Roadtrip // Exploring Bluff

 

The weather lately has been magnificent. The end of January  and most of February tends to be fairly settled here in New Zealand. The temperatures all week have been in the mid to late 20's which is highly unusual for Invercargill! I decided to FINALLY get off my butt and do some site seeing.

 

 I filled up the car and headed down the coast to  Bluff-a small coastal town at the bottom of New Zealand. I had visited it once, on my 1st day at my current job. I'd glimpsed a cool-looking 2nd hand store which I was keen to check out.

 

 

I stopped across the road from the 2nd hand store and  ventured across the road to take a look.  It's filled with vintage glass, bottles, cigarette tins and boat paintings, plus old rusted tools and books! I found a pretty silver bib necklace for $10 which l decided would look perfect with my many dresses.

 

 

 

After I'd taken in the sites of the main drag (a 5 minute walk) I walked backed to a pub I'd seen earlier, where I ordered mini spring rolls and coffee and sat at a picnic table outside. Unfortunately while I was eating my lunch the Sandflies were eating me! l had to go ask at the bar if they had any bug spray (nope!) then run down to the 4 Square to buy some.

 

 

 

I wanted to have a look in the Maritime museum, but was too itches so headed home. It  was a fun trip though and I enjoyed using my camera after a bit of a break!

  

 

What are your plans for the weekend? How's the weather where you are?

 

Kc

Outfit Post // Leopard & Rust

 Orange Jersey - Cotton On, Grey Long T - Cotton On,  

Leopard Leggings - Kmart, Grey Uggs - The Warehouse,  

Turquoise Earrings - Diva

I've been squeezing in a few road trips to Dunedin lately. Between markets and my new job I've tried to scoot up there to catch up with family and friends as much as possible. 

I have a little routine on my drive up there. I fill up the car the Friday night before and pack my bag. On Saturday morning all I have to do is throw my bag in the car and go. It's about 2 and a half hours to Dunedin from Invercargill, I usually stop in Gore for a coffee and a snack at a Cafe or Bakery. For the rest of the trip I turn the radio up and sing my head off all the way to Dunedin.

My favourite driving outfit in winter is a cosy jersey, leggings and my slippers. I picked up this rusty orange jersey from Cotton On a week ago, I love it so much I went back to see if they had more in different colours! Cotton On is a bit of a mess at the best of times though, so I had no luck in half a lunch break. next time!

The temperature has certainly dropped here. While Invercargill has missed the snow so far, there's been constant frost on the ground for the last couple of days. The car was already frozen at 8pm tonight so the trip to work tomorrow could be a fun one!


How are you all going? Any new exciting blog posts I need to check out? Hope you've all been keeping warm or enjoying the sunshine wherever you are!

4th Day of Christmas // Tissue Paper Pom Poms

I have seen quite a few pictures of these awesome tissue paper pom poms floating around the internet of late. I think they would make some pretty cute Christmas decorations too! You could make big ones to dot over a feature wall or little ones to hang on your Christmas tree or make them into garlands to hang over doorways. After searching around for a tutorial I figured out how they were made and whipped up my own pom poms in no time!

Here is a great little tutorial I found on Martha Stewart Weddings. Below you can see my own little photo tutorial to make these cool decorations!

 You will need;

Tissue paper – 9 layers cut to the width you want your pom pom

Florists wire – 24 gage (Try somewhere like Spotlight or a Cake Decorators Shop)

Pliers

Scissors

 1. Lay tissue paper on top of each other. Mine came in a pack of 3 sheets, so I cut them into 1/4’s and laid 3 of them on top of each other.

2. Fold tissue paper into a fan.

3. Fold a piece of florists wire over the centre and twist the ends to secure it.

4. Cut of both ends of rectangle – either into a point or a curve depending on the effect you want. 

5. Begin releasing each layer of tissue paper and pull up towards the centre.

6. Lift top 5 layers, then turn over and repeat with bottom 4.

7. Do all of one side of the pom pom, then switch and do the other side.

8. Your finished pom pom!!

See, I told you they were easy! Of course they would make great decorations for a Wedding, Bridal Shower, Baby Shower or Birthday too. Something to keep in mind!

Like all of my '12 Days of Christmas' DIY tutorials, there is a PDF version of this blog post here. Simpy click on the link, print out the tutorial and get to work. Easy as that. Feedback appreciated!

Make sure to check out the rest of my “12Days of Christmas” posts for more awesome decorating ideas, recipes, and gift ideas!

Outfit Post // Golden Roses

Golden Roses Dress - Trademe, Vintage Brown Leather Belt - Shop on Taieri, White Lace Tights - Glassons, Cream Boots - No. 1 Shoe Warehouse, Red Lipstick - Australis

 I bid pretty fiercely for this dress on Trademe! I knew it would be perfect to get me through the Summer and well into next Autumn and Winter. Luckily I got a bargain and only paid $10!! I love when that happens. 

You'll also note I seem to be wearing different boots for a change - I saw these at the beginning of Winter but wasn't keen to shell out $50 for them, so I was pleased to find them marked down to $27.95 today! I love how they kind of look like vintage ice skates - I can't wait to pair them with a bunch of 50's style dresses!!

I'll be having a busy weekend, as its time to shift all the furniture into the new house. Although the settlement date isn't until the 14th, the house is currently vacant and the owners are happy to let us move in our furniture while we wait for the finance to come through. Exciting times!! By the way notice my gorgeous wee puppy Hershey who wanted her photo taken too?? She loves the sunshine!

What are you up to this weekend? Anything exciting planned? I'll put up some photos of the new house soon!!

Insta-Fest // August

A little slice of my life in August through my iPhone!! I love this app so much. It's so handy and it makes all my pictures look great! 

Wearing my yellow scarf for the Phoenix soccer game, The view in the yellow fever section at the soccer, sunset through the cabbage trees in Invercargill, A bright, pretty new skirt, a naughty puppy on the leather lounge suite, a gorgeous vintage lace and silk playsuit for $2.50, a cupcake ring I purchased off Etsy, an old school desk I wanted to buy at the Habitat Store in Invercargill, The Habitat Restore I found in Invercargill = love, my awesome vintage patterned glass coffee mug for my office, the most amazing vintage macaroon bag I found at Recycle Boutique for $8, Hershey sleeping on my feet in the sunshine.

Do you use Instagram too? Tell me your username in the comments so I can check out your pics and we can follow each other! My name is Sparkleylining. 

  

Recipe Post // Fruity Friands

I can honestly say I had never tasted a friand until I was asked to bake them at the cafe I used to work at - it was love at first bite! I was so proud of my friands as I watched them like a hawk until they were the perfect amount of golden brown before removing them from the oven. It got to the point where my assistant would prepare the muffins 2 days a week but she always left the friands to me!

The other bonus of these friand were they were gluten free. We used rice flour instead of ordinary flour and along with the other ingredients including egg whites, icing sugar and ground almonds you ended up with a tasty, moist little cake topped with whatever fruit was readily available.

I made these ones the other day at home for the bf to take to his work shout. (aren't I a good girlfriend?!) I just used ordinary flour as that was what I had available, but if you wanted to keep them gluten free stick with the rice flour!

Fruity Friands

4 Egg whites

3/4 C Almond meal

2/3 C Flour (or rice flour)

3/4  C icing sugar

90g melted butter 

Fruit to garnish

Set oven to 190C, on bake.

Spray a friand tin (oval shape, or you could use a muffin tin) with an oil spray or grease with a little melted butter.

Separate egg whites into a medium size glass bowl, make sure to avoid getting any yolk in your egg whites or they won't whisk! (**tip: If you struggle to separate eggs, crack egg onto a saucer, place a small glass upside down over the yolk to trap it and carefully hold saucer and glass in place while tipping egg white into the bowl - repeat for each egg) 

Measure almond meal, flour/rice flour and icing  sugar into another bowl and fold gently to combine. 
 Melt butter in the microwave in a microwave-safe dish.

Using a hand-held whisk or electric beater, whisk the egg whites until you have soft peaks. (this means when you lift the whisk out, the egg white will rise up in little peaks and fold over at the top)

Carefully pour the melted butter in to the egg whites, then add the combined dry ingredients. 

Fold all together until they are just combined - be very gentle as you want to keep the air bubbles in the egg whites so the friands will rise!

Spoon into friand tins until they are approx 3/4 full. (this recipe should make 6)

Place in oven and bake approx 5 mins, until the tops are firm-ish and starting to colour. 

Take out of the oven and place one piece of fruit on top of each, pushing it down slightly so it sticks. (the middle should still be liquid!)

Place back in the oven for another 5 - 10 mins until the tops are golden brown and the inside is cooked. 

Rest in tins for a couple of mins then place on a cooling rack. 

Makes 6. 

Hope you try them out at some point! They certainly are tasty, and actually make a nice little dessert with a scoop of ice cream or some custard...

Outfit Post // Crimson in the Snow

 Red Jersey - Uknown (Trademe), Black Skirt - Recycle Boutique, Black Tights - Won from Razzamatazz, Black Boots - The Warehouse, Grey Scarf - Postie Plus

While Dunedin and Christchurch have plenty of snow lying around, down here in Invercargill we're a bit lacking in that department! Plenty of snow flurries, but not really enough to settle...yet. Lucky little me is getting a 4 day weekend while I wait for the guy to come hook up my interent for work so I'd quite like some white stuff to frolick in while I have nothing else to do!

I managed to take these photos in the middle of a snow flurry this morning. I'm wearing my newly purchased vintage bright red jersey I got off trademe last week. I wore it to work the day after I got it, when I also had an appointment to get some blood tests. I managed to pass out which was lots of fun and when I woke up all the nurses were saying how nice my jersey was as they propped me up on the bed! Whoops, that made for an exciting afternoon....

I hope everyone is keeping warm, I love winter so much but I usually only love snow when its enough to be fun as you get a day off work, not when its only a sprinkle which is inconveinient!!

Does anyone have any good winter food ideas I could try out? Especially lunches I could make at home for the bf when he comes home for lunch!