Show and Share: Painting Biscuits

This week Miss two and two thirds would like to share how to paint biscuits with a pastry brush.

We hope you enjoy sharing this idea and movie with your little people.

Show and Share: Heart Soaps in a Coat (Felted Soap)

I would like to introduce you to my big girl Kaea.  She is a talker.  Started talking quite early, has a fast growing vocabulary and talks about everything!  Inspired by Meagan at This Whole Family we chose to celebrate Valentines Day by creating felted soaps together.  Such a wonderful hands on and useful craft to complete with our children.

Together we've made her first "Show and Share" tutorial, thinking it would be a great way for her to do what she loves best - talk and share, and may be experience an audience wider than her family.  You will hear her refer to "Tazza and Daddy" as these are who I framed as her audience.  The concept of a blogging community as an audience was a little hard to explain!

Following this "Show and Share" are some supporting notes and comments from her Mumma.

Perhaps, your little people could enjoy this "Show and Share" with you.

Heart Soaps in a Coat (Felted Soap)

The movie could do with polishing, however the focus is showing and sharing in her two year old way.  We would love to hear what your little people think.

Mumma's Supporting Notes

The timing of Meagan's tutorial on Felted Soap could not have been better for me.  We are almost a year into toilet training and my pet peeve at the moment is liquid soap.  The liquid soap dispensers are not kind or encouraging to little people who want to grow in independence.  I am not a fan of soap bars left wet and slippery at the basin either.  Felted soap is a great solution.  Wool is self sanitising, it creates a lovely lather of soap, acts as a cloth to wipe off extra dirt and allows the soap to dry in a contained space.  And it looks beautiful!

I have also read that once the soap has disappeared, you can cut open the felt, insert another bar and close the opening with more felting.


You will need:

• a mould for your chosen soap shape
• gratings of soap - I chose to grate a quarter of a cup from a bar of soap
• a double boiler - I used a heat proof bowl over a pot of boiling water
• a few drops of essential oil - optional, I used sweet orange
• tbsp of coconut oil - optional, I found that it helped to melt the soap
• wool roving, suited for wet felting - I found more than enough in a bag for less than $NZ5 from Spotlight
• an old stocking
• a bowl of warm water

 Add grated or pieces of soap, along with coconut oil if using into a double boiler.  When the soap has softened (timing will depend on the amount of grated soap) add essential oil if you wish.   Softened soap can then be spooned into your moulds.  Take care it can be hot.  Level the soap and leave to harden overnight.

Pop the harden soap out of the mould and cover with the wool roving. 

At this stage we placed the soap in an old stocking.  Using a stocking makes it easier for hands, big or little to matt/felt the wool.  You may go without a stocking, it will require rubbing the wool for a little longer.

Dip the stocking wrapped soap into warm water and begin to rub all over.

It soon begins to lather.  We took turns to rub the soap for almost ten minutes.  For a larger bar of soap you may need to rub for 20 minutes.

Finally, unwrap the stocking to reveal your felted soap - or soap in coat!  Leave the soap to dry completely before using.

Thanks Meagan for sharing your tutorial and I hope you and your little people enjoy Kaea's "Show and Share" x

Summer Tee Pee

I love tee pees!  Last year while cruising the internet I found many gorgeous tee pees, my favourite being those who had the hand made touch.  They reminded me of childhood summers spent under our tent made of bed sheets in the shade and with use of the branches of a nectarine tree.

In time for Christmas I managed to create these tee pee for my daughter and her cousin using this pattern from Spotlight - made from sheeting even!!

One was appliqued while the other featured stars.  I love the idea of tee pees providing a little space for peace and serenity for big brothers or sisters.  That is of course until little brothers or sisters learn to crawl!

KB still loves to share with her wee sister and read to her, so for now her tee pee is a shared space.

'dell has taken to his tee pee so much that it has become his nap time destination!  For this I am so grateful as when he unwrapped this Christmas present from his Aunty it sure paled in comparison to his cousins bike from her Aunty!!

If you've not seen the tee pee pattern from Spotlight and want to practice straight lines and seams like I did, take a look. This is a great project, simple with potential to become a magnificent project.

What do you think?  I would love to read your comments, they will motivate me to keep trying to find a space in my hectic life to post that which my busy hands have created!!  Thinking about a give away too...

Hope to post again soon x

Strawberries and Dreams

Happy 2012 Everyone!  I love this time of year - I love the opportunity to begin again, to set goals, to refresh.  I also love strawberries, dreams and the fact that I have managed to sew pyjamas for our girls.

Check out these sweet little legs complete with strawberry nappy covers!  E's pjs have been teamed with a white onesie.

KB's pj pants have been modeled on a pair of shorts from her wardrobe and teamed with a "rhubarb" singlet.  I just cannot believe I actually made these and they actually fit!!

Dana and her inspirational blog motivated me to believe I could actually sew these.  She is one outstanding Mama.  I found her tutorial on creating ones own patterns to sew very helpful for these pj pants.  

Dana's diaper cover pattern and tutorial were used to create these cutie pies for baby pjs.  The delicious fabric was an on sale discovery from Spot light and I feel like it just sums up what we love about summer here in Aotearoa.

Now my two little strawberries are (finally) snuggled in bed, sleeping in their new "jammas" and their very excited and proud Mama awaits the morning to see if these pretty things can function as they are meant to and hold it together for a night!!

Thanks for stopping by I would love you to make my new year by joining me on my Facebook page if you can.  If you have not already, please visit Dana's newly refreshed and very motivational blog.

Have a happy week.

On a roll...a crayon roll roll

Have you visited Skip to My Lou?  For crafting, creating and celebrating this blog is full of fun and fancy and worth a visit.

I have been creating crayon rolls for gifts for Kaea to give to her little friends as birthday presents.

In version one I followed the tutorial almost to the tee.  I made the crayon roll before buying the crayons and then discovered that I could not find a pack of sixteen crayons, so coloured pencils it was!

In version two I modified the design to fit twelve coloured pencils and created my first fabric yo yo on which to fasten the roll.  I found this tutorial on fabric yo yos to be very helpful for a beginner like me.

I know I would love to see my girls receive a gift like this, so I hope Eve and Emma enjoy them.

More Finger Painting Magic!

My nephew plunged into using our Playcentre finger paint - made by his Mumma during his little chicken pox episode recently.

He described his painting as "magic".  I so agree with him.

Here is Kaea's latest adventure with finger paint.  Blue and Kowhai this time.  She is beginning to notice what happens when she blends colours.

And clearly the experience was super as the paint was squidged all over her arms and feet!

"Green Mummy!"

Some parents prefer to avoid "messy" play at home, but in our house it is the best play of all.  Kaea's little senses love it and she seems so refreshed and "earthed" afterward.

This time round her little body seemed to want to get amongst the paint.  So I say bring on summer and we will take the paint outside and see what happens...by then E might like to join in as well!

Finger paint recipe here

Homemade Butter and Quick and Easy Bread

There was quite a bit of cream left over from our pavlova making adventure and usually it ends up going off in our fridge.  Fortunately I had just received my copy of Wendyl Nissen's "Mother's Little Helper" and I was inspired to make butter.  Such a great scientific change effect for Kaea to see, especially since it involved butter her most favourite spread.  Sometimes she even has a small piece of toast with her butter!

We chose Wendyl's suggested method of beating the cream with a little salt to the point of butter with its whey or butter milk separation. Then squeezed the butter milk from the solids, drained off the liquid and continued to squeeze under a tap of running cold water.  Hey presto - butter, real butter!!

Of course you cannot have such a high quality butter without bread.  Kaea and I used to make bread often, but have had a lapse with my second pregnancy and arrival of E.  As much as I love kneading and proving, E is not yet three months old and I feel like I don't quite have the time or energy for proper bread making.

Annabel Langbein has a very, very easy bread recipe.  No kneading required, simple list of ingredients, and the proving is done in the oven.

We loaded our bread dough with sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds.  It is delish and reminds me of vogels bread.

We gave it at least ten minutes out of the oven before slicing and lathering in our homemade butter. Yum.

Another fantastic way for the kids to make butter is with a glass jar and a marble.  With marble (sterilised) in jar, add cream and salt if you'd like (it helps with taste and preservation) and shake, shake, shake.  A good work out and lots of fun.

Thanks for the photos Ms Dunn

Here is Annabel's Easy Bread recipe sourced with thanks from "So, So Simple Food"

4 teaspoons honey
2 cups very hot water
2 cups cold water
7 teaspoons yeast

2 3/4 cups whole meal flour
2 3/4 cups strong white flour
3 teaspoons salt
2 cups sunflower seeds

Handful of pumpkin or sunflower seeds to topping (Optional) 

Into a bowl add the honey and the hot water.  Dissolve the honey and add the cold water.
This should now be hand hot water, perfect for yeast to work.  If it is a bit hot, let it cool a little.
Sprinkle yeast on top and let it bloom.
Set aside 5 minutes
In another bowl place the flours and the salt and the sunflower seeds.
Add yeast and water.
Mix and pour into 2 greased loaf tins.
Sprinkle top with Pumpkin or Sunflower seeds if you choose too, I didn't.
Snip top of loaves with scissors or slash with a knife.  I missed this bit.
Into 80C oven for 20 minutes to help rising
Then turn up to 210C and cook a further 30 minutes or more until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

All Blacks and the Little Blue Duck

"The little blue duck with a passion to cook, was busily searching her recipe book.  I'll make a pavlova that beaut kiwi treat, lighter than air and perfectly sweet"

These words are read often in our home at bed time from the story "The Little Blue Duck".  To Kaea I guess the pav has been a mystery and a promise that one day we would make one.

And so we finally made one as a contribution to our Kiwi Dinner to celebrate the World Cup Rugby Final.

For every game the All Blacks played we dined on the delights of the "other" team.  From savoury crepes, and fruit tarts, to turkey sandwiches, pecan pie and pancakes, to takeaways (we had those when we played Tonga!).

We beat the egg whites and sugar for 10 minutes as suggested by a few Pavlova websites.

We also built walls up around the outside to stop the flat Pav thing from happening.

Kaea was in charge of the eggs.  "We whipped and we beat till the white of the eggs were perfectly peaked".  The funniest part of our pav making was when Kaea asked to go and find a cow to milk so we could make the cream.  We explained that we would go to the supermarket for cream.... to which she replied "To find a cow".

The outcome of our pav was somewhat like the game really..... a bit touch and go but overall pretty sweet!

so true on so many levels...

Source: madamecupcake.tumblr.com via Rochelle on Pinterest

clever!

Gorgeous Handmade Apron!!

Our little KB has a talented crafting Aunty who lives just out of Christchurch.  For her birthday Aunty Pam crafted this simply gorgeous apron - which we all love, especially KB!  Thank you so much Aunty Pam.

She looks super in the kitchen and seems to want to bake more often now that she has her apron from Aunty Pam to wear!

The colours and fabric combo are lush, the frills are perfect.  I could never imagine being able to sew so well.  I have not photographed the very personalised tag tucked inside with a message to KB along with a scanned photo of her too. Amazing.

For this fashion shoot KB was keen to cook with marshmallows so we attempted a modified hedgehog recipe with almonds, marshmallows, coconut and biscuits.

She is mastering her knife skills.  As well as her ability to actually put the ingredients in the bowl, rather than her mouth!!

All was going swimmingly until Mum put it in a too large tin for setting.  However it has been a hit with visiting family members.

For hedgehog recipes try these:
                                
                                  Cadbury Bournville Cocoa Hedgehogs
                                  A pure chocolate version of Hedgehogs

My Creative Space: A Quilted Headboard

Now that my big girl is in her bed, and we have rearranged her room she really needed a head board.  But my goodness to buy these things are expensive!  It seems even more so if you are looking for character or originality.  I still find my self being hit with a barrage of pink when looking for anything slightly girly. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places, please redirect me if you think I am.

All of this led me to "Why don't I make it myself".  Armed with mdf, some timber, batting, foam, a few power tools, spray adhesive, buttons and sewing machine we have this... a quilted white head board with randomly sized and placed buttons.  I love spray adhesive - it has come in handy for a few things.

Luckily you cannot see the back of the head board.  The back is purely functional and hardly pretty.  Problem is that when her blinds and curtains are open you can see a corner of the poor finishing through the window.  One day, when my belly is back to normal size I shall felt the back and tidy it all up.

In the meanwhile KB adores her head board.  I could not believe how excited she was to have it up.  It has proven to become a wonderful bedtime quiet game tool too.  KB counts the buttons, we match buttons and she practices her colours.  Who knows what we might do with the buttons next!

Now KB has a  hand crafted head board to match her up cycled Dr Seuss foot stool.

Check out more creative goodness from the Creative Space community here.

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood...

We celebrated our daughters second birthday during the weekend.  One of her favourite books is the “Gruffalo” so we celebrated to this theme.  

KB wears her home made ears and tail - she was of course the mouse!  Her cousin proudly wore his home made Gruffalo costume. My sister is very clever!!

KB’s most favourite sweets are marshmallows, so requested a chocolate and marshmallow birthday cake.  This became a chocolate swiss roll filled with home made marshmallow, covered in chocolate and decorated as a log from the deep, dark wood.  I managed to craft a wee (well actually he is quite tubby) fondant mouse - eating the nut.

We also had scrambled snake (scrambled egg with sushi roll), owl icecream, roasted fox (chicken) sandwiches and Gruffalo crumble.  

The crumble was a home made apple crumble with boysenberries for his purple prickles, green grapes for his poisonous wart, his orange eyes were apricots and his black tongue was licorice erupting from the crumble.  It was delicious!!

The table setting was the woodland scene complete with edible toadstools and leaves.

I now get to look forward to my nephews birthday and working with my sister on creating something fun for him!!!

Happy Birthday my Little Mouse x