Sneak peak...

Today was my daughter's birthday party.

I spent month preparing for it and it was so worth it. She had such a good time.

I have tons of pictures to share so I shall prepare a long post tomorrow.

Goodnight !

A baby memory box

I have carefully kept all my baby's first items such as her hospital wrist band and cot card and I had been wondering for a while how to create a little display.

Well, this is what I came up with and I can honestly say I am quite pleased with how it turned out. It is now in my daughter's bedroom and it is a sweet reminder of those first few instant when I finally met her.

I have used an Ikea deep frame to gather a picture of her little feet, the wrist band, the cot card and a ribbon with her name that I use to mark her clothes.

I used leftover wallpaper for the background (it is from Laura Ashley). The buttons are spare buttons for her baby clothes. And the fabric flower is from a scrapbooking supply shop.

{Recipe} Carrot cupcake

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, softened

125g light muscovado sugar

150g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground mixed spice ( I didn't have any so I used 1 teaspoon of cinnamon instead)

75g groung almonds

2 eggs

finely grated rind of 1/2 orange

150 carrots, grated

Optional: 50g sultanas

Recipe

Line a 12-section cupcake tray with paper cases.

Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, mixed spice, ground almond, eggs and orange rind in a food processor and beat for 1-2 minutes, until light and creamy.

Add the grated carrots and sultanas and stir in until evenly combined.

Divide the mixture into cases.

Bake in a preheated oven, 180°C for 25 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in tray.

Frosting

Beat 30g softened butter with 80g cream cheese until light and fluffy.

Gradually add 240g icing sugar.

B-Day !

That's it, my little girl is officially ONE ! It was a lovely day and Chloe seems to have really enjoyed her first ever cake....

She looked gorgeous in her T-shirts, although the pictures do not do her justice. Try to get a one year old to stand still for a minute !

I made some carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (I will be posting the recipe tomorrow).

I don't usually make cupcakes but I anticipated they would be more practical for small hands, and so they were... I enjoyed decorating them even if I have a long way to go to make them beautiful... I shall practice then, and I'm sure nobody around here will complain !

My Baby is one !!!

My baby girl is turning ONE tomorrow !!! I can't beleive this year has gone so fast...

As it's just going to be the 4 of us tomorrow, we are not having a real big party this year.
However, it still has to feel like a special day for Chloe. So we are having a little cupcake celebration in the afternoon and I have made a couple of items for her to wear.

I made a couple (I do not expect the white shirt to stay clean all day !) of applique T-shirts following the advice on Crap I've Made .

For the curly ribbons, I followed Glorious Treat's how-to.

And I found a nice little hat tutorial there. Although for mine I used tissue paper instead of crepe. I chose a nice scrapbook paper and some sparkly embellishments, all found in a local shop.

Hope the Birthday girl will agree to wear them.... we've had quite a few tantrums lately !!! yes I know, already !!! Girls eh ?

A new Blog !

Hi,
I am very excited to finally start this Blog ! I have been thinking about it for a while but with two little girls, well, time is limited !

This blog is the result of a very exciting craft year for me !
Two main things happened last year "craft-wise" ! A passion for cake decorating was ignited after taking a begginers course in April 2009, and my staying at home for a year after the birth of my second child meant more time for crafts...
After giving up any type of crafts for years, I decided there was only so much rubbish TV I could watch and that I should use my spare time better. I use to cross-stich when I was younger, and I remember spending a whole summer renovating old furniture for my first student flat. I hadn't done anything like that in a long time, and I have to admit, I am so glad to now take the time for things I love doing.

I hope you will enjoy this blog. There will probably be a lot of cake decorating here, but I hope to also share some other exciting projects.

Welcome !

Virginie