Birthday - Blogtober

It's Today!  It's Today!

Well my birthday is nearly over.  It's been a lovely day with family and food.

Mum made me a chocolate cake

And wrote my name in chocolate!

How special is that.

I also got an adorable Teddy Bear Cookie Jar from Hubby and the kids.

This is from the same maker as the Teapot I was given last year so matches really well

A gorgeous bowl of camellia flowers and LOVE word art

It is not all about gifts, as much as it is to feel loved and special, just for a day.

Thankyou to everyone who loves me

Photo Challenge

It's a sleepy kind of Sunday,  after going to two parties last night and staying up well past my usual bedtime .

The Maddabling Blogtober photo challenge is now under way and we are up to day 2 .

Here are my photos so far

1. Young, Modern

2. Hourly, Daily

If you want to join in ,or just see what other photos have been taken by the challengers then take a look at Maddablings Blog

Blogtober - Friday

Photo Challenge - Join Me.

Hello World!  Hope you have had a wonderful day.

Soon the Maddabling Photo Challenge will begin and it is not too late to sign up.  These are loads of fun and also helpful if you get stuck for a blog post during Blogtober ,you can just put up your photo of the day.

So the challenge has been put up by Samara, and she has come up with a very cool abstract list,

Which looks like this.

You may recognise some of the daily topics, mmmmm.  Well they are all album titles from Top 100 Australian albums as voted by Triple J.  It may be a little difficult, but that is all part of the challenge, and it will be fun to see how people interpret each day.

If you want to join in then visit either Samaras blog Maddabling
Or join up on the Photo Challenge Facebook Page

The Challenge Starts on Saturday 13th October

Blogtober - Junk Love

It's JUNK LOVE Wednesday!! 

 If you are not aware of what this is all about then it is simply a little club of people who love to transform junk into all things fabulous.  It is a great place to get ideas, be inspired and show off what you have done.  If you want to join in on the Junk Loving then 

Sign up here

So what I am working on this week is transforming a really old bicycle into some garden art.

I am sure you have all seen how funky it looks when they get painted up and potted up with a basket full of flowers.

This is what I am starting with, although I had already given it a good wash down at this stage.

I have actually started to paint ,but soon discovered I was going to need more than one can of spray paint.  It is now too windy for me to finish it off so the colour and big reveal will happen on Junk Love next Wednesday.

I hope many more of you will join in on the fun of Junk Love.  If you want to see what other Junk Love projects I have done

Click Here

I Made It!! Monday...

So everyone seems to have little themes for days of the week - I used to do T42 Tuesday, where I would showcase one of my teapots from my huge collection each week (it was also incentive for me to dust one off once a week).  Anyway, maybe I should get back into that as they could do with a dust that is for sure.

Well it is Monday and I have something to show you that I made over the weekend, so I am calling today

 I Made It - Monday.

As you know I have made plenty of fun themed hats and always on the look out for more ideas.

There have been

 Rabbits

 Bears

 Little Chicken

 Owl

 Rudolph

 Sock Monkey

 Birthday Cake

 Elmo

Purple People Eater

Now to show you my latest little creation.  I was inspired by this photo that I saw.

A little Cabbage Patch Doll hat!!  How cute right.

And this is my version, my first one. 

 There are a few more being made and I have a couple of different hair style ideas for them.

This one is "Strawberry Blonde" with golden locks and pink streaks, and is modelled by one of my old 80's patch kid babies.

So there you have it

I Made It - Monday.

T42 - Tuesday - The perfect cup of tea

It really has been way too long since I have done a T42  Tuesday.  And yes the teapots are getting dusty and in need of some attention.  I have been going back through my old T42 posts to see which teapots I have already shown you so that I don't double up, but it is quite a task.  On my search I found this one, which was on my birthday wish list for last year!!! I still really, really, love this one.  My love of retro radios, yarn and crafts, tea and biscuits and teapots are all represented.  

Want, Want, Want!!!!

How to Make the Perfect Brew

1. To make the best tasting tea, you will need a kettle in which to boil the water, and a teapot in which to brew the tea.
2. Fill a kettle with fresh water of any temperature, and put it on to boil. Do not reboil water, as the air has been boiled out and the water will be flat.

3. While the water in the kettle is heating, fill your teapot with hot water to preheat the pot. This will help keep the water hot for a longer time when added from the kettle for brewing tea. When the water in the kettle begins to boil, pour the water out of the teapot.
4. Add your favourite tea to the teapot. If you are using loose tea, add one more teaspoon for each cup and another for the pot. If you are using teabags, keep in mind that most teabags will make two cups, so add bags according to the numbers of cups your pot holds. For example, a standard six cup pot would take three teabags. If you like your tea very strong, add another teabag.
5. Bring the teapot to the kettle so the water will be boiling when added to the pot. Place the lid on the teapot, and steep from three to five minutes. Teabags brew much more quickly than loose tea, so two minutes may be long enough if you prefer a lighter tea.
6. Pour out the tea, and add sugar, lemon, or milk as desired. Low calorie sweeteners also work well in tea, but try sparingly until you find the right taste. Pour tea made with loose leaves through a strainer.
7. Refill the pot from the kettle for more cups of tea. Remove teabags or loose tea after the second brewing; do not leave the tea leaves in the pot, or the tea may become too strong and bitter.
8. After refilling the teapot, you may want to use a tea cosy to keep the tea hot for second and third cups.

Taken from "Teapots: The Collector's Guide" by Tina M. Carter

Sit back and enjoy your cuppa
Next week , I will resume my dusting!! Promise