Sketchcrawl Melbourne!

Last saturday Chris and I attended Sketch crawl, a world wide event where people sketch (or in my case photograph) spaces of their city. You can see my piccies here:
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=553511248

All aboard!

Container gardening: Tutorial

I thought I'd link this from our Green Renters blog:

I've been intending to do something about my pot plants for some time. I have quite a few cuttings(mostly succulents) that I potted a year or so ago and conveniently forgot about last summer as it was so hot everything in a pot except these died. We got a heap of new pots and pans for a wedding present so I decided to do something with the old ones. They don't look particularly pretty yet, but once they are thirving I'll post some decent pics.

The benefits of reusing the old pots are that you get to remove the crappy 'terracotta' plastic pots that so many plants are invariably housed in. These were cracked so they went in the recycle bin. Further, the pot handles make them easy to move and rotate when it's really hot (even putting them inside) so you don't kill them off.

You need:

• old saucepans/pots/big lids
• seedlings
• cuttings
• potting mix/succulent mix
• water (grey ish)
• power drill

Directions:
1.Get out power drill only to release the battery has died and it will require several hours of charging. Relax on the couch with the newspaper and a cup of tea.


2. Assembly motley crew of pots in the meantime to demonstrate productivity in between cups of tea.

3. Water all plants you will be repotting. I used water that had been used to rinse garden veggies for the veggie seedling and herbs and a little that had been for some mild cleaning for the rest. The succulents are pretty hardy and dont really know the difference.Here we have thyme, cucumber, baby lettuce and baby spinach:

Various succulents and some tired looking pelargoniums.

Do you like this watering can? Make Gardens Not War! Awesome wedding present!

3. Remove plants from their pots. If they are root bound like mine, chop em up as you wish.

4. Drill holes in pot and lid bottoms. Realise it is impossible to take an action shot by yourself. If you don't have a drill you could try a hammer and nails but that may only work on tin cans and olive oil containers.

5. Realise you forgot to take shots of soil filling and plants due to chatting with husband.

6. Fill pots with soil. If you are feeling really excited you could buy potting mix specifically for succulents which is a bit more sandy.

7. Cut and tidy succulents and replant in their improved glory along with the seedlings.

8. Arrange decoratively as you wish. These will be significantly more decorative once I get some more plants so I can make more pots.

I love the lid full of succulents here: The box is for our new bbq-the old bbq will be used as a herb planter once I buy more herbs.
You can see my pelargonium collection down the bottom. The pots were decorated by the wonderful Craftea Chat participants as a wedding present!

Close up of succulents. The jelly bean ones are cool.

Marvel at wedding present pots again. I still can't believe Rayna got asked for ID when she bought the spray paint for decorating the pots!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, give it a try and let us know how it goes.

Handmade bridal corset for sale!

Never worn since I ended up buying a new dress and no longer needed the corset.

You can buy it here

This is...

What I'm reading at the moment:

I also write for The Dawn Chorus so I spend a bit of time over there.

Thanks to My Champagne Dreams for this week's theme and to awesome Angela

This is...

My favourite kitchen gadget!
I have two actually, so I hope you'll bear with me.

The first is the microwave (although I w0uld never cook a roast in it, that's kinda gross). I do alot of batch cooking at home-brown rice, pasta sauces, chilli, soup which can be reheated for dinner/lunch. Stops us wasting food, keeps a variety of meals rotating and it's great when we can't be bothered cooking.


I am also greatly enamoured with my whisk. I'm not particularly good at making sauces and roux, but I can do a lovely bechamel by using the whisk to prevent lumps!


You can find out more about Three Buttons' awesome this is series by going here

Summer is almost here....

We had a most (ly) lovely weekend which has kinda extended to monday and beyond.On saturday Jim and Hillary bought around their most generous wedding present-a BBQ! Once we realised it would need assembling we got the old one out. You can see us enjoying the outdoor table and cocktail glasses we got also!



It was great fun! Our new next door neighbours came round as well, who are most lovely. Saturday night we vegged at home and watched Cloverfield and ate icecream. On sunday we had to go to a funeral for Chris' great aunt. I made a complete dick of myself crying and I haven't even met her. It bought all the memories of my brother's funeral back last year. Luckily they were all really understanding.

We spent the afternoon helping our great mate Rayna who is running for the Greens in the New Zealand federal election. They have some system where people residing outside New Zealand can be elected. So we helped her stuff over 14,000 envelopes for New Zealanders in Australia who are registered to vote. You can read about Rayna here and register to vote outside New Zealand here. I've never been to New Zealand but Rayna is all time ace and everyone should vote for her if they are eligible.

Last night we went and saw Welcome to the Doll House, one of my favourite Todd Solanz films, and ate yummy food and drank decadent cocktails after. Who said married life was boring?!

Here's my favourite new teapot nude and wearing the cosy I found on the weekend for $1 at Savers :)

Car accident last night

Chris and I were walking down our street on the footpath, me on foot, Chris wheeling his bike (he's so sweet he meets me at the tram to walk with me the rest of the way).

Anyway, we're walking along and see this white car coming out of a side street really fast. It did a hook turn and crashed straight into a house. The bang was incredibly loud and it was less than 5 metres away.

There was a woman about a foot in front of us and she screamed. Before we knew it, another woman ran to the car, opened the car door and her and the driver took off on foot down the side street, the contents of her handbag strewn on the nature strip. I rang 000 straight away. We all stood around waiting for the police. I called an ambulance but the guy was apparently ok, just in shock. He walked past us to the police and said he was sorry. It was scary stuff, and we were amazed no one was killed.

I really wish people wouldn't speed recklessly down our street.

hmmmm

Things I've been up to besides getting married:

We went and saw the Art Deco exhibition on friday at the National Gallery. I was pleased to see some Clarice Cliff work. You couldn't take photos or I would show you some, but here's an Oliver Bernard designed piece which featured in its glory.

Also went to some of the Laneway exhibition. I'll post some pics from the home pc at some stage.

I had some good news today at work, one of my ideas has been accepted and I've had really positive feedback.

I've been brainstorming Polka Dot Rabbit summer stock ideas and have a few things in mind. I haven't had alot of creative space with all things wedding, but better things are to come I hope!

Waiting to go see a Fringe Festival show, Le Chocolaut which should be fun.

Being married is fun but it was fun being together without the marriage!

How cute is this pic of a friend's baby lamb?

Royal Melbourne Show adventures

A few weeks ago Chris and I went to the Royal Melbourne Show. We ignored the rides and showbags and spent most of the time in the crafty, cooking sections and visiting the animals:

Chris loved the beer appreciation:

The Creative Living stall was great:

I found this rather amusing:

Some of the craft work-this tapestry amused me no end:

My mate Clem makes the most awesome jam in the world:

Baby animals are the best!

Wedding!

Here's a sneak peak until the proper pics arrive...