Sputnik the Magnificent

Hello friends!
Last year I got the fabulous news that two of my lovely friends were expecting their first baby, due early this year (yippee!) Little henry arrived safe and well in January! His mama and papa wanted him to have some special handmade toys to love and play with, and this is where I came in.

Introducing....... Sputnik the Magnificent!
I dyed the 100% Australian 4ply wool myself using some eco friendly, non-toxic dyes and used this AMAZING pattern by the very clever & talented designer Annie Watts. If you're not already familiar with Annie's work then do yourself a favour and check her out! Mind blowing :-)
The pattern was really well written & easy to follow and worked up surprisingly quickly. I will be a little bit sad to send Sputnik away to his new owner... But perhaps I can make myself one as well :-)

Have you made anything crafty for a new arrival in your life lately? Share in the comments!

xo Shara

P.S. I also made Henry some little booties and a little hat using the left over yarn from Sputnik. I'll show you a picture soon!

Mystery Moth

Hello friends!

Look at this amazing and beautiful moth I found on my driveway :-)

I have no idea what sort of moth it is... 

 Do you know what sort it? I tried to search for it on the internet, but there are approximately 57 bazillion different types of moths out there...

 It sort of looks like leaves... doesn't it? :-)

Blogtoberfest 2012

Hello friends!
I'm happy to say that I am taking part in Blogtoberfest! This is the first year I am participating, and what it means is that I will be posting on my blog every day in October.
I'm excited about it and I'm enjoying it so far :-) I had been trying to find something to inspire me to post more often on my blog... and this is the perfect inspiration! :-)
The photograph above is of an echidna that I came across waddling on the side of the road in Swan Reach, Victoria, last week. He's pretty sweet, don't you think? :-)
Thanks to Wikipedia, here is a little bit of information about echidnas:
"Echidnas and the platypus are the only egg-laying mammals, known as monotremes. The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery egg 22 days after mating, and deposits it directly into her pouch. Hatching takes place after ten days; the young echidna, called a puggle, then sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for 45 to 55 days,^[7]at which time it starts to develop spines. The mother digs a nursery burrow and deposits the puggle, returning every five days to suckle it until it is weaned at seven months. The average wild echidna live as long as 16 years."
What animals have you seen around lately? Do you get to see much wild life where you live? Share in the comments! :-)

Little Lost Egg

Hello friends :-)
This little egg was found in a pot plant in my garden. It's been abandoned. I don't know what sort of bird it belonged to, but it's very beautiful.
I have no idea how the egg got in to the pot it was in, as there is no nest in the plant in the pot and there are no over hanging trees... Maybe another animal carried it there?
We are lucky enough to have a very wide variety of birds in your garden: King Parrots, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Black Cockatoos, Crimson Rosellas, Eastern Rosellas (my favourite :-), kookaburras, Wattle Birds, Owls, Rainbow Lorikeets, Magpies, Bower Birds & Kurrawongs, as well as non-indigenous birds like black birds, starlings, sparrows & mynas :-)
Do you have any birds nests in your garden? What sort of birds do you have at your place? Share in the comments :-)

Gluten Free Ginger Cake with Caramel Icing (Fructose Friendly!)

Okay friends, here is another one of my recipes that is not only delicious, but can also be enjoyed by folks with special dietary needs. This amazingly moist and rich ginger cake is gluten free, and suitable for people with fructose malabsorption or intolerance. Although, just remember that not everyone is the same, so some ingredients may still irritate some people with these conditions, so if you're making this for a friend, perhaps just ask them about the ingredients first to make sure they are suitable for them :-)

Gluten Free Ginger Cake with Caramel Icing (Also Fructose Friendly :-)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup (110g) Gluten Free plain flour

1/2 cup (75g) Gluten Free self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

125g butter, softened

2 eggs

2/3 cup (160ml) buttermilk

Caramel Icing

60g butter

1/2 cup (110g) firmly packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons milk

3/4 cup (120g) Icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170C (150C fan forced oven). Grease a deep 20cm ring pan or bundt tin.

2. Sift sugar, flours, bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg into a medium bowl. Add butter, eggs and buttermilk. Beat with an electric mixer on low until all ingredients are combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another 2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and paler in colour.

3. Pour mixture into prepared tin, bake for about 35 minutes. You'll know it's cooked if you poke a skewer into it and it comes out clean. Stand your cake in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning out, and let it rest on a wire cooling rack. Note: If you have used a ring pan, let you cake rest with the topside up. If you have used a bunt tin, let your cake rest topside down :-)

Caramel Icing

Gently heat butter, sugar and milk in a small saucepan over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil then simmer, stirring for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sifted icing sugar. Drizzle warm icing over cake.

Now your cake is ready to serve :-)