Christmas bits & pieces

My apologies for lack of posts lately!

I'm actually enjoying some off-line time!
And thoroughly enjoying being crafty ;-)

Here's what I've been up to:

Making Christmas cards

 

 

Sewing bits and pieces:

 I adore this little ribbon tree set! Debating making it in adult size for myself!

Now I must admit that this stocking advent calendar was just a pre-made cut out kit that I bought. None the less, I think it is just SO cute! :-)

And of course,
I felt it necessary to show you my 'going out hair-do'....

Because there's always one crazy person at every party..... and that person is usually ME!

I am hoping to share a few more recipes in the next week that are quick & easy, but also nutritious. Much needed at this time of year!

Christmas craft & Cooking

I love that this time of year allows me to be creative!
Here's a glimpse of what I've been up to lately....

Making more Christmas cards:

 

Enjoying some cooking:

 

For a recipe you can use for these star cookies click here.

For the batch shown in these pictures I made brown sugar cookies.

Making Gifts:

The next lot of ornaments will have love-heart hangers!

Hot-Chocolate Shepherds!

Beer Reindeer

 

5 weeks til Christmas and some craft!

Can you believe that its just 5 weeks til Christmas day??? 
Where has this year gone?

Have you got any Christmas decorations up yet?
I have only put up one decoration so far. A magnet!
One of my favourites!!! ;-)

Our pile of wrapped presents is gradually growing! I am all but finished Christmas shopping! I just need to work out what to get my hubbie! Men can be really hard to buy for - would you agree???!!!

Do you have a specific day that you put your Christmas tree up on each year? We put ours up on 1st December. I'm really looking forward to it! I LOVE decorating the Christmas tree!

I know that sending Christmas cards seems to be a bit of a dying tradition. However, I still like to send them.

I rummaged through our Christmas craft box and came across these fantastic cards which I have been making with my daughter this last week. 
They are great for kids to use because there isn't anything too hard involved!
She had a wonderful time picking out which background she would put into which colour card.

These pre-cut cards easily fold into three sections that can then have a contrasting piece of paper put in. If you have some Christmas punches you can easily re-create cards like this in your own style!

Here's a collection of our finished cards:

Question of the day:
Do you still send Christmas cards?.

Unprocessed - Thursday Week 3

Breakfast - 
Blueberry 'yogurt' with oats. 


Busy, busy, busy doing loooooooooooads of fun things for my daughter's party on Saturday!

Here's some my craft and cooking adventures for the day.

 
I just couldn't get over how gorgeous these little teapot party boxes were!


I'm all for individualism so each of them is slightly different! This purple one is my favourite!




Below is Oreo pops and what will become tea-bag crackers once they have a string and tag attached!

Lunch was thought about at 2pm! 
I rummaged through the fridge and tossed various odds and ends into a salad! Including leftovers which made for a tasty dressing!

I had an early game of netball tonight which meant that I ate after I came home. I wanted something that quick & easy to whizz up.
 

I used more of my massive container of pre-cooked brown rice. I love brown rice!
To accompany my rice (or perhaps the other way round!) I made a quick mushroom stroganoff. Its so easy! Sautee mushrooms, onion and garlic & add tahini and water :-) 

Done and delicious!

More party adventures to come!


FACT OF THE DAY:
The literal translation of the Chinese symbol for brown rice means "rough rice". 

Do you think that brown rice is 'rough'?
 

Painting

My latest painting that I did just before we moved into our new place: