Fancy a Beach Cottage Giveaway? Well it's my birthday next week so here we go, a little way to make your life more beautiful for free – a Beach Cottage Putty Stripe Table Runner and Decor Ball…shipped anywhere in the world…
I'm hooked on cotton and nautical stripes and neutral colours, who isn't? Which is why I love the Beach Cottage putty stripe soft furnishings…all you need for a pared back, relaxed coastal feel and so easily teamed up with vintage furniture, thrifted finds and of course heaps of white candles for that cool baby old beach house ambiance…
All you need to do to enter is leave a comment and or follow me on Twitter and Tweet this post.
And I've gotten myself a new button, so if you'd like to grab that and stick it in your sidebar and link to me from your blog (just copy the code below and paste it into the html section of your site), I'll double up your entries….easy as pie as they say round here…
So, anyway, what's on the agenda for the weekend?
Well, I am hoping to get some outside stuff done – we have a beautiful Winter's weekend forecast here, with temps of about 72F and blue blue skies, so there's no excuse for doing nothing.
I have a long totally ridiculous list of things to get on with – that do you think I'll get done?
Nah. Probably not.
Gotta love a totally unrealistic list though…
don't forget to comment and link to me for a chance to win!
Igive you a place at my weblog and i love all the things from your beach-house things and photos !
I hope you understand my very bad English ;o)
Rini the Netherlands
Your blog is always inspirational and brightens up a dull day. Decorating is one of my passions and I get so excited when you see new ideas and fresh ideas that work. I have put you on my side bar but unfortunately I hardly ever get around to blogging seriously so not much happening on my blog. Had my first time look at twitter. Been wondering what the fuss is about. What was different from facebook etc but obviously its more instant chatting thread.
Beautiful give aways as usual. But your taste is superb and you have a generous spirit obviously. Thanks Sarah
Oh! I grabbed your button for my blog as well!
Thanks for the chance to win and I wish you an early Happy Birthday! Ours are close together. Mine was the 4th of August! I turned 39.
Ahhh..so happy i found you here!.. Your beach cottage is delightful…so serene and..gee, you can just run to the beach and find more to add to your decor! I am actually about to go out the door to Pottery Barn to find my sand and shells! lol!..to put in a large hurricane type vase.
This way, i can at least feel closer to the beach.
and pretend…you’ve got the real thing!
thanks for the generous giveaway…put my name in the mix! gypsy
Love the runner! Love the beach! love the blog! I am recently married and you help me with new ideas for my townhouse in the middle of Texas! My heart resides be side the beach, but my house is a block from beach street in the middle of the big texas state…So i try to add the beach as much as possible! Keep the ideas coming!
Oh Sarah!
Honey this is the most beautiful cottage ever, and it sounds like you have temps to die for. It is still 100+++++ here in Phoenix with no relief in site. I so wish you could just adopt me. Do you need another child? Oh honey thanks for the tour of the home, and for sharing this wonderful giveaway. Please stop by and say hi I would love to have you visit. Country hugs, Sherry
I think everyone who comes to this site and gets to see and read abour Sarah and he awsome taste and talent for decorating are all winners, look at how much people can learn here….how wonderful is this…I am very thankful I have found such an inspiration site to help decorate my home, I am already a winner…thanks, Kindly Janice Power
Sarah, your blog and home are just lovely. I admire what you do with the treasures you seem to be able to find. You are very talented. Anyway, I would really love to be in the draw for your birthday giveaway as I have searched everywhere to find just that kind of table runner. I might be lucky . Happy birthday )
Chrissie
Hi Sarah,
I don’t have a blog, but yours is the first one I ever looked at. I found it last winter (USA) and I check in every day to see what you are doing. I love the name of your blog and I love the beachy look of your home.
Have a great day!
love your blog, found you from evangaline’s vine. i just started making beach treasures, still dreaming, i would love to be entered, come over for a visit and enter my giveaway.
Wow, i am daily inspired by your blog.
Love the video and of course i now need a hot water bottle!
Can’t stop painting now and my nesting in the last six weeks of my pregnancy is full steam ahead, such fun.
Thanx for your blog
x justine
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture. [Read More …]
G’day ladies, oooh have I got a good Beach Cottage recipe for you or have I got a good recipe for you. Well it’s actually not Beach Cottage, I cannot claim that… So, a couple of months ago I met up with a couple of blogging friends, AllConsuming and Mrs W for a lil [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? The original place for Too Easy Recipes on the web ;-)
So, after my last salad went down a storm in my inbox, that's here if you missed it, I had to do this one seeing as I make it most weeks.
There is a problem with this salad and kiddos though...it looks, well, it looks, kinda yucky...but once they try it, they'll ask if and when they are next having it....at least that's what happens in this ratty old cottage...but I must interject here that my kiddos are 'good eaters'? ...they didn't get a choice in that ;-)
Now, stop, don't start running and hitting that next on your blog reading list, pulses are your best friend in the Too Easy Dump & Go kitchen for the busy mum, or busy anyone for that matter...that reminds me I must blog the garlic canneloni Go To for when you forgot to do dinner, feel like a bath but have three ravenous young Beach Cottage Kiddos on your hands...another day.
I am almost embarrassed to tell you how easy this is, we have it so much that I always have a couple, make that six, cans of lentils around and a jar of goat's cheese in the fridge...the great thing about this is that it's all too easy to get ready in just a few minutes, but it looks, tastes and seems like you did oh so very much more than that.
You can obviously too change it up a bit depending on what you have to hand in your kitchen, and I must say that is how I settled on this version...because one day when I made it I didn't have enough Parsley in the garden and so I chucked in some basil too, and liked the Summer feel it added.
I think of this as being a rather posh salad, not sure why, because it couldn't really be further from the truth...the great thing is that it works so well for an average run of the mill day, (when I did this for this blog post, it was a hot Sydney Sunday and I did it just simply to go with Rosemary & Garlic stuffed pork, you can see that pork here),
...but just as easily it works on a regular old Wednesday night when you have lost all enthusiasm for rustling up yet another meal, or indeed on Saturday night, when your friends are on their way over for dinner and you my friend, are in your new vintage inspired clawfoot bathtub (that's me in a few weeks time, k?) without any clothes on, a tipple and no idea what to cook for dinner...
I have a complicated and ever-changing relationship with goat's cheese...it never fails me in its performance and it never fails to impress me (you can find out a bit more on what I like in food here if you like) and I kinda collect it...because it's very easy to collect and has a fairly long fridge-life, I love trying out different ones and there's not many things I love more than goat's cheese on sourdough...but I think the best thing about it is not thinking about it exclusively in the toast/salad department...I've stuffed it in chicken and all sorts of things as a last minute and it's been fab.
But let's get down to the nitty gritty of this super salad that makes you look like an angel who has been on her knees all day scrubbing the front step when really you are in the digital world and spent most of ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, howdy, howdy howdy today for a Beach Cottage Too Easy recipe.
If you like cake, cream, sugar and chocolate, make this.
This is, rather than a recipe, a putting it together...as you know I am no dessert maker, but, I do make quite a few sweet things, because, somehow I have ended up with kiddos, who in their roles as offspring, believe that part of the deal, is that not only do I feed them a home-cooked meal with a few homegrown ingredients in there, yes, they also believe that dessert and not the kind that comes out of a packet is included too in this All-Inclusive Deal they call Parenthood.
So, this, for sure, is no culinary masterpiece, but if you are looking for something that is so very easy, dump-able, uses everyday ingredients and at the same time makes you look like you spent hours pulling things together plus tastes good....well, then this is for you.
Best though, you don't make this for yourself, if you have spent the most part of your week sitting on your derriere reading blogs...this my friend ain't low in the calories department...if, however, you are treating yourself to a delight in a mason jar, this is so for you.
I first had a version of this when at dinner back in Old Blighty with a girl, I once, in another life, caught the train up from our village to London with...she was a funny thing really...I am not quite sure how we got on...she was kinda prissy and a bit bothered by too much...I would run to the train flustered, having got up late, and she would have a spreadsheet on the train times, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, a few years later when we both had bambinos, I bumped into her again and we met up for playdates and dinner sometimes....this particular night, after a lovely meal she served up little bowls of creamy, cakey fruity stuff topped off with chocolate flake...it was delicious!
She didn't serve hers in little jars like this, hers were in a champagne glass and not quite so layered as these ones, plus she used tinned fruit not fresh or frozen.
Years later when said offspring kept requesting dessert, one day I wangled together somehow these from what was around in the fridge and they've been with us ever since.
Most likely, if you ever come here for dinner, and shock horror, you dont' bring the dessert with you, this, if you are lucky, will be what you will get.
Throw it all together, sprinkle a lil bit of chocolate on the top and the blog reading past-time you so rudely left in order to make this, is my friend, your oyster.
Beach Cottage Too Easy Layered Raspberry, Cream & Sponge Dessert
1 small maderia or butter cake or a pack of cupcakes (or of course make your own)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp fruit
1 x chocolate Flake or chocolate bar for grating
1. beat the cream cheese until it is soft
2. whip the cream until soft peaks form
3. combine & add the sugar through
4. cut your cake into portions
& layer into the bottom of your jar
5. add a tablespoon of fruit
6. layer on top the cream combo
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
*Beach Cottage Recipe Notes : this is just a guide really, you can use any cream that you have on hand...I have made this with clotted cream (don't even go there unless you want to seriously get these babies on your thighs), with double cream and I have even, in desperate times squirted in that, ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, well I thought it was time for some blogging tips here today, alongside a few nice flowers and shells ;-)
I was recently part of a blogger discussion group over at Kidspot and a couple of hours later had a few questions from girls who couldn't make it to the live chat, one was on my Facebook page and one via email, the Facebook one I will deal with in another Real Girl Blogging Tips post...the email one asked me what essentials do I think every blog needs?
Well I have been around here for a while now doing the blogging thing, so I should know this, yeah and I mused this on my walk by the sea this morning I thought well what do you only need?
...I think it is really very easy when blogging, whether or not you are blogging up there in the lofty heights of the Super Bloggers or you are just dipping your toe in the water, to get side-tracked by 101 million different things that are 'essential' to your blog and if you are someone like me who actually gets a thrill from reading blogging tips then you are in an even worse place because you will find yourself literally buzzing with these essential things to add/do/implement on your blog.
However, walking along, gulping down that brisk sea air today (no sunshine & clouds) I thought you actually don't need any of that professional blogging stuff to be successful...but there are a few things that are pretty much crucial ...and once I started to think about it I got it down to about 5 - these are the only things that you need to concentrate on...once you have read through take a look at some of the big girl's blogs...you'll see that actually they don't have bundles of stuff on their blogs...but they do have all of these...
So here are my top things that your blog must have
1. About Page
There are all sorts of About Pages out there, and if you search on it there are many different tips and ideas for what to have on yours
Whatever blogging platform you use, adding an About Me Page is easy, quick and simple and will do everything to grow your blog.
I like a long-ish About Page, I am inherently nosy and I like to know a bit more about the person but at the least you should have on it your name and where you are located. I also think a photo is good too...over the last year or so I think this has become more important in blogging - if you are hesitant about that as I was, you can try using sunglasses or a behind shot until you get comfortable.
There is nothing worse than stumbling upon a new blog and going to find out more to only be faced with a piddly little one liner About Me Page...well there is something worse, not having one at all!
2. Contact Page
The chances are someone, somewhere will want to contact you and you will be surprised what lands in your inbox once you put yourself out there on the world wide web with a blog.
Many bloggers also use this page to include details for PR's/brands that may want to contact them and some bloggers put their stats on there too.
A short, to the point and simple Contact Page works really well...whenever I have wanted to contact another blogger I am often very busy and have limited time so I don't want to hang around sifting through information looking for an email address, so concise and clear ...
G'day lovely Beach Cottage lovelies.
So, yeah, so on a roll people, so on a roll.
I feel kinda home accessory wired right now.
I am always telling people, if anyone ever listens, that blogging is all about passion, not that sort of passion, but about passion that makes one tick.
Things like this make me tick tick boom.
I love finding things that suit my budget and let me treat my home but look amazing too.
So without further adieu I introduce you, ladies of the beach, to the blue vintage glasses that I have been stroking for about a week or two now...
These glasses are from a little boutique I sometimes happen upon, this boutique sells also pet accessories, carpet cleaner, bras and compost...it's quite unique though.
And, thanks to my friend Marnie (she blogs over here, go take a look at her praying position, interesting), who just so happens to be one day having me over for a lil' Greek dinner, has let me in on the fact that we call Kmart....The KMart...with an accent ....as in 'I love The KMart'...just like her MIL does. Oh yeah. Love that.
So I have had my eye on reproduction vintage glass blue wine glasses and being trying to find real true vintage blue glasses for like ever.
Oh yes I have spied them in Frenchy boutiques, I have lusted after them in stores that I shouldn't even enter and I have put them back pretty quickly in those shops with the hand-written price tags. C'mon, you know the ones.
And, though all of the above have tempted me, muchly, really, even with my wardrobe stashing skills I just thought that, actually, I'd rather be saving that casherooni for our next trip overseas..
Hello The KMart.
Tick Tick Boom
Vintage style blue wine glasses.
Do not come to my old place and think you might pick up one of these and smile with pleasure at their handblown quality, their weight, and be secretly jealous that my wine glasses cost more than your car...friend, that would not happen...these do not feel like that...indeed these in a funny way reminded me of my baby girl, she was a tiny little thing, with stick legs, the tinsssssssiest ankles and wrists you ever did see, she slept sideways in her cot wedged in between rolled up blankets and would only settle attached to Mr Beach Cottage or I or a (dirty) pj top of mine scrunched up under her nose...the first few times I picked her up to cuddle, being used to Honeymoon Baby who weighed in at 9lbs at birth and has never really stopped growing, I nearly threw her little bird-cum-rat down covered body over my shoulder.
These glasses are like that...be careful or you might lose your wine down the front of your shirt.
But oh baby, we are not talking picking up here, we are not talking quality, we are not talking house accessory snobbery.
Beach Cottage ladies, we are talking aesthetics.
And this is what I need in my cottage.
Blue vintage style glass, paired with coastal / nautical / beach stuff on my deck.
It's The KMart.
Tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, I have more budget foofing for your home, or maybe it will be the dress that wraps me up in supermarket-chic and makes me feel like me again.
Good Day to you my friends, wanna come hang out on my deck, talk house accessories, The KMart and drink some wine from blue glasses?
Sarah
HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY SARAH,
I DROPPED BY TO WISH YOU YOUR FIRST HAPPY PINK SATURDAY….I GUESS I AM A TAD EARLY…LOVELY BLOG
ANGEL HUGS
debbie
Happy Birthday Sarah! Love the table runner and as always your photos.
Have a great weekend
Igive you a place at my weblog and i love all the things from your beach-house things and photos !
I hope you understand my very bad English ;o)
Rini the Netherlands
I love that table runner, where is it from?
How sweet that for your birthday you’re doing this! Please count me in!
Dawn
Your blog is always inspirational and brightens up a dull day. Decorating is one of my passions and I get so excited when you see new ideas and fresh ideas that work. I have put you on my side bar but unfortunately I hardly ever get around to blogging seriously so not much happening on my blog. Had my first time look at twitter. Been wondering what the fuss is about. What was different from facebook etc but obviously its more instant chatting thread.
Beautiful give aways as usual. But your taste is superb and you have a generous spirit obviously. Thanks Sarah
I’m in!
And you even ship to Norway?
Oh, I’m crossing my fingers. These would go so well in my beach house outside Oslo!
FOr houses… visit me at Sweeter Homes
For all things sweet and fun… visit me at Sweeter Living
LovelY! PLease Enter me, please into your contest. I would love anything you have to give away!
Oh! I grabbed your button for my blog as well!
Thanks for the chance to win and I wish you an early Happy Birthday! Ours are close together. Mine was the 4th of August! I turned 39.
Love your blog, love the runner, would LOVE your weather.
Ahhh..so happy i found you here!.. Your beach cottage is delightful…so serene and..gee, you can just run to the beach and find more to add to your decor! I am actually about to go out the door to Pottery Barn to find my sand and shells! lol!..to put in a large hurricane type vase.
This way, i can at least feel closer to the beach.
and pretend…you’ve got the real thing!
thanks for the generous giveaway…put my name in the mix! gypsy
Love the runner! Love the beach! love the blog! I am recently married and you help me with new ideas for my townhouse in the middle of Texas! My heart resides be side the beach, but my house is a block from beach street in the middle of the big texas state…So i try to add the beach as much as possible! Keep the ideas coming!
Oh my! You have a wonderful blog. I’ll be back to visit for sure! Please enter me in the giveaway. What a beautiful room and I love that runner!
Blessings,
Spencer
This is a lovely giveaway, I love stripes in neutral colors, well all stripes. Thank you.
Ohhh pick me, pick me! I have the perfect spot for that runner!
Oh Sarah!
Honey this is the most beautiful cottage ever, and it sounds like you have temps to die for. It is still 100+++++ here in Phoenix with no relief in site. I so wish you could just adopt me. Do you need another child? Oh honey thanks for the tour of the home, and for sharing this wonderful giveaway. Please stop by and say hi I would love to have you visit. Country hugs, Sherry
Love your blog. Please enter me in the giveaway
I am trying to introduce the beach theme into my house and you are my inspiration. Please enter me for your giveaway.
OMG! Count with me in!!!I would love to win that runner.
Thanks for the great give-a-way!
HUGS!
Oh, I would love to have that!
I think everyone who comes to this site and gets to see and read abour Sarah and he awsome taste and talent for decorating are all winners, look at how much people can learn here….how wonderful is this…I am very thankful I have found such an inspiration site to help decorate my home, I am already a winner…thanks, Kindly Janice Power
Please enter me in your give away…I’m looking to buy a house and when I find it, I am going to decorate it beach cottage style. Love your blog!
Love the table runner! Just found your blog and your bathroom is darling – I’ll be scrolling through all your old posts tonight!
Sarah, your blog and home are just lovely. I admire what you do with the treasures you seem to be able to find. You are very talented. Anyway, I would really love to be in the draw for your birthday giveaway as I have searched everywhere to find just that kind of table runner. I might be lucky . Happy birthday
)
Chrissie
Your Beach Cottage is what my dreams are made of! I would love to give that striped runner a home!
Best
Henrietta
love this table runner – would add so much warmth to my teeny living room!
Wow, coffee and milk, milk and coffee, I’m definitely in! What a wonderful blog!
I love this giveaway
I <3 reading your blog! everything is so beautiful
charlene
hungryhungry_hippo@hotmail.com
Mlk and coffe, coffee and milk. Count me in, oh yes!
p.s. what a wonderful blog!
i loveee love love the beach cottage! you were one of my inspirations for starting up my own blog, “sea in the city” =)
i come from the sunny islands of the philippines, so it’s nice to hear that your contest is an interational thing hehehehe
more power to your creativity and thank you for the fabulous entries.
Your home looks so relaxing and cool-love the striped tablerunner!
Thanks for having this contest! I would love to win the table runner.
Oh Sarah – what a beautiful and generous giveaway! Thank you! Count me in!
You have a gorgeous house!!! I am hoping to get this look in my new extension, a bit of a beach feel!! I have put your button on my blog too
I want to win this
Hope I’m not too late for the giveaway!! That would really look good with the pillows I got from you…thanks!
Hi Sarah,
I don’t have a blog, but yours is the first one I ever looked at. I found it last winter (USA) and I check in every day to see what you are doing. I love the name of your blog and I love the beachy look of your home.
Have a great day!
Thanks for the giveaway! I think this would be perfect in my dining room
I love the color combo — SO PRETTY!
love it! your pics are so calming and inspiring!
Ooo, I LOVE it! (Love your blog too – thanks for sharing!)
I just stumbled upon your site and love it. I would love the runner!!
GORGEOUS! I have been searching for something just like that runner with no success. I love your blog, its so inspiring!
Alerting my readers to your giveaway! Thanks so much!
love your blog, found you from evangaline’s vine. i just started making beach treasures, still dreaming, i would love to be entered, come over for a visit and enter my giveaway.
Wow, i am daily inspired by your blog.
Love the video and of course i now need a hot water bottle!
Can’t stop painting now and my nesting in the last six weeks of my pregnancy is full steam ahead, such fun.
Thanx for your blog
x justine
You have such a gorgeous home, and this is a wonderful giveaway!
Would love to win! Beautiful!!!!
First time here! Great blog and lovely gift:) Nice to meet you!