Homemakin' : Week Four

I've missed a few weeks of these posts - first of all I went to Auckland and then I went and spend a whole weekend at a sewing course, which left me little time and energy for doing anything house related.

This weekend seemed to go so fast too - but I did manage to find time dig out this pretty lady and finally hang her on the wall.

When Rich and I went home at Christmas, we had the chance to look at some of the "stuff" we put into storage at my parents before we traveled overseas.

We couldn't bring EVERYTHING home - but we managed to stuff two carry on bags full of bits and pieces and amongst these bits and pieces was this pretty Mexican lady. I bought her some years ago from Iko Iko and I always thought she was amazing.

I really wanted to put her near our stove - given that we cook a lot of Mexican food it seemed appropriate. But it really wasn't going to work out, so instead I put her above our calendar in the kitchen. What do you folks think?

We have some cheesy calendar from Typo which includes a whole bunch of different versions of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" thing - obviously this month is Lord of the Rings and there is a Harry Potter month and a Zombie month. To be honest, I'm  not too crazy about it but we didn't get a calendar this Christmas, so I just picked this one up cheap.

I hope you've all had a good weekend - another weekend of stunning sunshine here in Wellington!

Fun times in Shelly Bay

Over the weekend there was an open day at the the old air force base at Shelly Bay - the air force has long since left but their buildings remain and are now occupied by a whole bunch of artists and art related businesses.

When we decided to head to Shelly Bay we didn't realise there wasn't a bus service and seen as we don't have a car we had to walk about half an hour to the old air force base.

But that was fine as it was an absolute stunner of a day - just look at these views! Cold but so beautiful.

 You have to love the street art above! Cut along the dotted line.

Rich found a whole lot of sea glass - its so pretty.

The main reason we decided to visit Shelly Bay was to check out Westside Studios - they are a company that does props for TV and movies and also hire out all kinds of weird bits and pieces for events.

Here's just a few of the things we saw in our visit - there was so much more "stuff" and I am sure heaps more that wasn't even being displayed for the public.

As I'm sure you all know by now - my most favourite things are always the creepiest things!

If I had a big house and loads of money I'd love to hire some of these props and have the biggest and most awesome halloween party ever! One day perhaps...

Also this has to be my most favourite photo of the whole day - new facebook profile picture perhaps? What do you think?

I also got to meet a friendly dragon whilst we were there - he was sitting outside in the cold though - poor thing.

I kind of look like I'm glowing next to my dragon friend - note I'm not actually touching him - there were signs everywhere saying do not touch the props, but it seems most people can't read. I really hope that the visitors didn't break anything in the studio. 

When we finished up at Shelly Bay we decided to head to Miramar and have a bite to eat at La Boca Loca which is one of the places that the cool kids go for Mexican food in Wellington. I do love Mexican food and I have been wanting to try this place out for the longest time.

One of the nice things about this restaurant was that it served Mexican brunch too - as you all know - Mexico is a heck of a long way from Wellington and we don't have too many Mexican restaurants and most to lunch and dinner. So I was excited to have the chance to have "Huevos Divorcidos" something I have wanted to try FOREVER!

It looked really pretty and it tasted really good and it may look small but two eggs and ALL those beans - well that was plenty to keep me going until dinner (although after this we actually went to a friends house to watch a movie and eat popcorn).

Rich has the quesidilla but he wasn't really that impressed - he said it was cold on the inside and I have to admit that I though radish was a weird choice of garnish.

I still think we'll stick to our old favourite Mexican place in the city for now Viva Mexico - plus one of the guys that works at Viva Mexico looks like Machete which means they get bonus points for being badass. 

Hope you all had a super weekend xoxox

Crafty Christmas Goodies from Ria

Earlier this week I met up with my friend Ria one final time before she heads home to Adelaide for Christmas.

I knew Ria had made me something for Christmas - but I didn't know just how amazing my present would be! I love skulls and all things Mexican, so Ria made me this Mexican Day of the Dead style bag. Isn't it amazing? I LOVE this trim!

If you want to know more about how she made this beauty you can check out some more of the details on her blog here.

She also made me some traditional German Christmas Cake called "Stollen" - I have never heard of it before, but it looks amazing and I really DON'T like the traditional English style Christmas Fruitcake with almond icing. I am saving this for Christmas Day - it looks amazing.

If you want to learn more about how to make stollen, or see how Ria's kitchen exploded when she made this stollen, check out this post.

Finally, Ria very generously bought me "Make!" by Cath Kidston - I have wanted this book FOREVER but I could just never bring myself to buy it, I have looked at it at book stores a lot though.

Believe it or not, this book even comes with supplies so you can start crafting straight away! No need to make a mad dash to the fabric or craft store.I just thought I'd share one of the projects in the book - they are all so pretty, I love the vintage style and all the pretty pictures.

Here's the sequins!

I know that a few folks out there want to know about my brand new sequinned craft project - well never fear! I will explain all!

Last week I stumbled about a Bling Your Bra competition that is currently happening in Wellington. The competition is pretty simple, get an old bra and bling it up!

It costs $20 to enter the contest and all the money goes towards the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, which is a cause very close to my heart as I lost a good friend a few years back to breast cancer.

I ended up spending quite a few nights recently sewing on sequins as I only found out about the competition a few days before the closing date (which was today!).

So here is a BEFORE picture of the bra I used - I've had this bra for a long time, but I hardly ever wore it because it was kind of uncomfortable. Sorry the photo is a little fuzzy.

Here is the after photo - I was inspired by the whole idea of Mexican Day of the Dead and the bright colours of Mexican Art in general.

Here's a close up photo of the bra in all its sequinned glory.

The competition is officially judged at the Southern Cross Bar on the 28th of November which is pretty exciting - I can't wait to see what everyone else created!