Happy Valentine’s Day- stories to giggle at…

Shocking, I know! Yes I’ve been away from my blog for a while. Various reasons, but lately, no internet.

Here’s my little faulty internet story…… There were no ‘ADSL’ or ‘internet’ lights lit up on my modem. I reported it to our faithful “Telkom”, who sent someone out a few days after reporting the fault – yesterday in fact – yes on a Sunday afternoon!

Well the repairman was here for all of 5 minutes – when he pronounced it ‘working’. Huh? “What was wrong”, I asked. “Umm, the cable wasn’t plugged in at the wall properly”.

Again - “Huh?”. Yip, somehow the cable was not pushed fully into the socket in the wall! Next time I’ll check that first LOL!!

Well today is Valentine’s Day – hope you’re all having a love-ly day!

This morning my 9 year old son said to his dad:

“Dad this is the best Valentine’s Day ever!” “Why?,” he asked.

“Because I get to where ‘civvies’ to school and there are no girls at school!”

(Just to clarify, my son moved to a boys-only school this year and ‘civvies’ means they can dress in regular clothes- no uniform)

Manic Monday & Printable Subway Art

Hi there, been MIA for a bit again, but it’s been crazy trying to get the kids settled into their new schools. I’ve had to label everything – from erasers to their school socks!

Shannon also dumped a pile of books on the table this weekend for covering, so that took a while. Then Reece needed new cricket shoes… and so it goes on….

Today it’s raining AGAIN and a forecast for heavy rain later on in the day. Our lawn is squishy, our ducks are having a ball, rivers are flooding and the traffic is horrendous.. a Manic Monday! Oh and to top it off, my car was leaking coolant on Friday, so I took it in this morning to have it sorted out, and when I got to the garage, the car was steaming! Eek – hope no major damage! {sigh} Time for a new car….

I didn’t have to take the kids to school today as the “lift club” with a friend of mine ‘officially’ got off the ground today. She took all four kids to school, then will collect the girls at 14h30, I’ll pick up the boys at 16h30. Saves a lot of petrol and driving around. Bonus- I have time to sit down and blog a bit.

I’ve noticed a lot of subway art around ‘blogland’ over the last few months – Christmas ones, Thanksgiving ones, Birthday ones, and Valentine’s ones. I love that you can actually use the same frame and simply replace the seasonal subway art as needed.

So I decided to jump right in. I know there are loads of these, but I wanted to try it for myself and thought I’d share it anyway. I created a Valentine’s Day one of my own. I am hosting our book club later this month, so I’m going to run with a Valentine’s theme just for fun and I want to display my subway art in my dining room where we’ll have our breakfast.

Grab all of them or one of them – I’ve done it in 3 different looks.

Simply click on an image to download. Print it out onto A4 paper or cardstock, pop into an A4 frame and voilà!

Vintage : Distressed & aged :

Brown paper :

If you have any problems with downloads, just send me a message so I can help you.

Have a great week!

Happy 2011!

 

I wish you the very best for 2011! May all your dreams come true!

What are your plans for 2011?

I plan to really get creative in 2011! I want to be more active on my blog, making it more interesting with lots of free stuff and ideas.

I want to sew again! I plan on painting my out for our exhibition this year – we have an awesome theme for this year {more about that another time}.

I want to get my kids motivated for school {well, at least try!}; I want to redecorate our bedroom; the kids’ playrooms; Shannon’s bedroom & the formal lounge. I also would love to renovate and refurnish our holiday home in the bushveld. I’m going to plan our next holiday…

 

CLICK HERE for some printable Happy New Year clocks – 1 large one and 6 small ones. Use them for cupcake toppers, to embellish banners, as a Happy New Year wreath or anything you else your creative mind can come up with. – Enjoy!

{If you have any trouble with the download, please let me know so that I can repair the problem – Thank you}

Have a fabulous New Year!

Season’s Greetings

Just a quick “Hi” from me! ‘Tis the season for craziness and lots of fun and family time, so I’ve not been around at my blog much of late. I thought I’d share a quick collage of Christmas 2010 in our house.

Hope you have all had a fabulous holiday season! We certainly have - and after all the tinsel, wrapping paper, food and fun, I can honestly say I’m ready for the New Year. Today I went and bought some plastic containers to pack away some old toys (which we want to keep), and I plan on sorting through my kids rooms… yip it’s my New Year “Spring Clean” time! So I’m off to do some sorting and storing…

Chat soon,

Cookie Mix Gift Jar and free printable labels

Hi there!

I have had internet problems of late- I ran out of bandwidth just before month-end and decided that buying another gig would be wasted as it would not be used by the end of the month – so hence no postings for a while from me!

I also have been running around buying new school clothes for next year as my kids are both changing schools. On top of that it’s been the end of the school year, so it’s been a run-around as well as shopping up a storm for shorts, t-shirts and swimming costumes as we’re off on a seaside holiday (more about that later).

Anyway…. I saw this gorgeous idea over at Skip to my Lou a while back and decided I simply had to make it.

Cookie Mix Gift Jar

Here’s my version of it. I used my own recipe which a friend of mine gave me around two years ago. These biscuits are yummy- very much like shortbread. The big “plus” is that they are so easy to make!

The jar all decorated and filled with the dry ingredients for the cookies:

A close-up of the instructions hanging from the jar:

I  crocheted flower for decoration:

The top of the jar…

You will need :

• Dry Ingredients (see the recipe below)
• 2 Ribbons for tying around the jar (I used 2 different ones- one for around the ‘tummy’ of the jar, the other for around the lid.
• A length of jute or string to tie the instructions label onto the jar.
• hole punch
• Glue gun (for gluing on the flower embellishment).
• Modge Podge – for gluing on the labels.
• Sponge brush applicator for the modge podge.

The Recipe:

Place the following ingredients in a 1 litre jar:

(In South Africa- you can buy a 1 litre Consol jar at pick n Pay)

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 165ml icing sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon salt

Close the lid.

• Now print out these printable labels onto an A4 sheet of lightweight cardstock (for 2 jars).

(click on image to enlarge)

* You can also access the printable sheet via my Google Docs account HERE

• Cut out the labels. I used a 2 1/2 inch round punch (Fiskars) for the round labels.
• Use the sponge brush applicator to apply a thin layer of modge podge to the “Santa’s Cooki Mix” circle label and apply to the lid of the jar.
• Measure ribbon for around the ‘tummy’ of the jar. I applied a little modge podge to the ends and adhered it to the jar to keep the ribbon in place before applying the front label. (The ends are hidden under the bracket label).
• Apply modge podge to the bracket label “A jar full of Christmas” and adhere to the front of the jar over the ribbon.
• Tie another length of ribbon around the jar lid.
• Punch a hole in the top of the instructions label and tie it to the jar with jute or string.
• Add a crochet flower, silk flower or any other embellishment you like using a hot glue gun.

I have halved the original recipe to be able to fit all the ingredients into the 1 litre jar. Here is the original recipe which is for a larger batch of cookies if you want to make some for yourself:

• 4 cups cake flour
• 1 cup corn flour
• 1 ^1/3 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Mix all dry ingredients together.
• Add 500g butter and 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• combine well.
• Roll into a sausage shape, cover with cling film. Refrigerate for 15min-1/2 hour.
• Remove from fridge and slice into 5mm slices. (If too thin, they break easily).
• Bake at 180°c for 15 minutes

These make great hostess gifts, teacher gifts – or simply a little Christmas gift for friends and neighbours.

I will be away on holiday for the next week. We’re flying to the Seychelles tonight (at 23h55!!) for a week of summer sun, crystal clear turquoise sea and beautiful white beaches. It’s a 5 hour flight so tomorrow morning we arrive in Seychelles at 6am (local time- they are an hour ahead of South Africa). We’ve got our snorkelling gear and sunblock all packed and ready to go, so you won’t be hearing from me for a while.

 

 

 

Linking to :

Chat soon,