Recently I needed to separate out some paperwork into two areas. Both area's needed two folders each for them. My vision was to have Blue ones for one area and Green for the other (actually, the colours wouldn't really matter but the colours went with the logos making it easier to remember which was which!) I was volunteering at the LifeLine Book Fest and thought I would grab some cheap folders (at 50c each I was unlikely to ever get a bargain like that again!) and I managed to get two green folders but only one blue one... I found a purple one and in the interests of having everything match (and not spending a penny more than I had too) I bought the purple one and bought it home with the intention of changing its colour to blue... Here's what I did... This folder is one of those ones that feels like its made out of canvas but I suspect hats its a woven plastic of some sort really. : Changing the colour was as easy as simply painting it with water based acrylic

We love peanut butter in our house! When I was a kid, I was the peanut butter girl, my sister the Vegemite girls and my brother allegiances changed daily depending whose side he was on that day! I decided a while ago that the list of ingredients on the side of the peanut butter jar was getting a bit long for me... I mean what do you need all that other stuff for - just how long does it need to sit on a shelf for??? And then I discovered that it was so easy to make at home! This one is a good "cooking" project for the kids. Here's what I do... I buy my peanuts from Food Connect so that they are "good local peanuts" that have only traveled a hundred kilometers or so to me for about $6 for 500gms. These are biodynamically and organically grown as well as being local! Then 1/2 of the packet goes into the blender (I have a VERY small blender!) and I add olive oil as they are being mushed up to get a peanut butter consistency. Stop the blender e

New-to-me brass candlesticks cleaned up and filled with scented candles burning low into the evening... Very relaxing!

I bought these cute wee candle stick holders at the local markets on Sunday - all 3 for $5! I was happy! They looked like they were probably brass but it was hard to tell as they were totally green. I figured that they were either the real deal and I had got a real deal... or they were some cheap and nasty thing and I had bought my self a set of three green tarnished cheap candle sticks.  I thought I'd have a go at polishing them up and see what happened. Here's what I did... First I used a magnet to see if they were solid brass or brass covered steel. The magnet will not stick to solid brass and WILL stick to brass coated steel. If you use this method on brass coated steel you will probably remove the tarnish AND the brass and be left with an uncoated steel object -  you might not want that! These ones seemed to be solid brass as the magnet wouldn't stick in the slightest... Then I pulled them apart (the stick unscrewed from the base) and soaked them in a 50

In recent times I have added four baby chickens to my flock which can be a bit traumatic for both me and the baby chickens at times. I don't buy day old chicks as the cat and dog cant resist them and thinks I am buying them dinner that's able to flap rather than in a dinner in a bowl for a change. I spend weeks if not months worrying about the babies getting out (highly likely) of the big pen or the dog getting in (possible but not probable) or the cat getting in - probably - as soon as I turn my back! My latest acquisitions - a lavender Aracana (right) and a Aracana Cross (Left). They both have the same Dad but different Moms. The lavender Aracana will lay a green blue egg and the cross - probably an olive-y colour - I hope! However once the babies are about two to three months old they look more like the rest of the chickens, who can certainly defend themselves or at least draw my attention quite loudly which usually results in a firm talking to that neither the cat o

We have been hosting international students for the last couple of years which we really enjoy. They all stay for different lengths of time and as they come and go I have developed a system to help them figure out what is their space easily and to know that its ok to use it. Here's what I did... I went to the local $2 shop and bought an Australian animal sticker book - you know the ones with a page of stickers that is repeated over and over on each page and also a set of coasters with corresponding animals on it as I need a single larger picture for this project. To make the tags for the bathroom - I cut up a take away container lid... Like so... And stuck the stickers on to each piece. The ones that were going in the showers got a coat of PVA glue on each side to waterproof them and then got a hole punched in them to hang off the shower hooks  The stickers were a bit small for the drawer markers but I stuck them to a piece of card w

I managed to grow a couple of scrawny rosella bushes in the backyard this year! Not only did they no actually die in either the scorching heat or the flood waters that regularly visited my back yard in recent times but they also survived the chickens, a bunch of weird looking  caterpillars and a rather large grasshopper! So Im pleased! I managed to harvest a bucketful - ok it was a very small bucket - ok it was a very, very small bucket but I was determined to get some sort of food from my garden to my table so I decided to make a batch of jam... that might extend all the way to two jars! Here's what I did... First gather your harvest! Photograph it from many angles to get the best shot of your harvest - you simply cant make good jam if you miss the step! Hmmm - not much light in my kitchen.... Give 'em a bit of a rinse in the sink and then sort out the ones that went rotten during the mammoth photography session. Now rip open your rosella. There