Friday finds

A weekly slot where I can showcase things that have caught my eye.

Please share any finds you might have made this week, be they in the real or virtual world.

It can be anything from a some pretty bauble, a tasty recipe, a craft project, literally anything that you would like to share.

This Week

Making Magazine

The perfect magazine for all us "jack of all trades" crafters.

Oliver & S Doll Carrier

A little girl in Tabatha and Ria's class was having her 6th birthday party last week.

Her mum had already said to me that since Logan had been born and she had seen me walking around with her in the wrap that she had taken to tying her dolls to her chest. 

I thought at the time of the Doll carrier in the Oliver + S book and decided to make her one if she had a birthday party this year.

source

After the debacle with the hats, I was extremely pleased that this sewed up so easily and worked like it should do.

Getting Baylie to model the finished carrier started well

but soon descended into chaos

and eventually to stroppiness!

That's a wrap

When Baylie was little I used to carry her in a carrier I had bought.

It is a cwtchi mei tai but unfortunately the lady who made them doesn't do them anymore.

Thankyou Ria for taking a photo of my bum, I knew it would come in handy someday!

It was very comfortable carring Baylie around in it but when she was really little I felt the sling was too roomy and she kind of slumped to the bottom.

So when Logan was on her way I made a moby style wrap sling.

aww, look how tiny she is there, all milk spotty!

Ignore the burp cloth stuffed down my top as a precautionary measure.

I can adjust how tight it is tied so Logan can't slump.

When she gets bigger I will be able to use the Cwtshi (which means hug in Welsh, its not just gibberish... actually it's welsh so its kind of gibberish!)

The fabric on the front panel is "Spring Street" by Carolyn Gavin

I'm really pleased with myself for this wrap.

Logan settles down wonderfully in it and it so much easier doing the school run without a pushchair (aka "the beast" because it is far too big!)

Bebe Burrito

As adorable as Logan is. She doesn't sleep very much in the day. At night she is brilliant but during the day she power naps and wakes up as soon as you put her down.

 Meaning I have very little time to myself to do anything or it has to be done to the soundtrack of a screaming baby.

I think the reason she sleeps so well at night is because she is all swaddled up in the dark, so when I came across this free pattern I had to make it.

I made it 3 inches longer so that it would fit her for a bit longer, but she fills it already even with the extra length. And I had measured her first. She obviously must have grown in an afternoon.

The fabric is "Senor Burito" by Alexander Henry purchased from here on sale. Yay!

Its very fitting for two reasons.
One, you wrap the baby up like a burrito (see what I did there with the play on words?)

Two, over the last few weeks I have come the conclusion that Logan is the reincarnation of a Mexican lady called Conchita from Chihuahua.
She like boxing, taquitos, the hat dance, Speedy Gonzalez ( just watching those 2 clips on my knee has had her entranced).
But shes not a fan of Tequila, Christmas or Tecate: Cerveza con caracter!

How have I reached these crazy arsed conclusions?

Well let me explain. A question came up on a TV quiz where the answer was Mexico, which I answered with proper pronunciation: Mey-hico. This made Logan smile. So I kept doing it and then moved on to other Mexican words.

As you will notice from the list above, those words may have been a little on the stereotyping side and for that I apologise, but making my small baby smile from ear to ear is worth it.

Anyway does it helps her sleep better? Only time will tell.

Logan on a Lundi

Baylie commandeered last weeks post, so here is a cuteness catch up.

Mummy can get smiles but Daddy can get giggles... not fair!

Until she spots the camera that is.

Apologies for Ian's feet and Jimmy Carr's big head in the background!

End of the school year.

6 weeks of borderline hell start now!

The last few weeks have been crazy busy: sports days, outings, performances, birthdays all with a new baby in tow. (Yes I'm using her as an excuse again!) But today Baylie has gone off for her last day of nursery before starting big school in September.

Tabatha & Ria are also on their last day.

Tabatha changes class and teacher next year, much to her annoyance as she will have to do more work, and thats "boring!"

Last night they made Thankyou cards for their teachers.

I don't buy teachers gifts.

Sorry if you are a teacher but the way I see it is that, whilst you are doing a stellar job of educating the next generation and must be clinically insane enjoy spending all your working day with children, you are being paid to do so ( I'm not, I have to do this shit for free!).

Me giving you a box of chocolates isn't going to make dealing with my kids any easier, if anything it will make you fat and sluggish and kids can smell weakness!

Really I'm doing you a favour by not being sucked into to playground politics of who can buy the nicest most expensive teacher gift.

Just because I had a last minute pang of conscience and got my children to make you a card doesn't mean I am faltering in my principles.

Enjoy their smudgy & messy finger prints.

Oh and your 6 week holiday!

Apologies for any excess sarcasm.

The Party.

Baylie's birthday party was planned as a garden party.
The idea of entertained pre-schoolers indoors brings me out in hives.
So I decided to throw them all outside in the garden with the sandpit and paddling pool.
I made the invites inspired by these ones



As you can tell from the photo it was a lovely sunny day when we handed them out!
Then in true British summer fashion, the heavens opened and refused to close, no matter how much I cursed at them.
But for once everything that was conspiring against me failed in its mission to ruin the day.

The sun came out! It didn't rain like the weather forecast had said it would for the past week!

The party favours turned up just in time. Although I had sent Ian to buy backup presents just in case.

The only thing I forgot was to take any photos! Bad blogger!

In my defense, I have a 9 week old, 10 preschoolers running around my garden and their mothers silently inspecting the cleanliness of my house. I'm sure you can forgive me!

The cakes that the kids took home were inspired by these ones.

Source: ohcupcakes.net via Vicky on Pinterest

They looked very similar to these ones apart from not being chocolate cake underneath.

source

I didn't get to have one myself but the girls told me the were yummy.

The cake recipe was Nigella's cupcakeone and the buttercream recipe came from Bakerella, and was the best buttercream I have tried. I didn't put the full quantity of icing sugar in, just enough for it to reach the consistency I wanted.

All in all I think it was a success despite the half eaten ham & cheese rolls strewn across the lawn, the orange cheesy puffs fingerprints on my new garden chair cushions, and the mud one of them trod into the playroom carpet.

How did it go?

Baylie had a lovely birthday.

But when you are four as long as you have presents you're happy!

Oh and cake. Never forget the cake!

She requested a "Charlie & Lola" cake only a few days before her birthday, putting me into a bit of a panic.

My original cake idea was this.

Source: sugarcraftedcakes.co.uk via Vicky on Pinterest

But it was all a bit to perfect and nursing babies, who will not sleep during the day, don't make life easy when it comes to crafting a birthday cake.
OK I couldn't craft charlie and lola out of sugar paste if my life depended on it, but using Logan as an excuse doesn't highlight my non-professional cake decorating skills Lol.
Luckily this website came to my rescue, although I had to pay special delivery in order to get it on time. Damn Baylie and her last minute requests.

I saw a cake with dolly mixtures stuck all over it and choose to do that instead.  That and Tesco's don't sell jammy dodgers online! What? How can they not sell jammy dodgers?
The icing recipe came via sweetapolita. Something different to butter cream or fondant.
It tasty lovely but by the end of the slice I couldn't take any more sugar.  I think its time I learnt not to cut myself such a big slice of cake.

Now I have a birthday party to organise for tomorrow.
It was a good idea to start with.
Throw all the pre-schoolers outside with a sand pit, paddling pool and bubbles. No need to entertain them.
But alas the british weather is conspiring against me. It has rained non stop since I gave out the invites. Its not raining right now,  but I doubt it will last.
And to top it off the party bag favours and bubbles have been delayed and won't be delivered until tomorrow, and I know the delivery driver doesn't get here until late afternoon... by which time everyone will have gone home!
To say I'm a little stressed and annoyed would be a understatement.

Even after 4 years

She still has messy hair.

Still pulls silly faces

Can still sulk for England.

Is still a messy eater.

Still will not stop sucking her thumb.

(no matter what is smeared on her face!)

I think that's pumpkin. I also have photos with beetroot and pen!

And even though she is growing up so fast and is 4 today, she still is and always will be my gorgeous little girl.

Happy 4th Birthday Bayliepoos.

Toffee Apples

Tomorrow is the girls summer fair and as usual donations of cakes are being asked for.

Never one to conform with the masses, my offering for tommorrow is Toffee Apples.

It's quite inkeeping with the current topic they have been doing at school these past few weeks.

The have been having Circus skill classes, their end of year show was circus themed (where my Tabatha custard pied the headteacher!!! We were brimming with pride!)  and there is now a circus tent on the school field.

I made some labels inspired by these ones.

OK I more or less created an exact copy! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
My circus-y font came from urbanfonts, a great resource to have.

The toffee apples themselves came from a Nigella Lawson recipe in How To Be A Domestic Goddess.



But I think there is a major mistake in her recipe.
She tells you to boil the caramel for 45 minutes.
If I had left mine boil for 45 minutes it would have set off all my smoke alarm... I'm amazed it didn't.



Burnt toffee absolutely stinks and this happened twice before I realised I should ditch Madame Lawson and trust my own judgement, only boiling it for as long as I thought was necessary.

Hopefully they will be appreciated.

Update 15/7/11
They had sold out before I got to school and I was only a little bit late picking the girls up!
So I think that suggests that they were appreciated.
Toot!