Photos With Mum

It's universally acknowledged that, more often than not, Mum is the picture taker.

And that of course means that she is not present in many photos with her children unless it's a professional family portrait.

This is why I LOVE selfies in a year when so many people are bagging out on the colossal amount digital images we are creating by the minute, and how many of those are 'vain' selfies of attention seekers, drama queens & narcissists..... O.o

I just seriously love photos, especially of my children, as my mother was not big on taking photos, & when I was young and first had children, it was still a big deal to not only find a half decent camera you could afford, but then to also get them printed.  

Glitter in the bedroom...what WAS I thinking??? :-/

So SHINY!!! :-D

The quality of todays photos are amazing compared to the colour challenged Polaroids I grew up with and the grainy inside shots taken with the wrong film in a point and click analogue camera.

So pretty!!

My two youngest girls & I did so many things during our time down south in the lead up to Christmas, & then in the City over the Christmas period.

In the city it was just the 3 of us; Miss 3, Miss 6 & myself. I took many photos of them exploring Kings Park, their excitement at the amount & variety of playgrounds around, & special time spent with friends & family who were able to visit with us briefly.

I really only took a couple of selfies with the girls. And I'm so glad I did. Together with a selfie of myself & Miss 10 at last years Primary Presentation Night, I've been working on creating 3 special frame 'sets'.

Today I'm sharing pics of the first.

I deliberately worked on Miss 6's first as I wanted her to have it to look upon during her recovery from her recent operation.

All 3 frame 'sets' will be very different, not only reflecting the differences between the girls personalities, but also taking into account the colours in each photo.

2 of the amazing prints I purchased from Dream Big Printables

I also had some prints from Dream Big Printables that I framed and put on her bedside from the night before her Op.

Miss 4 & 6 sleeping soundly next to the newly framed 'be brave'.

Miss 10 asked to decorate her own photo set, meaning it WILL be truly unique compared to the other two.

I LOVE helping my children to craft & create art!!

One down, 2 to go!  Watch this space! ;-)

What Sets Your Heart Free? Canvas 2016

My MIL is a wonderfully talented lady.

She tells me she loves me all the time even though she has only known me 12-13 years.

 

She has definitely  seen me during some of my worst moments and has never seen me during my prime except in pictures or through the telling of funny anecdotes.

She is an artist in her own right, yet she comes to me to be tutored; to expand her knowledge of craft projects & supplies.

It's a beautiful time that we enjoy together.

This visit to town she was determined to make a canvas in a style similar to mine.

The stamp was my suggestion, and so is the quote/scripture, as I've used it previously, but the colour scheme and direction the canvas took is 100% Linda Baker.

And it is gorgeous!!!

Daleth

"I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me.

I cling to your statutes, Yahweh. Don't let me be disappointed.

I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free!"

Psalm 119:30-32 

World English Bible

Melt & Mix Chocolate CHUNK Mud Cake!

As requested from last Friday I think it was....(better late than never!)

This is my one pot wonder go-to cake when I need something yummy in a short amount of time & it can be served warm with ice cream, or at room temperature with double cream.  

INGREDIENTS:

300 grams good quality dark chocolate (I use Nestle Plaistowe)

200 grams butter chopped (It's getting melted so it doesn't matter if it's from the fridge)

1/4 cup of hot water (always from the kettle, never the hot water tap)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup of castor sugar (these days we put in just under a cup; cutting down on that sugar you know, and it's not so much less that it has to be substituted with another ingredient or the cake will be ruined)

3 eggs lightly beaten

3/4 cup self raising flour

double thick cream to serve

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.  Grease & line a 6cm deep, 20cm base, round or square, cake pan.  I use the spring sided round cake tins.

2. Break 200 grams of the chocolate into squares.  Place chocolate squares, butter & hot water into a medium saucepan.  Set the stove to med-low stirring regularly, making sure it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot, until all ingredients are melted & smooth when stirred.  Remove saucepan from stove.

3. Add cocoa while chocolate mixture is still warm.  Stir until cocoa has dissolved. 

4. Stir in vanilla, caster sugar & eggs. I usually let my mixture sit for a few minutes to cool so I don't cook my eggs.  Mix well.  Sift flour over chocolate mixture.  Stir gently to combine.  

5. Pour HALF of the batter into your prepared cake tin.  Chop the remaining 100 grams of chocolate.  Sprinkle HALF of this 2nd lot of chocolate over the batter in the cake tin.  Top with remaining batter & then finally add what is left of the chocolate to the top of your cake batter.

NOTE:  At this point I want to share that I have in the past accidentally put ALL the chocolate in the middle, I have forgotten to add the extra chocolate until all the batter was in the pan....It doesn't really matter.  This is a VERY HARDY but moist recipe.  The only way to ruin it is by burning it....

For my husband last year I also added teaspoon sized blobs of peanut butter to the cake at step 5 when adding the chocolate to the middle of the cake. Very YUMMY gooeyness!!!

6. Bake for 55 to 60 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre has moist crumbs clinging to it.  Good luck missing the chocolate chunks at this step, but you can still tell if you've hit raw batter.  And don't forget to pay attention with your nose that it is not burning around the edges.

7. Allow cake to cool in pan.  It WILL SINK!  It's meant to :-)

Serves 8

Serve warm or cold as mentioned above.

Stores well in the fridge & can be frozen if baking ahead.

ENJOY!!

2015 Teachers Gifts

                   

                         

                                 

When I have the time available & the right idea forming as a plan in my mind I like to hand make my childrens teacher gifts for the end of the year.

In the past I've made bookmarks that had a scrappy, layered feel & scripture on them. I have found bookmarks to be a great option when you are making a gift for a male teacher. You can really personalise what you make for them; colour, scripture & overall design.

In 2015 all of my girls teachers & TA's were women.  That made it very easy for me & also gave me a broad range of ideas that would be suitable. However I was time poor due to a chronically sick Miss 3.

Thanks to an unfinished previous project from almost 2 years ago, which is very unusual for me, I had some 'girls' already stamped & cut. Their outfits were stamped too so it was just a matter of cutting them out & putting the right ones together. 

Miss 6 & Miss 10 helped me pick which girls hair & clothing best matched the woman in question & they also helped me water colour their hair colour to the correct shade.  Their was 3 layers to the backing of these tags; the original tag shape purchased in a large pad, silver shimmer paper & blue card stock.  Miss 6 & Miss 10 punched out the star shapes from the blue card stock so that the silver shimmer paper would show through. 

After that there was a little bit of machine stitching, paper tearing, blinging up the girls and the stars with Kindy Glitz, Kaiser pearls and diamonds, & glossing. Miss 6 & Miss 10 wrote the bible quote themselves on shimmer card and then I drew a box around each word & cut it out.

The final steps were sealing the girls, attaching them to the 'tags' with 3D tape & affixing the word boxes that made the quote. Lastly some pretty ribbons & wool to complete the tag/bookmark look.

Normally I would spray with a gloss finish varnish but on the night we completed them I discovered I had run out & we needed to hand the gifts in the very next day.  So I sealed the whole item with satin finish decoupage sealer, the next best thing, just not as glossy as I'd like.  

The satin finish decoupage sealer seems to take the shininess out of the items that have received the glossy accents/dimensional magic treatment & finishing the whole item off with a coat of glossy varnish seems to bring that back again, which is why I prefer it. But sometimes you just have to work with what's at your fingertips. :-)

Miss 6 & Miss 10 wrote a unique thank to each woman on the back & I date stamped them as I do all my art projects.

The gifts were all very well received. :-)

"Daughter of the Star Breather" Psalm 33:6

A Very Special Pregnancy Album

I cannot really tell you my SIL's story of her journey to motherhood as it is not mine to tell; but I can testify that she had a very long and often disheartening road until, miraculously, she was blessed with a healthy son just in time for Christmas.

My SIL has always had a very special relationship with her nieces, my girls, so it was really important to my SIL to include them in her pregnancy shoot, as well as my MIL.

There can be a wonderful bond formed between mother and daughter when a baby is on the way.  

I believe their collective joy is obvious in the pictures I took.

I've also been told in the past that being presented with an empty scrapbook can seem more like a chore than a gift, so I have started handing my photos over, only to the very special people in my life, in completed scrapbooks. 

I include jounalling spaces, but leave them blank.

Like I said;  It's not my story to tell.

I would however like to share some of the scrapbook pages I created in my SIL's album.

               

                                                             

Not as special a Christmas gift as her new little son, but hopefully a close second. :-)