Irish Dancing Dress - part 1

At her first competition in one of
the school outfits.

Brace yourselves, this might be a long one!!!

So, the little miss is a little Irish dancer - she loves preforming and she danced in her first competition a few months ago. I knew right from the beginning that she was going to be sticking with the Irish dancing and I decided that I wanted to be the one to make her first ever solo dress (she used one of the school outfits for the first competition). For those of you who don't know, this is no small feat to take on! I spent hours looking at different dresses online and searching for pattern ideas and tips for sewing these amazing dresses. The dresses that I've seen in local competitions range from the amazing (costing thousands of dollars) to plainer, more basic dresses (still costing hundreds). I knew that the little miss' dress would be on the plainer side as I'm not experienced enough to take on the fancy applique & embroidery that many of the dresses have - and I also don't have the money, or even access to, some of the fancier materials used in some of the skirts and embellishments.

The tulle is a bit low & wonky in the  front
in this photo and it drives me a bit crazy to
look at it, but it's been been fixed since then!

Since I essentially had to make my own pattern, I started with a 'practice' dress. I made this one out of a stretchy velvety fabric so that I would have more leeway with it. The stretchy material could not be used in an actual competition dress, but this was just a practice (and play costume) so I wanted it to be able to stretch so the little miss could get into it even if it was a bit too small anywhere. I used the bodice pattern from a 'regular' dress as the base for my practice dress, but I dropped the waist (a bit too much it turns out), added a gathered over-skirt in the same fabric, gathered tulle as the underskirt, added a sash to the back, and voila!

I love the back of this dress, but I'll make the sash a bit fuller for the next one.

So the next step was to take this dress to the dance teacher to see how it would measure up as the base for the solo dress that I was to make... Other than the fact that the waist was a bit too low, and the skirt was a bit too long (both of which I already knew) the only thing that needed altering was the neck. The neckline has to be higher than the collar bone. So all in all I was pretty pleased! And the little miss LOVES this dress - I thought she might use it as a costume, but it's her favourite dress and she actually wears it out. A lot!

So seven months after making this first practice dress, I'm well into the making of the actual solo dress. You'll have to wait for part two to see that one - oh, and for me to actually finish it first!

*You can see part 2 here, and the final dress here.
And then if you want even more you can see how I ended up bling-ing it out here.

Fabric Envelope Pouches

I'm still slightly obsessed with crafts for the school gala at the moment... It's not for another couple of months, but I know that if I don't do it now while I've got a bit of time I'm going to get swamped with other things and end up rushing to get them all done!

I found this fabric envelope tutorial while searching "fabric scraps crafts" on both Pinterest and the general internet. (I have A LOT of fabric scraps that are calling out to be put to good use for this gala!) It looked easy, so true to form I jumped into it by cutting out a dozen or so in various sizes. The tutorial doesn't have any actual measurements (because it doesn't really matter what size you cut it out to), so I made mine according to the size of scrap I was working with. Once fully made, mine measure anywhere from 17 x 11 cm down to 10 x 8 cm. I also made one of the smaller ones for myself as it's perfect for carrying my business cards around in my bag. 

I started with a rectangle, folded it into 3 (to make sure the final size would look ok), and then cut the 'top' third to a point like the top of an envelope. I then laid my cut out shape onto my lining fabric and cut out one of those too. I pretty much followed the instructions in the original tutorial, with a couple variations. After making the first 2 I skipped out the elastic loop part as I really, really, hate sewing loops into seams with thin elastic and decided that I'd rather sew on snaps or make button holes for the others - so that's what I did, and I also top stitched around all the open edges as I thought it made for a nicer finish.

I made 10 of these from start to finish in one afternoon (with my kids and husband around distracting me) so really, these don't take much time at all! And they're pretty much as cute as the fabric you use to make them with.

Lego Mini-fig Display Cabinet - and Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hadn't planned to write a Christmas post, but I just couldn't wait to share the awesome present my husband made me!!!!! I have a small, but growing, collection of Lego Mini-figs (I stopped pretending they were for the kids a long time ago) and until today they lived on a shelf with random other stuff on the cabinet in our kitchen. Ages ago I had pinned various mini-fig storage case thingies, and suggested to my husband that he could make me one for my Christmas present this year. And he did!

I love that he made it himself, and I know that it ended up being a larger (and more expensive) task than he had first anticipated, but I think the end result is fantastic! There is still room for my collection to grow, and as Harry Potter & his friends at the top are kindly demonstrating, there is space to be creative around the frame itself as well. Although, I wish I were able to make it look more like Santa was dangling JarJar Binks off the edge of the frame...

I hope that you all get something that makes you smile this year. Merry Christmas everyone!

Jewel Hair Pins

This post is about another craft for little miss' upcoming school gala...

I actually made these hair pins last year when I had a table selling my own crafts at the little miss' kindy Christmas craft market... Since it was a kindy run market, I wanted to have a few little inexpensive things that the kiddies could buy with their pocket money. I found these hair pins and gave them a go...

I bought a big bulk pack of bobby pins and a jar of 'jewels' for a total cost of less than $10. I went for jewels rather than buttons because buttons are actually quite expensive and the little miss preferred the sparkly-ness of the jewels anyway! There were so many jewels in the container that I was able to be really picky with the ones I wanted to use and we the jar was still well over half full when we were done.

They were super simple to make and the little miss and I were able to knock out about a hundred of them in one sitting. We cut up some card stock we had laying around the house and pinned them on in pairs for the little jewels and singles for the large ones. I found some card slips that my husband had leftover from when he collected some sort of cards and they fit perfectly, so I packaged them in those to make them look even fancier. I sold them for $0.50 for a pair with little jewels and $0.50 each for the large flower jewel ones. They were a hit and I sold quite a few to the littlies and just as many again to the grown ups! I have taken them to other markets I have done as well and they do quite well - especially around Christmas and Easter as stocking/Easter basket fillers.

Needless to say, the little miss has quite a few and she likes to wear them all at once - unless, of course, she's using them as mini wands for her little dolls and other creatures.

Moreporks! (Owls)

I've volunteered myself to be on the crafts team for the upcoming gala at the little miss' school... This means I will be making a bunch of crafts to be sold at the school gala in early March. The aim of the craft team is to make inexpensive crafts that can be purchased at the gala by the kids with their pocket money, while raising some money for the school. This year it's a kiwiana theme, so I was hoping to get a few NZ-ish craft things made. I had a few ideas of things I could make with bits and pieces I already have around the house, and then I saw a friend post some photos of adorable little owls that she made. Along with the photo she posted the link to where she got the idea from, and that they were easy to make, so I had to take a look!

I looked at the photos from the tutorial and saw that the pieces were cut out at fairly specific angles, but then realised that the exact angles didn't really matter so long as it was the same general shape as what was in the photos. It looked easy enough, so as per my usual gung-ho-ness I jumped right in and cut out pieces for 7 little critters... And then I realised I probably should have just cut out one or two to see if it was actually going to work first! I cut some bigger than others and figured at least a few of them would turn out ok, but they were actually all super cute - or at least I think so. I used buttons for the eyes as opposed to felt material because I have a fair amount of plain buttons in the house and no felt.


They really were easy and the hand stitching part is perfect for doing while sitting in front of the TV at the end of the day. I've already got another 11 cut out and waiting to go (there's no shortage of fabric scraps in this house!) So, what do you think of my little moreporks? [*Moreporks are a type of owl native to NZ, so they can count towards my kiwiana content!]

I'll be posting about the various crafts I'll be making for the gala in the next little while... theoretically all should be easy and inexpensive. If you've got any ideas you think I should try (especially kiwiana type stuff), please do let me know!

Marshmallow Snowmen

I'll admit right from the start that this was not an internet find (although I'm willing to bet that if you searched "Marshmallow Snowmen" on Pinterest you'd get about a million hits). I heard someone on a TV show describe these and I thought - yeah, that sounds cute AND easy enough to actually make!

These are pretty self explanatory - some small bamboo skewers, marshmallows, an icing pen (or 2) for the faces, and a rolo chocolate bar. The description I copied these from used a chocolate button with a round rolo melted on top for the hat, but I could only find a block of rolo so I decided to skip the chocolate button part and it worked out quite well and a whole step easier!

Well, that's it for my Christmas baking this year - except for another batch of peppermint bark to add to a few presents (and some for me because it's delicious!)

Peanut Butter Fudge - Fudge Success!

For my last party baking item for the week, I was trying to decide between making no bake chocolate peanut butter bars or peanut butter fudge. The fudge was on my baking list, but last night my husband suggested the chocolate peanut butter bars as another option... I was almost swayed to making the bars, but after my chocolate fudge fail I felt the need to redeem myself with the fudge.

The recipe is actually called the "Easiest PB Fudge EVER", but I am far too aware that 'easiest' doesn't always mean successful. I have literally just finished making the Easiest PB Fudge EVER, and it was really, really easy. And quick. I like quick! After licking the spoon (as I was cleaning up) I can vouch that it is delicious, and since it's already almost set I think it's pretty safe to say this one has been more successful than my last fudge attempt.

I don't normally re-write the recipes I blog about, but this one was easier to copy than to try to explain...

Easiest PB Fudge EVER 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla, 3/4 cup peanut butter. Bring sugar and milk to a boil. Boil two and a half minutes. Remove from heat and stir in PB and vanilla. That’s it.

See, easy! And I feel I have redeemed myself. :)

Success. Yum!

Easiest Fudge Ever - Seriously! (but I still managed to fail)

Last night I made this fudge recipe, and it really is the easiest fudge in the world to make! The hardest part was trying to work out those pesky imperial measurements again. FYI: a 14 oz can is the regular size sweetened condensed milk you get at the grocery store in NZ and 12 oz of chocolate is 340 grams.

It's that last measurement that got me... I remembered from making my peppermint bark that the recipe called for 12 oz of white chocolate, and then I remembered measuring out 170 grams (which incidentally was half of the white chocolate in the recipe as I melted the top & bottom layers separately). So long story short - I used exactly half of the chocolate in this fudge recipe and, not surprisingly, it didn't really set. What is surprising is that it almost set, and it tastes amazing!

So instead of bars of chocolate fudge, we're now going to have fresh strawberries with chocolate fudge spread! You can't be perfect all the time, right?

Banana Gingerbread Muffins

Today's baking will be killing two birds with one stone: Christmas party baking & re-stocking the freezer.

Last night I put the last of the frozen baking in the little miss' lunchbox. I really like keeping a stock of home-made muffins or pikelets in the freezer for when I have to throw a school lunch together quickly or for the day before grocery shopping when we're getting low on everything else. So I was looking for something that I could put out for the Christmas party (in case there are guests who would like to nibble on something that's not chocolate or candy!) but that would also be eaten by my daughter in her lunches. The little miss generally likes banana muffins, and she loves ginger & cinnamon so I figured these banana gingerbread muffins ticked that box, but would also fit in with the Christmas theme due to the added spices. This recipe was totally not on my baking list - nor even pinned to my Pinterest boards before this morning, I was actually searching on gingerbread muffins and was weeding out the ones that required ingredients not currently in my cupboards, and when I saw this one it just ticked all the boxes.

Of course I didn't have any molasses in the cupboard (a major ingredient in gingerbread, I know) but the research I did after my peanut brittle baking indicated that I could use golden syrup in exchange for the molasses - although substituting brown sugar was recommended to give it a stronger taste. So I used slightly less golden syrup than the amount of molasses stated and slightly more brown sugar. I also added a little extra of the spices as that was also suggested in something I read about the substitutions. I made them in mini muffin trays because the size works better as party nibbles than a loaf or big muffins, and they work better in my kids lunches. The recipe states to leave them in the oven for 20-25 minutes for muffins, so I checked mine after 16 minutes and they were perfect!

My mini muffins actually turned out really well. They don't taste Christmassy at all, as the banana is the main flavour, but the are moist & delicious none the less. Depending on how things go, I may top them with a little bit of crystallized ginger & a sprinkle of cinnamon to tart them up a bit for the party (the lunchbox ones will stay as is).

Peppermint Bark

Chocolate bark is another one of those baking items that shouts Christmas to me, so when I saw this one topped with candy canes I knew I'd be making it this year. It's like Christmas topped with more Christmas!

The recipe that I originally pinned (and linked to above) was actually taken from here. Both recipes are the same and both are in imperial measurements - hrumpf! 

To save you the hassle of converting imperial to metric, a 6 oz packet of chocolate chips/buttons measures approx 1 cup (or 170g for those who actually have kitchen scales). I like this kind of recipe because exact measurements aren't required for any sort of chemical reaction, and I'm more into cooking with approximates as opposed to measuring things properly! So if you want to give it a go you'll need 2 cups of white chocolate melts, 1 cup of milk chocolate melts, a bit of vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil cause that's what's in my cupboard), and some crushed up candy canes. :)

Both recipes stated that you need 1/3 crushed candy cane pieces, which confused me a little as to how much that actually meant - but I figured it would take about 1/3 of a cup to cover the top, so that's what I went with (3 to 4 regular sized canes = about 1/3 cup).

Making bark is generally as easy as melting chocolate, and this one was no different - the hardest part was crushing the candy canes into little pieces without them all turning into powder. So easy, so pretty, and so yummy!

*Note: I actually I ended up doubling the recipe at the last minute because I was worried that it wouldn't make quite enough for the party as well as extra left-overs for me!!!

I also thought that if there was a lot extra it would make a nice addition to the kid's teachers end of year/Christmas presents. So if you want to make as much as is in my photos, you'll need double what's written above.

A double batch of this recipe made this much...
The pieces not in the container became un-layered while I was cutting them -
I'm sure they won't go to waste though!

Peanut Brittle - So simple & made in the microwave!

Peanut brittle is one of my most favourite Christmas baking treats! However, I've never been particularly successful at making it myself.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it looked easy enough that I thought even I could manage it. It's made in a microwave after all! ;)

In theory it worked well... Corn syrup isn't a regular grocery item in NZ like it is in America, so I figured I'd just substitute it with golden syrup and it would be fine - good theory, yes? Well, in fact, yes! However, what I didn't find out until after is that golden syrup burns much quicker than corn syrup. It still turned out fine, but with a slight hint of burnt flavour. It's still edible and it still makes me happy, but next time instead of microwaving it on high for 5 minutes like the recipe states, I'll try it after 3 minutes or so.

I've still got a few more recipes to go, so until the next one...
Happy Christmas baking everyone!

ps - I've had a bit of a thought... for posts such as this, would you like me to add the actual recipe to the end, or would you prefer to link through to the original source instead?

Meringue Christmas Trees

Next weekend I'm having a few families over for a little Christmas get together. I've been scouring the internet looking for some good Christmas treats to make that are: a) easy to make, b) not filled with expensive gourmet ingredients, and c) that make me think of Christmas. I'm a bit of a planner and want to tick off as many items on my to do list as early as possible, and yesterday I started my baking.

First on the baking list were these Christmas meringues... I used my own basic meringue recipe that has never failed me and added some food colouring and peppermint essence to the last 1/4 cup of sugar (that was being added to the egg whites a spoonful at a time). I was careful not to add too much colouring because I didn't want them too green as I thought that might put the adults people off eating them. You may also notice that mine don't have pretty little stars on top - yet! I couldn't find any at the store where I do my regular grocery shopping and am going out to get some later today. I wasn't sure how well these sorts of decorations would 'bake' anyway, so my plan all along was to add them afterward with a little dot of icing.

I was quite excited to use my new Tupperware icing piping thingy, but sadly that part was very disappointing... Long story short, it's messy to fill, wastes a LOT of whatever you put in there, and doesn't hold much. And it took me a few trees to get used to it, so there are a few wonky ones! Next time I'll go back to using my cheap piping bag that came from the grocery store.

 

But I'm sure they'll go down a treat at the party - they always do. I love these because they're really light and with a hint of peppermint essence in them they're a bit Christmassy too!

Summer Pants

My little guy has recently had a bit of a growth spurt and he is in desperate need of pants (trousers) that actually come past his ankles! I look at pants in the shops and they're all either boring, too expensive, or they just look plain uncomfortable for jumping & playing in... So I bought some fabric with the intention of making him some in the same way I made his pajama pants, but due to the print on the material I was worried they would look a bit too much like, well, pajamas. And then I found this tutorial and pattern for basic pants on Pinterest.

I'm impatient and don't have a printer at home, so I just traced the pattern onto some paper straight from the screen on my laptop. After I cut it out I held it up to a pair of his pants that actually still fit to make sure the pattern wasn't way off before cutting into the fabric! The fabric I chose was quite a thin summery cotton, so once the pieces were cut out, I decided to put some precautionary patches on the knees before sewing them up (as I've said before - getting the arm of the sewing machine into the leg of a toddler's pants is not one of my favorite things!)

He loves his new 'water' pants, and I think they look cool & comfortable for summer. And it was ridiculously easy - so easy in fact, that I've already started on a 2nd pair for him. :)

Now that I know how the 'basic' pants fit him, I've decided to make the next ones with a flat front
(ie the elastic is only in the back) so the top of the front pieces are cut out a bit slimmer.

Crayon Cars

For my little guy's 3rd birthday party he decided on a "Cars" theme. I thought crayon cars would be cute to put into the loot bags along with some colouring pages (mazes & activities for the older kids) and a few other little things.

I had melted crayons into shapes previously with mixed success... I had always shaved/cut up crayons into small pieces and melted them in the oven in silicone molds. The first time I tried I used the cheapest crayons I could get and when they melted the wax separated from the pigment and needless to say they were disappointing - so now I always use Crayola brand crayons.

I wanted the car crayons to be solid colours and to fill the whole mold rather than melting down into the crevices between the bits and making the cars too stumpy, so I followed this tutorial and they turned out fantastic! The mold I used took 4 crayons to fill each car (a whole pack of 24 to fill one tray), so it ended up being a bit more of an expensive experience than I expected (Crayola crayons in NZ cost about $5 for a pack of 24 - I miss the big packs of 96 that you can get in Canada for pretty much the same price!)

Once I had made the car crayons I thought they were just too cute and that we needed to do something with them during the party as well, so I came up with the idea of driving/drawing on paper roads with them. I covered the coffee table with paper and the little miss helped me to draw roads for the cars to drive along. The kids loved it. :)

Glow in the Dark Lanterns

My favourite internet find that I made for the little miss' glow in the dark birthday party were these great glow in the dark lanterns! I had seen other types of glow in the dark lanterns that use the goo from broken glow sticks, but what I liked about these ones was that they are made with glow in the dark pigment powder which is rechargeable and would last for more than just the night of the party.

I was thrilled to find that the lantern instructions are from a blog written by someone in New Zealand, as it meant that I would probably be able to find all of the 'ingredients' I needed without too much trouble. In fact, the hardest part was finding 6 glass jars to make the lanterns out of! I didn't want them to be too big, or too funny of a shape, and I wanted them to all be the same. However, I soon realized that finding enough empty jars all the same size & shape (without having to go out & buy any) was just not going to happen. As it turns out nobody (including the very particular little miss) cared that they weren't all the same size.

We had the jars displayed on a shelf for the party, but with all the glow lights in the room it wasn't actually dark enough to see the lanterns glow. I wrote a little note on each lantern with the child's name saying "Thank you for helping to brighten up my party." and the little miss handed them out as the children left. This (along with the many glow sticks & light wands they were playing with throughout the night) was given as a little thank-you gift instead of a loot bag.

I made my lanterns a bit differently from the instructions as per the link above, but I did copy the basic idea. The blogger noted that the pigment she bought the first time was not water soluble, so when she mixed it with the glue it turned into a solid glowing lump. The company I bought mine from actually sells a water soluble pigment as well as the non soluble one, and I liked the idea of just mixing it with regular while glue and painting it on the inside of the jars, so I did that. I also put some glitter in to the glue/pigment mix and painted it all on in one go! As the little miss would say, it was easy peasy lemon squeezy! Rather than paint the lids, I let the little miss choose some fabrics from my scraps drawer and I tied on a nice little ribbon with a handle.

It's been almost 4 months since the little miss' party and she still loves her lantern! She takes it to bed every night and it's still glowing just as brightly as it did the night of her party.

Note: I did try to take photos of the lanterns glowing, but no matter how many times & ways I tried I just couldn't do it. Apparently glow in the dark photography is NOT my thing - you'll just have to trust me that they look awesome in the dark! ;)

Being Sorted

Well, it's now the 1st of November and I haven't posted anything since September... I didn't even end up posting my 'Sort It' success. I am super pleased to tell you that I managed to tick off all but one item on my list! And no, the item I missed was not the item I was avoiding the most (giving the shower a good scrub), although I did avoid that one right up until the night before October when my husband said "Are you going to scrub the shower, or are you just going to fail on your list?"

The only item not completed was a Skype catch up with a dear friend in Canada. I tried, but life & the time difference just kept getting in the way - we did at least manage to write a few messages to each other instead.

I did feel very accomplished come October and I found it to be a good way to tick off all those niggly little bits & pieces around the house that became too easy to ignore. I'm almost looking forward to sorting myself out next September - but I think I'll leave the shower scrubbing off my list and delegate that job to someone else.

September Sort It - I'm Almost There!

It's officially the last week of September and I'm nearly sorted! I have 6 days to do the last 7 things on my list, and other than #19: Give the shower a good scrub, the remaining items aren't all that bad.

Here are a few photos documenting my progress...

#21 Baskets for the little miss' room.

#5 Tidy the hair accessories shelf - yowsers!
(before)

           

#13 Get a new passport
Just waiting to get my photos witnessed before I can tick it off the list!!!

#5 Tidy the hair accessories shelf
(after - phew!)

#3 Clean out the baking shelf (before)

#3 Clean out the baking shelf (after)
Clearly I now have to tidy the shelf below...

 And here is my list as it stands right now:

1. Clean all unnecessary items off of the kitchen bench. (This may need to be done a few times throughout the month based on how quickly stuff accumulates there!)
2. Go through the Little Miss' closet & remove everything that is too small or that no longer gets worn.
3. Clean out the 'baking' shelf in the pantry.
4. Look for a new set of dishes to replace our old set.
5. Tidy & organize the hair accessories (& other random stuff) shelf.
6. Make space under my bed to store the Little Miss' Christmas present (she's getting a new bed - shhh it's a surprise!)
7. List the kids' art easel on Trade Me (they NEVER use it & it takes up way too much space).
8. Sort through my clothes & get rid of all the things I no longer wear.
9. Update photos of the kids on Picasa.
10. See the Living Cloaks exhibition at Te Papa. 
11. Sew baskets for the pantry.
12. Re-stock the freezer with baking for lunches.
13. Get a new passport! (Not that I'm planning on going anywhere, but with most of my family overseas I figure it's best to always have a valid one in case of emergency.)
14. Mend everything in the pile of clothes to be mended.
15. Investigate class times for Yoga-Pilates classes and book in.
16. Sort through the cloth nappies & get rid of the ones that are no longer any good.
17. Decide what to do for the Little Guy's 3rd birthday party. :)
18. Sort through all the stuff being stored in the Little Guy's closet.
19. Give the shower a really good scrub.
20. Try to revive the sad, wilted potted flowers from the kitchen & re-plant out in the garden.
21. Make more large storage baskets for the Little Miss' room.
22. Make a list of who we're giving Christmas presents to this year.
23. Plan out the Little Miss' Irish dancing dress (the real competition one - she's been practicing what to do at competition in class, so it won't be long now!)
24. Choose new photos of the kids to replace the old ones in the lounge.
25. Go shopping for clothes - for me, not the kids!!!
26. Make a time to have a good catch up on Skype with my bestie in Canada.
27. Weed the garden.
28. Start weaning the Little Guy from using his soother during the day.
29. Find more Thomas socks for the Little Guy.
30. Actually take all of the excess clothes etc to the goodwill bins (or throw out those that are no longer good).

Wow! Check out all that pink!!!!!
It feels so satisfying to see how much I've done so far and to know that I will be able to complete my list by the end of the month. I hope that everyone else who's been sorting out their September feels as great as I do. :)

Ice Cube Snack Trays

It's not rocket science to serve a variety of little snacks in an ice cube tray, but I did think this was a clever idea to make snack time a little more fun and interesting. My kids, especially the little guy, are pretty picky eaters so the first time I used this way of presenting their food I sneaked in something new - and it worked! The little miss ate everything and then asked for a refill of a few things and the little guy ate everything except his apples (but this is probably because there was no tomato sauce to dip them in - weird, I know).

I've seen this idea done multiple times throughout the internet, but this is the one I originally pinned. In fact I have pinned quite a few ideas from this blog (and the photos are beautiful!)

I don't make the kids snack like this everyday, but they always light up when I do (especially if I sneak a marshmallow or two in there). They're nice & portable, so today we took them outside to eat in the beautiful warm sunshine!