Thursday, August 30, 2012

Going round and round - my creative space


Last week I showed you my new memory wire bracelets - here.

Once I got the memory wire out I couldn't stop!
Here are some more of my trio bracelets - circles of gemstones, pearls, gemstone chips et al.


I was making these today while I was "on duty" behind the counter at my craft co-operative - The Nook at Leura.
I carry the beads and bits in one of those plastic shoes boxes, the lid is my work tray and an old cloth napkin in my work surface. I also had a piece of corrugated cardboard which I use for the little seed beads, but it does stop bigger beads from rolling around too much.

If you would like to see more creative spaces or would like to join in pop on over to My Creative Space on Village Voices.


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Wordless Wednesday - Mumbai monsoon












I'm joining in with My Little Drummer Boys wordless wednesday - have a look!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

What to do with a glut of....oranges


It's citrus time!

And unfortunately we are not the ones to have a glut of oranges, but the last two weekends some kids down our street have been selling the fruits of their tree.


But I did wonder what you would do with a glut of oranges - sure you can juice them or just eat them.

You could make marmalade (or, even better, give them to someone else who makes marmalade!)


You could also make this delicious almond and orange cake.

I must admit that this is one of my favorites and often pick it at a restaurant or cafe, but I've never made it as I thought that you had to boil the oranges for hours and I'm never organised enough for that!

Amazingly I couldn'tfind a recipe for orange and almond cake amongst my gazillion recipe books (maybe they are not modern enough?) - so I googled - as you do....

Of the 3 recipes I brought up one boiled the oranges for 10 minutes, one boiled then for 1 hour and the other boiled away merrily for a goodly 2 hours.

I opted for the middle ground and boiled for one hour.

The recipe is dead easy after that.


Even my daughter said it was delicious after admitting that this cake wasn't really her favorite.

If you would like to try it this is the recipe I used from taste.com.au

orange images from wikipedia

Friday, August 24, 2012

Walking again and making again

Who could resist getting outdoors when the weather looks like this? -



It's native flower time here in the beautiful Blue Mountains - 


I'm still getting used to my new camera and struggling with the macro shots.


Testing my camera in a low light situation here - these steps, which have been carved out of the rock lead to a another spectacular lookout over the Jamieson Valley.


Then on to Princes Rock lookout which has the best ever view of Wentworth Falls -


My camera struggled with the heavy light/shadow contrast, but did great with the zoom!
These people, below, are in the shot above, on the far righthand side. Can you see them?


But life can't be all fun and bushwalks - can it?

Let's get ready for all those spring markets and festivals.
I made a whole stack of these colourful rainbow and fusion malachite bracelets.


and some earrings to go with them.



Speaking of stacks - stacking bracelets are popular this year. I made some faux stacking bracelets on memory wire - so easy to slip on and they fit any size wrist.

Are you getting ready for spring?

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Rainbows and bracelets - my creative space.

It's warming up, which means it will soon be bracelet season.
Who knew that jewellery could be so seasonal? But really, bracelets are not the most popular item to wear when you are bundled up in jumpers and coats.
But summer, on the other hand (or arm), is the perfect time for showing off one or many bracelets.
This year the trend is continuing for stacking bracelets.
Are you a bracelet stacker? Out do you prefer the simple look?















Today I made some simple rainbow matachite bracelets. I don't ghink they need to be too fancy as the beads are just so gorgeous and colourful.

Today I'm joining in with My Creative space over on Village voices.





Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Wordless Wednesday - Kuala Lumpur interlude











More wordless wednesdays here.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Makin' it Monday - Malay fried noodles with prawns

So yesterday was our annual family Christmas in July, except it's nearly always in August.

A fair bit of eating and drinking goes on and a lot of catching up.
And that is the whole point I guess - it's always to hard to catch up with everybody at Christmas as there are so many extended families involved now, so this mid-year get-together is just for us!


Everybody contributes some food and there is always masses of it!


Needless to say there are always leftovers and this year we were lucky enough to be left with the prawns!

So this is what I did with them for dinner tonight -



Malay fried noodles with prawns adapted from"New recipes from Moosewood Restaurant"



250g chinese wheat noodles or vermicelli or noodles of your choice.
1/2 onion sliced
Garlic clove - crushed
Bit of dried chilli - to taste
Leftover prawns (mine were cooked) shelled and de-veined
Cup of shredded cabbage
Cup of sliced snow peas
1/4 capsicum sliced
Stick of celery sliced
handful beansprouts
soy sauce
chopped coriander

Cook the noodles in boiling water until just done - mine took 5 mins, or even more easy-peasy you could use those cooked ones in packets.
Drain and stir in some sesame oil.

In wok heat some oil (I always use olive oil, cus that's what I have)
Cook the sliced onion until soft.
Add the garlic, dried chilli capsicum and celery stir fry for a couple of minutes.
Add the cabbage and snow peas, continue to stir fry until pleasnatly crisp.
Add the prawns, noodles and a tablespoon or 2 of soy sauce.
Stir until everything is warmed through.
Stir in beansprouts, take off heat.
Serve with coriander and lime wedges.

To make it a bit more Malay you could top with fried onion, crispy fried garlic and chopped shallots, but I didn't want to fuss that much.

This is a quick stir fried dinner and this quantity was enough for 2 to 3 people, unless one of them is Mr planet in which case there is enough for 2!

So do you do the Christmas in July thing?

 What about leftovers?
Do you always have plenty and what do you do with them?
Feed them to the chooks?
Leave them in the fridge for a week and then throw them away?!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Brights and black and creative tips - my creative space

I'm still in the mood for bright!
Continuing my love affair with turquoise and yellow and asymmerty.
This one has large turquoise coloured howlite coins with some smooth yellow ceramic tubes.

Summery? yes?


Moving along to some simple necklaces with bubble-gum bright beads -


Then a change - as I was searching for some more turquoise I rediscovered these lovely faceted black agate beads.
I tried pairing them with pearls but in the end decided to keep it simple.


A feature silver bead makes these necklaces tres chic!


Expanding the design idea I used some amazing burgundy pearls and pewter grey pearls.


This week I'm joining in with My Creative Spaces on Village Voices - hop on over there if you'd like to join in, see what others have been creating or read their tips for staying creative.

My tips for staying creative -

There's nothing quite like getting some new supplies for stimulating creativity.

Or just get out your exsisting supplies and "play" with them.

How do you keep your creativity alive?

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Walking and Wildflowers - Wordless Wednesday.


Today I'm joining in with Wordless Wednesday on My Little Drummer Boys blog. Have a look!
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