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?

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.

Wordless Wednesday - Kuala Lumpur interlude

More wordless wednesdays here.

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?!

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?

Walking and Wildflowers - Wordless Wednesday.

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

Summer breeze

I'm longing for summer!
Hate this cold weather!
So I've been playing with some lovely summery colours inspired by visions of sand and sea.

Turquoise and butter jade, bright orange and citrus glass beads.

And here's what I've produced so far -

I'm loving the assymetric look -

Now I can't get this song out of my head!

How is your wintery creating going?
Are you starting to create summer styles?

If you would like to see what's been happening in other creative spaces or to join in - pop on over to My Creative Space on Village Voices.