Wordless Wednesday



wordless Wednesday


shhhhhh.....all you need to do to join in is enter your wordless Wednesday post below......enjoy the surprises as you visit all the entrants blogs....you never know what you will be looking at next!

Here is what I bought!

Thanks to everyone who provided advice to my little quandary yesterday about what to buy Fern as a 'gift' from her new little brother or sister when they arrive... taking your advice on board, I bought a little doll last night on Etsy!

This is her:
Isn't she cute? She is a Love Lulu doll from Nooshka, the designer I profiled on my blog last week! I almost bought a doll from the department stores, until I realised that what I really want is something that Fern will keep. Something a little bit special. Something made with love. And a plastic doll from KMart didn't quite fit the bill (for Xmas, however, I'm sure I will succumb!)

So, I am really happy with my little purchase and I can't wait til she arrives! Oh, and I bought those pink glass drawer handles I previously mentioned on Etsy today too, so I can't wait to put Fern's new chest of drawers together!

Thanks again for your help, ladies -- where would I be without you?
x

Peachy white choc gluten-free cupcakes

Peachy white choc cupcakes
Peachy white choc cupcake by Torie Jayne

Peachy white choc cupcakes (makes 20 cupcake size cakes)

Ingredients
125g (4.5 ounces) butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon (1/6 ounces) vanilla extract
150g (5.2 ounces) caster sugar
2 eggs
225g (8 ounces) self-raising gluten-free flour
2 peaches cut into small chunks
6o ml semi skimmed milk
100g (3.5 ounces) Belgium white choc chunks


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 and vanilla extract.
  5. Stir in the peaches and white choc chips.
  6. Divide mixture among cases.
  7. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  8. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool.


To decorate (for 20 cupcake sized cupcakes)

Ingredients
Butterfly Cupcake Toppers
Vanilla butter frosting

Instructions
  1. Fill piping bag with the vanilla frosting and pipe in small peaks on top of cakes.
  2. Push Butterfly Cupcake Toppers into center of cakes.

To make Butterfly Cupcake Toppers, click here

Butterfly cupcake toppers

P.S Thanks to everyone who has voted for me so far in the mydeco Design Democracy awards! You're very sweet!

Have a sweet day!

Handmade Naturals

I remember the first time I learned how to "cleanse, tone and moisturise" I was a young teenager and my mum booked me into a beauty and deportment class in the city. These classes taught young girls how to develop a daily skincare routine, apply basic make up, how to carry ourselves in public, how to speak one on one and to a group and how to have self confidence through those "difficult teenage years". I was so proud and excited when mum picked me up from graduating with a small little present. My very own cleanser, toner and moisturiser! I was over the moon and was eager to get home and try my brand new products! Over the past decade I have used hundreds upon hundreds of products and have never found one I truly love. The past few years I have been a fond user of body shop products as I liked their background and beliefs as well as their products. This was until I got my hot little hands on these gorgeous products...


Handmade Naturals by Corrine 

Her Mission: To make a completely natural skin
and body care range at a very affordable price
without sacrificing quality.

My first product I received from Homemade Naturals was the Jojoba oil. I was working with a lady and I was telling her about my concerns for the rash on the 2 year olds arm (that I nanny for). She said to put this on each day and it will clear away...and it actually did...I had tried everything from vitamin E cream to paw paw cream to even sudocrem but nothing took the rash away except for this oil! I was blown away by the results and was touched when the next day the lady bought me a bottle. She said to take it home and put it all over my body and even in my hair! Never one to hold back on trying something different I went home and did just that! I was skeptical though and thought that being an oil it would be extremely greasy and would get all over my pj's and bed sheets. So I put on old flanneys and put a towel down on my pillow and bed but the minute I put the oil on my skin it literally sucked it up! It was like my skin was craving its nutrients and it left my skin feeling so soft! I have been a convert ever since!

The following Friday after baby gymnastics with the 2 year old I took a quick detour before home and headed straight to this shop. I could have spent hours in there! It was so gorgeous and amazing and every product I read just had the most divine ingredients...Jojoba oil being very prominent in most of the products. And best part was that every product was so incredibly affordable and definitely cheaper than most products in the supermarket. I chose carefully and decided to buy a face exfoliant and a face cream. The face cream I chose was "Rosehip and Jojoba Face Cream" as I knew i already loved the Jojoba oil so I stuck with what I knew! This cream is made up from jojoba, apricot kernel, macadamia nut and sunflower plus pure essential oils of french lavender, geranium and rosewood, rosehip and evening primrose. It is to die for and just melts to your face and has a fresh and calming smell which isn't very over powering.  

These products are just so beautiful!  

What is your favourite Beauty Product? 

x S.K.K x
So much to think about...



So much to do and so little time. Crafting and birthday planning, playing and house hunting or maybe a house renovation ? what ever happens it will be fun...

Yes, it's hard, alright?



It's rare for me to post twice in a day, but here I am.

I've been thinking about the Jacinta Tynan article from Sunday Life all day (yes, today. I "begrudge" motherhood for not letting me get around to reading the Sunday papers on Sunday). She asks "Is motherhood really that hard?" and I respond...

I am definitely not a mother who talks only in negative tones about motherhood. Far from it.  And I'm fine if you want to wax lyrical about the joys of parenting. That I find you gloaty, smug and insenstive does take some of the shine off all that lyrical waxing. But, go for it, I love hearing about the grand, joyful, make-my-day parenting stuff. Now that I think about it, I actually feel a bit sorry that you don't seem to understand that gettting through the hardships of parenting actually makes up a lot of the joyful bits, they really do.

However, as much as I relish the joy, I do think it's irresponsible to write an article and say things like "being a mum is one of the most seamless, joyful, intuitive things I have ever done." It's not like that for a lot of mothers and their sense of inadequacy is already off the charts without a magazine article rubbing salt into the wound.  Your own mother would tell you that (because believe me, while she was busy getting on with the "grace and joy" of mothering she was also busy gathering support from her circle of friends to get her through the next day.) And let me tell you, there is something really really really really "difficult about being up all night with the love of your life" night after night, month after month, year after year. Really difficult. Sometimes, you just can't "solve" things and that's certainly one of the hardest bits of parenthood. I'm well over 1000 nights into the "being up all night with the love of my life" bit and believe me, it's no cinch.

There's also something rather odd about the fact that you consider motherhood to be not "diffcult" not "a hardship" but rather "time consuming". 'Time consuming' is the last thing I would say to describe motherhood. It just seems so... removed. Like it's another thing to cross off your list.  In fact, overall, I found your whole article rather soulless and distant. I wonder, have you really engaged in all the icky, sticky, bitty beautiful glory of  motherhood? Really?

Oh and, by the way, I do think I deserve a medal. I think mothers everywhere do. They always have.

[Image: these photos were taken of Maxi-Taxi when he was about five months old. We were about to head to sleep school for the second time in his young life, this time for the full week's programme. It had been 178 days since I had had more than 4 hours of (broken) sleep in a night. Was it hard? Yes it was. Was it worth it? Yes it was. Just look at that little face.]
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