My Craft Space

I feel a bit guilty really, because I'm sitting here with a hot coffee when I should be doing so many other things. We've all been very sick over the last couple of days and last night it was Isla's turn to be vomiting every couple of hours... awful is all I can say. It was an awful night. So I'm trying to wash the many sheets and towels and clean the house and wipe everything I go past. I'm absolutely knackered and I've never hated the smell of Glen 20 more than I do now. But I'm desperately trying to avoid Logan catching the bug we've had. I don't think I could handle another night of no sleep, puke-covered beds and horribly upset babies.

Anyway, on a brighter note I found this morning that my Facebook page had reached 100 likes. I've been excited watching the number slowly crawl up. And I've been planning a giveaway competition-type event to mark the occasion. I even got some gorgeous Acacia Raccon-print fabric in pink and blue to make harem pant sets. Now I just have to find the energy to make them!

Instead, I'm just going to sit here with my coffee and share with you some photos of my craft room that I took last week. I had a tidy up - I can't work in mess - so that I could start fresh... until we all got struck down with this awful bug. But at least I have a nice clean work space to come back to when I'm ready.

 

My desk

My fabric stash - so bright and colourful!

The view from my sewing machine

My Liberty fabric scrap wheel

My embellishments corner - buttons, ribbons, lace, flowers... lots of fun.

Some past projects.

Hidy-holes full of goodness

Time to start messing it all up again I think. I've got some harem pants to make!

Tab xxox

 

Tutorial Tuesday --> Make Rainbow Coloured Rice In 3 Easy Steps!

I just knew that Isla would love something like rainbow rice. She is such a busy beaver and loves playing with containers and water and most things she shouldn't. And rice would normally fit into that category - you know the category of "get out of the pantry, there is nothing in there for you!". But I must admit that rice is pretty harmless and although usually very messy like sand (I hate sand) - when coloured like a rainbow, I'm suddenly not as concerned about the mess!

Who doesn't love a rainbow mess?

So I thought I would make a huge batch to play with AND use in pots as table decorations at the kids double birthday bash! I got help from this great blog: Learn With Play At Home. The link is here.

I followed the ratio of 1 tbsp vinegar to 1 cup of rice, and even the advice of doing a mass batch of 4 tbsp vinegar plus 4 cups rice. But there wasn't a suggestion about how much food colouring, so I'm sharing mine.

My magic formula is: 1 tsp colour + 4 tbsp white vinegar + 4 cups white rice = coloured rice!

I was going to make 5 colours, but decided to leave out the red so that the pink really stood out. So my rainbow consisted of pink, green, blue, and yellow. My inspiration was Peppa Pig - Isla's favourite tv character and the theme for the kids birthday party!

So here is my interpretation for a beautiful pot of pink/green/blue/yellow rainbow rice!

Tutorial Tuesday: How To Make Rainbow Coloured Rice In 3 Easy Steps

All you will need

Ingredients List:

• Food colouring (approx. 1 tsp of each colour, and remember - bottled colour gives brighter colours than the combo packs)
• White vinegar (approx. 4 tbsp/80ml x 4 batches = 320ml)
• Long white grain rice (I used approx. 200g per piled-up-cup and my batches were 4 cups per colour. So 200g x 4 cups x 4 colours = .... hmmm let me ask my calculator ;oP ... 3.2kg! You might use less but a big 5kg bag of Homebrand long grain rice is only about $7 I think. And the leftovers would make a great apricot chicken casserole!

Utensils List:

• Baking paper (wet rice can stick to other surfaces like alfoil and definitely to paper towel!)
• Clip seal bags (the bigger the better for the bigger batches and to prevent popping colour everywhere)
• Measuring cups and spoons (you'll need a '1 cup', a teaspoon, and a tablespoon)
• Gloves and apron, protective glasses and a tent (I'm just kidding - but all would be very handy if you're as clumsy as me ;o)

3 Simple Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients in a clip-seal baggie.

I opened and spread a clip seal bag so that it sat open for me to just pour in the ingredients.

For each big batch of colour, I added the magic formula: 1 tsp colour + 4 tbsp vinegar + 4 cups rice.

2. Seal bag well and smoosh.

WARNING: Be Gentle/Careful/Cautious!!!!!

And don't wear anything precious - or better yet, wear an apron!

I thought I was a pro and started super-smooshing and ended up with yellow rice e v e r y w h e r e !

Thankfully it was only yellow rice and I wasn't wearing anything fabulous.

Smooshing in progress

3. Pour rice out evenly on baking paper to air-dry.

Depending on the climate, the rice should only take 3-4 hours to dry but if you have time then leave each batch overnight.

Drying rice

Once dry, I poured my batches in to pots that I was using as table decorations at the party - to be sure that I had enough rice. I made MUCH more than I recommended for this tutorial because I needed about 10 pots for tables... and I wanted to have some for Isla to play with ;) Of course!

My potted colour!

As you can see, Isla was desperate to get to the bowls and mix them up for me.

So I popped her up on the table to help and she LOVED IT!

Pour in and mix!

She mixed them up for me and I threw her Peppa critters in there.

She loved covering them with rice and digging them out again.

Peppa and friends playing hide and seek in the rice!

So that was my big batch of rainbow rice made for the party.

And I let her play with the leftovers :)

It was a lot of fun.

I hope you give this a try and your kids have just as much fun! You could even get them involved in the making depending on their age. I know I was too scared to let Isla near the colour or vinegar (for obvious reasons) but she loved pouring the cup of rice into the bag. The great thing is that the measurements don't have to be specific so the kids can get as much in the bag as they can. And they can even help with the GENTLE smooshing of the bag... maybe you should hold the sealed end and close your eyes and hope for the best!

Good luck!!

 

To Logan, On Your First Birthday

To my little Logie-Bear,

Let's not even start with what a year it has been. What a March 2014 it has been. It was exactly 24 days and 12 hours ago that you burned your beautiful soft chubby little hands on the steam vaporiser in your bedroom and turned our hearts and world upside down. You were so brave and so strong and never changed from the amazing little man that you have always been. You continued to charm everyone around you. You still loved us more than 100% even when we felt like we didn't 100% deserve it. Because of you, we all came through this stronger and more aware of how lucky we are to still have you with us.

You had a wonderful first year my little man.

You met your big sister.

You had your first Easter.

You had your first trip to the pub.

I just couldn't resist sharing this photo.

Or this one.

You had your 1st hair cut.

And your 1st Christmas.

And today you had your 1st birthday!

You have the most incredible personality. Already so friendly and so full of life. Your sister loves you so much and is learning to share her toys with you. You follow her around everywhere and I think (secretly) she loves it. I love watching you play together and know that you will always be there for each other.

We are so lucky to have you Logie Bear. Love Mumma Bear xxox

To Isla, On Your Second Birthday

To my beautiful Isla Skye,

Today you turned two and although that might not seem like a lot to some people, to me it means a lot. Every day you amaze me and to look back on the past 2 years, I just can't believe how much you have grown. I know that sounds cheesy because I'll probably say that every year. But it will be true every year. And I have no doubt that you will continue to amaze me every year that you grow brighter and stronger and more beautiful.

This past year has been a whirl-wind. First and without much warning you welcomed a baby brother.

Soon after, you gave up your favourite mode of travel (speed-crawling) and learned how to walk and talk.

You learned how to be a big sister.

And you tried new foods.

You had your 2nd Christmas.

And your 2nd Cake Smash.

And today, you had your 2nd birthday.

I'm so proud of you.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Every day is a new day when you tell me or show me something new that you have learned. Even when I catch you doing something you know you shouldn't. When you look up at me and you sheepishly say "hello mum". Those two words are more precious to me than you know at the moment while you're learning how to talk. You probably won't ever remember so I'll tell you that it was only 3 nights ago that I tucked you into bed and you took your dummy out of your mouth (a momentous task) and put your hands on my cheeks and said "I love you mummy". It was really precious because a) you rarely take your dummy out of your mouth once you have it, and b) for so long you have only whispered the words after I have asked/begged/told you to say it. In that moment I felt more like your mummy than I ever have before.

Yesterday I was reminded of how little time we have had with you and how lucky we would be to have the rest of our lives. It was at the supermarket. You were asleep in the pram (I have no idea how you slept through all that noise!) and Logan was charming a lovely lady in the line for the checkout. She asked your ages and I told her about your birthdays tomorrow. Later she wished you both a happy 1st and 2nd birthday and told us that her babies were in their 50's now. And she was shaking her head, grateful I'm sure for the years and the memories. And as your dad and I walked back to the car, we were reminded again of how lucky we are to have you and how lucky we would feel to have the next 48 years and more with you.

You are so cherished my baby girl xx Love Mumma

 

Tutorial Tuesday --> Easy No-Bake Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes With Fresh Raspberry and Gold Leaf Decoration

For weeks and weeks I searched for the perfect dessert to make for Justin's birthday dinner. It's a big birthday (I'll keep the exact details... cough/40... to myself) so I wanted to make him something special. I knew it would have to be a cheesecake. He always orders the berry cheesecakes when we're out, and I've seen the most luscious looking raspberries in the supermarket recently - so I thought I would attempt a raspberry cheesecake for him. And homemade cheesecake is SO delicious!

I went hunting for a recipe and found this stunning recipe by Ashley at Spoonful of Flavor who guest posted for Carrian at Oh Sweet Basil. Both of these food blogs are AH-mazing and I was so impressed with how easy it was to make these little beauties. Great job Ashley and Carrian!

I wanted a 'no-bake' option and I loved the look of the 'mini' adorable little portions. I also loved the combo of creme fraiche, cream, and cream cheese --> YUM! So I just had to try this recipe.

The instructions were easy to follow and the results were as delicious as they look in the photos.

The only downside was that it didn't take me 20 minutes to prepare (like the recipe says) because I had to convert the American measurements to Australian. So in sharing my attempt at these mini cheesecakes, I have kind of shown an Australian conversion. I have kept as close to the measurements as possible, only converting sticks and ounces to grams. And I shared the Australian version of ingredients such as 'digestive biscuits' instead of 'graham crackers', 'icing sugar' instead of 'confectioners sugar', and 'cornflour' instead of 'cornstarch'. These changes did not affect the look or the taste of these gorgeous little gems.

So here's how I went!

Ingredients List:

For the biscuit base:

3 tbsp sugar

2 cups Digestive biscuit crumbs (approx. 18 biscuits so 1 box will do... with a few left for the kids. Crush to a fine sand consistency)

115g unsalted butter

For the filling:

250ml heavy/double cream

275g cream cheese, room temperature (approx. 1¼ blocks)

200g creme fraiche

⅔ cup icing sugar, sifted

For the raspberry sauce:

2 ½ tsp cornflour

3 tbsp sugar

⅓ cup water

350g frozen raspberries, thawed (I used a 300g box of Sara Lee frozen raspberries and 50g fresh raspberries)

For the garnish:

fresh raspberries, for garnish

edible gold leaf, for sparkle

 

Instructions For The Biscuit Base:

1. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with plastic wrap.

2. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and biscuit crumbs. Stir in the melted butter.

You want a wet sand consistency.

3. Divide the mixture among the prepared muffin holes. Press mixture into each well forming a small cup.

I used a spoon to get the mixture up the sides and then found a very technical piece of equipment to squash and make a perfect cup --> a Nurofen For Kids 200ml bottle (most households would have one ;o)

4. Place in freezer to chill while preparing filling.

Instructions For The Filling:

1. In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream on medium-high speed until medium-stiff peaks form.

I (sniff) don't have a fancy mixer with whisk attachment (sniff) but my trusty little K-Mart mixer did the job - and it didn't take long to get the stiff peaks (remember it's double cream and already quite thick).

2. Transfer whipped cream to another bowl and set aside.

3. Return mixer bowl to mixer, switch to paddle attachment and beat the cream cheese, creme fraiche, and icing sugar on medium speed until combined.

Again, I didn't have a paddle attachment. My mixer did the job just fine.

4. Gently fold whipped cream into the cream-cheese mixture until combined.

5. Spoon filling in to crusts and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

I found the biscuit base to be quite delicate, so I piped the mixture evenly in to the wells without disturbing the walls. If you don't have piping equipment, you can improvise by filling a snaplock bag and cut the tip off when you're ready to pipe. As you can see, they don't have to be perfect. Remember they are covered in raspberry sauce and topped with a fresh raspberry. And no one will care when they taste how delicious they are.

6. While the cheesecakes are chilling, prepare the raspberry sauce.

Instructions For The Raspberry Sauce:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the cornflour, sugar and water.

2. Add the raspberries and cook over medium heat.

3. Stir constantly until the mixture boils.

4. Once boiling, cook and stir for one additional minute.

5. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve placed over a bowl to remove seeds.

6. Cool to room temperature or chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Instructions For Decorating:

1. Remove cheesecakes from muffin tin by gently pulling up on the plastic wrap.

As you can see by the next photo, I cut channels around each of the cheesecakes to make it easier to lift them out.

2. Remove from plastic and drizzle with raspberry sauce.

3. Garnish with fresh raspberries, as desired.

I loved the look of the fresh raspberries poked on top after the sauce. I also added a smidge of edible gold leaf for a bit of sparkle. That stuff is interesting to work with so have tweezers ready ;o) Trust me.

Yum, Yum, Yum.

These desserts are a great idea if you're entertaining a lot of people, because the cheesecakes can be made the day before.. The transfer them to the fridge a few hours before the party and let them sit in the fridge until you're ready to serve. Then just drizzle with sauce and top with a raspberry. It takes no time at all.

Easy to make. Easy to Serve. Even better the next day.

Give them a try.