A Woodland Party

My daughter's christening ended up being a huge success. A very handmade affair and a very collaborative effort. Even the gown my little girl wore was the gown I was originally christened in that was made by my grandmother using lace from my mother's wedding dress (which my mother had made) I haven't included photos I'm afraid, as I don't want to upset anyone (my family doesn't like being photographed!)

A Woodland Cake

The cake I made was one of my favourites (apricot & choc chip). The decoration, buttercream of course, I really need to do a fondant course or we're all going to end up with arteries full of buttercream. The animals on top are not handmade! The heart trees however are. I fell in love with these bamboo cake toppers made by Cabin + Cub in Canada.

Meringue Mushrooms

These mushrooms were a hit! Everyone kept mentioning Heston, although I don't think we were quite at that standard. They are made from piped meringue (I used my family pavlova recipe). I rubbed cocoa powder on the top and attached the tops to the bottoms using melted chocolate. Very very morish and there were plenty of people who were fooled into thinking they were real mushrooms. Even the kids.

Very Special Bombonnaire

My super talented Sister In Law, made the bombonnaire, based on the invitation image (which was designed by The Parchment Place). The cookies of course are made by Edit at Art on Honey, who I did the little feature on a few months back.

Woodland Centrepiece

A friend made the little terrariums as she is starting her own bridal flower business and was looking for opportunities to 'branch out' he he.

Woodland Balloons

A few spotted balloons in the front yard, the weather was spectacular and it was a very special day.

Upwardly Mobile

Here's a little project I recently finished for Sophie's nursery. 

A Happy Rainy Mobile 

For the clouds I used a template from a magazine (however how hard is it to draw a cloud shape really?!) I made them out of leftover bits of polar fleece with clouds printed on them, that my mum had used to make sleep bags for the kids.

For the raindrops I used felt and special 'toy mirror' material which has a sticky back, this made it very easy to simply stick the raindrops together.

Smily Cloud

I had a lot of fun with this one and was quite pleased with how it turned out. The happy embroidered faces always make me smile, and the little mirrors cast pretty lights around the room which are a good distraction for the little lady. 

That Takes The Cake

Cakes! I love making cakes, especially for my kids. At the moment I'm gearing up for my daughter's christening this weekend which has a 'woodland' theme. I have all my bits and pieces collected and the cake is cooked and in the freezer... how it will turn out, we shall see.

The first kids cake I can remember making was for my little sister, I would've been probably about 12 at the time. It was the ice cream cone castle out of the women's weekly cookbook (I now own my very own copy of this book, love it!)

Women's Weekly Castle Cake

The next kids cake I can remember making was about three years ago for my eldest son's christening. Not the best job ever, however I have since taken a class and honed my skills somewhat.

Felix's Christening Cake

Rose - My Threadcakes 2011 Entry

This cake I made as an entry to the Threadcakes competition, and as a birthday cake for a friend. For Threadcakes, you take an image from a Threadless tee and make it into a cake! I actually 'traced' over the image with melted chocolate and the roses are coloured white chocolate. I was so impressed by the end result, however the competition is fierce with lots of very skilled fondant wielders so this has been my first and only attempt


Felix's first birthday cake wasn't the masterpiece I had envisioned as by this stage, I was suffering morning sickness with our second. Felix loved dogs, and this is what he ended up with... not that he cared what it looked like!

Felix's First Birthday Cake

By Felix's Second Birthday he loved Trains

Toot Two Train Cake

For his 3rd he asked for a 'Red Car Cake' that's what he got, inside and out. He had never seen the movie Cars by the way, he's just been subjected to advertising. I bought the matchbox cars to stick on top and hastily whacked it together (at this stage Sophie was in hospital and had been for a month).

The Red Car Cake

Poor Felix has ended up with a few slapdash cakes. Arthur hasn't done too badly so far. I was pretty pleased with his christening cake.

Arthur's Christening Cake

His first Birthday cake was a simple hot air balloon. ** Edit 2016; see new post for a 'how to' on this yummy cake!** I was pretty pleased with how that turned out too.

Arthur's 1st Birthday Balloon
See more on this cake here

Arthur's 2nd birthday is next month and I already have the cake mind. He is teddy bear mad!

Knit O Rama

I have been busy crafting, not so busy blogging!

Chunky Knit Throw

I have finished my latest and my very own creation. A warm, chunky throw for a friend of mine who has been so helpful to us while our little girl has been sick. It became a housewarming / thank you gift and I am pretty pleased with how it's turned out.
 

The Recipient was most excited

I want to make another, however I think I will do a little tweaking. If there is any interest, I will look at writing up the pattern.

While I'm blogging about blankets, here is another that I made, my little girl's baby blanket that ended up a lot bigger than I expected!

Baby blanket, extra large