Beach bunting with a twist

When the fabulous Donna from Donna J. Craft sent me a parcel I got really excited!

In the parcel was this

I wanted to think outside the square with this.

{sorry for taking so long Donna!}

I wanted to use this to create something that was a little different, a little funky.

Our fave thing to do as a family is go to the beach. So, I thought that this would be perfect!

I covered the chipboard with glue then covered it with a light green scrapbooking paper.

I then used a thick black maker pen to write the words on.

I didn’t use guidelines for the lettering, I wanted it to look relaxed & fun.

I then thread some raffia twine through the holes & strung some shells at the bottom.

Baking, books & just being

Long weekends just are not long enough!

The Queens Birthday long weekend is over {boo!}.

We had a house full of teenagers for a sleepover on Saturday so Sunday was family day.

Packed up the family & headed into the Lifeline Bookfest.

32 books for $50.

Bargain!

Here is a few of them.

My fave find was a very large map from 1970 of the West Indies. I am going to get it framed as it is just beautiful. A little aged, a little weathered & just perfect!

I stumbled on a few hidden treasures {see the Sound of Music score?}

With all the fab recipe books that I found, today I baked!

This cheesecake was simply amazing {if I do say so myself!}

I will share the recipe later in the week.

I didn’t get any sewing done.

I didn’t do any blogging.

And today was even social media free! {until now!}

It felt so good!

I cleaned, I rearranged my bedroom & I loved every second of it!

What did you get up to on the long weekend?

Quick and easy craft with Chibi Run

I am so excited!

Do you want to know why?

We have a new sponsor on Sew, cook, laugh & live 

I am in love with Chibi Run & have been for quite some time.

When I had a craft to do that had been an idea in my head for way too long, I contacted Chibi Run {Germaine} to ask her to help me find the perfect thing that I needed.

Yep, she came through with the goods!

What is the one thing that we all carry with us as soon as we leave our homes…..

KEYS!

I have a mass of keys. House, car, shed & a way too many loyalty key tags.

What I needed was a key ring that was just about me. Not a kids one, not something that was too big but something that was just right!

So I decided to make my own!

When I asked Germaine if she had any 1 inch circle stickers to make this project happen, she came through with the goods!

I had the bottle cap {from the scrapbooking stall at a local market}, I picked up the key ring attachment from a local store & the 1 inch circle epoxy stickers were from a previous project.

I just needed the perfect stickers.

How awesome are these stickers!

All I had to do was put the sticker on the bottle cap, put the epoxy sticker over the top (for protection) & attach it to the key ring.

Now my keys are stylish & awesome!

I have done some other quick crafts with some of the fabulous supplies that can be found at Chibi Run & I will be sharing them with you next week.

These are some of my fave things at Chibi Run at the moment.

 

And if you are looking for paper doilies to do this to

hand dyed paper doilies

Chibi Run has them! {and cheap too!}

Health warning!!! How are your feet?

So, as most of you know by now, I have been in and out of hospital, been to the Drs too many times, ultrasound, x-ray & full blood work done.

The result…

cheap shoes & bare feet!

YES!!

Cheap little ballet flats, thongs {flip flops} & bare feet have caused me to compartmental syndrome.

In basic terms, I have collapsed the muscle under my foot which has caused a spur in my heel. That has made me favour that foot which has inturn inflamed the muscle in my lower leg. Because I have very big muscles in my leg they have no room to move when the swelling starts. That pushes on my bone & cause immense pain.

So now I have to book in to see a podiatrist to see what can be done about my foot to then also fix my leg.

Phew!

Are you keeping up?

In short, ladies, please stop buying those too cute ballet flats & those awesome thongs {flip flops].

They are bad for your health!

The one thing that I love the most about my body is my feet.

I don’t hide them, I show them off.

I always get compliments on my feet, I know it sounds strange, but I really do!

I never wear shoes around the house & I just throw something cute on my feet as I walk out the door to go somewhere.

Not any more.

I need to go & buy a good pair of sneakers & live in them!

So goodbye bare feet, I will miss you.

Goodbye ballet flats, even though I own about 30 pairs!

Goodbye slipper socks!

Goodbye 3 inch heels, (when I do go out) because you can not go from bare feet to heels & think you will not have problems later in life {boohoo!!}

{who knew I had so many feet shots on instagram?}

So no more feeling sad for myself, the pain is my own doing.

{sigh}

It is going to be so hard to resist but no more ballet shoes, thongs {flip flops} or bare feet.

Cheats caramel ice cream

This is a recipe that I have had in my recipe box for a long time. I think I may have found it in a School Fete recipe book from the 1980’s?

It is super easy & super yummy.

All you need is

600ml of thickened cream

1/4 cup of icing sugar

1 tin of Caramel top ‘n’ fill

metal cake tin

electric beater.

Beat the cream & icing sugar together until soft peaks form (not fully whipped)

In a separate bowl, mix the caramel top ‘n’ fill until it is a runny consistency.

With the beaters on, pour the caramel into the cream & keep beating until it is all combined.

Pour into a cold metal cake tin, cover with alfoil & freeze for 4 hours or until set.

serve

See how easy that is!

Question time.

What is your favourite flavour of ice cream?

Mine is cookie dough ice cream

Amy Butler sprockets

When Sandy from Wrapped in Fabric asked if I would showcase some of the new

Amy Butler Gypsy Caravan Fabric

of course I jumped at the chance!

I new just what to do with these beautiful fabrics, sprocket cushions!

These fabrics are just divine!

They are so pretty & so vintage.

Now I know why Sandy was in love with them, I am too!

To make your own sprocket cushion, you can find the free pattern & tutorial

HERE

For these beautiful Amy butler fabrics & lots, lots more,

visit

Hint of the day

When you are making sprocket cushions or patchwork quilts or even just looking for fabrics that compliment each other, look at a line of fabrics by a designer. Like the Amy Butler Gypsy Caravan line, they are all designed so that they can be used as coordinating fabrics.

Guest post from Miss Information

Today, I'm participating in the Grow.Swap.Share.  I'm posting over at Miss Information about how to make paper doily pom poms.  I'd like to welcome Kelley from Miss Information

Hi everyone my name is Kelley and I am Miss Information. First I want to take a moment to than Jos for letting me invade her corner of the world. We are doing a blog swap brought to you by Julie at My Favorite Finds and Carrie at White Lights on Wednesday. Please go visit these great blogs.

Miss Information is where I share recipes, crafts, and family. I also share information on ADHD and Sensory Integration Disorder. I live in the USA in Georgia with my hubby and 2 boys Garrett 8, and Matthew 3. I hope you will stop by and visit and see some of the other things I've cooked and created.

I was wanting to make an end of year treat for my sons's class at school. So the boys and I set out to make suckers with jolly ranchers. The boys loved them and they were a total hit with his friends.

You will need:

• candies
• sucker sticks
• non stick foil
• a cookie sheet

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
Then take one of the best inventions EVER Reynold Non-Stick Foil and line a cookie sheet. The boys helped me unwrap the candy and we laid them out in a square, you can do other shapes as well.

You will want to make sure when you put them on the pan you alternate them 

so that you have room for your sucker sticks.

Put them in the oven for 5 minutes, when you pull them out you immediately lay the sucker stick into the melted goo and twist it to cover it in candy

Now you can see why you need to alternate and leave room. These are so easy and fun for the kids to help with they can do most of the steps. they turn out beautiful and look like stained glass windows

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