oh joyous spring

After a very cold and indoors winter here in Orange, it's been lovely to see the blooms come out in spectacular form in spring.

I'm getting out for a walk with the bubba in a pram most days and luckily I live right near to a huge park with a very well kept garden, here are just some of the loveliness of spring that I've snapped so far.

baby belly

I went to high school with the very lovely Lyss. She has become a very good photographer, with a style that is really natural and almost softly spoken.

As her skill has been crafted in the past few years, I've followed her work with weddings, babies, families and also baby bumps. What I love in particular about her baby belly pics is that they're whimsical, romantic and don't appear posed.

So I asked Lyss to photograph my baby belly and at 38 weeks, she made the trek to Orange, braving the freezing middle of winters day to take some shots that are truly amazing.

Here's a select few of my favourites from the day.

To see more of Lyss' work or to contact her, go to lyssandhercamera.com and be impressed. 

baby room

Another baby indulgence in this post, the baby room.

I have a very specific idea for the baby room - I want to create a calm and neutral sleep space. Somewhere that feels nice for baby and nice for me to be in.
I want pastels, creams and whites and I don't want a 'theme' (as in underwater, jungle etc).

I collected inspiration from pinterest and magazines and here's my finished baby room....

This is the blanket my great grandmother knitted for me when I was a baby. I'm so glad to have it to pass on to my baby.

The mantle.

My good friend Kylie made bunting for the room and put together the mobile. The pieces of the mobile were cut out by everyone that came to my baby shower in Sydney, with little messages written on the back of each piece.

I love this block print. I ordered it from a clever person via etsy.com

We got so many wraps and blankets as gifts, a truly wonderful present, you can never have enough.

The cutest wardrobe I ever did see.

Credit to lyssandhercamera.com for a few of the photos included here.

baby showers

Gosh, my pregnancy went really quickly. We had to move house about six weeks before my due date, so all spare time for a few months before that was taken up with house hunting and packing. No time for blogging!

I was super fortunate to have had not one, but two baby showers so that I could celebrate and catch up with my friends and family in Sydney, but also here in Orange.

In the theme of an afternoon high tea - we had a lot of cakes and bite sized delicious treats, which were made by some friends and family.
At Sydney, my nan hosted the party and we used her fine tea cups and saucers (from the special china cabinet).
At Orange we used my sets of tea cups and saucers collected from old wares stores and given to me from elderly women.

Here's some of the pretty from my showers!

Mmm, cupcakes and slices....

 

My amazingly talented friend Alex made a red velvet cheesecake layer cake...

I made raspberry jam sealed in mason jars as little thank you gifts for my guests. We got to eat some with the scones on the day as well. Yummy.

I had a lovely day at both baby showers and am still feeling overwhelmed by the generosity and fabulousness of my wonderful friends and family. Such a special treat. x

pots for plants

I won't be calling myself a gardener anytime soon. 

But these vessels for plants and clever little ideas might just make me look like one though...

Make use of an old set of drawers...

source: curbly

Pots on a plank! What a gorgeous way to break up different flowers and bring the garden off the ground.

source: shannonelieenblog

Here's a nice way to re-use an old toolbox. Could pick one up at an old wares store.

source: diynetwork

Tea cans for inside planting.

source: ideastosteal

Don't lose track of herbs with these nifty rustic spoons.

source: etsy

chair love

I'm feeling inspired by seating this Tuesday.


For years I've liked the idea of a table that has chair unity in either matching chairs painted different colours, or different chairs painted all the same colour.
These multi-coloured chairs are ideal.

source: english girls elsewhere via pinterest

I'm loving this outdoor scene. The combination of rustic, cobbled together random chairs makes this super cosy for me - a real 'lived in' feel.

source: designsponge

What's not to love about this high-chair given a slap of paint and a bit of love!

source: house of turquoise

I'm quite the fan of outdoor furniture given a new life placed indoors.

source: valdirose

Swoon. This is amaze. A romantic rocker for two!

source: obaz

And while we're on rockers - this rocker-cradle called a Rockid is just, well, fabulous. Want want want!

source: ontwerpduo

Oh and look here, some gorgeous mint dining chairs! Fresh and sweet.

source: mixed plate

Inspiration for baby room

I've been letting myself get all carried away with thinking about how to decorate the baby room/ nursery. I'm loving it because it's one room and I get to start the whole thing from scratch.
I'm not much into bright colours, I want the space to be pastels, creams and whites. My plan is to create a sleep space that's calm, soft and is relaxing for me as well.
We've been lucky enough to have been given a cot and change table, which I intend to paint white. I've got my old wooden toy box, which has had a few coats of paint in it's past and has been sanded back in a sort of white wash. I'm going to repaint my old bedside table and then it's just to find the perfect chair and decorative bits and bobs for the room. How exciting.


Here's some inspiration that i've found on Pinterest and some other blogs recently.


This is by far my favourite. I love the colours, the simplicity. There's probably too much 'teddy bear' going on though.

source: ilovemybaby.org

I love how fresh, simple and light this room is. And with a little touch of retro curtain.

source: houzz.com

Again, fresh and simple. I like the inclusion of the plant and I love the lamp. Soft lighting is a must.

source: ohdeedoh.com

I do love this, but it would be a bit too much for my ideal room. I really love the divine dresser (better for a girl) and I'm a fan of the frame collage. I also like the chevron rug, but in a softer colour.

source: houseofturquiose.com

Rainbow layer cake success!

I’ve been wanting to make a rainbow cake for at least 6 months.

So when my name was drawn for a Valentine’s day cooking challenge at work – I knew this was the perfect excuse to try it out. A little risky given I’ve never made one before, but it all turned out ok.

I searched the internet for recipes – and there are lots out there. 
Unfortunately, there were measurements and ingredients from the USA and all sorts of things that make this cake a lot more complicated than it need be. 
So, in my quest to try and keep things simple, I sort of did it my own way. 
This took me around 5 hours to complete…

Recipe wise – I decided to use a trusty favourite cake recipe and doubled the quantity. I chose a simple Butter Cake, but you could use any vanilla cake or even your favourite packet mix. Just make sure you times your quantity by two.

Once my mix was ready – I split the quantity evenly into  six bowls. I added a half teaspoon of food colouring to each bowl to make the rainbow mixes. I couldn’t buy purple or orange colouring – so I mixed even parts of red and blue for the purple and red and yellow for the orange.

Then I greased and lined the bottom of my tin. I used a heart shaped tin as it was for Valentine’s day, but I think on a normal day I would use a round tin. 
Bake each colour mix separately for 20 mins at about 170 degrees. You could have more than one at a time in the oven if you have multiple cake tins, that would speed things up a bit. 


Allow each cake layer to completely cool.

As for icing, again – there were loads of different kinds of icing suggested when I searched for recipes online.

I decided again to stick with what I know – which is the Hummingbird Bakery’s cream cheese icing.

I made a double batch for the layers and then another double batch, with pink colouring for the outside of the cake.

I tried to do a good thick layer of icing between each cake layer.

For the outside of the cake, I started icing on the sides and finished on the top of the cake. I hid any cake show-through with more icing and a good icing spatula will helped to keep the icing smooth and even.

And then Ta-da – finished.

The best part is the reveal – cutting into the cake and seeing all the rainbow layers come together.

Yum!!!