Cake Decorating and freshening up the home

My friend and I have been making and decorating cakes for my birthday. We have only just started practicing and we are so pleased with the result.

We played for hours making the little flowers by watching tutorials on YouTube.

Lately ist's been so busy here, we have also been painting and decorating the house.

It all started because our gas coal fire gave out. After purchasing and installing a new one,we decided to paint right through the house.

Like all things once you start where do you stop.

First it was the lounge room. We settled on cream beige for the walls with garnet on the chimney breast,all by Solver Paints. We love their paint,it's so thick and easy to apply

In my next post I will share more of our new look in our home.  Until next time happy organizing

Jeanette Ann 

whats in the cupboard soup

At the end of each week, ie Friday,I make up a big big pot of soup with all the bits left in the fridge.
Today that included
Cauliflower,onion,carrots, pumpkin, tomato, celery and an assortment of dried beans and lentils also a few chicken leg bones, but you can add whatever you have. You could even add leftovers too and a couple of glugs of Worcester sauce.  I stirfried the chopped vegs in a few glugs of olive oil before adding anything else.

Add a few heaped teaspoons of chicken stock powder and cover the whole lot with hot water. I also added a half bottle of tomato puree I had left over. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper but not too much as you can taste and add later.
I added some fresh herbs from the garden near the end of cooking time.

Simmer away for a couple of hours until beans are tender.

Result,a big pot full of steaming goodness. Serve in big bowls sprinkled with parsley and some grated    
parmesan cheese and a chunk of good  bread. MMMMMM enjoy.

A lovely pot of warmness on a cold Winters day Enjoy

Xx jeanette annn

Bits and bobs from my week

I had a shock recently. My cholesterol test came back extremely high risk

I opted instead of medication to normalise it,I would try diet and exercise first

My Gradaughter and daughter have been on the IsAgenix programme since Novermber

and have found it life changing. 

I thought I would try it too,so I've joined the Healthy Ageing Challenge

and will keep you posted on my progress

Nice fruity shakes are on the menu

I love this one with blueberries and bananas

and orange juice straight from our tree

Freshly baked wholemeal bread that is so good you can eat it

without butter 

( I don't eat the cakes,they are for my ladies in my sewing class :)

Some of the recipes I make are in my book

available from

sbpra.com/jeanetteodonnell/

I've been making lots of baby dresses to sell in my etsy shop

etsy.com/shop/jeanetteodonnell

or on Ebay

I have started my Spring cleaning

not that it's Spring yet but it's so cold it keeps me warm house cleaning etc

I love the look of fresh linen on the line

and love ironing it too

The daffs and narcissi are all blooming and remind me Spring isn't far away 

The pansies are so sweet with their little smiley faces

and who can resist daisies. These reseed all year round

Well that's been my week

How has yours been?

I'll see you at the usual Linky parties

The links are on my side bar 

xx jeanetteann

Sunroom Change around

The sun room doesn't get used much in the middle of Winter,like now

unless we get some sunshine. 

Lately it's been too cold in there as we have had some very overcast days

It was a good time to give it a good change around

I brought out my ruffled table cloth and layered it with another shorter 

one with a ruffle and then topped it with a lace one.

We have a bed settee in here too that we use very rarely

so I keep it loaded up with cushions and a quilt for when the 

grandies come over. They like to cuddle up here,especially at Christmastime

Some of the daffodil and hyacinth bulbs are in bud

so I brought some in here to enjoy,as I have quite a few in pots

I potted up some ferns too,when we moved them to make way for more veggies

I didn't have the heart to put away my family of bunnies after Easter

so they stayed out amongst the vintage bottles

Daisy is getting a little faded in this spot as it gets lots of sun in Summer,

but she doesn't mind

A handy cabinet for my white dishes and Pyrex.

Well back to more pottering

See you next time or 

at the linky parties. The links are on my side bar

Or visit me at my other blog

Heirloomtreasuresbyjeanetteann.blogspot.com

xxjeanetteann

Organizing my button collection

I have quite a large collection of buttons.

I usually get them from charity shops,so they need a good sorting through

It's a job I enjoy but find it hard to make the time.

This week I made the effort and got a little carried away.

I gathered together some recycled jars in different sizes

Decorated them with tea dyed lace and embellished some with 

these little jewels (vintage earings with the backs removed)

I just glued them on

I covered some jars with a piece of vintage curtain lace,glued on

I really do enjoy organizing and this little project was very worth while

What are you organizing this week

I am joining some linky parties this week 

The links are on my side bar

Happy organizing

x jeanetteann

To Polish or not to Polish

I am loving my silver at the moment. 

I can never decide whether to polish it or just 

let it be itself and be tarnished.

I actually like it tarnished,but today I polished all my boots and shoes

(not with silver foam) :) with shoe polish

Anyway while I was in the polishing mood I decided to polish the silver.

I quite enjoyed the process on this cold, wet day.

I can now see my own reflection in it

I'm happy with the finished look

I like silver teamed with  crystal too,so I must sort that out next 

I love sorting out and cleaning when the weather is cold

I always think we should Winter clean instead of Spring,as Spring is

too nice to spend indoors. 

So off to find more to sort out. 

I am joining some linky parties this week for more inspiration

The links are on my side bar and on my other blog

Heirloomtreasuresbyjeanetteann 

I hope you are having a nice week

jeanetteann xx

All the blue came out after the cupboard cleanout

After all the cupboard clean out and sorting recently as in my last posts

It's quite amazing the amount of things I found which I love and don't see 

too often.

So they have been left out for me to enjoy

I love blue and white

and can't resist it when I find a bargain in thrift shops.

It is getting harder to find at a price I can afford now,

but there is a bargain to be had on occasions,like this

duchess set which was embroidered in orange and brown.

I unpicked the embroidery and re did it in the willow blues which I love

I make my own preserves and love to add little fabric covers.

That way they can be part of the decor.

this is my sweet little frog. If you blink you may miss him :)

Crystal Salt and pepper shakers with silver tops. I love crystal and silver together 

A lovely vintage table cloth 

Another vintage table cloth

Tea and biscuits makes a welcome relief after all the tidying.

And a fresh salad for lunch

I hope you enjoyed seeing my blue collection

Join me when I visit The Dedicated House for anything blue linky party

I will also visit a few other parties for more inspiration

The links are on my side bar.

Happy Organizing

Jeanetteann