Apple brooch giveaway winner

The winner of the fabulous Dan300 apple brooch giveaway is Sarah Hodgkinson!

Congratulations Sarah! Sarah said she is a teacher and we all know that teachers like being given apples!

I hope you love it as much as I do, Sarah :)

Presents!

Yesterday when I went to visit my friend and her son at the hospital, she gave me a large bag filled with presents from my parents! Yay!

My parents were recently holidaying in Tasmania (again!). They bought me some hand made goodies as well as some cute and functional towels (I don't think I've ever bought a towel - they all get given to me!).

My parents know my tastes very well. Thank you Mum and Dad!

This is what I received.

Two cute guide dog towels and a plain towel.

We used to buy a lot from the Guide Dog Association when I was a kid, but I don't think they have an extensive range anymore. I love these towels.

A hand spun hat from Spindle Tree at Salamanca Place, Hobart. These colours will certainly brighten a winter's day!

A hand crafted leather belt, made in Tasmania. I don't have many belts, so this is very useful!

And the cutest chicken felted brooch from Spindle Tree!

So adorable!

Tasmania is such a creative place. I miss it and want to visit again soon.

Thank you so much for these presents - I feel very special and spoilt! I love you Mum and Dad :)

(PS: Don't forget to enter my giveaway!)

Giveaway!

Tune into Radio Carly now has 150 followers on Google Friend Connect! You will see the current count is 151, but that includes me! (I am sure the blog has a lot more readers though...)

To celebrate and thank you all for your readership, I am doing another giveaway. Another brooch. Because I love brooches so much.

I bought a red apple brooch to give away. It's made by Australian designer Dan300.

(Photo source)

I hope that you like it as much as I do!

All you need to do to enter is to leave a comment on this blog entry. Entries are open to anyone from across the world.

Winners will be drawn next Sunday 1 August.

Good luck!

Superglue, brooches and Ethiopian food

I wanted to share a few of the things I have done so far this weekend. It's been busy but nice.

My Mum was down to stay last night and we went for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was wonderful! Excuse the quality of the photos, I only had my iPhone.



Ethiopian food is to be eaten with your hands. I've never eaten a hot meal from a plate with my hands, other than a burger or a toasted sandwich, or if I pick up a bone to scrape. You wrap the food up with pieces of bread.

For entree we had grilled eggplant that was marinated in lemon and spices.


The eggplant was served with Injera bread.


Injera bread looks like a giant flat crumpet. It's a bit lemony, very soft and delicious.

Mum ordered slow cooked goat cooked with cinnamon and cardamom. It was like a home cooked meal in a slow cooker - so full of flavour. Very sweet and rich.



I ordered raw beef marinated in paprika, onion, lemon and chili. I like my steak mooing, so this meal suited me. Raw beef is nothing to be afraid of if it's done right.


The food was so flavoursome and I will certainly be going back to eat there or get takeaway. Cheap too. Highly recommended!

Today I did TWO HOURS of bellydancing and my calves are tired! So. Much. Shimmying. It was my last week of the term as next Saturday I have uni all day. I will miss class, but I will go again next term.

For the rest of the day, I went to a meeting/BBQ for my volunteer work. It was great to see everyone.

And tonight, I cooked a meal - pasta with seafood.


I wouldn't normally get Weight Watchers pasta, but it was the only egg fettucini in the fresh pasta section at Coles and it was only $3.

I cooked up some of Mum and Dad's homegrown greens, a few halved cherry tomatoes, two cloves of garlic, olive oil and lemon juice, plus seafood marinara mix, salt and pepper.

These are two of my favourite pots. The green one is from my Nanny. It is very old and a bit battered, but it cooks pasta well, and also good for soup. The black one is from a little store in Brunswick - it can go in the oven and microwave and on the stove. I cook a lot of things in there - stews, Asian hotpots and rhubarb are my favourite things to cook in this pot - it seems to allow foods to develop great flavour. I have a taller one too. It was only about $14.



I served it the the pasta.

Really easy, really cheap. And it took about 20 minutes.

I had a glass or two of the best cheap wine you will ever taste - Banrock Station pink moscato for $5.25. I love this glass too. It's a champagne flute, but I use it as a wine glass because it's pretty. I bought a set of six from an opshop for $6.


I decided to watch Mrs Doubtfire for the 4858th time and make some jewellery.

For some reason I can't find my pliers so there was no chain and charm action happening. Glue it was.

Woah. What an adventure.

I have a heap of little things that are pretty but I don't use or are broken. Like hairclips, pendants and charms. I want to use them again, and show off their beauty and cuteness.


I didn't know superglue was so dangerous.

As soon as I managed to open it, it squirted out, over my hands. Then I felt my eyes burning from the fumes. I rushed to the bathroom to wash it off, but it dried quickly. Fortunately my eyes only stung for about 30 seconds.

Dad wasn't home to seek advice from. So I googled it.

Acetone gets superglue off skin. What has acetone in? Nailpolish remover. Guess what - the nailpolish remover I use is acetone free. Because acetone hurts my skin.

So I've just been soaking my hands in warm soapy water, which also does the trick according to Google, but it takes several applications. My fingers are less rigid now, and I've managed to peel some dry superglue off. It doesn't hurt, and I didn't have to go to hospital like I imagined.

I digress.

I had to make my jewellery wearing vinyl gloves and sunglasses. Hah!

Tonight I have made four brooches. I love brooches and have quite a few. And my little thingies from previous accessories were perfect for brooches.


The heart is a clay pendant my Mum bought me from the Henty Field Days (as the song on the ad says, 'go to the Henty Field Days, there's nothing like it anywhere...'). It has a little girl with a bonnet on, watering flowers. I have had it since I was about eight years old and I love it.

The flower is a gold, green and clear plastic clip-on earring. I bought the pair of clip-ons from an op-shop and I've been meaning to make one into a brooch. Not sure what I'll do with the other one.

The dog is a hand-made resin cut out that used to be attached to a hairclip.

And the panda was from a belt I used to wear when I was three years old. The belt was purple and had little pandas printed on it, with the plastic panda as a buckle. I think it's cute.

And that's it so far. Tomorrow I am writing a paper for uni summarising a report about the ethics of researching people who know they are going to die. It's pretty interesting.

Hope you are all having a good weekend.