Cupcakes!!

Last night I whipped up two dozen cupcakes for a close friend.  She wanted a dozen chocolate and a dozen red velvet.  Two of my favourites!!  The thing is I had my indoor netball semi finals that night, too, so I only had a little over an hour to put these cupcakes together!  The second I got home, I washed my hands and got baking!  It felt like I was on Cupcake Wars!!  I'm just glad I got them done in time!!  Phew!!

Enjoy!!

I hope you are having a beautiful Monday!!

xo,
Jackie

Burlap Memo Board

I'm so excited to share with you a tutorial on how to add character to your memo {cork} board!!  I love all things vintage, rustic, aged, etc etc, so this project was perfect for what I was looking for!!  I made this last night and it didn't take me long at all.  All the things I used for this project I already had at home, so I spent NUDDA which makes me even more happier!! 

My son Jubs got this memo board for Christmas last year, but it was actually a double up as I had already bought him (a bigger) one, leaving this baby in my pile of things to prettify (not sure if that's an existing word, but I'm just gonna roll with it...hehe).  I also have tons of burlap from my nephew Josiah's 1st birthday party, so I wanted to use some of that.

For all you visual peeps like me, here's a step-by-step pictorial on how I made this beauty!!  I used my phone to take the pics because it was much easier to hold in one hand than an SLR, so the quality is not the greatest.

back

front

You could also use this time to stencil/paint something on (if you wanted to personalise it).  I originally wanted to do that, but decided to leave it for another day.  I was too excited to get this baby done!!

 If you wanted to, you could tidy up the back by sewing the ends of the burlap (I just didn't bother because I just wanted it done!!)

 ...and voila!!

My very own burlap memo board!!

This beauty is going to live by our entrance so we can see all the important reminders before we leave the house.  Hope you enjoyed today's post!  Hope to see you back here next week with even more DIY projects!!  Can't wait!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

xo,

Jackie

Happy birthday Gjon!!

This past Sunday was my cousin Gjon's 15th birthday.  We celebrated the first part at Ten Pin Bowling and the second part at his place.  Of course, a birthday is not complete without cake.  He loves rich chocolate cake, and thankfully he likes mine, so I made him a very special one for his birthday.  It is a dark chocolate cake with ganache and topped with truffles (aka cake balls) then drizzled with more ganache and melted white chocolate.  Such a fun and stress-less cake (notice I didn't say stress-free?  hehe) because I didn't have to worry about smoothing out the ganache to make it 'perfect'.  Instead, it involved dripping, drizzling and oozing!!  Yesss!!  It's nice to have a break from 'tidy' to get down with the 'messy' :-)

Now I can't take full credit for this cake.  My hubby stamped his name on it by creating the white chocolate abstract artwork on top of all the milk and dark chocolate goodness.  Looks a lot like Pollock's work, don't you think?  I happen to love it!!  :-)

{Source}

I also made banoffee pie to cater to hubby's cravings...except he didn't mean to make one in front of everyone at the party because that meant sharing!!  LOL.  Next time, be specific babe!!

Click 'Read More' to see the banoffee pie and Gjon with his cake!  :-P

Happy birthday Tita Adora!!

On Saturday I had the pleasure of making a special cake & cupcakes for my sister-in-law Kat's Mum's (Tita Adora's) birthday!  Kat requested for a small chocolate cake and dozen red velvet cupcakes - such a delightful combo!!  I wanted to decorate it simply but with class.  I decided to go with these gorgeous golden star sprinkles and silver cachous to create a 'starry night'.  I also made a tissue fringe for the border as well as a small bunting with 'Mum' on it to finish off the cake.  Hope you like it!!

I absolutely love the following close up shots!!

Top of the cake

Tissue fringe border

Click 'READ MORE' below to see the red velvet cupcakes!!  Yummmm...

Farewell Mr. Fletch!!

Last Friday my son Javaughnn's teacher left NZ to move to Tunisia.  It was a very difficult time for him and his classmates.  They absolutely love Mr. Fletcher so it was heart-breaking for them to say goodbye.  Javaughn considers him his best and most awesome teacher ('learning coach' as he calls it) so far...and he's only had him for half a school year - that's gotta say something!!  Fortunately, I've had the pleasure of also getting to know {Dave} and he is definitely one amazing and inspiring person.  I was gutted at the news because I knew how much of an impact he has made on Javaughn, not just with his learning, but his positive outlook on life.  I also believe that he is one of the reasons Javaughn is excelling at rugby league this year, which is fantastic!!

Javaughn wanted to express his gratitude to his teacher on his last day in cake form!  So he asked me to make him a special two-tier cake for Mr Fletcher (and of course the rest of the class).  Even though I was beyond exhausted that Thursday, I knew how important this was for my son, so I sacrificed my much needed sleep in order to get it done.  So, without further ado, here is Mr. Fletcher's thank you and farewell cake!  Enjoy!!

{top tier: rainbow, bottom tier: chocolate}

Javaughn (below Mr Fletcher) and the rest of Team 17 

Hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!  See you back here for more cakes!!  Stay tuned!

Have a marvellous Monday!!

xo,
Jackie

  

My weekend...

...came to pass too quickly for me...

I guess that's what happens when you're having so much fun!  Here's a glimpse of what my family and I got up to...

SATURDAY - our son's rugby league game...it was a slippery and muddy one, but they came out victorious!  Lui and I were especially proud of Jubs' efforts...

 ...and you can see why...

 Good effort son!  Keep up the awesome work!!

Then I made a small celebration cake for my sister and her hubby's wedding anniversary...

Peanut butter caramel and chocolate goodness...nom nom nom

 SUNDAY - went to watch Manny Pacquiao's {controversial} fight at my aunt's place...so of course, I had to whip up something sweet...

Then I had indoor netball that night, and this is what happened...

MONDAY - Went to the docs to get it checked out and X-rays confirmed nothing was broken {thank goodness!!} but I did tear my tendon...which means I'll be out of sporting action for approximately 7-10 days.

TODAY my ankle feels a whole lot better.  Thanks to my hubby for taking the day off yesterday to allow me to rest - YOU'RE THE BEST!!  And to my sister for lending me her crutches so I don't put any unnecessary pressure on my ankle, to allow for a speedy recovery.  And of course, my two monkeys who are doing a great job at keeping me happy at home...

Javier with his fave Thomas blanky...

...and Carlyle with his pillow ;-)

The doc gave me some exercises to do once the swelling has gone down and the pain is more tolerable.  Can't wait to get back to NORMAL!!

Well, there ya have it!  My weekend in a glimpse.  Have a wonderful day!!

xo,
Jackie

Happy birthday Kat!!

It was my sister-in-law's birthday on Wednesday and we all gathered over at their place to celebrate!  My brother only texted earlier that day, so I didn't have time to whip up something incredible.  But instead, I made a fun cake - moist chocolate cake with chocolate ganache covered with bubblegum coloured buttercream icing and covered in thousands of sprinkles!!  I was planning on covering the entire cake with sprinkles, but only had time to do the top...(so the sides are patchy, hehe).  Still, it tasted great!!  Here are some pics for you all to enjoy!!

Sprinkle fun!!

Birthday gal and her cake xo

Family portrait!!

Malachi blowing out his Mum's candles xo

Mean apple crumble with vanilla icecream and custard!!

Another cake!!  From the Cheesecake Factory.  Mmm...

Hope you liked today's cake feature!!  Something simple for a change :-)  Hope you have a fantastic friday and an awesome weekend!!  See you all back here next week!!  Blessings!!

xo,
Jackie

May 2012 in a glimpse...

Yay, we made it to May!!  Lol.  If you just tuned in, you may wanna check this post out to get what that excitement was about!!  hehe.

So, let's get right into it shall we?  What did we do in May??

We visited Blast from the Past (III) non-edible edition...

Mini flannel cupcakes bonbonnieres 

Bees nappy cake

...except I only managed to share two things with you because I was too busy with wedding plans...

My wedding renewal cake

My hubby and I cutting our cake xo

Wedding preparations

Then we had almost 2 weeks of sick bubbas :-(

Sick bubbas & Italian food

Once they were back to good health, we were also back to cakin'!!  Didn't take on as many cake requests this month because of my wedding, but the ones I did take were super cool!  Starting off with a fun Sesame Street themed first birthday cake -

Hosea's first Elmo Cookie birthday cake

And then we ended the month of May with a 60s inspired 18th birthday cake for Kaira -

Kaira's 18th sixties birthday cake

Yay!!  Now we are up to date!!  Hope you have an awesome Thursday!!  See you again soon!!

xo,
Jackie