Literature Bookmark Giveaway

I realised it's been a while since I've run a giveaway, so here's a quick and simple one since we all love them so much!  What am I giving away?  One of our popular literature bookmarks, with the winner receiving their choice of one of the three bookmarks pictured.

That means you can win either an Alice in Wonderland quote bookmark, an Anne of Green Gables quote bookmark, or an Anne of Green Gables character bookmark!

It's very easy to enter, just follow the steps in the Rafflecopter form below!

The nitty gritty:

- giveaway open from 1 June - 8 June 2016 (AEST).

- open to worldwide entrants 18 years of age and over.

- all form requirements must be filled in correctly to be eligible.

- winner will be randomly chosen via random.org

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Homemade Pop Tart Recipe Roundup

We are HUGE fans of pop tarts here at Two Cheeky Monkeys HQ, but we don't get them often because they're not particularly nutritious.  So today I am sharing a roundup of DIY pop tart recipes in a range of flavours and difficulties, and there's even a vegan recipe for those of you who swing that way!  Making them yourself means that you know all the ingredients in those tarts and you could even try and make them a little healthier.  Enjoy!

1. Homemade pop tarts (including making your own pastry)

2. Frosted brown sugar cinnamon

3. Strawberry jam pop tarts

4. Vegan pop tarts

5. Easy homemade pop tarts

6. Apple cinnamon

Polymer Clay Creations For Kids: Tutorial Roundup

As school holidays loom for most Australian states, I thought I'd put together a roundup of polymer clay tutorials for entertaining kids (and any visiting friends).  They're all easy and can even be managed by preschoolers with some adult help - enjoy!

1. Clay jewellery dish

2. Polymer clay necklace or tag

3. Polymer clay bracelets

4. Marbled polymer clay pens

Reader, I married him

Hands up who read the post title and thought, "What? Who got married???"  The title is in reference to one of the famous quotes from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, which I was recently commissioned to turn into a bracelet for a customer.  I don't think my customer was getting married either, but she told me that she loved the story Jane Eyre and that this was her favourite quote from the novel.

I had a lot of fun playing around with different fonts for my customer on this one, and am loving this bracelet so much that I think I'm going to add it as a regular item in my store.  What do you think?  Do you love it or do you have another quote in mind?

Mystery Grab Packs

Hands up those of you who always loved "lucky dip" stalls at fetes and markets when you were a kid!  Today I have some exciting news for those of you who love surprises and mysteries - I am adding mystery grab packs to Domum Vindemia and Two Cheeky Monkeys.

These packs will feature a random mix of literature- and music-themed pretties at 25-30% less than retail value.  Every pack is different, and you won't know what you will receive until your package arrives, but I guarantee that every item is lovingly made by me and of top quality!

These mystery packs are great for surprising that literature buff friend, spoiling yourself, or even for stocking up on a range of goodies to use as last mintue gifts!  At the moment, I have only set up a listing for mystery packs of Domum Vindemia pretties, but a Two Cheeky Monkeys one will be in-store later this week!  Which set would you go for???

The Makers Mailer

Psst!  I have some exciting news to share!  Some of you may already know about and be big fans of monthly subscription boxes.  For those not in the know, various companies have subscriptions available to monthly or bi-monthly boxes of beautiful goodies.  These can be commercial items, foodie items, handmade creations, or a mix of the above.

The Makers Mailer is an Australian-based company which sends out monthly boxes that feature handmade lovelies from Australian creators.  And in the coming months, one of my creations will be featured in their monthly subscription box!  It's all hush hush right now about what will be in the box, but you can be guaranteed that the boxes which arrive each month hold wonderful handmade goods.

So if you're a huge fan of surprises and handmade pretties, head over to The Makers Mailer and spoil yourself with a subscription.  And then you can squeal in pleasure each month, especially when you open the box and find my handmade lovelies waiting to be loved by you!

The bunting train continues

You may have noticed over the last few months that I have been regularly sharing my latest storybook bunting creations.  I am so thankful to you all for how much you have been loving my book buntings, with buntings almost literally flying out the door some weeks!

This week's latest additions to the bunting range are two old favourites, Peter Pan and Scuffy the Tugboat.  Both of these stories are old classics and popular with both boys and girls, so I have been struggling a little to keep them in stock.  These two are waiting to be added to the store, which will happen over the next day or two, but if you want to claim one for yourself, send me a message and I will reserve it for you!  Which one do you prefer, Scuffy or Peter Pan?

Gingerbread Fun

We are BIG fans of gingerbread (biscuits, cake, you name it) here at Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia HQ, and I have tried many recipes in my quest for the ultimate one.  Today I am sharing a biscuit recipe from my friend's grandma, one which we all love for its texture, taste and flexibility to alterations.  If you make some gingerbread biscuits with this recipe, let me know how you go and what you think of it!

Ingredients

- 60g butter (you can use margerine or a non-dairy substitute here if you like)

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 3/4 cup golden syrup

- 2 eggs

- 2 1/2 cups plain flour (all purpose)

- 1/2 cup self-raising flour

- 1 tsp bicarb soda

- 1 tsp mixed spice

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 2 tsp ground ginger

Method

1. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan over low-medium heat.  Let stand for 10 minutes, or until cooled a little.

2. Sift half the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Add the melted sugar and butter mix and stir to combine.

3. Sift in half the remaining dry ingredients.  Stir thoroughly.

4. Mix in both eggs, stirring thoroughly.

5. Sift in remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

6. Lightly flour a board and knead the gingerbread dough into a ball.  Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refridgerate for 30 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Roll out the gingerbread dough to 0.5cm to 1cm thickness.  Cut your desired shapes and place onto greased or baking paper-lined trays.

8. Bake gingerbread biscuits for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Place biscuits on cooling racks and try not to eat them all before they cool down!

Notes:

- these biscuits will store well for up to 5 days in a sealed biscuit jar.

- play around with the amount of spices added to suit your tastes.

- you can substitute up to 1 cup of whole wheat or spelt flour for the regular plain flour without any noticeable difference to the final biscuit.

- the very cool cookie moulds for the diamond and atomic particle cookies came from Australian-based totalum!

Cucpake stands and faux macarons

 

In recent months I have been busily working on product photography for Domum Vindemia, and one major change I wanted to work on was styling the cupcake and dessert stands to give an idea of their size and purpose.  My biggest problem?  I didn't really want to style my cake stands with real food, as some do, because I didn't want to have to wash EVERY SINGLE STAND after a photography session, and I didn't want customers to feel like their purchases had been pre-used as such.

So, spying my Monkeys' stash of felt faux foods that I had made for them when they were very little (and which they still occasionally play with!), I decided to go with a little faux food styling for my cupcake stands!  I know it's not quite as luscious-looking styling a cake stand with faux food, but I absolutely adore these faux macarons and feel much happier with my new product photos already!  Do you like to see an item styled in use before you purchase it, or would you prefer to know that your purchase is untouched, unused and ready to head to your home?

All new shabby chic-inspired napery

You all should know by now just how much I LOOOOVE picnics and eating al fresco, though we don't get much chance to do that with Melbourne's unpredictable and often cold weather.  However, I still dream of indulging in picnics and eating outdoors and am thrilled when others have the chance to do so in reality.

Which is why I am still happily adding new additions to the cocktail napkin range at Domum Vindemia.  I love it when my customers tell me about their plans for their fabric napkin purchases; they are used for a host of functions from regular family meals, to summertime picnics to large family functions where eco-friendliness is preferable to throwing out large numbers of paper napkins.

These new additions to the cocktail napkin range are a little different in that they're made from a heavier duty cotton fabric, similar to a cotton duck.  This extra thickness in the fabric means the napkins are more sturdy and can also easily be used as coasters to protect your outdoors dining table from the drips of condensation from cold drinks.  And even better, they come in two colourways of this shabby chic-style fabric with patterns of doilies, French landmarks and other vintage-look stamps, markings and illustrations!  Which colour do you prefer?

Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia June Special

Now that we're officially in the winter months down here in Australia, the weather has been pretty dreary, wet and cool to downright silly cold.  Therefore, the Two Cheeky Monkeys family is temporarily escaping the Melbourne drear for some much-needed R&R in sunny and warm far north Queensland this week.
It's only a short break, so I am keeping the virtual doors of Domum Vindemia and Two Cheeky Monkeys open for your shopping pleasure.  And to make up for the delays in shipping of orders, I am offering an exciting special to my customers!
Spend over USD$100 in either Two Cheeky Monkeys or Domum Vindemia during June, and you get to pick a pair of literature stud earrings which I will make and include in your order totally FREE of charge!  To take advantage of this offer, browse the literature earstud range and let me know in the message to seller which pair you would like.  PLEASE don't add them to your shopping cart!

There are, of course, terms and conditions to this special offer:
- the pair of earrings chosen must be from the literature earstud range found by following the link above.
- the USD$100 must be spent in one transaction (in either store) and does not include P+H costs.
- this special is only valid once per customer, and only on non-custom order purchases.
- offer ends 30 June 2016.

Life is worth living...

Do you remember the new range of quote bracelets I blogged about a few weeks ago?  That's right, the chunkier-style ones which come in a choice of six different quotes and five bead colours!  I've had a great response to them already, and recently had a customer request a custom bracelet with her favourite quote.

My customer chose to have LM Montogomery's quote "Life is worth living as long as there is a laugh in it." from Anne of the Island.  It's been a long time since I properly read any of the "Anne" series of books, so I had completely forgotten this line!  I think this quote adds a touch of whimsy to the bracelet and hope it brings many smiles to its new owner.  What quote would you choose to wear on a bracelet?

A few of my favourite childhood tales

It hasn't been all birthday celebrations and partying going on this past week, I have been busy working on new buntings for Domum Vindemia too!  I'm in the process of adding different colourways and versions of fan favourites to the store, such as Bambi, Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh.  So now customers have a choice of bunting ribbon colour and story version for some of their classic favourites.  What do you think of them?  Do you have a favourite story from childhood?