Getting back into the swing of things

Well, my blog has been neglected since Christmas time 2011, we enjoyed Christmas, we moved house not long after and the year just flew past in the blink of an eye!

Good news! I am back and feeling ready to get organised. Having a three year old is the ultimate test of organisation skills, plenty of room for improvement here!

I'm going to start off with meal planning, there is a balance between cost and delicious, varied and nutritious meals somewhere and I will find it. I'm going to attempt FLY lady, which essentially is deep cleaning your house in small manageable steps daily. Someone needs to give me a nudge to clean that oven and FLY lady (hopefully) will be the motivation I need. Boring stuff aside I am going to do home made hampers again this year for Christmas, so I will be making things from now until then to go in them, they went down a storm last year but a word from the wise, never leave it a week before Christmas to try to locate cellophane, it is not going to happen and judging by the conversations with shop staff in any store that looked like it may have some tucked away, I was not alone in this conundrum. My daughter's birthday is August and wants a party, that will take some magic to sort, Father's day and Halloween still to go. There is also the six weeks of summer holidays to fill, lots of fun posts coming your way.

I'm also going to be reviewing items along the way, it's going to be a busy rest of the year and will be looking out for items that keep my daughter entertained, keep me organised and make life as a mum easier. Lot's of home baking and trying to work in some interesting vegetarian recipes with my meal planning.

So that's it for the moment, thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the blog!

Christmas card making!

It's about time I wrote out those cards before Christmas creeps up too quickly. I was going to use blank cards and do a family Christmas photo but thought that to be a bit of a cop out when I have craft items laying around.

This is my first attempt at cards and they definitely have that homemade feel about them but I can't help thinking they look a little plain. Maybe something will pop out at me to jazz them up but a festive photo of our daughter on the inside will distract from the lack of craft skills.

Here's a photo, the glue needs to dry and then I will cut the excess ribbon off. Only nine more to make...

Christmas has come early... almost :D

Hurray! My MAC haul has arrived... but sadly I only get a brief look (and a few photo's) before they are swiftly taken away and hidden for Christmas. Some of this is from the winter Ice Parade holiday collection including the Sultry Eyeshadow Palette, Cool Iced Delights Lip Bag, Gold Pearl Iced Delights Eye Bag (the pigmentation of the eyeshadows are gorgeous!), Coral collection Dazzlesphere (4 mini lipglosses) and Piant Pot in Let's Skate.

I could have easily chosen more but my budget wouldn't allow for more this year but I am delighted with what we did get. Now I need to fine tune my present hunting skills :D

 33 Days to go until the big day!

More cardmaking candy!

I think I may have the bug for card making and have received some more card making goodies today via our lovely postie.

My last bundle of goodies had mainly card stock and diecuts which makes a great starting point for my card making to begin but this little lot is the fun stuff, embellishments, bows, buttons, tags, letter stamps and beautiful papers.

I'm looking forward to having a play with all these beautiful goodies!

Christmas card making haul :D

Christmas is soon upon us and tis the season to get crafting. I have decided to give card making a go as you can be as creative as you like and there is no wrong way to do it (unlike baking !).

My craft order has arrived this morning and I feel quite overwhelmed and excited with all the goodies received, lots of cards, envelopes, papers, diecuts, 3d papers, chipboard embellishments, paper embellishments, card sets and other bit's I'm not sure what to do with yet.

Now I need a little bit of know-how and lots of inspiration to make some beautiful cards :D

Black Bottom Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting

Another one of The Hummingbird Bakery's recipes, a chocolate cupcake with cheesecake filling and a cheesecake frosting. I loved the idea, but not a great one for beginners as it requires a bit of skill and knowledge to get the cheesecake centre just right. I couldn't get the cheesecake filling to become firm enough which compromised the overall look and taste. I also used pure cocoa powder instead of drinking chocolate cocoa powder which left the mixture slightly bitter, I would recommend drinking chocolate powder to give it a sweeter flavour. The cupcakes were delicious and with a bit of tweaking I reckon I could be on to a winner. I loved the cream cheese frosting, not to sweet but it perfectly complimented these cupcakes.

Recipe found in the Humming Bird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf - Ryland Peters & Small

Soft and Chewy White Choc Chip Cookies

My husband was pleased I had taken up baking again and requested the soft and chewy cookies you get at places like Millie's Cookie's and after searching through many recipes I decided against one that used syrups, if not just to save the extra cleaning up from spillages! These cookies were a big hit, once cooled they had a lovely light brown glow and had a soft chewy centre.

Ingredients

220g Plain Flour
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
125g butter
125g caster sugar
100g light brown soft sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
150g chocolate buttons

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Cream butter and sugars then mix in the egg and vanilla.
3. Sift in the flour and salt, then stir in the chocolate buttons.
4. Roll into palm sized balls and gently flatten onto the sheet of baking paper.
5. Bake for 10 minutes until the edges start to brown.
6. Leave for a few minutes to cool before transfering to a wire cooling rack.