Photo A Day November

If you follow me on instagram you will know that I have been playing along with Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge for November.  It was a lot of fun but I got a bit slack towards the end and had to do a couple of catch up days.  For those not on instagram here are my photos for the month.

Main Photo - something beginning with C.  Small photos clockwise from top right - colour, breakfast, tv, 5pm, a favourite thing, reflection, something you do everyday, small, can't live without.

Main Photo - in your bag.  Small photos clockwise from top right - night, drink, where you slept, man-made, the view from your window, the last thing you bought, happened on the weekend, something awesome, work/play.



Main Photo - tree.  Small photos clockwise from top right - what you wore, grateful, black, a sound you heard, sky,  in the cupboard, vehicle, big, on the wall.

Chantelle has also released the list for the December photo a day so if you would like to play along pop over here to grab the list.  I am still tossing up whether to play or not.  December is going to be super busy for us so there may not be time.  I guess I will see how I feel tomorrow.

Handmade Ornament Swap Goodies

I am so excited for Christmas this year! It's Imogen's first Christmas and even though she won't remember any of it I want to make it special.  I am counting down to December 1st when I get to decorate the tree and the house.  I am especially excited to put up my new decorations that I received in the handmade ornament swap.

 

Both of my parcels arrived in the post yesterday and it was very exciting to unwrap them together.  They were both wrapped so beautifully that I almost didn't want to unwrap them.



The first parcel I unwrapped was from the darling Tracey at Sunny Corner Farm.  She sent me three gorgeous felt ornaments that she had embroidered.  They are just gorgeous and I think they will be go perfectly on our tree.  Not only did Tracey send me these gorgeous ornaments but she also sent three button magnets that went straight onto the fridge.

The second parcel was from the lovely Sarah over at Gladys In The Garden.  She made me some gorgeous little bird bunting with the loveliest mix of fabrics.  I can't wait to hang these up!  I am debating where in the house to hang them.  Once they are hung I will take a better picture because this one just doesn't do it justice.

I want to say a massive thank you to Sarah and Tracey for their gifts.  I absolutely love them!  Also, a massive thank you to Christina for organising this swap.  It was loads of fun to take part in and the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season.

Corey's Pacman Cake

Every year Corey requests a cake for his birthday and every year they are random requets.  Last years request was a strawberry milkshake.  This year he ran through a few requests from a gumball machine to a pool table and finally settled on pacman.  He may have only wanted pacman himself but instead I decided to do the entire game after seeing these cupcakes.

To make things easier for myself I decided to make a square cake instead of cupcakes.  I also decided to go the whole hog and make ganache instead of doing my usual buttercream.  I also changed up the cake recipe and used this recipe instead of my normal chocolate cake.

This cake recipe was a massive hit!  My brother in law ate 5 pieces of cake to himself in the space of about 15 minutes.  There was only 1 piece left over at the end of the night which I gave to my sister in law to take to work in her lunch today.  If you are looking for a good chocolate cake recipe I suggest giving this one a go.  It is nice and firm to decorate with fondant but it also stays really moist.  I baked the cake Friday and yesterday it was still super moist and delicious.

Now I must admit that making this cake stressed me out a little bit.  The heat this past weekend did not make the fondant super easy to handle.  Also the black fondant rubbed colour onto the other pieces which was really annoying.  In the end I think the cake turned out pretty well.  I wasn't 100% with it yesterday but looking at the photos today with a fresh mind I am pretty happy with my efforts.  I need to remember that I am self taught and still learning so things aren't going to turn out as amazing as the professional ideas I find off the internet.  One day I will hopefully get to that standard.  And in the meantime I am happy to keep practicing because who doesn't love an excuse to make a cake!

Happy Birthday Corey

Happy Birthday Corey!  This past year has flown by and I am so lucky to have been able to spend it with you.  You are the most amazing husband and father in the whole world.  I love you to the moon and back.  I hope you enjoy your day.  Imogen and I are going to spoil you like crazy!!!  Love you millions and millions.  Heres to many more birthdays together.

Choc Chip Banana Bread

 

 I made this a few weeks ago and just realised that I never posted it.  Corey had a few leftover bananas that had gone a bit brown on the skin so I decided to use them to make him banana bread.  The recipe came from this book that I picked up at Woolies for $2 the other week.  I am not a big banana fan so I didn't really like the bread but Corey loved it so I'll take his word for it that it was good.

 

Choc Chip Banana Bread

2 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup choc bits
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas
50g butter melted

Preheat oven to 180*C/160*C fan forced.  Grease and line a 20cm x 10cm loaf pan.

Combine flour, sugar and choc bits in a large bowl.  Pour over combined eggs, milk, banana and butter.  Mix well and pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre.

Enjoy!

Handmade Ornament Swap

Last week I finally made a decisions on what I was going to make for the handmade ornament swap and set about putting my gifts together.  I must say I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

I found these awesome little boxes in Big W the other day and they were only $3 for 2.  I thought they would be perfect to package my baubles.  They are meant to be for cupcakes and I think I might go back and get a few more for cupcakes for people.

To make these baubles I used this tutorial which was super easy to follow.  After the first 2 I was just making the remainder from memory.

These are waiting on our dining room table to be posted and I am just waiting for a day I get a chance to duck to the post office.  It's never a quick trip with Miss Imogen!

I am so excited for Christmas!!! I have a few other projects to share with you guys but I am saving them for December.  I am thinking December will be all about Christmas on Petticoats & Peplums this year.  I feel a bit of a countdown coming on....

A Nearly Identical Skirt

The Facts

⁃ Fabric - black and white check cotton from the stash.

⁃ Pattern: Tilly & The Buttons Picnic Blanket Skirt Tutorial

⁃ Year: 2012

⁃ Notions: 8 yellow flower buttons - $8.

⁃ Time to complete: 2 hours

⁃ First worn: Yesterday for photos

⁃ Wear again? Definitely!

⁃ Total price: $8

Yay! I am so glad I managed to get another Sew Weekly challenge in before the end of the year.  When I saw that the challenge for this week was black and white I knew I had a few fabrics in the stash that I could use for this.  I finally settled on the black and white check and decided to make myself a simple skirt to wear.  I have hardly any clothes I fit into at the moment (still trying to lose the baby weight) so a new skirt is much needed.

When I was trying to decide what skirt to make I kept thinking about Tilly & The Buttons picnic blanket skirt.  I just couldn't get it out of my head so I decided to use her tutorial to make my skirt.  The minute I started I realised why I kept thinking about it.  Tilly used pretty much the exact same fabric for her picnic blanket skirt.  So I have made a pretty much identical version of the skirt.  Hers is probably a bit better executed then mine is!

When I went to buy buttons (the only thing I bought for this project) I just couldn't go past these yellow flower buttons.  They were just so cheery and happy looking and I thought they would pop really well against the black and white.  I am so happy with how this skirt turned out and I think it will get a lot of wear.  And I don't think it should be too hard to take in once I lose a bit of weight so I can continue to wear it.

Housewarming Cupcakes

 

There is nothing better than edible gifts I think!  So when we were invited to a housewarming on the weekend that specified no presents I decided I would make some cupcakes as an edible gift anyway.

I wanted to keep them pretty simple so a bit of white fondant, some teal fondant and some alphabet stampers later I had my gift done.  I was one cupcake short though so I had to put both the p's in happy on one cupcake.  Woops!

This is the first time I have used my alphabet stampers but it won't be the last.  I got them free with a cake decorating magazine.  They are so easy to use and will come in very handy I think.  I am gradually building a good arsenal of cake decorating items and am having so much fun playing with them all!

What's In My (Nappy) Bag

This month on instagram I am playing along with Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day.  It has been pretty fun so far but I am saving those photos to share with you at the end of the month.  Today's prompt, however, was in your bag and that inspired me to do this post.  I have been wanting to do one for a while and thought it might be fun to see what is in my nappy bag.

Bag - Colette by Colette Hayman - I love this bag.  It's giant and fits everything we need in it plus it has loads of pockets so I can easily access the important stuff like my phone and car keys.

Bottle Bag & Bottles - because my bag isn't actually a baby bag I bought this little bottle bag to hold Imogen's bottles.  I usually take 2 with me everywhere I go even if we are just ducking out for 5 minutes.

Spare Clothes & Bib - I always carry at least 1 spare outfit for Imogen just in case.  If we are going out for the entire day I take 2 to be safe.

Change Mat - this change mat was like $6 from Big W and comes in super handy when we are out somewhere that doesn't have a parents room.  It is shiny on the inside so I can just wipe it down after using it.  It also has a pocket in it so if I am ducking out for 5 minutes I can pop a nappy and some wipes in it and chuck it in my smaller handbag.

Wipes - how cute is this wipes case! It was a gift from a friend.  It is just a huggies travel mat case that has been decorated with fabric and trim. I love it!

Nappies - of course there is always a stash of nappies.  I use Aldi brand nappies.  They are so good!  I have had no issues with them at all and they work out heaps cheaper than the other brands.

Wraps - I always take two wraps with us, one light and one heavy.  We use the light one mostly because it is quite warm here now but the heavier one comes in handy for when we are in air con.

Make Up Bag - my makeup bag always has my powder, mascara, lip gloss, concealer, eye liner and 2 favourite lipsticks.  All my other makeup (foundation, blush etc) stays at home unless we are going somewhere overnight.

Necessities - phone, camera, car keys, pen and sunglasses.  Can't live without them!  All these go in the little pockets throughout my bag so I can find them nice and easy.

Notebook, Diary, Health Record - I have to carry my notebook for when ideas hit.  My diary is so I can remember all the appointments that I have booked in.  I am a shocker at remembering things at the moment so a diary is essential.  The health record is given to every baby born in Queensland and the doctors and midwives record all their visits in there.  It also keeps track of their immunisations.

So that is what I carry in my nappy bag.  There are some things that go in and out of there as well like curash cream, loose change, receipts, rubbish!  It can get pretty out of control sometimes.

So to the mums out there what do you carry in your nappy bag?  Is there anything you think I should add as Imogen gets older?

Life Via Instagram

It's been a few weeks since I shared some instagram photos so I thought I would show you what we have been up to lately.

We got dressed up and celebrated Imogen's first Melbourne Cup with lunch at my parents house.  We didn't win any money unfortunately.

We went bowling with Corey's whole family (18 of us in total) which was hilariously good fun.  Imogen slept through a packed bowling alley with pumping music.  She is a very deep sleeper!

Corey was craving dessert one night so with the limited ingredients in our cupboard I made him a cookie in a cup.  It was delicious!!!  The recipe can be found here.

We celebrated our good friends engagement with a rocking party.  They had a photo booth which supplied loads of entertainment throughout the night.  Imogen wasn't much of a fan of the photobooth though.

We stayed the weekend at the Marriott in Surfers to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.  The view from our room was gorgeous and we took shameless selfies in the lifts.

We spent Sunday at my parents house with my sister before she flew back to Melbourne and Imogen had her first snuggles with Roxy.

I finally made a decision on what to make for the handmade ornament swap and started whipping them up this afternoon.

And on a final note, did you know instagram has introduced web profiles.  So now you don't ned to be on instagram to follow my photos.  Simply pop over here to my page and check them out.  And for any instagram users wondering how to find their page just go to www.instagram.com/your username.  

Anniversary Cupcakes

Corey and I don't usually buy presents for our anniversary because we prefer to use the money to go out for dinner or stay somewhere for the night.  This year we spent the night at the Marriott over the weekend.  If you follow me on instagram you may have seen a photo of our gorgeous view.  It was awesome!

Since we don't buy gifts I always make Corey cupcakes or cake instead.  This year I made some cupcakes.  I was going to make them all the same but then decided why not have a play around with a few different ideas.

I made a batch or vanilla cupcakes and used normal white Queen fondant from the supermarket.  The pink fondant is a new thing I discovered at Spotlight the other day.  Usually when I need a lot of a coloured icing I buy Satin Ice.  If I only need a small amount I colour it myself but sometimes that can be a pain in the butt.  Certain colours never turn out right and I find it hard to get the exact colour I am after.  The pink icing I bought is called Fondariffic and comes in small 8oz tubs.  At $8.99 it worked out the same price as buying another gel colour and saved me the hassle of colouring the icing myself.

I have been wanting to make bow cupcakes for ages so I couldn't resist throwing a few of those in as well.  I think next time I make them I need to make the strip for the bow portion longer.  They were a bit hard to fold and keep together.

I really love decorating cupcakes! Fondant is like adult playdoh and then at the end you get a yummy treat.  I want to refine my skills a bit more.  I have covered a cake with fondant before but I would love to work my way up to sculpted cakes.  I was reading through my Planet Cake book last night and I think I am going to try and work through the projects in there to build up my skills.  I just need to find some occasions to make cupcakes for otherwise I am going to end up eating millions of cupcakes and turning into the size of a house!

1 Year On

It seems like just yesterday that I was getting ready for my wedding with the help of my gorgeous bridesmaids.  I can't believe that it has been a year already!

I can honestly say that my wedding day was one of the most amazing days of my life.  I love going back through my wedding photos and reminiscing about the day.  Being surrounded by all our friends and family while we committed our lives to one another was one of the most special experiences.

So many people said to me that the day would fly by but the morning felt like it was dragging on.  I think it was because I was so anxious to get to the ceremony and see Corey.  I hadn't seen him since early the morning before and I think that is the longest I had been away from him in years.  Once the ceremony was over though the day felt like it was over in a heartbeat.  

The one thing that shocked me about my wedding day was how much I cried.  I actually didn't expect to cry that much.  I didn't cry anywhere near as much as my sister though.  She is a sucker for weddings!

If I could relive my wedding day everyday for the rest of my life I would.  I even enjoyed planning my wedding.  So many people I speak with say that the planning stressed them out.  But I loved every minute of it.  I guess that comes with being an event coordinator.

I was lucky enough to find my perfect match early.  Corey and I met a week before my sixteenth birthday.  Here we are 9 years later having just welcomed our gorgeous little girl into the world and celebrating our first year of marriage.  I am truly blessed to have found a man as wonderful, loving, supportive and sexy as Corey.

I love you Corey and I look forward to the many more years of marriage.  Thank you for being the best husband and father that I could ever have hoped for.  I love you xoxo