I had some leftover marshmallow from the toadstool cake I made Erika for her birthday (piccies on Insty), so thought I would make some rocky road. Easily the most addictive and moreish treat — even hubby, who doesn’t like overly sweet things, gobbled it up. So here’s the recipe:

250g chocolate (I had some milk buds to finish off, but the majority was dark)
50g butter
1 pkt Natural Confectionary Company raspberry jellies
30g shredded coconut
handful of raw peanuts
approximately 1/3 of the marshmallow recipe from ‘The Artisan Marshmallow‘

Spray a tray or loaf tin with oil and line with baking paper on the bottom and two sides.
Toast coconut and peanuts in a hot oven and allow to cool.
Chop the raspberry jellies in half or quarters.
Melt butter and chocolate together in a double-boiler on the stove, and remove when just combined — you don’t want the mixture getting too hot or it will melt your marshmallow.
Slice your marshmallow into approximately 1.5cm chunks, and toss with the toasted shredded coconut and peanuts (this will adhere to the sticky sides of your marshmallow).
Add all ingredients to your chocolate mixture, stir to combine.
Press into your prepared tin, cover and place in the refrigerator for about 2 hours (it’s hard to wait that long, but you really should).
Remove from the tin, and slice into big chunks with a large, sharp knife.

Voila! Also makes a great Christmas gift!

I know I've been horribly neglectful of this blog lately, and I'm so very grateful for your sticking around. So many things are taking a back seat at the moment, and I can't promise when I'll be back in the full swing of things. My poor sewing machine has been packed away for months! I am pretty active on Instagram though, mainly because it's so darn quick and easy, and because of the lovely sense of community. If you don't have Instagram, you can still view my feed online. Visit my profile on Webstagram — it would be lovely if you said hello. xx

The above is a little series of photographs I took of Erika for a very dear friend's 60th birthday. Her daughter — my beautiful, sweet best friend Elinor — was putting together a video + slideshow for her, as she is celebrating her birthday away from her extended family and friends in New Zealand. So much love, and such big hugs, for you on your birthday tomorrow Ingy. Mwah.

OH! Hi. Yes, I'm feeling a little sheepish. I haven't forgotten you, how could I? It's just, you know, life and stuff getting in the way of my sitting down here and having a good natter. But life is good, very good. My little munchkin Erika is filling my days with love and laughter and chubby-bubby cuddles. And at night I've been doing a little bit of freelance work, which I have been REALLY enjoying. It's a little exercise for my brain, working that creative muscle. Oh and some left brain stuff too — writing html and css — which has, surprisingly, been fun too. 

I've recently designed a blog for a photographer friend of mine. She provides photographic services to retailers around Melbourne, and has an obsession with vintage cameras (I am so jealous of her collection!). Head on over to Teacup Ballet to check it out, and why not stop off at her Teacup Ballet Facebook page, 'Like' to receive blog updates in your news feed. 

My poor ol' blog in the meantime is feeling horribly neglected, and in desperate need of attention. Soon, my pretty, soon!

You know, I really could start every post with "I have been sooo busy!"… but that would get a bit boring. But geez, it's true!

Apart from raising my wee lil' one, I've been designing a new blog and a new resume/portfolio website for myself, a new website for a friend (can't wait to reveal that one to you, it's looking fab), and a new website for hubby's business — I go to sleep at night with HTML and CSS floating around in me noggin'. All while trying to squeeze in the odd bit of craft (rather unsuccessfully at the moment), keeping the house in semi-respectable order, and cooking some damn fine food.

There's been loads of warm and fuzzy stuff going on this month, but I also had news from work that I've been made redundant (hence the portfolio website). My trusty side-kick has also gotten the boot, so the Melbourne office staff are entirely dependant on the head office in Sydney for their creative. Big bummer. The head honchos at work were jolly good though, gave me the option of taking the redundancy now, or waiting until my maternity leave was due to finish at the end of September, in case a position became available in another area of the business in the meantime. I decided to take a leap of faith now, and see what's out there — probably slim pickings for a part-timer, but bubby comes first.

Anyhoo, I know I've been pretty absent of late, so in a Insty nutshell, here's what I've been up to… (most recent to oldest)