Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Dutch Baby breakfast for the New Year

My Friend Diana whom I met in France, asked me if I've ever eaten a Dutch Baby??!
It was something that did not exist in my life. 
She gave me the recipe, but I knew there was no skillet in my closet to bake it in...
 For my birthday, I got the skillet and on Tuesday I made my first Dutch Baby!


 At one stage during the baking process, I thought the thing will completely exit the skillet.
It rises enormously. Then when you take it out, it sags down to this.
Now you can fill it with fried bacon pieces, mushrooms and grated cheese.
I am planning this for New Year's morning breakfast.....
It's delicious.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Happy Holidays - All the way from the USA to South Africa



Oh, how I love the wonderful world of blogging!!

I recently received a note from my local Post Office to collect a parcel that was too large to fit into my postbox.
This is the parcel that was waiting for me, coming all the way from the USA.

The reason behind it:

A while ago, I posted a comment on the blog of one of our regular guests, 
and she decided to "send me some love" from the States.

Click here to see what her post was all about...


Above are the goodies that were packed inside -
2 tins of Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Nibs,
a tin of Trader Joe's Espresso Pillows,
a tin of their Green Tea Mints and 
a beautiful glass paper weight.
How cool is that??

Guess where I will be shopping next time I visit the USA??

Thank you Andrea - you've made my holidays even more special.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Chrismas Garland.

This wooden utensil garland was inspired by a picture in
the TUIS magazine's booklet from a month ago.
Almost everything I used on this garland was bought at a
local craft store, Herannies in Centurion.


 You will need: Berries and roses, glitter, gold leaf and paint.
Ribbon, raffia and glue. Two wooden circles and of course
10 large wooden spoons, 10 forks and 20 small wooden spoons.
Two wooden stars.


 The extra wooden circle is to lift everything off the table, so you can
work better and the handles can stick better to the circle.


I used Dala construction glue to stick down the wooden utensils.
Arrange the large spoons and the forks on the circle 
before you start gluing them down, one by one.

 
For the second layer, I used the smaller spoons and the inner circle is bigger than the first one.
Use enough glue, because it is only a small part that really sticks to the circle.


To hang the garland I took some ribbon and put it through
the circle before sticking down anything else.
Tie some raffia around the roses and berries.


Cover the entire angel with Zig two way glue,
let it dry and lay the angel down on the gold leaf.
Tear off the extra pieces and brush with a stencil brush.


Paint the large star with green craft paint. Let it dry.
Then paint with a layer of gel medium and sprinkle with clear glitter.
Glue the two stars together.
You can use a glue gun or construction glue for the berries and the roses.


 There you go.... almost done, just add the little angel.
  
Happy Christmas everyone!
Thank you for all the lovely comments and
support through the year, love you all!







Monday, December 19, 2011

(Glass)... Painting the midnight sky.


I can't remember when I made this, it was a few years ago. 
I only remember that it was quite a lot of work.


Take a square vase and position a picture on the inside of the vase.
I used Pres-stick to secure the picture to the glass. Put the vase on it's side and
use the gold out liner to draw your picture on the glass.
Wait for each side to dry completely. (at least 24 hours) Do all four sides.


Colour your pictures the way you like, using your glass paint.
First do all the little houses, and let it dry completely. When you do the sky
you can tilt the vase while the paint is still wet so that the colours can mix and blend.
Remove the bubbles with a tooth pick.


Although I don't do glass painting any more, this is still one of my favourites.
During Christmas time I like lighting a candle inside this little village.

Candles are magic....  colours are magic.....



Saturday, December 17, 2011

Making Whoopie Pies and Macarons


I had a "play date" with one of my baking friends today and we decided to give Whoopie Pies and Macarons a try.


 For the Macarons we've used a recipe from Sarie Kos
(one of South Africa's leading food magazines).
We divided the mixture into 3 to create 
Passion Fruit (Yellow)
Raspberry (Pink) and
Grape (Purple) Macarons.
I think they are still a little "rough around the edges", but at least they have "feet"!?

Whoopie Pies have fascinated me for a while and I even bought a recipe book, devoted solely to the wonders of the Whoopie, a while ago.

We've opted for the "original Whoopie" with a marshmallow frosting and I think they look almost too good to eat!?
These measure about 2" in diameter and once assembled,
they were rolled into 100's & 1000's (sprinkles) to pretty them up.

Not bad for a Saturday afternoon, even if I have to say so myself...

Thank you for visiting and hope you have an opportunity soon to give your inner baking diva a chance to shine.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Another quick gift idea



In my post of December 4th, I promised you another quick gift idea.  Well here goes...


Cut black mounting board to measure 6.25" x 9.5" and adhere a strip of fancy ribbon to the lower part.
Use acrylic paint and a foam stamp to add detail to the top corners and stamp something appropriate onto a white tag.


 Grab a couple of printed and blank paper-pads, available from most craft & stationery stores (*notepads, 2012 calenders and Birthday calenders could work well).
Bundle together, using a metal paper-clip, to the black mounting board.


Wrap raffia around the pads and finish off with the stamped tag and
a couple of paper-roses.
I also punched a hole in the upper right-hand corner from where a pen, attached to baker's twine, is hanging.

This project can be altered to suit many occasions and colour combinations!?

I hope that this project will assist in making your festive season
hassle-free, cost-effective and above all a creative time.

Thank you for visiting!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

We've been published - The Bead Book Issue 33


 We are so pleased to share the news with you...
Two of our creations are featured in the latest issue of the BeadBook!

The first is Benice's chandelier that was made with a wire cupcake-stand turned upside down.
 
 The second article features a soldered pendant that I made when Michelle from the BeadBook visited us recently.
For detailed instructions on both projects, you will have to buy the magazine from one of your local (South African) bead stores, Spar, CNA or Exclusive Books.

Alternatively you can join us for
an Introduction to Soldering class on 14 January 2012
at my studio in Moreletapark.
See sidebar on the right for more details.

We are looking forward to seeing you in the new year.

Friday, December 9, 2011

In the studio

Working with paper is very rewarding. There are so many things
you can make and so many avenues you can venture into.
We have been busy making tiny resin collages. Putting all kinds of things together.
Creating a story in a tiny bezel is fascinating.
 
This is the view of Benice's studio table at the moment.
Total and utter chaos, but a wonderful source of anything that you might need.

 This is one of the pieces that is ready to be sold.