Dear October...

"Dear _" is a new monthly series I'm starting on the blog inspired by Carrie Fletcher's "Letters to Autumn" videos. I hope you enjoy it! x Erin

Monthly Wrap Up || October

How are we back at doing this sort of post already? I feel like not enough time has past since last month and this one for me to change anything at all (I'd tell you that this month was the quickest one this year, but then you'd roll your eyes at me and say "Erin you say that every month." But hey, it's true.)

Here's some of the things I got up to this month:

Favourite Part // Finally sucking up my fear and booking driving lessons, I really enjoyed them and finally drove on the main roads.

Reading // The Brotherband Chronicles by John Flanagan (still)


Watching // Dance Academy. Oh no someone please save me. I think I finished 2 seasons of this in a few days, that is not healthy!


Listening To //  The whole 1989 album by Taylor Swift (Wonderland is a definite favourite, I love all the Alice in Wonderland references)


Cooking // Quinoa Risotto it was so delicious! (I'm definitely a top chef)


Learning // How to drive and more astronomy, surprise surprise, but there's plenty more constellations to learn! 


Making // My new poetry book! I'm very excited to finish it.


Doing // Writing as always, and a lot of laying around complaining about the fact that it's far too hot for spring.

Next Month // I'm going to get organised and try to spend less time on the computer. I feel like I've been waiting for November to arrive so I could have a fresh start since Mid-October! I'm happy it's finally arriving.

x Erin

A Halloween Tale

 

Of Interest || October

Hey everyone! It's the middle of the month so I thought I'd try out something new and let you all know some of the things I've serendipitously stumbled upon in the past few weeks. There's no particular categories but I thought it'd be nice for you to see a couple of the things that occupy my mind when I'm not on the blog!

1 // Wunderkammer

The very definition of Wunderkammer is "a place where a collection of curiosities and rarities is exhibited" also known as a Cabinet of Curiosities and can be literally translated into "Wonder Cabinet". If all these magical words being thrown around hasn't sparked your interest already I recommend doing a quick google image or pinterest search on the word. You better believe I spent far too long drooling over all of them. Some are creepy some are cute, but all of them are wonderful. In Renaissance Europe they were where objects that were yet to be classified were kept.

2 // ecosia.org

I came across this search engine at the start of the month and have been using it since, it's just like google except every time you search you help to plant a tree. The website donates 80% of its income to a tree planting company in Brazil, so now you can do a little bit to help the world while you're searching things like wunderkammer!

3 // Carmel Seymour

I think it was through the Free People blog that I found out about this wonderful artist and you just have to visit her website. There's something so intriguing and beautiful about her works, I think I could look at them forever trying to decipher the story behind each one. Below are my two favourites, the one on the left is called "The Secret Not Worth Knowing" and the one on the right is untitled. It makes me super happy knowing she is from Australia too!

Let me know if you liked this type of post and I may make it a more frequent occurrence!

Are there any beautiful or interesting things that you've discovered lately?

x Erin

Recipe || 6 Ingredient Banana Bread

Sticking to my goal of learning a new recipe each month, I decided to start easy and learn to make banana bread! We had bananas in our fruit bowl that didn't look particularly appealing, so I figured it was time to put my (non-existent) cooking skills to use.

The recipe is super easy and delicious so I figured I'd share it with you all, and it only uses 6 ingredients!

You will need:

- 2 ripe bananas (really really ripe is best!)

- 2 tbs of Golden Syrup (or honey)

- 1 egg

- 3/4 cup of brown sugar

- 1 cup self raising flour

- A pinch of salt

Optional:

- Cinnamon sugar

- Chopped nuts

What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 180˚C/356˚ F (that's right, we're using an oven. Moving up in the world!)

2. Line a loaf tin with baking paper

3. Mash the two bananas and the golden syrup together in a bowl until it's all combined

 4. Add the sugar into the bowl and continue mixing

 5. Add in the egg, sifted flour and salt and once again mix until combined. You can also add in any chopped nuts that you want in the bread here

6. Pour the mixture into your loaf tin and if you want you can sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar over the top to make it crunchy

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean

8. EAT THE ENTIRE SCRUMPTIOUS THING

I hope you enjoyed this super quick and easy recipe. It was definitely a hit with my family! Something about the crunchy outside and soft inside is irresistible and the whole thing was gone within a day.

Let me know if there's anything you've been cooking or baking, I'm on the lookout for new yummy recipes!

x Erin

DIY || Crochet Leaf Headband

Hello hello! I've said it a few times and I'll say it again, but I'm going through a crochet phase at the moment. I recently made this leaf headband/crown which is not only cute but also super easy to make, so I thought I'd share it with you today! You can completely customise it too, change the colours, add flowers or beads. Anything!

You will need:

- Light green wool (or any colour you want)

- A button clasp

- Embroidery needle

- Crochet hook (I used 3.5mm, the bigger the hook the bigger your leaves)

- Thread

- Sewing Needle

What to do:

1. Make sure you know how to do a chain (ch), single crochet (sc), half double crochet (hdc), double crochet (dc) and treble crochet (tr)

2. Chain 10

3. Skip the last chain on the hook, then do each of these stitches respectively along the chain (one stitch in each stitch of the chain): sc, hdc, dc, tr, tr, tr, dc, hdc, sc.

4. You should now have crocheted down one side of the chain to get back to where you first began. Now do two more sc in the same chain stitch where you just did one, turning the leaf around as you go so that you can now crochet back up the chain on the other side.

5. Repeat the same stitches as step 3 (this time skipping the sc at the start since you just did it in step 4):

hdc, dc, tr, tr, tr, dc, hdc, sc

6. Tie off the end of your thread and you now have your first leaf!

5. Each time you crochet a leaf, attach it to the one before it by sewing them together with the embroidery needle and the same colour wool that you used for the leaves. I overlapped my leaves, but you could also sew them end on end.

6. Keep going until your leaf-chain is long enough to fit comfortably around your head.

7. Unclip your button clasp and sew one side to each of the end leaves. Make sure that you sew one side to the top of one leaf and the other side to the bottom of the second leaf. This way your overlapping pattern won't be ruined!

Your headband is now done! Once it's clipped up you can't tell that there's a clasp there at all.

Of course there's many other ways you could make your headband too. You could simply sew it right around without using a clasp (I used one to minimise the amount of stretching the leaves would need to do to pull it over my head), or you could also only crochet leaves partway round your head, and use elastic to hold it tightly at the back. It's up to you!

I think this headband is perfect for the wonderful Spring weather we've been having in Brisbane. Maybe if you're in the Northern Hemisphere you could use orange/brown wool to match the Autumn colours!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

x Erin