First day of School

Well William started prep today - he did really well - I've been a bit anxious about it, but he was great. Told me it was time to go, he wanted to play with the Lego.

So here are some pics. Katherine started at a new Monti kindy as well, and she did well too and the bonus is it's so much closer to where we live, it's going to make my life so much easier.



They aren't the best photos, everyone was making funny faces lol! And you can see how overtired my little man is and how the heat bothers him, by the very dark circles under his eyes :( I'm hoping that we get some early nights this week, and some sleep ins too.

And an UPDATE

Katherine had a super day - no toileting accidents - yah!!! and she was happily playing when we picked her up - the new carer said she is just a little doll which she is.

William looks very tired - and my tip for day 2 - pack an afternoon tea, they can eat on the way home - luckily we had some leftovers from lunch - because he was starving!!! He ate grapes, bikkies and downed nearly 400ml of water. He says he had a good day - did some painting, drawing, played with puzzles, read books and played with Lego - but he doesn't want to go back tomorrow sigh! I'm hoping that he'll be okay tomorrow. He's annoyed his little sister no end this afternoon, hoping that is just tiredness too.

Well homemade pasta is done, along with meatballs, and it will be an early night for the littlest cherub's they are already yawning.

HoneyBoy! Night Nappies

Just putting the finishing touches to some. Photos will preview here first and then they go up for sale on OZeBaby and as was requested last time there are some Large nappies.



Unicorn - dyed in purples and blue - size medium/long



Pirate Treasure - Size Large - Dyed in yellow and salmon



Laurel Birch Cats - Size Large in purples and blues



Pink Flamingo - Hot Pink and sky blue - Size medium/long



Coral Sea - in shades of yellow, green and blue - size Medium/Long



Bright Butterflies - Size Large - in Shades of Fuschia and sky blue.

Black and White Cupcakes

Taken from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski - Cookbooks. Mind you I picked mine up from Taste for around $13 - so the price seems to vary tremendously, so check around first.

Apparently these are pretty damn good - according to everyone that ate them - I've been unwell so didn't trust my tummy to taste them. Little Miss K scooped the middle out of hers. Daddy had 2 and even took one to a friend, who likes plain and simple and he adored them.

So anyways, not the best pictures, cause they got gobbled up before I could do arty shots lol!

And the recipe. My changes in red. Oh and this is an American Cookbook so tablespoons are only 15ml.

250g cream cheese, room temperature
1 tbsp sour cream I just used 1 Australian tablespoon of milk
130 g caster sugar

Mix together until light and fluffy.



And because I'm a slacker and really don't like the milk/flour/milk/flour method. I just beat mine altogether.

So in a bowl I mixed.

95g plain flour
30g cornflour
30g unsweetened cocoa
185g caster sugar I only used 120g
1/2 tsp bicarb
1/4 tsp sale I didn't add as I used salted butter
60g room temperature unsaled butter I used salted butter
1 egg
125ml whole milk

I just mixed gently till combined and then beat it a little bit harder until slightly changed in colour.

It makes 12 muffin sized cakes. So half fill the pans with chocolate batter. Dollop on a spoonful of the cream cheese mix and bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees.

I lessened the sugar, as I've found that there is a bit too much sugar in the recipes I've tried so far, they are all delicious, but worked well without the extra sugar.



When I baked them I found in my case that the cheesecake sunk - easily fixed, fill the hole with whipped cream and the top with the



Gooey Chocolate Glaze.

160ml Condensed Milk (full fat only)
250g semi sweet chocolate I used 200g
30g unsalted butter I used salted

Combine over gentle heat stirring until the chocolate is melted and mixture is bubbly. I only cooked mine till the chocolate was melted, and then I let it cool a little before pouring it onto the cupcakes. I was in a rush, so they are a bit messy, but still tasted good. I found the glaze set quickly, so you have to work quickly if you want to add shaved chocolate, which I did. I had shaved the chocolate off the block and kept it in the fridge for ease of handling.

Coming soon ................

Well February at least :)

Some Auriels with embroidery. I'll be making them AI2 with snap in boosters, so you can reuse the shell. I'll have some fleece and some minky ones, so keep your eyes peeled.

Here is a teaser!





This one is a fleece outer, microfleece inner, extra windpro through the wet zone and a cute train embroidery. Two snap in boosters will come with them.

Library Bag

Well my little man is going into Prep this year and he needed a library bag :) I found this one from the Living Creatively which I'd found via Miss Marzie

I made a few changes, and I have a few little tips. I changed the size, as William needed a certain sized library bags.

So a couple of things I noticed, not being a quilter of course :)

The first number in the instructions is the length, not the width as I had originally thought.

So I cut my bag as follows.

19 inches long and 15 inches wide - 1 piece of the red pirate flags cotton print and 1 piece of black drill.

24 1/2 inches long and 15 inches wide of pirate monkeys - and you need to cut two pieces.





I also choose to applique William's name onto the black drill - be careful when doing this as you don't want the word William to appear upside down - was I careful NO I WASN'T and I spent a goodly portion of time unpicking to turn the panel the right way up.

So what you want is the writing to be on the panel that is to your far right as per step 4 - with the writing running from the bottom to the top as per the diagram. Clear as mud?

I also found step 8 a little confusing where it says leave 3 inch gap for turning. Those seams had already been sewn in step 4. So I just unpicked a section to turn my bag through.

Otherwise it went together reasonably well and I think it's a great bag. I'm going to add a shouder strap to mine, but haven't just yet, William is yet to see it.

Boyish and Gender Neutral

Nappies going up on OZeBaby in the next couple of hours. Just topstitching now.

Wedding Cupcakes

Well a gorgeous online friend is getting married tomorrow - so I decided that a wedding gift of some cupcakes was in order. I had hubby deliver them to another friend, who took them to the blushing bride. I hope she gets a surprise.

They are vanilla cupcakes, with vanilla buttercream frosting, and then of course wedding type sprinkles - in whites, creams and silver.




So Congratulations on your nuptials Mandy and Marc, can't wait to see the wedding photos.

Thursday - some stock

going live at OZeBaby in the next hour or so - up previewing now :)

I'm also working on a couple more customs and the stock for Gossamer Dreams, which is stocking next week.

As well as that, I'm hoping to have some boyish nappies up over the weekend.

Gossamer Dreams - January Stocking

Don't forget to keep an eye on the Gossamer Dreams Blog - for sneaky peeks at what's coming in January.

http://gossamerdreamsstore.blogspot.com/