Friday Flowers from the Farm again....

A Country Farmhouse

I love the idea of these open shelves .

I, unfortunately am not disciplined enough to keep them looking so neat and tidy.

I do appreciate this beautiful picture though.

And the colour of those delicious flowers. 

A Country Farmhouse

And these hydrangeas remind me of botanical prints. 

It is one of my favourite flower photos. 

Love it, love it. 

Have a fab weekend, whatever you are up to.

Pink stripes

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There is something wonderfully fresh about pink stripes. I always think they are so fresh and girly and look wonderful with a clear blue sky. 


I am not sure I would get Mr M or the boys in the stripy tent in a caravan park though!

Stamp carving tutorial

IF your creative juices are running and you are looking for fairly simple craft idea, then I have found a simple tutorial you might like.

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These clever little stamps are made by carving an eraser.

Head over to Ishtar olivera  for the full tutorial.

I am hoping to give it a go, if I can lay my hands on a lino tool.

Friday flowers from the Farm.......

Oh how I wish these were from my garden.

And I wish I had taken this beautiful photo.

It comes from A Country Farmhouse.

I think it is magnificent.

And the symmetry here, just divine really.

Also from A Country Farmhouse.

Hope you have a good weekend planned.

I hope to do some boogie boarding.

Wahooooooo!

I'm in blog love

It started with a gasp, then a rumble then full on desire.....

This beautiful blog.

Gorgeous clear pictures.

She even makes a bunch of dirty carrots look amazing.

It's called A Country Farmhouse. 

You may have already seen it.

A Country Farmhouse

In which case, I do apologise.

Well sort of,

because,

a beautiful home

with such beautiful pictures

should be

visited quite often.

3 Top pins

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Today I am talking about top pins.

I just threw the legs in because sometimes legs are referred to as pins.

My Nan had excellent pins.

I never ever saw her wear trousers of any kind.

Always a dress or a skirt.

And always a modest heel.

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These pins are very pretty too. We call them safety pins in Australia. I am not sure what they are called elsewhere.

Anyway, I disgress.

I just wanted  to show you the three most pinned pins on my Pinterest boards.

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Coming in at number 1, is this blue and red room.

I must agree, the colours are lovely.

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These are the number 2, most pinned pin in my collection.
Scrabble cushions.

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And number 3 is this pretty pink bike.

If you would like to see more pins, click on my pinterest button on the side bar.

That would be the new one I made all by myself.

I still haven't managed to link up the email button, but I am getting there.

While you are clicking, try the twitter one I also made,

I know, I am very impressed with myself.

Do you pin?

Do you keep an eye on your pins every now and then to see what people are liking?

linking in here

Escape to the beam country.

I feel like saying,

Welcome to another episode of "Escape to the Country"

Today I am showing John a retired Policeman and his Nurse wife Joan a stunning cottage in County Wicklow.

John and Joan both said they had a passion for beams and neutral decor.

Well, this house has it in spades.

Of course they wanted and inglenook fireplace, and whilst not huge, this one should fit the bill rather nicely.

via The Paper Mulberry

Although they said they did want a conservatory, they might find this open plan area with stunning beam work the perfect place to relax and enjoy the superb outlook.

Will it be to their taste.?

Join me on "Escape to the Country" to find out.

(apologies to Jules and Alistair for my pathetic script and to any readers who don't have a clue what I am talking about)

Grey textures

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It's January in Australia, and I should be lying in front of the airconditioning hoping for a cool change.
Sadly it's cold.
The kids are huddled under rugs and I hate to admit it, but, I have just turned the heater on. (just for 5 mins to take the chill off, I promise).

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So my thoughts turned to these lovely images I have been collecting.

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Lovely lovely grey textures.

See that velvet above. I want to pat it and dig my fingernails into it a little. Is that wrong?

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And, oh, the texture of that grey rug.

Can you hear my heart?

Boom, boom.

Which one is your favourite?

CWA stories.

"She can't swim, she's a bit afraid of the water and she's also got two bung knees. But she just gets in there and paddles. And that's the character of the CWA, isn't it?"

Helen Wall, Caniambo CWA, Victoria

CWA stands for Country Women's Association and it is a network of women spread all over Australia.


If you like a book about strong characters, overcoming obstacles and a bit of a chuckle then I can recommend this book to you. 


My sister in law gave it to me for Christmas and I read it straight away.  I have always been in touch with my inner Nana (ie I enjoy making sponges and crocheting) so I was interested to see what the CWA was all about. 


Turns out, they do a lot more than knit crochet coat hangers and make scones. They do a lot of work with drought relief, rural health, caring for newly arrived immigrants. They seem have have some political clout as well, they were instrumental in leading the push for big shopping centres to include public toilets. 


I was saddened to read that the older women were concerned that the  numbers were declining all over the country. Although there seems to be some hope with younger women starting to be attracted to the organisation. Evening branches of the CWA have been springing up and these tend to appeal to today's women.


So what does that all mean for me.


Well a couple of days ago I made the CWA brandy snaps (from the included recipes). Master B raved about them and declared for the next two days it was the best dessert he had ever had. (love that boy).


I felt after reading the book that I should join. These women have set up a very impressive network and do so much to help rural women and their communities. City branches are also gaining in popularity.


I googled our local CWA branch and they do have an evening branch. So, when school goes back, I am going to check it out.  I am reminding myself of all my other commitments. But, I also believe in the old saying, "ask a busy person and you will get the job done". 


If it turns out it is not for me or the timing isn't right. No problem, at least I will have calmed a little voice in the back of my head telling my to do my bit to preserve this wonderful institution.


Have you had any experience with the CWA?

Girly ruffly bathroom accessories, Could you?

We are breathing a sign of relief today.

It rained yesterday and the temperature dropped 10 degrees.

It is such a pleasant change. 

The birds are chirping again in the fig tree,

They must have been feeling the heat too,

The upside of the unpleasant heat, was that I had plenty of time to look around at pretty pictures on the net.

What do you think of these?

There is about a snowball chance in hell of something this girly making it to our bathroom.

As pretty as it is.

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The boys would vote with their feet.

And very dirty feet those would be!

Although maybe the laundry bag could. 

It is very pretty.

Would your mob let you?

Afternoon hooky - My creative space

Whilst we have endured the heatwave, I have been busy on the couch with my first little crafty project of the new year.

It's a slightly wonky pincushion.

It took ages to work out the blasted pattern.

Once I got going though, it was fine and dandy.

See the grass. See all the brown bits. That is what happened during "the heatwave"

IF you are into a bit of granny goodness the inspiration and pattern link can be found here.

Also linking up with Our Creative Spaces.

(if it is happening so early in the year),

And at the Freckled Laundry

The lovely Tiff from  Mrs Tiff Living Creatively has passed this award over to me, here is what she had to say about the Liebster award.

Liebster is a German word meaning "dearest" and the award is given to bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. The award has a few stipulations:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it you.

2. Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Hope that people you have sent the award to forward it on to their favourite bloggers.

Now its my turn to pass this award on to five bloggers that I love to pop in and visit.

1. Zippy Zippy

2. Georgy G Design

3.A Welsh Girl in Australia

4.Life in the Country Lane

5.Country Style Chic

Thanks Tiff for sharing the bloggie love.

Meanwhile I am trying to nut out another pattern for a very big project.