A Day of Extremes

Well today has certainly earnt its title. Either absolute success of abject failure and nothing in between.
First of all  were my Easter baskets for Mum and Caroline. It was obvious this morning that I had been working on them quite late last night as some of my 'logic' had gone astray and there was quite a bit of unpicking to be done before they were finished this morning. BUT, I am very happy with the way they turned out and would be very happy to receive one myself (especially if it is filled with chocolate eggs).

I put these down to absolute success #1.

Absolute success #2 is the easter tree. After searching our dying maple tree for the right branch, this is how you are now greeted as you enter our house.

Our house is white, not pale pink like the photos show but I could not get the white balance right today for some reason. Absolutely no chance on the little automatic (pic1) but getting a little closer (still not good) with the DSLR (pic 2). I will put it down to the funny light today and the fact that our front door is bright orange and alters the colours in the hallway.

Absolute success #3. All my market stock is made ( including a large pile of teaspoon bookmarks which were not actually planned for thoday) and packed in the car before 6pm. This may not sound like a big deal but I could count on one hand the number of times I have been ready for a market before midnight the night prior , and I have been doing markets for 7 years now. I can always find something to do, a sign to remake etc, designing a new stall layout. You maket goers know what I mean - well I hope you do, and I am not the only one who does this.

All these successes had made for too good a day and the failures were about to begin.

Abject failure #1. Beer battered fish and chips for dinner. Hard to muck this up I hear you say-  well maybe, but not if you are me - I can stuff anything up - just ask anyone who has attmepted to eat my scones!!!
I had borrowed MIL's fryer to cook the fish, but all it did was stick the batter to the bottom of the basket so that when it was time to dish up my beautiful orange roughy, it came out in a multitude of pieces followed by crushed/smashed batter. It tasted alright but looked pre-digested. I changed the way I placed the fish in the oil each time but as the basket rotates and lifts the item being cooked out of the oil for short periods, the batter or just plain fish with no batter still stuck and ended up looking the same. A  good night to be a blind dinner guest in our house tonight.


Abject failure #2. Attempting to put royal icing on marie biscuits so that the girls can draw on them with the new food pens. We ( or mainly I ) decided that pre-made biscuits should be easier to ice than home made ones but try as I might I could not get the icing to stay in the desired shape or for that matter not stick to the bench when I rolled it out. I muddled my way through 6 biscuits and gave up. There has to be an easier way amd will be a task for another day. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Failure #3. Hot cross buns were not even attempted today. Maybe tomorrow, when I get home from the market so we can take them for lunch on Sunday, but then again, if I am as tired as I normally am after a market ( and it does go for an extra hour tomorrow), then it will just be dinner and bed for me tomorrow before the Easter Bunny hops his way into our house.

Here's hoping your day was full of success and sunshine and have a Happy Easter.

P.S.  If you are looking for something to do tomorrow and are near the Mornington Peninsula, pop along to the special Easter Market at Mornington Racecourse.

My Creative Space

My creative space this week finds me enjoying Easter fun with the girls.
We have blown eggs ( free range of course - no cage eggs here - Sarah's attempting to get the whole school  to boycott cage eggs by the time she leaves grade 6 in Dec), drawn on them with crayon and then died them and many little fingers along with them.
Here are some of my favourites

I know there are flash spots on them but it is such a miserable wet night here in Melbourne that I cannot get enough light without the flash.

Now comes the assembly of the tree for a centrepiece on Sunday. This was going to be done today but with a shuffle of work days and me working today, it will have to become a Good Friday activity.

Hopefully it will end up looking something like this.....

As my family are not big chocolate eaters , I usually find/make a small present for them with some chocolate ginger etc hidden inside. With a hankering for scones, which I absolutely cannot make, even with no-fail recipes ( mine could be sold to the army as ammunition), I thought this years present to mum and  'lil sis could be something to give them a nudge in the scone making direction.
A long time ago I saw some lovely scone baskets by Mud Tea  and thought that I might be able to make something similar from my ever growing fabric stash. I think Kate has come up with a wonderful idea and it is not as simple to put together as it first appears. My version does not look nearly as pretty/neat but heck - it was made with love and a lot of experimentation and I am still rather happy with the outcome.

Next on the family easter/holiday craft plan is bajing some of these...

with this excellent recipe from none other than the Womens Weekly ,

and, also baking ( my oven wont know what's hit it - poor thing) some biscuits decorated with my new food pens.
After reading a lovely post on Christen's blog Twirling Betty about her children decorating biscuits, I spent the night scouring the internet for food pens that would not cost the earth and I could get before the Good Friday holiday. Baking Pleasures in Brisbane came to the rescue and the pens arrived today - YAY!
Still haven't decided whether we will make bunny biscuits or just plain round ones and let them create their own designs. - Maybe some of both.......

The rest of today ( after work that is  and probably into the mystery hours of tonight) will be spent finishing the other  scone basket, sewing some hats for the market on Saturday and if possible before it gets too late - bashing spoons, especially lots more bookmarks for Saturday too.

I hope your week and holidays have been creative  and you have a lovely Easter

My Creative Space

My creative space this week , I wish could say finds me resting on my laurels with the success of Sarah's rainbow cake last week, .......

the cake table spread - cake with butterflies and butterfly cupcakes.

 outside view of the actual cake - 

which stood about 25cm tall when all layers were added

and then the inside

 one slice was on the rather large size with each one serving 3 people

 .....but instead I am devising how I am going to make a Thomas the Tank Engine cake for Mia's 3rd birthday this Sunday. It was initially going to be an actual engine but since I  have been making cupcakes endlessley this week - 80 in total - I think the cake will morph into a number three cake with train tracks and Thomas on top. When baking has to be balanced with sewing baby sling orders, filling all the spoon orders and normal work, something has to give. I wish I was, but I am not Superwoman - or magic.
I had also planned to make it to a new craft group (new for me) in not quite my local area tonight, but instead fell asleep in Mia's bed while I was reading her some books, and woke up a couple of hours later - hence the late posting time of this.
I hope your week is creative and a little less hectic than mine (although mine has been delicious).
For relaxation, or inspiration, check out what other people are up to at Kootoyoo.

30 Photos in 30 Days - Day 3

Well today marks the start of the birthday cake making and since I want no help from little hands while attempting to wing the rainbow cake, I let my little Masterchef in the making bake some chocolate muffins for Sarah and Brett when they got home from school/work.
May I say that a lot of mixture tasting goes on with Mia's baking, to the point that there was only enough mixture for 21 muffins instead of 24 by the time it was all spooned out.

See you all tomorrow on my baby's 10th birthday (oh that makes me feel old)

My Creative Space

My creative space this week finds me attempting to make this gorgeous rainbow cake from 'I am mommy, I am baker' for Sarah's 10th birthday on Saturday. I will use food colouring to colour the layers as my attempts to use real fruit aka fresh strawberries has always resulted in a soggy cake. To make it a spring birthday theme there will be many of Marthas little butterflies all around - especially on the drinking straws. I am hoping that I will find a large butterfly punch at spotlight today that might mean all the flutterbys do not have to be cut by hand.

the cake

flutterbys

and the drinks

I will also be continuing my 30 photos in 30 days - a photo a day for the month of September. So far it is going well - but it is only day 2.


I hope your week is creative. Check some others out at Kootoyoo

My Creative Space

After a hectic week, this creative space finds me making muffins.My 'Best Ever Chocolate Muffins', ( so named by Sarah and Mia) are Mia's favourite thing to do in the kitchen as she can mix everything together and then it is a race to see if I can get the mixture into the muffin pans before her tiny little finger has 'tasted' all the mixture. It is surprising how much one little finger can collect when tested numerous times.
As we have no snow here in winter, the next favourite part of muffin making is putting the 'snow' or icing sugar on the muffins, as well as the bench and anything else within arms reach.

Showing Piglet how to make it snow.

Waiting for them to cool

 Still waiting, but getting closer

 

 Cool enough - This one's mine

 

To see what other creative people are up to this week pop on over to Kootoyoo .

Through the eyes of a 2yr old.

I am constantly humbled by the simple wonders of the world  as seen through the eyes of my 2 year old daughter. Saturday night found us sitting ( and shivvering) under the bigtop of the Perry Brothers Circus - a family circus since 1880 - watching what probably would have been a great circus 20 years ago. Now, to an adults eyes the acts are tired, the performers are old and the 'sparkle' of a circus is missing due probably to the fact that this circus used to have lions end elephants etc, but there are now gone , as they are for all circuses, and the acts have not been replaced by anything eye-catching. .... BUT.... In the eyes of a 2year old ( and a 9 year old) the magic is still there. The clowns are still magic, the tightrope man is awsome and so is the balancing acrobat. ( I have to agree the balancing guy was really good). Each act was followed by enthusiastic applause and constant 'Wow''s and all we heard on the drive home was..'I want to go to the circus again tomorrow Mummy'.

Sunday was a suprisingly sunny winters day so we took advantage of the lack of rain to get out into the vegie garden. The broccoli, cauliflower and beans had all finished and needed to be pulled out and added to the compost so the garden can be ready for the next plantings. While I was pulling out the bigger plants  it was Mia's job to pull out all the grass that had sprung up along the edge of the garden. To her suprise she found the absolute last of our carrots. She spent the rest of the night, and all through dinner, pointing out that we were eating our carrots and that she had found them when everyone else had said there were no more.

The proud haul - albeit a small one

One chilli plant has been devastated by the frosts so it was also Mia's job to pick the last of the chillies on the bush before it was pulled up. Again these were proudly displayed to all as she had 'tected' ( protected) them from the nasty frost.

'Tected Chillies

This coming week brings busy, busy, busy. Shop listings to be done, wholesale orders to be sent and a new 'day job' to start. I have good intentions to post as much as I can, especially since this blog will be used as a family update as well as craft for the next few weeks as the grandparents tour the great Australian Outback, but we will see what time allows...
So for now I'll leave you with the thought....'Dont over think things. Sit back and enjoy the simple happiness to be gained from looking at things through the eyes of a 2year old'.

The Power of 3

Why is it that bad things happen in 3's? This time, to be totally different, our three unfortunate events have been 3 new things that I have never done or had occur before. Let me walk you through them.....

1. Jumped under the shower at 5:30am yesterday morning wanting to get my kickstart before the market only to jump out even faster and colder than when I jumped in. NO HOT WATER! Since it was still  dark outside and everyone else was asleep I went with water from the kettle instead of a wakeup shower ( no substitute). Left matches out for Brett  with a note to check the pilot light when daylight came. Got home from the market wanting a 'thaw out' shower however it was not to be. Hot water service dead and new one needed. Unfortunatly not possible on a Sunday.

2. Lost Credit Card. I was out shopping for a birthday present for Brett ( I know a bit late since his birthday is today) when I got the call that the plumber wanted to come now to install the new hot water service. Flew through the checkout as fast as I could and raced home. Went out much later to buy some cream for the pavlova only to find credit card missing! After a few seconds, which seemed like ages, of sheer panic decicded that the last place I had used it was Target - I must have left it in the eftpos machine in my rush. The new security chips might be good but swiping the card meant you never let go of it. Rang the store and asked if anyone had handed it in. The lovely boy checked the safe and all the registers but nothing. What shitty person took my card from the eftpos machine and kept it? Bad karma to that person please. Got home and rang the bank to canel the card. Bummer that it cancels Brett's too. Oh well, better to be without it for a few days than let someone have a spending spree on me tonight via the internet.

3. FIRE! As today is Brett's birthday and since I didn't get him a present for this morning. I wanted to make a big fuss tonight. We started with bunting and balloons, 1/2 dozen oysters each for Brett and I, followed by baked Salmon (sea bream for the girls) with a herb crust, baby potatoes, carrots and zuccini in lemon pepper and broad beans( especially for Brett) and topped off with presents and party poppers before I managed to fit 44 candles on the pavlova. Sarah and Mia then wanted to have sparklers. Once I started to put the candles on the pav I had this feeling of fire and thought that it was just that with so many candles all the flames may join together to make one massive flame, but not, they were all blown out after a hearty rendition of Happy Birthday. My next though twas Brett and his sparkler against the party popper streamers but  again no - these only shrivelled up in response to the heat. I was starting to relax when Sarah started yelling and Brett flew up from his seat. The Bananas in pyjamas couch was on fire!. I was amazed how fast the little couch burnt. Brett grabbed one of the chairs and squashed the fire out on the floorboards. I know I should be glad but all I could think was "not the polished floor". I grabbed the ottoman and ran out the front door. Maybe running wasn't the best as it certainly fanned the flames which were about 1foot high by the time I made it out the door, but there was a satisfying hiss when I drove the stool into the wet grass. The only other casualties were a couple of my large floor cushions and some tulle I had to make a new tutu with. Luckily the surface on the polished floor didn't suffer to badly either. Sarah was inconsolable for ages as it was her sparkler that touched the couch to start everything off. She said she had visions of the whole house burning. ( I think she has learnt her lesson now about respect for fire) She also couldn't understand why I wasn't cross that she had ruined things. I finally convinced her that cushions etc do not matter and as long as everyone was ok everything else was just stuff and that she hadn't ruined the party.


With Mia finally in bed, I helped Sarah finish her recycled fashion assignment. We were initially  going to make a denim skirt from a pair of worn out jeans but we had a major purge last month and all the clothes went to the Salvation Army. With my sewing machine out of action we settled for a tie snake like the one I made Mia last night from and adaption of Vanessa at V and Co's Rattle Snake Buddy. As we dont have rattle snakes here in Australia they would mean nothing to the girls so we made carpet pythons instead as they come in a wide range of patterns.

Mia's 'Snakey' sleeping on the grass this afternoon.

Sarah's 'Mickey the Sake' made from a mickey mouse tie that was the most cheaply made tie on the planet. Amasing what low quality had the official Disney name on it.

Sarah's recycled fashion diorama. A clothesline with clothes made from my fabric scraps held on with Pegs I bought so long ago that I now have no idea what I had planned for them.

My Creative Space

Well after a late night finishing the leather cuff last night I was greeted by this view out of my weather window early this morning.
The ground was as white and crunchy as the sky ( our first frost for the season) 

This is the view from my kitchen window and is the best way of telling the weather for the day ( perhaps I could rent it out to the tv weathergirls as their prediciton method is fairly lousy). The large maple tree is my season indicator tree and in the big white space next to it is a huge gum tree ( normally visible) that is my wind  indicator.
I love fog and the thicker the better. To me it is mystical and magical. It always makes me think of the movie Brigadoon and on the really pea souper days my inner child hopes I might stumble on my own magical town buried in the fog.

By the time Mia and I returned from Playgroup this morning the fog had lifted to a beautiful, albeit cold, sunny day.
That meant I could use the natural light to take some photos of my new cuffs and play with all the manual settings on my camera. (Depth of field is my favourite)

After lunch I decided to sort out the zipper stash and with the organisational skills of a 2 1/2 year old this is what we ended up with.

so now my challenge is to turn the above into the below.

 

Now it is off to make some of my famous chocolate muffins. Sarah's friends at school have requested some for snack tomorrow as even though their mums now have the recipe they apparently dont make them taste as good.

As it is creative Thursday, pop on over to Kootoyoo and check out what other crafty people are up to.

Lazy Days

Oh how nice it is to be able to sleep past 5.30am on a Sunday. Not having a market to be at today was sublime. The fact that it was raining and blowing a gale just added to the snuggliness of the bed - add to that the cuddles I got from Mia.

Rain - I love it - but not at a market

Even the dog enjoyed me not being at a market as he got a walk on a Sunday morning - The rain did not halt him for a second. The bath when we got home to remove his new mud coat however was not the perfect end to his morning.

Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous has a post today on what it is to be a craft-a-holic and to prove to myself that that title did not fit me, I decided that there was going to be no 'work' done by me today and instead I would spend my Sunday off enjoying the family and everything that entails. I think however that I am a craftaholic as even as I was cooking the chilli mussells for lunch and then watching both girls play horses and riders, designs for new cuffs and possible clasps and then where to source said clasps as I had no idea what the types were called or if they existed, were pushing their way through until I had to jot a couple down on the phone pad notebook.

Time Flies

Wednesday night already. (Well Early Thursday morning really.) Where does the week go? Lets see.... Monday - sick. Not as sick as the rest of the family has been ( what mother ever is?) but still feeling blick. Tuesday - Food shopping and sewing orders. For some reason my family needs to keep eating. Quite and expensive habit really. got to get the orders out to help pay for the munchings.

Wednesday - Today - Gardening on one of the last nice Autumn days left. Apart from pulling the grass that continues to want to grow in my vegie garden I got the small bed ready for the Garlic to be planted tomorrow.

Finished off a couple of zipper creations I had been been working on and started an idea for a different style of cuff. One zipper in particular was being very unco-operative and I ended up just glueing it down in a spiral/curve pattern. When finished I liked it so much I was rather sad that there was shiny glue in all the gaps as I wanted to make it a cuff now. It will need a little more work but the ideas are brewing and I have a better way of making more detailed ones over the weekend.

My sister-in-law is an art teacher and has access to this recycle outlet for school art rooms. They go around  manufactures and collect their offcuts. Schools pay a small account fee and then  take a rubbish bag and fill it with whatever yhey want. Each school gets to do this 4 times before they ask for more money. I was meant to be going there tomorrow to hunt for rubber, leather and anything else I wanted. Sister-in-law only wanted a few small things so the rest of the garbage bag was mine. Unfortunately this will have to wait till next week.

Ah well, C'est la vie.

Now I am off to bed so I can get up warly and make some fresh chococlate muffins to take to Play Group tomorrow  for my day for morning tea.

Some pics of the new shop stock ...

Brooches

Earings

Headband

Shoe Clips

and then the cuff brainchild

Muffin Heaven

The way to anyones heart in this family is through a muffin and especially a chocolate one so I thought I would share what I think to be the best ever chocolate muffin recipe. 5 minutes earlier there were 24 muffins. I grabbed these for a photo before they disappeared as well.

Best Ever Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup (220g) sugar

1 cup (110g) flour

8 tablespooons cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon vanilla esence

2/3 cup (160ml) milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 oz (120g) chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 deg F (gas mark 4 or 180 deg C).

Grease muffin tin. (6 XL muffins (paper cups recomended), 12-15 medium and 24 mini)

Best the eggs with the sugar, mix with the four, cocoa powder, baking powder, vanilla and milk.

Fold in the oil

Add chocolate chip; coat them in flour before mixing into the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean and they spring back lightly when touched. ( approx 30 mins for XL muffins, 20 for medium and 15 for mini)

Serve Hot or cold. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

( hot with cream is our favourite)

Hectic Holiday

I thought a long weekend was a time to relax. Apparently not in this household. The day commenced with Mia making herself a bracelet. An extra achievement as she threaded all the beads herself. So happy was she that she then had to make one for mummy and I think it will become a favourite.

 Then there was my finishing 'Little Ted' for Mia so cuddles and reading could commence.

Then it was off to Luna Park for an afternoon of rides.....

Riding the Flying Elephants, the Carousel ( Sarah's attempt at motion photography)  and then onto the big kid rides hence no photos.

and then when all ridden out home to the homemade vegie soup for dinner. Everyone got to choose at least one vegetable to go in the soup so that everyone would like it.

I love family days like this.