Happy Christmas and a Very Blessed 2013

I would like to thank each and every one for their support during 2012

I've been truly blessed during this year!

Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas with your family and friends... 2013 is going to be a good year! 

So looking forward to it! {new business is going to bloom "we love events" and the first niece in the family is going to be born... so loads of kids crafts in 2013:-) }

And remember...

sticky chicken strips {for salad or wrap}

Sweet sticky chicken strips... perfect for a salad or for in a wrap.  

What you need: 
4 Tablespoon honey
4 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon garlic crushed
1 teaspoon ginger crushed
pinch of chilli powder/half a teaspoon of fresh chilli
half a cup sesame seeds
about 300g mini chicken breasts or chicken breasts cut in smaller strips

How to do it: 
Mix together the honey, sugar, garlic, soy sauce, ginger, lemon, onion, and the pinch of chilli. 

Stir until the brown sugar has dissolved. Then add the chicken to the mixture and allow to marinate for 2 hours plus.  Then before you fry the chicken strips in the pan, dip it into a bowl of sesame seeds {make sure the pan is not too hot, or you might burn the chicken}.  Fry until done, and put on a plate to cool down slightly.

Then add to a salad, or a wrap.

You can take the marinade that is left, reduce it a bit, let it cool down and drizzle over the salad as a dressing.

make your own cake stand

A cake stand makes so much more of an impression when put on a table, than just putting your eats in a plate.  But, you don't need to spend a lot on buying fancy cake stands. Make your own!

You need:
plate
candlestick
glue {a glue gun's glue doesn't stick, I would recommend super gel}

Stick the candle stick to the bottom of the plate and you have a beautiful cake stand.  Just make sure that the base of the candle stick is large enough so that it doesn't fall over.

The plate:

The candlestick:

The glue:

The cake stand on the table all dollied up:

Oh Doily

I found these rectangular doily's and thought I would try and make some rosette's out of them.  And they came out very cute.  So here they are :-)

Fold them in half...

Cut off the edges

Fold them in a zig-zag fashion {you need 2 sheets to make a circle}

Stick them together

Close the circle

Stick your circle and button in the middle.

You can join it to a stick and use to stick into something.  Or stick a ribbon to the back and hang a few on the wall. Or use double sided tape and stick to a present to dolly it up!

I did a post "paper rosette" some time this year, so for more detailed instruction on how to make the paper rosette go to that post.

expand the jeans

I thought this was such a clever idea.  For those ladies that's pregnant but the jeans are starting to feel uncomfortable... or if the winter was just too long and you can't buy new pants cause you are planning on loosing it all within the next 2 months. :-)  

Perfect little elastic to through into your handbag.

Take a piece of elastic of about 15 cm and at least 1.5 cm wide.  

First start by neatening the edges so that it doesn't fray.  

Then find the middle, fold it in half and sew it.

Now you need to make the buttonholes. You will see that the elastic is made up of small strands of elastic put together.  You now need to stretch out the elastic so you can take a scissors with a sharp point to put in between two of these strands and cut a hole just big enough to fit over your button.  You can just sew two short pieces at the sides to that it doesn't tear {like below} but if you feel you want to make real buttonhole holes.

There you have an "elastic thingy magig" that will save you loads of hours of uncomfortable time in your jeans :-)

button balls

Are they not just happy and so much fun to make... you can make them as Christmas decorations or just to hang in a tree outside to brighten things up!

What you need:

• Buttons different colours and sizes {depending on the size of the buttons - but at least two good hands full} 
• Styrofoam balls
• A pin
• Ribbon
• Glue gun

Put a drop of glue on the button then stick it on the ball.  Be careful of putting the drop of glue on the ball as die heat of the glue gun can melt it. 

Using the different sizes of buttons cover the ball as much as possible.  

Then stick a long hat pin into the ball sticking it through the ribbon to secure it.  I like putting a drop of glue on the base of the pin just before a stick it down, just for a bit of extra security that the ribbon doesn't slip out.

Make a few balls and hang them up! :-) Sure to bring a smile to your friends faces!

Braai broodjies

In South-Africa we make a sandwich that we put on the grid when we braai... we call it "braai broodjies" or translated in english "barbecued sandwich".  They are so simple but yet so yummy.  

What you need:

• Tomato {thinly sliced}
• Onion {thinly sliced}
• Cheddar cheese
• Spreadable butter
• White bread {or brown}

First step is to butter your bread, both sides.  Then turn them over so that the buttered sides face to the outside.

 Then you add a good helping of cheese.

Depending on the size of your tomato, add about 3 slices of tomato.

Salt and Pepper to taste. 

Then the onion rings.

End off with another good helping of cheese.

And close the sandwich.

The easiest to braai these is in a grill that you close it in... some people even tie them with a string so that it doesn't fall apart when turned on the fire.

Recommended that you braai them last.  Coals should not be too hot, should just be enough heat for the cheese to melt and the bread to get some colour.  

Some people spread some chutney on the sandwich, but it MUST be Mrs. Balls! What we usually do is do half with and half without chutney, and the ones with chutney we cut off one small corner :-)

While you are making some braai broodjies... let me teach you some Afrikaans {my home language} a word used alot is "LEKKER"

lekker

adjective (S. African slang) delicious, tasty, luscious, choice, savoury, palatable, dainty, delectable, mouthwatering,yummy (slang), scrumptious (informal), appetizing, toothsome, ambrosial We had a really lekker meal. (www.thefreedictionary.com)

Trust me these are yummy, getting "hungry" as I'm doing this post ;-)