Gingerbread

it's not just about the chocolate...

Just pulled these from the oven, and Rhiannon glazed them in some warm apricot
jam (my cheat version of glaze)..the house smells amazing..yum! "D

A Happy Easter!

It has been a very memorable Easter Sunday.. a gorgeous sunny
Autumn day.  It began with a egg hunt, then a spot of Egg
bikkies {plain store bought biscuits decorated with coloured icing
& fluoro gels in tubes}..and a few mini m&ms & marshmallows..

..and a relaxing afternoon tea with my parents and in-laws {My MIL}

...which included chocolate tart..recipe to come soon.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very special Easter period  :O)

Easter Baskets & Chocolates

The morning was spent making Easter Baskets using some of the
colourful watercolour paintings the girls did at school last year

I've listed the steps below if anyone is interested

Cut strip off the top for the handle then cut strips at the along
the bottom like this - they will form the base of the basket

We folded over all of the other edges for a neater finish

Form a cylinder and secure at the join with sticky tabs

Place  a sticky tab on each a strip then fold down one next to and
stick together..repeat until all strips stuck down to look like this

Fold edges over on the handle strip until they meet in the middle,
stick down and attach to inside of basket - we attached ours with
little brads and paper flowers

Decorate as you wish, Jem and I used this bunny template

..and the afternoon doing a little chocolate making for Sunday
We had a go at the 3 dimensional bunnies but they were a bit
too tricky..the little eggs went well and the girls put a little
bit of nutella and nuts or raisins inside before joining them together,
but the favourite chocolates of the day were the Easter Bilbies!
The bilby is a real Australian marsupial which is endangered...it has
been adopted as the Australian version of the Easter bunny by many..

We don't have any in Tasmania but they are a lovely part of Easter

Fun with egg cups and a birds nest...

This is my 97th post.. stayed tuned after Easter for a little giveaway
to celebrate the big 100! It will be something a bit different!  :O)

DCM Little Extra & Egg Tree

Daring Cardmakers mid-week challenge to make an Easter card..

I'm not overly happy with my card, not at all what I imagined in my
head! ..and when I went to take this photo, I suddenly realised it
couldn't even stand up because I rounded the base too much.. so
had to prop it up with a glass.. I wish I could tie a decent bow too..
this one's a bit sad....oh well will just have to do this time!

The girls and I did some egg blowing and decorating after school
These are for our 'egg tree' centerpiece for the dining table
The eggs are threaded with some coloured thread with a little
bead tie on to the base, then attached to the driftwood branches
which are anchored into a tall glass vase with rocks and shells ...

Rhiannon didn't like this pic..I think it's funny ~ it does take quite
a bit of effort to blow everything out, I think I nearly blew a blood
vessel instead while doing 5 eggs in a row! LOL

These decorations were done using a few different methods:

* designs drawn in white or coloured crayon {or a candle} then egg
dipped in food colouring* {*with some vinegar and hot water}

* candle wax drips on egg, then dipped in colouring* and then
pick off the wax once the food colouring is dry

If melting wax ~ thread a skewer through egg and hold skewer
instead of handling the egg, then position skewer across bowl

  * sticky dots randomly stuck on egg {pre-dipped in food colouring*}
then dipped again in contrasting colour, remove dots once dry

A few tips: if dipping egg ~ thread your eggs onto the sticks before
dipping in food colouring ~ heaps easier to dip on a stick and
just put the stick into a mug or tall glass and let it air dry

 It's also a nice way to display some of the rocks, shells and
driftwood collected on our recent beach-combing adventures

Last day of work tomorrow then 10 days off ~ niiiice!  :O)

 

Strange Fruit & Easter Links

Jem proudly lugged home 16 of these heavy and strange looking fruit
that had fallen from a tree at her school.. she didn't know what they
were and neither did I until I looked them up on the internet!

To find out they were quinces had me intrigued..I have tried quince
paste before with cheese and crackers and really liked it, but every
recipe I found to make this required 4-8 hours of cooking.. far too
hot for that today, so I used this recipe for poached quinces ~ it was
easy to do - mind you peeling and chopping the quinces took almost
as long as the cooking process -they are extremely hard fruit and
give your wrists a workout.. but it was definitely worth all the effort
and  SO delicious!! I sliced each quince into eighths length-ways.

I'll be making a dessert this week with some, apparently they go
very  well with apples and pears.. will post recipe later this week

Also made these yummy banana choc-chip muffins ~ recipe is here

Made these quick Easter cards for the girls..

We didn't get a chance to do our egg blowing/decorating today so
it might have to be Good Friday now..

I've been searching for some ideas for Easter fun and here are a few
links which you may like to check out for some inspiration...

Craft: Tara Dennis {from Better Homes and Gardens}
 Easter Recipes: Taste
Kids Craft: Family Fun & Coles
Vintage Easter Postcard Pictures: Webshots
{to use on your blog etc ..like these!

Easter Buns

Time to hang this little enamel bunny ~ I can't believe that Easter
is next week! There are so many things I want to do with the
kids but so little time. Most weekends are super busy and school
days almost as bad with so many activities on after school ~ It's
pretty rare that we're all at home together on the weekends.

Jem is sleeping over at a friend's house tonight so Rhiannon and I
thought we'd make a batch of hot cross buns. This recipe was from
my Panasonic bread machine book ~ if you would like the recipe,
let me know and I'll email it off to you  :O)

Earlier this week I was the lucky winner of Tracey & Bec's 100th
post give-away.. I was so excited to receive a beautiful handmade
birthday book, gorgeous beaded pins and yummy block of choccy!
Thanks so much girls! You should check out their blog Crafty Bits
& Bobs ~ they much such cute things such as these crochet owls :O)




Enjoy your weekend!  :O)