Relaxing Easter Sunday Lunch

For me this would be the perfect Easter Lunch setting. A group of friends and family gather outside, sitting under the shade of a huge old tree. The kids playing happily together, collecting chocolate eggs, but only eating one or two!

We will be on the beautiful Sunshine Coast this Easter long weekend, visiting my Dad and celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary.

What are your plans this weekend?

Image 1 - source unknown Image 2 - Country Living Image 3 - Fiona Carter Ribbons Galore Image 4 - Cake Journal

Easter decorating

I don't know about you, but it's crazy busy at the Dollar house at present. We won't be here for the Easter weekend, however I wanted to create a simple Easter decoration we could enjoy in the lead up to Easter that wouldn't take long to put together and didn't cost the earth.

I've got a fasination with cloches and terrariums at present, so I knew I wanted to include a glass jar in the display.

Paper and ribbon bunting from Details, details! (thanks girls!)

Pink milk glass cake stand from Donna Hay General Store (I already had this)

Glass jar from Ikea (I had these left over from Christmas 2008)

Choc Lindt Bunny and Darrel Lea eggs

As you can see, there's no need for a tutorial. I literally popped the eggs and bunny in the jar and voila! Hope you are enjoying the lead up to Easter.

Image Sharnel Dollar My Life My Loves

Please give Jakob five

My very good friend Kathryn has a remarkable son.

Jakob

Jakob is raising money for his friend Kelcey who is fighting for her life.

Kelcey

If you can spare NZD$5, head on over here.

Thank you in advance for your kind donation.

Beautiful bedroom

I just can't take my eyes off this bedroom. It's just too gorgeous for words.

Love the fabric used on the window treatment. It's the same as used on this sidetable.

The same designer (Joe NYE Inc) is responsible for these perfect spaces too.

How sexy is that bar?

Images JoeNYEinc

Grace's Sweetshop Party

Do yourself a favour and head on over to Glorious Treats to see all the eye candy from Grace's 6th Birthday this past weekend.

Image Glory Albin

In the news

I was contacted a few weeks back by the Sunday Mail (South Australia) Home Mag to share some party planning tips. Here is the article. Hmmm, not exactly what I said, but hey what can you do. Oh and the web address is wrong. It's going to be www.sharneldollardesigns.com.au. But it's not live yet, all in good time.

Pant wetting material

I think I would literally wet my pants if I were to come across masses of flowers like this. We are so sheltered here in Australia. Don't get me wrong, I love this great country of ours, but we seriously lack:

Cool furniture from Craigslist. MFAMB finds the best stuff.

Antique markets like the one's Brooke and Steve visit

Stuff from Anthro

Single coloured M&M's

What else do we need here people? Let's discuss .....

Image via Mary Ruffle

Midnight ramblings

I've joked with my husband and friends over the past fews days and suggested that if I ever over commit myself again, like I have this week, please flick my eyes with a plastic spoon.

So here I am, sitting on the lounge at precisely 12.15am waiting for the last cake to bake, drooling over Phoebe Howards portfolio and listening to the Skirted Round Table.

Anyhoo ......... I'd like to share with you some of Phoebe's interiors that I love.

I love how this room is bright and fresh whilst relaxing at the same time. Gorgeous use of colour.

I adore little havens like this one. Perfect place to hide or take a mini break during the day. I'm currently working on creating a space like this in our bedroom at present. Can't wait to show you the finished product. I'm working with one of my favourite designers!

This pinky/peachy colour is one of my favourites.

Phoebe is the queen of twin beds in my opinion. No one does it like her.

Really digging this balustrade. The natural "tree stump" table is great too. I'm sure there is a proper word for the table, let me know if you know it.

She just gets it hey?

Guest bedroom perfection.

Nothing like a bit of Hollywood Regency to sexy up your reading material.

Mummy and Me Tea Party

My friend Stacey from Sunny Mummy hosted a Mummy and Me Tea Party for her daughter's birthday this past weekend. What a lovely way to celebrate her Starshine's special day. Be sure to pop over to the Sunny Mummy blog, you are sure to be inspired.

Wonderfilled weekend

What have you all got planned for the weekend? Me? Well, I'm teaching a little cupcake class tomorrow, school social dinner in the evening and not much planned for Sunday. But I'm sure I'll be kept busy. Olivia is very excited that her Daddy is taking her to the rugby Sunday afternoon.=

I'll leave you this weekend with this link to one of beautiful friends, (inside and out) Tracey Lau. She is a mama to five and has the most generous soul. Here are some of my most favourite photos from her blog. Amazing talent!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend. Soak it up I say!

Olivia's 6th Birthday - Inspiration Board

So I've started planning Olivia's 6th birthday party to be held at the end of July. It will be Winter here in Brisbane, a perfect time temperature wise, to be able to play in the garden (although the garden won't look beautiful).

I thought I'd share with you how I go about planning my children's birthday parties.

For me it all starts with colour. I decide on the colours I want to use and try and work a theme around that. It's hard though to make the decision. Even as I was putting this inspiration board together I had at least two other themes (planned to an inch of it's life) floating around in my head.

So here is my first inspiration board. There may be more to come. We'll see. I'm going to keep you in the loop, how I pull it together, how much work goes into it. It's a labour of love I tell you.

Let me know what you think. I've got more images to come soon. So many images, so little time!

Image credits: Bramble via Hummingbird, toadstool table and chairs from Magic Cabin, whimsical toadstool table scapes via Amorology, mashmallow milkshake via Sweet Paul, Rose Petal Skirts image Land of Nod, Fawn graphic via Two Peas, Gnome snowglobe graphic, ric rac and dots from Parasol

Vegemite scroll anyone?

What was she thinking? Maybe she bought the cheesy mite scrolls along for an after party snack?

How's Kitty?

I feel a little silly telling you this (after my post last week), but our kitty has a new lease on life. We (and the vet/s) are quite amazed at her recovery. Our vet thought she was in stage four kidney failure, however she has recovered and is back to her old self.

Miracles do happen! To say that we are happy is an understatement. Thank you for the lovely comments last week too, it all helps ease the pain when you are feeling down in the dumps.

Image via Katie Daisy

New blog on the block

One of my extremely talented friends, Glory Albin has started her own blog - Glorious Treats.

Look for posts with beautiful desserts, recipes, party planning, and probably a few crafts too. Please be sure to stop by and say hi to her.

Image via Glory Albin - Glorious Treats

Chewy and Crispy

Click here to read my latest post over at The Party Dress.

Sweet flowers

Like to learn how to make cute little sugar lumps like these? Click here to find out.

Image Bake it Pretty

House Tour - Welcome to my kitchen

With our kitchen being featured in Brisbane News last week, I thought what better time than now to write the second installment of my House Tour series.

My inspiration

This kitchen by Mark Wilkinson was the image I gave to Victoria Ashton in 2006 when she designed our kitchen. When explaining what I wanted, I showed her this kitchen but I didn't want it to be this rustic. No raw timber, not so 'country cottage'. What I did want was glass fronted cabinets, a huge island bench with seating, freestanding oven, shaker style cabinet doors, pendant lighting, integrated fridge and dishwasher, a pot tap (over the stove) and subway tiles.

Victoria did a wonderful job interperting what I wanted and completed our kitchen plans.

I then engaged the services of Anna from Black & Spiro to furnish our home. She provided advice on tile selection and layout, cabinetry design, cabinetry handle selection and tapware selection for our kitchen. Craig Madders from Madders Kitchens was responsible for the making of the beautiful cabinetry.

Here is the result

Image via Brisbane News

Image via Black & Spiro

What I love about our kitchen

Walking into it every morning - it really is a beautiful space

The zip-hydro tap

The space! And the storage. Those 'to the ceiling' units are a godsend.

Intergrated fridges

Separate pantry/scullery

Display shelving - it's a work in progress

Pot tap above the stove

What shits (oh did I just type that?) me about our kitchen

The honed marble - it marks really easily. You have to be super quick in wiping up stuff. I love the way it looks though.

I won't lie - keeping a white kitchen clean is alot of work. Especially since it is all handpainted. Those Magic Erasers are great for hard to budge marks.

The pendant lights trap insects in them and we don't have screens, there are ALOT of insects flying in. Apart from that I do love them.

I have a love hate relationship with my butlers sink. I love the way it looks, I hate the way it performs. Nuf said.

Make sure you choose machine washable fabric if you are having loose cover barstools. It is a major pain in the backside having them drycleaned all the time.

Hope you enjoyed my house tour kitchen edition. I'll take some close ups of the kitchen in the few days and show you some tricky little gadgets we have that make life easier and keep visitors entertained for hours!