Wednesday, November 30, 2011

We have a WINNER!


This was such a fun opportunity and I want to thank everyone who entered the giveaway!

My apologies for the delay in getting this out there, but My Memories has just been updated to Version 3! Which means that the lucky winner will get the newest version of the software!! That's right, the winner will get their own free copy of the brand new My Memories Suite v3!!


I'm excited!

So, without further ado, the winning comment is number ...



Congratulations AIK
You have won a copy of the
My Memories digital scrapbooking software
!

I'll email you the details right away! 

If you missed out this time but would like to grab yourself a copy of this super fun and easy to use digital scrapbooking software, use my code STMMMS3472 when you checkout and you'll get $10 off the software (usually $40, you'll get it for $30!) plus $10 credit to use in the online store! 

Congratulations again, Aik! And happy scrapbooking everyone!



Whip It Up Wednesday: Ribbon Christmas Bauble

Time for another Christmassy installment!

I've made a few baubles for the tree this year. It's so much fun making shiny, pretty things! I look forward to the day when I'll have kids of my own to do this with ^_^


What You'll Need:
* 1 Styrofoam ball
* Ribbons in Christmas colours (I also used sequin strings)
* Pins

What To Do:

Take one end of your ribbon or sequin string and pin it to the top of your Styrofoam ball. Wrap the ribbon all around the circumference of your ball and pin down the other end. To secure the ribbon further, pin it at the bottom and sides as well (3 more pins).


Repeat this with another ribbon or sequin string. You can do this at a 90 degree angle to the first string like I did, or you can add the new ribbon just slightly overlapping the first one. The approach you take depends a bit on the pattern you want to achieve :)


Repeat this process, building up your pattern and switching ribbon types as you go.

 

When you've covered all of the white Styrofoam, you might want to wrap a final ribbon around the 'waist' of your bauble to hide all those side pins. Alternatively, you could use pins with pretty pearl-look heads :)

Finally, pin a loop of ribbon to the top and hang it on your tree :D

 

Merry Christmas!


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Whip It Up Wednesday: Blueberry & Raspberry Sorbet (Egg Free)

Last week the first really hot weather for the season hit, and it's not even summer yet!
On Thursday it was 34 ºC and on Friday it went all the way up to 37 ºC! *phew*
(That's about 93 ºF and 98.5 ºF)

Luckily, I had this nifty little number all made up and waiting patiently in the freezer ready to cool us down!

Blueberry & Raspberry Sorbet!
Recipe adapted from Cuisinart Recipe Booklet


What You Need (makes 5 cups worth):
* 4 cups of frozen berries (thawed)
(I used 1 cup of blueberries and 3 cups of raspberries)
* 2 cups of water
* 2 cups of sugar
* A pinch of salt

What To Do:
Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium to low heat. 
Cook until sugar is fully dissolved.

Add salt and berries. Blend until smooth.

At this point you can strain the mixture through a mesh strainer
to remove the seeds if you want to. 
We opted not to.

If you have an ice-cream maker: Refrigerate for 2-3 hours (or overnight like I did). Turn on your ice-cream maker, pour in the mixture and let it mix for around 20 minutes. 

If you don't have an ice-cream maker**: Freeze for 4-5 hours (until almost set). Break sorbet up with a metal spoon, then transfer to a food processor. Process until a smooth, icy consistency is achieved. Freeze for another 4 hours then process again, repeat this at least twice, or until the desired texture is achieved. 
(More repeats = smoother sorbet)

Transfer sorbet to an airtight container and store in the freezer between servings.


** I use an ice-cream maker, so this method is just a suggestion based on this recipe for Watermelon sorbet. Use at your own risk ;D Most non-ice-cream-maker-machine recipes suggest the addition of egg-whites for a smoother texture. Also, this website also has some great information on making sorbets and ice-creams at home.

Enjoy! <3


Sunday, November 20, 2011

Scrap Box Sunday: Link Party #20

Wow, this week we're up to our 20th Scrap Box Sunday! Amazing! 
Thank you to everyone who's participated throughout the weeks! <3

Party #19 was a modest party but there were some wonderful projects shared!

Featuring my faves...

I love this adorable storage box, and it's made from a Pringles box of all things!
I love Pringles, so this seems like a perfect excuse to buy some ;D
Thanks MeiJo's JOY!


 
TWO of Lani's projects caught my eye, her framed cork boards and her plethora of fabric scrap busting ideas! Whoa, that'll keep me busy for a while! Thanks for sharing!


Your awesome ideas rock my socks! Feel free to grab a featured button here:







Time For Linky Party #20!

Link up anything that you've made with scraps lying around your craft room, kitchen, wherever!
This party will close on Saturday November 26th!

Just display H&H's button somewhere on the post or in your sidebar, and link up! Link as many projects as you want, as long as you haven't linked them up here before. And remember to visit at least two other projects and leave a nice comment! Everyone loves visitors! <3





Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Whip It Up Wednesday: Sequin Christmas Baubles!

YAAAY! I can finally give in to my Christmassy feeling! :D

Honestly, I usually dread Christmas because it's so BUSY and I get stressed out, but this year I've decided to chill out, take it easy and I'm SUPER excited! I've been in a Christmas mood for weeks - crazy!

So, here's my first of many Christmas tutes - sequined tree baubles!
I remember making these in primary school, so they bring back memories!

So pretty...!

You Will Need:

* A Styrofoam ball
* Sequins
* Pins
* Ribbon 




What To Do:

These are pretty straight forward and you really can just pick up a ball and pinning sequins on whichever way you like, but I'll share my approach ;)

First I use some ribbon to section the ball. I wrap one length around the whole circumference of the ball, pinning at the top, bottom and half way down each side (4 pins total), then repeat with a second piece of ribbon at a 90 degree angle to the first so the ball is sectioned into 4 parts, like so:


Then I fill a section with sequins! Pin them on, overlapping each sequin slightly and making sure they are tucked under the ribbon so you don't see any white. You could also paint or colour in the Styrofoam before pinning to be extra sure the white was covered :)
  

Since I've got 4 sections, I did two in red and two in green.



Nearly done! Just take a piece of ribbon, tie a knot in it and pin the knot to the top of your bauble.


Hooray! A sparkly, shiny, pretty and best of all handmade Christmas bauble!

Merry Christmas!


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Only A Few Days Left to Enter the My Memories Giveaway!

Have you entered yet? Well you'd better get to it! ;D
The giveaway for a free copy of the My Memories digital scrapbooking software closes on the 18th of November, that's only 3 days away! 


(If you decide to get yourself a copy, remember to use my code STMMMS3472 to get $10 off PLUS a $10 coupon to use in the store!)


Monday, November 14, 2011

Scrap Box Sunday: Features & Link Party #19

It was a small party but there were some absolutely fabulous ideas linked up!

Featuring my faves...

Ear Warmers & Cozy Pants from Falafel and the Bee




T-Shirt Ruffle Scarf from Vintage Gwen


Your awesome ideas rock my socks! Feel free to grab a featured button here:







Time For Linky Party #19!

Link up anything that you've made with scraps lying around your craft room, kitchen, wherever!
This party will close on Saturday November 19th!

Just display H&H's button somewhere on the post or in your sidebar, and link up! Link as many projects as you want, as long as you haven't linked them up here before. And remember to visit at least two other projects and leave a nice comment! Everyone loves visitors! <3





Saturday, November 12, 2011

The Baby Bag: Revealed!

I just realised that I never shared the finished baby bag with you! 

I finished the bag just in time for a trip back home to visit my Mum and my friend who I made the bag for. My friend loved the bag, which made me super happy! I was a bit sad because I was going to miss the baby shower (a fortnight after my visit) but very glad I could give the bag to her in person before the baby arrived!

And arrive the baby did - 3 days after my visit!! Baby Isla arrived 6 weeks early, tiny and perfect and thankfully very healthy! She's about month old now, and safely home with an ecstatic mum and dad! 
Congrats guys! <3

OK, onto the bag! Here's some photos for your enjoyment! :D

Here's a front shot. It's got pockets on the front, back and both sides. There are two straps, a long one for over the shoulder/body and a short one, and both have clips at each end so you can swap them around or leave both on.


Here's an inside shot showing the spotty oilcloth and the inside mesh pockets, the tops of which are elastic to hold stuff in. You can see the baby change mat I made popped inside the bag too ;)


So there you go! I got it finished just in the nick of time! :D




Thursday, November 10, 2011

Whip It Up Wednesday: Vegan Cupcakes! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Nut-free & Delicious!

These cupcakes are so allergen free that they should be safe for almost anyone, and they're DELICIOUS! Their sugary goodness reminds me of meringue, yum! I made these for the engagement party to make sure that everyone could enjoy the cupcakes part of our "Cupcakes and Cocktails" theme!

I made these in two flavours, vanilla and orange and rosewater!


 The recipe for these is based on this Vanilla Cupcakes recipe from Taste.com.au, however that recipe just did NOT work for me! It rose so much that there was NO cupcake left in the cupcake liner! My version doesn't rise as much, but is still light, fluffy and yummy.

Vegan, Low-Allergen Cupcakes
1/2 cup gluten-free plain flour
1 cup gluten-free self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1/8 teaspoon salt (a.k.a a pinch of salt ;))
3/4 cup gluten-free soy milk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract OR 2 teaspoons orange extract & 2 teaspoons rosewater

I actually used this yummy, scrummy condensed milk buttercream icing and it went really really well with both flavours of these cupcakes, but if you need a non-dairy alternative, the icing contained in the original recipe works very well.

Happy Vegan and Allergen-Free Cupcake Eating! :D


Monday, November 7, 2011

Scrap Box Sunday: The Link Party is BACK!

I can't believe I haven't run one of these since JULY! Wow, life really has been so busy!
I feel like I'm so out of the loop, so please link up so I can catch up on what you've been doing <3


Time For Linky Party #18!

Link up anything that you've made with scraps lying around your craft room, kitchen, wherever!
This party will close on Saturday November 12th!

Just display H&H's button somewhere on the post or in your sidebar, and link up! Link as many projects as you want, as long as you haven't linked them up here before. And remember to visit at least two other projects and leave a nice comment! Everyone loves visitors! <3





Sunday, November 6, 2011

The Engagement Party

OK, I have a confession to make.

I took hardly any photos at our engagement party :O
Sorry guys :-/ Fail! I'll share what I do have at least!

As you know, I made tonnes of decorations! But in the end, we ran out of time getting everything up and organised, even with help from all our parents! Plus, we weren't allowed to stick anything to the walls - boo! I guess that's the disadvantage of having a party at a hall instead of at home. Anyway, here's a piccy of the food table before the copious amounts of hot food arrived!


Like my pennant banner? I wasn't sure how much space we'd have, so I made separate triangles and pegged them straight onto the twine! I also made circle markers with the food names on the front and ingredients on the back (so many friends with allergies, this was the easiest way to make sure everyone ate safe!), and popped them into jars and vases with some paper flowers. It looked quite pretty!

In the background of the pic below you can see my vegan, allergen-free vanilla and orange & rosewater cupcakes and in the front you can see the yummy mini tiramisu I made! Mmmm!


My step-mum second mum was amazing! She took the day off work before our party to help me prepare and spent a heap of time making these delicious cold rolls. They disappeared SO quickly, I only got to eat one!


Here's my nommy chai cupcakes! I misjudged and made about a bazillion of these and still have a stack of them in my freezer! Luckily they're my favourite cupcake, so it's no burden having to eat them all ;D 


And here are my black forest cupcakes and berry lemon cupcakes, so much sugary goodness!


I also made semi-dried tomato, spinach and feta mini-quiches, sweet corn fritters and chicken mornay  vol-au-vents, and we made pork and plum dumplings but didn't even bother to serve them because we just had SO much food! It was all very yummy, but we had a ridiculous amount of leftovers. Luckily, most of it got eaten for lunches and dinners over the next few days ;D I'll share recipes for some of the savoury things in the coming weeks.

It was great having our friends and family together, but I can tell you one thing - I am not cut out for party planning! I'm way too much of a stresspot! ;)


Friday, November 4, 2011

Are you into scrapbooking? Then you'll love this GIVEAWAY!

The giveaway is now CLOSED. 
Thanks to everyone who entered!

I'm really excited about today's post! 

Remember my earlier post about that cool digital scrapbooking software and how I was going to do a review and then you guys would have a chance to win a copy of the software for yourself? 

Well, today's the day!

I was given a copy of the software for free for the purposes of this review and giveaway. 
The opinions expressed are my own.

My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software Review



My Memories Suite is digital scrapbooking software which lets you create entire scrapbook albums quickly and easily on your computer! It's compatible with PCs and Macs, and can be extended with a range of purchasable paper and embellishment kits, or you can make your own! It has an easy to use drag and drop interface and is super user friendly for those who are less PC savvy, while still being powerful enough for experienced scrapbookers!

"My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon for digital scrapbooking software and is of $40 value"


~ Pros ~
* Easy drag and drop interface
* Huge variety of papers, embellishments, etc 
 * Lots of cool freebies available including "quick pages" where you just add photos and text!
* Very flexible - can add and format text, word art, shapes, change colours, transparency, rotation, etc
* Lets you make entire albums not just single pages
* Can make your album interactive, using sound and video
* Lots of 'export' options, from JPG image files, to movies, podcasts and can even burn to DVD
* You're not limited to just scrapbooking! You can also create blog headers, avatars, calendars, cards, and I've even seen people recipe books! Impressive!

Also, their Facebook page is very active! I like that, because it means super fast and friendly technical support, giveaways, competitions, tutorials and even "speed scrap" events where you follow instructions as they're given and everyone posts their scrapbook page at the end! These are fun, very inspirational and educational! 
I'm HOOKED!


~ Cons ~

* The software lagged a fair bit on my computer. However, quite a few programs do this to me and I haven't read of anyone else having this problem, so I suspect my computer just isn't quite up to scratch! It is a bit on the old side ;)
* You can't alter the colour of your papers or embellishments. You can alter the size, transparency, rotation, location, etc, but not the colour - they are image files which explains why you can't, but it'd be a nice feature.
* You can't "send to back"/"send to front" or change the colour of multiple items at once, you have to select one at a time (unless you group them first).
* Your scrapbook page is made up of layers which is great, however there's no way to see the layers explicitly (like you can in Photoshop or other graphics programs, for example). This would also be a nice feature to add.


~ Summary ~

While there are a few little features I'd add, overall I've thoroughly enjoyed using this software and will continue to use it, and recommend it to my friends! It's so easy to use, really fun and it's so satisfying to see your scrapbook pages come together so quickly!


Are you ready to win yourself a copy of this fantastic software??

Rules:
{1 comment = 1 entry}
Remember to leave your email address in your entries
 so I can contact you if you win!

Mandatory entry:
Visit MyMemories.com and check out the embellishment kits,
then come back here and comment telling me which one is your favourite!

Additional entries (1 comment/entry for each):
* Be a follower of the Hazel & Honeysuckle blog
* "Like" the My Memories Facebook pageblog and/or Twitter

Additional entries (Up to a maximum of 5 additional comments/entries):
* Share about this giveaway! Via Facebook, Twitter, your Blog (post the link in your comment) wherever! 


Giveaway closes Friday, November 18th!
The giveaway is now CLOSED. Thanks for entering!

Winner to be announced Monday, November 21st
Open internationally - everyone can enter!


If you absolutely can't wait and must have the digital scrapbooking software before the giveaway, use my code STMMMS3472 and you'll get $10 off the software (usually $40, you'll get it for $30!) and you'll get $10 credit to use in the online store!


Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Whip It Up Wednesday [Guest Post Repeat]: Doily Embellished Fairy Lights

About a month ago the wonderful Steph from The Silly Pearl let me guest post for her! 
In case you missed it, here's the tutorial I shared!


Paper Doily Embellished Fairy Lights




What You Need:
* 1 string of fairy lights
* 1 paper doily for each light on your string 
(I used 1/2 small and 1/2 medium sized doilies)
* Clear sticky tape
* Double sided tape
* Scissors


What To Do:
Take one of your doilies and make a cut from the outside to the centre. Put a little bit of double sided tape on the back of one of the cut edges, overlap that edge over the other to make a cone shape. Secure the other loose edge with another small piece of double sided tape. 


 

Now make one of these for each light on your string of fairy lights ... 


Right, time to put it all together! 

Snip the tiniest bit off from the tip of your cone, just enough so you can push your fairy light through. When the light has been pushed through, take a small piece of clear tape and wrap it around the bottom of the cone to hold everything in place, like so:


Repeat with a new doily cone for each light on your string.

Viola! It doesn't get much better than lacy fairy lights!



Easy peasy and super cute!

Tip: You could also attach doily cut-outs, tissue paper pom poms or other embellishments in between each light to fill out your string even more!


Tip #2: You could hot glue gun these together instead of taping them to make them more sturdy!


Thanks so much for letting me guest post Steph! <3


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