Merry Christmas!

I am a bit sad that Christmas is nearly here. While I am thankful for the two weeks off work (thanks to working in the Building and construction industry)


I am sad that I will not be able to use Santa as a bribe to make Ella behave herself. The threat of the big red man not bringing her presents has worked a treat.

Wishing all my followers and readers a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Drum roll please......... the birthday party dress was????

It was between this dress and this dress. Which one did she wear on the big day?

A pillow clutch?

I started out with a gathered clutch. Using this tutorial from the Noodlehead blog. I had actually been shown this version of the clutch by a friend - and I knew I had to make one of my own.



The only thing that I did differently to the tutorial is I added extra fabric to the front - I made it 16" inches opposed to the 13" (or something like that) that the tutorial stated. I think it gives a much fuller gathered effect.



I love the hexies for this clutch and after looking at it for awhile I thought it would make a great cushion.



This cushion cover was so easy to make. The cushion is 23" long and I used the whole of the width of the linen fabric for the gathered front - so hardly any cutting required. Gathered it and then ironed on the thick interfacing. The hexies - all from the Amy Butler Love range are 2". The back (sorry didn't take pictures of that) has 5 covered buttons also in the Love range.


I love the red linen, however, the colours don't suit my house. Not sure what I am going to do with it. Any suggestions?

Birthday cake DONE!

At about 9am this morning, after already working on the cake for more than two hours - I asked myself "why do I do this? There was also a few choice words muttered along with "I will never do this again" and "why didn't you just buy a cake like everyone said to"

However, a couple of hours later, a quick Elmo game on the Wii to relax ........


And I know why I do it - I love it!!! I love the result. OK, it is far from perfect, but I love the words "thankyou mummy, thankyou for my cake" followed by tears and tantrums that the cake cant be cut straight away.

There you go, not exactly the same as the original design, but I love it all the same. Totally worth all the effort and I am hoping that it tastes as good as it looks.

Second ever fondant cake DONE!!!!!

Cakes cakes and more cakes!

No time for sewing this week. I couldn't have made Ella another potential party dress even if I wanted to, as I have been drowning in cakes, cakes and more cakes. I have made 10 full cakes and 40 cupcakes!

Stupidly I told daycare that I would bring a cake in for Ella's birthday for the kids to share - not that I had enough work to do making the mother of all cakes - so my Monday was spent knee deep in cake batter and buttercream icing.


I have not been too happy in the past with my cupcakes, they dont turn out that moist and they always rise too much, and I think the icing usually takes too gritty. These ones turned out totally different and really yummy - the daycare teachers loved them and asked if I had made them or bought them - got to love a nice compliment.

Recipe for the cupcakes

2 eggs
125 gms softened butter
1 cup white sugar
2 cups self raising flour
1 tablespoon corn flour
1 tablespoon custard powder
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence.

Throw it all in the mixer and beat on medium speed for 3-5 mins. Make sure you only fill up the cups 1/2 way as this batter does have some rise to it. Bake at 150 degrees for 12-15 mins - will make about 24 cupcakes. You want to bake on the low temp as it will not rise in the way where you get the dome on the top. Some of mine did get the dome, so I knocked the dome down with the back of a spoon when I took them out of the oven.

Now I am in big cake mode - 10 cakes that have been made into 3 separate tiers - now this is where the fun begins covering them in fondant tomorrow. Wish me luck!