Christmas cooking

Hello! On the weekend I was baking gingerbread biscuits and making lemon butter to give as Christmas presents. Luckily I made extra so we were able to enjoy some as well. The showery weather has finally cleared and today was beautiful and sunny. I am heading off to Daylesford via Ballarat tomorrow morning. It will lovely to sit and relax for a few days. I feel like I haven't stopped during the last three weeks or so. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Day with your family. Another year nearly over...

Cheerio for now. C ♥

'Tis the silly season

LittleDog enjoying a lamb bone

Our lightly decorated lopsided Christmas tree!

Hello! Sorry I have fallen off the blogland wagon lately. Daily life seems to have taken over. I am now working 4-5 days a week, so all that lovely free time I used to have has gone. I found this frog sitting in the middle of the rose while I was dead heading. Today I made six jars of lemon butter for Christmas presents and am also planning to make gingerbread biscuits. I hope your festive season plans are going well - only 7 more sleeps! C x

Home made decorations

Hello there blog friends!

I made some Christmas decorations and hung them up this morning. I got the idea for these from the Etsy seller Bookity. I might make some more later... maybe some smaller or bigger ones? Next we will need to get a tree... a real one me thinks!

I am having Christmas lunch with the girls from work today which will be lovely. Then I may have to take some wool to the merchant in Skipton. How is your day looking? C ♥

An Etsy find

Hello!

Is'nt this coin purse by oktak just gorgeous?! I am always coming across the most divine products on Etsy. Such amazingly clever people in Etsy land!

Things have been a bit busy here. I have been working at the Bank a lot and after having about a year off it's been a bit of a shock to the system! I must admit it's very nice to have my own little bit of money though. Lyndon has been busy slashing the roadsides, bringing in the hay, repairing machinery, etc. The farmers are starting to windrow the canola even though we've had quite a bit of rain lately. The silly season is here! Only 24 sleeps till Santa arrives, yay! I hope all is well in your part of the world. Love, C ♥

Change of plan

Unfortunately I will no longer be having a stall at the Sugar & Spice Children's Market in Ballarat this weekend. The original venue is no longer available and although Alison has been lucky enough to find an alternative, it is much smaller and therefore she cannot fit as many stalls in. To help save her some stress in choosing people to "reject" I volunteered to drop out. I was feeling a little un-prepared and frazzled so it is a little bit of a relief actually! Alison was very sweet and made me promise to have a stall at the market next year. Everything happens for a reason! So I'll just relax and have a nice quiet weekend. I hope all is well with you. C ♥

Soy candles for Christmas

Here are the soy candles I made for Christmas presents. The fragrances are Lemon Verbena, Sandlewood, Green Tea & Lemongrass. They were very easy to make and the trickiest part was ensuring the wick was straight and centred! I made a little box for one of them from some wallpaper. Hope you like them! C ♥

Early Christmas present!

What mother does not spoil their daughter? Mine certainly does! Here is an early Christmas present from my lovely mum. New bedside table lamps from Freedom. Nice and simple. Love them! Thanks mum. ♥

DIY Christmas wreath

Here's the Christmas wreath I made thanks to The Red Thread's tutorial. Lisa's one is soooo much better but it was still fun to make and it's hanging in the living room at the moment. We're going to Ballarat tomorrow so I might have a look for some more wrapping paper to make another one. Is it too early to put up Christmas decorations?! C ♥

Christmas Wishlist, Part 3

Paper+Craft book from Booko

Home letters from LittleWhiteDog

Viney Alphabet from Jessica Hische

Bakers twine from Bird Haven

Oh, these Christmas wishlists could go on for ages! :)

Making hay

We cut a couple of paddocks for hay yesterday. It will probably make about 200 rolls. More than enough to feed our sheep over summer. Today we drafted the lambs and ewes. Lyndon crutched a few of the daggy ones and then we moved them into the top plantation. Little Dog gets pretty excited when we do sheep work. He yaps and nips at them and carries on a treat! Hope you enjoyed your Sunday. C ♥

Gift tags

Hello. Here are a few of the gift tags I have been making today. It is a beautiful sunny day here... oh so nice! Yesterday I planted some more tomato seedlings. We are going to have sooooo many tomatoes in a few months, I'll be making tomato pickles for days and days! I have also been raking up the leaf litter and sticks in the north plantation so am now a little pooped. I hope all is well in your life. Cheerio, C ♥

Words of Wisdom ...

"Oh bed! Oh bed! Delicious bed!

That heaven upon earth to the weary head"

Thomas Hood, 'Miss Kilmansegg: Her Dream'

Image from HousetoHome

Gift making ....

Hello! Since funds are a little tight this year I have decided to make a few gifts for Christmas. It's always particularly nice to receive a hand made present is'nt it? I thought I would start with making some soy wax candles. I have quite a few empty lovely jars and pots I can use. I was even thinking of filling some odd teacups I have hiding in the back of the cupboard! I'll show you how they turn out next week. ♥

Image from QueenB

Christmas Wish list, Part 2

A game for my Nintendo DS

Seville Table Lamp from Domayne

Coin purse from Seventh Sphere


2011 Calendar from Night Owl Paper Goods

I wonder how many Wish List parts I can make?!!

Wednesday wisdom... on a Thursday!

For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it.

For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it.

For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.

Ivan Panin

Image from HomeLife

My Christmas wish-list!

Felted lavender soap by SoFino

Slugs boot liners by ThoseAlaskanGirls

Custom return address stamp by Primele

Linen purse by RubyJo

Just a couple of items I would love for Christmas, or anytime really! C ♥

Windmill

Hello there. We've had a couple of days of lovely sunshine and blue skies which has been a nice touch of summer. It feels like this type of weather has been a long time coming. Lyndon serviced the windmill. This mill fills the high tank from our dam to supply the sheep troughs, flush our toilets and waters the garden. I've been doing lots of mowing and the garden is looking mighty fine! Hope all is well with you. C ♥

Wednesday wisdom

If you do not change direction,

you will end up where you are going.

Lao Tzu

Image is of Bison products

Daily life

Hello friends! I hope you are well and happy. All is good here on the farm. Beautiful spring weather, rain then shine. The crops are happy and so are the farmers. Unfortunately so are the mosquitos! Last weekend we went to Port Fairy with my sister Julie and her partner for a couple of days which was lovely. We wandered around the town and along the beach, ate yummy food and looked in a few shops. It was nice to get away for a little while.

I am going back to work at the bank soon so am cherishing my days at home, sleeping in and choosing what I want to do each day when I wake up. Lucky me! I have been enjoying catching up on my magazine reading and sorting out the front room now that we're using the lounge. Gardening, cooking, paying bills, cleaning, washing... life rolls on by! C ♥

Belated Wednesday wisdom!

Can you imagine what you would do

if you could do all that you can do?

Sun Tzu

Image from Style At Home

Happy day!

Hello friends. Come on, do the happy dance with me! The lounge room painting is finally finished. I have moved the new sofa in along with a few other pieces of furniture and it's starting looking like a proper room. I am trying to work out what else to bring in to complete it.

Today I planted some tomatoes, strawberries and pumpkin seedlings in the vege patch. I waved my 'grow' wand over them so am looking forward to productive plants! We are off to Port Fairy tomorrow for a couple of days which will be nice. We're meeting my sister Julie and her boyfriend David there which is even nicer! The weather is forecast to be warm and sunny so yay, more happy dances! Hope you are having a lovely weekend. C ♥

Wednesday wisdom...

A heart in love with beauty never grows old.

Turkish Proverb

Image is "Souris" by Aufilde

Jeep Jamboree

We spent the weekend at the Jeep Jamboree held at Lardner Park near Warragul. This is my silver KJ Cherokee at the start of the line-up and our little black YJ (top picture on left) which won it's category in the Show & Shine! There were lots of Jeeps and lots of activities and 4WD trips so it was a fun weekend .. oh but it's nice to be home! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. C ♥

Wednesday wisdom...

hen you get to the end of your rope, tie and knot and hang on.
Franklin D Roosevelt



appiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.
Anonymous



hallenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

Joshua J. Marine



First letter fonts from Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

I love letterpress

Hello everyone,

How was your weekend? Was'nt the sunshine fabulous?

I mowed the lawns on Saturday and Sunday which was exhausting but it looks great now. It's also needed to help keep the snakes away from the house.

This lovely book, The Little Book of Letterpress, is on my Christmas wishlist. Letterpress is an old art that has found popularity again and is my favourite form of stationery. Give me any letterpress item as a gift and I'm happy! Cheerio for now. C ♥

Wednesday wisdom...

"We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies" Roderick Thorp

I found this quote in the latest Notebook magazine which I think is one of the best magazines out there. It has such a great variety of articles and I find it very inspiring. This months issue has an article on feeling free to fail ... Not perfect? Who cares! As Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work". Is'nt that a great attitude?!

The sun still refuses to shine here which means that when it finally does I will appreciate it even more. And can you imagine how much everything is going to just grow like mad too!

I hope everything is well with you and your best friend.
C ♥

Fields of canola

Hello everyone,

The canola around here is well and truly flowering. When the sun is shining the fields are fluorescent! We have paddocks of them on the south and west side of our house and their smell is quite strong. I have been painting the cornice with top coat today. Little by little I am getting there. I am a little low on inspiration today .... do you have those days? Everything just seems a little harder to do than usual. But tomorrow is a new day and a good sleep does wonders!

Cheerio for now. C ♥

Wednesday wisdom...

I love quotes! I have decided to post a quote every Wednesday. It may be a silly one or a funny one or a lovely one. It could be from someone famous or someone anonymous. Either way, I hope it will make you stop and think for a minute about how wonderful and amazing the world is!

This week's quote is from "A Box of Birds" by Affirmations. The illustration is by Kate Knapp at Twigseeds. I love Kate's drawings!

I hope you all have a great day. C ♥

Sunday ....

Hello lovely people,

Don't you just love Sunday's? Even though I am only working part-time at the moment I still think Sunday's are special. It's a day where I know I can do nothing and not feel bad about it! Not that I ever end up doing nothing. Today I have done two loads of washing and mowed our mega lawn, plus a few other bits and pieces. I just went outside to finish raking the lawn clippings and took a few photos for the blog. This flower is from the Aeonium succulent.

Having a lovely day today made up for my disappointing time at the market yesterday. I did not sell one thing! It was obviously just not my day or maybe the wrong type of market for my work. Lots of people stopped and looked and made lovely comments but no sales. I have applied for the Sugar & Spice Children's Market which I think is better suited to my type of artwork. Oh well, we live and learn don't we. At least my super sister Julie sold lots of her biscuits, yay! :)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. C ♥

Market day - room set

Oh dear it's market day on Saturday and I'm racking my brain trying to make sure I have everything organised for the trip. It's 100km away so if I forget anything I can't dash home to get it!
Just behind my table I am going to set up this little room setting to give customer's some inspiration....well I hope so anyway! I have to print my business cards, make one more artwork and copy one more print and then I'm ready. Yay! Here's hoping it's a great day.
C ♥

Sweet!

Oh there are such lovely things out in the big wide world, so many talented people....I come across new and amazing wonders every day! This print from the Etsy store JooJoo is just so lovely I had to share it with you....hope you like it :)

Today I volunteered at the Information Centre from 1-4pm. Before and after that I painted! The work on this room feels like Homer's Iliad. Epic! I can't wait to show the finished piece.

Hope all is well in your part of the world. C ♥

Sheep work

Hello! I notice I have a couple of new followers which is so exciting for me. I did a little happy dance when I saw that! It's so nice to know someone is reading my blurb :) We drenched the lambs and ewes yesterday. Well the BigFella did most of the work, I just filled the race, counted them out, occasionally helped get a grass seed out of their eyes and stood around trying to look useful! Little Dog had to be chained up because he just wanted to chase and play with them.

The forecast is for another big dose of rain here over the weekend....maybe 2 inches or so. Wow it's amazing all this rain. The swamps are still overflowing from the last deluge. I have convinced the BigFella it's a perfect time to do some painting. The lounge room just needs one more wall undercoated and then it's ready for the top coat, yippee!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. C ♥

Hello blossom!

Yay, spring has sprung! How pretty are these blossoms! Can you see the bee?!

Little Dog and I went for a walk this afternnon. There was a lamb out on the road and he chased it for ages. Little ratbag would not stop....I nearly yelled myself hoarse trying to get him to come back. Uh oh more training required! He is only six months old I suppose.

I've joined a new Etsy team called MEST which stands for Melbourne Etsy Streey Team. I am making lots of new online friends and will meet a couple at the Buninyong Market which will be good. My vintage prints copied really well and look great which I am thrilled about. Fingers crossed they sell well! Just trying to work out the best way to display them now.

I managed to get a little more sanding done today which was satisfying. Little by little I'm getting there. I wish the walls and skirting boards were not in such bad shape. We've got visitors coming to stay at the end of September so I reeaaaalllly want the room finished by then. It will be so nice to finally sit on our new sofa!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. C ♥

Veranda

Do you like this print? I love love it to bits! It's from an Etsy seller called Nidhi. I find it very soothing and peaceful....sigh...

I got home at 10.30pm last night from the Polling day so it ended up being a 15 hour day! It was quite interesting but tiring. Had a nice sleep-in this morning then did some housework and mowed the lawn. We went for a drive to the lake overflow and Little Dog had a great time running around exploring the dunes. It's nice to see some water in the lake again! How was your weekend? :)

Buninyong Makers Market

Ooo, I'm so excited (and a bit worried) about having a table at the Buninyong Makers Market on Saturday 11th September! I have made a couple of new artworks (one pictured above) for the day so now have a total of 13 paper artworks and 6 vintage prints. I have to find a nice white tablecloth and I have some pretty bunting I thought I might place along the front. It would be so nice to sell a few of my artworks but also to find out what people think of them.

Election day tomorrow. I'm a polling official so have to be there at 7.30am and may not finish till 7.30pm.....phew! On Sunday Lyndon and I are going for a drive to the Grampians. Ice creams at Halls Gap. Yum :) Hope you all have a lovely weekend. C x

Giggle

Look at this gorgeous key holder! I found it on the Real Shopping website which is put together by the Real Living magazine people. I love that magazine; it has such great stuff and is very inspiring. I need that sometimes to help keep me motivated to work on this old house!

It is my sister Julie's birthday tomorrow so......Happy Birthday Julie! Yay :)

Have a great day. You're the best, chuck out the rest! ....giggle.... (does'nt that word make you smile?!)