Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Tardis, Slurm and Brain Slugs..oh yes

Ok, next up from the Sci Fi party - food and decor..

Danielle was THE Cardboard Queen, making up sci fi portals & a robot from left over flatpack boxes.

We had the Stargate..


The Tardis, which was our front door, of course...


And a Doctor Who favourite, K9, the robot dog...


And a small reference to 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'...


And onto the food!..

Popplers (these were a combo of chicken bites, cheese balls and some sort of seafood ball)


Planet Pops....now the raspberry licorice didn't work so well with the chocolate oreo cake pops, flavourwise, BUT they did look good, and that is the main thing, right? :-P


Glagnars Human Rinds (Prawn crackers)..


A Futurama favourite, Slurm (Mountain Dew soft drink)


Dalek cupcakes...a combo of chocolate cake, marshmellows, caramel chocolate sticks, white choc dots and a whole lot of chocolate buttercream icing....mmmmm, yum! But oh so sweet.


Brain Slug cupcakes - fondant slugs made by me (such fun!) and a couple of cans of strawberry icing squiggled on to represent brains...


Blue Sun reference from Firefly - noodle boxes filled with mini dim sims, mini spring rolls and prawn cakes.


Bachelor Chow - Malteasers


So...lots of yummy food and fun decor - I'm still finding smudges of blue paint on my door frame from the not-quite-dry tardis, and all the cupcakes are finally gone thanks to popping them in my kids lunch boxes (had to get them out of the house....so hard to resist :-P).

Dressed up adults still to come.

All photos taken by my super talented sister Danielle - you can check out more of her work over here too.

xx

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Creative Space : Crochet Puffs


In between sci fi party preps, I've been slowly plugging away at my puffy circle crochet squares.

I'm loving how they look, and can't wait to block them out, and turn them into a blanket (which is still awhile off yet :-P). The colour scheme is teals, greys, pinks, a splash of watermelon and a touch of pale latte, with white outers. So far, which is 8 full squares, and 4 more circles, I'm not sick of the colour scheme, and I'm trying to not over-think the combos for the circles.

What are you working on at the moment?

Creativity abounds over at these spaces.

Ooh, and just realised my last post was #600..obviously I've been rattling on for quite some time now :-P. Am thinking a give-away may be due...will be back with that when I figure out what.

xx

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sci Fi Kidlets

On the weekend, Roh and I (with fantastic help from my sis Dan) threw a TV Sci Fi Dress Up party. I'll probably end up doing about 3 posts about it - kids, decor & food and adults - so just a pre-warning :-P

First up - the kids!

Alannah was Padme Amidala from the tv cartoon series Star Wars 'The Clone Wars'..


Sienna was Kaylee Frye from 'Firefly'..


Jude was a Dalek (yep that was a dalek costume I was working on in last week's creative space)


Ash was Captain Avery from a recent 'Doctor Who' episode...


Cedar was Nibbler from 'Futurama'...isn't he adorable?..


And Levi was another Star Wars 'The Clone Wars' character..the ever cheeky robot R2-D2..


So cute, and so fun!

Now, if I could only sleep for the next week to get over all the prep work and the actual party, that would be fab....he he

xx

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Paper Play



A little bit of scrapping with my sis, during the school holidays. It's always fun to play with paper, and I feel like I need to do a few 'Levi' layouts - there are only 3 of him so far (bad mummy :-P)

xx

Monday, July 25, 2011

Kooky Green Owl Goodness


My talented, dear friend Nadya has started her own little creative endeavour with 'The Kooky Green Owl'. She's already hit one market quite successfully, and will be appearing at quite a few more, in and around Melbourne.

I thought I'd share a few photos of her lovely, resin jewellery creations :




Nadya has also started created gorgeous fascinators and plays a little with felt, of which the results will be going to market with her on her next trip.

Isn't it all just so lovely?

xx

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Creative Space : Sci Fi Craftiness

Lots of sci fi motivated crafts going on behind the scenes at Polkadot Lane this week...



Sci fi costumes, sci fi food, sci fi decor....oh yes, just a little sci fi geekiness amusing me this week..

Plenty of crafty peeps over here to inspire you...

xx

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Creative Space : Colourful Ruffles


Ok, so maybe this was finished a couple of weeks ago, but I did only photograph it today :-P

Here it is - my crochet ruffled scarf...


The original pattern is a free Lion Brand Yarn Pattern, which looks like this...


I made it an extra 100 chain stitches longer, so it would wrap around my neck and still leave plenty to hang, and I also made it one row wider. The yarn I used is one of those spiffy ones that has colours merge into another, all throughout the ball, and it took almost two balls to make.

The verdict is still out on this one, for me. The colours are pretty, but not sure if they are really me, and ditto with the ruffles...

Hmm, have you ever made something for yourself that didn't turn out quite how you pictured it in your head? Or that does resemble how you pictured it, but just doesn't work on you?

Oh well, it was fun to make something different.

Plenty of creative, crafty, sweet people over here.

xx

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Versatile


The lovely Lamina from the 'Do A Bit' blog has passed on the 'Versatile Blogger Award' to me, which is just so sweet - thank you!

So basically now I'm suppose to write 10 things about myself, and then nominate a couple more bloggers to award this to...doesn't sound too tricky, right?

Ok, here goes...10 things....hmmmmm....

* Step by step, ooh baby, gonna get to you girl, Step by step, ooh baby, really want you in my world...Ok, that's enough now :-P So I used to be a HUGE, GINORMOUS New Kids On The Block fan. I think from about 10 - 12, everything was about New Kids, and of course, in particular, my favourite New Kid - Jordan. I even named my little dwarf rabbit after him - nothing obvious, of course, but his middle name 'Marcel' - yes, I was obsessed :-P

And just for old times sake..a video clip...c'mon, you know you want to watch it...he he..



* I'm originally from South Australia (and have the accent to prove it, apparently), a suburb called Mount Barker, in the Adelaide Hills. It used to be quaint and smallish, now's it been taken over in a major suburban sprawl, and isn't as lovely as it used to be, unfortunately. I think the real turning point for me was when they demolished the old farmhouse at the end of my parent's street for a new estate. I know things need to move on and up, but surely not at the cost of character?

* I followed my heart to Melbourne, when I was 19, and have been here ever since, and the man who held my heart then, still holds it now x

* The Mighty Datsun 120Y - my first car - $750, smurf blue, cow print seat covers - awesome!

* Current favourite CD's : Adele - both 19 & 21, Seeker Lover Keeper, Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill (a bit of reminiscing to this one), and I've just got the new Eddie Vedder CD but need to get some time to listen to it properly. I love music!

* I find Edward Monkton hilarious, sometimes sweet and definitely quirky....

* I've dabbled in so many crafts over the years - knitting, crochet, sewing, softies, scrapbooking, stamping, mosaics, embroidery, cross-stitch, painting and I'm sure there is more BUT I still want to learn screen-printing, quilting and cake decorating, and I really want to learn it soon.

* My hubby read me the entire 'Lord of The Rings' in our first year of marriage - isn't that sweet? And I promise I was awake for nearly all of it :-P

* Hello, my name is Kelly and I am addicted to Pinterest. It's been 18 hours, 22 minutes and 54 seconds since my last pin...he he

* I learnt the clarinet and the viola when I was a child/teen, and I wish I could remember how now.

My goodness, now that took me forever to think of 10 things :-P

Now here are a couple of versatile blogs I would love to support :
The Kooky Green Owl
Day to Day
Procrastinations of a Crafty Mum

Back soonish
xx

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Creative Space : PJ's & Puff

I've decided I need a new crochet challenge. I've made so many beanies these past few months, that now I think I need to move on, and learn to make something new.

So that's what I've been working on. New things..


First up, I gave Sarah London's fancy heart pattern a go - it's so sweet, and was really quite easy.


And I've decided to give this crochet blanket a go, after being inspired by my creative friend Nadya with her funky crochet blanket. I bought this pattern quite a while ago, but was a bit intimidated by the puff stitch. And now that I've tried it, it was with good reason I was intimidated :-P

It is quite an uncomfortable stitch but I love the look of it, so have decided to persevere and hopefully it will end up as a completely beautiful blanket, and worth every minute put into it. The pattern is from Alicia Poulson.


And on a more practical note, this last week saw me whip up 4 pairs of pyjamas for my two older ones, and my niece and nephew, in the theme of heart & flowers, butterflies, robot aliens and pirates. Feels good to have these off my to-do list.

Many more creative spaces can be found over here.

xx

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Strawberry Shortcake Yumminess


Thought I'd share this yummy dish that I made on the weekend, when we had some lovely friends over for afternoon tea.

It's a combo of two different recipes.

Shortcake :

1 cup S.R Flour
2/3 cup Plain Flour
150g Butter, chilled, cubed
3/4 cup Caster Sugar
1 Egg, lightly beaten

* Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
* Grease and line a 20cm springform pan.
* Combine flours and butter in a food processor.
* Process until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
* Add sugar and egg, and process until mixture just comes together.
* Press mixture into prepared pan, and refrigerate for 10 minutes, or until firm.
* Score shortcake into 8 wedges (don't cut all the way through).
* Bake for 25-30 minutes or until light golden.

Topping : Nigella Lawson's Balsamic Strawberry Puree

Approx 300g Strawberries
1 tablespoon Caster Sugar
Few drops of Balsamic Vinegar
400ml cream, whipped

* Crush about two thirds of the strawberries, with the caster sugar and vinegar.
* Slice the remaining strawberries.

* Once shortcake has cooled completely, smother the top in cream.
* Spoon the strawberry mixture over the centre.
* Finish off by decoratively placing sliced strawberries around the edge of the cake.

And ta da, a wonderful cake to share with friends!

xx

Red Nose Antics


Every year, our family supports Red Nose Day. Actually, my Jude was born on Red Nose Day in 2005, so it's one of those days that means something to us, and gives us a chance to support a very worthwhile cause, while having some fun.

Warning : Due to small toddler wanting red nose props, photos lack clarity and are quite blurry :-P