Updates!

Well we had such a busy weekend just past with going to the Rochester Kids Market and Little Birdy Market in Echuca, it was great to go and see a few different markets to see what happens there. I have to say a big thank you to Cath from Little Birdy for making us feel welcome and at home. Unfortunately, while we were away I came down with a cold type bug (argh!) so have been trying to rest up which I must say, is pretty darn good. I have been enjoying my new book from Soulemama and her dear husband Stephen. So far I am really enjoying it, its a lovely mix of crafting, cooking and parenting all done slowly. I bought mine directly from her (just so I could have it signed, cheap thrills!) but its available in many places if you're interested just Google it. Her blog is one I really love to read, you can find it on the left in BloggieLove  >>

I have also had time for a JaxFancy Etsy Shop update...

 

and a trip to the op shop..........found some lovely vintage cottons destined to be make into Christmas presents :) 

Its starting to get to the time where we start thinking about Christmas.

I have always loved making gifts for the people I love, even more so at Christmas time. The making is the easy part, the thinking of what to make is the hardest part! I do have a few ideas, but I would always love some more. If you have any please leave me a comment, it will be much appreciated :)

If its school holidays for you like it is for us I wish you a grand time! Slow down and enjoy this sunshine :) For everyone else I hope your holidays are not to far away :)

Happy Days :)

Jacq xo

What a cake!

 For a good long while now I have been seeing images of spectacular rainbow cakes in and around the net (probably Pinterest!). I really loved the idea but it was a long wait until a birthday in our house. But today was finally the day! And its not everyday your youngest baby turns 7, and so Dirtgirl was going to have a rainbow cake!! Woo Hoo!! 

Now to be clear, I love to cook but cakes are not my thing ;) Just so you know! So in a very organised (ha!) fashion I set about making the cake and taking photos. 

 I used plain cake mixes (75 cents at Aldi!) for the simple reason that the mixtures are very white, which is nice if your trying to make bright colors. I used a 20cm round tin to bake with and it was rather tall when it was finished! So next time I would probably try a larger tin to make it shorter and fatter.

 

 I used 3 boxes for 6 colors and using food dye made the colors of the rainbow as best as I could. I wasn't completely happy with the purple, its never easy to mix that color, but it cooked up just fine. If you wanted really bright purple you can buy straight purple food dye rather than mix red and blue.

 It took a little time to cook them all and because I was talking on phone and cooking sausage rolls at the same time I forgot to take an appropriate photo at this stage! So here is the first layer with some cream I used to sandwich them all together.  I am not sure where I scored that plate from but its a wonderful birthday cake plate!

 I did trim the tops of all the cakes a little so they would sit flat. Even the mess is cool :)

Told you it was tall ! Now I really wanted to cover the whole lot in white icing so it was a big suprise when I cut it up.But  I didn't feel confident that I wouldnt wreck it trying to get it all to stick on the sides'of the cake.

 Heres how it ended up! She loves chickens, hence the chicken decoration.

 It was certainly spectacular and the kids thought it was great! Which in the big scheme of things is the whole point! So Happy 7th Birthday DirtGirl!

I can already hear our next birthday cake being planned :)

Preparations are underway :)

We have been like busy little spring bees today trying to get some stock ready for our big weekend! Two markets in the same weekend?? What was I thinking! Sometimes my tendency to be over efficient defiantly goes against me. But the show must go on, so we will continue our preparations as best we can which means I will be sewing at midnight!. I am looking forward to our weekend though, its also a bit of an adventure!

 We made many many Stacking Men today!

 And now for the sewing :)

Our first market for the weekend will be on Saturday at  Kids Markets Central Vic in Rochester, they will be raffling a hamper to aid the local victims of last years flooding. We'll stay the night in Echuca  (woo hoo!) and have our stall at Little Birdy Markets in the heart of Echuca on the Sunday for the very first time.

As always our life is jam packed.. we also have 2 very special birthdays to celebrate this week, Zara will be 7 (OH MY! didn't those years go fast!?) and Rob will be turning 21 again ;)

Leave me a comment and share whats happening in your week :)

Jacq :) 

A question for other market retailers :)

I have this tendancy to be a little gung-ho... you know how it is, a great idea happens in your mind and you just run with it! 

I'm not sure about anyone else but I (we) have a day job(s) in a wonderful kindergarten and the hospital, so JaxFancy runs on top of these commitments, purely because its something we enjoy doing.

What I would like to know is How did you start?? Was it a hobby that grew? A business idea your trying to grow? Do you have a plan or are you winging it?

Its looking like I will have less days working outside of the home next year so now have to opportunity to really give more time to expanding JaxFancy. But how is what I am wondering!

I would love to hear from anyone with their story and any ideas they have would be greatly appreciated.

Just leave me a comment!

This Moment

Again joining in with Soulemama's fridays {this moment}

Spring has sprung FINALLY!

Jacq :)

You know what Maria says.............

We have watched The Sound of Music *ALOT* of late. The girls just love it, me too though I can't figure out why we love it so much but I do know the men in this house don't love it like we do LOL.

The song in the clip above is one that we all sing randomly quite often, its a bit of a fav :) and is a good lesson for life. Concentrate on the good things, there will always be bad stuff because life is like that, but we don't need to dwell on them.

Today is one of those days where I need to think of my favorite things, certainly rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens are good. Watching my children run about like crazy in the forest, strawberries, the quiet moments with Rob when we are the only 2 people on the planet, new socks, clean carpet, hot showers, someone elses cooking, good friends, making things that people enjoy, a new project, husband made coffee......


If it makes you happy to leave a comment to tell me what makes you happy, it would make me happy to know!

Jacq xo 

I am adding chocolate.....

A great market day!

We had such a fun day at the Kids Market in Castlemaine today. Met some lovely people, and by my thinking if you get to the end of a day with a new friend it is one fantastic day!! One particular young lady who stands out in my mind is the creator of Made In The Shade Accessories. If you like bits and pieces for you hair and ears that aren't the same as the next Gals,  check her out! I could so be a rockabilly chick.....he he he!!

Another great stall was The Bear and the Whale, they had lovely handmade clothes for children and very very sweet dolls clothes, if your looking for christmas presents I suggest you look here. I do look forward to catching up with them at the Little Birdy Market they were great neighbours today!

I really do feel blessed to have such great friends and family that support Rob and I on this adventure, so thank you to everyone that comes to visit us at the markets and for helping us juggle the kids...that's you Mum, Tammy and Kris :) xoxox And a special thank you to Lisa for her encouragement on a daily basis, it certainly helps me through those moments when I wonder what on earth I am doing!

Here are some pictures from today, possibly not great ones...but anyway....

Our very popular ducks 

The new stacking men were very well received today

Can you see the pigs in the middle?? Oh how we love the piggies!

Jacq xoxo

This Moment- a friday ritual (I am sure its friday somewhere still!)

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
Head over to Soulemama's to see her {this moment}

Its a special girl who wants to kiss a snail :)

Getting ready for the Castlemaine Kids Market!

What a crazy week we're having here in our little house! No time for boredom thats for sure :)

Here are the last of Robbies wood bits for the market this week.


Some new stacking men, trees and gnomes of course!

How I love these Trees!! This one is still a little wet...

Every one is original, there is no 'pattern', he draws each one by hand before he begins to cut and shape it, till finally we paint them all pretty :)

There will be 2 of these for sale on Saturday, they sure are popular! 





A quick mention about the paint we use. Its fabulous stuff! After alot of research and searching we decided to have some very special paints shipped over from the USA. You can check them out here. Basically, they are all natural non toxic paints, envirionmentally friendly and so lovely to use.

Ok one day till Castlemaine Market, we are so excited!! I hope we will see you there!


Jacq

Kids Market Giveaway!

To celebrate the very first Kids Market in Castlemaine and the beginning of the fabulous JaxFancy blog I have a little giveaway!! Head on over to Kids Market Central Vic on Facebook and 'like' them, Comment down below here on the blog and you will be in the running for a $10 voucher to spend at any of the KMCV markets at any stall! Easy! But be quick you only have until Tuesday night. Winner will be chosen at random :) Dont forget to let your friends know too!


Jacq :)

High Hopes and a Good Pud

Well DirtGirl and I are going to give the 

Vegie garden another go this spring. 

Now that we have had a whole lot of rain we can water with out guilt, I hope we can have more success and enjoy the fruits of our labour.

We have plenty to go in, possibly a little too much, but if I take into account the plants that get squashed by dog/kids and basketballs it just might be okay! We are looking forward to, snowpeas, celery, pumpkin, cucumbers, capsicum, alot of lettuce, tomatos (wish me luck!) rockmelon and watermelon. And some more lettuce.

I love a good handmade day, and today feels like one of those. After a dinner of leftover Osso Bucco my lovely Aunty Paula made for Fathers Day, we whipped up THE Chocolate Pudding! I am sure my brother and I had this chocolately goodness flowing through our veins as children, now mine do too.  I try and convince every mother I know to try this recipe, its simple to make, uses everyday ingredients and is super yummy! So I am going to take this opportunity to convince a few more people to try this out!

Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding

• Using a mixer beat together 1/4 cup of butter with 1/2 cup sugar till fluffy, mix in 1 egg
  
• Add 1 cup of S/R Flour, 2 dessertspoons cocoa and 1/2 cup of milk and beat for a couple of minutes. Transfer the cake mix to a casserole dish.
• Mix together (I use the bowl the cake mix came out of, I hate dishes!)  1/2 cup of sugar, 2 cups of hot water and 2 dessertspoons of cocoa and pour over the cake mix in the casserole dish.
• cook in the oven at 180 c for 1/2 an hour. Serve with cream......mmmm yum!! 

 Now I don't know if Mum ever played with the recipe, but I have! We have added choc chips, nutella, coffee, cinnamon (not all at once!) All were great additions although the nutella made it rather rich. I am sure it would be great for a fancy dinner party, cook it in individual dishes with some raspberries on the side...fancy ;)

Jacq :)

A Fathers Day Trip

We took a car ride to see my Grandfather today for Fathers Day, next year he turns 90! I think that's a pretty good achievement. On my way home I was thinking about him alot, his very quiet influence can  be seen through the family. My childhood memories of him always have something to do with photos or him taking movies of us all. Even today he had his camera out, in fact every occasion he is there shooting away. We have TV producers, actors, musicians, film makers, painters and photographers in our family, quite possibly all because of one mans passion. I hope that one day I can look down my family tree and see that I too have positively influenced my family. 

I didn't get to see my Daddy-o today, but I did get to chat on the phone to him for a while and that my friends is ALWAYS a laugh and a half! Him and his damn goldfish! 

One more special man in my life is my husband, who is a great father to my children and loves them as if they were his flesh and blood which is his biggest gift to me. 

Happy Fathers Day to all you guys out there, dads and 'not yet dads' alike, Dads that we no longer have and miss dearly. 

Jacq

Joining in with SouleMamas Friday ritual!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

The Great Schools Vegie Contest

Harvest Dinner

I am a proud Mama!



Here is SouleMamas 'this moment'
SouleMama {this moment}

What the postman brought today

A nice cheer me up in the postbox today! Some lovely fabric for making some Doll friends, lovely wool felt for animals AND our new business cards! We will be in tip top shape for the Central Vic Kids Market in Castlemaine on the 10th. Now.....back to pondering my creating space, how to make it more tidy is the question....?

Jacq
xo