sunny days and baked treats

It's amazing what a sunny day does to ones general mood. I feel happier, lighter, and more inspired. 

To celebrate this unusual burst of Winter sunshine I decided to bake a custard tart. It's currently cooling on the kitchen bench, it's my first attempt at gluten free pie crust but so far I'm happy with how things look. Well, perhaps not 100% happy with the crinkled tea towel in the photograph, but it's too nice a day to be inside ironing....

Have a lovely weekend wherever you are x

hello winter! it's sale time.

It's the first day of Winter but instead of feeling gloomy we're happy to announce that we're on sale! From now until the end of June take 40% off all stock in our Made It store. Hooray!

And it's not just our snap wallets that are on sale - you'll also be able to pick up any of our other products for a reduced price. Including our new cushions!

Happy weekend x

simple living: the price of materialism

Today I wanted to share this short video on the price of materialism, and some of the things we can do to move towards a happier, more sustainable way of living. 
I like how the video talks about social and community values. How spending more time with each other, and connecting with our local community, is the way forward. I like to think that I am making an effort in this area by supporting independent local businesses, and buying handmade or second hand when I do need to make a purchase. But I know I still have a way to go! 
I'd love for you to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below! 

it's cold so cheer up with cushions

Winter will be here in a few days (brrrrr) but what better way to cheer oneself up than with a bit of redecorating. It's only taken me, oh, about 2 years, to get our range of cushions photographed and available for purchase online. 

The cushions are available as covers only to save you postage. But if you are like me and will leave the cover sitting at home indefinitely while you get around to buying an insert, then never fear, for I have listed some lovely plump inserts in the store also. I'll even stuff your cover for you, so all you have to do is unwrap your parcel, place the cushion in a cozy spot, and relax with a cup of tea. I'm very excited about our new inserts, they are made from 100% recycled drink bottles - every insert saves 30 bottles from landfill! 

This is just a small selection of the cushions available - for the full range please visit our Made It store.

simple living: weekend inspiration

"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens" - Kahlil Gibran.

simple living: a story about a cat

On Sunday night I had a cat follow me home. I found him sitting in a garden in a public place, meowing loudly. I bent down to say hello and he came over and jumped on my lap - I then noticed how skinny he was, and that despite his affection he was in some distress. I went in search of some food and water and watched him eat it faster than I can eat a piece of cake (now that is saying something!). By now I was getting somewhat attached to the cat and could not leave him there, it was clear he was lost or abandoned. So with the help of a friend I boxed him up and took him home with me.

He was quite an inquisitive cat yet you could sense his confusion about what was going on. He meowed and meowed but every time I bent down to pat him he would stop, and start purring instead. He just needed some love, affection and some food to be content.

And it got me to thinking - humans and animals are not really that different in our basic needs. We both need somewhere warm to shelter, something in our bellies, and a bit of love and affection. When you look to nature, you will see that everything is provided for the natural world to keep doing what it's doing. The sun will always come. Rain will fall. Animals and plants will be born, live their life, and meet their death.

And so will we.

Now, if the universe, or God, or whatever you choose to call it, provides everything for the plants and the animals, then why not us? Why do we feel the need to complicate things, to endeavour for so much when in actual fact we really need so little? Have we have lost our belief in something greater than us, that collective 'energy' that always has our best interests at heart?

I have learned many lessons from the little black cat that came into my life this week.

Lesson 1: Have more faith that everything will be ok.
Lesson 2: I have everything I need right now to be happy in this present moment.
Lesson 3: I do not need to worry (so much) about the future.

Love sweet love banner by Victorian Station on Etsy. 

Perhaps the biggest lesson I've learnt is to show more love, not just to those people who are most important in my life, but to all living beings. We are more connected than we realise, and love is a wonderful thing that we have in endless supply, so why not share it as often as we can?

Happy weekend x

PS. For those wondering about the fate of the little black cat, I took him to the vet on Monday morning and through the wonders of technology (and micro-chipping) we contacted his owner who was very excited to know his cat had been found after 2 months of being away from home! I love a happy ending : )

diary date: markit @ fed square

One week to go! Pop next Sunday 27 May in your diary for Markit @ Fed Square.

You'll find Rabbit & the Duck in The Atrium - we'll have a few new things and lots of your favourite things, so do stop by and say hello : )

simple living: the beauty of a cup of tea

Image credit: Pumpernickel and Wry.


I'm a big tea drinker and always have a thermos of herbal tea sitting on my work table. Usually I just throw in a tea bag and some hot water and I'm done. Simple.

But recently when I was visiting a friend and asked for some herbal tea, they popped outside to the garden and picked a few leaves of lemon verbena. I'd never had lemon verbena tea before - it's so soothing. I'm now on the hunt for a lemon verbena plant of my own.

And perhaps, just perhaps, I'll need a pretty new vintage tea cup to drink my tea in. I'm particularly fond of this Queen Anne one from Pumpernickel and Wry on Etsy.

simple living: homemade paneer

Image credit: IndianSimmer on Flickr.

I love cheese. And I love Indian cooking. In my quest to simplify and make more things from scratch, I've been learning how to make my own paneer. It's so simple! Here's what you do:

Bring 3 litres of full-cream milk to the boil. Make sure you stir it so it doesn't stick to the bottom. Nobody likes burnt bits of milk in their cheese.

Just as the milk comes to the boil, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice from 1 freshly squeezed lemon. I've also used bottled lemon juice and it works just fine, you may need slightly more though. You'll know you've used enough when the solids start to separate and the liquid turns a clear yellow-greenish colour.

Leave your saucepan to sit for a few minutes to allow the curd to separate and clump together.

Strain everything using a very fine mesh sieve. You can line the sieve with cheesecloth but I'm too lazy to do this.

Slowly press the cheese with a spoon to remove as much liquid as possible.

Press your cheese into a container, and put in the fridge until you need to cook with it (ideally I would use this cheese within a day or two).

I love to have panfried paneer with some veggies. Another favourite recipe is Malai Kofta - fresh cheese balls served in a creamy tomato sauce. I use a recipe from the inspirational vegetarian chef Kurma Dasa, there is a copy of the recipe on the Happy Dacks blog (cute blog name!).

Happy cooking!

raindrops and rainboots

It's a chilly, rainy, wintery day in Melbourne - just perfect for pulling on your favourite pair of wellies and stomping about in puddles, or the garden.

I've just bought myself a new pair of floral rain boots from good old Target, but I also have quite a liking for these beauties....

1. Pink Check Wellies from The Welly Shop (UK).
2. Marine Stripe Gumboots from Wellies Online.
3. Red Stripe Rainboot from Target (US).
4. Red Petite Gumboots from Wellies Online.
5. Purple Spotty Rainboots (I loved these but couldn't find where to buy them).

Perhaps the rain is not so bad after all....

simple living: still on the topic of treehouses

Ooooo..... a secret treehouse in the woods of Canada! This treehouse was built on crown land and it's fate is now uncertain - visit The Hemloft to read the inspiring story behind the treehouse and to make suggestions as to what should happen next. 

finders keepers

We had such a lovely time at the Finders Keepers market, thank you to everyone who stopped by our stall to say hello, buy us cupcakes, purchase our products, or chat about random things. I forgot to bring my camera with me but the lovely Gemma from Jac Whippet was kind enough to send us these beautiful photographs she took of our stall. Thanks Gemma! 

All images courtesy of Gemma @ Jac Whippet.

Our next market event is coming up in May - you'll find us at Markit@FedSquare on Sunday May 27.

Happy Sunday x

simple living: treehouses

I was standing high up above the trees a couple of weeks ago at a lookout in Daylesford when my friend said to me 'you know, I've always wanted to live in a treehouse'. And it got me to thinking, that yes, that would be a pretty cool way to live. I'm not saying I'm giving up my obsession with yurts, I'm just considering all options : )

Anyhow, here are some inspiring tree houses that I've been dreaming about this week:

Image credits: Treehouse Workshop.

Source unknown - if you are the owner of this image please let me know!

And of course, I had to show you this one - a yurt in a tree! Perhaps this is the answer to all my life's questions....

cake it to the limit

We've spoken previously about my love of the Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book.

So you will understand my excitement when I discovered that my friend Felicity has taken on the challenge of baking every single cake from the book. One cake per week. A project that will take about 2 years to complete. Felicity is already a few weeks into the challenge and I'm impressed by the results - this is one serious baker, my friends.

Felicity's typewriter cake.

You can follow the cake baking progress on her blog Cake It To The Limit. It's perfect reading when paired with a cup of tea. And a piece of cake.

diary date: finders keepers next weekend!

The Finders Keepers market is back in Melbourne next weekend and we're excited to be having a stall there - along with our regular products we have been busy tidying up the studio and will have a few extra bits and pieces with us including a sale basket, some fabric scrap packs, some fat quarter pieces of both new and vintage fabrics, and if it will fit in my car, a suitcase full of vintage loveliness at bargain prices.

You'll find our stand at the very back of the hall, on the opposite side from the live music stage.

We hope you'll stop by and say hi : )

simple living: the woodland home

Wow! My love of simple, environmentally friendly homes grows every day.

sunny day snapshots part 2

Another sunny day in Melbourne, I'm loving the beautiful warm days paired with cooler mornings and nights.

Today I thought I would share a couple of pictures from the rest of my home. The neat parts at least : ) The cabinet in the living room was a roadside find, can you believe someone was throwing it out? The armchair was another hard rubbish pickup, but I'm still not convinced I'm ok with the whole only-one-armrest design. There is a matching one just out of shot that has an armrest on the other side so you can put them together, but on their own I think they just look a bit.... weird. What do you think?

The second shot is from my bedroom (hm, obvious?). The little vintage Snoopy's were a gift from a friend many years ago. I'm also looking forward to using my hot water bottle when Winter comes. But I'm happy to wait a bit longer for that..... fingers crossed for a few more warm Autumn days before then.

x

simple living: eat local

A little local knowledge from Local Harvest on Vimeo.

Just a quick post today to share this great little video that my friend Fran over at The Forage directed me to.

More info can be found at Local Harvest.

Yum!

an adelaide adventure

The rabbit & the duck are heading to Adelaide! We're on the road at this very minute actually...I sneakily wrote this post last night, I'm probably somewhere in the middle of nowhere right now : )

It's our first event in Adelaide and I'm really looking forward to meeting lots of lovely new people and checking out some of the local design talent. I hope I sell a few things too, to make space for all the things I'm likely to purchase while I'm over there...

Bowerbird Bazaar, 23-25 March

Friday 4 - 9pm

Saturday 9 - 5pm

Sunday 9 - 5 pm

The Stirling Angas Pavilion, Wayville Showgrounds

Goodwood Rd

Wayville, Adelaide

(entrance off Rose Terrace)

new day, for you

A sunrise on a stormy morning is like a beautiful song. Both fill my heart with joy and bring tears of happiness to my eyes that something can be so simple yet so complex at the same time.

The changing colours, the intricate patterns in the clouds, the contrast of light and dark - all joining together to form a wondrous melody that makes me want to twirl around the garden like a little girl : )

Wishing you all a beautiful day x