Alcohol Intake

This was screen captured yesterday, so I am in fact up to 24 days.
I've survived without drinking

• bbq at a friends (everyone was making cocktails, but because I have such incredible friends they made me a mocktail
• stressful times at work
• boredom
• family drama
• Australia Day

I've become so much more aware of my thought patterns when it concerns drinking and to be honest I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. Lets see the next 76 days 

L xoxo

30 Loaves - Loaf 2 - Basic Bread

No photo of this one as I was not happy with the way it turned out. Chose the basic bread in the Thermomix book. Gound some linseed and sunflower seeds as the base and subbed wholemeal spelt flour for half of the bakers flour. This loaf ended up undercooked and dense and soggy, even another 10 minutes of baking didn't remedy this. One to try again after testing my oven temp I think!

Would I bake this loaf again?
Maybe

30 Loaves - Loaf 1 - Buttermilk Bread

Since the acquisition of my Thermomix, I have wanted to bake some bread. The basic recipe book comes with a few recipes to get you started and I looked there for inspiration. I chose buttermilk bread as I liked the sound of it. I trekked to the supermarket on a Sunday, picked up the ingredients I needed and headed home, gung ho to get my bake on. Hurdle....the bottle of buttermilk had mould under the lid, it was still in date fresh, but there was no mistaking that mould...gross. Back to the supermarket, chose another, opened and mould again. Grrr. At the suggestion of the customer service assistant at the front desk I chose the alternate brand of buttermilk, success!
Home, gung ho to get my bake on.
The bread was delicious. Spongy and dense, kinda like sourdough but a little different.
I really do need to get an oven thermometer and test my oven as I feel it runs a little hot.

Would I bake this loaf again?
A resounding YES!
Note: I would put it in a tin I think rather than "free" baking it

Hello 2012

So here we are in 2012. What a year 2011 was!
I have big plans for 2012 and I plan on documenting them here.

• eat healthier
• no alcohol for at least 100 days, currently sitting on day 6
• fresh juice every other day
• make 30 loaves of bread in the Thermomix
• complete 12 projects - appox one per month, below is what I have so far

1. make chair covers
2. custom mugs with Porcelaine pen
3. top from mans shirt
4. headbands
5. crafternoon
6. redo vege garden
7. Project Life album

Lets make 2012 awesome!

Lau xoxo

Little boxes, filled with ticky tacky, little boxes...

My craft room is a mess as you can see here and here. And I really need to do something about it as I can't bear the thought of walking in there and creating anything! In Better Homes and Gardens magazine, one of their storage tips is getting cheap galvanised shelving and organising all craft items in matching baskets with labels. Lightbulb! More upright shelving would be a more effective use of space than the shelves I currently have. So this idea has been kicking around in my head for about a month now, lack of funds has hampered any progress thus far. While trawling the interwebs for any information on laser cutting, I came across this blog and this pattern, for cute little fabric boxes. Lightbulb v2.0! I could make some of these boxes to store small items in and make my craft room more, more?? chic, styling, funky? matching?
Now I haven't touched my sewing machine for a number of years...As you can see by the dirt and dust here!

This machine is pretty special to me. It's an ancient Singer. My Dad bought it in his small country town op shop for five whole dollars! He was so impressed with it's condition and quality that he went back to the op shop the next day and gave them another five whole dollars! And he gave it to me! Blessed! (it's about the only thing my Dad has given me in the last 10 years - he doesn't believe gift giving) And it really is a beauty! And kitsch. And a little Stepford Wife <3

Fabric - what a mission. My local fabric store had a 50% off sale. Pandemonium! I am also terrible at making decisions. But with the help of my crazy (and awesome) mumma, I did it!

Heavy interfacing, dark russian blue for the inside, floral pattern and red linen for main and contrast, ribbon for "handles". And away we go!

Cut

Iron

Pin and Sew!

Finished!

Three more done!

Things I discovered along the way...

• I didn't sew over my fingers! Although it did get a bit hectic there at one stage!
• Measure twice, cut once. The box with the red base seems to be a little larger than the rest.
• Iron at every step. I didn't iron down the top seam of the first one and it didn't finish off as nicely.
• Get some at least semi-decent sewing scissors, or a rotary cutter.
• Cut in a straight line! There has to be some trick to this, just gotta!
• Less stiff interfacing for the small boxes and maybe stiffer for the larger ones.
• 1m of each kind of fabric, really goes a long way!
• I had fun :)

Work in Progress

Tiny links, each created one by one, a bead at a time. Stitched, tension tight. Growing slowly, very slowly.

A Special Giveaway - Belinda Saville

Belinda Saville creates true beauty in her jewelry work. She has a dedication to design excellence and a passion to see a project through to the end. Over the last few years of seeing her work on the beading forum I have seen her style grow and coalesce into something truly magnificent. I aspire to have the level of attention to detail that she has. You can check out her blog and her Etsy shop and also on facebook.
This week she is having a giveaway to celebrate the opening of her Etsy shop. A gorgeous hollow formed pendant, Moroccan inspired. A piece to be treasured and admired.
Much Love
Lau xoxo