A rose amongst the thorns

Hello cherubs

Last weekend my  fella and I decided to take a stroll through the city after a stressful day moving. We discovered this little gem: Mac's BrewBar in Britomart. It looks like an ordinary bar from the outside, but let me tell you, rosebuds, it most certainly is not. I walked into what looked like an Alice in Wonderland scene. 

 There were beautiful old lamps hanging upside down from the ceiling like jellyfish. 

 The back wall was filled with a mosaic of paintings, fitted together to make up one larger scene. 

   

The tables were placed around old rotating wooden bookshelves with vintage books, radios and TVs on them.

It could not have been a more prettier scene. And then I opened the drinks menu thinking I’d only have beer to choose from. Well, first on the cocktail list – The Rose and Ship. Rosewater is easily my favourite baking ingredient and mark my words, I discovered it also makes for a mighty fine cocktail ingredient. It was the best cocktail of my life. It was made with Havana Club, cinnamon syrup, rosewater, fresh lime, and a cinnamon sugar rim. 

Unfortunately the ol’ gal let herself down in the looks department – some roses in the ice cubes or pink food colouring would really have dolled her up. But I was so happy at that point I wouldn’t have cared if it showed up in a beer mug.

Till next time.

x

The art of giving

Hello Doves

A few days ago a friend asked me if I could make some gift tags for the presents she bought her little girls. Of course I’m not one to turn down an excuse for making beautiful things.  I love giving gifts to my friends and family, and half the fun for me is in the presentation.  For this project I had visions of rabbits, squirrels and little birds. Here’s a DIY tutorial to share a little inspiration. 

Start with some pictures you love. I painted these using watercolours and pencil. I think it works better if you have your image on card rather than paper. 

Cut them to size and add something special to each. For the rabbits I added pom-pom tails; the squirrels got some sweet bows; and the birds got big rosebuds on their sizeable noggins. They’re North Island tomtits, Petroica macrocephala, (macro = large; cephala = head) who have gloriously large,well, heads! 

Once you’ve dressed your little critters, take some pretty paper and glue it on the back. This hides any thread and will also be a nice place to leave a message. Punch a hole in the corner. 

I love, love twine and use it to tie around my gifts and to attach tags onto. Gifts look amazing with plain brown paper wrapping, finished off with a beautifully made gift tag and twine. 

I was up till all hours making these over Christmas (~50 of them)  and I tell you, squires, my life flashed before my eyes and I may have gone into the future at one point. But the end result made it well worth the effort. 

Happy crafting :)

x

Home is where the rabbit is

Hello Friends 

There are exciting times ahead – we’re setting up a home in the city and I’ve spent much time daydreaming about the lovely things to go in it. After a long day at work and lectures I couldn’t think of anything better than coming home to my very own animal sanctuary. I’ve always found something reassuring about being surrounded by animals (real or otherwise).  

1. Egmont rabbit lamp. I found one at Iko Iko and let it be known – he shall be mine. And yes, ‘tis a child’s night lamp, squire, but I love it nonetheless.
2. Kitchen Aid mixer. My old mixer kicked the bucket the other day and I refuse to live a life devoid of cupcakes.
3. Pug. One day, little woof, you shall be ours.
4. Jackalope, from Iko Iko. There’s no such thing as a jackalope, but if you crossed a jack rabbit and antelope this would be the offspring.
5.  Hare cushion, to rest one’s weary head.
6. Acorn Resin Deer Head, from Iko Iko. 

7. Stash Colour Block drawers from Nood. A little space for everything.

8. Hidden animal tea cups. I found these at Jeannie Jeannie and will probably spend the rest of my life searching for them. Imagine serving tea to an unsuspecting guest!

9. Animal feature wall from LifeIn Style, prints by Ryan Berkley. I have a vision of a wall filled with prints and paintings of all our favourite critters. There shall be birds, rabbits, squirrels (and a few jungle cats for the fella).

Happy days  :)

Animal portrait: Welcome Swallow

Hello Swallows

I spotted this little tweet in the distance during an evening walk with my fella over the weekend. The forked tail immediately gave it away. He is the very-hard-to-photograph Welcome Swallow. These little birds are spectacular fliers and lucky for me he was resting.

As we got closer, we noticed he still had some downy feathers on his chest. He must be one of the 2012 babies.

Look at that fluff! And one day soon he'll have a beautiful red breast to show off to the world. Seeing him just made my evening and inspired me to do a little painting.

And here he is, Hirundo neoxena, New Zealand's own little swallow. Swallows have much legend tied to them. Because of their sweet migration skills, sailors earn a swallow tattoo for every 5000 miles travelled. Sailors also get swallows tattooed on their chests because should they fall into the water, swallows are said to carry your soul to heaven. My brother has been on a few trips now and has reported seeing swallows out at sea, sometimes even landing aboard. I like to think that these little birds are out there, just keeping a watchful eye on him. 

Until next time. 

x

Birds of One Tree Hill

Hello Sparrows

One of my favourite things to do is to go for walks around my suburb and the neighbouring wilderness looking for birds. I’m lucky, because I live in a suburb filled with birds – and if I want to experience the wilderness, well, I can climb a couple of dormant volcanoes.

My fella and I went for a walk up One Tree Hill (a dormant volcano) to have a picnic with the birds. I took some snaps of my favourite critters and finally got a photo of a Yellowhammer! 

This is an adult magpie. It had a juvenile with it, following it for food. The magpie and I had a tense moment, so I fled before it attacked me. 

These are Californian quails with sweet 'dos, hiding in a tree. 

And here he is! The Yellowhammer. I followed this critter from tree to tree (afterwhich I nearly passed out from heat stroke). Finally he decided he needed building material for his nest and stopped to pick it up. 

Isn't he cute?

Animal portrait: Sam the cat

Hello comrades 

Almost every day this week I've been paid a quiet visit by Sam the cat. He's a neighbourhood cat who likes to sneak into the house and pop his head around the corner of my bedroom door, greeting me with a little "meow". Now, I don't usually get on well with the felines (being the mortal enemy of my number one critters, the aves). But Sam is the exception.  

I finally got some snaps of this majestic beast. He's so beautiful that I simply had to turn him into a painting of my own. 

Isn't he just lovely? 

xx

A token of love

Hello rabbits

I received some beautiful gifts this Valentine's Day, and I wanted to share.

 My lovely colleague crocheted this gorgeous heart bunting for my window at work. 

And her lovely daughters hand made these beautiful little heart decorations for my desk rabbit.

They were wrapped in handmade wrapping paper and a cute little card. 

 

And to continue the rabbit theme, my special someone put together a box (I love boxes) which held chocolates and the cutest rabbits ever for my new porcelain animal collection. 

I just love them!

Oh well, another wonderful Valentine's Day gone. 

I can't wait for the next holiday!

xx

Strawberry milkshake cupcakes

Hello friends

A few weekends ago I went to Milly's. Those of you who know me, know that I love LOVE Milly's. I found  some paper straws and immediately thought of strawberry milkshake.

 So as I browsed further I found these... 

...and got inspired to make strawberry milkshake cupcakes!

Here's a little DIY tutorial. 

You can add any flavour to this basic recipe. I kind of cheated and added strawberry essence rather than real strawberries - but it tastes just like a milkshake should. I also added some pink food gel to the mixture to make a pink coloured cake. 

This is an easy recipe. Just make sure you sift your dry ingredients - I've said it before and I'll say it again, sift, sift, sift for a beautiful light texture. Try not to let your cupcakes brown too much. Unfortunately I haven't quite mastered the oven in my flat and, well, see for yourself below... 

But onwards and upwards, I say! Mix up a bowl of buttercream icing. To do this: 

1. Use soft, unsalted butter. Whip it till it's light and fluffy. 

2. Add icing sugar and a bit of milk. Whip it all together. Keep adding icing sugar until you lose that buttery taste and get more of a frosting taste. Add milk to water the consistency down. 

3. Add your flavour and colour. 

Once you've done that, pipe on your frosting.

It should look like this. 

Add any decorations that take your fancy. Because these were milkshake inspired, I added hundreds and thousands and threw on some heart confetti because it's Valentine's Day. 

Cut your straws into thirds and put them into the cupcake. 

And there you have it! Strawberry milkshake cupcakes! (Albeit somewhat browned...).

Yum!

Until next time :)

xx

Spoonfuls of love

Hello pukekos!

We're still in Valentine's Day mode and I wanted to share something really sweet with you today. I found some inspiration from Delicious Delicious Delicious via Polli and I simply had to make these for Valentine's Day. The 'sweet' part of the story is that I made some of these for my little brother to give to his lovely lady. She looked at them, thrilled, and asked, "What are they?". My little brother, trying to keep his calm (he had no idea what they were called!) said, "Spoonfuls of love". I thought that was just lovely, and that's exactly what they are. :)

Let me tell you, lovely birds, these were the easiest little treats to make. Here's a little DIY tutorial. 

Step 1. Start with some pretty coloured spoons. I scored these at a $2 shop for $3 a bag.

Step 2. Melt your favourite chocolate. I thought I'd spice things  up a bit and try some chilli chocolate. It was pretty good. 

Step 3. Once you've piped some melted chocolate into the centre of your spoons, the fun part begins. Throw on decorations: sprinkles, hundreds and thousands, cachous, jelly beans, M&Ms, heart confetti,  edible glitter, anything! If it's edible and cute, go for it. I particularly enjoyed the love notes. 

You should end up with something like this. These were so pretty I nearly died. I'm definitely making these for my future daughter one day. 

Once they've dried over night, put them into little cellophane bags and tie them off with bows.

And there you have it! Spoonfuls of love for your sweet heart.

Have a lovely Valentine's Day!

xx