My Pledge

Saw this, love it, totally agree! I do try and will continue to try my very hardest and encourage you too!

image from this fab blog

 

See you soon with some new dresses Ive been making!

 

Taz xx

A day at the fair.

Hooray, it's that time of year again. School, church and retirement villages are holding their annual fetes and fairs. I've got my favourites written in my diary for the upcoming weeks. On the weekend, I went to a new one I had not been to, or even heard of before. My mum mentioned it to me, and I am sooo glad she did. It's right up there with one of the best Ive been too! What gets a fair up there for me? Well, a good variety of homemade cakes, jams and homegrown produce. Well made scones, jam and cream (and tea) with pretty flowers on the tables. Rooms and rooms, or if outside, metres and metres of wonderful second hand and handmade things to look at and buy. Having a white elephant is bonus points, as is having things a little organised. Live music is lovely....depending what is being played and bunting here and there is always nice to see. This fair had it all. To top it all off, it was run by very excited, well dressed and proud residents of the retirement village, that you couldn't help but feel emotional. It was a glorious day for all!

Here are the things I brought home with me..

this cute tea cosy. I LOVE the little flowers.

 

two pot holders. the bottom one is handmade

 

 this great piece of pyrex!

 

This book. I am not much of a reader and have decided to start by reading easy, childrens and teens books.

 

This pack of childrens party hats. 

 

This tiny pretty brooch 

 

 Gumby party hats

 

Amongst a stash of christmas stuff was this little pocket. My plan is to sew it onto a top or skirt. 

 

A colourful bunch of wool. Perfect for pompom flowers

 

These bathers. Still with tag on!

 

some new tongs and a very old glass babies bottle.

 

some pretty fabric



and this vintage sheet. Perfect for dress making and swapping

 

 

I am pretty excited to go to the other fairs coming up. This week is soo busy for me, its quite exciting. I've got magazine making to do, dentist(not exciting), pilates, sewing for a nieces 3rd birthday, remembering and sewing handmade things for handmade365 and spending time with a lovely friend on friday afternoon in northcote. I don't head that way that often, but I am quite a fan of the cute shops and cafes.

 

Do you have a busy week planned? I highly recommend at the end of this week to walk around your local fair and have a slice of cake to unwind!

 

See you soon,

 

Taz xx



Pretty things and wearing handmade 365 days of the year!

My mum recently gave me a pile of magazines she had finished reading. I browsed the trashy ones very quickly and found the october issue of Better Homes and Gardens in the pile. I don't think I have ever read one before, but it really surprised me. Maybe it's because its a spring edition, but they really focused on all things pretty and wonderful! I was quite chuffed. Here are some of the lovely photos just bursting with great craft and decorating ideas. As well as this, there are wonderful recipes. I'm definatly keeping this copy for future inspiration! (apologies for the quality of some of the photos, I have no idea why they're like that!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm going to keep these pretty images, and the rest in the magazine, for future card making I think!

 

In other news, I am taking part in Handmade365, run by Rachelle from Tales of Ted and Agnes. The rule is I have to wear atleast one handmade thing everyday for a year, starting october 1st. I definatly do not have 365 handmade items, but will have enough to rotate them around hopefully without repeating to close together! I've already started thinking of new handmade items to make. If you would like to join in, have a read here.



 

I will be posting what I wear everyday on instagram and will probabaly post some photos here too!

 

Have you done anything like this before? I'm really excited but nervous..why!!?? I even made a skirt today ready to wear on october 1st! It was an apron, I will show you soon!

 

Ok, well, bye for now,

 

Taz xxx 

Food Swapping, one of my new favourite things.

A batch of tangelo and poppyseed syrup cakes cooling, ready for the swap.

Yesterday, I attended my first ever food swap. Just like a clothes swap (these too are up there for one of my fav ways to spend a day), you bring your wares, and swap.In this case, it was homegrown or homemade food. No money is exchanged and you get to eat and take home foods you perhaps have never made or even eaten before. Hubby and I wrote a list of what we wanted to make to swap, and got cracking. Before I share images of all the wonderful food at the swap and what we brought home, I decided to challenge myself and make french macarons, and they worked!!!! Here's my first ever batch, salted choc flavour. I got the recipe from one of my fav books, Poh's Kitchen.

 

We also made orange cordial, citrus and ginger marmalade, thai green curry paste, and Tangelo cakes. These cakes might just be my new favourite recipe...for now!

We arrived and set up our table with our goods, and walked around the room trying all the other foods available and chatting away. It was great.

 

Our table of food

 

My macarons wrapped up ready to swap, and yum samples to try

 

 



A table of relish's, peanut sauce and dry choc chip cookie mixes, ready for those emergencys!

 

Savoury scones, coconut muffins and raw choc balls on offer here,

 

A table of homegrown rhubarb, lemons, eggs and orange dipped chocolates and honeycomb

 

Jams, lemon butters, hummus, hedgehog and lemon cordial on offer at this table,

 

Homemade bbq sauce, hummus, merigues and honey chai spiced almonds on this table

 

On this table were bags of museli, rocky road and lemon iced biscuits.

 

 

 

There was also homemade apple cider vinegar, candied ginger, chilli sauce and mushroom

sauce. Once the swapping was over, we shared afternoon tea together and took our box of homemade goodies home.

 

Chocolate cake and tangelo cake for afternoon tea.

 

Our glorious box of swapped food. We brought home raw choc balls, hummus, chai almonds, eggs, muesli, choc dipped oranges, apple cider vinegar, relish, jam and biscuits.

 

 

My lovely friend Beth, who organised the swap has now made a facebook page where people can like, and post info about any swaps they would like to run or be part of any planning for future swaps. You can like and follow along here at Food Swaps Melbourne.

 

Have you ever done anything like this before? It is really such a great way to share food, reduce waste and get to know people and even better, you don't need to bring your purse! Perhaps it can be a new way of shopping.

 

Hope your all having a great day. I'm going to have some tea and enjoy a piece of choc dipped orange(the choc balls are finished!).

 

See you soon,

 

 

Taz

Homemade High Tea

I LOVE high tea. I will be honest, I have only ever been to one high tea, and that was for my hen's day. It was fabulous. You can eat pretty much as much as you want and all the things you want, no menu to choose from, and its all so petite and pretty. I plan to go have High Tea at Jam and Cream sometime as it looks and sounds amazing, but other than that, high tea for me is usually a pricey thing, so I avoid going. Some friends and I recently decided to have our own high tea. Perfect! Cheap, as pretty, as petite and as delicious as anywhere else! We all wore dresses and sat around chatting, with pots of tea and plates of yuminess. This isn't exactly a DIY post, but have a look at these pics to definatly get ideas and do one yourself!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed scones with jam and cream, zucchini slice, cinnamon biscuits, white choc mudcakes, crustless sandwiches and endless cups of tea. Flowers were from the garden.

It's easy to organise and do. Gather your friends, organise what your baking, pick a house, set the table with pretty servingware and fresh picked flowers, wear a dress and there you have a lovely homemade high tea! We are already talking about our next.

 

Hope your all having a lovely start to the week.

 

Taz xx