*[click]*{capture}*[create]*{cherish}*
“our mother is the truest friend we have. when trials fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness and cause peace to return to our hearts.” ~ washington irving
when you can’t find the right background paper, make your own. for this layout, i used 2 different coloured spray mists. note to self >> next time, use the spray mists on thicker paper to avoid paper warping! (also makes taking a photo very difficult.)
some of the other products used – hambly screen print transparency; francheville word tile; the bird was hand cut from kaisercraft’s ‘kris kringle’ paper; prima’s alphabet stickers; the hand cut (and outlined with black zig marker) butterfly is from grace taylor’s panama lounge paper; american crafts’ chipboard butterfly; the banner was hand cut from pebbles’ ‘ever after’ paper; kaisercraft pearls; paper clip; embroidery thread and a flower punch.
i have 5 female first cousins on my mum’s side of the family. 4 of them are in the photo – sophie, cathy, angie and angela. the 5th cousin jennifer took the photo, at my brother’s wedding.
“cousins are people that are ready made friends, you have laughs with them and remember good times from a young age, you have fights with them but you always know you love each other, they are a better thing than brothers and sisters and friends cause there all pieced together as one” ~ courtney cox
i have a stash of scrapbooking supplies that i am trying to ‘run down’. the problem i have is that i bought some of the supplies years ago and now those supplies are ‘out of date’. now i have to try and ‘modernize’ those supplies.
first up – to use a set of metallic tags (made by bella!). i cant remember when or where i bought these!
i added white francheville button brads (to match the design on the background paper) and a pop of colour to make the words stand out.
“he has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.” ~ bessie a stanley
sunday 6th may – heading to a town i’ve not been to before. a town called kanmantoo. a copper mining town situated 61km from adelaide. the reason? to savour, along with 9 others, the gastronomical delights of a restaurant called osteria sanso.
osteria sanso specialises in tuscan cuisine using home grown and locally sourced produce.
we decided to have an entree and a main with some sharing their dishes. goat cheese curd, from the specials board, was one of the entrees ordered.
i decided on the brushetta (bread with fresh tomato, garlic, olive oil and fresh basil). not what i expected a brushetta to look like (based on previous servings of brushettas) but it was fresh, simple and delicious.
for my main course i ordered the salciccie tartufate con porcini (pork sausages italian style with truffle & porcini mushroom paste served with polenta and caramelised onion glaze). a few of us ordered this dish. as tasty as it was, i couldn’t finish the dish. i started to get full halfway through the meal.
the fettuccine boscomare (egg fettuccine with prawns, mushrooms, cream, fresh tomatoes, garlic, wine & chilli) was also ordered by a few people in the group.
scaloppine osteria (baby veal, capsicum, peppercorn, brandy, tomato and cream) was one of the shared dishes.
dessert was a must but we decided to share because we were almost at bursting point. first up was torta della nonna (a typical tuscan cheesecake with ricotta, custard and pine nuts).
next was the mocca delight (coffee ice cream with chocolate covering).
i didn’t try the tiramisu (italian finger biscuits, coffee, marsala, italian mascarpone cream, cheese and chocolate) as i’m not overly fond of tiramisu.
the dessert special of the day was raspberry brulee.
(of the 3 desserts that i tried i liked the torta the best.)
osteria sanso is a cosy little restaurant that offers good authentic rustic italian food. as it says in the restaurant >> “let the angel please your palate”.
“the trouble with eating italian food is that 5 or 6 days later you’re hungry again.” ~ george miller, british writer
saturday 5th may 2012 – an afternoon spent with friends at the plank kitchen and bar courtesy of discount vouchers that we had purchased months before. the ‘high tea for 2 people’ deal was advertised for $36 (and valued at $92). [fyi, discount voucher sites seem to be all the rage at the moment!]
upon arrival we were given a glass of sparkling wine (which was unlimited for the afternoon).
we started with the savouries – there were mini quiches and there were 3 types of ribbon sandwiches (crustless sandwiches) – ham, cheese and tomato; cucumber, cheese and mayonnaise and salmon and tomato.
saving the best til last – the sweets! profiteroles, scones (with jam and cream) and chocolate truffles were on the menu. coffee and tea was also unlimited for the afternoon.
it was a pleasant afternoon, the food was delicious and the service was good.
plank kitchen and bar is located at the comfort inn haven marina (6-10 adelphi terrace, glenelg) and overlooks the patawalonga river and the holdfast shores marina.
“there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” ~ henry james, the portrait of a lady
the april challenge at scrap the girls was an 8.5″ x 11″ sketch challenge.
i don’t usually scrap that size so i stuck to the challenge. i did however change the orientation of the photos and i placed the page onto lace cardstock so that i could fit the page into a 12″ x 12″ album.
8.5″ x 11″ pages are super quick to make!
the photos i used are holiday photos. for the last 3 years my friends teresa, karyn and i have travelled together within australia. we haven’t decided yet where we’re going this year.
“we live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. there is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” ~ jawaharial nehru
i stumbled across the evalicious site whilst reading a blog. the button sets looked interesting so i went to the etsy store. i had been looking for camera and photography themed embellishments. i found some! these are the shoot smile snap badge buttons. these are going to be ideal for layouts, cards and journals.
a couple of weeks ago i went to the south australian papercraft fair and bought some cute charms from the ‘create-a-memory4u’ stall. (you can find create-a-memory 4u on ebay.)
(the camera charms are 1.8cm wide; the plane charms are 2.3cm wide and the suitcases are 1.2cm wide)
“we all know the sound a camera makes when it snaps a picture. even some of the digitals do it for nostalgia’s sake.” ~ jay asher, thirteen reasons why
yesterday i went to the salisbury stitchers exhibition, ‘under the australian sun‘, which featured quilts and other crafts.
the quilts on display are stunning pieces of work – the quality of the work is amazing and you can see that a lot of hard work and love had gone into them. some of these quilts have taken up to 2 years to complete.
when you pay the entry fee, you are given a voting slip where, after looking at all the quilts, you write down the number of the quilt that you most like.
you weren’t allowed to touch the quilts. if you wanted to ask about the techniques and look at the backing, you had to ask the ‘white glove lady’ for assistance.
the $5 entry fee includes morning or afternoon tea. the sweets provided were made by the salisbury stitchers group – a group that meets weekly to discuss, and make, all things quilts whilst having a cuppa.
my mum is a member of the salisbury stitchers group and entered one of her quilts into the exhibition. (for those voting, it’s quilt no.81)
i don’t profess to be an expert in this field (and i may be a tad biased) but i think my mum’s quilts are brilliant. the machine stitching and the hand stitching borders on perfection and her eye for colour is spot on.
other crafts were either on display, for sale or part of a raffle. those on sale or being raffled off were generously donated by the ladies.
if you don’t have any plans for today, you might want to consider heading over to the exhibition. the proceeds from the event will go towards the melissa white foundation – a foundation set up to assist the research into leukemia.
after this morning’s dawn service, my mum decided to make anzac biscuits. anzac biscuits are sweet biscuits popular in australia and new zealand. they have long been associated with the australian and new zealand army corps (anzac) established in ww1.
the recipe was in today’s city newspaper, the advertiser.
ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour, sifted
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup coconut
125g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp boiling water
* my mum made the anzac biscuits gluten-free by substituting the rolled oats with quinoa and the plain flour with gluten-free plain flour *
method
1) combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut. combine butter and golden syrup, stir over gentle heat until melted.
2) mix bicarbonate of soda with boiling water, add to melted butter mixture, stir into dry ingredients.
3) take teaspoonfuls of mixture and place on lightly greased oven trays – allow room for spreading.
4) cook in slow oven – 150c for 20 minutes. loosen while still warm, then cool on trays.
makes 35. preparation time – 10 minutes; cooking time – 20 minutes
“anzac biscuits are a powerful reminder of an event that is regarded as one of australia’s pivotal moments as a nation. they also signify women’s input to the war effort on the home front. importantly, anzac biscuits link generations of grandmothers, mothers and daughters. the story of the origin of anzac biscuits may never be “uncovered” or definitively explained. their importance is the role they play in commemorating anzac day and because of this, anzac biscuits can indeed be regarded as a culinary memorial.” ~ sian supski
today (april 25, 2012) is anzac day. anzac day marks the anniversary of the landing of troops from australia and new zealand on the gallipoli peninsula, turkey, in ww1 on april 25, 1915.
this morning i attended the dawn service held at the local rsl (returned services league of australia) in salisbury. it was a beautiful service. it was heartening to see so many people paying their respects to those courageous men who lost their lives for us.
*photos taken mid-morning after the conclusion of the service*
“it was on this day that australia’s identity was forged. it is the anzac spirit that shows us not who we intrinsically are, but who we want to be.”
“they shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
at the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them.”
[taken from the poem 'for the fallen' ~ laurence binyon (1869–1943)]
