An easy DIY necklace holder.

If you are anything like me, you have a stack of necklaces. I have a mountain! I love weary a bright, bold necklace but it is what to do with them while I am not wearing them that had me a little stumped.

But not any more!

I just put some hooks in the wall & hung a short curtain rod!

You just open the clasp on the necklaces & hook them over & do the clasp back up.

Easy!

I also put some little hooks on the rod for those necklaces that don’t have a clasp.

Now I no longer have a jumble of necklaces in the draw or a pile on the bedside table that ends up on the floor.

All of my necklaces are easy to see, easy to find & I am able to easily match them to the outfit that I am wearing when they are all in one place!

I have been organising my whole house over the last week or so & it feels so good! I have done trips to the tip to throw out those things that are broken or no longer used. I have donated bags & bags full of clothes. It feels awesome to get rid of the clutter.

I need to learn that more is not necessarily better.

I have to be happy with what I have not what I think that I want.

We live in a very little house. We have added on as much as we can & now I need to utilise the space better. As much as I would love to buy a bigger house, I can’t see the point in having a bigger mortgage. I like the feeling of having the girls close. It is the intimacy as a family that comes with living in a small house that I love. We are also lucky enough to have a big yard where the girls spend most of their time.

I will be sharing a few more storage ideas that I have come up with over the next couple of weeks.

Embrace your winter blankets, don’t hide them!

This year, I am embracing my quilts & blankets!

Instead of hiding them in the linen cupboard, I have them on full display in my lounge room. When I saw a bamboo towel ladder at Target a couple of weeks back, I knew what I was going to do with it.

I stuck it in the corner of my lounge room & put all of our fave quilts & blankets on it.

I also found the cute little wooden pot plant holder at my fave little handmade furniture shop & put some

blankets in it!

Now there is more room in the linen cupboard & I am not yelling at the kids to stop shoving the blankets back in.

I have also noticed that since I put all the quilts in the lounge room, we have not turned the heater on once! That is because the kids have been snuggled up on the lounge under their fave blankey.

I even think that we are enjoying winter just that little bit more because we snuggle up on the lounge every night & spend time together.

Do you snuggle under a blanket on the lounge during winter?

Do you pull on your ugg boots & embrace the cooler weather?

I have to say, I do like summer the best though!

Zucchini slice

Zucchini slice is one of my fave things to stock the freezer with. It is perfect for lunches, brunches & dinner. With this cold weather that has hit across Australia, it is perfect comfort food that is healthy. It is a great way to get your kids {hubby too!} to eat vegetables.

It is the type of slice that you throw it all in, cook & serve. Easy as! You can serve straight after cooking or cut it into wedges , wrap tightly with gladwrap & freeze for later. Serve with a salad or on it’s own.

Grate the zucchini & carrot.

Chop up a handful of fresh herbs. I used flat leaf parsley, curly parsley, chives & thyme.

Put all of the zucchini, carrot, herbs, grated cheeses & flour into a large bowl. Stir well so that the flour covers all the ingredients.

In a separate bowl, crack the 6 eggs.

Whisk the eggs with a fork & pour into the bowl with the other ingredients.

Stir well.

Pour the mixture into a greased silicon cake round or a lamington tray.

Top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

I cooked this in my Turbo oven for 1 hour on 175 degrees.

I love how the top goes all nice & crispy.

Let stand on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then cut into wedges.

You can play with the ingredients with this recipe and add diced bacon, onion, capsicum, corn, tomato…anything really!

Fabric tape + coat hangers = awesome!

Ok, I am going to let you in on a little secret, I find coat hangers boring! Yep, they are one thing in life that really pings me off. You buy beautiful clothes & hang them on boring coat hangers.

Well let me tell you something,

you don’t have to use boring coat hangers ever again!

With a little fabric tape you can turn your coat hangers into works of art!

Just wrap your coat hanger with the tape & you will end up with this!

Now that’s a lot better!

I brought this fabric tape a little while back & I am now in need of some more! I have covered so many things with it!

If you are looking for fabric tape,

head on over to

Chibi Run

Bowties and meatballs

The other day on Facebook, I spoke about my craving for spaghetti & meatballs.

The craving was bad, real bad {no I am not pregnant}.

When I went to cook them, I realised that I had 5 bags of bowtie pasta & only one bag of spaghetti.

So it quickly became a night of bowties & meatballs!

I made a double batch so that I could freeze some for Mr P’s dinners…….ok & some for me too!

These meatballs were simply amazing! I have stumbled upon a secret ingredient for meatballs (hamburger patties too).

My secret ingredient may surprise you!

It is golden syrup!

I don’t know why but it makes such a big difference!

So now I will share the whole recipe with you because who doesn’t like Bowties & meatballs!

1 kg of top grade lean mince

1 bread roll (you will see why soon)

2 tablespoons of Italian herbs

2 eggs

1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup of Smokey BBQ sauce

2 tablespoons of Golden Syrup

1/2 cup of plain flour

1 large bottle of Tomato based pasta sauce

1 large pack of Bowtie Pasta (or pasta of your choice)

In a food processor, process the bread roll to make bread crumbs.

Then add in the Italian herbs & process until all combined

Add the mince, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, BBQ Sauce, Golden Syrup & process until all combined & it comes together.

Using an ice cream scoop, make round balls with the mince mixture.

Roll them in the plain flour.

Heat a good amount of olive oil in a large, deep fry pan.

Fry the meatballs until golden brown all over.

Pour the jar of pasta sauce over the meatballs & turn down to a slow simmer.

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the packet.

Drain & serve the meatballs on a bed of pasta.

These meatballs are amazing!

This recipe makes a pretty large batch so you can feed a whole family or freeze in individual containers for quick reheat meals.

I am superwoman! Just do it!

This week, I have felt like superwoman!

It’s all in the shoes!

These shoes are old, they are dirty, they are awesome!

As you know, I have to now wear shoes

{health warning, how are your feet?}

I have been following the Drs orders.

I can not believe the difference it has made to my day!

For some reason, when I put my Nikes on, I have the power {snap}.

My house is cleaner, I get more washing done, I am baking again!

Now, the only time my feet hurt is when I stand in the one spot for too long or when I take my shoes off. Who knew that wearing sneakers could be so life changing?

I am not saying that my foot or my leg is cured but my days are getting easier & I am able to do so much more.

I feel like I could run a marathon.

Ok, that was pushing it a bit far. Maybe I could go for a long walk with the family & have an ice cream at the end.

I am off to the sports store tomorrow to buy a new pair of sneakers as I think that I brought these ones when I last had a gym membership………9 years ago!

Now, if I can have a pair of sneakers that last 9 years, why is it that I have to buy a new pair of sneakers for Kiara every month?

Ok, yes she does spend all of her time playing sport & yes she does walk to & from school. Ok, she does a hell of a lot more than I do!

I now take my shoes off & keep them next to my bed so that when I get dressed in the morning, they are right there. I can’t forget to put them on. I do miss all my cute little shoes & I have no idea how I am going to go in summer when I can wear a skirt.

For now I just have to remember

JUST DO IT!

Something new to brighten up winter at my place

I have 2 new additions to our house.

I made some new cushion covers with the most awesome fabric that I brought from Wrapped In Fabric.

These Island Pin Up girls are perfect for my little beach shack!

When I saw this fabric, I knew that it had to be mine. I convinced hubby that I must have this fabric!

When he saw it, he said, “They are very you!”

That means that he loves them too!

It was hard to choose because there is more Island Pin Up Girls

Now that I have conquered zips, my house is full of cushions!

Cushions are a great way to update your decor for minimal cost. I love having a denim covered lounge so that it will go with any colour cushions that I want. I recovered my last 2 lounges in denim because it is so hard wearing & does not show any marks when the kids are being kids!

Am I the only one who has a “theme” for their house?

I love walking into my “Beach Shack” & feeling like I am close to the ocean even though it is a 15 minute drive  to the nearest beach!

This is the bestest cheesecake ever!

I would also have to say that it is also the easiest too!

When we went to the Lifeline Bookfest on the weekend, one of the books that I brought was this awesome book

All it cost was $1!!!

I love when you buy a second hand book & you find a little surprise in it like this handwritten recipe on the back of a cigarette carton!

It makes me smile to think that I now have a recipe that was apart of making another family happy!

I adapted one of the recipes to my style of cooking & came out with a winner!

The Bestest Cheesecake ever!

{well, that’s what I am calling it!}

I x 250g packet of Arnott’s Marie Biscuits

120 grams of butter

Filling

680 grams of cream cheese (Philly)

1 cup of caster sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

Crush the biscuits in a food processor until they are fine like breadcrumbs.

Melt the butter.

In a large bowl, mix together the biscuit crumbs & the butter.

Press 1/3 of the biscuit mix into a spring form cake tin that has been well greased with butter.

Turn the cake tin on it’s side & press the rest of the crumb mix onto the sides with a silicon spatula.

Place the base in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Using an electric beater, beat together the cream chees & the sugar until well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between.

Add the vanilla & beat until well combined & smooth.

Pour the filling into the biscuit base.

Cook in a slow oven (150 degrees Celsius) for 30 minutes.

Leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven with the door ajar for 2 hours.

This stops the cheesecake from shrinking & the base from cracking.

Refrigerate for 2 or more hours (overnight is better)

Release the cheesecake from the spring form pan.

It is better to leave it on the base of the spring form pan as to not disrupt the chees cake.

Cut into wedges & serve.

You will find it hard to stop at just one piece!

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.