Mini Baked Cheesecakes. Fast, easy & delicious.

Let me introduce you to one of my fave foodie blogs.

I fall in love every time I read a new recipe & I most certainly got those lovely butterflies of love in my tummy when I tasted these delightful

Mini Baked Cheesecakes.

{these one below is mine}

You can find the recipe HERE

These little delights are amazing & can even be frozen so they are great for making ahead for a dinner party {or Christmas} so you have more time to relax. I filled the freezer in my husbands truck with these for his last trip & he ate them frozen & said he wants more for next time!

Make sure to tell Leanne that you found out about her here at

Sew, cook, laugh & live

You will want to grab a cuppa while you read through her recipes.

They are all on my must try list!

Hair clip holder from a picture frame.

I want to share something with you all that has made doing Georgia’s hair ever morning a whole lot easier. She always has clips in her hair but as she has OCD (she got it from her Mumma!) they all must match.

BIG problem was that she would take them out of her hair at night & loose them.

So after seeing this idea on Pinterest, the local markets……everywhere, I decided to give it a go.

This is what it looked like before the clips & embellishments were added.

All you need is an old picture frame, some paint, some ribbon to make the clip holders & a couple of cup hooks to attach to the bottom of the frame to hang necklaces.

Paint the frame & allow the paint to dry properly. Turn it over & use a felt pen to mark measured spots for the ribbon to go. make sure that you make a mark on both the top & the bottom so the ribbon will sit straight. Hot glue or staple the ribbon in place. I glue a skewer along the ribbon to make sure it stayed secure.

This is what your new hairclip holder should look like..

Now is the time to bling it out!

I chose flowers & butterfly’s to bling this with. You can pick up cheap packets of embellishments at craft & dollar stores.

As soon as you walk through the door in Georgia’s room, this is the first thing  you see. It has made a big difference to our morning routine because we no longer have to spend 30 minutes searching for hair clips. It is also good because as we go to leave the house, she chooses a necklace to match her outfit!

This is an easy thing to make & I am sure that any little girl would love to find one under the Christmas tree!

Candy Cane Peppermint Chocolate Bark

Look what Kiara just made!

It is a No more Packet Cakes Chocolate cake, topped with a chocolate ganache & decorated with Candy Cane Peppermint Chocolate bark.

The Candy Cane Peppermint was very easy to make.

You need..

3 candy canes

250g of milk chocolate cooking melts

150g of white chocolate cooking melts

1/2 teaspoon of peppermint essence

4 drops of green food colouring

Place the 3 candy canes in a snap lock bag & make sure that there is no air in the bag.

Cover with a tea towel. Now comes the fun part…….Crush the candy canes into little pieces using a hammer.

Kiara got a lot of enjoyment out of that part!

Melt the milk chocolate & pour over a lined baking tray.

Smooth it out to be a couple of mm thick.

Melt the white chocolate & add the peppermint essence & green food colouring. Mix well & drizzle over the top of the milk chocolate.

Using a skewer, mix the 2 chocolates together to create a swirled pattern.

Before the chocolate sets, sprinkle with the crushed candy canes & gently rub your hands over the top.

When the chocolate has set, break into pieces.

You can eat it as is, package it with some cellophane to give as a gift or use it to decorate cakes.

It is simply yummy!

Festive Friday. Paper doily bunting.

So, school holidays start at 3pm today. Well, most kids finished yesterday & have started summer holidays already but my girls are off to school for clean up day & last chance to gossip with their friends. I also think that Kiara just wants to make her last year at Primary school last that little bit longer!

If your kids are on holidays & you are looking for an easy craft for them to do or something for you to make with a spare 5 minutes,

then this is for you! {or them!}

Not only is this a quick craft but it is really cheap!

I picked up a pack of paper doilies , 200 in a pack, for only $2 from a local discount store.

You just also need some double sided tape & string.

Just fold the doilies in half…

Put a strip of double sided tape on either side of the fold line.

Place the string (cut to the length of how long you want the bunting to be), in-between the 2 pieces of tape…

fold the doily in half making sure that the string is in the right spot…

Repeat until you have a filled the length of string….

She did it! Congratulations!

To finish of our 2 weeks of major milestones,

Kiara {my eldest chickadee} graduated from grade 7 & Primary school.

For those of you who don’t live in Queensland {Australia} I will explain a little.

Our children go to Primary school from Prep -  Grade 7. They then go to High school from grade 8 – grade 12. They can then go on to further studies at University or Tafe.

So last night, Kiara graduated from the school that she has spent 8 years at. She has grown up at that school & knows not a lot about life {other than hockey} beyond that school gate. This is a big moment in her life. Half of her friends are going to the same High School as her but half are not. That is a little sad, even for me.

When this picture came up on the big screen last night, I had more than a few tears in my eyes.

My baby girls is now all grown up!

I can’t believe how grown up she is!

She even designed this dress for her graduation. I made it for her but she chose the fabric & drew the design. We have not seen her in a dress since grade 1 so she shocked the whole school when she turned up in this last night!

 I love her style & how she is such a confident woman.

We made sure that my husband had the day off work so that he could be home for this big night. I don’t think he has ever been more proud of her.

I have never seen her smile so big! We were very worried that Mr P would be in another part of the country driving his Big Rig so she told him that if he wasn’t at home that she would never talk to him again! Lucky, it did not come to that!

I was the proudest Mumma.

Today she is off to a waterslide park with the other grade 7’s for a day of fun & relaxing before they finish primary school. It is not the nicest of weather & we have had some of the coldest summer days on record over the past week but that won’t stop them!

{BIG thanks to my wonderful friend Kerri for taking some of the Graduation photo’s for me!}

Choc Ripple cake. A quick and easy old fashioned favourite.

For dessert last night, we had this…

Choc Ripple Cake.

This is such a great dessert because it is quick, easy & you can make it in the morning or even the night before.

It is a cheats dessert. There is no baking, no hard work, nothing that is beyond basic skills yet you end up with a dessert that is fit for a queen or in my case…..a princess. I have been known to think of myself as a bit of a princess. {giggle}

If you can whip cream {well, my food processor whipped mine}, you can make this.

You need…

1 x 250g packet of Choc Ripple Biscuits {I use the Arnott’s brand}

500ml of thickened cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 tablespoons of icing sugar

{the original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of caster sugar but I prefer icing sugar}

good quality cocoa to dust {I use Cadbury cocoa}

Whip the cream, vanilla & icing sugar until it is thick.

Place a little of the cream on the serving dish.

Spread 1 biscuit with about 1 tablespoon of cream then sandwich with another biscuit. Stand them on their side on the serving tray. Repeat with the rest of the biscuits.

Spread the remaining cream over the whole log.

Wrap the tray loosely with alfoil & chill in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours. This makes the biscuits soften & they take on a cake texture.

When you are ready to serve, dust with cocoa.

Cut the log into wedges on the diagonal so that you can see stripes.

This will most certainly be on the dessert table at our house this Christmas!

you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy doing it, I would love for you to vote for this blog in the Top 25 Aussie Mum Blogs. Any one can vote & there are now forms to fill out, just click on the link & click on the vote symbol.

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Zeena the Zebra, Free pattern.

Meet Zeena the Zebra!

I was surfing the net & came across this great hobby horse tutorial & pattern

I used the pattern to make a super funky & spunky Zebra.

It is super easy & super cute!

You can download the pattern

HERE

& you can find the instructions

HERE

There is no pictures with the instructions though so I have taken some of the making of this super cute Zebra.

{you can click on the above photo’s to enlarge them}

I used a piece of dowel wrapped in hot pink duct tape to stop any slinters getting into Georgia’s hands.

You could also add some wheels to the bottom.

I think this would also look really cute made out of some of these other materials that I found while surfing through the

Wrapped in Fabric

website.

or you could even make a shabby chic hobby horse with some of these choices

   

If you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy doing it, I would love for you to vote for this blog in the Top 25 Aussie Mum Blogs. Any one can vote & there are now forms to fill out, just click on the link & click on the vote symbol.

Please & thank you