Ideas for school holiday fun

It is the winter school holiday/break now in Queensland.  Two [or three] weeks of no school.  I am definitely going to use some of the 75 ideas from this blog to keep the girls amused and have some fun with them.

I've also been collecting ideas on pinterest for us to do together. 

Usually I choose a few favourites, show the girls, and then they come up with a list of 10-15 activities they want to do too. 

I LOVE school holidays.

TUTORIAL: make your own pom poms to cheer your team

My girls have had school athletics carnivals in the past few weeks.  We made pom poms [also called streamers] for cheering their team mates on.  Unfortunately in my photos they look rather pink, in fact the pom poms are all RED in real life!!

 For this project you will need:

 string

gaffer or electrical tape

and either a disposable plastic tablecloth or crepe paper in your team colours.

Step 1: cut the plastic/crepe paper into roughly 1cm strips and lay them out on a flat surface.

Step 2: tie the strips together in the centre with string.

Step 3: push the streamers away from the ends of the string.

Step 4: wrap the string ends in gaffer or electrical tape to form a handle.

Step 6: twist each individual strand of the pom pom to separate the strands and make it 'fluff out".

I haven't made one [or two] of these since I was at school, but it was extremely quick and easy to do.  You could experiment with other types of materials to use for the streamers.  I chose the disposable plastic table cloth because I thought it would be more durable than crepe paper, and perhaps last more than one day.  You could also use fabric, knitting yarn, or other colourful materials of your choosing.

first Emmeline apron

I have a friend who turned 40 this week and to celebrate I made her an apron.  This is the Emmeline apron, a pattern I have owned for a long time but until now not made it up.  I will definitely be making one of these for myself!!  It is completely reversible, and very cute to wear.  A long time ago I made a similar apron for my sister, but without a pattern.  I would totally recommend the pattern for this apron, it's a far better shape and fit!!

I love that it is reversible, so you can have your flowery, girly side, or funky side depending on your mood.  Now to sort through my stash and find fabric I love to become this apron for me...

Miss 5's birthday cakes

Cupcakes to share with friends at school.

A pink poodle cake to share with family on the evening of her birthday.

And a train to share with special friends at her birthday party on the weekend after the special day.

spiral skirt trial

Here is a skirt I made this week for a dear friend.  You can't tell from the photo, but it is a spiral skirt, each panel of the seven gores starts at the waist and spirals down and around the hem.  It is a pattern I have made before, and is lovely and twirly to wear, without having too much fabric around the tummy and hips.

Now that I've tried it in this fabric and it fits her so beautifully, I'm going to try again in a denim.

the roses are planted [and/or ordered]

Can you believe a rose can actually be as deep purple as this?  It is a rose called "big purple" and I am going to own it.  I have ordered it, and a number of other roses, from a Victorian rose grower and I should have my new bushes early next month.

I have spent the last two weekends planting rose bushes in my new rose garden.  I found most of the ones I've always wanted [and a few others I'd never heard of] at Big W and Bunnings.  I figure I must be a die-hard gardener now because I planted 10 rose bushes in the pouring rain last Saturday.  Of course being keen [or silly] doesn't guarantee they will survive.  I have read a lot, but I am still putting this gardening knowledge into practice.

I'm so excited to be getting my rose garden planted.  I have dreamed of having a rose garden for my whole life.  Both my grandmothers loved roses, and both had beautiful rose gardens in their front yards.  I used to love walking up and down, looking at the flowers, taking care around the thorns, smelling those with perfume and looking with wonder at the amazing colour variation you can get with roses.  Of course today the variety of colours available is far larger.  In fact I am not planting two of any variety of rose.  You can almost get a rose in every colour in the rainbow. 

If you haven't guessed, the rose is my favourite flower.  I think they are so very beautiful.

Gluten free lemon curd cake

I stumbled upon this cake recipe on a thermomix recipe forum when looking for an easy cake my girls could make for my birthday in the thermomix.  It is so delicious, and so easy, I have made it three times in the last fortnight.  If you don't have a thermomix, you can still make this yummy cake, I discovered it was originally posted on this blog. 

Lemon curd cake

Cake mixture
150 grams gluten free SR Flour
60 grams butter
110 grams sugar
1 egg
Lemon curd
60 grams lemon juice
60 grams butter
110 grams sugar
1 egg
  

To make cake mixture, place all ingredients into TM bowl and beat for 30 seconds on speed 5. Remove from bowl and set aside.

To make lemon curd, place all ingredients into TM bowl and cook at 100 degrees for 5 minutes on speed 4.

Grease and line a round cake tin.
Spread half the cake mixture into the base of the tin [the cake mixture will be quite thick].
Pour lemon curd over cake mixture [the lemon curd mixture will be quite runny].
Dollop 1/2 teaspoonfuls of remaining cake mixture over the top of the lemon curd [sometimes I roll it into balls to make it 'neater'].
Bake at 180C for half an hour.
Eat warm or cold.