Tutorials

Wow, there are some great tutorials out there, and here are a few I'm loving right now and may even be tempted into making some of them (damn I'm funny!).

Some lovely tea towels (Sew, Mama, Sew)

Lovely crocheted headbands (Tangled Happy)

This great stashbusting crocheted shopping bag (Attic 24)

A rag rug (Sugar Bee Crafts)

and finally...

A different take on a rag rug (Craft Passion)

All in all a lot of lovely things to inspire a crafting girl like me. I will definitely be making the headbands, they look so easy and quick to make!

What's inspiring you at the moment?

Cheers

Recipe - Eggplant Parmigiana

Well the school holidays are almost over and it has been fairly frantic around here. I have been working on a couple of projects for a friend's baby shower at the end on the month and some quick wins around the house (new curtains, measuring for new blinds, retouching some painting). More on all of those later.

I have also been working a little in the garden as some of the summer crops are starting to die off and there is still a little time left to get a couple of new crops in before the cooler weather arrives.

Last week I made this Eggplant Parmigiana as part of last week's Meatless Monday and it was delicious! It started off as this recipe, however as I was out of some of the ingredients it quickly turned into a slight variation.

Ingredients
2 medium eggplants, cut into 1cm thick slices
Olive Oil
Medium onion, finely chopped
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 jar pasta sauce
Grated cheese
Bambini bocconcini

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C, Salt eggplant for 10 minutes then rinse under cold water and pat dry with paper towel.
2. Whilst eggplant is salting, heat a little oil in a medium saucepan, add onion and garlic and saute until soft, add tomatoes and pasta sauce and simmer for 5 minutes, giving it a stir when needed.
3. Add a little oil to frypan and cook eggplant in batches, drain on paper towel.
4. Layer tomato mixture with eggplant and grated cheese, finishing with tomato, bocconcini and grated cheese, bake for approx 20 minutes. Delicious!

Cheers

Pinterest deliciousness

I am more than a little inspired by some of these lovelies...

I have a long hallway with one unbroken wall and I am looking to do this on it. (Sorry I couldn't find the credit for this photo so if it is yours let me know).

Courtesy of PeelAndStickDecals Etsy store

Our back bathroom toilet is broken and is constantly running and wasting water (it has the runs as we like to joke around here, sorry horrid taste in jokes I know!), so we have been shopping all over the place looking for replacements (that don't cost over $600!!!) and I would love to put one of these decals on it!

purlbee.com

How lovely are these! There is even a great tutorial found here, watch out for mine soon.

housetohome.co.uk

And finally this one, it makes my heart swoon and is the inspiration for my loungeroom makeover, I'll keep you posted on how that is going over the coming weeks and no doubt months.

Cheers

Cookbook of the month - January

The cookbook for January is 'Grow It, Cook It' by Sally Cameron. I picked this book because the garden is going a little crazy and I desperately needed some new ways with zucchinis! We almost have them up to our ears with the plants going crazy (although they look like they might soon start dying back) and now the eggplant is cropping nicely so I need some recipes for that too.

Last month's cookbook of the month (to be found here) turned out to be a bit of a fizzer as I used the current edition of Australian Good Taste for most of my recipes as well as a few of old favourites. I did however make these shortbread biscuits from the book and the girls had a great time using the Xmas cookie cutters.

Cheers

2012 - A Year of Home and Health

They will be my focus this year, home and health.

Home because we have been in this (almost) lovely house for over 13 years and it still looks like we moved in last week!  So many unfinished projects, argh!

And health because last year I turned the big 4-0 and I have noticed everything is starting to slow down (let's not even mention the metabolism!) and, if I'm honest, I have never been the fittest girl on the block (is it OK to still call myself a girl? everything else sounds weird). So I joined the gyn in December, and Santa bought me a bike, which I (very) promptly fell off.

So there it is folks, what's your focus for the year? Do you even have one? I like the idea of having an overall plan for the year, especially now that I am a stay at home mum and it is so easy to not focus on something and before you know it 7 months have gone past and I still haven't achieved much. I know some in blogland have a word of the year and I tried it out but couldn't find anything to fit (they were all more than one word - stop procrastinating; get off your butt; just do it dammit, etc).

So stay tuned, I will be posting some of my projects, and maybe some of my very honest before shots as I work my way around this home. I think first up will be the enormous piles of paper in my office area, good grief I could be here for days!

Cheers

2011 in review

Now the year is drawing to a close I am looking back at the year that was 2011. For me 2011 had two big things, one of the worst and one of the best.

In May I lost my job, a job that out of the few that I have had was my absolute favourite. I worked at Borders, which for me was a wonderful bookstore. I remember the first time I ever walked into a Borders store and distinctly recall thinking that whoever designed the store had been in my head! It had everything a reader like me could have; a huge selection and comfy chairs, what else does a girl need? When one was opening up in my area I walked past the partly built store and laughingly said to my dad that working there would be the perfect job for me only to realise a few hours later it really was! Although I was perfectly content in my old job I decided then and there I would do everything to get a job at Borders and I did. I started when the store opened in December 2007 and stuck around for two years, then deciding that the crazy hours of retail weren't working for me or my family so I made the difficult decision to leave. Needless to say I missed it like crazy and lasted just over 7 months before I went back part time. 10 months later our store, and all the others were gone. And I still haven't gotten over it.

On the other hand, 2011 was the year I fulfilled a 27 year old dream by going to Paris and it was wonderful. I can't wait to go back!

Right now though I am looking forward to 2012, I have big plans for the year and no doubt some of those will be shared here. All the best for the new year for you and your loved ones and thanks for reading.

Cheers

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends and love. We had Christmas lunch at our place for the first time in many years, after that it was the usual chaos getting to everyone's place to catch up. I love it, but I'm glad it's over because now I can catch up on some sleep! Our girls were up at 5.30 on Christmas morning, eager to get unwrapping. Both of them received new bikes from Santa as well as lots of other lovely things.

Christmas Day here was lovely, the weather was beautiful and sunny, something we haven't had much of lately and although it wasn't too hot it was warm enough for the kids to go for a swim. Boxing Day was spent with some great friends, out on the lake for a few hours of boating, tubing and wakeboarding followed by a lovely BBQ dinner.

But today it's back to the normal, back to catching up on the laundry and other chores, and back to the gym for me!

Cheers