Tea print by Handz

Brr! The temperature is dropping by the day as we head into winter next week. I’m on my third hot drink of the day just to try to warm up a bit.

With tea and coffee on the brain I’ve chosen to round up some of my favourite tea time essentials for you kitchen.

Click over to see all 20 picks over on Houzz.

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Tomorrow morning we are picking up a new car (!!) which is a tad exciting. We are planning to drive to the coast tomorrow and the hills on Sunday to take it for a spin.

Do you have any fun adventures planned for the weekend?

I have wanted a bar cart for the longest time. I was picturing a gorgeous rounded art deco or mid-century piece, but – even if the budget stretched to an antique – we simply would have nowhere to put it.

My brother-in-law’s partner is a keen painter and when we were admiring the latest piece in her studio recently I spotted the cute Ikea Råskog cart she used for her art supplies.

Not long after, I spotted it on the Ikea website for a steal ($49 down from $79) and immediately raced down to snap one up.

It makes a great bar cart for a small space. The middle shelf is adjustable so we could fit the tall bottles on the bottom shelf and glasses on the middle shelf.

We certainly don’t need hard liquor on hand on a daily basis (we’re mainly wine/beer drinkers) but it has freed up almost an entire cupboard in the kitchen. And you know how excited I get about additional storage space!

I’m also happy that the original mid-century anodised ice bucket that I inherited from my late great-auntie now has a suitable place to be displayed out in the open instead of shoved at the back of a cupboard.

I would still love an antique bar cart one day, but I didn’t hesitate about buying this for the same purpose as it’s such as versatile piece I know we’ll always find a use for it. We’ve already discussed an artists’ trolley and a bar cart, but how about a mobile craft station, bedside table, bathroom storage, cleaning supplies storage or perhaps its advertised use: extra kitchen storage?

Til then, I think I can feel a cocktail party coming on…

What do you think about bar carts? Do you have one?

Silver metallic garland | Paper lantern | Hanging jar votive | Cake dome | Cake stand | Cutlery | Mason jar drink glasses

Since it’s Birthday Month, let’s talk about party style!

I think we all tend to accumulate various party supplies over the years for each occasion, but there are a few basics that are the basis of any party decorating stash.

Choose unpatterned paper lanterns, garlands and clear votives for their versatility and budget-friendliness. Of course, food and drink are a big part of any celebration, so make sure you’ve got cake stands, food platters, glassware and cutlery covered.

I love a mix of neutral basics plus some colourful, quirky touches.

How about you, what’s your go-to party style?

Jessicakes

I spotted a sale on Craftsy recently and went to see what tickled my fancy. I briefly toyed with the idea of a quilting course, having recently found out I’m going to be an auntie (!!) and had visions of cute modern baby quilts.

Then I remembered that I hate sewing. And I work like 60 hour weeks.

Thankfully I came to my senses and decided on something more suited to me: cakes!

My baking skills have definitely improved over the last few years, but I tend to stick to more basic homestyle icing that I can quickly (read: messily) slap on rather proper cake decorating. Unfortunately most cake decorating books and courses seem to be aimed at weddings or kids’ parties – neither of which I have need to cater for – or they are generally a bit old-fashioned.

I don’t need anything too fancy, but I’d love to be able to make some fun and contemporary party cakes.

So I’ve signed up for the Clean & Simple Cake Designs e-course with Jessica Harris (she of the gorgeous cake in the picture). I honestly have no idea when I am going to find the time to do it, but that’s the great thing about Craftsy classes: you can do them when it suits you in your own time.

Who’s going to join me?

This post is sponsored by Crust Gourmet Pizzas.

The Man and I love entertaining (as you may have figured out by now). Sometimes though, during busy times it’s easy to be put off by the time and effort required.

I admit I also have a tendency to get caught up in the menu planning, cooking and cleaning instead of simply focusing on what’s truly important: sharing a meal in our home with friends.

So when Crust invited me to host a pizza night I jumped at the chance to try out a new style (for me) of entertaining.

In the spirit of the no-fuss entertaining, instead of setting the table I simply placed all of the servingware and drinks on the table for guests to help themselves. It creates a much more relaxed atmosphere, don’t you think?

I did pick up a cheap bunch of dried flowers at the supermarket (couldn’t resist) but apart from that I relied on the tried-and-true effect of tealight candles to set the mood.

It was kind of strange actually being able to relax and have a drink with our guests instead of fussing around in the kitchen!

The food arrived and it looked just as appetising as the pictures – how often can you say that about takeaway food?

The salad dressing and pasta garnish were in separate little containers so everything looked fresh (and a bit fancy).

Our friends (who are quite the foodies I might add) agreed the pizzas were really tasty. The favourites were the pesto chicken and white prosciutto pizzas.

The blackforest crumble dessert pizza with salted caramel ice cream (phwoar!) was the perfect way to end the meal.

Thanks to the team at Crust Norwood for our awesome instant dinner party!

I can definitely see takeaway gourmet pizza being an excellent option for simple (yet impressive) weeknight entertaining.

What’s your entertaining style? Does all the cooking and work put you off entertaining?

Disclosure: I was compensated by Crust for writing this review. Opinions are my own.

I was going through some of my recent Instagrams and thought it would be fun to share what I’ve been up to when not chained to my keyboard…

Visiting the Turner from the Tate exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Out and about in the city.

The very cool cellar door of Alpha Box & Dice on a wine tour with friends.

My new business cards.

Product photo shoot with Jen Sando.

I got the bag I wanted for my birthday, yay!

My stall backdrop at Bowerbird Bazaar.

Floral arrangements at Bowerbird Bazaar.

Sweet little vignette at home.

Shopping at Freedom.

Making my first pumpkin pie.

You can follow me on Instagram for more!

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I’m a little bit bummed that I’m not attending the Kidspot Voices of 2013 Launch Party this weekend as it’s in another state. So I think I should do something fun to cheer myself up.

What are your fave activities for a fun weekend at home?

We had both of our families over on the weekend for Mother’s Day. Champagne, pie and good conversation – if only every Sunday afternoon could be so divine!

I’ve shared my recipe today over on Polka Dot Bride.

Most organising gurus will tell you that you should pack up your clothes at the end of each season and rotate in the new season’s clothes. It makes sense: why have to sort through a whole bunch of items to find something that’s seasonally appropriate, right?

But what happens when (as occurred last week here in Adelaide) our steadily dropping late-Autumn temperatures suddenly shot back up to the low 30s (celcius)? Me, I simply pulled out my summer jammies and whichever t-shirt or summer dress I felt like wearing from the same place in my closet where they can normally be found.

Not a blip on my day. Whereas it would have been an unnecessary hassle if I had to pull out a few summer outfits from storage.

Here are a few reasons why I prefer not to rotate my clothes:

• Things are always in the same place so you know where you put them and find them.
• Many clothes are versatile (eg. wear tights under your skirts in cooler weather, wear jeans all year round and layer tank tops and cardigans according to the weather).
• You don’t have to have a secondary space for storage.
• You don’t have to dig into your stored items to find clothing for travelling to different climates throughout the year.
• It saves the time of rotating your clothes four times a year.

Of course, we don’t have very extreme seasons here in Adelaide so that could play a part in why it works for me. And there may be reasons why you swear by rotating your wardrobe.

But I know that for me personally, my own experience goes against most of the advice out there so I wanted to share this reminder that it’s all about creating systems that work for you.

How about you, are you a rotater or a year-rounder when it comes to your wardrobe?

I recently signed up for the Pretty Paper Things mail swap recently. I’ve never done anything like it but you know I love stationery and all things handmade so I thought it would be fun!

I wasn’t quite sure what to do to be honest, but ended up using rubber stamps, scrapbooking paper and washi tape for a bit of fun.

I was lucky enough to receive this beautiful package from Jenny in Canada. So gorgeous! She even sent me a banana bread recipe which I’m dying to try out now that the weather has cooled down.

It sure made a nice change from the usual bills and junk mail!

What was the last piece of ‘fun mail’ you sent or received?

This post is sponsored by Target.

Um, yes, so this attractive display is my seen-better-days handbag and its contents in all their glory.

It was a bit of a lucky dip. You might find ten pens/lipsticks/hairties or you might find none! Plus tissues (used? unused? can’t tell), earrings, loose change, shopping lists on scraps of paper, receipts from a year ago…

Yikes, no wonder I couldn’t find anything in there.

I had been wanting to replace a couple of my existing handbags – including the one above – because they were totally worn out (it doesn’t look that bad in the pic but trust me, it was looking very daggy in the flesh leather vinyl).

What I didn’t want was for it to end up in the same mess, so I went and picked up a nifty handbag organiser from the storage department at Target. I also picked out this gorgeous red handbag (totally loving their range of women’s accessories that are on sale right now).

It’s a bit hard to see inside the depths of the black organiser, so here’s what’s in there now:

A few changes I made to keep things neat:

• I switched the loose tissues for a packet (no more scrunched-up questionable looking new tissues).
• I use a notebook to list errands to run / things to buy and tear out the page when I’m done (paper scraps be gone!).
• I’ve since started using this so I only need to carry a tiny stash of emergency lady things (can’t believe I’m sharing this on the internet).
• I’ve been better about taking out receipts (and either discarding them or saving a photo of it to Evernote).

Apart from keeping everything compartmentalised, the other obvious benefit is being able to simply plonk the insert into another handbag. Because I am way too lazy to transfer all of my daily essentials between bags for the sake of fashion.

The bag itself is super roomy; I’ve even thrown my camera in there when I didn’t want to take my whole camera bag. Plus I’ve had heaps of compliments on it which is a bonus!

What are your tips for an organised handbag?