I went through my suitcase stash at the end of last week (errm you have a suitcase stash? errm yep that would be affirmative) looking for something to shove flowers in.
There were various suitcases, from various thrifting adventures, in various forms of completion includingthat one I found out treasure hunting a few months ago with the lovely Mr BC behind the camera…(I decided that one is coming in, undressed and unpainted to sit on top of my wardrobe to hide cr*pola…more on that soon.)
Anywayy why was I madly looking for a suitcase?? Well this all started with Ms Buick, who, yep, I admit I stalk for updates…and is well and truly up there in my Google Reader…I am sure you all know her much better than me, I am only just getting acquainted…
She posted about her gardening with herbs, or lack thereof this week, in an old washtub and I felt an insane jealousy a pang of mild envy at her container eye candy and ran around the Beach Cottage looking for something to do my own version of her herbs-in-a-washtub…
…now without a washtub or for that matter any herbs I started to feel this incessant need to fill something with pretty white flowers …something to sit on the deck to look pretty while all around is getting battered by the elements here Down Under as the long hard winter begins to set in.
And while looking in the garage which is yet again embarrassingly full of vintage things but no old washtubs I decided to make use of the suitcases that I regularly come across while out and about and have yet to muster up the courage to actually leave out there for other vintage-suitcase-lovers to do the happy dance about.
I must admit I was all ready and raring to go with the white paint but literally with the brush dipped in the glorious pure stuff I decided actually I might well leave it in all it's chocolatey-hint-of-days-gone-by glory.
And so here we have it…I know not how this amalgamation of vintage delight and flower heaven may last but for now it's hitting my container gardening spot.
I will see you chicks later, we are being hit by a huge storm in Sydney as I type…a Severe Weather Warning has been issued…the wind is howling and rain is lashing down…so no door painting for me
lanterns : IKEA table : Vinnies paint : Dulux white on white
old suitcase : thrifted treasure
(suitcase lined with heavy duty bin liner doubled + drainage hole)
Okay, this is just fabulous, truly, truly, truly fabulous! I love that old suitcase (I wish that I had a stash of them, toO!) and what you did with it/utilized it for the flowers! Great overall vignette, too!!
errmm..as you say…I also have a set of vintage suitcases…in a closet upstairs…found them in the attic! LOL Maybe time to haul out some of my stored treasures and I start redecorating a bit here.
Guess what I got yesterday at a garage sale…the very first thing I spied? 4 white star fish..they came home with me…and that’s all I found in a street long garage sale that went on for blocks and blocks and blocks…an awful lot of shyte!
I have the same little suitcase! I never would have thought to put flowers in it. As far as I have come is to think it could house my growing candle collection. But for now, my suitcase is still sitting empty. Now that she has seen yours, she is jaelous, she wants flowers too.
Let us know how the suitcase holds up, with the watering and all.
Hi Sarah, I’ve been away so just now catching up.
What an inventive idea. Must admit I sometimes like the old suitcases left in their natural state, the white flowers as a contrast really pop against the jaded brown. x
Hi Sarah, what acreative use of a suitcase, your flowers would certainly brighten things up on such a dismal day.Hope you guys are weathering the storm okay… Im situated about 30 min from Newcastle. I just wanted to drop by & let you know I love your blog & I have passed an award your way, if youhave time drop by my blog & pick it up
Cheers!!
Hi Sarah, Looks fab. I love plants in all sorts I have dragged up old tin baths from the field for herb gardens, “borrowed” old buckets and watering cans from my hubbys sheds etc I love this look and the suitcase idea is another idea hmm…..
Hi Sarah,
This is too clever! What a fun idea. I wonder if they make a waterproof kind of paint that you could paint the interior with…would allow you to even water the plants right in the suitcase.
Hope the storm has passed and all is well. We’ve been getting a LOT of rain…but no bad storms, thankfully.
Hugs,
Susan
I hope your suitcase will survive the upcoming storm;) I would be sad if they would flote away;)
Great pictures and ermm….don’t paint it white……just be different..I like it!!
sarah
when i was treasure hunting yesterday i had to laugh i thought of you.. as i came across another old suitcase i was like walk away walk away!!! i told you i too have a suitcase addiction i counted 2 med wicker ones 3 lrg wicker ones and 5 larger old trunk style suitcases and 3 med size vintage cases and one white one lol!! i have 1 or 2 i was gonna put in my huge garage sale maybe this month and i was looking at them and pulled the price tags off!!! lol i cant part with some of the older ones 2 have the hangers and bar in there to hang clothes even!! one set i found with the vintage silver drink shakers guess i can see a gentleman traveling with that case and his business shirts and his cocktail makers lol there were even 2 vintage looking cocktail making books i will admit sometimes i am afraid to look in the found ones and see what might be there lol stay safe in the storm!
Sarah… how utterly beautiful! thank you so much for sharing your artistic gifts with us… I love your blog!… wish you lived close by so I could get a few first hand pointers… bet you could transform anyones place… large or small! Love this latest suitcase work..
cathy b
projecthope7 at gmail dot com
Sarah!!! I LOVE this idea of planting flowers in a suitcase…umm how clever! I need to do some trawling for vintage suitcases, I think. Not to mention if you ever move the suitcase full of flowers would be super easy to take with you. (that last bit was a “just kidding”, fyi
LOVE this idea. I am forever trying to find new uses for beautiful vintage things…. bravo I can’t get enough of your page. I want a cottage on the beach one day. In fact, it’s my goal that in the next five years we will be back on the beach with our kids. This blog is just what I needed
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 …]
Beach Cottage ladies, we have some vintage linen and some wood/twig washed up on the beach today here in Beach Cottage Land….don’t say I don’t keep you entertained now will you . Come on in. So, yep I have posted about colanders on this blog, about things sourced from the side of the road, about [...]
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
begins to set in. 
Well how smart are you! That looks fabulous!!!
Umm… I must admit, I have a vintage wicker picnic basket stash, it’s an addiction.
What a cute use for that vintage suitcase.
Okay, this is just fabulous, truly, truly, truly fabulous! I love that old suitcase (I wish that I had a stash of them, toO!) and what you did with it/utilized it for the flowers! Great overall vignette, too!!
WONDERFUL,
Lana
What a sweet suitcase! I love it!
My new favorite cool thing you have done!
doesn’t everyone have a vintage suitcase collection?!?!?
in various sizes, too… I do love the real small doll/child sized ones the most!
I love your style, your pictures are incredible and ideas fanastic!!
I absolutely love it! What a great way to use a vintage suitcase!
errmm..as you say…I also have a set of vintage suitcases…in a closet upstairs…found them in the attic! LOL Maybe time to haul out some of my stored treasures and I start redecorating a bit here.
Guess what I got yesterday at a garage sale…the very first thing I spied? 4 white star fish..they came home with me…and that’s all I found in a street long garage sale that went on for blocks and blocks and blocks…an awful lot of shyte!
shhhh…I too am a vintage suitcase junkie…LOVE them!!
Love the idea of using them unexpectedly…..a plant box is a fabulous idea.
I have the same little suitcase! I never would have thought to put flowers in it. As far as I have come is to think it could house my growing candle collection. But for now, my suitcase is still sitting empty. Now that she has seen yours, she is jaelous, she wants flowers too.
Let us know how the suitcase holds up, with the watering and all.
Hi Sarah, I’ve been away so just now catching up.
What an inventive idea. Must admit I sometimes like the old suitcases left in their natural state, the white flowers as a contrast really pop against the jaded brown. x
Now I have suitcase envy. I’ve been busy packing mine for a trip to London and Scotland. Perhaps I should be planting them instead.
Hi Sarah, what acreative use of a suitcase, your flowers would certainly brighten things up on such a dismal day.Hope you guys are weathering the storm okay… Im situated about 30 min from Newcastle. I just wanted to drop by & let you know I love your blog & I have passed an award your way, if youhave time drop by my blog & pick it up
Cheers!!
That is a fun way to recycle and old suitcase
Hi Sarah, Looks fab. I love plants in all sorts I have dragged up old tin baths from the field for herb gardens, “borrowed” old buckets and watering cans from my hubbys sheds etc I love this look and the suitcase idea is another idea hmm…..
Hi Sarah,
This is too clever! What a fun idea. I wonder if they make a waterproof kind of paint that you could paint the interior with…would allow you to even water the plants right in the suitcase.
Hope the storm has passed and all is well. We’ve been getting a LOT of rain…but no bad storms, thankfully.
Hugs,
Susan
I look and look and NEVER find old suitcases!
This is a cute idea.
U were brave to put a drain hole in that suitcase!. Love the chocolately color… Great idea
I hope your suitcase will survive the upcoming storm;) I would be sad if they would flote away;)
Great pictures and ermm….don’t paint it white……just be different..I like it!!
Greetings
Lynda
Hey, Sarah, your pics are always beautiful. Hope the storm is over by now.
sarah
when i was treasure hunting yesterday i had to laugh i thought of you.. as i came across another old suitcase i was like walk away walk away!!! i told you i too have a suitcase addiction i counted 2 med wicker ones 3 lrg wicker ones and 5 larger old trunk style suitcases and 3 med size vintage cases and one white one lol!! i have 1 or 2 i was gonna put in my huge garage sale maybe this month and i was looking at them and pulled the price tags off!!! lol i cant part with some of the older ones 2 have the hangers and bar in there to hang clothes even!! one set i found with the vintage silver drink shakers guess i can see a gentleman traveling with that case and his business shirts and his cocktail makers lol there were even 2 vintage looking cocktail making books i will admit sometimes i am afraid to look in the found ones and see what might be there lol stay safe in the storm!
The contrast of the white flowers and the dark suitcase is wonderful!
Sarah,
Looks fabulous ~ love that idea! I’ve seen it outside but not inside. Of course girl, everything you touch looks amazing
xo,
shellagh
Sarah… how utterly beautiful! thank you so much for sharing your artistic gifts with us… I love your blog!… wish you lived close by so I could get a few first hand pointers… bet you could transform anyones place… large or small! Love this latest suitcase work..
cathy b
projecthope7 at gmail dot com
Sarah!!! I LOVE this idea of planting flowers in a suitcase…umm how clever! I need to do some trawling for vintage suitcases, I think. Not to mention if you ever move the suitcase full of flowers would be super easy to take with you.
(that last bit was a “just kidding”, fyi 
Sarah, this is such a wonderful idea, how creative!
I love it!
Karena
Art by Karena
lovely idea!!!
Lovin’ that COOL old suitcase and how you are using it! Hop over and show her off at my NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAYS PARTY…hope to see you there:)
Blessings,
Linda
Sarah what a fun way to use the old suitcase.
The white flowers look perfect in it
Alison
Love, love, love it!
Smiles,
rachel
Love the idea ……
I’m glad you left the suitcase as it was. While I love white, this is just too great the way it is to alter.
Way cool Sarah!
Love this idea.
Debbie@houseatthelake
wonderful idea- you have made it look so beautiful.
Love it! You are so talented. Now excuse me, I’ve got to run – - shopping to do – - plants to buy, so I can have one too! Thanks!
Great idea! Love it, love it, love it! Kicking myself b/c I saw three suitcases at GW yesterday and didn’t pick any of them up!
Jeanine
LOVE this idea. I am forever trying to find new uses for beautiful vintage things…. bravo
I can’t get enough of your page. I want a cottage on the beach one day. In fact, it’s my goal that in the next five years we will be back on the beach with our kids. This blog is just what I needed 
What a wonderful idea. The white is such a pretty contrast to the suitcase.
Stopping by from the shabby nest! WHAT A CUTE idea! I am adding this onto my project list!!
This is so fun–I’d never think to do this! I linked to this post in my weekly round-up. Thanks, and have a great weekend, Sarah!
i loved your idea…
so unique!
xo
hi there…i would like to ask for permission to copy one of your photo of suitcase up there to be used in my digital imaging task..is it ok?
thxx
for sure
& I’d love a credit 