teepee tuesday

here

here

here

here

messy monday: a whole new world

seeing as a new year is coming around and we are all thinking of how we can renew ourselves, this messy monday is dedicated to improving the old! we’ve had this globe for a little while but i really disliked the colour and finish so i wanted to paint it with some chalk board paint. then once i got started painting i found other things i wanted to paint over ;P so i did an old lego box d had that wasn’t being used. with the lego box i painted the top with chalkboard paint and the bottom with black paint, and then put a layer of gloss on top. 

to do this all you need is a globe (cheap globes can be found on ebay or a thrift store) or any old box etc that could do with a renewal, chalk board paint, black paint, paint brush, goo remover, sponge, chalk.

have you started making a list of new year resolutions?

i bought the chalk board paint off amazon.

used some gloo gone spray to remove the paper map

merry Christmas

merry Christmas! hope your having a fantastic day :)

photographer: jason lee here

teepee tuesday

some teepee inspiration...happy tuesday to you :)

here

 here

here

here

here

messy monday: sholleh zard

this is a traditional persian dessert called sholeh zard. its basically a rice pudding with the most expensive spice in the world mixed in (such a persian thing to do lol). before you read on, i warn you its not the healthiest thing in the world (despite what a persian mum may tell you)...but its delicious, and its dairy free and if you leave out the butter vegan too! this thanksgiving we were invited to a friends place and they asked for us to bring something traditional if we could... so that was my first time making sholleh zard and i have to say it was easy, time consuming, but easy...so the other day when the kiddies where both asleep i whipped up another batch for my afternoon snack. my favourite way of eating it is warmed up especially during these chilly days.  see recipe below...

ingredients: 

1 cup of rice (basmati)

2 cups of sugar 

1/4 teaspoon ground saffron

1/4 cup butter

1 cup rose water

cinnamon (for decoration)

pistachios (ground for decoration)

almond slivered (for decoration/in the mixture- hubby doesn’t like them so i didn’t add)

method:

1. dissolve saffron in 1/4 cup of hot water and cover (dissolve by stirring and let it brew)

2. wash the rice and put in a pot with 10 cups of water and boil. leave lid on stir occasionally to make sure it doesn’t boil over and to keep an eye on how its going (make sure you use a very large pot cause this just grows and grows!)

3. cook rice until soft and mushy (about 30mins)

4. when the water is absorbed add sugar, rosewater, butter, stirring as you go. you can continue cooking the mixture till its dense.

5. put the mixture in oven proof pot and put into oven for 15-20 mins

6. if you want to move it into smaller bowls or another pot nows the time to do it, then garnish with pistachios, cinnamon, almonds etc...then cool it to room temperature, put in the fridge (its supposed to be served chilled, but i love it warm :)

fashion friday: mum and i take a bow

this fashion friday comes straight from our living room floor, i recently got this adorable onsie for little d from h&m , its one of few non hand me downs he owns ;) its so sad they only fit into these clothes a few times and then you have to pack them away, its also sad when they poop up their back in a white onsie (i digress). anyhow i am a fan of texture and these tops combine them well. my tops from j crew ... a shop i’m in love with here in the states (we need one of these in australia). those little dunlops (similar here) were a gift from a gorgeous friend (so i always have them hanging around the kids room just as decoration in remembrance of her), looking forward to little d rocking those any day too (his foot has probably grown too big as we speak :I).

wednesday (close enough) in-house: high chairs to drool over

heres some gorgeous sleek looking high chairs to drool over (no pun intended). drool worthy because they don’t come cheap. i of course have made sure that our high chair is european designed see here ;).  so heres my round up (blurbs are below the photos)... i’ve saved the one i think is the most beautiful of them all for another post. it deserves it...youll see (btw i have a most interesting discovery  i’ve shared in the post script :)

s

so first up coming in at 323 usd is this beauty made by hannes iu a family owned business that does custom furniture too see here

the “tower chair” coming in at 253 usd designed by camilla and charlotte the duo behind Budtz Bendix in 2007 here 

the hochstihl 616, designed in 1965. The chair of the Finnish company Artek. the curved shell comes in black, white, natural, red and blue. it’ll set you back a cool 555 euros (i thought id leave it at that, usd would be too scary) here

the leander high chair, that bouncy slightly and naturally with the childs movements. it grows with the child i.e. it converts in stages through to an adult chair. this ones about 290 usd here 

last but not least stokke tripp trapp, comes in at 250 usd excluding accessories (i.e. safety straps, pads, tray etc.. i love that they’ve added the newborn set so you can have your baby propped up in it from 0 -6 months. here

p.s. most important piece of baby gear info you will need to know (i know i always wondered) drumroll please... its pronounced STOWE-Kah, oh and heres another one...“AY-dun” and “uh-NAY,” say whaat? that is not what i’ve been saying hahaha

teepee tuesday

 here

 here

 here

 here

 here

 here

here

messy monday: gift wrapping with heart

i’m back - ive had my brothers come from overseas to visit for the past two weeks...which has been absolutely wonderful! endless basketball matches for d, cuddles for little d and morning sleep ins for me! this messy monday we’ve done something that we will be thankful for later! 

have you ever been running to get to someones house, box of chocolates in hand and can’t find anything to put them in or wrap them with? (and don’t even get me started on finding sticky tape....btw mushy cooked rice does stick things together...lol dont ask) so not only is this a fun activity (i think i had more fun than d did), but its also very useful. its inspired by the ferm living blog. i saw them do a triangle print with potatoes and it looked awesome...so we decided to make some wrapping paper of our own. 

all you need is a couple of potatoes, knife, a roll of paper (we are using an ikea mala drawing paper roll) or any other paper, paint and butchers string. you can cut the potatoes in almost any shape and then go nuts! we also did hand prints which is a really nice wrapping for gifts for grandparents and the like, because they can keep the paper as a keepsake as well. if you don’t have time to do this another idea is just to use one of your childs drawings/artworks...instant wrapping paper (we usually have plenty of spares hanging around).

i think it turned out pretty nicely, and now i have the rolls and string in a handy spot for the next time we need to wrap on the go!