Have You Broken Any Resolutions Yet?

January 1, 2013 by Julia

Last night, New Year’s Eve was spent with family and friends.

We had a fantastic afternoon with the kids, playing in plastic wading pools and throwing colourful balls at each other.

We let Maksi stay up a little past his bed time before whisking both babies over to my parents place for the night so we could party child free until 12pm.

We were so excited to have a sleep in. We managed to sleep till 8:40! Which is something we have not done since before having children. Then we hurried out the door to pick up the babes because we really missed them.

I made a few resolutions before bringing in the new year but I think I may need to revise them to include some concrete things I want to check off my to do list this year.

I plan on not only making a list of my goals but also including strategies for achieving these goals.

Have you made any resolutions?
How are you going?

Julia xx

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Happy New Year! Drinks! Resolutions?

December 31, 2012 by Julia

Happy New Year!

I Love this time of year because it feels like anything is possible like I could do anything, achieve anything.

2012 has been a big year for my little business but even bigger for my family with the addition of our newest design Leonid.

He has slotted into our family perfectly, he is mild mannered and almost alway content to just sit and watch Maksi’s antics.

Watching them together is just the best thing in the world. Maksi loves trying to make Leo laugh. He will jump up and down, pull funny faces or do just about anything to get his baby brother to look up at him and giggle.

I can’t wait to see their relationship evolve into a beautiful friendship.

I don’t really know what will happen in 2013, I feel like anything could.

I used to be a real control freak ( ok I still am a bit) but I used to be so sure of things I felt like i knew exactly what was going to happen and exactly how I would react to every situation but now I feel like I am surprised everyday. In a good way

I can’t wait to see what 2013 brings.

Drinks!

Aleks is loving Mojitos at the moment. He uses this recipe and they are totally delicious. He has been a little sick lately so we haven’t indulged in one of these for a while we have all the ingredients prepped and ready to go for tomorrow night and we can’t wait to indulge.

We are headed to Aleks brothers house with the babies for dinner. Then we will be dropping them off at the grandparents at bed time so we can PAAAARTY you know till exactly 12pm.

The most exciting part…….. the babies are going to sleep at my parent place so the next morning!!! We can get up at anytime we want. Woot Woot!! now thats what I call a party!!

Resolutions?

I do love a new years resolution. Just a few things that I feel will enrich mine and my families lives.

More special dinners on the deck with my loves

Long walks on my own, or with my babes

I want to do somethings for my self, like taking up crochet or just reading more

Learn more about my DSLR ( this one I already have a jump on I am going to The Nursery on Jan 3)

I have been doing a bit but I want to do more “home pre-schooling activities with Maksi”

and lastly I am going to dive head first into project life. I am great at taking lots of photos of my family and what we are up to but I haven’t printed many photo books, so I really want to do that in the new year.

Are you making resolutions this year?

Happy New Year to you and yours

See you on the flip side xx

Julesxx

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9 Handmade Christmas gift ideas + Free Printable Gift tag

December 10, 2012 by Julia

1.DIY Felt Slippers from Wills Casa

2. Personalised Hand-Stamped Tea Towels from Chibi Run

3. Personalised Tile Coasters from Made 2 Style

4. Sock Monsters from Ava Pot Pie

5. Homemade Basil Pesto from KukuCouture Invitations

6. Lace Boot Cuffs from S{Thomp}ing Ground

7. Aromatherapy Eye Pillow from Markham Street Design

8. DIY Paint by Numbers Canvas from Sophie at Home

9. Personalised Memory Matching Game from Max & Me

Today along with nine other awesome bloggers I am sharing a handmade Christmas gift idea, My contribution is #5 Homemade basil and some free printable homemade gift tags to add to your gifts, scroll down to check it out in full.

I love that pesto is so versatile you will find yourself putting it on everything. Tonight I had it with pasta tomorrow morning with eggs and on pizza for dinner. Your family and friends will thank you for it. It lasts about three weeks in the fridge.

If you would like some gift tags to finish off your gift then click here for some I prepared earlier. FREE printable homemade christmas gift tags.

Julia x

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Free Printable Christmas Gift Tags

November 20, 2012 by Julia

Today I am sharing these printables over at Chibirun.

I went a little less traditional this year.

You can download your free printables here.

If you are after something a little more traditional you can check out the Gift Tags I created last year here.

I have also released my customised christmas cards for this year on the website. If your looking for something a little more personal to send to your nearest and dearest head on over.

Julia

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Spooky Mail – Free Printable

October 23, 2012 by Julia

Hi Friends,

My beloved newphew Harry moved to Melboune a few months ago and we are

missing him terribly.Maksi will often ask for him during the day and

when we go to my parents place he runsfrom room to room looking for him

it is heartbreaking.

I am hoping the move won't be permanent.

Harry Loves sending and receiving mail,

so I thought I would create a little stationary set Maksi could

use to send him some spooky mail in time for Halloween.

You can download your copy here.

Well Blogtober was going so well, but I have been a little slack this week as

I have been busy preparing for Leo’s christening which is coming up in two weeks.

Don’t forget to check out our Halloween Printable Puppet and

our Educational Toddler/Preschooler Placemats

Enjoy

Filed under: Free Printables, It's a Kuku Life, Seasonal Celebrations, Uncategorized Tagged with free printables, Halloween
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How To Make The Tastiest Triple Choc Bundt Cake Ever!

August 27, 2012 by Julia

Hello Friends,

Two weeks ago I made the tastiest birthday cake I have ever eaten.

35 others also ate this cake and when polled 9/10 said it was also the best they have ever had.

So it must be good right?

I wasn’t going to share the recipe here as it is just too good but when I heard about The Big Cake Bake, I thought it would be ok to divulge my recipe for a good cause

So here it is,

The Tastiest Tripe Choc Bundt Cake Ever

Ingredients

Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup buttermilk
- icing sugar (for dusting)
Chocolate Sauce
- 1 cup finely chopped unsweetened chocolate
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan.
To make the cake, in a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Toss in the chopped chocolate.
Into the butter mixture, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk.
Spoon the batter evenly into the Bundt pan and smooth the top of the batter. Bake for about 55 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester or a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan briefly. Turn out onto a cake plate to cool completely.
For the Chocolate Sauce, place a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water and add ingredients and stir to melt and combine.

To Serve

Dust cake with icing sugar. Cut a generous slice and top with Chocolate sauce and ice cream.

If one yummy cake recipe isn’t enough and I’m sure it’s not.

Germaine over at Chibi Run is sharing the recipe for this Knock Your Socks Off Lemon Drizzle Cake!

& Tamsyn over at Max and Me is sharing this Amazing Chocolate & Raspberry Pavlova Decadence

for the cause.

Don’t forget to check out our free printable Father’s day card/craft here.

Julia x

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Free Printable Father’s Day Card For The Kids To Make

August 24, 2012 by Julia

As you might know Maksi loves books or as he calls them “book book” every evening when he hears the front door open he knows Daddy is home and rushes down the hall with a “book book” for daddy to read.

One of their most recent favourite books has been Socks by Nick Sharrat and Elizabeth Lindsay and this was the inspiration for Our father’s day card. This book is absolutly socktastic!

We decorated our sock by monoprinting and then used some cardboard to scrape of all of the excess paint but you could colour, paste or do anything else you or your little one’s dream up to make their card special.

We also included a few little characters from the book on the inside and some lovely coupons for daddy to redeem when he sees fit.

The cute washi tape is from Chibirun

If you would like to make your own father’s day card download the printables here.

Julia x