fourth birthday : three

THE FAIRY GARDEN PARTY : part two

THE CAKE

Chocolate cake with marshmallows, strawberries and no jam (as requested by the birthday girl)

I made a double batch of the Special Chocolate Cake recipe from Ladies, a Plate book, pink gradient butter cream icing with mini pink marshmallows in the centre. I made my own paper butterfly cake toppers (I'll show you how in the following weeks).

 THE FAIRY

We had Fairy Petals come to visit. She is  a woodland fairy that spends her days bouncing with the rabbits, flying with the bees and sitting in the treetops singing with the birds. Face painting, dancing, bubbles, stories, fairy dust and general excitement and amazement that a real fairy turned up to the party! She made the day so magical! 

Happy Birthday Moo we love you!

fourth birthday : two

THE FAIRY GARDEN PARTY : part one

DECORATIONS
Well Sunday was the big day. After a big week of prep we were ready for a garden party fit for a few fairies. We decorated the garden with streamers and tissue paper pompoms and fans, I had a few helpers which was a fantastic.

THE FOOD
I decided to stick to fairy colour theme of pink, white and green and food appropriate.  
Here are just a few of the fairy treats we nibbled on.
cakepops
rainbow pretzels 
pink fairy potion
cupcakes
homemade sausages 
fruit skewers

THE GIFTS
Wow Moo was showered with lovely gifts from friends and family. Her favourite though has to be the guitar (ukulele) from her daddy. The birthday girl had a few specific requests and a guitar was on the top of her list.

to be continued....

memory game

 I made this super cute memory game for Mima and thought I would share it with you...

1. Find some cute pictures, lay them out on an A4, print or photocopy two of everything. I also printed a polka dot pattern for the back.

2. Glue the two A4 sheets together, front pictures, back pattern. You could sandwich a piece of card in the middle to make them more sturdy.

3. Cut out the rounds.

4. Get them laminated.

5. Then cut them out, leaving a 5mm edge so the paper and card is sealed inside.

Then you can start playing!

fourth birthday : one

THE INVITATION - Fairy garden party 

Moo asked for a Fairy Party this year. Our back garden is quite pretty but tiny so I thought it would be perfect for a little fairy garden party with just a handful of friends. I wanted to create invitations that feel a little magical when opened and like a taster of more of the party to come, so I came up with a tissue paper fan!

What you'll need:

pink tissue paper - 12cm x 25cm

white card - cut into 3cm x 21cm strips (I printed mine first with party details)

double sided tape

scissors

stapler

hole puncher 

string

small brown envelopes

confetti gold stars

Instructions:
1. tissue paper fold this in 12mm consantina.
2. fold in half and staple at this point. cut ends round to create scolloped edge.
3. fold card strip in half, double side tape tissue fan inside card.
4. tape the centre of tissue together.  
5. hole punch end and cut into point
6. tie string through hole. 
7. put invitations in the envelopes and give a good sprinkling of confetti.

When you guests open the invitation it will fold out into a cute little fan. 

christmas : one

Yesterday we spent a gorgeous afternoon at the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School Advent Fair. I didn't really know what to expect but the highlight for me was making a wreath for our front door. I had I no idea how brilliant it would be, if I had I would have documented the process, instead I just have the reveal shot, above. This will no doubt be a yearly event so I will post in full next November.

My understanding of the Steiner school philosophy is that it focus' on the importance of our natural environment, creativity and freedom of thought. So making your own wreath is a perfect extension of these ideas.

macrame kitsets

BASIC MACRAME HANGER KITSET

In addition to our macrame workshop we have created kitsets for to you make your own at home or to give as gift. The hanger is made to fit a 15cm terracotta pot as pictured.

The kitset contains: macrame braid, 1 brass ring and instructions.
You will also need: scissors, tape or a lighter and a ruler or measuring tape

To purchase email us at mimaandmoo@gmail.com
Kitsets are $30.00 each

We currently have the following colours available-  ivory, neon yellow, orange, jute and black. If you want specific colour please email as we are placing another braid order shortly.

macrame magic

We just completed our first craft workshop on basic macrame hangers. Everyone who attended loved it, so it was well worth the effort. 
We thought we would share some photos with you...

We created a hanging display to show case the hangers we had made and different ways of using them. We were very lucky to include  fascinating terrariums from Bio Attic in the display.

Everyone took home a potted succulent so they could enjoy their hanger straight away.

We also enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea featuring cakes from The Caker.

It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon, thank you to everyone who helped and came along!

recycled : flower decorations

I'm constantly trying to find cheap or free things to do or make with Moo and her little friend that comes our house once a week.

Today we made recycled toilet paper roll decorations. They'd be great for christmas tree's or for any kind of party.

What you'll need: 
Toilet rolls - 1 per flower
Scissors  (Pinky shears or craft decorative edge scissors make a nice edge)
Stapler 
Twine or string
Paint, pens, glitter to decorate

Flatten toilet roll in half. Cut toilet roll into 5 or 6 equal sized rounds to create petals. Staple together as close to centre of flower as your staple will allow. Keep joining until all petals are added.

 

Tie twine through one of the petals. Decorate.

garden : one

I really love growing my own vegetables. 
We moved into our current house about a year ago and with Mima keeping me very busy, I haven't had time to organise our courtyard garden. But I plan to create an epic edible garden that will feed us year round. I have dabbled in growing vegetables in the past, but I am no expert!
We live in an unusual community, Freemans Park, lots of terraced houses and apartments built in the 1960s scattered throughout an established park only 15minutes walk from the city. So beyond our small courtyard (approx 6m x 4m) are the most amazing giant trees. It really is beautiful. 
That's right I only have 6m x 4m to create this edible paradise, so just a bit of a challenge. This spring / summer I want to experiment and get back into gardening. 
Recently I found an amazing edible gardening website POD Gardening, and spent an evening watching their tutorials, reading articles, looking at the inspirational POD gardens (like Selby in the garden) and checking out their seed catalogue, I can't recommend it enough!
So I made a planting plan for the courtyard, brought seeds from POD and seedlings from Weathersfield Organics.

It is much cheaper to grow from seed and some seeds you can plant straight in the ground. Having said this with a small garden I will only want one or two tomato plants so I brought these as seedlings. Below is a list of what I got:
GROW FROM SEED
Mesclun mix
Tom Thumb Lettuce
Carrot - Rainbow mixed
Parsley
Marigold - petite mix
Calendula
GROW FROM SEEDLING
Tomato - Money Maker
Cherry Tomato
Corn
Courgette