Barbie's swan song

I'm working on an altered doll (why? Too hard to explain, just go with it). Here's a little progress.

I started with taking the head off a Barbie doll (had to learn how to do that - here's my handy notes).

Next I sorted through my collection of creepy toys (click on the Creepy Toys tag in this blog to see some of the main offenders). I picked a darling swan, which came with me to a Michael De Meng workshop in 2008, and emerged unscathed.

Now it's 2011.

Uh-oh, this isn't going to end well...

Oh, yes, I can see where this is going now...

This doll has a special feature I wasn't expecting though. Funny looking nubbins on her back. It's going to be a bother to file them off. Luckily I took the time to find out what they were...

Turns out this particular doll can FLY! I've made her new wings already.

More orange glut ideas

Just to show I'm serious about eating my way through the orange glut ... orange macarons! I've made a few batches of orange ones now.

I've added an "oranges" tag, so click on that for all the orange ideas I've thought to post so far.

Dealing with the Orange Glut

Did you know we have an orange glut in Australia right now? All that rain in summer caused top growing conditions. Orchardists are backing trucks up to their trees and driving them away fully laden with prime, juicy oranges.

Which is awesome.

Except that people tend to eat the same number of oranges as they did last year, and the year before. Folks, we have to help! Oranges are cheap and excellent, and we can all afford to eat more wholesome fruit, eh?

Here's an idea. I zested an orange (with a really fine zester), dried out the zest just a little (an hour sitting on a plate), then dropped it into a sealed canister with some tea leaves. I I made a pot of tea this morning with it, and it was quite yum. I think I need a canister of lemon, one of lime, and one of mandarin now.

Like my gorgeous vintage spoon? It's actually a fork, but hey. Makes the photo look extra cool.