Guest Post: Backyard Landscaping Ideas and Tips

This article is granted by Ella A. an avid blogger, freelance writer and home décor enthusiast. She likes to write home maintenance, decoration, interior and exterior design, gardening and landscaping. Her greatest joy is to share helpful tips and advice with readers from all over the world.

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If you have a backyard that feels utterly boring, then you can give it a nice makeover to turn it into something more welcoming and interesting. Regardless of the size of your yard or the property where your lawn and garden need to be improved, you can do so without too many issues involved. You can do a lot of good by working on said space, so let’s cover a few ways you can do this with the following tips:

·     Defining spaces

You need to decide which spaces you will really need, such as a lounge area, dining area, cooking area and more that would make your yard well-organized. Doing this can be as cheap as simply moving furniture around and placing accessories, so consider this and think about ways you can change the garden landscape.

·      Making a garden path

Adding a great-looking meandering path will create a more welcoming look to your otherwise fairly mundane garden space. It will take a bit of work, driving in stakes and considering the shape, then wrapping bender board around it. When the job is done you will have a great path you can enjoy on hot summer days and cold winter ones as well.

·      Using concrete

For anyone who has a concrete patio, there are some ways to make it more interesting that happen to be inexpensive and fairly quick. The first one is to coat the surface with some masonry stain in a color you like, something potentially warm for a more pleasant look. You may even work with a checkerboard pattern if you feel like it. A second option would be to set tiles over the concrete for a more welcoming and elegant look.

·      Using a trellis

You can see trellises in gardens and garden centers for most times, and they can add a lot of style to a place with the right approach. Placing one toward the back side of the garden as a focal point would be a great way of making sure you have this great addition to your garden space. A flowering vine planted on either side of it will add to its style and create a more welcoming environment.

·      Painting

For single story homes painting the back of the house in a different color would be a great way to add a different look without becoming too involved in gardening and renovation work. Make use of neutral shades such as beige, taupe, light gray and you will have excellent results.

·      The vertical approach

If you have a backyard possessing a larger lawn, then you can add some dimension by adding positioning boulders all over the place. You can arrange them individually or cluster them together, depending on how you want to see things. You should not be afraid to use the lawn to accommodate them, but you can leave some space around them to plant some colorful perennials.

·      Mulching

Laying on a similar-colored mulch on the flowerbeds will help give your entire area a unified look, while at the same time protecting your plants, making garden and lawn maintenance a much easier task.

Article written by guest blogger Ella Andrews on behalf of: Gardener Gardening Ltd. Photos supplied by the writer.

RECIPES: Olive Bread and more

Have I shared my Instagram account with you yet? It looks like I signed up a long time ago but never ended up using it after that one post that I made on the day at the time. Believe it or not, actually, I had to ask a friend of mine to send me my username details this year as I had no idea what I signed up as at the time. After I found 'me' on Instagram and worked out my log in details, I started to use it more often. I have shared the photo below there some days ago and am now posting the further details here. 

I now enjoy using Instagram and it has become another source of inspiration and help for me. In fact, just this morning, as I was going through some recipes from one of my favourite cook books called BREAD by Dean Brettschneider, I drooled over a recipe, Muesli Roll, and decided to give it a go before I realised that I had all the ingredients at home except for one. So, what did I do? I simply went on to Instagram and asked the inspirational baker Dean if I could replace that particular ingredient with anything and voila! He replied almost in an instant with all I needed to know, in detail too. Perfect! By the way, I have more baking and sewing related posts there if you want to check out. You are most welcome to add me to your following list if you wish to do so.

Here are some of my favourite and most often used bread recipes for you. The bread with seeds is an adaptation of my recipe and the olive bread recipe I had received from a friend of mine a while back. Both the recipes have never failed me so far and just between you and I, my recipes are generally 'if I can make it, so can you' type as I am still a pretty novice baker. 

OLIVE BREAD

Ingredients:

- 3cups flour

- 1cup warm water (add a little more if needed)

- 2teaspoonsful instant yeast

- Approximately ¾ cupsful pitted black olive pieces

- 1 teaspoonful salt

Method:

Combine all ingredients and form ‘bread’ dough. Work it for approximately 6-10 minutes. Make a big ball with the dough and leave it in a large bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and some kitchen towels to keep it warm. After about an hour or so, place the dough in a rectangle cake tin. Cover it up and wait at least for an hour to rise. Bake in a preheated oven (10-15mins before baking, turn on the oven at 200C) for 40-45 minutes.

BREAD WITH SEEDS

The loaf on the left was made with 3/4 organic plain flour and 1/4 with organic wholemeal flour. I have made it with some crunchy organic seeds which made the texture and the taste just amazing. Highly recommended. The recipe to this bread is here and the seeds I used for this particular time for this bread in the picture are;

* Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

* Sunflower seeds

* Linseed

* Chia

Enjoy!

No Time to Waste, No Excuse to Make

I have always been one of those that find it hard to 'stand still'. I remember when I stopped going to work in the last week of my pregnancy with my first child and not being able to sit down and just watch something on TV even for one afternoon. I just could not do something that I had dreamt of many times when working full time, when I had the opportunity for it. I thought at some stage that it could be because of my nesting period at the time but later on, it was quite evident that I was just being 'me'. Oh well, it is not that bad, right?

This year, I have a very busy schedule due to my commitments. It is so busy that I often utilise my waiting time that I get on a regular basis certain days of the week in the car as my reading or hobby crafting time. I also fit in some walking time in it too whenever I feel like it. So, those days that I am likely to get some time to kill (well, rather to wait in between two scheduled activities), I have my sneakers on (or somewhere in the car), have a book or two, a notebook or some scrap paper with some pens. As for crafting, I only bring something with me when I am able to organise a hand-crafting project that is small enough to carry around the night before to take with me the next day. When I do, depending on the amount of materials needed and the size of the project itself, I put everything I need in a small container or a larger box. It is OK, but I knew things could have been more compact and more mobile.

When I saw that 'Goody Goody Binding Kit' instagram photos (yay!, I have finally started using Instagram), I thought 'that was it'! I found the beautifully laid out tutorial of Vanessa Goertzen on her blog and voila! I made one too. Well, I started off with one, then made another, then another. It does take a bit of time to complete the project (and I must admit, the least joyful part of the whole project for me is that first fabric matching and cutting stages) but it just feels so good when you finish it. The possibilities are endless with it. I have made my own variations of the fabric placement and the inside design according to my own taste and needs but overall, the tutorial is a great start. Much recommended for anyone that is interested.

By the way, in case you haven't noticed, the over-grown strawberry and the flower are actually not just for the good looks. They are pockets. Isn't that clever of Vanessa to have come up with the idea?

Enjoy a fulfilling day!

Tutorial: Handmade Cubes

This is one quick and easy project that even most novice crafters will achieve. This was one of the very first things I have ever made as an adult crafter, approximately 5 or 6 years ago. It is quite a flexible project too as you can decide on the size, the materials used (felt is very hassle free and is easy to hand-stitch but you can also make it with some durable fabrics too instead), pattern for the felt/fabric placement, the stuffing used (hobby-fill, shredded fabric scraps etc) and so on. 

Materials needed: 
- 6 pieces of same sized (eg 10cm) felt pieces (in this particular one, I have used 4 of the same and 2 of a contrasting colour for two opposite sides)
- Stuffing (I used hobbyfill for this cube)
- Two small bells (optional)
- A needle (or a sewing machine)
- Some thread

You can choose to sew the pieces together using a sewing machine or just settle on the couch in front of a TV and simply hand-stitch (blanket stitch works the best) while watching your favourite show. Sew or stitch all sides and corners except for half of one as you need it open to put the stuffing in. I recommend securing the bells to each other and also to the filling you use or a piece of fabric leave in the middle of the cube and put more stuffing all around for safety purposes before closing the open side.

You can use this idea to make letter or number cubes for educational or decorative purposes or you can simply make it and give it to a loved little one as a handmade toy. Just be mindful of the materials used and any open ends or stitches if you give it to a baby as they tend to put things in their mouth more often than not. However, toddlers are more likely to use these cubes as balls or stacking items.

Have a fulfilling day!

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (5)

I am assuming that by now, you would have well noticed that we use cream cheese sandwiches more often than not as my son prefers cream cheese over other cheese types in sandwiches. He also prefers his sandwiches not to have many ingredients which is not a concern for me as he has his vegetables on the side happily anyway but I do find it boring. I would love to hear from you some other sandwich filling ideas.

1. Lunch and Snack:

• Cream cheese and chia wraps
• One small apple
• One small persimmon (cut into slices)
• One small (homemade) muffin

2. Lunch and Snack:

• One slice of homemade wholewheat bread with cream cheese and chia
• One slice of homemade olive bread with cream cheese
• Homegrown celery sticks
• Carrot sticsk
• Homegrown cherry tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Blueberries

3. Lunch and Snack

• Rice crackers with some cream cheese on the side
• Cucumber sticks
• Homegrown cherry tomatoes
• Melon slices

4. Lunch and Snack:

• Cream cheese and chia wraps
• Two organic dried apricots
• Half a carob stick
• Some homemade savoury cookies
• Cucumber slices
• Homegrown cherry tomatoes

5. Lunch and Snack:

• Rye bread sandwich with cream cheese and linseed
• Carrot sticks
• Cucumber sticks
• Red capsicum sticks
• Homegrown cherry tomatoes
• One banana

Note: You can access to the previous 'lunch ideas for kids posts' by Home of Homemade Treasures here:

Lunch ideas #4
Lunch ideas #3
Lunch ideas #2
Lunch ideas #1

Reptiles or Not

Once you have at least some basic sewing skills, life becomes more exciting; both for you and for the ones you enjoy putting a smile on the face of.

My daughter's best male friend, whom she has known since babyhood, had a 'reptile' themed birthday party last month. Believe it or not, it was full of LIVE snakes to say the least! You guess the rest. Not a party to forget anytime soon for sure.

As for the dinosaur tie in pictures here, well, you have guessed it right. It was a part of our gifts on the day (even though it is arguable whether dinosaurs were from the reptile family or not, but I thought it would still make a great gift as I haven't met a little boy who doesn't like dinos so far and yes, I was right, he DID love it!)

I have found the tie tutorial and pattern here on I am Sharing the Wealth and listened to the advice of Vanilla Joy on keeping the fabric ends around the neck short to make it more comfortable to wear. It was actually an enjoyable little project and didn't take long to put together either!

Lets make someone smile today!

SORREL (Rumex Acetosa, R. Scutatus)

The zippy, lemony taste of sorrel leaves is unique among herbs. Its leaves are long, arrow shaped and are refreshingly acidic and are brilliantly used especially for sauces and salads. Unfortunately, it is not very commonly known and is rarely stocked at shops.

Image Source

It is a hardy perennial. When planting, keep it in mind to establish a permanent patch to offer a year-round supply. It should survive the winter. Even if the leaves may die, the plant will bounce back in spring. In fact, since we planted ours some years ago, we have never needed to re-plant it. Fingers crossed for the coming years too.

To maintain your sorrel patch, simply, harvest regularly as the leaves will regrow. It is better to consume when the leaves are nice and young especially eating raw but can still be used when they grow much larger, particularly chopped and added to some cooked meals such as some soups and stews.

Sorrel is rich in Vitamins A and C, fiber, iron and potassium. There are studies to suggest that it is used in cancer prevention. It is also claimed that sorrel improves digestion problems and is helpful in lowering blood pressure. Sorrel is also helpful in improvement of eyesight and the immune system. The consumption of dried sorrel leaves stimulates urination and therefore can act as a diuretic which is helpful in cleaning out the kidneys.

It is recommended that sorrel is only consumed in smaller amounts as its oxalic acid can be toxic and can also contribute to the growth of kidney stones.

Sorrel in my son's lunchbox

How we consume it:

• Simply as raw salad leaves or snacks. 

• We cook a green lentil soup and add it to the pot at the end, soon after turning off the stove. 

The recipe of the green lentil soup that we use sorrel with is below:

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped finely.
1 clove crushed garlic (optional)
1 table spoonful of tomato paste (optional)
1/2 cup of boiled and drained chickpeas (chickpeas can be prepared in advance as boiled chickpeas can be stored in the freezer)
1/2 cup of boiled wheat (optional)
1-1,5 cup of boiled green lentils
Olive oil
Salt
Chilli flakes (optional)
Some boiling water
A handful of coarsely chopped sorrel leaves

Method:

Fry onion and garlic in some olive oil. Add paste. Once the onions are soft, add the lentils and keep stirring for a few minutes. Then add boiling water (about 3 times the level of lentils in the pot). Add the chickpeas, wheat, salt and chilli flakes and cook on slow heat for approximately 10-15 minutes. Then turn off the stove and quickly add the sorrel leaves. Stir a few times to make sure they soak. Then it is ready to eat.

Guest Post: Personalised Wooden Door Hanger (Tutorial)

About the Author: 

My name is Beyza Nur Bilge Kircali and I am a nurse. I left my job as a nurse with the birth of my first child, after 10 years. I now have three sons and live happily in Istanbul, Turkey. My interests have changed vastly after becoming a mum. I have completed a certificate course in 'teaching brain training games' through Aydin University. Currently, I am a first year student at Istanbul University, studying Sociology. Whenever I get some extra time from my children, I try to do some homework or take my children to kids activities in Istanbul as often as I can. I love upcycling, recycling and reusing materials at home. I find it very enjoyable to spend time with kids. I recommend it for anyone seeking a happy and fun life. 

This project is something that depending on age and level of readiness, your child can do independently, with some supervision or with you. It would also make a great 'birthday party' activity and gifts to take away for your child's friends on his/her birthday. It makes a wonderful recycling project too. 

You will need:

• A piece of wood to be used as a base in a preferred size (in this project, a piece of recycled crate made of poplar was used)
• Various coloured felt pieces
• Small pieces of cut wood
• Glue
• PVA glue or any type of glue that will stick to wood
• Sandpaper to smoothen the surface of the wooden base
• A pen or anything that will write on wood

Instructions: 

• Using the sandpaper, make sure the base wood is nice and smooth.
• Write the name in the middle of the wood in a large font.

• Using the glue, stick the little wood cubes/pieces on the letters shown in picture below.

• Start cutting your felt pieces for decoration. 

• Cut little squares or rectangles of felt and stick them on letters.

• Keep decorating until it satisfies your taste and then voila! Your personalised door decoration is ready!

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (4)

Below is another set of four lunch ideas for school children. If you would like to check out the previous ones, you can check here, here, and here.

1. Lunch and Snack:

• Cream cheese and chia wraps
• Lightly boiled squash with some dried mint on top
• Cranberries
• Homegrown corn on the cob

2. Lunch and Snack:

• A sandwich in multigrain bread (with poppy seeds) with cream cheese, cucumber, tomato and chia seeds
• A vegetable salad with raw mushroom, cucumber, carrot and some homegrown salad leaves
• Green and red grapes
• An apple

3. (Light) Lunch:

• Green salad leaves (sorrel, baby spinach and lettuce)
• Red capsicum
• Fetta cheese cubes
• Linseed
• Pumpkin seeds
• Goji berries

4a. Lunch and Snack:

• Cooked pasta shapes
• Lightly boiled broccoli
• Lightly boiled green beans
• Raw red capsicum
• Apple slices
• Strawberries

4b. Snack for Miss Junior
(Same as 4b except for pasta and apple)

• Lightly boiled broccoli
• Lightly boiled green beans
• Raw red capsicum 
• Strawberries

On the Road with Kids and the Spud Festival

A local school circus

Just recently, I read an article somewhere that suggested a great distraction idea for kids during road trips. The timing couldn't have been any better! Just the other weekend, we decided to go to the 'Great Trentham Spudfest' in a beautiful little town in Victoria, Trentham.

Types of potatoes and when to use them

We decided to go to the festival the night before. Since the kids were in bed by then, I easily went online, checked them out on their website, and made a few print outs. They had some printable colouring pages for a competition and a map, which was what I had just needed. 

Local school kids' potato sack artwork

The map wasn't much detailed and only showed a few streets but I found another one online that worked better for the purpose. Here is the distraction! I highlighted the route for them to keep a track of our way to the festival. While we were enjoying the beautiful views, kids were busy trying to follow the highlighted instructions on the map and see what was coming up soon. It worked really well for my 6 year old son and our 4 year old daughter was happy to just keep trying and also following her brother's map with him. 

Potato sacks turned into canvases

The festival was really well organised. There were many paid and free activities for kids and lots to see for adults. The hat shop was just amazing and my son also scored himself one of his most favourite pairs of gloves. They played golf, raced in potato sacks, had some hot potato swirls and more. There were over twenty types of potatoes on display! We also watched lots of shows both by professional bands and groups and some local school children. Hubby's favourite was the famous Australian chef, media personality and several restaurants owner Guy Grossi's live cooking show. He made making gnocchi from scratch look so easy and he was quite funny too. 

On the way to Trentham Spudfest

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (3)

This is the third set of four lunchbox ideas here after this and this on Home of Homemade Treasures blog so far. Definitely more is planned. Please feel free to share your lunchbox ideas with us in the comments section below as well. Enjoy!

1. Lunch and Snack

• Warm green lentil and pasta soup (in thermos)
• Pineapple slices
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Melon slices

2. Lunch and Snack

• Homemade pancakes
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Blueberries

3. Snack:

• Watermelon and banana kebabs

4. Lunch and Snack

• Couscous with cherry tomatoes and green leaves
• Cucumber slices and carrot sticks
• Melon slices and blueberries

Teddy with a Story

This curious little teddy bear you see in the picture above is as precious to us as a teddy can ever be. Her name is 'Teddy' and no, it is not a typo, it is a 'she', not a 'he'. 

She was a gift for my son from a friend of mine when he was first born but he has never been a big fan of soft toys, of course except for his 'storm friend'. Also, these days, he enjoys watching TV with Snoopy the dog (about the size of our 4yo daughter) at times but no other soft toys have been much of an interest to him. Therefore, teddy was left lonely up until Miss Junior was born and was close to the age of one, I believe.

Out of all those dolls and other soft toys that we had at home at the time, she chose her, Teddy, to be the most precious and even share her bed with. When she was approximately 2 years old, when we said that it was a boy, she was totally upset with our misinterpretation and incorrect assumption. Luckily, she had the intelligence and patience to explain to us (and others who called her a boy or 'he' a few times over the years) that it was a girl, just wearing her brother's pyjamas! To that explanation, there was no other word we could argue or add. That was it. It -now- is a female teddy wearing her hand-me-down jimjams of her elder brother. 

Now, Teddy has a family of her own. Her mother is the 'Brown Teddy' and father is 'Snoopy'. She also likes to call her 'her baby' which qualifies her as a second mother. Don't be fooled with the word 'second', she is no less than the first in any way. 

Normally, she is too precious to leave home in case she gets damaged or lost. Only when we go on extended trips or holidays she comes with us, The last time we went overseas for a break, we kept checking our passports and Teddy each time, to make sure there was no trouble awaiting us. 

Teddy has claimed the doll stroller and the doll highchair at home, of course. Even though my daughter has recently started to pay a bit more attention to dolls, no doll can compete with Teddy at this stage in her life. She even asked me to put away some of her 'now-small- clothes' for Teddy. She uses her unused nappies that were left over from when she used them for her, she sleeps with her in bed, and each time we have a meal, she places Teddy in the highchair and puts the highchair next to hers at the table. She doesn't feed her or anything but she really enjoys the 'pretend' games and this is a great opportunity for her. 

Recently, she has told me that she is tired of washing Teddy's clothes and there are so many food stains on her clothes and she really needs some bibs. She also told me that 'she likes the sky, and the moon, and red'. Then she went to my fabric stash and picked out this fabric in the picture saying that 'she likes stars too and Teddy said OK to pink'. She is quite a decisive person. She just looked at the stash and easily and very decisively told me which fabric was to be used for the bib I was to make for her. Don't I wish sometimes my customers over at MADE BY Y  were as decisive?

The same day, she went to bed for a nap and I started making the bib for Teddy. I also added a little teddy bear applique to the bib to surprise her as well. She seemed to be quite happy and Teddy seemed to be quite curious about her little friend. Now, Miss Junior puts Teddy's bib on her during meal times and then takes it off when she remembers or when she takes her off the highchair. Appearantly, Teddy is getting cold and now needs a pair of shoes too but I am yet to decide how to come up with a pattern for her tiny feet. I may have to crochet a pair instead of sewing but that still is up in the air. Until then, a pair of Miss Junior's socks on her should do.

Does your child have a precious toy too? Have you ever needed to make anything for it?