mother’s day brunch

Leave a reply

I hope you all had an amazing mother’s day in the lovely sun. What a stunner of a day it was! Whether it was a brunch, afternoon tea or dinner, however way you celebrated it, I hope it was filled with lots of laughs and yummy food.

I mentioned last week that we were hosting a mother’s day brunch for our family and here are a few photos from Sunday.

This is a really simple table setting that I threw together at the last minute, as unfortunately I didn’t have too much time to go and source anything so really just bought a couple of things to set this up.

The star of the show were these napkins I found at Briscoes. I knew I wanted something floral for mother’s day and just happened to see these while I was in there looking for an electric blanket! The peach and green is so pretty and perfect for mother’s day.

I then went to a local florist and purchased two bunches of carnations, one in a peachy orange and the other in white and split them into 3 vases of different heights that I had at home.

I made the little mother’s day tags, (you can see how here), then tied them to the cutlery.

Isn’t it amazing how beautiful napkins can transform an entire table setting? They are such an inexpensive way to tie some colour in and add some interest to your tables with no effort at all.

photography: taken by myself on an iphone 5

diy: mother’s day cutlery tag

Leave a reply

A quick diy project for a table setting I’ve put together for our mother’s day brunch. While setting up the table, I decided I needed a small tag to say happy mother’s day which will tie in all the colours on the table.

I have tied this tag around the cutlery on the table, but you can make these and use them however you want. Whether it’s around the wineglass for a dinner party, or around your napkins as a napkin holder.

Project supplies:

5cm strips of cardstock in your choice of colour
a 1-1.5cm strip of patterned card or paper
double sided tape
stamp pad ( I’ve used whisper white by stampin’ up)
mini alphabet stamps
corner punch ( I’ve used creative memories )
cotton twine or any twine you have
hole punch

Stick your patterned card or paper to the end of your cardstock with double sided tape and then cut to fit the card. Corner punch it.

Start stamping your message on the card stock. Once you are finished, trim the strip of card to the size you want. Corner punch the bottom two corners and hole punch it in the middle of the patterned card.

Thread your twine through and wrap around your cutlery, tie a bow and trim to size.

It’s tied everything together as well as marked the occasion we are celebrating. These would also be a great idea as place card holders for your party or wedding with your guest’s names on them. I loved using twine as I love how rustic it looks, but if it’s for a formal occasion, why not try some fancy ribbon or velvet?

inspirewith…..floral

Leave a reply

Happy weekend everyone! Hubby and I are hosting mother’s day brunch at our place this Sunday and I’ve been thinking about what to do for the table centres. I’ve been inspired by these simple floral arrangements and wanted to share them with you.

I love how in these arrangements, they have used things that are probably already in your home, such as the cake stands, tea cups or an old tin can you have lying around. Very rustic, simple and easy to put together for a quick brunch.

I hope you all have a lovely Mother’s day with your mums.

one / two / three / four / five

inspirewith…..hallway runners

Leave a reply

I’ve been looking for something to go in my narrow hallway for a while now. A runner is such a good way to add some warmth and interest to a hallway that is too narrow for bulky furniture.

Here are a few ideas and runners to inspire you this week with your own hallway project.

one / two / three / four / five

I love the use of colour, the photo gallery and the patterned runners in the hallway above. Due to the narrowness of our hallway, I’m not sure if I will be able to get a console in there, but I really like the clever ideas of using a footstool or something low and small so it doesn’t overwhelm the space.

I hope you all had a weekend of hot chocolates indoors and away from the horrendous thunder and rain. We had a very lazy weekend which was much needed after having a horrible cold this week. The sickness has meant that the blogging has been very slow this week…… really sorry everyone, hopefully I will be back to my old self this coming week.

diy: geometric calico cushion

Leave a reply

So I have been seeing a lot of geometric patterns everywhere from cushions, rugs and art work for your walls. Especially geometric patterns that are hand drawn and imperfect. See here and here. I love the imperfections on hand drawn things as they give so much character and also it is so EASY to replicate at home.

This geometric calico cushion was easy to create, can be finished in one sitting and best of all, it was very very cost effective!

You will need:

0.5 metre of fabric for one 45cm x 45cm cushion. – depending on the width of your fabric, you may be able to get two cushions out of it. I used lined calico from spotlight at $12.99 per metre.
a 35cm or 40cm invisible zip per cushion
fabric marker – I used stephen’s fabric marker by bic
a ruler
scissors
pencil

Start by cutting 2 pieces of calico to size, remembering to leave a 1cm inseam around the entire edge. I cut mine at 47cm x 47cm.

You then want to draw lines across the entire surface with your pencil depending on the geometric shape you are wanting. I made mine in a triangular pattern so started by drawing horizontal lines across that are 5 cm apart.

Along the first line, measure 5cm gaps all the way across and mark with your pencil.

The second line down, you need to measure each of your pencil marks in the middle of the lines above. So the first mark should be 2.5cm in from the edge and then 5cm increments from there.

Once you have all your measurements complete, you can start matching the pencil lines up with your fabric marker. It should look like this…..

Randomly choose a few triangles and fill in with the marker. You can choose to do this randomly or in a pattern. Don’t worry if you can see the direction of the lines that you have coloured in with or if you go over the edges, the imperfections make it a one off piece.

We need to now put the cushion together. First you need to pin your zip into position. I’m no expert in sewing and found this tutorial so easy to follow for pinning and stitching in an invisible zip.

Once you have your zip in place, open your zip up (so you can get into it once sewn up) and stitch around the edges of the cushion.

Before turning it out, cut your corners on an angle to get rid of the excess fabric, this will mean less bulk and will give you a pointier corner.

Finally, turn your cushion cover out, push into the corners with something small and pointy ( I used the end of a paintbrush) and if you want, press it to iron out the sides of the cushion OR if you are like me, fill it with a cushion inner and get it on the couch or bed!

inspirewith…..our road trip to queenstown

Leave a reply

Hubby and I have just arrived home from our little mid week road trip to Queenstown from Dunedin, so instead of doing my weekly ‘inspirewith’ post, I wanted to inspire you all with our instagram photos from the south island of New Zealand.

As some of you may know, we went down to Dunedin on wednesday for an Aerosmith concert that I have been very very excited about and we then ended the week with a stunning drive back to Queenstown where we caught a flight home.

It was absolutely stunning. It was only my second time there, (the first was a long time ago so I can’t really remember it) but I would definitely recommend going at this time of the year if you are ever thinking about a road trip. The leaves were changing colour, the skies were blue (for the most part) and the mountains were very slightly capped in snow. It was BEAUTIFUL. The photos below were all taken on an iphone 5 with just the valencia filter on instagram. I didn’t have a fancy camera or anything, but the results speak for itself.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Our weekend will be filled with some down time and lots of yummy home made food.

IMG 3011 inspirewith.....our road trip to queenstown

inspirewith…..blackboard paint

2 Replies

one / two / three / four/ five

Better late than never……inspiring you with blackboard paint this week. It is all the rage at the moment in all the home decor magazines. Many homes are using it in the kitchen as a way to write their shopping list or to write different quotes daily. Some have used it in the kid’s rooms as a way for the kids to be creative.

These are some ideas that have inspired me while looking through pinterest. I just love how easy these ideas are to do in your home. Black and white is so timeless and it goes with everything!

There was lots of rain this weekend which was a bit miserable, but at least it was good for the plants! I hope you all had a lovely weekend whether it was out and about or just relaxing inside with a good book or movie….

real flowers vs fake flowers

2 Replies

I made a purchase recently that I think should be opened up for debate… It was quite an expensive purchase for what it was, but if you calculate out the length of the time I would be able to enjoy them, they seem ludicrously cheap.

How do you all feel about real flowers vs. fake ones? I love having flowers in my house, they don’t have to be a big bouquet or anything extravagant, just a small bunch of almost any white flower in the lounge or dining table would light up my day and put a smile on my face. However, it is quite a luxury to have as they only last about a week, and so I have only ever had one bunch in the house at a time due to the cost of them.

Last week, after I shifted around the furniture in my bedroom, I decided that it would be amazing to see flowers on my lowboy by the window. Not only would they be stunning from inside the room, but also you would be able to see it as you drove up the driveway to our house. This was when I decided that maybe fake flowers would be the way to go for the bedroom. Not only would it mean that it wouldn’t cost anymore each week, but also that it would need less maintenance as our bedroom is upstairs.

Here are the photos of the two vases of flowers in my house, one is real and one is fake. Can you guess which is which? Don’t scroll down too far, the answers are below!

Hard to guess right? The real ones were $12 for the bunch and the fake ones were $15 per stem. Definitely on the expensive side, but worth it for how good they look!

These were purchased from a boutique store from Whangamata so definitely a bit more than some others I have seen but I would definitely recommend spending a bit more money if you are wanting to buy the fake ones as you really get what you pay for with these.

One downside is that the fake flowers don’t have the lovely scent of real flowers, but as they are in our bedroom upstairs, we aren’t there for much of the day anyway, so it’s perfect! So what do you think, have I been able to convert you yet?

project life 2013: week 12

Leave a reply

Project life 2013: week 12. Only 2 weeks behind now, finally catching up!

This week was all about completing projects! LOVE IT! A total of 3 projects finished, not to mention some painting around the house as well. It was such a feel good weekend for accomplishments and we even fitted in some pancakes for breakfast as well!

RECORDED: The best fool proof pancake recipe EVER and it is soooo tasty. It’s Jamie Oliver’s recipe. Try it! You won’t regret it. The best topping for these is butter and then lemon curd on top.

Nothing new for techniques this week but if you are interested in the three projects I finished, click on one of the links below.

My crochet wool blanket finished here.
The cow print tutorial here to learn how to turn your personal photos into works of art for your walls.
How to repaint laminated furniture to revive it and use it as a new and current piece in your home here.

Project life was created by Becky Higgins. It’s a project designed to make journalling and memory keeping easier by having beautiful journalling cards ready for you to just add in with your photos.

project life 2013: week 11

Leave a reply

Project Life 2013: Week 11……and still catching up! I’ll get there……slowly but surely.

This week was a relaxing week, lots of creative projects nearing completion, lots of walks on the beach in the early evening and the evenings felt longer and lighter, it was amazing. After a walk on the beach one night, we made a spur of the moment decision and had fish and chips on the beach to watch the sunset.

There were also a few new purchases for the house that week, a new rug for the lounge and a new duvet and duvet cover for our bed, all the way from the US of A. It was purchased from one of my favourite stores at the moment – West Elm. LOVE.

Nothing new this week for techniques. There was the stamping of photos again on ST PATTYS DAY. The tag from my duvet cover was stapled onto a journalling card and I some masking tape over the top so I could easily write over it.

My favourite part of this week’s layout is my sunset that was captured every few minutes. I loved seeing how quickly the sun went down and it really captured what was happening during the sunset picnic. Then when it got a bit cooler, the jacket covering my legs in the photo on the bottom right was exactly what I could see whilst lying down. This is definitely one of those moments that was worth capturing in photos.

Project life was created by Becky Higgins. It’s a project designed to make journalling and memory keeping easier by having beautiful journalling cards ready for you to just add in with your photos.

inspirewiththis.

my venture for an inspiring and creative life

mother’s day brunch

diy: mother’s day cutlery tag

inspirewith…..floral

inspirewith…..hallway runners

diy: geometric calico cushion

inspirewith…..our road trip to queenstown

inspirewith…..blackboard paint

real flowers vs fake flowers

project life 2013: week 12

project life 2013: week 11