DIY Sequin Shoes

A few months back my husband and I received an invitation to a "Sequin and Suits" event from  our very good friends, Maia & Sheryl Peters.  Within a week or so I received a parcel containing gold sequinned material with instructions that I had to use at least 1 metre of the material and wear the garment to the event.

Geeezz ... my imagination ran riot with the opportunities of what I could make.  I settled on a top but decided to take it a step further and cover some shoes with the same material.

I went to the local K Mart store and purchased some flat shoes for $8 then stuffed each shoe with newspaper to keep the shape of the shoe.

Using self adhesive glue, I sprayed the shoe and placed the material over the top, pressing gently to smooth the material and left it to dry overnight.

Once dry I trimmed the material leaving enough to fold a seam around the sole of the shoe.  Using a hot glue gun, I folded the seam and glued the material where the existing shoe material met the sole.

For inside of the shoe, I cut a hole out of the material, then continued to trim it until I could form a seam.  Using the hot glue gun, I glued the seam down.

I was pretty impressed with the final product considering I made them the night prior to the event itself.

As for the event I attended?  Turned out Maia and Sheryl surprised everyone by renewing their wedding vowels after 20 years of marriage.  It was such a lovely day and I thoroughly enjoyed being apart of their special day .... along with my fabulous shoes!!

Happy learning peeps!

Elizabeth Paki Haggie (Turner) - Part Two - The Young Woman

Growing up in Mercer and Te Kohanga was always fun for my nan.  She loved spending time with her siblings, cousins and more importantly with her dad.

School for her was intermittant, attending Mercer primary school.  She grew up in a time when te reo maori (maori language) was forbidden to be spoken in schools and coming from a household who only spoke te reo maori was a tremendous challenge for her.  Over time she told her Aunty and father that she didn't like going to school.  My nan's solution was to make ways of trying to travel back and forward from Mercer to Te Kohanga on a more regular basis to reduce the time spent at school. 

My nan said that at first she didn't understand why her pakeha teacher didn't allow maori to be spoken.  To her, it was a way of life.  The only language she knew.  She witnessed her school mates including her family getting severely hit when they spoke maori which confused my nan even more.  If maori had to speak english, then why did pakeha not speak maori?  Why was her language not embraced?  She didn't like this open display of violence and made her own decision.  She wasn't prepared to give her language up, however she wasn't prepared to be hit either.  Her solution was to quickly learn when and where to speak maori and when and where to speak english.  Adapt to the environment surrounding her, however remain strong in her own values and beliefs.

Little did she know as a young child, the indomitable leaders of her people at the time such as Te Puea Herangi, made no secret that upholding the mana of everything in the maori world was paramount.   My nan did not truly understand at the time that there was a much greater cause for her people but as she grew, this was the biggest form of education she received.

Te Puea looked to live and rely on a colonial world, however remain strong on her attitude to holdfast to the values of the kingitanga and more importantly constantly remain aware of the injustices forced on her people.

The kingitanga was a way of life for my grandmother.  She was schooled by her kaumatua, her aunties, her father, her brothers and sisters and even Te Puea herself.  Her family was the biggest and most important asset she had and if the kingitanga was important to them, then it was important to my grandmother.  She grew up on the oral histories of her people.  Where she came from and how they came to be at the puaha (port).  She grew up hearing the stories of the influenza epidemic that had a tremendous impact on her people and how barges would constantly be travelling to Taupiri mountain with the bodies of her people.  She was educated in the history of the kingitanga and the impact of raupatu.

My nan saw the outcomes of the kingitanga growing fast as a young teenager.  Her aunty Mona and her husband Korota Pingareka were working closely with Te Puea to help fulfil the prophercy of Kingi Tawhiao by building Turangawaewae.  They had already made a move to Ngaruawahia, while Aunty Mona tripped between Mercer, Te Kohanga and Ngaruawhia.  Nan's cousin Wes Dixon remained on the farm in Mercer to help work the land and supply the people Te Puea had taken to Ngaruawahia with the necessities required.  My nana told me that in the early days, that is what it was like for the people from the port.   You either went with Te Puea to build Turangawaewae, or you stayed back to help fund or sustain the people who were in Ngaruawahia building Turangawaewae.  That was the vision.  That was the way it was.

Eventually her cousin Wes came to Ngaruawahia to live with his parents.  By that time, there were other children who had been whangai'd to Korota and Mona including Tame Herangi and Rongo Herangi - both being brother and sister.   My nan told me there was an older child also called Tame Herangi, however he passed away as a baby.  Rongo would become my grandmothers best friend as a teenager, although she was a few years younger than my nan their character were very similar.

My grandmother told me a story one day about how Aunty Mona asked her to help clean Mahinaarangi.  She got up on a ladder to clean the upper walls when she heard a stern voice behind her.  She got such a fright, she let out some "unladylike" words and when she turned around it was Te Puea.  My nan nearly fell off the ladder but Te Puea did not react and they both carried on.  Later that night she received such a growling from Aunty Mona so my grandmother told her aunty to clean the house herself next time.  This reaction from a teenager to her Aunty Mona took some guts but nana stayed true to her word.

There were so many different fundraising events happening all over the rohe to help with Te Pueas work at Turangawaewae.  Going to a dance was always my nan's favourite activity.  Her, brother Bill and sister Annie would get dressed up in their "killing gears" and head off to the dance.  As most teenagers do, they were there to enjoy the "eye candy" telling each other to help get them a dance partner for the night and dance all night long.  My nan takes pride in telling us that Te Puea ran a tight ship so the dances didn't have alcohol or drugs back then, and everyone would get dressed up properly.  Her words "beauty times".  My nan told me that Te Puea enjoyed seeing the young ones enjoying themselves and more importantly enjoying each other.  It was part of her vision to build a strong 2nd generation into Turangawaewae thus creating further generations to continue into the future.

It was at one of the dances at Turangawaewae that her brother Bill introduced her to a young man called Binga Haggie.  He was the son of Korota Pingareka's eldest sister Te Aumihi Haggie who was also part of the first wave of people to come with Te Puea and establish Turangawaewae.  Nana's eyes always come alive when she would tell me how he was a pure gentleman and looked so handsome wearing a grey pinstripe suit when they first met.  PLUS he was a very good dancer!!

At the time my nana was working for the railways near Auckland and the pair would correspond through letters.  When she would have the weekends off, my grandmother would travel down to Ngaruawahia on the train and stay with Aunty Mona.  Binga would come over and take her to the local pictures.  After a while, my nana finished work at the railway and moved permanently to Ngaruawahia with her Aunty Mona and Uncle Korota.  Her cousin Wes and brother Bill became good friends with Binga and they began playing sports together.  Subsequently, my nana became good friends with Binga's sister Doreen or Ngahia, and they began playing basketball together.  (Back in those days basketball ... was today's netball).

Work was still important and my nan would find work in the king country working in a shearing gang that went from Turangawaewae.  She was there for a few months when she returned back to Ngaruawahia.  It's no secret that many people commented on how beautiful my grandmother was when she was younger .. and of course still is.  I heard she received the nickname 'Tainui beauty' but when I asked my nana she didn't confirm or deny the name nor would she tell the story of where it came from.

My grandfather told me that he thought my nana was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.  In fact, he told me a story about when my grandmother first started coming to Ngaruawahia as a teenager.  Turangawaewae was always a bustle of activity.  One day, as the men were all working creating a mass of noise, my grandmother walked from one side of the marae to the other and silence fell across the marae grounds while the "boys" watched her.  He told me that that moment always held a special place for him.   "your grandmothers beauty commands attention" he once said.  He would later nickname her SNOW.

Upon reflection, during my childhood I was always fascinated by two photos of two beautiful young women that hung in the hallway at my grandparents home.  The woman in photo 1 had impeccable skin with dark hair that was styled perfectly.  She wore a white blouse with embroided flowers around the neck line and she had a warm but cheeky smile and a beauty spot between her left cheek and upper lip.  

The woman in photo 2 had the same warm but cheeky smile.  Her skin was also impeccable and her hair was styled perfectly, however her hair was lighter,  her skin was slightly darker, she wore a khaki blouse and didn't have a beauty spot above her lip.   I would stare at these photos for hours wondering who these woman were in the photo.  When I was told that it was my grandmother in photo 1 and her sister Annie in photo 2,  I didn't believe them.  The woman in photo 1 looked so different to my nan and the defining feature that linked my nan of young to my nan of old was that trade mark beauty spot above her lip.

Later in life my grandmother told me that those photo's were taken by her brother Bill.  One day he came home with a camera and made both his sisters model in a series of photo's.  He got angry because nana and Aunty Annie were mucking around, laughing and joking for most the time and she thought the photo's wouldn't turn out very well.  He had the photo's developed and gave them both a copy and to their surprise, they were perfect!  It's such a shame that the whereabouts of those photo's is unknown now.  I would so love to see them one more time.

My 'NOT SO HAPPY' nana as a brides maid at her sister Annies wedding

By this time, my grandmother had lived at Mercer, Huntly and Te Kohanga but it was at Ngaruawahia where the foundations for her long term future would begin and Binga Haggie would play a very important role.

Happy living peeps!!

  

Lamp Goes Chic

Jayden had these two lamps in her room that lacked personality so when we renovated her room we decided to give them a new life.  I am pretty disappointed that I didn't get a before photo because the upgrade is awesome.

The base and stem of the lamp was glass and because Jayden's colour palette is pink, gold and grey we spray painted over the glass with gold paint.

For the shade itself, we had some left over material from her tufted headboard and decided to use that.  I blogged about her headboard in HOW TO MAKE A TUFTED HEADBOARD.  I think the finished product is fabulous!!

Happy living peeps!!

Orange & Chilli Salad

My dad is a meat and three vegetable person and he finds this dish a little difficult to comprehend when it's on the table.  "Oranges are sweet and should be served as a dessert, not as a salad" he reckons, but he's slowly starting to get his head around it.  My cousin Michael has also been a bit of a meat and 3 vege type person, but when I visited Melbourne last, I made this dish and he loved it!!

This is a pretty simple and quick dish to serve.  It's healthy AND is great with a BBQ.  Of course you don't need to slice the oranges, you can segmet them and toss in a bowl if that's your preference, but I find it takes longer to prepare.  I just want it done so we can enjoy a great meal together.  

If you're not a fan of chilli, then reduce the amount used but try not to omit them completely as it's truly the star of the dish.

Ingredients
3-4 oranges - peeled, deseeded, pith removed and sliced (try to keep the juice)
1 fresh red chilli - deseeded and thinly sliced OR a dash of chilli flakes
A handful of chives
Dash of olive oil
Sea salt
Cracked pepper 

Method
Get out a nice flat platter and lay the oranges in a single layer.  Pour the juice from the oranges.

Sprinkle the chilli over the top of the oranges and sprinkle a dash of olive oil over the top.

Season with salt and pepper and then finish by slicing the chives all over the oranges using scissors.

Enjoy!!

Happy living peeps!!!

 

Wooden Feature Wall

The ponderosa never ceases to amaze me.  Evertime we start a new project, we find hidden treasures and renovating Jayden's room was no exception.  It all started when we installed our heat transfer kit.  I blogged about process in Ducted Heat Transfer Kit.

While up in the ceiling, my husband said he thought the walls were sarking so we toss around the idea of pulling off the gib and having a look.  Worse case scenario was that it wasn't sarking and we would just have to reline the wall ... saving the hassle of stripping the hideous wallpaper.  Good for us, he was right!!  The next step was to break it to Jayden that she was having a feature wall, which wasn't something she warmed too very quickly.

The wood was native timber and as soon as all the gib for the wall came off, it's beauty was revealed.  Although it had a few holes in the wall, it look wonderful.  Jayden wasn't feeling the rough, natural wood look!!

Painting it was ... so Gig repaired the holes, filled in the gaps and sanded the wall slightly ready for the next conversation with Jayden.   My idea was to have a white wash finish by painting the wall grey, then painting diluted white paint over the top and rubbing it off.  Jayden wasn't feeling the white washed look either!!

Solution - paint the wall grey.  Jayden was definitely feeling that!!

I came home to find my husband had done this ......  Wooden feature wall it is!!

Gaps filled, sanded and test colours added

I don't really think the photo's give the finished produce justice as it really did come up beautifully.  If you are thinking of giving something like this a go, then I highly recommend it!!  It really did had a different dimension to the space adding some texture.

Happy living peeps!!

  

The Outhouse - Before

People get a little confused when I mention we have an outhouse on the ponderosa that has so much potential.  Generally eyebrows are raised with that look of REALLY?   I call it the outhouse because to me it's a tiny house slightly out of the way from the homestead .. of course full of potential!!  

When we brought the property it was being used as a workshop by the previous owners and immediately we thought it would be awesome as an extra living space for our daughters, a studio or an extra bedroom.  

The homestead itself was a serious downsize from our previous home and without a huge shed on the property the reality of the outhouse being the number one storage space hit me pretty quickly.

As we built the new shed and started slowly renovating the house, the outhouse was cleansed from being a storage shed, only for us to find the walls were home to some natural bees.  I blogged about it in BEES - GLORIOUS BEES!!





Now Jayden's room is completed, our focus is to look at this new space ..

The outhouse .. from the outside

The back wall ... no more bees

Happy learning peeps!!

 

Coconut Buns

A few years ago we were holidaying in Samoa with my sister and her family and they resort had a tray of freshly baked panipopo available on the breakfast buffet.  After the first morning of our arrival, the kitchen had to make an extra tray of panipopo's every morning, just for us :-)

These are commonly known as panipopo or coconut buns.  A sweet bun baked in a thick coconut sauce and is a indulgence that should be had as a reward or one off every now and again as opposed to every day, but be warned.  They are addictive!!

Allow at least 3 hours for this recipe as it can take up to 2 hours for the dough to rise dependant on the room temperature but the wait is well and truly worth it.

  

Ingredients - Buns
3 1/2 cups of flour
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of milk powder
2 1/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons of softened butter
1 1/4 teaspon salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extra

Ingredients - Coconut Sauce
400 mls of coconut milk
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of arrowroot or cornflour
pinch of salt

Method
Place all the ingredients into your mixing bowl ensuring the yeast does not touch the salt.  Using the kneading blade, mix on low until combined, then knead on medium for 5 minutes until the dough "cleans the sides of the bowl", and forms a smooth, soft ball.  Alternatively you can mix and knead by hand.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with cling film. Place in a warm place so dough doubles in size.

Gently deflate the dough, and transfer to a lightly greased surface and divide into 12 - 15 pieces.  Shape each piece into a rough ball and place into a lightly greased tray ensuring the balls do not touch each other.  Cover again and leave to allow dough to double in size.

Place the ingredients into a saucepan and stir constantly over a medium heat until the sauce thickens slightly.  

Pour the sauce over the risen buns and bake in the 180°C oven for 20 to 25 mins until the buns are golden brown.

Serve warm from the pan making sure to scoop up the thick sauce with each bun you consume.

Enjoy!!

Jayden's Room - Revealed

Jayden's room has been finished for a little while now, but it has taken some time to get some photo's up.  The main reason for this is because Jayden was quite sure of what she wanted in her room and how it would all fit.  It's fair to say, the room is still a work in progress.

Jayden's brief was colour and storage. YES storage!  She has quite a bit of art supplies, books and memorabilia from people she holds close to her heart, so she wanted to ensure we looked to cater all of that.  



The biggest change was the wooden wall behind the existing gib which we stumbled across by mistake when up in the roof putting in our heat transfer kit.  We pulled all the gib off and made it a feature wall which looks great.  I also think her new headboard looks fabulous against it.  I blogged about it HOW TO MAKE A TUFTED HEADBOARD.

Jayden was very hands on with developing her room from stripping the wallpaper to sanding and painting the ceiling and architraves.    She is still to complete a big piece of artwork that will sit on her drawers and there's a few bits and pieces in the pipework to complete her space.

I'm pretty happy with the finished product but more importantly Jayden is over the moon with her new room.

Happy living peeps!