A new year, time to try some new things.

 

So, it is 2012. I am a couple of days late doing this post but it is better late than never! I hope you all had a great New Years. I may have have fallen asleep a couple of hours early but we did enjoy the night on the beach with sparklers, glow sticks & a lot of dancing & laughter.

With a New Year, I start with a list of things that I either want to learn or try.

This year, I am determined to learn how to crochet. I have been saying it for a while but now it is time.

I want to learn how to knit more than just a scarf.

I want to finish the patchwork quilt for my bed that I have had cut out & ready to sew for 6 months.

I want to make quilts as presents for all the members of my family for their birthdays this year.

I want to try one new recipe every week.

Some things that I want to do to improve my happiness & wellbeing are…..

I want to go for a walk with my chickadees everyday to spend time just talking with no interruptions.

I want to spend more time with our extended family.

What are the challenges you have set for yourself this year?

Life is a beach and then you have to go home

Well, we are back home! After 4 wonderful days of beach camping we have now come back to reality & a whole mountain of washing! After a hiccup to the start of our trip, everything was wonderful.

{thanks for letting the battery run flat in our 4wd Mr P!}

I though that I would share some of our favourite things from our summer holiday.

This is what the chickadees loved the most….

Georgia

Lots of climbing & hiking.   Looking for shells.   Finding hundreds of shells.   Roasting marshmallows on the camp fire.

Kiara

Standing on anything to make her look taller than Mum in a photo.  Skim boarding in the ocean.  Hiking up Red Canyon. Playing beach cricket.

These were a few of my favourite things.

Finding any excuse to dance {yes, I am shaking a coconut!}.  Spending time with Mr P. Taking lots of photo’s of the chickadees & being in awe of how beautiful & grown up they have become. And maybe I enjoyed the chance to have a few drinks on New Years eve a little more than I should have!

While it is great to be able to have a proper shower & sleep in my own bed, I am already missing the great times & people that made it such a wonderful holiday. I have to thank the other 2 families & my beautiful niece for sharing the fun times with us & I am already looking forward to the next one!

I hope all of my lovely readers also had a great Christmas & New Years.

Christmas is nearly here!

As you know, I have been really sick (& still am) this week. All of the fabulous Christmas crafts & cooking blogs that I had planned to do, have not been able to make it to the blog. Now I am running so far behind in Christmas preparations for the big day that I am getting a little nervous. I am going to have to drag myself into the kitchen & cook until I drop today or at least tell the chickadees what to cook while I supervise! It is a little scary to think that Santa is having his last surf before he puts on the red suit & checks his list.

I wanted to take this time to say a big thank you to all of you who have followed me on this amazing journey at Sew, cook, laugh & live over this past year. Without all of your fantastic comments & ideas, the blog wouldn’t work. It would just be some crazy woman posting photo’s & talking to herself.

I have to say a big thank you to my blog sponsors

The fantastic Sandy from

& the wonderful Donna from

To both of you lovely ladies, thank you for the amazing support & for taking a chance on me!

I can not say thankyou without also including the lovely ladies who are part of the

Sew, cook, laugh & live Facebook Page

You know who you are & some days I wonder what I did without you lovely ladies to chat to on those long nights when my hubby is away. I do take this opportunity to say sorry to your husbands/partners/kids for keeping you on the computer so much! You are all such a talented bunch of women & I want to offer the fantastic ladies who have Facebook/market businesses to be a guest on the blog next year to show off your fantastic handmade products. Thank you to all of you who have participated in the giveaways & ornament swaps. I like the idea of the swaps so much that I think we may do another craft swap once we are all over the festive season & the kids are back to school.

I am going to be taking a little time off from the blog between now & the new year. My wonderful, hardworking husband will be arriving home tonight in the big red rig (his version of Santa;s sleigh!) & will not be getting back in the big rig until the new year. We have a lot of family adventures planned & have so many things to see & do. I may drop by from time to time with pictures of what we have been up to.

Well, I have it on good authority that Santa has finished his last surf & is packing up the boards to head back to the village for final preparations.

Did you know that there is a Santa tracker online? Head HERE to follow Santa as he gets ready for the big day.

From my family to yours, Have a truly magical Christmas & a wonderful New Year!

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies. Perfect for the Christmas table

 

I have not been feeling well over the last couple of days. That is why the blog has been so quiet. I have barely had the energy to open my eyes. So I have been unable to do the many blogs that I had planned. Today, I am going to share with you the Red Velvet Whoopie Pies that I made for my birthday a few weeks ago.

If you have never had a whoopie pie before, they are a cross between & cake & a biscuit. Red Velvet is one of my favourite flavours of cake & now it is also my favourite flavour of whoopie pie.

If you have a red & white theme for your Christmas festivities, these would look gorgeous piled up on a plate.

 

Ingredients

• 75g unsalted butter, softened
• 125g light brown soft sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1⁄2tsp baking powder
• 175g plain flour
• 1/4 cup of cocoa
• 50ml milk
• 1tbsp red food colouring

For the icing:

• 50g cream cheese
• 30g unsalted butter, softened
• 1⁄2tsp vanilla extract
• 225g icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Beat together the butter and sugar using an electric hand mixer for 2–3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Add the baking powder.


 


Whisk in the flour, cocoa and milk in alternate batches on a low speed, starting and finishing with the flour – be careful not to over-beat. Whisk in the food colouring and a pinch of salt.





Using an ice cream scoop or large tablespoon, spoon the mixture onto the trays.  Leave a 3cm gap between each as they will spread.


                  

    
Bake for 14 minutes, or until they’re puffed up and spring back on touching. Cool on the baking trays for at least 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

For the icing, beat the cream cheese and butter using an electric hand mixer. Add the vanilla extract and icing sugar. Beat on a low speed at first and increase the speed until the icing is smooth and fluffy. Use the icing to sandwich the pies together in pairs, with the flat sides facing each other. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Gingerbread house! We have had success for another year!

Well, the gingerbread house is done! Now, be aware that I was forced out of the kitchen by my chickadees as they wanted to decorate by themselves. I can not be held responsible for the gingerbread man with nipples {thanks Georgia}

This is the chickadees version of a beach shack! The only input that I had was that the colours were to be red, white & blue. Very fitting for an Aussie beach shack.

At the last minute, I decided to use a different recipe to what I would usually use & so far, I think the new one is better.

You can find it

HERE

{This is what a professional one should look like}

What I like about this recipe is that it is all done in the food processor.

This is the recipe that I used to use.

You can find it

HERE

{now get ready for an ooooh & ahhhh moment}

Here is some photo’s of the chickadees beach shack in the making.

Georgia was the camera lady & wanted me to show you all her photo’s of the lollies.

This is what last years beach shack looked like.

Making gingerbread houses is so much fun & even though I am not feeling the best today, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It is a great family tradition & to see it sitting in the middle of the Christmas table, makes all the sticky fingers & sugar rushes, worth it.

If you make your own every year, you know what I mean.

If you are making your first one this year, I would love to see pictures! You can post them on the

Sew, cook, laugh & live Facebook page

A quick Christmas shirt. Got to love doilies!

It is that time of year where we have to start thinking about what clothes everyone is going to wear for the big day. Christmas day that is! Now that my girls are getting older {12 & 10yrs old}, matching Christmas dresses are a thing of the past, skirts are out because you can’t ride a bike or kick a ball with a skirt on. The only thing that resembles Christmas that Kiara will wear, is a Santa hat but it has to be white & sparkly!

This is what I came up with for Georgia.

My Mum sent me a massive parcel for my Birthday a few weeks ago & in it was a big pile of antique doilies. Now, I have to tell you that doilies are one of my favourite things. I love to dye them bright colours. These ones were begging to be dyed bright red for Christmas!

It is really easy to embellish a shirt with a doily or 3. I picked this shirt up for Georgia when it was on special the other day.

Make sure you choose a doily that will fit the space. Too small & it will look a little lost & too big will look…..well…..too big!

Securely pin the doily to the shirt. Remember to stretch the doily a little.

Sew the doily into place.

And there you have it! One unique Christmas shirt!