Wordless Wednesday: Crazy Car Trips



More fab photos over at Faith Hope and a whole lotta love!

sweet niece & nephew

After work I went out to practice shoot with my 10 month old niece. I have only edited a few but prepare yourself for extreme cuteness :)

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big brother giving little sis kisses :)
he was playing around in that Redskins coat...it was a beautiful 80 degrees out!

are they not adorable or what?! 

yep i am one lucky aunt!


NapTime MomTog
and then, she {snapped}

and then, she {snapped}

wordless wednesday : an apple a day


welcome. please enter your wordless blog post in the list below. link back to here & enjoy getting to know some new bloggers. thanks for playing along.

Mini strawberry meringues

Mini strawberry meringue pie

For my "pimp/shrink your picnic" at work, as well as ice cream cake pops, I also made some mini strawberry tarts which were super quick and easy to make as I bought tart cases and meringues.

Strawberry meringue tarts (makes 12)

Ingredients
12 shortcrust pastry cases
Crème patisserie (see below for recipe)
3 small strawberries sliced
12 mini strawberry meringues
Strawberry sugar

Cooking instructions
  1. Spoon chilled crème patisserie in tart cases.
  2. Place small slice of strawberry on top.
  3. Sprinkle with strawberry sugar.
  4. Place meringue on top.


Crème patisserie

Ingredients
  • 500ml milk
  • 9 tbsp caster sugar (superfine)
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 egg
  • 4 tbsp cornflour
  • 25g butter
  • 1 tsp natural vanilla essence

Cooking instructions
  1. Place milk and 4 tbsp caster sugar in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until milk mixture begins to boil.
  2. Meanwhile in a separate bowl whisk egg yolks and egg together.
  3. Gradually whisk in remaining sugar and cornflour to egg mixture until you have a smooth paste.
  4. Gradually whisk in half the heated milk to paste.
  5. Pour mixture into remaining hot milk and heat until mixture becomes very thick.
  6. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
  7. Leave to cool.


Mini strawberry meringue pies
I love baking gluten free cookies!

I bought my strawberry sugar (sucre faveur fraise) on a trip to Paris.

Have a sweet day!

The Vintage Collection

I am really excited to announce that I have just added an new vintage collection to the
Sweet Style online store.

Beautiful pieces that would look stunning as an addition to any party or 
as a display piece in your home.
All are Collectables
All are Antiques

 Mason Jars are the latest trend - they look fabulous lined up and add a unique and vintage look to your table.  They have been regularly spotted on drinks tables at weddings but also make the most wonderful vases.

The first and my favourite item are these green Ball Mason Jars wich come with a zinc screw lid.  They are circa 1880-1930, so old and authentic. 


The second style is once again a Ball Mason Jar but this time with a glass lid - they come in green or clear and in two different sizes.
I am currently stocking the green in the pint size and the clear in the Quart size.


Vintage Milk Bottles - 2 lovely styles to chose from
The Vermont Quart Milk Bottle from the USA and the Falshaws Milk Bottle from the UK



The range will grow with time and pieces will come and go as some are very limited.
 You can find all the details about each piece on the website here.

I look forward to hearing what you think of these lovely items.  Please do not hesitate to email if you would like more details about any of the above items.

Leanne

random roxy post

my pretty girl sitting on the brick wall yawning while we we're taking maternity pictures.
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if you didn't know, she's part cat.
she will climb onto almost anything without fear.

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this is her practicing her agility.
crazy girl.

i <3 her oh so much
always will.
yes, even after baby comes!
i have enough love to give.

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January 2008


In Which I Sew a Kids TeePee!

Hello folks! Way way waaaaay too long ago, I made reference on my blog to making my own teepee. Back then -- I'd only ever seen them in the shops for about $250 each and when I found a how-to in one my favy kid decorating books, Cool Spaces for Kids, I knew I must one day attempt one myself. I set myself an end-of-year deadline.

End of LAST year, that is. Truth is, I was more than a little intimidated. And so I put it off. And off. And off. My deadline came and went and I was no closer to dedicating myself to the task.

Until suddenly there were teepees and teepee-making instructionals making funny faces at me everywhere. And I decided enough was enough.

I made my way to the fabric store and purchased about 200 metres (ok, slight exaggeration) of calico for the body of the teepee. You can use whatever funky fabric you like for this project of course, but I wanted calico because it was plain and therefore ripe for decorating, plus it was inexpensive and perfect for manouvering about outdoors. Oh -- and if I stuffed up, it would be cheap enough to start again! (such confidence in my own ability ;)

I engaged Dan-the-bike-man (husband and part-time bm3 pattern cutting assistant) to cut out the pieces and really it is pretty much as easy as tacking it all together and whipping it up on your trusty sewing machine! Granted, you need about 10 rolls of cotton (ok, another slight exaggeration) to get through the sewing part. And there is an awful lot of hemming and so on. But really -- a beginner sewer could do it; PROMISE!!

The fun was in the decorating, of course!

I kept mine pretty simple; I chose a fabric colour palette of red, white and navy blue and contrasting patterns. Although my teepee is for both my kiddies, I really made it for little Elliott -- for his birthday party (which was on the weekend and which will need its own seperate post once I get the pictures; sooooo much to share!) and later for his bedroom, to read or frolick about in or to hide from his sister).

I made a simple string of bunting, cut out a little window, sewed some triangles along the bottom, some trim along the entrance and ta-daaaaaaa:








A teepee!!

The hardest part I reckon was getting all those damn bamboo sticks in the right way -- took us FOREVER! We decided to sew little loops to keep our teepee attached to the bamboo and there is also string tying the whole thing together at the top.

It took a little while to pull together but I reckon it was worth all the effort and was a hit at Elliott's party!

I'm going to set it up in Elliott's bedroom once I ditch the feeding chair with some comfy cushions and books and whatnot. His own little indoor cubby-house!

Have you made a teepee? Have you been inspired? Go on -- have a go!!! x