13 Years, Whoop Whoop

So today my son turned 13!!!! I can't quite believe I have two teenagers in the house!!!!

We had such an awesome starting with a fantastic cake made by Kate (post coming soon about cake :). I whipped up a bunting/garland happy birthday sign, which I LOVE, and will totally use for the next birthday. Pretty simple using a background I had previously painted, cut into rectangles, draw on the letters, then fastened with some cool twine and mini pegs. We got ours from Typo, but you can pick them up at various $2 shops as well.

Our family, Kate's family, and his best mate spent the day together.

We went to two different skate parks, had fish and chips on marine parade in Napier, went to ocean spa for a hot swim and got to see some of the Indian festival, Dawali, at the sound shell.

Probably the highlight was at Sk8 zone in Napier landing his first ever back flip on his scooter. Check out the video.... How super cool is my boy.

We love him heaps, he is such a quirky, intelligent, funny, individual. God was awesome when he gave him to us :)

mim

Cake Pops Galore

You will soon discover that I am really into baking. It is my new hobby since the birth of my daughter and being a stay at home mum! I love trying new recipes and I won't lie, I love eating the stuff I bake. I've got a major sweet tooth. I blame my mum for that! What I love most though is baking for other people! Not only because I love to see them enjoying what I have created, but it also means I won't eat too much if I've given it away! Win win.

(just a note, you will notice that I love exclaimation marks. I have just re read what I have written and it sounds like I'm so excited lol. I will leave them there, but I warn you, I'm an over user of these things !!!!!)

My husband Jono is a youth worker and was having a leaders meeting with his team tonight, so I offered to do dessert for them. Jono loves anything chocolate, maybe even more so than me! So I thought I'd try out my new cake pop mold that he bought me as a gift for my birthday last week.

Chocolate Cake Pops... the world may have just gotten a little better... 

Check out the recipe I used and my how to, to make these delicious treats!

Kate

 Pre make your cake mix. You can use any cake recipe you like. I have used the Sophie Gray - Destitute Gourmet Chocolate Cake recipe. (Ingredients at the bottom. It is the best Chocolate Cake recipe I have ever used)

Using either a piping tool or a fancy contraption like this one to fill cake pop molds. It is so much better than using a spoon. And so much cleaner!

 Fill your cake pop molds with your cake mixture. Fill as close to the top of the bottom of the mold to ensure it takes on the shape of the mold.

Place the lid of the mold on and ensure it is sealed properly. Put in the oven for approx 20 mins. Use a cake tester to check if cooked. If it comes out clean you are a winner :)

 Once the cake is out of the oven leave in the mold to cool completely. This  will help the cake hold firm and not fall apart on you!

Once cake is cooled, transfer them to the top of the mold so you can add the lolly pop sticks to them without having to worry about them rolling around and getting ruined.

Dip the end of the lolly pop sticks in the dipping chocolate you are using for icing, this helps keep the sticks secure in the cake.

They will look a bit like this as you go.

Yay 5 down... none broken. Success!

 

 To ice your cake pops, I melted a bag of Nestle Milk Chocolate Melts in the microwave for about 90 seconds, stirring once. 

Hold the end of the lolly pop stick downward into the chocolate and dip to your hearts content. Once dipped place in a stand, add sprinkles and other decorative treats if you so desire and wait for them to harden.

The finished product! Jono whipped me up a sweet cake pop stand using a piece of 4x2 wood and drilling the appropriate sized holes in it. Having a stand means the chocolate won't go all deformed when hardening. It makes it so much easier to decorate and looks visually exciting when your guests arrive.

My little kitchen helper today.

Sophie Gray - Destitute Gourmet Chocolate Cake

• 1  and 2/3 cups of flour
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 100g butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 and 1/2 cups milk
• 2 eggs

Pre-heat ove 180 degrees and grease 20cm loose-bottom tin.
Melt butter. Put all ingredients into a food process and mix (a hand beater works just as well). Pour into tin. Bake for at least 50 min. Skewer to check.
Note: Times will vary when using recipe for cake pops :)

Work Day Weekly Wears

Hey Guys, it's another fashion post for you.

During the colder months, it's always nice to find an option to wear to work that isn't jeans or pants.

I picked up these awesome tights super cheap from Dotti in their summer sale. I love that they are almost like a water colour painting, perfect for an art teacher don't you think ;p 

Paired with a simple skirt and top, it's a great thing to wear all day which is comfortable and looks good.

I love converse shoes and recently when I went on a trip to Hong Kong I found these gorgeous yellow ones. I think they look great with the tights and it's totally keeping in my theme of colour.

Long sleeve tee: Factorie

Tube skirt: Cotton On

Tights: Dotti

Converse: Shoe Connection

Necklace: Glassons

Anchor Me

So my 10yr old daughter has a great sense of style. Always has. I remember going into a shop with her when she was only about 3.5 and her getting belts and handbags she thought would go with the clothes I was buying. She always got it right.

We picked up these awesome high tops from cotton on the other day and I thought it would be cool to customise them. After a quick convo she decided on anchors, how styley is she :) So after picking out a cool colour thread and working out the size of the anchor we were off.

Here's a simple how to customise your own.

Mim

Start with your high top :)

Draw an outline of your chosen design onto your shoe with pencil. It's always a good idea to have a practice first on a piece of paper to make sure you get it just right.

Carefully stitch in your design following the pencil outline as a guide.

There we have it!!!! The finished product, that wasn't so hard was it :)

Once we finished we decided to put in some cool pink laces we had which I think really makes them look awesome.

The finished product and the happy customer.

My Favourite Things

I have so many quirky, random things in my house. I feel like I don't really have an exact style that I adhere too. But I do love vintage, retro stuff. I love the stories behind pieces of furniture or ornaments that are passed down or that are found while rummaging through antique stores. Pretty much every thing in my house I could give you an exact run down of where it's from, who it's from and of course why I love it!

We are going to show you bits of world, piece by piece in this blog. Our favourite places, furniture, shops, food (yum!) and heaps more.

Today, these are a few of my favourite things. Enjoy!

Kate

 I love my retro fan, it is the best thing when it comes to our blazing Hawkes Bay summers! It was a gift from Jono a couple of christmas' ago.

 I recently turned 27... old I know ;p This amazing jug was a gift from Mim! I love it!!! It's purpose is actually a measuring jug, but it is potentially way too pretty for that, so may instead be a permanent feature on my kitchen bench.

 Jono's Granny and late Grandad were presented with this amazing clock when they left their church in 1950!!! (See plaque below) Grandad passed the clock onto us not long before he passed away. It takes pride and place on our mantle piece above the fire.

 These are my 3 WillowTree pieces. I'd love to have more one day! The jewellery box was a gift for my 21st, the man and pregnant woman was a gift for Mothers Day from Jono when I was pregnant with our daughter and finally the Angel of Miracles was a gift I gave my mum before she passed away from cancer, when she died she left it for me.

Owls: Typo
WillowTree ornaments: WillowTree
Wall plaque: Objx

Work Day Weekly Wears

One of the cool things about working in a professional environment is the clothes!!!! Yay!!!

So, one of the regular post we have decided on is Work Day Weekly Wears. 

Because one of my roles is part time Art teacher I decided creativity and colour would be a fashion fav.

So enjoy week one.

Dress: Cotton on

Jeans: Factorie

Converse: Shoe Connection

Belt: Glassons

Heart Ring: Pandora

Hello world... We have been asleep

After months of not having the time or energy to blog now I have started working, I decided to ask Kate to join me and reinvent stitchitupandstitchitdown. I love blogging and really wanted to keep the blog going but with work and my whanau just didn't ever manage to find time to post. 

Kate is an amazing creative person who also loves reading blogs and we have such similar tastes and passions, it seemed like the perfect fit.

So here we are! From here on our things are going to be fresh, exciting, new and inspiring... We hope ;p 

We can't wait to try new things from crafts, fashion looks, recipes, diy and of course updating you all on what goes on in our world. It's going to be fun trying out new things and hopefully inspiring you on your journey as many of you have inspired us.

Bring it on

 Kate & Mim