{let me eat cake}

One year old seems like ancient history now -- the frantic machining of Ruffle Fest 2011, the last minute erecting of The World's Simplest DIY Photobooth, and the whirlwind of a Cheese themed party. Really, it was only three months ago. Long enough, though, that I swooned with nostalgia when I saw Little Starling's first birthday photo shoot, using a strand of Red Red bunting (from my shop).

What a perfect little red chair! Our good old IKEA high chair is shaking its plastic tray in envy. And, for even more good ideas for birthday photography, you can see more photos from her shoot, including chubby little baby legs covered in cake, here. 

{diy: washi tape flags}

Washi tape. Chances are you've seen a roll in a pattern you can't resist, and bought it. Chances are, once you've got one roll, you've decided to become a washi collector. Chances are, you now have an entire cupboard piled high with red tape, blue tape, tape with musical notes, with Japanese stamps, with the entire words of Shakespeare printed in miniature. 

But what do you actually do with the stuff?

You make flags. And then you make cupcakes. And then you stick the flags into the cupcakes and have a jolly good time.

Having made millions hundreds dozens of little flags for Mossa's birthday earlier this week, I've got the method down. Is it so basic that you could probably do it in your sleep already? Yes. Am I going to share it anyway? Yes. It might save you a bit of awkward finger/scissor/tape/cocktail stick manoeuvring.

(Are you drooling over those cakes above? Bakewell Cupcakes, baked by my sister, Alice, they use The Best Cupcake Ever recipe that I shared the other day)

You'll need:

• scissors
• cocktail sticks (long or short. I prefer long as you can cut them to make short ones, too)
• washi tape

Pull one end of the tape out, a good ten centimetres, and place the unpokey (i.e. 'blunt', for people who use 'real' words) end of a cocktail stick in the middle of the length of tape.

Fold the end of the tape over the top of the cocktail stick, sticking it to the tape on the other side of the stick. (Note: at first I was very worried about lining up the edges on both sides of the tape, but then got over myself and decided it looked quite nice uneven anyway.)

Snippy snippy. One straight cut, to separate the flag from the roll of tape, and two pointy cuts, if you like the snake-tongue effect. 

Here's another case of unnecessary worrying -- I oh-so-carefully measured the first two or three flags, and then decided that it was all a bit faffy, really, and decided to enjoy a variety of lengths of flag. Perfectly imperfect. Or, so I tell myself. We also scribbled '90' onto the flags in a very imperfect and blobby blue biro. 

We stuck the flags in cupcakes. We stuck them in Fruit Pastilles. We stuck them in Cadbury's Giant Chocolate Buttons. We slotted them into the holes in Polo mints. I even poked a couple into the tail feathers of my Mum's favourite straw chickens, to give them a bit of festive 'pluck'. In short: stick a flag in anything, and it becomes more exciting. 

So, tell me: am I wrong? Do you have tons of uses for washi tape? Have you never heard of the stuff, much less been tempted to buy any? Or do you, in fact, have the complete works of Chaucer on washi tape instead?

Best of the Red: Edibles

It's been a little while since my last 'Best of the Red' collection, but this one has so many yummy redibles (red + edibles!), I hope it'll make up for the long break!

Warning: the following images may make you hungry!

For Breakfast, with Toast:

Organic Raspberry Jam by mirasolfarm, $8

With a Pot of Tea, for Elevensies:

Red Velvet Cake Truffles by lollidreams, $13.50

In My Pocket, All Through the Day:

Pomegranate Caramels by CaramelJubilee, $10 for 1/2 lb

With Something Sparkling, on a Special Evening:

Gourmet Raspberry Marshmallows by miaMallows, $5 for 6

Now, I'm sure I'll spend all morning trying to think up a reason to buy myself some marshmallows! Mmm.

xo

(P.S. I knew it! I couldn't stop myself! 18 marshmallows are on their way here... I promise, I'll let you know in detail just how they taste!)

Horsey Num Num

I've been baking with my 'Drommar' cake pans! IKEA has these fun pans out at the moment, which give your cakes the little bit of 'gallop' they've been missing:

My choc-tastic Drommar is Devil's food with chocolate frosting and a mini-marshmallow heart.

And this is a fun Dalla horse Drommar which looks so much like varnished wood, I'd have trouble actually eating it, I think!

Photos from here, my camera, and here

Neigh! Neigh!

xo