DIY : cloud light shade

Last week we had Mima's room painted, a lovely pale grey-blue colour. I wanted to create a new light shade for the center of her room, and thought a cloud would be perfect. 
Here it is...

To make one you will need:
LOTS of white tissue paper
white balloons - I used eight
double sided tape
vaseline
string
wallpaper paste
the top wire hoop and central hook from a paper lantern, you need to connect these two parts. I bent the wire around the hoop and then covered the wire ends with tape.

1. First blow up all your balloons and arrange them to create a cloud-like shape. I used small pieces of double sided tape to connect the balloons.

2. Tie the string to a hook on the roof, then slide the top wire hoop from a paper lantern on to this string, and tie the other end of the string to a balloon end within the cloud. The wire hop should sit snuggly at the top of your cloud.

3. Then tear your tissue paper into strips and mix up your wallpaper paste (it would be good to do this in an ice cream container or something that you intend to throw away).

4. Grease the balloons in a thin layer of vaseline.

5. Then start placing glue covered strips of tissue paper on the balloons. Starting at the top wire hoop, you need to make sure this is securely in place, so wrap strips of glued tissue around the wire and back onto the balloons. Completely cover the balloons in a few layers of tissue. 

6. Leave it hanging for a couple of days to completely dry. Then using something sharp pop the balloons and remove them. I crumpled the shape a little to make it more cloud-like.

Hang it up and enjoy.

almond butter and apple

At home today feeling a bit under the weather, wanting a snack but lacking energy when I remembered I made my first batch of Almond Butter a few days ago. So good on slices on apple with a squeeze of lemon for a yummy and nutritious snack.
I used the recipe of My New Roots but it's as simple as roasting raw almonds and blending until they turn in a paste. I added a dash on sesame oil to mine as the consistency was little hard.

Delicious and half the price of store brought almond butter.

DIY bunny ears

I couldn't resist making Moo and her cousins some bunny ears for Easter. Now they can hop hop around like little bunnies while searching for easter eggs left by the real Easter Bunny!

You'll need:
kraft card to make your ear shape templates
white felt
pink felt
pipe cleaners
elastic
and a sewing machine.

Method: 
Cut out white felt as your outer ear and pink felt as inner ear. Stitch layers together. Insert a pipe cleaner in between layers, stitch to hold in place. fold ears in half and stitch up 2cm at front edge to make the ear have nice shape. Measure elastic around child's head and stitch ends together. Position ears and stitch onto the elastic.

Happy Easter from Mima + Moo

easter bunny garland

To finish Moo's easter tree today I made a mini Easter Bunny garland. Then Moo decorated the tree (twigs in a vase which we painted silver) with our eggs and the garland. Now the Easter Bunny knows we live here. 

You'll need:
white felt
pen or pencil
embroidery yarn
needle 
card to cut your stencil from

I made a bunny stencil with kraft card, trace wrong side down onto your felt and cut out bunnies. Turnover to right side and using you needle and yarn thread the bunnies on spacing evenly as you go.

hand dyed eggs - easter decorations

Last year we painted the easter eggs for the first time for a little easter tree, so this year I thought we'd try something different and dye them. I've found it impossible to find white shelled eggs anywhere, brown still work but the colours are less vibrant. Green and blue dye showed up best.

Hand dyeing easter eggs with Moo was really fun, and incredibly messy because someone wanted to dye their hands.... 




You'll need:
blown eggs, clean and dried - we used 6
string to tie your eggs up.
food colouring
white vinegar
white crayon

 Method: 
1. draw on eggs with white crayon. the dye doesn't stick to any area with crayon
2. put 1 teaspoon each of vinegar, food colouring and water into a glass. and dye. to get the ombre effect dip the bottom in the dye, then slowly add a little more water to each time you dip to get the lighter shades, drying between layers.
3. hang eggs to dry outside if possible as the dye drips...
. 

what mima wore

I thought I would give you a sneeky peek inside Mima's wardrobe and show you some of the outfits she wore this week.

Clockwise from top left: Trelise Cooper Kids top with bloomers in Karen Walker Bunting print, Cotton On long sleeve top with bloomer dungarees with Karen Walker embroidered patches, Miller long sleeve shirt with Peppin Tipi leggings, Peppin leopard print T-shirt with leggings in Karen Walker mustard Hydrangea print.
Pretty stylish I think.

DIY ombre tulle skirt

This week we experimented with dip dyeing a tulle skirt for Moo. I like the look of ombre dyed fairy dresses and skirts you see in costume stores, but don't want to pay that much.

What you'll need:
Tulle skirt - I made Moo's out of two layers of pink tulle.
One tin of dye - I choose Bronze Rose (a reddy brown) Multipurpose dye from Dylon (which I have just discovered the tins are in discontinued)
Bucket
Clip coat hanger, make sure it wider than you bucket.

Instructions:
Make up dye to packet instructions into bucket, filling with boiling water to desired amount you want it to come up from the bottom of your skirt (approx 12cm). Clip skirt on hanger and lower into bucket of dye balancing hanger on top edge and leave for an hour or so. Rinse in clean water and dry.

My ballerina!

what mima read : the sailor

Mima LOVES books, sitting on someones knee and having a book read to her is pretty much her favourite thing to do. She picks a book then says 'knee, knee, knee'.
Each week she seems to have a new favourite so I thought I I would share some with you.
This week it is a much loved copy of 'The Sailor' by Dick Bruna...

The hero of the story has a new boat and travels to a far off land of ice and snow, where he meets Eskimos. While there he enjoys fish stew and a nap. Along the way he also meets a whale. 

knitted things: knives

These knitted knives come from an exhibition opening I went to when I lived in Melbourne when some friends opened a new gallery on Gertrude St, Fitzroy about 10 years ago. I can't remember the name of the artist or the gallery, if you do please tell me?

At the time my parents were doing up their kitchen and my dad though they would be great hanging in the new kitchen.

I've since pinched them on one trip home recently to hang in my own kitchen! I love them.

munch bunch

The Munch Bunch was a big part of my childhood. They sold the books at the supermarket ($1.25) and each week I would get a new book as a treat. I had the whole set and I loved them. One school holidays I even drew the village. I mapped out the location of the houses from the books, each one starts by saying who the character lives next door to, for example 'Pippa Pear lives in a lantern next door to her best friend, Adam Avocado'. I drew all the characters and all their houses.
I still have my complete set of Munch Bunch books and look forward to sharing them with Mima.
I was never a big TV watcher and only occasionally saw the TV version of the Munch Munch but this opening theme is very cool.

rainbow connection : drawings

Moo loves Rainbows, here are selection of my favourite of her drawings.

cushions

As a print designer I am really interested in the process of printing. Over the summer I have been experimenting with block and stencil printing. I had some nice natural linen fabric which I used to print on.
I made triangle printing blocks from wine corks with thick cardboard cutouts stuck on the end. They only lasted one printing session. It was useful to put the ink on a sponge then dab the printing block on the sponge to ink it up.

Clear plastic sheets are perfect for stencils, you can wash them and reuse them. The ink was applied with a sponge.

I also screen printed some animals. Below are all my experiments.

What to do with all these swatches????? My lovely friend Annemaree has just started her own business anne & peg. So I decided to comission her to create large pillows with the swatches for our bed. Which she did beautifully.

Thanks anne & peg x

pork and corriander dumplings

Everyone loves dumplings don't they? We sure do, and regularly go to try out local dumpling places our favourites being Grand Habour for Yum Cha, and Barilla Dumpling on Dominion Rd for cheap eats - it's so bustling with energy. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

I grew up with my Grandad and Mum making huge batches wontons to deepfry or make soup with, they are still the best I've ever eaten. I've made wontons before but couldn't master the fold. I find dumplings however are really easy to make, and cook in a simple bamboo steamer.

PORK AND CORRIANDER DUMPLINGS

Ingredients:

500g pork mince

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

4 teaspoons fined grated ginger

4 spring onions finely sliced

fresh corriander - a big handful shredded

30 x dumpling wrappers

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. 

2. Take one dumpling wrapper and cup it your hand, fill with 2 teaspoons of pork filling. 

3. Brush edges with water and pinch to seal along top edge.

4. Steam in a bamboo steamer over a pot with quarter fill with boiling water for approx 5 mins.

Makes 30 dumplings

I got my steamter at Wah Lee's. I think I need to go get a bigger one though.

Moo loves them!

DIY : glittery feather clip

As you may know I also do DIY craft projects for American children's fashion blog Babiekins. I had this idea is for Babiekins, but I really love it and plan to wear it myself, so thought I would share it with you.

You will need:

clip
5 feathers
glitter
scissors
craft glue
hot glue gun

1. First cut your feather down to size, mine were 5cm long.

2. Spread craft glue on the end of the feather.

3. Dip the glued end of the feather in the glitter.

4. Repeat for all five feathers.

5. Use the hot glue gun to attach the feathers to the clip.

Gorgeous!

DIY : tealight lanterns

SNOWFLAKE TEALIGHT LANTERNS

While researching decorations for my brothers wedding recently I came up with the idea of making our own tealight lanterns. I was inspired by an earlier Mima + Moo post of snowflake window markers as the couple were coming from the snow in Canada it seemed a perfect little symbolic deco to go on the lanterns.

YOU WILL NEED:

white tissue paper 

scissors

pva glue

jars

string

tealights

Make little snowflakes using only 4-5cm squares of tissue paper. Stick snowflakes  to jars with little dots of glue, don't use alot as the glue turns the tissue clear. Use 3-4 snowflakes per jar depending on the size of your jar.

Place tealights in jars, using a little dot of glue to secure them so they stay in place. Tie string around the lip of the jars if you wish to hang them. 

A pretty great way to up-cycle old jars.

The night before the wedding we had the bridesmaids and friends sitting around the kitchen table cutting out snowflakes. We did jars of all sizes for the wedding some for on the tables, others strung up in the trees and placed around the fishpond.

around my house : five

LIGHT SHADE

Over our dining table we have a very interesting light fitting, Tolomeo Off Center Suspension Light. It was designed in the 1980's by an Italian designer Michele De Lucchi. We inherated it when we brought our house. I really love it even though it isn't something I would choose, and it's movability is so useful. However I didn't like the light shade on it. When we first moved in I covered it, but not very well, I then stared the hunt to find something else. I didn't have much luck, everything I liked had to be wired in. Then I remembered Australian DIY designer Tamara Maynes Quilt Light. 

For $20 I downloaded her easy to use instructions. I customised the shade to work for us. My first attempt wasn't quite right, I wanted everything to line up. So I made a second, this was the one!
She suggests using alsorts of materials to make it including leather and heavy felt, both of which I really love the idea of and may try in the future. But for now used cardboard and painted it.

We are happy.

a picnic dinner

Yesterday being Waitangi Day in New Zealand it was a public holiday. We had a very quite day with Moo playing at her friends house most of the day.
So we thought we'd make the most of the sun when she got home and have a picnic dinner down at the beach. I packed the following - Frijoles Negros (black beans), corn chips, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, BBQ sweetcorn & lemon, fresh limes and some Six Barrel Soda - what a feast for a picnic! 

Mima's mummy gave me these neat stacking metal bowls which are perfect for the warm picnic dishes.

Six Barrel Soda Raspberry and Lemon topped up with soda water was a delicious drink to go with our meal. 

I make these Frijoles Negros - Mexican black beans in big batches several times a year. I can fill 4-5 takeaway containers with approx 1 cup each and freeze until needed. I have made an addition for the nacho's.

Black Beans - My nacho addition 
1 garlic clove
2 tomatoes diced
1 cup of the black beans 

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp cumin

2 chargrilled capsicums, peeled deseeded and sliced
sea salt and black pepper

Gently fry the garlic in a little olive oil for a minute, add tomatoes and cook for another minute or so until softened. Add black beans, spices and capsicums, stir well and bring to boil. Then turn down heat to simmer for 15-20 mins. Squish a few beans and the liquid should thicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 3 - serve with corn chips, guacamole, sour cream and grated cheese. 



I love BBQ sweetcorn but I had never tried BBQ lemon until recently when were staying with friends in Hawkes Bay, I liked it so much I'm sharing it with you!

BBQ Sweetcorn & Lemon
2 sweet corn cobs - husks on soaked in water for half an hour
1 lemon 

Barbeque on the grill side for 15-20mins until blacked on all sides a little. Watch it as it can catch fire. Peel corn and slice lemon into segements, to serve garnish with finely sliced, red chilli, spring onion and a handful of corriander.

Serves 2-3

DIY : pencil holder

I have been making these pencil holders for years. They are so easy, cheap and I love the recycled aspect of them too. You can really personalise them with the artwork you use, over the years I have tried drawings, photographs, patterns, its really up to you.

You will need:
tin can, empty, clean, with one end removed and the edge smoothed
artwork to cover can 
double sided tape
decorative washi tape
scissors

1. Measure the height (if your can has a lip, do not include this in the measurement) and circumference of your can, add 2cm to the circumference and this is the size the artwork needs to be. Cut it out.

2. On the back of the artwork, place double sided tape along both of the short edges.

3. Remove the tape from one of these edges and attach the artwork to the can.

4. Firmly roll the artwork around the can and use the double sided tape to attach the other end.

5. Place half the width of the washi tape at the top of the can, stick it on around the circumference of the can. Then fold the other half down and stick it to the inside of the can.

summer holiday

Just back from our summer holiday. We spent the last couple of weeks down in Havelock North at my family home, gearing up for my little brother's wedding. We spent the days outside enjoying the sun and working hard, gardening and pruning. So I wanted something to entertain a four year old. I decided to make Moo a swing so I chose a spot under the pepper tree at the end of the lawn, where our childhood treehouse once nestled.

It's a simple wood swing. I used a plank of wood, drilled two holes each end to thread the 9mm orange rope through and painted it red (with the leftover paint from the front door). 

I sadly didn't document the making of the swing, as I didn't have a camera so the only photo I have is from my phone. 

ice lollies

I have been making ice lollies for Mima as a yummy and healthy snack for hot days.
They are super simple! I make two flavours, apricot/yogurt and berry/yogurt.

First get your ice lolly moulds and fill them with water to work out how much mixture you need to make to fill them, I use 1 cup. The basic idea is half yogurt half fruit mixture.

To make the apricot fruit mixture... 

I take a hand full of organic dried apricots, place them in a saucepan covered in water. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes then turn the heat off and leave them in the pan to cool with the lid on. The apricots with become very plumb.

Once cooled blend with the remaining apricoty liquid from the pan. Then mix with the plain greek yogurt and spoon into the ice lolly moulds.
Put them in the freezer.

To make the berry versions... 
Take a handful of frozen berries place them in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and a little water (enough to half cover the berries). Bring to the boil and simmer until the the berries have started to break down. Allow to cool in the pan, then follow the instructions above.

YUM!