Vintage Button Swap...What I recieved!

Hooray!!!! My buttons finally arrived. If you have no idea what I am talking about, I held a Vintage Button Swap a couple of months ago, with the idea, that two people swap, cute, pretty, vintage buttons. My partner was the lovely Nadia, who I had seen on her blog, just how creative she can be, especially with wrapping pretty packages, and having a good idea for vintage cuteness, but I never expected such awsomeness to arrive on my doorstep! We decided to do a package exchange as well as buttons, just to add to the swapping fun! Here is what I sent her, and this is what I recieved!

Yes, that is a vintage salad cook book!!!

 



This box of buttons just amazed me. Theyre all so pretty. She wrote notes on special ones.

 

 

 

She sent me vintage fabric scraps and button shells to make my own buttons

 

I recieved this lovely handmade collar and pretty hanky

 

 

 

Love this!

 

 

This is the prettiest bulldog clip I've ever seen!

 

I am in love with her pretty detail she puts on her packaging! I found it hard to open the parcels, but knew I just wanted to get inside to see what I actually recieved! I love everything! If you would like to be part of the package project she holds each year, keep in touch with her here on her website, or her twitter, instagram and facebook, which you can access from her website.

 

Thankyou thankyou thankyou Nadia!

 

If your in the mood for doing a swap, Mezz is hosting a Handmade Card Swap which I've already signed up for, and there is still a few more days left that you can too!

 

Ok, dinner is needed to be eaten now, so I will go! See you soon!

 

Taz

Finding, Buying, Sending, Making, Swapping Cards!

Cards, cards cards, I'm surrounded by cards. And thats ok! I am not complaining, just letting you know! The title of this post may confuse you..here, I will explain!

I've done a bit of opshopping recently, and all in one basket, I came across these great, great cards, ready for me to use. So, I've been FINDING, and of course, BUYING these cards,

 

How good does that cake look???

 

 

 

 

Sadly, I can't see my husband giving this to his father, so Percy will use it instead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also been SENDING cards, as part of a community birthday program I am part of. We were featured in the newspaper, and hallmark are SENDING us cards to use for the program. The idea is, celebrating birthdays with the people who don't have friends or family in their lives, to acknowledge that special day of theirs!

 

 

 

 

 

Iv'e also decided to join Mezz's Handmade Card Swap, where I will be MAKING 8 handmade cards, and SWAPPING them with someone, somewhere in the world. If you would like to join, click here.

 

Some oh so cute cards Mezz has made in the past

 

One she made, and gave to me!

 

 

So, now you can see why/how I am surrounded by cards, but its all exciting and keeping me busy!

 

Hope your all having a lovely week so far! I am, it's been filled with hundreds and thousands, crochet, family and today, I'm off to Jam and Cream.

 

See you soon,

 

Taz xx

Flourless(and fructose free) Chocolate Mud Cake with Fudgey Icing

I have been doing alot of baking recently. I think the cold weather makes me want to have the oven on all day just to keep warm, so I end up baking, which I am not complaining about! I made this cake to take to my mums house one night. She can't eat gluten or fructose, so I came up with this chocolate mud cake. It was delicious, I will be making this for everyone, not just gluten and fructose free peeps. I was very happy that it worked, despite not having flour, and it was lovely and sweet, just by using rice malt syrup. My sister in law came round and had two slices, so it must have been a hit! Try this, even if you love (and can eat) gluten and fructose, as it really is yummy!

 

 

 



You will need:

CAKE

75 gm coconut oil or butter, melted

250 ml rice malt syrup

200 ml strong black coffee

2 eggs

40 gm cocoa powder

200 gm almond meal

1 tsp bicarb soda

ICING

50 gm butter or coconut oil

50 gm rice malt syrup or to taste

heaped tablespoon cocoa powder

pinch of salt

 

Preheat oven to 180C and grease/line a cake tin. Melt the butter/coconut oil and mix well with all the other ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into the yin and bake for 45 min or until a skewer comes out clean.

While your cake is baking, make your fudgey icing. 

Melt the coconut oil/butter over a gentle heat with the rice malt syrup. Add the cocoa powder and salt, and stir until smooth and glossy. Taste it and add more suagr/cocoa/salt until you are happy. Set this aside to let it thicken. You can put it in the fridge, but watch it doesn't harden to much that its not spreadable.

After appro 45 min of cake baking, remove fro oven. Your cake may sink a little but don't panic! Let cool on a wire rack. Once cool, spread the icing over it!

 

 

 

 

Im starting to really enjoy baking with nut meals and rice malt syrup. The taste is pretty much eactly the same as normal, but not a sickly sweet, which is a good thing! I'm all for changing my baking to make it better for me!

 

 

 

 

If you make this, let me know! If you have any gluten/fructose free recipes to share, please do!

 

Thanks for reading, and see you soon. Ive been doing a little makeover in my bedroom and making things for my etsy shop!! Will show you soon!

 

Taz

P.S Thanks to my mum and sister for their pretty cupcake plates and flowers for my photos!



Vintage Button Swap: What I sent...

Incase you missed it, I held a Vintage Button Swap a month or so ago(I can't really remember), and my swap partner finally recieved her parcel, so now it is safe to share what I sent her, with you. I had soo much fun putting the button book together, and my partner and I emailed each other and decided to make it a package swap, with other goodies we thought each other would like. I am sooo excited to recieve mine, and will show you as soon as I do! Until then, here is what I sent the lovely Nadia. You can see her lovely blog post about my parcel here.

First, the vintage buttons I attatched into a very old, falling apart childrens book, written in the 1960's. Nadia loves startionary, so I thought she could cut the pages, and use the cute images!

 

 

I stitched a tea cup and made this button

 

 

 

 

 

Made some Cath Kidston buttons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the rest of the parcel I sent her. All thrifted or handmade by me!

 

 

 

 

Love this 1950's tea tray

 

Nadia collects vintage hair slides

 

Rolls of handmade vintage tape..by me!

 

 

I wrapped everything in pretty vintage fabric, and typed (with my typewriter), on some wallpaper.

 

 

 

 

I was so happy with my parcel I made up, and it was a serious relief when I found out it arrived safely! Have you recieved your buttons yet? I'd love for you to share your blog post link or email me what you sent and recieved. I plan to share it in another post once everyone has gotten their buttons!

 

Ok, well the weather today in melbourne is sunny and mild..time to get outside!

 

See you soon.

 

Taz

 

P.S Im a little excited about some craft ive been making to hopefully sell, will show you soon.