This is my Happy Place Mini Album

It has been a while since I posted anything crafty on here- most of my creations are now on my Close To My heart blog, CTMH Craftings.

However, I thought this mini album warranted a look as it related to my life as a stay at home mum, and is a great reminder of the little moments of my life that make me happy. A colour challenge came up on my blog feed just as I was cleaning out some older papers and embellishments, and it was just the kickstart I needed to finally do something with my stash.

Here is the front cover- I really liked the "this is my happy place" quote that was cut on my Cricut as it inspired this entire album!



The first two pages talk about my husband and two boys- I loved the retro papers and the speech bubble accents so finally broke them out of their packaging and used them!



All the frames were cut on my Cricut and I added some extra embellishments and journalling. Baking always relieves my stress levels, and getting out and about with my family is another feel-good moment.



I must admit though, sometimes I need a wine! And of course, I love to craft. The retro housewife stickers were waiting for the perfect project, and I also used some metal flower embellishments.



Coffee is another pick-me-up in my life, and this quote sums up my morning perfectly. Waking up to these three gorgeous faces helps too!



I kept the back simple with some embossed cardstock and extra striped paper.



I encourage you to document the things that are your "happy place", whether it be in a journal, notebook or mini album, or even a note on your fridge! Reminding myself what really makes me happy in my life was such a great experience and it made me appreciate my family (and my coffee) more.

Linking up with The Creative Corner and Just Add Ink!

Teacher Appreciation Gift

We are currently in the midst of school holidays, and my 5 year old has really enjoyed his two terms at school. He has had a truly wonderful teacher to start him off on the right foot with his education. However, he is a bright wee button and is being moved up to the next class when school starts back (proud mummy moment!) and so we had to say goodbye to Mrs Lee as he will be in a different studio.

We started off by making this card, which gave us the idea to create a tea themed gift basket.



We also got a tea carry mug for those cold winter mornings, as I always like to start my day with a warm drink and I am sure teachers do too!

I got some chocolate spoons from Theobroma, and made my own tea inspired cookies using these cookie cutters. This was my first time making royal and flood icing, and while I wasn't 100% satisfied with the end result, they still came out presentable!



Lucas also wanted to help with this gift basket, and so after seeing this idea on Pinterest we created our own crayon canvas for his teacher.



It all went in a gift basket, ready for the last day of school.



We hope that Lucas will have more amazing teachers like Mrs Lee as he continues his education. Teachers really can make a difference- Lucas has taken leaps and bounds in his learning since he started school and I definitely have Mrs Lee and the other wonderful teachers in his learning studio to thank!

Personalised Coffee Travel Mugs

Some of you may know that scrapbooking is my business, and over the weekend I helped to run a retreat with some of my lovely team members.

We usually make small name tags for the table, but this year we decided to provide everyone with their own personalised coffee mug as we have tea and coffee available at the retreat, but the cups provided are pretty small and there is always a risk of spillage, so these were a great option.

Using the Cricut and some sparkly silver vinyl, one of my fellow consultants cut names and stuck all of them onto the coffee mugs.


The sparkly silver vinyl was bright enough to stand out, and the large font from the Cricut Artbooking cartridge was perfect for the names.


At the retreat, each person received their coffee mug as well as a goodie bag.



The lovely Sheryl even made me my own coffee mug with sparkly white writing!



Everybody loved having their own mug and it made coffee breaks quick and easy during the weekend.

Carrot Cupcakes

Easter is nearly here- one of my favourite times of the year!

My boys and I had so much fun making some carrot cake cupcakes, complete with handmade wrappers.



Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Cake:
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups grated carrot

To decorate:
2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon hot water
50g plain chocolate biscuits (approximately four biscuits)
12 dried apricots
12 mint leaf lollies

Line or grease a 12 cup muffin tray. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Place the sugar, eggs and oil in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.

Sift the flour, baking soda and cinnamon into the egg mixture and combine. Fold in the grated carrot.

Spoon the mixture evenly between the 12 muffin cases. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.



Now it is time to decorate! In a bowl, mix together the icing sugar, orange juice and hot water to form a smooth, thick icing.

Crush the chocolate biscuits in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, or pulse in the food processor. Place in a shallow bowl.



Ice each cupcake and then roll in the crushed biscuits.



To assemble the carrots, cut a slit in the top of each dried apricot. Cut the mint leaf at the widest point, and push the top half into the dried apricot.



Use a small knife to make a hole in each cupcake, and then gently push the dried apricot into the cupcake. You can serve these as is or use some pretty Easter paper wrappers.



I cut these wrappers using the Cricut. For detailed instructions please click here to visit my Close To My Heart craft blog!



Here are the finished cupcakes nestled in their grass wrappers. These were a great treat at my scrapbook workshop over the weekend, and they would make a cute centerpiece for your next Easter themed event!

Batman Birthday Party

My son celebrated his 5th birthday party recently with a Batman themed birthday party. Originally Lucas wanted a generic superheroes theme, but we narrowed it down to just Batman in order to keep my stress levels down!


First up was creating the Batman invitations. You can read the full process for making these invitations here.


My cupcakes were going to be decorated with bat sprinkles, but unfortunately these were out of stock so I had to make do with plain black sprinkles. I made the cupcake wrappers myself using black cardstock and the Cricut- they say Happy Birthday.

The food consisted of these cupcakes, fresh pineapple, ham and cheese toasted sandwiches, yellow jellybeans (purchased in bulk from The Lolly Shop), peanut butter truffles rolled in yellow sprinkles, batman cookies (using this cookie cutter) and Cheerio sausages, because my husband tells me it isn't a party without Cheerios.


For the tableware I went with yellow and black, as a lot of the specific Batman items were the new grey and blue style and Lucas really wanted lots of black. I used a plain black tablecloth, yellow paper cups, yellow plates, black napkins and some black treat cups.


We even had a special appearance from Batman himself! My Dad is always dressing up in costumes so this was brilliant, and all of the little boys were so excited.


We played a fun game outside to get the kids moving called Musical Superhero Sounds. I printed these printable comic bubbles to A4 size and laminated them, then laid them out on the ground. We played some music, and when the music ended each child had to jump on one of the sounds. I removed a sound each time, and so a child would get "out" each round. The game ended when only one child jumped on the remaining comic bubble.


It wouldn't be a birthday without a cake! I used my tried and true chocolate cake recipe, and spread the cake with yellow icing. I made the topper at a Superhero Themed workshop, which worked out perfectly!

Lucas was very excited to see his Batman cake, and blew out his back candles.

All in all, we had a great Batman themed birthday party and Lucas really enjoyed the games, food and cake. Now to think about next year's birthday theme!

Linking up with Pin Me Party and Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons!

Plans for a weekend of Love

Valentines Day is coming up, and so I have planned some fun things for my family to do with love. I tend not to be too worried about the commercial side of Valentines Day, to me it is a time to remind my husband and boys how much I love them and a great way to reconnect as a family. My husband and I also celebrate our wedding anniversary just before Valentines Day, so it is great to be able to use this time to show my entire family how much I love and appreciate them.

 image via Bento School Lunches

Lucas is a school boy now, and I want to make sure he eats his lunch on Friday. I will make an easy love themed lunch similar to this with simple heart shaped sandwiches, some strawberries and fresh fruit. Some Babybel cheese and strawberry yoghurt will be perfect additions to a delicious, nutritious and fun lunch.

Valentines Day falls on a Saturday this year, so we have the whole day to celebrate. We do have some dance classes in the morning, so we need a fuel-filled breakfast. I plan on making some berry smoothies and also giving the boys some berry cereal.

 

We like to snuggle up with some books before nap time, so I will be reading Splat The Cat Funny Valentine and Foxy in Love.

To keep the boys entertained, we will do some Heart Stamping using toilet rolls and red paint. I will also mix red and white paint to make pink to teach the boys about primary and secondary colours.


 Image via I Can Teach My Child

As part of my Pinterest Resolutions, the boys will be receiving these love coupons.

An afternoon treat of Strawberries cut into heart shapes will suffice- my boys love fruit!



Image via One Good Thing By Jillee

The night will be finished off with a special family dinner inspired by One Good Thing By Jillee, as she has provided table decor ideas, a menu with printables, recipes and even a family activity.

Lastly, we will settle down and watch Madly Madagascar together- my 5 year old loves the penguins and this movie looks to be popular with all of us!

What have you got planned for Valentines Day?

Pinterest Resolutions Jan-April 2015

My Pinterest Resolutions so far have been mostly successful, so I think it is time to choose a few more to attempt!

If you are new to my blog, each six months I have been choosing some items that I have pinned on my Pinterest Boards, and will complete the idea, creation or activity.

Instead of six monthly, I will now break these down into four month goals. I feel like I forget about some of the things I want to do during a six month time period, so four months gives me a good amount of time but not too much.

As far as blogging goes, I like to plan ahead and so this way of planning a year of blog posts is definitely something I need to do!

We are heading on holiday soon, and I need to pack light. This guide on a capsule wardrobe for a beach vacation will be perfect for me to get a variety of outfits with minimal space.

All of the males in my family are big on quality time, so for my 2 and 5 year old I will have to make up these Valentines Day coupons for them to take advantage of some special activities with me, Dad and as a family.

I love making cards, and this video showing how to make 12 cards in less than 20 minutes is something I need to try once I get the Wishes book!


My boys love bananas, peanut butter and frozen yoghurt, so making our own peanut butter and banana frozen yoghurt will be something we can all do together and enjoy.

My boys also love treasure hunts, and Easter is a perfect time to do them. How cute is this active Easter Egg hunt? Great to get the kids up and moving.

These should all have been put into place by the end of April- make sure to check back to see how I am doing!

Spring Week

Our theme for the last week has been Spring, which meant we could take advantage of the lovely weather and learn about this season at the same time.

We had great fun making giant pinwheel daffodils.



Lucas and Adam completed the Spring Fling worksheet and especially loved graphing the dice roll.



On the way home from preschool we did a Spring scavenger hunt and manged to cross everything off the list except for a rainbow and a kite. It made the walk home a lot more fun and got the boys involved in helping each other to spot things on the list.



Lucas drew me a hedgehog during colouring time.



We went outside and collected lots of leaves to look at. Once we had decided on our favourite leaves, we made leaf rubbings and admired the pretty patterns.



On Wednesday we made cookies- we couldn't decide if they were ladybugs or toadstools, but either way they reminded us of Spring. We made a simple shortbread base, then used raspberry flavoured ready roll icing and chocolate drops to decorate. The boys were very good at taking turns with the circle cookie cutter, and Lucas had an impromptu maths lesson when he was weighing out the ingredients.



Of course, the best part of Spring is being outside, so we made plenty of time to enjoy the sunshine.



Next week, we will be sharing the Poppins Book Nook activities, and then it will be our Halloween week!

Letter "T" Week

I thought I would share with you some activities that I do with my children. I try to have a theme each week and base some activities, craft and learning around the theme.

We focused on the letter "T" as we wanted to incorporate trees into the week and do the Virtual Book Club For Kids activity planned.

The first thing we did was a colour matching game with a traffic light. Adam decorated a white piece of cardstock and I placed red, orange and green circles on it. Adam then matched another circle with the correct colour.



We also made tulips out of iceblock sticks and red construction paper.



Lucas had fun playing "La Tienda" for our Spanish learning. The New World Little Shop collectibles came in handy for teaching all the food item names and some of the objects used at the store such as bags, money and shopping trolleys.



Our snack was a tree made out of kiwifruit, tropical fruit salad mix and a banana.



The boys practiced their fine motor skills by picking up leftover green spaghetti from their FlumFlum trees with tongs.



We also had a fun teddy bear's picnic in the lounge, where we had a teddy and T themed snack and sat on the picnic rug with all of the teddies.



For family fun night, we set up a tent indoors and had a camping meal of burgers.



I made indoor smores by using chocolate thin biscuits and placing a marshmallow on top, then melting in the microwave for 20 seconds. Topped with another chocolate thin biscuit, this were messy but delicious!



We had a great week focused on the letter T.