Fantasy Day Last Minute Mermaid Costume.

Tomorrow is Fantasy Day !my daughter beamed as i was driving them to school , what is fantasy day? i asked then she proudly announced that " tomorrow we are going to have morning tea in costume" , and what is your fantasy ? i asked .

"I want to be a mermaid" ( that's easy i thought , Kmart is open till late) , " but not like Ariel" ( what !) . " You can make me a costume mommy in aqua blue ", Challenge accepted .

So my 30 minute lunch break has turned into a crazy shopping rush. I ran to Lincraft in Westfield Parramatta and got 2 meters of a scaly fabric ( it's called Party Sequin ) and tulle in aqua and while waiting for the turtle crew to measure and cut my fabric i Goggled for a pattern. I came across this amazing You Tuber , Elessa Jade . So I drop my basket on the queue and run to the felt section and trimmings section to get supplies for the mermaid top. After school we asked the help of Ma ( my mom she was a dressmaker in the past ) to help us with the mermaid tail, while i made the top and the crown .

This was the part I enjoyed the most, I took out the basket of shells we got from Port Macquarie Shell Museum and the old plastic princess tiara. I looked at the shell collection and classified the bivalves and univalves and how many we got, thought of the design before turning on the hot glue gun and also i cut off a pearly bracelet to add some details on the shelly tiara.

The tiara looks dashing and to be really part of that pearly world , I have edible pearls from a cake i made from months ago so I decided to make pearly shells . Here's the recipe.

Pearly Shells

Ingredients : 1 box of Damora Crackers ( Aldi ) or Ritz ( for Coles and Woolies shoppers out there)

250 grams of unsalted butter softened

2 cups of icing sugar

2 tablespoon of milk

peach food colouring ( 1 drop of red + 3 drops of yellow )

Edible pearls ( available from cake decorating sections of your supermarket )

To make:

1. Beat the butter with an electric mixer till fluffy add in the icing sugar and the milk till creamy. Place it in a piping bag with a star tip.

2. Get a piece of cracker and pipe in a circular swirl in the middle of the cracker then sprinkle with pearls .

3. Place another piece of cracker on top but instead of sandwiching the filling , close the end making the outer side of the crackers meet like a clam.

It's funny how kids leave it to the last minute and turn Mom's into a fairy godmother who can somehow whip up magical things the last minute.