Who inspires me to Blog?

My creativity was encased in a shell, so to speak, for many years. I did the creating, repurposing, rearranging and organising all by myself and yes of course the raves and reviews were there no doubt.  But when I stumbled upon blogger.com giving anyone the chance to host their own blog, I thought yes, why not.  Not only had I now an avenue to release all my pent up energy and creativity, but I also had a way of showcasing the wonderful work of these ladies:  http://www.celebrationsathomeblog.com/, http://www.lemiga.com/blog/, http://eatdrinkpretty.blogspot.com/, http://www.swankytablesblog.com/, http://www.thetomkatstudio.com/
and of course the lovely and only gentleman http://www.holidaywithmatthewmead.com/.



Go ahead and get ready to be inspired

Cheers

Candice

Color Inspiration From Sweden

Color Inspiration From Sweden

(Image: Decor8)



I love the riot of colour and I am in love with the designs, so simple and elegant that I just want to rush and recreate. These lovely images are from http://decor8blog.com/

love

candice

Paper Quills

The old fashioned paper craft known as quilling is used to make these distinctive cards and all sorts of wonderful other crafts, ranging from invitation cards, greeting cards, pictures to mount etc.  In paper quilling you will need an assorted number of coloured A4 papers, strong clear glue, cardboard in contrasting colours and of course your imagination, lots of it.  Paper quilling takes long hours even for the seasoned quiller since each quill requires that you cut long narrow strips of various shades of the coloured paper you will be using. Then you need to curl one end of each strip with the blunt edge of a pair of scissors and then roll the strip into a tight coil.  You need to have very nimble fingers for this very tidy job and loads of patience.  My friend Yogika is a master of her profession and here below are her masterpieces.

Yogika Soysa

Image: YS

Image: YS

Image: Image idea from the web

Image: YS

Easy bread and butter pudding

I have said this before and I will say it again, Nigella Lawson, is double dose of goodness.  I happened to switch channels to TLC and there she was getting ready for another showstopping dessert.  I always believed that bread and butter, stayed bread and butter, but after watching Nigella effortlessly churn out the dish, I had my serious doubts.  The recipe calls for croissants, but in our part of the world the simple kimbula buns would do or better still, day old bread, works exceptionally well.

Pre-oven stage

 What you will need

2 kimbula buns or half a loaf of stale bread
1/2 cup sugar (make the granules as fine as possible)
2 tbsps water
1/2 heavy cream ( I used 1 small can of condensed milk)
2 tbsps bourbon ( I used brandy)
1/2 cup whole milk (pasterurise milk or hand made milk is also ok)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tea spoon vanilla

How you will do it

1. Preheat the oven to 176 degrees celsius ( I put mine to 180, since I wanted the crusts to be slightly brown on top, leaving the rest of the pudding a lovely and creamy off white)

2. Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a small dish. (Do the same with the kimbula buns or stale bread)

3. Caramelize the sugar and water for about 4-5 minutes until the bubbles start and takes on a amber hue

4. Take the pan off the heat and add the cream or condensed milk following up with the brandy and milk. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla. Pour faily quickly over the mixture and let it stand.  Whisk it to the oven and violla after 20 minutes you have your utterly delicious bread and butter pudding.

The above portion will serve 2-3, but believe me my kids swamped it all with hubby getting a small left over portion.

The bread and butter pudding works well with a drizzle of honey or a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream !!

Jazzy repurpose

Over the years I have had some amazing insights to beautiful homes, via the internet and that of family and friends.  When you look at a beautiful picture of an even beautiful home, you want to go straight ahead and recreate the image.  Many of us would like to do this as a new year resolution or perhaps before a family function at home, but for me, as my husband puts it, I take redecoration and recreation very seriously and to the extreme. I cant help it.  If you know me in person, you will know what I mean.  All images are from http://www.bhg.com/ and how I recreated it for myself in my home. Hope you are inspired......

Cheers

Candice

Concept: A catchall for little trinkets, while being a showy display

My version



Concept: catchall for toiletries in pretty containers

 

My version



Concept: Portable

My version

Concept:  Catchall rack in bath area

My version

The concept here is to group family photos together creating





Recreated focal point for family photos

I turned an old TV stand into a closed shoe rack and when buying shoes asked for the boxes as well. Each box is thereafter marked with the appropriate show inside.

Beach Hideaway get-to-gether

What better way to celebrate than with family and friends at the Golden Mile, one of Colombo's best loved Beach Hideaway's. The food is excellent, the atmosphere cosy and the service always warm. Those coming to Sri Lanka should check out this one stop for all your sea food delicacies http://www.seafoodsrilanka.com/

Mum, Lynn, Dad, Wayne and Gayle

The extravagant buffet table all laid out for us

On the Grill- Chicken, spare ribs and prawns