Little Housewife

Caravans and Cupcakes

2012-02-22T15:51:00.003-08:00

Further to my post earlier in the week about the Trelise Cooper Caravan, an overseas reader pointed me in the direction of an American company called Enjoy Cupcakes.

Enjoy Cupcakes is a gorgeous bakery in California but they have also refitted a retro caravan and can be hired for events where they will park up and lay beautiful tables with pedastol stands filled with gorgeous sweets and treats.

Check out their amazing collection of pedastol stands here. Now that is an impressive collection! What an adorable business!

Family - Strawberry Picking

2012-02-20T01:34:00.000-08:00

Sadly the New Zealand Strawberry season is almost at an end. I always look forward to our summer berries as it always brings back such fond childhood memories. My Dad's birthday is on Christmas Eve and it was always a family tradition of ours to go Strawberry picking that day. Sometimes we would add in a little pea picking. I can remember my brother, sister and I shelling them all out when we got home. Unfortunately the Strawberry fields now don't open until boxing day or later. And there are fewer and fewer opening to the public.

However, in January I saw a small article in the North Shore Times about the Troost Family Strawberry Fields and the North Shore Hospice. For the second year running, the Troost Family were opening their gates to the North Shore Hopsice at the end of the picking season. The public were welcome to come and pick and all proceeds went to the North Shore Hospice. What a wonderful thing to do!

Here is the original article http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/3267449/Strawberry-picking-helps-hospice-this-weekend

And what a wonderful morning it was! We arrived at the 9.00am start time (I always like to arrive before the crowds roll on in around 10.00am) with Maddy carrying our basket. We were kindly pointed in the direction of a field that hadn't been "picked over" yet and away we went.

Yes, Maddy is carrying a chalkboard paint colour chart - but more on that in anthoer blog post coming soon.

For what was considered "end of season", the fruit was amazing! So big, sweet, shiny and lush! Our basket (and tummies) got quickly filled.

Check out Maddys buldging cheeks!

I love the drip of Strawberry juice on the tip of her chin :)

Mama and Maddy x

The aftermath of Maddy in the Strawberry patch.

Our harvest. Gorgeous :)

I highly recommend everyone keep an eye out for this annual event in December 2012. It was a wonderful family day out. At the weigh in station you could also buy other home grown fruit and veggies plus gorgeous home made jams. (I am all about home grown or buying local). The Troost Family also have the most amazing daliha garden which was a rainbow of colours in full bloom. Maddy had all the Hospice volunteers giggling away as she ran around all the dalihas saying "Flower! Hello!".

I'll be sure to post information on the next Strawberry picking event so sign up to my blog and keep in touch x

My kind of caravan!

2012-02-20T00:56:00.002-08:00

I don't know how I missed this but it has me written all over it! In 2010 famous New Zealand fashion designer, Trelise Cooper, bought a run down old caravan...

And with the help of some very clever tradesmen, transformed it in to this amazing summer time accommodation...

I fell in love the minute I laid eyes on it! I am all about polka dots and bunting! It reminds me of something out of He-Di-Hi.

That's the lovely Ms Cooper standing in front of the caravan which toured New Zealand raising money for breast cancer and in the end was auctioned off with the proceeds also going to the Breast Cancer Foundation. I am totally in love. While doing my research I found that the people who won it now rent it out for between $90 and $110 a night. Gorgeous! (I can't seem to find the link anymore but if you're intersted let me know and I'll have another look).

Here are some shots of the interior... Just like a 1950's diner but cozier :)

If you are interested in seeing more on the whole transform then you can view it here: http://breastcancercure.org.nz/GETINVOLVED/CaravanRestoration/tabid/38831/Default.aspx

Products - Cupcake Vineyards Wine

2012-02-13T00:59:00.001-08:00

When we go overseas, I just love to visit the local supermarket. I love "doing the aisles" and seeing the different products each country has to offer. Before our trip to Hawaii last year I read online that America's largest Safeway's had opened up since our last visit and just a few blocks from our apartment. How excited was I??? So one afternoon I bundled my parents, husband and daughter in to the car to go and "do the aisles". One of my fabulous finds was in the chardonnay section and called Cupcake Vineyards.

I purchased two bottles of bring home with us and now regret that I didn't sample it whilst in Hawaii and bring more home with me. We opened both bottles the other week over dinner with friends. I wasn't sure what to expect - was it going to be sickly sweet? No! It was gorgeous. If I lived in America I think this would be one of our definite favourites. Someone please bring this delicious drop to New Zealand!

Real Events - The Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

2011-12-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a book that most children will read when growing up. I remember it well from my childhood, I gave a copy to the first friend of mine to have a baby and my little girl now has a copy of her own sent all the way from the UK so it really is quite global. Well I spotted the most gorgeous Hungry Little Caterpillar Party the other day through a friend of a friend of a friend. The lovely Sarah (whom I have never met) agreed to let us showcase her party on our blog. I was so taken with it that I really wanted to share it. So here we go...

The table looked amazing! It included all the fruits that the caterpillar ate each day.

On Monday he ate through one apple but he was still hungry...

On Tuesday he ate through two pears but he was still hungry... I just love this! What an amazing way to incorporate fruit and healthy eating in to a birthday party. Check out the gorgeous Hungry Caterpillar table runner! Sarah purchased some of the party supplies from the Eric Carle museum who is the creator of this gorgeous story. Others she created herself and has been in hot demand by party planners since.

I LOVE this! How clever! Sarah's sister used Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Cake Recipe to bake the cake and clever Sarah decorated it herself!

I always say "Love is in the details". Check out the super sweet caterpillars crawling along the vintage bricks. So cute!

This is a detail that I love (and must have been planned quite some time in advance). Each child was given a pale to take strawberry picking in their very own strawberry patch. How cute! The strawberry plants would have had to be planted well in advance of the party to be ready for the day. I completely love this.

If you look closely, you'll see they also sprinkled little chocolate lady bugs around the strawberry patch for treats :)

It wasn't all about fruit though! Mum and Dad made sure there were plenty of toys, a Hungry Caterpillar colouring table and a bubble machine to keep everyone entertained.

And here is the gorgeous birthday boy! Mum even appliqued a Hungry Caterpillar on his T-Shirt! I just love a good theme!

And no party is complete without goodie bags - Caterpillar Food! And these work in perfectly with the Hungry Caterpillar colours.

I am so hugely impressed. I just love this party and hope you do to! Happy Birthday Asher!

Recipes - Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-11-24T01:27:00.000-08:00

I photocopied this recipe from a book years ago. There is no mention of what book it came from or who created the recipe on the page but something rings a bell that it might be the mother and son team of Alison and Simon Holst. Alison Holst is a New Zealand icon who has been in the cooking spotlight since the 1950's. Her recipes are tasty, simple and use everyday ingredients that everyone has on hand. Her son Simon, who specialises in vegetarian meals, works along side her and is equally amazing.

Maddy was a little under the weather last week and had a sore mouth from some pesky eye teeth that are trying to cut through. So I made this version of Chicken Noodle Soup to help her feel better. For someone who had lost her appetite, she certainly made up for it by eating two huge bowls. It literally melts in your mouth so was easy for her sore little mouth to tackle.

I highly recommend giving this recipe a go and I'm sure it will become a staple recipe in your house as it is in ours. It is super tasty, quick, easy and really cheap to make. It's also a great recipe to "hide" veggies in for fussy eaters.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp canola or other oil
1 large onion
1 large potato
1 medium carrot
1 stalk celery
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves of a pinch of dried thyme
4 cups hot water
4 tsp instant chicken stock
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
50g spaghetti or fettuccine etc
2 tsp cornflour
2 Tbsp cold water
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup cream
2-3 Tbsp finely chopped parsley

Method:
Heat oil in a medium-sized pot. Cut the onion, potato, carrot and celery into small cubes. Stir the prepared vegetables and the thyme into the oil, then cover and cook over a gentle heat without browning for 5 minutes.

Add the water and stock powder and heat until boiling. Once the soup boils, add the chicken breast and the pasta (break noodles into 2cm lengths before adding). Simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables and pasta are cooked, then lift out the chicken. Chop the cooked meat into small cubes.
Mix together the cornflour, water, egg yolks and cream and strain through a sieve into the soup. Stir continuously until the soup bubbles round the edges and has thickened slightly, then remove it from the heat and add the parsley and chicken.
Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve immediately or reheat, without boiling, when required - add crusty bread and a salad for a complete meal.

Family - Madeline's Wendy House

2011-11-10T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here is a little peek at a project that my husband and I (mainly my husband) have been working on for the last few months - A Wendy House for Madeline. Isn't it darling? And isn't my husband clever? He made the whole thing from scratch without any plans!

There are still a few finishing touches to be made - we need to find some catches for the windows as the littlies are so fond of pushing them wide open without looking if anyone is there, and there are just a couple of little things that still need painting. I've also got my eye out for a wishing well to go at the end of the deck and my husband would like to put a little white balustrade around the deck.

We'll have a break for a little while now as it was a big project and in the New Year we'll get started on the inside. We want to custom make a kitchen inside for her. I've already picked out some gorgeous Cath Kidston lino for the floor and fabric for the curtains. Check out my Pinterest inspiration board below for some oh-so-cute wendy house kitchens.

Recipes - Crabapple Vanilla Cupcakes

2011-11-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week we had a lovely email from a lady in America who found Little Housewife via a comment we placed on a blog post over at Glorious Treats. The blog we commented on was about the ultimate vanilla cupcake recipe and I suggested they try the Crabapple Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe. The recipe is featured in the 2007 edition of "The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook" and is my "go to" cupcake recipe.

Not only is it gorgeously moist and tasty but it yields a whopping 24-30 cupcakes and they freeze and defrost beautifully. All of the recipes in this book are amazing and I highly recommend in investing in a copy for your cookbook collection. Shannon (the lovely lady mentioned above) asked if I would mind sharing the recipe with her which I was more than happy to do. (I always think the best recipes are the ones we share and pass between family and friends) and I thought you might like to try it too...

Crabapple Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 24
Keeps 2 days
Freezes 2 months

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
200g softened unsalted butter
1 3/4 caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 170. Line two 12 hole muffin trays with cupcake papers.

Sift together the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the caster sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes are each addition. After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved. Add eggs one at a time, beating fr 1 minute after each addition or until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add a third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat on a low speed until combined. Add half of the milk and beat until combined. Repeat this process. Add the remaining third of the flour and beat until thoroughly combined; do not over beat as this will toughen the mixture.

Spoon mixture into cupcake papers, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting.

Happy Halloween from my little Boo

2011-11-02T01:45:00.000-07:00

KitchenAid Heart Attack

2011-10-31T02:06:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share this with everyone in the hope that it prevents another near heart attack like I almost had a couple of weeks ago.

I am the very proud owner of a pistachio green KitchenAid Tilt Head Mixer. It stands pride of place on our kitchen bench where I smile at it for its sheer beauty several times a day.

It is also a well used necessity in all my baking escapades. A couple of weeks ago I was tackling yet another one of Sweetpolita's best ever Vanilla Layer Cakes. It was a big mixture and it was getting quite near the top of the bowl but nothing that this exceptional piece of machinery couldn't withstand.

I turned around to tend to something else while the KitchenAid did it's thing for "two minutes" when I heard this horrendous clunking sound. I turned back to the KitchenAid to see it shaking violently. Before I could reach to switch it off a silver bolt came flying out of the side of the mixer and the mixer head slumped in to the bowl whilst still violently clunking away. I managed to switch the machine off and it was at this point that the near heart attack ensued. My beautiful KitchenAid was in TWO pieces - the head and the body!!!

My husband had rung a little earlier to say he was on his way home from work and he'd be there soon. I knew he'd be able to sort out what ever had gone wrong but as the minutes ticked by I could no longer stand to look at this beautiful piece of machinery in two pieces.

I got the manual out of the manual filing cabinet (yes, I keep every manual in a alphabetized filing cabinet for moments just like these) but it made no reference what so ever to the said bolt or what to do if the machine was in two pieces. I decided to give the supplier a call on the off chance that someone in the call centre would know what to do.

I was put through to Australia to a lady who did happen to know what I was talking about. Apparently the "Tilt Head Bolt", which is that little silver dot you can see on the body of the KitchenAid pic above, is what flew out and apparently I was lucky that the mixer head fell down and not "out" and hit me! Geez! To cut what is turning out to be a long story short, there is a screw up inside the body of the KitchenAid mixer which loosens over time, especially when you are doing heavier work like doughs, and it needs to be tighten every so often to stop the Tilt Head Bolt from flying out. Again, NO mention of this what so ever in the manual.

And the solution, it would have to go in for repair. Now as I said above, I was mid Layer Cake so this wasn't an option! I thanked her, hung up and weighed up my options. In the end I thought "It's just a bolt - someone must have slid it in when they made it so surely I can slide it back in myself and do up the screw!" Not really! Do you think I could get the bolt to slide back in? It was virtually impossible. So I jumped on goggle and found a few other people who had had the same problem but also couldn't get the bolt back in. Two different people had tapped it back in with a hammer but I thought I'd end up with bigger problems later on if I attempted that. In the end I can only say that I lifted the tilt head all the way back and slowly maneuvered it down while pushing the bolt back in. I don't know if it would work again if it happened again. I think it was a pure fluke!

So, the point of this very long story - remember to tighten your Tilt Head Bolt every so often to avoid a near heart attack and damaging your prized KitchenAid.

STOREWIDE SALE - 30% OFF everything at Little Housewife

2011-10-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

Recipes - Pink Velvet Layer Cake

2011-10-11T01:54:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to attempting my first layer cake for quite some time now. There is just something about a layer cake - I just love the look of them. This recipe was from the April 2011 Australian Women's Weekly Magazine (NZ Edition). I made a few adjustments along the way to accommodate ingredient volumes which I will point as I go.

I found this cake to be more dessertish - more like a gateaux - but it was delicious none the less and I am very happy with my first attempt a layer cake. I must also apologise for the lack of personal photography - or lack there of - as the cake disappeared faster than I could place it on the cake pedestal. This image (of a Red Velvet Cake) is the most similar image I could find and is courtesy of We Take The Cake.

Pink Velvet Cake
Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 Tbsp cornflour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp rose pink food colouring (I used 1/2 tsp of pink Wilton gel colouring and this was still WAY too much. Next time would only use 1/4 tsp or less).
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 cup flaked coconut (I used grated Whittaker's Coconut Milk Chocolate)

Mascarpone Frosting
Ingredients:
250g cream cheese, softened
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g mascarpone cheese (I used 200g as that was all that was available)
1 1/4 cups thickened cream

Cake Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius (160 degree celsius fan-forced). Grease two deep 22cm round cake pans (I used 20cm round cake pans for a taller cake). Line bases and sides with baking paper.

Beat butter, extract, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted flours, cocoa, buttermilk and food colouring.

Combine vinegar and soda in a cup and allow to fizz then fold in to the cake mixture.
Divide mixture between the two pans. Bake cakes for 25 minutes (I found they were still wobbly and needed an extra 10 minutes). Stand cakes for 10 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool.
Here the recipes suggests to freeze the cakes for 40 minutes to make them easier to split. I skipped this step and used my very handy Wilton Cake Leveller which I would never be without and made the job a breeze. Split each of the two cakes in half.

Icing Method:
Beat cream cheese, mascarpone, sugar ,extract and cream until smooth.

Place one layer of cake on a serving plate, cut side up and spread with 2/3 cup frosting. Repeat layering, finishing with remaining frosting spread over top and side of cake.

Press coconut in to side of cake (although I used grated Whittakers Coconut Milk Chocolate instead).

Recipes

2011-10-09T02:11:00.000-07:00

Among my enormous cookbook collection, I also have four huge ring binders absolutely bursting with recipes that I have collected over the years. I hate holding on to magazines as I don't like the clutter of something that despite my best intentions I know I will never refer to again.

I don't seem to have much time for magazines anymore but I have been gifted a few various subscriptions which I do look forward to receiving each month. Upon their arrival I systematically do the following:

- Read them once from over to cover (usually in a hot bath with a glass of wine)
- Flick through a second time to research any products or websites that looked of interest (and sometimes enter the odd competition)
- And finally, the magazine gets ripped to shreds! I pull out any recipes that look of interest and add them to one of my four recipe ring binders, cut out any inspiring homes to add them to our renovation scrapbook, clip any grocery coupons and finally I snip out any pictures that I'm taken with and add them to my Oprah Vision Board, although mine is actually a Vision Scrapbook. (I highly recommend one of these to keep you focused on your goals and I'm a firm believer that you bring about what you think about).

By the time this is all over, what is left of said magazine joins the Paper Chase which will be recycled to create more magazines - and so the cycle continues...

Anyway, I decided a wee while ago that it was time to start working through the recipes that I have gone to great lengths to keep. Some have been wonderful (Oxtail and Barley Soup in the middle of winter was delicious) and some are disastrous (what was titled "The best Cabonara ever" was quite possibly "The worst Cabonara I have ever tried" and the recipe was promptly added to the Paper Chase). But you don't know until you try right? It will take years and years to work my way through everything I have in these four ring binders but I'm hoping as I work my way through them I will amass a great collection of tried and true favourites to wow my family and friends.

And the point of all of this... well, I would like to share with you all of the successful recipes that I make. I certainly won't bore you with what didn't work - what I find the more I cook is that allot of recipes have never even been tried prior to going to print and they didn't stand a chance of success from the get go. We would also love to hear from with your best recipes. Allot of my very favourite recipes have been handed down to me from family and friends.

So, without boring you any longer (I hope you made it this far) I have been working away on a very gorgeous desert cake this evening and will be uploading the recipe and photos in the next day or so. Check back soon!

Welcome Spring

2011-10-05T01:33:00.000-07:00

Have a look at the beautiful view that greeted us when Maddy and I were playing at Kennedy Park this week. Simply gorgeous! Welcome Spring...

Halloween Cupcakery

2011-09-22T02:28:00.000-07:00

Eat, drink and be scary! It's time to start planning your Halloween bash! And what better way to start than with a bit of Halloween cupcakery. Check out these inspiring colour combinations available in both small and regular.

Dora the Explorer Cake

2011-09-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

My good friend Leanne created this amazing cake for her daughters 2nd birthday last weekend. Isn't it amazing! Everyone at the party could hardly believe she'd made it all herself as it looked so professional. The most challenging part was Dora's head (of which she made three - aaahhh... typical perfectionist). Her son turns 5 in a couple of weeks and he wants a train so watch this space for more amazing cakes...

Madeline's Halloween Outfit

2011-09-20T01:46:00.000-07:00

I know it's only mid September but I'm starting to put Madeline's holloween costume together - mainly because everything I want to get her has to be made in America so it needs time to get here. This isn't strictly her first halloween - she was here for the last one but she was so tiny that it passed very uneventfully.

New Zealand doesn't traditionally celebrate halloween but it seems to be growing in enthusiasim every year. I don't think that I'll ever be comfortable letting Maddy go door to door asking for candy but I do want her to experience and be part of everything so off to Nana and Grandads we will go instead. I do look forward to hosting a kids halloween party when she gets older but that's years away yet!

Instead of an actual costume this year I thought I would dress her in a halloween outfit (she didn't handle the Easter Bunny costume too well that we put her in at Easter). Here is what I've selected so far...

Jack-O-Lantern Pinafore from Pocket Full Of Posies

The great thing about this pinafore is that is reverses to a non-holiday print so she will be able to wear it over summer too.

Cupcake Ghost Hair Bow from Lilly Bella Bows

Pumpkin Spice Shoes from Kathy Allen

Trick or Treating Bag from Lula Grace Designs

She'll look SO cute! What costumes (or outfits) have you got planned for halloween this year?

Alice in Wonderland DVD Release Party

2011-09-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

This Mad Hatters Tea Party was hosted by the Fairy Shop at Auckland Zoo to celebrate the DVD release of the new version of Alice in Wonderland. The Fairy Shop used our Vintage China and Silverware to set the table and our Polka Dot Gift Tags to recreate the "drink me" and "eat me" signs.

Mad Hatters Tea Party

2011-09-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

This amazing Mad Hatters Tea Party was photographed to coincide with the release of the new version of Alice in Wonderland last year. Little Housewife's Vintage China was used to create the effect.

Pink or Blue Baby Shower

2011-09-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

This event was actually about two years ago now but while I was removing the gallery from my old website I just had to transfer this over to my blog. I loved it two years ago when it was first sent through and I still adore it today.

At the time the Mum-to-be didn't know what gender baby she was having so her family threw her a baby shower to cover both options - pink and blue.

All the ladies pooled all their china, serveware and silverware together to create three amazing, vintage inspired tables. I think the result feels so homely and absolutely adorable.

I must be missing a few photos because there was a fourth table set up with big old fashioned ceramic and glass drink dispensers as well. Just gorgeous!

I just love that they even themed the party right down to the colour pens on the table for the games. That is the kind of attention to detail that I love!

Lions and Ladybirds 1950's Pot Luck Dinner

2011-09-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of meeting Jo from Lions and Ladybirds. As it turns out, Jo only lives five minutes away from me. Small world! Jo was hosting a 1950's Pot Luck Dinner and had come across Little Housewife's retro Foxton Fizz and Barber Pole Straws which fitted in perfectly with her theme. The end result looks fantastic - just like a 1950's American Diner!

Suppliers:

Foxton Fizz and Barber Pole Striped Straws: Little Housewife

Christabella's Fairy Garden Party

2011-09-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Madeline and I were invited to a beautiful birthday last month. My good friend Victoria's little girl, Christabella, turned 2 and Victoria created the most amazing Fairy Garden birthday party to celebrate the special day.

"My daughter was about to turn two, and is a real “girly girl”. She loves dressing up, putting on jewelry and all things pretty so we decided a fairy themed party would be the perfect celebration for her".

When Madeline and I first arrived we were greeted by an amazing shower of vines and butterflies while roses scattered the floor. What a magical way to enter in to a secret fairy world.

"With regards to the decorations, I kept in the back of my mind I was walking in to a Fairy Garden. Firstly the entranceway. To me this is very important, as upon the guest’s arrival that is their first impression of the party and sets the scene of what is to come. I hung strands of ivy from the ceiling and these were adorned with two pretty hot pink butterflies. There were pale pink rose petals scattered at each side of the entranceway which looked really pretty. A piece of grass green turf finished off the decorating of the entranceway".

Then we turned the corner in to a true fairy garden. It was absolutely beautiful! There were beautiful flowers and butterflies strung up EVERYWHERE. And huge pale pink tulle pouff balls hanging from the ceiling. Simply beautiful.

"The tulle balls and four large butterflies were from a company in the United States. They have a beautiful range, excellent service and very quick. These decorations were not cheap but really had a “wow,” factor and were well worth the money".

"I had lots of fun making a photo board with snapshots of my daughters first two years. I hot glue gunned green leaves and the same rose petals used in the entranceway down the two sides of the photo board. It received lots of positive comments and people loved seeing how much she had grown up".

Then we looked a little further and there was the sweetest party table set up for all the children. Look at those party chairs! It's a little girls dream!

Victoria also set up an adults table so all the Mummys could enjoy morning tea while all the littlies danced around like, well, little fairies. Victoria also arranged for The Coffee Guy (a mobile barrister) to arrive which was a fantastic idea as it meant Victoria was free to focus on Christabella. She also had gorgeous vintage tea cups set up for the tea drinkers.

The all important birthday cake was a delightful platter of absolutely beautiful and very yummy chocolate cupcakes. Each cupcake was delicately iced with floral etched fondant and topped with a sweet butterfly or daisy. (This detail was lost on my Maddy who promptly picked the butterfly off her cupcake and popped it straight in her mouth).

And of course no fairy party is complete without a visit from a real fairy! This is Fairy Rainbow meeting the birthday girl Christabella. Fairy Rainbow proceeded to take us on a journey to find all the colours of the rainbow as well as lots of dancing, bubbles and a fairy wand each too!

And of course, the super sweet birthday girl. I can safely say that I have never seen a little girl so absolutely delighted with her birthday party.

Suppliers:

Invitations: Vista Print

Hanging Ivy and Rose Petals: Look Sharp Store

Fairy Table, Daisy Ottomans, Paper Cups and Table Centrepiece: The Fairy Shop

Flowers, Butterflies and Silver Wands: The $2 Shop

Floral Napkins: Spotlight

Mila's Fairy Party

2011-09-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

Mila recently celebrated her birthday with a special fairy party hosted by her Mum Lara. Lara says she just loved getting her creative juices flowing and putting everything together.

Lara is a keen photographer and took all of these photos herself. Her contact details are at the bottom if you need a photographer based in Mount Eden.

Lara catered all of the party food by herself. She served a whole range of gorgeous fairy treats including pink frosted cupcakes, fairy bread pinwheels, fruit kabobs, star shaped sandwiches and sprinkled covered cake pops.

The gorgeous birthday cake was designed and made by Lara's sister in-law. How sweet is the candelabra on top?

Lara asked Little Housewife to design these water bottle labels which were based on the ones we designed for our Sweet Shoppe Party.

Of course no fairy party would be complete without a visit from a real fairy! This gorgeous pink fairy comes courtesy of the Fairy Shop in Ponsonby.

Each little fairy guest went home with a "take out" box of treats.

And of course the gorgeous wee fairy birthday girl sitting on a special throne for her special day. Happy Birthday Mila xxx

Suppliers:

Bunting Flags and Fairy: The Fairy Shop

Favour Boxes: Spotlight

Water Bottle Labels: Little Housewife

Photography: Lara laratewierik@gmail.com

CLEARANCE SALE at Little Housewife

2011-08-31T02:26:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! We need to make space on our shelves for all the new product we have arriving. Check out some of our specials...

Bibbie Aprons - Were $79.00. Now $49.00.

Available in Creamsicle, Daisy Mae, Lulu Belle, Sweet Pea and Tweet Tweet

Boys Baby Blankets

Were $40.00. Now $25.00.

500 Cookies and 500 Cupcakes Cookbooks

Were $25.00. Now $20.00.

Childrens Sun Bonnets

Were $49.00. Now $29.00.

Treat Bags

2011-08-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Check out these gorgeous Treat Bags that we just uploaded on to our site this afternoon! These darling wee treat bags are made from premium semi gloss cardstock and measure 16.5cm tall, 9.5cm wide and 6.5cm deep. Treat bags come flat packed and fold easily in to shape. Simply seal the scallop edged closure with a pretty label or ribbon. Sold individually so you can purchase as many or as few as you need. Purchase yours from Little Housewife here.

Fathers Day

2011-08-29T02:39:00.000-07:00

Plan ahead and make this Fathers Day one to remember with Little Housewife party supplies:

1. Foxton Fizz Lemondade. 2. Blue Polka Dot Paper Straws. 3. Blue Stripe Paper Cups. 4. Blue Stripe Paper Plates.

Maclaren Cath Kidston Stroller

2011-07-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

Ooohhh... look what arrived on the courier this afternoon...

I am so excited about this little baby! It's the limited edition Maclaren Cath Kidston Stroller in red with white polka dots! Aaahhh! Love love love!!!

We initially bought a Phil & Teds Dash while I was pregnant. We've had a few issues with it (ok, they had to send us a whole new one because ours was from a batch where they all had faulty front wheels) but on the whole it's been a pretty good pushchair. But while we were planning our trip away, I read as much info I could on traveling with a one year old and everyone said that an umbrella pushchair was the way to go for size and convenience. We bought a very cheap one to take away and it was great. I really appreciated the compactness of it. We never would have been able to maneuver the Phils & Teds around all the malls and shops the way we did with the umbrella stroller.

There were a few draw backs to said umbrella stroller:

It didn't recline backwards so when poor Maddy tried to nod off her head kept rolling forward and waking her up.
The bottom strap of the five point harness was too far down the seat so she kept slipping down and slouching forward which made her look incredibly uncomfortable - although she never moaned about it.
The handles weren't padded so your hands got sore after a while.

When we got home our Phil & Teds felt huge in comparison so I thought there had to be a happy medium between the two - enter the Maclaren Cath Kidston Quest.

I have literally taken it out of the box, read the essentials on opening and closing it and now am waiting for Maddy to wake up from her afternoon sleep so we can test drive it. It looks SO comfy. It even comes with a fleecy lined foot muff to keep her snuggley.

I'll be sure to post some photos of Maddy in her new stroller and let you know how the test drive goes xxx

Cupcake Decorating Kits

2011-07-13T02:25:00.000-07:00

Make decorating cupcakes a breeze with these delightfully themed kits from Little Housewife. They're flying out the door fast so be in quick to purchase yours! Check them out here... http://www.littlehousewife.co.nz/cupcake-decorating-kits.html

New Shipment of Patisserie Boxes

2011-07-13T02:15:00.000-07:00

Back by hugely popular demand - Little Housewife's Large Patisserie Boxes.
These sold like hot cakes (excuse the pun) but are now back in stock and ready to go.

Martha No!

2011-07-13T01:57:00.000-07:00

No, I don't mean Martha Stewart - although I'm sure a lot of you thought that's what I meant! And it would be very fitting given the nature of my business. And that fact that Little Housewife is one of Martha Stewart's "Dreamers into Doers". But no. It in fact refers to a gorgeous book that Madeline was given the other day entitled "Martha No!".

It is a Mary Poppins type book about a naughty little girl called Martha Felicity Molly-Anne May and her new Nanny "Miss Harrington-Chive" who gets more than she bargained for when she takes Martha out for the day.

The pictures are gorgeous with so much to look at on every page. But what I loved most was the clever rhyming, pace and tempo of the book.

The underlying message which is revealed at the end of the story is that Martha isn't really naughty - she just wanted to spend time with her Mummy instead the succession of Nannies that she had had to date. While we all know that this isn't possible for so many parents out there it is dealt with a lovely, simple way.

I absolutely love this book and it is a pleasure to read it every day. What books are your wee ones enjoying at the moment? Maddy is mad on books and we'd love some titles of some new ones to look out for.

MaNini Sunshine

2011-07-13T01:31:00.000-07:00

During our recent travels to Hawaii we happened to stumble across a gorgeous wee craft fair one afternoon. It was here that I met the lovely Natasha from MaNini Sunshine. Natasha is an amazing seamstress. Her creations are beautifully hand made and she uses the most stunning fabrics. It was also here that I feel in love with (and purchased) a Ribbon Skirt for Maddy.

From memory it was no more than USD$30.00 but I can't stress enough how much work has gone in to this and how much it would have cost in New Zealand for the same thing. (In my opinion haberdashery supplies in this country are ridiculously priced - but I digress)...

There are hundreds and hundreds of lengths of satin ribbon attached to this skirt and each piece has been cut by hand with a hot knife to they won't frey or unravel. The waist band is completely adjustable by a secret opening on the inside so the skirt will fit your wee one from two years right up until around five years.

I can't wait until Maddy is a little bigger and I can pop her in it :) Check out Natasha's Etsy Store here www.etsy.com/shop/maninisunshine or her offical website here www.maninisunshine.com She is well worth a look. You won't be disappointed!

Reasons to Celebrate

2011-07-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

There is one place I am always sure to visit when I visit America and that is a little stationery chain called Papyrus. They have the most delightful range of greeting cards which I always love to stock up on.

Their carry bag really caught my attention on this trip though. Same old glossy chocolate brown carry bag, same old pink and white hummingbird logo but around the bottom is a list of all of the moments in life that should be acknowledged and/or celebrated. Some moments are tiny and seemingly insignificant and some are the usual celebratory affairs yet all very fitting to the Papyrus slogan "The Joy of Everyday". Either way, I thought it was just lovely and wanted to share it with you...

will you marry me, full moon, jump for joy, happy birthday, get well soon, spring cleaning, hand in hand, believe, best friends, funny photos, adventure, shooting star, hair down, just because, it's friday, i love you, mom, happy anniversary, wish upon a star, feeling beautiful, i do, the best day of your life, lunch with friends, champagne, falling leaves, perfect memories, fresh flowers, new shoes, morning walk, chocolate chip cookies, bon voyage, yes you can, relax, i hope you feel better, sand between your toes, celebrate the moment, our song, stargazing, summertime, happily ever after, ocean breezes, no place like home, first date, just because, thank you so much, laugh out loud, simple pleasures, the perfect nap, hot chocolate, thinking about you, wish you were here, dream big, farmers market, morning dew, clean laundry, pumpkin pie, sunday dinner, grandpa's stories, say i love you every day, fifty years together, traditions, bubble bath, rubber ducky, baby's first smile, snow day, make a wish

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T03:40:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July. Whilst we are freezing away in New Zealand, our American friends are at the beginning of a long, glorious summer. Here is a peek at what some of our clever blogging friends are cooking up to kick off the summer season...

Patriotic Striped Jelly from Recipe Girl

Patriotic Coconut Stars from Hungry Happenings

Berry Star Cake from The Kitchn

Patriotic Chocolate Dipped Strawberries from Grin and Bake It

Petal Cupcakes

2011-06-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks before we went away, we took Maddy over to the Newmarket store of Petal Cupcakes - something I had been looking forward to quite literally for years!

I was lucky enough to work with Laurel Watson, the lovely (and very funny) creator of Petal Cupcakes. In my pre-Little Housewife and pre-Mummy life I ran the home textiles showroom at Linens & More. At that stage Laurel was working for the then New World Magazine, Essentially Food, and she would come in and borrow our linen and textiles to style her recipes for photography in the magazine. It was there that she mentioned her dream of opening Petal (so named because she calls everyone "Petal"). So naturally once I heard it was open I just had to get over there to see the dream come to fruition.

I was not disappointed! It all looks amazing! I was completely drawn in by the delicious colours of the frostings! I was ordering a box of four before my husband knew what was happening. Said husband calls me a Magpie because if it's shinny and new then I want it. (He thinks I can sniff out a new product at the supermarket the second we enter the door). Well, he's right actually so when I saw the gorgeous carry case packaging I knew I'd be going home with one of those!

In my haste to devour the cupcakes I forgot to take a photo of the packaging. The image below is actually courtesy of Baking Makes Things Better of whom I am now a eager follower :)

We ordered Red Velvet (first image below), Black Doris Plum, Vanilla and Ripe Strawberry (second image below). I was thrilled to see they had Red Velvet as it is very common in America but hardly at all in New Zealand. And as expected, they were all beautiful! The frosting was so light and fluffy. Absolutely divine!

Four cupcakes in a gorgeous carry box will cost you $20.00. Check out www.petalcupcakes.co.nz for location information and seasonal flavours available.

It is definitely worth a visit. Let us know your favourite flavours so we check try them next time we are in. (And yes, Maddy sampled the Vanilla and Strawberry cupcakes and swooned like the one year old she is).

Penny xxx

Back from Hawaii

2011-06-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

We're back from our lovely family vacation/product sourcing trip in Hawaii. We had a fantastic time. Two weeks of blissful weather, delicious food, amazing shopping and quality family time.

Maddy had an absolute ball.

She was an angel on both of the nine hour flights (despite all of the horror stories that everyone delighted in telling us before we left). We got so many nice compliments about her from all of the other travelers so we couldn't have been more proud of her.

She absolutely loved all of the time we spent at the beach. Although we live only two minutes from our nearest beach she was too little to understand our beach trips last summer but boy did she make up for it! She literally rolled around and covered herself from head to toe in sand every single day.

It's lovely to go away but it's always lovely to come home too (although when on earth did it get so cold!). I have lots of exciting things to share with you over the coming weeks so keep checking back. We'd love to hear from you too!

Penny xxx

SALE

2011-06-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

Gingham Cupcake Cases

2011-06-01T03:41:00.000-07:00

New in store this week - Gingham Cupcake Cases. Available in red, hot pink, orange, lime green and black. So sweet! The blue and red gingham's remind us of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz!

And... you asked and we heard you! All of our cupcake cases are now available in both small and regular size!

Check out all the new goodies at www.littlehousewife.co.nz

Happy Baking xxx

Sweet Shoppe Party - Part 4

2011-05-24T02:11:00.001-07:00

The absolutely stunning outfit that Madeline wore on her very special day was a beautiful handmade tutu set from StrawberrieRose called Strawberrie Lemonade. The set included a singlet with rosette and headband. The weather in New Zealand is quite changeable in May as we are well in to Autumn and it can get a little chilly and a little rainy so we bought Maddy a long sleeve white onesie and pinned the rosette on to that instead. We also layered a pair of super cute skinny jeans under the tutu. Here was the result. I think she looks adorable!

A finally a little bit about the rest of the decorations and games. Unfortunately this section is lacking somewhat in photos. My husband and I were so busy hosting the party that we simply forgot. We did manage though so here we go...

We set up a "Look at how I've grown wall" which greeted our guests as they arrived. 36 photos in total, starting at just 5 minutes old, showing how much Maddy has changed since she was born.

In the third living room we hired a kids tressle table and chairs. We covered it in white paper with a pink polka dot table runner and set up a Cupcake Colouring In Table. I got some big buckets of Crayola Crayons and printed out some amazing black and white Cupcake pictures for colouring in from Living the Creative Life. This lady has some seriously gorgeous colouring in pages on her blog.

We hung a gorgeous picnic check bunting around the cornice of the room, hung huge pink paper lanterns from the ceiling (which I had kept from my baby shower) and we literally filled the rest of the room with helium balloons. The kids loved having a space that was theirs to do what they liked with. It actually kind of turned in to the chill out room as whenever I went in to check how things were going there was a quite bunch of kids having a wee snack and doing a bit of colouring in before emerging 10 minutes later to join the chaos. Unfortunately this is the room that we have no decent photos of, it part because it is quite a narrow room and you really needed a wide angle lense to take it all in.

I can't emphasise enough how much the kids LOVED the helium balloons. Our house looked like a scene from the movie "Up"! By the end of the day they were letting them go outside and having races to the clouds with them. Very sweet :)

Outside, I repoted all of our flower pots with fresh pink and yellow flowers and made giant lollipops out of paper plates and balloon sticks (very cheap!) and windmills to pop in each pot. Very effective and colourful.

We had plenty of games to play. One of my favourites was "Pin the Candle on the Cupcake from 2 Little Lovelies. They custom made this game for Maddy which we will be able to use for her future parties. Also shown is the birthday banner I mentioned previously from ToadallyCuteProducts. Again, excuse the bad photo.

We had "Guess the number of Jellybeans in the jar". 432 if you really wanted to know. I counted them myself. The person with the closest guess won the whole jar which happened to be a 6 year old boy who guess 435! I sense a future Quantity Surveyor!

We asked all of the guests to bring along something small to go in a Time Capsule for Maddy to open on her 21st Birthday. Everyone was really creative and thoughtful and she got some lovely things to look back on to get a glimpse at what life was like when she was born. Now I just need to find the perfect container to store it all in. Any ideas???

We also had the Giant Cupcake Pinata that I mentioned in a previous post. It worked out really well and broke open at the absolute perfect time. I have never seen so many kids swarm to one place in my life!

We also played "Pass the Parcel" which is always a goodie. And I also made an Egg and Spoon Race and Lollipop Ring Toss but the afternoon got away on us and they never actually got played.

And finally, of course Maddy had "Happy Birthday" sung to her before she was presented with her "Smash Cake" which was entertainment in itself. For those of you unfamiliar with the tradition, it is predominately done in America when the birthday girl or boy is given their own little cake (or sometimes very big cake) to do whatever they like with. Some "smash" it to pieces (hence the name) and some devour it (like my little girl did).

Well, I hope that you have enjoyed the run down of details about Madelines Sweet Shoppe Party. We would welcome any questions or comments you have.

Love from Penny (Little Housewife) and Madeline (my gorgeous 1 year old)

Sweet Shoppe Party - Part 3

2011-05-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite parts of the day was our Party Favour Table.

(Sorry about the terrible photos - we have three Living Rooms joined together and this is the middle one where the lighting isn't so good until we do a little demolition and renovating - but more on that another day :))

The tablecloth is the same as described in "Part 2" although this is a narrow dresser so we didn't require another tablecloth underneath. I bought some giant Candy Necklaces and cut and rejoined them to make a Candy Necklace Garland which I secured along the front and sides with safety pins.

I made the polystyrene wreath hanging above the table using a tutorial from A Blissful Nest. I used the same method to make our Cupcake Pinata but rather than leaving the whole in the middle I inserted a polystyrene ball and covered the too which worked really well. They are super easy to make but quite time consuming. My hot glue ended it's poor life at the end of making these. I actually made it months before the party so lots of people saw it prior to the party and a few even commission custom ones so we now offer this service at Little Housewife.

I absolutely loved making this Lollipop Topiary Tree. It was so easy to make. Just a cheap terracotta pot and a piece of thick doweling which I painted white and my husband cemented together for me. Then a polystyrene ball of top stuck all over with Chupa Chup Lollipops (158 in total if you really wanted to know). A little ribbon twisted down the doweling, ribbon around the top of the pot, a little Easter grass in the top of the pot, a felt pad on the bottom of the pot and viola! A Lollipop Topiary Tree. We used it for game prizes. The kids loved choosing their own flavours from the gigantic ball :)

There were two actual party favours for the kids to take home. Firstly were these super cute mini Gumball Machines (pink for the girls and white for the boys) which we filled with Jaffas and tied a sweet thank you tag around.

The second party favour the kids got to choose was either a round or stick lollipop which we attached thank you stickers to that we had cut out with my Cricut machine.

The final detail was a framed photo of Madeline, Jamie and I taken at a charity photo shoot and a stunning felt party hat which we stock at Little Housewife.

So the table was simple but very sweet and effective.

Sweet Shoppe Party - Part 2

2011-05-24T02:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sure I lost alot of you in the last blog because there was SO much writing so lets get down to some photos and details...

This was the main food table which (with a little help from my Mum) I catered all by myself! It actually wasn't as big an undertaking as it looks or what you think it might be - but it was still alot of work. This photo is also a little incomplete as the hot food hadn't yet been served.

Some of the food that we served included...

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Sprinkles. I didn't have time to make the Cupcake Toppers so the lovely ToadallyCuteProducts made these along with an amazig Happy Birthday banner than hung in one of the Living Rooms.

Candy Stripe Jelly topped with pink and white sprinkles. It is essentially raspberry jelly and a special milk and vanilla jelly which is a really really old recipe my Mum showed me show to make. Everyone was amazed by it!

Mini Meringues and Fruit Puff Slice. Luckily for me, Madelines birthay will always fall around Easter so there will always be a huge range of products around to accessorise with. Here we also had plain chocolate eggs wrapped in red, pink, gold and blue foil.

Sweet Jars - A must at a Sweet Shoppe Party! These were such a great find. They were on special at Farmers for $4 each for the two large ones at the back and $3 each for the two medium ones in the middle. We served Jaffas, Heart Marshmellows, Fruit Runts, Giant Gumballs, Fruit Puffs and Toadstools.

Pinwheel Cookie Pops and Chocolate Brownie Cake Pops. It was the first time I had made either of these and they turned out so well. The Pinwheel Cookie Pops recipe was so easy and there is really very little to it but it makes such an impressive dish. Also being new to Cake Pops I followed this excellent tutorial from Little Miss Momma. They were super yummy and I will definetly make them again. Also in the photo below are tiny candy cups of Popcorn and Crackerjack Caramel Corn. The gorgeous pastel stripe Candy Cups are available at Little Housewife.

There was also a whole range of savoury food as well which was predominently hot so we didn't serve it until the last minute and didn't manage to get any photos :(

The birthday cake was a giant Cupcake that Mum and I made together using a Nordicware Cake Tin. The cake itself was a Marble Maderia Cake (strawberry, chocolate and vanilla) and was made in two halves and joined together by a rich chocolate ganache. We iced it using white and pink fonant and made a fondant cherry and fondant hearts as decoration.

The table decor itself was quite simple but effective when everything comes together at the end. I don't know about you but I can't seem to find fabric more than 112cm wide in order to make your own tablecloths. So I purchased some lengths of "Sugar and Spice" quilting fabric in 112cm wide and hemmed the ends. I laid one over a full size white tablecloth so it acted like a very wide tablerunner. It did the trick perfectly.

I covered some cardboard boxes in hot pink wrapping paper and used them to elevate a few of the plates on the table to make it more appealing to the eye.

Because we were having over 70 people to our house (eek!) we opted for disposable plates, cups and cutlery. I displayed the hot pink and bright yellow plastic cutlery in cardboard Popcorn boxes. These delightful pastel stripe Popcorn Boxes (which coordinate with the Candy Cups) are available at Little Housewife.

I used my Cricut Machine to cut out large polka dots which I bluetacked behind the table.

I visited our local greengrocer the day before the party and bought flowers for the vases on either end of the table plus a few others that were dotted round the house. I find the greengrocer a great and really cheap place to buy flowers.

And finally I made food tags for each plate and where possible gave things their old fashioned name - such as Lamingtons, when split opened and piped with cream are actually called "Apple Blossoms". Cute huh?

For the kids beverages we served personalised bottles of water

And Foxton Fizz which is a very old soda company in New Zeland. We offered Cola, Lemonade, Raspberry and Creaming Soda. How cool are those old retro labels? We tied a old fashioned paper straw to each bottle (which are available at Little Housewife) and topped each straw with a cut die cut topper.

Bubbles and beer were also available from the adults in a big old tin bath.

I think that just about covers this table but feel free to ask any questions :)

Sweet Shoppe Party - Part 1

2011-05-24T02:07:00.000-07:00

The event that I have been planning since the first week of 2011 finally arrived last Saturday. What an amazing day it was and I am so excited to share it with you. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it was to see it all come together but even more wonderful to see everyone enjoy it so much! I thought I might be a little precious about the carefully laid tables being disturbed by little grabbing hands. And what if the guests didn't stop to notice the effort and detail that had gone in to it all? But boy was I wrong! Everyone loved every inch of it, took in every detail and oohed and aahed at all the right things. And once it had all been oggled over and photographed from every which way by admiring onlookers I was absolutely thrilled to see everyone enjoy it for what it was - a party!

Over the next few blogs I will be sharing many of the details and planning information with you (which I'm sure you're all just sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for right!) on how we planned this gorgeous Sweet Shoppe Party, as well as a list or two of "where I made mistakes" and "what I'd do differently next time" as it was a huge learning curve!

The reason for celebration was our daughters first birthday. I have a huge list of party themes that I am dying to tackle over the coming years but for her first birthday I wanted something "sweet" and girly. Initally it was going to be a Cupcake themed party. I always design/choose the invitation first and then start planning the party around that, so I began my trawl through literally hundreds of cupcake themed invitations but not finding anything that really jumped out at me. Until I stumbled across a delightful "Sweet Shoppe" invitation from Roxter Designs which is how the party was transformed from Cupcakes to Sweets. With a few minor changes, this was the end result:

I mounted each invitation on hot pink 210gsm card stock and posted them out in hot pink envelopes so they would really stand out in the letter box. It certainly worked at getting the kids excited! I hear there were many squeals of delight when they saw the envelopes arrive and more than one invite was absconded to the kids bedrooms before the parents could even get to see what it was.

I'm pretty computer savvy but don't have the know how to create some of the graphics featured on the invitation (although I am looking in to graphic design course when we get back from Hawaii in July but more on that later). However, I do know my way around Photoshop and so from this I was able to crop a whole range of printables such as Envelope Labels, Lollipop Labels, Gumball Machine Tags and Water Bottle Labels (but more on those in another blog).

Giant Round Lollipop Labels

Giant Stick Lollipop Labels

Gumball Machine Tags

Water Bottle Labels

I sent everything out to a local printer as I just don't think you can get the same quality from a domestic printer and then set about cutting everything out by guillotine or using my Cricut machine.

Bib Winners

2011-04-20T02:59:00.001-07:00

The winners of the Little Housewife Bib Competition were Michelle from Mosgiel who picked the Vintage Rose Bib as her favourite and Sarah from Lower Hutt who picked the Jungle Bib as hers. Congratulations Ladies! The bibs are on their way :) More competitions coming soon so watch this space! xxx

Vintage Inspired Cake Stands

2011-04-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Little Housewife is once again back in stock of some gorgeous, vintage inspired cake stands. We always sell out of these super fast and with Mothers Day approaching they are once again proving popular. Click here to purchase http://www.littlehousewife.co.nz/cake-and-cupcake-stands.html

Feijoa and Coconut Cake Recipe

2011-04-04T02:32:00.000-07:00

With the Feijoa season being quite a short one, you are usually inundated with more than you can eat in a very short space of time if you know someone who has a tree. For those of us who are the "waste not want not" type of person who couldn't stand to see the fruit rot and get thrown away, or those of us who LOVE Feijoas and know it is another long year before we will see those gorgeous green fruits again (I fall in both categories) it is time to start thinking about freezing the last of the seasons fruit or bake with them and freeze that. I did the later over the weekend (but I forgot to take any photos for you). However I would love to share the amazing cake recipe with you.

All I know about it is that it was written by a lady called Shirley and it has been passed on to me by a friend of a friend of a friend etc. It's easy to make and creates a beautiful moist cake or muffins. If you are Shirley, thank you for such a gorgeous, fail-proof recipe!

Shirley's Feijoa and Coconut Cake

Ingredients:
150grams Butter
1 1/2 Cups Caster Sugar
4 Eggs - Separated
2 Cups Desiccated Coconut
2 Cups Standard Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Peeled and Chopped Feijoas

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Beat butter and caster sugar together until creamy.
Beat in the egg yolks.
Fold in the coconut and sifted dry ingredients with the milk and feijoas.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold in to the cake mixture.

Now here is where I stray away from the recipe. The above recipe makes a HUGE cake mixture. The recipe calls for the cake mixture to be poured in to a 23cm or 25cm cake tin. However, there is plenty for two of these size cake tins. So I usually make two cakes or I spoon the cake mixture in to stand alone patty cases until I have used all of the mixture up. The mix doesn't rise much so fill the tins or patty cases to at least 3/4 full.

Right back to the recipe...

Bake for 1 hour or until cooked.
Leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out of cake tins

This makes what appears to be a very dense cake by looking at it but it is remarkably spongy and light. And it freezes and defrosts beautifully. I made several dozen muffins using this mixture last year while I was pregnant and I was guaranteed a lovely hassle free morning tea for months there after when bubs was born.

Enjoy xxx

Beautiful Bib Competition

2011-03-31T00:28:00.000-07:00

Little Housewife is so excited about the arrival of our delightful new baby bibs! We love love love them THAT much because we know first hand what an amazing job they do whilst looking amazing! So we thought we better share a couple round. To enter all you need to do is visit http://www.littlehousewife.co.nz/ find the bibs category and pick out your favourite one. Then simply email us at info@littlehousewife.co.nz and let us know your number one pick. We will draw two winners at random who will win the bib they voted for. Easy peezy! Winners will be contacted by email and will also be named (along with their choice of bib) on the Little Housewife homepage. Entries close on Thursday 14 April so come on! Let's see those entries!

Ultra Functional, Oh So Stylish Baby Bibs

2011-03-31T00:03:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful yet ultra functional baby bibs have finally arrived! When out and about with my dribbly newborn, who is now a dribbly teething toddler, I am always stopped to ask where we got our amazing bibs. We can now proudly say "Little Housewife". We have a huge range of gorgeous designs for boys and girls. Check them out here http://www.littlehousewife.co.nz/Bibs.html

You can never have too many Tea Towels

2011-03-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

All restocked and ready to dispatch - Tea Towels Galore! You can never have too many! Ginghams, Picnic Checks, Polka Dots and Stitched Stripes. Click here to view all of our delightful designs http://www.littlehousewife.co.nz/Tea-Towels.html

Feijoas

2011-03-18T02:17:00.000-07:00

It's feijoa season in New Zealand! I've never really thought about whether they grow anywhere else around the world. We always had a feijoa tree in the backyard when growing up so took them for granted but now that I am reaching out around the world via my blog I really do need to think about these things! When my brother was living in Ohio, his wife came across a store selling them for US$6 each so I guess they must grow outside of New Zealand. Well, just about everyone in New Zealand knows someone who has a tree which is laden and usually the fruit is left to rot on the ground so at this time of year they are everywhere!

For those of you who don't know what feijoas are, it is quite hard to explain what they are or how they taste really. Wikipedia calls them a "Pineapple Guava" but I'm not sure that that is accurate. They are quite a taste of their own.

Anyway, Mum and Dad's tree is fruiting like crazy again this year! Here is a photo of the first seasons crop...

Since then the tree has given about 20 times this amount with much much more to come. So this weekend I am about the start a huge feijoa bake off. I have an amazing recipe feijoa and coconut cake recipe which I usually turn in to muffins instead and freeze. Feijoas make the recipe incredibly moist so they freeze and defrost really nicely. I'll post photos of my feijoa bake off next week. Let me know if you would like the recipe!

Alice and The Mad Hatter

2011-03-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

Are you having a Mad Hatters Tea Party or Alice in Wonderland themed event? We've got the perfect theme setter! Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit Cupcake Wraps! Completely reversible so you can have one, or the other, or a mix of both. So cute!

Polka Dot and Stripe Paper Partyware

2011-03-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

Little Housewife's Polka Dot Paper Party Plates and Paper Party Cups are back in stock! All the old favourites plus there are some exciting new colourways and designs. In the Polka Dots - Lime & White, Hot Pink & White and Black & White:

And in the Candy Stripes - Red & White, Pink & White and Blue & White:

Click here to purchase http://www.littlehousewife.co.nz/Paper-Plates.html

Gorgeous Cupcake Boxes

2011-03-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

Is it your turn to take morning tea along to coffee group? Afternoon tea to book club? Perhaps you've offered to take dessert along after dinner? What ever the occasion - what a gorgeous way for your cupcakes to travel! This stylish box, complete with removable tray, holds four cupcakes or similarly sized sweet treats. Available in three delightful designs - Pink Toile, Striped and Patisserie. You can purchase them here http://www.littlehousewife.co.nz/Cupcake-Boxes.html

We're finally here!

2011-03-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

My name is Penny from Auckland, New Zealand and I am a Little Housewife :) The foundations of Little Housewife stem from the memories of my happy childhood and now that I am grown, the things that I love as a result of my upbringing.

The aroma of fresh baking (and full baking tins), the scent of freshly mown grass on a summer afternoon, the smell of clean line dried laundry, vegetable gardens, days at the beach (and never getting sun burnt), being exhausted when you got home and falling in to a deep restful sleep, writing to the fairies (and they wrote back - thank you Mum!), parties and thoughtful gifts for family and friends, being tucked up tightly in bed on cold and stormy nights, gorgeously decorated birthday cakes, helping decorate the Christmas tree, running to the neighbours to pick fresh lemons from their trees and long hot summers that lasted forever!

I can't believe it and I don't know where I found the time but Little Housewife finally has an official blog! It's been really interesting finding my way round things and seeing how it all works. You'll hopefully see vast improvements in it's design over the next few months as I become more and more familiar with the programme :)

I look forward to sharing so many things with you all - not only all of new Little Housewife products we have arriving (we have so many new things arriving every day that the courier driver is my new best friend) but also what we get up to during the week - I am well in the throws of planning my daughters 1st birthday (more on that later) and my new vege garden due to start being built in the next week or two (photos to follow).

We'll also be sharing what our clever Little Housewife customers have been up to. We have a whole heap of special events to share with you but if you have used any of the Little Housewife products in creating your special day we would love to hear from you and share it with all of our readers.

Well, here goes! I'm about to click "Publish Post" on my first official blog. I look forward to meeting my first followers!

Penny at Little Housewife xxx
http://www.littlehousewife.co.nz/