Christmas cooking with kids - Cupcake / cookie decorations

This is another fun 'craft' to do with your kids (or without, if you so choose!).  And the great thing is that it doesn't require cooking & is relatively mess-free.

ingredients
Box of white icing (aka fondant). (like this one  HERE -but doesn't matter what brand!)
Food colouring. I use Wilton gel colours.
Decorations - I used coloured cashous & also picked out stars from a sprinkle mixture)
Icing sugar.
Baking/wax paper
Rolling pin (silicon is best)
Cookie cutters

how to:

• Cut about a 1/4 of the icing off the block to use. Wrap the remainder & store in a container in the cupboard.

• Knead the icing so it softens like play dough then add your colour a little bit at a time until you achieve the desired colour.

• Sprinkle a little icing sugar on your sheet of baking paper & also rub some onto your rolling pin.

• Roll the icing until it's no more than 1/4" thick. Be sure to recoat your rolling pin with icing sugar if the mixture starts to stick.

• Cut your shape using the cookie cutter & decorate as desired. We pressed the cashous directly into the softened fondant but you could also 'glue' them on using a little bit of water/sugar paste.

• Leave to dry for as long as it takes, depending on the temperature of the room. Ours took 24hrs.

At this point you can either store them for months in advance in an airtight container in the cupboard or use them to decorate some yummy treats!  We used store-bought tic-toc biscuits & glued the Christmas tree on top by using a dab of icing sugar/water mixture.

The most important ingredient = fun.

xx

ps - if you'd like more tips on working with white icing/fondant this is a great page.

Christmas cooking with kids - Oreo truffle balls

Christmas is not Christmas until the benches have been covered in some variation of sugar, little fingers have been covered in yummy goo, and faces have been smeared with chocolate.  Such is the fun of 'cooking' with kids!

 I say 'cooking' because our first Christmas treat this year was a no-cook Orea truffle ball creation.  Yum, yum, yum!

Ingredients -

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

2 pkg.  OREO Cookies, finely crushed (not powdered!) 

Enough Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted, to cover the balls.

MIX cream cheese and cookie crumbs until well blended.
SHAPE into 1-inch balls & refridgerate for an hour.
DIP in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet.
For extra effect you could sprinkle with extra cookie crumbs, drizzle another coloured chocolate on top, roll in 100's & 1000's.
Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

I took a few tips from the Kraft website.  Perhaps I should have read these before making our own batch! ...

Kraft Kitchens Tips

How to Melt Chocolate

Place unwrapped chocolate squares in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2-1/2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted, stirring every 30 sec.

How to Easily Dip Truffles

To easily coat truffles with the melted chocolate, add truffles, in batches, to bowl of melted chocolate. Use 2 forks to roll truffles in chocolate until evenly coated. Remove truffles with forks, letting excess chocolate drip back into bowl. Place truffles on prepared baking sheet; let stand until firm.

  

flower girl & communion dresses

i love creating dresses for special occasions.  Weddings, birthdays, communions, even family portraits are incredibly special events deserving of extra special outfits.  Actually, Little Tee Tee evolved when I was searching for something for my daughters to wear for a family portrait session.  I had a clear picture of what I wanted - something understated, in soft tones, with a hint of vintage charm.  After not finding anything 'just right' I created these two little dresses ... & my business was created soon after!

 

Ever since, I have loved dressing little girls for their special occasions.  Some are custom designed dresses, other are bought from creations I have made & listed in store (http://littleteetee.com/).

Here are a few of my gorgeous clients at their special events:

I have two flower girl dresses on the cutting table right now.  They're a custom order for a wedding in January - lots of tulle (over 3mtrs each!) & pearl & diamonte details which will be a first for me.  Oh I love the challenge!

I'm closing my custom orders now due to the Christmas break but I have a few dresses in store if you are after a last minute outfit!  But be quick ... Little Tee Tee will be closed for 3 weeks from the 9th to the 30th December.

venice (guipere) lace

if you haven't guessed by browsing through some of my creations ... I LOVE LOVE LOVE lace. Especially the luxurious Venice lace - or otherwise known as guipere lace.

The thought of working with lace is some times daunting for beginners but, believe you me, it shouldn't be!  Lace can hide a multitude of sins & can make a somewhat plain creation look like a masterpiece.

A simple, store bought singlet can be transformed in such a short time with even just one row of lace - Venice or otherwise - & a couple of well-placed fabric roses.

And once you've found your feet with that kind of project you're ready to tackle something even more spectacular ... like one of Little Tee Tee's ruffled flower girl dresses!

Ready to start creating? Perhaps you'd like to do a spot of lace shopping in our new range of laces & trims!?!  Yes, I've branched out into supplying GORGEOUS laces in all sorts of styles & colours and sourced from all over the world.  I'll be adding new supplies fairly regularly so be sure to keep visiting.

Little Tee Tee laces supplies HERE.

If you have something you are searching for and you can't find it, please feel free to let me know & I'll see if I can source it for you.

Happy sewing!!!

 
 

a spot of high tea & pretty teasets

Yes, my china cabinet groans under the weight of my little collection!  I daren't whisper to it that I will be adding quite a few more pieces in the coming weeks!

I love these pink teapots & matching cup & saucers sets... so much so that I've added them to my store so you can enjoy them too! HERE

My daughters also love a good tea party.  My 4 year old knows that if she goes to the effort of organsizing a teddy bears picnic that I will cave in to her fluttering eyelashes & give them each a marshmellow treat!  I'm a sucker!  So I've added a couple of gorgeous children's tea sets too!  One is a cute multi-coloured porcelain set, the other a more durable tin set (in case you're concerned about little clumsy fingers!). HERE

 

Oh, & I did fall in love with this white teapot with diamonties.  Who doesn't like a bit of bling on their table?!?  Available HERE

beautiful graphics

ooooh how I love my rejigged logo by The Photo Spot!  I adore the vibrancy of the colour aqua/turquoise/tiffany-blue at the moment (so much so that I'd love to paint my dining table in it!).

What do yout think?

My new website is coming along nicely.  Just tweaking the design a bit but here's a sneak peak ...http://littleteetee.3dcartstores.com/

Photo shoot craziness

i get plenty of lovely comments about the gorgeous photos of my girls in my dresses but i'm here to tell you that it doesn't always go to plan!

i hope these pics made you smile as much as they do me!

Pretty in Pastels

I love walking into my sewing room when I'm all inspired to create something new. This morning I had no particular design in mind and instead I turned to my fabric stash for inspiration. Pastel pink caught my eye &, combined with various cream laces, was the basis of my sewing spree today!

Aren't those models just to-die-for.  Love them all to bits!

Suzan

xxx

spring time!

spring sprung up on me a little quickly this year ... & I'm excited!  Not long now until the sunshine hours lengthen and we can take advantage of the beach being within a hop, skip & a jump.

I drive past Terrigal beach each morning & afternoon on the school run & I am constantly in awe of the changing colours of the ocean.  I've taken inspiration from the bright blue sea & the yellow sand for my next creation.

Available in my esty store shortly.  HERE

DIY - rainbow craft

i may be getting a little carried away with the rainbow theme but after discovering the artwork in my previous post I was pointed to a whole bunch of other bright & cheerful crafts.  Can't resist sharing more with you!

This sensory garden  was posted by 'share and remember' (HERE) & is made of coloured rice.  Nice & easy - all you need is food colouring, rice, rubbing alcohol, zip-lock bags & drying containers ... + a bit of sunshine!  I can see my little girl delighting in playing with this rainbow trough & using all her sand toys in there.  Be sure to supervise your youngesters if they have a tendency to put things in their mouths!

The next little project to catch my eye was this pencil necklace by www.minieco.co.uk. Jewellery with a twist!

Actually minieco have a few great rainbow crafts ... I love this easy paper bead idea too.  This is definitely on my 'to-do' list now!

And the last rainbow craft idea I'd like to share (& try myself)  is this cute toddler spray paint idea by 'Sun Hat & Wellie'.  Recycle those used spray bottles, add a bit of paint & water, and you have yourself a little graffiti artist in the making!.  See HERE for more details.

If you have a cool craft you'd like to share ... please let me know!

handbag dilemma!

it's time for a handbag update. What I considered to be pretty cool 12months ago is now drab & has taken a good beating from two little kids dragging down on its strap & stuffing it with countless treasures.  So it's off to the handmade community to choose my new spring bag.  Here's my shortlist ...

Problem is ... I can't choose!  Please help!!!  I'm getting the feeling my colour this season is greeny/yellow/neutrals.

Here's the role call of who made which bag, starting from the top left, going clockwise:
1. Yellow & jade tote by Monkey and Me; 2. Paisley bag by LMcreation 3. Green swirl bag by Nicole Lee Designs 4. Green/white canvas by The Dragonfly Path 5. Olives cream by Minani Emi  6. Honey linen by Maple Mist 7.  Grey bag by Mialie Designs   8. Grey screenprinted tote by HeyBoom  9. Linen shoulder bag by The Dragonfly Path 10. Black with white bow by ickady bag 

And along the way of my search I found some absolutely gorgeous dream bags.  Perhaps to go on my Xmas wish list?!?

1. Green flower print by Chloe and Viscount 2. Leather handbag by Eight Seasons 3. Beige Suede by Retro Blonde Designs 4. Denim tote by iheart charlie 5. Harlow shoulder bag by Ella & Lily 6. Olive knit by My Moms Knitting Shop 

DIY - rainbow artwork

i love the colours of a rainbow so fell in love with this cool DIY art project.

What an eye-catching piece for any room. Relatively cheap & extremely easy!

This photo was taken from a very cool blogger - click on this link to see how you can make this artwork HERE.

Happy hairdrying!

DIY fairy birthday party

I LOVE kids birthday parties.  I remember my mum making a huge deal out of my birthday as a child so it only seems fit that I carry on the tradition with my two little girls. This year we had to stage another fairy party for Miss 4.  Unfortunately for me, her sisters fairy party from last year was on her mind so it was a challenge to top that event in her eyes!

But we succeeded! 

So with two fairy parties under my belt I thought I'd share some party ideas.

1. It's all in the decorating!  This years party was all about balloons, balloons & more balloons!  We hired a helium tank ($40) & used about 60 balloons in shades of pink, purple & white (& a hint of yellow).  We added the strings so the kids could have fun playing with them. Otherwise you could just let them float to the ceiling which is also super cute.

You can create a fairy grotto by draping loads of tulle from the ceiling. Pin some paper cut-out butterflies to the tulle & some rows of fairy lights.

2. The party table. Let's face it, all little kids light up when they see a super cute table laden with scrumptious treats. That's not to say you can't add a good dollop of healthy food amongst the treats. 

Ideas from party 1: Packet of tic toc cookies with the birthday girls name piped on them in icing, musk sticks, toadstool cookies, jelly cups with marshmallow flowers on top, marshmallows dipped in chocolate & sprinkles, strawberries & watermelon.

Ideas from party 2:  Coconut ice, labelled water bottles, wand cookies (stars on pop sticks with edible glitter), marshmallows covered in choc & sprinkles & set on lollipop sticks, fairy bread made from fairy cut-outs and sprinkles, little jars of Skittle lollies (or any other pretty coloured candy!), strawberries & watermelon.

3. The Cake. Now this one usually sends fear spikes up & down my spine just thinking about the what & hows! Last year my cousin helped me create a toadstool cake. The base is actually a tin of chickpeas covered in fondant icing! What can I say, it was the night before the party & I was desperate!

Cake 2 is my husbands masterpiece. And such a good job he made of it, being his first cake & all!

4. Games. There are so many cute games & activities for the little party goers.  Here's a few suggestions:

• Craft corner to make little wands out of cardboards, sticks & glitter
• Musical toadstools (aka musical chairs). I made a few little toadstools to use instead of plain chairs. You could just as easily cut big circles out of red cardboard, paste on smaller red circles & stick that on the floor to use as the chairs instead.
• Fingernail painting (for the older girls)
• Frozen fairies - aka statues. Girls dance around to music & freeze in a fairy pose when the music stops. If they move their out of the game.
• Give each child a little pot of bubbles. Loads of amusement!
• Pass the parcel - of course!

Hope you find some inspiration in our parties.  Feel free to add your own tips in the comments below as I'm sure other readers would love to hear them as much as I would!

Thanks,

Little Tee Tee Boutique

New Little Tee Tee dress & favourite handmade finds

I have been remiss in blogging of late - sorry!  Life sometimes gulfs you up with little chance of finding time to do fun things like a blog.  So in the past month my hubby & I went for a child-free week in LA, I was a stallholder at a GREAT market (Erina Handmade Market), & I've been busy with some gorgeous custom orders.

My fabric shopping in the US uncovered some real gems to be made into sweet little dresses.  Here's one of them ...

Of course, I had to scour the handmade community for a collage of creations which I feel ties into my design.  A touch of yesteryear in shades of latte ...

1. Crochet Flower Necklace by Adoria Moon
Unfortunately my computer restarted itself before I could save all the designers names so I'm off now to track them down & will let you know asap. Feel free to post if you know who they are!