simple summer t's

It's just about summer so I sorted out the girls clothing this weekend, moved all the warmer clothes to the bottom draws and found all there summer t's, shorts and dresses.  I realised Olives has a whole draw full of t-shirts and Isla only has three! I guess that's a pro of being the younger sister, Olive gets all Isla's cute hand me downs! So I went op-shopping and got a few cute tops, then I came home and made these two. I love the floral on the sleeves, much more pretty than plain grey. For the pink top I used the material from  a nature baby wrap, I brought for $2 from a garage sale. Now to make a few more and she should be sorted for Summer!

picture perfect

I found this framed cubby-hole shelf at a church sale today ($5), I have a slight obsession with cubby-holes so I was extremely happy to find this little gem! I didn't like the dark stain of the wood so I gave it a quick spray with white paint and with the placement of some cute op-shop ornaments (all between 20cents - $1) I think it looks gorgeous! And how do you like the beautiful bird mobile my friend Amy made for Olive, isn't she amazing!

my baby turned two

Yesterday was Olive's second birthday, I can't believe she was born two whole years ago, they have flown by so, so fast! Here are a few pretty pic's from the day...

the early bird catches the worm

Olive has been waking at around 5:30am for the last couple of weeks, not surprising considering how light it is that time of the morning. I can't wait for day light savings to kick in! This morning we made the most of our early start and went to the flea market, Neal and Isla were still fast asleep, lucky!

These are my bargain's.... x7 avocado's $4.50, x3 broccoli $4.50, cauliflower $1, apples $2, x2 bags of mandarins $4, tulips $4, x2 leeks $2, walnuts $3, plant $2, x8 items of clothing for Isla $8...... 

grand total = $35.oo 

I love the flea market!!!

A little bit of summer

This is my latest little top for Olive, I love the material, it's so girly and feels like summer! I've misplaced my original pattern so I've been working out the sizing again, lucky it's such a simple pattern!

cardamon & ginger biscuits

Cardamon is high on my list of favourites, it's so delicious, I have a great Indian carrot cake recipe (which introduced me to cardamon about five years ago.) For these cookies I've used the good old Edmond's classic biscuit recipe and added cardamon, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. The recipe is below...

125 grams softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups self raising flour

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy, beat in egg and vanilla. Sift spices and flour into wet mixture and combine. 
Roll into teaspoon sized balls and flatten with a fork. 
Bake on 190°C for 8-10 minutes.
When the biscuits have cooled down apply a ginger icing (melt 1 tablespoon butter, add 1 cup icing sugar and 1 teaspoon ginger, add water to make a spreading consistency)
Makes about 25 biscuits

Happy baking!

relax

We had a very relaxing weekend, Neal started prep on the claw foot bath (we're doing our bathroom up this summer,) the girls spent lots of time outside playing, Olive has upgraded from a baby swing to a big girls swing. we went to my sister-in-laws yesterday to celebrate two birthdays, we ate banana cake, lay around in the sun, took in the lovely country view and looked for ladybugs in the grass...

out and about

Spring is officially here! I'm looking forwarding to being outdoors and seeing our friends more often, it would be an understatement to say we were suffering from cabin fever! It was lovely at the botanical gardens during the week, it was such a beautiful day and great to see the kids having fun and getting some fresh air!

little gem

This is my latest 'favourite find,' I got it from the SPCA op shop in the weekend, I actually went out Saturday morning with high hopes of finding some treasures at the annual church sale in town but all I brought was one plant! It is lovely though, it's a decorative peach tree, it has beautiful spring flowers. So back to the little tiara, it's been make using a cute vintage brooch and wire, Isla loves it but then again she loves anything to do with princesses!