We had a lovely weekend here, my boys spent 5 hours in the water on Saturday, while Mr BC went out on the boat and I went around the local market, didn’t buy a single thing just soaked up the atmosphere..in the evening we went out for dinner, Mr BC and I and the lg’s. Um we were just going for a quick, casual dinner by the sea…and we got home in the early hours after lg kept on saying “just one more”. This was not good for the head the next morning but there were two very very good things about this evening, one I was introduced to a new drink, going by the name of Mojito (yes I know where have I been?) and two a bar that serves its drinks in jam jars and has mis-matched chairs and is so very dark that you don’t have to admit that the last time you frequented these sorta establishments (before Honeymoon Baby when you had a life where one went out til the morning) was when you were significantly less droopy.
Anyway.
On Sunday arvo I just pottered…stuck a couple of chickens with lemons in the oven, planted some hydgrangeas and mucked about on the deck.
I wanted to dress up the deck a bit, seeing as we are spending most of our time out there now…
I had seen this idea at a local boutique…though they had not used vintage bottles
…they had used cans and tied them with string to one of those hanging airer type affairs…in each can was stuffed a bunch of flowers and some native Aussie flora…the effect was quite lovely…rustic and lovely.
So this is my version…
I started off with a few hydrangeas from the garden and a bunch of those drugstore roses-on-a-budget…(bought in his wisdom bless him by Mr BC, note to self tell husband I prefer chocolate to drugstore roses)….then used my stash of vintage bottles, drawing pins and string…
all too easy…
Righto, I have to fly…I am really busy at the moment and with the delightful weather we have had today, I have a date later with the deck, the vintage bottles, strawberries, cucumber, mint and a bottle of Pimms.
I especially love the blue bottle with the white flowers…so pretty!
These reminded me of an old plantation type home that I’ve shot weddings at near Nashville TN. They hang flowers and candles about like this in canning jars on shepherd hooks and in the low hanging branches of the old trees on the grounds. Sets a nice mood. Here’s a couple of pics… http://destinweddingphotography.smugmug.com/Other/Misc/14761704_7Rhot#1100371695_CuaTr
Love the vintage bottles!
1} love the new bench
2} love the bottle idea
3} love those hydrangeas
4} told my husband not long after we began dating that flowers bought at the petrol station simply do not count…… is that awful?
5} I have a love affair going with Mojitos…. but you’ve simply got to have one here in Noosa, at Season in Hastings Street overlooking the beach at lunchtime… then there is simply NO way you will get another thing done all afternoon……
6} your massive flower looks great on that shirt/dress
1} thank you re the bench
2} and the bottles
3} I love hydrangeas too
4} that is not awful, I wish I had done that too
5} hmm Season, I think I have been there a few years ago for breakfast after a big night..
6} thanks for the big flower on the shirt love
8} x
How pretty. It looks so breezy and summery. We’re just settling into winter here so this is especially appealing. I have a silly question: What are the strings attached to above?
What a great idea – it’s such a simple thing but looks all the more effective for it! What a lovely way to show off your vintage bottle collection and your homegrown Hydrangeas of course
The bottles look so cute! I did that last summer here in Cali using small bottles from the thrift store and hanging them with twine. Mojitos are delicious…here is a recipe…………http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink582.html. Ching-Ching! Marcia
Lovely hydrangeas, love how you hung the bottles. Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. I went to the fantastic Ikea on Saturday and thought of the photo you posted of you looking pensive as you planned your kitchen storage. I purchased the beautiful white tumblers I have admired in your pics and I am thrilled with them!!!
OOH! Lovely idea! Jars re-used in any way are right up my alley! I think I might incorporate this somehow into my Christmas decorating..
I have some red berry left, wouldn’t that be so sweet in these old jars? Sounds like a blast of a weekend you had
Sarah, I love them. They would work well with jars and candles too. But just adore the flowers in the bottles. I see the new bench in the back, It’s gorgee! Bet you’ll fill it with fluffy beach cottage pillows too! Thank you for the sweet reply back to my comment last week, I’m feeling less blue this . It’s not easy being a woman at times Have a wonderful week, tami
Love Mojitos on a hot day here in Florida. Went to a place once where they serve them in Mason Jars….can you say major headache the next day? Speaking of Mason Jars I saw some with the lip wrapped in wire and three pieces brought up together as a hanger on the top. Beautiful with tea lights and sand and hanging from the trees.
Just to warn all you ladies out there, Hubby and I have been married for 25 years and about four years into our marriage I told him not to waste his money buying flowers from the petrol station because they were always dead by the next day. I really thought that I was doing him a favour but he obviously didn’t agree and he hasn’t ever bought me flowers since! Talk about a major sulk!! If I had known then what I know now, I’d have just smiled sweetly and graciously accepted the dead flowers for the last twentyone years. Still I suppose the upside is, buying your own, you always get the flowers you want! lol
Sarah I absolutely freaking love this idea! I can’t wait till we get the nice weather back here on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. so I can adorn my summer home’s back deck with your idea! I can just imagine my vintage bottles of all sizes and colors glistening in the sun, and perhaps clanging into each other in a slight breeze like a windchime!.. ..Will have to wait for that, I have a long winter ahead though now. Most likely the only thing hanging around here will be icicles!
I’be already collected a lot of white and brown bottles on those last weeks… May be I’ll try to put some white acrylic painting in a few… i’ll show you later on my blog °inspired by Sarah!!° thanks wonderful ideas and pictures!!
I just wanted to point out, Sarah, that only you could take a picture of some old glass bottles and a ball of string and have it turn out so beautifully that I would happily hang it over my sofa.
How do you do that?!
Amazing.
I LOVE this idea! My pagodas should be finished before the first rose blooms & this idea will be utilized for the first garden brunch. Loving all the great ideas you share. I finally found your site again after my comp wiped out my favorites folder. ARGH!
So love the simplicity and beauty this project combines… So doable for all of us beach cottage style lovers and followers.this would be so fun to try next Spring, once or sub zero temps are just a distant memory… My front porch would love having this Beach Cottage Style sprucing it up with this innovative and whimsical idea. Must file this away in my brain for the future. Love it! Already own the stash of bottles needed, the string, and the perfect location to adorn. Just needed the lovely blooms and warm weather now.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Gretchen
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
by Mr BC, note to self tell husband I prefer chocolate to drugstore roses)….then used my stash of vintage bottles, drawing pins and string…
I love this idea…so whimsy and pretty!! Very creative Sarah!
Hugs,
Victoria
What a cool idea! Oh and is that a new bench I spy in the background? xx
hmm, yes you are not silly are you…it is a nice new freshly painted bench
Do you think it starnge that my 19yo son likes Pimms too?
Donna from Brissie
no I don’t, Pimms is the drink of the God’s so he must be a God…;-)
Well I believe he is of that opinion himself sometimes!
Donna
Beautiful Sarah! As always. thank you, feeling down today, so just what I needed. xxx
I especially love the blue bottle with the white flowers…so pretty!
These reminded me of an old plantation type home that I’ve shot weddings at near Nashville TN. They hang flowers and candles about like this in canning jars on shepherd hooks and in the low hanging branches of the old trees on the grounds. Sets a nice mood. Here’s a couple of pics…
http://destinweddingphotography.smugmug.com/Other/Misc/14761704_7Rhot#1100371695_CuaTr
Love the vintage bottles!
You just discovered Mojitos???? I have to pause and get my head a round that. Be right back…
i know, I don’t get out much
I don’t know what mojitos are either….but they sound like fun.
Donna
Sarah
The bottles look great, love the twine….Ofcourse, these days the ole twine is one of my obsessions! It’s $1 here at the Dollar Tree!!
Hope your head recovers from the Mojito! Never had one but it sounds dangerous!!
Have a fab day!
Jackie
Now Sarah….
1} love the new bench
2} love the bottle idea
3} love those hydrangeas
4} told my husband not long after we began dating that flowers bought at the petrol station simply do not count…… is that awful?
5} I have a love affair going with Mojitos…. but you’ve simply got to have one here in Noosa, at Season in Hastings Street overlooking the beach at lunchtime… then there is simply NO way you will get another thing done all afternoon……
6} your massive flower looks great on that shirt/dress
Susan
:)
1} thank you re the bench
2} and the bottles
3} I love hydrangeas too
4} that is not awful, I wish I had done that too
5} hmm Season, I think I have been there a few years ago for breakfast after a big night..
6} thanks for the big flower on the shirt love
8} x
Love this idea! It looks so whimsical!
Do tell about the Pimms. I have yet to figure out how to enjoy it… Your deck bottle vases are lovely, btw.
How pretty. It looks so breezy and summery. We’re just settling into winter here so this is especially appealing. I have a silly question: What are the strings attached to above?
What a great idea – it’s such a simple thing but looks all the more effective for it! What a lovely way to show off your vintage bottle collection and your homegrown Hydrangeas of course
Jem xXx
The bottles look so cute! I did that last summer here in Cali using small bottles from the thrift store and hanging them with twine. Mojitos are delicious…here is a recipe…………http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink582.html. Ching-Ching! Marcia
they are attached to the roof of the deck with drawing pins
Love this idea. I like the turqoise of the glass too.
Lovely hydrangeas, love how you hung the bottles. Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. I went to the fantastic Ikea on Saturday and thought of the photo you posted of you looking pensive as you planned your kitchen storage. I purchased the beautiful white tumblers I have admired in your pics and I am thrilled with them!!!
OOH! Lovely idea! Jars re-used in any way are right up my alley! I think I might incorporate this somehow into my Christmas decorating..
I have some red berry left, wouldn’t that be so sweet in these old jars? Sounds like a blast of a weekend you had
So cute! We must be on the same page. I posted about hydrangas today too!
Sarah, I love them. They would work well with jars and candles too. But just adore the flowers in the bottles. I see the new bench in the back, It’s gorgee! Bet you’ll fill it with fluffy beach cottage pillows too! Thank you for the sweet reply back to my comment last week, I’m feeling less blue this . It’s not easy being a woman at times
Have a wonderful week, tami
Sounds like the perfect date!!
This is lovely Sarah. My vintage bottles are just plonked together in a group on my mantlepiece.
oh…so pretty! i love vintage bottles.
smiles,
rachel
Very pretty Sarah! Learn from my mistakes.. enjoy and delight in the cheap roses… buy own chocolate. Everybody is happy
Darling Sarah, I like this idea and you photos too very much!
Where do you hang on bottles?
xoxo Silvia
I absolutely love your blog design and posts! Very beautiful site. I love bottles or any glassware and the way they catch light, neat idea.
See!!!! You CAN’T have too many vintage bottles!! Love this! Such a fun idea!
Although everytime you say you have to fly, I wonder if your in a hurry? Or gettin witchy!! LOLOLOL
Hugs!!
that is the upside for sure!
test for abeachcottage commenting
test test
Love Mojitos on a hot day here in Florida. Went to a place once where they serve them in Mason Jars….can you say major headache the next day? Speaking of Mason Jars I saw some with the lip wrapped in wire and three pieces brought up together as a hanger on the top. Beautiful with tea lights and sand and hanging from the trees.
sounds nice
Just to warn all you ladies out there, Hubby and I have been married for 25 years and about four years into our marriage I told him not to waste his money buying flowers from the petrol station because they were always dead by the next day. I really thought that I was doing him a favour but he obviously didn’t agree and he hasn’t ever bought me flowers since! Talk about a major sulk!! If I had known then what I know now, I’d have just smiled sweetly and graciously accepted the dead flowers for the last twentyone years. Still I suppose the upside is, buying your own, you always get the flowers you want! lol
Such gorgeous pictures and such a cute idea
So feminine and festive!
Sarah I absolutely freaking love this idea! I can’t wait till we get the nice weather back here on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. so I can adorn my summer home’s back deck with your idea! I can just imagine my vintage bottles of all sizes and colors glistening in the sun, and perhaps clanging into each other in a slight breeze like a windchime!.. ..Will have to wait for that, I have a long winter ahead though now. Most likely the only thing hanging around here will be icicles!
I’be already collected a lot of white and brown bottles on those last weeks… May be I’ll try to put some white acrylic painting in a few… i’ll show you later on my blog °inspired by Sarah!!° thanks wonderful ideas and pictures!!
I just wanted to point out, Sarah, that only you could take a picture of some old glass bottles and a ball of string and have it turn out so beautifully that I would happily hang it over my sofa.
How do you do that?!
Amazing.
I love that!
What a wonderful idea!
I am so doing that next spring! It’s winter over here!
I LOVE this idea! My pagodas should be finished before the first rose blooms & this idea will be utilized for the first garden brunch. Loving all the great ideas you share. I finally found your site again after my comp wiped out my favorites folder. ARGH!
So love the simplicity and beauty this project combines… So doable for all of us beach cottage style lovers and followers.this would be so fun to try next Spring, once or sub zero temps are just a distant memory… My front porch would love having this Beach Cottage Style sprucing it up with this innovative and whimsical idea. Must file this away in my brain for the future. Love it! Already own the stash of bottles needed, the string, and the perfect location to adorn. Just needed the lovely blooms and warm weather now.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Gretchen
TOTALLY love the bottles and decorating with them looks so clean, fresh and romantic. Beautiful! Just beautiful!
I LOVE how pretty & simple this is! I found you via Lauren Conrad on Twitter! She has the link to her site & your link on her site! =)
A nice touch for any home
How lovely Sarah! I’ve got this linked to my glass bottles post too today, for inspiration. Have a great day!