How to achieve THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TABLE part 2.

Hi again. I'm back with part 2 of your Perfect Christmas Table.

Like I mentioned at the end of my last blog, the rest of the decorating now is pretty much done with food. Every time I do Christmas, I like to find different ways of putting everyone's names on the place settings. Because my whole theme had started with a pretty Christmas bauble that I liked, last year I decided that I would make Christmas baubles with everyone's names on them. But these ones would be edible! My idea was to make some slightly oversized chocolate truffles and cover them with fondant to look like baubles. I made them green like the rest of the table with little gold tops for the ribbon. I then dusted them with edible shimmer dust (available from cake decorating supply stores) to make them shimmer, then simply piped the names on with royal icing. I know this may seem difficult, but it was not at all. Find a good truffle recipe and buy some ready made fondant (also available from the cake decorating store). Roll out your fondant cut into large circles and drape over your prepared truffles and tuck any excess under the truffle where you can't see it. Don't be afraid. Give it a go!

As an extra treat, I also decided that a beautiful shortbread star Christmas tree would look stunning sitting at one end of the table. I bought a star cookie Christmas tree kit and iced each star with royal icing in the colour of my green theme and put it on a clear plastic platter that I bought at one of the bargain stores. At home I already had a floating candle bowl that rarely got used and placed battery operated lights inside that you can get very cheaply from most chain stores. I then placed my platter with the cookie tree on top. To finish off, I also found a battery operated light up star in my travels one day, so this sat proudly on top of the tree. It looked truly amazing.

The next thing I added to the table (also food) was a cupcake stand full of little hand made paper bags filled with chocolates. I found a pattern in the Better Homes & Gardens magazine to make these cute little bags and used some decoartive scrapbooking paper to construct them. They were all different designs and patterns, but the colour of the paper was the same. After filling them, I tied the tops with a ribbon bow and arranged them on my cupcake stand. You could do the same, or find some other way to display them. Just recently I had been doing my grocery shopping in Woolworths and found cheap cardboard cupcake stands that would be perfect, and you could also decorate the stand to match your table too! I decorated my cupcake stand with another string of battery operated lights like the ones under my shortbread Christmas tree.

The final addition to my table I've left to tell you about until last, but it was actually the first thing that I completed and which was the basis of all my decorating.
Hanging over my dining table I have a pendant oyster light. The glass slips into a metal  ring hiding the light bulb. I got hold of an old wire coathanger and bought a few rolls of different kinds of ribbon in green and gold to match my table theme and got a couple of cheap packets of plastic baubles in the same colours. I sat and tied varying lengths of ribbon to each bauble and hung them around the ring of wire until the whole wire was covered with baubles. I then tied the ring of wire to the metal ring on my light fitting. The effect was dramatic and beautiful. You may not have the same kind of thing hanging over your table, but if you let your creative juices flow a bit, I'm sure you'll think of something that works with what you have.

So now you've heard about the details of how I put together my Christmas table, the last thing to show is the end result. Remember that none of this cost heaps of money. And if you grab bits and pieces here and there over the course of the year, it will not feel like anything at all. Go shopping after Christmas and pick up some bargains on decorations in the sales following Christmas and you'll be able to save even more money, just by planning ahead a little. Most of all, have fun, include the kids, play Christmas songs and have a great time with it!

How to achieve THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TABLE part 1.

Part One

Ever looked at the glossy mags of gorgeous Christmas tables adorned with glitzy decorations and beautifully folded napkins and wished you could get the same look? But then decide that it would probably cost a bomb and give it a miss?

Well I'm here to show you that you CAN achieve a beautiful Christmas table that will not only serve a feast for your family, but also a feast for their eyes! And you'll have them talking about it for months later. The only thing you need worry about is raising the bar so high that you'll soon become known as the "Hostess with the mostest"!

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, "Decorating the Christmas Tree", it all starts with a theme. Either colour or feel. Example: red & silver or perhaps an Aussie feel or tone. You're only limited by your imagination. And the brilliant thing these days is that there is so much available at bargain prices if you bother to go searching for it. And the colours in decorations has moved on from the reds and greens and now anything goes! Also, I'm the kind of person that if I can't find what I'm seeing in my head, I will happily make it. I will expand on that later.

In the picture above, is my Christmas table from last year. I begin thinking about my theme very early on and actually mentally plan my Christmas sometimes a couple of years ahead (only because I only host Christmas every 2 years). My theme for last year was chartreuse green and gold. I had seen a Christmas bauble in that colour and fell in love with it, and so that became my colour scheme. If you can't think of a colour scheme, take a walk around the shops. Get inspiration from the decorations isle, or from the Christmas fabrics available. Spotlight is a great place to go to get inspired. And be sure to take someone with you who won't quell your enthusiasm.

If you don't own one already, invest in a long plain white table cloth. I bought mine years ago and I use it VERY often and although it was on the pricey side when I got it, it has been well worth what I paid for it.
If you don't have the cash to get one right away, I like the Chinet brand paper with plastic back table cloths that you throw away after you use them because they don't look as cheap as a plastic table cloth, but not as expensive as a linen table cloth. Get a couple if you need extra length and overlap them.

 Now I will explain to you my table in detail, and you can use that to get your table planned in your mind. I find it helpful to write my ideas into an exercise book, complete with diagrams, pictures and even swatches as this helps me get a feel for the end result.

I need to seat 12 people at my Christmas table, but I only have a 6 seater. So we covered the top of our table with some board big enough to seat 12 and used 4 chairs from our other table, and 2 fold away chairs. To disguise the ugly look of mis-matched chairs at the table, I decided to cover the chair backs. But how to do it cheaply??? I discovered that a standard pillowcase slipped perfectly over the backs of my chairs, hiding the different backs at the table. But I needed 12. A shopping trip to The Reject Shop and I found pillowcases in packs of 2 for $2-$3 per pack, so there was a very cheap solution to that issue. Also at The Reject Shop I found some rolls of cheap ribbon to use to tie bows around the backs of the chairs to give them an opulent feel. And yet this all cost about $20.

The table runner was bought from Hot Dollar and cost about $3 for a roll of organza that was about 50cm wide and about 3m long. It was the right colour and gave the table a bit of sheen. You could also use wrapping paper in a design that you like. This could even be the basis of your theme. Or (as I've done before) you can cut the paper or fabric into placemats and omit the runner. It's up to you and your imagination.

The napkins I used I got from IKEA. If you have an Ikea store near you, they have napkins in all sorts of colours in huge packs at a bargain price of just a couple of dollars. I wanted to have my napkins folded in a way that was unique, so I used the most valuable tool any of us have...Google! On there I found some napkins folded to look like bows. They were rolled up on the diagonal and then folded in such a way they looked like bows, then tied with ribbon in the middle. I then added an ornament hook through the back and hung them on my glasses, but again, let your imagination prevail.

Christmas crackers. I LOVE crackers that look beautiful and decadent, but when you go shopping for them, the price of the nicest ones will near give you a heart attack! When I went shopping for my crackers, I wanted plain gold ones that wouldn't break my budget and I found...nothing. So, like I said earlier, when I can't find what I'm looking for, I make my own! I started collecting toilet rolls until I had 12. I went and bought the cheapest crackers I could find ($2 for 6, got 2 packs) then took them home and deconstructed them to get the cap, snap and motto out. I then got some gold tissue, ribbon and some decorations to make my own, using the stuff I extracted from the bought ones. And presto! Crackers that look beautiful and were CHEAP at just $10 for 12!

Next, decorating the middle of the table. I'm a bit of a pack rat. Pretty things that I come across in my travels have value to me, and I lovingly keep them because one day, I know they will be useful. I filled a bowl up with bead garland, bought some cheap tealight candlas and arranged them onto a paper plate in a circle, stuck them to the plate, then wrapped gold ribbon around the outisde to keep them all togther. I also bought 2 big brandy balloons from The Reject Shop and filled them inside with white lilies.

In my next blog, I will continue with the rest of the table decorating as already this is quite lengthy. The next part of this involves using food to make an impression. But NOT difficult. So stay tuned :)

How to make HALLOWEEN COOKIES

Thought I'd add a quick blog today (seeing as it's Halloween) on how to whip up a batch of Halloween cookies. Doesn't take long and the kids will love them!
You could either grab a knob of cookie dough from the supermarket (if you're pressed for time) or you could make them from scratch like I did with a simple cookies recipe. Due to copyright, I will not be able to post the recipe I use here, but I did get it from a Women's Weekly kids dress up and party ideas book. Be sure it is a recipe that is not too crumbly. Shortbread recipes are not really suitable for these.

SUPPLIES:

-Cookies cutters. If you already have planned ahead a little and have some Halloween ones, great! But if not, an oval shaped or round cutter will be good enough as these could be easily made to look like little pumpkins.
-Royal Icing. Either make from scratch OR make the same discovery as I  did and run down to the local supermarket and grab yourself a bag of Queen brand ready made powder royal icing -- just add water!! The most brilliant discovery since mining for gold.
-Food colouring, (according to what shapes youa re making). For pumpkins you will need red, yellow and black.
-Disposable piping bags (Multix make them available in supermarkets) or a plastic ziplock bag.
-Paper towels.

1. After baking your cookies and letting them cool, make your Royal icing according to your recipe, or (as I would do) out of your packet mix into a bowl. Take about a third of the mix out and put into a separate bowl to use for the black (if you're doing pumpkins). Add food colouring to the colour you need. If you are making pumpkins out of round cookies, add one drop red to 2-3 drops yellow for a good orange colour.Continue with these ratios till the colour is the intensity you need it.

2. Once your colour is mixed, try to make sure the mix is not too runny to start with. If it is too runny, add a little more powder or icing sugar. Place the icing in your piping bag or inside your ziplock bag. Cover any remaining icing in your bowl with a few paper towels that have been wet and wrung out a little, by placing it over the edge of your bowl making sure not to leave any gaps. This will stop what's left from getting hard. We're going to come back to this later.
Snip a tiny bit of the corner so that when you squeeze the bag you get a string of icing come out.

3. Start by tracing the outside edge of your cookie with the icing from the bag, gently squeezing as you go around. Then set aside and move onto the next cookie. This will create a sort of a dam wall that will begin to set hard by the time you've been around all of them and come back to the first one, which will allow to you fill in the centre and keep the edge neat.

4. Once you've done them all and the icing is hard or at least semi-hard, empty the contents of your piping bag back into the bowl you mixed it in. Give it a stir and then stir in a little more water to make it a bit runnier than what you iced the edge with.

5. Take a teaspoon and drop tiny blobs of icing inside the cookie and spread around a little with the back of the spoon until there is no more cookie surface to see. If the icing is the right consistancy, the surface of the icing should go fairly smooth by itself. Set aside and go to the next one. Work as quickly as you can to avoid your icing from starting to go hard in the bowl.

6. For your pumkin faces, colour the icing you set aside black and make to the same consistancy as the icing used for the cookie edges. Put this icing in a separate bag and do the same for the edges, piping your face on to how you'd like them. Prctice on a piece of paper if you need to to make sure you get them how you want them to look.

7. Set all the cookies aside to set fully. Give them out as is, or put into plasitc loot bags.

Happy Halloween! >: D

Preparing for Christmas Part 1 - THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Christmas probably has to be my favourite time of the year. Growing up, Christmas was a fun time when we spent special time with family, ate, drank and made merry. Every Chriastmas Eve (still my favourite day of the Christmas/ New Year period) we would have Open House where friends and family were casually invited to stop in and stay awhile for nibbles and drinks, while Christmas tunes played in the background. They always turned out to be the greatest evenings and loads of laughs and fun. A tradition we kept going for a long time until our family started moving far and wide. I still like to organise an Open House when I host Christmas these days.

I host Christmas on alternating years. My sister does the ones between mine, and we have done this since we both were married, as both our in-laws live overseas. It has evolved into quite the competition, and it's HEAPS of fun.

So! The first thing I do in preparing for my Christmas festivities is to decide on a theme, starting with the tree. No plans ever end up with the WOW factor unless you start with a theme. When my husband and I moved into our first home, I bought a 6ft tall Christmas tree. At the time, I still did not have the interior decor to my liking yet, so when I began purchasing my first ornaments, I decided that the theme for my Christmas tree would be gold & silver. I chose this scheme because I figured that whatever interior design I settled on in the future, or changed, it would always look appropriate.

MY rule for picking out decorations is that they have to sparkle in some way. I like when I turn the Christmas tree lights on in the evening and the lights reflect and shine off every ornament. Glitter, spun glass, shiny glass, mirrors, beads. If it has bling on, it's going on my tree.

As you may imagine, I did not buy a full tree of ornaments all at once. That would be ridiculously expensive. What I did buy was some big packs of shiny plastics balls that were $5 for example, for 24 balls, and I bought a few packs of those. Some bead garland, and of course lights, and I think that's all I had hanging on my tree the first year. Every year since then, I've added to it, and now it's so full, I have trouble getting everything on! So much so, that now my children have their own little tree that goes in the other room that they put their own special ornaments on that they've collected and made over the years.

Once I had a conversation with someone who told me that Christmas trees only look good with red and green ornaments. Haha. Ridiculous! I do however, have a very strong aversion to Northern Hemisphere themed decorating ie, snowmen, snow, holly, and the like. I prefer things that remind me of my Christmas's growing up; lots of lights, Christmas bush, Agapanthus flowers etc.

I believe that all Christmas trees look magnificent if there is a theme. That could be a combination of colours; like pink & purple, red & gold, black, white & silver or just one colour, like all blue. It could be just one kind of ornament; like all glass balls, or all stars. A friend of mine collects Disney ornaments, so her tree is all colours, but all Disney characters. Even better is it if it fits in nicely with the room it's in in some way.

This is a picture of my Christmas tree taken last year. And for the first time since being in our house, I moved it's location in the room (just for a change).

Once you have the tree up and decorated, then the next step is choosing gift wrap and ribbon ready for tizzying up your gifts, but will save that for my next blog.

So if your Christmas tree is ready for an update, or you're just starting out with a new tree, now is the time to start planning!

How to make a HOGWARTS COSTUME

The reason for making this costume is for the Bookweek Parade at my children's school where they are allowed to go to school dressed as their favourite book character. My sons best friend is going as Harry Potter so he decided he would go as Ron Weasley. But with a few minor additions/ changes, this could be any of the characters that attend Hogwarts.


SUPPLIES
For the character of Ron Weasley, you will need:

• A can of orange coloured hair spray
• About 1.5- 2m of black poplin fabric (available at fabric stores like Spotlight & Lincraft). It is ususally cheap at about $2-$3 per metre.
• 2 x roll of wide ribbon in burgundy and gold (or whatever house colours relevent for your character) to make into a tie. (Or dad's tie if it's the right colour).
• Iron on hemming tape.
• Small piece of elastic.
• Small stick from a tree branch.
• (Optional) Burgundy & gold yarn for a scarf).
• (Optional) stick or broom handle and rattan for a broomstick.
• White school shirt or polo shirt.
• Pair of black shoelaces.

For me, I have all of these supplies lingering in my cupboards at home, as when it comes to craft, I'm not one for throwing things away because I know they will be useful at some point down the track. You may even find that you have some of these things at home too. Don't be afraid to substitute if you have something that will do, eg. Coloured felt instead of ribbon for the tie, or even some old business shirts or clothes that you can chop up that are the right colours. Be resourceful!

 GETTING STARTED - Gryffindor Tie

To make the tie out of ribbon (or strips of coloured felt or other fabric you have gathered up):
1. Cut lengths of ribbon about 15 cm each on a 45 deg angle in about 10 of each colour. Like this:

2. If you have a sewing machine or have access to one, sew the strips together alternating the colours so you end up with a striped effect. If you don't have a sewing machine, you can also grab iron on hemming tape (a girls second best friend) and use that. Cut strips of the hemming tape to match the lengths of ribbon and then cut them in half again lengthways to make them thinner. You can then overlap your colurs joining them with the hemming tape. Works just as well. Be sure to to line up the sharp angle end of your ribbon with the blunt angle of the other colour so that you end up with it looking like this:

3. If you have sewn your pieces together, then give it a press to make sure it all sits flat. Cut off one end until you have a flat bottom that creates a right angle with the sides of your tie, and all your stripes sit at a 45 deg angle. Then take the cut end of your tie and fold up the bottom about 1cm, press, then fold in the 2 corners to form the point of your tie and press again. Should look something like this:

4. Then fold in the sides creating a slight taper from the bottom of the tie to the top and press. Repeat on the other side. Turn it over and look at it from the front to make sure it looks right. If you are happy with how it looks, take some hemming tape and iron to stick all your seams down so it all looks perfect from the front (don't worry about the back). Like this:

5. Take your piece of elastic and cut it to fit around your childs neck (so that it's comfortable) and tie a knot in it. Take your tie and make it into a false tie over the elastic so that when your tie is on underneath your collar, it looks like a real tie.

NEXT - Hogwarts Robe

For our Hogwarts robe, we are simply going to make our black fabric into a cape.

1. Take the black poplin and hold it lengthways. Along one edge take a darning needle and thread it with black yarn or heavy duty thread. Then starting at one end, thread it through back and forth all along the one edge gathering the fabric as you go. After you have reached the other end, pull it tight until the gathered area fits around the childs neck and shoulders comfortably and secure and tie off thread or yarn.

2. Attach shoelaces to each side of neck so that they can be tied in front to stop your "robe" from falling off. If you don't have a sewing machine, pinning them in place will be good enough. Hem any raw edges (if you like) with iron on hemming tape.

3.To finish the look, dress your child in his regular school pants and shirt or polo, put on the Gryffindor tie. To add authenticity, you may want to print a picture off the internet of the Hogwarts Crest and attach to the robe as well! If you have time, knit a quick scarf (see my directions on How to make a Cozy Knitted Scarf) in Gryffindor colours to add to the look. Spray your childs hair with orange hair spray and see Ron Weasley appear before you. Don't forget to take your "stick branch" wand.
For Harry Potter, make a pair of cardboard spectacles and draw a scar with an eyeliner pencil. For Harry's quidditch look, omit the tie and make your robe with burgundy fabric. Trade his wand for a broomstick.
Same could be done for Hermione, but no need for hair spray or spectacles.

How to make a COSY KNITTED SCARF

My daughters first scarf

Knitting is one of those things that most people percieve to be difficult, but in reality it's not difficult at all. My grandmother started teaching me to knit when I was about 6 years old. And I have taught my daughter to knit and she completed her first scarf last year at the age of 10.

I began with things like knitting scarves for my dolls etc and it was all just plain straight knitting. However, once you master the basics, harder things will come quite easily. But first, the basics...

Now even with plain straight knitting, you can accomplish some pretty useful and good looking things. Hats, blankets, bags to name a few, but since it's winter, we're going to start with a scarf that will be cheap, warm, look good and most importantly, you'll be able to brag about it because you made it YOURSELF!

If you've never knitted before, fear not about how slow you are in the beginning. This simple knitting project will help you to achieve your scarf in a short amount of time because we will be using chunky yarn and fat needles. This means that you will need fewer stitches, and every row you knit will increase the length of your scarf by at least 1cm.

As I've mentioned before, bargain shops are a great source of some very cheap, but very cool things and for this project, it will be no different. Stores like Reject Shop, Aldi, Golo and Chicken feed keep a pretty good variety of pretty yarns in the colder months that are ideal for your scarf. However, if you don't mind spending a little more money, Spotlight also has great yarns in a huge variety of colours and textures that will make a beautiful looking scarf.

You should look to get very chunky yarn that has lots of texture. Also something soft and comfortable that will not irritate the skin on your neck. Next, knitting needles. Get needles that are at least 8mm in diameter, I prefer 10mm.

SUPPLIES

~ 3 x balls of yarn (depending on how big the ball is and how long you want your scarf to be. 3 balls will give you and average length scarf that sits at your hips).

~ 1 pair knitting needles size 10mm.

GETTING STARTED - Casting on

1. Cast on 10-15 stitches. This will depend on how wide you want it to be, but 15 will be average. 10 will give you a slightly thinner scarf. You cast on like this: Take the end of your yarn and make a slip knot with a tail of about 2 - 3 inches. Slipthe loop over the end of one of your needles like this:

2. Next insert your needle into the "stitch" from the left so that needles  make a cross with the right needle behind the left needle, like this:

3. Wrap yarn around the right needle. This will start to create a new loop. Then ease the right needle down out of the loop it was through and push forward:

4. This loop will now become a new stitch by placing the loop on your right needle onto the left needle, like this:

5. Once you have placed the new loop onto the needle, you need to cast on another stitch. This time however, when you insert your needle to create the new stitch, place your needle BETWEEN the 2 loops, rather than inside the loop like before. This will make your edge neater upon completion.

Then wrap yarn around right hand needle as before, and then placing the new loop on the left needle again. By now you will have 3 stitches on your left needle. Continue on this way until you have the desired amount of stitches on your needle.

6. Now that you have cast on the amount of stitches you need (in my photos I have 16), you can now begin knitting. Insert your needle into the first stitch the same way you did when casting on your first stitch through the left side of the first stitch and crossing them right under left:

7. Wrap yarn around needle (as before) and easing needle down and then forward, only this time instead of putting the loop on your RIGHT needle back onto your LEFT NEEDLE, you will keep it on your right needle, and slip the stitch that you have been knitting into OFF your LEFT needle:

In this way you are essentially replacing the stitches from the LEFT needle with stitches onto the RIGHT needle. Continue on through all stitches on the left needle.

You have now completed your first "row" and it should look something like this above.

8. Now start your next row. Count your stitches to make sure you still have the same number as when you started. Beginners should practice doing this when they are just learning to make sure that they have not lost any stitches along the way, or gained any! As this will affect how your work looks at the end.

Switch your needles over and put the full needle back into your left hand, and start as before. Make sure that your yarn is hanging down like this:

This picture is WRONG:

After you have completed your second row, your work should have come along nicely already and will probably look like this:

9. As you can see, chunky yarn and chunky needles results in your work growing very rapidly. This picture shows how it looks after just 2 rows of knitting. Continue every row the same as the previous one until your scarf is as long as you wish it to be, or you can see that you are soon to run out of your yarn supply.

10. To finish off (cast off) is so simple, you won't even need photos. 

You begin casting off at the start of your last row. You knit 2 stitches like normal, and then when you have the 2 stitches on your RIGHT needle, you take the point of your LEFT needle and lift the stitch behind the front stitch and lift it over the top of the front stitch and drop it off the end. You then knit one more stitch so that you have 2 on your RIGHT needle again, and repeat by lifting the stitch behind over the front stitch and drop it off. Just keep repeating until you are left with just one stitch on your right hand needle. 

11. Cut off your yarn (if necessary) a couple of inches down, hold onto your last loop so as not to drop it, then pull the needle out. Put the cut end of your yarn through the loop and pull tight. 

CONGRATULATIONS, you have now completed your scarf! You can now add tassles if you like, or, if you wish to keep the ends plain, just take a darning needle and tidy up your work by threading the beginning and ending threads back through your work to disguise them and give you a neat edge on both ends. 

If you're feeling extra creative, you can also add felt cutout shapes to decorate, flowers, beads or whatever your imagination can think of. This looks especially cute for kids.

*TIP: When putting your knitting away for the day, or for the time being, always put it down at the END of a row, not in the middle. When you return to your work, this will help you to avoid confusing which way you were knitting when you put it down (especially helpful for beginners). Also push your knitting down to the bottom of the needle to ensure no stitches are dropped before you come back to it. 

It may also be a good idea to keep it away from children, dogs and cats who may find unravelling your beautiful knitting quite amusing....

Happy Knitting! AND after you've completed your masterpiece, please come brag about it by posting a photo of it on my Facebook page.

Cappuccino Cakes

When the kids come home from school and say, "We need to donate some cakes for the cake stall", it can be enough to send most mums into a frenzied panic! That's how I used to be.

But, also like most mums, I didn't want to let my kids down, and they were so excited about bringing something to school that THEIR mum made. So, I started practising (cake stalls, birthdays etc.) and before long, I was making some pretty good little cakes.

These little Cappuccino Cakes were a spur of the moment idea because (I was also put on the spot at the last minute) and they've turned out great. These particular ones could also be good for an afternoon tea, baby shower, bridal shower, Tupperware party etc. (Makes 12)  And this is how I did it:

SUPPLIES
~ Butter or Vanilla cake mix
~ Arnott's Marie biscuits
~ Orchard brand prepared white fondant icing (available at Coles or Woolworths)
~ Icing mixture
~ Round cutter or egg ring.
~ Zip lock bag.

WHAT TO DO
1. If you have a mini cupcake pan, this size is ideal. They will eventually be the coffee cup. Bigger ones make the saucer (Marie biscuits)  look too small. If you can source some bigger biscuits, then bigger cakes will work. Bake your cakes without cases straight into the pan. I spray my pan with canola cooking spray, and they will guarantee not stick in your pan. I like to bake them at 150 deg C for about 15 mins. This stops them from looking like mountain peaks. I also like to bake my cakes a day in advance (if you have the time). I put them in the fridge overnight because they don't seem to be as crumby the next day when you're trying to ice them.


2. Decorating: Open your fondant icing and cut off a small amount so that when rolled into a ball, it's about the size of a walnut. Cut the ball of fondant into 12 equal pieces. Store the fondant in a piece of plastic wrap after you've divided it as you work on each piece. Knead and roll your first piece into a ball and then into a sausage about an inch long. Then bend into a U shape and set aside to get hard. These will be your cup handles. Do each piece until you have 12.

3. Go back to your pack of fondant and cut off about half of what's left. Knead this until soft on a clean surface which has been dusted with cornflour. (I have a silicone pastry mat that is excellent to use) but the benchtop will be just fine. Begin rolling out your fondant with a rolling pin which is also rubbed with cornflour, and a little on top of the fondant where you are rolling. As you roll it out, be sure to keep moving your fondant so that it doesn't become stuck to your work surface. Roll it out until it is about 3-4mm thick.

4. Put down some greaseproof paper or a tray etc. to put your cups on as you go. Pop out your little cakes and have them ready.Open your packet of Marie biscuits and have them ready.

5. Take your round cutter which should be about the same size as your Marie biscuits. Cut out 1 circle at a time so your fondant doesn't become dry. Take your circle of fondant and smear the under side with water. I do this with a little brush but your finger dipped into some water and then smeared over will do the trick. This will make the fondant sticky and help adhere it to the cake. Place your little cake bottom down onto the middle of the wet fondant, then turn it upside down. Smooth the fondant over the bottom of the cake, stretching and smoothing with your fingers as you go so that it just covers the lip on the edge of the cake. When you're satisfied with it, set it onto your paper, fondant side down.

6. Now cut out another circle. This one is going to cover your Marie biscuit. Just like the cakes, wet the under side of the fondant and then place over the top of the biscuit. Smooth it down and around the edges.

7. Now wet the bottom of your "cup" and set it down in the middle of your "saucer". This will stick the two together. Now take one of your "handles" and with a sharp knife, cut a tiny bit off the ends to make a flat surface. Wet the ends a little to make sticky and place against the side of the cup. Now you should have a tiny little cup and saucer with nothing covering the top of your cake. Finishing off the top comes later.

8. Finish off the other 11 cups the same way.

9. Now make up a batch of butter icing following directions or recipe that you have. I flavoured my icing with coffee flavouring to add to the authenticity, but any flavour, or no flavour would be just fine too. Place the made up icing into your zip lock bag and seal up trying to get all the air out before sealing. Snip the corner off the bag so that you have roughly a 1 cm diameter hole. (I used a piping bag, but a zip lock bag works just as well and I have done it this way many time before.)

10. In a circular motion starting at the edge and working toward the centre, "pipe" your icing over the top of your cup being sure to cover any messy "cup" edges. Do this with all of them to look like the frothy top of a cappuccino. Then to further add to the effect, dust the tops with just a little cocoa powder or drinking chocolate. 


There you have it! 12 cute little cakes that are easy but look so cute they'll sell in a flash! And better still, you have now just become a HERO MUM in your children's eyes.

Coming soon!

How to knit (yes KNIT) your own cosy scarf for winter. Even if you've never knitted a stitch, I will show you how with simple explanations and step by step pictures.

My grandmother taught me to knit at age 6, and my own daughter completed her first scarf at age 10 and YOU CAN TOO! Stay tuned.

How to make a BALLOON TOPIARY

SUPPLIES

To make 4 you'll need:

~A pack of plastic takeaway style containers.
(These are available at supermarkets for about $4 for a pk of 4, but I recently got a 6 pk from Chicken Feed for $2. You will find something suitable at most bargain shops.)
~2 kg bag of rice.
(Choose a cheap generic brand.)
~1 length of 8mm wooden dowel.
(Available from the local hardware for a couple of dollars.)
~1 pack of water bomb balloons.
(Available from supermarket for a few dollars for 300 balloons.)
~Curling ribbon in desired colours.
(Best value ribbon can be bought from most bargain shops for $2 per spool.)
~Foil cellophane, tissue paper or other decorative paper to cover your containers.
(Again, bargain shops are cheapest for this.)
~Balloon pump* if you don't already have one.
(*This would be a tool I would suggest that you invest in. It's also great for blowing up pool inflatables and the like, and only costs a couple of dollars.)

What to do:
1. Plug in your hot glue gun to start heating up.
2. Cut your dowel into 4 x 50cm lengths. The easiest way I've found to do this is to use garden pruners suitable for small branches.
3. Take the lids of your containers and drill holes in the middle slightly smaller than the diameter of your dowel.
4. Open your rice and have it handy ready to fill your containers. Then poke your dowel through the hole in the lid from the bottom up until the amount of dowel on the under side is a little more than the depth of the container.
5. Squeeze some hot glue to the bottom of the stick and press it to the middle of the inside of the container. This will stop your stick from moving and keep your balloons from looking like The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
6. While holding the stick with one hand, pour your rice into the container until it's half filled. This may be awkward on your own so you might want to grab a helper. Then push the lid down the dowel and secure to the container. You can tape the lid down for extra security if necessary.
8. The next step is to cover your dowel. I like to cover mine with coordinating ribbon. Wide ribbon works best. Tape it at the top and wind it down the stick by holding it with one hand while twisting the stick with the other. Secure well at the bottom with tape.
9. Cut about a metre of ribbon in each colour you wish to use. Hold them all together and find the middle. Place the ribbon over the end of the dowel and secure all the way around with tape. This will also cover any rough spots that may have occurred from cutting the dowel so as not to bust your balloons.
10. Using your balloon pump, inflate your water bomb balloons. You will need about 9 per topiary. 3 colour combinations look best, so 3 of each colour works well.
11. Once inflated tie your balloons together with some fine thread. Fishing line or sewing thread is perfect and not easily seen. Tie them in colour pattern and not more than a couple of inches apart.
12. After tying, take the first balloon and thread and tape it to the top of your stick so that the end us covered by the balloon. Then wind it around the top until all balloons are against the stick. Where the last balloon touches the stick, push them up until they look bunched at the top. Then secure the last balloon and thread to the dowel with tape. If the colours don't look random, you will now be able to move them around until they look even. Cut off any extra thread.
13. Cut your sheet of cello into 4 equal sized pieces. Your sheet will be slightly rectangle. Place your container in the middle. Take the shorter sides and tape them to the top of the container. Then take the other sides and gather them around the stick, tying it in place with some curling ribbon. All that's left to do now is curl the ribbon hanging down your stick and then do the other 3!

*Tip - if making these for yourself, don't throw them away when you're done. You can use them over and over and save even more money.