Goddess Swapping Delights!!!!

Ohhhh look what was in the mail today!!
a huge parcel all the way from Queensland from
Nicole my blogging buddy!

Nicole, you went totaly out of your way and I love love everything!

I got so many wonderful art supplies - paper, canvas pads, pencils, pens, watercolours and
Darrell Lea chcolates Yummmy!!!




and look at this amazing artwork Nicole created just for me!! Titled
'Her Red Shoes' - this is SO me!!! I love peep toe shoes, this artwork is just FAB!!!
and what a beautiful mask Nicole made - I love everything!! Thank you kindly!!

EDM Challenge #77 - Draw something cold

Why beer of course! unless you live in England and its room tempreture.

Im not a huge beer fan but I do love a shandy (beer with fizzy lemonade) in Summer - that goes down a treat!

We always have beer in our fridge and when we have friends over I alway serve nuts and salty snacks with beer

here is a great recipe from domestic goddess Nigella....

Union Square Bar Nuts

500g assortated unsalted nuts - peanuts, cashews, brazil nuts, walnuts, hazlenuts, almonds
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to medium heat
toss nuts in large bowl to combine. spread on baking sheet and toast until light golden brown - about 10mins
in a large bowl combine the rest of the ingrediants.
Thoroughly toss the toasted nuts in the spiced butter and serve warm

EDM Challenge #74 - Draw your mailbox

I dont really have a mailbox - its just a slit in a brick pillar - not very pretty nor practical and we really need to do something to fix it because if its windy I sometimes find letters scattered across the driveway.
I do love getting mail though!

My drawing is the front street facing view
and the picture is the driveway view.

WIP Sunday (I was too busy on Friday!)

This weekend Im working on handmade recipe cards for a swap Im doing with some of the girls in the EDM group.
Ive been going through my favourite cookbooks to find a great recipe - Ive settled on Jam Shortcake so put the kettle on girls.....




Yesterday I made a slab of Chocolate Walnut Brownies as we were invited to a BBQ.
The warm delicious smell is still lingering in the kitchen today!

I saved some crumbs (large crumbs) to have with my morning Greek Coffee.

Totaly Spoilt Kid!!



I received my parcel from the 'Just a Kid' swap and my partner was the host, the very talented Ellia.

What wonderful goodies!! I got books and vintage paper dolls, lots of craft paper, templates, fabric, stationery and lots of american candy!!!
Ellia's art is just beautiful - she included the piece she created for the swap and attached it on a journal with a pen - amazing work!! Check out her new etsy shop!

Im fascinated with this candy - names like Cow Tales, Mike and Ike (these look like vitamin tablets!), Slap Stix, Jolly Rancher, Slo Poke
heehee sugary fun!!

You can see everyone's goodies here

Eat Eat Talk Talk..........

Thats all we did for 5hours last night!!! was a great night - we ended up at 'Sapore' and the food was really really good!!

It was great to finally meet Bridget face to face after chatting all these years!


This is Lana with her 5month old baby boy, Jackson and Lisa, who is relocating to Hong Kong in 2months time.


This is Bridget and sweet little Harriet, Cynthia (mum of twin girls) and me!

Girls night out...........

Tonight I’m going out for dinner with some girlfriends – should be exciting as I haven’t seen them in a while, although we chat daily online!
I met this group of girls over 4 years ago on an online-forum when we were all trying to get Pregnant and it wasn’t happening fast enough so we’ve had lots of wonderful experiences together and are all happy Mummas now!!

Tonight’s get together will be even more special as we are meeting for the first time Bridget, our New Zealand buddy who has been living in Hong Kong for the past 5years. Bridget is heading back home to New Zealand with her hubby and 3yr old girl, Harriet and is expecting her 2nd baby in 12weeks time so lots of wonderful changes for her ahead.

We’ve decided to go Italian tonight, so off to the Italian Forum in Sydney – yummy yummy, might even have some Gelato afterwards!

Pinafore craze...........

Seems like the Pinafore ( or Pinny ) is the latest 'It' dresses to hit town.

I haven't worn a pinafore since primary school! I had to wear this ghastly uniform for the first 6years of school - this is me in year 1 (about 6yrs old) trying not to laugh.

My mother was pretty strict about my sister and I wearing the right school gear. If you think this is bad, you should have seen my highschool uniform! Kilts!!We had a huge pin to hold the skirt in place. A slight breeze would cause our skirts to puff up in the air and we'd run around squealing....totaly embarrased!

I do recall wearing pinafore style dresses in the early 80's during the Malcom McLaren 'Buffalo girl' craze and a grungy version in the mid 90's but the ones out now seem pretty cool!!

here are some Winter ones by two Australian labels ' Lover' and Kate Hurst. I think there will be even cuter ones out in summer that you can team with a plain tee - nice!

Illustration Friday - Opposites

This weeks topic made me think of women in the early 1900's who must have struggled daily by wearing the fashionable confined undergarments and corsets. The aim was to distort the figure to create an 'S' shape that was very fashionable at the time. They could hardly breathe!

The 'Opposite' to that is this women's great grand-daughter below in the late 60's who went braless and wore thigh high minis - she felt free and liberated, had a voice to be heard and loved to visit outdoor music festivals promoting peace and love.

Im not so sure we have a healthier attitude with our bodies this day and age but at least we have a choice.
Personally I glad undergarments are making a comeback - after two kids I dont think braless is a good option.

EDM Challenge #76 - Fresh Flower


I just realised my scanner is very dirty heehee

here is a pretty Camellia flower that i picked from my sister's garden two days ago - its now sitting in a shot glass near my kitchen window.

Glamour girl Canvas

Here is my twinkling H2O's experiment. The class was small so very hands on but there was only a choice of two images so I got this victorian bride image.




Letting her dry.......

Paperific was Terrific!!

This weekend I went to the Paperific expo which was held at Canterbury, a 10minute drive from my house!
I had so much fun and there were some great stalls with free craft projects, demonstrations and lots of great new products and goodies to buy!

i made this 'Boy' tin and mini album in one of the classes and now I just need to embellish it and add some pics of my boys.

I also did a 'Glamour girl' canvas class using Twinkling H2O's - will finish it off this afternoon and I will post the end result soon!
I did another class called 'Design Design' and it talked about layouts and graphics

I also bought some goodies like you do when caught up in all the excitement!
cute scrapbooking papers, lots of collage images, bargain stickers and I also bought the latest Somerset Studios as it features
Pam Garrison and her gorgeous paper banners.

A fun weekend!

WIP Friday....

Marianne was kind enough to email me the pattern to this lovely crochet scarf she had featured on her blog.

Ive already made two and am making one for my niece Stephanie .
I also bought some purple wool to make one more for myself.
I love that this scarf isnt too thick and bulky and the scallop is so pretty and delicate draped around the neckline
Email me if you would like the pattern.

Vintage children books....

They might be old and some tatty with aged yellow pages but there is something about hard bound vintage children books that I love.

When I discovered Ebay about 7years ago I felt like a kid let loose in a candy store.
I quickly become addicted!
These books are all Ebay wins and by author Beverly Cleary - I was a huge fan of hers as a young girl and her Ramona books were my favourite!!



I tried to get early editions as they remind me of my childhood and I love the older style illustrations. I hope my boys can grow to love them too!





I recently found this book at Rozelle Flea Market a couple of weeks ago.
Its called 'My First Book' and has a page for each letter of the alphabet with some sweet illustrations - I love it!
Its an english book and close to 60years old - I wonder what little child was first given this book, probably a special gift from someone.
Im sure many other children enjoyed it during all those years!

Illustration Friday - Sacrifice

A quick sketch this time - might get a chance to do another one

but sharing a biscuit is a huge sacrifice for a toddler!

Camping in Style........


I must admit I have never ever been Camping.
I just dont do Camping.
Im a hotel/city kinda girl - am I missing out?? Probably.......
but I think I would freak out if something came into the tent and I cant handle creepy crawlies
especially knowing there are so many out there in our wonderful Australian bush!

I had a great laugh at Amy's post yesterday - Camping the Amy way
How wonderful!! that set up is better than any hotel.
Have a look!!

Hmmm...not sure with the results!!

I covered my canvas board last week and i ditched the yellow floral and decided to go with the fabric I won on Ebay - its a huge piece of fabric and a great design so i thought Id cover some cheap storage boxes with the same fabric to add a bit of chicness to a overcrowded study!

now that Ive added some pics/cards to the board - Im not too sure with the results - it looks too busy.....
What do you think?

Another swap I just CANT resist .........


Beth of JustMyCupOfTEa is organising another teacup swap
this is the 5th one!!
I joined up - I love pastel and chintz tea cups! and who doesnt love a warm cup of tea at 3pm!

Sign up HERE. (Password is justmycupoftea)

More sunday pictures......

My pics never come in the order I select - wonder whats up with that??

some of the yummy treats after lunch
My dad and his hot coal barbeque
Look at the smoke - those poor plants!
Neo and his friend Lachlan
Canoli from Pasticcerie Papa ( one of the best Italian cake shops in Sydney - Yum!)
Homemade fudge Peter playing with my nieces Styliana and Stephanie

Cypriot ricotta puffs

A Big Fat Greek Barbeque......

we were invited to my parents for a barbeque yesterday and after 2 days of constant rain the skies opened and it turned out to be a perfect day for outdoor eating and drinking.
Pretty lucky as my mum invited 25 people!! us Greeks cant do things on a small scale heehee

My parents are off in a months time for 3mnths in the medittereanean. First stop for them is a tour of Greece and the Greek Islands and then they are off to Cyprus - we are meeting up with them in Larnaca.

The view from the kitchen window - all the kids are playing outside.

This garden sculpture is too cute! In spring its surrounded by pretty flowers.

Art Blog Challenge for July - summer

Summer means....

Eating Icecream at any time of the day

Wearing pretty dresses

Straw handbags

Cute Sandals

WIP Friday (well Okay, its Saturday here...)

Ive got a pUrpLe postcard to make for 'Project Spectrum Postcard' swap - the colour for the month of July is Violet/Purple, my favourite colour in the whole wide world!

My swap partner this month is Amy

Birthday Cake for Daddy......


Next time I am not going to make any plans because it seems like everytime I do something happens and nothing goes according to what I had in mind.
dont you hate when that happens?

I spent most of yesterday lying on the couch being very sick and weak - the bathroom became my favourite room ( oh dear! did I just write that?) and I really dont know what happened - was it a quick 24hr virus or was it the Vietnamese chicken roll I had for lunch? I was so sick and nauseas and my whole body ached - it was just horrible!

On top of that it rained most of the day so we spent the day at home chilling.
Andrew took the boys grocery shopping and he made homemade pizza for dinner and Peter and I made chocolate cake for him.


We even popped out to a local park in the morning as we promised Peter and he wouldnt stop asking when we were going to go feed the ducks.
So we took our leftover bread and some crackers and off we went.
Neo didnt want to get out of his stoller - little grump! well he was alseep in the car and we did wake him up. heehee....

EDM Challenge 75 - Recipe

My recipe is ( Avgolemono ) Chicken soup with egg and lemon

This is a classic Greek soup and usually prepared for Greek Easter Saturday after midnight mass. Many people fast for a week before Easter so during the Easter festivities its all about food and eating!

I promised Monica this recipe as she couldnt get enough of this soup when she was staying in Cyprus!

In a large stockpot add fresh chicken and vegetables plus peppercorns, parsley and I throw in some bay leaves to make a good stock.

You need about 6 cups of stock so once this boils up for about 2hrs - take out chicken & veges and strain stock.

Then you add rice to the stock and boil until edible.

In a seperate large bowl beat 2 eggs and lemon juice and add half cup cold water, then add a few laddles of hot stock into the bowl and whisk quickly so it doesnt scramble, add the egg mixture back into the soup and heat through - add salt and pepper to taste, I also like to sprinkle a bit of cinnamon in mine.

You can serve the chicken on the side or shred and place in soup.

Happy Birthday Andrew!!!

Happy Birthday my darling man - have a wonderful wonderful day! Dont work too hard (yeah right!)

Take time to chill on your special day!!

See you tonight my sweet!! I love you more than ever!!

No time to bake a cake today as we are both at work but I dont work fridays and Andrew is taking the day off tommorow so we'll go out for a nice lunch with our boys and maybe to the Royal Botanic Gardens to feed the ducks.

This image is from another favourite childhood book "All about My Naughty Little Sister' by Dorothy Edwards and Illustrated by Shirley Huges.