Home Comforts

For anyone who knows me they would say this is not at all like me to be working in pink. It was for a competition and really needed to be pink but am rather pleased with the home spun country goodness flavour that resulted and thought we would share.

Before you all go emailing asking for the recipe - it is very easy and happy to share. Get your old copy of the Rice Crispies or Bubbles cereal recipe, with marshmallow fluff or real melted marshmallows, makes no difference in this case.

When your mix is ready to set, coat an icecream scoop or melon baller with non stick (no flavour) spray because this is pretty sticky. Drop your marshmallow balls into jimmies or sprinkles, roll and pop into a cupcake paper case for the icecream scoop or petite cases for melon balls. Toss in the refrigerator to set. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Be Dream Play the home of the famous Bloglandia Ball is hosting another prompt on Home Comfort and what it means to everyone.

Karla’s Country Cottage recently hosted a Romantic Country – What Do You Love About Your Home party , where she linked lots of party participants who shared their favourite little corner and nooks.

It got me to thinking, we have some nice things we could photograph but really they do not make it a ‘home’. It is supposed to be the people you share the place with that make a place a home. After many years of travelling my people are scattered, closest family live many hours away interstate and most of the others are overseas.

Where is home then?
For me, within sound of the ocean waves is the closest thing to home for me.

Road Trips

Some photos from the last trip down the coast to keep you amused while we are on the road for the weekend. The back yard where the lizards lurk.

On the road

We had a farm
to the left of the big trees head towards the little forest on near horizon, turn right over the hill and keep going towards the mountains way off in the distance............

















and you know in that part of the country the sunsets are magical.

Threads

“we are a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts and lives, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal all at the same time, loving laughing, depending and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together “ Quote from Erma Bombeck

Spending the weekend with family so we can all sing happy birthday to Chel together. The photos are from mum's side of the family, great grandmother, grandmother, mum of course, her sister, my sister and her girls and my own daughter. We are not always in the same town at the same time but are still quite closely connected.

New Friends

The most entertaining part of blogging and blog hopping is the folks that you will meet along the way doing all kinds of things.

Have added a few links to my blog recently for new friends, most who blog to attract traffic for their creative cottage business and some are just full of fun & crazy things.

Hope you have the time to stop by to visit them all soon.


Thanks for those who have asked about my little lizard friends. They are Water Dragons. At this time of year still kind of small and cute but they can get quite big (3 feet or 1 metre long). I am lucky enough to live in a neighbourhood with lots of protected green space, lakes, rivers and beaches, which in turn means native wildlife is a regular visitor to the back yard. My family volunteers in wild life rescue and we often get to post pictures of little animals in care waiting for release.

Prizes

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though chequered by failure...... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt


We always tell those who do not win, well it is how you play the game that is important not who wins. But sometimes it is nice to win something.

This is a picture of a prize box that arrived recently from lovely Deb for my contribution to a monthly challenge on the Yahoo AB Altered Book site. Every month they post new challenges on themes that result in the most amazing array of different interpretations using all kinds of techniques. Contributing to the challenge every month tests me, watching what everyone else posts inspires me, being voted in by the gang made my day and the arrival of this parcel bursting at the seams with all kinds of new things to play with made my week.

Count Down

Its that time of year when craftspeople get to twitching and listing the many things they would like to make for special people over the next few weeks. If you would like to treat yourself check out Cranberry Cottage & Bittersweet, both sweet scent-sational soap makers who are hosting a free drawing for folks to drop into their blog or etsy to check out their range.

Nothing like a deliciously scented soap or bubble bath to make us feel all festive and creative.

Or what about an artist’s apron from Aileen’s Creative Musings, she has lots of wildly creative things going on in her blog space. Aileen is on a couple of altered art sites that I like to hang out on and she always is coming up with interesting things.

If you leave her a message don't forget to tell Aileen we sent you there to see all her wonderful altered peices.

The picture is a donation from a friend who decided to share this sweet little image. One of the nicest things about this time of year is the generous spirit of people sharing.

Family

Time never changes the memories,

the faces of loved ones

who bring to me all that I come from

and all that I live for and

all that I'm going to be

my precious family is

more than an heirloom to me

A mini book on the theme of family using vintage photos. The photos are from 1940-42 of a family in Manitoba, their album ended up at a market stall. How sad is that? Somewhere out there is a family with missing pieces of their heritage

Classes on this project are being held at Magic Moments Cleveland QLD.

Names

Kate from the French Nest tagged me in the Middle Name Game.

You know the rules of these things, I am supposed to find a word for each letter of my middle name and then tag that many other bloggers to do the same.

My middle name, although perfectly nice has 10 letters, would have been here all afternoon. Instead we are using my confirmation name.

Friends & family mean the world to me, they all check the blog to see what we have been up to and know that most everything I create is going to be a gift to someone soon.
Artistic Animal lover yup that’s me, from the very beginning very particular about colouring inside the lines or matching the colours but annoying when everything has to be just so. Love the great outdoors and all the little animals we share the planet with. Sometimes though, I just wish they would keep to their own back yard or least out of my kitchen. (see below)
Inquiring always curious, how did you make that, why do things turn out that way.
Traveller for sure, how else would a gal that hails from the foggy shores of the Bay of Fundy grow up on the sandy dunes of Cape Cod and end up under the hazy skies of the topics? Always planning my next excursion.
Happy & Hopeful as you can see from most of my blog posts, I am most grateful for all the good things in my life right now.

Now I am off to find to find five lucky bloggers who’d like to play next.

First lizard sighted for the season.

Blissful Maple

Maple Leaf Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup maple syrup
1 large egg yolk
3 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar together before adding the maple syrup and then the egg yolk. Gradually shift the flour into the syrup & butter mix.

Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic and chill until firm.

Pre heat your oven to 350F or 180C

Prepare your baking sheets, don’t we have too many options these days? silicone still leaves me confused, clay makes them crispy, parchment paper and good old butter on metal, take your pick.

Roll the chilled dough to about 1/8 thin. Maple leaf cookie cutter your leaves, get creative by drawing a knife lightly across them to mark veins. 8-10 minutes in the oven for smaller 3 inch cookies or 10-12 for larger 5 inch cookies. Bundle the scraps and chill again to get the most out of your dough.

Frosting (if you can’t get enough maple) ½ cup maple syrup and 2 cups of confectionary sugar should result in spreading or piping frosting.

Recycled Country Turkey made with an old pair of jeans and other rustic fabrics. Was going to toss this photo but then decided the ray of light coming through the window was a nice touch while we mark the changing of seasons.

Vintage Christmas Stocking

Mary Ann on Follow Your Bliss is hosting a Vintage Christmas Stocking Swap. The call is up for people who like to dabble in the vintage textiles and papers. This swap is looking like it is going to be way too much fun. I do hope that some Aussies & South Pacific gals are registering for this one because ‘it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ & closing day is soon.

Autumn Bliss

Time is the longest distance between two places.
Tennessee Williams

Are the seasons changing at your place? While the tropics are shifting into warmer sunnier days many people in the blogging world are settling into the colourful days of Autumn or Indian Summer.

Clarice of Story Book Woods is celebrating the change of seasons by hosting Autumn Bliss. A ring of bloggers will be sharing their favourite autumn recipes, craft ideas and images, all networked out of Story Book Woods.

This is my contribution, regardless of the season, we can be grateful for the joys the day brings.

Life's Music

Life’s Music is ever changing
But how beautiful the dance
Flavia

An altered art challenge with the theme of music, using cover from a musical play, paperdolls, sequins, made a paper assemblage of a tiny music book with a Japanese postage stamp for the cover.

Collections

Smelling the salt of the ocean
Feeling the touch of the sea
There is no better way of setting your spirit free

We’re going on holidays, not sure where yet but isn’t half the fun in the planning of where to go and what to do?

Collection of beachy things, a quilt mum made near Scusset beach, needlepoint cushion of Snug Harbour, shell wreath from Altona, photos from Angels Beach, and findings from lots of tidal walks.

Can take the girl off the cape, but will never get the cape out of the heart.

Friends

Friends are the chocolate chips of life!

A cute card that came in the post the other day, good excuse to post more red on the blog.

Changing Seasons

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Here in the southern hemisphere, it is becoming Spring and in the northern hemisphere autumn is arriving. Seasons come and go but true friends remain the same.

This wall hanging that was difficult to photograph is for a special friend who’s had a rough couple of weeks to cheer them on.

Ceci et cela

An altered board book with a theme of French haberdashery. We used this as an example when teaching a round of AB classes recently. Theme of vintage French haberdashery, pockets, windows, drawers, buttons, lace, ribbons and more.