G'day, how are you all? I am recovering from a weekend of doing lots but not getting much done, mostly to do with kids' sport and yesterday was frazzled from a sporting event on the beach all day.
It seems we have more and more days like that. Do you? I seem to mentally plan a hundred and one things to 'get done' at the 'less busy' time of the weekend days and end up at the end of it all, being worse off than when I started, with a cottage that looks like a small device went off inside it and spewed kids paraphernalia all around. I'm sure you too have those bombs going off every weekend?
Anyway, these lanterns are much more interesting to talk about.
Recently I found myself stranded for an hour and a half in a town I don't normally go to…Mr BC had dropped me off there and there were a couple of treasure shops I had heard about and was looking forward to stalking…but there was nothing...what is it lately with the so called 'charity' shops and their prices? I am all for re-cycling, saving money and our planet but truly how many people are going to buy stuff in these shops when really it is on a par to buy it new in the mall??
I was hoping to find some vintage plates for a Christmas theme I have going on in my head, you know gold and old with lots of white…I found some old plates which fit the bill but $20 for one actually meant that I didn't even put them in my basket. Shame that.
Anyway there was a beautiful real home shop a bit further along filled with all manner of goodies, oh how enjoyable to dig through there for a while.
In that delightful shop were some white lanterns made from a thick, plastic almost material printed with various words, they really caught my eye…oh and there was lots of white
So I had a go at making my own DIY version of the lanterns, just printed out words on some white paper (I'll show you the others I did soon), ripped the top for a rustic feel, tied them around an old water glass with a tealight in it and secured with string.
I'm pleased with how they turned out and about $90 better off (I've made 3 so far).
I'm thinking about doing some more of these now with festive words and using them on the table on Christmas Eve…whaddya think?
lovely! I know what you mean about the hope of getting lots done on the weekend, but somehow it doesn’t always end up that way…I decided that in order to keep going during the week, I just need to let sunday be a day of rest, the way God planned it all along. things just seem to go better when I relax and do that. I love the lanterns! For a friend’s birthday I wrapped part of a white lace doilie around a pint jar and tied it with ribbon. I think I will recycle those with some Christmas ribbon for the holidays. simple and clean is best!
I adore how the light goes trough that lantern, so soft. A very beautiful handmade lantern. And love your everything in white blog, so different from my very colored one.
Muchos cariños, and hope you get the time to continue making your wonderful crafts.
María Cecilia
Great idea. Love it. And yes, the charity shops have hiked up their prices here, too. There is still one locally that’s a real bargin-hunter’s cave, so that gets more visits from me than the others. xx
Ohhh…I love, love, LOVE your beautiful white lanterns! You know…I have seen these done with vellum as well! My friend, I just adore coming to your place…your photos are extrodinary!!! I always feel like I’ve just opened my favorite magazine! Sheeshh…I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about with kids and explosions! hehe! Your place is always sooo beautiful!!!
Well my friend, I would like to thank you for coming by and taking a peek at my faux fireplace project…I sure did enjoy your sweet note!!!
What is it with the thrift shops? Is it a world wide conspiracy? A blogger on the west coast made a comment about the ridiculous prices at their Goodwill and Salvation Army and then bloggers all over the country chimed in about the high prices in their areas too! SHAME ON THEM for charging higher prices now when people go there now that need a break.
Very cute. Architect’s tracing paper would also work. I use plain brown paper on tin cans tied with string or raffia when I give flowers (great for teacher gifts). Must be nice on the beach (envy, envy). Having lived on the beach as a kid, I miss it and summer already up here on the north side. Today was lovely but I was cleaning up the garden, not planting.
What a wonderful idea!! so simple and yet the end result is exquisite!!!
Agree with you re. charity shops – I’ve also noticed that lately the prices have gone up and often you can get the same/ similar product in the stores for the same price! crazy! and sad ….
G
Fabulous idea and easy enough for me to do. I’ll be using for place cards at Thanksgiving and then switching to some Christmas words on my fireplace mantle for Christmas.
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 …]
Well G’day Beach Cottage ladies. Of course some of you guessed correctly, no flies on Beach Cottage gals are there? A Summer House window dressing, beach vintage style. One that I got very wrong. I’ll keep this short and sweet The vintage crochet patchwork curtain? Love. Pure love. But, put it this [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? Â 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. Â 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
Â
6. layer on top the cream combo
Â
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
Â
*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 ;-)Â
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. Â 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.Â
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. Â Oh yeah. Â 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. Â 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
Awesome! Wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing.
I think it looks great, and so much better that it didn’t cost you an arm and a leg.
Zowee!! WHat a fabulous idea!! I sooooooo love this!!! I have got to go write it down in my idea book right now!!
Fabulous !!!
Neat!
dear sarah….
They look absolutely FANTASTIC….
clever lassie you are!!
xx andrea
love them!! fabulous as always!
Smiles~Michelle
These are simply stunning – Thanks for sharing – they turned out fabulous!
That is a really lovely idea….going to try this..maybe add some stamped images or punch them?
Thanks for sharing!
I might use this for the Christmas table too! Thanks for sharing.
Clever, cler. Can just imagine something like that in the centre of wedding tables. Cherrie
That is so clever! Thank you for sharing this fantastic idea.
Best wishes, Natasha.
I love that trunk–oh I love everything you do
Cheri
The little lights are a great idea…brilliant!
I’m with you about the charity shops, some of their prices are ridiculously expensive…do they actually want our help or not?
How clever and lovely. Thank you for sharing this idea, i am going to give it a try.
great project! i’m definitely putting this idea in my idea binder. love the photos! ruby
lovely! I know what you mean about the hope of getting lots done on the weekend, but somehow it doesn’t always end up that way…I decided that in order to keep going during the week, I just need to let sunday be a day of rest, the way God planned it all along. things just seem to go better when I relax and do that. I love the lanterns! For a friend’s birthday I wrapped part of a white lace doilie around a pint jar and tied it with ribbon. I think I will recycle those with some Christmas ribbon for the holidays. simple and clean is best!
Likey. Very much.
Love this!! Thanks!
What a clever idea!
Super cute! I like doing that to candles, too!
I adore how the light goes trough that lantern, so soft. A very beautiful handmade lantern. And love your everything in white blog, so different from my very colored one.
Muchos cariños, and hope you get the time to continue making your wonderful crafts.
María Cecilia
I think this is an awesome idea. How creative you are. Love it!
Love it! Looks great and what a savings. Great gift giving idea too…thanks for sharing:)
That really works! I’m on a no-spend month, so I could do that just with the things I already have at home. Thanks!
Great idea. Love it. And yes, the charity shops have hiked up their prices here, too. There is still one locally that’s a real bargin-hunter’s cave, so that gets more visits from me than the others. xx
Hi Sarah…
Ohhh…I love, love, LOVE your beautiful white lanterns! You know…I have seen these done with vellum as well! My friend, I just adore coming to your place…your photos are extrodinary!!! I always feel like I’ve just opened my favorite magazine! Sheeshh…I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about with kids and explosions! hehe! Your place is always sooo beautiful!!!
Well my friend, I would like to thank you for coming by and taking a peek at my faux fireplace project…I sure did enjoy your sweet note!!!
Warmest wishes,
Chari @Happy To Design
I love that idea! I might have to “borrow! it. That trunk is gorgeous by the way.
Mel x
What is it with the thrift shops? Is it a world wide conspiracy? A blogger on the west coast made a comment about the ridiculous prices at their Goodwill and Salvation Army and then bloggers all over the country chimed in about the high prices in their areas too! SHAME ON THEM for charging higher prices now when people go there now that need a break.
On a lighter note, I love your style girl!
Love it!!!! so creative you are!!!
Very cute. Architect’s tracing paper would also work. I use plain brown paper on tin cans tied with string or raffia when I give flowers (great for teacher gifts). Must be nice on the beach (envy, envy). Having lived on the beach as a kid, I miss it and summer already up here on the north side. Today was lovely but I was cleaning up the garden, not planting.
you never cease to amaze me, Sarah… never
smiles,
Julia
So simple, understated and therfore perfect.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
What a wonderful idea!! so simple and yet the end result is exquisite!!!
Agree with you re. charity shops – I’ve also noticed that lately the prices have gone up and often you can get the same/ similar product in the stores for the same price! crazy! and sad ….
G
Very very cute. I love it. I love your style!
XOOX
Jen
What a great idea, thanks for sharing. They would look wonderful on the Thanksgiving table with some thankful sayings.
Blessings,
Marcia
I’m always scared the paper will catch! But I’ve seen brown paper used for outdoor lanterns and it gives a warm glow. Always such lovely photographs!
Fabulous idea and easy enough for me to do. I’ll be using for place cards at Thanksgiving and then switching to some Christmas words on my fireplace mantle for Christmas.
i think…i can do that.
i think…i’ll print my blog logo onto interesting paper and twine it up like you did.
problem: no one will want it but me!
solution: that’s okay. i decorate to please myself
idea: (well, i didn’t read all the comments so maybe it’s no original) they would be cute as place cards, too.
duh: i just looked up and see the previous commenter already thought of it.
original: not me
creative copier: uh-huh
Love your stuff!
How sweet those are!! Love it.
Sarah! I love that clever idea, so simple, too! I should try it. I’m not real crafty, but who can’t do that one? Hugs, Cindy S.
What a great idea! I’d love to do this in lieu of place cards (not that I ever have a dinner fancy enough for place cards, but now I may.
I love this idea and plan to try it out!!! Just have to figure out what words to use…..