Getting Lost - March - Part One

Last weekend I did a little adventuring with one of my girlfriends.  Carey is a passionate photographer and fellow teacher and she was keen to take on the March challenge with me.

We went over to Tīrau which is a very pleasant 40min drive so we didn't have to travel too far... and we found a few little gems when we got there... a park and walkway that we had never visited before as well as a delicious lunch (which we both failed to photograph!)

This month we did the cards differently... we spread them all out on Carey's kitchen bench... read through them all... and then headed off on our adventure.  We decided to take photos of the things that caught our eye... and of course we'd see things and say 'that would be good for xxx prompt'. 

It was very different to how I've done it previously and it did mean that we spent more time really looking at our surroundings.  Carey also managed to teach me how to use my camera a bit more which I really appreciated.  So much nicer learning from someone than reading an instruction manual.

This month I took 199 photos... more than enough to cover some of the prompt cards!  Once I got my photos uploaded onto the computer I realised that I really had two very different sets of photos... before lunch... and after lunch.  Partly because they were taken in two different locations (both within Tirau).. and partly because we had a different focus after lunch.  Today I'm sharing the 'BL' photos... Before Lunch :)

Please note: I had the full pack with me last weekend so some of these prompts have been done in previous months :) 

#1 Take a photo of a living thing. Not long after we started taking photos I had wandered over to a massive oak tree and when I looked up I saw a gorgeous tui.  Thankfully I had a longish lens on my camera and I was able to get a decent photo without disturbing him/her.

#2 Use a camera setting you wouldn't normally use for this type of photo. I really love taking 'non people' photos so I wanted to have a go at making my photos a bit more interesting. Carey showed me how to 'go manual' on my camera and play around with ISO and aperture settings. I've got quite a few 'dud' photos that will make their way to the recycle bin but I LOVE the colours in this photo!

 #3 Follow a bee and take a photo of it on a flower that it lands on.  On Saturday bees seemed to be in short supply... probably too late in the season.  But... there were several moths and butterflies around so I kept on playing around with settings and getting close to my subject... and this is the result.

#4 Drive until you see water and then stop and take a photo of the reflections.  We didn't actually need to drive because further on into the park there was a river.  I took quite a few watery photos... and most of them were average at best... but this one I really like.  Not so much reflections but there's plenty of movement in the water to make it interesting.

 #5 Use camera blur to make something appear different to what your eye can see. I really like being able to focus in on something and blur out the foreground or background so that the subject is the whole focus of the photo... and this time the focus was a spectacular piece of nature!

 

#6 Stop, look behind you and take a shot. Sometimes I get quite focused on what I'm photographing that I don't actually notice things behind me and this was one of those cases.  This prompt reminded me to stop and take a minute to just take in ALL of my surroundings. 

#7 Get macro and portray the season you are in with just a leaf or flower.  I did this prompt in January with sunflowers.  In late March the weather is beginning to change and Autumn is definitely on it's way.  I loved this prompt so much... or rather the subject of my focus and I couldn't narrow it down to just one photo... so you have three!

#8 Close your eyes, spin, stop and shoot. I didn't actually close my eyes since the ground was uneven and the risk of breaking my ankle flashed into my head... but I definitely did get a surprise when I spun around and Carey was right behind me taking photos of the same thing as me! Clearly we both had the same artistic thought!

 

#9 Find a building. Zoom your lens to the widest angle. Move in close to make dramatic angles. I had the perfect subject for this... it's just not quite a building... but it is a 'structure' so I figured I would use my 'artistic license' on this prompt.  When I did prompt #6 I knew I wanted to take some more photos of the bridge and this prompt fitted in perfectly!

#10 Leading lines or rule of thirds? I had previously done this prompt in Taupō so when I saw the bridge during the previous prompt I knew I HAD to do this prompt as well!

By this stage it was pretty much lunch time so we decided to head back to the car and go and get something to eat... and we weren't disappointed. I also managed to get a photo for my title card for March.

So that is the first part of the Getting Lost challenge for March.  I'm super keen to show you the After Lunch photos so hope to see you back again :)

Shelley

The best tasting soil you'll ever eat!

 I was going to call this post Mrs McGregor's Garden but when I shared these cookies at school yesterday the overwhelming comment was... "that's the best tasting soil I've ever eaten!"  Which kind of makes me wonder if my work mates have unusual eating habits LOL

As we all know... Mr McGregor... from Peter Rabbit... is the enemy of Peter Rabbit and his friends, he hates that the three always break into his garden and steal/eat his fruits and vegetables from his farm garden. 

There are a few mentions of Mrs McGregor... mostly the mention of her putting Peter's father... Mr Rabbit... in a pie and eating him.  I prefer to think of her as a lovely woman who decided to collaborate with the rabbits... planting carrots and lettuces for them and they, in turn, not eating her flowers.  

You might be wondering where this is all heading... so best I explain.  You might recall that last month I entered a cookie challenge with Kuki Reka Kani. I'm absolutely thrilled to tell you that I won two awards for my cookies: Technical excellence and Star Baker of the Month :)

When they announced the March prompt I was definitely keen to give it another go!

As you might have guessed 'Veggie Patch' was what caught my eye! I tend to be a bit of a ponderer... I like to think about ideas, put things together in my own mind... and then work out what I'm going to do.  Most of the time I've already 'finished' my design before I actually start to bake... and this one kind of went that way.  

I started off by reading through the creative ideas provided with the challenge... and that helped a LOT

 So without any more procrastinating... here's what I came up with:

 

I ended up doing eight cookies that are the 'same but different' and I'll share them at the end of the post.  So if you don't want to see the 'how to' then feel free to skip ahead.

 

My first decision was what flavour of cookie to make... and after a bit of Googling I found a recipe for Pumpkin Spice cookies.  There's no actual pumpkin in the recipe but it incorporates the spices used to make pumpkin pie.

 

I also had to decide which cutter to use and I chose Pikorua (double twist)... mostly because when I lay it on it's side it felt the most 'garden like'. 

 

I have found that the secret to using these cutters is LOTS of flour sprinkled on the dough before cutting... it helps the cutter release from the dough... and then I just gently brush off the excess flour before baking.

 

Once I had all the cookies on the tray I popped them in the fridge for about 20 minutes... definitely helps them to not spread out while baking.

Ready for the oven

 

While the cookies were baking the kitchen smelt like a combination of ANZAC cookies, hot cross buns... and warm apple crumble.  It was a wonderful combo and I'll definitely use the recipe again. 

Then it was time to move on to all the decorations.  I had a wonderful fondant mould to make all the little garden supplies... gumboots.. watering can... pots... fork and trowel.  I also had a different mould that made little carrots... so happy with how they all turned out.  The little flowers were some I bought at the supermarket... super cute and perfectly sized for what I needed.

 

 

Then I needed some 'soil'.  YouTube came to my rescue and I found a couple of tutorials and then just adapted what suited me.  I ended up using Oreo cookies with chocolate filling and some Arnott's Gaiety biscuits.  I've never had those before but they are DELICIOUS!  The recipes I looked at also combined chocolate chips but in the end I didn't use them for the soil.

Basically I put some of each cookie into a plastic bag and bashed the heck out of them with my rolling pin... ever so carefully of course!  The resulting soil looked more like 'rubble' so I quickly pulsed them in my handy dandy mini processor and got EXACTLY what I was hoping for!

Left is 'rubble'... right is 'soil'

While I'd been YouTube(ing) I'd come across some tutorials for making 'moss'.  I didn't need moss but I thought it looked a bit like fancy lettuce... which of course the bunnies would LOVE.

 

I whisked up my mixture and added some bright green colour.  I actually had to do my mixture twice because the first time I added Colour Mill oil colours without even thinking and all my lovely thick airy batter turned into very thin soupy mess.  I MUST remember that oil and fluffy egg whites do NOT go together! 

 

I put 1/3 in a cup... added a different green and did 1/3 in another cup... and then a bit more colour and put the rest in another cup.  Cooked it in the microwave and then turned them upside down to 'set'.  The science behind the upside down part is that the sugar sets creating lovely big air pockets and if you left it up the right way you would get flat little pancakes. 

 The lightest colour turned out to be EXACTLY what I was looking for!

 

The final part was to use the cast aside chocolate chips... I say that like I would EVER cast aside chocolate LOL  I made some chocolate ganache for everything to stick to... plus it was the right colour and texture for what I wanted. 

I got everything assembled and ready to create!

 

Then I just let myself go... I really didn't think about it too much.  I did make sure that I spread out all my fondant decorations so there wasn't one cookie with too much and others with nothing... but apart from that I just created for fun.

 

Here's my finished cookies:

Big pot and lettuce

Trowel and Fork

Gumboots

Watering can

Carrots and lettuce

More carrots and lettuce

Small pot and flower

Lettuce and flowers

The completed cookies went to school on Monday... and none of them made it past 9am!

So what did I learn during this challenge?

• Making 'moss' is super fun... pink and purple moss would make wonderful coral for an underwater theme!
• Cookie soil looks great as rubble and as soil... and it would be perfect for adding to the top of Easter cookies and cupcakes
• Pumpkin spice cookies are really delicious!
• Giving myself time to create and just 'play' is really fun

So there you have it... another month in 2025 almost over and another challenge completed. 

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the universe :)
Shelley

Ahoy there, me hearties!

On Valentine's Day our school had a Pirate Picnic for the whole school and all the whānau.  It was a stunning day... clear blue skies... warm but not stifling... and everyone was in good spirits. 

We had boat rides with a 'real' pirate... at least he looked pretty real to the kids!  Thankfully Captain Ron didn't make any of them walk the plank :)

A few of us got together and decided to do a 'bring a plate' style picnic and share our goodies... and considering it had been a while since I'd made any cupcakes I thought I'd bring something sweet.

I did a bit of Googling and came across a few ideas that appealed... colours from one idea... sprinkles from another... and fondant embellishments from a couple of others... and here's what I came up with:

I had a lot of fun making these cupcakes... in fact I often refer to cupcakes as my 'first love' in the kitchen!

These ones were a classic vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting.  If you don't know the secret to a really creamy, silky buttercream... it's a good BEATING!  I usually whip my butter for a good 10 to 15 minutes in my KitchenAid until the butter is fluffy and almost white.  Then I add my icing sugar in two batches with even more whipping before finishing off with a small amount of liquid to get the right consistency... usually milk or cream... sometimes alcohol lol  

Since these ones were for a school event there was no alcohol... but imagine adding a bit of rum to make them really Piratey!!  

Cakes made and cooled... big fluffy swirls of buttercream on top... and then I added some 'treasure' aka sugar pearls and glitter.

 

Before I made the cakes I'd worked on some fondant decorations... I decided on a treasure map and a pirate hat.  This was made MUCH easier because I was able to make myself some small cutters on my 3D printer.

First of all I coloured some fondant with Colour Mill Pebble and then rolled it out and cut it with my new treasure map cutter. 

I decided it needed a little bit of depth... plus I just like using my air brush... so a bit of brown around the edges was added.

To create the actual 'map' I made myself a mini stencil using acetate... it worked brilliantly!  First the black.

 

Followed by some red to mark the spot:

The maps looked a little 'flat' so I grabbed some chopsticks and bent the maps over them.  The fondant started to crack a little  which initially bothered me... until I realised it just made them look even more rustic!

Next I moved onto cutting out some pirate hats from black fondant. p.s. just in case you didn't know (thanks Google) A pirate hat is commonly called a tricorne hat. It has a triangular shape with three points and a wide brim.

I decided the little tricorne's needed a bit of movement as well so I used a few more chopsticks, but they seemed 'flat' in a different way so I added a brush of edible gold paint.

 

The next morning I realised that the cross bones didn't really stand out so I added a small piece of white fondant behind it... what a difference!

 

So... back to the cupcakes which had buttercream and 'treasure' and now it was time for the maps and tricornes!

The picnic was awesome... the tamariki all had a wonderful day playing, swimming, going on the boat and of course eating (which is what picnics are all about after all).

Thanks for stopping by
Shelley

Getting Lost - February

Last weekend I did an impromptu trip to Taupō after my weekend plans changed... thanks Zara!  I'm super pleased I did because I hadn't quite caught up with the fact that tomorrow will be March... how on earth have we almost finished two months of 2025?

I completed eleven photo prompts this month and they were all taken with my camera rather than the iPad or my phone.  I've been using my camera quite a bit lately and really enjoying it.

#1 Find a busy spot. Set a 10 second timer and see what wandered in to your shot.  On the way to Taupō I passed a couple of vintage cars so when I saw this prompt I knew exactly what I wanted to try and capture.  It took six photos and lots of practice counting to work out when to push the timer but I'm super pleased with the result.

 #2 Stop at the next signposted attraction and take 10 photos. This was an awesome prompt to do. First signposted attraction leading into Taupō was Lava Glass... and taking 10 photos was no problem at all... in fact I took 115 photos!  The hardest part was culling them down to what I wanted.  I ended up making a collage page - and yes I know I've got more than 10 but I'm okay with that :)

 #3 Stop for a treat (and take a photo of it!) Awesome prompt... and I knew exactly where I wanted to go... one of my favourite places in Taupō... Baked with Love.  Their baked treats are just as delicious as they are beautiful.  This time I got a Lemon Syrup and Blueberry Loaf and headed off to a local park to enjoy it.

 #4 Find a line in nature to draw you in to the heart of the picture. I honestly couldn't believe it when I read this prompt.  I'd just stopped at the park to enjoy my treat (prompt #3) and right beside me was the exact thing to photograph for this prompt... perfect!

 

#5 Close your eyes, spin, stop and shoot. I'll admit that I took a few of these shots during the day... just for fun... and this one is my absolute favourite.  

 #6 Find a building. Zoom your lens to the widest angle. Move in close to make dramatic angles. Not far from the 'heart' photo, I spotted the Great Lake Centre which provided lots of angles to use... and this one was my favourite... both for the angles and the colours.

 #7 Take as many steps as you have battery percentage left and frame your shot. I wasn't too sure what I was going to find at the end of 37 steps... but it turned out pretty good!  At first I thought this might have been the main letters from the Taupō lake front but it turns out they must have been from a different venue. I've got evidence of that later on :)

 #8 Put a frame around a landscape using what ever you find around you. I honestly felt like someone was really looking after me on Saturday because not far from the letters in prompt #7 I came across a landscape that was completely framed by nature... all I had to do was take the photo!

 #9 Leading lines or rule of thirds? For the life of me I couldn't remember what the rule of thirds was... it was getting pretty warm... and my feet were starting to get a bit sore... but I wasn't ready to go home... so I chose leading lines.  After looking around at a few options I suddenly spotted this and knew it would be perfect.

 #10 Take a photo of a moving object while panning to blur the background. My brain wouldn't kick in on this one... I couldn't work out panning, blurring and moving all at the same time so I went with ... Take a photo of a moving object.  I actually managed to get THREE moving objects in my photo... a parachute... a sailing boat... and a motor boat.  I'm going to call that a win!

 #11 Head in the same direction as a car the same colour as your last photo.  Thankfully that car was heading in the direction of Rotorua... and then they turned off the main road so I followed... and I followed... and just when I thought maybe it wasn't going to work out for me they turned again... into the Huka Falls... brilliant!

 I took quite a lot of photos on Saturday... including a few of the #LoveTaupō letters at the lake front and that's when I realised that I didn't need stock photos for my monthly title pages... I should be using my own photos!  So this is my February title with the evidence that there was indeed another set of letters apart from those in prompt #7

 Loving this monthly project and really enjoying reacquainting myself with my camera again.

Thanks for stopping by
Shelley