Here Is Something You Don’t Hear Every Day From Your 6 Year Old…!

 

While making shortbread my 6 year old suddenly holds up a piece of butter and exclaims “Look Mummy, a cuboid!”

 

Mamasimx  About Me

Don’t forget to enjoy your day.

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How To Make A Volcano Cake For A Birthday

How to make a volcano cake

The best Birthday Volcano Cake is so easy!  Just follow these simple steps.How to make a Volcano Cake

Bake two sponges using your favourite recipe. Also use a little of the mix to bake 6 cup cakes.
How to make a Volcano Cake

Spread your favourite Jam/Jelly on each cake. Whip cream and spread on 1 cake

How to make a Volcano Cake

Put the second cake on top of the first (jam/jelly side to cream). Then spread a crumb coat (or thin layer of cream) all over the cake to stop crumbs messing up your icing layer.

How to make a Volcano Cake

Whip together butter and icing to make a butter cream. Add orange food colour. Put a small bowl of the icing to one side and then add chocolate powder to the remaining orange icing. Mix to make a lovely dark chocolate icing. (I’ve used a natural orange colour so it is not very bright).

How to make a Volcano Cake

Pile 4 cup cakes onto the cake to make a mountain and cut 2 cup cakes into 1/4’s then arrange till fill in the gaps.

How to make a Volcano Cake

The finished volcano/mountain shape.

How to make a Volcano Cake

Cover the entire cake with the chocolate icing. Cut out a depression in the top of the mountain from the icing.

How to make a volcano cake

Smooth ‘rivers’ of the orange icing down the cake to form the flowing lava.

How to make a volcano cake

Decorate as you wish. I have used neon coloured sugar and jelly dinosours. Let your create side explode! Tip – Use sparklers as candles to create a great fiery explosion. Also popping candy down the lava is great fun too!

How to make a volcano cake.

Where to buy

Natural Food Colours
Neon Sugar
Dinosaur Sweets
Popping Candy

Recipes

Sponge Cake Recipe
Butter Cream Recipe

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Mamasimx     About Me
Don’t forget to enjoy your day

Be Spoilt On Mother’s Day – Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection

I know what I will be asking for on Mothers Day…

Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection

Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection

Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection

Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection

Isn’t it the perfect gift from your little ones, a gift to spoil Mummy?  The spring Opalescence range from Clarins is beautiful.  I would love to receive these, wrapped in homemade wrapping paper and with cards made by little hands that say ‘I love you Mummy’.

If you read this blog regularly, you will know that I share my love of make-up by giving you some tools and resources to get the most out of your beauty products. Make-up is so life enhancing and having the right products and know how means make-up can give you such self confidence. The confidence to know you look your best even when you have been up for three nights in a row with sick kids.

Clarins Spring Opalescence Makeup range

Pink Orchid Joli Rouge Brilliant Perfect Shine Lipstick and creme blush in Rosewood

I can’t recommend this range enough. It has all bases covered (no pun intended!). An Instant Light Radiance Boosting Complexion Base, Opalescence Face and Blush Powder (a truly beautiful piece), multi blush, Ombre Minérale Eye Quartet Palette, Instant Definition Mascara, Joli Rouge Brilliant Perfect Shine Sheer Lipstick and the Gloss Prodige glosses.

Clarins Spring Opalescence Makeup range

And it’s a good thing I have 3 children because I am coveting all the items in this range! I can have lipstick and creme blusher from one, Face and Blush Powder  (so gorgeous) and lipgloss from another and the eye-shadow and mascara from my third. Perfect.

And perfect is how I would describe the range.  The colours are fresh, sooo pretty and very flattering. Just right for putting the colour back into our sleep deprived cheeks.

Clarins Spring Opalescence Makeup range

And here I am. Ready for my Mothers’ Day Lunch and feeling very pretty with my gorgeous makeup!

The range makes such a lovely gift because not only is it luxurious to wear, but the items feel so great in the hand as well. The lipsticks and compacts are heavy and satisfying to hold and close with an expensive click. They are the sort of makeup pieces you will want to get out in public. Just to show them off!

The pretty eye shadow and mascara

Ombre Minérale Eye Quartet Palette and Instant Definition Mascara

The stand out piece is the Face and Blush Powder with its holographic lid. The design of the palette is just beautiful. I love a bit of astrology and the palette looks very astrological to me with its interlocking circles and smattering of gold. I would really be in two minds as to whether I could actually use it or just sit and admire its loveliness!

Clarins-Opalescence-Face-Blush-Powder

Start dropping those hints to hubby now! (Or maybe just forward him this post, it might be better!)

Clarins-Opalescence-Spring Make-Up Collection

I love it!

See the Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection on the Clarins site here.

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Mamasimx  About Me

Don’t forget to enjoy your day.

3 Great Ideas For Baby #2

Here are some more top tips, some great ideas for baby!

1.  Gogol Kidz Travelmate available from Go-Go Babyz.

Great ideas for baby

What a super idea, especially for plane travel and around the airport or the shopping mall. Love it!

2.  Wubbanub Infant Pacifiers from Wubbanub.

.
Great ideas for baby

Another super idea.

3. Boba Long from Bobalong Baby.

Great ideas for baby

Not seen this before. Really cool.

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Mamasimx  About Me

Don’t forget to enjoy your day.

How To Feed Baby On The Run… Refillable Food Pouches

A great way to feed little ones on the go.

Refillable food pouchMornings are frenetic, to say the least, in our household. With me, seven year old, three year old and 9 month old all to chivvy and cajole out the front door in time for the school run.

As 9 month old usually doesn’t wake until a few minutes before we leave, I usually only have time to pop her on the boob for a quick feed before we leave for the walk to school. There is no time for anything more.  And now that she is well and truly weening, she understandably is hungry again before we have reached school.

What she needs is to be able to feed herself her banana, yogurt and porridge as I wheel her in the pram.  A couple of times I have bought her some Ella’s Kitchen breakfast squeezy pouches as they are perfect.  But I don’t want to fork out for those every day.

So I was very glad to find these Squeeze Please refillable food pouches online.  Not only are they refillable, but they are very easy to clean, you can pop them in the freezer and I have put them in the microwave to defrost.  (Though I’m not sure the company endorses this….?)

They are a great find.  The only point I would make is that as baby will tend to wave the pouch around, don’t make the Triple_Squeeze_Please_refillable pouchescontents too runny.  As the ‘spout’ is free flowing.  Though I have seen  refillable pouches with non-free flowing tops online.

Another great product that makes a busy Mum’s life a little easier!

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Mamasimx  About Me

Don’t forget to enjoy your day.

Lotion and Cream for Baby – Homemade Olive and Coconut Oil

The Ingredients.

The Ingredients. No, there is no Passata in it. Im using an empty sterilised bottle to keep the lotion in.

A lotion / cream for baby that is natural and reasonably priced is challenging to buy.  Recently, when my second baby was born I was given a tub of  Neal’s Yard Remedies Baby Balm.  It is wonderful stuff and I love it.  Containing Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Shea Butter and Beeswax it leaves babies skin so soft.  But at £10.50 for 50 grams it got a bit pricey as I used it every day as an all over moisturiser after little one’s bath.

I particularly loved the product as I know Olive Oil has long been used as a moisturiser and I know that it contains antioxidants, rich emollients and vitamins.  Particularly, I know that it is recommended for children with eczema as a natural alternative to other prescribed creams.  With all these benefits for the skin I was keen to continue its use.

Not long after, as I was shopping in the baby aisle of my local Waitrose, I noticed that they had tubs of Solid Coconut Baby Massage Oil priced at £2.89 for 125ml.  I wondered if I could make a my own baby balm.  Hot footing it round to the Olive Oil Section I bought a 500ml bottle of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil for £3.39.  The beeswax and Shea Butter I figured could be done without. 😉

Once home I made up a batch and was pleased with the results.  It readily soaks into the skin and does not mark clothing.  It has a very faint, pleasant fruity aroma; it’s almost as if the olive oil and coconut oils almost cancel each other out.

Below is my recipe.  I hope you make some up too.  And if your feeling adventurous, add the Beeswax and Shea Butter and let me know how you get on.

For step by step photos, scroll to the end of the ingredients/method.

Ingredients

125 g (4.4 oz)    Solid Coconut Oil
500 ml    (18 oz)  Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

  1. Obtain a clean and sterilised (I put mine through the dishwasher) jar or bottle for the finished lotion.
  2. Pour the Olive Oil into the prepared jar/bottle.
  3. Heat the coconut oil in the microwave on high for 40 seconds to melt it.  As the coconut oil I buy comes in a plastic container I simply remove the lid and pop it in the microwave as is.
  4. Pour in the heated Coconut Oil.
  5. Put lid on jar/bottle and gently shake to mix ingredients well.
  6. Leave to cool.

It’s that simple!

Take a look at these other posts…

Yelling At Your Children – Succumbing To The Dark Side Of The Force

25 Ways To Show Your Children You Love Them

Mamasimx  About Me

Don’t forget to enjoy your day.

 

© 2014 Simone L Woods