Friday Favourites: Away we go on a picnic!

It's Friday again, but it's not just any Friday!
It's the last Friday of the schooling term, and I join the kids in the fluttery excitement that is to come in the form of two weeks of holidays!

So much so that I'm starting to plan my picnics, and my dresses. Because really, what could be more exciting right?


So today's friday favourites is based around that: Dressing up. Oh what fun!

First you need a dress. It can't be just any dress, it has to be the perfect spring weather picnic dress.

This one from windyhillfibers is the perfect dress.



Isn't this just absolutely scrumptious?

And after we have the dress, we need something to add that little bit of accent..

How bout this brooch from BrokenHallelujah?



Let's not forget something for our hair! Aha! The whimsical floral comb from whichgoose will do beautifully.




And grab a basket from ashleyeaston




And away we go!



Would you like to be featured on my Friday Favourites? Leave a comment with your shop link and I'll add you to the list!!

Friday Favourites: Away we go on a picnic!

Daring Cooks September Challenge

Apart from crafting, I also really love to cook. That's precisely why I am the size I am now, instead of what I was 4 years ago.
In order to challenge my cooking abilities and to learn new things to tease the palate with: I joined the beautiful bunch over at Daring Kitchen where monthly challenges are given out by different hosts.



For september, we were given the challenge of making Indian Dosas. According to Wikipedia, the dosa is a crepe made from rice and black lentils. Typically a South Indian dish, it is eaten for breakfast or dinner. You can read more about the origins of the Indian Dosa by clicking on the Wikipedia link.

First, the recipe:

Indian Dosas
This recipe comes in 3 parts, the dosas, the filling and the sauce. It does take awhile to make, but the filling and sauce can be made ahead and frozen if need be. You can serve them as a main course with rice and veggies, or as an appetizer. This does take a little planning ahead, so make sure you read the recipe through before starting

Serves 4

Equipment needed:
large bowl
whisk
griddle or skillet
ladle (or large spoon)
spatula
vegetable peeler &/or knife
large saucepan
food processor or bean masher

Dosa Pancakes
1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)
½ tsp (2½ gm) salt
½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder
½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder
½ cup (125ml/4oz) almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.)
¾ cup (175ml/6oz) water
cooking spray, if needed

Dosa Filling
1 batch Curried Garbanzo Filling (see below), heated

Dosa Toppings
1 batch Coconut Curry Sauce (see below), heated
¼ cup (125gm) grated coconut
¼ cucumber, sliced

Dosa Pancakes
1.Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.
2.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.
3.Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter. Makes 8 pancakes.

Curried Garbanzo Filling
This filling works great as a rice bowl topping or as a wrap too, so don't be afraid to make a full batch.

5 cloves garlic
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)
2 medium hot banana chilies, minced
2 TBSP (16gm) cumin, ground
1 TBSP (8gm) oregano
1 TBSP (8gm) sea salt (coarse)
1 TBSP (8gm) turmeric
4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans)
½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste

1.Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.
2.Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

Coconut Curry Sauce
This makes a great sauce to just pour over rice as well. This does freeze well, but the texture will be a little different. The flavor is still the same though. My picture of this sauce is one that I had made, had to freeze, then thaw to use. It tastes great, but the texture is a little runnier, not quite as thick as it was before freezing.

1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ (2½ gm) tsp cumin, ground
¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)
3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder
3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)
3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth
2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, diced

1.Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.
2.Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
3.Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
4.Let it simmer for half an hour.

So first we have the ingredients. Pictured is most of the fresh ingredients:



I didn't actually end up using both onions. I'm not a huge fan of onions and found that the 1 massive onion was quite enough to fulfill both recipes that required it.

Most of the cooking time was taken up by the preparation time. Here you see some of the ingredients all chopped up.



I also added potato into the mix of ingredients for the Dosa filling. I had one lonely potato rolling in the fridge and it is a well known fact that potatoes and curries go really well together, so in it went. I was very lucky as I had a helper on hand to help me with the preparation and chopping of ingredients. It would have taken twice as long! As it were, preparing and cooking took me a full 1.5 hours. But I had fun while doing it, stopping to steal the occasional cucumber slice off the plate as well.

I must also admit to being a somewhat spontaneous cook. I am not one to stick to measurements strictly and after trying to shake out a tablespoon worth of grounded cumin, I decided to forget about the measurements and go with my tastebuds. It worked beautifully.

I also added about three times the recommended amount of curry powder into the Coconut curry sauce as before that it merely tasted of coconut milk and nothing else. I was unable to find grated coconut so I left that out as well. And since this was lunch and we don't generally have a heavy lunch, I also left out the rice.

And the result?



The Dosa stuffing was incredibly yummy and I will definitely be doing that again with more variations to it for future dinners. The coconut curry sauce was amazing even with other dishes, we still have a bowlful in our fridge waiting for tonight's dinner! The next time I do this, I'd probably lessen the ingredients for the sauce as it produced way too much for even 4 people, and increase the ingredients for the pancakes by about 3 times as I ended up making three seperate batches due to the pancakes not being quite sufficient. And no, I didn't 'go with the wind' with the measurements for the pancakes, so I definitely am not sure how you are supposed to conjure 8 pancakes out of the rather little mix!

My verdict: A success! I love this, and will definitely do this again. I do believe my lunch guest agrees with me as well!

Daring Cooks September Challenge

Asian Ball Jointed Dolls and Me

I am one of those who can never sit still. I always have the urge or the need to do something. As a result, I have quite a number of different hobbies and today I will be showing you one of them.



Asian Ball jointed dolls (BJDs) are artist sculpted dolls that have been cast in resin. They come in various different sizes and are made by quite a number of different doll companies from around the world.

They are highly customizable artist dolls. The eyes, hair and even the face (compromising of the eyebrows/lashes, lips and sometimes cheek blushing) are removable and can be changed to suit your own wishes. They are fully jointed like human beings and can sit / stand on their own. The head, limbs, hands and legs can be interchanged with a different doll with the condition that they fit the sockets and clothes, shoes and accessories in all manner and style can be purchased or made for them.

More information about these dolls can be found at the BJD forums: Den of Angels.



When I first got to know about these dolls, I was in love but hesitant to splurge so much money on a doll. The hobby was still very new in Melbourne at that time and I had not yet seen one in person. However it wasn't long before the hobby started becoming more widespread and I had the opportunity to see a few in person at a Melbourne meetup. And as they like to say: Resistance is futile.

I first started with a boy doll. He didn't last very long, being soon resold to the second hand market in favour of a girl doll. She was 60cm tall, and very fetching. To this day, I still have her.

Many years on, I don't just have the one doll anymore. In fact I have quite a number, including a fair number of small ones:



These (the ones on the right anyways) stand at about 26-27cm tall, and are incredibly adorable. One of the biggest reason I loved this hobby was because of the rich variety of different crafts available within the one collector's hobby. You could paint (their faces or tattoos etc); you could sew (clothes!); you could bead and make jewellery; you could be a wigmaker and made wigs for the dolls: the possibilities were endless. And due to the large amount of customizing you could do with the dolls, even if you and another collector had purchased the same base mold to start with, you could end up with two completely different looking dolls. This appealed to my crave for uniqueness, and it's easy to see why I'm still terribly in love with these collector dolls to this day.

And putting aside the actual customization processes one can find on the doll, if you were a photographer or a writer, or a story teller: you'd be involved as well! Beautiful photos are uploaded to Deviant art and Flickr everyday by amazingly talented photographers and it is just amazing to see how photographers have worked and composed a shot to make the dolls seem absolutely lifelike. It is truly magical.

And if not through photos, people will bring their dolls to life through the written word: characters and storylines that go beyond your wildest imaginations. Stepping into this one collector's hobby opens up a whole new world of a million different paths. It is just amazing.

As it were, it was through these dolls that I first found my love for beading. I started making jewellery for the dolls and slowly ventured out to do human jewellery. So if it were not for these beautiful artist dolls, I would never have known that I loved beadworking and jewellery making quite this much!

It's strange really, how some things can lead to others in a slightly roundabout fashion, but it gets there in the end.



Today, for the first time this year, I made jewellery for the girls again.

And it felt oddly satisfying.

Asian Ball Jointed Dolls and Me

Celeste 0: Sickness 1

Remember my post that I made sometime ago about the DUST team ?

Having mentioned that a new Lindt Cafe had opened in Chadstone on the forums, the Melbourne DUSTers decided that we'd all get together for a cuppa and chocolate. Perfect excuse for a meetup. So plans went underway and on Saturday morning I drove myself over to Chaddie, ready to meet the lovely girls who I've been chatting with so much over the last few weeks.

I was nervous, that was for sure. I'm always nervous meeting new people. But the DUST girls are not really new? In a way, we've been talking for awhile now, so it felt like I knew them, but on the other hand, I've never met them before. And remember the times Mummy would say "never meet somebody from the internet in real life" ? But I had said I'd come, so go I did. And boy was I glad.

It was a small-ish meetup, a quiet sort of thing. There was Karen from Moobeetees; Kerri from VintageSewandso, Andrea from AndyJusty and Sally from Sallysoriginalart and of course, Yours Truly from Little Waltz. We had all agreed to wear something blue, seeing as it was Blue September and DUSTteam was having a blue sale. Karen had mentioned that she'd be wearing a scarf from Rainbow Revolution so I knew straightaway which table I was headed to. (That scarf is absolutely gorgeous btw. Go check out her shop!)

Went over; beating heart; introduced myself. Settled in, and suddenly felt quite at ease. And before you know it, it was time to leave. That wasn't so hard after all! It was great being able to put faces to the names that had been floating around on the forums and it was great conversation too! I'm so glad I went, and am definitely looking forward to the next one.


From left: Kerri's very patient (and stylish) son!, Kerri/vintagesewandso, Celeste/littlewaltz, Karen/moobeetees, Ian/Sally's BH, Sally/sallysoriginalart and Andrea/andyjusty

In the afternoon, I could feel myself gradually sinking. My meds weren't working that great and my nose was just leaking non-stop. However I still had to make an appearance at the student concert organized by one of my employers. I'm glad I went tho. Nothing beats the feeling of pride when your student goes up there and plays beautifully, sometimes even better than expected. It just reminded me so much of the joy and passion I had for music when I was young, it made me all teary-eyed. One of the boys especially played so beautifully, I was incredibly impressed. Think I will have to let him tackle my pet project: The Blue Danube.

No photos of the concert however, since I didn't bring my camera. But if I do get any from the parents later on, I'll definitely share some. I went straight home after the concert and sat in bed nursing my cold. I really wish I didn't fall sick over weekends. I really wanted to do some crafting, but it sure seems like the body would like a rest instead. So rest I did. I did bring wires and pliers to bed however, and spent my awake time (what little of it) making more clouds.

It is now Monday and the Cold is still here. Monster cold, I call it. It's making me incredibly grumpy and seem to come hand in hand with massive headaches and incredible physical tiredness. But it's 2 weeks to the school holidays, and a really bad time to be calling in sick right now, therefore I must march on.

FORWARD --- MARCH!

Celeste 0: Sickness 1

Passion vs Chore

When does a passion become a chore?

Many of us crafters have day-jobs. Crafters come from all walks of life: they may be scientists, doctors, teachers and so on. We sneak in time during lunch breaks, after work hours and during weekends to be able to keep our hobby and small businesses floating. Then there's the other group of crafters who have bid adieu to their day jobs to concentrate wholly on their crafts, making crafting their full time career and livelihood.

So will it always remain a passion, or will it gradually become like the previous day-job: doing it because you have to, and not because you want to?

Let me share a little bit of my story with you.


image by effierizou

I am a Instrumental Music Teacher. My major instruments are Piano and Violin. I have been playing these instruments since I was 4 years old. I grew up in an education system that had no room for music, so all my music lessons were done privately during weekends. Music was my passion and I could see myself in no other career except that as a musician. Upon finishing high school, I threw myself into a Bachelor of Music at Melbourne Uni, dreaming dreams of becoming an outstanding musician.

However some years down the road, I find that somewhere along the way things had changed. I still love music, I still love playing and teaching it, but I find myself associating it with work, stress, and other things that takes the fun out of it. It had became a chore, something I do to enable me to eat and sleep under a roof. Outside of work, I prefer not to talk about it and prefer to listen to anything but classical music. I stopped actively participating in orchestras and ensembles and even cut down the number of concerts I listened to. It makes me wonder just when did the magic of it all disappear?

Many tell me that I am lucky to be able to have my passion as my career and I used to agree. I used to think, how exactly do you go on doing something you didn't love? Now I'm not so sure anymore. If I had been doing something else as my career, would the disenchantment from music have happened?

Don't get me wrong, I take my career very seriously and am passionately in love with teaching. While I'm on the job, I'm always on the ball. I love to teach and I take each and every one of my students very seriously. They are young musicians in the making and I definitely do not want to ruin the magic for them. It is outside of my working hours that I find myself switching off to music, shunning it for other passions.

Like how I used to turn to music, I now turn to crafting. I hesitate to even consider the thought of ever making crafting my day-job as I don't want the magic to end like it did with my passion for classical music. Crafting is what I escape into to get away from Music. I think I'd like to keep it that way.

Of course, this by no means is something that happens to everybody who turns a passion into a day-job. There are many success stories out there like Bec from The Littleshopof. For her and many others, doing this makes them happy and they are quite happy to keep on doing it because of that. I have great respect and admiration for those who are able to do that. Had I been able to do the same, it might have meant that I'd still be able to view music the same way I did as when I was a kid: with big starry eyes and the incredibly strong yearning to learn.

At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you are doing something you love. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it is something you love and it is something that keeps you happy. Because no matter how much my passions have changed and rearranged themselves, they are still part of me. They are still things I am passionate about. And for that I am thankful.

Are you one of those who have taken the step into making crafting your full time job? I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this subject. What measures do you take to ensure that it doesn't become just another chore? It is your strength and bravery that I take courage from, and I'd love to learn more from you. Thank you.

Passion vs Chore

Jewellery Displays - It does the head in.

With Spring off to a slightly wet start, I've started thinking about craft markets even more so than usual. Something about good weather screams outdoor markets and picnics, don't you think? I've put myself down for two markets this December at the Camberwell Sunday Trash and Treasure Markets, but if lady luck shines on me, I might be able to have a place in the brand new market organized by Northside Makers.

However applying for markets is one thing, and being ready for it is another. Part of the preparation process is working out your display. And that's something I'm really picky about. I have an image in my head on how Little Waltz should look like, and I really want to stick to that. You'd think with an image already all sorted out, the rest should be easy right? Wrong. Not with me anyways.

While having the image and the idea is half the battle, that doesn't actually mean I know how I want my pieces displayed. So I turned to Flickr.com to have a look through. I found groups such as: Arts & Craft fairs & shows and Show me your booths that had quite a number of beautiful photos contributed by crafters showing off how they did up their booths.

Here are a few of my favourites:


image by Sugarcookie


image by TheCupcakery Girl


image by Glass Elements


In the commercial market right now, there are different different types of jewellery display. If you were to waltz out there right now, you could probably come home with enough to fill a table. However, the problem for me lies in that it looks commercial. While the lovely white busts look really good in photos; on a craft market table, rows and rows of them remind me of goldsmith shop windows: not a favourite look I'm afraid. I'm a crafter, a handmade supporter. It seems wrong for me to go out there and fork out the money for commercial displays. Is this weird? Possibly. But I think I will sleep better at night for it.

That really leaves two pathways for me to take. Either I make my own displays stands, or I salvage something vintage and recycle it, modding it to suit my needs. There's always the ever popular corkboard on a stand: I've tried it, and have noticed that it potentially poses as a safety hazard (It pushes over easily). And winds or crowds can easily do that.

I also have to be aware of the very real time constraints that I will have while setting up, and packing up. I can't take hours uhm-ing and aah-ing over my table. So whatever I come up with will have to be easily packed up and put away efficiently.

And then there's the clutter aspect to be careful about. It can't be cluttered for that will just look messy and buyers will lose interest if they get lost within your own goods on the table. The presentation must be eye-catching or potential buyers will wander past without a second glance.

All these and so much more to think about: Just how do you decide on one? It seems to go on and on and on, and I'm ever so afraid of making that first step.

But when push comes to shove, I know I will come up with something that will do myself and my pieces justice. It's only that right now, I have absolutely no idea what that is.

Jewellery Displays - It does the head in.

It's Spring!

Before we begin, let me start by saying, this is going to be a long entry.

Did you grab that cuppa? Good. Now we are ready.

It's Spring!

For us here in Aussieland anyhow! The sun was out and shining with all its might today. Clear blue skies with the odd lazy white puffy clouds. It was such a perfect day for a picnic!





Just look at those blooms I spotted over my neighbour's fence! I hope he didn't think I was trying to peep into his house when I was desperately trying to prop myself just that bit taller so I could take a clear shot of them. It's not very convenient being short sometimes.

But they are quite the beauty, aren't they? And they do make one feel terribly happy inside.

Unfortunately for me, the spring warmth didn't quite extend to the inside of my house so it's still rather much like winter inside! We seem to lack insulation.. Ah well.

You know what else comes with spring? Beautiful beautiful yummy fruits!





Okay, so that's just a lemon, but it's a beginning! I've been craving for some sweet mangoes and watermelons... it won't be long now!

I do so love Spring! So much so that I had to come up with something that would always remind me of the sun's warmth.


Check out this sparkling sun brooch!


You can purchase it here


Made with swarovski crystals (an abundance of them!) and artist craft wire, it will sparkle and shine in the sun, dazzling you with its pretty colours! Go ahead, get one. You know you need one for this season's spring and summer!

Features

Little Waltz was featured a few days ago on Indie Craft Corner, pop by to have a read of my tiny story!

I also managed to snag another treasury:



Swan Lake


I'm so in love with the Purple dress! That seller is so incredibly talented! I'll hopefully have a full feature of her sometime soon, but until then, go check out her store here. Her dresses are so simple yet so incredibly creative!

That's it for today, I did warn you it was going to be long!
I hope you have been doing well, do drop in and say hi!

It's Spring!