Wow - Giggleberry made the launch issue!!!

Through the wonderful world of Twitter I have 'met' so many wonderful people, one of those people is Katy Martin who is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the stunning Eco-Beautiful Weddings® Online Magazine & Blog.


Katy asked me a little while back if I would be interested in making some Giggleberry bunting banners from eco friendly fabrics to be a part of the launch issue of Eco-Beautiful Weddings® Online Magazine. Of course I was thrilled to be asked and jumped at such an amazing opportunity!!
After a little search I found some gorgeous 55% Hemp/45% Organic Cotton fabric from I Just Love That Fabric. This fabulous fabric is hand printed with non toxic ink and is designed and printed by Thea & Sami in Australia.


I'm VERY excited to share with you that the launch issue went 'live' today, and yes, Giggleberry made the issue!! Click HERE to take a look at this beautiful magazine... We are proudly on page 20!!

Magic Reindeer Food!

I LOVE this idea, so fun and simple - and very important if you want to make sure those reindeers pulling Santa's sleigh don't miss your house!
You Will Need:
Small jar, container or sealable gift bag
Cardboard tags
Rolled oats
White sugar
Red food colouring
Green food colouring

Using a fork mix a small amount of white sugar with 2 or three drops of the green food colouring until all the sugar is coloured and there are no lumps. Next do the same with a second small amount of white sugar and the red food colouring. Combine both coloured sugars together with a cup or so of the rolled oats.


Divide the 'reindeer food' between your jars and seal them. I then added a small scrap of Christmas themed fabric over the top of the lid purely for decorative purposes.


Print out small tags with the following poem and attach to the jars with a ribbon.
Make a wish and close your eyes tight,
Then sprinkle it on your lawn tonight.
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
This food will guide them to your home!


we have made little jars for all our cousin's, neighbors kids & friends - Have fun!

Customer Feedback Photos

Remember the excitement around going to a friends birthday party when you were a child? you'd wear you favorite outfit, do your hair all pretty, have the gift wrapped and ready then eagerly you would jump in the car ready for your mum or dad to drive you to your friends house.
I remember keenly watching out the car window for the balloons that would always be tied to the letterbox or front fence of the party house. So when I saw that Carley of Vanilla Pixie had used her custom ordered Circus Carnival bunting banners instead of the bundle of balloons to show guests of her daughters 5th birthday party where the festivities were I was so excited!!


I love this idea!! And a Giggleberry bunting banner can be reused for each party too - Perfect!!

FREE SHIPPING ON ALL BUNTING BANNERS!

I just can't help myself, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas!! I love all the fun parties, I love all the yummy food, I love getting together with family and friends and most of all I absolutely LOVE watching everyone open their gifts! So here is a little Christmas gift from Giggleberry to you - FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING!


All the bunting banners listed in the shop HERE have FREE SHIPPING and are ready to go as soon as you make your purchase - Yay!
Take advantage of the awesome offer while there is still time for your bunting banner to make it to you for Christmas!
What about a babushka doll set, a vintage cowboy set, a gorgeous and bright set made with Heather Bailey fabrics, a blue and white pirate skully set, or even a red white and green set to help decorate your home for the Christmas season? So many to choose from you could get the rest of you gift buying list all crossed off!
Be quick to grab your favorite!

Christmas Cookies In A Jar!

This is a fun and yummy Christmas gift that is the perfect answer to those gifts for teachers, neighbors, mothers group friends, babysitters... they are even just a great thing to have in your own cupboard to pull out and keep the kids entertained in the school holidays!
I originally saw the idea on Bakerella and loved it so much I bookmarked it months ago with the plan to use red and green M&M's and make them for Christmas but you could use any colour combination of M&M's or Smarties and use them for all kids of occasions like blue or pink for baby shower gifts, rainbow colours for party favors, orange black and white for Halloween, green for St Patrick's day... the possibilities are endless!

You will need:
Glass jar (the jar in the photo is from Spotlight)
Small off cuts or scraps of Christmas themed fabric
Ribbon or twine
Cardboard tags

Then in each glass jar place:
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour,
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms (you can buy the Christmas packs to get just red & green)
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar

Layer the ingredients in like this:
1st: flour, baking powder, baking soda
2nd: oats
3rd: M&M's
4th: chocolate chips
5th: brown sugar
6th: white sugar

If the jar doesn't completely fill place a layer of baking paper on top then stuff the rest of the jar with scrunched baking paper to keep all the ingredients packed in firm. Seal the jar with it's lid, place a piece of Christmas fabric over the top and tie a ribbon or similar around it. Next attach your small cardboard instruction tags with the following:

Add
1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Roll the cookie dough into small balls, place on biscuit baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.


So easy - Have fun!

Front Page!!

Yay! Giggleberry's always popular and best seller Strawberries & Cream bunting banner was spotted on the Front Page of Etsy!


The treasury it was a part of had a picnic theme and was selected by Etsy admin - I do think this set would be great for picnic, tea party or a BBQ but it works also for Christmas decorating with the gorgeous reds and whites!!

Hansel & Gretel would love this!!

I had a rush of blood to the head last Friday and decided to make a gingerbread house from scratch!! So after a quick flick through my trusty handwritten recipe book that mum gave me when I first moved out of home 8 years ago and a search via Google for a template I got to baking.
I was actually amazed at just how simple it was. I had the gingerbread walls and roof all finished and cooling in an hour. I used the following recipe with 3 times the amount of each ingredient to be sure I had enough (we ended up making some star biscuits with the left over gingerbread but I was glad to have too much than too little)
125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger
2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup

Once the gingerbread is made and rolled out I used the template I printed out from HERE to make the wall and roof shapes then baked them for approx 30 mins then let them stand to cool completely.
When you're ready to put your house together I suggest you get everything ready before starting eg: cake board, lollies, piping bag etc etc then use the following recipe to make your royal icing and scoop it all into your piping bag (or you can use a Glad 'snap lock' bag and snip a VERY small hole in on of the corners of the bag to use like a piping bag).
2 1/2 cups of Icing sugar (or confectioners' sugar)
2 egg whites
Beat egg whites until light and fluffy then slowly add icing sugar 1/2 a cup at a time.

Royal icing works almost like cement to hold your gingerbread house together but it takes patience to hold each piece together while it sets enough to stand alone.
Start with a side wall and and end wall piece. Squeeze a line of icing along the bottom and end edge of walls and place on your cake board and hold in place while the icing sets enough for it to stand alone (maybe grab a trashy mag to flick through while your waiting)


Repeat the same for the other two wall pieces. You will now have a roofless house.



Once the icing has set well, pipe a line of icing along the top edge of the wall pieces and place the roof pieces on top. Again hold in place while the icing sets so they don't slide off.
When the icing had set enough I took the chance to 'fill in' any gaps between the walls or wall and roof pieces with some extra icing.
Now comes the fun part... Decorating!! This is only limited to your imagination and lollie supply... Have fun!!
The lollies I used were: Jelly Beans, Musk Sticks, Fruit Jubes, Chocolate Freckles
but you could use so many other lollies like: Smarties, Mini Candy Canes, Jelly Babies, Chocolate Drops, Licorice Allsorts...




With a light sprinkling of icing sugar to create to look of snow our Gingerbread house is all finished!!


It has pride of place on our dining table for the next week then will be taken to a family Christmas Picnic we have on the 20th where I'm sure all the kids will have fun breaking it apart and munching if all up!!


Milla and I decorated the star biscuits we had made from the left over gingerbread and then wrapped them up for little gifts for some friends that came to dinner on Saturday night.

Silly Season Giggleberry Giveaway

Hooray for the 'Silly Season'... to celebrate Giggleberry is have a festive giveaway! All you need to do is leave a comment HERE at the Giggleberry Facebook Fan Page about a 'Silly Season' memory... did you forget to buy batteries for all the new Christmas toys? or was there a black out on Christmas day that created a disaster for baking the Christmas feast? or maybe Great Aunt Ethel showed up on Christmas day at the last minute and you didn't have a gift for her?.... tell me all about it and you'll be in the running to win your choice of a Giggleberry bunting banner!!
Winner will be announced on Monday night (Aussie time).

Christmas decorating with Giggleberry

About a week ago I had a custom order for some Christmas bunting banners. The customer had seen this 'Crisp Christmas' bunting set while she was flicking through the Giggleberry Facebook page and wanted the something very similar...


only instead of red and green she was after red and turquoise - how fun! I had the bunting made up and posted off in no time and have just received back some snaps of her unique and fun bunting hanging proudly in her home ready for Christmas.




If you are after some custom bunting to decorate your home for the Christmas season be sure to contact me through the Giggleberry Etsy shop HERE or email me at giggleberrycreations(at)gmail.com to be sure you will have it in time for your Christmas parties!!

Photo shoot sneak peek

I just had to share a little sneak peek at the first of some gorgeous photos of Giggleberry bunting taken by the amazing Tea & Jam Photography.


I'm in love with these photos and can't wait to share more with you... stay tuned!

I won, I won!


Thanks to Sally over at the fun Polka Dot Birthday blog for her giveaway of 3 (yes, 3) gorgeous paper lanterns available through Polka Dot Market. These lanterns are so groovy and such a fun way to add a splash of colour to a party!


I have chosen 3 of the lime green lanterns as they will match just right to my daughters lime green and purple bedroom - Yay!
I can't wait to receive these lanterns in the mail... and am heading straight over to the Polka Dot Birthday blog to enter the latest giveaway!

'The Great String of Bunting' - Part 3 (final installment)

Hooray!! I have just opened my emails to find one from the gorgeous Lauren of Belle Laide Events. Lauren is the person I worked with to make 'The Great String of Bunting' - 60 metres of bunting in soft yellows, blues and a touch of red. You can take a look HERE for Part 1 of the creation process and HERE for Part 2.
The beach side family event that the 60 metres was needed for was held last Sunday. Lauren tells me (even in the stinking hot weather) the day was a great success and that the bunting "looked gorgeous" - Yay!
Lauren was also very lovely to attach some pics that were snapped at the event of 'The Great String of Bunting' in use.





Thanks so much, Lauren, for letting me be a part of your event!!

Christmas Shopping? May I suggest....

This is the second post in my 'mini series' of 'Christmas Shopping? May I suggest...' gift shopping suggestions. I have been busily buying gifts all year and when I tell people that many respond with "Wow - I haven't even started mine" so here are some of my purchases (that I am totally in love with and can't wait for the person they are intended for to rip open on Christmas day) - maybe some inspiration for you??

After my parents showed up on the weekend with Milla's kitchen I couldn't believe my luck, only a few months ago I had bought some absolutely gorgeous felt foods from the very, very talented Samantha of Sam McLean Designs, and now these adorable play foods have the perfect home!!
I LOVE the idea of play food for kids and as soon as I saw Sam's items I just had to get my hands on some. So after browsing through her Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Fruit & Veg and even Treats selections I decided on these:


Ice cream cone with 3 flavors


Toddlers who lunch - play set


and this custom ordered Roast Dinner. I think this one is my favorite for the simple reason that even the drumsticks Velcro on and off - How cool is that?!?
Sam's attention to detail is amazing! All the foods look just like the real thing and spark up all kinds of imaginary games to play with my kids! Pop into Sam's shop HERE soon to grab some yummy goodies - I'm sure she would be only too happy to find you the perfect 'menu'. Happy shopping!

Milla's Kitchen - handmade by Papa & Grandma Barbara

EDITED 11th July 2012: DUE TO SUCH A HUGE AND POSITIVE RESPONSE I STILL RECEIVE FROM THIS POST AND PLAY KITCHEN CREATION I DECIDED TO START AN ALBUM OF ALL THE PLAY KITCHENS MADE FROM TV CABINETS THAT HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY THIS ONE. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME YOUR BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER PICS OF YOUR PLAY KITCHEN TO GIGGLEBERRYCREATIOSN@GMAIL.COM AND I WILL HAPPILY ADD THEM TO THE ALBUM HERE
About 6 or so months ago I was floating through 'blog land' as I do from time to time and somehow I stumbled upon Sutton Grace blog, where a particular blog post jumped out at me: A repurposed play kitchen. The very clever Erin of Sutton Grace blog had taken a 2nd hand TV entertainment unit and turned it into a mini kitchen for her little girl. I LOVED this idea sooooo much and sat looking at the blog post for the longest time trying to work out if I could do it myself.... I decided in the end mine would never look that amazing. So after sending the link onto my mum and sisters to show them how cute the kitchen was I continued on floating 'blog land' and kinda forgot all about it.... Until, this weekend just gone.
As you have probably read in my previous posts, it was my little girl, Milla's, 2nd birthday party on the weekend so all her cousin's, aunties, uncles and grandparents got together for a little party. My parents live approx 4 hrs away so they were making a special trip to Sydney for the party, or so I thought. In fact they had a special delivery to make to the birthday girl...


Yep, that is Milla's very own repurposed play kitchen!! My mum had taken the link to the Sutton Grace blog I had sent her oh so long ago and showed my dad (who has a builder's background) and together they made this truly one of a kind and absolutely gorgeous play kitchen!!


It all started with this pre-loved TV unit that they got for $30!


The dvd player shelf was removed and all the doors were taken off for sanding and the first coat of undercoat paint.


Shelves were added to what was the cupboard to make it a fridge & freezer. Then another coat of paint.


A hole was cut in the shelf where the TV once sat and a tap was added. The fridge and freezer were fitted for their doors. Then another coat of paint.


Dad removed the entire back of the unit and replaced it as their were holes in the original back for the TV and DVD player cords. The microwave was added to the top corner of the TV space. Then another coat of paint.


The fridge, freezer and cupboard doors went on.

The microwave and over doors have dark perspex in them to add to the real look. A 'window' was added by placing a photo behind a piece of clear perspex with a frame around it and attaching it to the wall. Mum made curtains and matching tea towels. The stove top is a piece of timber with four coasters glued on it to act as hotplates the four knobs were added down the side of the stove top that all turn so Milla can 'really' cook. Dad even added little baskets to the inside of the fridge door soit looked just like a real fridge. Then with a printed out keypad added for the buttons on the microwave and a few hanging cooking utensils the amazing transformation was complete!!



Milla LOVE, LOVE, LOVES her fabulous kitchen and so do I!!! We went through our real kitchen cupboards and found all kinds of boxes and bottles to put in her fridge, freezer and cupboards and we have baked non stop since the new kitchen was 'installed'!


I can see many, many, many years of fun with this handmade with love treasure.
Thanks Papa and Grandma Barbara xoxox