Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep

"Last night, I heard my mama singing a song, 
Ooh-we, chirpy, chirpy, cheep, cheep"....oh 70s music hey!

Well meet my little chirpy chirpy birdie.  I've been playing around with this idea in my head and on paper for a while but hadn't got around to making it until now.

I'm planning on making this little birdie some friends.  I think a sunny lemon yellow canary bird would be very cheery.  

I have a stack of twigs collected from our garden just waiting to have little birdies perched on them.

I'm not sure this little birdie is singing "chirpy chirpy cheep cheep"....she looks rather sleepy.

And just in case you were wondering...Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep was a number one hit for Middle of the Road in 1971 and sold over 10 million copies world wide..."Where's your mama gone? Where's you mama gone?....."

Milkshake Cupcakes

Miss E and I hit the kitchen yesterday after discovering a recipe for Strawberry Milkshake Cakes.  It uses milkshake powder in the cake and the icing.

The flavour in the cake is lovely and delicate but there is nothing subtle about the flavour of the icing.  It's definitely a strawberry milkshake flavour than a true strawberry flavour.

 They were fun to make and decked with little straws were a real hit with Miss M when she came home from school.

Ribbon Tangle

I've been sorting out again and I'm slowly taking over this set of shelves above the desk we set up mainly for Mr A for the days when he works from home.  I think he has a few items in one of the filing boxes on the top shelf but quite frankly his work stuff just isn't pretty enough to warrant being out.

I've had these square boxes for years now and have various treasures inside such as beads, sequins, glue guns, spare sewing needles and they keep things looking neat and tidy....well that is until you open the lid and peer inside.....

....and find tangled ribbons, knotted cords, unravelled bias tape amongst the paper bags, plastic bags and bits of card which once upon a time, long ago kept everything in order.

Some ribbon is still on it's original spool or card but many bits have been picked up at markets or by the metre or just recycled from other things like tags and wrappings and thrown in...and what a mess it was until.....

.....I came across this idea at sherbetblossom.com , storing ribbon on clothes pegs.  Perfect! And don't they just look so pretty...I want to draw little faces on each one now to go with their ribbon outfits...I might just do that although I need a lot more clothes pegs to finish the job so maybe I should just focus on that first!

Strawberries and Cream

Outside on Friday  the weather was doing this...the wind and rain were really battering my tulips...but inside.....

....we were enjoying a very summery treat and pretending it's all blue skies, fluffy white clouds and warm sunshine....it's Strawberries and Cream Fairy Cake time...delicious.

What you can't see from these photos is that underneath the vanilla butter cream is a hidden spoonful of yummy strawberry jam nestled into the sponge...a little hidden surprise!

Lovely fairy cakes ready for me to add the sliced strawberries just before serving. 

 

 

These cakes did have strawberries on them but by the time I had my camera ready they had been picked off and eaten....I think Miss M is just popping the last slice into her mouth on the top left photo!!  Miss E is digging down through the cream to find the hidden surprise!

And yes I did have one later as well but didn't feel the need to photo the event!  My fabulous friend Tiff and I enjoyed one at our Friday "teaclub" washed down with a glass of champagne.  Happy days!

Buttons and Jam

Miss M loves going through my stash of buttons and sorting them by colour, so she was over the moon when I said I wanted to colour sort them all out...and what a great job she did too.

 I've been saving Bonne Maman jam jars for a while especially for this purpose and I adore how they look on my shelf....a rainbow of buttons making me feel very organised even if other areas of my stuff aren't quite so sorted!

Miss E is the big jam eater in our house so on one hand I was very pleased when I realised I had 11 Bonne Maman jam jars but on the other hand slightly concerned that she's eaten 11 jars of strawberry jam!!  Mind you I guess I do use it in baking as well so that must count for a jar or two at least!

Baked Dougnuts

I've been planning on baking baked doughnuts before but never really thought that I could just bake them in normal standard muffin tins.....that is until now!  What a revelation it has been!  They are delicious even if I say so myself, filled with scrummy strawberry jam.  

I found the recipe here but made a small alteration and used Rachel's Organic Low Fat Vanilla Yoghurt instead of the one mentioned in the recipe simply because it was what I had in the fridge...no other reason...but once I've decided I want to bake something I want to do it now, not after I've checked the ingredients and been to the shops!

The shape is obviously a bit different from your traditional round fried doughnut but the taste and texture is very similar....and they are much easier to make....no having to deal with hot oil which I'm very happy about.  

I'd love to say they are a healthier version too as they aren't fried but let's face it, they are still doughnuts and nobody chooses a doughnut if they're trying to be healthy....but they are yummy....and tomorrow is a running day for me....so I think I might just have another one....shhhhhh.....don't tell!!

You're invited to a tea party....

 What's on the menu?  Well tea of  course, biscuits and some rather delicious looking ice-cream.

Who's the hostess?  Well that would be Miss E but she does have two other chosen guests, Elephant who is hiding behind his napkin and Baby Freddie who you will meet shortly.

 

What is the dress code? Fairy dresses and new fancy dressing up shoes teamed with fabulous stripy tights.

 


What else is happening at this picnic?  Well there will be a story and as Baby Freddie has been such a good boy, he can sit on Miss E's knee. 

Even big sis Miss M dropped in to have a pink biscuit.

Miss E asked me to make her a tablecloth for her picnic set and we chose this fabric from my stash and thought we ought to make some napkins too for sticky paws!