Yule Wreath

Hi all,

Since I already had so much fun with the Floral (Summer) wreath and the Autumn wreath (Still have to upload the tutorial and pics of those, shame on me!), I decided to make a Yule Wreath as well. 

Same procedure as the others. You will need:
- thick wire as a base
- thinner wire to attach everything to the basic wreath
- ribbon
- nice stuff to attach to the wreath, like fake snowflakes, flowers, leaves.. but anything you like :)


Make the base of the wreath with the thick wire. Make sure it fits right (or use some tricks so that you can change it afterwards if it doesn't fit right) Strap ribbon all over it, to make it look better and to make it less smooth. Attach everything you like to the wreath (make sure you cover all possible gaps) and you are done!

This is what mine looked like: 

Happy crafting, and have a wonderful Yule!

Love,
Ginny

Yoghurt Ice Cream

As some of you already knew, I have a lot of food allergies, so it's always tricky to give me food (*don't feed the Ginny*).

Still I like to try things that might seem weird, but that do only consist of food I'm 'able' to eat. 

This was such an example: I made yoghurt ice cream. It is just frozen yoghurt with heavy cream. I made them in muffin tins, to create easy portions. 

As you can see, I also made some with chocolate and/or sprinkles. Those were not for me to eat, but for those who could use more of a bite! 

These are really easy and fun to make, don't take a lot of time, and I especially like the idea of the silicon muffin tins, that makes it even easier!

Love,
Ginny

Muffins with Pumpkin (and Chocolate)

Because of Halloween I decided to make muffins with pumpkin. Well, actually I wanted to carve a pumpkin, and didn't want the inside of the pumpkin to go to waste.. 

This is what I did:
I made some basic muffin batter (see anywhere on the internet, or use your own version :) )
I cut the pumpkin, mashed it, and mixed it in with the muffin batter
I used cinnamon to spice it up

For a part of the batter I cut small chunks of chocolate and mixed that with the pumpkin batter. This gave a nice twist to it, and worth a try.

Put them in the oven, make sure you try not to deflate the muffins!

So I had a great afternoon: being able to carve my pumpkin, not feeling guilty about throwing away food, and having nice muffins to share with my lovely friends!

Have a very blessed Samhain!

Ginny.

Case Mod

Hi All,

Warning: This is quite a long post, telling a story about a girl with not so much knowledge of computers who decides she wants to build her very own PC from scratch (and, spoiler alert: she succeeds!)

She started with this:

But that does look a bit demotivating, doesn't it?! So let us make it a bit more clear. While all the PC stuff was waiting for her, she started by building the PC-case. That narrows it down, uh? This is what happened:

She made holes in the pirate treasure chest for the ventilation, connections with the mother board and power supply. Then she stained the wood, to make it look a little older and to protect the wood.
She hurt herself pretty badly with the drill though (this has been about 2 months ago, and I still have a scar)...:

Luckily she was still able to continue her project. She decorated the treasure chest and finished it up, so the computer stuff could finally be installed in the chest. 

This is what the back and side of the treasure chest looked like when it was finished:

And this was the end result!!

Next step was actually connecting all the wires and screws and all the creepy stuff she didn't know a thing about. She connected everything the way it was supposed to be, with virtual help from Wroen, but when tested the PC wouldn't even power up. Fortunately she started a Sherlock quest looking for the problem, and in the end she succeeded in this quest. It seemed the power switch was loose. This pic makes it look kind of freaky, yet impressive, doesn't it??

And just to prove that she was able to make the PC work (after 12 hours of work, because the company of the mother board had made a mistake in the BIOS (in the end, after a brainstorm session with Arjen, she nailed it!) ) :

Any questions? ;)

The End!

Thanks for all your support and love over time!

Ginny.

Whiskey Gummy Bears

I've been trying out some recipes with alcohol today! 

For this recipe you can use almost all transparent sweets, like Gummy Bears, and almost all alcoholic drinks (apart from whiskey, try tequila, gin, rum, vodka...) to make these. They are very fun at a party!

How to make these cuties?

- Take some Gummy Bears and put them in a bowl. Pour whiskey all over the bears (make sure all the bears are completely covered!)
- Put a lid over the bowl, to prevent the alcohol from diffusing into thin air
- Let the sweets infuse for at least a few hours, I left mine for about 24 hours. Make sure they are still separable sweets, and not a gelatinous mess..!
- Dry them with some paper towels, but do not let them lay there too long, for the paper towels may stick to the Bears.

Although these Bears look very innocent, beware: the alcohol and sugar combo makes it a strong shot!

Apple Pie In An Apple

Today I gave this concept a try. I've seen it somewhere on the web, but can't find where..

The idea is very simple:
- Make dough for apple pies
- Cut the tops of some apples
- Excavate the apples (make sure the skin stays intact!)
- Mix sugar, sliced apples, and cinnamon for stuffing
- Fill the apples with the stuffing
- Weave the dough on top of the apples
- Bake the apples (make sure you cover the apples with aluminum foil or baking paper, or place the apples in a small amount of water before putting it in the oven)
- Enjoy!

Floral Wall

Made these from old toilet rolls. Still have to stick it to the wall though. I will upload some more pics when it's done!

Heart-shaped Cake with Roses

A while ago we baked this cake. The cake itself isn't that fascinating, but I wanted to show it because of the decoration we made with marzipan. Tadaaa!

Lots of love,

Ginny

Mason Jar Faery Garden

I decided to craft a faery garden in a mason jar. I've seen them before, and since my cats kill every plant or flower I put in front of them.. I decided to give this a try.


You will need:
Soil
Mason jar (or any other glass jar with or without lid)
Little stones or sand (coloured or natural)
Little plants (succulent plants work quite well because they need little care, but give it a try with other ones. I love to hear what you create!)
Little dolls, toys, houses or other stuff to make it look like a garden (did not do this yet, have to make them first :) )


Make sure your faery garden won't be too wet (or too dry) because it can ruin your whole garden, especially when you close the lid.

See here my first humble attempt:

Update: My cats still did not manage to break it! The jar fell down a couple of times though, so I have to work that out. Work in progress!


Lots of love,
Ginny

Pet Memorial

A little while ago I had to put my two little rats Dazzle and Rhea to sleep :( I decided to make them a mini-memorial. This might also be a good idea to make together with your children, as a way to bring closure.

What do you need?
A (cheap) photo frame
A nice photo of your pet(s)
Glue
Seeds, pet food (note: might not be so easy to do with dry dog or cat food)
Transparent varnish


Take the photo frame apart, and use the frame. Glue the pet seeds on the frame. Leave to dry.

When completely dry, use the transparent varnish to prolong durability and to create a polished look.

Put the photo in the frame and place it on a beautiful place to remember your pets.

Lots of love to my dear Dazzle and Rhea

Tree of Life Pendants

Over the last few days I had a few tries at my own Tree of life pendant. I based mine on the tutorial you can find here.

The first two (the two most left) were try-outs. The one on the right is my first real attempt. Here is a close-up of that one:

I hope to post some more awesome tries at this easy but beautiful project!

Hugs,
Ginny.

Measuring Tape Chairs

A couple of weeks back, my best friend Lieke and her boyfriend came all the way from Belgium! They helped me with a project by their design: The Measuring Tape Chair! (see hers here, she also has a lot of other great projects!)

So I started with these very old chairs I got from a friend of my grandmother's. 

I took off the seats (we'll see more about that later), sanded the four chairs, and painted them white. Already looks the part, doesn't it?!

Next, we had to strip down the seatings. Luckily I always have a helping hand or paw!

Then, my best friend and her boyfriend came to the rescue and helped me with the measuring tape seatings. We cut the measuring tapes, and then stapled them to the seats. 

So, this is the end result! We tried them during my living room folk ball, and they survived ;)

Melon 'Cake'

Yesterday it was so hot out here that I decided to finally try a recipe that I have seen a while ago somewhere on a blog. I can't find where I saw it first, but credits to that person :)

This recipe is really easy, fresh, and healthy, but most of all: It's Ginny-proof!

All you need is:

a watermelon
(forest) fruit
whipped cream

Take a nice (seed-less) watermelon. Use a knife to peel the watermelon. 

Whip the cream (if you want, you can add sugar, honey or sweetener), and cover the watermelon. (At this point I decided to make 2 separate 'cakes'). 

The cream will be used to stick the (forest) fruit to the 'cake'. 

And this is the end result! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! It works great as replacement for ice cream, as snack, or as dessert on a warm summer day :)

Love, Ginny

CTRL ALT DEL Cushions

Lately I have been trying to come up with a good idea for a birthday present for a nerd. I came up with the following idea:

Since I still have no sewing machine, I decided to buy plain white cushion covers, and just pimp them with the letters. If I had a sewing machine however, I would have made these from scratch!

I started of with drawing all the letters that I needed on a piece of paper. I cut them out with my scissors. 

I then transferred them on a piece of black felt with a piece of chalk. I used felt because it doesn't fray. I cut these letters as well. You can always do this in a more professional way, but this was what I had available.

Next, I used pins to place the letters in their right position on the cushion cover.

Finally, stitch all the letters on the covers. I did this by hand, since I have no sewing machine. You probably can do this with the sewing machine though. Be careful that you keep the cover straight when stitching this by hand! 

And that's that! You have personalized cushion covers, ready to give away, or to decorate your own home!

Of course you can also stitch other pieces of felt on the cushion covers. For example try making a personalized cover with a name or pimp a dull cushion with flowers. I'm sure you all can come up with even better ideas! I look forward to seeing what creativeness you can come up with!

With love,

GInny

Another Blog

Hi darlings,

Yay, it is time for a new blog! This blog will be about all the creative crafts I make to give my life some more colour!
I really hope you enjoy my works, and I hope this blog will inspire you to craft your own life!

With love,
Ginny