Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sunshine in My Mailbox

Hi there! I've been a bit quiet of late, haven't I? There has been quite a bit going on though - I assure you. I will post about it all in time. I was just looking through some of the photos that I have taken, and realised that I never showed you what I received from my partner in the Sunshine in the Mail Swap!!! Tsk tsk. The fabulous Haylee from Rainbows In Wonderland sent me a package that made me smile so much! I feel very blessed to have her as a partner.

Here it is in all it's glory.


A cool Polaroid Notes card and a handmade envelope. ( I love her envelope idea - I think I may have to try it at some point). Don't you just love that card? I'm going to have a look online and see if I can find some of them for myself!


Minted note cards and envelopes in a box. These are cool. I have seen them in magazines like Real Living (one of my fave mags at the moment), and I can't wait to use them!


Massachusetts Strawberry Jam that she picked up at a farmer's market in New York City (AKA as her fave place in the world. :) ) The jam reminds her of spring, as her mum always makes strawberry jam around that time.


She made me a Christmas apron out of tea towels! How clever is that? And if you want to think about the clever factor even more... try sewing with one hand. I don't want to wish the spring away (It's one of my favourite seasons!), but I'm really looking forward to wearing this apron this year while I dance around the kitchen listening to crazy music and making fudge or something (TMI?).


Last but not least, she spoilt me with a tiny little jar of Nutella that she found in Italy when she was there a couple of months ago. I think when it is empty, I might fill it with beads or something and sit it on my desk to remind me of Haylee (yep, I'm saving it for a special occasion!).

Thanks Haylee for a wonderful, sunshiny package! It really made my day (yes, there were squeals of excitement!) :)

Hope you are having a sunshiny day too!

S xxx

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Vintage Wallpapered Frame + Tutorial

You might have noticed that I have been a bit scarce around these parts lately. It's partly due to the fact that I've been a bit preoccupied with a friend and her newborn baby, who at around 1 week of age is going in for surgery today. We are praying that there is a successful outcome from today and that she will grow rapidly stronger.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a quick peek at what is going on behind the scenes at Seaweed & Raine headquarters, and share a quick tutorial with you (quick in that there's not a lot of instruction... the process took me a little while to do though).


Jellyfish is turning 4 in a couple of weeks, so there is lots of planning going on.

Vintage Wallpapered Frame.

I suppose there are lots of ways that you could do this, but here is what I did.
Gather your materials.


Yes, this is a Kidney dish. It's stainless steel - so great for clean-up.

Timber frame ( found on a thrifty adventure)
Vintage wallpaper sample in your desired pattern
Screwdriver
Small nosed pliers
Sand paper & block
PVA glue (I did consider both Mod Podge and wall paper paste - both of which I have, but I wanted the strength not so slippery factor of PVA)
Paintbrush
Exacto knife (or similar)

1. Remove screws and wire from the frame, then take out the staples that hold the back in the frame. Save these. (Find a place to stash the glass and backing board of the framed work so that they don't get damaged).
2. Lightly sand the frame to give the glue something to grip on to.


3. Measure your frame, then measure your wall paper sample to give you enough to wrap around the frame. I used the rule of thumb "measure twice cut once". (Mine was 4.9cm wide strips)


6. Mark the wall paper and cut into strips.

I started the next part in the corner. You don't have to, it was just a starting point for me.


6. Mitre the corner of the first strip at a 45 degree angle. Cut off surplus wall paper. Glue the strip on the inside of the frame first. (I did try it the other way, but this gave a neater finish).


When this is dry, add glue to the front plane of the frame and smooth the wall paper over it. Leave it for a few minutes and then glue the outside edge and back.


Continue this the whole way around the frame. It's not rocket science. I did make a few mistakes as I went, but thankfully the busy nature of the wallpaper print is fairly forgiving.

Now sit back and admire your handy work! Ta - dah!!! :)


(N.B. Yes I realise I have put the hanging wire on in an odd way for the photo, it was intentional as the frame is going on a little adventure outside before having the glass cleaned and put back in.)

Hope you are having a fabulous day!
S xxx

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Saturday, September 10, 2011

Raisin & Walnut Rice Salad

The other day (When the weather was a LOT warmer!), I was digging through my recipes when I came across this little number in my Nourishing cook book.  Since my little visit to the ER I have been looking for more low fat recipes to try (getting healthier ;) lol) and since this one says it only has 12g of fat total (which is olive oil anyway), I thought it was a good candidate.


The only change that I would make when I make it again (Which I WILL), would be to use 1/2 a Spanish Onion in stead of a whole one (it was a bit strong), or double everything else! :)

Recipe found online here.

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Friday, September 9, 2011

What the kids did...

Well father's day at our place was a fun day  - the boys spent most of their time with their daddy building something that I will hopefully be able to show you later next week. It involved hammers, nails, timber, a staple gun (for the man of the house - not the kids), and oh, other stuff that I'm not going to tell you, so when you see it it will be a surprise. We ate mango, grape and fetta salad, broccoli pasta salad, and lemon self saucing pudding. The former two recipes were something I just made up.


The boys did a little painting leading up to the day (although some of it wasn't finished till it was time to give it!) and then I placed their hands on their artworks and traced around the outline of their hands.


I picked up this cool frame - not my usual thing, but I really like it. It's a white frame with blue resin over the top. And here is a close up of the verse. Inspiration from here.


Linking up at OCS

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Painted Note cards

Last week I showed you a card that I made for my MIL's birthday that I hand painted. Well I also made some for my swap partner for the Sunshine in the Mail Swap, and now that she has them, I can post about them! :)



The blue spotted one I took inspiration from a favoured fabric that Yana used in a quilt.




I made envelopes to match the size of the smaller note cards from coloured A4 craft paper.

The specs...
I used acrylic on water colour paper that I have been hoarding since I did art electives at Uni (14 years ago!!!), and mounted some of them on black card stock that I got from a wall paper place, and some card stock that I got from a printers.

Hope you are having a creative day!
S xxx

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Hellooo Spring!


The first day of Spring! I have been waiting for this moment for the past 3 months. Don't you just get a lift in your soul when Spring rolls around? Here are a few snapshots taken around my garden over the past couple of weeks.


Jellyfish and I planted pots with Grape Hyacinth and Scilla. We got Star Violets as a bonus. :) (Oh and the Scilla aren't flowering yet)

Spring Star

Grape Hyacinth


These little purple stars are ALL THROUGH our lawn near the back fence - it is beautiful. They are a bit smaller than the size of a 5c piece.

A native grass - these get little berries on them that are edible.
I DO love my blossoms!!! I think these are the best this year that I have seen in the 8.5 years we have been living here.


This morning I donned a new bright Green T-shirt (I might have to show you some other time) that the Mr. Brought home for me the other day, some sports gear, and took my boys for a walk, and then back to the park for a play on the way home. The sun warmed air was drenched with the fragrance of flowers in the gardens along the paths. The birds seemed to know that it is Spring, and were singing up quite a chorus. There was a spring in my step, and I just felt great to be alive! :) This afternoon I COULD sit at the sewing machine and work on something for Little Clam, but I would rather just curl up in the sunshine and read this.

So how does Spring affect you?