Hand Made Jewelry

 Ok don't be surprised when i tell you this.....But Dean (my husband) made these fine pieces above. I took him to spotlight the other night to get supplies for our hand made Christmas. And he was inspired to make necklaces for the kids as his present this year. I think his exact words were "man i didn't know they had all this here" and mine were "that's because i only ever take you to the fabric section dear". He stayed up well past the hour he should have to make these last night. And he had loads of fun. I think there has been a spark lit in him. There are plenty of men who make inspiring beautiful jewelery everyday why not my man : )

So these wonderful specimens were made by myself and Charna. On Her list of Christmas gifts to make she had written down earrings for nan. So another night of crafting with my daughter produced all the earrings and sitting next to my husband watching him have so much fun produced from me, the necklace earring set, and bracelet necklace set. : ) Now how to make them..... Go to a store you know that sells jewelery supplies and take a stab in the dark!! We did, we read the labels and we looked at stuff i had already. One of the messages written on the back of one of the packets of stones we bought was written, You are only limited by your imagination! Need i say more?

Stuffed Teddy Bear

 So this is a teddy Charna made for one of her little brothers. It stands about 40cm high and was so easy to make. She even sewed on the nose and mouth. I helped her with the eyes as "they can be tricky" : )

To make the bear we researched stuffed bears on the internet and decided that this shape would be best. Mummy free hand drew the shape and then cut it out. Charna chose the fabric and we layered them right sides together. Then we pined down our pattern, cut around it, and sewed it closed with a 1/2 inch seam, leaving a 3 inch opening on the leg and then Charna stuffed it!. How easy, it took her an hour and I know the baby will love it.

The Corona Christmas

Well I am writing to have a complain!! I am very tiered of the media telling us what we have to buy and what our children will love to get at Christmas, even the whole stigma of receiving a gift from some one and feeling we have to give back (even though you cant afford it or you forgot), or just the whole multi present per child thing, WHO INVENTED THAT IDEA!. Seriously no one knows our children like we do and if you feel they would hate it to miss out on these things then your wrong!. I went to a Stake relief society activity just last month and i felt very moved when i was watching a slide show of our Saviors life, Which in fact is WHY WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. I was touched so deeply that i a balled, and my heart ached. So it sparked a conversation with my husband who did not like my idea of giving the children Nothing!! material for Christmas this year. (Childhood hang ups i suppose).... So ..... I did what i always do, and i hounded him by relating the fact that last year we spent well over 800 of his hard earned dollars on things the kids don't play with, don't wear or are broken all for the sake of saving face with them and with other people (well actually we wanted to at the time as well). Soooo this last Monday it got to me, as i write this it is getting to me. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! its time to take control of my Christmas and teach my family what I want them to learn from this Christmas season. Even though we always read the birth of Christ story to them every Christmas eve and do service etc there is more.!!

So as per normal we had our Family Home Evening and my husband quite surprised me. He said "kids i love you and your mother and i have done you an injustice. " By the way i would like to mention that i have remarkable children they were already good about the whole chritmas pressie thing, and i make them carol every year!

Then my husband read to them D&C 88:63

Draw near unto me and i will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.




Then he told the kids that they would be recieving no store bought presants this year. They were to have a budjet of 10 dollars each to buy the supplies they would need to MAKE a presant for each family member.


Silance



Ok




And then they got to it. I  love my children they are the most wonderful people. I love my Savior for the sacrifice he made for me and i love my Husband for without him and his wisdom we would not be who we are shaping to be!

And by the way last night i helped three of my kids start making presents and the pride they felt and the feeling in my home held the spirit of my elder brother.

Thankgiving Pies

A stoll along the sand

So ive been really busy lately, not doing anything important exactly just my church calling, my bag making, which by the way is doing well, thanksgiving, visitors, oh and raising 5 children. I havent really been baking much either, only for important events like Thanksgiving and dinners and things. Ive had friends come and stay for the past 10 days and Brandi (my friend : ) ) is a really good photograhper so i had her do a photo shoot of my wonderful family down at our local beach. It was very relaxing, fun and the kids loved it.
      I will be cooking again soon though.... I know this because the other day i was looking at the green gage trees in the back yard and they are budding very nicely, and so are the apple trees and plum trees. So another summer of bottling to look forward to.

Crepe Maker? No! Pancakes!

So my mum wanted crepes one day when she was up visiting, and so what my mother wants she finds a way to get. She bought this crepe maker from our grocery store. That night we made crepes....and by the way htey wernt too hard to do. We filled them with a creamy chickeny mushroom mix we made up and enjoyed ourselves. The next morning my mother was gone but the crepe maker was obviously going to clutter her kitchen up!! so she left it to clutter mine. Which i dont mind her doing because it actually makes very nicely golden browned Pancakes.



Mels Pancakes
By Mel
My own recipe
Mine that im going to share,


makes 6 so obviously i double it!!

1 1/12 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarb
1 tbs sugar
1 heaped tbs butter melted
1 cup of milk or butter milk'
(or i normally use 1/4 cup milk powder mixed into the dry ingredients and a cup of water)
1 egg

Mix all dry ingredients together, add the wet and mix. Now if you like thinner pancakes add more milk if you like them thick and fluffy add less liquid if you like them perfect follow my recipe!!.
I frequently add blueberries, bananas, rasberries to the batter mmmm choc chips!! I also let the batter sit and rest while the pan is heating up.

White Toblerone!!

Ok so at my sisters wedding she had her husband to be at the times sister in-law (stay with me : ) ) to cater. Well I was actually the one that was co-ordinating with her (the sister in-law) about things to free up Sherri (my sister). One of the things i told her was " YES we have white toblerone chocolate for your white toblerone choclate cheese cake that your going to make as the primary desert" UMMM no we don't . Was i the last person to know that we don't commonly sell white toblerone chocolate where i live!! Well anyway this past Fathers day as i was wondering aimlessly about the stores trying to find the perfect present for the perfect husband i came across this..... A 400gm block of white toblerone chocolate in my local Kmart for $5. It must be a special occasion kind of appearance. Well i didn't get my hubby a present as such, I made him the most delectable white toblerone chocolate cheese cake, from a recipe i found on the internet supposedly made by a man who owns a cafe and HIS white toblerone cheese cakes are famous. No pictures it didn't last too long sorry.