February cakes

As February melts into March I thought I'd better show you all what I've been up to before I get too far behind in my blogging :-)
The above cute Giggle and Hoot set was created for twin girls as I tried to make Hoot look a bit more girly than what he normally looks on telly.

I also made these cute matching cookies.

Some pastel Princess cookies for Äpples & Jam".

Then this unique boy on a swing cake and cupcake set for a Christening. The design came from the customers invitation.

I used edible paper for the cupcake toppers, I love how this turned out.

Then we had this super cute 16th birthday birdcage cake, I really enjoyed making this cake as it was unique and I got to play with some flowers and birds. This cake was actually very tall, it was 6"inches round and about 10"inches tall! Not a lot of fun to cover in fondant I tell you lol

My very 1st ruffle cake, I did a quick 2 hr ruffle course in Greensborough and this is the result. The bunny topper was a left over job that was never used :-)

He POP-ED the question Engagement breakfast

When Daniel decided to propose to his long term girlfriend Nadia a few weeks ago they wanted to celebrate their engagement in style.
Daniel is a Graphic Designer for a local newspaper with a love for comic strips and asked Just call me Martha to incorporate something fun, funky, unique but not too girly.
Since Anders Ruff already had the Super Hero theme in their party range I approached them to do a custom design for the engagement party without making it too childish.
The fun Anders Ruff graphics were used as buffet labels, champagne flag picks, favour tags and graphics for the edible cupcake toppers and cookies.
The colour palette of red, white, black and yellow worked well within the Pop Art retro theme while giving the design a funky yet romantic edge.

Since the engagement party was a breakfast celebration some of the following food was served.
- Raspberry jelly and yogurt shots,
- mini pancake stack with fresh raspberries,
- apple and cinnamon muffins topped with cream cheese,
- strawberries and cream mini flans.
- Mini lemon cheesecake cones with blackberries
- Champagne and orange drinks

How cute are these "He proposed, she said yes!"" muffins, the graphics were actually used from the Anders Ruff design and printed onto edible paper.

Nadia is a chocoholic so requested the fun ruby red choc smooch lips as well as the cherry ripe chocolate mud triple layer engagement cake. The couple loved the Valentine cake I created last year, but to make the design a bit different I made the cake taller and added lots of fondant hearts instead of the bunting.

Each guest took home a mini red letter box favour filled with Pop Art sugar cookies and Oreo heart sprinkle pops.

So what did Nadia take home as her favour? A 2 carat sparkling diamond set in platinum of course!

Thank you Amy Atlas Events and Anders Ruff for featuring our party.

Vendors:

Styling, cake and food by: Just call me Martha www.justcallmemarthaa.blogspot.com
Photography by: Enraptured Photography http://www.enrapturedphotography.com/
Printables and Graphics by: Anders Ruff http://www.andersruff.com/
Party props, cake stands and compotes: Little Big Company http://www.tlbc.com.au/

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday :-)

Polkadot and balloon 1st birthday party

This weeks adorable cake and sweets was requested for a girls 1st birthday party. The theme was balloons and polkadots and the brief was simple, minimalistic with lots of white and a hint of pink. The cake was a lovely fresh raspberry buttercake and complimented with mini vanilla cupcakes.

I also made some matching balloon shaped white sprinkle pops, flavour Oreo and raspberry swirls.

The miniature balloon cookies were simply embossed with a letter T or a number 1.

For the favour bags I created these cute but very simple polkadot balloon cookies. The polkadot image was printed on edible paper and then applied to the cookie surface.

I enjoyed making these simple but sweet treats, sometimes less is more :-)

Happy New Year

Happy new year everyone!!

Next week all the kiddies go back to school and I'll be back to crafting, baking and styling again. Some exciting things in the pipeline for Just call me Martha this year and hopefull I'll be able to share some of the goodies with you as they happen in the 1st part of the year.

So far in 2011 I've completed my 1st goal and that is to have my kitchen registered. So as of this month I am an officially registered kitchen yay..... I still have a lot of things I want to do and my list is as long as my arm but one step at a time I say :-)

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled as I will be posting some lovely blog posts over the next few weeks.

xxxxxx
Leoni

Ginger spice cookie house recipe

Ginger spice cookie houses





200g butter softened
200g brown sugar
1 egg lightly beaten
400g plain flour sifted
1 tablespoon crushed ginger (I use the ones from the jar)
2 tsps of All spice (or you can mix some cinnamon and clove together to make up 2 tsps)
1 tablespoon Golden syrup
Template for the house can be found on Torie Jayne's blog





1) Cream butter and sugar untill mixed and creamy but do not overbeat.

2) add egg untill combined and then sift in the flour, ginger and All Spice.

3) mix with your hands till a dough forms, if its a little dry add the 1 tablespoon of syrup. Gather into a ball, wrap in clingwrap and pop in the fridge for atleast 1 hour.

4) Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius

5) Roll out dough to about 5mm thick and cut out gingerbread house shapes. Template can be found on Torie Jayne's blog, its still by far the cutest and easiest template to make and use :-)

6) Pop on a tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake for 12-15 minutes (my oven is gas and it took 15 min)

This yields 2 small houses or 1 big house. Its more a ginger spice cookie recipe rather than a proper gingerbread recipe as I find it is sturdier than the standard gingerbread recipe. I found it easier to use with less breakage when handeling the different walls and roof pieces. It also remains flat and won't spread while baking.



Oreo pops I made for Kindy



2 packets of Oreo cookies
3/4 packet cream cheese
1 bag of Nestle milk chocolate buttons
1 bag of pretzels, broken in half to form antlers
1 bag of mini m&m's
50g of white fondant (for the eyes)
22 x lollypop sticks
1 x styrofoam dummy cake (for pops to dry on)
black edible texta





1) In a food processor mix the 2 packets of Oreos untill it resembles fine crumbs

2) add softened 3/4 packet cream cheese and mix into the Oreo crumbs till a soft dough forms

3) roll round balls the size of a standard walnut and pop them on some greaseproof paper and pop them in the fridge for 10 minutes.

4) Remove your Oreo balls from the fridge and set aside. Melt bag of nestle choc buttons in a medium bowl (make sure its clean and dry)

5) Now dip each lollypop stick in the melted chocolate and then pop them into each Oreo ball. Leave to harden for 5 minutes.

6) Dip each Oreo pop in the melted chocolate and gently tap on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. While the chocolate is still soft (but not dripping) pop a mini m&m for the nose, place the pop upright in a styrofoam dummy cake and gently press in some pretzel antlers.

7) Let the pop dry completely.

8) Once dry, roll out tiny balls of white fondant and stick 2 balls onto each pop with some sugar glue to form the eyes. Use a toothpick to indent the pupil, I also used a toothpick dipped in black food colouring to emphasise each pupil.

9) Using a black edible texta draw each mouth on the pops.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE :-)

xxx

Leoni

Merry Christmas - Delftware luncheon

Theme: Baby Hugo’s first Christmas – Delft blue

*********As featured by Amy Atlas Events ***********

Styled by:
Louisa and Melissa from The Little Big Company http://www.tlbc.com.au/
Lilian from Lily Chic Event http://www.shoppewithlily.com.au/
Leoni from Just call me Martha http://www.justcallmemarthaa.blogspot.com/

What do you get when Little big Company, Lily Chic Events and Just call me Martha collaborate? A lot of fun and laughter and this lovely Christmas lunch created for baby Hugo who will be celebrating his first Christmas with his parents this year.The inspiration for the Christmas lunch came from the blue and white pottery called Delftware (Delft pottery) which is made in and around Delft in the Netherlands, since baby Hugo’s mum was born there. The luncheon was very intimate and fun with each guest bringing along a homemade favourite family recipe to share at the party.

Close up of the gingerbread house on top of the main cake.

Double stacked Christmas fruit cake with ginger bread house with hand painted details, the first time I've tried to paint details like this onto a cake. Not easy!! lol



Gorgeous Liandra holding some vintage baubles. Dress by Itchykoo.

Mini Christmas cake parcels.

Some of the food on the table was mini Fruit cake parcels, Spice cookie baubles (traditional Dutch cookie recipe), ginger cookie Delft baubles, lamington pops (a nod at baby Hugo’s Australian heritage), coconut snow cupcakes, passion fruit Cheesecake, cherry & fig Christmas pudding, vanilla bean and caramel eggnog and the show stopper cake, a double stacked Christmas fruit cake with ginger bread house with hand painted details! Yumm!

Close up of the spice cookies with delft edible image. I loved how they turned out.

To keep cost down the crackers on the dining table were home made using craft toilet rolls, fabric and scrapbook paper. We also used a Christmas printable set created by Ham and Pea Design & Paperie to embellish the crackers and dress up the dessert and main table.

See this party in print in the Peekaboo magazine please visit website for subscription details or where you can pick up a copy of the magazine.

Photography by Clair Bremner http://www.clairbremner.com/

Vendor list:
Styling/stock and food by
The Little Big Company
Lily Chic Events
Just call me Martha
Photography: Clair Bremner – See be Art
Printables: Ham and Pea Design & Paperie
Felt items: My Sweet Tashie
Christmas dress: Itchykoo

Advent tutorial - recycled tins

For the past 4 years we have been doing advent calendars in my household, each year we choose a different theme and holder. We've had the traditional mini santa stockings, we've done mis-matching socks on pegs, we've done mini boxes and this year recycled tins. In fact, with 4 young children I find it challenging to come up with something big enough each year that will hold 4 x lollies on some of the advent days. Our advent is also different in that it doesn't contain lollies for each day, this is purely out of neccesity as the advent use to sag with the weigh of 4 x lollies x 24 days lol. Instead, each year, half the days contain notes and the other half lollies, it is all mixed up so my girls never know which day will be a note or which day will be a lolly.

The notes usually contain activities such as:
- See the Christmas lights
- Have a picnic dinner in the garden or on the living room floor
- You choose what's for dinner
- ice cream sundae for dessert tonight
- day at the beach today
- day at the pool today
- Make a gingerbread house today
- make Christmas cookies
- choose a gift for the poor from the wishing tree today
- $5 Kriss Kringle, you choose the gift and then swap with your sister
- Pick a movie to watch (can be a new DVD to rent or at the movie hall)
- Put up the Christmas tree, each child has to make an ornament for the tree
- Go to the zoo

Here is a cute tutorial of this years advent calendar, its very simple and costs little to no money and is environmentally friendly :-)



Step 1:
Gather your supplies, you will need
24 x empty, clean cans with labels removed.
Some fabric scraps
Some ribbon and lace scraps
Elastic bands
Scissors
Glue
2” inch round scallop cutter
Some paper
Pencil
Step 2: Pop your tin on some paper and draw a border around the shape of your tin which is 2”inch wider than your tin.
Cut out your paper circle as this will now be your template for cutting your fabrics.

Step 3 : Iron your fabric scrap and pin your circle template to the fabric and cut around the circle. You will need 24 circles, one for each tin.

Step 4: On your computer create the numbers 1 to 24 in fancy font and print out on an A4 sheet. Using your scallop cutter, cut out each number for each tin.

Step 5: Fill your tin with a treat or a secret memo (such as “tonight we will visit and see the Christmas lights”), then place the circle fabric over the opening of the tin and secure with a thin elastic.
Tie a pretty ribbon into a bow around the tin and elastic to hide it. Stick down your scallop paper with number and tie some pretty lace or ric rac around the bottom of each tin.

Step 6: Stack your tins into the shape of a Christmas tree, with no 1 on the top and the numbers 18 – 24 on the bottom.