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!

a dress for some bunny special

as you can see gracie's turned out a bit on the large size, it's meant for 6 months old but since she's only 5 months and pint sized i'm not surprised it's a bit baggy. bunny is loving her matching dress. she's a bit of a show-off don't you think?! cheeky little rabbit. i love the kitten print. i thought i was very brave to cut into it. i like to hoard my fabrics, but i'm getting better at using them.

a bunny dress and a cushion

i decided to cook a special dinner for stu tonight, just cos i love him. we had a nice juicy t-bone steak with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. mmmm. twas very nice. the boys had veggie and bean burritos. those boys will eat anything as long as it's wrapped in some kind of bread or tortilla. avacado, lettuce, you name it. if it's in a wrap, it's a snap. did you like that? i did.

so i've had this paper pieced hexagon thingy hanging around the sewing room for a few months now and i finally did something with it yesterday. i threw it in the bin. noooo i didn't do that. i made a cushion cover for the rocking chair in harrison's room. i hand sewed the hexagon 'thingy' (ok, let's get real, it's a flower. don't tell harrison) on by hand and i'm happy with the results. it matches his curtains. awwwww.

today i went nuts with housework until lunchtime. lachlan hates it when i mop the floors. i had to make believe we were in boats as we sat on the lounge waiting for the floors to dry. i rewarded myself for doing such a darn good job cleaning the house by doing a bit of sewing in the afternoon. i made a little doll's dress. the doll for which it was intended for was a bit too small for it but it fits the bunny perfectly. she already had a nice dress on but a bunny can never have too many cute dresses now can she? she kinda looks like she's been sent to the naughty corner in the first photo. i don't know if she liked the dress. you see, she's japanese and i don't speak a damn word of it. the dress is reversible so all the photos are of the same dress. i'm thinking matching gracie and dolly dresses later on...

tonight after dinner i announced to the boys that there would be a treat for them tonight and before i have even told them what it was harrison has said 'yaaaaay!' and has scrambled into his highchair. ummmm no, not that kind of treat. instead of reading stories tonight we would watch 'the gruffalo'. so we all watched it together. have you seen it? i love it. heck even stu liked it. i love the music and i love that it's just a tiny bit scary for them. lachie and i just about know it word for word. we've read that book a gazillion times, it's one of his favourites. ok mine too!

introducing Beebee!

another wee wonderful doll completed. bjorn bjornson is one of my favourites so i was quite excited about making him, but mine's a 'her' and her name is beebee. i actually bought some really nice soft faux fur (expensive!?) to make her out of, but i sorta chickened out when i got home and did her with some yellow fleece that i already had. so she's kind of a practice bear but i think she turned out kinda cute. she has little black beads for her eyes and a wool felt nose. the fleece was slightly nightmarish to work with because of the stretch but other than that she was really fun to make. slightly wonky but charming. only took two afternoon nap times to get her done. she's going to be for gracie, but only for sitting on the shelf and looking sweet. i may allow her to come down for tea parties one day. maybe. since gracie's room is still bare (bad mummy) i took a photo of beebee sitting next to a pile of fabric which i'll be using to decorate her room, eventually. i'll definitely make another one with the fur one day, and i might just keep that one for myself!

rain rain go away

october is a funny weather month isn't it? so unpredictable. so warm and sunny one day and then cold and wet the next. we were looking forward to going to the clare show today but it's pouring with rain, so it's a no-go. i didn't mention it to lachie just in case the weather was bad, so he's not dissapointed. it feels like a good day to take a trip to the city on the train though. lachie has never ever been on a train so it will be soooooo exciting for him. we had to stop for a long freight train on the way to st kilda last weekend and that was thrilling enough for him! a real live train in action! yesssss!

anyway, i have completed another wee wonderful doll. this time i did doxie necklace. since gracie is only 4 months old it seemed a bit silly to make her one so i did a boyish one for lachie and pinned it on his bag. i picked out some pretty fabrics to make some girly ones too, i figured i might be able to knock out a couple. yeah right! i'm done with doxie for now! it didn't take tooooo long, it was just sooooooo freakin tiny and fiddly! i was so tense while turing it inside out i thought i was going to chip a tooth. i actually failed at the first attempt. i butchered the tail while turning it to the right side. it was such a mess. i think the final result turned out pretty cute though. i'm happy with it. we've named him 'floyd'. names like that should be reserved for pets and toys only.








have a nice weekend everyone and check out these amazing masks too : http://www.etsy.com/people/SundriesAndPlunder


i loooooooooove them and i want alllllll of them!