Graduation

Hello Bloglanders

I'm just checking in to say that I'm off to my son's graduation in Bloemfontein. Wynand and I will be driving the 1000 kilometres - OH, it's a long, long way from Stellenbosch BUT I'm SO proud of my boys. It will be worth the effort.

I'll be back next week with more of crafting fun. In the meantime, have a great week and see you again on Monday.

Sunday Summary Week 24 and 25 / 2015

Hi there Bloglanders

I can't decide if I'm behind schedule or before. OK, I know I'm behind but would love to be "before". Right now my house is taking up ALL my free time and the teeny bit of crafting that gets done, don't get photographed. That said, let's see what's happening at Hamman HG.

I did bake a batch of cookies and gifted my neighbor's children with a mini cookie box each.  I made rabbits, trees, cats, a little houses, hearts, Dutch hounds, teddy bears, gingerbread men - all the shapes I could lay my hands on. The children loved recognizing the shapes!!

The mini cake boxes were cut with my Silhouette. I'll show them later in a separate post. Watch this space and all will be revealed.

And look what came from my garden!!!

I see a lemon meringue coming up!

And even my orchids lived up to expectations this year.

I tried out a few new recipes as well. This week it was Tomato soup with croutons. The low carb version!! For the croutons, I used this recipe for Parmesan scones and made mini, mini ones which I dried out in the oven. Perfect for salads and soups!! I'm going to make a BIG batch and keep them on hand. It would be perfect for a snack as well ..................... some avo guacamole ................. YUM.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of low carb. Not easy but still, I have less headaches and a LOT more energy.

Wynand and his camping buddies went on a "Father's Day" weekend.  It's and annual treat they do to get some time to catch up with each other without being interrupted by wives, children, house, garden, pets and daily chores. In the meantime, Wernich and I sorted through his "stuff" and purged a LOT.

And the lockers I ordered finally arrived!!!

72 cubbies to fill with fabric!! To tell you the truth, I would like them to be bright red and the cubbies to be a bit bigger BUT I think it's still the best solution for the space I have. Craft Storage Ideas asked me to blog about the process as I did a Locker Love post for them last month and this would be an extension of that. Once everything is done, I'll tell you all about it!!

And I packed a "travel case" for my planner / mini book goodies. I never go on holiday without a notebook, pens, glue, etc. - and of course - my planner!! I'll share the inside info in a separate post as I'm running out of time - AGAIN ..............................

Here is a sneak peak.  If you want to see the rest of the pictures, it's on my Instagram. To the right of my blog or here.

That's it. Another week @ Hamman HQ. Today, I'm going to get my Project Life pages sorted!  Thanks for looking at my blog and please come back to play.  I have loads more to share right here on Play as U GO.

Sunday Summery Week 22 and 23 / 2015

Hello Bloglanders

I'm back!!! LOVED our holiday but glad to be back home with my goodies, sleeping in my own bed and having all my clothes washed, ironed and packed in my closet.

Did you see the lion we've seen while on holiday???? I posted a pic on Instagram because I didn't want you to miss out, It was awesome ................................. two young ones in one go.

I'll add more pics later but I don't think I'll get to off loading and sorting before the weekend. Let's make a date to view the rest next week.

With Father's day coming up, I mailed off my dad's card ..................... or rather mini book. I've made a few variants some time ago and when an occasion comes up, I just "grab and mail". The colour scheme for this one was inspired by the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge - "Make it Masculine"

You can read how I made these mini books here.

I've got 10 mini pages inside and on each I wrote a reason why I love my dad.  Maybe I should do 2 more books  for the boys to fill out for Wynand. Think he would LOVE it.

And I made these Parmesan Scones:

I'm still trying to cut back on Carb's and this is SO yummy. I'm sure all recipes comes from somewhere but I really, really invented this one all on my own - and it's LOW CARB!!! Let me share it with you:

Parmesan Scones:

Blend together in a food processor:

1 cup Almond Flour

1/4 cup of Coconut Flour

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder

Pinch of salt

Pinch of red Pepper

45 grams butter

Add:

1 Egg

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup milk

Blend again.

Scoop into muffin molds. (I used 4 medium ones)

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius in pre heated oven for 20 minutes.

Serve!!

It's rather flaky but that makes it even more scrumptious. Normally, I don't like the "graininess" of almond and coconut flour but it really works here. 

And my mum turned 77. We all gathered for Sunday lunch on the farm to celebrate.  As I opted for a gift card, I made this little bag to add a bit of sunshine to the "wintery" day.

I feel that my post is getting a bit too long so I'll add the info on how I've adapted a lip balm holder to make this gift "card holder handbag" tomorrow. Check back and all will be revealed.

In the meantime, have FUN and remember to try something new - TODAY!!

I'm on VACATION!!!

Hi there Bloglanders

Happy June to you all.  I'm on vacation until Monday, 7 June 2015.

LINK

You know that my husband is a HUGE camper and this year we decided that we will try to camp in every
national park of South Africa. SO, this week we will be in the Karoo National park near Beaufort West.  If you want to see where it is, just click here.

I promise - I will take LOTS of pictures and post on Instagram as I go and on my blog when I'm back and doing my PL.

In the meantime, happy Monday and see U soon!