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 forgot to put a photo up of the no bake birthday cake that Ella made in my last post & had this promptly pointed out to me so here it is!  Ella’s actual birthday was the day before her party & naturally she wanted a cake & candles to blow out but as I was busy with the party cake, I let Ella make this herself & she was very proud of it.

It is chocolate chip biscuits dipped in orange juice & sandwiched together with whipped cream into a log shape, which was covered in more yellow whipped cream & topped with sprinkles.  After being in the fridge for a few hours, the biscuits go soft & it is like a chocolate biscuit cake in texture & very tasty.  One of my favourites when I was little & simple enough for a child to do with minimal supervision & resulting in extreme pride in doing something “all by myself” – very important when you are five!

For a slightly more grown up version – leave out the food colouring, replace the sprinkles with grated chocolate & replace the juice with sherry or peach schnapps, yum!

2 Comments | In: Food Stuff, Kids Stuff | tags: baking, birthday, cake, recipe. | #

It has actually happened, my little baby I am sure I brought home from the hospital just yesterday has turned five!  She tells me she is  a proper big girl now and suddenly I keep getting the response “I can do that myself Mummy, I am five you know!”

Ella desperately wanted her party at the fairy shop so that left me with only the loot bags & cake to occupy myself with.  The loot bags were little drawstring bags with the first letter of each childs name appliqued on it & filled with a selection of glitter glue pens, fruit scented mini markers, stickers, fairy colouring sheets, pencils, erasers &  fairy balloon.

The cake seemed a good idea in my head but turned out to be much more work than I anticipated.  I have only done one small cake using fondant before & it was fairly simple so this  three layered one was a bit of a leap.  I used the Marshmallow fondant recipe which came out great & was really fun to make – there is nothing like sticking your hands into a huge pile of warm gooey melted marshmellow & icing sugar!  My decorating skills certainly didn’t reach perfection but I think it turned out suitably girly & certainly got a great response at the party.

Just to make things more complicated, I decided to make the inside rainbow coloured as a surprise.  The kids loved it but seemed disappointed that it didn’t taste like a rainbow – if I had thought about it before hand I could have flavoured each colour with different flavours to make it more exciting.

All and all though, we have had a wonderful couple of days celebrating with Ella & hope she will remember it as fondly as we will.

1 Comment | In: Crafty Stuff, Family Stuff, Kids Stuff | tags: birthday, cake, fairy, loot bags, sewing. | #