Anything Can Happen Friday! Fillies and Foal

I think my favourite saying might be it never rains but it pours. Because that is my life at the moment and I am loving it!!! like really!! When I had nothing on my plate those around me would comment that I wouldn't be able to handle it when I started working again and to those I say ha hahh (as in 'I did it! yay for me') I am so far handling it extremely well. I waste very little time now and probably get more done now then before. Well excepting one little aspect which unfortunately is my blogging. Those who don't blog probably don't realise how much effort it actually involves especially blogging your own creative content 5 days a week. So this week I am grateful for the community I have developed around me those awesome people who helped me find this weeks lovely maker Fillies and Foal.

I think before I go any further I will need to clarify that I AM NOT PREGNANT and those who are childless can still look at kid's stuff, after all it is my adorable niece Lily's birthday in November.....and Elissa doesn't just do kids stuff!!  : P

But let's get the skinny from Elissa;

How did I come about the business of making?

 Making is me, it is part of my make up, inherited from my mother that is a creativity freak and genius. I started making, experimenting, creating with fabric when Mum & Dad gave me a sewing machine as a Christmas gift 2years ago. I started "making" with fabric then and I haven't stopped! If there was a Sewers Anonymous I would be a perfect candidate...I am an addict now.  

My biggest supporter? 

 My husband, Simon. His patience is tireless. He takes an interest (or pretends really well) in my newly purchased prints, my new creations and my crooked sewers neck! He is wonderful.

Where do I see my 'making' taking me (in an optimistic world)?

 My vision for my making is to remain unique in style. But in a business sense, big enough to see growth but small enough to still care about the finer details and building relationships with people that I encounter through what I do.  
Some days it is as simple as taking me to a happy place after a big day.

Where can we get your stuff?

 fillies&foal is available to purchase through facebook or by emailing me at filliesandfoal@hotmail.com

If you could be any animal in the world what would it be?

 Most would probably guess without even knowing me....a Horse.

Looking through these pictures just one thing strikes me, all Elissa's products are just simply pretty, I guess that is something that just comes from the joy and happiness Elissa gets out of making her products :) I love her comment that 'it takes her to a happy place after a big day' something that any maker can probably relate to.

Thanks to Elissa for being a part of my feature :)  

Thursday. Hipster Dad

I am not sure if the hipster thing is a worldwide craze at the moment but since Jess and I have started working together I have been trying to explain the finer points of the hipster to her. We are still both incredibly confused.

But to clear things up I am not and neither is she a hipster, wait does that mean we are?

When I was up north visiting my Grandparents I discovered some photos that made me think that perhaps maybe at some point my father was (or would be today).

Let's start with this picture here, Dad is the blonde one, with the glasses and tie. Unlike a regular hipster Dad actually does need to wear glasses and given the ones he wears now are totally different I believe he was not intentionally trying to be a 'hipster' in fact he was probably just what you would call a 'dag'. Sorry Dad I love you.

In this picture he stands with his mother and 4 brothers (the 5th one is yet to be born). Again with the glasses but now he has added the ultimate hipster accessory 'the musical instrument' I can actually vouch that my father is ACTUALLY an incredibly talented guitarist albeit just a little shy. The hipster radar now goes totally berserk when you add brown pants to the occasion. By the way these two pics were taken in the late 70's.

Upon finding this picture of your father looking like a total nerd in a scouts uniform you can breathe a sigh of relief, no he would never have been a hipster, he is still the loser-ish funny, joke telling, expensive toaster buying father that you know and love.

Could one of your parents have been a hipster? I would love to know :)

Wedding Wednesdays?

So a little while ago I went through a stage of changing the way I blogged this included specific items on specific days, like Tuesdays were always about food, Wednesdays about weddings and Thursdays about fashion. Then I decided to use only my own pictures and things changed a little.

I still do a regular Tuesday food feature but now I also do 'Anything Can Happen Friday' where I try and feature a maker but as I get busier working with The Wedding Designer, my blogging is falling by the wayside and I need to stop this happening!! so shall I try and incorporate this amazing passion into my blog again? YES!! so Wednesdays will again be all about weddings (and events) !!! :)

So below are a few pictures from our awesome set-up at The Big Day bridal expo at Avoca Beach which took place last Sunday.

We were lucky enough to be again collaborating with Jade McIntosh Flowers whom provided us with all the wonderful flower arrangements which are now hanging out in the studio making everything smell super beautiful :)

On the Table. High Tea at Noon

Last week I celebrated my 24th birthday and had some friends over for tea, so I made each of us a few different treats. It was fun getting dressed up and acting like ladies, we wore dresses had real napkins and went over the proper etiquette of how big of a bite you should really take and whether the spoon was allowed to go in your mouth. It was pretty awesome we even discussed the big issues of today, like grown ups! :)

But here's the good part PICTURES!!

Don't worry I didn't cook on my birthday I made everything on the Tuesday, Chocolate Cheesecake Truffles, Toasted Banana Bread, Chocolate Layer Cake with White Chocolate Ganache and Coconut Logs drizzled with Dark Chocolate.

As you probably know by now icing and me don't always get along so well, I didn't have enough ganache to neatly cover the sides of the cakes so I stuck flaked almonds onto the side - all in all they were pretty amazing. My friend Soph bought me some chocolates from Coco Monde and Victoria of all those cupcakes fame baked me a super duper cake. We are still eating the left overs :/

Monday. Paper.

Today is Joel and I's very first wedding anniversary!! This year/12 months has flown by so very fast!! So today we are spending the day just enjoying each others company. We took a picnic breakfast to the Blackbutt reserve this morning and treated ourselves to some super yummy treats from Cupcake Espresso while this evening we will get back to the real world of uni, emails and general busyness.

This is the first time we have ever been to Cupcake Espresso and I must say they were pretty good, pretty damn good :) we both agreed that the hands down winners in this box were the peanut butter chocolate cupcake and the hazelnut cupcake. Seriously mind blowing!

this one is my all time favourite of our wedding pictures and on a random side note I tried my dress on last night and it seems I've put on a chunk of weight as it now fits like a glove whereas before I could spin the whole thing around on myself to undo the zipper.

Who's up for a beach walk in the morning?

Anything Can Happen Friday. Sweet Project

It's back!! This week I have got my act together and I am bringing you one mouthwatering 'maker' the very lovely Kendall of 'Sweet Project'!!

Though Kendall and I are yet to meet in person, from the numerous interactions we have had, I am sure she is one lovely lady :) I first found out about her when her lovely macarons (macaroons?) and biscuits popped up on the edition 11 'Your Hunter Valley Wedding Planner' shoot which lead me to commission of few biscuits of my own from her and now she makes me salivate on a regular basis with the pictures she posts on Facebook and Instagram!!

How did you come up with the business of baking 
 By accident really, I was on maternity leave and fortunately had a no fuss baby boy, Quincey. A friend had completed a couple of courses at the wonderful Sugar Rush in Newcastle and encouraged me to give it a go. I signed up for a few courses and was instantly hooked. It was love at first sight. The rest is history.

Who is your biggest supporter.
Embarrassingly at 28 years old I often still catch my parents telling complete strangers my life story. They have both come along to every market where I've showcased Sweet Project and their support means the world to me. My mum is my sounding board for ideas and I cant thank her enough for teaching me to be patient (a work in progress) and to take pride in my work.
My Partner Casey is a great cook and is always happy to provide honest feedback and encouragement. Also, my large extended family have encouraged me to keep working hard to achieve my dreams and have always made themselves available to road test my baking.


 
Where do you see baking taking you (in an optimistic world)
Well, here’s a scoop… what began as a hobby business has grown so quickly into a full time job. We are now bursting at the seams so, I’m excited to reveal we are about to open a small café in the Newcastle area…. Can’t say too much more at the moment but this is the next logical step to turn this hobby into a business.

Kendall's son Quincey's birthday was featured on sweets giant Amy Atlas' blog here

Where can we get your yummy things?
Shortly you will be able to purchase our core range of macarons, Cup Cakes and selected sweet treats from our new café in the Newcastle area. In the short term, we continue to be a home based business and make to order. You can find examples of our products and services on facebook or email us (sweetproject@live.com.au) and we will forward you a menu as a starting point.

We’d also love to take the stress out of your next special event by looking after you with exclusive, but not expensive, custom styled dessert buffets complete with props and delicious treats.

In conjunction with the café grand opening, we are also in the process of constructing our website so stay tuned for the launch.

If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be?
I’d love to be a Swan, serene and elegant on the surface and working like mad under the water to reach a destination.

So are you pretty excited about her little scoop I know I sure was!! fingers crossed its close by the studio so I can grab them all the time :) Thanks Kendall!!

Thursday. Post-Birthday-itis

So I didn't post yesterday and I am super late today, I am putting it down to post birthday-itis. You know when it's your birthday and you tell everyone that they have to do stuff for you because its your birthday but now it's the day after and you can't say that anymore but still want to?

Yep that's me.

But actually I was a little busy today doing many bits and pieces that aren't really big enough to mention separately. But together they amount to lots of weddings on the horizon (including one this weekend) and even a bridal expo to attend! On Sunday!!

 Know anyone getting married? I hear there is going to be a pretty super goodies bag and The Wedding Designer is going to have one fun interactive little section going on!! So get your butt down there and take a look ;)

in the meantime get ready for tomorrow it will have you salivating :) 

On the Table. High Tea in a Box

So tomorrow is my birthday.... in case you were wondering I turn 24, I am still a spring chicken but when I look at my age these days I think of all the things I told myself I would accomplish.

I am sure many teenagers blurt out such phrases as 'I'll have my first child before I turn 30' or 'I'll have some kind of kick ass career by 25' or in my case 'Dad, I'll be so rich by the time I am 30 I promise I will buy you a Maserati' ..... I don't think Dad is holding his breath for that one but then again I didn't say what sort of Maserati... or in what way I would be rich....

You see I am at that point in my life where I still believe that dreams are possible and right now being able to work with the amazing Jess and Lane at The Wedding Designer, doing something I really love doing and with fun people who are equally passionate about it all makes me feel pretty rich. I feel so fortunate to have such a brilliant supportive family around me and people like my Grandparents who indeed make life feel full, my sisters who are each inspiring in their own ways and my nieces and nephews who have so so much of life and love to look forward to!

So how will I be spending my birthday? I will be taking tea in the park with some lovely friends, eating cakes and dressing like a lady! and in the evening I will be hanging out with some other friends talking weddings and eating cheese sounds like a pretty super day to me! :)

Today has all been in preparation for that. I started the morning making chocolate cheesecake truffles, followed by coconut logs (I still need to drizzle them with chocolate), then I whipped up a banana cake and finally Joel and I tested out making mini chocolate cakes using baking paper and then a small empty baked bean can. I will share pictures of the finished product next Tuesday but now I have to whip up some white chocolate ganache to coat that little beauty of a cake.... and clean up the mess I made  

Monday. Tales from Never Land

I mentioned last week that I would be doing a posting feature based around the life stories given to me by my Grandfather, this is the first item in the series and tells of how my Grandparents met.

It's an incredibly beautiful story right out of the pages of a romance novel and 'Tales from Never Land' is the name he gave to the collection, an amalgamation of their two names. 

My Grandparents on their wedding day (on the left of course!) 

'Horse Sense' 

The only horse-power I have ever owned has run on either two or four wheels and my few attempts to make use of the other variety have usually left me red-cheeked - the butt of jokes or sore butted.  So naturally on the morning of the 29th July 1951, I was astride my trusty two-wheeled iron steed - a truly beautiful Ariel Deluxe.

It was different from other days. Not only was it Sunday - it was a day of destiny.

As the Methodist minister in Innisfail I had on the previous evening been host to a group of interstate visitors for a special youth celebration. Today the celebration was moving to Etty Bay where I would join them for lunch when my parish duties were completed.

Etty Bay

And so I was sitting easily in the saddle moving towards the shade of the trees that skirted the beach, when I became aware of another rider bearing down upon me. From her superior position, the stranger gave the impression of competence born from long practise. Alas it was not so - the bay was not entirely under control. In fact had it not been for my brave steed blocking the way she may well have found herself astride a runaway.

No shrinking violet, she identified herself and allowed her obvious charm and striking looks to impact upon this startled and hapless male. My first impression was of a vision in brown shorts lemon tee-shirt and Grecian sandals exquisitely complemented by the golden tan of her limbs and the beauty of her face.

I truly do not remember another thing about that afternoon except that her horse and my “horse-power” returned to their respective places under other hands while she and I travelled back to Innisfail together. Now, that’s horse sense!

In the evening she appeared in a pink gown embroidered with pearls and in the fashion of the day a grosgrain hat to match. I was dazzled. Six weeks later Esme had her twentieth birthday and I bought her a very special gold watch. We got to know each other much better during those days but it was not until the banana cake that I proposed.

Actually I was recovering from a motor-cycle accident and so may have been particularly vulnerable but I always have said, it really was the banana cake. Subsequently I had doubts that she had really made it as it was many years before another banana cake appeared.

We married five months later on 20 March 1952. But that is part of another story and will have to wait for another time.

an Ariel motorcycle the twin of the bike ridden on the fateful day

This is the first Tale in the series and it actually did happen as it is told. I do not recall ever having seen Esme before though I had been to the bank where she worked.

Esme was at the beach that day because she was upset with her boyfriend and her father had suggested a visit to the beach instead of staying at home.

The horse belonged to her brother. He suggested she have a ride.

The horse really was in control. He had a hard mouth and she couldn’t hold him. So half a second either way and we might never have met.

I hope you enjoyed that first one as much as I did! I wish Joel and I had a more romantic story than 'we met at the uni bar' but speaking of next Monday marks our one year wedding anniversary I am hopping to put together a fun little photo shoot but we will see how we go ;)  

Anything Can Happen Friday!!

YAY!! I am announcing the winner of my giveaway today!!

Congrats Sarah I hope you find a suitable occasion to get super excited and smash that thing!!! It should reach you sometime next week!!!

In other news today is a big day for me I have an exciting interview to attend wish me luck ;)

so have a bit of a look at what I have been pinning this week, check out these awesome links and have a fantabulous weekend!!

- Bronya and Matt's Wedding styled by The Wedding Designer bouquet by Jade McIntosh Flowers
- Edition 11 of Your Hunter Valley Wedding Planner comes out next week!!
- These super cool pirate invites made my morning :)

Thursday.

I LOVE water, I think that if I were an animal I would be a water dwelling one - maybe a seal, being close to the water, any kind of water makes me one happy lady. We went swimming while up north and while in the water I felt the most enormous wave of creative inspiration washing over me. Unfortunately you can't carry a notebook while in the water so I had to rely on my not-so-trusty memory, and consequently forgot the beautiful imagery I had in my junk filled mind.

Where do you find inspiration? and when you get it how do you keep it? I would love to know! :)

Also don't forget today is the last day to enter my pinata giveaway!! the lucky winner will be announced tomorrow

Wednesday. Home Again

For those who don't follow my Facebook page and have been wondering if I have been kidnapped and my blog held at ransom, never fear I was on holidays visiting my Grandparents, father and sister over the weekend and flew back into NSW late last night.

So this one will be very short indeed as I get my feet back on the ground, study for an upcoming exam, prepare for various events (it's my birthday next week!!) and get the house back in order!

My Grandparent's live on the Sunshine Coast and last week my Grandma celebrated her 81st birthday!! I had an amazing time! They have both lived such full and incredible lives and my grandfather is particularly adept at telling stories (he was an Anglican minister who also worked for the Foreign Affairs Department along with many consulting roles in the realm of personnel management). While there he gave me a copy of some stories of theirs that he has been writing down and in the coming Mondays I will be sharing some with you.

Grandma also shares a birthday with Katie and so we were lucky enough to see some of our cousins while we were there (including my adorable new second cousin) along with attending the Real Food Festival it is such a beautiful area definitely worth the visit... in fact I am counting down the days until the next one!!

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!! ONLY TWO MORE DAYS!!! YOU CAN ENTER BY CLICKING THIS LINK AND LEAVING A COMMENT

Anything Can Happen Friday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

It seems kind of strange that alot of the birthdays in my life this year seem to be occurring on Friday's... so you will have to forgive my lack of maker post this week because this one is a double whammy!

Today is the birthday of my sister Katie and our grandmother 'Nonna' (grandparents like parents don't have real names to their offspring) and I am lucky enough to be spending the day with them both!! If you follow me on Instagram I may even be sharing some pictures with you! But for now I made them both a lovely handmade card and banner along with a small gift for Katie.

I don't know about you but wrapping presents is the best part of giving for me.

so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you both I am sure we are going to have a smashing day :)

Thursday.

As you will probably know if you are a regular reader of my blog, lately I have been working with The Wedding Designer, a few weeks ago Jess along with fellow business partner Lane (of the soon to be 'Tomorrow Lane' watch out Canberra) attended the Woodville Chapel Bridal Fair and they were kind enough to take along some of my goodies :)

The lovely ladies were joined by the awesome Jade of Jade McIntosh Flowers (whom was also hard at work on Edition 11 of 'Your Hunter Valley Wedding Planner'), and were in charge of decking out the chapel in full. I didn't get to see it but all the 'likes' and comments on Facebook tell me that it looked pretty damn good!

Jess commissioned me to make up some fun pinwheels like the ones I made for our wedding and they took along packs of my origami bows and fabric garlands. All the items you see in the picture are available to hire from Jess - not just for weddings but parties and photoshoots as well.

   
They wanted to create a 'boys' and 'girls' area on either side of the aisle and as part of the 'boys' area Jess had me make up some bowties which were hung off her trademark green ladder along with a mirror and a set of instructions.

The last picture is an arrangement of flowers by Jade that I just had to include, I don't know how she does it but she really does have a way with flowers that has me wanting to do some kind of floristry training.  

That's about all from me today, I have to get my butt into gear and organise my airport transfer for this afternoon, does anybody else get paranoid about getting lost at the airport and missing connections etc?

and don't forget to enter my giveaway :)

Wednesday. Liebster Blog Award

Do you remember me talking about that awesome blog Scandi Coast Home? Well Tania Maree was awesome enough to nominate me for the Liebster Blog Award.

What is the Liebster Blog Award? .... I tried Googling it but no luck, and it seems many others have no idea where it originated though Jo Savill got close

From Tania Maree's post the rules are as follows

I am going to view it as is an awesome way to give some recognition to your fellow bloggers as well as the opportunity to make some fellow blogging 'friends'

HERE GOES!!!

And the answers to the questions put forward by Tania Maree.....

1. Are you an Introvert or an Extrovert?
I think I am a bit of both.... I can be super shy but then on the other hand I have no problem being in the spotlight


2. What is your favourite blog that you read every day?
I am already married but the blog that I look forward to reading every day is Green Wedding Shoes, Design*Sponge is a close second

3. Real Living or Home Beautiful Magazine?
Back when we still had a Borders I used to buy a physical copy of Home Beautiful, Habitus, Vogue Living or Belle every other month but now I get all my interiors inspiration online - Real Living seems to crop up a bit digitally

4. Describe your outfit for a night out with the girls.
Wow this one is tough, there used to be a time when all my clothes were party clothes now everything I own is kind of utilitarian, but what has and always will be in my wardrobe is a pair of black leather pumps (I usually plan my outfit around what shoes I am going to wear) if dreams were reality I would have a wardrobe that resembled my Pinterest 'Styling - Dames' board

5. What is your favourite online shop for clothes or homewares or both?
Do I have to choose??!! For clothes at the moment I am in LOVE with ASOS, super cheap, free postage and awesome clothes, for homewares West Elm is pretty hard to beat though the new Country Road offering looks pretty rad

6. What is your biggest decorating disaster?
I couldn't think of anything for this one so had to ask Joel, when we moved into our first house together we were broke. Flat broke. So when it came time for furniture shopping we did the dodgy and went around at council pick up to find some shelves. They were painted black and filthy so I bought a sample pot of fire engine red and went to work. Bad choice.

7. What is the room you most like to spend time in?
We live in the equivalent of a studio apartment so all ours rooms are one, I usually like to spend time in the cleanest part :) I am kind of anal when it comes to cleanliness and can't relax when dishes aren't done etc

8. Favourite Season - Summer or Winter?
I LOVE water so my favourite season would have to be summer, just have to get round to losing a bit of weight first :/

9. What is your favourite colour?
I think it's navy blue, it's the first colour that always comes to mind, my kitchen appliances are all navy blue and the only colours that come in my wardrobe are blue and red (yep just like the French flag)

10. Whose interior style do you most admire?
I think there are a lot of people with truly great interior style but the person whose style resonates the most with me is Jennifer Hagler of 'A Merry Mishap'

11. Post a pic of yourself with your questions. No sunnies allowed.
argh!!! not good with photos :/ but this one is from our photobooth at the markets

Now it's my turn :)

1. of course I would love for Tania Maree to have a go again but that would go against the spirit -
2. dammit Tania also got to Something Gorgeous before me
3. Linda of Pink Patent Mary Janes always has food to make me salivate
4. Siobhan of the Novocastrian Files is probably too cool for this kind of thing with way more followers...
5. as would be Shannon Morton of Oh How Very Lovely
6. Angie of Sunday Belle has probably done this a thousand times with more than 200 followers
7. I've always loved Jasmine's web design on Tinker Finca
8. Miranda of Howdy Stranger is also pretty handy with a mouse
9. garh this is hard!! a shout out to Justine of The Olive Tree Market Blog
10. fellow Emma of Emmy & Mouse and I have more in common than just a name
11. last but not least..... wow this is so hard!!! how about this if you have an amazing blog or know of one that I SHOULD be reading leave a comment below and you can be my 11 ;)

and now my questions are as follows!!!

 so have you entered my giveaway yet? don't be shy :) just follow this link and leave a comment on the post

On the Table. Cupcake Delivery

Just putting it out there I am a terrible friend.

I forget to call and message my friends all the time and I am probably really irritating, I think I talk about myself way too much and I never know what to say to comfort people or in difficult circumstances. My sisters know better than to call me for sympathy, not that I don't feel for them I just don't know how to express it.

My friend Victoria on the other hand is awesome.

She is super busy all the time yet is able to make time for every one of her friends and then she does awesome things like message me and say 'hey do you and Joel want to come over and pick up a box of cupcakes?'

Yeah these aren't just ordinary cupcakes they are beautifully decorated and super tasty ones, I don't know what she puts in them but gosh they are addictive!!

They are SO good we think she could even sell them if she wanted to, so what do you think? Would you like Victoria to make some super delicious cupcakes for your next party or get together?

Or maybe YOU have an awesome friend like Victoria in which case you should definitely enter my giveaway so you can pass on the awesome pinata to that said awesome friend. Go on I dare you.

Monday. Giveaway!!

I am so excited!!! This week I am flying up to visit my Grandparents along with my sister and dear ole Dad. Yes I am still young and inexperienced enough to get excited about flying on a plane, I don't do it very often. at all.

So in order to get you guys as excited as I am, I will be holding a giveaway!!! Yep a giveaway where you can win this awesome piñata!!

Are you excited?? You should be!!! spring is starting and with it what I am going to call the birthday season, because if you don't know someone born in September I will be VERY surprised. That's why this giveaway is super awesome because no matter how young/old you are smashing a pinata is exhilarating

So how do you win? just follow the steps below

The giveaway will close next Thursday 13th September 2012 and the winner will be drawn at random and announced on Friday 14th September. I will then contact the winner via email and send out the pinata.

The pinata comes empty but it is super simple to fill however due to it's size this giveaway will only be available for Australian residents as international postage can get pretty pricey :/  

GOOD LUCK!!