ariele alasko

Photographs taken by Arden Wray for Boots & Pine

Ariele Alasko is a Brooklyn based woodworker and furniture who creates very lovely things. She has an online shop, everything is sold out but it is worth a look to see her handy work. Her photographs are also just beautiful and she has a blog called Brooklyn to West which is filled with them.
And she led me on to another great place called Boots and Pine which is worth a look too.

violet balm

turn this ...

into this...

with these Violet Balm instructions...

ANZAC biscuits

Today is ANZAC day in Australia. This recipe is one that the soldiers made in the trenches and has become an Australia staple. Most people have their own version of how to make ANZAC biscuits but here is my mums way. Very simple and tasty. I add in a shake of ginger and some seeds as we didn't have enough coconut. It is a forgiving recipe so you can change it to suit your taste.

turn on your oven to 180 degrees

in a bowl mix...

1 cup of rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1 cup coconut
1 cup of sugar (or less)
120 grams of melted butter

then stir together
2 table spoons of boiling water
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
2 teaspoons of bicarb of soda
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

mix both together
roll into balls and flatten on a baking tray
cook for 10-12 minutes until golden brown

silver

as there was no children's class this week here is something else to try 

turn this...

into this...

with these silver leaf ice cube instructions...

holiday

there will be no class today as it is Good Friday and we are heading away for a few days have a good holiday....

kate berry

Kate Berry is a photographer who makes fantastic documents of every day life, hers and others, and often collaborates with her partner Rohan Anderson from Whole Larder Love. As well as her own web site she has a great project called The Other Kate Berry with another photographer on the other side of the world who shares her name they post a picture each day of their separate lives. Clever.

macaroni jewels

turn this...

into this...

with these macaroni jewel instructions...

Dreamy

I did some prop making work for the Australian Centre for Moving Image (ACMI) for their DreamWorks exhibition which opens today. I got a sneak peak the other night and it is a fantastic show and gives a great insight what goes into the creation of these films. I was lucky enough to hear Jason Schleifer the Head of Character Animation at DreamWorks discuss his creative process and see how he sketches out the beginnings of an animated sequence. Smiles all round.
And Art Class on as usual today..

klara bothen

It is starting to get a little cold around these parts . For the first time ever I don't mind as we have heating in our new house and the promise of a warmer more comfortable time of it all. It gets you thinking of wool and warmth and these beautiful mittens made by Klara Bothen look like just the ticket. The wool was hand dyed by her grandmother and mother from forest plant at their summer house in Sweden. She has a lovely blog and a shop where you can snap up your own pair of mittens... or maybe this hat...

easter paper chain

turn this...

into this...

with these Easter paper chain instructions...

pretty good friday

Come along to Art class today as we will be doing some  Easter decorations, it should be fun.

robert roth

i love these glowing sunrisen landscapes by Robert Roth so much. He has a show on in Ohio at the moment and if I was there I would surely go.