Cute Tins

As you know I have a good bit of art and craft supplies including beads, buttons, ribbons, threads, scrap booking paper, stickers and loads of little found arty trinkets. In our apartment we have a large hallway walk in cupboard where I keep all my bits, and Peter keeps all his computer hardware. I'm always on the look out for nifty storage ideas and had been trying to think of a way to store my art markers whilst accessing them easily. So... I have collected a few empty tin cans over the past few weeks and with some fabulous printed craft paper I covered them with a sleeve cover to make cute little storage tins. They are perfect for what I needed! I'll be covering more as I collect more empty tins. I still need tins for my coloured pencils, biro's, and stationary such as scissors, rulers etc.

Happy 12 week Birthday Finn!

Well it's hard to believe buster shoes is 12 weeks old today. The time has just wizzed past! We can't imagine life without him now? Here he is in his bubble bath last night.

OMG!!!

Oh my goodness, look what Nula bought me back from Chicago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So in love with everything that I was given! So I got a super calender for mum's (hehe) with lots of cool stickers to add onto important dates. It's great as it comes with a magnetic strip so it attaches itself to anything metal- or the fridge door even. Nula also gave me a cool note pad of 'don't forgets' which also has a magnet on the back of it- she knows me so well with multiple lists on the go all at once. Also included in my goodies bag is a great notebook with LOVE on the cover- and love it I do!

Look at the fabulous tea towels she got for me in Target!!! These are so my favourite. It may be post Valentines day but I think it's never the wrong occassion to display hearts!

And...look at these super cute edible little cake decorations. Hearts again, but they have little messages on them like 'i love you', 'your mine'etc. Do you remember these from when we were kids?

I'm in my eliment, thanks a million Nula!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where has the week gone?

I know I've been a little slow with my postings over the past few days but I've been so busy. In the wee hours of tuesday morning my friends returned home from Chicago. We missed them heaps (even though they weren't away that long) and popped over to them that evening- poor things were wrecked! I attempted to bake using the heart shaped silicon tray. I made cupcakes or small cakes rather using a recipe I found for 'easy peasy' cupcakes. I wasn't sure what to do with them once they were baked, but inspiration hit eventually. I iced them with a made up topping- of course involving chocolate and cream. I added a dash of freshly squeezed orange juice and topped them of with some sliced strawberries. I'm not sure what they tasted like but Peter said they were nice but would be even better with icecream-yummo!
Now don't go zooming in on these cupcakes as the presentation wasn't the best!!!

Finn

Here's a few pics of the little man. He's getting so big, growing super fast!!!!

Morning chuckles

Every morning Finn loves to laugh and play. He is so smiley and in great humour when he wakes up. It's hard to capture just how happy he is but here are a few pics that show you what he was like this morning.

Valentines day!!!

Well I've found some really cute little bits and pieces for my baking experiments leading up to Valentines day. My friend Nula bought me these fab silicone cake tray and cupcake trays. They are in gorgeous heart shapes and I think you can use them all year round!

Also, whilst I was in the local supermarket I spotted the cutest red heart shaped ramekins- they were a song so I snapped up some for myself and Nula. They are the cutest- perfect for rich chocolate pudding. I managed to find a great set of heart shaped cookie cutters too. Delighted with myself I am I must say.

My first experiment using the silicone cupcake tray was a rather made up recipe (oops) using biscuit base, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, double cream, sugar, vanilla essence and condensed milk (Yikes, I'm putting on weight just writing this!!!!). They set as a biscuit but had the texture of cross between a rum ball, truffle and cookie. Now they didn't look amazing, and I should have decorated them with something- if I had anything left in my pantry by this stage- but the mixture was so rich it would have been overkill!

Yummo! I took the batch down to my friend Louise quick smart before I demolished them.

So much to blog!

My friend Maria gave me this gorgeous chocolate cake recipe yesterday morning on facebook. I had friends calling over in the afternoon so I decided to try it. Well...it was very rich, very chocolaty and very moist- everything a chocolate cake should be!
I decorated the icing with grated chocolate and fresh flowers from my potted plants. Thanks Maria for this recipe- I'll definitely be baking this cake again!...or maybe I shouldn't!!!!ha

This is the cutest little outfit that my cousin Steph and her family bought for Finn. I know the photo isn't the clearest and I didn't catch Finn at his best (hehe) but he's wearing the sweetest overalls and such a soft little top. He stayed in it all day yesterday and it was perfect for our snowy weather here! Thanks a million Steph!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mum bought this cute little set for Finn. It's by the Australian company BONDS and it the best fabric for babies- soft towelling. he had just had a lovely long warm bath and we put him straight into this to wear for the evening and to bed. He was so comfy and cosy, he slept like a dream!

Tiger Crosbie

Latest snaps of Finn!

Mixed Media Textiles

Here is the finished piece I have been working on today. I started with a fabulous fabric base that my mum had sent over to me here. She has made a really cool/quirky skirt out of it and thought I'd like the scraps. Then I covered some self-covered buttons with a selection of different fabrics, one of which I had screen printed. I used felt for the hearts because it doesn't fray and added a few sequins, small beads and hand stitching. The big orange heart with diamante on it is a fun buckle that has been sitting in my craft stash for ages. I've just been waiting for the right project to use it on. I framed the fabric in an ornate looking black frame that has a bit of red raspberry colour coming through. Not bad for an afternoon of playing around!

Now to find a place to put it???

Still Icey

Yesterday the snow was still falling here, it's super cold outside, but cosy inside! We took some snaps with Finn just outside the appartment, this snow is his first!