Apple Print Book Bag

Hi everyone, hope you are all having a good week so far! Over the weekend I did some apple painting with Miss K and we made her a little book bag at the same time. This could be a fun DIY for parents to try out with their kids. To make an Apple Print Bag of your own you only need a few supplies and its so easy to do.

Slice an apple in half and make sure the cut is flat and smooth. Lay your tote bag out on a flat surface and have some paper nearby to test your stamp on before printing on to the bag.

Apply paint evenly all over the apple using a paint brush and then stamp the surface of the bag. You can paint your apple slices different colours and do any pattern to suit your bag. I re-applied paint before each stamp to keep the colour nice and bright.

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Feature Friday- Paper Coterie

Some of you may already know I have a weakness for all things pretty and paper. So a few weeks ago when I won a gorgeous giveaway on Beautiful Hello Blog and I was so excited!

The giveaway was for creating your own photo book with Paper Coterie! After having a little snoop around their website I was in love! Everything is just gorgeous, there are so many fab designs to choose from and it took me a while but I finally decided on making a photo book with all my Instagram shots.

Their website was so fun and easy to use, it allows you to upload all your photos and try out different designs and layouts till you find one that’s perfect.

My little book arrived the other day and I am so impressed! The quality is fantastic and I would highly recommend checking out Paper Coterie!

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DIY Crate Shelves

Since being in our new home I have been hanging out to make some shelving for all the bits and bobs we have had lying around and I finally got a chance to do a little bit of DIY over the weekend.

I have always loved the look of turning something old into something new and have been adding tons of furniture ideas to my Pinterest boards over the last few months, especially furniture projects made from old crates! So last week I rung around and found a bottle shop selling old beer swap-a-crates for $1.60 each. It was such a good deal so I picked up the crates I needed and stopped and grabbed a few cans of dark brown spray paint on the way home.

The project was so much easier than I thought it would be, the only hard part was actually waiting for paint to dry! I didn’t bother with sanding the crates, I liked the original stamping and nail holes in the wood and they were not meant to look brand new anyway.

Now what I did realise with these particular swap-a-crates is that when you turn them on their sides there is a gap in the crate that runs down the centre, to make it into a flat shelf I just cut a piece of 12mm wood to size to fill the gap so that nothing could fall through when it was being used as a shelf. I just did this with some of the crates so that the top of the bookshelf was a flat surface. I then gave each crate a nice even coat of spray paint and once I had the layout I wanted I screwed them together so all the crates lined up.

I’m really happy with the finished product and all up it cost me about $45 (much cheaper than buying a brand new bookshelf!) Have you made any furnishings out of old crates before or do you think you might give a DIY like this a try?

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April Instagram Recap!

Well to be honest I am glad April has been and gone because it wasn’t the best month for me. I turned 30 years old and instead of having a party everything had to be cancelled at the last minute because I ended up in hospital! So not the best start to turning the big 30 but on a more positive note I have some fun things to look forward too in the coming months so I can hopefully put these last few weeks behind me and move on! Here’s a few Instagram pics from April including the very special birthday card Miss K made for me :)

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1. Morning view
2. Bathtime with Maddie
3. Auckland museum
4. Fave smoothie
5. Orewa beach
6. In hospital
7. Maddie Cat
8. Birthday card from Miss K

Banana Kiwifruit Smoothie

In an attempt to make myself eat more fruit I thought I would put my blender to good use and start making some smoothies. I can now say I am totally addicted and have been making myself and Miss K smoothies nearly everyday! This Banana Kiwifruit Smoothie we made up has to be one of our favorites so far, it’s really yummy and good for you too! Miss K loves helping to make them and more importantly LOVES how they taste!

To make this smoothie you will need:

  • 1 large banana
  • 2-3 kiwifruit
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1-2 scoops vanilla ice cream
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 2 Tbsp plain or vanilla yoghurt (optional)

Pop everything in the blender, make sure the lids on! Whizz up and serve. Makes 2 glasses :)

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Homemade Vanilla Sugar Scrub

I thought with Mothers Day around the corner it might be a sweet idea to make up a batch of homemade sugar scrub. I’ve tried a few homemade mixes before but this one has to be my favorite. It leaves your skin feeling so soft and I think it’s having the olive oil in there that makes it. Plus the vanilla smells so good you almost want to eat it!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 cups raw sugar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

When you make the recipe you don’t need to worry about exact measurements, just throw it all in the bowl and mix it up till you are happy with the consistency, you can add more sugar if you want a dry scrub or more honey and oil for a smoother scrub. If you are using this for a mother’s day gift you may also be interested in checking out the free printables I used on my mason jars over at kiki creates.

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Homemade Pumpkin Soup

This pumpkin soup has to be one of my most made recipes, I make it all the time because its Miss K’s favourite meal, plus she’s eating veggies and just doesn’t know it! It’s really nice and creamy, easy to make and is packed with pumpkin!

Ingredients:

  • 750g pumpkin, peeled and chopped
  • 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
  • 375g potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 4 cups chicken stock (stock cubes are fine)
  • 1 1/4 cups of cream
  • salt and pepper

Method:

  • Bring all the vegetables and stock to the boil in a large stove top pot. Reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 mins until soft. Then mash or blend.
  • Add the cream and bring back to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for another  5 mins. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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Follow me on Bloglovin

Well as some of you may already know Google Reader will be shutting down on the 1st of July. Bloglovin is another popular reader that helps you to follow all your favourite blogs in one place and keep up to date with what all your blogging buddies are up too. It also allows you to easily import all your Google Reader blogs. To follow Happy Little Kiwi on Bloglovin just click on the link below.

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Easter Weekend

Hello, just a quick note to say I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! We ate way too much chocolate and I had to stash away half the Easter eggs as Miss K was getting a bit greedy and turning into some chocolate monster!

We spent the weekend relaxing with family and friends and I loved watching how excited Miss K was when we did the Easter egg hunt. How did you spend your weekend, did the Easter bunny visit your place too?

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March Instagram Recap!

This month my baby turned 4 years old! I don’t know where the last 4 years have gone but I guess she’s not really a baby anymore! March was actually full of birthdays for us, most weekends were spent eating cake and party food but we did manage to squeeze in a weekend away down in beautiful Pauanui. Here’s the pics! xoxo

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1. Bike rides at Pauanui
2. Pauanui estuary
3. Birds over Pauanui beach
4. Myself and Miss K
5. Dinner at Mexico (amazing!!)
6. Birthday girl
7. Maddie being a computer geek
8. Sundae Cupcakes