Fascinating! How to make an 'x-ray' themed fascinator

A hat competition is being held on Melbourne Cup day at work which I plan to participate in. The prize is a $50 voucher and initially I was going to buy this extravagant fascinator for $40 but decided to make my own instead...out of x-ray film! A much cheaper alternative and so much more fun! So I went to my old work place to gather some free film and went to spotlight and spent $12 on materials (50% off millinery materials - yay).


Materials bought: Headband, hat base, 1 metre of veil, a variety of feathers & rhinestones

Construction:
I gathered the veil and folded it until I was happy with the formation and sewed it underneath the base and then sewed the base to the headband itself.
Arrange the feathers and stuck it on to the hat base with craft glue.
Cut out flower shapes from the x-ray film and curled each petal with fingers. Using a paper fastener, joined each different sized flower shapes together. Glue flower onto base.
Glued a rhinestone in the middle of the flower.
Cut out feather shapes from x-ray film and attach to wires. Attach to base.

In Construction:



X-ray Film Flower Cut outs.



Combined Flower cut outs and Rhinestones.

Tea Party for Three

I had leftover cheese from my cheese platter so invited a couple of friends over for a mini tea party at mine. We decided to tape my Diana Mini coloured filters on top of our Fujifilm Instax Mini 7s flashes to create crazy coloured outcomes!



After googling colour filters I came across this article on the lomography site that has another colour filter idea for the Instax Mini 7s. I will have to try that one day!

Cheesy Friday

Today was the last day for the students working at Shents so they made some Brownies and we decided earlier that some of us would bring in some food as well so we could have a little tea party at work. Two girls brought in two different types of brownies and I decided to bring in a cheese platter. Got a little bit carried away and went Thursday night shopping and bought some beautiful Maxwell & Williams dinnerware and cutlery for cheese platters. Plated up three different types of cheese with crackers and mini toasts and garnished it with a fanned homegrown strawberry. Pictures below!



Finished product.



My fanned homegrown strawberry, oops should've snipped off the stalk.



Brie, Apricot & Almond Cream Cheese and Cheddar



Crackers & Mini toasts.

Got the Green Thumb

A trip to Bunnings.

Strawberry, Basil and Grape Tomatoes.

wish me luck...

M.I.A - Snow trips

I have been MIA for a few months, oops! I blame my long hiatus on my 'recent' employment at a public hospital! I am happily working and earning some moolah, very exciting stuff! I shall write a catching up blog entry on the snow trips I've been on in the last month. One weekend (26th of August) we decided to fly to Melbourne for a snow trip. Rob & I flew on a Friday night and came back on a Monday morning, and had work that Monday afternoon! It was hectic but oh so fun! We went up to Mount Buller and snowboarded til our legs couldn't hold us up no more and explored Melbourne City and met up with a friend that lives there.

One week later we flew to New Zealand for another snow trip! We spent 10 days in NZ driving from Christchurch to Kaikoura to Wanaka, then Queenstown, to Methven and back to Christchurch. This time we went snowboarding at Mt Hutt and Cadrona! It wasn't that snowy this time of the year but it was still ten times better than Mt Buller and also much much cheaper. Got to catch up with my amazing NZ friends again which was awesome. We went to Hanmer, initially to go to the hot springs but ended up quad biking in the mud. NZ never ceases to amaze me with its amazing scenary! I've forgotten how beautiful the place was.

If you ever go to Queenstown, I highly recommend the Onsen Hot Pools which is an indoor/outdoor spa. By that I mean, it's indoors but it has A RETRACTABLE ROOF!! With the push of a button *POOF* you're suddenly outdoors looking at beautiful mountain views or if it is at night, star gazing into the magnificent night sky! Also, if you choose the candlelit pamper pack like we did, the spa room is filled with many a candles. The only negative comment I can offer was that the candles weren't real candles unfortunately (poo). Otherwise it gave a relaxing and amazing atmosphere.

Not us - picture from Onsen website

I have caught the travelling bug again and the minute I got back to work, filled in my leave form for my next trip! Next stop: Singapore in November! Can't wait!

I love food!

As I mentioned earlier I have been eating a lot and I wanted to share some of the places I've been to this month. First of all, gorgeous Fel took me to The Secret Garden Cafe for Brunch one morning. It is a beautiful little cafe with a magnificent garden with water features, a wishing well and miniature bridges and the atmosphere is just so warm and relaxing.

I ordered Stuffed mushrooms with toast, a poached egg and salad on the side. Let me tell you it was one of the best meals I have ever had in awhile and I dream about the stuffed mushrooms all the time! I must admit, I do love my mushrooms though. I loved it so much that I tried to recreate a similar dish at home (not succeeding, but that's not the point). I will definitely have to go back and have those mushrooms again!
Fel & Pavlova

If you are looking for a new cafe to try, I highly recommend this place! And try the stuffed mushrooms!

The Secret Garden Cafe

64 Angelo Street

South Perth WA 6151

(08 ) 9367 5597

Another eatery I went to was the Burger Bistro located at Leederville. I had lunch there with Robbie because we've walked past a couple of times and it looks quite groovy with its light globe decorations and Banksy art hanging around the walls of the place.


I ordered the Hey pesto Burger which consist of hand made CAAB Angus beef patty with fresh basil leaf, shaved parmesan, basil pesto and tomato relish on a bed of salads.


I really liked their tomato relish in the burger as well as a dip for the chips however the burger itself did not blow my mind away. It was a decent burger but I did not crave for it. Otherwise, real nice atmosphere and lovely presentation.

The Burger Bistro

147 Oxford Street

Leederville WA

(08 ) 9443 5881

And that's the way the cookie crumbles

I have not been blogging recently because my current life consists of watching TV series and eating lots of food. Also, I am extremely lazy. I finally found a job which starts in June so I am relaxing before reality kicks in.

After discovering the cookie gun on Kanela and Lemon's blog along with a Butter Cookie Recipe on Sunday, I went searching for a cookie gun to atempt her lovely creation.
Photo from Kanela and Lemon

However, I didn't end up purchasing a cookie gun because the only one I found was in Myer and it was above the price range I wanted to spend so I decided to use my cookie cutters that I already had at home.



Little did I know, the recipe was made specifically for cookie guns so the dough was too soft to be cut. Instead, I used an icing pipe so my resulting cookies did not turn out as nice as I would' have liked.

In the meantime, I've found some lovely cookie guns on ebay that catches my fancy.

Lovely Advice

I found this on tumblr and thought it was sweet. Food for thought.

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s - Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Play more games.
6. Read more books than you did in 2010.
7. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
8. Sleep for 7 hours.
9. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

1. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
2. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
3. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
6. Dream more while you are awake.
7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
8. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
10. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
13. Smile and laugh more.
14. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:

1. Call your family often.
2. Each day give something good to others.
3. Forgive everyone for everything.
4. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
5. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
6. What other people think of you is none of your business.
7. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

1. Do the right thing!
2. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
3. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
4. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
5. The best is yet to come.
6. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Butterfly Stamping Nail Art

There's a new little nail art shop located at Southlands Shopping Centre next to the shoe shop and it sells Konad Stamping nail art gear. I just bought a mini stamping kit today, the kit contains 3 x polish (black, white, clear), 1 image plate, a scraper and a stamp. If you're interested to see how it's done, there's a youtube video at the bottom but it's basically a stamp, that is stamped onto your nails.

I had heaps of fun stamping my nails with butterflies.

Happy Easter everybody

I put together a little easter basket for the bf and his family and I decided to make Panna cotta for the first time.I've always viewed it as a fancy dessert and love ordering them at restaurants but never knew how easy it was to actually make it.

I found the recipe on David Le Bovitz's blog but I'll type it up again (with slight changes) on here for those that are too lazy to view it. Also I didn't unmould the panna cotta but placed them in.....tealight candle holders haha. I was searching for glasses that were larger than shot glasses but smaller than drinking glasses and these were the perfect size!

Ingredients

4 cups thickened cream
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
4 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water
1 packet Raspberry Jelly

Method

1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least four hours.

6.Make the jelly according the instructions on the packet, cool and pour on top of the panna cotta. Chill for at least 4 hours. Serve cold.

Cupcake nail art

I was inspired to paint a cupcake on my nail after watching this nail tutorial:



So this is my attempt at cupcake nails and I decided to mix it up a little with other random drawings I thought of on the spot.



Cupcake, Clouds, Kisses, Bling & a black heart. Enjoy!

Rainbow cookies

Nothing like a smartie cookie to bring a smile to your face.

Afternoon Delight

I've always been obsessed with tea cups, tea, cakes, high tea and so when I saw the 2 tiered plate stand at Koko Black I decided to purchase my own tiered plate stand. Having already owned the Maxwell and Williams Polka Dot Tea Set [Below],



Maxwell and Williams Polka Dot Tea Set

I decided to get the Maxwell and Williams Kimono Tiered plate stand in pink of course, to match my tea set. I really like the Flowery Japanese inspired design.



I was so excited to use it that I made some mini quiches and toasted pesto chicken sandwiches to test out my new plate stand and I love it! I followed the recipe found on Exclusively Food for the Mini quiches and they were delightful! The top tier is just filled with Krispy Kreme donuts that my brother brought back from the east coast.

A Sunny Sunday @ Angove Street Festival

I love exploring Perth and attending all the community festivals & other local happenings so when Angove Street Festival was advertised, I quickly marked it on my calender as a little reminder! So that is what I did today, attended the festival held on Angove Street, or as the locals like to call it the 'Hangover St'.


There was plenty of live music, local fashion, fresh food and coffee, market stalls, live art, photo exhibitions, street performers and children's activities such as mini bungee, rocking climbing, animal farm and plenty more other activities occuring. The live music definitely created a lovely atmosphere for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I live on the south side of river so I don't normally shop in North Perth so it was nice to wander around and I discovered a lot of local shops and cafes that I would love to go back and visit.

There was some live graffiti art demonstration at the festival and I really liked this particular one. It was a picture drawn with a permament marker of all the different people he saw walking down Angove Street.
There was also a mini car show featuring mainly Alfa Romeos and a lonesome Lotus Elise which was my favourite.

Koko Black: Claremont

Perth is definitley improving with its growing number of shopping centres and eateries. I just came back from High Tea at the new Koko Black chocolate salon located at the Claremont Quarters and I have to say I am impressed. I love the elegant feel of the place with its chocolate (brown) leather lounges, beautiful blue lanterns to its delicate tier plate stands.



My friends and I decided to try out this awesome chocolate salon as soon as we could and we treated ourselves to the Queen of Hearts high tea which was a two tiered platter, one sweet and one savoury. The bottom tier consisted of two mini sandwiches, a leek and ricotta tart and a pancetta and cherry tomato tart whilst the top tier presented with a lamingtom, lemon tart, layered chocolate cake, chocolate brownie and a berry panacotta. I have to say the savoury was very welcoming to the taste buds after all the sweet indulgences.



We also tried the Autumn Spoil which is pretty much a bit of everything. It consisted of pear sorbet, gingerbread cookie, chocolate mousse, pear and cinnamon cake and two chocolates.



After our meal of utter divineness, we looked around the chocolate salon and there were many different selections of various flavoured chocolates and pattiseries on offer. With easter around the corner there were many handpainted chocolate bunnies and easter eggs on display and I was very tempted to purchase one of everything. Another thing I really liked about Koko black was the chocolatier's kitchen which had a clear window so you could view the making of the chocolate and pattiseries. I got to witness the making of the creme brulee tarts which looked really delicious.



A polaroid to capture that Koko Black high tea moment!

Love Heart Bokeh

I've always wanted to try the love heart bokeh technique but never get round to testing the technique until recently. This awesome site tells you what it is and how to do it HERE. So we bought black cardboard and cut the love heart out by hand although you may also use a shape puncher. Using the lowest aperature on a large aperature lens, the love heart bokeh may be created! Tips: Christmas lights make really nice bokeh effects. Here are some of our results, enjoy:
Cup full of love



Blowing love kisses



Teddy bear love



Random soft toy with heart background

R.I.P Snowflake

My bunny passed away this morning. Snowflake has been such a lovely companion for the last 2 years. He lived a short life as rabbits can live up to 15 years. He unfortunately contracted myxomatosis which is uncurable with the survival rate of 5%. I'm going to miss you and all your quirky behaviours. You are the friendliest bunny ever and I'm going to miss spending hours taking care of you and playing with you. You will always be loved & remembered. May you rest in peace dear Snowflake, I hope you are in a better place.