bookweek 2021

it's bookweek time!!!!! i absolutely loved seeing these two dressed up and ready to go out the door yesterday and i was low key squealing on the inside a little when i saw maddie in her costume that i made myself. 

joseph however is my hero of the day - as when i asked him what he wanted to be, he went and got his iron man costume out of the wardrobe and his helmet out of the toybox and threw it at me. yessss son. no more sewing for mum.

what a cutie! 

he was so happy in his costume and it really showed, he couldn't wait to get to school and show it off

❤

costume looking a little creepy set out the night before

but not as creepy as this. i nearly died laughing when i saw how this shot looked on my camera roll. i snapped it after school when he got out of the car and slumped on my bonnet.

maddie was thrilled beyond words with her costume. she kept saying how much she loved it which made me so happy.

complete with her mermaid crown, left over jewels i bought for dancing concerts years ago (they were too big!) and seahorse earrings from pip and pepper.

and we even chalked her hair in some cute pastel shades for that extra mermaid vibe.

seriously, look how chuffed she is!

i think this mum did okay this year huh? ❤

mermaid costume making

bookweek is on monday and madeline has decided she wants to be a mermaid. inspired by the shell crown my mum made her to wear to her mermaid party last year, that was what she decided it needed to be this year, so she could wear it again. so. this mum got to work.

inspired by this shirt i found online, i bought iridescent iron on vinyl patches from spotlight, traced and cut a pattern from tracing my computer screen and proceeded to cut each individual piece out, one by one. shoot me now, that's never happening again. 

but it worked and oh did it work, so it was totally worth it of course.

see, piece by piece, not fun. 

i ironed each one with a tea towel over the top to prevent it melting, but i think it was just sheer luck it worked out.

the skirt was very much inspired by this skirt my friend made for her daughter years ago for a costume day at their school, i had to search back for ages on her facebook but finally found it and just guessed and kind of winged it to make it the right shape.

which also miraculously worked, so maybe i am finally nailing this barbara junior gig hahaha. i can vouch though, the famous fork pleating video online works an absolute treat - cause that is how i managed to get this fishtail skirt to sit so nicely. 

she is so thrilled and i am chuffed, she can't wait to show it off at bookweek and keeps bragging to everyone that i made her costume. well, yes i did, so i guess i can be a little bit proud of myself too! ❤

 

mermaideline is nine

today our bombshell of a little girl turned nine and i can't even believe it. she is so funny, loves to make jokes and laugh with her brothers and dances alllll the damn time.

soooo happy birthday to my teeny best friend. so grateful that you joined us all those years ago,to put me in my place and make sure that all those annoying things i did as a kid are being done back to me. i love you more than i ever thought was possible and miss you like crazy when you're not around. keep dancing your way through life.

madeline currently lives for mermaids so we organised a mermaid party for her. i can't decide whether it was crazy or the best thing ever to have it on her actual birthday.

at her request, we had a magical cave in the theatre room made with pastel "seaweed" fronds by dad before everyone arrived. it was her favourite bit of her moana party a few years ago so she asked us to do it again.

her dress and crown were made by nanna and i was so impressed. she never, ever disappoints.

and this incredddddddible cake was made by aunty jenny. i am constantly amazed at her talent. i gave her a few rough ideas of what we liked and she nailed it with this beauty. madeline loved it and said it was "the best cake ever"

how on earth do you entertain 12 little girls? (cousin emma was yet to arrive in this photo)

jewellery making! we got mermaid coloured beads from our local art store and some pieces of shell and got to work.

the girls made some gorgeous necklaces and i heard from some of the mums later how much they loved making them. it was awesome to give them something to take home that would last too!

my absolute favourite bit of the party though was having my friend jess there to be our face painter. oh my gosh she is amazing. she came along with a bunch of sea and mermaid options which the girls loved! she is an absolute treasure, so clever at everything arty she does and really made the party complete.

i mean seriously! look. at. this!

mads with her friends emily and ella from school. all done up by jess.

we did our usual and had plenty of food on hand for the girls to snack on, ending with the cake. 

happy birthday miss madeline!

i hope all your wishes come true.

she could not wait to cut into it, but was more than happy to leave it for me to cut up. it worked out so well, they all wanted to go and play at the park with about 15 minutes to go, so off they all ran and i bagged up pieces of cake to send home with them. will totally be remembering that for next time, no pieces of cake being found around the house afterwards. 

last but not least, we had these epic mermaid cookies for the girls to take home, also courtesy of aunty jenny. so lucky to have a best friend like her. 

mum and dad with the birthday girl.

and a family selfie before bed. we love you maddie! we hope your birthday was amazing. ❤

shell crown - mermaid party prep

in just a few days madeline will be turning nine and we have an amazing mermaid themed birthday party planned. a week or so ago i suddenly decided she needed a seashell crown and mentioned it to my mum, wondering if perhaps she would be able to make one. well. was there ever any doubt? she turns up with this, ready to go. what a champion.

i did make one slight modification, by adding this starfish to the front, only to make it stand out more... but it is amazing. i seriously can't believe she just whipped it up!

miss madeline is completely thrilled and is counting the days until she gets to wear it. babs, you've done it again!

a mermaid cake!

i have a friend who has 7 children. i admire her so much and am constantly in awe of her ability to handle it all and still stay sane. her eldest is a beautiful red haired girl, full of smiles, but so quiet (around me anyway, i have no idea if she's like that all the time!) i absolutely love her and when i found out her birthday was coming up, i decided i was going to make her cake. she adores mermaids, so it was easy enough to think of a theme... especially after i found a mermaid tail chocolate mould and mini shell moulds on ebay. 

i totally cheated and used the greens white chocolate mud cake mix, then split each box to be five different colours, cooked into two cakes...

and some sort of a marbled rainbow. the tail and shells were simply melted and then reset white chocolate... and the shards had rainbow pearls from the coles bakery aisle sprinkled onto them before they set... and then cut into pieces with a knife. easy as pie!

i had reports of it tasting great, so i guess that's a success... i'm just proud it worked! yay for finally getting somewhere with this cake making thing haha.