Easy kids craft – treasure chest…

We made this a few weeks ago and H is still into it. It is a treasure chest. Harry found the shoe box as I was preparing to throw it out and was calling it a treasure chest (they did an under the sea project at kindy earlier this year and as a class made a treasure chest)

I decided to help him decorate it and turn it into his own design treasure chest…

I thought I would blog it in case any other parent out there is looking for a easy and cheap craft project. Especially with the wet weather we’ve had it’s a great project for those days…

What you’ll need….

• A shoe box – preferably one that has the lid attached
• A4 paper
• Scissors
• Sticky tape
• Markers
• Stickers
• Any other decorating items you can think of. For example… ribbon, buttons, paint, felt, glitter, glue

In this instance I just covered every surface I could with plain white paper. Using sticky tape to attach it and cutting it down where needed. 

Once that was done I gave Harry his markers and he went to town colouring and decorating.

Later that day I was at a shop and saw the pirate and toy story stickers… two things he is particularly into at the moment and brought them home. He loved them and with some help took great pleasure in decorating his treasure chest.

As you can see it’s still getting lots of use and he is still very interested in it to store all his ‘treasures’

The next thing we will be doing is a pirate’s spy glass… I just have to finish the paper towel roll!!…

I know it’s very simple and to some of you probably very obvious but it’s a fun, cheap and easy project to do with your little one and something they can make their own.

Ever made a treasure chest?…

I would love to hear about other craft ideas…

Jx

White cooked chicken with soy and ginger dressing…

This is one of the most delicious and easy meals you can make… it’s the kind of meal that is so tasty and makes you feel wholesome and healthy eating it. You almost feel virtuous when you’re finished.

It’s inspired by Kylie Kwong with some variations and additions . I found the original recipe online here and still use it for reference.

Ingredients

1.6kg organic chicken

Stock

Shaoxing rice wine – 750 ml (3 cups)

Green onions, trimmed – 8

Garlic, peeled and crushed – 12 cloves

Sliced ginger – 1¼ cups

Sea salt – 1/3 cup

Coriander – roots from a bunch

Dressing

Shoyu or soy sauce (see note) – 60 ml (¼ cup)

Sesame oil – 1 tsp

Cane sugar (see note) – ½ tsp

Julienne spring onion, plus extra to garnish – 1/3 cup

Julienne ginger, plus extra to garnish – 1 tbsp

Peanut oil – 2 tbsp

Coriander – big handful chopped for garnish

Red chilli (sml) – sliced (seeds removed) for garnish (suggest you leave this on the side for everyone to control their own spice)

Method

For stock, combine ingredients and 5 litres of cold water in a 7 -litre stockpot and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. (The original recipe calls for 6 litres of water in a 10 litre stock pot but I don’t have one so I worked with what I have and it works perfectly)

        

Rinse the chicken under cold water and trim any excess fat. Gently place the chicken breast-side down into stock and submerge for 14 minutes, ensuring stock doesn’t return to the boil. Remove pot from heat and stand for 3 hours. (When placing the chicken into the stock I often place the pot in the sink in case there is any overflow if you’re concerned about the water levels – this way you avoid any mess on your stove top)

Using tongs, carefully remove chicken from stock and place on a tray to drain.

For dressing, combine all ingredients except for peanut oil in a heat-proof bowl. Heat peanut oil in a saucepan, then pour over dressing ingredients and stir to combine.

Pull all the meat of the carcass and shred into small pieces or leave as chunks and arrange on a platter. Drizzle dressing over chicken, garnish with extra spring onion, ginger and coriander and serve immediately. (The original recipe calls for you to use a Cleaver to cut the chicken into pieces and arrange on a platter)

Serve with white or brown rice and a side of steamed asian greens (like Bok Choy or Choy Sum) served with a drizzle of oyster sauce over them. Also serve the chilli with it so everyone can dress their own.

Enjoy…

Jx

Favourite first books…

Hello Baby and 10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes by Mem Fox are without a doubt two of our first favourite books. Both of my babies love these books…

I read 10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes to H in utero and I believe it’s the reason it fast became his favourite. It is currently E’s favourite book. At the end of the book the little baby in the story gets three little kisses on the tip of its nose… we kiss the tip of our finger and touch their nose three times. H got to the stage and E is there now that they know it’s coming and look up at you when you’re reading the last page waiting for their kisses.

H adores books and always has. E is loving them more and more and I get such a thrill to see her get excited when we sit down to read these two books. They are a big part of our bedtime routine… every night we have a book before bed. For me, it ensures the children are reading/read to every day and it’s a terrific wind down/sleep cue for them as well…

I highly recommend any new Mother’s or expecting Mother’s to add these books to your collection. They are beautiful stories and the illustrations are gorgeous…

For anyone looking for a great baby shower or baby gift these are terrific… the board books are terrific as little exploring and excited hands can’t rip them. It does take a little while for them to learn not to rip pages so board books are a definite plus…

Where is the Green Sheep and Time for Bed, both by Mem Fox are also favourites.

Are these books in your collection?
Please share your favourites and must haves, I would love to hear them…

Happy reading… Jx

All photos copyright Jessica Flett

Perfume and Flowers…

I’m currently working my way through an on line photography course. I have just submitted assignment two and was really happy with my feedback and results…

I thought I would share some of the photos I took for it. I only had to submit one but I really enjoyed taking the photos…

Happy Friday all. Have a great weekend.

Jx

Throw back Thursday…

I first posted these photos back in August 2012 – Flowers and Haircuts on a Friday. They make me feel so warm and sunny I wanted to share them again. Aren’t they gorgeous?…

I just love having fresh flowers in the house…

What’s your favourite flower? 

Do buy fresh flowers often? 

Do you have a favourite arrangement? 

Any great vase tips?… 

Jx

All photos copyright Jessica Flett

Pretty Pink… Birthday morning tea…

It’s not every day you turn 1. Because we are still renovating and it was down to the wire if we would be finished we decided to just have morning tea for E’s 1st Birthday. We couldn’t have as big a party as we had for H but we had to acknowledge it in some way so morning tea it was…

I couldn’t resist doing some decorating and putting together some party fare… and of course any chance to take photos…I’m there…

There’s nothing like a bit of pink!!

All the decorations are from the Hot Dollar shop… so many goodies to be had there…

The cupcakes are packet mix… and also pre bought frosting. So simple, easy and time effective. 

Rather than make fairy bread we bought hundreds and thousand biscuits… I knew what wasn’t eaten that day would be eaten later… they were a big hit…

The strawberries were a big hit and also help to balance all the party food…

Aren’t the tulips gorgeous?… so pretty and happy…

Who doesn’t love a party bag?!… even the big kids got one. I just can’t help myself…

I had to share this one… it appears the Grandfathers got the memo… Navy and Tan was the order of the day. Great minds think alike… or is it fools never differ?!… hahaha.

Jx

Some lens flare to warm your winter Friday…

One of my favourite photography effects is lens flare. I often try it and find it’s really hard to get right. I’m often not happy with how they look – they never seem as good as other’s I’ve seen.

There are quite specific rules to ‘correct’ photography but as they say… rules are meant to be broken and lens flare can be used really beautifully to add warmth, depth and emotion to a photo. I found these articles on DPS really helpful. How to use lens flare & 5 tips for achieving artistic lens flare…

This photo shoot by Carla Coulson really highlights lens flare beautifully with some helpful hints too…

You can even buy a lens flare app on itunes to add in lens flare to your photos for effect…

I follow the digital photography school and their weekly challenge is lens flare… I’m feeling brave enough to show some of my own favourite lens flare photos over time…

Do you like lens flare?
Any tips or tricks for achieving it?
Got a great resource on lens flare you can tell me about?

Have a great weekend… Jx

All images copyright of Jessica Flett

Birthday Cupcakes…

I am not a natural or confident baker, but I’m trying. Considering it doesn’t come naturally to me and I don’t have a lot of time on my hands I’m always on the look out for easy and quick recipes. 

I’m not adverse to packet mix’s at all (in fact I used packet for family last weekend – it’s fool proof, quick and you know they work) but on E’s actual birthday I wanted to make some cupcakes from scratch for us to celebrate that night as a family. I found this recipe for easy and classic cupcakes on Taste and found it worked well. Naturally I made them pink and decorated with hundreds and thousands…

The recipe is really simple and goes as follows…

Ingredients;

Cupcakes

2 cups self-raising flour (sifted)

3/4 cup of caster sugar

3/4 cup milk

125g butter, melted, cooled

2 eggs (beaten)

1 tsp natural vanilla essence

Icing

1 1/2 cups pure icing sugar

Food colouring of your choice

Water to mix – start with 1 tbsp and add slowly until desired consistency is reached.

What ever your heart desires to decorate your cakes.

Method;

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. 

Grease or line (with cupcake cases) a 12 x muffin pan

Combine flour and caster sugar in a bowl, stir to combine.

Add milk, butter, eggs and vanilla to the flour and sugar mixture and stir with a spoon to combine.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin and bake for 10 – 12 minutes (insert a skewer into the centre of a cupcake to check they’re cooked – it will come out clean when they’re cooked) The cupcakes will also bounce back slightly when pressed gently in the centre.

Leave the cupcakes in the tin for 5 minutes to cool then turn out onto a wire rack.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and slowly add the water. Stiring to combine and continue to add water until the desired consistency is reached. 

Spoon the mixture onto the cupcakes and decorate with your chosen items.

Enjoy them!!

On a side note… look at the gorgeous sweetpeas. They were a gift to E from her Grandparents… her first bouquet of flowers. It was a happy coincidence they matched the cupcake icing perfectly. Better lucky than good some say!

Got a cupcake recipe you can share?…
Are you like me and feel like you’ve made more of an effort because you’ve made them from scratch?…
Are you like me and happy to use packet when time and confidence are an issue?…

Jx

All photos copyright of Jessica Flett

No longer a baby…

Our little girl turned 1 last week. It is a major milestone in any child and any parents life. She is our baby and we don’t think there will be any more so we are moving into a new phase in our life as a family. We no longer have a baby in the house. We have two toddlers…

As a newborn you were really good. You fed and slept well. You loved cuddles as all babies do. You felt like an easier baby than H. For two reasons, I wasn’t a first time Mother and you didn’t suffer from reflux and colic like H did.

H improved at the 10 week mark and if anything you got trickier at that time. You decided you didn’t want to feed as well, and you weren’t sleeping as well as you were snacking instead of taking a full feed. This was a result of me basically drowning you due to a fast let down. You poor little thing… milk would actually come out of your nose when feeding… even when I was feeding lying down to slow it down.

We got there in the end and you actually slept through the night at 5 months… this was earlier than H but you haven’t slept through as consistently as him. H slept through at 6 months and has been brilliant ever since (touch wood)… you are both terrific sleepers. Your teeth give you grief from time to time but you are a happy child most of the despite the pain and discomfort.

Life is amazing with you and your brother. You were sitting at 6 months. You crawled at 8 months and you took your first independent step at 12 months and 2 days exactly…

You are a great eater… you love food as your gorgeous cheeks indicate. You were a very animated baby and are a very animated little girl. We know what you’re thinking as like your Mum… you wear your emotions on your face.

You are extremely determined and already throw a good tantrum. You blossomed at the 10 month mark and there is no stopping you. You adore your big brother. The way you look at him, cuddle him and think he is hilarious makes me melt…

He adores you too. He can be a bit of a rough older brother at times but I have no doubt you will hold your own and then some. You are already not backwards in coming forwards when you aren’t happy with him for taking a toy or other thing away. I try not to intervene too often and let you work it out as much as you can.

When he is unhappy you get sad too and go over to him and cuddle him. You are very caring and loving.

H is very caring and protective of you too. Since day one he has referred to you as Sissy. He introduces you to everyone as Sissy… ‘this is my Sissy’ When I pick him up from a day at kindy the first thing he asks for is you if you’re not with me. He makes a big deal of telling and showing everyone his Mummy and Sissy are there.

He looks out for you and tells me if you have something in your mouth or are doing something he knows you shouldn’t be doing. He is my eyes in the back of my head. He will always be your protector and your loving older Brother.

You have a cheeky side and love to laugh and have fun. You are extremely affectionate which is absolutely heart melting. I got very lucky with two affectionate children and I relish every hug and kiss and cuddle time together.

You are a very wanted, welcome and loved member of the family and we feel so blessed to be your parents.

We love you baby girl… Happy Birthday.

Jx

All images are Copyright of Jessica Flett