mill&mia - beautifully unique clothing for children

Friday Storytime – Colours!

This week’s storytime had a wonderful theme – colours!

Doreen read 3 books that were all about some of the places we find our favourite colours  – like our food, animals and of course, rainbows!

After storytime, all the kids sat down to lots of lovely, bright-coloured shapes, sequins and felt-tip pens and did a fantastic job of sticking down and decorating their own rainbows!

At the end of each rainbow were two white clouds which everyone had fun fluffing up a little bit with soft balls of cotton wool.

The rainbows turned out a treat!

And so did Mill’s very delicious banana cake, which everyone gobbled up quick smart.

Keep an eye out for the recipe, it will be posted soon!

Friday Storytime – Bedtime!

Today was the first week of storytime again after a little break for the school holiday so everyone was very happy to be back on board!

Mill read 2 books that were all about night-time and going to bed.

After the story all the kids had a go at making a window that framed a night sky with colourful see-through cellophane stars.

They came out beautifully!

After that we all tucked in to some lovely chocolate cupcakes, made by Mill. Yum! The recipe is posted below.

Lovely Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 Eggs

200g Caster Sugar

160g Butter

130g Plain Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

50g Cocoa

1/4 tsp Vanilla Essence

160ml Milk

120g Chocolate roughly chopped

Method:

1. Cream the eggs and the sugar together in a bowl

2. Melt the butter and add to the egg/sugar mixture

3. Alternately add the sifted and combined flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa and the combined milk and vanilla into the mixture until all is smoothly combined.

4. Stir in the chocolate pieces

5. Spoon the mixture into patty pans and bake for 25-30 mins at 190 degrees.

Holiday Craft Class – Crazy Dolls!

Lots of clever crafters had tonnes of fun today bringing to life their own gorgeous Crazy Dolls and Mermaids during two in-store craft classes.

Each girl had the chance to stuff, hand-stitch and decorate her doll to create a totally unique little friend full of home-made character.

We saw lots of fabulous hairstyles, beaded necklaces and decorated fairy wings go on to the dolls which were made from Mill and Mia custom fabrics – they looked wonderful!

Well done to all the girls who did such a great job of their Crazy Dolls!

Holiday Craft Class – Babushka Dolls!

There was lots more crafty fun in the Mill and Mia store today with our 2 Babushka Doll Jewellery Box classes!

Kids hand-painted their own wooden babushkas and then decorated them with sequins, beads and ribbons making them into beautiful, unique jewellery boxes to keep.

And what’s a jewellery box without jewellery?! So everyone made a fabulous necklace or bracelet by threading all sorts of wonderful beads and buttons on to elastic for a treasure to keep inside the babushka.

All the kids had a great time and left for the day with a gorgeous, hand-made and very useful keepsake!

Friday Storytime – Love & Families

This week Doreen read 4 books about Mums, Grandmas, Brothers & Sisters and all the love in-between!

Children then made their very own boy and girl dolls with springy arms and legs! They coloured in their shoes & clothes and decorated them with lots of sequins so they were fit for play.

After the crafts everybody went crazy for Mill’s specially cut people fairy bread!

Friday Storytime – Soccer Crazy!

This week at mill&mia we went a tad soccer mad and Doreen read 3 soccer ball related books.

Children then enjoyed making their very own paper soccer balls from cut up paper shapes and then coloured them in.

After all the balls were finished, everyone enjoyed a delicious piece of Mill’s Golden Syrup Tea Cake, yummo!

Golden Syrup Tea Cake

This recipe is absolutely delicious and moist and has no need for any frosting, icing sugar works wonderfully.

Ingredients:

180g Butter + a little extra for greasing

180g Caster Sugar

180g Self Raising Flour

3 Eggs

1/4 Cup Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

To Make The Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a ring cake tin.

2. Mix butter and sugar with a electric beater or mix master till pale and fluffy.

3. Add the 3 eggs and mix till combined.

4. Alternate between adding the self raising flour and the milk until combined well.

5. Lastly add the vanilla essence.

6. Spoon the mixture into the ring cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until golden.

So simple and delicious!

Friday Storytime – Cats!

This week Doreen read 3 books that were all about cats! Mr Pusskins, Lucy’s Cat and the Rainbow Birds and Dave.

Kids then created their own crafty kittens with movable heads and tails and decorated them with lots of lovely colours, sparkles and glitter!

Everybody enjoyed Mill’s delicious heart shaped scones with jam and freshly whipped cream! yum yum! For the recipe see below or in our recipe category.

Heart Shaped Scones

Scone Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups SR Flour

1 Tbs Icing Sugar

Pinch of Salt

30g Melted Butter

1 Cup Milk

To Make The Scones:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

3. Add the melted butter and milk to the flour mixture and stir through with a knife till well combined.

4. Knead lightly

5. Roll out flat onto a floured surface until dough is about 1.5cm in even thickness.

6. Cut scones with a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

7. Collect the remainder of the dough and re-roll flat again to cut more with the cookie cutter.

8. Bake for 10-15 mins until scones have risen and are a light golden colour

yum yum!

mill&mia Monthly Craft Schedule, July – December

Picture above is some of the lovely creations from a crazy doll craft class, so cute!

10am-11am suitable for children aged 5 to 10 years
$25.00 includes all materials

Bookings are essential as class sizes are limited to 16 children
Payment must be received in full prior to class

Tel: 9882 6123
Email: info@millandmia.com

Each and every element for the mill&mia craft classes are custom designed, hand cut and created by the crafty souls at mill&mia. The primary aim of our classes is to teach children about the beauty of craft and creating an object that will be truly valued and loved for years to come.

• 3rd July – create your own tree canvas for your room  from the wonderful custom textiles and trims from the mill&mia collection. Children will be provided with a blank canvas and hand cut fabric tree trunks, leaves, birdies, butterflies, squirrels and owls which can then be embellished with trims, hand painting and buttons.

• 7th August – Make your own crazy doll! Children will be provided with lovingly hand made fabric heads, bodies, arms and legs from the busy bees at mill&mia. Children will then paint and decorate their doll’s face, make their clothes, hand bead their jewels and give them a unique hair do! This class was first taught in the January 2010 holiday programme and has been requested again and again! it is truely one of our most rewarding and special classes.

• 4th September – Children will create beautiful charm bracelets and necklaces from mill&mia’s newly arrived beading stock! In all colours and with cute character charms, girls will be able to adorn themselves with their own wonderful hand made accessories.

• 2nd October - Create your own beautiful Melbourne Cup hair accessories using fabric, ribbons and gorgeous feathers, from the mill&mia treasure trove! Guaranteed to turn heads and can be made in any colours to match that special dress!

• 6th November – Decorate and sew your own animal soft toy! From giraffes, elephants, dinosaurs or birdies, you choose and depending on your childs age they will glue, sew and create stunning plush toys from the mill&mia fabric and trims collection.

• 4th December – Children will be taught how to make beautiful Christmas decorations and Christmas cards for their families using the wonderful collection of mill&mia custom printed fabrics and trims. Plenty of glitter and sequins!

Can’t wait to see you there!