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!!