for a walk this morning. It was a great start to the day, I'd like to do it more often.
Hope you're all well out there, sorry for the little blogging break again, I've been really quite slack lately haven't I. Lots happening though, I promise I'll update more often.

Green smoothie

2011-05-30T20:50:00.005+12:00

I could do with one of these right now, actually, feeling rather tired. The smallest one in the house has been waking, when she shouldn't be. Better make one for breakfast tomorrow I think.

I thought I'd just share this, as it is surprising just how much leafy green goodness you can pack into a smoothie and it still taste good, truly, you must try it.

I just throw whatever in really, but this one pictured was made with:
- 1 banana
- a BIG handful of spinach and silverbeet from the garden
- 2 tsp spirulina powder
- apple juice

It's a great way to get leafy greens into the kids, Isla is not fond of leafy greens with her dinner but will quite happily down one of these smoothies.
You can use any greens you like, I have some kale starting to grow now so I'll be using that soon, but just as a note, if you use kale it does need to be steamed slightly first as it is actually a brassica and not good to eat raw. And any fruit you have in the house, I freeze surplus fruit in season and throw into my smoothies frozen, makes a nice cold drink :). If you have lots of fruit you don't need to use juice. Also you can make it with milk, soy, or coconut milk.

Picking apples

2011-05-20T10:48:00.004+12:00

This is a park my friends. What a beautiful discovery.

Recycling clothes

2011-05-19T08:19:00.005+12:00

Before I drop off unwanted clothes at the opp shop, I always have a check through and put aside any clothes that have potential to be turned into new clothes.
These pants for Isla were made from an old singlet of mine. I made the stretchy waistband out of some knit fabric scraps.

It always feel good turning something unwanted into something new and useful :)

Foxy had a birthday

2011-05-17T14:57:00.003+12:00

Liam woke up yesterday and decided it was Foxy's birthday.
Meet Foxy everyone. He turned four yesterday.

It was quite a good way really to pass another rainy day indoors.
We made cake and blew up balloons and invitations were made. Guests arrived bit by bit throughout the day, Liam kept announcing that someone was knocking on the door, I kept thinking there really was someone knocking on the door, and then I'd remember.

The re-arranging of the books was something to do with the birthday party. Not really sure how it related, all I know is that they were a pain to get tidied up afterwards.

At afternoon tea time we sang happy birthday and Foxy blew out his candles, and then it was cake and tea for everyone :)

Volkswagen Nationals

2011-05-16T12:34:00.003+12:00

My dad is just slightly obsessed with volkswagens :) and it's kind of rubbed off on everyone else in the family a bit. So when we found out the Volkswagen Nationals were to be held locally this year we just had to go of course.

This is the one I would like.

Aaron prefers these.

I wouldn't say no to this one.

Liam's favourite :)

And Isla's favourite thing at the show :)

All about rabbits

2011-05-12T07:59:00.000+12:00

I haven't been here much this year have I, what with one thing and another. But I have a new computer now, and it finally feels like we are kind of in a rhythm for the year, finally :)
So hopefully I might be back here with some kind of regularity now.

Yesterday was a rainy windy very insidey kind of day - we seem to be having a lot of those lately, so we spent pretty much the whole day crafting and making.

Rabbits are the in thing at the moment. In fact most of the time Isla is not actually a small girl but in fact a rabbit, she refers to herself as 'this rabbit' in conversation.

We went for a walk last sunday, and they both insisted on being led (we saw a pet rabbit being led on a lead a while back). So I had Pipi the dog on one lead while Aaron had Liam and Isla the rabbits on a lead each. We did get a few strange looks :). But you know it is quite handy when your children like to be tied up, keeps them out of trouble anyway! ha!

So any sort of crafting involving rabbit just goes down a treat around these parts. And having a computer and the internet up and running again means access to all sorts of printables and colouring pages :) an endless source of entertainment for indoorsy rainy days.

The little Peter Rabbit dolls came from here.

We also did some collage, using pictures from old children's story books and rabbit pictures we printed off the internet.

Liam really got into the swing of things and went off and made this next one all by himself, choosing the pictures himself and cutting and pasting away. Kept him busy for ages, and what a neat picture he created :)

I bought them a folder each to keep their artworks in, they really love them and keep wanting to make new things to put into their folders. It's still quite a novelty working out how the folder clip and lever works. They clip and unclip and lift levers and take pictures out and put them back in again and re-lever and re-clip :) a great source of entertainment.

Silly computer

2011-04-27T21:41:00.002+12:00

Hi everyone, just a quick note to say my computer is doing silly things so is off to be repaired (hopefully) so I will be away for a bit (hopefully not too long). You don't realise how much you use your computer till it's gone! (I've just stolen Aaron's phone for a bit to write this) xx Hanna.

Healthy 'easter egg' recipe and hot chocolate

2011-04-21T14:46:00.008+12:00

Hi everyone, oops where did that week go, I'm determined to keep up with my posting, I must get back into the routine of it!

Today we've been doing a bit of easter making, we made some 'easter eggs' which are not really easter eggs but actually Raw Cinnamon-Sunflower Truffles. A yummy alternative to chocolate eggs. The kids thought it was pretty cool to make special little 'easter eggs', and they don't give them a sugar high!

:: Raw Cinnamon-Sunflower Truffles ::
(From http://www.nourishngmeals.com/)

- 2 cups raw sunflower seeds
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup pitted dried dates
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp dark agave nectar or maple syrup* (I used some honey and stewed apple here instead)
- unsweetened shredded coconut

Place the sunflower seeds, cinnamon, and sea salt into a food processor fitted with the "s" blade. Process until seeds are very finely ground. It only takes a minute or so.
Then add the dates and oil. Process again until combined and sticky. Only add the agave or maple syrup if need be. Your dates may be moist enough and you might not need extra sweetener. Check to see if you can form a truffle by rolling some of the mixture in your hands. If it falls apart then add the sweetener and process again.
Scoop out the sunflower mixture by the large spoonful and roll into balls. Then roll in shredded coconut. Store in the fridge for up to 10 days.

We had some for morning tea with a hot chocolate - and that's another recipe that I need to share with you, homemade hot chocolate mix, so easy, so good. I use organic cocoa and organic sugar and it's so much cheaper doing it yourself than buying it pre-made.

The recipe is from Real Simple, Chocolate Chunk Hot Cocoa Mix - sometimes I add the chocolate chunks and sometimes I don't, of course it's a bit more decadent with the chocolate chunks :).

We've wrapped a few of our easter eggs up to give away and we made some special cellophane window cards too.

So that's kept us busy for the day and we are very much looking forward to the long weekend. We have much planned including some long overdue work on the house extension, catching up with family, but most importantly of all we will be reflecting on Easter and remembering Christ's sacrifice for us.
I wish you all a joyful and relaxing long weekend xx

More photos - our beach holiday

2011-04-14T13:30:00.006+12:00

A few of you asked about the beach photos from the last post, here are some more of the same spot. A most amazing spot. We took a week holiday and we had extended family dropping in for a few days each. So peaceful, so beautiful, so relaxing. Hopefully one day we might be able to visit there again.

A few photos

2011-04-12T15:52:00.004+12:00

From the last couple of months... (Thanks everyone for your warm welcome back xx)

Surprise! I'm back!

2011-04-11T12:55:00.011+12:00

{Welcome home sign for Aaron returning from Italy}

Hi! I just checked, January 25th was the last time I posted, what! I really did not mean to be gone so long. I know you are all SO tired of reading 'Summer Gardening', I mean come on Craftykin, it's not even summer anymore! There has just been so much life going on, I just haven't made it back here, I don't really know where to start, so I think I just won't, lets just say there's been stuff, and lots of it. I think, to get myself slowly back into the routine of this, that for the next week I might just post a few photos that I've taken since I've been gone. And to anyone that's still here, thanks for not giving up on me :) xx

Summer gardening

2011-01-25T13:45:00.007+13:00

We live in a pretty mild climate here, which means the vege garden goes all year round really, but of course there is nothing like a summer garden :) I love the vege garden in summer.

Sorry I haven't been posting much of late, I can see that it might just be like this until summer comes to an end really, because I just love summer in general, not just in the vege garden, and I'm just not finding many chances to sit down here at the computer. Don't you just feel so alive in summer? Longer days, lots of time spent outside, time in the sun and the fresh air and the salt water. Anyway, I digress. I have extended my garden to twice the size this year, and I'm feeling quite good as I look out the window at all the growth and colour out there, because this time last year that extra space was a very unpractical not used at all space filled with sharp horrible to walk on stones. And now it's all growing nicely with lots of good things to eat. I've been snapping photos over a few months of what's been happing out there, so here is a little story of how our garden grows:

This is what it looked like in April last year.

And then in July, my dad came and helped me lay paths and fill it up with lovely new soil.

In September we started planning and planting seeds.

Meanwhile the kids sandpit was still a pond/swimming pool.
We planted garlic in August, growing there to the left of the picture.

October we started planting out our little seedlings

And finally filled up the sandpit with sand :)

November and December were all about watering and weeding and tidying up the old garden.
- With my little helper always by my side. Liam enjoys it too, but Isla is just a born gardener, very diligent and careful, I can leave her a task of planting out seedlings and she'll do the whole lot herself without me even really watching. Aunty Adde bought her some matching garden shoes 'just like mum's ones' and Granma bought her her own set of gardening tools :)

And now in January it's flourishing. From dry sharp stoney, nastyness :) to lovely delicious goodness :)

But you know what I actually love most about this new garden, is the kids sandpit in amongst it. We all end up spending more time out there as we can hang out together, going about our busy tasks together. It's nice and peaceful, especially in the morning while that part of the garden is still shady and cool.

Yes! She's finally added a new post!

2011-01-18T19:39:00.004+13:00

Sorry people, I know so many of you were sick of seeing 'Christmas Eve'
- come on lady it is so far past Christmas eve that it's just getting a little ridiculous.

We're kind of getting back into the swing of things now, so here's a few photos from our Christmas break to start off the new year. Hope you are all well! xx

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T08:16:00.003+13:00

Oh there's been a lot of counting down the sleeps around these parts. It's getting all rather exciting really, I'll be surprised if they settle well to sleep tonight! We're heading off on Christmas morning to spend time with family out of town, we'll be away a few days, and yes, it's all very exciting. Liam talks about it, oh, about one hundred times a day.

The advent calendar has really helped both kids get a feel for the passing of time and the counting down to this special day. They love taking turns opening the little window and discovering what's hiding behind.

We've also been celebrating advent by lighting candles every night at dinner time. One the first week, two the second week, and so on. The kids have enjoyed it so much. The first night while the candle was lit I sang them 'Away in a manger', as this was the first Christmas carol that came to mind. We have sung it every night since and the children are starting to know the words, it is hilarious, they take it very seriousy, we have taken a video of it which will be so fun to look back on in a few years time.

On Christmas morning we will light the orange candle also, to remind us of the birth of Jesus, the Light of the World.

And here is the nativity set that I mentioned I'd bought and have been meaning to show you, isn't it just so cute! I bought it off Felt, it is made by this clever lady. The manger is empty at the moment but on Christmas morning baby Jesus will be found asleep in the hay.

And the Christmas tree we made after seeing them here, there is a tutorial if you feel like doing some last minute crafting :)

I hope your Christmas preparations are going well and you have a lovely day tomorrow.
Merry Christmas all!
xx
Hanna

Dress from a tablecloth - easy tutorial

2010-12-17T07:11:00.010+13:00

I was walking past the linen cupboard the other day, and this tablecloth happened to catch my eye. We're having a hot start to our summer so my mind has been on dresses, cool floaty, let-the-breezes-in kind of dresses. And I suddenly thought, hey, that fabric would make a great dress. So I pulled it out and held it up to see if it would be long enough and if it would go around me and just kind of winged it from there.

And I'm so pleased with the results, I've worn it so much already and it has been a lifesaver in the hot and humid and sticky weather we have been having.
It was super easy to make, it's just a big rectangle really, so I thought I'd write up a tutorial, just incase you have a tablecloth around that would rather have life has a dress. A short tablecloth would make a great tunic top too.

:: How to make a super easy breezy tablecloth dress (or tunic top) ::

- Find a tablecloth that fits around you nicely, with enough room for easy walking/moving and the right length for where you want the hem to finish - you can always alter the hem line of course but that's just more work :)
- Fold it in half and hold it up to your body and mark with a pin where you want your arm holes to finish and where you want your neck opening.
- And then sew up to those marks like this.

- Check you are happy with the size of your armhole and then cut an armhole in the folded side to match (as shown above), finish this cut edge by folding over the edge twice, just a little bit, so the raw edge is hidden and sew in place.

- Put the dress on and mark with a pin under the bust, where you want your first line of gathering to start.
- Lay the dress on the floor and draw a horizontal line at the mark you have made, with a ruler and washable pencil or tailors chalk. Draw this line right around the body, front and back.
- Time to sew your first row of shirring. (*See below if you've never sewed with shirring elastic before).
- Keep sewing rows of shirring using your first row as a guide to keep you straight, until you have enough. I did 8 rows and they were about 1/2 cm apart.
- And that's it! Unless you want to change your neckline, (you will have a boat neck style neckline at this stage). Put your dress on and mark with a pin how deep you want your neckline to go, take the dress off and fold it in half down the front of the dress and cut a nice curve (through two layers) to your marked point. Try it on and check you're happy with the shape and then finish the raw edge as you did with the armhole.

*To sew with shirring elastic
- Wrap shirring elastic around a bobbin by hand, making sure you don't stretch it as you go.
- Put your bobbin into your sewing machine and just use regular top thread.
- Sew with the correct side of your fabric facing up so that the elastic will be on the inside.
- At the start and the end of each row of sewing, turn your stitch length to zero and sew a few stitches, this secures it tightly.
- Your first row will not be very gathered, but the more rows you do the more gathered the fabric will become.

Have fun! I want to see photos if you make one!

Sourdough crumpets

2010-12-16T09:45:00.005+13:00

I'm still enjoying making my sourdough bread (recipe in the sidebar there). I left my starter for a while when we went away recently, I just threw it in the fridge, and forgot about it, for a few weeks! It was looking really sad, and every time I opened the fridge it stared at me with it's sad eyes, I was sure I had ruined it. But no, I just gave it another stir and started feeding it again, and in no time it was working it's wonders again, great stuff!

I've been keeping my eye out for other recipes to use my sourdough starter for. These sourdough crumpets are really delicious, even Isla loves them, she often isn't that keen on homebaking/bready things. I must make another batch. I made a double batch and put heaps in the freezer but we have eaten them all already. Just look at that crumpety goodness. We just put them frozen into the toaster and eat them with melted butter and jam.

The recipe is from this book, Full Moon Feast, which is a great book by the way if you can get your hands on it for a read.

:: Sourdough crumpets ::
From Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice

- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 1/4 cup milk (I didn't add this as my starter was a good pancake-ish sort of consistency)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- butter, ghee, or coconut oil for frying

Mix all ingredients together. Turn your oven on to 180 celcius. Heat up a large oven-proof frypan over medium heat and melt your butter/oil. Place as many rings (from the lids of wide-mouthed preserving jars) as possible into your frypan. Pour your batter into the rings and reduce the heat to low. The batter should quickly become full of holes. Cook for a minute or two and then transfer your frypan to the oven to finish cooking, which should only take a few more mins.

Christmas decorating

2010-12-14T13:02:00.008+13:00

I've been snapping photos here and there of our Christmas decoration happenings. It's always so much fun getting out that suitcase again and re-discovering all the little bits and pieces stored inside. The kids are really enjoing it this year, just being that little bit older, so they understand more what's happening.

I've just realised I haven't taken a photo of the nativity set I bought, it's so cute - photo to come later this week :) Must get back to my to-do list :)

It's raining! woo hoo!

2010-12-14T10:42:00.006+13:00

I can't remember the last time we had rain, but this morning we woke up to the sounds of raindrops on the roof, ah, it feels so good! - even though it's hot and sticky and humid now :)
I'm sure my garden is very much enjoying it.

Last week mum came to stay with my little nephew Saxon, the kids had so much fun together!

{Getting into the fruit box with a pair of scissors each }

Busy week this week, Christmas is approaching oh so quickly and my to do list is a little long, lots and lots of little jobs to do, not sure where to start really.

How about you? Feeling organised for Christmas and the end of the year, or a little headless-chickeny like me?

Anyway, I'm off to try and get some things crossed off that list.
Have a happy day.

Lovely parcels in the mail

2010-12-08T11:36:00.006+13:00

We recieved a very fun parcel in the mail today, all the way from Japan!
Diane from Monkey Magic sent us some wonderful goodies. We decided to do a little swapsie, just for fun. We're still collecting up a few more bits and pieces and then we'll be sending off our parcel, on a little trip to Japan. Such fun, I do love sending and receiving mail. Not including bills of course :)

The kids enjoyed the sweet treats, thankyou Keita :)

And look at the rest of the goodies! Eeeee, love the fabrics!

Nursery rhyme/fairy tale calendar - so CUTE. And sweet little wooden gift tags.

And Japanese craft books! I'd love to visit Japan one day, but I'd have to take a whole extra suitcase with me for the all craft books I'd want to take home.

Ahhh, I just want to start sewing, right now!

Thankyou so much Diane for your sweetness and kindness xx

Taking time out

2010-12-07T09:39:00.006+13:00

It's so easy to get caught up in just being busy with day to day 'chores', don't you think. One day blends into another, the weeks rush by. We made a spur of the moment decision to go beach exploring in the weekend. There were chores to do, the lawns needed mowing, they're still un-mown, but they can wait till next week now. Aaron calls it making memories. If we'd stayed at home we would have had a cleaner house, and tidy lawns, but that passage of time would have passed and been forgotten quickly. Instead we have memories now that may always be there, of our first visit to a new beach, big high slightly scarey stairs, fresh sea air, treasures being found, blue starfish, splashing in sea puddles, splashing waves, running in the sand, an excited dog running too, wet clothes, sandy feet, time together.

Perhaps this week, just once even, put aside your 'chore' and instead turn that small piece of time into something that you will remember.

Happy birthday Isla!

2010-12-02T08:26:00.006+13:00

I'm finally posting pictures from Isla's 3rd birthday on Saturday.
She had such fun!

New wooden highchair from here.

She had been telling me for months she wanted a 'doddy' cake. I kept re-asking her incase she'd changed her mind, I wan't quite sure how I was going to create a doggy cake. She was pleased with the results :)

She was very pleased with the birthday crown (that I actually made last year and forgot to give to her). Notice Liam wore his one too :)
I love all the different ways the crown was worn.

Children's painted garland

2010-11-26T12:53:00.004+13:00

Oh boy it's hot today, so this will be a quick post, It's too hot to type!

If you're in a similar situation to me, and your children are really into painting at the moment, and you're ending up with heaps of beautiful paintings, and you're running out of space for them, then here is a great way to use them.

It's Isla's birthday tomorrow, so perfect timing for festive garland making. But really, you don't need an excuse for garland making do you, a garland brightens up any day.
Happy weekending everyone.

captured moment

2010-11-24T17:52:00.003+13:00

Oh hello, very quick post indeed, because I had to share this neat photo my sister Frith took of her boys. What a great capture yes?

Hope you all had a lovely day.
Ours involved cracker baking, a little gardening, pushes on the swings, fruit smoothie iceblocks, flat bread baking, watercolour painting, painted paper bunting making (for Isla's birthday this weekend!), a thorough clean and dust and organise of the kids bedroom, peanut butter cookie baking, time in the sandpit, planning birthday lunch treats, pondering over where I'm going to store my huge 22kg bag of spelt flour that is taking up precious floor space in my kitchen, a very sweet nativity set purchased (I shall show you when it arrives), piles of folded washing put away, paprika chicken casserole in the oven for dinner.
Hmm when you write it down it does sound surprisingly productive actually :)

exploring treasures

2010-11-23T15:37:00.003+13:00

Another one of those times, when one of the children are oh so quiet, suspiciously quiet.
This is what I found.

It kept her quiet and entertained for a very long time.

I remember exploring my mother's jewellery boxes when I was little. An amazing little wonderland of treasures :)

Creative play - wooden fences

2010-11-19T08:15:00.004+13:00

Another project we have made from the Creative Play books I mentioned the other day are the wooden fences. I've only made five so far, but I do intend to make more, they are quite fun to make. We used some branches pruned from our plum tree.

I came out into the building extension the other day to discover this amazing zoo that Liam had made. I love the iceburg. All the other bits of wood are building scraps.

Here are some of my other favourite projects from the books. Such simple and clever ideas.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend. I hope you have some nice things planned. We have my sister and husband and my nephew visiting tomorrow and my nephew will be staying a night which the kids are very much looking forward too. And perhaps a Santa parade to go to, if it's not raining, which it looks as though it just might be - oh how we need some rain! The ground is so dry and summer has barely begun. See you all next week, we're just off to take the dog for a walk to the postshop - while the weather is still fine :)

Knitted rabbits

2010-11-17T14:17:00.005+13:00

I'm here posting because I haven't got the energy to be doing anything else. You should see the state of the house. I had a big clean up on the weekend and was feeling all satisfied and happy, but all it takes is two days of being sick and the place is a shambles.

Liam is right into cutting paper with scissors at the moment, so that doesn't help, as you can imagine.

Actually they're both into cutting with scissors, and not just paper. They have been so good and understanding really about mum being sick and having no energy, they have been playing so nicely together, most of the time. Yesterday as we waited for Dad to bring takeaways home for dinner they were playing outside so nice and quietly and I really didn't want to disturb them.

But of course I should have, because it's always those really quiet times that need to be checked on, I don't seem to learn. They had been at my garden with the scissors, I don't mind grass being cut, and even the mint that's growing a bit wild, but the pretty flowers in the front garden, hmmm. Lets just say the geraniums have had a good pruning! (These ones).

Anyway, the rabbits are from these books (can't remember which one). Such great books, these are library copies but I'm thinking I might buy them.

I've also made one for a little friend of ours which I forgot to take a photo of (Luke next time we visit can I photograph your bunny please.) And I have one on the needles destined for a Christmas present.

Can you believe these are made from a knitted square, so simple and yet so cute. I can see myself making many more of these.

There are so many more great projects in these books, perhaps I'll show some photos tomorrow, I think we have quite enough photos for one post already :)

The flu

2010-11-16T15:45:00.003+13:00

Well there you go, I didn't have 'get the flu' written on my things-to-do list for this week. But there you have it. This remedy always works wonders though. Small pieces of garlic rolled in manuka honey, swallowed with a glass of water.

This week

2010-11-15T06:58:00.011+13:00

Monday morning, always has me wondering what the week ahead might bring. I have to say I'm not a morning person, it takes me about 1/2 an hour, at least, for my head to unfog. It's because of the little people in the house really. More often than not it's them that wake me, and then I'm straight into it, no quiet time in which to become aquainted with the new day. At this time of day any loud noises or fast movements tend to make my head hurt. Anyone else like this? The first thing I do, after attending to any urgent small people requests, is turn the coffee machine on, I'm somewhat dissapointed really to say that I'm addicted. It's not until after a nice hot strong coffee that my head begins to clear, and if I don't have it by 10.30 then a headache start to creep it's way in. Only one coffee a day mind you, just the morning one and then I'm fine for the rest of the day, so it could be worse.

So what will today and this week bring. I feel busy at the moment, that feeling of things needing to be attended to but not really being sure of what they are exactly. I think it's Christmas, and the end of the year, I get this deadline kind of feeling. So I'm writing lots of lists.
This week there will be:
Some house painting - a little bit everyday hopefully, I'm chipping away at it bit by bit, though today looks like rain. A couple of parcels to post in the mail. Hopefully some sewing, a dress for me that's almost finished. More knitting, a Christmas gift. Some Christmas gift purchases to be made. A food order arriving to fill up the pantry jars again. Library visit. Time spent in the garden, I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy some tomato plants as my seedlings are growing so slowly and I'm starting to get twitchy. Play dates for the kids. Isla's upcoming birthday party to think about. And then of course all the regulars, cleaning, cooking, baking, washing etc.
What do you have planned for the week ahead?

The flowers are Liam's collections, he loves bringing in flowers to me, I just need to teach him to pick them with a bit of a stalk so we can put them in vases instead of bowls :)

Cake recipies to start the weekend

2010-11-12T14:20:00.005+13:00

Sorry, I've been a bit absent this week, where has the week gone!
Thought it might be nice to share some recipies today, just in case you have a some time to do a little baking over your weekend.

Honeyed seed cake -

I found this recipe on this lovely blog - Sensible Living (recipe here). It's delicious and certainly deserves a mention, and I will certainly be making it again. I'll be copying it into my recipe box, when I finally remember to buy some more index cards. (The only change I made was using all wholemeal spelt flour instead of a mix of all purpose and whole wheat).

Banana oatmeal cake -

I made this a couple of weeks ago when I had very little flour in the house, and lots of oats, and ripe bananas. I just typed banana oatmeal cake into google, and found this. It's yummy, and will also be going into the recipe box for making again. (I altered it a bit by using all wholemeal spelt flour, halving the amount of sugar to 1/2 C, and only loosely followed the frosting recipe which I only made up a very small amount of - it was plenty sweet enough).

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you may have planned :)

The other felted animals

2010-11-09T13:31:00.002+13:00

Following on from my post on Friday, here is the rest of the clan of felted animals that mum has been making. Cute!
Hope you all had a great weekend.

Ruby Rabbit and Blueberry Bear

2010-11-04T14:19:00.003+13:00

I've been meaning to share with you these new little friends we received in the post a while back. My mum has a new obsession, needle felting. (She's gone a little crazy actually, you should see the clan of critters that are starting to take over her home).

Aren't they just the cutest! Liam and Isla think they're pretty great.

They're quite little, I've just used Pipi as a size comparison for you here. (She gave them a sniff and then dared not look at them as I sternly told her no - she is a little fond of chewing the odd thing we are discovering).

I meant to take photos when we visited of all the other critters mum has been creating, there is an owl, and a dog, a little bird, a cow, another rabbit if I remember rightly - anyway, mum, your assignment is to please take some photos of them for me, thankyou :)

The necklace

2010-11-03T16:46:00.004+13:00

from yesterday's post, that I was wearing with my new shirt. I love it so much, and I have to say it's even more pretty in real life.

It is from a very clever lady called Louana who you can visit here. I saw it on her blog a few weeks ago (here), and rushed over to her shop right away, thinking, It'll be sold already, but no, fortunately it was still there, waiting for me. I had in my mind that it would be for one of my sisters for Christmas, but you know, I think I might just have to keep it for myself, mean aye. I'm not completely convinced that it is either of their styles really, (or maybe that's just an excuse). And I already have other Christmas presents planned for them now anyway, perhaps if you guys do really like it we could convice Louanna to make us some more, for your birthdays? Does that make up for it :)

I really do like opp shopping

2010-11-02T20:57:00.008+13:00

So many blog posts just get posted in my mind you know, I mean to, I write them down in my head, the photos are there to be shown, and then I just don't quite make it to the computer, and then it seems like too long ago, and new things are happening, I never catch up with myself.
So today, we're just going to forget about the ones that are lined up waiting for their turn to be shown and we're actually going to post something from today, and actually this is only because Aaron is still not home because his plane has been delayed and so I'm not sitting on the couch chatting to him and catching up on the day's events and non-events. But instead it's quiet in the house and the folding of the washing can wait till tomorrow. Though I will get up soon and put the jug on to boil for a cup of tea on my own because I've just remembered I made chocolate brownie right before dinner and it's sitting on the bench still.

I haven't been opp shopping for quite a while really, but today, I dragged the kids around the opp shops, probably far too many opp shops really, as I paid for it later with two kind of grumpy tired children.

I haven't been opp shopping so much lately because, frankly, I don't really need anything more in my house, it is a very tiny house, and I'm trying to cut down on things. I have an idea that less things means less tidying that needs to be done, not sure if this theory really works, but anyway. And if I see something really good at the opp shop, then I do find it hard to just leave it behind, well actually I can't just leave it behind, you know, if you're an opp shopper yourself you'll understand that, so anyway I figure it's just best not to look.

But it really is such a good way to shop, for so very many reasons. A big thing for me is the cost, I'm rather frugal really, not a big spender at all, I think I should have been born in my great grandmother's generation where everything was saved, and mended, and made into new things. And I do like to have and use good quality things, and my frugality often doesn't feel comfortable with the money that generally needs to be handed over in order to have and use those sorts of things.

And then there's the treasures. Treasures to be found that make your heart a little fluttery for just a bit, and make you smile. Like that book on top of the pile just there. "John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat". A book from my childhood. It was my sister Frith's favourite book when she was little, my baby sister, literally. She loved that book so much that she knew all the words off by heart. I was only small myself and yet I remember it so vividly. I read it to the kids tonight when I put them to bed, it felt so nice, it kind of made me feel goosebumpy, silly aye.

Introducing Pipi

2010-10-29T16:45:00.003+13:00

We have a new member of our family, totally spur of the moment, we came back from our holiday with some extra luggage in our car, fluffy luggage with a wagging tail.

We have adopted my mum's dog Pipi. She has settled right in as though she's always been here. The kids are just loving having her around.

I know it looks like she is being harrassed here, but she loves it truly, her tounge is out trying to lick them most of the time, and the tail is wagging furiously.

Being lovingly fed pieces of bark stripped from their building blocks, which she happily chewed into tiny pieces.

This photo was take at mum's before we had any inkling that she'd be coming home with us.

Lovely mail

2010-10-28T14:23:00.004+13:00

We arrived home from our trip away to this oh so lovely mail waiting for us. An unexpected parcel of treasures from Jessicah (her blog Spinning a Yarn). What a lovely thing to come home to, thanks so much Jessicah!

Some neat old Play School books with heaps of activities to do with the kids - I love this sort of thing. A big pile of embroidery threads in every colour that you can imagine. Some of her very own beautiful yarn. Some lollies and some seeds for our garden. And all tied up with a silk scarf that Ilsa is quite fond of.

Right away, right after the lollies were opened of course, the bean seeds were planted. With the help of my little planting friend, she is a very careful and diligent seed planter, which is proving to be helpful indeed with all the seed planting busyness at this time of the year. The sweet peas and zucchini will follow suit shortly, as soon as I decide on a good spot for them. Jessica included a copy of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' to go with our bean seeds, Liam is quite fascinated with the story. I wonder if our seeds will grow right up to the sky and through the clouds too!

And a close up of that yarn, so lovely. (She sells her lovely yarns here by the way).

Busy back at home

2010-10-27T16:40:00.004+13:00

We had a lovely little holiday away, the kids had all sorts of adventures, which will continue to be talked about for a while. We came back tired but happy. And we had a gloriously sunny long weekend, Monday was a public holiday. It really feels like summer is here all of a sudden, yay.

I'm always saying this

2010-10-14T16:13:00.015+13:00

...that my weeks just disappear, another one, almost gone, I've been a bit slack in my blogging haven't I, time just races sometimes, I've been meaning to blog, but each day just disappears.
We've been busy, just doing things, as you do. Lots of things I mean to write about, but I just don't find the time to write the words down. So instead, how about a few photos from our week, and just a few words, so that you know we are still alive, and then I'm off to try a new recipe, from that Nourishing Traditions book there above, a book that deserves a whole post of it's own, so interesting. And another book in that stack too deserves a proper mention - Warm Bread and Honey Cake - so good.

Highlight of the week, Aunty Frith coming to stay for two nights!

Finally a bit of sewing, it's been a while. Inspired by Frith's visit.

Eating the first of the broadbeans from the garden.

I just noticed the broccoli has tiny little minature heads!

Sugar snap peas are quickly growing.

This sweet little pea is growing quickly too - cousin Olivia. Isla is in love.

... and this sweet little pea is growing quickly too, our wee friend Ruby. As you can see Isla is in love with the new girls in her life!

And Aaron's been building which means offcuts to play with.

We've had a milestone this week - they are sharing a room! And it's working surprisingly well!

Tried out our new juicer from the opp shop, I've always wanted one. Carrot, orange and kiwifruit juice, delicious.

And this has been looking at me for two days, and has just been added this afternoon. Hmm, I suppose I better do it tonight.

And this is the reason the washing has piled so high (well part of it anyway :) I must admit to a strong dislike of folding washing). I'll share soon what I'm making, I'm getting a bit obsessed.

Hope your week has been good. I'm off to visit family next week as Aaron is away for work. So take care all and I'll see you back here a bit later.

(oh by the way, been meaning to say - Marnie are you out there? Marnie from music? I'd love to catch up.)

Ah Spring

2010-10-05T17:16:00.003+13:00

And the promise of summer. It does wonders really.

Happy weekending everyone

2010-10-01T16:18:00.005+13:00

We've had a busy Friday, I went a little bit mad and decided to re-arrange the whole house. All because of those great big jars you see, they created a small wave, which kind of grew into a humungus tidal wave. I really did go a bit overboard, and now I'm feeling rather exhausted. Liam came into the dinning room at one stage and said, "mum, why are you making a big mess!!?" with a kind of amused, surprised, what-on-earth-are-you-doing sort of voice. So anyway, tired, but feeling good that spaces are being utilised more efficiently now, which is good, very good, in a tiny wee house.
I hope you have had, and are having, a nice Friday, and yay it's the weekend, and tonight I'm feeling thankful for dinners in the freezer.

Oh and we did a spot of fishing too - this is the sandpit that is yet to have sand put into it. But we don't mind because it really does make a good fishing pond/swimming pool when it's filled with rainwater.

Ingenious pasta drying machine

2010-09-29T16:29:00.003+13:00

I found a new use for Isla's washing line :). The perfect pasta drying rack.

See those big pottery jars there, a new addition to the home that I am very excited about. I got them for a steal, the big ones retail for $100 each, I got all five for $100 dollars! (I'm tempted to buy more). They're going to hold my flours and grains, I just need to find some space to put them! I'm thinking long term you see, when I have my big walk in pantry :). But yes, in the mean time, hmm, they're just going to sit on the table there for a bit I think while I figure something out.

Homemade liquid handwash - and soap dispenser

2010-09-28T15:21:00.007+13:00

Wow, the the weather is beautiful here today! Finally we are having some spring-like weather, we have had so much rain and wind in the last few weeks, I've been dying to get out into the garden but we've been stuck indoors. I've also been wanting to get some painting done on the house, but the weather hasn't been co-operating at all. But yay, today is perfect, I've managed to get quite a bit of painting done this morning and after I've finished writing this I'm heading out to pull some weeds and inspect my seedlings.

We've just come in from the heat for a bit and made this soap that I've been meaning to make a for a few weeks. A friend shared the recipe with me, and there is a website with this, and more recipies on it but I can't remember what it was called, so I'll update and add the link here when I have it. -I won't be bothering my friend for the website just now as she's just had a baby, last night, a sweet little girl called Ruby, we can't wait to meet her! and what a wonderful Spring day to be born on :)

:: Liquid handwash ::

- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 tbsp grated sunlight soap (or other basic soap)
- 2 tsp glycerine*
- 2 tsp rose water*
- I also added a few drops of lavendar oil

Melt the grated soap in the boiling water and then stir in the glycerine and rose water. Pour into a soap dispenser while still warm. (If it sets too hard add a little more boiling water to thin it down.) * For fellow nz'ers, I bought both the glycerine and the rose water from Bin Inn.

And we also just made the soap dispenser, using this tutorial, which I've had saved for ages and been meaning to make.

I'm just thinking how we've had such a productive day today already. So often day's just fly by and all you feel like you do is run around after small people and clean up messes. But today has been very productive indeed - house painting, soap making, soap jar making, pasta dough in the fridge waiting to be rolled for dinner, bread rising beautifuly in the warm spring air, washing hung and already dry on the line, house tidy, blog post written (nearly), and plans for gardening and banana cake making before the day is out. It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can do :)
I do hope your tuesday is going well.
xx

Wholemeal flat bread

2010-09-23T12:18:00.007+12:00

Ok folks, the flatbread recipe I promised. I thought I had neglected to write it down, but fortunately I found the piece of paper yesterday, phew. Now, I've just remembered that for some reason my dough when I made this up was very wet, and well I think it's no mystery what that 'some reason' was, as I've just discovered that my kitchen scales are totally out. So anyway, I ended up adding lots more flour, to bring it to a nice bread dough consistency, so it was kneadable. So if any of you folks make this, and do happen to have kitchen scales that actually work, then I would love to hear from you about the consistency of your dough :)

:: Wholemeal flatbread ::

- 175g wholemeal flour (I used spelt) ***see the paragraph above regarding this measure
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 120ml water

Mix all ingredients together and knead a bit. Cover and leave to rest for 1 hour. Divide the dough into 8 and roll each piece into a circle about 2mm thick. Fry in a lightly greased pan for about 1 1/2 minutes each side.

Nutty apricot slice

2010-09-22T13:19:00.005+12:00

Hope your week has been all well and lovely so far, we've had my mum staying for a few days so we've been out and about and keeping busy and the children have had a great time pestering granma :). It's still blowing a gale here, which really is good weather to stay indoors, and sow seeds, and good weather to bake. Which is what we've been doing, and plan on doing this afternoon. So incase you're having the same blustery and rainy weather as us, you might want to try this slice recipe, which I promised last week I'd share with you. It's full of good things to fill little tummies, (and bigger tummies too of course).

Now the funny thing about this recipe is I have no idea where it came from. And this is funny because, it was all written out nicely, by me, and in my new(ish) recipe box. Which is funny because it's the recipe box that I am filling with my tried and true and favourite recipies, and yet I have no memory of ever making or eating this slice before. But anyway, there it is, and it's good, so it will stay.

:: Nutty apricot slice ::

- 3 cups rolled oats
- 175g diced dried apricots
- 250g chopped chocolate (I actually left this out as I'd run out)
- 3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 100g chopped almonds
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 1/4 cup rapadura sugar
- 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 150g butter

Mix oats, apricots, chocolate, seeds, almonds and coconut in a bowl.
Put sugar, peanut butter, honey and butter in a pot and heat on the stove top till melted.
Pour melted mixture into dry ingredients and stir well. Press into a lined tin and chill until firm. Slice into bars once chilled and set.

In the kitchen

2010-09-17T16:17:00.005+12:00

I know I'm meant to be sharing some recipies with you, I will, I promise, next week. And also some foodie books I've been enjoying. But for today, since it's Friday, and it's a slow rainy day, and apparently there is a large storm on the way so I'm roasting a chicken in the oven and lots of veg too, and thinking of making some crackers with a new recipe that a friend just shared with me over the phone - before the power possibly goes off. So because of all that, I'll just share some photos today of what's been going on in the kitchen this week, some of what's been going on anyway.

Leek and potato soup - making some room in the garden for new seeds and seedlings to go in. I made a double batch, some for the freezer. (See energetic Liam there to the right. He's a good leek carrier). (Oh and see that bowl of eggs there, we've made some lovely new friends this month, and they have chickens!).

Flatbreads - made for the first time. Definately making these again, and I will share the recipe.

Playdough - yesterday, such a good one for keeping the children entertained. But I made the mistake of leaving them for a bit to do the stirring while I boiled the jug.

Nutty apricot slice - will share the recipe next week :)

Little lady taking a wee tea break, oh yes indeed dear.

Found one last jar of pesto in the freezer from last year's basil. I thought it was all gone.

Drying pasta to have with the above pesto.

Sushi - will share how we make ours soon. The kids just LOVE sushi.

Hope you have all had a lovely week, and if you're in New Zealand, wishing you a warm and hopefully not-too-stormy night. xx

Stitch by stitch

2010-09-15T12:25:00.011+12:00

Thankyou for all your kind words regarding my Auntie Jill. Her funeral last week was a moving and beautiful tribute to a very beautiful lady. Over 400 people came to say their goodbyes, a testimony to how many people's lives she touched with her generous and giving spirit. She opened her heart and her life and her home to so many people over the years. Her son Duncan said of her "She never said no, if she could say yes". I would like to be more like her.

I would also love to be more like her in her skill of knitting, she was very skilled at whatever she put her mind and her hands to actually, her paintings are amazing, and she used to make beautiful quilts. Her mother, my grandmother taught me to knit, many yeas ago now, but just in the last few years I have started knitting again. I'm not sure if I'll ever be creating the beautiful lace stitches and intricate designs that Aunty Jill was skilled at. I'm very slow, but I'm getting there, and it is so satisfying to have a finished garment at the end of it, knowing that you have created it all, stitch by stitch.

I started knitting this vest well before winter arrived, so that I could guarantee that Isla would get to wear it this winter. Well I only just made it, finishing it just a few weeks before spring arrived. And she is now wearing it every opportunity we get, as I don't think it will fit her next year!

The wool I used was this beautiful wool here, gifted to me by this sweet lady, from her very own sheep. It is so lovely and soft, and was lovely to work with. I only had about a metre and a half of yarn left when I'd finished.

And the pattern is this one, the Rainbow Dress, which I just shortened to a vest instead. The pattern goes from newborn size to 10 years, I'll definately be making more. Perhaps I should start knitting one now in the next size up in time for next winter! :)

Rest in peace dear Aunty Jill

2010-09-06T15:18:00.006+12:00

I like to talk about the happy things in life here, but I couldn't not mention this, it's about all I can think about at the moment. My dear Aunty Jill, my dad's sister, passed away on Sunday morning after a long battle with cancer. My heart especially mourns for my two cousins who have lost their mother. Duncan is married with two small children, the youngest only about 8 weeks old. And Caroline is the same age as me and just married a year ago. Liam summed up simply how we are all feeling, he said "But I don't want Aunty Jill to go away because I like Aunty Jill". She will be missed so much. But we feel comforted knowing that she is now at peace in heaven.

Jill and Liam (1 month old)

Jill and Liam (20 months old)

Jill and Isla (4 months old)

Flickr favourites

2010-09-03T09:09:00.004+12:00

There are so many beautiful and inspirational photos on Flickr. I love to browse. My page of favourites is growing, and there are so many lovely photos that just need to be shared, so I thought I might make this a weekly thing. Sharing with you some of my favourite photos.
(You can click on the photo names below to take you to their original source.)

(If you have no idea what Flickr is :) it's the photo site where I store my photos which I put on my blog, which you can see by clicking on that mozaic thingy down there on the right sidebar.)

1. Me and my shadow, 2. right now, 3. august, 4. Untitled,
5. 11-03-2010 Esperando en el auto / Waiting in the car, 6. thrifted
Created with fd's Flickr Toys

How we make our sourdough bread

2010-08-31T15:27:00.025+12:00

Sourdough bread is something I always wanted to give a go (read about the health benefits here), I had been told that it was easy but just didn't really know where to begin. Until my aunty shared her recipe with us, and it really is so so easy! There is so much information out there on sourdough, and different ways of doing things, but this is what we do, and it works great, and it's easy! And now mum, and my sister Frith are making it too using this recipe, and it's working great for them. - So time to share with you :)

Making your sourdough starter:
You need: Rye flour, water, 1 litre glass jar, piece of muslin cloth, rubber band.
- Mix about a cup each of flour and water together in your glass jar (you are aiming for a pancake batter consistency). Put the muslin cloth on top secured with the rubber band.
- Leave it sitting on your bench top for about 2 days. Then start feeding it every day with about equal amounts of flour and water. About 1/3 cup of flour and about the same of water, it is not necessary to measure the amounts.
- After about a week it should be ready to use.
- You will know if it is active and ready if it looks mousse-like with air holes and has a pleasant fermented beer-like odour.

The bread recipe:
This is the general recipe I use to make my bread. I'm starting to change it around a bit and try different flours now, and I always add a few seeds.
- 2 cups starter
- 350ml water
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 3 tsp salt
Method: Roughly mix all the ingredients together and leave to rest for 20 minutes. Knead for 5 minutes on a floured surface. Rest 30 minutes covered with a damp teatowel. Knead another 5 minutes.

This recipe will either make one large loaf, or two smaller loaves. I make one loaf as I have this lovely big tin that mum bought me last year :)
Press the dough evenly and with a flat top into your tin (or tins). Cover with your damp teatowel and leave to rise until about doubled in size, this will take 4-6 hours or more.

Bake at 235 deg celcius for 15 minutes, then turn your oven down to 210 deg and bake a further 30-40 minutes. Times may vary depending on your oven, and also depending on whether you are cooking it as one large loaf or two smaller loaves. I find I have to cook mine about an hour total, and I normally cover the top of the loaf with tinfoil for the last 15 minutes to stop it browning too much.

Continuing with your starter:
* Please note if you have read this before that I have now changed my method slightly here.
I normally have about 1 1/2 cups left over once I have made a batch of bread. Pour the leftover starter into a clean jar and feed it with about 1/2 cup of rye flour and 1/2 cup water and leave on the bench (it should be a nice thick pancake batter consistency). Now, I normally don't make bread again for another 4 or 5 days, so before I go to bed I pop my starter into the fridge. I take it out the night before I plan to make my next batch of bread and leave it on the bench to come to room temperature, then feed it again with about 1/2 cup or flour and of water and leave it overnight. And then in the morning it will be ready to make another batch of dough.
Note: The above method is only a guide, if you are planning on making your bread more often or less often, or want more information, or your starter is doing funny things, Sourdough baker is a really great website with lots of information.

Happy Birthday mum

2010-08-27T19:42:00.002+12:00

Happy Birthday mum/Granma
WE LOVE YOU!

I know right now you're going, Hanna! Why did you put a photo of me on your blog! But it's a good photo aye :)

In the kitchen

2010-08-26T13:18:00.000+12:00

You know some days I could quite happily potter all day in my kitchen. It's a funny pokey little place, and there's chipping paint and mismatched shelves, and things crammed in and a significant lack of bench space. But it really doesn't matter, I just love being in it.

I love making food to feed my family. I like to be thoughtful about what food goes into our pantry, and into our mouths. I love putting ingredients together, a bit of this, a bit of that to create nourishing things to fill tummies. And I love the helping hands that are always right beside me. Often two sets of hands, but more often one set. I laugh to myself that I don't need a flour shaker - I had been on the look out for one at the opp shop - as I have a special automated one now.

After our house extension is completed, we are planning on converting our now lounge into a new kitchen. I must say I am very much looking forward to it, lots of big benches, and a walk in pantry (!), and room to fit all my kitchen bits. But if it didn't happen, it wouldn't matter, because it's not about the space but about what goes on in there that makes cooking so enjoyable.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about food lately, about what we eat, every ingredient, and how it affects us, and I just find it all so fascinating, and the more I learn the more interesting it becomes - and the more little changes we make to what we eat.

As small signs of spring keep appearing here and there I am starting to dream about getting started on my vege garden. We are blessed to live in a fairly mild climate and so the vegetable garden produces all year round really. But I'm starting to dream of tomatoes, lots and lots of tomatoes, I'm thinking about pasta sauce and tomato sauce and chutney and dried tomatoes, enough to fill my pantry and freezer and last me till the next tomato season, do you think I can plant enough tomatoes to do this? And basil too, I'm planting twice as much basil this year, because my frozen pesto ran out far too quickly last time.

I have lots of things to share in the kitchen/food department with you. Some great, recently discovered, and gifted books. And tasty recently discovered recipies, and old favourites too, that are bit my bit filling up my beloved recipe box (which is another whole story altogether).

So perhaps this rambly kind of post that I'm writing just now could be an introduction of sorts, to lots of lovely tasty foodie things to come :). Because, perhaps, do you think, a very close second to the enjoyment of making and creating and hanging out in the kitchen, is the joy of sharing with others about the making and creating and hanging out.

It would be nice if you were all a bit closer so you could pop over in person and taste the muffins we made on Sunday, and the crackers that we are gobbling up this week - oh and you could share your favourites with me too! - yes that would be nice :). But most of you are not, so I shall share here, as well as I can, and hopefully you might enjoy it as much as I do.

Finding beach treasures

2010-08-25T09:51:00.004+12:00

{Shells with holes for making necklaces}

Do we ever visit the beach, without coming away with a few treasures tucked into our pockets? Very rarely. This last beach visit, (the one in the post below), saw us coming away with some different kinds of treasures from those we normally tuck into our pockets. Normally we find shell treasures, or stone treasures, or maybe driftwood treasures, or maybe a feather. But this was more along the lines of pirate sorts of treasures - coins. We only walked a short distance, but we kept spotting coins sitting in the sand, some newish coins, some really old coins, all encrusted with salt and sand, it was intriguing.

This beach is normally a white sandy beach, but this time the sand was very black as recent stormy weather had washed away all the white top sand. My theory is, that coins that had been lost from pockets over the years, had made their way through these top layers of soft sand and come to rest in the hard black dense sand beneath. And so the recent stormy weather had left them all exposed.

Unfortunately the tide was quickly coming in so we had to end our walk, but I keep wondering what other treasures we might have found.

Oh and another! (week that is)

2010-08-23T13:14:00.004+12:00

Well, that week flew by too, what a busy week it was. LOTS of family catch ups, lots and lots of family catch ups, out of town and country family, family that had not been seen for a long time, for some reason all that catching up fell on that one week. So good seeing so many faces that are not seen enough. A good week indeed.

I hope your week went well.
I promise to be around a bit more this week :)
Maybe write some of those posts I've been meaning to write :)

Another week

2010-08-13T13:58:00.004+12:00

Don't the weeks just go so quickly sometimes. I hope yours has been a good one. And I wish you a happy weekend ahead. We have Aaron's mum arriving today from Australia for the weekend, we are much looking forward to it.

Activities with kids - bottle top shakers

2010-08-10T08:05:00.009+12:00

Well so much for catching up on all those blog posts I'm wanting to write, I only wrote twice last week. Life just seems to be so busy at the moment, I suppose it's understandable with that big room out there that needs finishing! Not that I've actually been doing much myself on it, I'm not so good with dropsaws and figuring things out, I'm better with a paintbrush, and all the rain we have been having of late has put a stop to any paintbrush activity.

I've been doing quite a bit of work on the garden, building new garden beds (with lots of help from my dad, thanks Dada), and yesterday we went for a long drive into the countryside and bought fruit trees. I suddenly realised that spring is nearly here so I had better get a move on and plant some of those trees that I've been planning on planting for about a year now!

Anyway, to the point, the heading of this post. While we were all sick we spent a lot of time at home and indoors and did lots of quiet indoor activities. I'm always looking for simple ideas of things to do with the kids, so I thought I would start sharing some ideas here, perhaps it can be a weekly thing, if I'm organised enough ;)

So first up - bottle top shakers. We all had lots of fun doing this, sitting in the morning sunshine in our pjs. A friend of mine gave me a whole bag of bottle tops that she had been collecting, she makes play things for the kids out of them - she's very industrious :) - but she and the family are moving to Perth in a few weeks, so we inherited the bag of bottle tops :)

The idea behind this is to make as many different sounding shakers as you can, using grains etc from the kitchen. It helps the kids to think about sounds, and concentrate on listening, you can make pairs of matching shakers and play a game to find the matching sounds, listen to the loud sounds, the quiet sounds, notice how the small grains like say couscous or quinoa make a higher pitch sound than say larger things like beans or chickpeas. Or how the sound changes when you have the bottle tops very full of grain, compared to when there are only a few grains in them. And of course they're good to just make music with too :)

They also enjoyed just playing with the grains, and choosing which ones they wanted to use, and concentrating on putting them carefully into the little bottle tops. I had the job of taping the tops securely together (I used a big wide packaging tape).

House update

2010-08-05T14:01:00.005+12:00

I've promised many that I would show some more photos of the house progress. I need to take some more photos now, as things have progressed further since I took these, we now have paint on the outside (what you see below is just the undercoat).
The next fine weather we get, I'll go out and take some more pictures.

So the outside just needs one more coat of paint now, and a few finishing touches here and there - I won't bore you with the details :). But because we are now working on our own, without the builders, it is a slow process. Hopefully by next month we will be working on finishing the inside. But in the mean time, we are enjoying using the extra space anyway. We spend a lot of time out there, in amongst the bits of wood and building tools. The room gets a lot of sun so it has been nice to be able to warm up our winter days and have some extra space to run around when it's raining outside. I even set up my overlocker out there and did a bit of sewing while the kids were playing. And, horrors, I have even been caught hanging up a wee washing line, I mean really, how could I not make use of that beautiful washing drying sort of warm sunshine on a winter's day!

Birth days

2010-08-03T15:39:00.005+12:00

I have a list of things I want to write about, but firstly and very importantly, I must say a very happy birthday to two special little people.
Our own very own Liam turned four! And so really I shouldn't be saying two little people, because of course four certainly isn't little, right. He is a big boy now indeed.
We were still all feeling a little tired at the time, and so unfortunately the party with little friends had to be cancelled, but we did have some special family visits on the day, and I did manage to make that digger cake that I had promised. So he was a happy boy. (Except when he slipped off his chair and cut his lip, ouch!)

-
And then, we had a beautiful little niece and cousin Olivia to welcome into the world. Unfortunately we were in quaranteen with our colds for the first week and a half of her life, I was dying to get over there and have some cuddles. Isla just absolutely adores her, and just look at that dear little face, how could you not!
-

It's been a while

2010-07-30T13:12:00.005+12:00

Well hello, I didn't quite expect be gone for so long! It was a nasty cold we all had, and it's just taken us a while to get back to our old rhythm again. Lots has been happening since I've been away, so I have lots to share. But it can wait till next week :)
Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
xx
Hanna

Lying low

2010-07-12T16:52:00.003+12:00

Hope you all had a good weekend, thanks for all your lovely comments on the last post, it always feels a bit funny showing my face :) Anyway, lovely weekend it was here, lots done on the house extension, which I promise I will show soon. But unfortunately we have succumbed to another cold. Liam is bouncing back from his turn of it, but now it's Isla's turn, and I'm sniffing and coughing too. So yeah, you may not see me for a few days :) - but doesn't she look so peaceful sleeping just now. Better go before he wakes up and needs some more cuddles.

Visiting the beach in winter

2010-07-09T16:18:00.004+12:00

I do love the beach in summer, but there is something so wonderful about a winter visit to the beach. The fresh blusteryness of it, the cold salty sea air, the wind and the sand. Invigorating is the word that comes to mind. It always leaves us feeling so good!

Liam's favourite thing is to find stones, and fill his pockets with the treasures.
Isla's favourite thing is to find stones, and toss them into the sea.

Liam had his first go using my camera :)

Wishing you all a good weekend, full of good things - such as winter visits to the beach :)

muffins with millet and pumpkin seeds

2010-07-08T19:49:00.005+12:00

I've made these muffins twice in the last week. They are really delicious, definately worth sharing the recipe, and bit more healthy than sugary cookies. I'm really trying to cut down on the amount of sugar we consume, and trying to bake things that I don't feel so bad about eating!
I only recently found this recipe on the internet, but can't for the life of me find the source now. I'm sure I've saved it somewhere, if I come across it again I'll add the link here. Just as well I copied it down on paper!

For the first batch I actually used 1 cup pumpkin puree and 1/2 cup stewed apple as I didn't have enough pumpkin. I made another batch just yesterday and swapped the pumpkin puree for a mixture of feijoa and mashed banana, they are delicious and I think any sort of fruit would work well.

:: Pumpkin muffins with millet ::

- 2 eggs beaten
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used olive).
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup millet
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 cup unbleached flour
- 3/4 cup wholemeal flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

In a dry skillet toast millet seeds until lightly browned, set aside. Toast pumpkin seeds in the same way and add to millet.
In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
In a large bowl mix eggs, oil, milk, sugar, vanilla and pumpkin puree until smooth. Stir in oats and add pumpkin seeds and millet.
Add dry to wet ingredients and stir only to combine, do not overmix.
Generously fill 12-15 muffin liners, sprinkle with more pumpkin seeds if desired.
Cook for about 25 minutes at 180 c.

Finding that winter sunshine, again

2010-07-07T11:16:00.004+12:00

We've had such a great winter really, lots of rain, but when it's not raining we've been having these lovely sunny days, and we've been making the most of all that lovely winter sunshine and getting out into the fresh air.
I have two sets of almost identical photos here, taken about a week apart. All busy with our own little tasks, happily busy, soaking in the sun. I love times like this, and I'm so glad I captured these little bits of loveliness. It's good to look at these photos when we're having a crazy busy day and the kids are all grumpy :)
(Notice the knitting had not progressed much, but I'm happy to say now that it is almost finished, so she might get to wear it this winter afterall!).

Chocolate brownie in a jar

2010-06-29T19:55:00.004+12:00

Something sweet to start off the week. Because really, sometimes you need a little chocolate on a Monday morning don't you think, especially when the wee girl decides the week should start at 5am. Of course not that there are any of these brownies left in the biscuit jar now.
My friend gave me this ingenious present for my birthday, what a great idea, the kids thought it was very cool. All the ingredients are layered all pretty in the jar (before the kids get their hands on it and mix it up a little). You just need to add some melted butter, eggs and vanilla essence.

And so you end up some freshly baked delicious chocolate brownies, and a glass storage jar, because you can never really have to many glass jars I say.

Here is the recipe, but of course you could do this with any of your favourite recipies.

:: Chocolate brownie in a jar ::

In the jar is:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup chocolate chips

All you have to do is...
Melt 150 gms butter and allow to cool slightly. Mix contents of jar in a bowl. Add 3 eggs lightly beaten. Add melted butter. Add 1 tsp vanilla essence.
Bake at 180 c for approx 30 mins, until just firm when pressed in the centre.

A little bunny rabbit for a new baby girl

2010-06-29T14:09:00.006+12:00

My friend just had a wee girl, so the kids 'helped' me make her a little bunny rabbit, as a welcome to the world present.
As you can see Isla rather liked it.

-

Another blanket

2010-06-28T14:07:00.005+12:00

Showing you my finished 'beach-blanket-to-go' the other day reminded me that I never did show you the blanket I made for mum for Christmas. The photo below was in amongst this post, I meant to put the finished blanket on here once it had been gifted.

I used an old blanket that I found at the opp shop, it had started to fray a bit on one edge, so I trimmed it down and put binding around it all. The binding and applique fabric was some cotton off my shelf that had also originally come from the opp shop, it was a curtain from memory.

I stitched three ginko leaves on one side, and one on the other side.

I had a lot of fun making this, sitting and handstitching those leaves, and it was quite satisfying turning an old blanket into something pretty. I imagined it would be used as a throw or a picnic blanket. I'm quite keen to make some more of these, once a few other things have been ticked off my to-do list, we could definately do with a few of these around the house, perhaps I'll even make a few for the shop.

My pet chicken Henrietta

2010-06-25T08:28:00.001+12:00

I wonder if this is as close as I will get to owning a chicken?
I mentioned to a friend a wee while ago the idea of owning a chicken. We were talking about children's pet options at the time. She thought it rather hilarious really (we live in the suburbs you see), but she suggested that it would be called Henrietta :)
So it was quite fitting really when she found this biscuit jar for me for my birthday.

Perfect huh. We filled it with orange ginger biscuits last week, but they are all gone now, so some more baking is on the agenda today. It's quite comforting on rainy wintery days, like today, to be able to put your hand into a biscuit jar filled with sweet treats.

And while we're on the subject of chickens as pets - you know, really, if you sat down with pen and paper, to write a list of pros and cons, I think a chicken would actually come out looking quite good. Of course it wouldn't really be wanting to curl up on your knee for a pat, and it wouldn't jump around and wag it's tail feathers when you returned home to it. But, you wouldn't have to take it for a run, and it wouldn't shed it's hair all over your sofa cushions, and, it would eat all your food rubbish and turn them into delicious eggs for breakfast! Do you think Aaron would be convinced?

handmade brooch

2010-06-22T16:52:00.001+12:00

Arrived in the post yesterday from mum. I love it so much.
Thankyou mum.

Finding sunshine

2010-06-21T13:44:00.006+12:00

Isn't it so important to make the most of the bits of sunshine at this time of year.

Yesterday was another of those lovely sunny days that we seem to be being blessed with this winter (in amongst all the rain of course).
Truth be told, we were all feeling a little grumpy and tired yesterday, after Isla was up for almost 5 hours on Saturday night! No idea what was going on there! And then Aaron had to leave us, for another night away, the second time in the last week.

But you know, it amazing what a little sunshine can do for the spirits :). We made ourselves some muesli slice (which I won't share the recipe of because it didn't work so well, it was rather crumbly, but tasted nice all the same), and a pot of tea, and had ourselves a little picnic, out in the new house extension. There is still a wee way to go to finish our extension, but it is almost closed in from the weather, and we are getting a taste of the nice sunshine we can expect from the big windows - so we have been spending quite a bit of time out there, in amongst the sawdust and bits of wood and paint splatters :)

And that pretty thing we are sitting on? It is my finally finished 'beach-blanket-to-go' from Handmade Home. It hasn't yet been used on any grass or sand, but it certainly will, soon, as soon as the warm weather returns to the south again. Yes I can forsee that it will be seeing a lot of grass and sand this coming summer.

Beautiful winter's day

2010-06-17T17:06:00.004+12:00

Wow, the weather today was amazing. We spent most of it outside, and I had to keep reminding myself that it was actually winter.
-

-

-

-

New opp shop treasures

2010-06-16T20:12:00.007+12:00

Well, if you've been reading this blog for any time now, or happen to know me in person. Then you know how I love opp shopping, aye.
So of course, what did I do on my birthday, but drag the kids out for a spot of opp shopping.
And the opp shop people must have known somehow that it was my birthday, because they put out some really good treasures for me to find, and some great ones for the kids too, just to keep them happy for my sake.

First up, Mr Gnomey (we should probably think of a better name). Isn't he cute. I kind of always fancied the idea of having a gnome in the garden. Mum has a tiny wee one in her garden, Seamus, which the kids are rather fascinated with. Someone around these parts had obviously decided that they didn't like gnomes afterall, and had handed over their whole collection. We were quite pleased to be able to give this little fella a new home amongst the nasturtiums, I think it will be rather a lovely spot to sit and watch the days go by when the nasturtiums are all ablaze with orange flowers.

And, ahem, mustard yellow bag! Because of course my love of mustard yellow is right up there with my love of opp shopping! And it's plenty big enough to hold the rediculous amount of things that I seem to carry around with me, and zips open really wide so I can actually see all those things.
(Frith, don't worry, I still love your handmade bag best of all of course, but I think it might be quite happy with a rest and a wash from time to time!)
(Check out the girl checking herself out in the bottom photo. Not uncommon for her).

And then, a handy dandy portable chalkboard. Very handy indeed and getting a lot of use already.

And these very sweet old dolls clothes, which, I have to admit, I would totally wear myself. Pretty pink silk skirt with lace edging. Brown floral tunic top with gathered neckline. Green cord jacket. I love that green.

And just in time for a bit of birthday cake making, the perfect mixing bowl in a lovely buttery yellow. Perfect for mixing up a buttery vanilla cake to put birthday candles on.

And how about a matching milk-glass plate on which to eat a slice.
For breakfast the next morning :) - because you know it's never too early in the day to eat cake.

Thankyou

2010-06-15T20:58:00.005+12:00

for all your happy birthday wishes.

Breakfast in bed, a crisp sunny day, opp shopping, some treats and sweet birthday wishes, and my three lovelies singing me happy birthday - all to their own tunes and totally out of sync with each other. Makes for a perfect birthday day I reckon.

Oh, and some cake too is always good.