Pretzel Teabag Anchor

Yesterday my daughter took her shoes off in class, and kept them off. all. day. long. She could have chosen to sit with a friend for the day, or at the teachers desk! alas shoes off it was, her chosen reward for being good. When I was growing up it was all about gold stars, but back in the 5th Century Italian kids were given pretzels for good behaviour! A kitchen bound monk shaped them from dough to resemble hands crossed over the chest in prayer. They called them Pretiola, Latin for “little reward.”

Latin might be dead but the twisted pretzel lives on, from food vans to the freekum…

Germans quickly cottoned on to the pretzels doughy goodness and adopted them as a national food staple and beer besty. They also represent good luck and so are worn as a necklace on New Years Day. Austrians adorn their Christmas trees with them, while the Swiss play break the pretzel at weddings. The phrase “tying the knot” comes from pretzels too!

DIY CLAY PRETZELS

Warm up the modelling clay by rolling in your hands for a minute or so. Work on a non porous surface. Shape your pretzel. The bigger the pretzel, the more knots.

Rest pretzels on baking paper & leave to dry 24 hours.

Water down acrylic paint to the consistency of pancake mix…

dunk…

Leave to dry 24hours and ponder the uses of your dipped pretzels.

This is how I’ll be using mine.

When I’m feeling a little fancy or have a gal pal over for a cuppa!

 

Ana Kraš inspired lampshade

This is Ana Kraš.

She makes bonbon lanterns.

 

She lives in New York with Devendra Banhart. This is what she looks like threading a lantern.

My ‘creative space’ looks a little different to this. The floor is a mine field of hoola hoops. Daughter is learning how to hoop, ‘look at me mum, look at me!’ Son is elbow deep in mushed pear. The noodles are boiling over. Ah, the serenity.

I tried to make an Ana Kraš inspired lampshade. It all started well. First wool..

then twine..

more wool..

This is when I became impatient and started using ribbon..

more ribbon..

then fabric. oh dear.

This Pinterest analogy pretty much sums it up.

Fortunately we’re going to see Devendra play tomorrow night. This should cheer me up a bit!

 

Easter Carrots

Be you naughty or be you nice, chances are come Easter Sunday you’ll be chowing down on chocolate. Easter is a good time for all!

Pay homage to that very busy Easter rabbit by kitting out your home with some lovely paper carrots…

Keep carrots on hand for sustenance…

read a carrot related book…  The Very Big Carrot by Satoe Tone.

..and have yourself a very merry Easter.

Warrior

Ever since man has been able to lift a club, shoot an arrow, throw a spear or wield an axe, there have been shields.

African shields are oval in shape, made with buffalo hide stretched over a wooden frame and divided in two; one half indicating which tribe the warrior belongs to, and the other half his age. Once a young man has fought, pillaged and killed, distinctive marks are added to his shield by his fellow tribesmen. Painted on with charcoal, powdered soil, ground up bones and blood, circle and semi-circle shapes feature often in shield design as they represent bravery.

I designed my shields first and researched their meaning later. If you wish to a) design your own shield with b) personalized meaning, see the chart below and choose wisely. With hens legs, wooden combs and Siamese crocodiles to choose from, I kind of wish I had!

Cardboard, sharpie, stencil and paints.

Tigers are a symbol of personal strength. Good choice!

In the garden…

African Shield Symbols and their Meaning

Tiger Stencil

Make your own Tiger stencil using Acetate & Sharpie pen.

Carefully wield stencil knife

Sponge and acrylic paint

Dab, dab, dab…

Done!

My very own wee tiger!

DIY Christmas Gift Wrap

Butchers paper. Not just a cheap and sturdy paper to wrap your chops in, but another way to add a little ‘thrift’ to your Christmas cheer. You Kris Kringlers thought you invented tight, but at $4 a roll, butchers paper is mighty cheap.

Other benefits include setting realistic expectations. Fancy wrapping makes for fancy expectations. How often have you opened a fancy little box, gently peeled back the soft white tissue paper, only to find bath bombs? Really. All that packaging for dissolvable soap.

Imagine how your family members will feel as they rip their way through that waxy, tough butchers paper to see a pair of practical black work socks await. Meets expectation, no?

So consider this, next time you have handkerchiefs, candles and/ or ill fitting synthetic garments to wrap, go directly to your kitchen, pull out that roll of butchers paper and wrap away! And in the spirit of Christmas, you may even want to personalize your wrapping paper; all you need are sponge cleaning cloths, toilet rolls and paint.

To keep it a little rustic looking (always thinking to set expectations), small children are good for this. Get them to do the painting and watch your gift wrap turn into a schmozzle of fingerprints and rolling holly. ho! ho!

DIY Christmas Wrapping Paper

DIY Christmas Gift Tags.

Leather, Felt & Metallic Leaves.

 

Leather Flowers

It took 300 days, 300 nights and numerous stitches before the leathery masterpiece could be revealed.

Much like pregnancy and childbirth, a whole lotta work for a beautiful end result…

15 needlesmiths, 1000 pieces of leather and a man with a vision.

 Floral Skull Leather Sculpture by Jacky Tsai, on display at Harvey Nichols in London.

 Thought I’d give it a go on a much smaller and far less exotic scale. Handmade flowers using leather, felt and craft pearls.

This is how I’ll be using them over the festive season!

DIY Leather & Felt Flowers

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

Mary Mary quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockleshells

And pretty maids all in a row.

A sweet nursery rhyme dating back to Olde England. A simple straightforward tale about a gardening green thumb?

Apparently not. Like many nursery rhymes that sound sweet enough, this one too has sinister roots. It tells of Mary Queen of Scots.

How does her garden grow? Fertilized by the bodies of many, many protestants. How pretty is her garden filled with silver bells and cockleshells. No again. These were slang terms for torture devices. As for the pretty maids….  guillotines.

Mary Quite Contrary Wrapping Paper for my mum Mary (who is fortunately nothing like the Queen of Scots) using Acrylic paints, thumb prints and black marker pen.

Birthday card made by daughter

How to make Floral Wrapping Paper with Thumb prints

Gift wrapped with Mary Quite Contrary Wrapping Paper

 

Fairy Garden

Tales of fairies and fairy tales date back to the Dark Ages. Originally ‘faeries’ were depicted as tall and radiant beings, or elderly wizened trolls. There were strange and unknowable fairies, and fairies that lurked in logs and stole human babies and substituted them for their own.

Somewhere along the way they started to feature in stories that began with ‘Once upon a time in a faraway land’ filled with goblins, gnomes, elves and trolls, who hindered or helped with a noble quest that ended ‘happily ever after.’ They became increasingly chipper, younger, winged, diminutive in size and lathered in fairy dust.

At my daughters’ school, barrel filled fairy gardens are popping up like mushrooms. With school holidays approaching, thought to make a fairy garden to keep her occupied.

Firstly I sketched out fairies in lead pencil and outlined in black marker pen on very thick white cardboard.

Then I cut them out for a play date where a gaggle of girls took to them with pencils and textas.

We went to a local nursery and chose a selection of cacti and succulents…

Replanted them into a wooden tub and added the green fairy my daughter coloured in!!

Added decorative bits; snail, mushrooms, butterfly and flowers.

Sunlit fairy garden…

For more Fairy Gardens see:

Watermelon Kids Party

May is a good month in our home as it’s our daughters birthday. May is also a good month for folk in East Dublin, Georgia, as they have their Annual Redneck games! Festive delights include armpit serenading, pig feet bobbing, the mud pit belly flop, toilet seat tossin’ and watermelon pip spittin’.

Turning to the games for inspiration (minus the fartin’, bobbin’, tossin’ and spittin’), this year my daughters birthday was a watermelon coloured high tea.

HOW TO MAKE A WATERMELON TENT WITH STREAMERS & ROSES

Using a Bryne net tent from Ikea, threaded streamers over the outside string. Added foam roses and a green crepe top.

I hanged the watermelon tent over the kids food serving table before loading it up with watermelon coloured party foods.

WATERMELON COLOURED PARTY FOODS

1) Green Jelly, White chocolate mousse and strawberry syrup cups.

2) Decorated marshmellows with edible marker pens and weaved onto bamboo skewers with red licorice and watermelon sour sweets.

3) Pink Vanilla cupcakes with green icing and pink sprinkles.

WATERMELON BUNTING

Made with foam packaging & acrylic paints.

For a small dose of Hill Billy fun… The Three legged race!
Old school and loads of fun!

Happy 6th Birthday to my Beautiful girl!

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