Natural Pebble Door Mat

How do you like my new door mat? We got these great flat stones from Motueka last Xmas and me and my sister decided to turn them into welcome mats. It's so easy, just some heavy duty glue and backing mat. The finished mats go for about $250 down south in gift shops. My next one is going to be a table runner done with smaller pebbles. Will post it once I have completed it.

The puppy has been keeping us really busy (it's a bit like having a toddler to look after) but seem to have resolved the toileting inside issue (Thankfully!!!)

A full on weekend, with Jerry's daughter and partner coming for dinner last night and on Saturday night we took advantage of the fact that both kids were away for the night, so we went to a fantastic little local thai restaurant and relaxed with a bottle of wine. A real treat!!! Had this amazing red curry with coconut milk, duck, grapes, tomatoe and pineapple. Yum!!!!!

Oh so cute puppy!!!!

Sorry I'v taken so long to put in a new blog, but we just got a puppy a couple of weeks ago, and she has been all consuming!!!

We have never owned a dog before, and no one ever told me how much you fall in love with them.

Our new puppy is a 12 week old cavoodle (half cavalier kings spaniel and half rooster) Ha, ha, really a poodle and her name is Ruby. She's the most laid back puppy who loves nothing better than to snuggle up with you. Of course the kids think whe is just the best thing ever.......

We now just have to get the toilet training sorted.... boy thats hard work at the moment, but it gets easier every day.

Love to X-Stitch

Once again, it's a horrible rainy weekend. (It seems like every weekend has been like this lately) so what better weather to go off to the movies, and then to come home and sit by the fire with my new purchase from trademe, a x-stitch kit.. I havn't done a x-stitch since my oldest was a baby (and he's now 12) and I love it! It's so addictive, (but a bit depressing when I realised I was finding it very hard to see the fine holes, so have had to invest in my first pair of reading glasses). Its slow going, but hope to have it framed and up on the wall by Xmas.

By the way, the movie we went to see was Mamma Mia, and what a great movie!!!! One of those feel good movies that has you wanting to leap up and sing and dance in the isle.....

Merryl Streep is great in it (as usuall) so would highly recommend it.

Oh, So Scrumptious Cupcakes!!!!!

With two kids, a full time job and not enough hours in the day, I don’t know how I find the time to bake, but somehow I do. And if you like cakes, then you must try these light and fluffy cupcakes. Yum!!!

My nine year old daughter had a friend over one afternoon and we decided to make cupcakes for the first time ever. Cupcakes are very popular right now and I can see why. They are a perfect treat and not heavy like a muffin. And don’t under-estimate the icing. Cupcakes must be iced and the more decorative the better!

The girls had a ball decorating these with different coloured icing and heaps of different sprinkles, lollies and little bright coloured balls. Of course the best bit was eating them!!! Hope you give them a try, they are well worth the effort.

Vanilla Cupcakes
125 g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ½ cups self raising flour
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 C. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Stir in flour and milk and mix until smooth. Place spoonfuls of mixture into 12 pattty pans, bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and then ice with butter frosting. Makes 12.

New to Blogging

Welcome to my first ever blog.

My name is Lyndele and I live in New Zealand, about 2 mins walk to the beach. I am a busy working mum with two wonderful kids, a loving husband and a friendly black cat. I am a graphic artist at a local printing company and spend my days designing logos, business cards, signs and all that horrible junk mail that you receive in the post. Sorry!!

All these things keep me pretty busy and sometimes fairly stressed!! I hope you enjoy my future blogs with snipets of arts, crafts, books I love, and photos and recipes I'm sure you will enjoy.

Would love to hear from other like minded bloggers and look forward to keeping you updated with new inserts.

Talk to you then.