Cook Clean Craft

Fav Fabric Friday – Spintastic

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 05:07:00 +0000

Time for another Fav Fabric Friday, where I share a fabric collection that has caught my eye. This week, I fell in love with Spintastic by Laura Berringer for Marcus Fabrics.

Gorgeous butterflies:

Groovy circles:

Funky flowers and zig-zags:

And don’t forget the coordinating tiny dots:

The colour palette has a retro feel and the patterns are bright and fun, without being too crazy and out there.

I’m dreaming about cute shift dresses and skirts for my little girl. What would you make with Spintastic?

Handmade vs Store-bought Toys

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Wed, 30 May 2012 05:47:00 +0000

We’re heading into Toy Sale season here, and like other parents (and kids), I’m scouring the catalogues for birthday and Christmas present ideas (hopefully at bargain prices!).

Now hang on, you may be thinking… I’m a crafty type… I should be making my own toys…

While I like the idea of that, it just doesn’t work for me. I have limited time and energy, and with my kids getting older, I can’t get away with making their presents in front of them anymore!

But it shouldn’t have to be all or nothing. Some of the best-loved toys in this house are so much fun because they combine handmade with store-bought.

What fun would my felt play mat house be without a pile of store-bought cars zooming around on top?

How could my cardboard rocket take off into space without a space man doll inside?

And there’s no point having book ends without lots of great kids books lined up next to them?

(Well, ok, the bookends might make good toys to throw around… cheeky monkeys!)

I’m looking forward to one day making clothes for Barbies or Cabbage Patch Kids (or whatever my little girl likes).

So this year, as I scour the catalogues, I’m going to think about what toys my kids will love and how I can add to the fun with handmade creativity.

Where do you stand on handmade versus store bought toys?

This post was sponsored by Big W Toys. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Spice Drawer Organization

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 25 May 2012 05:02:00 +0000

The first time we went house-hunting, I fell in love with a house that had a spice drawer in the kitchen. Just a shallow drawer with all the spice jars laying down, gorgeously organised – functional and pretty. We didn’t buy that house but I still remember that wonderful drawer!

When we moved into our house in Brisbane, there were lots of drawers in the kitchen and I bought a spice organiser drawer insert. Unfortunately, with our deep drawers, it wasn’t an efficient use of space and quickly had more jars than organiser space:

That photo is not staged – my spices were a disaster and it was impossible to find the one I needed.

A change of plan was needed, and with the help of some Avery round labels (Product number J5624 – seem to be hard to find these days…) and my printer, I turned my spice drawer into this:

So much tidier and so much easier to find my herbs and spices!

I plan to either refill the jars or swap the lids over as I buy new jars.

And to help you, I created a printable:

Click on the image to go to download the pdf file. I’ve added all the usual herbs (with green labels) and spices (with brown labels), and with a few blank labels if your spice of choice isn’t there. If you’d prefer, click here for blank herb labels or here for blank spice labels.

Since moving house, I don’t have the drawer space for my spices, but I’ve just put all the jars into a plastic container and store it in the pantry.

This is working really well for me too. So let’s have another look at the before and after:

So much better! How do you organise your herbs and spices?

Linking at:

Pizza Scrolls

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:34:00 +0000

Growing up, we always had sandwiches for lunch and now, I’m really not a fan. I’m always looking for different tasty options for lunch and these pizza scrolls really hit the spot. Gourmet Garden fresh herbs make it easy to add a bit more flavour – just simply spread it on with the tomato paste. I think I could eat these for lunch every day!

Bonus points: the kids love them too.

Check out the full recipe here:

Make Progress, Not Perfection

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Sun, 20 May 2012 03:00:00 +0000

Following on from my post about nurturing myself, in a recent webinar by Problogger book authors Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett, Chris used a phrase that really resonated with me:

Just like when I had Perfection-Induced Craft Paralysis, I realised I’m not making progress in a few areas of my life because of perfectionism.

I thought it would make a great printable to display in my craft room (not that I have a craft room at the moment, but the countdown to the big move is on – less than 2 weeks to go!).

I made it in a few different colours (since I don’t know what the colour scheme is going to be in the new house!).

Actually, why keep it in just the craft room – I might put it on the fridge, the back of the toilet door, on the bathroom mirror… Anywhere I could use a bit of focus and motivation!

Such a simple phrase has got me taking action: going for jogs (even though I know it’s going to hurt and I can’t run as far as I used to), getting back into blogging, and having a go at pattern designing (even though I have no idea where it’s going to take me).

Click on any of the images to be taken to the full size (A4) image that you can print.

Are you making progress with your goals or are you hamstrung by perfection?

Linking at:

What to clean before the wife comes home

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:00:00 +0000

As I’m flying across Australia to visit friends, I can’t help but wonder what state the house will be in when I return.

Bit of a back story first: in my previous life as an engineer, I spent 2 months in Ireland on a business trip. I made sure the house was spotless when I left, and told my husband I wanted it in the same state when I returned. (Bossy me…I think we’d been married less than a year then!) I wasn’t completely cruel though – I gave him the number of a friend’s house cleaners, but told him if he called them, then he’d have to schedule them permanently.

Surprise, surprise, that’s how we ended up with house cleaners!

Now that I’m out of the workforce, we no longer have house cleaners, and I don’t want to lose the benefit of my holiday by coming home to a disaster zone, so here’s my wish-list for a clean house.

Kitchen: dirty dishes in the dishwasher and benches wiped down (Ok, I’ll be reasonable, the odd dish or two on the bench that couldn’t fit in the dishwasher is ok!). Any majors spills on the floor cleaned. Bins not overflowing (even though I know I left the recycling bin in a bad state )

Bonus points for a clean coffee machine, with a full water-tank, empty drip tray and beans in the grinder!

Dining room: sticky messes and crumbs wiped up from the table and the floor. Dishes/packets/wrappers taken to the kitchen. Hint: Try to corral the kids to the table while eating so the mess doesn’t spread (or take the kids outside!).

Living room/playroom: Most of the toys put away (there are photos on the boxes, if you don’t know where something goes – or I’m sure the 3yo will tell you if you put things in the wrong spot). I know it’s not possible to get them all put away as the tricky little monkeys will pull them out again as soon as they see you put them away.

Bathrooms: No obvious spills and drips, blobs of hand-wash on the basin, and yes, I’m going to say it….remove any skid-marks!

Bedrooms: Dirty clothes in the hamper. Umm, that’s all I can really expect!

Laundry: Fold and put away the load of washing you insisted I do the night before I left (and no more should be said about that!).

Children: clean as you go – if not, the mess will spread far and wide.

And lastly: the cordless vacuum cleaner is your friend – use it early, use it often (and please plug it in when you finished!).

So what have I forgotten? What cleaning disasters have you returned to after a holiday?

Note: I wrote this post on the plane interstate, and my husband must have read my mind. The house was pretty clean when I came home – he even did a load of washing after a bed-wetting incident. I think he’s a keeper!

Lucky Ladybird

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:29:00 +0000

I picked up a pile of random fabric on Freecycle before Christmas. Hidden amongst the piles of fleece and knit boy fabrics was this panel:

I remember seeing panels like this in sewing shops when I was a kid, but hadn’t seen one in ages (and funnily enough, my Mum gave me a similar panel for an apron for Christmas). All the instructions, including a few schematics are printed on the panel.

It was so nice to quickly cut out the pieces and stitch together – no fiddling around with paper patterns, no measuring or worrying about the fabric grain etc.

Before I knew it, I had a cute ladybird bag. This will make a cute pyjama bag on my daughter’s bed when she gets bigger.

I wonder what other fabric panel projects are out there… I may have to investigate!

Have you ever sewn anything from a panel like this?

Linking at:

Six Pillars of Self-Nurturing

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:20:00 +0000

Last year, May was Me Me Me month. I was going to do the same this year, but it just didn’t feel right. Me is the last thing I’ve been thinking of, and my head just wasn’t in the right space. It’s the usual story – two small kids, a husband and a home to look after – where is the time for me?

Is it really that bad?

I have a great life, great home, great family, so I don’t want to complain.

BUT…

I haven’t exercised since my son was born more than 3 years ago!).
I’ve only had one haircut since my daughter was born (more than 18 months ago!).
Since I stopped nursing, my weight has crept up – just a few kilos but enough for my clothes not to fit well.
I live in my Mum uniform – jeans, T-shirt and a ponytail – it’s not a bad look, but I’m not making a lot of effort and it shows...
Crafting has even fallen by the wayside with my sewing machine and craft supplies packed away until the end of the month.

End result:

And when not feeling so good about myself, I turn to “treats” to spoil myself (why, why do I think that’s going to help!)

With a fresh start in a new city, it’s time to look after myself better. Here’s my 6 step plan to nurture myself:

Exercise – starting small and working around family life, I’m going for short jogs on a Sunday morning (did I really run a half marathon a few years back?). I’m also using EA Sports Active 2 on PS3 (and my kids love exercising along with me), and have enrolled in an evening yoga class. I’m exhausted just thinking about it, but I know in few months I’ll have lots more energy!
Pampering – I’ve had a haircut! (I hate finding a new hairdresser – not sure I’ll stick with the one I went to.) I’m taking 5 minutes to put a bit of make up on each day. I’m mixing up my hairstyle – leaving it down some days (and trying to stop Little Miss from pulling it), and trying different up-styles rather than just the standard ponytail. Thanks for the inspiration, Pinterest!
Cooking – We bought a Thermomix (more on that another day!), and this has inspired me to get back in the kitchen (really wishing all my cookbooks weren’t in boxes!). It’s back to basics cooking and familiar recipes so far. I know it’s not everyone’s thing, but it makes me feel like I’m nurturing myself and my family.
Learning – I’m the “eternal student”. I’m happiest when I’m learning. I’m teaching myself pattern design and reading up on different sewing skills (even though I can’t put them to use just yet!).
Creating – The learning is getting my creative juices flowing again, and I’m started to plan out what I want to sew when we’re settled. I have so many ideas and putting (really bad) sketches on paper is inspiring me.
Space – When you’re always surrounded by other people, it’s easy to forget yourself. Going for jogs gives me a bit of my own space, and I’m looking for ways to create small amounts of space during the day. My husband (with help from my MIL) also kindly gave me a long weekend away as a birthday present. This weekend (and inadvertently over Mother’s Day – oops!), I’m going to spend my first nights away from my kids – I’m nervous, but so excited for the break!

I’m devising strategies to keep the focus and I’ll share one of my tricks soon!

Are you looking after yourself? What do you do to get yourself back on track when you’ve stopped nurturing yourself? What are your pillars of self-nurturing? Let me know in the comments.

Seriously lacking motivation

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:01:00 +0000

I’m struggling to get back in the swing of things after the big move. Maybe the rooms full of boxes are getting to me:

I’ve totally lost my routines and am struggling to work out how to get back on track. I’m pottering along without much of a plan. I’m doing a little bit of cleaning, a little bit of laundry, a little bit of blogging, but it feels like I’m in a bit of a fog.

I miss my sewing machine. I know which box it’s in, but all my notions and fabric are in boxes marked “Craft”, and I don’t want to open all the boxes just to find my thread and sewing scissors are in the last box. I just have to be patient!

I keep telling you I have lots of things to share, but it’s not happening at the moment. I thought I’d create a few sneak peek collages to show you what’s in the works (hoping it might get me motivated!).

Sewing projects:

Random craftiness:

Recipes, recipes:

Just looking at all those pictures makes me happier. Stay tuned, I might just have a surge of motivation coming…

Settling In

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:21:00 +0000

We made it to Perth safely, and were lucky to find a house to rent quickly (the second house we looked at!). We moved in last week, and are living amongst stacks of boxes, but are settling in. House-hunting for a place to buy is also looking positive, so everything with this move is falling into place. The kids are also loving playing with Granny, Pops and Uncle Richie, which really does make the pain of moving worth it!

Our house in Brisbane is on the market:

We hired furniture to dress it up for sale, and it looks fabulous (although the playroom doesn’t look the same without toys scattered everywhere!).

So all is going well here. As we settle back into a routine (and hopefully get better internet access soon…), I’ll get back to crafting and sharing more projects and tutorials. Stay tuned…

On the eve of the big move

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:45:00 +0000

We’re getting into the final stages of organising for the move. Most of the home repairs and maintenance tasks are done. We’ve sorted and purged, and clean and tidied. The kids had their last swimming lessons and one final play-date is scheduled.

Tomorrow, the house will be packed and the big truck will come the day after. We’ll have a couple of nights in a hotel before boarding a plane for Perth.

Things are starting to feel rushed and crazy, but we’re on the home stretch (well, for the Brisbane side of the move).

When we get to Perth, first we’ll be hunting for a house to rent, before finding (hopefully!) our dream home to buy. Internet access will be random so I don’t know how much blogging I’ll get to do. I’m hoping to write up all the projects I haven’t yet shared.

So please excuse the quietness here, but I’ve got lots more to come soon!

Does anyone have any last minute tips for me for the big move?

Cleaning and Painting and a WINNER!

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:44:00 +0000

My life is filled with cleaning and painting, and other random handyman jobs around the home, getting it ready to sell. Sometimes I feel like I’m being punished for choosing to sew and craft when I could have been cleaning the last year or so!

When I’m not cleaning and painting, I’m too exhausted to do much else, and a teething toddler isn’t helping. But I think we’re finally getting on top of all the odd jobs, and when my husband finishes up his current job, we’ll hopefully have a bit of family time before we move. I’m definitely looking forward to that!

I’m really missing my sewing machine. I’ve discovered that sewing is stress relief for me and I’m really itching to get back on the pedal. A few more jobs to do, then maybe I’ll sneak in some sewing time!

And lastly, we have a winner for the My Memories Suite giveaway:

Congratulations Farrah, who said: “My favorite is Teen Sceene & Summer Party! I also REALLY Like Oh Boy!”

For those of you who didn’t win, you can still pick up My Memories Suite for $10 off using the code STMMMS18635 and you also receive $10 store credit.

Design a Facebook Wall Image (Giveaway - CLOSED)

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:23:00 +0000

Giveaway closed. Click here to see the winner!

When I was asked to review the digital scrapbooking software My Memories Suite (with a giveaway – at the bottom), I had visions of myself whipping up album after album, organising the thousands of photos I’ve taken since my son was born. Well, as someone who’s never scrap-booked (digital or paper), I quickly got overwhelmed and perfection-induced craft paralysis set in.

So for my first project, I thought I’d try something a little simpler: a custom wall image for my Facebook page (hey, you do like my Facebook page, don’t you? ). Here’s a quick rundown of what I did.

After opening My Memories Suite, I selected “Design Your Own” from the new album options, and selected a custom size for the album shape. The maximum size for a Facebook wall image is 180x540 pixels, but the minimum width for My Memories is 200, so to save myself some maths, I just doubled it and used 360x1080 pixels. A larger size is also easier to play with!

Before I got started, I selected View, Canvas Zoom, Fit To Window so I could see my full picture (on my tiny EeePC screen!). Then the fun and games began!

First I added all the elements I wanted in my design:

the clip art from my blog header as embellishments
a photo of me (as a box so it’s easy for me to update the photo in the future)
my blog title as text
my blog tagline as text

I didn’t have a plan and just played around. I added a plain background, a mat on the photo, a rectangle with curved corners to put behind the tagline and some ric-rac. I played around with the colours to match my blog and moved things around until I liked the layout.

I then exported the page as a jpg, and uploaded it to Facebook.

My thoughts on the software:

After watching this tutorial to understand what you can do with My Memories Suite, it was very intuitive. The keyboard shortcuts and functions were the same as I’ve used with other programs, and it was easy to use.
You can add backgrounds and embellishments created elsewhere, but I couldn’t customise the existing ones. There are lots of kits available, but if you’re looking for custom colours in something other than a plain background, it seemed limited.
I used my arrow keys to nudge objects around and it sometimes took a while for the screen to update, and I’d move things too far. This might have been because I’m using a netbook without much computer power.
If an item extended beyond the area of the page, it was difficult to resize it or move it to fit back on the page. This was more of a problem because I was working with such a small page size (maybe I should have made it even bigger first).
There are lots more functions that I didn’t really explore, but I’ve got lots of ideas for other uses of My Memories Suite (aside from maybe actually doing some scrap-booking). I will definitely be using it again!

If you’d like to win a copy of My Memories Suite, visit www.MyMemories.com, choose your favourite digital paper pack or layout, come back here and leave a comment with your choice. Please include your email address if it is not linked to your commenting account.

Entries close at 10am (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on 17th February, 2012, and is open internationally. Void where prohibited.

And if you don’t win, enter the code STMMMS18635 to get $10 off the price of My Memories Suite and also receive $10 store credit.

I was given a free copy of My Memories Suite for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

As good as a holiday?

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:39:00 +0000

There are big changes happening here. No, not with the blog (although I am always fidgeting with that!), but in our household.

My husband is changing jobs, and it’s time to move, all the way to the other side of Australia (3606km or 2241miles to Perth, to be exact!). We’ll be close to family (for the first time since I moved out of home!), although it’s my husband’s family. It will be great for our kids to spend time with Granny and Pops, and extended family. We also have lots of friends in Perth, so it’s a happy move for our family.

BUT…

All I can think of is the million and one things we have to do before and after we move: getting a house ready to sell, sorting through our worldly possessions, packing, moving into a rental, searching for a house to buy etc etc. We’ve done this before, but this time we’ll have two active,high-maintenance kids underfoot. Am I feeling stressed!

I also can’t help but feel sad, about the friends we’re leaving behind and that we are selling the home that we first brought our baby girl into. I know it’s easier to stay in touch these days, and we have our memories (and an enormous number of photos), but I still feel sad.

So crafting and blogging time is going to be at a bit random in the next 2 months or so. I’ve still got lots of projects to share, but finding the time (and energy) to blog is going to be a challenge.

Of course, once we’re settled I’ll have a whole new house to bring my personal touch to, and there’ll be lots more crafting! So please bear with me during this transition. I promise there will be lots more to come!

Oven-Baked Chicken Nuggets

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:35:00 +0000

When we go out to a restaurant (rarely), our 3 year old son grabs the menu, opens it to a random page and says (while running his finger under any old menu item) “I’ll have chicken muggets (yes, he calls them muggets), chips and sauce!”. Rather than having a public battle, we concede (if it’s on the menu!), with that nagging worry about what is he actually eating!

When the kids have nuggets at home, I want them to be a bit healthier (and actually know what goes into them). I made these oven-baked chicken nuggets for Little Man’s birthday. I minced up chicken breast in my food processor, but you could used (ground) chicken mince if you prefer.

This is my first recipe in my Countdown to Dinner format. Read here for more information. I’d love to know what you think of the format.

Countdown to dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:15:00 +0000

I’m trialling a new layout for my recipes: Countdown to Dinner.

It annoys me when cookbook recipes give you a cooking time, but half the ingredients already need to be chopped or prepared in some other way. So when I try a new recipe, I note takes and write out a schedule to get it on the table by 6pm (two kids under 3 need their dinner on time!). So in my dinner recipes, I’m going to include the time left until the meal is ready, with a space for you to write down the time you need to start each step.

My recipes include all preparation time from store-bought ingredients. The times are based on my own cooking. I’ve taught myself how to chop things quickly (but not TV-chef super-fast!), and I’ll share my techniques with you, but I’m just a home cook. I think the preparation times are realistic for the average home cook (once you know a few tricks). There may even be a little bit of extra time to allow for cuddling a whingey baby or sort out a fight between the kids!

Countdown to Dinner recipes also include a list of all the equipment you need at the start – no suddenly digging around for tools, or realising half way through that you can’t actually cook the meal because you don’t have a food processor.

I’m working on getting them in a printable format in the near future.

My first recipe in this format will be posted later today. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you like the format? Do you have any other suggestions? What annoys you about recipes?

Washable Bolster Pillows Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:13:00 +0000

When Little Man moved into his big boy bed (nervous Mum started with a mattress on the floor), there was a gap between his bed and the wall due a column on the wall.

Nervous Mum (bit of a theme here...) was worried that he’d slide down and get stuck, or worse, his cuddly flat puppy might disappear in the middle of the night and parents get called in to search. Since I had lots of fabric leftover from his Transport Quilt Cover, bolster pillows were the way to go.

I love the cosy look they give to the bed. It reminds me of the two foam mattresses/couch that my grandparents had (in very 70s fabric). I know at some point these will be used as a weapon against his little sister (if my kids are anything like me and my brother), but at least there's three of them, so both kids can be armed.

Since they’re in a little boy’s room, I made them removable (and have already had to wash them a few times!). Here’s the tutorial:
Read more »

Pantry Challenge Menu Plan (Week 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:19:00 +0000

Another week, another menu plan! Last week was a bit hit and miss. After coming back from holidays, my husband had a work trip and then a business dinner, so wasn’t home for dinner 3 nights. The menu plan got pushed aside for meals that my kids will definitely eat (pasta). The plan also got rearranged due to the Australia Day holiday.

It’s hard to tell if I’m making any progress in the pantry and freezer. I have managed to empty the freezer of the second fridge, and my grocery bills are down. It still feels like the pantry is full of random ingredients though, so I’m going to keep the challenge going!

The plan this week is to keep running down the meat in the freezer, with a vegetarian brown rice recipe thrown in too. Here’s my plan:

Monday: Tasty Brown Rice

Tuesday: Chicken Parmigiana

Wednesday: Tasty Rissoles with Salad

Thursday: Chicken Kievs

Friday: Pizza (the usual!)

Saturday: Steak and Salad (the usual!) – might try a fancy sauce for a change!

Sunday: Burritos (from a kit – the lazy way!)

Do you revert to the kids’ favourite recipes when your partner is away?

Fav Fabric Friday – Mod Tod

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:10:00 +0000

As a new feature, the last Friday of every month will be Fav Fabric Friday where I’ll showcase a fabric collection (or maybe 2 or 3…) that I’m dreaming about. (Hmmm, this needs a button – maybe next month…).

For the first Fav Fabric Friday, I’m featuring Mod Tod by Sheri McCulley (formerly Sheri Berry) for Riley Blake.

Three different colour-ways (blue, cream and green) in lovely (but not so obvious or bright) boy colours. The different colour-ways all go together for lots of variation.

Cogs, animals, spots and stripes – very boy-like, but not cutesy and babyish. I can see my little man in a nice button-up shirt, or using the fabric for the trim on a pair of pants. Here’s the display from Quilt Market with more ideas (photo from Riley Blake Designs Blog):

Available in Flannel and Laminated Cotton as well as Quilter’s Cotton, I’m imagining snuggly flannel pyjamas for my little boy as well as a messy mat and chair cover in laminated cotton.

What would you make with this handsome fabric?

Smiley Face Cake (Chocolate Cake Recipe)

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:11:00 +0000

When I asked my son what cake he wanted for his third birthday, he told me a smiley face cake. After the choo choo train cake from last year, my first thought was “Woohoo! Too easy!”. I didn’t know whether to believe him, so I asked him a few more times, and it was always the same (actually, it became “a chocolate smiley face cake with Smarties!”)

Note: Australian/Canadian Smarties that are a bit like M&Ms, not the US-style Smarties ;)

Since we got home from visiting my family the day before his birthday, I made and froze a simple chocolate cake ahead of time and just had to decorate on the day. It’s an easy recipe, but the cake is wonderfully moist and with a nice richness.

Icing was a standard buttercream, using Wilton gel colouring. It turned out a little more orangey than I would have liked, but not too bad. I’m also hopeless at getting buttercream smooth, so I fluffed it up a bit (to make it look like my son’s Mr Happy stuffed toy…hmmm, clutching at straws?). I used large Cadbury buttons for the eyes and cut a strip of Willy Wonka Fabulicious Raspberry Twister for the mouth (tastier than liquorice!).

My son loved it (but then, what 3 year old doesn’t love cake)!

Here’s the recipe for the chocolate cake (from Australian Women's Weekly Kids' Party Cakes):

Pantry Challenge: Week 3 Menu Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:51:00 +0000

After a week visiting family and friends, it’s time to get back in the swing of the pantry challenge (and that’s why I’m calling it week 3!). It’s nice to go out for meals and have others cook nice meals, but I’m glad to be back home in my own kitchen again.

I still feel like I’ve got a pantry full of miscellaneous ingredients and haven’t made much of a dent. Maybe I’ll continue the pantry challenge on into February! Here’s the plan for this week:

Monday: Homemade Chicken Nuggets (a recipe I’ve been meaning to share!) and Chips (Special birthday dinner!)

Tuesday: Ham and Split Pea Soup (and maybe some fresh bread)

Wednesday: Thai Chicken Curry and Rice

Thursday: Soup Leftovers (more fresh bread?)

Friday: Pizza (as always)

Saturday: Steak and Salad (thanks for cooking hubby! (yes, he does read my blog!)

Sunday: Sausages and Salad

Whenever I plan something fancy for Sunday night, it never happens. I always end up exhausted at the end of the weekend. Must be that extra baby around the house, wearing me out! What is your go to Sunday night meal?

Linking at:

Sweet Mermaiden

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:32:00 +0000

The mermaiden pattern has been on my list of projects since the book Wee Wonderfuls was released. After making the felt cake for my niece, I had to sew something for her baby sister too. Mermaiden looked like a fun and easy sewing project.

I used wool blanketing fabric for her hair (which I’d bought for another project and never got around to it!). Her face is a cream quilter’s cotton and her tail is scraps of River View in Candy Store Pink from the City Weekend range by Oliver and S (from one of these baby tunics).

I didn’t follow the pattern exactly for how I quilted her hair, but tried to make it look more like a part and a crown.

I haven’t done a lot of embroidery, but am quite happy with how her face turned out. I just used 4 threads of normal sewing thread rather than embroidery thread because that’s all I had. Looking at the photos now, I can see her mouth is a bit lop-sided, but I’ll call that part of her handmade charm!

I also only stuffed the end of her tail (and her body) so that her tail could swish about.

My sister-in-law sent photos of her little one playing with her mermaid, so I hope she likes it as much as I liked making it!

You can download a free copy of the mermaiden pattern here.

My Mum’s Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:17:00 +0000

This week is all about visiting friends and family, so I don’t have a menu plan to share today. Instead, here are some of my Mum’s recipes. They are comfort food for me, taking me back to my childhood.

Tuna Mornay	Creamy Tomato and Bacon Pasta
Flummery	Pineapple Platter

It will be a quiet week here at Cook Clean Craft, but I look forward to sharing more fun projects with you next week, and maybe even a tutorial. I hope you have a great week!

Pretty Pink Felt Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:32:00 +0000

The next Christmas present I have to show you is a Pretty Pink Felt Cake made for my 2 year old niece.

It’s from the book Big Little Felt Universe, that has the cutest felt toy patterns (and something for everyone).

I’m not a big fan of hand-sewing, and there was no way around it with this one. It was too cute not to make. The book is a little light on details for the inexperienced hand-sewist, but thankfully there is the blogosphere to help me out! After I’d sewn for a while, I started to get my rhythm and it went quickly.

I have enough felt to make one for my kids too, but at the rate I’m going, it probably won’t be done until my daughter’s birthday in October (actually, that sounds like a reasonable goal with everything going on in my life at the moment!).

The cake from the book included almost every fruit under the sun to top the cake, but that was way more than my crafting time allowed. I think my niece likes the cake though - she brought every piece over to show us the last time we chatted on Skype!

What is you favourite felt food creation?

Galette des Rois

noreply@blogger.com (Narelle Heath) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:17:00 +0000

Time for another sweet treat, although this isn’t as sweet as my usual desserts!

I discovered the tradition of eating Galette des Rois on January 6 when we lived in Paris. It celebrates the arrival of the Three Kings at the birth of Jesus, and a trinket or dried bean is baked into the cake, and the person who finds it is the King (or Queen), gets to wear a crown and choose their Queen (or King).

We bought one from a French supermarket to take to a friend’s house that year, and what a mistake! (With all the patisseries in Paris, I don’t know what we were thinking… Actually, it was probably that we didn’t have to speak French if we just picked it up off a shelf…) It was a bland, dry and slightly chewy.

For some reason this galette popped into my head over Christmas, and I decided to bake one. This was a MUCH better experience than the supermarket version (and now I understand the tradition a little bit more!). Flaky puff pastry with a smooth, creamy, nutty (and not too sweet) filling.

Here’s the recipe: