Kelly

Dark Cherry Cheesecake

I love cheesecake. Looooooove cheesecake. Mmmmmmm.

I made this one for Christmas using this recipe but with few adjustments. I didn’t like the idea of a chocolate base so instead used plain Marie biscuits. I also wanted it to be child friendly, so the rum was omitted. I think the only thing I would change next time is to add a little more lemon juice to make up for the absence of rum. I highly recommend this recipe.

Has blogging changed?

by Kelly 18 Comments

Or is it my naivety that leads me to ponder in this way?

The number of bloggers who seemingly start out as your everyday “I’m here to share” type personality and quickly become “hey, I have 600 followers, time to make some money!” seem to be on the increase. Have you been romanced yet? The blogger who “finds” your blog and leaves a comment for every post you write, quickly becoming your best blogger friend. And what happens when you become a follower of their blog or buy something from them? You never hear from them again. Ever. No emails, no comments, nothing. Sound familiar?

I realise that blogging can be a good way to make money. It can be a great advertising platform for your business (I always mention a new Etsy listing and have links to my shop) but doesn’t there need to be more than that? These thoughts led me to revisit my reasons for starting a blog in the first place.

I enjoy reading other blogs.

I have learned a great deal about various crafts, homeschooling and so many other interests from the internet and blogs. I felt that I could also share skills in this way.

Initially I wanted to document my sewing and crafting journey. My blog has become more personal over the years so that I now also share a lot of myself and my family.

I still think blogging is a great thing, but I guess from time to time I start to feel a little disillusioned by the whole “big blogger, small blogger” thing. Kinda like a popularity contest?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject……

Oh, and by the way – if you’re one of those bloggers I’ve been “romanced” by – I no longer visit you. But then I guess you wouldn’t be reading my lowly little post now would you?

M & M slice

by Kelly 1 Comment

Here is a recipe I made up yesterday as a last minute Christmas party addition. It’s a variation on the typical condensed milk slice – no rocket science here. It is very rich and very unhealthy! It’s also very easy. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

1 packet Marie biscuits (or similar)

100 grams melted butter

1 can condensed milk

1/2 cup of M & Ms

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

200g milk cooking chocolate

1 heaped tablespoon butter extra

Crush biscuits in food processor or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Melt 100g butter and allow to cool slightly.

Mix melted butter, crushed biscuits, coconut and condensed milk. Mix in M & Ms. Place in the fridge to set while you make the topping.

Melt cooking chocolate and extra butter in a bowl set over hot water or in a double boiler if you have one. When melted, spread over the slice. Refrigerate until set.

Merry Christmas!

by Kelly 2 Comments

Wishing you all a peaceful and joy filled Christmas with your loved ones.

God bless, see you soon.

Handmade gifts

by Kelly 5 Comments

I haven’t done too well with the handmade gifts this year, but I almost always make something for the girls. Usually it’s a doll or soft toy but I think they have plenty of those now!

So I made up some silk pillowcases and dyed them. This one is for my 5 year old who loves pink.

And this one for my 3 year old who loves yellow and pink. These are so nice to lie on, I think I’ll be getting requests from other family members when they see these!

What is that?!! you may be thinking. My first thought when I rinsed this out was “oh crap!” The story behind it: I wanted to buy some cotton lawn to make more circle skirts – the “major Australian craft retailer” I went to had run out so the sales assistant suggested using voile (assuring me it was 100% cotton), which I hadn’t used before. I cut out 3 skirts and spent.. ahem!.. quite a bit of time tyeing and dyeing them. Nearly all the colour washed out. The pillowcases were in the same dye batch, so I know it’s the fabric that’s the problem.

When I was having a whinge to my husband about it lastnight his response was “they told you it was 100% cotton and you believed it?” I have history with this retailer. Note to self – don’t trust a sales assistant who likely knows a lot less than I do!

You win some, you lose some.

Another great giveaway

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From Retro Mummy – some beautiful fat quarter packs! Pop over and check it out.

Hand painted scarf

by Kelly 1 Comment

I really enjoy hand painting on silk, particularly at the end of a busy day when I’m desperate to do something creative on my own. I find it really relaxing.

I took inspiration from the ocean to paint this silk habotai scarf.

In keeping with the ocean theme I used sea salt resist to represent movement of bubbles.

In my Etsy shop now.

Pork and pepper casserole

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It may be Summer here in Australia but it’s been very cool the past week so it was a pleasure to have the oven running yesterday with the aroma of this beautiful casserole drifting through the house.

The recipe is from here and I think I’ll be revisiting this site – all that comfort food!

This recipe made enough to feed our hungry family of six with leftovers for tonight (I served with rice).

And the all important question: Did the children like it? They sure did!

A few beautiful Christmas scenes

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Courtesy of Flickr.

Hand dyed top for the boy

by Kelly 1 Comment

I don’t sew all that much for the boy – It’s not like you can make a 10 year old boy the cute little outfits you could have when they were little. I do like to make his basic pants and things though.

The pattern is Jalie 2918 which I have also used for my husband with excellent results. I started with white Stella and dyed it what I thought would be a sky blue. It came out awfully light and washed out which I now realise was probably due to a too low temperature in the mixing and curing.

I gave it another go with cobalt blue and better temperatures and it came out perfect! I love this colour on my blue eyed boy.