Happy Australia Day 2012

Be safe and enjoy the national holiday whatever you have planned :)

What is Australia Day all about , you ask? Kimmie has a great explanation here.

Banana and Choc Chip Muffins

A quick and easy recipe for the over ripe bananas laying in your fruit bowl. I adapted this recipe from a banana loaf recipe I found yesterday and was not sure how they would turn out. In the end they were so yummy (especially still warm) and delicious for breakfast too.

3 ripe bananas ~ mashed
2 cups SR flour ~ sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup margarine or butter ~ melted
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
cap full of vanilla extract
choc chips to taste, we added some large white chocolate buttons too

Mix together in a big bowl. Use an ice cream scoop to place mixture evenly into each muffin case. The mixture was enough to fill each case nearly to the top.

Bake in the oven at 180 deg C (170 deg C fan forced) for 15 - 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Eat slightly warm and the next morning for breakfast if they last that long!

Bon appétit!

Sometimes you don't know you need it 'til you see it!

Instant collection, instant love!

The One Armed Boxer and Other Thrifting Finds: Part 1

I dragged the kids out for a day of thrifting Wednesday morning; the lure of Maccas breakfast was too great (they would not have left the house otherwise). Unbeknown to us, we picked the hottest day to venture out, we thought it was only going to be 29 deg C but apparently it reached 33 deg C. It was so damn hot, the tip shop shed was a million degrees, the kids came out with red cheeks and itchy armpits. We did, however, leave with a few bargains in tow. The car was full to the brim, so our intentions of doing food shopping on the way home was quashed.

Thrifting: 1, Food shopping: 0



The one armed boxer missing his base. He's an oldie, made of brass not plastic, so he was definitely coming home.



I was amazed that this 7 piece Davidson or Bagley depression glass dessert piece was in perfect condition, found at the tip shop for $30. I have a few other pieces in the same pattern, in pink and blue, including a cake stand and berry bowls.



Could you imagine yourself sipping Tang from these beauties? I have the old glass tang jug so these will be fantastic for our pizza dining. Four glasses with original stand $15 opshop.



Ok, this little fellow wasn't thrifted, but he was so cute that he had to come home too.



The cane table came for the opshop which doesn't normally have furniture and it only arrived that morning. It was priced at $25, a bit exie for an oppie, but not for what it was so it became a passenger in the back seat. I will probably remove the vinyl contact.

The glass panels on the top belong to the cupboard below...



This was my favourite find of the day, and hence no room in the boot for food. It is quite tall, probably 150cm?? It needs a makeover, but is perfect for my studio to hold bits and bobs. The glass sits in the top as sliding doors.



A Readers Digest 12" globe, a little tattered and dented, but is cool because it swivels up and down and around.



A trolley from Y's Buys for $5, great for the next swap meet, Goulburn 1st April, not too far away.

But wait there's more!.... but I will leave them for another post. Enjoy your weekend, T x

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Woods

21-1-2012

The Muppets

We took the kids to see The Muppets movie today. We didn't realise that the kids weren't really familiar with the Muppets, I don't think they have been on TV for a while. The kids are too busy watching Horrible Histories, cartoons and Wife Swap..haha

I was flicking around last night and showed them the Mahna Manha song, which they loved and the Muppet rendition of the Bohemian Rhapsody (if you love Beaker like we do, its fantastic).

The movie was really fun, not as many laughs all the way through, but the barber shop quartet made my eyes run.....the music is written by Bret McKenzie from the Flight of the Conchords, so if you love them, you will be familiar with their humour.

All in all, it was a great family movie. It made us remember all the good bits about the Muppets and now the kids want to see more.

Did you grow up with the Muppets like we did? Who was your favourite? Mine was the Big Blue Monster, Beaker and later on Pepe the Prawn. Have you seen the movie yet? What did you think?

A few Muppet clips for a bit of fun, enjoy!

Our UK parcel has arrived!

Firstly, thank you for the positive feedback for my cards. I have listed them now, so only time will tell how they go.

We sent a parcel home from England, the first week of our travels by surface mail as it was quite heavy and expensive to post. It arrived mid December and I had forgotten some of the items that were inside.



The mohair bulldog/boxer? (£16) puppet and fabric box (£6) came from the Station Antiques, Appledore, Kent. His smaller companion was picked up at the Ardingly Antique Fair (£4). The weeny french powder box was £3 from the fair also.



We found our first (and only) car boot sale near to our first stay at Kenardington, near Ashford, Kent. The car boot sale was pretty inexpensive and a lot of fun. The smaller black opera glasses with original leather pouch were £10, the prettier engraved silver glasses were from Ardingly at only £3.

The Mr bought the Georgian door knocker (£35) and iron latch (£15) from Ardingly.



A few more smalls from the car boot, gifts for others...



Bits and bobs from Ardingly....



And finally a French agricultural award plaque, another of the Mr's buys, at the Station Antique for £30.

All in all we bought very little, but we are happy with what did make it home and didn't have too much to put away. It feels like a lifetime ago that we were there, that it was all some sort of crazy dream...but a good one!

If you missed my earlier post of our other English finds, you can find it here.

I hope you all have an enjoyable week, Tam x

Launching Original Photo Art Print Greeting Cards on Etsy

I have enjoyed taking photos over the years, mainly for my blog, and to document my ever growing collections. We live in a lovely country town with picturesque views and I have a vast collection of objects, nearly all items we own are vintage, pre-loved and have interesting stories of their own. What better way to share them with others than to capture the images on greeting cards.

I have designed a series of original photo art print cards depicting many of my treasures or surroundings, each picture is exclusive and owned by A Treasured Past.

Card specifications:

Professionally printed folded greeting card on 300gsm or 110.78lb card stock,
Featuring full photo cover with blank internal,
Semi-gloss laminated front and back cover,
Back of card is printed with A Treasured Past Logo and copyright,
10 cm x 15 cm or 3.9 in x 5.9 in,
White envelope included.

This listing is for one card priced at $4 AUD per item.

I am listing a few in my etsy shop to test the waters and see how they do.

I would love to hear what you think before I do, please be honest in your comments. Do you think they are reasonably priced, etcetera.....

Many thanks, Tam x

Collections: Religionalia

It feels like ages since my last post. I have been engrossed in tracing back our family tree. My mother always thought that her grandmother was an orphan but she was happy when I discovered the name of her father and his father before him. I also discover that we are descendants of convicts on the other side. Mum doesn't want us too dig too deep, she is worried what we might find..haha

Anyho..back the the real world. As promised here are some photos of the Mr's growing religious memorabilia collection.

















The Mr's side of the bed, more pieces dotted between the clowns and Super Grover, of course.





The sweetest gift arrived from Kylie in the mail. Isn't the reindeer card sweet? Thank you Kylie, we love it.





Thanks for stopping by, Tam x