It's official...I am in love!

With a house that is!!!!

I saw this house on Traditional Home online and wow....I want to have this life, I want a white Christmas in Connecticut and sit in front of roaring fires and I even want their dogs!!!

If you haven't seen it let me show you a wonderful Christmas setting....

Be still my beating heart..... how amazing is this house and how lucky are the people who live here! I have never seen an outdoor porch like it, it certainly would be an experience sitting wrapped in rugs on a winter's day in front of that fireplace.

If you would like to see more have a look here

7 sins- Gluttony - A Christmas treat

I just wanted to share with you a yummy treat that I made for my extended family Christmas dinner on the weekend. A white chocolate and mixed berry cheesecake....yum......easy to make and very easy to eat!!!

Ingredients

12 x macadamia cookies (crushed)

30-50g of melted butter

300g mixed frozen berries

2 tablespoons of boiling water

3 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatine

180g white chocolate (chopped)

2 x 250g blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese (softened)

1/3 cup caster sugar (super fine)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

185ml can light evaporated milk

1) Crush the biscuits and add in melted butter, then press into base of 22cm round spring form pan which has the base and sides lined with baking paper

2) Scatter half of the berries over the base and then refrigerate until the nxt step.

3) Place boiling water in heatproof container and sprinkle over gelatine. Use a fork to wisk until gelatine is disolved.
4) Melt chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of boiling water, stirring with a metal spoon until melted and smooth.
5) Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in evaporated milk, chocolate and gelatine mixture.
6) Pour cream cheese mixture into pan and scatter with berries
7) Refrigerate over night to set

8) Simply plate up and enjoy, serves about 10

Linking to

My 1929 charmer

Mod Vintage Life

Savvy Southern Style

Delightful Order 

No Minimalist Here 

Beyond The Picket Fence

From My Porch to Yours

French Country Cottage 

Eazy Peazy Christmas table cloth

HO HO HO!!! This is just too easy!!! I wanted to make a new table cloth for my Christmas table and the theme this year is ....... black and silver...... I know a little odd having black for Christmas but I really wanted to try something different this year and the main theme is silver.... so I thought that the perfect foil (no pun intended) for silver is black!

So all you need is some hessian (colour of your choice) it is only about $6 a metre and you can make it as long as you need. It is a great way of integrating different tables if you are adding them all together for the big family do! Some silver acrylic artists paint, a stencil brush and of course a stencil ( I used an old one that you may have seen several times already on this blog - I like to get my moneys worth!!!!!) Also you will need a ground cloth to put under the hessian so the paint doesn't go through and a chalk pencil to lightly mark the middle of the cloth.

I just used one of the medallions to be repeated down the middle and since I wasn't being over fussy, I just held it in place as I used the stencil brush. It only took minutes to dry as the fabric soaked it up, you could add a fabric medium to the paint but it works without it!

I didn't even hem the table cloth, I will just let it fray a little.... that is the great thing about hessian! How simple and effective is it! I have already made the silver bon bons to go with it but you will have to wait to see the finished table setting!!!

Linking to

My 1929 charmer

Mod Vintage Life

Savvy Southern Style

Delightful Order 

No Minimalist Here 

Beyond The Picket Fence

From My Porch to Yours

French Country Cottage 

The DIY Showoff 

Tip Junkie 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Well with the weather we have been having in Sydney and many other parts of the country it feels like we are heading into a northern Christmas!!! Rain and cold winds, it is the coldest start to summer in 50 years.

Just when we packed away the winter woolies and the electric blankets we have been shivering away in our homes and work places, I have even had the fire on a few nights...in summer!!!! The lawns have grown long and I need to get out there and mow as soon as it is dry but it is definitely time for the Chrissy decorations to come out....

Sorry about the quality of the photos, using my old camera at the moment, and as I am working so much in the lead up to Christmas I only have time to shoot at night....ahhhhh I am looking forward to having a break, I will be having most of January off work to spend some time with my little one!

Anyway I thought in the little time I have tonight (in between cooking cup cakes - Olivia is having a slumber party tomorrow night for her 9th birthday) I thought I would try and make one of those Christmas bauble wreaths you see on lots of blogs at the moment.... and guess what.....they are so easy!!! So I thought I would show you how to do it if you haven't caught up with it yet.

Now I just used materials I had at home....so it was a bit of a freebee, maybe next year I will spend some more time and money and really go to town on it.

All you need is an old wire coat hanger or some wire. Cut of the hook and shape into a circle....

Gather your baubles....you need quite a few....cut off the strings and then just start threading them on in a random way!!

When you are done twist the wire together at the end and tie a bow to cover it and that's it.....easy!

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OK, well maybe next time I will spend a little more time and make it something really spectacular but for now I am happy.

Also my little one is growing up and while it is her party tomorrow night, she will actually be turning 9 in early January but as everyone is away on holidays so party time is now! It has been a busy time for her as well with end of year dance concert and getting an award at final assembly for academic excellence she has done very well this year!

Still cant get my head around little ones in stage makeup for the dance concerts but she loved it and had a lot of fun........so yes apart from the weather.... it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Black is back!

Black technically is not a colour, it is the absence of light so therefore is not a colour........well....we all know that black is a colour and a very versatile colour at that!!!! Depending what colour black is teamed with you can get very different results.

Black mixed with jewel like colours such as red, hot pink, turquoise or yellow will give you a very vibrant, lively environment. Use them sparingly as they are not restful on the eye but will give you an exciting pop to your decor. Below is a perfect example of black and a bright hot pink used very well together, the pink is used minimally so as not to overwhelm.

By far my favourite way to use black is as a neutral, teamed with grey or beige to give a sophisticated touch to any room. The following images show how well black works in different rooms sometimes in surprisingly unexpexted places.....

Bathrooms

 Black used in small touches in the bathrooms is a very sophisticated look. 

It is glamourous without being showy.

Or you could go the unexpected and paint all the walls black contrasting with the white trim and black and white toile as in the bathroom below!

Kitchens

again the unexpected, black walls in the kitchen contrasting with the white cabinetry....... clean and sharp design with an industrial edge

contrasting cabinets and islands...sophisticated and beautiful

Dining

 This room with its blackboard wall, open shelves, industrial light has inner city cafe vibe.... but be warned it is hard to carry off a design like this with this much black

uber stylish dining room, lots of black toned down with wood tones and some bling to liven up the room. Try and imagine this room without the mirror, crystal and even the silver studs on the black chairs....the whole room would just be overwhelmed by the dark tones.

Bedrooms

 Black says romance

and wow!

Living rooms etc

One of my favourite combinations beige and black very sophisticated

love this, black ceiling and floors... pulls your eye through to the black door at the end...what lies beyond?

Classic black and white...what an amazing laundry....you will never close the door on this one!

flat black paint and then stencilled with gloss black....instant damask

And finally the classic black front door, still my favourite entrance colour. 

I will be making some changes to my place soon and be adding some more touches of sophistication with 

black! It's back!

All these images can be found on my Pinterest board 'black is back' follow the links!