Media - Woman's Day magazine

Purely by the kindness of Alison from Sophie & Jack Designs (thank you lovely) I discovered that Giggleberry Creations bunting is in this weeks Woman's Day magazine.

A lovely surprise indeed! On pages 86-87 the Strawberries and Cream bunting is pictured among a few other gorgeous handmade items in an article all about online selling of handmade goodies.

I popped into my local newsagent this morning to grab a copy on the way home from the school run - Yay!

Chocolate Bar Chocolate 'Cake'

Is special someone having a birthday? or has an achievement/milestone been reached? or were you thinking of making/buying someone something 'just because'?
Forget baking them a cake and forget buying them a boring box of chocolates. How about you give them the best of both worlds and make a Chocolate 'Cake'....

This beauty is so simple to make but so much fun to give!!
YOU WILL NEED:
NOTE - this is for a two tiered cake. You can make it 1 teir or as many as you like you will just need to add/minus another tin and more chocolates.
2x biscuit or cake tins in two different sizes.
scissors
hot glue gun
double sided sticky tape
chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates (you just need to make sure they are at least the same height as your tins if not taller)
ribbon
Cake board or piece of sturdy cardboard
Clear cellphone
Number candles if desired

1) Hot glue the largest biscuit tin upside down to the cake board.
2) Hot glue the smaller biscuit tin upside down to the first biscuit tin.
3) Using your double sided tape start to stick your selection of chocolates around the tins. (You can do this in a pattern for symmetry or use all red chocolate bars for example to match a theme etc)
4) Tie a length of ribbon around the entire circle of chocolates tight. This will secure them much stronger than just the double sided tape alone.
5) Place the candle numbers or centrepiece of your choice to the top using the glue gun.
6) Surround the numbers with more chocolates to cover the top of the tin. These can lye there loose or can be stuck with the double sided sticky tape.
7) Wrap the whole thing in clear cellophane and tie with a bow.
8) Give this bad boy to it's recipient and get ready for a huge hug and maaaaaybe they might even share ;)

I can see one of these being a great centre piece for a dessert table, or the perfect thing to take to a girls weekend away and even a wonderful teacher gift!
Enjoy xx

Media: Shop 4 Kids

It's always a treat to spot my Giggleberry Creations buntings in print - how can you help but smile to see something you made with your own hands being shared with others?!?

The latest Shop 4 Kids Magazine went on sale yesterday. It's the 2013 Autumn/winter edition and you'll find some Giggleberry Rainbow Bunting on page 124 as part of the 'We Like to Party' feature.

I LOVE this mag no matter if my products are in it or not and have had a quick flick through the pages once already but plan to pour myself a cup of green tea and sit in my comfy armchair in just a moment and read it from cover to cover again!!

Burger Birthday Cake!

It's no secret around here that I like a good excuse to make a fun cake. So with hubby's birthday last wednesday I let the kids choose what type of cake he should have and was thrilled with their choice... a Cheeseburger Cake!!

This cake is rather simple to put together for such a funky finished product.
You will need:
1 round butter cake
1 brownie mixture made into one large round brownie (NOTE use the same round tin as you did for the butter cake)
1 packet of Jolly Rancher lollies (you need the red and green ones)
1 packet of Starburst Fruit Chews (you need the yellow ones)
Pine nuts
Butter icing coloured light brown (mix red and blue colouring until desired colour is achevied OR use a tiny amount of Wiltons brown gel colouring)

Slice the butter cake right through the middle with a serrated knife top create the burger buns. Place the bottom 'bun' on your cake plate with a tiny bit of icing between the cake and plate so it doesn't slip around. Place the large round brownie 'meat pattie' ontop of the bottom 'bun'. Then on goes the top of the butter cake as the top burger bun - you should now have one pretty basic looking 'burger'.
With your icing coat the top cake and try to smooth it as much as possible to look like a burger bun. Next up is the fun part - the tomato, lettuce and cheese! With the red and green Jolly Ranchers and the yellow Starburst chews you need to roll them flat with a rolling pin or squish them out with your fingers (warning this can become sticky!). Once they are rolled out flat-ish you will need to shape them a little. With the red ones make them a little round like a slice of tomato. The yellow ones can be cut into triangles to create slices of cheese and the green ones just need to be wrinkled up a bit to look like lettuce leaves. Now have fun just poking the little bits and pieces into the cake between the 'meat' and the top burger 'bun' like in my pictures.
Last, but not least, sprinkle a handful of the pine nuts ontop of the cake to create sesame seeds on your bun - simple!

Now pop it in the fridge and have a little giggle about the size of the 'Burger' next to the rest of your groceries!

This was lots of fun to make and Master Giggleberry loved helping me (and snacking on the left over Starburst chews). We poked a few sparklers in the top & sang happy birthday for hubby after dinner that night and couldn't help snapping a few fun pics after we had all had a slice.

Add this one to your cake 'To Do List' - you won't regret it... too much fun!

My girls first day of school!

A much anticipated day - Milla's first day at Big School was a complete success. She had a ball!!
Amazingly, even with all her excitement, Milla managed to fall asleep relatively fast on Sunday night but before I headed off to bed for the night I spotted a little something in the kitchen. It seems our fairies had been listening to all our talk of big school and had decided to leave Milla something special...

Milla spotted it early on Monday morning and through a fit of excited giggles packed her school hat, jacket and lunch box in her new bag!

After breakfast we of course had to have the first day of school pics in her nice new uniform.

Just like when I started at the same school in the almost same uniform all those years ago!

There were two moments when I very, very nearly shed a tear. Watching Milla walk through the gates hand in hand with her daddy was the first one!

The other was listening to the principal talk to us in the school hall about how they promised to take care of our babies!

But I managed to hold it together. Just.
Milla was completely happy to head to her classroom and start her day. So with one more happy snap and a kiss goodbye from us she was off!

Sooooooo proud!!