I love willow trees...they're my favourite kind of tree. They're beautiful! We have one over hanging our backyard :o) I actually found a lovely little nook of Armidale yesterday with willows all around.. it was so beautiful! Ok so I had to navigate across built up debris and kinda sank into the mud a fair bit but I got to where I was going eventually! Worth it!
Ours provides lovely shade, gives a gorgeous green glow when the sun filters through the tendrils...ours has recently become home to a family of ravens. Two very young birds sitting on a bough outside my house happily carolling away waiting for mum to feed them. They sound a bit like Velociraptors from Jurassic Park (which by the way, scares the beejeebies out of me!)
I guess it wouldn't be so bad if my little dog, the protector of the universe didn't feel the need to bark at them. My little dog feels the need to protect the yard against ANYTHING at ALL costs. He has little man syndrome. Completely harmless, just thinks he's a big tough Doberman.
He's not exactly terrifying! He may lick you to death but that's about it!
Hmmm. the 3-day cupcakes. No, it was not some insane multilayered difficulty of 1000 cupcake recipe...in fact it was just a cupcake recipe on Junior Masterchef for cryin' out loud! But they still took me 3 days.
This is basically how it happened:
Find recipe with intentions of making awesome cupcakes to consume with gusto. Lose enthusiasm. Find butter cake packet mix in pantry...regain some enthusiasm and proceed to make cupcakes the cheat way. I.e. not from the actual recipe
Scoop out a little of the centres, and put them away for the day. The next day I make the lemon curd and stick it into my cupcakes.... then they go back in the fridge...still unfinished. Why I couldn't finish them all at once on day one I have no idea. Anyhoo... day three (late last night) I pulled them out and finally made the meringue for them. The meringue for once in my life actually reached the right consistancy, but I burnt them under the grill.... I then ate 4 in a row they mustn't have been that bad; then again my standards for my own baking aren't that high and really I'll eat anything. So no problems eh?
Hi Beans! Guess what's a little different this week? I'm co-hosting the 'Marvelous Mondays' blog hop hosted by the fabulously talented Julie at This Gal Cooks! Pretty nifty right? I super dooper with a cherry on top encourage you to link up your crafty, delicious and DIY posts and join in! SQUEEE! Enjoy! ^.^
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I really am! It's one of my favourite colours, you can pair it with so many beautiful colours like pink and blue and yellow and it's just so versatile! I've been in love with 50 shades of brown lately (yeah I know, bad pun) and I'm feeling like I want this inspiration to spill over into my photography... so I rummaged through my yarn stash, my ribbon drawer and pulled some things together to inspire me to create a really beautiful newborn photography prop set. I've put together some inspiration in this post, the materials I have on hand and some of the things i've already made hoping that some brilliant and completely adorable ideas start forming! Oh! And you remember how I started to learn to knit the other day? And that I was hoping I wouldn't make any mistakes so I didn't pull it apart in frustration? Well it's been pulled apart about 4 times since then and I've started again...this time with slightly bigger needles and I'm finding it much easier. Also please excuse the terrible lighting in these photos! I'm still learning how to do that properly... and not doing to well *sigh* Oh well I'll get there eventually.
I'm really looking forward to getting creative with it and to see what happens!
And here I am sharing with you a few fun digitals I've been making just for fun :o) Want to make your own? They're very easy! All you need is Paint, and Picmonkey.com! Create a new file in Paint (you should have it on your computer, it comes standard on Windows operating systems...if you use a Mac I can't help you sorry! lol) and set the size for however large you would like your image...if you're printing it it's always better to make it larger than you need; you can resize it without losing image quality that way. I made mine 30cm x 30cm but feel free to go bigger or smaller.
Now choose a colour you like for the background; after doing one in red and green, I think this lovely shade of blue will do the trick!
Next, what's your favourite Christmas song? That one that plays and just makes you all warm and fuzzy inside? For me it's 'Winter Wonderland' so I'll be using lyrics from that. Oh I just love the Dean Martin version! Gorgeous :o)
So you have your song, now the fun bit! You can use the fonts that come on your computer, you can download some new ones or you can use the fonts provided on Picmonkey.com. The trick is to get creative!! Try a combination of various fonts, or just use one or two...really have a play with it and see what you like. Move them around, try a few different layouts go for it! If you're after some new gorgeous fonts to play with, I have quite a few different styles and options on my Pinterest Board that you're welcome to browse through; simply click the link on the image and you'll be taken to the fonts and how to download them. If you follow the link to the font download, click 'download font', a little box will pop up when it's finished, click open. You will then be taken to a zipped file; double click the icon and Winzip will open. If you then double click the TTF file (True Type Font) it will open an install box...hit 'install' and done! You can now use that new font in any application that allows text on your computer (Paint, Word etc) It's really not as complicated as it sounds I promise :o)
The fonts I've used for my 'Winter Wonderland' are (in order)
Okidokee so you've added your lyrics in the fonts you like onto your background... save your file as either a png or a jpg. Next hop along to Picmonkey.com and click 'upload photo'. Down the left hand side you'll see a number of icons...there is one down the bottom with a snowflake, click that and a then click on 'Wonderland' and just feast you eyes on all the lovelies you can add! Clickity click through them and you'll find you can move them around your image easily, resize them, change the colours and all sorts of things. Now it's just a matter of decorating your image! I've chosen to use some snow flakes over the top..use the 'fade' slider to make them more opaque, a flourish along the bottom and finish I've used 'frost' to border my image and give it that final touch!
See? Fun right! Have fun with it! I just love fonts... I have a serious weakness for them :o) So much so that I've made quite a few of these pretty printables hehe Oh! and just a p.s no I'm not trying to endorse Picmonkey.com or anything...I'm not paid or any of that bollocks to suggest using it on my blog, I simply enjoy using it as it's very versatile and user-friendly and I like it. I thought for those of you who don't know about it, this might give you an opportunity to explore it and have some fun with it.. so all these opinions are my own k?
Annnnnd then I couldn't help myself....
Well it's still Christmas themed! ;) Guess what it's from?
Anyway, enjoy guys! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask... just be aware that I can't help you with specific downloading issues or the such, if you have a problem with a font download, ask the site the font came from... they'll be a lot more helpful than I would be :o) Whoops! And a heads up...most fonts you download are for personal use only... it wouldn't be a good idea to try selling your finished printables as it goes against the font creators liscense agreement.
Last month when I was visiting home in Port Macquarie I took my hubby to Billabong Wildlife Park to check out the critters since I hadn't been there since I was very young; I off course took along the DSLR, 50mm lens and off we went! Check it out :o)
I felt like acquiring a new crafty skill...so I'm determined that I shall learn how to knit! ^.^ I gave it a go around this time last year and failed big time!! I think given it's been a year I should maybe try again (funny actually, I couldn't knit so I learnt how to crochet instead... how does that make sense?!) So far so good! Only thing is I don't know how to pick up stitches again if I drop them, or how to do anything aside from going back and forth with the basic knit stitch and even that mighten't last too long! Oh well...wish me luck and fingers crossed my knitting project here gets to grow a little before being pulled apart in frustration haha
So anyhoo...I ran out of instant coffee thismorning *THE WORLD IS GOING TO END EVERYBODY RUUUUUN!* and whilst shaking the last dregs of coffee out of the jar I got to thinking... my goodness that is one sexy glass jar!! I absolutely must make something with it! That of course led me to Pinterest (of course... derrrr! where else would I go?) and so I bring you this quick post of
Things you can make /put in/do with your empty jar!
Ok fine it's really just me embedding a heap of funky ideas from our favourite online time waste...... um pinboard but hey, I get snaps for enthusiasm! I'm actually supposed to be cleaning the house and crocheting itty bitty Christmas hat props for tomorrow and sewing in the ends of my donations to Yasminah's Gift of Hope but I am sitting here with my small furry puppy in my lap, in my pajamas still and perusing the interwebs...I really do need to get to it soon though. Good thing I have The Very Best of Canned Heat on surround to listen to ^.^ There may be more dancing than cleaning involved! Enjoy lovelies!
