white choc marsh-freckle eggs

First things first, my sincere apologies for this appalling kitchen photography. A foodie blogger I do not make. But you get the general idea - the general idea being that I have some fairly funky 1970's bench tops and pretty dodgy lighting in my kitchen. New lighting is on the humungus to-do list don't you worry. You may have heard me tweeting all about making these earlier in the week, so here they are. Twitter and facebook are most definitely making me more accountable for blog posts - nowhere to hide!

Keeping up with my constant gift giving, I thought I would make something for my five nieces and one nephew to kick off the Easter festivities. Usually I might send an Easter colour-in (like this one) and a packet of crayons, or a cute egg cup or something practical. I figure they will get loaded with Easter eggs from the big bunny himself. But last week whilst in civilisation (aka a town with shops) I saw some super cute pink silicone egg moulds - for $1! So snagged them, some white chocolate and some pastel inspired gift bags at Spotlight and away I went.  

I melted the white chocolate (my favourite, sickeningly sweet) on the stove in a glass bowl over some simmering water. The trick is with white chocolate to do it steady and sloooow - it can burn easily and be all-over-red-rover quite quickly. I then spooned the melted chocolate into the silicone mould ever so carefully with two teaspoons. In hindsight I possibly could have melted the chocolate in the microwave in a glass jug to pour the chocolate into the mould, although I think microwaving white chocolate can end in tears.

I considered 'gluing' the two halves together with melted dark chocolate to form one perfect egg but decided that was just not fun enough. So I raided my pantry and discovered some mini white and pink marshmallows and 100's and 1000's to make what I am calling 'marsh-freckles'. Original I know.

Popped them in the fridge to set and then in the morning hurriedly popped them out again, put them in the little cello gift bags, tied them with white satin ribbon and wrote a little Easter card to the girls + Ethan (sorry about all the pink Ethan, he's quite used to it by now though!) and ran to the post office to get them off in time to Queensland, Wodonga and Neerim South where all the bunnies live.

Do you do any Easter crafting or baking? I'd love to hear how others celebrate the holiday, we usually associate it with camping for the long weekend up in the high country with friends and a big fish on an open fire for Good Friday.

Photos by Emma Durkin for Cinderella at Brindabella.

{ The Darnedest Things }

Monty: I love Honey. She's so pretty. She's so beaaaauuuuut-i-full. I want to marry Honey.

Oscar: Monty don't be stupid. You can't marry a dog. You have to marry a girl. In a white dress. And then she will cook things.

I'm enjoying the joys of nannying during the school holidays this week.

{ Homemade Christmas Crayons }

This year I have endeavored to either make or buy from etsy/madeit all of the children's Christmas gifts I need to get. I have four nieces, Mr M has a niece and a nephew. I also look after children in the area as a babysitter/nanny and was looking for small, inexpensive but practical gifts to give to these children. Stocking stuffers if you will.

I'm sure a lot of people have seen this idea getting about. All you need is left over bits of crayons {or new ones if you're like me you don't frequently have crayons in the house!}, some silicone bakeware and an oven! I bought some silicone stars off ebay, they promptly arrived in my mailbox {otherwise a trip to Seymour, 45 mins away, or Melbourne, an hour and a half away, was in order} and I bought some crayons at Yea's fabulously junky $2 shop. The stars are very Christmas-y as well as being a good shape for little hands to grab and scribble with as they have multiple points obviously!

I made 24 stars using similar colours - blues and greens, oranges and reds, pinks and purples, greys with blacks and whites etc. I then tied them up in neat little bundles with some excess ribbon I had, all ready for Christmas!

As well as Little Miss Emma and my photography business in 2010, I will be nanny to a four year old little boy, Monty, three afternoons a week. I have looked after him and his brother Oscar throughout this year and they live just over the hill from the cottage - our closest neighbours as the crow flies. In fact Ythanbrae was their Dad's family farm and he grew up in the cottage. I have posted about Monty's grandparents before here. Monty has recently become a bit 'army obsessed' after a recent deer hunt, much to his mothers delight {kidding!}, so I made these colour ones especially for him:

{ Images by Little Miss Emma }