Fox in Flats Style Dare Week Four

Another week has passed, and it is time to recap seven more days of style inspired prompts.

Pins with a punch- I love this cute ruffle skirt paired with flats.

Wrap, twist or fold- my chambray wrap tunic with some Sammydress leggings.

Fabulous flats- well only one flat today! My toe was still bandaged after I had my big toenail removed. The doctor thought I may have had a melanoma under the nail. Luckily the results all came back negative, but it opened my eyes to how quickly life can change.

The orange lip- I bought an Apricot lippy but the end result was more brown than orange.

Black out- my trusty black shirt tucked into a black lace skirt, paired with a chunky black necklace.

Romantic- red and pink, flowers and hearts, how romantic!

Hairdo I've never done- I tried to do a sock bun and it ended up as a messy sock bun. I hardly ever do my hair up due to my pseudopelade but this was fun.

What was your favourite look this week? I am partial to the black out outfit, and I might have to wear it more often!

Linking up with Wardrobe Wednesday.

Ye Old Pirates

This month, the theme for Poppins Book Nook is Ye Old Pirates!

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom has complied a fantastic lapbook for this month's theme, which you can find here.

We have had lots of fun reading many pirate themed books over the last few weeks, and narrowed it down to two favourites. You can read about our pirate ship kitset here as we explored Giles Andreae's book Captain Flinn and The Pirate Dinosaurs. This book features pirates, dinosaurs, and sausages- Lucas' favourite things!

The other book that enthralled both boys and was so much fun to read was Capain Abdul's Little Treasure by Colin McNaughton. This book also featured sausages- obviously pirates enjoy these for dinner!

We also discovered that one thing a pirate needs is a parrot, so we set about making our own.

You will need:
Red, blue, white and yellow cardstock or paper
A toilet roll
Sticky tape and glue
A Sharpie or black felt

Cut the pieces as follows: (Please note, these measurements are in centimetres.)



A: 21cm x 18cm Yellow
B/C: 6cm x 29.7cm Red
D/E: 8cm x 21cm Blue
F: 7cm x 10cm Yellow, then fold in half and draw two lines for the beak
G: 14 x 7 Red
H/I: 4cm x 4 cm White then draw a swirl on for the eyes
J: 12cm x 4cm

Roll piece A around the cardboard tube then secure with tape. This will sit upright and form the parrot's body.

Cut B/c in half diagonally to form two long triangles and and secure at the back of the tube to make the tail..

Cut D/E in half diagonally to form two long triangles and secure to the sides of the tube to make the wings.

Make a 1cm cut in the parrots body at the top in the front. Fold piece F in half and make a similar cut at the back, then slot into the body.



Fold piece G in half then bend it over the beak and secure on both sides to form the parrot's head.

Glue pieces H and I to the side of the parrot's head.



Cut piece J in half 3/4 of the way up, then attach to the inside back of the tube to form legs.

Your parrot is finished!



Even Adam wanted a parrot, so now I have two pirate apprentices and their pets at my house.



We had so much fun reading and learning about pirates this month. Please fell free to link up below with your Pirate inspired activities.

 Clip art by MelonHeadz.

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God's Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy's Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy's Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Raventhreads ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A "Peace" of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

Link up your Ye Old Pirates book below! For more information, please check out the Poppins Book Nook Facebook Page.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

30/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, in 2014.

Lucas thinks the heat pump is hilarious- it gives him pretty great hair!



Adam was worn out after a big day. Nothing sweeter than a napping boy.



Joining in here.

What's Cooking Wednesday #19

I don't know what I would do without my slow cooker- it is such an amazing kitchen appliance!

My plan of making post-it-note marked recipes form my recipe books is coming along nicely, and this week I pulled out Best Recipes for Slow Cookers and Crockpots by Robyn Martin. This book is full of outstanding slow cooker recipes, and as well as your traditional stews and soups there are pie fillings, curries and cakes. So many recipes I want to try!



The recipe I chose this week was the Cajun Chicken Wraps- modified for children to be less spicy.

Cajun Chicken Wraps
adapted from Best recipes for Slow Cookers and Crockpots

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 packet Maggi Onion Soup mix
1/2 cup water
1 carrot
6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1/4 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
1/4 cup natural unsweetened yoghurt
4 flour tortillas

Mix Cajun seasoning, soup mix and water together.

Peel the carrot and grate finely.

Trim any fat from chicken and cut into 2cm strips.

Place soup mixture, carrots and chicken in the slow cooker with the peanuts and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

Half an hour before the end of cooking, mix in the yoghurt.

When ready to serve, warm the tortillas and place the chicken mixture down the centre of each tortilla. Fold bottom of tortilla over chicken and wrap around to enclose filling.



The verdict- This turned out to be quite a mild mix- it was almost more of a Satay Wrap. My four year old announced that the chicken was "40,000 delicious" and he hardly ever likes chicken dishes, so this was a big breakthrough! The wholegrain wraps I used were also a great tasting option, and the carrot snuck in an extra serve of veggies for the kids. Overall, I would make these again but probably add some more spice to the mixture.

Linking up with Wake Up Wednesdays.

Fox in Flats Style Dare Week Three

Time for another recap of what I have been wearing this week for the Fox in Flats Style Dare.

Ear Bling- I thought I had lost these but found them attached to a scarf when winter came around this year.

Hides 1000 sins- It was raining and so a coloured raincoat is great for hiding my outfit from the rain!

Forgot I had this...I got so many "new" clothes from a secondhand haul that I forgot this was one of them.

Rock Star- I tried to take note from Gewn Stefani's style- minus the boots as I had minor toe surgery on Thursday! Injuries are pretty rock star though, right?

Sexy tresses- this is about as good as it gets with my hair. Straightened with some sleek and shine serum.

Flashback- I bought these pants in 1999 with my first paycheck. I used to wear them clubbing, but this outfit was for a birthday afternoon tea.

Textured- my cozy woollen tweed skirt is lovely and fluffy!

I am having so much fun so far, and can't wait for the next seven days.

Linking up with Wardrobe Wednesday and What Wives Wear.

School Holiday Layout

I am slowly catching up with my scrapbook layouts, and I seem to find I am scrapping things from this time a year ago.

I wanted to share my school holiday layout today, which was inspired by The Memory Nest's latest sketch.

I love the strips in the background and I searched for a set of four photos to scrapbook. These photos were taken when I took my boys and Lucas' best friend up on the gondola, and we also went to the Thomas movie.



I tried to keep the elements cohesive so that even though I have different shapes, they are all somewhat circular. I found orange elements from different kits that worked together perfectly.

Such a fun day, finally scrapbooked!

Supplies used:
Creative Memories: It's A Boy embossed cardstock, Spread Your Wings paper pack
Echo Park: All About A Boy chipboard accents, Enjoy The Ride sticker accents
Elle's Studio: Cameron Circle Tags

29/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, in 2014.

 Lucas was very happy to lick the dessert bowl clean after Family Fun Night.



Adam was engrossed in a puzzle today.



Joining in here.

It's a Cow Party!

When I asked Adam what type of cake he wanted for his second birthday, he answered "cow". This request was repeated numerous times so I decided to go with a Cow theme for his second birthday.

His party was rather low key compared to my last few parties, as a lot of people couldn't make it due to other commitments. However, I forged ahead and put together a party that I can be proud of!

The first step was preparation. I used this template and these printables to create my own cow party hats and food labels as I could not find any to purchase.



The table and decorations were kept minimal, with mostly items I had let over from other parties. I could have brought all cow print items, but I had a lot of plain black and white items left over from previous parties so I used them and just added touches of cow print with items such as a cow print banner. I used black plates, black and white plates, black cups, white cups, black napkins and a black tablecloth.



Food is important to me at a party- my children (and husband) always request Cheerio sasauges, but I put together a few extra things to eat. Since the party was after lunch, I provided a few sweet options as well as some savoury nibbles for the adults. We had:

• Rooster Roulade- I shared this recipe on my blog yesterday
• Mini Moos- I found cow "tiny teddies" at my supermarket
• Muddy Morsels- Cadbury Top Deck chocolate
• Barnyard Eggs- an easy Devilled Eggs recipe

• Cow Sprinkle Rice Krispie Treats- this recipe but with cow sprinkles!
• Cow Brownie- I used my no fail brownie recipe and then added some cream cheese beaten with egg, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence on top, then added blobs of the leftover brownie mix to create a cow print pattern.

For drinks, I used some cow print straws and milk bottles from Sweet Pea Parties and added some chocolate milk.



The kids loved drinking out of these!



As part of my Pinterest Resolutions, I attempted a cow print cake. First, I made two standard vanilla cakes using this recipe. I reserved 1/2 cup of the batter from each cake mix and to this I added a squirt of black liquid food colouring and 2 tablespoons of siftied cocoa powder. Then I used a piping bag and a Wilton donut tip to inject black blobs into the cake mixture before I baked it. The cake came out looking like this.



The next step was to create the cow print fondant. I used some flavoured white fondant and rolled it out, then placed blobs of black fondant on top and rolled it out again. 0



I had a bit of trouble with the fondant cracking, and my fondant cow looked more like a starfish, but the end reuslt was amazing in Adam's eyes!



I was very happy with the inside of the cake- it turned out exactly as planned. The cake was moust and delicious too.



At the end, we had a very happy two year old and a great family memory.



Linking up with Show and Tell and Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday.