Refashionista!

That's what I'm calling myself these days. I am OBSESSED with refashioning clothes. Also called 'upcycling', refashioning means taking an old piece of clothing and turning it into something else. I raided my husbands wardrobe and found some old shirts that he didn't fit into anymore and made them into new church shirts for Lachlan. I also make a cordaroy jacket and a vest.

The vest was a womans one with some weird neck and i thought it would be PERFECT for my little man. It's brown and just so soft. It was a shame to cut it up. He looked very daper on Sunday but wouldn't stand still for a good photo. lol

Jammies!

Winter is coming up and i realised that Lachlan didn't have many pairs of winter jammies....actually he only has one. So it was time for some sewing!

Lachlan is 2 today!!!! He's such a sweetheart and a joy. Unfortunately don't have any good photos from today. Everything turned out blurry. I will try and get some tomorrow. But until then, here's the cake. Nothing too fancy today. :)

Baking day today! Why is it that we always run out of food before the end of the week?

Brownies -

Lamingtons-

Another cake...... are you sick of cake yet? lol

This was for a 5th Birthday Cake. Fondant planes are not my strong suit obviously. lol But i was pleased with how it turned out. And the little boy liked it so that is the main thing :)

Sorry I've been busy these last couple of months! I've been getting into my hair accessory business and having some good sales. I even have a Facebook page now. :) I've also been making cakes!

It was Ethan's birthday and he wanted a Harry Potter cake so i made The Monster Book of Monsters. The first thing to get eaten was his eyes. lol followed by his teeth. I think he is pretty cute!

I also made a cake for my friends baby shower. She had a little boy. the colouring is off in the photo but you get the idea. The elephant is adorable. I'm still getting the hang of draping the fondant.
Then it was my friends daughters 8th birthday and i suprised her with this cake. And i got the fondant to drape like it's supposed to. YAY!
I have another birthday cake to do this month. Should be fun!

Raspberry Apple Streusel Custard Pie

I got a Kenwood Patisserie Mixer for Christmas. Holy exciting! So i've been busy using it for all sorts of things. Yesterday was Australia Day so while Graham was bbqing our dinner i whipped up this pie. I changed a couple of things and it became Raspberry Apple Steusel Custard Pie! I did every step in my mixer and it came out wonderfully. This recipe is definately a keeper!

Ingredients

• 1 uncooked pie crust - i used half of this recipe. ps i LOVE Jamie Oliver
• 1 can condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
• 1 medium all-purpose apples, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) i left them out.

Method

Preheat oven to 200C

1.Roll your pastry out and put in a greased 20cm spring form pan or you can use a pie dish. Something with deep sides.

2. Mix together - condensed milk, eggs, water, cinnamon, raspberries and apple. Pour over pie crust.

3. Mix together brown sugar, flour and butter until it resembles bread crumbs. Sprinkle over custard mix.

4. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes on 200C. Then turn down to 180C and bake for 40 minutes or until brown and crusty on top.

5. Let cool and then put in the fridge. I recommend you eat it cold because it's easier to cut and the custard will firm up nicely.

Serve with ice cream or cream or whatever you like.

and no i didn't eat three pieces. *nervous laugh*

Tutorial : Jeans to a skirt

I was given a pair of high waisted 'mom' jeans. And even though i AM a mum these are hideous and i would never in a million years wear them. I did try them on and the waist was up near my boobs. So ya. Hideous. SO i decided to make them into a skirt. Why waste good demin, right?

So here's the jeans - a lovely 15 inches from crotch to waist

The first thing you wanna do is cut them off at the top. I measured my hips and then found the spot on the jeans that would go around my hips. Cut through the zip or if you want to keep it - unpick it. I hate unpicking so i just cut right through it and then cut the zip out of the part that was staying on my skirt.

Measure from the top down to how long you want your skirt. Mine is 21 inches. And cut it off on both legs.

You should have something like this -

Next cut up the seams on the inside legs. don't unpick them, just cut neatly.

Next cut about 2.5-3 inches up the crotch. Neatly, like so -

It will look like this once it's folded over. It needs to sit flat because there is nothing you want LESS then a buldge in the front of your skirt. lol If it's a little knobbly at the end just cut the excess fabric away. Sew it down. I used black thread sewn closely to the existing thread and you can't even see it.

Flip it over and do the back. And because the back used to be for your bum there will be extra fabric. So unless you want to look like you have a tail - cut it off

I cut mine on both flaps. Just make sure it sits nice and flat like the front. Sew it down.

Next -With the cut off legs of the jeans you need to make a triangle shape to fill in the gap. Front and back.

Sewn on the front will look like this - so go ahead and pin and sew both triangles on. Now try it on. If it's too big you can just pull in the sides a bit by sewing down both sides equally. I had to to that.

Now for the waist. Grab and old t-shirt and cut about 7 inches off the bottom. Measure around your waist about an inch below your belly button. Take that measurement and subtract off 1-2 inches. Join the seams at the end.

double it over and pin it to your skirt. Since you are pinning on stretchy material, pin the front, back and sides first and then stretch the rest of the fabric around. Sew.

You should get something looking like this!! Now you can hem the bottom but i'm going for the casual look so i'm leaving it unhemmed so it will fray.

And this is the end result!! No more Harold High Pants.

Happy Sewing!!!

Fruit Cake Truffles

Merry Christmas everyone! to get in the Christmas spirit this year i decided to make Fruit Cake Truffles instead of Oreo Truffles. Same principle, slightly different ingredients.

You will need -

-1 packet of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (i use light to try and counter-act the effect of the chocolate ;) )

-3/4 of a fruit cake. - i just buy a Homebrand dark fruit cake. You could use light if you wanted too.

- 2 blocks of chocolate for dipping. I like Dairy Fine from Aldi.

• Crumble the fruit cake into a bowl. Then add your cream cheese. Beat until it resembles cookie dough.
• Roll into balls and place on a tray. I use a small melon baller to help me get even size balls.
• Refrigerate until they are firm.
• Dip in melted chocolate and place on a tray that has been covered in baking paper.
• Make it fancy by sprinkling on crushed candy cane, choc sprinkles or drizzle with white chocolate. You can even roll them in coconut. Whatever takes your fancy. I also like adding essences to my dipping chocolate - so in mine i did some orange, some peppermint and some plain. Have fun and be creative!

Try not to eat them all at once.

Almost Christmas!!!

Two Mondays ago (yeah, i'm a bit late) we had a gingerbread man making FHE. I made 30 gingerbread men for Ethan's class at school and then the left overs got decorated and eaten by us. they were yum!!

Ethan's -

Lachlan's
Nicholas'
All lined up and ready to be packed!

It was fun!

Female Koel

Female and Male together. He was trying to get frisky and she was trying to get away from him. typical.

Hollywood Style!

This post is for my sister Chrissii. I made these hair combs for her for the Hollywood Stake Ball. So Chrissii you can pick which ones you want. Or you can have both! :)