Beautiful Butterfly Mobiles.

Today I was in a very fluttery mood, as i finished off some custom ordered butterfly mobiles, as well as one for my daughter.

My mobiles are unique, and I've been making and selling them for over 2 yrs now. Made using beautiful acid and lignin free quality papers, satin or organza ribbons, nylon line and beading detail.

The perfect addition to any little girls room, a real statement piece that will provide hours of day dreaming as the butterflies dance in the warm summer breeze. 

They come packed securely in funky white boxes with each strand of butterflies wrapped in tissue to avoid tangling.

Mobile custom orders are available - just leave a request in the blog comments or email ecwhild@hotmail.com

Shipping available worldwide.

A new style of butterfly, for one of the custom orders which was designed to tie into a hair clip frame i made using a beautiful fabric from an Alexander Henry Fabric - Larkspur range.



hair clip frame in A.Henry fabric range



My daughter has picked out a beautiful gelati colour range for her butterflies, which will match nicely with the side table featured on my blog earlier this year.

I'm experimenting with a neutral colour pallet with just a hint of pink. It's really a lovely mobile, and I'll be very sad to see it go to a new home.

And my last custom order is a little more funky: Hot pink, purple, orange, yellow and aqua make a great combination.

I have an aeroplane mobile for boys, classic and very cute! Also available for custom order.

Any colour choice is available, and i also have a lovely patterned paper range to compliment the solid coloured butterflies and aeroplanes.

We are only limited by our imaginations.

Would love your feedback. 

Elizabeth 

Pokemon Pokeball Cake Pops

Well for Mr. Intellectual's 7th birthday, we went Rock Climbing at a wonderful Indoor rock climbing facility on the Mornington Peninsula called Bayside Rock. Highly recommend them, fabulous facility, great service and every child had an amazing time. I had a client brief from my 7 yr old that there were a few things that HAD to be included in the day. A Pokemon cake, Pokemon poke ball cake pops, and some cake pops for the girls (who i guess weren't interested in the whole Pokemon craze).

So away i went gathering supplies, consulting web images and Pokemon books so i knew what the blazes the poke balls looked like.

Here's the recipe and supply list so you can give it a go yourself.....

• Two home brand packet cake mixes- chocolate or vanilla.
• 1 tub of ready made cake frosting from Betty crocker chocolate or vanilla- found in cake section of the supermarket, top shelf.
• 1 packet of lollie pop sticks - from Spotlight stores in cake decorating section OR bamboo skewers cut down in length.
• Candy coating in white vanilla - Spotlight. OR chocolate melts
• 100's & 1000's Sprinkles or other decorative sprinkles like hearts, dinosaurs etc.
• Food colouring- oil based for colouring chocolate, or jell for colouring the cake mix. ( the supermarket colouring just doesn't give you the vibrant colours needed for kids parties.
• Floral foam
• Platter
• Grease proof paper.

The how to:-

• Make up both packet cake mixes and bake as per directions. We coloured one of the batters red, and left the other one white.  let them cool completely on a cooling rack. ( don't be tempted to use cake mix warm, it will spoil the cake pops) We used vanilla, because we wanted to colour half of them red inside.
• Crumble cakes up into a large mixing bowl, removing any hardened bits that may have happened round the edges of the cake tin. If making white vanilla inside, you really need to be removing any parts of the cooked cake that have browned slightly, otherwise it shows when the finished cake is eaten.
• Stir through the ready made frosting, until a very sticky consistency is reached. Depending on how much of the browned cake you need to remove, you may not need the entire tub of frosting.
• Place grease proof paper on platter, then roll mixture into balls, smaller than a golf ball, adult bite size. Leaving to set in the fridge for an hour or so.
• Melt a small amount of chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Start with 30 seconds, stir, then in 10 second blocks until melted and smooth. Be careful not to burn the chocolate, there's no fixing it if you do!!
• 
  dip the end of a lolly pop stick or skewer into the melted chocolate or candy coating and insert into the cake ball. I like to have it inserted stick over half way into the ball, ensuring it doesn't fall off when trying to coat the ball in chocolate or candy coating later.  Let the chocolate set OUT of the fridge. 

• Melt the remainder of the chocolate or Candy coating and dip each of the cake pops, coating the entire cake pop and smoothing off the excess with a knife, spatula or your finger. while the chocolate is still runny, sprinkle or decorate as you wish.  Place standing upright into florist foam and avoid them touching while they set. Do not try and set them in the fridge, otherwise they'll sweat when taken out of the fridge, and that's not a great look. * I like to cover the florist foam in colour co-ordinating wrapping paper, to avoid the ugly green colour, messing with my colour scheme.
• For the Pokemon cake pops, we used the white cake mix, then used red candy coating to cover half the cake pop, inserting the skewer after the bottom colour had been put on, and then dipped the remainder of the cake pop in white candy coating. We then used some stiff black royal icing to pipe on the black line around the middle of the ball, and make the circle on the front.  Once set, cover with a cellophane treat bag, and tie with red ribbon. These will store nicely in a Tupperware container for several days before the party, to help avoid an all nighter!! And make them perfect to put in treat/ goodie bags or displayed on the table during the party.  The perfect little sweet treat for the party go-ers. a great alternative to serving up slices of cake which can get quite messy.

Have a go! you can get extremely creative with the concept. If you have the time, there are many different coloured poke balls to make- for the die hard Pokemon fan's birthday. Or check out the bakerella book entitled cake pops, or check out their web blog www.bakerella.blogspot.com to see some amazing creations by the very talented crew over there.

ENJOY!

Babushka Wedding Card - that personal touch

I have a little craft project, one i have done many many times before, for wedding acceptances or cards. This featured one was for my sister in law Toni. The card is based on a Babushka Doll. The bride being the larger or ' mumma' of the two. If you pull her apart, you see the Groom, and on the back of him is written your acceptance/ wedding congratulations etc.

It can be as easy or as difficult as you wish. This particular bride was very detailed and time consuming.... All made with love of course. You can use this simple Babushka doll card for many different events. Baby showers and births. engagements and weddings and of course birthdays of the babushka lover. If any paper 'crafters' try their hand at this card I'd love to see them so please post them on my blog or email them to me at ecwhild@hotmail.com.

You can even theme the bride's dress or bouquet in the wedding colours (if the bride is giving away these details) Or make the card in the bride's image ie. hair, eye, skin colour, or exact dress. This card took me approx. 3 hrs but a lot of that was design time, being the first bridal card i had made.

Decorated, using beautiful scrap booking papers and close attention is paid to the back - dress train and veil.

The groom is colour co-ordinated with the bride and on the back of his suit is your acceptance or appology to the wedding shower or wedding. Such a personal extra gift to give a bride. Something that will be kept with her precious wedding keepsakes and talked about for many years to come.

Keep an eye out on madeit.com.au for available cards for sale, or I can accomodate custom orders upon request. Cheers Elizabeth

Fabric covered side table drawer

Today's crafty activity has been in the making for alittle while... I think I purchased the sidetable for little miss' big girl room over a year ago. I had put a couple of coats of paint on the main body, (white of course) but i was alittle lost as to how i was going to finish off the front of the drawer.



the ebay buy! pretty little side table



the fabric covered backing board

i found a pretty crystal drawer knob in a lovely store on the peninsula, and i searched the net for some fabric. i am a huge Amy Butler fan, so i went with one of her fabrics. A quick trip to Bunnings for a few missing supplies, and i was off and racing.

I used wadding to padd out the drawer front. but instead of attaching the fabric to the actual drawer, i cut some thin backing board wood to size and drilled a hole through it and the drawer front, attached the wadding to backing board, then wrapped in fabric. all glued down with kwik grip advanced. i did need to peg the fabric in place while the glue adhered the fabric to the backing board. Once adhered, i glued the fabric covered backing board to the drawer front. I added the crystal drawer knob and it was finished. Sooo very pretty!! i have low line dresser drawers for Little miss' bedroom that i plan on decorating in the same way, using lots of lovely amy butler fabrics, for a lovely bright touch to the room.  now just a lick of paint on the side table and i can then get started on the dresser drawers.

A great project to vamp up a few old drawers or a side table, recycling, and giving something old a new funky feel. Until next time, happy crafting. Elizabeth.

The Mad Hatter's tea party!!!

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for organising a kids birthday party. It's one of the things I'm known for, and many of my family and friends ask me months in advance to see what theme I'll be having for the next birthday party. 
Mr Intellectual's 7th birthday is fast approaching and in the past I usually start planning 4 or 5 months ahead, this time, with my Little vegemite only a few months old, I'm behind the 8 ball and time is of the essence. So i started reflecting back on what themes we've done, what i want to try and I surfed the web for some ideas.

Mr Intellectual's past birthday parties include: 1st- the very hungry catapillar. 3rd - Pirate party at the foreshore park. 5th - Monsters.

Mr Beach Bum's parties include: 1st Space. 3rd- Cooking

Little Miss. 2nd - Alice in Wonderland mad hatters tea party by far the most outrageous of them all. And a hard one to top. I think I'll need to rent out the eiffel tower to beat this one. Some pics below.

From the huge amount of gourmet food, to the giant tea cup for the punch. Miniture hamburgers, tartlets, cup cakes, ginger bread tea pots, short bread white rabbits and jelly slice. The white and red themed decorations and a tea pot cake complete with cake pops.


Each guest was asked to wear their maddest hat for sipping tea, and many of the guests made wonderful and wacky hats that made everyone at the botanic gardens that day stop and have a sticky beak.

We had a wonderful time playing croquet, egg and spoon races, sack races and ball sports. Each of the guests when leaving the party was presented with a tea cup filled with lollies and wrapped in cellophane.

The wording on our invitation read as follows, for those thinking of using this theme for their own birthday party.

Don't be late, don't be late,

for a very important date!

Ava-Elizabeth is turning two.

Join Ava, Alice and the mad hatter,

for an afternoon of tea charm and chatter.

Make your maddest hat for sipping tea,

and enjoy a touch of madness and glee.

There will be games, there will be fun,

running, giggles and prizes to be won.

2pm of Sunday November 21st

@ Botanical Gardens

Follow the white rabbits from the main gate,

and we'll see you for this important date.

RSVP Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum.

(Daniel 'Dad' & Elizabeth (Mum)

By the 14th of November

Or off with your head!!

When it rains, it pours..... through the roof.

What a weekend!! My lovely husband headed out on a 4x4 weekend adventure with some friends, while i stayed home with the 4 kiddies - two of whom aren't well. So i had sleep overs or early nights planned for the kids, and craft projects planned for me. Oh how i was wrong!!!

The wee hours of saturday morning brought a power outage and some home renovating... not by choice! Our roof filled with water, filling the light fittings with water, and making them so heavy they fell through the wet soggy plaster ceiling. creating some lovely holes!! i spent the next few hours tipping water from the fittings and mopping up water from my toilet, and laundry room floors by candle light.

So the electrician came out saturday afternoon and removed the lights, and from the looks of it, I'll need a new ceiling in at least two rooms, and maybe new walls too!!

So the amount of craft i got done this weekend was minimal. I did however get some of Mr Intellectual's school books covered. And I'm not a huge fan of character contact from the shops.... so we bought clear and jazzed it up with his name and some pictures cut out from coloured card stock. A fun way to decorate them, but we left some of the book cover showing in case his teacher refers to his exercise books by the cover colour, and not the 'lined, graph or scrap book'. so here they are, they may inspire you to be more creative come contacting time.

I also had a few orders for my hair clip frames on madeit.com.au So i got busy Sunday night when the roof flooding drama settled down and we had power again. Let me know what you think. They can be found on madeit for $30. 

Hopefully the new week will bring some more creative time and some more projects completed.

Can't wait to show you.

When they break your heart for the very first time.

I have 3 sons, and a daughter, and like all kiddies, they break your heart eventually, but not intentionally. It could be the first time they tell you that they don't want to be your friend anymore, it might be when they tell you that they want to run away. It could be, for some, when they're embarressed to be seen with you or are too big to want cuddles anymore.

My Mr. Intellectual* ( almost 7) The first time he didn't need me to walk him into class. It's a dream really, with a new baby, taking 3 children into the school grounds to walk him into class, while wonderful, was a logistical nightmare!! So now he's big enough for the drop off zone in the morning and again in the afternoon. But at the time, i realised that he was really growing up.

My beach bum*, ( 4 and a half) doesn't let me give him kisses anymore. Just temporary i hope!! He thinks he's too big for them and now we're only permitted to high five him or give a hand shake. Heart breaker!!!

My little miss* ( a very bold 2) broke my heart for the very first time at about 6 months old. Little miss had a horrible habbit of sucking on two of her fingers, her pointer and middle, to soothe herself to sleep. A habbit i wanted to break, and in my wisdom (ha!) thought that popping mittens or socks over her hands would break it. but instead, she screamed for hours. I rocked, i sang, i stroked her forehead, i walked, patted, and swayed. Nothing worked. I ended up on the floor with her screaming, while i sobbed. I can giggle about it now but in that very moment, my heart broke. For more than one reason. I felt like i'd failed in some way as a mum, seeing her so upset and me being the coase of it, and for the first time, my perfect little bundle, was not perfect. silly really, looking back i was sleep deprived and HUMAN.

My little vegimite*. Well at 14 weeks old he's just started crying tears. it breaks my heart that as a mum you can't just fix it all for them.

So when did your little angel break your heart? OR am i the only one?

The start of something new...

2011 is the year of new things, new experiences, new crafts, new skills and new friends. I'm hoping that this blog becomes the first crafty stop for people on their 'creative shop around'. Not everything will be craft based. I may need to vent about anything and almost everything to someone out there..... hopefully you'll be there to read it, comment on it and try it yourself.

I can't wait to show you my favorite finds from my favorite craft sites and my own little wishlist. I want to show you my completed craft projects, and see yours. Swap craft, cooking, and kiddie ideas, and have some great chats about anything. So hopefully you'll spread the word and check in weekly to read my rants and raves and score some lovely giveaways. From the sunny and very warm beaches of the mornington peninsula.... Elizabeth