Have you ever seen the flower of the vanilla bean?

If you have never seen the flower of the vanilla bean, this is it!
Beautiful, orchid like, and oh what a fabulous perfume...
The plant is vine like.
I snapped this variety of vanilla while visiting the island nation of Niue.


Distressed Stamped Décor Pots...


Distressed with white paint, and stamped with cute pictures,
these DIY décor pots, are fabulous for holding bits and bobs.
Or make some for gifts.
 You will need terracotta pots.
I used small sized ones.
All you do is dry brush the pots with white paint.
Dry brushing gives an instant distressed look.
 Use a back and forth motion to brush the paint on.
This brush is really soft and fluffy.
 You can see here that there is not a lot of paint on the brush.
Build up your layers of paint colour until it's to your liking.
Leave to dry.
 Stamping pots is a little bit tricky...
Choose an image that is not too large. Press stamp into black ink.
Make sure the stamp is evenly covered with the ink.
 Roll the stamp as you press it to the shape of the pot.
Practice on a bit of paper that you are holding onto the pot first if you haven't done this before. 
You roll the stamp from the side of the image to the middle and then to the other side while following the curve of the pot using a firm pressure.
Remember - You only get ONE chance to get it right!
 Let ink dry,
then seal pot with a clear coat spray sealer.
Just what I need in the art studio to hold all those bits and pieces.
And so very pretty too!


#distressed #diy #paintedpots #stamping





Dining Table Décor - An Olive Tree In A Pot...

I have seen the potted olive tree idea so often...and I LOVE IT!
Large trees in wicker baskets in lounges, in large pottery urns on porches, 
and small trees on dining tables, or on kitchen bench tops.
It took quite some time to locate the perfect olive tree for this project,
most were at least two metres tall...
just a little large for the table top decorating idea!
But once found, my 60 cm tall olive tree,
 was root-pruned and potted into a new plastic pot, 
Baby Tears covers the soil in the pot.
Which was then placed inside a lovely French pressed metal display pot.
Then a with a few snips of the secateurs, the tree was shaped into a standard.
The dining table runner was updated with this newly made one in neutral grey stripes.
(And yes the table and chairs are on the paint and distress 'To do list'.  :) )
This runner is just a strip of remnant fabric, overlocked and hemmed on all four sides.
For another Mia Bella Passions super easy to make table runner, click the link here:
DIY Table Runner Instructions
It is so nice to make a few simple changes to a room that will instantly give a fresh new look to your décor.
All you need to do is rearrange , move a few things to new places, 
add a new table runner, potted plants or vases of flowers....
What I did is: clear the clutter,
(amazing how piles of papers, and things do appear over time),
added a new dining table runner and the potted olive tree...
It now looks fresh and FABULOUS!!!
So while we are in the dining room, I'll show you around...
This room is the centre hub,
with the TV Room, Kitchen and sitting room all connecting to it.
It's not big, but the flow is good.
 There are two china cabinets in the dining room.
This is the large one.
The vignettes on top  are always changing.
There's an antique heirloom chair  
(Must do up one day!)
That's the a peek at the dining room...
now rocking a potted olive tree.
   :)
Are you inspired to freshen up your dining room?


#olivetree #potplants






How to store walnuts...


The walnut grove in Mia Bella Gardens is having a well earned winter rest...
 And this year there's been a bumper crop of nuts.
 Keeping nuts fresh for any length of time is always difficult, 
because more often than not they will turn rancid and become inedible .
 I love to have walnuts readily available for baking,
 so I thought I would share how I store them.
 I find the easiest way is to freeze them.
And all I do is put the shelled nuts into small freezer bags, and pop them in the freezer.

Then you pull out the quantity needed. Thaw then use. 
Freezer life of the walnuts is one year.


#walnuts #howtofreezewalnuts


Maple Syrup Butter Cookies...



I am loving these cute biscuits...
not only do they look good they taste amazing.
Kind of like a melting moment biscuit but with a maple syrup flavour.
 I have this cool vintage biscuit maker.  There are about four different patterns...
but for these biscuits I chose a daisy flower.
 The biscuit maker pops out the cutest daintiest biscuits.
It is such a fun device to use.

Maple Syrup Butter Kisses

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Line two oven trays with baking paper.

Cream 125 grams butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or paste and 1/2 cup maple syrup.
When creamy and pale add 2 cups plain flour and 1 cup cornflour that has been pre-sifted.
Roll into small balls and flatten with a fork,
or place mixture into a biscuit making device and press out biscuits.
Bake for about 15 minutes until a pale golden colour.
Remove from oven and cool.

When cold,  join biscuits with maple icing:
Cream 50 grams soft butter, 3 tablespoons maple syrup and  1 1/2 cups icing sugar.

yield is about 32 biscuits (not joined.) 

I think it's time for afternoon tea   :)





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