Halloween Cork Bats

 

Halloween cork bats are terribly cute!

And terribly easy to create!

You Will Need:

All you need are corks. (approximately 2inches in size).

Black felt.

Craft twine.

Black and white acrylic paint.

A paintbrush.

Scissors.

Hot glue gun.

I'm making 12 'terribly cute bats'.

With the thought on Halloween to gift away a bat to the little people trick or treaters.

To Make:

Copy-paste-print the pattern sheet.

Pin pattern onto black felt (or freehand cut if you are confident) and cut out a set of wings for each bat.

Then the ears for each bat.

The Next Step:

Using a hot glue gun.

Glue ears onto cork.

Then the wings.

Paint white circles of for the eyes.

(Dry with a hairdryer for fast drying)

(You could also use small-size plastic boggle craft eyes instead of painting them.)

Then paint the black pupil onto the eye.

(Dry again with a hairdryer).

Glue on a (twine or ribbon)hanger to the bottom of the bat.

Then display it on a raw branch in a vase.

You could paint the branch orange, black or white.

But I have left mine naturally raw.

Add to your Halloween display as a table centerpiece, to decorate your trick or treat table or on your sideboard.

#bats #halloweencrafts #halloween 

Beach

 The beach is incredibly healing.

Just like the mountains, rivers, streams, waterfalls and lakes.

Because they create negative ions in the air.

Negative ions are invisible, tasteless, odourless molecules we breathe in these environments.

And once these unique molecules called ions get into our bloodstream it is thought they produce biochemical reactions, that cause the level of the mood hormone serotonin to increase.

That is why you feel so good after a visit.

#beach #beachquotes 

Savoury Cucumber Hors d'oeuvres

 

Hors d'oeuvres anyone?

What is a hors d'oeuvre you may well ask.

It is a small amount of food served before the main meal.

The word is French.

In English, it is known as an appetiser.

Other words used are:

finger foods

party snacks

starters

canapes

antipasto

noisettes

medallions

morsels

nibbles

nuggets

tidbits

It's now common for plates of hors d'oeuvres to be served as the primary food presented, at gatherings, parties, exhibition openings, training and work events. 

They can be elaborately fancy created from pastry with a creamy sauce filling or as simple as a cube of toast with a topping.

But as many of us are now gluten intolerant, we see more fruit and vegetables being used as the base.

A request for a recent gathering I attended was, 'Please bring a plate of finger food'.

So I created these delightful savoury cucumber hors d'oeuvres with a smoked salmon twist.

Super easy to whip up, gluten-free, keto friendly, crisp, creamy, and delicious.

Cut your cucumber into rounds about 1cm in depth.

Pat both sides gently with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.

Using a pre-mixed flavoured cream cheese with garlic and chives, spread the top of each cucumber slice with a generous amount of the cheese.

Now if you cannot find a pre-made garlic and chives cream cheese spread, just whip up your own.

(recipe at end of blog post)

Add a chunk of smoked salmon.

Then a dot of aioli dressing.

Onto the aioli crisis cross two small pieces of chives for a garnish. 

Plate.

Cover with glad wrap plastic film, and place in refrigerator until serving.

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Homemade Garlic and Chive Cream Cheese

150-gram pot of cream cheese at room temperature. 

(Philadelphia brand cheese is great).

1 clove of crushed garlic

1 Tablespoon of finely chopped fresh chives

Mix all ingredients together until creamy.

Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

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Printable recipe HERE

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Visit my Saatchi Art for prints HERE.

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#cucumber #creamcheese #salmon  #Horsdoeuvres