turquoise and blue

I needed some more arm decoration and loved these beads on sale at Beads and Beyond at the Heritage market in hillcrest (buy 2 little bottles of beads at +- R5 each and get one free), so this is what I made.

3 Delicious and easy Dips!!

We went to Swissland cheese farm on the Midlands Meander for my parents birthdays (they're a week apart). We packed a picnic and at the farm bought 2 goats cheese platters. I made these three dips and they were delicious! Served with crudites and crackers and of course some wine/juice! There are a few tables and chairs and lots of lawn to enjoy your picnic and the really beautiful surroundings and there are cute goats to pet too=) and a ginger kitty and dogs that dont beg (guess they get loads of offerings and are over goats cheese!)

 

AUBERGINE PATE:

-2 Aubergines

-2 Tomatoes

-2 cloves garlic

-olive oil

-1 tsp Sugar

-Sprig of rosemary

-Tbsp Vinigar

-Pepper and Salt

  -Dice aubergine, toss in salt and leave in the fridge for +-20 mins. Roast with garlic cloves, olive oil, sugar, rosemary and ground pepper until soft at 200'C then add tomatoes and vinigar and cook until tomatoes are soft. Blend all ingredients. Leave in the fridge overnight so the flavours can fuse.

HUMMUS:

1tin chickpeas

Juice of one lemon

1tsp garlic

Salt and pepper

Fresh Parsley

Handful of sprouts

1tsp sugar

1tbsp Vinigar

3Tbsp olive oil

1tsp mustard

½ chilli flakes

1/2tsp nutmeg

1/2tsp ginger

   -Blend all ingredients

GAUCAMOLE:

2 avos

Juice of one lemon

1tsp nutmeg

Pepper and salt to taste

    -Blend all ingredients

Beaded light

A beaded lamp shade I started ages ago and finally finished! I bought an old lamp shade frame and beaded it with wire. Took ages but it looks cool so im happy it's done!

Button clusters

Some more button earrings!

Carrot, Avo and Sprout salad

RECIPE:

2 Large carrots

1 Avo

Sprouts (I used lentil sprouts)

A mixture of raw seeds, nuts and raisins

Shred carrots or cut julienne (for handy tips on how to cut an onion and julienne carrots follow the link) 

 http://www.foodgal.com/2009/04/a-new-way-to-dice-and-julienne/

Toss sprouts through and top with the remaining ingredients. Very simple, delicious and different.

Copper earrings

Very simply twisted and bent using long nosed pliers!

Old records

My Grandpa gave me a box full of old records. I made these wall pieces for my parents, just used a mixture of wooden and glass beads and copper wire (found at the dump=) all stuck on with good old wood glue. They make an interesting display on an otherwise boring and awkward piece of wall.

Parsley Pot

I LOVE cooking with herbs and having them in your kitchen makes using them on a regular basis much easier so I transfered an Italian flat leaf parsley plant from my veg garden into this green pot which I got for next to nothing from the SPCA shop. I made a hole in the bottom (very carefully) so it can drain. It's in a sunny spot so should be pretty happy!

Wine bottle tops?

Ari is fascinated by hanging things, specially things that make interesting noises. This mobile I made a while ago, is colourful and makes a cool noise. how could you throw away such colourful bottle tops when baby gets such joy from looking at them! I am a rubbish collector much to my husbands dismay =)

RE-INVENT IT!

A skirt now but this was a pair of those very loose, low crotch pants and I've had them for years but never wore them. This morning I put them on and once again I thought, "naaaa" but thought it would look good as a skirt... So, i cut the bottom and voila, a pretty skirt! I haven't even sewn a hem and dont plan to. I will wear this a LOT more than i ever wore it as pants. With a little bit of imagination I have a new skirt, zero rands spent. Yay!

Geraniums

I just loved how this leaf has turned yellow, its really pretty. Geraniums are very easy to grow, just pick a piece, like above and plant it in the ground, make sure to water it everyday for a while. It grows quickly and can take over a bit, so keep it in check by pruning every now and then, it gets pretty purple flowers. I have a childhood memory of my mom putting a little in our tea, or a few leaves in the bath is great too. This is sitting in my bathroom and adds a bit of life to the room=) It will actually root in this bottle so it lasts for ages which is handy.

Like Candy...

More buttons... I have a weakness for buttons, they are really expensive in sewing shops so I buy them at the SPCA or in hospice shops. I have a drawer full of buttons and am always looking for interesting things to make with them.

Buttons galore

 

A heart made from buttons... I have hundreds of these not so pretty buttons which look quite pretty now=) I just threaded them onto wire in the shape of a heart, simple. They make a nice frame for this photo.

Pineapples from pineapples!

Dont waste the tops of your pineapples! If you have space in your garden, plant the tops. They grow quite big so make sure you give them enough space. Apparently they grow happily in shady or sunny spots, in the ground or in pots. I have planted a few and they have taken nicely. They take a long time to give you fruit (a year or more) but if you have the space, why not grow some pineapples. How fun! Cut the tops off, remove fruit and bottom leaves (like in the picture above) and stick them in the ground. Water them in the beginning every day or so so they can root themselves.

Recycle recycle :)

 

A flower made from cold drink cans. I stuck it on the fridge, want to find some magnets to stick on the back so it will be a proper fridge magnet!

GIFT BAGS & Mothers day!

For moms mothers day gift: I made a few reusable gift bags from the material of some old curtains someone gave me and I bought some bath salts from our local farmers market to fill a bag. The paper bags the salts were in were saturated with essential oils so I transferred the salts into little plastic packs and put the paper bags into two other little material bags i made to make scent packs for her linen. Just a little something to make my mum feel special. Love you mom!

Crochet baby beanie

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This is my little boy, Ari, he is 9 weeks old in this photo. I decided to learn how to crochet so bought a few balls of this beautiful wool which only cost about R12 a ball and learnt by watching videos on youtube- http://www.youtube.com/user/crochet?feature=sub_widget_1 . I made this little hat by crocheting 5 triangles, joining them together and adding a few rows on the bottom. I think it was all in the double crochet stitch.

A purple veggie

I didn't make this aubergine, but Idid plant it a while ago, and now it's ready to be eaten, I'm thinking of making Ratatouille- baked aubergine, courgettes and tomatoes!

Aubergine plants seem to be pretty easy to grow, I was given two little seedlings in December and both have produced beautiful aubergines. They've been growing in the little veggie garden my husband made me, I water the plants most days depending on the weather. The plant itself is about 40cm high and not very wide so it doesn't take up too much space.

BIRTH HEARTS

On each heart I wrote a birth quote...

“Only with trust, faith, and support can the woman allow the birth experience to enlighten and empower her.” Claudia Lowe

 

“Birth is where women find the strength to become mothers”

 

“If we are to heal the planet, we must begin by healing birthing.”
Agnes Sallet Von Tannenberg