Sunday Citar - Rainbows




It is a wet Winter's day here in Perth, which made me think of rainbows, those beautiful things that remind you that sunshine does exist even on the wettest and grayest day.



The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears ... John Vance Cheney

The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work ... anonymous

The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched ... Henry David Thoreau

and finally the one that I live my life by

Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make it's colours appear.

And of course my favourite rainbow song - enjoy.

May your week have lots of rainbow coloured moments - for even in the darkest times, there is the possibility of a rainbow - you just have to look. xxx

Easy Sunday: Beyond Beautiful Banana Bread

I don't know when the baking thing snuck up on me. I used to admire my clever sister who could whip up friands and brownies at a moment's notice and think "I could never do that". Packet cakes I could manage, anything "from scratch" I thought was beyond me.

Which is why I was surprised that my answer to Capper's question of "What's your 3 favourite things to do besides play with me?" was "writing and gardening... and baking". Baking, really? Well... yes!  I've been a happy little baker for well over a year now. There's this thing called a recipe, you see. And if you follow it religiously (and then get to know the particular foibles of your oven...), out come the baked goods, yum, yum, yum. I love trying out different recipes for classics, finding my very favourite and sticking with it (hence my previous postings for the ultimate apple teacake, ultimate scones and ultimate muesli bars...)

Try this one from delicious. magazine on for size...


Beyond Beautiful Banana Bread



1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 cup (80ml) sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, mashed  (if your children are anything like the Tsunamis and detest 'bits' you'll want to spend a fair bit of time going over the banana with a fork...)
65g pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped


• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 900ml loaf pan (test the size by filling the pan with water and then pouring it into a measuring jug.)

• Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and salt into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, oil and vanilla.

• Add to the dry ingredients with banana and pecan and fold until just combined - do not overmix.

• Place into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove, and slice thickly. Serve spread with butter and drizzled with honey.


[Image by Mark Roper]

shadow shot

@ hey harriet







Foot step shadows. 
My Dad walking in the city with my girl!

This Saturday I'm grateful for... bike couriers.



Here in Maxabellaland, Saturday is traditionally a sport, shop, sort the clothes, sweep the floors, strangle the Tsunamis (insert other 's' words here - no pun intended) kinda day. But on Maxabella loves... I thought it would be grounding to make Saturday my 'grateful' day.


This Saturday I'm grateful for...

1. Trumpet-blowing bike couriers in Martin Place. Whoever you are, I love the way you lean your bike against the tree, remove your trumpet from your courier bag and serenade the city with haunting solos every Monday morning. It makes me suddenly happy to be in the middle of the grey hustly bustle.

2. Heavenly Spa gift vouchers. Thank you LOML, I'm heading off in five minutes!

3. Bus drivers. The traffic's terrible, the people are nuts and the day is long. Thank you for safely bringing me home to my family every evening.

[Image]

An old favourite from Made it.





Long time followers of the Lulufroufrou blog may remember my post from Lou's second birthday. Back in October we purchased this lovely cubby house for Louise. When I posted about it,  I got a few enquiries as to where I got the kitchen and sink set inside from.

Well tonight I was "window shopping" at my favourite procrastination shopping website {Madeit - of course}- I found Lou's lovely kitchen back in stock!! Yay!

I must say we've had them for almost a year now and they are still going strong - Louise uses them all the time to cook lots of different cakes and copcorn as she puts it.







The fab creators had set off on a Aussie Outback Adventure soon after I purchased these lovelies  - it seems their shop is up and running again though.  Check them out here.





 Have a lovely, lovely weekend!!

Pretty gardening

Pretty gardening by Torie Jayne

1. Metal watering can
2. Candy Flowers gardening gloves
3. Sweet William seed packet
4. White seed box
5. Worm food compost bucket
6. Burgon and Ball pink garden collection

This week in my series of posts, "Fridays Finds", I bring you a collection of pretty garden tools inspired by my visit to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

Don't forget you can click on any blue lettering in any of my posts to link through to the relevant store website or blog post for more info!

For more of my 'Pretty Gardening' finds, check out my Pinterest!

Have a sweet day!
going spotty...a perfect little art smock

I cut a basic art smock template that would be suitable for a toddler...



From Spotlight i found this plastic spotty table cloth & dug out some navy spotty ribbon from my craft box... i just adore red, white and navy!



I used the ribbon to create easy to adjust straps for around the neck and back - I hand sewed these in place...



I decided not to sew around the smock - the plastic table cloth does not frey and I wanted this to be a quick and easy project...



I have made 3 little smocks...perfect for when my nephews come over to play, cook and craft with me and my little one...



Ready to put to the test...we will bake muffins in the morning wearing the new little smock. The best thing about this activity for me is that it was quick, easy and i love spots!!! also had enough left over to make a drop sheet for under the easel or it can be used on our crafting table.
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