Summer is here!!

It is hot, hot, hot here in Melbourne and I have treated myself to a T2 The Jug. I made my first brew today as we are having some friends around for dinner.

It's T2 Fruitalicious which was recommended when I brought the jug. An explosion of fruit flavours including cranberries, blueberries, dragon fruit and goji berries makes this a perfect hot summer thirst quencher. I added some peach slices and a few mint leaves to add a bit of colour and voila, a delicious refreshing summer drink.

I can't wait to do a bit of experimenting with some more tea flavours. Stay tuned. xx

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Birthday love

I have been a very lucky girl this birthday. A new vintage bike complete with a bell and basket, cupcakes, cocktails with the girls, amazing Mexican with friends and lots of gorgeous flowers.

Sunday arvo catchup

I have just returned from quaint Kensington after a lovely catch up with my friend Lynley. We met at Luncheonette and enjoyed coffee and honeycomb crackle, followed by Licorice and Lavender tea by Storm in a Teacup. Delish!

 

We then had a wander around the boutiques and I returned home with some fresh poppies to brighten up our living room.

Great way to spend a sunday arvo.

Colour inspiration #3

Left to right:

• Bright yellow bike with gorgeous hydrangeas – perfect for a bike ride in the spring
• Yellow whistle tea pot – to brighten up your morning
• Yellow birds plate – some amazing Anthropologie goodness
• Yellow teacup with birds and flowers – afternoon tea anyone?
• Yellow English Babour jacket – that's well English
• Circles Plate, Canary Yellow – so pretty
• Yellow chair on white wall – fantastic pop of colour in a very minimal space
• Enameled geo bangle – add a bit of gold and yellow to your outfit
• A bright and sunshiney day – I NEED this couch 
• The Great Gatsby – gorgeous graphic design
• Yellow Gingham Cupcake Liners – these would go beautifully with my Peaches and cream cupcakes
• Chunky Vintage Lemon Yellow Oval Glass Jewel Surgical Steel Post Earrings – bold and bright
• Fabulous tea set – picnic in the sun!

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Crafternoon

Recently, we had our second crafternoon at Amy's lovely South Melbourne home. It was a grey miserable day, so we all snuggled up and happily crocheted, gossiped and giggled the afternoon away.

Now that we all have the chain and treble stitch down to a T, we have started experimenting with different stitches, changing colours, and creating shapes other than the traditional granny square.

Tania has been crocheting like mad and has an actual blanket
| One of my granny squares with Amys bright and bold teacups |
Jo's cool and colourful creations 

Amy's cat joined us for the afternoon. Meet Pixie, the British Blue. She has a gorgeous thick coat which is the colour of a thundery sky, and these massive intense gold eyes, that just stare at you as if to say 'and what?' She is the coolest cat I have ever met.

Pixie the teapot

A special thank you to Amy for having us, and I am looking forward to our next Happy Hookers convention.

Green with envy

I have just entered a competition to win a $1000 prize with Life Instyle. They have created a Pinterest contest and it's all about taking inspiration from their tagline Green With Envy. Aim of the game is to create a pinboard that embraces the colour green and reflects your sense of style. And it just so happens, minty green is one of my favourite colours!

Most exciting part is one of the judges is Lucy Feagins from my fav blog The Design Files.

Check out my Life Instyle Green with Envy board and my other pins on Pinterest.

Get on board and get pinning and maybe it could be you that takes the prize. See here for more info.

 Source: centsationalgirl.com via Stacey on Pinterest

Our new home

Last weekend we moved into our new home in St Kilda East. It is just beautiful with gorgeous dark wooden floors, fresh white walls and brand new ikea kitchen and bathroom. I just love it! The best part though is finding new homes for all my favourite things I have collected over the years.

East Ivanhoe Village Food & Music Fest

Lately I have been spending my evenings drinking tea and designing marketing collateral for the East Ivanhoe Village Food & Music Fest which starts on the 5th of July.

The festival includes a series of culturally-inspired dining events and celebrates the tastes and sounds of the Mediterranean including Little Italy, The Riviera, Spain and Greece. Sounds like my kind of festival!

Check out the East Ivanhoe Village website or visit their Facebook page for more info.

Blog lovin'

My good friend Mel Whelan recently interviewed me and posted it on her blog!! I am truly a blushing teacup now.

Check out the interview here.

Thank you so very much Mrs Whelan. Can't wait to hear how she goes in making my favourite dessert. Pop on over to her blog Bread and Sniff it and follow her journey to becoming the best home-cook known to man.

Happy hookers

The latest craze amongst my workmates at the moment is...... crochet!! And no we are not all 60-year-old nanas, but young, hip and cool girlies who don't want this amazing art to be lost.

So a few of us went to a class at the Wool Baa in Albert Park to learn the basics. Then we got together one Sunday arvo to share our new craft with the rest of the crew. It was a cold wintery Melbourne day, so perfect for a bit of stitch 'n bitching.

Everyone brought along their favourite afternoon tea treat. I made the tasty gingerbread and blue cheese flavour-bombs, Kate, made for our girlie weekend in Blairgowrie. And they were a hit! The best part was that I got to show-off all my teacups and other bits and pieces to the girls.

So now I have the crocheted granny square down pat, I have decided to add them to my peggy square blanket and showcase all my fabulous new skills. Stay tuned.

xx

Colour inspiration #2

Left to right:

• Samantha Robinson porcelain tea cups – the best way to drink tea.
• Raspberry pink croco – the perfect clutch for a late lunch.
• Maling vintage lustre dark pink teacup & snack plate duo c1920-63 – with room for a little cake.
• Antique chairs – for playing ladies
• Raspberry Rich lippie from Bobbi Brown - make those lips POP!
• Raspberry Pink 7432 Pantone Bone China mug – a lovely start to the morning.
• Raspberry-choclatey goodness – all I can say is YUM!
• Raspberry beer cocktail – the prettiest beer cocktail I have ever seen.
• Lovely peonies – in luscious raspberry tones.
• Dreamy pink – with raspberry tea
• P. Kaufmann Central Park Toile - Raspberry/Pink – reminds me of England. Sigh.
• Royal scones with jam and cream – using the Queens recipe!

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Girlie weekend

Last weekend a group of my girls headed down to Blairgowrie to visit our friend Kate and her new home. It was freezing cold and we were greeted by a gorgeous open fire and the kitchen table set up for high tea!!! After ooooing and ahhhhing over what Kate and her boy had done with their place we sat down to devour all the tasty treats she had been creating over the last 2 days.

My place setting | Salmon, avocado and caper tartlets
Tea with scones and jam

We started with salmon, avocado and caper tartlets, beetroot, feta and semi dried tomato crostini, gingerbread and blue cheese with chives, washed down with champagne served in 1950s style glasses. Amazing.

Next round was the scones with cream and jam. Kate used my favourite recipe:
4 cups of self raising flour
1 can of lemonade
1 pottle of cream
Mix altogether. Cut into rounds using a cookie cutter and bake in a 180 degree oven for 20mins. Serve with cream and jam. Delish.

The scones were served with 3 types of tea. We all felt very spoilt.

And last but not least, the sweeties. Lemon cupcakes and dark chocolate tarts with fresh raspberry. Yum yum.

Light and fluffy scones | Gingerbread and blue cheese
Another gorgeous teacup set

Once our tummies had settled we headed off to the Peninsula Hot Springs where we bathed and relaxed for a couple of hours. Returning back to the house for wines, Thai takeaways and girlie chats by the cozy fire.

Thank you so much Kate for your hospitality, was a lovely weekend. You are a very clever cookie. The next weekend away with the girls is already being planned.


 

Colour inspiration #1

Left to right:

• Limoges Mint Floral Teacups  – How lovely would it be to drink tea out of these gems 
• Mint chocolate chip icecream cake – So very indulgent
• Porcelain Groove Mug in Mint Green – Great mug for wrapping your hands around on a cold winters day
• Anson 86" sofa – Imagine a tea party on this sofa
• Mint macaroons – Delicious
• Mint green crochet flower appliques – Endless ideas of what I could do with these little doilies
• Mint green biscuit tin – Vintage biscuit tin
• Doilies in green – Fun and quirky teacups
• Mint Meltaways – These look like melt in your mouth material
• Mint green with pink blossom teacup, saucer and plate – So pretty
• Circle Zinnia Wallpaper – Perfect tearoom wallpaper
• Anthropologie Mint green and white double torsade necklace – Ideal for high tea with the ladies 

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Scones and jam in a cup

I had a quick wander through T2 today on my lunch break and they have a new range of teas for Mothers Day. In good ol' T2 style, they had them all brewed and ready for tasting. As I have a very soft spot for scones and jam, I was immediately drawn to this flavour.

T2 Scones and Jam tea - Photos by T2

A Sencha green tea with "a fruity edge and a quince punch." T2 claim that it "is best when shared with good friends and good laughs." Sounds like my kind of tea. It was light and fresh, just how I like it.

The tea cube is filled with loose leaf flavoured green tea, an infuser and recipe book (filled with recipes from the T2 staff). The packaging is this fantastic limited edition design in bright pink, green and yellow.

Other flavours in the series are:
Apple Crumble
Russian Tea Cake
Breakfast in bed

Vintage finds and antique treasures

Today we went for a little day trip out of Melbourne to a small town called Tyabb, near Mornington. It is well known for its abundance of vintage and antique shops. And it did not disappoint. I finally found some teaspoons and bought them from Betty Stone. She asked me if I had cupcake parties, because she has recently been selling lots of cake forks and finding it tricky to get hold of more. She was so sweet.

My new teaspoons from Tyabb Packing House Antiques

The Tyabb Packing House Antiques is spread over 2 acres with more than 30 dealers selling antiques, old school homewares, retro finds, vintage treasures and other specialty items. It is amazing. We had brunch in the cafe, Elixir, then took our time wandering around taking in all the amazing things.

Beautiful quilts and throws from White Out Of The Box

Next we moved on to The Vintage Shed which was a massive shed filled to the brim of fantastic vintage awesomeness. So many things that I wanted to take home with me.

This was my favourite setting.
Love, love, love the umbrella

Lovely Sweet William

My latest Ikea excursion means I finally have frames for my prints!!

I recently went to the Magnolia Square Markets at the St Kilda Town Hall and purchased the sweet tea cup (right) and the lovely heart (left) from Paula Mills of Sweet William. There were so many beautiful prints it was pretty hard choose, but these were my favourites.

The middle print I brought on the Charles Bridge in Prague. The bridge is lined with stalls selling all sorts of fabulous treasures. It's of the Charles Bridge with the beautiful Prague architecture in the background. I felt it summed up Prague just perfectly.

Left and Right prints by Sweet William

Delightful peaches and cream

One of my favourite cupcake shops in London is The Hummingbird Bakery. One of my BFFs, Ange, gave me the cookbook one Christmas while I was living over there. It wasn't until I got back to Melbourne where I have my own kitchen that I finally tested my baking skills. This sunny autumn day I decided to make Peaches and Cream cupcakes.

Recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. Photos by Stacey Hills

The end product is to die for. A rich creamy vanilla icing with a sprinkle of brown sugar, a light fluffy vanilla cake, and at the bottom, a little surprise flavour bomb of preserved peaches! Sensational. Now I am going to put it out there. This could actually in fact be the best cupcake I have ever eaten. I know this is a big call, but I am standing by my statement. Up until today, it was the Passionfruit ones from the David Jones food court. These mysterious treasures only ever seem to pop up every now and then. I love them because of the passionfruit curd centre. But these... well these peaches and cream delights, take cupcakes to a whole new level!

Photos by Stacey Hills

Wall gazing

One of my favourite Australian artists is the wallpaper designer, Florence Broadhurst. The eccentric red-head began her business in 1959 and produced the most beautiful hand printed designs. The geometric patterns were vibrant and inspired by nature. Signature Prints have reproduced her designs and applied them not only to wallpapers, but fabric and other textiles too, so that we can still appreciate her gorgeous designs today.

Photos from Signature Prints

My dream is to one day have a space (hopefully attached to my house) where all my treasures I have gathered over the years will live. I will run my design studio here and my clients will be able to check out my work while I serve them tea and pikelets with homemade jam and cream. Mmm mmmm. And a Florence Broadhurst design would be the perfect decor.

The Cranes | Egrets | Gardenia
Photos from Signature Prints

An embarrassing habit I have is that I often get caught daydreaming while everyone else is watching tv. Having a Broadhurst design would make gazing into space (aka staring at the wall) a whole lot more interesting.

Ikeda | Carnation | Japanese Flora
Photos from Signature Prints

Cup of tea and the best book ever

Winter is defintely coming, here in Melbourne. So what better way to snuggle up in jammies with a brew and the best book ever. The Hungar Games. I just can't put them down. Looking forward to seeing the action on the big screen.

Twiceloved China

I just discovered the coolest Etsy shop (thanks to my Frankie Magazine e-newsletter). Twiceloved China sound just like me!!! They are from Perth, Australia and love fossicking around charity shops, boot sales and finding treasures! They turn their finds into gorgeous wall pieces, clocks and rings. They are so beautiful, I want them all.

A dove of peace $49 Photos from Twiceloved china

Vintage china plate clock $39 Photos from Twiceloved china

Be my Valentine

Happy Valentines Day everyone. I made my Valentine Lemon and Sour Cream cupcakes. They are in red cupcake cases with white icing, all in good Valentine tradition.

There are 12 altogether and I am hoping he won't be able to eat all of them himself and will need a helping hand from a certain someone. Yummy. xx

To market, to market

Had a lovely trip to the Camberwell markets this morning. As usual there were so many amazing things that I would love to have given a new home too, but alas returned with 5 new bread and butter plates in gorgeous pastel hues for a bargain of $5.

Here are some other pretty plates I found in my travels.

Red Door Corner Store

Just been out for breaky in Northcote. Found this sweet lil cafe on Broadsheet and as always it did not disapoint. As soon as we arrived and I spotted the vintage sugar bowls and spoons I knew I was inlove.

70 Mitchell Street
Northcote
www.reddoorcornerstore.com.au

One teaspoon or two...

No tea set is complete without a collectors teaspoon. I recently got to photograph my boyfriend Marks, Nana Mancers, sweet little cottage in Manaia, New Zealand. And presented on the wall in her living room was this gorgeous collection.

I love the photo so much we have a framed version sitting on the windowsill in our lounge. 

This little peggy

Lately my evenings have been spent sipping tea and knit knit knitting!! As I haven't done it since I was a child I pretty much had to reteach myself. I used youtube to learn how to cast on and cast off because either Mum, Aunty Alison or Gran would do that tricky stuff all those years ago. After a few hiccups... I won't bore you with the details, but my 'square' came out as a half circle. I have managed to make 9 peggy squares. Oh so proud of myself.

I keep all my wool, needles and finished peggy squares in my Grans old knitting bag which is totally cool. Makes me feel like a real granny curled up on the couch, with a pot of tea, counting stitches and knit knit knitting.

Lavender tinted glasses

Just spent a glorious sunny, Sunday in Daylesford.

First stop was brunch at Breakfast and Beer followed by a wander through the gorgeous streets of Daylesford. Then off to The Mill Markets which is a goldmine of vintage and antique bits and bobs. As you can imagine I went straight for the teacups and was in my element. So many cute sets.

Next stop was the Lavendula, a Swiss Italian lavender farm. It is harvest season at the moment and they were having a festival to celebrate. There were bands playing, petanque, lavender ice-cream, lavender Champagne, lavender scones, lavender lemonade, bunches and bunches of dried and fresh lavender and a sweet lil French guy harvesting it all with a sythe. I felt like I was in the middle of France (even though it was originally founded by Italian-speaking Swiss immigrants).

The sweet lil French guy harvesting the lavender | Fresh lavender waiting to be made into lavender water and oil | Bunches of dried lavender in a basket (this pic is going to be the inspiration for my peggy-square blanket, watch this space).

Cute jars and urns and things | Fresh lavender all tied up and ready to be sold | Dried lavender in gorgeous old washing tubs

All in all a lovely way to spend a sunny summers day.

Hello 2012!!!

Happy New Year!! I have just got back from the best holiday ever in New Zealand. And with me I brought these gorgeous teacups I was given a few years ago by my dearest friend Ange.

My camera is still traveling around New Zealand, so I have resorted to instagram to take some pics of them. They are super cute as they are all mis-matched and I love them. Can't wait to sip on some T2 Choc Chip Chai from my Secret Santa, Ann. Delightful. xx