Spending free money :)

Hi everyone

Back in May I entered to win $30 worth of gift vouchers from Family Life Opportunity Shops (ok, so it wasn't hard to win - you just had to be one of the 1st 200 people to email them :P).

So, today I went in to the Cheltenham Store and spent some of the FREE money they gave me :D

Here are some photos of what I bought:

11 Little Golden Books for the Little Monster

Some recipe books :)

(The had so many to choose from...it was hard to decide only to buy these three :D)

Books with some new activities to do with the little monster.

These are going to be so useful in summer!  I cant wait to make the little monster some healthy and fun icy-poles and yogurt ice creams :)

These baby overalls wont be overalls for long, I have a different plan for them :)

You'll just have to stick around to if you want to see what I do with them...

Here is their Facebook page link and if you are wanting to visit yourself, here are their shop locations:

355c Bluff Road Hampton, 

435 Nepean Highway Chelsea,
316 Charman Road Cheltenham,
13 Playne Street Frankston.

Emma

I went to the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair!

Hi everyone :)

Today I spent the day at the Melbourne Craft and Quilt fair.

I have been looking forward to this for months :)
I went last year and did a few of the make and take classes and went to a few of the workshops - both of which I found interesting and inspiring  - and just generally had a great day out!

Anyway, I sat down earlier this week and planned out my day (something I
failed to do last year - and regretted), as I only have one day available to attend, thanks mum for babysitting the little monster!

I arrived nice and early (9:15am!) and booked myself into a couple of make and take classes...

1. English paper piecing

This picture shows me making and joining some hexies together during the class :)

I really enjoyed this class!  I enjoyed it so much I bought myself a few of the necessary tools needed to do some more paper piecing at home...if you keep reading, I'll show you some pictures of all my purchases a little later on.  This class was run by Blue Willow Cottage.

2. Meg the Pussycat

Here is a picture of my "Meg" although I think she looks more like a boy kitty...so I'll let the little monster name him later :)

This was a lovely quick and easy activity (it took less than an hour from start to finish - and would be even faster if using a machine to do all the stitching) - and it would definitely be suitable for all skill levels.  This class was run by BeBe Bold, and you can purchase the "Meg" and lots of other great kits and patterns from their website.

Ok!  On to my purchases from the fair...

I got home and felt like it was my birthday...I had a lovely little pile just waiting to be unwrapped!

From Blue Willow Cottage - I purchased some pre-cut hexie cards, a hexie template and some extra blades for the rotary cutter I received as part of my kit for the class (I also received a small cutting mat as part of the kit).

From Just Patchwork - a few Fat 1/4's

From Into Craft - some small novelty erasers (they were $1 each!) that will be perfect for the little monster :) 

I plan on adding them to this busy box as some other tools for imaginative play.

From Under the mulberry tree - some more fat 1/4s (I have been eyeing off these ones for ages...)

I think the best part of the day was stopping in to say hi to Jodie form RicRac.  It was so nice to meet Jodie in person, and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with her and some other crafty bloggers in September at Crafty Hijinks :) and if you are a blogger and interested in a ticket, they can be purchased here.

Anyway...I was completely surprised by Jodie, I had mentioned that I would pop by today (on instagram), and say "hi"...so when I arrived and was so warmly greeted  - like I was a long lost friend - I was incredibly happy...then Jodie topped this feeling again!  

How? I hear you ask...

Jodie ducked down and pulled a little gift out of her bag for me...it was incredibly generous and totally unnecessary (and unexpected), but is greatly appreciated :)

Thank you so much Jodie!

  The little monster is going to be so happy when I make him Ulrich and the animal house!  And I think I had better make myself the scarf before September so I can be warm in Ballarat :P

Overall I had a great day - I only did 2 of the items on my lovely spreadsheet though...so next year I will probably do a little less planning :P

Emma

Please note: I have not received any payment for mentioning the items featured in this post and all opinions are my own :)

Another busy week means another Wordless Wednesday!

Hi everyone,

I've been having quite a busy week this week so you will all just have to make do with some pictures of what I've been working on :)

I hope your week has been busy (and fun) too :)

Emma

A hooded vest for the little monster

Hi everyone

I had planned to make the little monster a hooded vest for his birthday (it is on the list)...but it is so cold here in Melbourne at the moment that I decided to make it and give it to him now :)

I was originally inspired to make one for him by Ros, as she made some for her girls a few months back (seen here and here), and I copied her idea to use snaps instead of velcro as the pattern dictated.

So here it is:

I have used a safari print cotton cord fabric for the outer layer - purchased from Spotlight - and a pale blue micro fleece - purchased from Lincraft.

The vest is reversible  but I dont think that the little monster will wear this one in its reversed form - as the print I have used is just too cute - and he has too much fun telling me which animals he has spotted on his tummy :D

I have made a size 2 for the little monster (who is 22 months old), and it looks like it will be long enough for next year too - well I hope so anyway :P

He wore it out to the Handmade Show on Saturday morning and to a nearby cafe for a baby chino afterwards...he was extremely proud of it and kept saying (to anyone who would listen) "mama" and pointing to his vest, I don't think I could have been any more pleased about that! 

I am extremely pleased with how my 1st attempt at children's clothing has gone, I am already planning another hooded vest with some more fabric from my stash that he loves and I do think I will attempt some more children's clothes at some point in the future :)

Emma

"Christmas in July" - I'm guest posting over at Sew Mama Sew!

Hi everyone

Today I'm guest posting over at Sew Mama Sew!

The theme was "Christmas in July"...want to see what I wrote a tutorial about?

Make your own Hoop art Advent Calendar!

Head over to Sew Mama Sew to view and download the tutorial :)

Hope you enjoy it!

Emma

Wordless Wednesday

Hi everyone

I've been busy working on a few projects this week...here is a peek :)

Emma

 

Cooking with the little monster - muffins

Hi everyone,

A few weeks ago I came across this recipe at an ASWC link party, I liked the idea of a quick and easy (and hopefully not too much mess) cooking activity to do with the little monster, so I made up a batch of the bulk muffin mix, and put it in an air tight container for another day.

Last week I decided to make my 1st batch of muffins with the little monsters help :)

I collected everything we needed to make the muffins...

The bulk muffin mix made from this recipe

milk, egg, oil, and chocolate bits.

Then gathered the utensils we needed, measuring cups, mixing spoon and a bowl.

Then the little monster and I mixed all the ingredients up in a bowl.

So far the process has been very clean :)

Just the type of activity I was looking for :P

I did think the mixture was a bit on the runny side,

but decided to trust the recipe rather than try to fix it somehow.

Then I decided to pour the mixture into my silicon muffin trays, all went well until I had to pick them up to put them in the oven, (and then I realised I should have used my metal ones), as mixture went EVERYWHERE!

So I put the silicon trays into some old flat pans...

I lost about 3 muffins worth of mixture in the process too :(

Who invented silicon muffin trays anyway?!

And into the oven!

Here is where I made another error :(

I put them in my oven at 170 Degrees Celsius (as my oven is fan forced) 

instead of 190 Degrees Celsius as the recipe stated 

(as I wasn't sure if "fan forced" had been taken into account).

Well this may have been the wrong decision, as I had to cook them for an extra 10min and they were still a little undercooked in the centers...

(oh, and you will notice from the picture below that the choc bits all sank to the bottom of the mixture - not sure why?)

But that didn't seem to matter to the little monster - he thought they were YUM :)

Today we made our second batch...

I fixed the backing tray issue by using a metal one, and I fixed the temperature issue and actually cooked them at the right temperature (shock horror!)

And they worked (the inside was cooked much better - in other words it wasn't half raw :P)

The only thing that I wasn't that happy with was that they didn't rise as much as I would have liked...

I wonder how I fix that for next time (I think I have about 20 batches of mixture left :P)? Any ideas lovely internet readers?  

Oh and what cooking with kids recipes are your favourites - I need more ideas as the little monster loves it :)

Emma