my creative space: birthday cake... the disaster and the celebration

My little man turned 3 years old on the weekend... Woo Hoo!! It's been a very busy few weeks in the lead up to his birthday party which was on Saturday... a lot to organise... phew! My little man and I had heaps of fun making chocolate crackles, honey joys, apricot balls and of course, the birthday cake!

Oh my goodness....where do I start with the birthday cake... what a disaster... Arghhh! I had grand plans for making a dinosaur birthday cake like this one here! It all started off really well, until it came to icing the sides of the cake! Oh dear.... my poor little dinosaur cake was a such crumbly mess, that the icing just wouldn't stick to it! If only I had read the instructions thoroughly, I would have known that I had to freeze the cakes before cutting them into the shapes needed! I was a little bit sad/devastated but I had to laugh... it was quite funny... my poor little cake... oh dear!

:: my poor dinosaur cake disaster!

:: icing disaster!!! :(

After I had given in to the fact it was an unfixable disaster, I made another cake on that Friday afternoon... while in the middle of doing everything else too!! Lucky for me I already had a "Plan B" cake in my head! I successfully iced and decorated it on Friday night... Yay "Dinosaurs on a grassy hill" :)

:: dinosaurs on a grassy hill

:: dinosaurs on a grassy hill

 I am so pleased with how it turned out, and with no icing disaster! My little man loved his dinosaur cake so much, he got a little cross when he couldn't have the dinosaurs from the cake right away... so cute!

:: I want those dinosaurs... NOW! :)

My little man had the best time with all his little friends and favourite people at his party in the park, despite the pesky rain! We are really lucky that our park has a covered picnic area which is quite big so we could all keep out of the rain... not that the rain stopped any of the kids or adults from having fun :)

:: park + rain + bubbles + friends = fun!!!
(sorry no friends in photos - respecting their privacy)

:: Happy birthday my beautiful little man xxx

Hope you are having a great creative week!

There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

healthy party food...

Gosh, I have a very busy week ahead of me! My little man will be turning three years old next weekend (I can't believe it) and we are having a little dinosaur party for him! I didn't realise how much there was to organise for this little party! I have been writing lists, buying bits and pieces the last few weeks... I'm on track, so far! I've been having fun testing out party food recipes for the last week... much to the delight of my partner and little man... not so much to the delight of my poor waist line!

:: my happy little taste tester :)

I made a small batch of rice crispies and marshmallow bars the other day. I don't have much of a sweet tooth but I nearly died of shock at how unbelievably sweet they were...Yikes!! I'm not sure I can put that on the party table, everyone may need to book an appointment with the dentist straight after the party! So, I have been looking for healthy alternatives. I will have a few yummy sugary things, after all it is a birthday party, but I would also love to have lots of healthy party food too!

So I was wondering what are your favourite, easy to make, healthy and yummy party foods recipes? I would love to know :)

crackers... yum!

I have been making lots of crackers lately... they are SO easy!! Warning... they are extremely moreish too! I got this great birdseed biscuit recipe from my lovely friend Jo from Bubala!

:: crackers with sesame seeds, poppy seed and cumin seeds

I had been meaning to make them for ages... so glad I did! I switched the butter for margarine (because of my cows milk allergy) and only put 1/2 tsp of salt. My little man loved helping and absolutely loves eating them too... bonus! I couldn't believe how easy it was.. needless to say we won't be buying crackers from the shop! Thanks Jo :)

Hope you are having a lovely Monday!

this week...

I have been busy enjoying doing other things...

I read this book.. a great book! I haven't read a book in ages... just haven't had the time! I love getting lost in a good book :) but I'm always really sad when it ends :(

drooled over this book I got for christmas: I just LOVE the illustrations and it's a cook book too! Daniella has such an inspiring story about her book too, read about it here :)

:: my abuela's table - daniella germain

:: my abuela's table - a look inside

made yummy things from this book: It's got some delicious summer salad recipes! Love bills recipes they are really easy to do and follow!

:: bill granger - open kitchen

painted a cute little card and made some heart ginger biscuits - with some help - for our 10 year anniversary! Can't believe it... it only feels like yesterday when me and my man had our first date... time flies when you're having fun :)

:: helping... eating the icing!!!

went to this wonderful exhibition at the MCA: recorders by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
It is totally interactive where you make the exhibition...literally!  It's a must do if you are in Sydney and it's free! We had so much fun! I think we will have to go back again... LOVED it!

:: pulse index - my finger with M = my little man

:: people on people - me and my little man

not much crafting happening around here... it's nice to have a break and do other things! I'm sure I will back into it all again soon... I'm starting feel that itch to create!

Hope you are having a great week and doing lots of fun too :)

christmas number one

It's still crazy busy around here... so much to do in so little time! Last Sunday we had a small pre-christmas and a birthday get together with family as a couple of them are going overseas for christmas... lucky ducks! We had a great day and my little man was getting quite excited about the whole christmas and presents thing... it was so cute!

Last week, I was very busy doing more tea dying fabric, screen printing and making cushions for one of the presents. I'm so pleased with how they turned out :)

:: home sweet home cushion

:: chevron cushion

My little man helped stamp some christmas paper.

:: christmas paper stamping

:: some messy little fingers

I made my very first rainbow cake!!! I didn't have time to do a stack of cakes, so I just layered the different colours "carefully" on top of each other.

:: rainbow cake mixture

:: my little helper/taster

:: rainbow cake YUM!!!

The cake didn't seem to rise very much...  but I am really happy with my first attempt! And my little man LOVED helping out, being the helper/taster! There wasn't much left at the end of the festivities :)

Well better get back to it... I'm still super busy, lots more things to make and do :)

Hope you are having a great week and not to crazy busy :)

a bit of: blog styling for Rowan Bishop - food writer

Recently, I was lucky enough to be asked to do a little bit of "blog styling" for a dear friend of my partners mum, Norma.  Her friend Rowan Bishop, is a well know vegetarian food writer in New Zealand and has been writing about vegetarian food for over 30 years! She is currently travelling overseas on a big food adventure... so exciting!  I got to meet her last year when she was in Sydney, she was just so lovely! So when Norma asked me if I would be interested in styling her blog, I jumped at the opportunity! I had such a great time putting her blog together, I'm so pleased with how it looks and Rowan loves it too :)

Rowan Bishop - food writer blog

Rowan has just released her new vegetarian book "Rowan Bishop's Vegetarian Kitchen" which I have my very own copy of and have been pouring/drooling all over it! The recipies are great, easy to follow and uses a lot of average ingredients that you would have your pantry and fridge, which is excellent! Such a great cook book... I love it! :)

Visit Rowan Bishop's blog - Rowan Bishop - food writer and she can be found on facebook too :) I'm looking forward to seeing what she gets up to on her trip... so exciting!