A Collection of Thoughts

'Teapot' Issue One

Thank you all so much for the lovely welcome and warm wishes towards our newest venture.  As we said yesterday, we're really excited to be able to share Teapot with you and have had so much fun (truly!) putting together our very first issue.

We're popping in tonight to share a few sneaks from issue one with you all.

Link it, play it, stitch it, make it, bake it, found it, print it, scrap it, read it and play it are all making an appearance in this edition and we've based our first issue around a patchwork theme, but you can also expect to see lots of other snippets inside that aren't patchwork based.  

We've mixed it up a bit, as we'll be doing with all of our future issues to keep it fun!

To make it easier we have popped the subscribe section right here in this post - so you can sub straight away.  Within 24 hours you will recieve a welcome newsletter with a step by step mini album for you to create as a thank you from us.  Here's a peek at the album:

 

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  We have two issues planned for May :)  Thanks for joining us over our teapot.

 

 

 

 

A collaboration over a "Teapot"

You may have been wondering what all our cryptic comments were around tea :) well it's time to finally reveal what Mel and I have been madly brewing up!

We love our readers and there are so many of you! (thank you so much ) and we love sharing our projects with you so together we have created a newsletter called

Teapot -  Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.

It's really an extension of both of our blogs - with a co ordinated approach.

Each Teapot issue is themed and will arrive directly to your inbox. 

 

What is teapot? Teapot is a collaboration between  A Collection of Thoughts and  One Crafty Mumma combining our love of creating and every day life.

What can I expect to read about in an issue of Teapot?  We have lots of regular features planned in our newsletter including tutorials, recipes, book reviews, crafting for children, sweet printables, scrapbooking, sewing, op-shop finds and so,so much more. We hope to inspire and encourage you to create, play and have fun in the process.

I already follow your blog, twitter account and facebook fan page, do I need to sign up for your newsletter as well? Yes, we'd love you to!  We try hard not to duplicate any information shared in these places onto our newsletter, it's all new and refreshing content.

Our sign up details will be ready for you tomorrow- with fingers crossed we just have a couple more little bits of testing to do to make everything run perfectly. 

We will be back tomorrow with a little look at our first issue and all the details on where you can sign up.  We will also have a lovely teapot badge for you to add to your blogs as well if you wish.

Our first issue will be out during May and we have a tutorial gift for every subscriber - we will share this with you tomorrow as well.

 

Mother's Day

Today was an interesting day - watching the girls be so involved in the process of choosing gifts and making stuff. Richard told me he had noticed a real change in their ability to do things -so very capable.

I was so totally totally spoilt  ( deserving of course ROFLOL) and with Richard about to head off for two weeks to Melb and NZ  I once again take my hat off to single parents - I do not know how they do it. I am more apprehensive than usual we ave new bus routines that don't marry up with my work times and our neighbour who we rely on heavily is away as well - anyhow I'll worry about that all tomorrow - so it was lovely to have a day of being spoilt.

The morning started super early with whispering at 6.00am and then doors were closed andthey were all gone - I thought - oh a day to myself ? LOL  No they had headed off to the markets to get flowers. So I took the chance to get up early and enjoy a cup of tea in the quiet. I later realised one little possum was still snugged up asleep in her bed -  girl after my own heart.

I was quick to sneak back to bed when I heard the car returning.

I was suprised with a whole box of gifts and homemade goodies.

Each gift a had a little coupon attached to it - depending on what it was

my wish one had a scratch it in it - new earphones for my long walk :)

Sofia made the hand scrub with a little help from Talia - hence her name is written small- tonight I was treated to a hand scrub after dinner- and its really lovely!

and of course a slew of cards and pictures.

After breakkie we headed to mass and then after that down to Robina for coffee. I know lots of people don't like to see movies alone but I love it - I think it comes from very talkative little people in my home and the constant Miss Miss Miss from the second you put your foot in the school gate each day so I enjoy the quiet escapism.

Water for Elephants was so fabulous and I'll post a little more about that later - ot ehat i was expecting at all.

I managed to find a cardigan I had been coveting for some time in DJ's at 40 % off - o I was pretty pleased.

Home this afternoon to a Zarraffas coffee and some chocolate cake for afternoon tea :) I spent a few more hours working on Mel and my collab project which we think we should be able to share tonight - just a few more tweaks and we are all set.

One of my vouchers was a candle lit dinner - so the girls set the table  with candles and we enjoyed a lovely lamb roast complete with candles of course.

Tonight - I'm Just  Catching -  up on some school work - trying shake this blnking head cold- Richard's trying to get the  girls caught up on some confirmation homework to save me working on it through  the week with them. I have my new slippers on and Im about to make a cup of tea.

 Ill leave you with our attempt at a mothers day photo - 

out of focus blurry the flash is showing the girls aer giggling  - you can see my unmade bed in the background - That's as good as it gets.

Tea and rocky road time - from my box of treats :)

 Hope you enjoyed your day. Thanks for taking time out to visit.

Pinspiration {10}

This is my tenth week of Pinspirations :) and I still love doing them :)

As soon as I pinned that little cushion from Heather Bailey this week I knew it would be used in my colour palette for Pinspiration. The pop of lavender on the grey with an almost mustard green. If you click on through you'll see she has prepared the flowers as a little brooch as well which I totally love and its on my to make radar. I'd like one in a red black cream combination. I don't think I have ever seen that perfume here in Aus if I had it certainly would have caught my eye so  elegant :)

If you are wondering what you have stumbled on - each week I share a colour palette that is inspired by some favourite pins.

Pin cushion found here - first pinned by Me- original  here 

Perfume found here  first pinned by Elsie- original here ( anthropologie )

You can see my other pinspirations here  or on pinterest here

Mother's Day Flowers

via pinterest.com

Some virtual flowers for all my lovely readers  - I wish you a happy day on this Mother's Day Sunday - Hope you get some bubbles of time just for you.

 

Cup Of Tea

via tearriffic.tumblr.com

Over many cups of tea Mel and I have shared lots of ideas - far too many to consider for our Hip Hip Hooray posts so together we brewed up a lovely idea that we are really excited to share with you.

I know its frustrating to read on someone's blog that something is coming soon as I always want to know exactly what - So not to keep you in suspense all the important stuff

It's free

It's crafty

It's brand new

and we LOVE LOVE LOVE it :)

Hand on my heart promise all the details will be ready very very very soon.

 

DIY Mother's Day Gift

We have made this lovely gift for many of the men in our lives for their birthdays along with Father's day - the girls love doing it - thinking about what the recipients favourite treats are and sticking the labels.

via alphamom.com

and so today both the girls have come to me quietly and asked vague questions about where the stickers are they can print on the computer and how do they turn them pink   LOL

At aged 8 they wouldn't make great secret keepers but you have to love them for trying.

So I have had a quick google and found some lovely Mumma style printables which I have now quietly printed and handed over to Richard to execute. No It's not a super surprise for me but the girls don't know I had a hand in it and they are absolutely tickled that Daddy has managed to find some cool crafty thing to put together for Mummy.

Just in case you may like to do something similar in your home here are the results of my  searching.

via www.marthastewart.com

This newspaper printout from Martha - I love that they can fill in what they think.

via www.homemade-gifts-made-easy.com

A series of coupons and they how to make them into a little matchbook set (simple instructions I printed those too)

I actually found another set of coupons here - these are Mother's day ones.

via www.bystephanielynn.com

I'd love this and it's easy to make so I'm hoping they will make some - we already have all the bits.

via www.twigandthistle.com

and of course a quiet door hanger :)  I'm hoping to put it up on regular intervals.

I'm excited to see what they come up with.

Friday Favourites

I often say how Friday night is my favourite time of the -week - My real work week is over and my fun one is just starting. The weekend always stretches out and shows so much promise.

 In our house tonight

I have these waiting for me from our Mother's Day afternoon at the girls school- I whipped from work in time to get to both the girls rooms to make these cute treats with  them - Then we carefully bought them home in little ziplocks - I will enjoy them with my late cup of tea - BOTH of them:) It is mother's day weekend after all

These two are crashed out on the couches still in uniform - Richard's literally yelling at them now to go shower and change dinner is almost ready. The rest of the week is so regimented in the afternoons it's nice to just kick back one night.

Richard is putting dinner together - homemade burgers with Japanese mayo YUM

I am drooling over my gorgeous fabric that has arrived from my vintage fabric swap - I'll be searching for ideas later tonight on how to use these lovely goodies

And my husband will be spending his night like this - he lost two hours of work time today on the phone to Optus who through a clerical error canceled our mobile service.  The frustration is not around the error - stuff happens its the TWO hours that it took to get it resolved - CRAZY wait times and re telling the story over and over  and you have no choice but wait patiently.

Service is back on.

What does your friday night look like?

 

 

The Mum and The Chef- Mushrooms

Welcome to another Mum and the Chef challenge

Katrina from Windsor Deli in Melbourne and  Mish Lilley who is working on a series of her own cookbooks - came up with the idea of this challenge once a fortnight or to take a seasonal fresh ingredient and put your spin on it.

It's been some time since I joined in so I loved seeing this ingredient - and then the whole Mum and chef took on a different turn for us when Talia announced she wanted to make the recipe.

So she became the chef :)

1. Mushroom Bokeh, 2. yeah can I get a large with mushrooms and bokeh,3. mushroom bokeh, 4. MUSHROOM!

I have to say it's not gourmet in anyway but it's yummy and a great whip up dish - perfect for a rushed week night and good in lunches the next day too

Chicken and Vegetable Cheesy Pasta

• 200gm mushrooms sliced
• onion diced
• 1 BBQ chicken remove skin and bones and break into bite sized pieces
• 1 head of broccoli chopped
• 1/2 cup tasty cheese grated
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 2 cups milk
• cherry tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons garlic
• 375 gm bow tie pasta

 

1. Put the water on to boil for your pasta

2. In a saucepan melt the butter

3. Add the onions and garlic and cook until softened

4. Mix in the flour and leave on heat until bubbling stirring well.

5. Add the milk small amounts at a time stirring well to create a white sauce.

6. Add in the broccoli and chicken and allow to simmer

7. Drain your pasta and mix the sauce through - add the grated cheese and halved cherry tomatoes.

 

Here is my little chef -  we adapted a recipe we found on SFI

Chopping the tomatoes - NO IDEA why she was using a bread and butter knife LOL

YUM - and yep eating  dinner on the couch in front of masterchef - it's not good for our family dinner time :)

 

Check out some of the other Mum and Chefs too

• Katrina Higham
• Michelle McKinnon
• Mish Lilley
• Gourmet Girlfriend
• Ani - Food Glorious Food
• Tammy James

Thanks Katrina and Mish for another great challenge :)

Pinterest Linkys {4}

This week I have an amazing blog to share with you that I found via this pin on pinterest.

The blog belongs to Jamie who is a photographer in NYC. Apart from amazing photos and a beautifully styled blog her images - move.

Here is a quote from a fan on her blog

THIS IS THE FUTURE

Through my new friends at tumblr headquarters I’ve recently come in contact with a very talented new photographer named Jamie. She and her fiancée create these unique images she calls “cinemagraphs” - more than a photo, but not quite a video.

Mark my words friends, this art form is the way of the future.

 You can see all her cinemagraphs here

After seeing this I spent ages reading back through her posts and looking through all the different categories.

 I loved her polaroid shots

 but I especially loved her dinner and a movie series - such an awesome idea!

She matches a movie to a meal that she makes herself and photographs - DIVINE photography.

There are just so many other categories so you must go visit - but make yourself a warm drink before you head over - It's one of those beautiful places that you just don't want to leave.

If you are new to my blog welcome - this is a series I write each week on interesting links I have found via pinterest. You can catch up on this series over here