succulent rain

So special are those moments when we look at something and don't want the moment to pass, when we really want to savour how beautiful something is, and although a photo cannot capture everything we feel or smell or see, we can at least attempt to keep a tiny glimpse of it.

I love the rain we've had in Melbourne lately (after a dry few years).  I've especially loved the sound of steady rain on the roof at night, when the kids are all tucked into bed, and the lights are dim.  I also really love the vibrancy of colour it brings out in nature in the daytime...the greens are so much greener, and everything seems to sparkle!

I'm not much of a photographer, but I love the colours that have come out in these few photos, in which I've attempted to capture glimpses of something beautiful.  Enjoy :)

a screen-free weekend

On the weekend I set my family a challenge: to have a "screen-free" weekend.  So no television and no computer (and no sneaking internet on our iphones!).  This idea came about basically because of my increasingly bad habit of putting on the telly as a way of getting the kids (aged 8,6,4 and 18mths) to be quiet, and therefore giving me time to do what I want to do peacefully...often my sewing, cooking, getting on facebook etc.  I guess you could say I've been using the TV as a live-in nanny.  Not great mothering, I know.

I have to tell you that although it was fairly tiring, we had a really great time of it.  On Saturday it was cold and raining so we spent the day indoors with lots of cooking (my husband calls this edible craft)and a bit of paper craft.  We started off making coconut biscuits, my favourite recipe from my childhood (I remember my mums original printout of it from a 1970's womens' mag).  I've included a recipe further on in case you feel inclined to try them out.

Next was playing dress ups, followed by some simple paper craft cutting snowflakes out of white paper.  The kids had been begging me to put up the Christmas tree so I thought our snowflakes would look nice hanging nearby.  We then made gnocchi from scratch which was a great activity for the kids!  They equally enjoyed the boiling process and dishing them out of the pot into their plates.  Also accomplished was making goats milk cheese, setting up the Christmas tree, lots of drawing, reading, running in circles...and just, well, playing! 

We thoroughly enjoyed our time over the weekend, but I have to confess that my husband and I gave in and enjoyed a much earned movie on Saturday night once the kids were asleep...and I may or may not have peaked at facebook from my phone once or twice (lol).  But all in all I'd say it was a success, and I hope to do the same every weekend if we can stay strong!  Do you do TV free days in your home?  If not, I challenge you to!!

Coconut Biscuits

4oz/110g butter

1 cup castor

1 1/2 cup S.R. Flour

pinch of salt

1 cup coconut

1 egg

Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg.  Slowly add sifted flour, salt and coconut and mix well.  Roll into balls and flatten slightly, then place on lightly greased baking tray.  Bake in moderate oven (170-180 degrees) for 10-15 minutes or until golden.  Enjoy :)

FRESH COCONUT BISCUITS OUT OF THE OVEN

ROLLING AND CUTTING OUR GNOCCHI DOUGH

OUR FINISHED GNOCCHI, SERVED WITH A CREAMY, BUTTERY
 SAUCE, WITH A HINT OF GARLIC AND FRESH THYME

OUR PAPER SNOWFLAKES HANGING



IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

 



this moment

{this moment} - A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  -SouleMama

 If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

hupi at home

For those of you who don't know, "hupi" means "fun" (in Finnish), and that is what I set out to have when I started my "hupi" label over a year ago. 

So I finally came up with a name for my blog that I'm quite happy with..."hupi at home".  I think it's a nice fit because that's exactly what I'm doing : having fun at home, both raising my children and working on my hupi designs.  There's a lot of hard work involved, but I consider myself very fortunate to be living a life which is fulfilling in so many ways.

I hope you enjoy reading along with me as I share my design thoughts and inspirations as well as glimpses of my life as a mum/wife/designer and ordinary person.  It's more than likely that I won't have a lot of time for blogging at the moment (I have two children at school and two still at home full time with me), but when I have an idea to start something, I get restless until I've done it...so there, now I've done it!!




Danielle xx