baby boom

babies, babies, babies...they are everywhere. i've recently bought presents for my dear friend who just had a beautiful baby girl and for my husband's goddaughter.

the great thing about this blog is that it is forcing me to consider new ways to wrap presents. i could happily wrap everything in brown paper but that wouldn't make for an interesting blog would it?

anyway this is how i wrapped the latest pressies. granted, this first bunch of presents were wrapped with brown paper...but brown paper with red spots! the ribbon i saved from a gift i was given. the card and envelope were decorated with illustrations from write to me.

this second present was wrapped with paper from kikki k and brown string. the card features the cavallini & co 'with love' stamp.

baby thank you notes

as i previously mentioned, i have just had a baby boy. the cute little munchkin has been spoiled rotten with lots of gorgeous gifts. while he enjoys his presents, i have been toiling away writing thank you notes.

the thank you cards were relatively simple to make and a much cheaper alternative to bought cards. i cut 300gsm white card, which i bought from paperpoint, to match the same size as the polaroid picture i was sending with the notes.

the front of the card featured a deer stamp, which i bought from corrabelle's store on etsy, and the cavallini & co thank you stamp. the heart and 'to' stamp are also from cavallini & co.

the first batch of kraft envelopes were from rock paper scissors. when i ran out of them i started using recycled brown paper envelopes from paperpoint.

sixty-six thank you notes and counting...

thank you truffles

we spent australia day with our dear friends camilla and mark (no, not the fashion designers). we were treated to a beautiful lunch which ended with some rather scrumptious lamingtons.

to say thank you we bought them raspberry and milk chocolate truffles from melt chocolates at the south melbourne market.

i also bought a little black paper bag from the gift wrapping store in the south melbourne market to put the truffles in. i tied a thank you tag to the bag with some ribbon i saved from a present i was given.

the thank you stamp is part of a cavallini & co stamp set. the set was a birthday present from my friend fran. i use it all the time. you can buy it at zetta florence in melbourne or online at notemaker.

oh, and camilla was kind enough to share some of the truffles after lunch. amazing! if you live in melbourne, get down to the market.

cookies for katie

i recently had a baby boy. when two of my friends found out i was pregnant they turned up on my door step with bags of clothes for my bulging belly. to say thank you to one of these gorgeous ladies, i decided to bake her some yummy treats.

it would be remiss of me not to share the recipe so here goes...

chunky, chewy choc-chip cookies

1 cup brown sugar
½ cup caster sugar
1 ½ cups self-raising flour
½ cup plain flour
1 cup coarsely chopped roasted macadamias
185g butter, melted
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 egg yolk, beaten lightly
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g dark eating chocolate, chopped coarsely

preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. grease oven trays, line with baking paper.

combine sugars, sifted flours and nuts in large bowl. add combined butter, egg, egg yolk and extract, mix to soft dough. stir in chocolate.

place 2 level tablespoons of biscuit dough on trays about 6cm apart.

baking time really depends on your oven. you want the cookies to brown lightly but if you overcook them they aren't chewy. they take around 8 minutes in my oven but they can take up to 16 minutes in some ovens.

to wrap the cookies i used a coles oven bag, a kikki.k goodie bag and some brown string.

i tied a little handmade gift tag to the goodie bag (i will do a post on gift tags another day). i decorated the tag by stamping a key on it. i bought the key stamp from BlossomStamps' store on etsy.

thanks for the clothes katie! hope the cookies were tasty.