I love a quick craft project that I can accomplish high on the kitchen bench out of reach of prying little fingers. (Although, they do manage to make it into the photo-shoot!)
This set made their way to Jayne for her (young) birthday on Monday. Perfect for a blooming sewer who loves shades of blue! 
Then I found out that our adopted brother Mandi's birthday was today so I keenly offered to be chief cake-maker! I am a big fan of birthday cakes that do not require sculpting, icing smoothing and wastage. Super quick and easy. I underestimated the amount of Kit Kats that would be needed to cover the sides and think it would have looked much better with a few more so there weren't any gaps. Such a great idea and could easily be adapted using lots of different types of lollies and chocolate.
I think she was applying makeup in this instance. Her legs and arms are also constantly stained with ink.
I'm off to have a shower AFTER I move all drawing implements to a higher place.
I took the easy option this year of dressing up as a hippie! At the last minute Jaron decided to dress up as "Two Face" from Batman (I think...or is it Superman? I'm not into Super Heroes!) Mum surprised Oscar and Lil costumes earlier in the week - they looked very cute! Tommy doesn't need a costume because he is the cutest baby around!!
For once we were blessed with a beautiful night...not too chilly and clear skies. 
"Where's Wally?"
Tinman and Scarecrow
Miss Paparazzi herself!
Our kids came home with SOOO many lollies...I like that they are still young enough not to realise that most of their lollies mysteriously disappear overnight ;) 
We loved what Louise did to Levi's boat...and then dressed up the family as pirates! Very cool!
After trunk or treating, a sausage sizzle and some games, the night was topped off with a fun hayride through the paddocks on the back of Uncle Kim's truck. Lil loved it so much that she threw a tantrum when it was time for it to finish so she ended up taking another ride!
It was such a fun night...a bad thing happened on the way home though.
Jayne gave me this funky dishcloth. It is crocheted and she bought it from here.
Oscar had such a fun day with lots of his little friends coming around to play. Lil was a bit feral (who would think to hold a party during her nap time?) but we all still had a fun time.
The kids started off decorating pirate hats with stickers, they all looked very cute wearing them - I wish I took more/better photos of the day but kept forgetting!
We played pass-the-parcel and inside each layer was a pirate eye patch and little treat. 
After a game of Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate and "What's The Time Mr Pirate?" we ate lunch. Jaron made little pirate ships out of some wood scraps and dowel and as the kids finished eating we gave them a piece of fabric and some textas to decorate a sail to stick onto their ships.
Earlier in the week I went around the backyard and took photos of different things and made a treasure map on the computer. The kids had to follow the map to all of the different landmarks and collect gold coins at each spot.
And...voilla...the treasure at the end of the map...
This cake was *almost* a total disaster. I should probably have used a recipe I had tried before but decided to use a marble cake recipe I found online. The cake was fine, just didn't rise as much as I would have liked and ended up only being about 5cm high. Not tall enough to make a decent treasure chest. Lucky for me, I have a husband with good ideas! He always seems to "save the birthday cake day" - he propped the cake up with Tupperware containers to make it look higher then I iced around the cake AND containers and you couldn't even tell it wasn't all cake! I like to call it "cake plastic surgery"!! The lid was made out of a cardboard box (thanks to Jaron) and I just iced the outside of it! We were pretty impressed with the end result and it was actually better than a huge cake because it meant that most of it was eaten at the party and we didn't have any wastage. A few of the kids said that it was the best cake they had ever seen...bless their hearts...but from a child's point of view I reckon any cake piled with lollies would be looking pretty enticing!
Our happy pirates...
I have a heap of left-over Make it Perfect bags from Quilt Market last year so used them as the take-home goody bags. 
Along with a few treats and little toys, I made each child a fishing set to take home and play with. They turned out really cute...but I wasn't feeling so enthused when I was cutting out, laminating and re-cutting 100 little fish! It was worth it in the end though!!
Another of my all time favourite Aussie Designers - Saffron Craig
And last but not least...I have been eyeing this fabric off for awhile now and have an idea for a new pattern...fingers crossed I'll have it ready for summer!
you are happy when mum tells you that you have grown overnight.
you play with your new toys all afternoon.
you get to choose what we have for dinner - a picnic...veggie sticks, dip, crackers, bread, cheese, cabana, ham, chicken wings...your favourite!
you decide not to have a bath because you really, really want to keep playing with the new racing track that gramma and poppy bought you.
you get to stay up for 10 minutes after you brush your teeth.
If you don't have children of your own, Play School will make a great, practical Christmas gift for grandchildren, nieces or nephews!
If you have a store and want to stock this or any other Make It Perfect patterns, contact Creative Abundance to place an order.
