Kids Mother's Day gifts

In the April school holidays I thought I would get a bit organised with the kids (the 2 big ones, at least!) and make a head start on a couple of Mother's Day gifts. I wanted the kids to be able to do something a little crafty, but not something I had to do too much with, more that they were creating themselves.

And then as I was thinking what we could made for Nanna and Grandma for Mother's Day I thought we could make some flowers using cupcake wrappers and pop-sticks. They cut out and coloured in some leaves and stuck them on too.

 Love the concentration here!

Nice and colourful .... but what to do with them .... Aha! Because I have had to formula feed, yet again, I have an abundance of formula tins and this time I really refuse to put them in the recycling bin, so I have been on the hunt for ways to use them and get them out of the house without actually throwing them out! So I cut slits in the plastic lid of the tins and then we poked the pop-sticks through, then we baked some biscuits the day before Mother's Day and the kids decorated them (lots of sprinkles!) and we popped them into the tins.

Nanna and Grandma loved them, including the handwritten label by A1 ..... and I got rid of 2 more tins!

I used several at Christmas time by decorating the outside with scrapbooking paper and a 3D flower on the top, then filled them with my Christmas baking. Everyone commented on them, they couldn't believe that's what they were and several tried to give the tin back to me "for me to use again"! LOL! I also read about using them as a bin-bag dispenser, so out came my scalpel and I cut a cross in the lid to feed the bags through and our roll of bin bags is now easy to find in the cupboard under the sink and doesn't come unrolled through the cupboard all the time!

Baking day!

'Days' actually ;) lol!
I am loving the cooler weather (even though it's still in the high 20'2, but that is cooler that the 30's, that's for sure!) and have been enjoying cooking meals and snacks this week. I also discovered the reason for some of my recent baking fails :( is my SR flour isn't right (long story but hubby is a flour miller AND my supplier, so there were words spoken!!!) my cakes and cupcakes lately have been flat and taken AGES to bake and I thought I was doing something wrong or had grabbed the plain instead of SR, but when my Nanna's Cream Cake recipe did not turn out right I KNEW there was something wrong! So, this week I have added some Bicarb soda to the flour and, boy, what a difference! Still not quite right as I need ot work out how much i need depending on how much SR I am using, but MUCH better! Yay!
So, yesterday I baked Cheese and Pumpkin Scones and a Pumpkin and Sultana Cake (this is one I had a fail with a fortnight ago, much better this time!). and today I made curried chicken triangles (with pumpkin and cauliflower) for lunch then made a Banana Loaf, mmmmm! It's great that I am able to add these to the freezer and I plan to make a couple of Zucchini Slices early this week to add to the freezer too.
Sorry, I didn't think to take any pics, but I will try to remember next time :)