Gift Wrapping

 

 

Only 9 days to go and I am so not ready for Christmas! Today I was finally going to bake those traditional Danish vanilla rings (vaniljekranse). The dough has been waiting in the fridge for days and by now there is a high probability that they will taste more of fridge than vanilla bean! I think I will have to make new dough. My boys were not well today, so all the Christmassy preparations that I imagined we would do this Sunday as a family... in my romantic and perfect imaginary world, did not happen. Both boys are better this evening, so who really cares. We will make some time during the week for Christmas baking.

 

 

Anyway I do have some pictures of gift wrapping that I have done. Maybe this could inspire you when you are to wrap all those lovely Christmas presents? The petals are made from circles punched out of colourful magazines with at punch machine (bought from a scrapbooking shop). Very easy to do, you only require a glue gun and a button for the centre.

Punch out 10 circles, fold 9 into your petal shape and glue them all onto your 10th circle, finish off with a button. I also glue a little loop from paper on the back, so I can put my gift ribbon through.

 

xo Sarah

 

Lucky Find - Cross Stitch

Take a look at this treasure that I found in an OP Shop. Isn’t it amazing? The colour scheme is so playful and daring, the stitch perfect.  I have put it on my wall until I make a decision on what to do with it, embellish a bag, part of a cushion… or simply just decorate my wall as is? The piece is only 30x20 cm.

In the past I have embroidered on top of embroidery that I have found in second hand shops, but not this one, it is too special. Any ideas?

xo Sarah

 

White and Wholemeal Spelt - Daily Bread #4

The criss-cross pattern on this sour dough spelt bread looks so authentic "French bakery" - it happened all by itself, not my doing at all.

 

Baking bread is an amazing process, so intense for all of our senses: See the magic happen when you mix a few basic ingredients, smell the goodness when it bakes in your oven, taste the goodness when it is done, feel the texture and heaviness of healthy bread, hear your family's happy comments when they bite into it! Ok, that is a bit sought I know, but I really enjoy baking, it is kind of therapeutic for me. And I have found a way to manage both home baked and a job: by mixing the dough the night before and baking early morning, I can still get kids ready for school, myself off to work etc. So I do not mind being a "Spelt-Mum"; a term used in Denmark for well-to-do mums in a particular part of Copenhagen, that have gone on board the organic and home made in a crusade like way (or so the critics say). Except for the well-to-do, I think that "Spelt-Mum"actually depicts me to some degree. I value homemade and organics highly and will go out of my way to get my hands on these things especially when I see people being passionate about what they produce.

What do you like about baking?

 

 

 

I had it in a proving basket overnight. I turned it out on the table to prove a bit longer and it started to crack up making the interesting pattern.

 

 

 

Tasted good too!

xo Sarah

Christmas Pixies and Calendar Candle

 Little Christmas pixie sweeping and his wife in a pillar box hat. My youngest boy made these two cuties last year when he was 6 years old.

 

When Decembers hits we clear out a shelf and set up our Christmas pixie village. It is not really linked to the Christmas Story as such, but it is fun and very creative. My boys and I have made most of the things out of recycled materials such as milk cartons, bottles, buttons etc. and of course artificial snow. When we unpacked it all from last year, some of the pieces had fallen apart or were squashed. That is not a bad thing; it only means we need to create some new Christmas items for our village. Here is what we have and let’s see what the boys come up with in the coming weeks?



We put artificial candles into the houses so they light up at night.



 

Skiing snow man is the latest addition.

 

 

 

 

Another Danish tradition that we love is the Calendar Candle (kalenderlys). It is a countdown to Christmas Eve and we light it every night, as we watch an episode of the Danish Christmas Calendar for Children, all sent to us from the children’s Grandmother – Thank you Herdis!

xo Sarah

 

 

First of December and Snow in Australia

Frangipani Snow - it has a beautiful scent.

It is December and my family and I have begun all the traditional Danish Christmas preparations - now under warmer conditions. On the first of December as we were putting up Christmas decorations I looked out the window and could almost convince myself that I saw snow – blue skies and 25 degrees… yeah right! I took this photo and if you concentrate really hard and squint your eyes a bit it almost looks like patches of snow; a white cover of Frangipani flowers on the deck around the pool. December makes me really homesick; longing for my family in Denmark and the cold!

 

ox Sarah