Piper

Christmas Sparkle Fudge (with recipe)

on December 21, 2014

HHC Xmas fudge

Piper: “mummmmmmy! I want to do cooking craftin’! “

Thats what i heard this afternoon. And she knew exactly what she wanted to make! Christmas fudge from her Christmas Craft book.

HHC Christmas Craft book for kids

I picked up this little beauty a few weeks back from ‘The Book People’ – i love those guys- they have some fantastic bargains, and always a good variety. i knew that Piper would love having a book of craftiness – i know i had many when i was little, and i loved them all.

We have made quite a few things from this book – most are typical kiddy crafts, but Piper thinks its the best thing since sliced bread.

Tonight’s project was the fudge- and they are pretty darn tasty – they would make a great gift for neighbours, friends or even teachers.

HHC xmas fudge 2

Here’s the recipe if you want to try for yourself

350g icing sugar
75g butter
4 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
75g pink and white marshmallows
sprinkles
a shallow pan

– grease the pan with cooking oil and line the bottom with a square of greaseproof paper
– sift the icing sugar into a bowl and create a well in the middle
– put butter, vanilla, and milk into a pan and add the marshmallows – heat gently until melted.
– At this point we added a little pink food colouring, just because!
– pour the mix into the icing sugar and quickly combine- then put into the pan. Add sprinkles
– pop in the fridge for 2 hours before cutting into bite sized chunks

HHC Piper with fudge

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Home Sewn Apple Toddler Dress & Elizabeth Boyle Photography Peek

on June 17, 2014

When the Great British Sewing Bee started showing again in the Springtime, i was so excited – i love that program! I hardly watch TV at all, but this is always a MUST! And as always, it can be so inspiring! It wasn’t long before my trusty machine came out for a little play!

I picked up some super cute apple print fabric a while back, and so i decided i wanted to use this for the dress – along with some grey fabric. (Don’t tell anyone, but the grey fabric is actually offcuts from our bedroom curtains….sshhhh!)

As I am an idiot and have never followed a pattern before, i decided to wing it. I drew around one of piper’s tops to get a rough guide for the size of a 3 year old torso. Here’s the first stage of the project- can you see i lined the inside with plain red fabric?

I hadn’t ever really tried pleating, so i though, what the heck- lets give this a go! It was lots of fun! For the back i put in a white zip- i was so in love with the project i had to hand sew the zip – i wasn’t prepared to chance a whoopsie at that stage – but i made sure it fit into a pleat so when it is zipped you cannot see the white zip at all!

I wanted to line the skirt with red and give it a little peek-a-boo tulle lining, but i didn’t have enough red fabric. Instead i cut a long length of red fabric about 3.5inches wide, sewed some tulle to it, and the stitched it to the underneath of the dress. Once again for this bit i actually hand sewed it – the grey fabric would show every pin hole otherwise.

Here it is! the final piece – i even put together a little headband made from scraps. One thing i am particularly pleased about is the top stitching on the apple print section – it makes the dress so pretty and keeps all the pieces in shape. Happy Mummy!

The best thing about this dress?….the best thing EVER is that Piper wore it for her Birthday Photo shoot, by the enormously talented Elizabeth Boyle. Boy do i love her work! There were so many photos to choose from but here are a few of my favs! Take a look!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Personalising A Ski Helmet With Vinyl & The Silhouette Cameo

on June 11, 2014

Just like every other little 3 year old girl in the world right now, Piper LOVES Disney’s Frozen! I have to admit, I kinda love it too! 🙂

When we went skiing earlier in the year, I wanted to give Piper a little surprise so I made her a personalised ski helmet, with her name and also featuring a certain little frosty friend! My name’s Olaf, and I like warm hugs!

I hadn’t really used the silhouette to cut vinyl before but I was really intrigued. A few years back when decorating Piper’s nursery I bought some vinyl from eBay and loved the look – i was excited to see how I could personalise other things as well as walls. As soon as I saw the ski helmets in the shop i knew what i wanted to experiment with!

I played around a bit to get the right settings – and to be honest there are loads of websites that have helpful guidance on the blade settings for vinyl, a quick google search made this part easy.

Sorry for the rubbish iPhone photos – late night crafting sesh often results in quick photos on the phone.

First stop – her name. In case you are wondering, the font is Lobster -i kinda love it. I did have to move the P closer to the i in order to create one merged piece of text.

OLAF! I love this little guy! We hid the helmet away until we got to the resort – when she saw it her face lit up so much it made my heart melt, but some people are worth melting for.

Of course, I couldn’t leave the back empty, now could i?

‘Do you wanna build a snowman?’ – of course Piper did! Daddy and Pi made their own snowman outside the chalet – its the first photo in this post! Although don’t tell anyone that we had to use foil caps from wine bottles as eyes!

And of course Daddy didn’t want to miss out either! Here’s a quick look at Craig’s helmet, sporting the logo from the Games Studio he works for.

A little tip to share in regards to sticking these bad boys onto the helmets: the vinyl is super thin, which means that it can stretch really easily and lose its shape. To remove the vinyl from its backing i first covered the design in overlapping strips of washi tape. I used one that i didn’t really like much, it came in a multi-pack, so i wasn’t that bothers about using lots in order to ensure the perfect transference.

Im sorry this post has so many photos – but here’s one last one to make you smile!

Stay Cool!!

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