~ Let the Party Continue ~


Another weekend of parties for us! August is a big month for my family so we continue our celebrations this weekend with my nephew who turns 13 and my niece who turns 3 plus the re-celebration of my sisters birthday last week and Sienna's 5th birthday last week! I have had enough cake to last me a good month or two!

Hope your weekend is filled with lots of surprises as well!

ooohh.. look what I got in the mail



Thank you to the lovely Beckie from One Wise Owl for a very special package I got in the mail this week. I was one of the lucky winners in her Facebook competition and scored this very pretty coin purse and cute owl brooch. Her products are made using vintage, recycled, or reclaimed fabrics and range from bags, to purses, toys, beautiful cards and papercraft. Check out her lovely store here and if you love her stuff as much as I do why not become a fan on her facebook page too. Hope you have a great weekend!

Blackberry marshmallows

Blackberry marshmallow cones
Homemade blackberry marshmallows
Blackberry Marshmallows (makes about 500g)

Ingredients
455g (16 ounces) granulated sugar
1 tbsp liquid glucose (light corn syrup)
340ml (11.5 fluid ounces) water
9 sheets of gelatine
2 large egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
vegetable oil for greasing tin
125g (4.5 ounces) fresh blackberries, blended
1 tbsp sieved Icing sugar for dusting (powdered sugar)
1 tbsp sieved Cornflower for dusting (cornstarch)

Cooking instructions
  1. Lightly oil a shallow baking tray, dust with icing sugar and cornflower.
  2. Soak the gelatine in 140ml cold water.
  3. Place the granulated sugar, glucose syrup and the remainder of the water in a heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil and continue cooking for about 12-15 mins until the temperature reaches 127 deg C (260 deg F) on a candy thermometer.
  4. Add the soaked gelatine and water carefully to the pan of syrup when it is up to temperature.
  5. Pour the syrup into a metal jug.
  6. Beat the egg whites until stiff.
  7. Continue to beat the egg whites with an electric whisk while pouring hot syrup from the jug. The mixture will become thick and shiny.
  8. Add the vanilla extract and continue whisking for about 10 mins.
  9. Add the blackberries and continue whisking until the mixture is stiff enough to hold its own shape.
  10. Spoon mixture into tray and leave to set in fridge for at least an hour.
  11. Dust work surface with icing sugar and cornflower and turn out marshmallow, cut into squares (easiest with cheese wire) and lightly roll in icing sugar & cornflower, leave to dry on a wire rack.
  12. Store the marshmallows in an airtight container.



Marshmallow wrap
Packaging

You will need:
Cone wrapper
Double sided tape
Cellophane
Ribbon

  1. Print cone wrapper (double click the "blackberry cone wrapper" below, which will open up in a separate window ready to print).
  2. Cut around cone wrapper and along dotted lines.
  3. Roll wrapper into a cone shape and, using tape, fix in shape.
  4. Place a second piece of tape inside cone along one side and peel off backing.
  5. Cut out cellophane (double click the "cellophane pattern" below, which will open up in a separate window ready to print. Note each straight line is 24cm long).
  6. Roll cellophane into cone, place inside cone wrapper and fix in place.
  7. Fill with candy.
  8. Tie ribbon around the top.


Blackberry cone wrapper
Cellophane pattern

~ Did you remember the milk? ~


I love it - Such a cool name for a book.

I purchased this great home organiser last year and it has been fantastic (being the obsessive organiser I am!)

This week it was my sisters birthday and she is probably the polar opposite to me - disorganized and definitely not obsessive so I thought what a great gift this could be for her as she is always complaining that she can't find things and has no system!!

Now all I have to do is get her to fill it in and use it and hopefully she will feel a little more in control.
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