Catching up...and some new activities

Today is a very quick post just to say "Hi", and let you know what I've been up to...I have been a busy little bee in the last few weeks :) Still running a lot at work, but I have managed to squeeze in loads of catch up fun stuff between everything. The staff and I want to decorate the ICU for Christmas, and after much thought, I decided to use paper as our tool for decor. It's relatively inexpensive (as I have wayyyyy too much Scrapbooking paper), and everyone can make something. We wanted the ICU to look bright and colourful, so hot pinks, bright oranges , neon greens, egg yellows and other saturated colours are the main elements.


We are making 3D paper stars, 3D snowflakes, and other paper cutouts to hang on the walls. I found the most amazing range of colourful glitters to add a happy sparkle to the finished items. Hopefully this week will see me making the Santa's Village (in paper of course :) ) for the Nurses station. I hope to make some big and small reindeer as well, and our small Christmas Tree...yes, also from paper.

Above is my Cricut Expression Cutter. I am using a bunch of cartridges with Christmas and Snowflake patterns, to cut out shapes and decorations like these you see below :) Loads of fun and actually quite quick!


I managed to make all the Christmas gifts for the staff as well as little Origami gift boxes to house the gifts, and most of my friends' and family's gifts too...so things are on the way to getting finished :)

I pinned LOADS of pins on my Pinterest Boards for you all to see...so if you need some inspiration for gifts, go and take a look :)


I found the most amazing papercraft and Origami stuff while searching the web for ideas for our ICU...I pinned the best ones for you to see ...


Two weekends ago, I made up a huge batch of Bath Melts (probably around 300 or so), which were Lavender scented...these will be gifted to all my lady/ girl friends and family members.

How is your gift making going? Have you found anything that has inspired you? I'd love to know :)

Have a good evening folks!
♥Heidi

Handmade Heartmade 2011

Last year I decided to hand-make all my Christmas gifts. It was the first year that I planned to do this, and of course it was a learning curve! By far the biggest lesson, was to PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Handmade doesn't mean quick necessarily and so this year I am determined to start early and pace myself...

I love the idea of handmade gifts...I love that I need to think about what would be appreciated by my gift recipients, and that a little bit of my ability and love is wound into the gift. Of course, in these tough economic times, it certainly helps that one can make gifts for a fraction of what bought gifts could cost, and really the only "big" cost comes in with the amount of time you spend of making :) I also absolutely detest doing Christmas shopping in shopping malls, so all in all, this Handmade is the way to go for me!


If you would like to hand-make your gifts this year, please join me on this journey :) You can add the Handmade Heartmade 2011 button to your blog or website, and link back to me...I am hoping to do a post once a week on ideas for gifts and an update on my plans and completed projects.

Getting started...

The first thing to do of course, is make a list of all the people you want to make gifts for... Be clear about the people on your list...these are people close to you and are a part of your life. For instance, I certainly wouldn't hand make corporate gifts for everybody that has something to do with my business...that's just mental....so be judicious in your choices!

Next write down a few things about each person...hobbies, likes, dislikes, needs, spoils etc... think about things they might have said, colours they like, smells, textures...my youngest for instance, loves bright colours, soft cuddly things and swoons over baking type smells...vanilla, chocolate etc...

Spend this coming week thinking about and finalizing your list. While you mull over each person, if an idea comes to you for a specific type of gift, write it down next to that person's name! Your list will be your lifeline folks (just make sure that you don't leave it lying on the coffee table...kinda spoils the surprise... ;) )

I have made a pretty list that you can use for your handmade journey...print it out on plain paper :)

Inspiration

Sew, Mama, Sew! is a wonderful place to find an amazing list of ideas for handmade gifts...they have pretty much done all the graft for you! I love that ideas are organized according to themes, so you can choose where to start from. Be sure to check out all the previous years' handmade lists as well, you never know where you'll find the perfect idea :)

Here are some more links for ideas...

Handmade Homeschool

Martha Stewart

Crafty Nest

HGTV

Check out these links and make a list of things that you like...next week...we start making!


Have a creative, fruitful, happy evening!

♥Heidi

Gifts from the Kitchen...an absolutely delicious must-have

Today I have such a treat for Valentine's Day! Alas, due to the biking accident my great intentions were not to be, and the free pattern I had planned for a Magic Loop knitted heart (yes, folks...no seaming at allllll.... :) ) was put on hold while TLC was rendered to my poor battered Gerry. I am hoping to get the tutorial out this week some time...so keep watching this space!

Instead, I wanted to share a fantastic, romantic, wonderful book with you all. I will be the first to admit that the daily grind of cooking for family doesn't much light my fires, but if I have time and space, or if guests are coming over, I LOVE to cook something special.



This book by Annie Rigg , is called "Gifts from the Kitchen, 100 irresistible homemade presents for every occasion", and it is just beautiful! Last year when Yours Truly was feverishly working to finish up handmade Christmas gifts, I had to come up with something for all the menfolk who are impossible to make for. Men are ruled by eats (as every classically educated woman knows ;) ), and the recipes in here would have been perfect.... alas.....I didn't have it in my book hoard...


The book is divided into 5 sections: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Celebrations. The recipes are for sweet as well as savoury makes, and really each one looks delicious. The Spring section has favourites like Turkish Delight, as well as Coffee and Cardamom Toffee, divine nougat, Pink and White vanilla marshmallows, macaroons, lollipops, Raspberry and Rose Chocolate Wafers, Greek honey cookies , and some candied citrus peels.


Summer has recipes for preserves, jams, Raspberry and Passionfruit Pastilles, amongst other, as well as my uber favourite for this section....Lemon and Passionfruit Curd! There are also some savoury recipes like, pickled vegetables for picnics, Pesto , Marinated Goat's cheese, crispbread and spiced plum sauce for barbeques... We here in South Africa have a national sport called "braaing" aka barbequing in other parts of the world, so a wonderful sauce like this will be very useful. Every weekend when there is even an inkling of sun...out come the "braais"and garden chairs... ;)


Autumn has recipes for Apricot and Almond Brownies, Chocolate and Hazelnut spread, Sea-Salted Caramels (I can't wait to try these...btw, have any of you tried the Lindt Chocolate with a touch of sea salt?....it's absolutely divine!...go right now and buy some, and eat the whole slab!...I digress....), again with a whole host of delicious looking savoury dishes.



Winter wouldn't be the same without truffles, biscotti with almonds and figs (I really love almonds, so it's a sign...I have to make and eat allll the recipes with almonds...), spiced nuts, shortbread, spiced cranberry jelly, florentines, and chocolate coated candied almonds...( see what I mean...) etc etc...too many to mention...


Celebrations is a really lovely section with treats for different holidays.,..Valentine's day, Mother's Day, Housewarming presents, Chinese New Year, Father's Day, Easter celebrations, Jewish celebrations and of course Christmas recipes! They all look easy to make and foolproof :)



Just look at that cake...doesn't it just shout Love and Valentine's Day?



The food is beautifully photographed and the recipes well laid out and easy to follow.


This is the first book of Annie Rigg's that I have bought and taking a look on Amazon, I see that she has written several others in the same line, that I might have to add to my wish list...after all you never know when you may have to feed the craving...


I hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day, and were spoiled rotten.... :)

♥