Category Archives: Cookies

Vintage Easter sweets table

Hello dear ones,

It’s been an age since I have joined you here, but oh it’s nice to be back! As we all know, blogging is only a snippet of my life and it takes pretty much all of me to love my hubby and dear sweet lambs plus run our home and pastor a church. I have spent the first part of the year getting the tribe sorted and into the rhythm of our family / school / homeschool life and routine. 

The good news is that I am now resuming my weekly blog posts.  Every Saturday morning you will find my latest creative ventures, themed party, styled shoot or cupcake recipe. I hope you will join me. Despite my blogging absence, I have been quite busy creating new content and I can’t wait to share it all with you.

First up for 2018 is this  Easter dessert table I set up for a flower crown workshop I hosted in my home. My goal was to create a pastel sweets table with a distinct vintage feel. I wanted to draw out the child in each of us, with matching lollies, cookies, cake pops and cake.

The girls and I got our bunny cookie cutters out to give homemade coconut ice an Easter makeover. I was pleased with how easy it was, and how cute they looked. Even your toddlers could help in the kitchen with this one. 


Another super easy snack I made with the kids was choc dipped Oreos. We simply melted white chocolate (with a drop or two of candy oil colour, or you could use candy melts if you have a microwave, which we don’t). Dip half an Oreo biscuit into the chocolate and sprinkle with your favourite sprinkle mix. 

I’m not much of a cookie decorator, but I couldn’t resist these adorable radish and carrot cutters. Piped with pastel coloured buttercream and displayed in cute Easter bowls and plates, they added a bit of Easter cheer to the table.

What’s an easter dessert table without lollies? I know I shouldn’t, but I have a bit of a weakness for these tempting little sweeties. I have many a fond childhood memory  buying  bags of lollies, back in the day when twenty cents filled a huge bag to the brim! Ahh..the good ole days…

I love displaying sweets in cute little vintage planters, jars or timeless white milk glass dishes. They just look soo good all dressed up.



Perhaps my favourite element of any party is the take home favours. A gift giver at heart, I love to bless my guests with goodies to take home, which are preferably edible. For my Easter party I decorated cheap gift bags with fabric strips, ribbon, paper flowers, string and cute vintage easter tags, for guests to put their lollies in. I also spray painted the lids of plastic cylinders and filled them with jelly beans for the children to take home.

For the ladies I set up a tea station with my pretty tea cups on a white vintage dresser, decorated with a simple fabric bunting to tie in with the theme. I also decorated glass milk bottles with string and paper flowers in pastel colours.

Another weakness of mine is vintage aprons. Oh my heart, they are just soo adorable and make the perfect decorating accesory! My favourite way to use them is strung across the dessert table as a garland, or even as a backdrop. The colours are so pretty and I love that real women wore them as they cared and cooked for their families. A reminder of beauty in the every day.

Thanks for taking the time to scroll through my photos. Hopefully you go away inspired to create your own Easter gathering with the kids, family and friends.

I am so happy to be here.  Life is pretty big for all of us, and I am so thankful for the tiny time and space I get to meet with you and share my passion for all things sweet, pretty and vintage. Stay tuned and don’t forget to pop in next Saturday morning where I will share with you my latest Easter photo shoot, which I am so excited about, I think my heart will burst!

See you then. xx

 

Woodland Baby Shower {Part 2}

Good morning Lovelies. How’s things? The girls and I flew solo this week as hubby took our 18 year old son adventuring in Tassie for a dose of hiking, snow seeking, white water rafting and bush walks. He has worked so hard this year, often at three jobs, so we wanted to give him a pat on the back and tell him how proud we are of the amazing young man he is becoming. 

Time out is good for all of us. As stay at home mums of littlies and middle size kiddies would know, it’s not that easy to go on adventurous holidays. Actually, even just holidays. I think we’ve tried about three times to get away this year, but between the dog, two cats, rabbit, chickens, brand new chickies and kids agendas, its been nigh impossible.

To be honest though, I’m not that adventurous anyway. I really love my home, my kitchen, my books, tea, hearth and larder….ahh Bilbo Baggins, I see you. We don’t use our hearth much, but I am honestly very happy in my own space. This week one of my daughters suggested I should go out into the veggie garden more often…I can’t remember why she was saying that, but the first words that popped into my mouth were…”Why would I want to leave my kitchen?” Even I was taken aback by my candid reply. I was instantly struck by my own honesty….yes, I would  rather be baking in my kitchen than pretty much anywhere else. 

One thing I can do from home, to my delight, is create adorable baby showers and parties. When we heard our first grandchild was on the way, I was quick to talk with my son and his wife about the baby shower.  As I was the stylist and sweets caterer for their gorgeous Vintage barefoot wedding, I knew pretty well what style they both like. Mostly vintage with a splash of sunshine, green from the earth, timber, natural textures and pops of colour. 

My son requested that the shower be suitable for both guys and girls, as they wanted their friends to attend. I therefore kept to a fairly neutral palette, with lots of light timber, raw textures, white and hints of pink to celebrate that their baby is a girl. You can read about my heartfelt reflections on becoming a grandmother in Part 1 of this baby shower post HERE

I chose a bit of a boho woodland theme, keeping the design elements simple and not overly cluttered. I used some greenery, grasses, succulents, and one of my favourite vintage design elements, a homemade fabric garland, as a statement piece along the front of the dessert table.  The timber pallets were a main feature of the display, which are a cheap and versatile way to dress up any dessert table. My husband made the backdrop timber board with wood panels from Bunnings, which was painted white.

I had fun creating the dessert menu for this baby shower. I decorated sugar cookies to look like flowers and gave chocolate coated peanut butter crackers a touch of  cactus love. Caramel corn cupcakes were topped with cute foxes and woodland animal printables and the most delicious raw cakes topped off the dessert table. 

I found these cute birch log card holders on eBay that matched my theme perfectly.


Apart from the main dessert table, my talented son made up antipasto platters for an extensive grazing  table. He has a natural way of putting savoury food together, so I left that in his capable hands. I pulled out some of my quirky props, including old suitcases, wooden crates, enamelware and even an old set of scales. It is so easy to dress up a food table by using whatever funky things you have around your home to add height and interest to serve your food. 

One of my go to serving ideas is to wrap small luncheon rolls in coordinating fabric or ribbon scraps. Such an easy way to dress up your table. It’s the little touches that  turn an ordinary gathering into something special.

Another little idea I almost always do is get my kiddies baking biscuits or cookies for the table. A sweet homemade touch that goes the extra mile in making your guests feel spoilt, and your kids will feel important too. 

Something else the kids can help with is decorating the drink glasses or bottles. I usually use mason jars or glass milk bottles, both available from cheap shops. They are so versatile and can literally be dressed to suit any theme or event. Personalising the name tags also helps make your guests feel valued, and encourages them to keep the same glass throughout the day.

Of course no baby shower in my home is complete without a tea station. I saved up most of the pink to use on my funky pink dresser that I just adore. I made up a ‘tea’ banner with coordinating  printables  and embellished it with matching fabric scraps and hung it across the mirror. Carefully selected tea cups sitting on the dresser were pretty enough to make any tea lover sigh with immense satisfaction! Not to leave the coffee drinkers out of action, I set up my retro Johnson Australia coffee cups, which also happened to match my theme. Score.

Whenever I host a baby shower I love to decorate a baby or doll cradle to hold gifts for the expectant mother. In this case, a dear friend painted the cradle as a gift itself to the delighted mama. 

Lastly, and perhaps my favourite element of any party is the take home favours. I am a gift giver at heart, so I’m always on the lookout for cheap, suitable party favours that say a hearty ‘Thanks for coming!’ to any party I host. I found these brightly coloured fragrant candles half price in Lincraft and knew they would be perfect for the baby shower.  By adding cute ‘thank you’ tags tied with string I had gorgeous little gifts for guests to enjoy at home.

Thank you for taking a little tour around my baby shower with me. As I mentioned in Part 1, this event was especially close to my heart. I am so blessed to have a loving family and it was an honour to create this special party for them. 

Next week I will be sharing with you my absolute favourite cake I have made so far. It’s a bit of a bomb! Stay tuned, and have a great weekend.  xx

Flower Garden Cookies & Motherhood Musings

Oh hello dear readers, and by golly it’s good to be here. I don’t know how your week has been, but boy oh boy this mothering thing has all been a bit more, how shall we say….testy than normal lately.

(insert sigh and forced grin).

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a zoo? Seriously, come to our house. Or a day care centre? Sometimes it feels like we run an institution where the little people run amok all over us all day! How can my house STILL be a complete mess every day? Haven’t I learnt any organisational skills over the past 22 years? And after this long, wouldn’t you think my children would all know how to do what they are told the FIRST time I ask them. You would think so.

You would think I have learnt something useful by now. Some words of practical wisdom to pass on to young mothers.  Like how to keep socks. Or how to organise children’s clothes. Or how to stop kiddies from yelling inside or calling each other poo poo and dumb.

But no. It appears not. 

Most days I flounder along like all of this is new to me and I haven’t a clue how to pull together the wily tentacles that make home and family function properly.

Have you ever wondered what personality type would make the ideal mother? I have. I think about this a lot.  Apart from the essential qualities, like loving, caring, affectionate, hard working, devoted etc, if you had to make a Stepford Mother (trust me, I think about this too), what type of skills would you give her? What is essential for the smooth running of a busy household? 

In my previous life when I was studying to be a school teacher, there was a third year student who lived across the hall  from me. She once asked me why I wanted to be a teacher. I actually can’t remember what I said. It was probably something about my love for children or making a difference in the world.  But I will never forget her reason for wanting to teach school children.

I love to organise. 

Hmmm, that’s odd, I thought.  Oh well, each to their own, I shrugged, as I went back to my messy sequin mosaic rainbow serpent art project that was all over the floor of my dorm room.

Now with the wisdom of nearly thirty more years of life and extensive mothering experience behind me, I get it. I totally get what she meant.  And I think the same applies to motherhood.  Being organised  must make the all difference between a home (or classroom) that is run smoothly and one, like mine, that tends to flow a little closer to the other side of the river Chaos. 

Number one on my list of essential Stepford Mother skills: Organisation.

You know it’s a gift. And while I’ll admit that organisational skills can be learned, to some extent,  I’m convinced you either have them or you don’t. They are inherent, part of our DNA, or in my case, sadly lacking. Mothers who are organised must have a better time of it than us less practical, creative  dreamers who most often feel like we are constantly chasing our tales and never getting things done properly.

I have friends who are very organised mothers, and I look at them in awe. Tidy, clutter free homes, school bags that have a home, ironed clothes, tidy kitchen benches. (You know who you are). Being organised must take so much stress out of family life. It has to make things easier, especially for large families. Oh, I’ve seen all of the charts, lists, daily goals and spreadsheets. I’ve read the blogs, listened to mothers of twelve children tell me how they keep everything ship shape and once bought a really fat book called  “The Large Family Handbook’, which I never read. But gee, I tell you what, I’m just not wired that way. I’m just not a scheduled, chore chart, list making, plan ahead, systematic type of person, and ohhhh, it is a thorn in my wobbly mothering side!

(Do I hear an AMEN from anyone??) 

I’m much more of a spontaneous, creative soul, who can way too easily ignore the washing pile to make a quilt, try a new recipe, or get crafty.  Anyone who knew me at school could say I am a bit of a flittery floaty dreamer who can neglect the less appealing reality in front of me and drift away on some fanciful thought. I well remember gazing out of my classroom window wishing I was far off in Africa making a difference in the world as a missionary. 

Not a very useful disposition when you are commander in chief of a busy household with children who need fresh underwear every day.

The struggle is real.

Anyway, for better or worse, I’m it. I’m the Mum, and while you may never ever find a matching pair of socks or be able to expect me to know where your favourite orange checkered shorts are, I will give you an apron, bowl, whisk and two eggs to start your own batch of cupcakes. I can’t guarantee the floor will be clean or you will ever see your swimmers again, but I will occasionally remember to write a special note to leave under your pillow at night. I will colour your world with passion, delight, dramatic flair, tears and excitement. I will buy flowers just because they are pretty and throw a tea party to make you feel special. I will read Tolkien to you over and over just because his words are like treasure, but forever struggle to keep track of those maths books in my messy shelves.

I may not be a highly efficient, organised Stepford Mother, (which I still think would honestly be an advantage), but somehow we’ll make it through. If I can accept myself the way I am made, with all of my weaknesses and strengths, failures and mothering victories, and my kiddies can love me because I’m the only mother they have and I love them to the moon and back and more a million times, then I think we have a chance. 

Now excuse me, I think I hear Miss Kitty calling her sister a poo poo.

xx