I have been working on some new crowns and some Christmas decorations (photos will come soon)  now that the health dramas and franticness of three different productions in one term has passed.  These are the first two.

I am really fond of the bird crown (as are my girls) and love the bright pink and the mint green together.   While making the other crown I was assisted by a nearly two year old leaning on my arm and consequently the sewing is not quite up to standard!  Nothing major, but a few wonky lines (particularly on the cupcake) so I will be making more for sale but thought someone out there might like this one as it seems a shame to have it sitting  in a box doing nothing for years.  So I decided to make it an international giveaway for anyone who is interested, just leave a comment on this post about something you like or would like to see on my site and I will draw a random name on Monday 12th October.  It has the usual covered elastic back and is a slightly smaller size to fit from around 18 months to 6 years, so if you know any little girls who would like a crown and don’t mind wonky lines on their cupcakes, get commenting!

9 Comments | In: Crafty Stuff, Kids Stuff | tags: birds, birthday, crown, crowns, felt, homemade, sewing. | #

I must say that although I did see the Star Wars movies as a child, when Dan requested a Han Solo frozen in carbonite cake for his birthday, I didn’t really know what I was letting myself in for!  Here is the original from the movie for those of you who, like me, may not be able to instantly recall what it looks like.  The cake is hardly an exact replica and lots of things went wrong but Dan was happy enough!

It was very much a ‘figure it out as I go’ thing and of course now I have done it once I know how I could do it far better but I am not definately not keen enough to do it again.  The cake inside was also grey (resulting in many black tongues) and had a layer of buttercream icing, covered in marshmallow fondant.

After my first attempt with fondant icing here, I have had several requests wanting to know which recipe I used.  Since this is only the second time I have used it , I am no expert with fondant and there may be better recipes out there but here is what I used.

Marshmallow Fondant

450gms (approx 16 ounces) of marshmallows

1kg (just over 2 pounds) of icing sugar

2Tbl water

1/3 cup shortening

• Put marshmallows and water in a bowl and melt in the microwave, stirring every 30secs.
• Grease your work surface and hands (very well) with the shortening and sift about 1/2 the icing sugar onto the bench and tip the melted marshmallow on top, then sift about half of the remaining icing sugar onto the top.
• Knead well (this is the fun gooey bit) until it becomes smooth and elastic, adding more icing sugar as needed.  You will need to keep regreasing your work surface and hands regularly or things will get very sticky!
• Knead in food colouring if you are using it, I use the gel colouring since it makes a nice bright colour without adding lots of liquid.
• Cover in shortening, wrap well in gladwrap and store in the fridge for a week or two if needed.

It is not hard to make but the kneading is a little time consuming and remember to use white marshmallows unless you are making pink icing.

4 Comments | In: Food Stuff, Recipes | tags: baking, cake, han solo, marshmallow fondant. | #

This is the best photo I have managed to get of Ella’s window decorations.  It still is not great but I am sure you get the idea – basically lots of buttons & shiny things threaded onto ribbon.  It is very simple really but Ella loves it and wants some for her “big window” which is nearly three times as large so that will be a school holiday project she can help me with!  I got the inspiration from christmas decorations from www.rice.dk which has so many gorgeous products I really do almost drool!

No Comments | In: Crafty Stuff | tags: decor, decoration, window. | #

We have had a wonderful and busy weekend celebrating both Father’s day and Dan’s birthday and since I finally have a new camera, I will (for once) let the photos do the talking!

Hope you all had a wonderful Father’s day!

1 Comment | In: Family Stuff | tags: fathers day. | #

What a week it has been!  Ella was admitted to hospital with bacterial (they think) pneumonia last week which was a stressful and exhausting experience and I must say that those fairly comfortable looking chairs beside the childrens beds in the hospital are completely not comfortable to sleep (or lie awake all night) in.  Ella was the only one who enjoyed her stay in hospital – lots of nurses fussing over her telling her she was charming, beautiful and bright,  as many tubs of jelly and iceblocks as she wanted and pizza for lunch – what more could a five year old want!

Ella is just fine now apart from a lingering cough when she exerts herself and life is beginning to get back to normal, well as normal as it gets around here anyway.

While I was trying to keep her occupied and still while she was resting at home, we decided to make some wrapping paper for her young cousins birthday.  It is his third birthday and Ella was very upset that the presents were going to be late since I was not allowed to leave her side while she was sick.   The converstion went something like this:

“Muuummmy, you haven’t posted the presents!”

“No I haven’t but I will post them on Monday”

“But they will not get to him in time for his birthday, why didn’t you post them?!”

“Mummy was a bit busy looking after you and staying with you in hospital.”

“But you should have posted the presents!” (teary eyes)

“You wanted me to stay with you when you weren’t feeling well”

“But you still should have posted them as well as staying with me!”

“I will try to remember that next time!”

Anyway, suggesting that she make some special giftwrap to make up for the lateness of the presents certainly cheered her up.  This is the resulting wrapping paper which was made very simply and with little mess using plastic cookie cutters, some brushes, paint and we used a roll of brown paper as it is nice and strong and was what we had on hand, but any plain coloured gift wrap or rolls of plain newsprint work well.

Homemade giftwrap is a neat little project for children of all ages – hand or foot prints work well for littlies and are great for really personalising a gift.

No Comments | In: Crafty Stuff, Kids Stuff | tags: giftwrap, homemade, wrapping paper. | #

There are some signs of spring around the garden and for the last few days we have finally had weather to match!  It is amazing how a few days of sunshine & warmth can totally lift your mood.  We have all been horribly sick with a flu for the last week and now we are all on the mend so the dose of sunshine feels like just the medicine we needed.

My time has also been taken up with the afterschool art classes I have started to teach this term which I am really enjoying.  It has been a while, so the first few classes have been like a bit of a refresher course but  I think I am starting to get back into the swing of things and have heaps of new ideas of things we can try now.

It is always so inspiring seeing children create and they never fail to amaze me with their creativity and skill.  The classes have really reminded me of how much we underestimate the abilities of children and how much they are capable of if only we stop limiting them with our own expectations of what they should and shouldn’t be able to do.

I am hoping to have some photos of the kids wonderful artwork in the next few weeks to share with you all.

No Comments | In: Other | tags: blossoms, spring. | #

A friend has recently had a wee baby boy which caught me completely off guard as I am not great at boy stuff but I did my best and came up with a blanket with a nice cotton print on one side and the softest chocolate coloured microfleece on the other and a little matching robot softie.  The cute wooden car I picked up at a local craft market and I thought it just completed the set perfectly with its warm rimu tones.

2 Comments | In: Crafty Stuff, Kids Stuff | tags: baby, blanket, robot, toy. | #

Some classical music, sparkly dresses & felt crowns make for a twirling & dancing pair of princesses before bed.

2 Comments | In: Family Stuff, Kids Stuff | tags: crowns, dancing, felt. | #

One cannot help but be inspired by the wonderful Anna Maria Horner, not only for all her gorgeous fabrics and creations, but also for the fact that she does it all with six children!  I am a keen reader of her blog and have long been wanting to try her wonderful fabric silhouette paintings to fill a space on my dining room wall.  I had a vision in my head of what I wanted them to look like – one of Ella and one of Phoebe facing each other – but I just couldn’t find the right fabric.  Then, a few weeks ago, finally I found it –  the perfect brown & red fabric to match the kitchen/dining room colour scheme  -  and I could actually get started.

This is the result though the photo is not great, it makes the paint (which is the same colour as the kitchen cupboards) look patchy but I promise it isn’t really and I must say I am quite fond of the little pair & they look great on our creamy dining room wall.

If anyone wants to give it a go there is a link at the bottom of Anna’s blog that takes you to the tutorial she did on the Matha Stewart show.

2 Comments | In: Crafty Stuff | tags: canvas, fabric silhouettes, painting. | #

This month has flown by and I don’t seem to have done any of the things I have planned, lots of half finished projects & projects that have only got the the buying fabric stage!  It has been a pretty chilly winter here so far so for dinner tonight I made one of my favourites, a slow cook carrot soup.  It is a Gordon Ramsey recipe which is yummy and just the colour brightens me up and makes me feel cheery.

I also whipped up a banana & blueberry loaf this afternoon which is a great snack for the girls & holds up well in lunchboxes so here is the recipe for anyone who is interested.  You could really substitute the blueberries for any other berries you like but blueberries are always a favourite in our house.

Banana & Blueberry Loaf

2 cups flour

2t baking powder

1t ground cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar

2 free range eggs, beaten

125g butter (melted)

1-2t of good quality vanilla extract

3 largish bananas (lightly mashed so there are still a few chunks)

1 cup blueberries (frozen is fine)

• Grease a 10 x 20cm loaf tin & line the base with baking paper.
• Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl & then stir in the brown sugar.
• In a seperate bowl, mix banana, egg, vanilla extract & melted butter.
• Fold blueberries & wet ingredients into dry ingredients mixing only until just combined, do not over mix.
• Scoop into the loaf tin and bake at 180°C (350°F) for around 55 minutes.  It is ready when a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

This can be served cold or warm & is great with some butter.

I have also made an update to my Favourite Kids Books page – Never Too Little To Love & Poppy Cat’s Farm.

2 Comments | In: Food Stuff, Recipes | tags: banana, blueberry, books, loaf, recipe, soup. | #