Farewell 40!

This week has seen a little bit more time free in the evenings to get my crochet hook out and I have loved every minute of it!  My new blanket is coming along nicely and I am trying my best to make one square a night amongst all the other jobs that need doing.  This join-as-you-go lark is terrific!  Talk about instant gratification.  

I have decided to use 4 main colours to be the outside edges and they are shades of pink through purple.  These were the colours that first caught my eye when I opened my parcel of Stylecraft and they still make me smile now.  It was a pre-selected colour pack and not all the colours were my cup of tea but they will come in handy in the future I'm sure!  So now that I've decided to make this big enough for a queen sized bed cover, I'm definitely going to need to order some more wool.  I will start to repeat the colour order now so that I end up with a few repeats as there will be approximately 30 squares in total.  Yikes, that sounds a lot now that I've actually written it!

I often see pretty bunting on blogs I look at and I love how sweet it looks, but I never thought I could make it look good in my own home.  But yesterday I decided that I needed to get into the spirit of my birthday so I played with some scrapbooking paper and made these little cuties.  A small string of bunting to sit above the birthday cards that had started to arrive.  I love it so much - and I keep smiling to myself every time I look at it.

You might have notice the title of this post being "Farewell 40".  It is true, today I am officially 41- aaargh.  I'd only just got the hang of being 40!  Oh well, at least it meant a nice day to look forward to.  I was very spoilt and received some lovely pressies including some Cath Kidston goodies, a beautiful new top and a CD I have been bursting to get.  I also took my family to Martha's Pantry for high tea where my husband surprised me with lovely flowers.  I adore this wee cafe - I could go there every day.  Their collection of china, glassware and vintage teaspoons is truly fabulous.

Not to mention all the bit sized treats complete with birthday cupcake!

 Here's my wee Miss 4 inspecting the cake cabinet!

Happy birthday to me ...  what did I wish for?  Perhaps a few more minutes a day to work on my blanket?

A quick stop into Moore Wilsons to buy a gift for a dear friend and I got slightly sidetracked when I spotted these adorable cupcake cases.  I love babushka dolls - so these had to come home with me.  A cheap little treat which I can't wait to use.

And because my small folk think it's very important that anyone having a birthday has to have a birthday cake, we made a delicious chocolate cake.  I then cut a third of it off and mixed it with butter cream icing to make some cake pops.  They were then dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with girly coloured 100's and 1000's.  Even big girls need pretty little cakes sometimes!  Thank goodness calories don't count on your birthday.

I had to add these beach pics as they are full of lovely memories of a fun beach visit with Mr 7 yesterday while Miss 4 was at kindy.  The weather was very warm but the sky was moody. Mr 7 had so much fun leaning over the pier looking for fish, collecting driftwood to build a boat when we got home and watching the inter-island ferries going by.  It's been really great spending time alone with my wee man.  He's growing up so fast.

Well that's enough from me for now.  Have a fabulous week!  See you again soon.

Leah
xxxx

Miss 3 turns 4!!

It has been a big week! My little Miss 3 is now Miss 4 and all week my time has been spent making bits and pieces for her birthday party. It has been so much fun releasing my inner child and making the girliest castle cake for my little poppet. She is going through a very pink stage and wanted a pink castle. I am absolutely thrilled with the result. It's only my second attempt at working with fondant and I really love it! I know where my abilities end so I had fabulous local store make the three little fairies for me - so I cheated a wee bit. They alone would have taken me about 3 months to make!! The detail in them is fantastic.

Miss 4 says she is the one in the middle! How gorgeous are they?

Sparkly shoes, pink wings and a beautiful fairy princess dress from Mummy and Daddy - I think we chose a winning gift this year. She is totally in love with her new outfit and couldn't wait for her lovely wee friends to arrive for the party.

We emptied the sunroom of toys and put up shiny streamers and flowers. Matching balloons finished the room off. Such a girly party room.

More streamers in the entrance way to the room made for a bit of a wow moment with the little ones.

I made cupcakes galore for kids and grown ups alike.

And gingerbread fairies for her friends to take home with them.

Mr 6 played the host very well too and loved handing out all the gingerbread fairies when the party ended.

I also made some very easy dancing ribbons. Lengths of ribbon tied around a hair tie makes for great wristbands when you are fairy dancing!!!

Phew - it's all been a bit tiring but oh so worth it for the looks on the faces of all the small folk.
I'm going to sit down with a nice cuppa and some freshly baked chewy chocolate chip cookies and get my poor neglected crochet hook out!
Have a fabulous week all!