Carols by Candlelight

WE had the most amazing time with our friends last Monday night. We went to our local Botanical Gardens for carols by candle light with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra along with the Durban Symphonic Choir and soloists. We all brought our picnic baskets and wine, and just sat and enjoyed our beautiful summer night. The kids were in their own little heaven. first for having the biggest garden in town to play in and secondly, and probably most importantly they got to play when it was past bedtime AND in the DARK too!!!

We handed out gifts for the kids, as we would not be all together again until after Christmas. I make the adorable Kate a ballerina monkey called MURIEL, who is allot like Kate actually... Murial is terribly cute, quietly independent, and a good girl over all, though she does dream of Johnny Depp and being a Debbie Harry impersonator when she grows up!!

I think that it was a great success, apparently Muriel and Kate are inseparable.

I had made super hero capes for Miguel, Mark and cute number two of the night Rachael. But it seems as us 'super moms' enjoyed them more!!

though the kids did finally have a chance to give them ago!!! The boys capes are reversable. Their initials are done in gold satin. And apparently (according to the two super heros) they make you run sooooo fast that hot lava comes out of the back!!!

Sorry about the next photo, but a glass of wine and no tripod does not do camera on a low shutter speed any good !!! But i think that you get and idea of the wonderful atmosphere of the night!!
Goodnight everyone ....

Guess what we did last night ....

Can you believe that it is only 15 days to Christmas ... AAAAAARGH!! We put up our tree On Monday night ... I love our tree it is a mixture of handmade and bought goodies, the best hand made goodie of all, is the gorgeous star that Miguel made for the top of our tree!!

I swear that my son is going to be a really great corporate lawyer with all the wheeling and dealing that he is capable of! Yesterday morning he wakes up and says to me...

Miguel : 'Ma, is it true that God can talk to us in our hearts and heads?'

Me : 'Yes Miguel it is true.'

Miguel : "If God tells you something, you have to do it don't you?'

Me : 'Yes, that is also true.'

Miguel : 'Weeellll, don't you know ...'

It is when you hear those four words spoken that you need to brace yourself for what is coming.

Miguel : 'Last night God told me that the day after you put up your tree is the new Christmas day, so I think that a great plan is to go down stair and open all the presents ... because that's what God told me!'

Remember in the last post I told you that i took the Handmade Pledge and decided to make most of my gifts .. well i get to show you a couple now, as we saw my nephew 2 weeks ago and we decided that we would give him his Christmas gifts then, as we probably would not see him for Xmas ...
I appliqued a rocket man shirt for him, taking into account that according to Miguel no self respecting boy would wear a rocket shirt that did NOT have hot lava spewing out of it. Sp pattern altered and Da Daaa ... Also on Miguel's advice every boy needs a cape with his name on it too, otherwise how are you going to fly faster than a rocket ship?? So i made a reversible cape with Marc's initial on it. As you can see in the photo, I had made the cape so exactly to Miguel's specifications that it has made him a speeding blur!! I have since then tweaked the pattern as I was not too happy with the shape of this one. The last ,was my first dip into the world of Sock Monkeys!! I *heart* them. They are a complete unknown in South Africa and I have fallen for them hard. Sorry Chris the romance is over, I have found a new love .... I cant wait to make more !! I am quite chuffed with this lot ... oooh and thanks to my superb model, Miguel.

A friend of mine Catherine had a sweet baby girl, she arrived 2 weeks early - so I was completely unprepared for little Kira's arrival, so off I shot to get 2 little onsies and i FINALLY had a change to do something in PINK!!! I made these in an hour or so .... No flaming hot lava or bone crunching robots any where ... aaah bliss

And now for you all a little something too ... just two little Christmas tags, using some of the home made Christmas decorations on my tree!!

all you need to do is click on them and then once they are in the new window, right click and Save As ...

love you all ... Later ..

HI THERE

Hey every one ... I'm sooo sorry that i had disappeared, but time just escaped from me, to be honest I think that I needed the break!! I took the HANDMADE PLEDGE , why don't you?? I have rediscovered my love of sewing and I have decided to make all my Xmas gifts this year, so I am up to my eyeballs in gifts that are half done and i only have 3 weeks left!! I cant even do a little brag here in case someone sees them and then the surprise is ruined!! But as soon as i can i will post them all as I am quite proud of myself. Think i may even crack and give a little preview soon!!

Last night i went to the Lionel Ritchie concert ... it was AMAZING!! I absolutely love him, cheesy i know,i know . . . but who cares!!! At one time the crowd was singing soooo loud that you could bearly hear him!! I love my sister ... as she spoiled me with the tickets as a surprise treat, because last Friday was 1 year ago was when i found out i had cancer ... can you believe it was sooo long ago. It truly feels like it all happened only yesterday !!

I am posting 2 freebies for you today in order to beg your forgiveness. The red frayed one is a old one with a new link, whilst the white torn corrugated board is a new one ...

DOWNLOAD HERE

DOWNLOAD HERE
I hope that you like them ....

FOR THE FAMILY : Just wanted to add a couple of new photos of Miguel, and also to let you know that he was accepted to THOMAS MORE COLLAGE, we are so happy and excited.

Here he is ... he is so grown up now that some days i forget that he is just 4! He tells me today.."moma (not sure where he gets that pronunciation from?!?!) when i grow up and I'm 13, I am going to be a astronaut and on the weekends a game ranger, but i will have assistants because i wont be very strong because i just cant eat vegetables. I'm sure that they make me sick. See ...." (followed by a huge Oscar winning performance TB sounding cough!!)

How can you not fall in love with this???

{CUPCKAKES AND SCHOOL REPORTS}

I know, I know ... I've been a shocker. The last 2 weeks have been insane what with Miguel's birthday and all ... let my try and give you a rundown of some of it ..

first of all my son had his school photo and and school report given. I am very proud of how much he has matured in the last 2 months. He just seems so grown up now .. what happened to the baby ?? They say that the average 4 year old asks 400 questions a day, well I'm sure that Miguel far exceeds this quota! He never stops asking questions - I don't mid the questions, except he has a way of stumping me at times and I'm not too sure how to answer them. "Ma, who made God?"

(this is for grandmeme and grandpepe in Mauritius)

Tomorrow morning Miguel has his assessment for entry in to grade 00. The school that he is applying for is called Thomas More College . It is a lovely school, they seem to be able to get the right mix of academia and just letting kids be kids too. We hope that they accept him. So keep your fingers crossed for us!!

I have also found out the one of my most favourite artists Jamie Cullum has done a cover of Pharell Williams song Frontin .. Oh man it is good ... I love him he is so young and innovative with his music, always pushing the envelope .. Just listen here

sigh ... does it get any better ?? Listened to quite a bit of him when I was having my chemo treatments...

Oh yeah i got an new hair cut ... what to add a little va, va voom to it - so i am wanting to colour it. I want to do something WOW with it, so I will have to see what happens. I need some vibrant colour to distract every one form how thin it is. I was very lucky not to loose my hair during treatment .. but it fell out enough to be very thin .. so if any one has some great ideas on how to get your hair to grow back fast and thick ... send them my way !! You can tell that I'm getting better, my vanity is returning !!! I 'heart' cupcakes .. I have truly fallen in love with them ... I just love all the innovative things that people are doing with them .. check out these super talented ladies ... CupCakeBlog and also Bakerella does the most amazing cupcake decorating ... must learn how to do that!! Here is my small attempt at cupcakes, i had to bake 40 for Miguel's school mates for his birthday .. I made the M stars by creating the stars with the letter M on Coral draw (though I'm sure any software would do), printed them out onto adhesive paper. I punched them out using a star craft punch. Peeled and suck them back to back on a tooth pick !! What do you think I found a really fantastic recipe on the net ... nice and moist and not too sweet. Here it is if you're interested.

Magnolia’s Vanilla Cupcakes.

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes (depending on the size of your cupcake papers and muffin tins)
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
3.In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
4.In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
5.Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

and last but not least after that loooooooooooooooooooooong post a freebie for you

click here to download

Well I will keep you posted on how tomorrow goes ....night

{IM BACK !}

Hi there .... I'm very sorry that i did not keep this updated during my treatment, but to be honest I was just so exhausted all the time that I couldn't. But finally after 5 months, 8 Chemo sessions, 35 Radiations, incredible pain, extreme nausea, 2 hospital stays of a week long each and one full hysterectomy I'm on the mend !!! The up side of getting better is that I get to go back to work ;op

You can tell that i am getting better and SO over the whole cancer thing ... Im complaining about the size of my butt! I put on quite a bit of weight because of all the cortisone's I had to take to try and counter act the side effects of the Chemo. Everyone else lost weight and looked fragile, me ??? Nope ... porky, but i like to think of it as BOOTYLICIOUS!!!

Well it is Miguel's birthday next month and I have made his invitations and they have been sent out .. once again my DS wants Winnie the Pooh.

Miguel had Egypt day at his school a while back. He had to go dressed up as a Egyptian. So I made a robe and a stunning (if i may say so my self) Pharaohs Collar. It was a complete success!! Geraldine (my sis) drew a template for the collar out and printed it onto card stock (I still have the pattern if anyone needs it). I then ironed on interfacing to give it a little more resilience. TheWe then coloured the collars in with gold marker pen and metallic blue paint. I had found some gold bead trim and some beautiful large gold and gem stone buttons at a local haberdashery. We glued these on the to the final collar once it was dry and da-da ... what do you think? Miguel worked so hard on his one, i was very proud at the effort he put into his one.He was the only blond Pharaoh in his class so he stood out!! the kids looked sooooo cute, especially the little girls. It was wonderful to see how every one put such effort into the day!

I have also loaded one of my old freebie alphas, I know it was a great success 18 months ago, so enjoy it if you did not catch it the first time round.

download here