Beaded Ankle Bracelet & Sweet Potato Muffins

While we were at the sea just over a week ago, I took with some beading supplies to keep me busy, so after finishing the table cloth weights, I made an ankle bracelet, because the only other one I have has blue beads on it and it doesn't always match my outfits, so I made one with silver & clear beads - much more versatile! :)

Simple enough.  I just used the same 3 beads through out, thought out a sequence for attaching the dangles and that was that.

 

Easy peasy.  When I'm bored again or find myself with nothing to do on a long road trip or something, I'll be making more of these in different colours. :)

And then I wanna share a sweet potato muffin recipe that I found on Mom's Crazy Cooking.  They're so easy to make and I just happened to have a bag of sweet potatoes hanging around, so I tried 'em and they're good!

You can find the recipe at Mom's Crazy Cooking - her recipe calls for pumpkin spice but I didn't have any so I used ordinary baking mixed spice and it worked perfectly.  I made half with chocolate chips and half without, but they're both equally good.  It only makes 12 medium muffins though, so I may have to double this recipe when I make it again. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Crystal's Craft Spot      Truly Lovely
I Heart Nap Time         Under the Table & Dreaming

Who Made What? Weekends! #19

Thank you to everyone who linked up these past 2 weekends! Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to visit everyone from last weekend's party, but I'm so glad y'all stopped by and I hope to see you back again this weekend! :)
Ok, I'm doing 2 features this weekend because I didn't have time to do the feature for LAST weekends party, so here goes! :)
The featured creation for Who Made What? Weekends #17, as voted for by you, is..........for the second time in a row.........
Carol from The Answer is Chocolate with her Chico inspired jewellery!

She made them out of things you'd normally find in your garage and some pretty beaded components too.  Aren't they interesting? And so creative too with it's unusual "ingredients". :)

And then I chose a creation to feature from last weekend's link up (because I forgot to enable the voting thingy for y'all...oops), so this weekend's feature is............Cris from Crissy's Crafts with her soda can flower napkin rings!

As you know (or maybe not know), I love recycled crafts, and I love the way these napkin rings turned out!  such a classy end result from a totally unclassy soda can, hehe. :)

Now it's time to show us what you've been busy with!






.

International Charm Day & Giveaway Reminder

Today is International Charm Day!  Did you do anything charm-related to participate? :)

Anyway, this is just a little reminder that there are only 6 days left to enter my GIVEAWAY, which includes some little charms too in the spirit of International Charm Day.



.

Kitchen Chocolate Framed Goodie

Remember to enter my GIVEAWAY before 3 May! :)

Every now and again I see these framed printables on other blogs, so I decided to try one for myself, just for fun, but one that was not suited for only 1 occasion (I see many valentines ones, or summer ones or easter themes etc), since I mostly like to make home decor items that are suitable for year round.  So I made one for the kitchen, with a summery chocolate theme.

It's an old photo frame that was laying around here that actually housed a certificate from one of our businesses that we closed down - the frame was broken at one corner but we glued that together again.

The frame started out goldy:

But since gold doesn't have much place in my house, I roughly brushed over the whole frame with ordinary brown acrylic paint, and then I sprayed varnish over it to keep it from being scratched off again.  The photo doesn't show it that clearly, but some gold still shows through the brown, but I preferred that over a solid brown frame:

 I removed the glass (and set it aside for some as yet unknown future crafty project) and used a green checkered flowery scrapbook paper as the background for my artwork. :)

Then I went shopping for different styles of letters and found the 4 you see above.  The "chocolate" were wooden cut-outs which I left as is, because they were sort of coloured already (dark around the edges) and it matched the chocolate theme...and the "cake" were cardboardy letters which I actually dabbed onto a yellow ink pad but it came out green, which suited the background anyway, so all was good.  Oh, and I added some blings to the cake as well:

The "hot" were also wooden cut-outs, and I dabbed them onto a brown ink pad, and the "cocoa" I bought as is:

I glued on some brown pearls and some flowers that I had in my stash.

And hung it on the kitchen wall (there was already a hook there just hanging around doing nothing, that came with the house when we bought it):

Doesn't it just make the kitchen look more home-y?  :D

Anyway, speaking of chocolate...my dad goes to Switzerland every year around Easter time, so he brings us back a big swiss chocolate bunny every year:

Can you believe that my husband actually expects me to share this with him every year?  *SOME* people, ya know...?!  I make him bring out the electronic scale and share this bunny precisely 50/50. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Rook No. 17              Sugar Bee Crafts
Vintage Wanna Bee    I'm Topsy Turvy
This & That               Free Pretty Things For You
Someday Crafts        Seven Thirty Three
All Things Heart & Home
Scrappy Gifts            Under the Table & Dreaming

SUBMITTED to:

Crystal's Craft Spot Challenge       .

Table Cloth Weights (& Cous Cous Salad)

Remember to enter my GIVEAWAY before 3 May! :)

I'm back! :D  What.....? You never even noticed I was away?? Hehe...  Well, on Monday afternoon we decided to go to the sea the next day until Friday.  So we drove 6 hours to spend about 2 1/2 days at the sea - but it was so nice to be at the sea again! :D  My dad booked himself in a hotel there (when we were still in school, we used to go there EVERY year around the Easter holidays, it's my favourite hotel at the sea!) - anyway, he went alone this time, so we decided to surpise him with a visit - nobody told him we were coming so he got a good surprise.  Anyway, we got back last night.  It's weird thinking that just yesterday morning I was looking at the sea from my bedroom and listening to the waves, and now we're back here again...*sigh*.  But I'm happy to see my kitty again, hehe! :)

Of course I had to take some crafting stuff with to keep myself busy, so I took with some beading supplies and finally made some table cloth weights that I've been wanting to do for a long time!  Here they are - I made a set of 8 of them:

My little creation at the sea, hehe:

This was the view from our hotel room - I love this place because it's RIGHT on the beach, just the way I like it!

This was the morning that we left - you can (just barely) see my husband & dad being the only ones swimming, hehe.  The current was really strong that day, so nobody was allowed deeper into the sea.

Anyway, we can't wait to go there again! :)

Well, for lunch today I made our favourite cous cous salad.  I got this idea from my sister, so I can't take any credit for inventing this meal.  But it's simple, here's what I use and I think it's enough for 2 people:

1 cup dried cous cous (then cook according to package instructions, with salt to taste)
2 tomatoes, chopped into smallish cubes
1 avocodo, chopped into smallish cubes

Once the cous cous is cooked, just add the tomatoes & avo and mix.  We love it. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Simple Home Life                     I Heart Nap Time
Under the Table & Dreaming     The Tattered Tag
Truly Lovely                             Be Different..Act Normal
A Vision to Remember             Craft Envy
Passionately Artistic                  C.R.A.F.T. 
Making the World Cuter          Sumo's Sweet Stuff 
It's a Blog Party                      Craft-O-Maniac
Mom's Crazy Cooking            The Girl Creative

My goodies were featured at Passionately Artistic! :D

And featured at It's a Blog Party! :D

Who Made What? Weekends! #18!

This is just a quick post, we've decided to go away last minute and I didn't have time to do the feature from last week, so I'll do 2 features next weekend!

Link up, link up, link up! :)

B'day & International Charm Day Giveaway!

********CLOSED********

So...my b'day is coming up next month and I decided to have a little giveaway.  And in the spirit of International Charm Day, I'm adding a few charms to the giveaway as well. :)

This is an international giveaway!

To give you some idea of what International Charm Day is about, here's a quote from their website:

On this day we celebrate life, friendship, artistic charms to wear. We do this by sharing and wearing our own handmade art charms or give gifts of charms, charm making supplies or charm related items. Love, hope, charity, creativity, friendship, kindness, happiness and sharing are many of the founding components behind this event.

Anyone can partake in this event of course.  Visit their site and grab their badge for your blog, and remember to let them know if you're doing something special for that day!  :)

Here's what's included in the giveaway....
One of my beaded bookmarks:

3 little charms made by me in the spirit of Charm Day:

A few other little charms:

And some jewellery.  Now since I know that everyone is very particular in their choice of jewellery, both or either of these pieces will be included in the giveaway package, but only if the "winner" so chooses - I'd like for my jewelleries to have loving homes. :)

Necklace pendant made with a lovely shell circle & glass pearl (necklace not included).

Matching earing & pendant set (necklace not included).

So if you'd like to enter the giveaway, here's what you need to do:

1.   You must have your own crafty blog of some sort (Etsy stores not applicable) - I'd like my giveaway to serve as a thank you for all the inspirational creations that I've found in blog land. :)

2.   One entry ~ Be a follower of my blog and leave a comment letting me know that you are, and make sure that I have a link to your blog (new & existing followers) - each comment is an entry into the giveaway, so existing followers who want to enter need to leave me a comment too.

3.   Second entry ~ "Like" Naturally Me Creation's facebook page and leave me a comment on the FB page letting me know that you've done so - you'll find my FB thingy in my left side bar.

4.   Third entry ~ If you'd like a third entry into the giveaway, link up a charm and leave me a comment letting me know which one you linked up.  It can be charms that you've made, or any of your favourite charms that you have, or ones that you saw elsewhere and loved.  

And that's it!  :)  The giveaway and linky will close on my b'day, 3 May at midnight (SA time).  Email me if you're unsure of the "rules" or anything else. :)

Old Jewellery Box Before & After, & Yummy Savoury Sauce

First, sorry there was no Who Made What? Weekends! this weekend! We were out of town the whole of Thursday until late at night and I totally forgot to set it up in advance, but it shall be back again next weekend. :)

What I've been working on in the mean time is an old jewellery box that I've had since I was small.  It's just been sitting in the back of my cupboard for years now 'cause I didn't want to throw it away.

 

So I decided to do a before-&-after. :D  And here's the after:

I removed the little windows from the front and everything inside as well:

I still have to find the right fabric to cover the inside with.

Then I decoupaged scrapbook paper all over the box.  After tons of measuring I cut the paper to fit the roof and the sides etc, and decoupaged it on.  Then I took a brown ink pad, dapped a small sponge on it and rubbed the sponge along the corners & edges of the box to give it a more interesting look (you can see it in the pic above).

And then came the decorations.  I added a gold goodie that was recycled from a wedding invitation:

I made little paper flowers too using another patterned scrapbook paper, a small flower punch & gold brads:

And then for a while now (a couple months actually) I've been looking for self adhesive swirly pearl designs, but couldn't find any.  So I finally decided to make my own decorations by drawing (or dotting) freehand swirly patterns with gold glittler glue.  Here's the left side of the roof:

And here's the right side:

I also glued on that pretty butterfly.

And then I wanted to add something to the front of the "house" because it looked a little empty, so I came up with this cute idea - I used teeny glass bottles, removed the corks and added black, red & green glitter (as the soil).  I have little white organza roses that I dabbed onto with a red ink pad to give them some colour, and for their stems I glued on some of that green wiry things that I removed from some bees that I used in a previous craft project (I knew I could still find a use of these!).  So I glued a little rose pot plant on each corner on the front:

Finally done! :D  I've put it in the dining room and we're now using it to store the keys for the patio doors & gates leading out from the dining room.

Lastly I thought I'd share one of my favourite sauces.  We usually eat it with a crumbly maize meal "porridge" that we have when we have a BBQ, but this time I didn't have maize meal so we poured it over cous cous instead, and it was just as good. :)  It's really yummy & tangy with a strong flavour.

250 g     butter
1 tsp      dry mustard powder
30 ml     worcestershire sauce
125 ml   sugar
125 ml   vinegar
250 ml   tomato sauce
1            onion, finely chopped
1            green pepper (what I think some of you call bell peppers?), finely chopped

Cook everything together in a pot for 10 minutes.  This is a large batch, so anything you don't use can be frozen and it lasts for ages.  Just defrost and heat up before serving again.

How simple is that? :D Enjoy. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

I Heart Nap Time                     The Tattered Tag
Under the Table & Dreaming    Scrappy Gifts
Making the World Cuter           Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Between Naps on the Porch       .

Versatile Blogger Award & My First Giveaway!

Some time ago now, I was awarded the Versatile Blogger award by 2 of my favourite blogging ladies, Kassi from Truly Lovely & Monica from Handmade Cards with Love. :D  And I finally got around to "accepting" them...  So thank you ladies for once again thinking of me and my blog! :)

So just quickly, the rules of acceptance are as follows:
1. Thank & link back to the person who gave you the award
2. List 7 things about yourself
3. List a few newly discovered great blogs

So here goes...

7 Things About Me

1. My favourite colours are purple, blue, and more recently green too.  Green means nature to me, and I love nature. :)

2.  My favourite drink is water.

3.  I love reading horror novels and watching scary movies.

4.  Me & my husband got married in May 2010 after being together for over 13 years (since we were 18)

5.  I prefer winter over summer by far.  Although, during winter, I do look forward to spring and flowers and green returning to the garden.

6.  Me & my husband are lucky to own our own businesses and we both work from home.

7.  My favourite places to go on holiday are the Kruger National Park here in SA, or a secluded cabin in a mountainous forest.

Newly discovered great blogs

Very recently (like, this last week or so) I've discovered 4 really lovely blogs owned by 4 talented ladies. :)  I haven't gotten to know these ladies at all yet, but I love their blogs and their beautiful creations...and even if they don't accept this award (I know how it goes, hehe), at least y'all will get a chance to visit them and see for yourself what they have to offer, if you don't know about them yet!

Crafting Life's Pieces

 Not only does Chelsea have one of the most lovely blogs ever, but wait until you see her gorgeous cards, which are anything but ordinary!

Angel Wings & Beautiful Things

 Besides Mariana's pretty blog, here I found some of the most beautiful paper crafts ever - tags, scrapbook layouts, cards & even a little album.  Browse around a bit, you'll find 'em. :)

Craft a World

 This sweet lady Farah has all kinds of talent - some of my favourite creations on her blog were quickly found under her "My Projects" heading in her side bar...things from glass painting to wire/stocking flower tutorial and more in between.

Amber Dawn's Inventive Soul

Here you'll see some of the cutest charms you'll ever get to witness in your entire life! :)  Amber makes mini charms out of craft clay (& the miniest of mini paper book charms!)

And then.....a giveaway!

It's my b'day next month, and since I didn't get around to organizing a giveaway for my 100 followers milestone, I'm doing one for my b'day - which I'll be combining with International Charm Day, by attempting for the first time to make some charms which I will include in my giveaway as well!  And also, if you'd like to participate in International Charm Day on 28 April 2011, visit their blog and find out more about it!

So stay tuned to find out more about the giveaway, I'll be posting more details really soon! :)