Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Another Email Entry into Sesational Sewing Challenge!



I asked my Mom to please enter my sewing challenge this month for ‘Something Useful’ with her gorgeous little crayon rolls she made for dear friends of ours. You can find the tutorial on ‘Skip to my Lou’.


Aren’t they just too adorable? Mom chose sweet fabrics and had a ball putting these crayon rolls together, even though they were quite tricky to make!


 Untie the ribbon and unroll...

Tie up again when you are finished colouring in your picture!

Please go HERE to enter my sewing challenge for ‘something useful’ which is open till the 7th of December, so you have plenty of time to still enter! Remember, Sensational Sewing Challenge is a challenge, not a contest, so you really don’t have to make professional looking sewing projects. It is aimed at inspiring others [and myself] to make at least one item a month!
With love, Kelly-Anne

Entry into my Sensational Sewing Challenge - Something Useful


I received an email entry from Celiah Ann who made a girly pin cushion for her 9 year old niece who also loves sewing!


She got the pattern from thediydish.com.  It was episode 1 of season 4.
 
Please go HERE to enter my sewing challenge for ‘something useful’ which is open till the 7th of December, so you have plenty of time to still enter! Remember, Sensational Sewing Challenge is a challenge, not a contest, so you really don’t have to make professional looking sewing projects. It is aimed at inspiring others [and myself] to make at least one item a month!

With love, Kelly-Anne

Monday, November 28, 2011

Sofia Gets Festive//6 Weeks

Can you believe little Sofia is 6 weeks old already??  The other day she and I did a photo shoot and because it's the festive season, we also played dress-up:) 


#1 


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8


#9


#10

Do you have a favourite?

Have a blessed week!
Kelly-Anne

Sunday, November 27, 2011

A Recipe for Chicken Pie and How to Have Fun in the Rain:)

I missed two of Heidi-Mari’s baking and cooking challenges:( When Mom told me we were going to make a pie for supper on Monday night, I jumped at the opportunity to do a bit of cooking and enter Heidi’s challenge for ‘Anything Goes’.

We went to help Uncle Terence and Aunty Anne-Marie make fruit juice for the Saturday markets on that particular Monday evening, so we took supper along to share with them. I will be posting lots on the Saturday markets and juice making soon...back to supper!

















Here is the yummy recipe for chicken and mushroom pie – adjust quantities to suit your family size.


Chicken and Mushroom Pie

 
1 whole chicken or several chicken pieces
Olive oil and butter for frying
1 punnet fresh mushrooms
Himalayan salt
Black pepper
Fresh rosemary
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 egg
Puff pastry
Butter (for white sauce)
Cake flour (for white sauce)
Milk (for white sauce) we use rice milk
Homemade chicken stock
White wine and/or cream (optional)


















1. Mix up a few sprigs of fresh rosemary from your garden, some freshly ground Himalayan salt and black pepper with a little olive oil.

















2.  Brush over chicken pieces and place in a preheated oven to cook at 190 degrees Celsius.  After about 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 170 degrees.  Turn chicken over to cook equally on both sides.
















3. In the meantime, finely slice an onion and two garlic cloves. Fry in a little butter and set aside when starting to brown. Separately fry a punnet of sliced mushrooms in a little butter till soft. Remember, fry your mushrooms in stages – the less you have in a pan, the more flavourful they will be. By frying them all in one go, they lose their flavour and create lots of water.

4. When chicken is cooked, remove from oven and cool. When cool, shred into small pieces and set aside.

5. Make a white sauce with homemade chicken stock and rice milk. For extra flavour use white wine or cream as well!


6. Combine the onions, garlic, shredded chicken, mushrooms and white sauce and pour into an oven-proof dish. Lay your ready-made pastry over the top and decorate. (I made leaves and berries out of the left-over pastry.)
7. Beat up an egg and brush over the top. Bake in a preheated oven for about 45 minutes at 180 degrees celsius or until golden brown and done.

















Serve with roast vegetables, brown rice and a fresh salad!


















{It was delicious!}

After supper and before (Ha!) washing dishes, Nancy and I took the dogs for a walk. This farm is huge and a perfectly safe place to go for a short walk to the dam and back – besides, we had the dogs with us:)















 
This photograph reminds me of ‘The Lion King’ which is set on the African Plains...look at that sky!


My gorgeous sister, Nancy.


Nancy running down the hill to the dam with Buta and Miki (the dogs).


Love these flowers – love them.


Those clouds came fast and furious...not long after this photo was taken it poured with rain – a long run up the hill:) Aunty Anne-Marie and Mom laughed at the two of us – completely wet and cold! They sent us off to have a shower and Aunty Anne-Marie lent us dry tops:D We had a fun evening, though!

Please hop over and take part in Heidi’s challenge! Remember, she is offering a great prize!

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Saturday, November 26, 2011

We Have a Winner!!!

Yes dear friends we have a winner of the 'Ever After Giveaway' which closed on the 25th of this month.  Thank you all for your lovely comments (and emails), they are much appreciated!  I recieved 11 comment entries and 2 email entries.  But, very sadly there can only be one winner, and that winner is....................


AMES!!!

who said:
"Enter my name twice, please! And I'm posting it at my blog RIGHT now. :) How will it be sent, though?"


Well done!!  Please could you email me your postal address so that I can send your prize DVD off to you - I know you'll love it:)

I really wish I could send each of you a copy of my fave DVD:-)

Have a wonderful weekend further,
Kelly-Anne

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

rubbing off my rough edges.

I think I need to take a little time off from the bloggy world...lately I've been battling to be the good big sister and daughter I want to be.  Why?  Because I haven't been spending enough time with my hero and saviour, Jesus Christ. 


So yes I won't be posting on my blog for the next two weeks or so, but don't think I've forgotten about you or my little blog!  At the moment 'my heart is under construction' as my dad puts it.  All our hearts are in training every day of our lives, but at certain times we need a bit more lot of help and guidance:) 


Before I go I would like to leave you with this beautiful verse I found in Jude verse 20 this afternoon:
"Dear friends, use your most holy faith to grow.  Pray with the Holy Spirit's help. Remain in God's love as you look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life."
Verse 24 goes on to say...
"God can guard you so that you don't fall and so that you can be full of joy as you stand in His glorious presence without fault.  Before time began, now and for eternity glory, majesty, power and authority belong to the only God, our saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen."
Just a photograph I took this morning after the rain we had during the night.

I just want to revel in God's love some more and learn to listen to His voice by praying.

With lots of love,
Kelly-Anne

Don't forget to enter my wonderful, you don't-wanna-miss-it giveaway!  You could be the winner of my fave movie, Ever After!  Giveaway closes on the 25th November.  Go HERE to enter!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

An Ever After Giveaway!!! {THE GIVEAWAY YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS!}

Hello everyone! I have a special surprise for you today...

Since I have {almost} reached 50 followers and {nearly} 400 posts, I thought it time to have a giveaway to celebrate! Isn’t that exciting?

So here is what you could win...

Do you like fairytales? A {clean} romantic movie? If your answer is “yes” then 'Ever After – A Cinderella Story' is for you! I am offering one copy of  'Ever After' to the winner of my giveaway!!!


Here is how it will work:

Leave me a comment on this particular post {I know many of you struggle leaving comments or can’t, so you can then rather EMAIL your comment to me and I will enter it into the draw. Just put ‘Ever After Giveaway’ in the subject line}.

Gain an extra entry by sharing this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or your blog {don’t forget to leave me another comment saying where you have posted about my giveaway}

And that is all...


My views on Ever After...

When I watched 'Ever After' the first time, I just LOVED it!  There are very few films out there that actually 'draw you in' to their beauty and story!  I have always loved the tale of Cinderella, but unfortunately it was animated, and I'm a person that enjoys real-life movies.  So when I saw Ever After at the mall the other day, I knew we just had to get it!  I love Danielle's (the cinder girl) character...she is so brave and different to the other girls from that time, rescuing servants, scolding the prince and many other funny things!  I know you will enjoy this film, too!


You can comment till the 25th of November.

Have fun!


Maybe before you go, you would like to watch the trailer of Ever After...


P.S. Anyone anywhere in the world can enter my giveaway:))

Monday, November 7, 2011

Sensational Sewing Challenge #4 - Something Useful!!!

Hello everyone!  Welcome back to another sewing challenge here at Beautiful Girlhood!  This month’s theme is ‘Something Useful’!  So you can make anything that is useful to you in any way!  My example is a small ‘Tooth Fairy Pillow’ for Beth.  Beth, age seven, is losing teeth (and becoming quite rich as we get a small amount of money for each tooth we lose), so I decided she needed something other than a shoe to put her tooth in while it sits and waits for the tooth fairy, (Daddy. Ha!) to come and collect it.


I learnt to do chain stitch while making this pillow.  Beth’s name is embroidered onto a piece of white felt with chain stitch and I used blanket stitch to attach the heart to the pillow.  Everything on this pillow is handsewn – I didn’t use the machine at all!!  It was so therapeutic sewing up this little pillow and with some help from Mommy, it didn’t take long to make at all!


I saw a picture of this ‘tooth fairy pillow’ on one of my Mother’s (many) bookmarked pages.  Together, Mom and I figured out how to make it.


Now it is YOUR turn to show me what you’ve made! Remember, it can be a very simple project or an intensive week-long project – you decide! Mine didn’t take long at all, but I learnt how to do something new. Sensational Sewing Challenge is aimed to encourage others, new and old to sewing, to make and do new things, showing off their projects as they go along! So if you would like to participate in Sensational Sewing Challenge – ‘Something Useful’, then read the following guidelines before linking up with Inlinkz!!!

You can enter using your blog, or if you don’t have a blog of your own, then you are more than welcome to email your entry to me!

Create a new post (no back-linking allowed!) on your blog with at least one photograph of your finished product.
Or
Email me your entry to me with also at least one photograph of the finished product. I will enter it on your behalf, so make sure you come back and check out your entry!

Make sure you also acknowledge where you got your pattern or inspiration from.

Please link back to Beautiful Girlhood so that others may enter too, or use my sewing challenge button in your post. (Email entries don’t apply)

You may enter as many times as you like, but with a different project each time!

Leave your entry with Inlinkz below – please note that you must leave a direct link to your blog post so that I can find it easily and leave you some love!!

Leave a comment on a few entries around yours, everybody loves comments!

You are more than welcome to have a little help with your sewing (my mom helps me a lot)! This challenge is open to anyone of any age!

Sensational Sewing Challenge – ‘Something Useful' closes on the 31st of November, 2011
Have a wonderful month ahead,
Kelly-Anne


Children's Toys Winner!!!


Last month’s Sensational Sewing Challenge – ‘Children’s Toys’ received three fantastic entries!  Here they are:

Aunty Linnie who created this gorgeous felt cake, topped with felt strawberries.  She also made a felt plate to put the cake on…how simply beautiful!












Heidi-Mari who made these yummy (unfortunately not edible:) felt doughnuts…my mouth is watering just looking at them!


















And eight year old Danika who made these delicate little felt sugar cookies!


The winner of my challenge – chosen randomly by Beth…is….


Well done, Aunty Linnie!  I’m so glad you were able to join in my sewing challenge!  Please grab your winner’s button by right-clicking on the image below and using it as a picture on your side-bar with a link to this post!


This month’s challenge is ‘something useful’, so go HERE to enter!! Remember, it doesn’t matter how old you are or how experienced you are, you can still take part in Sensational Sewing Challenge and have lots of fun!!

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Friday, November 4, 2011

Sofia's Bath Time

This morning Mommy gave Sofia a bath.


Like every one of us girls, Sofia isn’t so keen on having her hair washed!


But little Sofia loves her Mommy and trusts her!


Unfortunately her big sister got hold of the camera:)


Sofia has the cutest little hands...


She is almost 1 month old.


But then baby Sofia decided enough was enough and fell fast asleep...


Ssh...Baby sleeping...