by Catherine on May 16, 2013
We have a bit of a good news / bad news situation at The Spring this morning? Which would you like first? Let’s start with the good…
Our beeswax birthday candles have finally arrived at The Spring Shop! I love how long, elegant, and beautiful each individually hand-made taper is. Here’s why they’re so gorgeous: These candles are 100% all natural beeswax, which means they’re slow burning, smell faintly of honey, they’re completely edible and therefore will not deposit any melted toxic junk on your birthday cake the way dollar store candles do.
Which brings me around to the bad news… My trusty camera (an Olympus Pen EPL1) which has been the life force of this blog for two and a half years broke down on me and been sent off to Sydney for ‘diagnosis’. I wanted to take my own photos to demonstrate how I plan to style these candles… but that’s not going to be possible for a little while yet. Instead I offer a collection of images from our boards on the Pinterest. (See how I turned that frown upside down?) Have a wonderful day!
by Catherine on May 14, 2013
It’s rainy, it’s chilly… it’s craft weather in Brisbane. So here’s my latest little project: drawing on mugs with porcelain pens.* I picked up a red one last week at Spotlight without a plan for what I wanted to do with it – until I came home and remembered our collection of cheap white dollar store mugs. Suddenly they were crying out for creative attention. Now I’m not much of an artiste, so rather than attempting a graphic print or freestyle doodle, I just wrote out the instructions for how each member of the family takes their tea.
The Spring Cottage crew loves them, and I reckon these personalised mugs make the perfect welcome gift for house guests too. Anyone would be made to feel at home having their special mug sat out by the kettle with everyone else’s, right? Plus there’s the added bonus that the detailed instructions invite anyone to get a round of cuppas in.
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by Catherine on May 13, 2013
Mark your calendars ladies, because The Eco Brides Wedding Fair is coming to Brisbane on August 25th and we’re going to be there!
I’m so thrilled to be teaming up with Eco Brides Magazine for this event that combines two of my big passions – beautiful design and justice for the planet. If you or someone you know is getting married (or has any kind of big event coming up) y’all won’t want to miss this chance to learn how to make your celebration gentle on the earth while meeting up with our top local experts and suppliers who can help you make it happen.
I’m proud to say that this market will be officially carbon neutral thanks to Treehenge who’ve calculated our emissions and will be offsetting outputs by planting trees for us in their managed plantation in the Condamine catchment at the headwaters of the Murray-Darling Basin in southern Queensland.
For our part, The Spring Shop will be on hand to supply all sorts of lovely, recyclable or reusable, neo-traditional wares for brides who want to add a touch of nostalgia and a DIY element to their love party. We’ll have our moonshine mugs, mason jars, paper straws, enamelware, card making goodies, glass terrariums, and all sorts of other pretty things laid out for y’all to enjoy – and we’ll be doing our best to offer great deals for bulk orders tailor made to suit the vibe of your celebrations from engagement party to the post-wedding breakfast.
Tickets to the Eco Wedding Fair are on sale now. The cost is $10 (including booking fee) if purchased before the event or $15 at the door. We have also set up a group discount of buy 4 get 1 free to encourage people to bring their fiancés, mums, bridesmaids, girlfriends etc. You can buy your tix through the Eco Wedding Fair webpage or directly on the Eventbrite ticketing page.
You can hop over to the Eco Brides website and read the latest issue of their gorgeous magazine for free… and if you click over to their blog you’ll get a little feature on moi and the steps we’re taking here at The Spring Shop to make our business environmentally sound.
by Catherine on May 10, 2013
One of the things I love most about being back in The Spring Cottage is having a bathtub again… There’s just nothing more relaxing at the end of a day than a long hot soak, particularly as our Brisbane nights have started getting chilly. To make the ritual of a bath feel extra therapeutic, I like to add a few scoops of my home made lavender scented bath salts to the tub. The magnesium sulfate in epsom salts works to relax muscles, reduce swelling, draw toxins from the body and soothe the nervous system while lavender oil not only smells beautiful but can help treat irritated skin and unwind the mind. It’s a winning combination, plus my concoction is super simple to make and looks gorgeous drawn up into sachets or displayed in a big glass jar… So if you are still struggling to find the right gift for Mother’s Day this Sunday, I hope this quick DIY will be perfect for your Ma and your last-minute saving grace!
How to Make Scented Bath Salts
Ingredients
Epsom salts
essential oil
dried flowers/herbs (optional)
Directions
1. Pour epsom salts and dried flowers/herbs into a large jar then add in about 6 drops of your chosen essential oil per ‘serving’.
2. Shake well.
3. To make disposable sachets, layer 2 large coffee filters together, fill with a few teaspoons of your scented epsom salt mixture, and tie tightly at the top with bakers twine. It takes about an hour for the salts to fully dissolve from the coffee filter pouches, so this is a great option if you like a long soak.
4. An organza jewellery bag works well as a reusable sachet, which you can give with your jar of scented bath salts. Using a sachet of some kind is a good idea as it keeps the dried flowers contained so you don’t end up with a messy tub or clogged drain.
Essential oil & dried flower/herb scent suggestions:
- Cold & Flu Bath: eucalyptus, ginger
- Dry Skin Bath: chamomile, rose
- Energizing Bath: eucalyptus, lemon, peppermint
- Love Bath: cinnamon, jasmine, rose, sandalwood
- Relaxing Bath: chamomile, lavender
- Sore Muscle Bath: rosemary
by Catherine on May 9, 2013
Here’s a fun fact for the day: this year the Mason jar turns 100! To celebrate the milestone, the Ball Mason company has created a limited edition run of heritage pint jars colour matched to the blue of their original 1913 design. They’re a beautiful collectors item for us Mason enthusiasts and super hard to get a hold of (especially here in Australia!) so we were all extremely excited here at The Spring Cottage when our shipment arrived from the U. S. of A. this week. I can think of a hundred beautiful ways to use our blue mason jars, but the first thing I did was to fit one with a simple DIY flower frog. I can’t help swooning over how blooms, greenery, and herbs clipped from the Cottage garden look sat in a blue jar… And if you’re feeling the Mason jar love like I am, we have a very limited number of the heritage series available in The Spring Shop right now, so hurry over and get yours while the going’s good!
How to make a flower frog…
Flower frogs are just mesh grids that help you arrange stems so they stand up straight in wide mouth vases. To make your own, all you need is a length of floral wire. I asked my local florist for some and she sold me a dozen lengths for $2. Then make a loop that fits inside the inner lip of your mason jar lid, twist to secure, and with the rest of the length of wire wrap around the circle from side to side to create a star pattern. It doesn’t have to be neat or perfect, the idea is just to create a web of compartments to hold each stem.
by Catherine on May 6, 2013
Good morning all! I’m off in Beach Cottage land today making roasted tomato and red pepper soup with cheesy polenta wedges. It’s the first in a series of posts I’ll be teaming up with Sarah to share… And we hope you love following along as much as we love hanging out together with all the BC ladies by the virtual seaside. Please do click over and check us out here!
by Catherine on May 2, 2013
The unlikely source of this light and healthy recipe for fresh tuna burgers is Paual Dean… Queen of buttery, bacony, sugary Southern comfort food. I came across it in her Southern Cooking Bible when I was staying with my cousin in Alabama late last year (Roll Tide!) and have been meaning to try it ever since. It turns out these burgers are the very definition of good food fast – Because they’re made with beautiful fresh fish they take only 2-3 minutes per side to cook. Mayo’s not my thing so I improvised a sauce by mixing reduced fat sour cream and herbs to top my bun, but if you want to go even leaner I’d suggest swapping out those fixins with home made guacamole and a mountain bread wrap.
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by Catherine on May 1, 2013
by Catherine on April 30, 2013
A small pot of black chalkboard paint and I have had a good thing going lately… First it found its way onto a corner of The Spring Cottage’s living room.. and then it wound up on a batch of our mini terra cotta pots. Planted with a few succulents from project: propagate, they make a very cool (and inexpensive!) hostess gift, place card, or party favour that you get to personalise over and over again with chalk-written messages.
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by Catherine on April 27, 2013
It’s rare in this digital media world for a print-and-paper magazine to generate such intense interest, but Kinfolk is worthy of every bit of the hype it’s received since starting up in 2011.
This beautiful publication is part of a new generation of magazines (think: Apartamento, Plant Journal, Collect) that take a familiar subject and put a new, extraordinary slant on it. Kinfolk focuses on entertaining, presenting simple, measured, romantic, heartfelt ideas for slowing down, appreciating, taking care, and celebrating being together in small gatherings (or indeed being alone – the smallest of gatherings). Sounds good, right? Each issue combines lyrical essays, recipes, interviews, personal stories and practical tips with a keen attention to design and details. The photography is inspirational, the paper quality feels so good between your fingertips, and there are no ads. That’s right, NONE.
Kinfolk is incredibly difficult to find here in Australia and as far as I know The Spring Shop is the only place in Queensland with the current issue in stock. I’m so proud to be able to offer it – I hope you love it as much as I do!
144 pages, offset-printed, perfect bound, full colour on uncoated paper. Printed in the USA. $29.99.
