Imitation, as they say, is the sincerest form of flattery and lately I’ve been a bit of a copy cat. So Sadhbh, Helen, Julia and Clare should all be feeling very good about themselves and their brilliant blogs now.
I am a huge fan of The Busy Mama’s blog, so I started my bout of imitation by making Helen’s granola. With nuts, oats, cinnamon and coconut, it combines a lot of my favourite flavours PLUS it is much cheaper than the bought stuff AND it is unsweetened, which is great. I love it with honey and greek-style yogurt.
The next things to copy came from #homeetc, the homes and garden linky I join each Wednesday run by Caro and Jess. I love it and find so much inspiration there.
Last week was a particularly good one and I found two projects that really grabbed my attention. First up was Julia from Rainbeaubelle’s fairy garden. It reminded me so much of the kind of thing I used to love to make when I was a little girl. Gathering moss, stones, twigs and shells to make mini gardens was something I enjoyed a lot.
Even now, thirty years on, I still have great fun fiddling about with miniature things, so when I saw that Julia’s children had made a very cute fairy garden in a flower pot, I couldn’t help but have a go at sprucing up a flower pot I had outside the front door with a few forget-me-nots in it. Half and hour and some copper wire, twigs, feathers, beads and moss later I had my own fairy garden.
Also linked up to #homeetc was Maybush Studio’s jam jar upcyle. Clare had written a blog post about upcycling jam jars for storage of bits and bobs in her she shed. The idea fit perfectly into my weekend plans to re-activate our outdoor kitchen, since I store the tea bags, sugar, etc. out there in normal jam jars.
Last year we had a bit of a red theme in the outdoor kitchen. This year I was tending towards blue. One can of spray paint later, I had all my jam jar lids matching in a nice, shiny blue, a lovely match for my teatowels and paper napkins.
Last Thursday while browsing Facebook on my phone and waiting for the kettle to boil, I spotted a quick and colourful craft on Where Wishes Come From (don’t you just love the name?) – pencil pinwheels. Blogger Sadhbh is such a crafty mama and has brilliant ideas for crafts for childen. As soon as my cuppa was made, I grabbed some origami paper, a pencil and a thumbtack. Within 5 minutes I had a pretty pinwheel to cheer up Number Two who had fallen and was resting on the sofa with a cool pack.
Do you get much inspiration from blogs? Do you act on it and bake, bake or re-create what you’ve seen?
Linking up with Lisa’s linky Twinkly Tuesday on Mummascribbles.com
I get SO much inspiration too – I love blogging, I find so many ideas and wonderful things to make and do. Plus countless home, gardens and interiors ideas. And I get so many from you too! Glad you like #HomeEtc we love that you link up so much with us, feels like such a lovely little community xx
Ah, thanks Jess. I really, really enjoy #HomeEtc. You and Caro are such encouraging, supportive hosts and there are so many wonderful bloggers involved.
Ok I’m ON that granola. I keep meaning to make my own and this one looks good for gluten-free as I have gluten free oats plus the flavours sound so yummy. I take so much inspiration from blogs, perhaps not always recreating things but definitely in awe of what people can do X
It is really easy and quick and you can vary it. We are not big into seeds in this house, so we used linseed and poppy seed. But it is tasty and keeps well. I keep meaning to try it as crumble topping too.
I get inspiration, but I only tend to try out recipes. I always thing the craft things look amazing and get slightly jealous of everyone’s abilities. I am notoriously bad at anything craft related! It’s a guaranteed pintrest fail with me! #TwinklyTuesday
I get lots of recipe inspiration too, but tend to forget where I saw a recipe and then never get to make it, oops!
Aaah I love this Fionnu!! And I’m just the same — I get SO much inspiration from blogs or Pinterest. There are some amazingly creative people out there, that’s for sure! And half of them are average Joe’s who aren’t even doing it for a living!!! I think it’s amazing. Thanks so much for the mention lovely!!! Jess and I love your home and garden posts!! 🙂 xx
Exactly Caro. It is incredible the creative talent that is out there in people who have a regular day job that is completely different.
I love linking up each week. Thanks so much for hosting.
I miss linking up with Caro and Jess’s Linky but sadly my laptop can’t cope with their site. 🙁
Really want to do messy activities with my daughter but haven’t a clue where to start. Perhaps the blog Where Wishes Come From may help. #TwinklyTuesday
Oh, what a pity. Where wishes come from has some great crafts for children. Browse here too and you’ll find some fun projects the boys and I have tried.
The reason I started to blog in the first place was because I found them so inspiring! I am always discovering new things to try and as a result my to-do list is longer than both my arms. I’ve now just added that gorgeous fairy garden to the list!
I’m glad my pinwheels helped cheer up your boy. Perfect timing 🙂 Thanks for trying it out!
I know what you mean Sadhbh. It was similar with me with starting a blog.
My lists are getting longer and longer too. I hope you and the girls enjoy making the garden, if you get round to it.
I love the granola idea, I am terrible for eating breakfast but this actually sounds like something I would eat and enjoy! x #TwinklyTuesday