Turn Old Bottles Into New

Yet another opportunity presented itself when I needed a quick decor fix for another project.  It's fair to say I have a small collection of jars but not so many bottles ... so I set out to investigate what could be done.

First I started with my new favourite website - Pinterest to see what ideas other bloggers had pinned.  What I found was inspiring to say the least.

The big question was, do I paint the inside or the outside? as both provide a very different finish.  

My decision was to paint the inside so that the natural glass can still come through.  I used paint I already had - because this was a quick fix and used a silver tray I picked up at the local habitat shop for $1 (I have other ideas for that tray, but it served it's role well in this project).

I'm so happy with the results, that next time I'll try to add different colour to the paints to add a different dimension.

Have a great day people!!

New Additions

Meet the new additions to the family.  Calves ... yay!!!  Although we have plans for our 8 sheilas, my husband decided to add to the collection of beef ... all 5 of them.  

The idea with these 5 is not just about understanding what's required to farm calves, but to sell them as yearlings or older.

It's been an experience of feeding them twice a day with milk until they were slowly weened off to grass (although my husband did most of it).   

A very strange feeling of them sucking on your hands thinking it was the feeding time.

It was even funny weening them out of the shed to a paddock with electric fences.  Fair to say they were not happy at first, but with time they got very used to it.

They are now in the same paddock as the sheilas, but that has even taken time for all of them to get used to them.

Aaaahhhh, it's great looking out at the land to see them all getting bigger by the day.

This is Daisie enjoying the shelter

This is Mischief because she's always the first to explore.

From left to right - Herbie, Dopie, Biggie, Mischief and Daisie

Life on the ponderosa sure is great!!

Have a great night people.

Just Add Ice Cream

The Xmas period is always a time for sharing, reflecting on the year, taking that long deserved rest and especially spending time with friends and family.

The build up for xmas however can be stressful especially when you want to give something a little different to those who you love and tresure.

This year I decided to surprise my whanau with a wonderful gift idea.  For the kids I provided all the necessities needed to make an ice cream sundae ... all that was required from the recipient was the ice - cream.

For the adults, some homemade sweets, sugar scrubs, chutney and some other bits a bobs to help the adults feel loved and pampered. 

I discussed the idea with my husband and daughters and 3 days leading up to Xmas day, we set out putting everything together.

The end result was fantastic!!!!  As for the reactions to the gifts?  It was so much more than what I expected.

Gift wrapped cones, brandy baskets, sprinkles and even a couple of smores.

The adults gift.  Homemade sugar scrub, cookes, herbed salt, chocolates, hot chocolate and so much more

Beautifully gift wrapped with colourful ribbon

All lined up ready to be presented on xmas day to the whanau ...yes there were many more than whats in the photo

This was such a wonderful gift idea and I encourage anyone to give it a go.

Have a great night!!

Frangipani Cake

I was asked by a cousin to make a cake for a very special person.   Debrief was, German Chocolate Cake and her favourite flower is a frangipani.

Hmmm, german chocolate cake I can do, but I'd never made any edible frangipani flowers before ... ooooo a challenge!!!  So off I went to my favourite cake supplier to look for the tools I needed.

That night I set to moulding them and surprisingly they didn't take that long. I let them set over night and then got to painting them.  The end result I think turned out great!!!

I was so impressed with it and so were a few others.  I received a request for a similar cake for a small intimate wedding by another cousin and I'm so happy with how this cake turned out as well.

If you feel you want to give the frangipani cake a go, then I highly recommend it.  Go for it!!!

Have a great day people.

Fabric + Photo Frame + Spoons = New Tray

I've been getting into my crafts lately, so I decided to give a new tray a go.  Goal one - to add some quick decor ideas for another project.  Goal two - See how it would turn out particularly when I had all the materials I needed at home (yes my husband says I'm a hoarder and I need to get rid of some stuff).

So here's the photo that inspired me to do  what I thought I wanted to achieve and after some investigating found some easy steps to making it happen.  Thanks to the girls at lemon tree creations. 

And this is the finished product. I picked up the frame from the dump shop for 50 cents and I painted it white.  I found 2 metres of grey fabric from Habitat for $1.  The vintage books I picked up at Hospice and I reused the salsa jar from my cupboard. I added the teaspoons for handles (they were in my cupboard too), and the glasses are an old pair of mine.

I'm pretty happy with the end result but I know there is not as much colour in the photo - the  black table with white walls doesn't help much. The idea is to use fresh flowers, but because this tray is sitting as decor at another project, I decided to use a tissue ball instead.  Looking at the photo now, I could have filled the bottom with rice or coffee beans to add more appeal.

Have a great day people!!

Revamp your Dining Suite

I inherited a dining suite from my beautiful cousin Marian Ruri to help stage a house project that I'm involved in with some good friends.  Problem is, I wasn't completely feeling it.  The table itself had it's own vintage look but the chairs wasn't my cup of tea.  Reality check .. I didn't want to spend a lot of money to give it a face lift.  Hmm what to do ...

Grab some old fabric, a staple gun with at least 10 mm staples and look to revamp.

I already had some black and white fabric at home so I simply cut it to size ensuring the pattern on the chairs would all be facing the right direction.

I trimmed the fabric to get a better fit and simply stapled the underside ensuring the fabric wasn't loose on the seat itself.

I completed one seat to see how it looked ... result ... 1000 times better than the original fabric

So I carried on and completed the remaining three seats.

I painted the chairs white with some left over paint from our house project (actually the colour is powdered white which has a slight grey/purple tint to it).

And kept the table it's wonderful wood finish.

I am so pleased with the finished result and couldn't believe it was the same chairs.  Even Marian didn't recognise her dining suite in any of the photo's I took.  I'm already thinking about giving my 8 seater dining suite a facelift :-)

Have a great day!!!!

What Do You Do With An Old Drawer

If you've ever wanted to have potted plants outside but didn't have the budget or couldn't find the right style of pot to suit your home.  Try something cheap and vintage by using and old drawer.

I had two that I inherited from another project so I thought I'd give it a go.  I simply, lined the drawers with a plastic rubbish bag so that the potting mix doesn't rot the drawers  (I secured the plastic bag with staples). I filled them with potting mix, then planted some lavender.  That's it!!!   Because I had all the materials, it took less than 30 minutes.  

I did originally think about painting the drawers a different colour, but decided to leave them as they were - a sort of remembrance of the project I inherited them from.  

I'm really happy with the final product.  I'm already thinking about experimenting with different shapes and sizes to place around the Ponderosa.

Happy living people

Spring Daffodils

There are many things that signify spring is in the air but nothing more so than the appearance of daffodils.  They are undoubtedly the most popular of spring bulbs and are extremely easy to grow.  The added bonus is they don't need a lot of care once they are planted and as long as the soil is moist in the winter and dry in the summer they don't need to be lifted after every season.  (Unlike Tulips .. but that's another story).

I love daffodils and I've always wanted to have a mass planting of these beautiful flowers. Well ...... back in February I decided to make it a reality.  I ordered 400 bulbs from Canterbury and went to work planting them over a two week period during May.  

I started on one side of the driveway being careful not to plant either too close to the drive or an area that I knew my husband was planning to dig up to make way for his new garage/shed/workshop/man cave.

The experience was interesting with both my daughters and husband helping me in different occasions, but I was determined to get it finished.

Daffodils are also a symbol of cancer awareness through the NZ cancer society.  The daffodils bright yellow bloom reminds us of the joys the new spring season will bring therefore represents the hope there is for the 1 in 3 New Zealanders affected by cancer.

One thing I am extremely proud of is the fact that this is my contribution to raising awareness of cancer.  I have many whanau (family) who have suffered by this hideous disease and many who have beaten it and won.  My daffodils is a remembrance of their strength and love.


The results look amazing, but fair to say I have a few more bulbs to plant in order to get the absolute mass planting I am really looking for, so this is a definite work in progress.

Our driveway in the autumn season (May)

The 400 bulbs ready to be planted

And the finished product in late winter (August)

I don't think the pictures do the daffodils justice, but I'm so pleased with the results of the first season.

The cancer society hold an event every year to fundraise for the awareness.  This event is called "daffodil day".  If you'd like to contribute financially go to www.daffodilday.org.nz

Another way you can raise awareness is by planting some daffodils next season if you are able.  If not in mass like this, then try them in a pot on your porch, or on your kitchen table.  The results will look great!!!

Happy living people

Winter Has Come & Nearly Gone

Representative netball takes up my winter months which means four days a weeks from June through to August is taken up by either planning, managing, mentoring, organising, supporting, fixing, meeting, travelling, and everything in between for the Eastern Waikato Netball Centre.  Two of the four days is generally Saturday and Sunday which means I haven't spent alot of my weekends at home living the life of the Ponderosa.  I don't complain though, because netball provides me with an opportunity to help the community, particularly youth through the sport and work with some of the most amazing and caring people I have met.

In saying this, there has been much achieved over the winter months and with the fresh frosty mornings we experienced earlier in the season provided me a good opportunity to pot some tulips and plant daffodils on one side of the driveway.  

The tulips are just starting to show and the colour is absolutely spectacular.  Next season I hope to pot more tulips so that we can enjoy these elegant flowers throughout the entire spring months.

I managed to bake another birthday cake for my dear friend Dora.  This one being for her daughter Jaydes 18th birthday.  She is such a free spirit with a caring and loving nature and I was more than happy to oblige for her.  I experimented with the frosting to get the textured look and although the photo doesn't give the cake justice, it was eye catching.

The Sheilas aka One Direction, are having a ball frolicking in the paddocks and showing off to the neighbours cattle with all their feed.  Although it hasn't been all roses for them as the continuous rain we experienced later in the season meant the land became ALOT soggier than we would have liked.

On top of this they received a small surprise in winter.  Three more additions arrived to join the herd and although one has migrated well, the younger two are still finding their way.

All eight of them are growing well and I have found myself standing at the home gate gazing out into the paddock admiring just how beautiful they are.  

Oh yes, my husband named the new additions - roast, sirloin and scotchie.

The Sheilas ... one missing from the photo

The winter months hasn't seen alot of egg action from "the gals" aka chooks and on a sad note, we lost one of the gals.  Precious (the black one) wondered into one of the paddocks one day and it took us a week to find her.  We haven't quite figured out exactly what happened to her, but the local hawke found her quite appetising and once we found her there wasn't much left at all.  

At first we thought a stoat had gotten her and was very worried it would come back to clean up the rest, however that's not the case.  We also wondered whether the local magpies got to her as well.  We have between 4-6 magpies that hang around in the pine tress along the road and I've witnessed them chasing or attacking other birds around the property.  

I suppose we will never know, and although we are down to 8 chooks now and as the end of the season is winding up and the weather is getting warmer, they are starting to produce more eggs daily which is great.

The gals enjoying left over chocolate cake :-)

This is only some of the happenings on the Ponderosa during the winter months with alot more still to come.