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Homemade Thrifty Party Bags and Tatty Teddy/Me to You Gift Tag Printable

By Helen | June 18, 2013 - 6:39 am | Crafts

For years now, I’ve been promising myself that I would do more homemade stuff for the girl’s parties. Every year I run out of time but this year I was determined.

I know I’ve harped on about Violet’s Tatty Teddy Cake on a previous post – the next step was party bags. I cannot abide the plastic tat that our house gets filled with, every time one of the girls comes home from a party. I feel so sad and rude, throwing away the plastic whistles, the bangles, you know the like. After all, someone has paid good money for all of it.

We were expecting an enormous 48 kids to the party, so I knew I would have to be thrifty about what I included. I wanted useful, and if not useful, then tasty.

Here’s what I came up with for the thrifty party bags:

* Homemade Tatty Teddy Cookie – I knew I wouldn’t have time nor the inclination to start cutting the cake up at the party so a cookie was a substitute. I already had cellophane bags and tons of ribbon scraps to decorate them with. Tutorial on How to make a Tatty Teddy Cookie/Cupcake coming soon.

* Chocolate/Strawberry straw – 5 for 39p from B&M. Stick the straw in a glass of milk, suck up and ta-da! You have chocolate or strawberry flavoured milk.

* Fun sized bars of chocolate – Bargain at B&M

* Haribo – Mega packs from the Pound Shop – bought a few weeks earlier when I had time to shop around.

* Glitter pencil – so cheap on Ebay

* Sherbert Straw – Again, miles cheaper on Ebay than in the shops.

There was supposed to be an eraser in the bag too, however these didn’t arrive until the day after the party and were microscopic in size. Anyone want 50 teeny rubbers?

For the bags themselves, I used brown paper bags with a handle. They did need some tarting up though, so I got creative. I’m no IT wizard but I am determined to get better. My Pinterest addiction is getting a tad out of control but it was the first place I went to for inspiration. I wanted a gift tag with a Tatty Teddy/Me to You theme but couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. So I made one!

I pasted a pic of a Tatty Teddy onto a white background and added to PicMonkey (another obsession!) I then added lettering at the bottom, thanking everyone for coming to Violet’s party. With there being so many kids coming, I had to let go of my dreams of making everything personalised. Then I sent the collage over to Costco after resizing to A4 size and asked for it to be printed as a matt photograph.

The next day, I picked up my gift tags. Chopped them with the guillotine and hole punched the corner. I cut 4 inch lengths of sparkly ribbon and attached around the bag handles.

If you are thinking of doing a Tatty Teddy gift tag, save yourself some work and download this one.

Giant Zesty Lemon Fondant Fancy: Clandestine Cakealong

By Helen | June 11, 2013 - 7:12 am | Aardvark Cakes, Baking, Cake, Cakes, Clandestine Cake-A-Long

12 Comments

I think I’ve found my new favourite cake (I’m also sure I’ve said this before!) No, seriously, I made a discovery yesterday that will change my ‘go-to’ cake whenever I have to take a cake somewhere.

The Lemon Fondant Fancy is one of those cakes that looks impossible to do but is really quite easy. It does help that the base cake is only 6″ square so when it comes to covering it, it isn’t too difficult to get neat.

I made the buttercream (for the bump) with more icing sugar than usual to make it extra hard. I was worried that with it being so hot at the moment, the weight of the covering might squash it down. But that didn’t happen.

I did cover the cake and the bump with marzipan before covering with the yellow fondant icing as I love the taste of marzipan and I wanted a really neat finish. I suppose if you didn’t like the taste of marzipan, a thicker covering of just fondant would do just as well.

The recipe is the brainwave of Jini Mulukutla, who I will try to have interviewed in the next few days. Jini’s recipe says to spread lemon curd in the centre of the cake and to stick the fondant down with the curd also. I was lucky enough to be sent some marmalades and jams from the lovely people at Mackays last month though, and wanted to see what would happen if I used marmalade instead. I thought that maybe it would be too tangy – I think I had convinced myself from being a child that marmalade was too bitter a taste. How wrong I was! It added just the perfect zesty taste. I am definitely going to be using marmalade as a substitute for spreading jam on a cake from now on. I also have another marmalade recipe coming up in a couple of days … watch this space!

We had some very tasty looking bakes from our last Cake-a-long – The Torta Columbina Cake.
Victoria Murray gave us this very neat example.

Source: Uploaded by user via Victoria on Pinterest

Rhonda Kirby gave hers a bit of bling with some purple sprinkles

Rhonda’s sparkly Torta Columbina

Katy Hough had so much more success with her sugar topping than I did.

Katy’s tasty looking Torta Columbina

And last but not least is Cassandra’s delicious looking bake. Cassandra forgot to put on her topping and sugar beads. I love this as that is just the sort of thing I do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to put a cake in the oven to find I’ve forgotten to add sugar or eggs!

Source: Uploaded by user via Cassandra on Pinterest

Our bake for the next fortnight (and I promise it will be a fortnight) is the Father’s Day Spiced Ale Cake. This is my lovely friend, Deb Connor’s cake and I’ve actually tasted this cake. Hope I can do it justice when I bake it for Dermot for Father’s Day this weekend. I will be back with the roundup and the next bake on Monday 24th June. Happy Baking!

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May Reads: Book Reviews

By Helen | June 9, 2013 - 11:06 pm | Book review

7 Comments

I started off so well in May, powering through 2 books within days and then … I got stuck! I had to happen sooner or later. Unfortunately the book that I got stuck on was a review book for an online book club so I felt duty bound to plod on.

Ancient Light: John Banville

Its always a bad sign when the blurb on the front of a book talks about ‘sadness and yearning’. Alarm bells should have started ringing that this might be a book full of words and not much action. A very brief description of the book is: 60 year old retired actor, Alexander Cleave reminices about an affair he had at the age of 15 with his best friend’s mum. Alexander is mourning the loss of his only child, a daughter, Cass. The story switches between present day, his involvement with a theatre production and 45 years ago, at the time of the affair.

It is very obvious from the start that John Banville loves language. I just felt that the book was very indulgent – he seemed to want to use as many obscure words as possible. He frequently went off on a tangent in a way that did not enhance the story at all to me.

There did not seem to be anything at all happening. I have just found out, however, that this is the third in a trilogy. I would surmise then, that the author expects us to have already read the first two. This would explain why the daughter’s death and Alexander’s relationship with his wife are not delved into more deeply in Ancient Light. Not sure I will be rushing to read the first 2 books to clear anything up though.

1 star out of 5 I’m afraid.

I read this book as part of the BritMums Book Club.

I will now happily be able to get back to reading And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini which I am completely in love with.

Other Books from the month of May are:

The Light Between Oceans: M.L. Stedman

This is a most beautiful book. Grabbed me from the very start. I love lighthouses but even if I didn’t, I would have still loved this book.

A couple live a very isolated life as lighthouse keepers on an island off the coast of Australia. After many years of trying for a baby, a boat is washed up containing the dead body of a man and a newborn live baby girl.

The author, M.L. Stedman is so clever in getting the reader to really care about the couple. I argued with myself so many times during reading the book about what I wanted to happen and what I thought should happen.

Even the end of the book (I don’t want to say too much about it and spoil it) was a joy. Everything was sewn up but it didn’t feel forced and it wasn’t how I expected it to end.

An incredibly easy 5 out of 5 stars – in fact I wish I could read it all over again for the first time.

Sealed With A Kiss – Rachael Lucas

I had seen links to this book all over Twitter and on impulse decided to download it. Rachael is prolific on Twitter and I am a reader of her blog. Pressure on then – what if I didn’t enjoy the book? No worries, I loved it! Set on a remote island of the coast of Scotland – its all been about remote islands this month , this is a true romantic read. I’ve not read any chick-lit for ages and this was a welcome return. Very enjoyable and a quick read.

4 out of 5 stars

So what have you been reading this month? Have you ever got stuck on a book (as opposed to getting stuck in a book!) Did you persevere or give up?

Megson: When I Was A Lad Folk Children’s Music CD Review

By Helen | June 8, 2013 - 12:15 am | Children, Product Review

How do you tell your child off?

By Helen | June 5, 2013 - 8:42 pm | Casa Costello, Children, Family, Parenting

3 Comments

I hate telling my children off. Really really hate it. Not just because it forces me to admit that sometimes they aren’t the little angels they try to convince me they are. Because I’m never quite sure if I’m doing it right.

Is there a right or wrong way to tell your child off? How do you know if you’ve got the tone right? I’m not talking about the times when it’s really serious and instinct just takes over and you really really need to let them know how serious something is. Like the time my 6yo decided to run into a main road after her ball. Still gives me shivers.

I’m talking about the incidents that you want them to know that they have done wrong, you are really peed off and brassed off that they have done it. I have girls that cry quite easily when they are told off. It always makes me wonder if I’ve overdone it when the tears arrive or whether that is just how they are.

I had an incident today when I really needed to show our 7yo how her behaviour must change. What she is doing isn’t terribly naughty but it isn’t doing her any favours. I had to try to tell her in front of her teacher. Oh the pressure! Do I blast her and make the teacher think I’m not to be messed with? Er no. Do I chicken out and say ill speak with her at home? Er no again, I wanted her to know both the teacher and I agree.

I have to admit I did chicken out a bit and threaten her with wait until I tell your Dad. That’s hilarious- he’s no more scary than me.

I thought I was doing fairly well and then the killer moment came. The little hand that slipped into mine and my heart melted.

So I’m none the wiser. Is shouting considered the correct way or are you losing control if you raise your voice?

If they promise never to do the act again, have you achieved what you set out do?

How do other parents do it? How do you know you are being serious enough? Where did you learn to discipline your children? They certainly never covered this in ante-natal classes!

Tatty Teddy/Me to You Birthday Cake: Cake of the Week and a rare family photo

By Helen | June 3, 2013 - 10:20 pm | Aardvark Cakes, Birthday Cake, Cake, Cake of the Week, Cakes, Children, Family, Violet

17 Comments

Please excuse the look and layout of the blog. It is sick. Very sick. A new flashy blog look will be up soon!

We had a lovely day yesterday. We held Violet’s 7th birthday party. We were brave and invited the whole class plus extra friend’s children. If everyone could have made it, we would have ended up with 55+ children but in the end, 40+ could come. (Still enough!)

As usual, time was of the essence this week. We only got back from being in London where Mil was at her last England Talent Squad, on Wednesday night. Obviously, I hadn’t started any party preparations or THE CAKE before we went – that would be far too sensible! So, all systems go and 2 very late nights, here’s what we ended up with.

A brave Dermot delivering the cake!

My instructions were to make a 3 tier cake with mostly chocolate cake and a Tatty Teddy theme. I saw the ribbon in John Lewis’ on Oxford Street earlier in the week and thought immediately of the cake. When I got it home, I discovered it was Washi Tape though but decided to go with it anyway. Think I just about got away with it, although the ribbon isn’t as neat as I normally prefer. It was pointed out that I had only made 6 stars (never thought to put 7!) and Violet told me this morning that I should have put ‘Violet IS 7′! What a failure as a mother

We took a moment at the end of the party to have our picture taken by our lovely friend, Cara. Amazingly, we are all looking the same way and smiling – what a professional!

Bat Out Of Hell: The best music for car journeys?

By Helen | May 25, 2013 - 10:28 am | Miscellaneous, Touring

2 Comments

I spend a LOT of time in the car. In addition to the every day mooching around, I take Millie from St Helens to Manchester 5 times per week for synchro training (between 25-35 miles depending on which pool). As a result our choice of music to listen to is very important. The rest of the time, I am normally accompanied by Tara – and everyone knows that a 2 year old gets the choice of what to listen to, don’t they?

Our synchro journeys are a chance to catch up on current affairs, find out what the rest of the world is up to and indulge my rather eclectic music tastes. I’m having a bit of an 80′s throwback at the moment with tunes from Human League & Phil Oakey featuring heavily. Millie think they are terrible!

Yesterday though I reckon I heard the ultimate car journey song played on Radio 2 (when did I turn into my mum?) Meal Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell. Fantastic and it goes on for ages. Does anyone else know all the words?

Carcraft are compiling a list of the top tunes to listen to whilst travelling – They want to know what your favourites are too. I’m thinking Bat Out Of Hell might just appear.

If you want to take part, here’s how:

Nominate your favourite driving song via a hashtag on Twitter (#carcraftsingalongs) or share a suggestion on our Facebook page.
Be part of our survey and nominate the songs you love
All the nominated entries will then be added to a list here on the Carcraft website and voting will be opened to find the overall favourite.
We hope to gather a list of sing along songs that make people drive happy!

This Wednesday, I’m travelling down to London and back in the same day with Derm (not the best date I agree) to collect Mil from England Talent Squad – Any suggestions of good toons will be gratefully received. We are likely to be in car for at least 8 HOURS!! Comment below otherwise he might make me listen to Coldplay *shudder*

This is a sponsored post however all declarations of bad music taste are my own! I also realise that I have shown my age in my choices

And for your enjoyment …

April Reads

By Helen | May 14, 2013 - 7:06 am | Book review

2 Comments

A much slower month for reading last month – I thought I was only going to finish one book which would have made for a really interesting review post I’m sure! Happily, I did manage to complete 3 books – I really must stop reading more than one book at a time – it really slows me down, dotting between the two (or more). Thats my resolution for this month anyhow!

Honour but Elif Shafak

I was sent this book as part of my involvement with the BritMums Book Club. I hadn’t heard of it previously (but since then, every shop I go in has got it staring me in the face). My first impression was that I loved the cover and couldn’t wait to get started. I was away for a few days in the caravan which always makes for perfect reading conditions – no internet or tv and exhausted kids that go to sleep early. Bliss! Right from the beginning I was hooked – I have talked her before about being interested in anything that involves twins, so this book was perfect for me.

The story of Turkish/Kurdish twins, Pembe and Esma. Pembe leaves her country to live in London with her husband and 3 children. The story concentrates on Iskender, the eldest son who is shortly to be released from prison, where he has been serving a sentence for an ‘Honour killing’. I don’t want to say too much about the story and spoil it, if you haven’t read it and intend to. You will really want to get to know the characters and get to the end of the story. The writing is wonderful, you get to see the situation from different points of view.

This is a book that has stayed with me throughout the month – I highly recommend it as a page turner but beware, other books might not seem quite so good afterwards!

A very rare 5 out of 5 for this one. (If you search for this book, you might also find it called Iskender from a previous title)

The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot

Every now and then, I will read a YA Novel. My 10yo had just finished reading this book and happened to mention that a boy in her class called it a ‘dirty book’. Now, I know the boy in question and am tempted to think that anything more adult than Biff, Chip & Kipper would be ‘dirty’ in his eyes, so wasn’t immediately alarmed. It did make me stop and think though – how much do I know what my child is reading and what age are the Princess Diaries aimed at?

I saw the Princess Diaries 2 film on Boxing Day this year and completely loved it and fell in love with Anne Hathaway (who need Les Mis?) The film was very mild so I wasn’t expecting anything naughty either.

I did find the language slightly more grown up that usual though – not in a rude way but a long words type of way. I do wonder how much of the book passed my daughter by.

The main character, Mia is 14 and finds out during the course of book 1 that she is actually a Princess – The Princess of Genovia. Its a pleasant story, Mia seems a nice girl – she falls out with her mate but of course in true teenage fiction style, they make up at the end. There is talk of bodily functions – testicular cancer, periods, infertility which leads me to think that perhaps 10 is slightly younger than the target audience. I’m thinking perhaps 13-14 is an ideal age for these books.

I have since started Princess Diaries: Take Two which starts off with talk of s*x (I’m not a prude – I just don’t want the spammers hitting my blog). I do want to know how Mia gets on with being a Princess though and so far, she hasn’t been anywhere near Genovia!

3 out of 5 (but I may be being a bit unfair as I am definitely older than the target audience!)

(Image courtesy of http://www.carolinesmailes.co.uk)

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton by Caroline Smailes

Oh this author is very clever! The talent of being able to use just a few words to really convince a reader that someone is truly horrific and creepy. Just incredible.

I was completely gripped at the start of the book. Lauren, a teenager goes to work in The Oracle, an old Edwardian baths where miracles are said to occur in the water.

I knew absolutely nothing about the book and that there is a twist on what I was expecting as I went through the story. All I knew was, I really enjoyed Caroline Smailes’ last book, Like Bees To Honey.

This was a complete change from the type of book I would usually read – I’m strictly a realistic fiction type of girl and this story stretched me. I needed to continue though, the writing was just too good to stop once I realised what the book was about (Yep, you guessed it, I’m not going to tell you) – I really enjoyed the end. My questions were answered but not in a way that I felt everything was being sewn up for the sake of it.

Throughout the book, there are passages about constant heavy rain – It has been a rainy sort of week here. Every time I get soaked or look out of the window, I’m drawn back to the book. Sure sign of a good writer.

4 out of 5 – I reckon this would be a brilliant book to be discussed at a book group. The characters are so strong that people would be likely to have strong views and plenty to discuss.

In other news, Violet and I are reaching the end of the 3rd Wishing Chair adventures book – I’ve loved how we snuggle down to have a chapter and we have sometimes enjoyed ourselves that much, that we have read 2 a night. No mean feat when you have already done 2 school reading books a night too! Next on her list is the Magic Faraway Tree. I’d like her to go for Malory Towers or St Clare’s but she is adamant.

Millie has also discovered a love for reading (just in time for SATS!) I’ve been scouring the internet for recommended authors for a 10yo and discovered Cathy Cassidy. I ordered Cherry Crush (book 1 in the Chocolate Girls series) and I swear I have never known Millie be so obsessed about a book. Book 2 and 3 are on order as an end of SATS treat – I hope they are here by Friday! Highly recommended and the lead character’s name is Costello!

Scooby Doo Cake – Cake of the Week

By Helen | May 13, 2013 - 10:14 pm | Aardvark Cakes, Birthday Cake, Cake, Cake of the Week, Cakes, Children's Cakes

2 Comments

Why did no-one tell me about the joys of plastic figures earlier? I spent years of my life that I will never get back making teeny sugar figures and now I discover how brilliant pre bought figurines are.

I temporarily came out of retirement to make little Hugo’s cake – He’s special enough to me that it was worth it! Actually I really enjoyed having a potter and Cara (Hugo’s mum) is a dream to cake for (its a verb you know!) – She gives me complete freedom and even went and bought the figures to put on the cake.

Cake purists among you are probably shouting at the screen about a non-edible medium being used – Sterilise the figures with alcohol (vodka or gin). It will evaporate. Also if you are using sugarpaste to stick the figure to the cake, the blob with come off on the feet of the character so the plastic won’t ever touch the cake.

I think I may start the odd session of pottering about with marzipan/sugarpaste but am definitely not about to start the business up again. The thought of taking orders and being responsible for wedding cakes still makes me quiver slightly. Could be something to do with how busy I am being Mum’s taxi.

For info, the Scooby Doo Characters are currently £6.99 at B&M – now try to convince me that homemade sugar figures are better!

Hope you like! What has everyone else been up to this week? Had a creative week? Feel free to show off your creations by adding to the linky below.

A Prayer for Madeleine – 6 years on

By Helen | May 12, 2013 - 9:00 am | Children, Miscellaneous, Parenting

2 Comments

Today I will be saying a prayer. I won’t be alone in saying a prayer – I’m hoping that all around the world, people will be praying and hoping for the safe return of a very special little girl.

A little girl who turns 10 today and that 6 horrible years ago went missing whilst on holiday in Portugal. A beautiful little girl that should be with her family now, should be in year 5 of school enjoying being one of the biggest in the school, should be enjoying teaching her little sister and brother about what is cool (and what isn’t).

I’m sure there’s not a mother alive, who knows about Madeleine, that doesn’t wish as much as I do, that she is found safe and sound and returned to her family. What that family continue to go through is just unimaginable. 2 year ago, I went to a mass at my local church where Madeleine’s grandparents talked about her and the family – It would take a heartless soul not to be affected by how much she is missed.

The case of the 3 women found in America this week must give hope that this can still be possible.

There’s a huge community of bloggers who are uniting today to keep Madeleine in everyone’s minds and prayers. On Madeleine’s 10th birthday, we are trying to do everything possible to refresh people to keep their eyes open and spread the word that Madeleine is still missing.

There is so much we can do:

Put the campaign posters up – in the backs of cars, in shops, in workplaces
Use the bookmarks – if you lose bookmarks as often as I do, it might just be the time that the right person picks it up.
Use luggage tags – We must keep people in every country looking for her
Keep talking about Madeleine – tell our children, be on the lookout
Keep RTing, forwarding information on, share FB posts to keep her in the news
Keep up to date with news about Madeleine and the campaign – I follow the Official Find Madeleine Campaign on Facebook which is updated regularly by her family.
Keep saying your prayers – whoever you pray to, whatever faith you are – it can’t do any harm but can do so much good.