Floral Festivities

Little Miss Giggleberry is turning 10 this year! Double Digits!! A decade of life - done! That deserves a special celebration for sure.
About 18months ago I spotted, via a friends social media, a party idea I knew my girl would love. Something a little more unique than all the other parties going around, something creative, colourful and fun - my girl all over.
We used some stunning custom handmade paper flowers made by Sand Paper Designs as invites by adding a cardboard leaf with party details on it. Lots of fun to hand out to friends and a special something each guest can keep for a long time to come.

Yesterday was party day and Floral Expressions in the Hills District of Sydney made it a day to remember! I had it all booked via a phone call a few weeks back with ease and from the minute we pulled up in the carpark yesterday to a 'Happy Birthday Milla' sign and balloons on the front door the afternoon was FAB!

When I booked the party I was asked what Milla's favourite colour was - Yellow - and that set the colour scheme for the party. Floral Expressions had yellow helium balloons, chair wraps with yellow flowers attached, yellow centre pieces on the activity table and other yellow decorations around the gorgeous florist shop. I was able to take along some goodies, treats and cake to finish off the party set up.

Once all the guests arrived the creating began. The girls were seated around a table in the middle of the shop and handed a plate of yellow and white flowers and a headband each. One of the gorgeous staff then gave the girls a quick tutorial on how to make a flower headband/crown before the girls got making. So much fun and the girls all did a great job creating a unique crown each with extra help for those who were struggling a bit. Each girl was rather proud of their creation and wore them proudly as soon as they were complete.

The girls had a little break after they had made their crowns and had snacks. A game of pass the parcel, that was all organised and supplied by Floral Expressions, as well as a couple of games of Simon Says and Musical Bop (basically Musical Statues) to get the wriggles out.
The girls were then sat back down at the table and had a quick few moments of being taught some floral facts... Did you know the worlds largest flower wouldn't even fit in the doorway of Floral Expressions? and it smells terrible apparently. See, even I learnt something new!
Next up was time to make a flower arrangement each. The girls were given a fresh plate of yellow and white flowers each and a little box with florist foam in it. Again the lovely staff gave quick instructions on how to start their arrangements then they were given free reign to create a masterpiece each but the staff were there to help if needed. Its so lovely to watch the girls concentrate on their creation and each one was completely different.

Before we knew it the 2hrs were up and it was time to sing happy birthday, cut the cake and take a few group shots of the girls and their creations. Such a fun afternoon!!

We handed out a small favour bag to each guest - nothing huge as they already had a flower crown and posy to take home. Each girl got a small bag (I added the yellow paper flowers to tie it back to the theme) with a pack of Sunflower seeds, a little cactus eraser, some mint leaf lollies, a yellow lollipop and a yellow hairbow handmade by the birthday girl (LMG Bows) herself.

THANK YOU Floral Expressions for a wonderful, unique and fun party for my girl and her friends. I will be recommending you guys to anyone and everyone!

Halloween Hair...... Boo!

Halloween fell on a working week day for me this year so the morning was a busy one getting school lunches and uniforms sorted as well as myself looking half human for a day of work. Then Little Miss Giggleberry asked me, “what Halloween hairstyle are we going to do this year?” - eeeek! I hadn’t even thought about it to be honest!
A quick think and dig through my sewing room and I came up with a ghost idea...... (similar to a Christmas tree hairstyle we did a few years ago for the festive season).
A half up half down pony tail then two braids down the sides of Little Miss Giggleberry’s hair to start. Then I thread some white silky ribbon between and through the braids to make a triangle type shape on the back of her head. I just used a Bobbie pin at the beginning and end of the ribbon to tuck them out of sight. Then I used a little dab of hot glue to attach two large googled eyes to the ribbon and finished it off with a orange Halloween bow that we have had for a few years! Done!!

Minecraft Easter Hat Parade

This year was the last year my babies (soooo not babies anymore but I can dream) had an Easter hat parade to be a part of. At the Jnr Giggleberry's school they only do a hat parade up to a certain grade so Little Miss Giggleberry has finished and Master Giggleberry's final year was this year.
With that being the case I let him have free reign of choice for what to have on his head...... we hit Pinterest together and he spotted a Minecraft inspired one and exclaimed "YES". Decision made.
I purchased a Minecraft Creeper head (I probs could have made one but, ugh, too hard) and then added green cardboard ears and white cardboard teeth to turn it into a Creeper bunny.
Master Giggleberry and I then painted some foam easter craft eggs together. Then, using electrical tape of all colours we cut tiny squares and turned each painted egg into a Minecraft animal/character/TNT.The hot glue gun then got busy to attach them to the Creeper bunny..... TaDah!

One much loved hat by my boy, his mates and teachers.... too fun!

Crazy Sock Day!

Surely you know by now I LOVE to get my craft on when my kiddies bring home a note from school announcing a special event day like Book Week or Crazy Hair Day. Well I recently pulled out the trusty hot glue gun again. This time for Crazy Sock Day!
The kids wanted their socks to kinda match.... hmmmmmmmm sure. I popped over to Pinterest, found some inspiration and got cutting!

Felt is a great material to use for this kind of stuff. Fab colour choices, doesn't fray when cut and is relatively cheap.
I cut everything out by hand and just eyeballed it for size against the kids socks. Dosen't have to be perfect for one day of fun!!

The kids loved them and they got lots of giggles as they walked into school.... not too much popcorn came home again though LOL

Little Miss Giggleberry Bows

Bows, bows, bows! My clever little crafter has been a busy making and selling some rather sweet little hair bows!
Introducing Little Miss Giggleberry Bows - or LMG Bows as she prefers.

It started with a little playing and thinking during the school holidays about what she could do that is crafty and maybe she could sell to earn some spending money. W e chatted about it all and got to thinking about what thinks she likes herself and hair accessories was high on her list. We popped over to YouTube for some tutorials to find a style of bow Little Miss Giggleberry could make mostly by herself and found one in no time.
As the making began, firstly with scraps from my craft room, I had a "mummy lightbulb moment"!! I would help my girl promote and sell her bows on the deal that the profits made from them went towards her Irish Dancing expenses (little pat on the mummy back for that one ;P). Little Miss Giggleberry adores her Irish Dancing but WOWZA its a money muncher.... lesson fees, dance comps, shoes, interstate competitions later in the year and the big one - "The" Dress.

So, as I was saying, Bows, bows, bows! There has been oodles of back to school bows made and sold to match school uniforms, fun and fabulous bows for friends and family, bows made in particular favorited colours just because, some X-Large bows for the wow factor and even some bulk orders for dance schools!

She is having a ball with each and every order... there has even been chatter about a market stall!

If you or someone you know would like one two or a bucket load of bows please pop us and email at giggleberrycreations(at)gmail(dot)com with what you are after and we would be more than happy to help you out.

Irish Dancer Cookies and Surprise Cake

Little Miss Giggleberry turned 9 (yes NINE!!) on Tuesday. Birthdays are always fun and we make a big deal out of them in the Giggleberry household. There is always lots of anticipation and excitement leading up to the day. This year Little Miss Giggleberry didn't have a party so there was no real 'theme' to her birthday. I had her permission to choose what style cake and goodies I would make to share with her schoolmates.
I little ponder a few weeks back and I realised her birthday actually fell on a dance practice day as well as a few of her gifts were Irish dance themed so an Irish Dance theme was picked and I straight away ordered a cookie cutter from Irish Dance Diva that is the shape of a solo dress ready for a baking marathon.

I started with the cookies (mainly because these can be made way ahead of time and frozen). I made 67 cookies!!! As half were to go to school and half were to be shared with Little Miss Giggleberry's dance buddies.
Once the cookies were cut, baked and cooled. I packaged them up and froze them for 24 hrs. It makes decorating them allot easier as they aren't so delicate. Working with 5-10 at a time I rolled out fondant, in the three colours requested by the birthday girl, and attached it to the cookies with a little sugar water. I then had lots of fun imprinting patterns and cachous onto the little dresses for some fun detail. This was my first time playing with fondant on cookies but I was pleased with the result and will absolutely be using it again.

Little Miss Giggleberry was thrilled to take these to school and dancing class to share with all her special friends.

Then onto the cake! I kept this a surprise, for a few reasons. 1) Surprises are fun. 2) The inside of the cake being a surprise would be ruined if she knew before hand and 3) If I completely stuffed it up she would never know any different!
With a basic butter cake mixture all prepared and divided into three. I used the three colours the birthday girl had chosen for her cookies and coloured it. Then one heaped spoonful at a time I scooped it into the prepared loaf tin and baked it as per usual.

Once it was baked and 100% cooled I sliced it up like a loaf of bread then froze the pieces in a sealed container overnight.

The next day I prepared another butter cake mix then set it aside for a moment while I prepare the already sliced cake. While the slices are still frozen cut out the shape (you can honestly use whatever cookie cutter shape you want - think Christmas tree for the festive season, pumpkin for Halloween, blue or pink star or heart for baby gender reveal. the possibilities are endless) from each slice and discard the off cuts. The below photo is of the 'dress slices' all stacked up on each other.

Alrighty, now grab the greased and floured cake tin and scoop in about 1/3 of the butter cake mixture and smooth out. Then one by one place the cut out shapes into the mixture so they are standing up in a row touching one another.

Gently cover the shapes with the rest of the butter cake mixture and tap the tin lightly to try to remove any air bubbles. Bake the cake as usual in the oven.
Now the trickiest thing about this cake, especially when this was the first one I had attempted, is that you kinda have no idea if it has worked until the cake is sliced! So I crossed my fingers and just kept on.
Once completely cooled I iced the cake with some white icing and a heavy sprinkling of cachous. Added some candles and crossed my fingers it had worked.

After our family dinner we sang Happy Birthday, Little Miss Giggleberry blew out the candles and I handed her the knife to slice away.....
IT WORKED!!!

I was so glad and the GASP that came from the birthday girl herself when she saw the dress inside the cake was worth all the extra fuss!!

Super Heros of every kind...

Super Heros. We all know them and we all have our favs.... Who's your pick?

Captain America?

Batman?

Buzz Lightyear?

Spiderman?

One of the many heroes from Star Wars?? (My fav has to be BB-8 for sure)

Or to be safe how about a combo of them?

Custom orders available to suit your favourite! giggleberrycreations(at)gmail(dot)com