want to see something cool?

no, not the yule log. that's more yum than cool




and no. not the kid. she's more cute than cool

i  know! isn't it the best gift for a person who thinks the occasional, judicious, injection of a rude word into convo is cool!

Kylie you rock (and did you see it on Design Sponge today?)

i did try it out on the mother-in-law. unfortunately she didn't have her glasses on, sigh! however once we pointed it out to her and she moved on from her hiding -my-amusement-school-marm-moment she asked to loan it to take food to her fishing club pot luck dinner. heh!

platter from douglas and hope 

Craft it Forward

Far out-they're so cute!

Good enough to eat!

A surprise gift that arrived in the mail from Cat.

Having a bad day, both hormonal and 'is it hayfever or am I getting the flu', the gesture brought a tear to my eye and cheered me right up.

                                                       Claud thinks they're pretty cool too.

                       We're playing 'pay it forward'. Which I like being just as enthusiastic a giver as reciever.

                                                Would like to be on my 'Pay It Forward List'?
                                (which may be 'craft it forwards' or 'op-shop it forwards', be warned!)
                                                     Say so in the comments if you do.

                                   All you need to do is commit to 'paying it forwards' somehow yourself.

             I'll pick at least three of you, and sometime, something (cool) will find its way to your mailbox too...

My Creative Space

                                              

If you haven't already seen it on Deb's blog, here's what I made her for our local bloggers secret santa meet-up.

Yes, christmas tree bunting.

My first (completed) proper sewn bunting!

(I need to work on my pointy bits a bit)

She was so excited about it (bloggers and their bunting eh). it made me so glad!

It made me want to make more!

I'm going to join bunting anonymous. It's my 2012 New Years resolution.

Wait! I'm going to set up bunting anonymous (BA).

But we'll be subversive, we won't try to give up our cutsey addiction, we'll start bunting-bombing raids on local eyesores and vow to make a different kind of bunting each week for a year and such like.

 Apply within. 

I also op-shopped this seasonal tin for her

and this 70's paper nativity set (hopefully all the bits are there?)

Thanks to Miriam for hosting and baking, Juliet for organising, Sophie for my gift, and Hannah, Nin, Kirsty, and Holly for their good company.

If any Christchurch bloggers are keen to meet up too (we're very nice and normal-I promise!) let Mirium know your email address.

Even more excited about Our Creative Spaces now it's the season of Christmas creativity!

A nice prize

                                          Yes, the mail box has rarely been empty this week!

                                          Claud is really enjoying the doggy golden books
                                     The chocolate is long since scarfed and is my new favourite
                                      And the blue tupperware is a new collection just starting up

                                                   Thanks quilt-maker extrodinaire  Deb :0)

ps met up with Deb and the other lovely Christchurch blogguses this morning for coffee and a yarn.

 In Yorkshire a particularly nice person is described as a person who would metaphorically "...give you the shirt off their own back...". Which Deb literally did today, stripping her child of the gorgeous dress I admired on her dutch clog wearing cutie of a daughter and giving it to Claud on the premise it was getting a bit small. Isn't it gorgeous

:0)

Cat's Tilda Christmas Swap

I know! Aren't they adorable!

Part of a beautiful gift from Leonie, via Cat's Tilda Christmas swap.

The brief was to make a Tilda Christmas ornament, add a dash of haberdashery, edible treats and a little something else especially for your swap partner.

Clearly Leonie did her research!

Piles of fabric in my fave colours

Chocolate galore

Gorgeous crafty bits and bobs

A special little craft pack for Claudine

A little something for mother of the child at the upcoming Brit themed birthday party

Tiny ickle Eiffel tower earrings

 Already debuted at French fest, and the cutest addition to my Eiffel tower collection

Tins :0)

Yep, you've pretty much ticked all the boxes there Leonie, I'm couldn't be more delighted!

(hope I didn't miss anything, the box was so packed with goodies?!)

Until christmas, when the tweet tweet birdies will be strung and hung, they're are hanging out at Clauds pad

So cute, and with year round charm

(only 4 there as Claud has already stashed one somewhere *rolls eyes*)

and in return..?

     Not quite so expertly stitched but very cool (yes, that means everyone I know will be getting one!).
   From (a kinda tricky for this sewer of little brain to follow so she made most of it up) pattern in this Tilda
                                            book and op-shopped fabrics and ribbons.

   (I forgot to photograph the rest as Claud had staged a last minute raid on the box which I needed to
   straighten out *rolls eyes, again*)

                                                           Christmas swaps rock!

October secret elf gift :0)

A cute little magnetic clip

paisley! plasters! to pretty up my dollhousing wounds

Also a funny coaster...which Claud has secreted somewhere therefore unable to photo

Thank you Elaine

My lavender is in full bloom at the moment so I may well be making those hummingbird lavender cupcakes this weekend :0)

If you want to be a secret elf, go here

Op shop sunday

 

 I know its really spring, and nearly summer when it's French-fest.

Akaroa was where the French landed, just a few short week of the Brits who claimed NZ way back.

Overfamiliarity (we go there all the time) doesn't make it any less lovely in my eyes.

(As are the French sailors, in uniform, who sail over every year from French Polynesia for the celebrations, and drive the local teenage population wild. Mmmmm).

I wore these, one of a HUGE box of gifts I will slowly unveil, from Leonie courtesy of Cat's Tilda Christmas swap THANK YOU LEONIE!

We beachcombed and picnic-ed

And I saw somemore cool letter boxes whilst we were out there

Dolly house!

Tea and taps at The Giants House, a big mosaic garden thing, like a tacky Gaudi take-off. 

                                            This, I believe is where the Akaroa plumber resides!

                           And there was the lure of the annual bowling club fundraising book sale

This kids book is so beautiful, every page made me sigh and think it was written about Claudine.

Umm and the dirt wiped off ;)

There is both a play and a book about what might have happened to New Zealand had the French arrived first.

Nuclear power aside (and don't mention the Rainbow Warrior) it's quite an alluring what-if...

More and many thanks to lovely bloggers

I skipped around my kitchen in the sun yesterday on receipt of this prize, now prized, parcel from Becky at Hazel and Blue. Pretty pink packaging to tear through and a cheery message in a gorgeous blossom card, and then at long last I laid my hands on a copy of Mollie Makes (plus the latest issue as a surprise-nice one Becky!).

In an ideal world Claud would have fell instantly asleep and I could have curled up with them and a cuppa immediately, but no such luck.

Instead we made biccies, with the cutters Alexa gave me in the tin swap.

We got carried away with all the colours and made a Helga Von Trollop biscuit which Claud is kindly pointing out.

Anyway, once Claud had conked in the evening (after reading about a baby kiwi from a cute retro kids book sent to her by Kylie from Lucy Violet Vintage) I took myself off for an early night...and what with that and seeing Sian Lile's Jammy Dodgers made from the magazine guide, I've just had to treat myself to a subscription.

If you want a subscription for free, the Mollie Makes Blog is running a competition, open to anyone anywhere to win a years subscription, enter here (before September 15th)

Thanks again Becky x

Wanna see my Tin Swop goodies?

Deb over at Works in Progress organised a cool swop, especially for a tin-lover like me.

The idea was to find a cool tin and fill it with something op-shopped, something handmade, crafty, sweet etc.

I was paired up with Alexa from Stitchy-Mama who, despite being quite busy giving birth mid tin swop, still managed to rustle up a great tin and contents for me!

Biscuit cutters for my collection (I don't have either of these!)

Feathers for my headband makings

Teeny-tiny origami stars

And a little book...

A retro kids book about a little mouse who grows fruit

Spookily, this arrived as we returned from a berry farm where we'd gone for high tea and lost Clauds little maileg mouse-how funny is that! And the book did a beautiful job of molifying her until said mouse could be search and rescued the following day!

And the most amazing bunting...

Handpainted cherry blossom on handmade bunting.

So beautiful!

Thanks so much Alexa, I love it all x

j'aime le macaron

J'aime les macaron. I really, really do. The perfect pastel palette, the sugar high (I never ever eat just one, restraint is for boring things like sandwiches), and for a girl raised on stodgy puddings, the daintiness. Not that I'm giving up the sticky toffee pudding forever, just until next winter. For now it's pink-blossom macaron spring. J'aime les macaron. Also the name of the gorgeous Christhcurch macaron shop, where I no longer need to shop. Hee!

                       I wish to announce that have succeded in making the most perfect macarons

                                                                          Ta da!

                                                                    *cue applause*

Ahhh.

                                    I would like to thanks the following things that made it all possible:-

1. the most perfect, and in no way difficult, macaron instruction guide (and I tried a few) on this blog
http://foodnouveau.com/2010/03/29/paris-france/how-to-make-macarons-a-detailed-illustrated-step-by-step-recipe/comment-page-2/#comments


2. What is now christened my 'lucky' eiffel tower apron (a handmade, secret post gift from Keri)

Thank you so much, I love it!

3. Persistance. This was attempt #4. 

Attempt #1 Recipe said it made about 36 shells, my version made 6. Hmm. Not a good sign. Rock hard. Literally like a rock, weighty, would break a window rock hard. Even hubby wouldn't couldn't eat them.
Attempt #2 Soggy, cracked and stuck to baking paper and had to be scraped off into the bin
Attempt #3 Soggy, stuck to baking paper having to be scraped off into bin
Attempt #4 Aimed to burn them in an attempt to get them sufficiently cooked...bingo (for me and my cooker with a broken seal)
                                                    
                       

I tucked their pert wee pink bums into bed the fridge overnight as is necessary

for macaron perfection (that was the restraint part)

Then the next afternoon me and the girl had a tea party

Sugar and spice and all things nice, Claud with her mini-macaron

Light, with a whisker of chewy-ness. Raspberry flavoured, with a creamy marscapone and raspberry jam filling.

Kids look cute using china do they not?

Cuteness factor intensified when she says "nac-ron"

Ahhh.

Thats when I remembered I had that dainty side plate, perfect for finally finishing the tiered cake stand that went so wrong at the last attempt

                                                             Another success, hurray!
                                        With all the success, sugar and spring warmth I'm on a high!

                         Can you take any more cuteness? I have another macaron related project in mind...

These doll house macarons, from here.

Ahhhh.

,