New Zealand Cupcakes

Over the weekend it was my friend Ange had an afternoon tea to celebrate not only her birthday but also the fact that she is now officially a kiwi!

Unfortunately I ran out of time to make her anything for her birthday so I had to buy her present boo hoo! (I prefer to make my friends presents).

However I did have time to make some cupcakes for the afternoon tea - I chose to garnish them with New Zealand flags seen as Ange is now officially "one of us".

Jelly Fish Over Aro!

Last Saturday Rich and I were walking into town and came across all manner of strange things on the upper end of Abel Smith Street - including flying tuna and jelly fish, giant green tentacles coming out of buildings and giant eyeballs in windows.

There was also - of course - film crew type people and actors EVERYWHERE!

One of the security guys on site told us that all of this was for an advertisement for a telecommunications company in the USA - hopefully we can find the ad on You Tube when it comes out because I'd really like to see my part of town on film.

Gothic Housewife Farewell

Over the weekend I had my farewell party with my craft group the "Crafty Foxes" see as I'm into all things Gothic we decided to have a "Gothic housewife" evening.

I decided to make up some gift bags for the evening seen as I have so many supplies and I REALLY can't take them all with me to Korea (plus I want to buy new and more interesting supplies once I get to Korea!). Here's the gift bags I made - they have a bit of everything topped off with a black bow.
Next was the drinks for the evening - seen as it was Gothic themed we have blood red and zombie green vodka jellies and some mulled wine.
Finally the table decorations which were made by Kat - dead flowers and candles.

Wahoo! New Winter Coat!

Unfortunately my red winter coat is now officially a "little worse for wear" after lasting me for two winters (and as we all know a winter in Wellington can last a long time) - the pocket is ripped, the fabric has piled in some places and it has a hole where my satchel bag sits. It is finally time to lay my coat to rest.

But that means it's time for a brand spanking new winter coat, seen as the last one was red I've decided to return to a black coat (well sort of).

This is the coat I have bought (just waiting anxiously by my mailbox for it to turn up!) - it's kind of black and white tartan with a flocked skull design. Yah!

Space invaders!

It was our good friend Ross' birthday on Sunday and Rich and I were trying to work out what to get him for his birthday.


Ross is a computer programmer and so likes the "geekier" things in life so we decided that we would make him something with a bit of a "geek" spin to it.

After spending a while cruising the internet for "geek crafts" we finally came up with an idea - a space invaders magnet set.

Rich drew the cross stitch pattern for the set and we both cross stitched and assembled the magnets and I was totally stoked with the result of our wee project!

Here's a close up of the magnets

Here's a second "action shot" of the space invader magnets on our fridge!

Sunday Walk to Johnstone Hill

div>I often get a hard time from friends living in other cities about the Wellington weather and how bad it can get down here and unfortunately this year I am inclined to agree with them the weather has been AWFUL! It seems that we have had weekend after weekend of wind and rain where you really can't leave the house - let alone go for a decent walk!

This Sunday just been in was cold but it WASN'T raining and the wind wasn't too bad so Rich and I decided to take a walk up to the summit of Johnstone Hill and see the new wind turbines being built.

I was so good to be out of the house instead of all cooped up inside and best of all we had a fantastic view of the new wind turbines being built!

Simon's Birthday Cookies

A couple of Friday's back it was my friend Simon's birthday drinks - but I couldn't make it along as I had a phone interview. So to make it up to him I decided to bake him some soft American style biscuits. Here's the results!

The recipe I used was one I received in a craft swap and it was for an extraordinarly large amount of cookies (approximately 100!). I decided to half the recipe as I thought 100 cookies was a few too many cookies for one man.

Here's the recipe I used to make the cookies (the original not the half version)

SOFT & CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2 Cups White Sugar
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Pound Butter
4 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
2 Teaspoon Vanilla
4 Cups Flour
5 Cups Rolled Oats
2 Cups Chocolate Chips

Cream together butter and sugar

Add eggs and beat well

Add salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla and mix together.

Stir in flour and rolled oats.

Add chocolate chips.

Place dough on baking tray in golf ball sized rounds and flatten.

Bake for 6 minutes on 400 degrees Fahrenheit (which I think from memory is nearly 200 Celsius).

DO NOT OVER BAKE!

Let cool slightly before removing from baking tray.

Dead Snow

A while ago Rich told me about an article he read about a new zombie movie - which included Nazi Zombies! But he couldn't remember what the film was called. Well this week he worked it out - it's called DEAD SNOW and it's at the Wellington International Film Festival this year which starts on 17 July.

We aren't 100% sure when we are leaving Wellington or when the movie is on but here's hoping we get a chance to see it because it looks so damn good!

Virtual Vacation Swap

So I am down to completing my last three swaps before I leave New Zealand (I'm sure there will be much more swapping to come when I get settled into Korea or wherever we end up!).

One of the swaps I am currently taking part in is a virtual vacation swap, I haven't finished my package yet but my partner is really super organised so I received my package from her well before send out date!

The basic gist of the swap was that you needed to make a bag and assorted crafted goodies for your partner as well as any "extras" you would like too.

I was a little obscure in my destination, I think I said I'd like to be send somewhere in Asia or Eastern Europe and my partner "sent" me to Hungary which is pretty cool. She made me an amazing dragon bag and associated dragon goodies including the passport holder which is awesome. I also love the amazing mask brooch she send - it's really beautiful and he has the power to ward off winter, Rich and I should stick him to the door of the flat I think.

She also sent me loads of cool "extras" but my favourite HAS to be the novel she sent through - "World War Z" it's about the zombie apocalypse and anyone who knows me knows how crazy I am about zombies! I can hardly wait to get into this book!

What I'll be watching this weekend

So there is yet ANOTHER cold front on the way this weekend and Rich and I don't have much planned for the weekend so I figured it's horror movie time! Here's what I have gotten out from the library to fill cold a cold winter's night.

Photoshoot Cupcakes!

Over the weekend some of the members of my craft group "The Crafty Foxes" took part in a rockabilly crafty photo shoot where we all dressed up in glamourous 1950's style to have our photo's taken whilst crafting.

I was photographed with knitting, beads, cross-stitch and of course - cupcakes! These are the cupcakes I made for the shoot. Pink and girly with chocolate chips for sprinkles.

The dress that I wore for the shoot was made by my friend Kat (who was also in the photographs) and the fabric was provided my a crafty friend Mel from Australia.

I can hardly wait to see how the photos turn out! Nat who took the photo's is going to give us a CD with all of the photos on it when she has done her editing. Looking forward to seeing the shots.

A very birthday weekend

It seems that a lot of my friends have birthdays in June and July and this weekend I had two birthday gatherings in one day!

On Saturday morning I had Yum Cha with my friend Fiona for her birthday brunch, I had never actually had Yum Cha before despite having many friends tell me how awesome it is! It was actually pretty fun to have plate after plate of random food bought out to choose from. My favourite were the coconut buns - even though they were so sweet I could only eat half!

For Fiona's birthday I embroidered her a couple of vintage doilies - I am really happy with the way these turned out!

On Saturday night it was my friend Nilanka's birthday at a wine bar on Woodward Street which was a lot of fun. I didn't make Nilanka a present this year but I did give him a "Paint the 90's" colouring book which went down a treat - sounds weird but if you saw it you'd understand!

Welcome Home Cupcakes

When we were in Auckland last weekend my friend Iris told us about the $3 shop which is a very cool little Asian import store (most of the stuff look Japanese or Korean) with lots of cool stuff including a whole bunch of awesome cupcake papers. I bought the flower, star and tartan kind of patterned papers.

Seen as Rich stayed in Auckland a few days after I returned to spend some time with his sisters and their families I decided to make him some welcome home cupcakes using the cute star papers.

Seen as we only have a few months left in New Zealand I guess I better get baking and use the rest of the papers!

Kitsch Cowboy Swap

Earlier this week I received a package for the kitsch cowboy swap I took part in the first part of my package was a recipe box completed with aged recipe cards and cowboy themed recipes.

I also received this handmade book - I'm not sure what I am going to put in it yet - but could be a great size for photos.Next was some craft supplies including loads of cute charms - I am thinking of making a western themed charm bracelet.
Finally was this piece of pin up style cowgirl fabric - which is a hint of a second package which I am due to receive a bit later on!

Weekend in Auckland

Some weeks back, Celia booked tickets for us to head to Auckland with her and Simon to attend our friend Stevie's birthday party.

Unfortunately for most of last week I was really sick with a winter bug and decided that it wasn't the best thing to go.

Rich, however, convinced me I should go. I decided not to go to the party but I was able to catch up with both Stevie and my friend Iris whilst I was there whilst chilling out in Auckland.

Whilst we were up in Auckland Rich and I did a walk around the Auckland domain which was really great as I'd never really been there before and you soon forget about the city once you're in the domain.

Despite the still feeling sick it was a really nice relaxing weekend - I'm really glad Rich made me go!

Wayward Victorian Swap - My Creations

My swap partner has now received her Wayward Victorian swap package in the mail - which means I can share with the rest of the world what I sent-Here we go!

I bought a plain white fan and "aged" it with tea - then added the ribbon and fantail stamps. I am REALLY happy with the way this turned out.


Next is a Victorian postcard that I put into a frame and then blinged it all out with stone chips, beads, glitter and whatever else I could find.

Next is an art journal which I embellished with a postcard of Prince Albert, lace, beads, a cameo and glitter.
I also made a garter, teapot pendant, skull hand brooch, skull earrings, whistle pendant, flower hair clips, cameo brooch, octopus trinket box, a set of flower fridge magnet and wine glass candles.










FINALLY - last but not least I made a fascinator - which was VERY difficult to photograph and a box for the fascinator to live in so it doesn't get damaged as it is quite delicate. The postcard on the front of the box is of Crystal Palace.