she will be wrapped up and placed under the christmas tree for gracie

i'm sewing something

well i thought i was going to be showing you something really cute and cuddly tonight but here's a pile of cut out pieces of fabric instead. i'm too tired to finish it tonight. it took me ages to choose the fabric. i ended up going through every bit of fabric i had. i have a habit of doing a whole bunch of sewing right at the last minute before christmas. starting this project a week before is actually pretty good for me. i'm often still sitting at the sewing machine late christmas eve, am i mental? most certainly. i hope to bring you a much nicer photo tomorrow of the end result. nighty night!

so it's been a bit crazy around here lately with appointments, end of year concert, christmas baking, christmas present making, lots of sales in the shop... crazy! but good. almost every day i'm dragging the little ones down to the post office with packages to deliver, i love it! next year i'll definitely be more prepared for this time of the year with more things in the shop.

i made a taggy scrunchy toy thingy for gracie, might have made it before she was born actually and she looooves it. i always make sure it's attached to the pram or the car seat and it keeps her entertained for quite a while. it's very simple but very stimulating for a small baby with all the different tags and ribbons and high contrast colours. she loves the scrunchie sound it makes, her eyeballs almost fell out of her head the first time she heard it. so i made a bunch for the shop and the first lot sold like hot cakes! so i made a few more and sold those too and now i'm down to four left and then that is IT for that particular fabric. no more left :'( i'll keep my eye out for any floating about on the net but i don't like my chances. the animals are soooo cute, wish i'd bought more! so if you want one, go and get one pronto. only four left peoples! i like 'bucky beaver'.

my computer is sick. i can't upload photos, so that's why no blogging lately. i can still check emails for sales on this other computer though. sigh.

choc chip cookies

do not make these cookies. you have been warned. and here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes approximately 48

180 g butter softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup NESTLÉ Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
250 g packet NESTLÉ Dark CHOC BITS
1/2 cup NESTLÉ White CHOC BITS

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Beat butter and sugar until creamy, beat in NESTLÉ Sweetened Condensed Milk. Add flour, stir until combined. Add NESTLÉ Dark and White CHOC BITS, mix well. Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into small balls, place on greased trays, press gently with fork. Bake for 15 minutes until golden.


i got the recipe straight off the carnation sweetened condensed milk tin. so if you get that brand you might get the recipe too. don't be alarmed about the 'makes 48'. i found it made around half that amount. they'd have to be very tiny to get 48. also, they freeze wonderfully so i would strongly suggest freezing half of them unless you're giving them out to your friends and family. otherwise you might eat many. too many. believe it or not these babies are not calorie free cookies. also, i found they only needed around 10 mins in my oven. the first tray i baked were almost burnt so keep a close eye on them. eat one (or two!) for afternoon tea with a tall glass of skim milk. the goodness of the skim milk will surely cancel out the sugary buttery cookie. right!?

beachy birthday

my harrison has turned 2! actually his birthday was the weekend before last but we celebrated it this weeked. and what perfect weather it was for his beach party! in keeping with the beach theme i made him a sandcastle birthday cake....



complete with crab and shells. delicious chocolatey shells. i was surprised how much it actually looked like a real sandcastle?! and the crab looks totally real huh? ok, maybe not :) the cake was chocolate and under the 'sand' is chocolate icing. i tried to cut out turrents but it was a bit tricky to ice. here's the birthday boy wearing and sitting in his birthday pressies....



fish and chippies were eaten at the beach followed by birthday cake. the cake was placed in front of harrison and he immedietly shoved the crab in his mouth thinking it was edible. his face expression after feeling the fuzzy felt in his mouth was priceless.



sandcastles were built and decorated....



it was a perfect day, even warm enough for a swim. the water was beautiful and clear. gracie had an excellent first time at the beach, sleeping the day away.




happy birthday my darling harrison! xxx

mathilda's market show and tell

got up bright and early sunday morning for our girl's day out at mathilda's market, norwood. i'm happy to say it was well worth the long drive and i'm soooo glad i decided to leave the boys and pram at home! i took little gracie and picked up my mum on the way. there was lots of lovely things to look at, only a couple of dodgy stalls. it was jam packed full people, snooty mums, bored dads, babies with the 'i'm over it' look on their face (including gracie!). they really should have an area set up for the poor old dads and children that get dragged along to these events. they could be playing pool or video games and socialising while we ladies shop til we drop. anyway back to the market, i came away with a georgous crocheted hat for gracie which i hope will fit her next winter. sure i could make one myself but for a measly 10 bucks.. meh! i'll let someone else do the work! i looooove the feather on it. so cute...



... and this darling playsuit for gracie for next summer by sebastian and sienna. how utterly sweet and girly is it?! i'm a total sucker for vintagey kittens. i became a 'liker' on their facebook page after being impressed with their lovely children's clothes at the last mathilda's market so it was lovely to see them again and meet the girls behind the label, peta and vanessa. and frankly, they had the best clothes by far. check em out here: http://www.sebastianandsienna.com/



and that's all i bought. yep, the boys got squat. after a couple of laps around the market we stopped for some lunch on the parade, had the yummiest veggie burger ever, and then headed off. gracie was well behaved and put up with being carried around in the sling in the market hall, she started to complain but decided to fall asleep instead, good choice. it was a lovely day, especially since i rarely get to spend time alone (err, almost alone) with my wonderful mum. love you mum!