Blogtoberfest Day 14 - Maddabling 14 Day Photo Challenge - Day 2

Day  2  -  Hourly,  Daily

Adelle Favas

melanie cook 

Siobhan Cain

Starry Raston

Christine McInerney Percy

Maddabling

Emily Louise Winter

Shelley Sypko

Wendy Hearn 

Blogtoberfest Day 13 - Maddabling 14 Day Photo Challenge - Day 1

Day 1 - Young Modern

Lovely readers, the 14 Day Photo Challenge created by Maddabling has now commenced. Above you will see the daily topic list. Below you will see the wonderful interpretations from the participants stretching the creative realms of their artistic minds for Day 1 - Young Modern. Enjoy xo 

Adelle Favas

Starry Raston

Maddabling

Wendy Hearn 

Siobhan Cain 

Shelley Sypko

melanie cook

Emily Louise Winter

Blogtoberfest Day 12 - Friday Friends - DUSTy Divas - LostSocksHome

Happy Friday lovely Maddabling blog readers and for those visiting the Maddabling Blog through Blogtoberfest - a BIG HELLO to you too! 
12 Days into Blogtoberfest and I am  still loving the daily challenge. 
It's a constant thought process, to find something of interest to write about each day and I hope you are all enjoying this journey with me. 
Back to the Friday Friends feature now. This week I want you to meet some brand new Friday Friends and DUSTy Divas - Marlene and Leon from 

lostsockshome

I must confess, I have never ever seen such a fantastically creative collection of critters as can be found at lostsockshome.... meet a few of my favourites now! 

Introducing the gorgeously girly Sharon Sheep and her friends

the marvellous Marty Mouse and 

last but not least, the cutie pie Carmel the Camel. 

Dear readers, I invite you now to make a cuppa, take some YOU time and to enjoy the inspirational story behind lostsockshome. Don't forget, the Maddabling 14 Day Blogtoberfest Photo Challenge starts tomorrow, 13th October 2012 see the event page on facebook here : for more information. 

The story of lostsockshome 

There’s a group of friends in the Echuca area who, since BC (Before Children), have been spending time together over many years. They went to each others weddings and on holidays together. They played games and tricks and shared children, food, recipes, patterns and handcraft ideas. All 5 couples are now grandparents.

One couple, Marlene and Leon, once saw a button necklace at a market  then went home and made one. On a weekend away they showed the rest of the group how to go about it. So began Liz’s “hundredsofbuttons”.

Another friend brought along the idea of sock monkeys. Soon Marlene and Leon had created a fine collection of sock monkeys. A fabulous and unique line of sock animals was born. Marlene and Leon are the makers behind lostsockshome. Their artistic creativity had long been showcased in their Echuca gift shop. You don’t run a successful gift shop for many years without having a great flair for design  !

Since retiring from the gift shop Marlene has spent increasing hours pursuing her interest in things handmade. She has made fabric books, knitted toys, dolls clothes and many styles of gorgeous handmade items for their two lovely granddaughters. 
There were too many sock animals to keep in the house and the sock monkeys were selling fast through the local gift shop, so the Marlene and Leon asked Liz of hundredsofbuttons about selling online. 

So began www.lostsockshome.etsy.com. Liz photographs and lists, Marlene sews and creates while Leon encourages, suggests, supports and stuffs the softies !

Online etsy and local market sales sure answered the question of what to do with all the sock toys. www.facebook.com/lostsockshome got started and was followed by www.madeit.com.au/lostsockshome.

lostsockshome  - behind this fabulous shop are a supply of brightly striped socks and the makers’ amazingly endless creativity. The sock animals feel incredibly soft and babies of all ages love them. Some toys have left lostsockshome to fly overseas. All the animals are made using new socks. They are feather – light, washable, easily packaged, handmade in Australia and absolutely unique.  lostsockshome  sock monkeys and sock animals are impossible to resist !

Blogtoberfest Day 11 - Three Things Thursday

Maddabling travelled away for work mid week, therefore the post for day 11 of Blogtoberfest will be quite short and sweet. Something inspirational shared from the Op Shop facebook page

something dreamy from the completely fabulous Elle Moss -

"Before the Voyage" "5x7 Photograph-rich vibrant raspberry mint surreal photo"

and a new song by Bertie Blackman called "Boy" 

I hope you enjoy the Three Things I have chosen to share with you this Thursday xo  

Blogtoberfest Day 10 - Lemonade - Wednesday Wishes

Hello Blogtoberfest Day 10 ! Today I have some inspiration for you all  :)

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" 

This sweet saying forms the motivation for the fab Etsy Finds I have chosen to share with you today - I hope you enjoy these Lemonade flavoured Wednesday Wishes xo

Making Basil Lemonade by rikkisnyder

Lemonade Halter Sundress with Bow and Lace from Fables by Barrie

Blue Lemonade Citrus Botanical Fragrance by EsscentualAlchemy

vintage patent leather high heels : LEMON iCE shoes by shopREiNViNTAGE

Lemongrass Tea Cold Process Soap by mojospa

Blogtoberfest Day 9 - Ready for an Artistic Challenge

Blogtoberfest Day 9 - Hello dear readers - some exciting news today - I extend to you the opportunity to undertake a 14 Day Artistic Photography Challenge! 

Maddabling is hosting a special 14 Day Photo Challenge which will start on Saturday 13th October 2012. Below you will find a list of the topics for each day. As you will see, the topics are quite broad and definitely open to the artistic interpretation of the person behind the camera lens. 

Combining a love of blogging, photography and music, this special 14 Day Photo Challenge is based on Album Titles from the Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time as compiled by Triple J Radio: 

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/alltime/11/

It is also to celebrate Blogtoberfest, which this year is hosted by the ever so lovely 
Kat at the i saw you dancing blog 

The only RULE is - ALL photo's must be taken on the day, no holiday pics from a couple of years ago etc, the challenge is the immediacy of it and working with what you've got! 

If you wish to participate, you will be required to post your photo or a public link to your photo each day on the event page that has been created by Maddabling through the Maddabling Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Maddabling

All photos will be collated and published each day on the Maddabling Blog so we can all see each others photos. 

NOTE : all copyright remains with individual artists 

And for those of you who prefer a text only list : 

Maddabling Blogtoberfest 14 Day Photo Challenge 

Day 1 - Young, Modern 

Day 2 - Hourly, Daily 

Day 3 - A Book Like This 

Day 4 - Beams 

Day 5 - In Ghost Colours 

Day 6 - East 

Day 7 - Two Shoes 

Day 8 - Wonder 

Day 9 - Unit 

Day 10 - Lovers 

Day 11 - Tea and Sympathy 

Day 12 - Three 

Day 13 - Human Frailty 

Day 14 - Immersion

Blogtoberfest - Day 8 - Fabulous Fennel

Fennel Powder from spice kingdom

Welcome everyone to Blogtoberfest Day 8. Today I want to introduce you to Fabulous Fennel. I love the flavour of Fennel, although it isn't to the taste of everyone. 
We grow fennel in our garden, it has pretty feathery foliage and a distinctive aniseed flavour. Fennel is used in many different forms, both culinary and medicinal......in cooking as a vegetable, powdered spice, or seed. I am always on the lookout for new Fennel recipes and found this one that I can't wait to try, once our Fennel is fully grown and ready to harvest. I will share it with you now :)

Fennel print 8 x 10 by messyfish

Fresh Fennel + Radicchio Pasta 

(from the West Australian Newspaper )

"Pasta is a great carrier for strong flavours. Fennel is just delicious right now. 
Team that with some sharp radicchio and you have the basis for a great vegetarian meal. The bite of the radicchio works really well with the gentleness of the pasta. 
I used a short pasta but a long one like spaghetti or fettucine would also be good.

INGREDIENTS : 

(serves 4) 

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion sliced

1 fennel bulb thinly sliced 

2 tsp crushed garlic

1 red chilli, chopped or to your taste

2 cups coarsely sliced radicchio - about half a head

1/2 cup stock or water

salt + freshly ground black pepper

400g dried short pasta

1/3 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

METHOD

1. Heat the oil in a medium pan and add the onion and fennel. 
Cook over a fairly gentle heat until the fennel is tender and a pale golden colour. 

2. Turn up the heat and add garlic, chilli and radicchio. 
After the radicchio has collapsed, add the stock or water and season well. 

3. Meanwhile, simmer the pasta in plenty of salted water 

until it is tender. 
Drain and add to the fennel mixture. 

Toss around until all is coated and then fold through the parsley and the cheese and serve."

Certified Organic, Fennel Seed Origin: Egypt 1/2oz by NycSpellBinder