[engagement shoot sneak peek]

Happy Monday everyone!
Here's a little peek of the engagement shoot we had the weekend before last.

Looking forward to sharing the rest with you!

Have a fabulous week!

Jx

image via sugarblush photography

[almost french]

I did it.  On Monday.

I phoned up and booked myself into French lessons (absolute beginners)!

The new term started the following day.

Perfect timing.

The class was great. Exciting!

I haven't tried learning second language since it was forced upon me in school.

How I wished I realised the value of it then!

Lesson Un down - Mille more to go!

See you soon Paris!

(as soon as I know a little more that just counting!)

Jx

images via pinterest

[look see.]

The next blog I'm paying forward the Liebster Award to is Look See. by Naomi Fenton!

She blogs from Tasmania, which I love! It's a place I'm yet to explore and I love reading her local snippets!
Not only is she slowly building my itinerary for when Daniel San and I make it down there but she also shares her lovely photographs and arts and crafts with us too!

Stop by here and say hello!

Jx

images via look see.

[our engagement thank you cards]

A little while back now, Dan and I celebrated our engagement with a few close family and friends.

I decided it might be nice to design my own thank you cards for our guests so I painted a little watercolour of us both, scanned the image and then created and ordered cards through Vistaprint (extremely reasonable and quick as well!).

I painted us in the very outfits we wore that night!  Only half the recipients realised - the other half must have had a really good night!

Very happy with the final product.

And now we also have a little piece of art as a nice memento of the night.

In other news, we had our engagement shoot yesterday!
Stay tuned!!!
Jx

[under a tree clothing exchange]

It's that time of year again...
The lovely Louise from A Pot of Tea Under a Tree is holding another fabulous clothing exchange!  Bring along your once loved clothes and swap them for someone else's once loved clothes - everyone's happy!

So if you're...
a. in Brisbane
b. have a wardrobe full of clothes that no longer see the light of day but really should
c. enjoy winning stuff and things in raffles, and
d. love supporting meaningful causes... then come on down!

Saturday 21st April 2012

2pm to 5pm

New Farm State Primary School Hall

Cnr Heal and James St

New Farm, QLD

Tickets $30 available here or $35 at the door.

Sadly this time round I won't be able to make it.  Dan and I have our engagement shoot with our wedding photographers that same day!

So give this girl a big friendly hello for me...

Jx

images via teaunderatree instagram - follow her, she's fab!

[so frenchy dinner party]

Last night I had myself a little dinner party with some lovely girlfriends of mine.  I love any opportunity to get creative with table settings.
I was attempting french cuisine for the first time and wanted the table to tie in with the menu.

 Lucky for me our Ikea cross-back chairs look a little french provincial.

 I found these very sweet shallow bowls at a great price at Target which added a vintage feel.

I used a strip of cream hessian from Lincraft and frayed the edges a little for a table runner.

 I picked up these amazing Dahlias from the local market.

The small stems looked so sweet in Nan's bud vases!

 And now for the food...

Entrée

Goats Cheese Soufflé

with Spinach and Walnut Salad

Main

Slow cooked Lamb Shanks

with Tomato, Cannellini Beans and Thyme

Dessert

Warm Cherry Almond Clafoutis

served with Creme Fraiche

They were all really delicious and easy recipes to follow!

Find them here, here and here!

We also made sure to have a drop of Champagne as yesterday was 6 months until our wedding day!

Speaking of weddings, I'm off to one now.

Best start getting ready! Jx

[looky what she won on ebay...]

Daniel San and I have been searching for a cast iron garden set for little while now.

I very nearly had him convinced that we should buy a similar set at a second hand shop in Brunswick Heads last time we were visiting.

Lucky we didn't.  We found this baby on ebay and at $41 it was ours!

It was the first time I'd ever bid on anything and you should have seen what an anxious mess I was with 10 minutes to go, on my phone, on a saturday night, in a cocktail lounge.

This morning we took a little drive down the coast to collect our win.

 

There's no doubt it needs a little love - all the more fun I say.

I've been on the Dulux website creating my powder-coating colour shortlist.

Rather than sticking with the traditional white, I was thinking either a pale apricot, greeny/mint or turquoisey/jade colour.

 

We're really looking forward to having our morning cuppa on the balcony - our outdoor space still needs a little attention!

Which colour would you choose?!

Jx

colour images via dulux

[pretty inspiration boards]

Happy Pseudo-Friday everyone!I feel busy! Really busy! I'm sure it's because the world stops over the Easter long weekend which creates a tidal wave of over-shopping and a sense of urgency with every task on the to-do list.
Here's a little "inspiration board" inspiration from A pair and spare to get you in the weekend organisational mood.

And now for mine

(a tad smaller and less inspiring)

Simply cover two plain cork boards with fabric using a staple gun.

An easy peasy way of sprucing up the study nook!

and here's a little watercolour of mine.

Enjoy the rest of the week folks...

...what's left of it anyway!

Jx

[just something i'm working on deer]

Last night it was my friend Adie's turn for a hens night.

She's marrying her man in two weeks from now.

I remembered as she was donning the mandatory flashing tiara and veil that I had not yet given nor completed her engagement present.

As they too are still in decoration mode of their own unit, I thought I might paint them a little watercolour.

It's now a very belated gift!

I think it will look quite sweet once it's done - hopefully before they become Mr and Mrs!

I hope they think so too!

Jx