Perfectly old wares...







This weekend we had no real expectations....it was expected to rain, flood, rain, rain, rain....instead we had stunning blues skies, a cool crisp breeze, mornings and afternoons at the beach....perfectly good coffee, moments with an old friend, discovered some amazing old wares and quality time together.
Next time you are on the Gold Coast you have to spend some time at Gov's Espresso {Broadbeach}....you will find a lot more than a good espresso!

♥ Mermaidia Magic

The Cappers is five! We celebrated with a Mermaid (and Pirates) party yesterday. 


I made the Martha tissue pom poms as promised. They were both easier (it's a simple thing to do) and harder (it's fiddly) than I thought. But the end result was very festive and presentable enough (don't look too closely!)




I added some seaweed and little fish streamers... very weedy.




These little 'ice creams' were a huge hit... marshmallows in the base, chocolate crackle top, dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles on the top... as yummy as it sounds!


Because the ice creams were hard-core sugar, I made wholemeal raspberry muffins instead of cupcakes and made them more festive with a mermaid cake topper (printed out a pic, cut out the circle, stuck them on a toothpick). Marshmallow and strawberry kebabs (Cappers enjoyed putting these together as I made the cake).


And, of course, the cake. My first time working with fondant icing and it was... sticky. 2am and I'm covered in fondant icing. I found it really, really hard to add colouring. The more you kneaded to try to spread the colour, the sticker things got. Even a quick zap in the fridge would only give me a few more kneads at a time. Any hints?



We went on a submarine adventure through the ocean - what can we see? What's happening out there? Quick, run from the shark! Totally impromptu, but they absolutely loved it. Another thing - forget about toy prizes, medals for winners were the best thing ever.


I made mermaid costumes for the girls (fabrics, hot glue gun, lei, wand and sticky face jewels, hello). Little girls just love it when they all look the same... something in that...


Random photo showing off The Badoo and her pirate cousin Mr 3.


The boys' pirate costumes came from the $2 shop and were... $2. The pirates enjoyed harassing the mermaids immensely.


It was a fabulous day and Cappers loved it. I was so proud of my little girl when she was prompted as to what her birthday wish was and she looked around at everyone and said "I love my friends". Yes, that's what it's all about, my lovely. Happy happy birthday. 

___________________________________________________

My party inspiration and mermaid picture for decorations came from Living Locurto.

And because I never do anything even half as exciting as this in "My Creative Space" "At My House", I'm linking up at Buttons by Lou Lou's on Monday and Kootoyoo's on Thursday this week. I'm a long time listener, first time caller on both these fabulous memes.

I'm also linking up (as always) with Anna's Much Love Monday. I love it over there.

Could this be the most memed post ever? Talk about flogging the horse!!

shadow shot



hey harriet is the place to be on a Sunday 
lots more shadow shots to see
& you can add yours too
happy Sunday 

Awareness

Did you know this past week has been International Baby Loss Week?
Were you aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month?



I suspect I know which one you answered yes to.

As one of the founding members of the Stillbirth Foundation Australia I am passionate about helping to create awareness about the National Health Crisis that is Stillbirth.

Did you know that
1 in every 134 babies is stillborn
That is over 2,100 babies every year
Almost the same as the number of adults that die from breast cancer
Frightening isn't it!

My mission today is just to create a little awareness for those who are passing by my little blog.
Stillbirth is a great tragedy for those of us who have experienced it -  as is the tragedy of losing a loved one to breast cancer.   So please remember that October is the month to create awareness for two national health issues Breast Cancer and Baby Loss.

I would encourage you to watch this short presentation titled
The Reality of Stillbirth (have some tissues with you)


If you are interested in finding out more about the Stillbirth Foundation Australia or making a donation or attending our annual fundraiser on Sunday 24th October please go to the website here.

Leanne

My Wildlife Hero

Well Well Well where do I start...What a gorgeous day I have had today. A group of us were suppose to be camping at Somerset Dam this weekend but because of the rain and the flooding and the dam release the park was shut down and we decided to take a rain check on the camping - pardon the pun. And thank goodness for that because we are having CRAZY winds here at the moment so I'm not too sure how good our tent would have held up against the cyclonic winds! We decided to still go for a drive out that way today though and have a picnic lunch near the dam. My Oh My I didn't realise that half of Brisbane also had the same idea. I knew they were releasing the dam into the river last week but it didn't quite sink in that this was a very rare occurrence so people from near and far traveled to see the view! And what a view! The amount of water gushing over the dam wall was truly amazing and photos from my little digi cam - which normally takes decent photos for a $100 camera - just could not capture the beauty and brilliance of the sight. It was a gorgeous experience and I am glad we actually took the time to stop and wait in line - yes we had to wait in line for 15 minutes just to get out onto the lookout to see the view - but it was totally worth it! If you are a Brisvegas blogger you must go check it out!!!

Somewhere between Wivenhoe dam and Somerset dam we came across a little scene happening on the road. There were a few cars here and there and we thought there may have been a small accident but driving past sticky beaking slowly for safety, we realised that there was a large snake on the road. My country boy/bush man/wildlife lover could not just drive by he had to help. So a passing comment of "I should help that poor snake" turned into a quick u-turn - the road was blocked off by our car and the hazards  were turned on and out he jumped.


There in the middle of the road was a very angry very scared 1m + python that my husband was desperate to save. I knew I couldn't stop him - it's who he is - it's what he lives for - adventure and wildlife so the best I could do was plead for him to at least have a stick in his hand "just in case". A quick assessment and then with no hesitation he put the stick on the snakes neck and picked him up - nice and safely with no one getting hurt - YET...

My darling wildlife boy couldnt possibly just put the snake into the bush beside the road we had to drive yes DRIVE with the 1 METRE PYTHON to a far away road where he would be out of danger and not be near the busy main road where he could risk getting run over again. I am very supportive of Robs love of wildlife and I love that he cares so much about the animals and doesn't want them to be hurt - BUT THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS GETTING IN THAT DAM CAR WITH THAT SNAKE AROUND HIS ARM!!!!


Ok so I sucked it up and got in the car - what else was I going to do - I just kept telling myself it was worth it for the pictures haha - We drove a few k's and turned down a few roads until Rob was satisfied that it was further enough away from the main road that the snake couldn't get into anymore trouble...plus the snake was starting to cut the circulation off in his arm so he knew he couldn't go much further without getting into trouble himself.

By the time we got out and took a few photos Robs hand was turning blue so he walked off road a bit and released him back into the safe arms of the bush. 


I love my husband. He sees the beauty in everything and truly believes that every person and animal is special and has a place in this world - even huge scary snakes. The majority of people today would have driven past the angry snake in the middle of the road or even worse - ran over it - but not my Rob. He takes the risk and the chance to help an innocent creature and does everything in his power to ensure it is safe and out of harms way. He is pretty special - My Wildlife Hero x

x S.K.K x

p.s This was my 50th post - what a special moment to blog about!

Blue Hawaii cupcakes

Blue Hawaii Cupcake
Blue Hawaii Cupcake
Blue Hawaii (makes 12 muffin size cakes)

Ingredients
125g (4.5 ounces) butter, softened
150g (5.2 ounces) caster sugar
2 eggs
225g (8 ounces) self-raising gluten-free flour
blended pineapple
3 tablespoons light Rum
2 tablespoons Blue Curaco


Cooking instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 160-180 deg C (325-350 deg F).
  2. Line muffin tray with paper cases.
  3. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture turns a pale colour.
  4. Beat in eggs, flour, milk, rum and triple sec.
  5. Divide mixture among cases.
  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  7. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool.


To decorate (for 12 muffin sized cupcakes)

Ingredients
226g (1 cup) unsalted white butter
3 tbsp coconut milk
375g icing sugar (3 cups powdered sugar)
Blue food coloring
12 Maraschino cherries
12 chunks fresh coconut

Instructions
  1. Beat butter, coconut milk and colouring.
  2. Slowly beat in icing sugar, until soft peaks form.
  3. Fill piping bag with the blue frosting and pipe in swirl on top of cakes.
  4. Push cocktail umbrella through cherry and into side of cake.
  5. Place coconut chunk on opposite side of cake to umbrella.

Have a sweet day!