A DIY LOVE mini Pallet sign...

A DIY love mini pallet sign is a simple gift to make for Mother's Day.

Here's how to make it:

Cut a 34cm piece of pallet wood.

Paint it white and leave to dry.

 For the next stage you need a good length of cord.
(in a colour of your choice).

Use PVA wood glue to write your word on the wood.

Press black dressmakers cord in a continuous length 

onto the glue to create the word.

Then cleanup the excess glue with a cotton bud.

Talking about words, you can change it.

I've chosen LOVE,

but you could say:

FUN...JOY...LAUGH...or MUM.
(Just adapt your wood size to the word you choose)

Add a hanger using a staple gun.

I used the same black cord.

This gives you the option to wall hang your DIY mini pallet sign,

or as I ended up doing, 

just leaning it against the back of a bookcase.

Sunset LOVE...

As dusk fell the sky was on fire...

 The plants in my garden became silhouettes...

 Against the red and orange sky...

Nature's passion!

Life is nothing without passion.

(a free inspirational quote for your moodboard)

❤

#quote #quotes #sunsetquote

  

How Easy Is It To Make Peanut Butter?

In blog land everyone else is making peanut butter!

And everyone says it's EASY!

And ya all know EASY is my friend...

so I decided to test the theory.

Off I went to Bin Inn bulk store...

purchased my roasted salted peanuts.

Got out my food processor, added my peanuts,

 pulsed and smashed those peanuts into little pieces.

One blogger said - it takes 5 minutes to make smooth peanut butter!

Well....

my food processor is so powerful - 

I am glad it has suction cups to stick it to the bench.

It literally takes off!

Yip - it is a BEAST!

And after 6 minutes at top speed I had smashed peanuts,

that did not quite resemble peanut butter.

Processed for another 2 minutes - hmmm no change.

So I am thinking - 

maybe we dry roast all the oil out of our peanuts in New Zealand.

USA you must have wonderful oily peanuts!

So in went two tablespoons of oil.

Another 3 minutes of full speed processing and I had an in between kind of crunchy and smooth peanut butter.

By this stage the noise of the 'BEAST' was doing my head in,

 so after a taste test, I decided it was good enough.

It took 11 minutes but I won the homemade peanut butter battle.
It is delicious.

When compared to a natural store bought peanut butter
that is available in New Zealand (in the same quantities), 
it's actually no cheaper to make at home.

But at least I can tick it off the list, and say I've done it.   

;) 

  

Caramel Chocolate Mousse Tart...

The test kitchen is creating quite a few tarts of late!

And this Caramel Chocolate Mousse combination is a keeper!

 The ingredients are convenient - a packet of vanilla biscuits, a pot of thickened cream, easy melt chocolate and a tin of ready to eat caramel.

 Once you have prepped your biscuit base and it is in the fridge. 

Whip up a chocolate mousse using a hand mixer to beat to fluffiness.

 Fold in the egg whites and gelatin and set aside while you...

 dollop delicious caramel onto the biscuit base.

Level the caramel layer with a spatula,

then top with the mousse.

Leave in the refrigerator for at least four hours.

 Decorate the top as desired.

I used a cake stencil and icing sugar.

 Slice into portions...

 And serve with a dribble of fresh cream.

The Caramel Chocolate Mousse Tart is a quick to make dessert for special occasions.

 It makes a large tart so will serve about 10 people.

To get the printable recipe visit HERE.

Caramel Mousse Tart

Grease a 25cm flan dish (with a removable bottom)

Base:

Finely crush 250-gram packet of vanilla biscuits.

Add 1 tablespoon dark cocoa and 120 grams melted butter.

Combine and press into the flan dish. Place in refrigerator to firm.

Mousse Topping:

Melt 225 grams dark chocolate melts. Beat in 2 egg yolks.

Then 300ml pot of thickened cream. Beat until well mixed.

Add two teaspoons of gelatin that has been dissolved in boiling water.

Mix again.

In another bowl beat the two egg whites until thick. Add two tablespoons caster sugar and beat again until the sugar has dissolved.

Using a metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Remove flan base from the refrigerator, and top with one tin of thick ready to eat caramel. Smooth with spatula.

Top the caramel with the chocolate mousse topping.

Refrigerate for at least four hours before serving.

Serve with fresh cream.

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#mousserecipes #chocolatemousse #tarts #sweettarts

A 10 Minute Table Centrepiece...

To create a 'Ten Minute Table Centrepiece', 

take one interesting tray.

(To learn how to make a mosaic on ply tray visit HERE.)

Add some vases...

Some single blooms...

I used dahlias.

and some antique silverware.

This little set fitted perfectly in the far end of the tray.

 It is the latest addition to my silver collection.

It has white enamel inside...

 The embossing is simply gorgeous.

Very French.

And oh so dainty!

So for the first week the vases had Dahlias in them.

Because they are such beautiful flowers.

Even the buds are interesting to look at!

 Then in week two...

The flowers were changed.

 This is lisianthus.

One of my favourites and a wonderful long lasting cut flower.

I have never succeeded in growing these in the home garden, 

and I'd love to know if you have managed to grow them...

What's your secret?

The Autumn (Fall) Sideboard Display...

I decided to welcome in Autumn,

with a simple decor display on the chippy white sideboard.

It's simple, rustic and was easy to create.

But first I needed two paper leaves:
Print the leaf template HERE.
Cut it out.
Draw around the outline with  a pencil onto your paper of choice.

Cut it out.

Glue to a piece of wood.

 I teamed my wood leaf block with the fabric pumpkin...
You can find out how to make one HERE.

 I placed a some sun bleached deer antlers in a wire basket.

 And that was it!

 With lots of interesting colour...

  texture...

and patterns. 

Here's the recap on the Autumn Sideboard Display.
 I used:
 The deer fabric pumpkin
Some deer antlers.
A wire basket.
A piece of wood with the paper leaves glued onto it.

The antlers were placed in the basket.
The fabric pumpkin in front to the left.
And the wood with paper leaves to the right.

I'm loving that it's simplistic...
rustic...
and Autumnal cute!