A little bit of sunny

So my childhood friend has arrived. Actually we met on a student exchange program, I travelled to Germany and she to South Africa. And once she knew I lived in Oz, it wasn't long before she booked a flight. 30 hours on a plane and three days later, she is climbing Mt Warning!

The funny thing with good friendships is that even though you haven't seen each other for...uh...six years, it's not long before you have caught up and are best friends again. We are going to be so busy the next few weeks, our schedules are booked for the next two weeks at least and a trip to Fraser Island is on the cards too. 

And what a lovely surprise to come home too, a beautiful flower from my dear friend! Thanks to God for friends x

Valentines cupcakes

Last night we had our weekly girs life group meeting. We're about four or five girls from our church, who meet to worhsip and share the word on a weekly basis with each other. Each week we rotate the three jobs of worship, word and welcome. Last night was my turn to do the welcome and I decided to bake Valentines cupcakes for us single gals. 

This was also my first attempt at decorating with fondant. So here is my work bench with all the essential tools. I picked up a kiddies cupcake set at Spotlight, which had cute little cookie cutters, the perfect size for cupcakes and a mini rolling pin, whisk and spoon! Score.

First, I had to colour my white fondant pink with some food colouring and then knead the fondant by hand so that the colour spreads evenly through the fondant. Cornflour can be used to prevent sticking and trust me it sticks! Check out the messy work bench now. Then once I was happy with the colour of the fondant, I started to roll the fondant flat with the mini rolling pin. (Again so chuffed with this little purchase)



Once the fondant was evenly spread out, I used one of my cheap plastic heart shaped cookie cutters to make my hearts. Here I'm taking the photo and pressing out hearts at the same time...multi-tasking at its best. Boys eat your heart out he he


 
And once I had enough heart shapes, I spread a little vanilla Betty Crocker frosting onto the cupcake using a butter knife and topped that with a fondant heart. Btw it's easier to slice off the pointy top of your cupcake so you have a somewhat flat surface to work on before adding the frosting. And you can always eat those tops, like I did. (Note to self, do not bake/decorate when hungry)
 

The cupcakes were a hit with the girls and I must say fondant is not as scary as I had imagined. Can't wait to make my next batch!

Recipe as per Magnolia's Bakery

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. 
5. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
7. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. 
8. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. 
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
10. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Valentine's walk

Single and sad on Valentines day? 

Source: via Pinterest

 

Not me, I had a magical morning. So far it's been the best part of my day. I awoke at 5.30am and dragged myself out of bed so that I could go for my morning walk. 

And once I was on the beach...I felt great and had actually forgotten it was Valentine's day entirely. It's amazing how the ocean and sand can never cease to be beautiful and amaze me. I prayed and was filled with the most intense feeling of love and it's as if God were walking next to me holding my hand. I didn't feel lonely or sad just happy and hopeful!

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."  

1 Corinthians 13:13

Bedside table update

A few years ago I bought these really cute bedside tables at Aldi for $25.00 each. (What can I say...I love white furniture and a bargain). Unfortunately, my current bedroom is too small to have them sitting on either side of my bed but I do have enough space for them to be functioning as independent storage units for all my craft supplies.

At Christmas I received a gift wrapped in the most beautiful pink tissue paper and naturally loving all things pink, I decided to hold onto it. Now wait for the brainwave...I decided to paste the tissue paper behind the leafy cut out design feature of the bedside tables. 

I cut the paper in half and folded them so they would not be too transparent.

Then I used these restickable clear mini tab squares and stuck a few all along the inside of the frame. Luckily, I didn't even have to take the table apart.

And here is the completed project, all done under ten minutes and I think they look even cuter this way. A close up of the work for you.

(You couldn't even tell it was tissue paper, could you!) 

I'm very happy with the way they turned out and the fact that I have recycled/reused something that would normally just have ended up as landfill.

Me and my backyard

A few facts about me:

I live about two minutes from the beach but never go.

(Crazy you say!) Yeah, I hear you 

I am slim but never exercise because I don't enjoy it and find it boring.

(Lucky you say) I say it's made me lazy

However, that said I do suffer from back pain and I really want to be healthier. I don't want to take my body for granted just because I have maintained the same dress size since I was 20. I also suffer from wrist pain, which is probably due to RSI (too much laptop time) and weak muscles apparently.

The source of my recent  inspiration though was seeing some amazing pics my flatmate took on one of her many morning walks. Since we moved in she has been doing this regularly and I actually felt ashamed and curious at the same time. Was it really that beautiful out there? I mean I've been living here for almost three years now! How had I missed this?

The ex had never been an early riser and therefore even though I had been awake, I wouldn't venture outside until he could accompany me.  But now that I am single I've no choice but to do everything alone.  Sometimes it's scary but often it's no big deal at all. For someone that has been in too many relationships, I'm cherishing this time to enjoy ME and GOD. Look at the beauty of nature, is there anything man-made this beautiful?

And once I ventured out at 5.45am, it was overwhelmingly beautiful, unspoilt and I fell in love.  And I have never felt more in awe of God and the wonderful things he has created for us.

I specifically wore flip-flops (thongs) so that I could walk in the water and it was so much better than wearing trainers. I can't imagine walking along the beach and not putting my feet in. The water temperature was perfect. I was even tempted to go swimming but had to get to the office to earn my bacon.

I loved every minute that I spent there and so far have been doing this every morning and guess what? It doesn't even feel like a chore. I'm not sure if it's the beach or just the morning quiet but I feel a sense of peace, connectedness and I use this time to speak to God as I walk. There is no better way for me to start my day.

Apartment tour

Here are some pics of our apartment so far. It's all a work in progress and as the budget allows of course!! At the moment I am still recovering from my initial moving-in costs.

Anyway, here is the living room and dining area about a week after we moved in. I love the amount of light in this room. Come to think of it, we rarely close our blinds or curtains.

And below is my new gorgeous leather sofa with my handmade new cushion covers, thanks to N's amazing sewing skills. I bought the fabric from Ikea and the zippers from Spotlight so in total it cost me $16.00 to make both cushions. The bolster and grey cushions need updating (yellowing) though. I am currently in love with the grey/yellow colour schemes I found on pinterest. If you want to check my boards out, just click  here.

So those bare walls opposite the dining area in the first photo have since been filled with my book shelves. I bought these two for $120.00, what a bargain. The ex helped me collect and assemble them. And it was a lot of fun decorating it with all my little knick-knacks. So pleased at how it turned out although I am sure I will chop and change it a few times in the future.

Next we have the kitchen, it's small but very functional and homey. Pity I cant paint these cupboards white and add some much needed open shelves next to that window. Ah if only! At least the Dr likes fridge magnets too! Yay

Next time I'll share my white, pink and black boudoir.

Thank you dinner

A few weeks ago, I invited N and her hubby over for a "thanks for putting me up when I needed a place to sleep" dinner. As you may know by now these are two of my fave people, so I made them an extra special dinner. 

First course was tuna sashimi with an avocado and wasabi puree and japanese dressing. And yes, it was super delicious. 

Second course was seared scallops in a corainder asian dressing. My first time searing scallops, apparently the biggest one, snatched by N's hubby was cooked perfectly but I think I slightly overcooked the smaller ones. 

Hint for future: buy them the same size!

Third  and main course was a chilli chicken ramen dish, made with a teriyaki bbq'd chicken breast served in a noodle broth topped with coriander, red onion, spring onion, bean sprouts and chilli. 

And we finished the night off with vanilla and elderflower ice-cream and french champagne!

Recipes

Easy wall art makeover

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people with tons of ideas buzzing around in their head, rushes out, ends up buying way too many different types of paint, wool, stencils, pens or paper...you get my drift!

I do tend to procrastinate when it comes to the actual doing of projects. However, this weekend, I decided to swap my paper flower wall art, which I made about a year ago. Yes it sits in front of this tiny obscure window (next to me), which faces out onto the back of a building...so no view! I'm still debating on whether to move it or not?? (Not being able to hang anything really sucks)

Sorry, moving on to the matter at hand. I recently purchased this geometric velvet stencil print, which I bought from Spotlight for $3.00 and is actually for scrapbooking.

All I did was remove the flowers and replace with the stencil and here is the end result, fits in well with my black, white and pink colour scheme. Although it still appears a bit dull, not sure if I should repaint the frame or change the background. What do you think?