A dress for Christmas

It is really hard not to make something glamorous for E on a special day, so I made her a dress for Christmas. In the market kids party dresses are either polyester or really plain cotton, neither of those are to my taste. I must admit I am not a great pattern maker but I manage somehow. E has quite a varied taste she loves her monster trucks just as much as a pretty dress, to early to decide if she is a girly girl or not, but I am happy with the fact that she is happy with everything around her. E wasn't still for a minute during the chrissy dinner so I took these pictures the morning after and she was yawning all along so a front pose was out of question! 

I used cotton fabric with golden star prints for the dress, added some sheen with a star printed tissue as waistband and bow at the back. To give touch of red for christmas I used some satin rosettes on the front of the dress. Didn't really get the time to sew the button at the back in time for party and I still have to hem the neckline facing at the back opening. I didn't want to make it a snug fit for E so that it hangs down loose and comfy on her body.

The dress might not be stitched to perfection but atleast E was happy to wear it at her age and that is what matters to me. It was worth the effort when my bubby wanted to wear it from the very first time she laid eyes on it, straight off the sewing machine!

Christmas Dinner Party

Nothing shouts christmas more than tinsel, it's true! When I was trying to think of the decorations for my christmas dinner party, H said there has to be tinsel and so it is bling and E loves it. E likes everything shiny and when there is so much glitter all around she is the happiest person at home. I hosted a small dinner party last weekend and didn't end up making most of the items on my menu as ran out of time so quickly, but my gracious guests were happy for a relaxing evening. H hung some lights like a fencing around us and tinsel wreaths and doily pompoms hung from the ceiling. I found a really nice vintage inspired printed fabric to sew the table runners and nut crackers for table centre pieces. I made napkin ties from ribbon and pinched out vintage images. It is easy when you have friends who love everything you do, as they encourage and appreciate everything you do and I am really lucky to have awesome friends.

This wreath was for E's room, I added some gold tissue paper fan rosettes on a ring and santa image in the centre of the ring with gold ribbons in between the rosettes. All other wreaths are made from tinsel on a wire ring, it is real simple idea and easy to execute.

Star of the evening was the chocolate trifle, very christmassy with the cherries on top. The trifle is layers of chocolate cakes, whipped cream with orange zest, thick chocolate custard and cherry syrup. I made the cherry syrup with fresh cherries cooked in butter, some sugar and orange juice. Shave some of your favourite chocolate and top up with some whole cherries.

Happy Christmas to all and Enjoy making delicious treats....live a little x

Oh so very orange Christmas Tree!

Last year I saw fluro orange and fluoro pink 18 inch christmas trees at a store priced $100 each. I loved them but did'nt want to pay that price for so tiny little trees. This year we decided we'll colour our tree orange! After trying on a few tree branches H (hubby dear) found the best way to get the colour is to first spray paint it all white and then add orange and we went for fluoro orange paint. I must admit that painting a plastic tree makes it quite stiff and it is a bit hard to keep the leaves opened and fluffy after the painting but all in all you can achieve the colour ad it looks damn neat all dressed up!

I wasn't sure what coloured tinsel to use and settled for gold in the end which was a good choice as it merges very well with the orange. Silver beaded garland give a pearl effect which goes with my vintage inspiration. I did manage to find some ornaments with vintage santa claus images and these are my favourite ornaments on the tree. The wooden ornaments look really nice as well especially with the white base. I do have some glass ornaments to add but I saving them from my little toddler who might hurt herself if the glass breaks, she is already finding it extremely difficult to keep her hands off the tree!

Our tree looks so bright that it simply doesn't need any lights to brighten up the place so no tree lights this year! A bit of vintage on a very dramatic looking tree, new concept maybe not everyone's cup of tea but we are happy with our tree this year.

Almond Cookies Recipe

Baking cookies is really worth the effort when you have a little one who is running around the kitchen as she smells the delicious cookies being baked! This has been by far the most successful bake ever as Elina really did enjoy these almond cookies. It's a recipe I once read in a magazine and each time I make them they taste a little different. This time I used freshly grounded almonds instead of the store bought almond meal, you can taste the difference!

Baking cookies is so simple and yet if the recipe is not good you end up with a jar full of cookies no one wants to touch, so I keep the recipe every time I bake a good batch. 

Here are the very first variety of cookies for Santa this christmas, I better get a present this year as these are delicious. I must admit I have never left cookies for santa (maybe that is why he never left me a present) but when I watch the santa clause movies I feel like doing it, ah can't really be bothered. Maybe Elina would like to do it when she is a bit older who know or she might just turn around and say "Santa at the mall was so mean that I don't want to leave him cookies" ouch! Kids are getting smarter but I would still like to keep some stories just as they should be for children to enjoy always.

Ingredients:

1 cup Rice Flour

2 cups Ground almond

1/2 cup raw sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1 table spoon ice cold water

You can use blanched almonds for decoration.

Nutmeg to sprinkle if you like

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven at 350° F or 180° C

2.  Mix all dry ingredients together

3. add butter and start kneading into a dough

4. squeeze in the ice cold water and make a dough

5. roll one table spoon of dough into balls and flatten lightly on top

6. you can use almonds on top at this point or just sprinkle some nutmeg and make an impression with a heart shaped cookie cutter like I did.

7. Bake in the oven on a lined baking tray for 10-12 minutes or until the top becomes delicately brown

8. Allow them to cool on a wire rack and tuck in!

Simple and delicious and best of all they are gluten free, so get baking!

DIY Paper Doily PomPom

My favourite decorations are the ones which hang down from the ceiling and are delicate in appearance. I was looking for something new to make some pompoms, anything other than tissue paper and found these paper doilies in my party supplies cupboard. Paper doilies are so versatile for decorations. They look great as buntings, lamps, cupcake wrappers, scrapbooking,flowers and in this instance as pompoms. These pompoms made from paper doilies are so simple that you can make heaps and hang them together from the ceiling or make smaller versions for your christmas tree decorations.

Here is how to make these delicate beauties.

1. Fold eight paper doilies in half

2. Open the fold and stitch them straight through the centre

3. start sticking each doily in a honeycomb pattern. Pinch centres of two doilies and stick with a sticky tape.

4.Now pinch the top and bottom ends of one side we just stuck in centre and a new layer. Stick together.

5. Keep repeating the process. basically we are sticking the centre of each doily to the layer on the left and the ends to the layer on the right.

6. once you finish sticking all layers the pompom will open up in a honeycomb pattern.

7. you can use some more sticky tape at the top to open up the layers forcefully, only if your pompom is not opening up nicely.

8. Tie a string to the top in the centre of each pompom and hang them up.

Simple and beautiful delicate pompom decorations will go well with any summer party, birthdays or wedding!

DIY Vintage Inspired Christmas Trees

It's december already and Christmas is just round the corner. Time flies really fast and with Elina we don't even realise what time of the year it is as every day is so exciting and new. Having studied in convent schools in India, Christmas has been an integral part of my life growing up. Our mum was kind of forced every year to celebrate since we were so excited as kids. Me and my sister would decorate the potted christmas tree every year, I would mostly follow my sister's lead, we would bake, dress up and become santa for our brother. Happy days and such cherished memories. 

Playing along with the vintage theme that I have chosen for christmas this year I have made some paper christmas trees to go over the mantle place. I found some really cool vintage inspired wrapping papers at Typo which I used to make these trees, you can print out some images from web if you can't find these wrapping papers.

• To start make some paper cones preferably card paper and trim the base so that it stand firmly.
• Cut some fringes of the wrapping paper and start sticking them to the base first moving upwards.
• It might be hard to stick the fringe in a straight line on a cylindrical surface so best to work with smaller strips of fringes.
• Fill in any gaps that you find in the fringe with a piece of paper
• Try using the fringe lengthwise to make a variation like the smaller tree in image above.

• For this tree I punched out some circles from a wrapping paper 
• Start sticking these circles on the tree with glue only on the top edge of the circles.
• Cover the whole tree with these circles.

I made a fan shaped tree as well as shown in the first picture. This one was Martha Stewart inspired tree, I just glued the fan shaped paper on a paper cone, I glued the tip at multiple places so that it stays in shape and added some golden paper stars on top.

These are so simple to make and great for your table at work or any special corner in your home. They would make great gifts as well, gift it to neighbours or friends and make loads as they are so easy to make and so many versions are possible!

How to make a Tee into a Dress

Sewing and embroidery is meditation for me, very therapeutic and the satisfaction is greater than eating a great meal! I know might sound quite odd coming from me but I really do enjoy it more than cooking, even though cooking comes more naturally to me. Kids wear has always been fun for me as I get to play with colours and patterns and the child will not complain, well at least my one year old doesn't. Elina loves every new dress that I make for her she walks around holding it on top of her head trying to wear it herself!

However, sometimes I struggle to get the factory made finish to my garments and I look for simpler ways to create gorgeous clothes and this is my latest Original Idea which I am sure mums would love. Make a dress from a basic tee!

It is really simple to make well simpler than make a dress from scratch! 

1. Choose a Plain or printed Tee which a bit loose for bubby

2. Take two strips of fabrics which are twice as long as the width of the tee and at least 5 inches wide to form the frills (decide frill width based on the dress length you require)

3. Double fold and stitch both the sides of these frills about 1/4 inch

4. stitch both the ends of the frill together and gather one side of the frill

5. Pin the frills in position on the t-shirt

6. Stitch the frills in place 

7. Add a button or a ric rac lace flower like I did on the top of the frills and its done!

Doesn't take long to create a unique dress like this one and above all you can play around with this as you like. Make one wider frill instead of two frills or use laces instead of frills or just add strips of fabrics and don't gather them into a frill. This would be a great christmas gift too, it's not too expensive either. Happy Sewing!